Discrete Symmetries (C,P,T) in Noncommutative Field Theories

In this paper we study the invariance of the noncmmutative gauge theories under C, P and T transformations. For the noncommutative space (when only the spatial part of $\theta$ is non-zero) we show that NCQED is Parity invariant. In addition, we show that under charge conjugation the theory on noncommutative $R^4_{\theta}$ is transformed to the theory on $R^4_{-\theta}$, so NCQED is a CP violating theory. The theory remains invariant under time reversal if, together with proper changes in fields, we also change $\theta$ by $-\theta$. Hence altogether NCQED is CPT invariant. Moreover we show that the CPT invariance holds for general noncommutative space-time.Comment: Revtex File, 4 pages, no figures, minor changes from previous verion. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Influence of Islam on smoking among Muslims

Smoking prevalence is generally high among Muslims. An awareness of their religious beliefs and rulings might increase the effectiveness of antismoking campaign

Predictors of programme adherence and weight loss in women in an obesity programme using meal replacements

Objective: To explore predictors of programme adherence and weight loss in patients participating in a weight management programme using meal replacements (MR).Design: One hundred and fifty healthy obese women, age 48.5 years (s.d. = 8.3); weight, 97.6 kg (13.4); body mass index (BMI) 36.5 (3.7), participated in a longitudinal study with a 16-week acute weight loss phase (Phase 1) followed by 1 year of a trial of weight-loss maintenance (Phase 2). Energy intake during Phase 1 totaled 900 kcal (3.7 MJ) a day from a diet including two MR. Energy intake during Phase 2 consisted of either MR or a low-fat diet with a calculated energy deficit of 600 kcal/day (2.5 MJ).Methods: Weight, height and waist circumference were measured and body composition assessed by air plethysmography (Bodpod). Glucose and insulin were measured by standard immunoassays and insulin sensitivity assessed by homeostatic model assessment.Results: At the end of 16 weeks, 114 subjects (76%) completed Phase 1 and achieved a mean weight loss of 8.95 kg (3.38). Adherence to Phase 1 was predicted by weight loss over the first 2 weeks (p < 0.001). Weight loss during Phase 1 was predicted by initial weight and initial systolic blood pressure. Adherence to Phase 2 was not predicted by physiological measures. Weight loss maintenance in Phase 2 (not gaining more than 3% of the weight at start of phase 2) was predicted by cholesterol and triglyceride measured at the start of Phase 2 but otherwise was not predicted by the physiological measures. Initial insulin sensitivity did not predict weight loss in either phase.Conclusion: Participants whose weight loss over the first 2 weeks falls in the bottom third may need additional intervention if they are to continue in this type of programme. A battery of physiological measures at entry to a MR weight loss and maintenance programme explains only a very small proportion of the variation in weight loss

Nearing Extremal Intersecting Giants and New Decoupled Sectors in N = 4 SYM

We study near-horizon limits of near-extremal charged black hole solutions to five-dimensional $U(1)^3$ gauged supergravity carrying two charges, extending the recent work of Balasubramanian et.al. We show that there are two near-horizon decoupling limits for the near-extremal black holes, one corresponding to the near-BPS case and the other for the far from BPS case. Both of these limits are only defined on the 10d IIB uplift of the 5d black holes, resulting in a decoupled geometry with a six-dimensional part (conformal to) a rotating BTZ X $S^3$. We study various aspects of these decoupling limits both from the gravity side and the dual field theory side. For the latter we argue that there should be two different, but equivalent, dual gauge theory descriptions, one in terms of the 2d CFT's dual to the rotating BTZ and the other as certain large R-charge sectors of d=4,N =4 U(N) SYM theory. We discuss new BMN-type sectors of the N=4 SYM in the $N\to\infty$ limit in which the engineering dimensions scale as $N^{3/2}$ (for the near-BPS case) and as $N^2$ (for the far from BPS case).Comment: 44 pages, references added, minor change

