Couplings of light I=0 scalar mesons to simple operators in the complex plane

The flavour and glue structure of the light scalar mesons in QCD are probed by studying the couplings of the I=0 mesons $\sigma(600)$ and $f_0(980)$ to the operators $\bar{q}q$, $\alpha_s G^2$ and to two photons. The Roy dispersive representation for the $\pi\pi$ amplitude $t_0^0(s)$ is used to determine the pole positions as well as the residues in the complex plane. On the real axis, $t_0^0$ is constrained to solve the Roy equation together with elastic unitarity up to the K\Kbar threshold leading to an improved description of the $f_0(980)$. The problem of using a two-particle threshold as a matching point is discussed. A simple relation is established between the coupling of a scalar meson to an operator $j_S$ and the value of the related pion form-factor computed at the resonance pole. Pion scalar form-factors as well as two-photon partial-wave amplitudes are expressed as coupled-channel Omn\`es dispersive representations. Subtraction constants are constrained by chiral symmetry and experimental data. Comparison of our results for the $\bar{q}q$ couplings with earlier determinations of the analogous couplings of the lightest I=1 and $I=1/2$ scalar mesons are compatible with an assignment of the $\sigma$, $\kappa$, $a_0(980)$, $f_0(980)$ into a nonet. Concerning the gluonic operator $\alpha_s G^2$ we find a significant coupling to both the $\sigma$ and the $f_0(980)$.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure

Torque-angle-velocity relationships and muscle performance of professional and youth soccer players

Soccer matches consist of a variety of different activities, including repeated sprints. Time to attain velocity (TTAV), load range (LR) and the torque-angle-velocity relationship (TAV3D) represent an important measurement of muscle performance however there are few studies related. The aim of this study was to compare these outcomes between soccer players of different age category. Seventeen professional (PRO) and seventeen under-17 (U17) soccer players were assessed for concentric knee flexion/extension at 60, 120 and 300 °/s. For the extensor muscles, differences were found in favor of the U17 group for TTAV and LR outcomes at 120 °/s, however, the PRO group maintained higher torques in both movement directions in comparison to the U17 in TAV3D evaluation. These results suggest that muscle performance of the PRO group is more efficient than the U17 group

alpha'-exact entropies for BPS and non-BPS extremal dyonic black holes in heterotic string theory from ten-dimensional supersymmetry

We calculate near-horizon solutions for four-dimensional 4-charge and five-dimensional 3-charge black holes in heterotic string theory from the part of the ten-dimensional tree-level effective action which is connected to gravitational Chern-Simons term by supersymmetry. We obtain that the entropies of large black holes exactly match the alpha'-exact statistical entropies obtained from microstate counting (D=4) and AdS/CFT correspondence (D=5). Especially interesting is that we obtain agreement for both BPS and non-BPS black holes, contrary to the case of R^2-truncated (four-derivative) actions (D-dimensional N=2 off-shell supersymmetric or Gauss-Bonnet) were used, which give the entropies agreeing (at best) just for BPS black holes. The key property of the solutions, which enabled us to tackle the action containing infinite number of terms, is vanishing of the Riemann tensor \bar{R}_{MNPQ} obtained from torsional connection defined with \bar{\Gamma} = \Gamma - H/2. Morover, if every monomial of the remaining part of the effective action would contain at least two Riemanns \bar{R}_{MNPQ}, it would trivially follow that our solutions are exact solutions of the full heterotic effective action in D=10. The above conjecture, which appeared (in this or stronger form) from time to time in the literature, has controversial status, but is supported by the most recent calculations of Richards (arXiv:0807.3453 [hep-th]). Agreement of our results for the entropies with the microscopic ones supports the conjecture. As for small black holes, our solutions in D=5 still have singular horizons.Comment: 28 pages; v2: minor changes, references added; v3: extended discussion on small black holes in sec. 5.4, more references added, accepted in JHE

The new IOC and IAAF policies on female eligibility: old Emperor, new clothes?

The Caster Semenya debacle touched off by the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships resulted finally in IOC and IAAF abandonment of sex testing, which gave way to procedures that make female competition eligibility dependent upon the level of serum testosterone, which must be below the male range or instrumentally countered by androgen resistance. We argue that the new policy is unsustainable because (i) the testosterone-performance connection it posits is uncompelling; (ii) testosterone-induced female advantage is not ipso facto unfair advantage; (iii) the new policy reflects the gender policing impulses endemic to sport as well as the broader cultural impulses to monstrify women and to doctor women who have nothing wrong with them; (iv) female–male performance disparities are not the only reason for sex-segregated sport, but co-exist with respectable cultural and practical reasons, which (v) provide a powerful case for allowing athletes to compete in the sex category congruent with their gender identity

