Evolution and instabilities of disks harboring super massive black holes

The bar formation is still an open problem in modern astrophysics. In this paper we present numerical simulation performed with the aim of analyzing the growth of the bar instability inside stellar-gaseous disks, where the star formation is triggered, and a central black hole is present. The aim of this paper is to point out the impact of such a central massive black hole on the growth of the bar. We use N-body-SPH simulations of the same isolated disk-to-halo mass systems harboring black holes with different initial masses and different energy feedback on the surrounding gas. We compare the results of these simulations with the one of the same disk without black hole in its center. We make the same comparison (disk with and without black hole) for a stellar disk in a fully cosmological scenario. A stellar bar, lasting 10 Gyrs, is present in all our simulations. The central black hole mass has in general a mild effect on the ellipticity of the bar but it is never able to destroy it. The black holes grow in different way according their initial mass and their feedback efficiency, the final values of the velocity dispersions and of the black hole masses are near to the phenomenological constraints.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for pubblication in "Astrophysics and Space Science

The Transformation from Translucent into Transparent Rare Earth Ions Doped Oxyfluoride Glass-Ceramics with Enhanced Luminescence

Article reporting a scenario where a translucent Er3+−Yb3+ doped oxyfluoride precursor glass-ceramic (P-GC) becomes transparent with increasing crystal size and crystallinity

Metropolis simulations of Met-Enkephalin with solvent-accessible area parameterizations

We investigate the solvent-accessible area method by means of Metropolis simulations of the brain peptide Met-Enkephalin at 300$K$. For the energy function ECEPP/2 nine atomic solvation parameter (ASP) sets are studied. The simulations are compared with one another, with simulations with a distance dependent electrostatic permittivity $\epsilon (r)$, and with vacuum simulations ($\epsilon =2$). Parallel tempering and the biased Metropolis techniques RM$_1$ are employed and their performance is evaluated. The measured observables include energy and dihedral probability densities (pds), integrated autocorrelation times, and acceptance rates. Two of the ASP sets turn out to be unsuitable for these simulations. For all other systems selected configurations are minimized in search of the global energy minima, which are found for the vacuum and the $\epsilon(r)$ system, but for none of the ASP models. Other observables show a remarkable dependence on the ASPs. In particular, we find three ASP sets for which the autocorrelations at 300$$K are considerably smaller than for vacuum simulations.Comment: 10 pages and 8 figure

Influence of a classical homogeneous gravitational field on dissipative dynamics of the Jaynes-Cummings model with phase damping

In this paper, we study the dissipative dynamics of the Jaynes-Cummings model with phase damping in the presence of a classical homogeneous gravitational field. The model consists of a moving two-level atom simultaneously exposed to the gravitational field and a single-mode traveling radiation field in the presence of the phase damping. We present a quantum treatment of the internal and external dynamics of the atom based on an alternative su(2) dynamical algebraic structure. By making use of the super-operator technique, we obtain the solution of the master equation for the density operator of the quantum system, under the Markovian approximation. Assuming that initially the radiation field is prepared in a Glauber coherent state and the two-level atom is in the excited state, we investigate the influence of gravity on the temporal evolution of collapses and revivals of the atomic population inversion, atomic dipole squeezing, atomic momentum diffusion, photon counting statistics and quadrature squeezing of the radiation field in the presence of phase damping.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure

Fresnel polarisation of infra-red radiation by elemental bismuth

We revisit the classical problem of electromagnetic wave refraction from a lossless dielectric to a lossy conductor, where both media are considered to be non-magnetic, linear, isotropic and homogeneous. We derive the Fresnel coefficients of the system and the Poynting vectors at the interface, in order to compute the reflectance and transmittance of the system. We use a particular parametrisation of the referred Fresnel coefficients so as to make a connection with the ones obtained for refraction by an interface between two lossless media. This analysis allows the discussion of an actual application, namely the Fresnel polarisation of infra-red radiation by elemental bismuth, based on the concept of pseudo Brewster’s angle.We acknowledge helpful discussions with M. Vasilevskiy, P. Alpuim, J. Caridad and B. Figueiredo. The authors thank the European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) [under the Project GNESIS -Graphenest's New Engineered System and its Implementation Solutions; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033566], European Regional Development Fund. This work was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2019

