Decompactifications and Massless D-Branes in Hybrid Models

A method of determining the mass spectrum of BPS D-branes in any phase limit of a gauged linear sigma model is introduced. A ring associated to monodromy is defined and one considers K-theory to be a module over this ring. A simple but interesting class of hybrid models with Landau-Ginzburg fibres over CPn are analyzed using special Kaehler geometry and D-brane probes. In some cases the hybrid limit is an infinite distance in moduli space and corresponds to a decompactification. In other cases the hybrid limit is at a finite distance and acquires massless D-branes. An example studied appears to correspond to a novel theory of supergravity with an SU(2) gauge symmetry where the gauge and gravitational couplings are necessarily tied to each other.Comment: PDF-LaTeX, 34 pages, 2 mps figure

Quantifying the reliability of four global datasets for drought monitoring over a semiarid region

Drought is one of the most relevant natural disasters, especially in arid regions such as Iran. One of the requirements to access reliable drought monitoring is long-term and continuous high-resolution precipitation data. Different climatic and global databases are being developed and made available in real time or near real time by different agencies and centers; however, for this purpose, these databases must be evaluated regionally and in different local climates. In this paper, a near real-time global climate model, a data assimilation system, and two gridded gauge-based datasets over Iran are evaluated. The ground truth data include 50 gauges from the period of 1980 to 2010. Drought analysis was carried out by means of the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) at 2-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month timescales. Although the results show spatial variations, overall the two gauge-based datasets perform better than the models. In addition, the results are more reliable for the western portion of the Zagros Range and the eastern region of the country. The analysis of the onsets of the 6-month moderate drought with at least 3 months’ persistence indicates that all datasets have a better performance over the western portion of the Zagros Range, but display poor performance over the coast of the Caspian Sea. Base on the results of this study, the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) dataset is a preferred alternative for drought analysis in the region when gauge-based datasets are not available

Trends of precipitation extreme indices over a subtropical semi-arid area using PERSIANN-CDR

In this study, satellite-based daily precipitation estimation data from precipitation estimation from remotely sensed information using artificial neural networks (PERSIANN)-climate data record (CDR) are being evaluated in Iran. This dataset (0.25°, daily), which covers over three decades of continuous observation beginning in 1983, is evaluated using rain-gauge data for the period of 1998–2007. In addition to categorical statistics and mean annual amount and number of rainy days, ten standard extreme indices were calculated to observe the behavior of daily extremes. The results show that PERSIANN-CDR exhibits reasonable performance associated with the probability of detection and false-alarm ratio, but it overestimates precipitation in the area. Although PERSIANN-CDR mostly underestimates extreme indices, it shows relatively high correlations (between 0.6316–0.7797) for intensity indices. PERSIANN-CDR data are also used to calculate the trend in annual amounts of precipitation, the number of rainy days, and precipitation extremes over Iran covering the period of 1983–2012. Our analysis shows that, although annual precipitation decreased in the western and eastern regions of Iran, the annual number of rainy days increased in the northern and northwestern areas. Statistically significant negative trends are identified in the 90th percentile daily precipitation, as well as the mean daily precipitation from wet days in the northern part of the study area. The positive trends of the maximum annual number of consecutive dry days in the eastern regions indicate that the dry periods became longer in these arid areas

Intercomparison of PERSIANN-CDR and TRMM-3B42V7 precipitation estimates at monthly and daily time scales

