Inflation in R2R^2 supergravity with non-minimal superpotentials

We investigate the cosmological inflation in a class of supergravity models that are generalizations of non-supersymmetric $R^2$ models. Although such models have been extensively studied recently, especially after the launch of the PLANCK and BICEP2 data, the class of models that can be constructed has not been exhausted. In this note, working in a supergravity model that is a generalization of Cecotti's model, we show that the appearance of new superpotential terms, which are quadratic in the superfield $\, \Lambda$ that couples to the Ricci supermultiplet, alters substantially the form of the scalar potential. The arising potential has the form of the Starobinsky potential times a factor that is exponential in the inflaton field and dominates for large inflaton values. We show that the well-known Starobinsky inflation scenario is maintained only for unnaturally small fine-tuned values of the coupling describing the $\Lambda^2$ superpotential terms. A welcome feature is the possible increase of the tensor to scalar ratio $r$, within the limits set by the new Planck and BICEP2 data.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, text and references added, version submitted to Phys. Lett.

GIS as an educational tool: Mapping cultural sites in greek space-time

Το θέμα της παρούσας εργασίας είναι η χαρτογραφική παρουσίαση της πολιτιστικής διαδοχής στον ελληνικό χωρο-χρόνο που σχετίζεται με βασικές έννοιες της γεωγραφικής και ιστορικής εκπαίδευσης. Η παιδαγωγική αξία της μελέτης είναι η ανάπτυξη πέντε διακριτών δεξιότητων: της έννοιας του χρόνου-κλίμακας, της ιστορικής και γεωγραφικής κατανόησης, της χωρικής ανάλυσης και ερμηνείας, της ικανότητας διεξαγωγής γεω-ιστορικής έρευνας, και της γεω-ιστορικής διαδικασίας λήψης αποφάσεων. Η μεθοδολογία βασίζεται στη βαθμονόμηση μιας σειράς κριτηρίων για κάθε πολιτιστική περιοχή που καλύπτει τα θέματα της οικονομίας, της γεωμορφολογίας, της κοινωνίας των πολιτών, της θρησκείας, της τέχνης και της επιστήμης. Η περαιτέρω ανάλυση αυτών των δεδομένων οδηγεί στη δημιουργία μιας γεω-βάσης. Οι παλαιογεωγραφικοί και ιστορικοί χάρτες των πολιτιστικών χώρων που προέρχονται από την γεωβάση παρέχουν πληροφορίες σχετικά με τις χρονικές και χωρικές μεταβολές. Ως αποτέλεσμα, οι μαθητές θα είναι σε θέση να αναπτύξουν μια πολυδιάστατη και διεπιστημονική προσέγγιση, προκειμένου να ανακατασκευάσουν την εξέλιξη του τόπου.This paper deals with the cartographical presentation of cultural succession in Greek space-time associated with core concepts of geographic and historical education. The pedagogic value of this study is to develop five distinct skills: sense of time-scale, historical and geographic comprehension, spatial analysis and interpretation, ability to perform geo-historical research, and procedure of geohistorical decision-making. The methodology is based on the calibration of a set of criteria for each cultural site that covers the topics of economy, geomorphology, society, religion, art and science. Further analysis of these data forms a geodatabase. In addition, palaeogeographic and historical maps of the cultural sites derived by the geodatabase provide information about temporal and spatial changes. As result, students will be able to develop a multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach, in order to reconstruct the evolution of the site

OnTheFly: a tool for automated document-based text annotation, data linking and network generation

OnTheFly is a web-based application that applies biological named entity recognition to enrich Microsoft Office, PDF and plain text documents. The input files are converted into the HTML format and then sent to the Reflect tagging server, which highlights biological entity names like genes, proteins and chemicals, and attaches to them JavaScript code to invoke a summary pop-up window. The window provides an overview of relevant information about the entity, such as a protein description, the domain composition, a link to the 3D structure and links to other relevant online resources. OnTheFly is also able to extract the bioentities mentioned in a set of files and to produce a graphical representation of the networks of the known and predicted associations of these entities by retrieving the information from the STITCH database

