9,093 research outputs found
Enhanced Anandamide Plasma Levels in Patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome following Traumatic Injury: A Preliminary Report
The complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a disabling neuropathic pain condition that may develop following injuries of the extremities. The pathogenesis of this syndrome is not clear; however, it includes complex interactions between the nervous and the immune system resulting in chronic inflammation, pain and trophic changes. This interaction may be mediated by chronic stress which is thought to activate the endogenous cannabinoid (endocannabinoid) system (ECS). We conducted an open, prospective, comparative clinical study to determine plasma level of the endocannabinoid anandamide by high-performance liquid chromatography and a tandem mass spectrometry system in 10 patients with CRPS type I versus 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. As compared to healthy controls, CRPS patients showed significantly higher plasma concentrations of anandamide. These results indicate that the peripheral ECS is activated in CRPS. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the role of the ECS in the limitation of inflammation and pain. Copyright (C) 2009 S. Karger AG, Base
Statistically derived contributions of diverse human influences to twentieth-century temperature changes
The warming of the climate system is unequivocal as evidenced by an increase in global temperatures by 0.8 °C over the past century. However, the attribution of the observed warming to human activities remains less clear, particularly because of the apparent slow-down in warming since the late 1990s. Here we analyse radiative forcing and temperature time series with state-of-the-art statistical methods to address this question without climate model simulations. We show that long-term trends in total radiative forcing and temperatures have largely been determined by atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and modulated by other radiative factors. We identify a pronounced increase in the growth rates of both temperatures and radiative forcing around 1960, which marks the onset of sustained global warming. Our analyses also reveal a contribution of human interventions to two periods when global warming slowed down. Our statistical analysis suggests that the reduction in the emissions of ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol, as well as a reduction in methane emissions, contributed to the lower rate of warming since the 1990s. Furthermore, we identify a contribution from the two world wars and the Great Depression to the documented cooling in the mid-twentieth century, through lower carbon dioxide emissions. We conclude that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are effective in slowing the rate of warming in the short term.F.E. acknowledges financial support from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (http://www.conacyt.gob.mx) under grant CONACYT-310026, as well as from PASPA DGAPA of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. (CONACYT-310026 - Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia; PASPA DGAPA of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
Implications of surface noise for the motional coherence of trapped ions
Electric noise from metallic surfaces is a major obstacle towards quantum
applications with trapped ions due to motional heating of the ions. Here, we
discuss how the same noise source can also lead to pure dephasing of motional
quantum states. The mechanism is particularly relevant at small ion-surface
distances, thus imposing a new constraint on trap miniaturization. By means of
a free induction decay experiment, we measure the dephasing time of the motion
of a single ion trapped 50~m above a Cu-Al surface. From the dephasing
times we extract the integrated noise below the secular frequency of the ion.
We find that none of the most commonly discussed surface noise models for ion
traps describes both, the observed heating as well as the measured dephasing,
satisfactorily. Thus, our measurements provide a benchmark for future models
for the electric noise emitted by metallic surfaces.Comment: (5 pages, 4 figures
A burst with double radio spectrum observed up to 212 GHz
We study a solar flare that occurred on September 10, 2002, in active region
NOAA 10105 starting around 14:52 UT and lasting approximately 5 minutes in the
radio range. The event was classified as M2.9 in X-rays and 1N in H\alpha.