In the first part of this paper, monthly precipitation data from Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks–Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 algorithm Version 7 (TRMM-3B42V7) are evaluated over Iran using the Generalized Three-Cornered Hat (GTCH) method which is self-sufficient of reference data as input. Climate Data Unit (CRU) is added to the GTCH evaluations as an independent gauge-based dataset thus, the minimum requirement of three datasets for the model is satisfied. To ensure consistency of all datasets, the two satellite products were aggregated to 0.5° spatial resolution, which is the minimum resolution of CRU. The results show that the PERSIANN-CDR has higher Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) than TRMM-3B42V7 for the monthly rainfall estimation, especially in the northern half of the country. All datasets showed low SNR in the mountainous area of southwestern Iran, as well as the arid parts in the southeast region of the country. Additionally, in order to evaluate the efficacy of PERSIANN-CDR and TRMM-3B42V7 in capturing extreme daily-precipitation amounts, an in-situ rain-gauge dataset collected by the Islamic Republic of the Iran Meteorological Organization (IRIMO) was employed. Given the sparsity of the rain gauges, only 0.25° pixels containing three or more gauges were used for this evaluation. There were 228 such pixels where daily and extreme rainfall from PERSIANN-CDR and TRMM-3B42V7 could be compared. However, TRMM-3B42V7 overestimates most of the intensity indices (correlation coefficients; R between 0.7648–0.8311, Root Mean Square Error; RMSE between 3.29mm/day-21.2mm/5day); PERSIANN-CDR underestimates these extremes (R between 0.6349–0.7791 and RMSE between 3.59mm/day-30.56mm/5day). Both satellite products show higher correlation coefficients and lower RMSEs for the annual mean of consecutive dry spells than wet spells. The results show that TRMM-3B42V7 can capture the annual mean of the absolute indices (the number of wet days in which daily precipitation >10 mm, 20 mm) better than PERSIANN-CDR. The results of daily evaluations show that the similarity of Empirical Cumulative Density Function (ECDF) of satellite products and IRIMO gauges daily precipitation, as well as dry spells with different thresholds in some selected pixels (include at least five gauges), are significant. The results also indicate that ECDFs become more significant when threshold increases. In terms of regional analyses, the higher SNR of the products on monthly (based on the GTCH method) and daily evaluations (significant ECDFs) is mostly consistent

Instability of black hole formation under small pressure perturbations

We investigate here the spectrum of gravitational collapse endstates when arbitrarily small perfect fluid pressures are introduced in the classic black hole formation scenario as described by Oppenheimer, Snyder and Datt (OSD) [1]. This extends a previous result on tangential pressures [2] to the more physically realistic scenario of perfect fluid collapse. The existence of classes of pressure perturbations is shown explicitly, which has the property that injecting any smallest pressure changes the final fate of the dynamical collapse from a black hole to a naked singularity. It is therefore seen that any smallest neighborhood of the OSD model, in the space of initial data, contains collapse evolutions that go to a naked singularity outcome. This gives an intriguing insight on the nature of naked singularity formation in gravitational collapse.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, several modifications to match published version on GR

D=3, N=8 conformal supergravity and the Dragon window

We give a superspace description of D=3, N=8 supergravity. The formulation is off-shell in the sense that the equations of motion are not implied by the superspace constraints (but an action principle is not given). The multiplet structure is unconventional, which we connect to the existence of a "Dragon window", that is modules occurring in the supercurvature but not in the supertorsion. According to Dragon's theorem this cannot happen above three dimensions. We clarify the relevance of this window for going on the conformal shell, and discuss some aspects of coupling to conformal matter.Comment: plain tex, 24 pp v2: minor change

Optical Activities as Computing Resources for Space-time Symmetries

It is known that optical activities can perform rotations. It is shown that the rotation, if modulated by attenuations, can perform symmetry operations of Wigner's little group which dictates the internal space-time symmetries of elementary particles.Comment: 13 pages, to be published in J. Mod. Optic

Transgenic Overexpression of LARGE Induces alpha-Dystroglycan Hyperglycosylation in Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle

