18,993 research outputs found
Novel self-assembled morphologies from isotropic interactions
We present results from particle simulations with isotropic medium range
interactions in two dimensions. At low temperature novel types of aggregated
structures appear. We show that these structures can be explained by
spontaneous symmetry breaking in analytic solutions to an adaptation of the
spherical spin model. We predict the critical particle number where the
symmetry breaking occurs and show that the resulting phase diagram agrees well
with results from particle simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Stellar properties of z ~ 1 Lyman-break galaxies from ACS slitless grism spectra
Lyman-break galaxies are now regularly found in the high redshift Universe by
searching for the break in the galaxy spectrum caused by the Lyman-limit
redshifted into the optical or even near-IR. At lower redshift, this break is
covered by the GALEX UV channels and small samples of z ~ 1 LBGs have been
presented in the literature. Here we give results from fitting the spectral
energy distributions of a small sub-set of low redshift LBGs and demonstrate
the advantage of including photometric points derived from HST ACS slitless
grism observations. The results show these galaxies to have very young, star
forming populations, while still being massive and dusty. LBGs at low and high
redshift show remarkable similarities in their properties, indicating that the
LBG selection method picks similar galaxies throughout the Universe.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted in A&
Rotational Bands and Electromagnetic Transitions of some even-even Neodymium Nuclei in J-Projected Hartree-Fock Model
Rotational structures of even-even Nd nuclei are studied with the
self-consistent deformed Hartree-Fock (HF) and angular momentum (J) projection
model. Spectra of ground band, recently observed , and a few
more excited, positive and negative parity bands have been studied upto high
spin values. Apart from these detailed electromagnetic properties (like E2, M1
matrix elements) of all the bands have been obtained. There is substantial
agreement between our model calculations and available experimental data.
Predictions are made about the band structures and electromagnetic properties
of these nuclei. Some 4-qasiparticle K-isomeric bands and their electromagnetic
properties are predicted.Comment: 20 page
The comprehensive cohort model in a pilot trial in orthopaedic trauma
Background: The primary aim of this study was to provide an estimate of effect size for the functional outcome of
operative versus non-operative treatment for patients with an acute rupture of the Achilles tendon using
accelerated rehabilitation for both groups of patients. The secondary aim was to assess the use of a
comprehensive cohort research design (i.e. a parallel patient-preference group alongside a randomised group) in
improving the accuracy of this estimate within an orthopaedic trauma setting.
Methods: Pragmatic randomised controlled trial and comprehensive cohort study within a level 1 trauma centre.
Twenty randomised participants (10 operative and 10 non-operative) and 29 preference participants (3 operative
and 26 non-operative). The ge range was 22-72 years and 37 of the 52 patients were men. All participants had an
acute rupture of their Achilles tendon and no other injuries. All of the patients in the operative group had a simple
end-to-end repair of the tendon with no augmentation. Both groups then followed the same eight-week
immediate weight-bearing rehabilitation programme using an off-the-shelf orthotic. The disability rating index (DRI;
primary outcome), EQ-5D, Achilles Total Rupture Score and complications were assessed ed at two weeks, six
weeks, three months, six months and nine months after initial injury.
Results: At nine months, there was no significant difference in DRI between patients randomised to operative or
non-operative management. There was no difference in DRI between the randomised group and the parallel
patient preference group. The use of a comprehensive cohort of patients did not provide useful additional
information as to the treatment effect size because the majority of patients chose non-operative management.
