A Discussion on Dirac Field Theory, No-Go Theorems and Renormalizability

We study Dirac field equations coupled to electrodynamics with metric and torsion fields: we discuss how special spinorial solutions are incompatible with torsion; eventually these results will be used to sketch a discussion on the problem of renormalizability of point-like particles.Comment: 10 page

Analysis of Space Station Centrifuge Rotor Bearing Systems: A Case Study

A team of NASA bearing and lubrication experts was assembled to assess the risk for the rolling-element bearings used in the International Space Station (ISS) centrifuge rotor (CR) to seize or otherwise fail to survive for the required 10-year life. The CR was designed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and their subcontractor, NEC Toshiba Space Systems, Ltd. (NTSpace). The NASA team performed a design audit for the most critical rolling-element bearing systems and reviewed the lubricant selected. There is uncertainty regarding the ability of the Braycote 601 grease (Castrol Limited) to reliably provide the 10-year continuous life required without relubrication of the system. The fatigue life of the Rotor Shaft Assembly (RSA) spring loaded face-to-face mount at a 99-percent probability of survival (L1 life) for the ball bearing set was estimated at 700 million hours and the single ball bearing (Row 3) at 58 million hours. These lives satisfy the mission requirements for fatigue. Rolling-element seizure tests on the RSA and fluid slip joint bearings were found unlikely to stop the centrifuge, which can cause damage to the ISS structure. The spin motor encoder duplex angular-contact ball bearings have a hard preload and a large number of small balls have the highest risk of failure. These bearings were not tested for seizure even though they are less tolerant to debris or internal clearance reductions

Modified gravity and its reconstruction from the universe expansion history

We develop the reconstruction program for the number of modified gravities: scalar-tensor theory, $f(R)$, $F(G)$ and string-inspired, scalar-Gauss-Bonnet gravity. The known (classical) universe expansion history is used for the explicit and successful reconstruction of some versions (of special form or with specific potentials) from all above modified gravities. It is demonstrated that cosmological sequence of matter dominance, decceleration-acceleration transition and acceleration era may always emerge as cosmological solutions of such theory. Moreover, the late-time dark energy FRW universe may have the approximate or exact $\Lambda$CDM form consistent with three years WMAP data. The principal possibility to extend this reconstruction scheme to include the radiation dominated era and inflation is briefly mentioned. Finally, it is indicated how even modified gravity which does not describe the matter-dominated epoch may have such a solution before acceleration era at the price of the introduction of compensating dark energy.Comment: LaTeX file, 24 pages, no figure, prepared for the proceedings of ERE 2006, minor correction

Injured adult motor and sensory axons regenerate into appropriate organotypic domains of neural progenitor grafts.

Neural progenitor cell (NPC) transplantation has high therapeutic potential in neurological disorders. Functional restoration may depend on the formation of reciprocal connections between host and graft. While it has been reported that axons extending out of neural grafts in the brain form contacts onto phenotypically appropriate host target regions, it is not known whether adult, injured host axons regenerating into NPC grafts also form appropriate connections. We report that spinal cord NPCs grafted into the injured adult rat spinal cord self-assemble organotypic, dorsal horn-like domains. These clusters are extensively innervated by regenerating adult host sensory axons and are avoided by corticospinal axons. Moreover, host axon regeneration into grafts increases significantly after enrichment with appropriate neuronal targets. Together, these findings demonstrate that injured adult axons retain the ability to recognize appropriate targets and avoid inappropriate targets within neural progenitor grafts, suggesting that restoration of complex circuitry after SCI may be achievable

Investigation of bone resorption within a cortical basic multicellular unit using a lattice-based computational model

In this paper we develop a lattice-based computational model focused on bone resorption by osteoclasts in a single cortical basic multicellular unit (BMU). Our model takes into account the interaction of osteoclasts with the bone matrix, the interaction of osteoclasts with each other, the generation of osteoclasts from a growing blood vessel, and the renewal of osteoclast nuclei by cell fusion. All these features are shown to strongly influence the geometrical properties of the developing resorption cavity including its size, shape and progression rate, and are also shown to influence the distribution, resorption pattern and trajectories of individual osteoclasts within the BMU. We demonstrate that for certain parameter combinations, resorption cavity shapes can be recovered from the computational model that closely resemble resorption cavity shapes observed from microCT imaging of human cortical bone.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, 1 table. Revised version: paper entirely rewritten for a more biology-oriented readership. Technical points of model description now in Appendix. Addition of two new figures (Fig. 5 and Fig. 9) and removal of former Fig.