Background: LARGE is one of seven putative or demonstrated glycosyltransferase enzymes defective in a common group of muscular dystrophies with reduced glycosylation of alpha-dystroglycan. Overexpression of LARGE induces hyperglycosylation of alpha-dystroglycan in both wild type and in cells from dystroglycanopathy patients, irrespective of their primary gene defect, restoring functional glycosylation. Viral delivery of LARGE to skeletal muscle in animal models of dystroglycanopathy has identical effects in vivo, suggesting that the restoration of functional glycosylation could have therapeutic applications in these disorders. Pharmacological strategies to upregulate Large expression are also being explored.Methodology/Principal Findings: In order to asses the safety and efficacy of long term LARGE over-expression in vivo, we have generated four mouse lines expressing a human LARGE transgene. On observation, LARGE transgenic mice were indistinguishable from the wild type littermates. Tissue analysis from young mice of all four lines showed a variable pattern of transgene expression: highest in skeletal and cardiac muscles, and lower in brain, kidney and liver. Transgene expression in striated muscles correlated with alpha-dystroglycan hyperglycosylation, as determined by immunoreactivity to antibody IIH6 and increased laminin binding on an overlay assay. Other components of the dystroglycan complex and extracellular matrix ligands were normally expressed, and general muscle histology was indistinguishable from wild type controls. Further detailed muscle physiological analysis demonstrated a loss of force in response to eccentric exercise in the older, but not in the younger mice, suggesting this deficit developed over time. However this remained a subclinical feature as no pathology was observed in older mice in any muscles including the diaphragm, which is sensitive to mechanical load-induced damage.Conclusions/Significance: This work shows that potential therapies in the dystroglycanopathies based on LARGE upregulation and alpha-dystroglycan hyperglycosylation in muscle should be safe

Estimating the cost-effectiveness of fluticasone propionate for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the presence of missing data

Objectives: To explore the cost-effectiveness of fluticasone propionate (FP) for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), we estimated costs and qualityadjusted life-years (QALYs) over 3 years, based on an economic appraisal of a previously reported clinical trial (Inhaled Steroids in Obstructive Lung Disease in Europe [ISOLDE]). Methods: Seven hundred forty-two patients enrolled in the ISOLDE trial who received either FP or placebo had data available on health-care costs and quality of life over the period of the study. The SF-36-based utility scores for quality of life were used to calculate QALYs. A combined imputation and bootstrapping procedure was employed to handle missing data and to estimate statistical uncertainty in the estimated cumulative costs and QALYs over the study period. The imputation approach was based on propensity scoring and nesting this approach within the bootstrap ensured that multiple imputations were performed such that statistical estimates included imputation uncertainty. Results: Complete data were available on mortality within the follow-up period of the study and a nonsignificant trend toward improved survival of 0.06 (95% confidence interval [CI] –0.01 to 0.15) life-years was observed. In an analysis based on a propensity scoring approach to missing data we estimated the incremental costs of FP versus placebo to be £1021 (95% CI £619–1338) with an additional effect of 0.11 QALYs (CI 0.04–0.20). Cost-effectiveness estimates for the within-trial period of £17,700 per life-year gained (£6900 to ∞) and £9500 per QALY gained (CI £4300–26,500) were generated that include uncertainty due to the imputation process. An alternative imputation approach did not materially affect these estimates. Conclusions: Previous analyses of the ISOLDE study showed significant improvement on disease-specific health status measures and a trend toward a survival advantage for treatment with FP. This analysis shows that joint considerations of quality of life and survival result in a substantial increase in QALYs favoring treatment with FP. Based on these data, the inhaled corticosteroid FP appears costeffective for the treatment of COPD. Confirmation or refutation of this result may be achieved once the Towards a Revolution in COPD Health (TORCH) study reports, a large randomized controlled trial powered to detect mortality changes associated with the use of FP alone, or in combination with salmeterol, which is also collecting resource use and utility data suitable for estimating cost-effectiveness

Manajemen Pembelajaran Pendidikan Agama Islam Dengan Model Kooperatif Tipe Team Assisted Individualization

The purpose of the study is to examine the results of implementation of the model type koorporatif team assisted individualization in the subject of islamic religious education. Care bodies is one of the basic competencies that this evaluation includes aspects kognetif, affectif and psychomotor students is successful if it results in accordance with the indicator, appropriate learning models used models koorporatif type team assisted individualization. This research is done with action research with two cycles, conclusions from this study that the teaching model type team assisted individualization is very appropriate in the treatment of material bodies and have a positive impact so as to improve student achievement