Conclusions: Recruitment to clinical trials that compare operative and non-operative interventions is notoriously
difficult; especially within the trauma setting. Including a parallel patient preference group to create a
comprehensive cohort of patients has been suggested as a way of increasing the power of such trials. In our
study, the comprehensive cohort model doubled the number of patients involved in the study. However, a strong
preference for non-operative treatment meant that the increased number of patients did not significantly increase
the ability of the trial to detect a difference between the two interventions
Relativistic Compact Objects in Isotropic Coordinates
We present a matrix method for obtaining new classes of exact solutions for
Einstein's equations representing static perfect fluid spheres. By means of a
matrix transformation, we reduce Einstein's equations to two independent
Riccati type differential equations for which three classes of solutions are
obtained. One class of the solutions corresponding to the linear barotropic
type fluid with an equation of state is discussed in detail.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in Pramana-Journal of
Physic
The nature of close companions of the BL Lac Objects 1ES 0502+675 and 1ES 1440+122
We report on deep radio images and optical spectroscopy of two BL Lac objects
that have very close compact companions. The two targets, 1ES 0502+675 and 1ES
1440+122, were selected from the HST imaging survey of 110 BL Lacs as
candidates for possible gravitational lensing. The new observations clearly
demonstrate that the companion objects are not secondary images of the active
nuclei but, in spite of the relatively low chance projection probability,
foreground Galactic stars. Gravitational lensing appears to be unimportant to
the BL Lac phenomenon. We discuss the radio properties of the BL Lac objects in
the context of standard beaming models, and show they are as expected for
beamed FRI radio galaxies.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, ApJ in pres
A First Comparison of the responses of a He4-based fast-neutron detector and a NE-213 liquid-scintillator reference detector
A first comparison has been made between the pulse-shape discrimination
characteristics of a novel He-based pressurized scintillation detector
and a NE-213 liquid-scintillator reference detector using an Am/Be mixed-field
neutron and gamma-ray source and a high-resolution scintillation-pulse
digitizer. In particular, the capabilities of the two fast neutron detectors to
discriminate between neutrons and gamma-rays were investigated. The NE-213
liquid-scintillator reference cell produced a wide range of scintillation-light
yields in response to the gamma-ray field of the source. In stark contrast, due
to the size and pressure of the He gas volume, the He-based
detector registered a maximum scintillation-light yield of 750~keV to
the same gamma-ray field. Pulse-shape discrimination for particles with
scintillation-light yields of more than 750~keV was excellent in the
case of the He-based detector. Above 750~keV its signal was
unambiguously neutron, enabling particle identification based entirely upon the
amount of scintillation light produced.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section A review addresse
Phenotypic and transcriptomic acclimation of the green microalga Raphidocelis subcapitata to high environmental levels of the herbicide diflufenican
Herbicide pollution poses a worldwide threat to plants and freshwater ecosystems. However, the understanding of how organisms develop tolerance to these chemicals and the associated trade-off expenses are largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the physiological and transcriptional mechanisms underlying the acclimation of the green microalgal model species Raphidocelis subcapitata (Selenastraceae) towards the herbicide diflufenican, and the fitness costs associated with tolerance development. Algae were exposed for 12 weeks (corresponding to 100 generations) to diflufenican at the two environmental concentrations 10 and 310 ng/L. The monitoring of growth, pigment composition, and photosynthetic performance throughout the experiment revealed an initial dose-dependent stress phase (week 1) with an EC50 of 397 ng/L, followed by a time-dependent recovery phase during weeks 2 to 4. After week 4, R. subcapitata was acclimated to diflufenican exposure with a similar growth rate, content of carotenoids, and photosynthetic performance as the unexposed control algae. This acclimation state of the algae was explored in terms of tolerance acquisition, changes in the fatty acids composition, diflufenican removal rate, cell size, and changes in mRNA gene expression profile, revealing potential fitness costs associated with acclimation, such as up-regulation of genes related to cell division, structure, morphology, and reduction of cell size. Overall, this study demonstrates that R. subcapitata can quickly acclimate to environmental but toxic levels of diflufenican; however, the acclimation is associated with trade-off expenses that result in smaller cell size
Does the Isotropy of the CMB Imply a Homogeneous Universe? Some Generalised EGS Theorems
We demonstrate that the high isotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB), combined with the Copernican principle, is not sufficient to prove
homogeneity of the universe -- in contrast to previous results on this subject.
The crucial additional factor not included in earlier work is the acceleration
of the fundamental observers. We find the complete class of irrotational
perfect fluid spacetimes admitting an exactly isotropic radiation field for
every fundamental observer and show that are FLRW if and only if the
acceleration is zero. While inhomogeneous in general, these spacetimes all
possess three-dimensional symmetry groups, from which it follows that they also
admit a thermodynamic interpretation. In addition to perfect fluids models we
also consider multi-component fluids containing non-interacting radiation, dust
and a quintessential scalar field or cosmological constant in which the
radiation is isotropic for the geodesic (dust) observers. It is shown that the
non-acceleration of the fundamental observers forces these spacetimes to be
FLRW. While it is plausible that fundamental observers (galaxies) in the real
universe follow geodesics, it is strictly necessary to determine this from
local observations for the cosmological principle to be more than an
assumption. We discuss how observations may be used to test this.Comment: replaced with final version. Added discusion and ref
Transmission through a biased graphene bilayer barrier
We study the electronic transmission through a graphene bilayer in the
presence of an applied bias between layers. We consider different geometries
involving interfaces between both a monolayer and a bilayer and between two
bilayers. The applied bias opens a sizable gap in the spectrum inside the
bilayer barrier region, thus leading to large changes in the transmission
probability and electronic conductance that are controlled by the applied bias.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, extended versio
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