443 research outputs found
The r-modes in accreting neutron stars with magneto-viscous boundary layers
We explore the dynamics of the r-modes in accreting neutron stars in two
ways. First, we explore how dissipation in the magneto-viscous boundary layer
(MVBL) at the crust-core interface governs the damping of r-mode perturbations
in the fluid interior. Two models are considered: one assuming an
ordinary-fluid interior, the other taking the core to consist of superfluid
neutrons, type II superconducting protons, and normal electrons. We show,
within our approximations, that no solution to the magnetohydrodynamic
equations exists in the superfluid model when both the neutron and proton
vortices are pinned. However, if just one species of vortex is pinned, we can
find solutions. When the neutron vortices are pinned and the proton vortices
are unpinned there is much more dissipation than in the ordinary-fluid model,
unless the pinning is weak. When the proton vortices are pinned and the neutron
vortices are unpinned the dissipation is comparable or slightly less than that
for the ordinary-fluid model, even when the pinning is strong. We also find in
the superfluid model that relatively weak radial magnetic fields ~ 10^9 G (10^8
K / T)^2 greatly affect the MVBL, though the effects of mutual friction tend to
counteract the magnetic effects. Second, we evolve our two models in time,
accounting for accretion, and explore how the magnetic field strength, the
r-mode saturation amplitude, and the accretion rate affect the cyclic evolution
of these stars. If the r-modes control the spin cycles of accreting neutron
stars we find that magnetic fields can affect the clustering of the spin
frequencies of low mass x-ray binaries (LMXBs) and the fraction of these that
are currently emitting gravitational waves.Comment: 19 pages, 8 eps figures, RevTeX; corrected minor typos and added a
referenc
Lyapunov exponents, bifurcation currents and laminations in bifurcation loci
Bifurcation loci in the moduli space of degree rational maps are shaped
by the hypersurfaces defined by the existence of a cycle of period and
multiplier 0 or . Using potential-theoretic arguments, we
establish two equidistribution properties for these hypersurfaces with respect
to the bifurcation current. To this purpose we first establish approximation
formulas for the Lyapunov function. In degree , this allows us to build
holomorphic motions and show that the bifurcation locus has a lamination
structure in the regions where an attracting basin of fixed period exists
R-Modes in Superfluid Neutron Stars
The analogs of r-modes in superfluid neutron stars are studied here. These
modes, which are governed primarily by the Coriolis force, are identical to
their ordinary-fluid counterparts at the lowest order in the small
angular-velocity expansion used here. The equations that determine the next
order terms are derived and solved numerically for fairly realistic superfluid
neutron-star models. The damping of these modes by superfluid ``mutual
friction'' (which vanishes at the lowest order in this expansion) is found to
have a characteristic time-scale of about 10^4 s for the m=2 r-mode in a
``typical'' superfluid neutron-star model. This time-scale is far too long to
allow mutual friction to suppress the recently discovered gravitational
radiation driven instability in the r-modes. However, the strength of the
mutual friction damping depends very sensitively on the details of the
neutron-star core superfluid. A small fraction of the presently acceptable
range of superfluid models have characteristic mutual friction damping times
that are short enough (i.e. shorter than about 5 s) to suppress the
gravitational radiation driven instability completely.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure
r-modes in Relativistic Superfluid Stars
We discuss the modal properties of the -modes of relativistic superfluid
neutron stars, taking account of the entrainment effects between superfluids.
