Genericity of Cosmic Strings Formation in SUSY GUTs

The idea of GUT implies that the universe went through a series of phase transitions during which topological defects are expected to form. We investigate here the genericity of cosmic strings formation in realistic SUSY GUTs models. We conclude that all acceptable symmetry breaking schemes produce cosmic strings after the last inflationary phase. Generically, as they form at the end of inflation, they have a mass of order of the GUT scale. Since cosmological data coming from CMB measurements do not show evidence for such strings, they constrain GUT scale physics.Comment: 4 pages, talk at the XXXIX Rencontres de Moriond (La Thuile, March 2004), to appear in the proceeding

Social interaction anxiety, social phobia, and cognitive control: controlled reactions to facial affect during an emotional face flanker task

Trait social anxiety may predict differences in the cognitive control of emotional distraction when emotional face discrimination is required. This effect can be investigated using an emotional face flanker task. This study addresses an important research gap, as previous studies did not separate the effects of trait social interaction anxiety from the effects of trait social phobia upon emotional face flanker task performance. In this laboratory based behavioural experiment, the 87 participants (mean age 24.3) were university students or staff recruited via departmental adverts. We used an emotional (happy versus fearful) face flanker task, and assessed sub-clinical social anxiety with the SIAS/SPS. Elevated trait social phobia was related to an increased reaction time (RT) congruency effect, whereas trait social interaction anxiety was not. Elevated trait social interaction anxiety was related to a decreased happy face RT advantage for central target faces, but the effect of trait social phobia was very weak. Trait social interaction anxiety and trait social phobia may predict subtle differences when the cognitive control of reactions to emotional facial expressions is required

Relationships between fat depots and body condition score or tail fatness in Rasa Aragonesa breed

The relationships between body fat depots and body condition score (BCS) were determined in 52 adult Rasa Aragonesa ewes aged 10 (s.d. 2) years and ranging in BCS from 1-5 to 4•5. BCS of each ewe was assessed by three people. the repeatability within individual being 90"/0 and between individuals 80%. The ewes were weighed before slaughter. After slaughter the omental mesenteric kidney and pelvic fat were separated and weighed. The fat of the left side of the carcass was separated into subcutaneous and intermuscular depots. The relationship between live weight and BCS was semilogarithmic and those between fat depots and BCS were logarithmic. Regression analysis was also used to describe the relationships between the various fat depots and BCS or live weight Of the variation in total fat weight. proportionately 0•90 was accounted for by variations in BCS while 0•84 was accounted for by variations in live weight. For individual fat depots proportionately 0•86 to 0•90 of the variation was accounted for by variation in BCS and 0•69 to 0-79 by variation in live weight. BCS was a better predictor than live weight of the weight of both total body fat and the individual fat depots. A curvilinear regression between BCS and live weight showed that the increases in live weight for a unit change in BCS was 7, 10, 12 and 16 kg for each one point increase ill BCS from 1 to 5 respectively. The tail fat depot (tail fatness score) •Was assessed in the same ewes by score on a three-point scale. Of the variation in the weight of individual fat depots proportionately 0•79 to 0•86 was accounted for by variation in tail fatness score. Thus the tail fatness score could be used as an additional method of assessing body condition in the Aragonesa breed

A note on the use of a lumbar joint as a predictor of body fat depots in Aragonesa ewes with different body confition scores

The lumbar joint, which is handled to assess body condition scores, was taken from 52 adult Rasa Aragonesa ewes with body condition scores between 1·5 and 4·5 and dissected into muscle, bone, subcutaneous and intermuscular fat. The subcutaneous fat in the lumbar joint was highly correlated with total fat in the body (r=0·97), confirming the value of this region for assessing body condition in Rasa Aragonesa ewes

