415 research outputs found
Ratios of Elastic Scattering of Pions from 3H and 3He
We have measured the elastic-scattering ratios of normalized yields for
charged pions from 3H and 3He in the backward hemisphere. At 180 MeV, we
completed the angular distribution begun with our earlier measurements, adding
six data points in the angular range of 119 deg to 169 deg in the pi-nucleus
center of mass. We also measured an excitation function with data points at
142, 180, 220, and 256 MeV incident pion energy at the largest achievable angle
for each energy between 160 deg and 170 deg in the pi-nucleus center of mass.
This excitation function corresponds to the energies of our forward-hemisphere
studies. The data, taken as a whole, show an apparent role reversal of the two
charge-symmetric ratios r1 and r2 in the backward hemisphere. Also, for data >
100 deg we observe a strong dependence on the four-momentum transfer squared
(-t) for all of the ratios regardless of pion energy or scattering angle, and
we find that the superratio R data match very well with calculations based on
the forward-hemisphere data that predicts the value of the difference between
the even-nucleon radii of 3H and 3He. Comparisons are also made with recent
calculations incorporating different wave functions and double scattering
models.Comment: RevTex 8pages, 12 figure file
Genetics of human neural tube defects
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are common, severe congenital malformations whose causation involves multiple genes and environmental factors. Although more than 200 genes are known to cause NTDs in mice, there has been rather limited progress in delineating the molecular basis underlying most human NTDs. Numerous genetic studies have been carried out to investigate candidate genes in cohorts of patients, with particular reference to those that participate in folate one-carbon metabolism. Although the homocysteine remethylation gene MTHFR has emerged as a risk factor in some human populations, few other consistent findings have resulted from this approach. Similarly, attention focused on the human homologues of mouse NTD genes has contributed only limited positive findings to date, although an emerging association between genes of the non-canonical Wnt (planar cell polarity) pathway and NTDs provides candidates for future studies. Priorities for the next phase of this research include: (i) larger studies that are sufficiently powered to detect significant associations with relatively minor risk factors; (ii) analysis of multiple candidate genes in groups of well-genotyped individuals to detect possible geneâgene interactions; (iii) use of high throughput genomic technology to evaluate the role of copy number variants and to detect âprivateâ and regulatory mutations, neither of which have been studied to date; (iv) detailed analysis of patient samples stratified by phenotype to enable, for example, hypothesis-driven testing of candidates genes in groups of NTDs with specific defects of folate metabolism, or in groups of fetuses with well-defined phenotypes such as craniorachischisis
Electroweak Symmetry Breaking via UV Insensitive Anomaly Mediation
Anomaly mediation solves the supersymmetric flavor and CP problems. This is
because the superconformal anomaly dictates that supersymmetry breaking is
transmitted through nearly flavor-blind infrared physics that is highly
predictive and UV insensitive. Slepton mass squareds, however, are predicted to
be negative. This can be solved by adding D-terms for U(1)_Y and U(1)_{B-L}
while retaining the UV insensitivity. In this paper we consider electroweak
symmetry breaking via UV insensitive anomaly mediation in several models. For
the MSSM we find a stable vacuum when tanbeta < 1, but in this region the top
Yukawa coupling blows up only slightly above the supersymmetry breaking scale.
For the NMSSM, we find a stable electroweak breaking vacuum but with a chargino
that is too light. Replacing the cubic singlet term in the NMSSM superpotential
with a term linear in the singlet we find a stable vacuum and viable spectrum.
Most of the parameter region with correct vacua requires a large superpotential
coupling, precisely what is expected in the ``Fat Higgs'' model in which the
superpotential is generated dynamically. We have therefore found the first
viable UV complete, UV insensitive supersymmetry breaking model that solves the
flavor and CP problems automatically: the Fat Higgs model with UV insensitive
anomaly mediation. Moreover, the cosmological gravitino problem is naturally
solved, opening up the possibility of realistic thermal leptogenesis.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Qualidade de Vida e Atitudes dos Idosos Face Ă Velhice
A problemĂĄtica do envelhecimento tem assumido, nos Ășltimos anos, uma
crescente importĂąncia na consciĂȘncia coletiva da população, tornando-se cada vez mais importante compreender a população idosa e a sua realidade.
