Correlation Effects in Nuclear Transparency

The Glauber approximation is used to calculate the contribution of nucleon correlations in high-energy $A(e,e'N)$ reactions. When the excitation energy of the residual nucleus is small, the increase of the nuclear transparency due to correlations between the struck nucleon and the other nucleons is mostly compensated by a decrease of the transparency due to the correlations between non detected nucleons. We derive Glauber model predictions for nuclear transparency for the differential cross section when nuclear shell level excitations are measured. The role of correlations in color transparency is briefly discussed.Comment: 24 pages revtex, 4 uuencoded PostScript Figures as separate fil

Extending automatic transcripts in a unified data representation towards a prosodic-based metadata annotation and evaluation

This paper describes a framework that extends automatic speech transcripts in order to accommodate relevant information coming from manual transcripts, the speech signal itself, and other resources, like lexica. The proposed framework automatically collects, relates, computes, and stores all relevant information together in a self-contained data source, making it possible to easily provide a wide range of interconnected information suitable for speech analysis, training, and evaluating a number of automatic speech processing tasks. The main goal of this framework is to integrate different linguistic and paralinguistic layers of knowledge for a more complete view of their representation and interactions in several domains and languages. The processing chain is composed of two main stages, where the first consists of integrating the relevant manual annotations in the speech recognition data, and the second consists of further enriching the previous output in order to accommodate prosodic information. The described framework has been used for the identification and analysis of structural metadata in automatic speech transcripts. Initially put to use for automatic detection of punctuation marks and for capitalization recovery from speech data, it has also been recently used for studying the characterization of disfluencies in speech. It was already applied to several domains of Portuguese corpora, and also to English and Spanish Broadcast News corpora

Inflationary Universe in Deformed Phase Space Scenario

We consider a noncommutative (NC) inflationary model with a homogeneous scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. The particular NC inflationary setting produces entirely new consequences. We first analyze the free field case and subsequently examine the situation where the scalar field is subjected to a polynomial and exponential potentials. We propose to use a canonical deformation between momenta, in a spatially flat FLRW universe, and while the Friedmann equation remains unaffected the Friedmann acceleration equation (and thus the Klein-Gordon equation) is modified by an extra term linear in the NC parameter. This concrete noncommutativity on the momenta allows interesting dynamics that other NC models seem not to allow. Let us be more precise. This extra term behaves as the sole explicit pressure that under the right circumstances implies a period of accelerated expansion of the universe. We find that in the absence of the scalar field potential, and in contrast with the commutative case, in which the scale factor always decelerates, we obtain an inflationary phase for small negative values of the NC parameter. Subsequently, the period of accelerated expansion is smoothly replaced by an appropriate deceleration phase providing an interesting model regarding the graceful exit problem in inflationary models. Moreover, in the case of the free scalar field, we show that not only the horizon problem is solved but also there is some resemblance between the evolution equation of the scale factor associated to our model and that for the $R^2$ (Starobinsky) inflationary model. Therefore, our herein NC model not only can be taken as an appropriate scenario to get a successful kinetic inflation, but also is a convenient setting to obtain inflationary universe possessing the graceful exit when scalar field potentials are present.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, Accepted to publish in Annals of Physic

Using Meta-Ethnography to Synthesize Relevant Studies: Capturing the Bigger Picture in Dementia with Challenging Behavior within Families

In understanding the range and depth of people’s experiences, it is important to include the wide range of approaches which capture the richness within a given knowledge base. However, systematic reviews using quantitative data alone risk missing findings that can contribute to a better understanding of a research question. In response, meta-ethnography has emerged as a potentially useful method to synthesize and integrate both qualitative and quantitative data from different perspectives using qualitative methodology. In this case study, we describe how we have used meta-ethnography to better understand how families experience dementia. We address a particular issue of selecting the highest quality evidence across a range of epistemologies

Nuclear Attenuation of high energy two-hadron system in the string model

Nuclear attenuation of the two-hadron system is considered in the string model. The two-scale model and its improved version with two different choices of constituent formation time and sets of parameters obtained earlier for the single hadron attenuation, are used to describe available experimental data for the $z$-dependence of subleading hadron, whereas satisfactory agreement with the experimental data has been observed. A model prediction for $\nu$-dependence of the nuclear attenuation of the two-hadron system is also presented.Comment: 8 page