Exploring synergetic effects of dimensionality reduction and resampling tools on hyperspectral imagery data classification

The present paper addresses the problem of the classification of hyperspectral images with multiple imbalanced classes and very high dimensionality. Class imbalance is handled by resampling the data set, whereas PCA and a supervised filter are applied to reduce the number of spectral bands. This is a preliminary study that pursues to investigate the benefits of combining several techniques to tackle the imbalance and the high dimensionality problems, and also to evaluate the order of application that leads to the best classification performance. Experimental results demonstrate the significance of using together these two preprocessing tools to improve the performance of hyperspectral imagery classification. Although it seems that the most effective order corresponds to first a resampling strategy and then a feature (or extraction) selection algorithm, this is a question that still needs a much more thorough investigation in the futureThis work has partially been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under grants CSD2007–00018, AYA2008–05965–0596 and TIN2009–14205, the Fundació Caixa Castelló–Bancaixa under grant P1–1B2009–04, and the Generalitat Valenciana under grant PROMETEO/2010/02

Altered white matter connectivity associated with visual hallucinations following occipital stroke

Introduction Visual hallucinations that arise following vision loss stem from aberrant functional activity in visual cortices and an imbalance of activity across associated cortical and subcortical networks subsequent to visual pathway damage. We sought to determine if structural changes in white matter connectivity play a role in cases of chronic visual hallucinations associated with visual cortical damage. Methods We performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic fiber tractography to assess white matter connectivity in a patient suffering from continuous and disruptive phosphene (simple) visual hallucinations for more than 2 years following right occipital stroke. We compared these data to that of healthy age‐matched controls. Results Probabilistic tractography to reconstruct white matter tracts suggests regeneration of terminal fibers of the ipsilesional optic radiations in the patient. However, arrangement of the converse reconstruction of these tracts, which were seeded from the ipsilesional visual cortex to the intrahemispheric lateral geniculate body, remained disrupted. We further observed compromised structural characteristics, and changes in diffusion (measured using diffusion tensor indices) of white matter tracts in the patient connecting the visual cortex with frontal and temporal regions, and also in interhemispheric connectivity between visual cortices. Conclusions Cortical remapping and the disruption of communication between visual cortices and remote regions are consistent with our previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data showing imbalanced functional activity of the same regions in this patient (Rafique et al, 2016, Neurology, 87, 1493–1500). Long‐term adaptive and disruptive changes in white matter connectivity may account for the rare nature of cases presenting with chronic and continuous visual hallucinations

Eureka and beyond: mining's impact on African urbanisation

This collection brings separate literatures on mining and urbanisation together at a time when both artisanal and large-scale mining are expanding in many African economies. While much has been written about contestation over land and mineral rights, the impact of mining on settlement, notably its catalytic and fluctuating effects on migration and urban growth, has been largely ignored. African nation-states’ urbanisation trends have shown considerable variation over the past half century. The current surge in ‘new’ mining countries and the slow-down in ‘old’ mining countries are generating some remarkable settlement patterns and welfare outcomes. Presently, the African continent is a laboratory of national mining experiences. This special issue on African mining and urbanisation encompasses a wide cross-section of country case studies: beginning with the historical experiences of mining in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe), followed by more recent mineralizing trends in comparatively new mineral-producing countries (Tanzania) and an established West African gold producer (Ghana), before turning to the influence of conflict minerals (Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone)

An aggravated trajectory of depression and anxiety co-morbid with hepatitis C: : A 21 to 62 month follow-up study in 61 South Australian outpatients

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the course of depression and anxiety in chronic hepatitis C patients. METHODS:   Data were combined from two studies: (1) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores in 395 consecutive Australian outpatients from 2006 to 2010 formed the baseline measurement; and (2) Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) scores in a survey of a sub-sample of these patients in 2011 formed the follow-up measurement. After converting DASS to HADS scores, changes in symptom scores and rates of case-ness (≥8), and predictors of follow-up symptoms were assessed. RESULTS:   Follow-up data were available for 61 patients (70.5% male) whose age ranged from 24.5 to 74.6 years (M=45.6). The time to follow-up ranged from 20.7 to 61.9 months (M=43.8). Baseline rates of depression (32.8%) and anxiety (44.3%) increased to 62.3% and 67.2%, respectively. These findings were confirmed, independent of the conversion, by comparing baseline HADS and follow-up DASS scores with British community norms. Baseline anxiety and younger age predicted depression, while baseline anxiety, high school non-completion, and single relationship status predicted anxiety. CONCLUSION:  This study demonstrated a worsening trajectory of depression and anxiety. Further controlled and prospective research in a larger sample is required to confirm these findings

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review