Conformación, engrasamiento y sistemas de clasificación de la canal caprina

España es el segundo país productor de ganado caprino de In UE, con un 21 % del censo total, tras Grecia que posee el 48,7% (Delfa, 2004). A pesar de ello no existe en nuestro país ningún distintivo o Marca de Calidad para la canal y carne caprina, mientras que en Portugal, con un censo del 27,8% del español y una producción de carne que tan solo supone el 13,9% de la española, tiene cinco Indicaciones Geográficas Protegidas. Existe por lo tanto un gran desconocimiento sobre las razas caprinas autóctonas españolas, que se acrecienta con las de aptitud cárnica. A este respecto, Devendra (2000) y Lebbie (2000) indicaban la existencia de importantes lagunas en el conocimiento de esta especie, reconociendo recientementc Morand-Fehr y Lebbie (2004) la necesidad de analizar su situación actual con el fin de prepararla para los retos de un próximo futuro

D-term inflation in non-minimal supergravity

D-term inflation is one of the most interesting and versatile models of inflation. It is possible to implement naturally D-term inflation within high energy physics, as for example SUSY GUTs, SUGRA, or string theories. D-term inflation avoids the $\eta$-problem, while in its standard form it always ends with the formation of cosmic strings. Given the recent three-year WMAP data on the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies, we examine whether D-term inflation can be successfully implemented in non-minimal supergravity theories. We show that for all our choices of K\"ahler potential, there exists a parameter space for which the predictions of D-term inflation are in agreement with the measurements. The cosmic string contribution on the measured temperature anisotropies is always dominant, unless the superpotential coupling constant is fine tuned; a result already obtained for D-term inflation within minimal supergravity. In conclusion, cosmic strings and their r\^ole in the angular power spectrum cannot be easily hidden by just considering a non-flat K\"ahler geometry.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures; minor changes to match publihed versio

Production of topological defects at the end of inflation

Hybrid inflation within supersymmetric grand unified theories, as well as inflation through brane collisions within braneworld cosmological models, lead to the formation of one-dimensional defects. Observational data, mainly from the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies but also from the gravitational wave background, impose constraints on the free parameters of the models. I review these inflationary models and discuss the constraints from the currently available data.Comment: 9 pages, Invited talk in the Conference "Challenges in Particle Astrophysics" -- 6th Rencontres du Vietnam, Hanoi (Vietnam) 6-12 Aug. 200

Ultrasonic estimates of fat thickness, C measurement and longissimus dorsi depth in rasa aragonesa ewes with same body condition score

Ultrasonic estimates of fat thickness, C measurement and longissimus dorsi depth were assessed in 14 Rasa Aragonesa ewes with same body condition score. The ultrasonic estimates have been used for predicting tota1 carcass fat and muscle. The 76% of the variation in carcass lumbar fat thickness was accounted for by variation in lumbar fat thickness assessed by ultrasonic machine, whereas 53% of the variation in C measurement was accounted. Nevertheless only 5% of variation in m. Longissimus dorsi depth was accounted for by variation in this measurement assessed by ultrasonics. The inclusion of cold carcass weight as an independent variable in a multiple regression with lumbar fat thickness assessed by ultrasonics and the same measurement obtained on carcass improve the precision of total carcass fat and muscle predictions (r=81 and 91%)

Hybrid inflation followed by modular inflation

Inflationary models with a superheavy scale F-term hybrid inflation followed by an intermediate scale modular inflation are considered. The restrictions on the power spectrum P_R of curvature perturbation and the spectral index n_s from the recent data within the power-law cosmological model with cold dark matter and a cosmological constant can be met provided that the number of e-foldings N_HI* suffered by the pivot scale k_*=0.002/Mpc during hybrid inflation is suitably restricted. The additional e-foldings needed for solving the horizon and flatness problems are generated by modular inflation with a string axion as inflaton. For central values of P_R and n_s, the grand unification scale comes out, in the case of standard hybrid inflation, close to its supersymmetric value M_GUT=2.86 x 10^16 GeV, the relevant coupling constant is relatively large (0.005-0.14), and N_HI* is between 10 and 21.7. In the shifted [smooth] hybrid inflation case, the grand unification scale can be identified with M_GUT for N_HI*=21 [N_HI*=18].Comment: 13 pages including 3 figures, uses ws-ijmpa.cls, minor corrections included, talk given at the CTP Symposium on Supersymmetry at LHC: Theoretical and Experimental Perspectives, British University in Egypt (BUE), Cairo, 11-14 March 2007 (to appear in the proceedings