Anisotropic Inflation with Non-Abelian Gauge Kinetic Function

We study an anisotropic inflation model with a gauge kinetic function for a non-abelian gauge field. We find that, in contrast to abelian models, the anisotropy can be either a prolate or an oblate type, which could lead to a different prediction from abelian models for the statistical anisotropy in the power spectrum of cosmological fluctuations. During a reheating phase, we find chaotic behaviour of the non-abelian gauge field which is caused by the nonlinear self-coupling of the gauge field. We compute a Lyapunov exponent of the chaos which turns out to be uncorrelated with the anisotropy.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Temperate facultative cleaner wrasses selectively remove ectoparasites from their client-fish in the Azores

Cleaner fishes are key contributors to the health of fish communities. However, much of the information in the literature refers to tropical systems, while fewer studies have examined the activity of cleaner fish inhabiting temperate ecosystems. Facultative cleaner fish are assumed to clean only during their juvenile phase, and have a broader diet than obligatory cleaner fish. Here, we focused on 2 facultative cleaner fish species, Coris julis and Thalassoma pavo, that live along the temperate coasts of the Azorean island of São Miguel. We found that these species focused their cleaning activities on relatively few species of clients, which supports the general idea that facultative cleaner fishes in temperate waters are less dependent on cleaning interactions than obligatory cleaner fishes in tropical waters. Both cleaner species were found to give more bites per host when inspecting larger clients, likely because the latter typically host more parasites. We found that C. julis consumed a greater diversity of food items, which included gnathiid larvae and fewer caligid copepods, compared to T. pavo where no ectoparasites were found. All cleaner fish that we collected after observations of cleaning had eaten gnathiid isopod larvae but not caligid copepods, even though caligid copepods were the most abundant ectoparasite found on the body of 7 selected fish species (including both client and non-client species), suggesting that both species selectively feed on gnathiid isopods. This study is the first to demonstrate that temperate facultative cleaner fish species actively and selectively inspect and remove ectoparasites from their client-fish species.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, grant PTDC/MAR/105276/2008. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) COMPETE - Operational Competitiveness Programme. FCT - Foundation for Science and Techno - project PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/2011.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dilaton Quantum Cosmology with a Schrodinger-like equation

A quantum cosmological model with radiation and a dilaton scalar field is analysed. The Wheeler-deWitt equation in the mini-superspace induces a Schr\"odinger equation, which can be solved. An explicit wavepacket is constructed for a particular choice of the ordering factor. A consistent solution is possible only when the scalar field is a phantom field. Moreover, although the wavepacket is time dependent, a Bohmian analysis allows to extract a bouncing behaviour for the scale factor.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures in eps format. Minors corrections, new figure

The 1909 Benavente (Portugal) earthquake : search for the source

The Lower Tagus River Valley has been affected by severe earthquakes comprising distant events, as in 1755, and local earthquakes, as in 1344, 1531, and 1909. The 1909 earthquake was located NE of Lisbon, near Benavente, causing serious damage and many losses. Mw 6.0 has been assessed for this earthquake and a reverse faulting focal mechanism solution has been calculated. Poor epicenter location, possible directivity and site effects, low fault slip rates, and the thick Cenozoic sedimentary cover make difficult correlation with regional structures. The focal mechanism indicates an ENE reverse fault as source, though it does not match any outcropping active structure suggesting that the event could have been produced by a blind thrust beneath the Cenozoic sedimentary fill. Hidden sources, inferred from seismic reflection data, are a possible NE structure linking the Vila Franca de Xira and the Azambuja faults, or the southern extension of the later. Evidence of surface rupturing is inhibited by the thick Holocene alluvial cover and the high fluvial sedimentation rate, though a slightly depressed area was identified in the Tagus alluvial plain W of Benavente which was investigated as possible geomorphic evidence of co-seismic surface deformation. A high-resolution seismic reflection profile was acquired across a 0.5 m high scarp at this site, and two trenches were opened across the scarp for paleoseismic research. Some deformation of dubious tectonic origin was found, requiring further studies