1,616 research outputs found
A Comment on Technical Naturalness and the Cosmological Constant
We propose a model of dynamical relaxation of the cosmological constant.
Technical naturalness of the model and the present value of the vacuum energy
density imply an upper bound on the supersymmetry breaking scale and the
reheating temperature at the TeV scale.Comment: 10 pages, ref. adde
The Potential For UK Portfolio Investors To Finance Sustainable Tropical Forestry
Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Fracture Toughness Of Nanoscale Zirconia Coatings On Titanium Substrates
In the biomedical field, the surface modification of titanium aims to inhibit wear, reduce corrosion and ion release, and promote biocompatibility. Sol-gel-derived ceramic nanoscale coatings show promise due to their relative ease of production, ability to form a physically and chemically uniform coating over complex geometric shapes, and their potential to deliver exceptional mechanical properties due to their nanocrystalline structure. In this study zirconia coatings on titanium were investigated for their fracture toughness
A novel metallurgical bonding process and microstructural analysis of ferrous alloy composites
A group of ferrous alloy composites have been produced using a novel vacuum casting process. The bonding and the interfacial analysis of these composites has been studied using various techniques including: optical microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) microanalysis, X-ray mapping (XRM) and electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD). A number of phase changes and unique microstructural features have been observed. Some of these microstructural features are the result of the solidification process, whilst other changes have resulted from diffusion of elements across the composite interface. This study demonstrates the uniqueness of the vacuum casting process as an efficient bonding process and the importance of comparing data from a variety of analytical techniques to enable a thorough model of the solidification and diffusion processes to be properly developed. © Institute of Materials Engineering Australasia Ltd
Vascular cells derived from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) inducible pluripotent stem cells
To study the vulnerability of smooth muscle cells
(SMCs) in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
(HGPS)
An alternative synthesis method for di calcium phosphate (monetite) powders from mediterranean mussel (mytilus galloprovincialis) shells
Marine species, such as corals, sea shells and nacres, attract special interest in bioceramics field for bone graft, bone cements and drug delivery applications. Most of the marine structures are made up of pure calcium carbonate (calcite or aragonite) with a very small amount of an organic matrix. In the past the most common way to transform these structures to hydroxyapatite was hydrothermal transformation method. This current work introduces a new approach for producing fine powders of calcium phosphates from Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) shells. A comparative study was carried out to investigate the differences of these powders under only hot plate heating and hot plate heating together with ultrasonic agitation while H3PO4 was added. The temperature of the hotplate was kept constant at 80 degrees C and then, H3PO4 was added drop wise into the solution for 2 hrs. The mixture was then placed into an oven at 100 degrees C for 24 hrs. They were further calcined at 800 degrees C for 3 hrs. XRD, FTIR. and ICP-MS were used to identify the structure and composition. It was found that the final powders were predominantly monetite, with some tricalcium phosphate as a secondary phase. This relatively simple and efficient method can be easily applied to produce calcium phosphate precursor powders for a range of biomedical applications
Inflection Point Inflation and Time Dependent Potentials in String Theory
We consider models of inflection point inflation. The main drawback of such
models is that they suffer from the overshoot problem. Namely the initial
condition should be fine tuned to be near the inflection point for the universe
to inflate. We show that stringy realizations of inflection point inflation are
common and offer a natural resolution to the overshoot problem.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, refs. adde
Reasoning with comparative moral judgements: an argument for Moral Bayesianism
The paper discusses the notion of reasoning with comparative moral judgements
(i.e judgements of the form “act a is morally superior to act b”) from the point of view of several meta-ethical positions. Using a simple formal result, it is argued that only a version of moral cognitivism that is committed to the claim that moral beliefs come in degrees can give a normatively plausible account of such reasoning. Some implications of accepting such a version of moral cognitivism are discussed
The Large N Harmonic Oscillator as a String Theory
We propose a duality between the large-N gauged harmonic oscillator and a
novel string theory in two dimensions.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures; v2: fixed typo
Supergravity and The Large N Limit of Theories With Sixteen Supercharges
We consider field theories with sixteen supersymmetries, which includes U(N)
Yang-Mills theories in various dimensions, and argue that their large N limit
is related to certain supergravity solutions. We study this by considering a
system of D-branes in string theory and then taking a limit where the brane
worldvolume theory decouples from gravity. At the same time we study the
corresponding D-brane supergravity solution and argue that we can trust it in
certain regions where the curvature (and the effective string coupling, where
appropriate) are small. The supergravity solutions typically have several
weakly coupled regions and interpolate between different limits of
string-M-theory.Comment: 24 pages, latex. v2: reference added, v3: typos correcte
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