Geostrophic adjustment in an axisymmetric vortex

November 1979.Includes bibliographical references.Supported by Global Atmospheric Research Program, National Science Foundation, and the GATE Project Office, NOAA ATM-7808125

Curved dilatonic brane-worlds and the cosmological constant problem

We construct a model for dilatonic brane worlds with constant curvature on the brane, i.e. a non-zero four-dimensional cosmological constant, given in function of the dilaton coupling and the cosmological constant of the bulk. We compare this family of solutions to other known dilatonic domain wall solutions and apply a self-tunning mechanism to check the stability of our solutions under quantum fluctuations living on the brane.Comment: latex, 6 pages. (v2): considerable changes in the conclusion. (v3): added new discussion on the solutions and some references; version to appear in CQ

Optimism on quality of life in Portuguese chronic patients: moderator/mediator?

OBJECTIVE: optimism is an important variable that has consistently been shown to affect adjustment to quality of life in chronic diseases. This study aims to clarify if dispositional optimism exerts a moderating or a mediating influence on the personality traits-quality of life association, in Portuguese chronic patients. METHODS: multiple regression models were used to test the moderation and mediation effects of dispositional optimism in quality of life. A sample of 729 patients was recruited in Portugal's main hospitals and completed self-reported questionnaires assessing socio-demographic and clinical variables, personality, dispositional optimism, quality of life (QoL) and subjective well-being (SWB). RESULTS: the results of the regression models showed that dispositional optimism did not moderate the relationships between personality traits and quality of life. After controlling for gender, age, education level and severity of disease perception, the effects of personality traits on QoL and in SWB were mediated by dispositional optimism (partially and completely), except for the links between neuroticism/openness to experience and physical health. CONCLUSION: dispositional optimism is more likely to play a mediating, rather than a moderating role in personality traits-quality of life pathway in Portuguese chronic patients, suggesting that "the expectation that good things will happen" contributes to a better quality of life and subjective well-being

3D digital breast cancer models with multimodal fusion algorithms

Breast cancer image fusion consists of registering and visualizing different sets of a patient synchronized torso and radiological images into a 3D model. Breast spatial interpretation and visualization by the treating physician can be augmented with a patient-specific digital breast model that integrates radiological images. But the absence of a ground truth for a good correlation between surface and radiological information has impaired the development of potential clinical applications. A new image acquisition protocol was designed to acquire breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and 3D surface scan data with surface markers on the patient's breasts and torso. A patient-specific digital breast model integrating the real breast torso and the tumor location was created and validated with a MRI/3D surface scan fusion algorithm in 16 breast cancer patients. This protocol was used to quantify breast shape differences between different modalities, and to measure the target registration error of several variants of the MRI/3D scan fusion algorithm. The fusion of single breasts without the biomechanical model of pose transformation had acceptable registration errors and accurate tumor locations. The performance of the fusion algorithm was not affected by breast volume. Further research and virtual clinical interfaces could lead to fast integration of this fusion technology into clinical practice.publishersversionpublishe

Rational foundation of GR in terms of statistical mechanic in the AdS/CFT framework

In this article, we work out the microscopic statistical foundation of the supergravity description of the simplest 1/2 BPS sector in the AdS(5)/CFT(4). Then, all the corresponding supergravity observables are related to thermodynamical observables, and General Relativity is understood as a mean-field theory. In particular, and as an example, the Superstar is studied and its thermodynamical properties clarified.Comment: 13 pages, 6 eps figures, latex, some improvements introduced, reference added, typos correcte

Facing Erosion Identification in Railway Lines Using Pixel-wise Deep-based Approaches

Soil erosion is considered one of the most expensive natural hazards with a high impact on several infrastructure assets. Among them, railway lines are one of the most likely constructions for the appearance of erosion and, consequently, one of the most troublesome due to the maintenance costs, risks of derailments, and so on. Therefore, it is fundamental to identify and monitor erosion in railway lines to prevent major consequences. Currently, erosion identification is manually performed by humans using huge image sets, a time-consuming and slow task. Hence, automatic machine learning methods appear as an appealing alternative. A crucial step for automatic erosion identification is to create a good feature representation. Towards such objective, deep learning can learn data-driven features and classifiers. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning-based framework capable of performing erosion identification in railway lines. Six techniques were evaluated and the best one, Dynamic Dilated ConvNet, was integrated into this framework that was then encapsulated into a new ArcGIS plugin to facilitate its use by non-programmer users. To analyze such techniques, we also propose a new dataset, composed of almost 2,000 high-resolution images

Multi giant graviton systems, SUSY breaking and CFT

In this article, we describe giant gravitons in AdS_5 x S^5 moving along generic trajectories in AdS_5. The giant graviton dynamics is solved by proving that the D3-brane effective action reduces to that of a massive point particle in AdS_5 and therefore the solutions are in one to one correspondence with timelike geodesics of AdS_5. All these configurations are related via isometries of the background, which induce target space symmetries in the world volume theory of the D-brane. Hence, all these configurations preserve the same amount of supersymmetry as the original giant graviton, i.e. half of the maximal supersymmetry. Multiparticle configurations of two or more giant gravitons are also considered. In particular, a binary system preserving one quarter of the supersymmetries is found, providing a non trivial time-dependent supersymmetric solution. A short study on the dual CFT description of all the above states is given, including a derivation of the exact induced isometry map in the CFT side of the correspondence.Comment: latex, 27+1 pages. v2: comment on mixing of states in section 4.3 added, reference added, typos corrected, final versio

Chromosomal disorders and male infertility

Male factor infertility is considered a complex disorder with a largely unknown etiology that affects about 7% of men. In general, genetic abnormalities account for 15%-30% of condition and Y chromosome microdeletions are also frequent. The study, based on our casuistic, aimed at contributing to a better understanding of the genetic causes of infertility. A group of 410 idiopathic infertile men with non-obstructive azoospermia, oligozoospermia, or unknown semen quality (based on clinical evaluation and/or sperm counts) was retrospectively selected. Conventional karyotype was performed in all samples; Y microdeletion screen was performed in 247 samples. Forty two abnormal karyotypes (10.2%) were found, indicating an elevated frequency of chromosome abnormalities among the selected infertile men, as compared to that of newborn populations (≈0.4%). This frequency is higher than that reported in most similar studies that pointed to frequencies ranging from 2.2%-14.3%. Klinefelter´s syndrome was the most common chromosome disorder (4.9%). There were 18 cases with 47,XXY karyotype and 2 cases of mosaicism involving lines 47,XXY and 46,XY. Reciprocal translocations were identified in 10 cases (2.4%), particularly in men with unknown semen quality. Overall, reciprocal translocations have been found in approximately 1% of the infertile men and more commonly in azoospermics than in oligozoospermics. However, this type of association was not found in the present study. On the other hand, Y microdeletions were identified in 16/247 cases (6.5%), more frequently in azoospermics (13.3%, corresponding to 8/60 azoospermics). Among these 8 cases, 7 presented deletions at the AZFc region. The marked presence of chromosomal abnormalities and Y microdeletions enphasizes the relevance of studying both factors in infertile men to improve genetic counseling, to allow the development of appropriate therapies, and to expand the knowledge about the ethiology of male infertility