Solar Submillimeter Telescope observations, in addition to microwave data give
us a good spectral coverage between 1.415 and 212 GHz. We combine these data
with ultraviolet images, hard and soft X-rays observations and full-disk
magnetograms. Images obtained from Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic
Imaging data are used to identify the locations of X-ray sources at different
energies and to determine the X-ray spectrum, while ultra violet images allow
us to characterize the coronal flaring region. The magnetic field evolution of
the active region is analyzed using Michelson Doppler Imager magnetograms. The
burst is detected at all available radio-frequencies. X-ray images (between 12
keV and 300 keV) reveal two compact sources and 212 GHz data, used to estimate
the radio source position, show a single compact source displaced by 25" from
one of the hard X-ray footpoints. We model the radio spectra using two
homogeneous sources, and combine this analysis with that of hard X-rays to
understand the dynamics of the particles. Relativistic particles, observed at
radio wavelengths above 50 GHz, have an electron index evolving with the
typical soft-hard-soft behaviour.Comment: Submitted to Solar Physics, 20 pages, 8 fugure
A Proof Strategy Language and Proof Script Generation for Isabelle/HOL
We introduce a language, PSL, designed to capture high level proof strategies
in Isabelle/HOL. Given a strategy and a proof obligation, PSL's runtime system
generates and combines various tactics to explore a large search space with low
memory usage. Upon success, PSL generates an efficient proof script, which
bypasses a large part of the proof search. We also present PSL's monadic
interpreter to show that the underlying idea of PSL is transferable to other
ITPs.Comment: This paper has been submitted to CADE2
On the Prior Sensitivity of Thompson Sampling
The empirically successful Thompson Sampling algorithm for stochastic bandits
has drawn much interest in understanding its theoretical properties. One
important benefit of the algorithm is that it allows domain knowledge to be
conveniently encoded as a prior distribution to balance exploration and
exploitation more effectively. While it is generally believed that the
algorithm's regret is low (high) when the prior is good (bad), little is known
about the exact dependence. In this paper, we fully characterize the
algorithm's worst-case dependence of regret on the choice of prior, focusing on
a special yet representative case. These results also provide insights into the
general sensitivity of the algorithm to the choice of priors. In particular,
with being the prior probability mass of the true reward-generating model,
we prove and regret upper bounds for the
bad- and good-prior cases, respectively, as well as \emph{matching} lower
bounds. Our proofs rely on the discovery of a fundamental property of Thompson
Sampling and make heavy use of martingale theory, both of which appear novel in
the literature, to the best of our knowledge.Comment: Appears in the 27th International Conference on Algorithmic Learning
Theory (ALT), 201
Broadband multi-wavelength campaign on PKS 2005-489
The spectral energy distribution (SED) of high-frequency peaked BL Lac
objects (HBL) is characterized by two peaks: one in the UV-X-ray and one in the
GeV-TeV regime. An interesting object for analyzing these broadband
characteristics is PKS 2005-489, which in 2004 showed the softest TeV spectrum
ever measured. In 2009, a multi-wavelength campaign has been conducted with,
for the first time, simultaneous observations by H.E.S.S. (TeV), Fermi/LAT
(GeV), RXTE (keV), Swift (keV, UV, optical) and ATOM (optical) to cover the two
peaks of the SED. During this campaign PKS 2005-489 underwent a high state in
all wavebands which gives the opportunity to study in detail the emission
processes of a high state of this interesting HBL.Comment: 2009 Fermi Symposium; eConf Proceedings C09112
Parkinson's Law Quantified: Three Investigations on Bureaucratic Inefficiency
We formulate three famous, descriptive essays of C.N. Parkinson on
bureaucratic inefficiency in a quantifiable and dynamical socio-physical
framework. In the first model we show how the use of recent opinion formation
models for small groups can be used to understand Parkinson's observation that
decision making bodies such as cabinets or boards become highly inefficient
once their size exceeds a critical 'Coefficient of Inefficiency', typically
around 20. A second observation of Parkinson - which is sometimes referred to
as Parkinson's Law - is that the growth of bureaucratic or administrative
bodies usually goes hand in hand with a drastic decrease of its overall
efficiency. In our second model we view a bureaucratic body as a system of a
flow of workers, which enter, become promoted to various internal levels within
the system over time, and leave the system after having served for a certain
time. Promotion usually is associated with an increase of subordinates. Within
the proposed model it becomes possible to work out the phase diagram under
which conditions bureaucratic growth can be confined. In our last model we
assign individual efficiency curves to workers throughout their life in
administration, and compute the optimum time to send them to old age pension,
in order to ensure a maximum of efficiency within the body - in Parkinson's
words we compute the 'Pension Point'.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Classifying Subset Feedback Vertex Set for H-free graphs
In the FEEDBACK VERTEX SET problem, we aim to find a small set S of vertices in a graph intersecting every cycle. The SUBSET FEEDBACK VERTEX SET problem requires S to intersect only those cycles that include a vertex of some specified set T. We also consider the WEIGHTED SUBSET FEEDBACK VERTEX SET problem, where each vertex u has weight w(u)>0 and we ask that S has small weight. By combining known NP-hardness results with new polynomial-time results we prove full complexity dichotomies for SUBSET FEEDBACK VERTEX SET and WEIGHTED SUBSET FEEDBACK VERTEX SET for H-free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain a graph H as an induced subgraph
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