Can a charged dust ball be sent through the Reissner--Nordstr\"{o}m wormhole?

In a previous paper we formulated a set of necessary conditions for the spherically symmetric weakly charged dust to avoid Big Bang/Big Crunch, shell crossing and permanent central singularities. However, we did not discuss the properties of the energy density, some of which are surprising and seem not to have been known up to now. A singularity of infinite energy density does exist -- it is a point singularity situated on the world line of the center of symmetry. The condition that no mass shell collapses to $R = 0$ if it had $R > 0$ initially thus turns out to be still insufficient for avoiding a singularity. Moreover, at the singularity the energy density $\epsilon$ is direction-dependent: $\epsilon \to - \infty$ when we approach the singular point along a $t =$ const hypersurface and $\epsilon \to + \infty$ when we approach that point along the center of symmetry. The appearance of negative-energy-density regions turns out to be inevitable. We discuss various aspects of this property of our configuration. We also show that a permanently pulsating configuration, with the period of pulsation independent of mass, is possible only if there exists a permanent central singularity.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures; several corrections after referee's comments, 4 figures modifie

Oral health in kwaZulu. A pathfinder survey

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On the Geroch-Traschen class of metrics

We compare two approaches to semi-Riemannian metrics of low regularity. The maximally 'reasonable' distributional setting of Geroch and Traschen is shown to be consistently contained in the more general setting of nonlinear distributional geometry in the sense of Colombea

Effects of the glial modulator palmitoylethanolamide on chronic pain intensity and brain function.

Background: Chronic neuropathic pain (NP) is a complex disease that results from damage or presumed damage to the somatosensory nervous system. Current treatment regimens are often ineffective. The major impediment in developing effective treatments is our limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Preclinical evidence suggests that glial changes are crucial for the development of NP and a recent study reported oscillatory activity differences within the ascending pain pathway at frequencies similar to that of cyclic gliotransmission in NP. Furthermore, there is evidence that glial modifying medications may be effective in treating NP. The aim of this Phase I open-label clinical trial is to determine whether glial modifying medication palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) will reduce NP and whether this is associated with reductions in oscillatory activity within the pain pathway. Methods: We investigated whether 6 weeks of PEA treatment would reduce pain and infra-slow oscillatory activity within the ascending trigeminal pathway in 22 individuals (17 females) with chronic orofacial NP. Results: PEA reduced pain in 16 (73%) of the 22 subjects, 11 subjects showed pain reduction of over 20%. Whilst both the responders and non-responders showed reductions in infra-slow oscillatory activity where orofacial nociceptor afferents terminate in the brainstem, only responders displayed reductions in the thalamus. Furthermore, functional connections between the brainstem and thalamus were altered only in responders. Conclusion: PEA is effective at relieving NP. This reduction is coupled to a reduction in resting oscillations along the ascending pain pathway that are likely driven by rhythmic astrocytic gliotransmission

High-field Zeeman effect of shallow acceptors in germanium

Zeeman absorption spectra have been obtained for B and Ga in Ge for B∥〈100〉 in the Voigt configuration with plane-polarized radiation. All twelve allowed transitions were observed for both the G and D lines. The corresponding excited states of these two lines for both impurities behave identically; two recent theoretical results are in good agreement. The measurements are a sensitive probe of the ground states; there are differences between the behavior of these for the two acceptors

Cuando la vida anduvo errática: Un factor ambiental para la biomineralización de metazoos

The sudden appearance of biomineralized metazoans in limestone facies of the Pockenbank Member (Namibia) appears to reflect a rapid change of redox state, calcium concentration and alkalinity of the ocean. The coupling of a major biological innovation with the end of a profound carbon isotope excursion supports the view that the Shuram was a tectonic and oceanographic phenomenon, as opposed to a global diagenetic conspiracy. The temporal concordance of these profound events as preserved in strata from southern Namibia may thus be considered as exceptional geological markers for the base of the terminal Ediacaran.La repentina aparición de metazoos biomineralizados en las facies calcáreas del Miembro de Pockenbank (Namibia) parece reflejar un rápido cambio en el estado redox, la concentración de calcio y la alcalinidad del océano. La combinación de una importante innovación biológica con el final de una profunda excursión de isótopos de carbono respalda la idea de que la anomalía Shuram fue un fenómeno tectónico y oceanográfico, en contraposición a una “conspiración” diagenética mundial. La concordancia temporal de estos profundos acontecimientos, tal como se conservan en los estratos de Namibia meridional puede considerarse, por tanto, como marcadores geológicos excepcionales para la base del Ediacárico terminal