In this paper, the neutron stars are assumed to be filled with neutron and
proton superfluids and the strength of the entrainment effects between the
superfluids are represented by a single parameter . We find that the
basic properties of the -modes in a relativistic superfluid star are very
similar to those found for a Newtonian superfluid star. The -modes of a
relativistic superfluid star are split into two families, ordinary fluid-like
-modes (-mode) and superfluid-like -modes (-mode). The two
superfluids counter-move for the -modes, while they co-move for the
-modes. For the -modes, the quantity is
almost independent of the entrainment parameter , where and
are the azimuthal wave number and the oscillation frequency observed by an
inertial observer at spatial infinity, respectively. For the -modes, on
the other hand, almost linearly increases with increasing . It
is also found that the radiation driven instability due to the -modes is
much weaker than that of the -modes because the matter current associated
with the axial parity perturbations almost completely vanishes.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Physical Review
Endemic and epidemic dynamics of cholera: the role of the aquatic reservoir
BACKGROUND: In the last decades, attention to cholera epidemiology increased, as cholera epidemics became a worldwide health problem. Detailed investigation of V. cholerae interactions with its host and with other organisms in the environment suggests that cholera dynamics is much more complex than previously thought. Here, I formulate a mathematical model of cholera epidemiology that incorporates an environmental reservoir of V. cholerae. The objective is to explore the role of the aquatic reservoir on the persistence of endemic cholera as well as to define minimum conditions for the development of epidemic and endemic cholera. RESULTS: The reproduction rate of cholera in a community is defined by the product of social and environmental factors. The importance of the aquatic reservoir depends on the sanitary conditions of the community. Seasonal variations of contact rates force a cyclical pattern of cholera outbreaks, as observed in some cholera-endemic communities. CONCLUSIONS: Further development on cholera modeling requires a better understanding of V. cholerae ecology and epidemiology. We need estimates of the prevalence of V. cholerae infection in endemic populations as well as a better description of the relationship between dose and virulence
Quantum gauge models without classical Higgs mechanism
We examine the status of massive gauge theories, such as those usually
obtained by spontaneous symmetry breakdown, from the viewpoint of causal
(Epstein-Glaser) renormalization. The BRS formulation of gauge invariance in
this framework, starting from canonical quantization of massive (as well as
massless) vector bosons as fundamental entities, and proceeding perturbatively,
allows one to rederive the reductive group symmetry of interactions, the need
for scalar fields in gauge theory, and the covariant derivative. Thus the
presence of higgs particles is explained without recourse to a
Higgs(-Englert-Brout-Guralnik-Hagen-Kibble) mechanism. Along the way, we dispel
doubts about the compatibility of causal gauge invariance with grand unified
theories.Comment: 20 pages in two-column EPJC format, shortened version accepted for
publication. For more details, consult version
Multimodal microscopy for automated histologic analysis of prostate cancer
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Prostate cancer is the single most prevalent cancer in US men whose gold standard of diagnosis is histologic assessment of biopsies. Manual assessment of stained tissue of all biopsies limits speed and accuracy in clinical practice and research of prostate cancer diagnosis. We sought to develop a fully-automated multimodal microscopy method to distinguish cancerous from non-cancerous tissue samples.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recorded chemical data from an unstained tissue microarray (TMA) using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging. Using pattern recognition, we identified epithelial cells without user input. We fused the cell type information with the corresponding stained images commonly used in clinical practice. Extracted morphological features, optimized by two-stage feature selection method using a minimum-redundancy-maximal-relevance (mRMR) criterion and sequential floating forward selection (SFFS), were applied to classify tissue samples as cancer or non-cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We achieved high accuracy (area under ROC curve (AUC) >0.97) in cross-validations on each of two data sets that were stained under different conditions. When the classifier was trained on one data set and tested on the other data set, an AUC value of ~0.95 was observed. In the absence of IR data, the performance of the same classification system dropped for both data sets and between data sets.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We were able to achieve very effective fusion of the information from two different images that provide very different types of data with different characteristics. The method is entirely transparent to a user and does not involve any adjustment or decision-making based on spectral data. By combining the IR and optical data, we achieved high accurate classification.</p
Sexualisation's four faces: sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the Bailey Review
This paper explores the considerations of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the recent UK government report Letting Children be Children. This report, the Bailey Review, claimed to represent the views of parents. However, closer reading reveals that, while the parents who were consulted were concerned about both the sexualisation and the gender stereotyping of products aimed at children, the Bailey Review focuses only on the former and dismisses the latter. ‘Sexualisation’ has four faces in the Bailey Review: it is treated as a process that increases (1) the visibility of sexual content in the public domain, (2) misogyny, (3) the sexuality of children, and (4) the mainstream position of ‘deviant’ sexual behaviours and lifestyles. Through this construction of ‘sexualisation’, gendered relations of power are not only hidden from view but also buttress a narrative in which young women are situated as children, and their sexuality and desire rendered pathological and morally unacceptable as judged by a conservative standard of decency. Comparison of the treatment of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the review is revealing of the political motivations behind it, and of wider discourse in these areas
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