Arena3D: visualization of biological networks in 3D

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Complexity is a key problem when visualizing biological networks; as the number of entities increases, most graphical views become incomprehensible. Our goal is to enable many thousands of entities to be visualized meaningfully and with high performance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present a new visualization tool, Arena3D, which introduces a new concept of staggered layers in 3D space. Related data – such as proteins, chemicals, or pathways – can be grouped onto separate layers and arranged via layout algorithms, such as Fruchterman-Reingold, distance geometry, and a novel hierarchical layout. Data on a layer can be clustered via k-means, affinity propagation, Markov clustering, neighbor joining, tree clustering, or UPGMA ('unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean'). A simple input format defines the name and URL for each node, and defines connections or similarity scores between pairs of nodes. The use of Arena3D is illustrated with datasets related to Huntington's disease.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Arena3D is a user friendly visualization tool that is able to visualize biological or any other network in 3D space. It is free for academic use and runs on any platform. It can be downloaded or lunched directly from <url>http://arena3d.org</url>. Java3D library and Java 1.5 need to be pre-installed for the software to run.</p

Strong rescattering in K-> 3pi decays and low-energy meson dynamics

We present a consistent analysis of final state interactions in ${K\rightarrow 3\pi}$ decays in the framework of Chiral Perturbation Theory. The result is that the kinematical dependence of the rescattering phases cannot be neglected. The possibility of extracting the phase shifts from future $K_S-K_L$ interference experiments is also analyzed.Comment: 14 pages in RevTex, 3 figures in postscrip

jClust: a clustering and visualization toolbox

jClust is a user-friendly application which provides access to a set of widely used clustering and clique finding algorithms. The toolbox allows a range of filtering procedures to be applied and is combined with an advanced implementation of the Medusa interactive visualization module. These implemented algorithms are k-Means, Affinity propagation, Bron–Kerbosch, MULIC, Restricted neighborhood search cluster algorithm, Markov clustering and Spectral clustering, while the supported filtering procedures are haircut, outside–inside, best neighbors and density control operations. The combination of a simple input file format, a set of clustering and filtering algorithms linked together with the visualization tool provides a powerful tool for data analysis and information extraction

Kaon decay interferometry as meson dynamics probes

We discuss the time dependent interferences between $K_L$ and $K_S$ in the decays in $3\pi$ and $\pi\pi\gamma$, to be studied at interferometry machines such as the $\phi$-factory and LEAR. We emphasize the possibilities and the advantages of using interferences, in comparison with width measurements, to obtain information both on $CP$ conserving and $CP$ violating amplitudes. Comparison with present data and suggestions for future experiments are made.Comment: 15 pages, in RevTex, Report INFNNA-IV-93-31, UTS-DFT-93-2

LAITOR - Literature Assistant for Identification of Terms co-Occurrences and Relationships

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Biological knowledge is represented in scientific literature that often describes the function of genes/proteins (bioentities) in terms of their interactions (biointeractions). Such bioentities are often related to biological concepts of interest that are specific of a determined research field. Therefore, the study of the current literature about a selected topic deposited in public databases, facilitates the generation of novel hypotheses associating a set of bioentities to a common context.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We created a text mining system (LAITOR: <it><b>L</b>iterature <b>A</b>ssistant for <b>I</b>dentification of <b>T</b>erms co-<b>O</b>ccurrences and <b>R</b>elationships</it>) that analyses co-occurrences of bioentities, biointeractions, and other biological terms in MEDLINE abstracts. The method accounts for the position of the co-occurring terms within sentences or abstracts. The system detected abstracts mentioning protein-protein interactions in a standard test (BioCreative II IAS test data) with a precision of 0.82-0.89 and a recall of 0.48-0.70. We illustrate the application of LAITOR to the detection of plant response genes in a dataset of 1000 abstracts relevant to the topic.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Text mining tools combining the extraction of interacting bioentities and biological concepts with network displays can be helpful in developing reasonable hypotheses in different scientific backgrounds.</p