Posto isto, foi realizado um estudo quantitativo e correlacional, que teve como
objectivo avaliar a qualidade de vida e atitudes face Ă velhice de idosos, bem como a
relação entre estas e as variåveis sociodemogråficas e familiares.
Foram inquiridos 100 idosos, com mais de 65 anos e sem deficit cognitivo . Para
a recolha de dados utilizou-se uma entrevista estruturada, constituĂda dados
sĂłciodemogrĂĄficos do idoso, WHOQOL-AGE (Caballero, Miret, Power, Chatterji,
Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Koskinen, Leonardi, Olaya, Haro &Ayuso-Mateos, 2013) e o AAQ
( Laidlaw, Power, Schmidt and the WHOQOL-OLD Group, 2007).
Dos resultados destacamos os seguintes: A amostra Ă© constituĂda por 52% de
idosos do sexo masculino tendo uma média de idades de 74,7 (DP=6,8). à no fator
Perdas Psicossociais e no Desenvolvimento PsicolĂłgico que os idosos tĂȘm uma melhor
atitude face ao envelhecimento. Ă no item âTem dinheiro suficiente para satisfazer as
suas necessidades?â que os idosos apresentam uma menor qualidade de vida.
Não ter doença diagnosticada e ser do sexo masculino permitem ter melhores
atitudes face ao envelhecimento.
A Qualidade de Vida estĂĄ relacionada com a idade, com o estado de saĂșde e com
a intensidade de preocupação da famĂlia. Constatou-se que os idosos que nĂŁo estĂŁo
institucionalizados apresentam uma melhor qualidade de vida e uma melhor atitude face à velhice. Quem não precisa de ajudas técnicas para se movimentar apresenta uma melhor qualidade de vida.
Diferenças nas atitudes face ao envelhecimento consoante a residĂȘncia onde
habita sĂŁo significativas nas mudanças fĂsicas e no desenvolvimento psicolĂłgico sendo
que os idosos que nĂŁo vivem em lares tĂȘm uma atitude mais positiva em ambos os
fatores. / Over the past few years the issue of aging has played a growing importance in the population`s collective consciousness becoming increasingly important to
understand the elderly population and this reality.
Therefore a quantitative correlational study was performed to assess the quality
of life of seniors and their attitudes towards old age, and the relationship between these
and the socio-demographic and family factors.
100 seniors with more than 65 years and without cognitive deficit were
surveyed. For data collection we used a structured interview consisting of sociodemographic data of the elderly, WHOQOL-AGE (Caballero Miret Power Chatterji
Tobiasz-Adamczyk Koskinen Leonardi Olaya Ayuso-Mateos & Haro 2013) and AAQ
(Laidlaw Power Schmidt and the WHOQOL-OLD Group 2007).
We highlight: The sample is composed of 52% of males with a mean age of 74.7
(SD = 6.8). It is in the factor Psychosocial Losses and Psychological Development that
elderly people have a better attitude towards aging. It is in the item "Do you have
enough money to meet your needs?" that seniors show less quality of life.
Not having illness and being male allows having better attitudes towards aging.
Quality of Life is related to age, health condition and the intensity of family
concerns. It was observed that the elderly who are not institutionalized have a better
quality of life and a better attitude towards old age. Who does not need assistive devices to move around has a better quality of life.
Differences in attitudes towards aging, according to residency, are significant in
physical changes and psychological development, thus verifying that elderly who do not
live in nursing homes have a more positive attitude in both factors
Extrapolating SMBH correlations down the mass scale: the case for IMBHs in globular clusters
Empirical evidence for both stellar mass black holes M_bh<10^2 M_sun) and
supermassive black holes (SMBHs, M_bh>10^5 M_sun) is well established.