Blended self-management interventions to reduce disease burden in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma: systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma have a high prevalence and disease burden. Blended self-management interventions, which combine eHealth with face-to-face interventions, can help reduce the disease burden.Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to examine the effectiveness of blended self-management interventions on health-related effectiveness and process outcomes for people with COPD or asthma. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, COCHRANE Library, Emcare, and Embase were searched in December 2018 and updated in November 2020. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB) 2 tool and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation.Results: A total of 15 COPD and 7 asthma randomized controlled trials were included in this study. The meta-analysis of COPD studies found that the blended intervention showed a small improvement in exercise capacity (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.48; 95% CI 0.10-0.85) and a significant improvement in the quality of life (QoL; SMD 0.81; 95% CI 0.11-1.51). Blended intervention also reduced the admission rate (relative ratio [RR] 0.61; 95% CI 0.38-0.97). In the COPD systematic review, regarding the exacerbation frequency, both studies found that the intervention reduced exacerbation frequency (RR 0.38; 95% CI 0.26-0.56). A large effect was found on BMI (d=0.81; 95% CI 0.25-1.34); however, the effect was inconclusive because only 1 study was included. Regarding medication adherence, 2 of 3 studies found a moderate effect (d=0.73; 95% CI 0.50-0.96), and 1 study reported a mixed effect. Regarding self-management ability, 1 study reported a large effect (d=1.15; 95% CI 0.66-1.62), and no effect was reported in that study. No effect was found on other process outcomes. The meta-analysis of asthma studies found that blended intervention had a small improvement in lung function (SMD 0.40; 95% CI 0.18-0.62) and QoL (SMD 0.36; 95% CI 0.21-0.50) and a moderate improvement in asthma control (SMD 0.67; 95% CI 0.40-0.93). A large effect was found on BMI (d=1.42; 95% CI 0.28-2.42) and exercise capacity (d=1.50; 95% CI 0.35-2.50); however, 1 study was included per outcome. There was no effect on other outcomes. Furthermore, the majority of the 22 studies showed some concerns about the ROB, and the quality of evidence varied.Conclusions: In patients with COPD, the blended self-management interventions had mixed effects on health-related outcomes, with the strongest evidence found for exercise capacity, QoL, and admission rate. Furthermore, the review suggested that the interventions resulted in small effects on lung function and QoL and a moderate effect on asthma control in patients with asthma. There is some evidence for the effectiveness of blended self-management interventions for patients with COPD and asthma; however, more research is needed.Prevention, Population and Disease management (PrePoD)Public Health and primary car

Dynamic Evolution of a Quasi-Spherical General Polytropic Magnetofluid with Self-Gravity

In various astrophysical contexts, we analyze self-similar behaviours of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) evolution of a quasi-spherical polytropic magnetized gas under self-gravity with the specific entropy conserved along streamlines. In particular, this MHD model analysis frees the scaling parameter $n$ in the conventional polytropic self-similar transformation from the constraint of $n+\gamma=2$ with $\gamma$ being the polytropic index and therefore substantially generalizes earlier analysis results on polytropic gas dynamics that has a constant specific entropy everywhere in space at all time. On the basis of the self-similar nonlinear MHD ordinary differential equations, we examine behaviours of the magnetosonic critical curves, the MHD shock conditions, and various asymptotic solutions. We then construct global semi-complete self-similar MHD solutions using a combination of analytical and numerical means and indicate plausible astrophysical applications of these magnetized flow solutions with or without MHD shocks.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in APS

Relativistic Continuum Hartree Bogoliubov Theory for Ground State Properties of Exotic Nuclei

The Relativistic Continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov (RCHB) theory, which properly takes into account the pairing correlation and the coupling to (discretized) continuum via Bogoliubov transformation in a microscopic and self-consistent way, has been reviewed together with its new interpretation of the halo phenomena observed in light nuclei as the scattering of particle pairs into the continuum, the prediction of the exotic phenomena -- giant halos in nuclei near neutron drip line, the reproduction of interaction cross sections and charge-changing cross sections in light exotic nuclei in combination with the Glauber theory, better restoration of pseudospin symmetry in exotic nuclei, predictions of exotic phenomena in hyper nuclei, and new magic numbers in superheavy nuclei, etc. Recent investigations on new effective interactions, the density dependence of the interaction strengthes, the RMF theory on the Woods-Saxon basis, the single particle resonant states, and the resonant BCS (rBCS) method for the pairing correlation, etc. are also presented in some details.Comment: 79 pages. Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. (2005) in pres

Cytosolic phospholipase A2α–deficient mice are resistant to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a Th1-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), is a model of human multiple sclerosis. Cytosolic phospholipase A2α (cPLA2α), which initiates production of prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and platelet-activating factor, is present in EAE lesions. Using myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) immunization, as well as an adoptive transfer model, we showed that cPLA2α−/− mice are resistant to EAE. Histologic examination of the CNS from MOG-immunized mice revealed extensive inflammatory lesions in the cPLA2α+/− mice, whereas the lesions in cPLA2α−/− mice were reduced greatly or completely absent. MOG-specific T cells generated from WT mice induced less severe EAE in cPLA2α−/− mice compared with cPLA2α+/− mice, which indicates that cPLA2α plays a role in the effector phase of EAE. Additionally, MOG-specific T cells from cPLA2α−/− mice, transferred into WT mice, induced EAE with delayed onset and lower severity compared with EAE that was induced by control cells; this indicates that cPLA2α also plays a role in the induction phase of EAE. MOG-specific T cells from cPLA2α−/− mice were deficient in production of Th1-type cytokines. Consistent with this deficiency, in vivo administration of IL-12 rendered cPLA2α−/− mice susceptible to EAE. Our data indicate that cPLA2α plays an important role in EAE development and facilitates differentiation of T cells toward the Th1 phenotype

Industry/University Collaboration at the University of Michigan-Dearborn: A Focus on Relevant Technology

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154106/1/kampfner1998.pd