319 research outputs found
Haunted Hotels and Murder Inns: Travelers' Tales from Europe and the Gothic Short Story from the 1820s to the 1940s
Modern and Contemporary Studie
"Look Into The Dark": a Ghost Story for Christmas on the Continent: An Interview with Leslie Megahey, Director of Schalcken the Painter
Modern and Contemporary Studie
Spectral estimates for two-dimensional Schroedinger operators with application to quantum layers
A logarithmic type Lieb-Thirring inequality for two-dimensional Schroedinger
operators is established. The result is applied to prove spectral estimates on
trapped modes in quantum layers
Taming the Scalar Mass Problem with a Singlet Higgs Boson
We investigate the fine-tuning problem in the Standard Model and show that
Higgs boson and top quark masses consistent with current experimental bounds
cannot be obtained unless one extends the particle spectrum. A minimal
extension which achieves this involves addition of a singlet real scalar and
one generation of vectorlike fermions. We show that this leads to a
phenomenologically viable prediction for the mass of the Standard Model Higgs
boson.Comment: (LaTeX file), 13 pages, preprint no. SINP-TNP/94-1
The phase relation between sunspot numbers and soft X-ray flares
To better understand long-term flare activity, we present a statistical study
on soft X-ray flares from May 1976 to May 2008. It is found that the smoothed
monthly peak fluxes of C-class, M-class, and X-class flares have a very
noticeable time lag of 13, 8, and 8 months in cycle 21 respectively with
respect to the smoothed monthly sunspot numbers. There is no time lag between
the sunspot numbers and M-class flares in cycle 22. However, there is a
one-month time lag for C-class flares and a one-month time lead for X-class
flares with regard to sunspot numbers in cycle 22. For cycle 23, the smoothed
monthly peak fluxes of C-class, M-class, and X-class flares have a very
noticeable time lag of one month, 5 months, and 21 months respectively with
respect to sunspot numbers. If we take the three types of flares together, the
smoothed monthly peak fluxes of soft X-ray flares have a time lag of 9 months
in cycle 21, no time lag in cycle 22 and a characteristic time lag of 5 months
in cycle 23 with respect to the smoothed monthly sunspot numbers. Furthermore,
the correlation coefficients of the smoothed monthly peak fluxes of M-class and
X-class flares and the smoothed monthly sunspot numbers are higher in cycle 22
than those in cycles 21 and 23. The correlation coefficients between the three
kinds of soft X-ray flares in cycle 22 are higher than those in cycles 21 and
23. These findings may be instructive in predicting C-class, M-class, and
X-class flares regarding sunspot numbers in the next cycle and the physical
processes of energy storage and dissipation in the corona.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space
Scienc
Geographical origin of dabbling ducks wintering in Iberia: Sex differences and implications for pair formation
Los humedales ibĂ©ricos naturales y antropĂłgenos del sur de Europa son bien conocidos por sustentar a un gran nĂşmero de aves migratorias acuáticas del Palaearctico en cada invierno. Sin embargo, la informaciĂłn sobre el origen geográfico de los patos de humedal que pasan el invierno en estos espacios es escasa y se limita principalmente a datos de sonar. AquĂ, hemos utilizado marcadores isotĂłpicos para determinar el origen geográfico de machos y hembras de Pintails septentrional, Anas acuta y Anas crecca euroasiática en Extremadura, en el interior de la penĂnsula IbĂ©rica, sitio clave para invernar los patos de humedal. Además, hemos instalado seis etiquetas GPSGSM en Pintails septentrional para complementar los datos derivados del análisis de isĂłtopos estables. La mayorĂa (> 70%) de los Pintails septentrional, dentro del primer año calendario, fueron asignados a regiones situadas por encima de los 55° N, volando 2600-5600 km desde sus regiones de procedencia a Extremadura. Los valores promedio de δ2Hf variaron significativamente entre macho y hembra de Pintails septentrional, sugiriendo que los sexos tienen diferentes orĂgenes geográficos. Los datos de los adultos etiquetados Pintails septentrional apoyan los datos isotĂłpicos, un macho volando más de 5000 km de la costa de la mar Pechora (Rusia). La mayorĂa (> 70%) de los Teal euroasiáticos, dentro del primer año calendario, fueron asignados a la regiĂłn situada entre 48° y 60° N y viajaron 1500-4500 km para llegar en Extremadura. Los machos y hembras de Cerceta euroasiáticos mostraron diferencias marginales en valores promedio de δ2Hf. En patos de humedal migratorios, el emparejamiento se produce normalmente en las zonas de invernada, y los patos en su primer invierno pueden reproducirse en la primavera siguiente. Para Pintails septentrional, la formaciĂłn de parejas en Extremadura podrĂa suceder entre individuos con diferentes orĂgenes geográficos, lo que podrĂa contribuir a la variabilidad genĂ©tica de su descendencia.Natural and anthropogenic Iberian wetlands in southern Europe are well known for supporting large numbers of migratory Palaearctic waterbirds each winter. However, information on the geographical origin of dabbling ducks overwintering in these wetlands is scarce and mostly limited to data from ringing recoveries. Here, we used intrinsic isotopic markers to determine the geographical origin of male and female Northern Pintails Anas acuta and Eurasian Teal Anas crecca in Extremadura, inland Iberia, a key site for overwintering dabbling ducks. Additionally, we fitted six Northern Pintails