Moreover, every galaxy with a bulge appears to host a SMBH, whose mass is
correlated with the bulge mass, and even more strongly with the central stellar
velocity dispersion sigma_c, the `M-sigma' relation. On the other hand,
evidence for "intermediate-mass" black holes (IMBHs, with masses in the range
1^2 - 10^5 M_sun) is relatively sparse, with only a few mass measurements
reported in globular clusters (GCs), dwarf galaxies and low-mass AGNs. We
explore the question of whether globular clusters extend the M-sigma
relationship for galaxies to lower black hole masses and find that available
data for globular clusters are consistent with the extrapolation of this
relationship. We use this extrapolated M-sigma relationship to predict the
putative black hole masses of those globular clusters where existence of
central IMBH was proposed. We discuss how globular clusters can be used as a
constraint on theories making specific predictions for the low-mass end of the
M-sigma relation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and
Space Science; fixed typos and a quote in Sec.
Magnetic trapping of ultracold neutrons
Three-dimensional magnetic confinement of neutrons is reported. Neutrons are
loaded into an Ioffe-type superconducting magnetic trap through inelastic
scattering of cold neutrons with 4He. Scattered neutrons with sufficiently low
energy and in the appropriate spin state are confined by the magnetic field
until they decay. The electron resulting from neutron decay produces
scintillations in the liquid helium bath that results in a pulse of extreme
ultraviolet light. This light is frequency downconverted to the visible and
detected. Results are presented in which 500 +/- 155 neutrons are magnetically
trapped in each loading cycle, consistent with theoretical predictions. The
lifetime of the observed signal, 660 s +290/-170 s, is consistent with the
neutron beta-decay lifetime.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Linear extension sums as valuations on cones
33 pagesInternational audienceThe geometric and algebraic theory of valuations on cones is applied to understand identities involving summing certain rational functions over the set of linear extensions of a poset
Narrative inquiry into (re)imagining alternative schools: a case study of Kevin Gonzales.
Although there are many alternative schools that strive for the successful education for their students, negative images of alternative schools persist. While some alternative schools are viewed as âidealistic havens,â many are viewed as âdumping grounds,â or âjuvenile detention centers.â Employing narrative inquiry, this article interrogates how a student, Kevin Gonzales, experiences his alternative education and raises questions about the role of alternative schools. Kevin Gonzalesâs story is presented in a literary form of biographical journal to provide a âmetaphoric loftâ that helps us imagine other students like Kevin. This, in turn, provokes us to examine our current educational practice, and to (re)imagine ways in which alternative education can provide the best possible educational experiences for disenfranchised students who are increasingly underserved by the public education system
Higgs Scalars in the Minimal Non-minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
We consider the simplest and most economic version among the proposed
non-minimal supersymmetric models, in which the -parameter is promoted to
a singlet superfield, whose all self-couplings are absent from the
renormalizable superpotential. Such a particularly simple form of the
renormalizable superpotential may be enforced by discrete -symmetries which
are extended to the gravity-induced non-renormalizable operators as well. We
show explicitly that within the supergravity-mediated supersymmetry-breaking
scenario, the potentially dangerous divergent tadpoles associated with the
presence of the gauge singlet first appear at loop levels higher than 5 and
therefore do not destabilize the gauge hierarchy. The model provides a natural
explanation for the origin of the -term, without suffering from the
visible axion or the cosmological domain-wall problem. Focusing on the Higgs
sector of this minimal non-minimal supersymmetric standard model, we calculate
its effective Higgs potential by integrating out the dominant quantum effects
due to stop squarks. We then discuss the phenomenological implications of the
Higgs scalars predicted by the theory for the present and future high-energy
colliders. In particular, we find that our new minimal non-minimal
supersymmetric model can naturally accommodate a relatively light charged Higgs
boson, with a mass close to the present experimental lower bound.Comment: 63 pages (12 figures), extended versio
The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC
The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current
status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for
making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of
RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program
available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix
- âŠ