Very low scale Coleman-Weinberg inflation with non-minimal coupling

We study viable small-field Coleman-Weinberg (CW) inflation models with the help of non-minimal coupling to gravity. The simplest small-field CW inflation model (with a low-scale potential minimum) is incompatible with the cosmological constraint on the scalar spectral index. However, there are possibilities to make the model realistic. First, we revisit the CW inflation model supplemented with a linear potential term. We next consider the CW inflation model with a logarithmic non-minimal coupling and illustrate that the model can open a new viable parameter space that includes the model with a linear potential term. We also show parameter spaces where the Hubble scale during the inflation can be as small as $10^{-4}$ GeV, $1$ GeV, $10^4$ GeV, and $10^8$ GeV for the number of $e$-folds of $40,~45,~50$, and $55$, respectively, with other cosmological constraints being satisfied.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, published versio

Vascular changes in the rat brain during chronic hypoxia in the presence and absence of hypercapnia.

Changes in brain vascularity in adult rats during adaptation to chronic normobaric hypoxia with or without elevated CO(2) were morphometrically investigated. Immunohistochemistry with anti-rat endothelial cell antigen (RECA-1) antibody was carried out for the vascular analysis. After the rats were subjected to hypoxia for 2 to 8 weeks (wks)(10 percent O(2) in N(2)), the total area of blood vessels was measured in 6 brain regions. After 2 wks of hypoxia, the blood vessel area was found to be significantly increased in the frontal cortex, striatum, hippocampus, thalamus, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata, by 44% , 96% , 65% , 50% , 102% and 97% , respectively. The ratio of large vessels with an area &#62; 500 micro m(2) was also increased in all brain regions. Hypoxic adaptation in brain vascularity did not change during 8 wks of hypoxia, and the hypoxia-induced levels measured in the vasculature returned to control levels 2 wks after the termination of hypoxia in areas of the brain other than the cortex and thalamus. In addition, hypoxia-induced changes in terms of the total vascular area and vessel size distribution were significantly inhibited by the elevation in CO(2), whereas chronic hypercapnia without hypoxia had no effect on brain vascularity. These findings suggested that adaptations in brain vascularity in response to hypoxia are rapidly induced, and there are regional differences in the reversibility of such vascular changes. Carbon dioxide is a potent suppressor of hypoxia-induced vascular changes, and may play an important role in vascular remodeling during the process of adaptation to chronic hypoxia.</p

A Note on Commutative Gelfand Theory for Real Banach Algebras

Pfaffenberger and Phillips [2] consider a real and unital case of the classical commutative Gelfand theorem and obtain two representation theorems. One is to represent a unital real commutative Banach algebra A as an algebra of continuous functions on the unital homomorphism space &#934;A. The other is to represent A as an algebra of continuous sections on the maximal ideal space MA. In this note, we point out that similar theorems for non-unital case hold and show that two representation theorems are essentially identical.</p

"Fuzzy front end" practices in innovating Japanese companies

In this paper, we report on the results of a large-scale study about typical front-end-related innovation practices in 553 Japanese mechanical and electrical engineering companies. We explore typical activities concerning the generation and assessment of new product ideas, the reduction of technological as well as market uncertainty and front end planning. Finally, we report on differences between successful and unsuccessful companies. Our study confirms earlier findings about the frequent use of creativity techniques in Japan during the process of idea generation. We also find companies to intensively involve upper management and customers into NPD projects. While integrating upper management is of vital importance for assessing new product ideas, integrating customers and users is primarily used to developing product ideas and concepts. We further find evidence that successful companies integrate their customers more frequently in the process of developing and assessing new product ideas than non successful companies. In addition, the former integrate customer requirements into their product definitions more often and also translate these requirements into technical specifications more frequently than non-successful companies. Finally, successful companies more often systematically plan a project prior to its start than unsuccessful ones. --New product development,Japanese firms,planning,success innovation

Guided Lock of a Suspended Optical Cavity Enhanced by a Higher Order Extrapolation

Lock acquisition of a suspended optical cavity can be a highly stochastic process and is therefore nontrivial. Guided lock is a method to make lock acquisition less stochastic by decelerating the motion of the cavity length based on an extrapolation of the motion from an instantaneous velocity measurement. We propose an improved scheme which is less susceptible to seismic disturbances by incorporating the acceleration as a higher order correction in the extrapolation. We implemented the new scheme in a 300-m suspended Fabry-Perot cavity and improved the success rate of lock acquisition by a factor of 30

Plural growth factors in the supernatant of embryos and adult muscles of chickens

An attempt was made to isolate the cell proliferation stimulation factors in the supernatant of embryo carcases and adult muscles of chickens. Evidence was obtained for the presence of at least two or more stimulating factors in both the embryonic and adult muscular supernatants. These factors did not require a supplement of sera or other supporting agents. Furthermore, the use of the salting-out method with ammonium sulfate revealed two or more growth stimulants in the supernatant of chick cells.</p