with GPSGSM tags to complement the data derived from stable isotope analysis. Most (> 70%) first calendar-year Northern Pintails were assigned to regions above 55°N, flying 2600–5600 km from their main natal regions to Extremadura. Mean values of δ2Hf varied significantly between male and female Northern Pintails, suggesting that the sexes had different geographical origins. Data from tagged adult Northern Pintails supported the isotopic data, one male flying more than 5000 km to the coast of the Pechora Sea (Russia). Most (> 70%) first calendar-year Eurasian Teal were assigned to the region between 48° and 60°N, travelling 1500–4500 km to arrive in Extremadura. Male and female Eurasian Teal showed marginal differences in mean values of δ2Hf. In migratory dabbling ducks, pairing typically occurs on the wintering grounds, and ducks in their first winter can breed the following spring. For Northern Pintails, pair formation in Extremadura could occur between individuals with different geographical origins, which could contribute to the genetic variability of their offspring.Trabajo patrocinado por:
Junta de Extremadura. Proyecto PRI 09C128
Gobierno de Extremadura y Fondos FEDER. Ayuda GR10174
Confederación Hidrográfica del Guadiana (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente). Ayuda financierapeerReviewe
Electromagnetic waves in a wormhole geometry
We investigate the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a static
wormhole. It is shown that the problem can be reduced to a one-dimensional
Schr\"odinger-like equation with a barrier-type potential. Using numerical
methods, we calculate the transmission coefficient as a function of the energy.
We also discuss the polarization of the outgoing radiation due to this
gravitational scattering.Comment: LaTex file, 5 pages, 2 figures, one reference added, accepted for
publication in PR
Elastic Scattering by Deterministic and Random Fractals: Self-Affinity of the Diffraction Spectrum
The diffraction spectrum of coherent waves scattered from fractal supports is
calculated exactly. The fractals considered are of the class generated
iteratively by successive dilations and translations, and include
generalizations of the Cantor set and Sierpinski carpet as special cases. Also
randomized versions of these fractals are treated. The general result is that
the diffraction intensities obey a strict recursion relation, and become
self-affine in the limit of large iteration number, with a self-affinity
exponent related directly to the fractal dimension of the scattering object.
Applications include neutron scattering, x-rays, optical diffraction, magnetic
resonance imaging, electron diffraction, and He scattering, which all display
the same universal scaling.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Phys. Rev. E, in press. More info available at
http://www.fh.huji.ac.il/~dani
Use of troponins in the classification of myocardial infarction from electronic health records. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study
Objective: Electronic health record (EHR) data are underutilized for abstracting classification criteria for heart disease. We compared extraction of EHR data on troponin I and T levels with human abstraction. Methods: Using EHR for hospitalizations identified through the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study in four US hospitals, we compared blood levels of troponins I and T extracted from EHR structured data elements with levels obtained through data abstraction by human abstractors to 3 decimal places. Observations were divided randomly 50/50 into training and validation sets. Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate agreement by hospital in first and maximum troponin levels, troponin assessment date, troponin upper limit of normal (ULN), and classification of troponin levels as normal (2Ă— ULN), or missing. Results: Estimated overall agreement in first measured troponin level in the validation data was 88.2% (95% credible interval: 65.0%-97.5%) and 95.5% (91.2-98.2%) for the maximum troponin level observed during hospitalization. The largest variation in probability of agreement was for first troponin measured, which ranged from 66.4% to 95.8% among hospitals. Conclusion: Extraction of maximum troponin values during a hospitalization from EHR structured data is feasible and accurate
HI in the Outskirts of Nearby Galaxies
The HI in disk galaxies frequently extends beyond the optical image, and can
trace the dark matter there. I briefly highlight the history of high spatial
resolution HI imaging, the contribution it made to the dark matter problem, and
the current tension between several dynamical methods to break the disk-halo
degeneracy. I then turn to the flaring problem, which could in principle probe
the shape of the dark halo. Instead, however, a lot of attention is now devoted
to understanding the role of gas accretion via galactic fountains. The current
cold dark matter theory has problems on galactic scales, such as
the core-cusp problem, which can be addressed with HI observations of dwarf
galaxies. For a similar range in rotation velocities, galaxies of type Sd have
thin disks, while those of type Im are much thicker. After a few comments on
modified Newtonian dynamics and on irregular galaxies, I close with statistics
on the HI extent of galaxies.Comment: 38 pages, 17 figures, invited review, book chapter in "Outskirts of
Galaxies", Eds. J. H. Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and
Space Science Library, Springer, in pres
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