Bisphenol A-glycidyl methacrylate induces a broad spectrum of DNA damage in human lymphocytes

Bisphenol A-glycidyl methacrylate (BisGMA) is monomer of dental filling composites, which can be released from these materials and cause adverse biologic effects in human cells. In the present work, we investigated genotoxic effect of BisGMA on human lymphocytes and human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line (CCRF-CEM) cells. Our results indicate that BisGMA is genotoxic for human lymphocytes. The compound induced DNA damage evaluated by the alkaline, neutral, and pH 12.1 version of the comet assay. This damage included oxidative modifications of the DNA bases, as checked by DNA repair enzymes EndoIII and Fpg, alkali-labile sites and DNA double-strand breaks. BisGMA induced DNA-strand breaks in the isolated plasmid. Lymphocytes incubated with BisGMA at 1 mM were able to remove about 50% of DNA damage during 120-min repair incubation. The monomer at 1 mM evoked a delay of the cell cycle in the S phase in CCRF-CEM cells. The experiment with spin trap—DMPO demonstrated that BisGMA induced reactive oxygen species, which were able to damage DNA. BisGMA is able to induce a broad spectrum of DNA damage including severe DNA double-strand breaks, which can be responsible for a delay of the cell cycle in the S phase

The Cauchy problem of f(R) gravity

The initial value problem of metric and Palatini f(R)gravity is studied by using the dynamical equivalence between these theories and Brans-Dicke gravity. The Cauchy problem is well-formulated for metric f(R)gravity in the presence of matter and well-posed in vacuo. For Palatini f(R)gravity, instead, the Cauchy problem is not well-formulated.Comment: 16 latex pages, to appear in Class. Quantum Grav; typographical errors corrected, new references adde

Reconstructing the interaction between the dark matter and holographic dark energy

We reconstruct the interaction rate between the dark matter and the holographic dark energy with the parameterized equation of states and the future event horizon as the infrared cut-off length. It is shown that the observational constraints from the 192 SNIa and BAO measurement permit the negative interaction in the wide region. Moreover, the usual phenomenological descriptions can not describe the reconstructed interaction well for many cases. The other possible interaction is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 2 table, 5 figures, revised version accepted for publication in Class. Quantum. Gra

Reconstruction of the Scalar-Tensor Lagrangian from a LCDM Background and Noether Symmetry

We consider scalar-tensor theories and reconstruct their potential U(\Phi) and coupling F(\Phi) by demanding a background LCDM cosmology. In particular we impose a background cosmic history H(z) provided by the usual flat LCDM parameterization through the radiation (w_{eff}=1/3), matter (w_{eff}=0) and deSitter (w_{eff}=-1) eras. The cosmological dynamical system which is constrained to obey the LCDM cosmic history presents five critical points in each era, one of which corresponding to the standard General Relativity (GR). In the cases that differ from GR, the reconstructed coupling and potential are of the form F(\Phi)\sim \Phi^2 and U(\Phi)\sim F(\Phi)^m where m is a constant. This class of scalar tensor theories is also theoretically motivated by a completely independent approach: imposing maximal Noether symmetry on the scalar-tensor Lagrangian. This approach provides independently: i) the form of the coupling and the potential as F(\Phi)\sim \Phi^2 and U(\Phi)\sim F(\Phi)^m, ii) a conserved charge related to the potential and the coupling and iii) allows the derivation of exact solutions by first integrals of motion.Comment: Added comments, discussion, references. 15 revtex pages, 5 fugure