Tensor model and dynamical generation of commutative nonassociative fuzzy spaces

Rank-three tensor model may be regarded as theory of dynamical fuzzy spaces, because a fuzzy space is defined by a three-index coefficient of the product between functions on it, f_a*f_b=C_ab^cf_c. In this paper, this previous proposal is applied to dynamical generation of commutative nonassociative fuzzy spaces. It is numerically shown that fuzzy flat torus and fuzzy spheres of various dimensions are classical solutions of the rank-three tensor model. Since these solutions are obtained for the same coupling constants of the tensor model, the cosmological constant and the dimensions are not fundamental but can be regarded as dynamical quantities. The symmetry of the model under the general linear transformation can be identified with a fuzzy analog of the general coordinate transformation symmetry in general relativity. This symmetry of the tensor model is broken at the classical solutions. This feature may make the model to be a concrete finite setting for applying the old idea of obtaining gravity as Nambu-Goldstone fields of the spontaneous breaking of the local translational symmetry.Comment: Adding discussions on effective geometry, a note added, four references added, other minor changes, 27 pages, 17 figure

ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUG THERAPY AND SERUM CARNITINE LEVELS IN CHILDREN PRIOR TO AND FOLLOWING TREATMENT

Background:The physiologic function of carnitine, oxidation of fatty acid and lipid  metabolism, is severely affected in carnitine deficiency, secondary forms of which lead to renal tubular disorders and chronic renal failure. Reduction in serum carnitine has been frequently reported in patients and experimental animals treated with antiepileptic drugs, one of which, valproic acid has consistently been found to cause the deficiency; the antiepileptic drugs, valproic acid, has consistently been found to cause the deficiency. Previous results, however, regarding the effects of other antiepileptic drugs have been less consistent.  Considering the controversial results available in lterarure, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of Valproic acid, Carbamazepine and Phenobarbital on serum carnitine levels in epileptic children.Methods:In the present study, serum carnitine levels were randomly monitored before and six months after therapy in 39 epileptic patients receiving the antiepileptic drugs mentioned. Patient blood samples were taken before and six months after treatment and L-carnitine level was determined using the UV enzymatic test (Rouche Kit) spectronic Genesis 2, 340 nm.Results:Results showed a significant fall in the L-carnitine levels of epileptic children taking these drugs (P< 0.01).Conclusion:Considering the reducing effect of antiepileptic drugs on serum carnitine levels, it is recommended that a carnitine supplement be administered in pediatric epileptic patients to prevent the deficiency and related consequences caused by such therapies.Keywords:Carnitine ,Epilepsy - in children ,Valproic Acid, Phenobarbital, Carbamazepin

Non-Commutative GUTs, Standard Model and C,P,T properties from Seiberg-Witten map

Noncommutative generalizations of Yang-Mills theories using Seiberg-Witten map are in general not unique. We study these ambiguities and see that SO(10) GUT, at first order in the noncommutativity parameter \theta, is unique and therefore is a truly unified theory, while SU(5) is not. We then present the noncommutative Standard Model compatible with SO(10) GUT. We next study the reality, hermiticity and C,P,T properties of the Seiberg-Witten map and of these noncommutative actions at all orders in \theta. This allows to compare the Standard Model discussed in [5] with the present GUT inspired one.Comment: 9 pages. Presented at the Balkan Workshop 2003, Vrnjacka Banja, 29.8-2.9.2003 and at the 9th Adriatic Meeting, Dubrovnik, 4-14.9.200

Humanoid Localization on Robocup Field using Corner Intersection and Geometric Distance Estimation

In the humanoid competition field, identifying landmarks for localizing robots in a dynamic environment is of crucial importance. By convention, state-of-the-art humanoid vision systems rely on poles located outside the middle of the field as an indicator for generating landmarks. However, in compliance with the recent rules of Robocup, the middle pole has been discarded to deliberately provide less prior information for the humanoid vision system to strategize its winning tactics on the field. Previous localization method used middle poles as a landmark. Therefore, robot localization tasks should apply accurate corner and distance detection simultaneously to locate the positions of goalposts. State-of-the-art corner detection algorithms such as the Harris corner and mean projection transformation are excessively sensitive to image noise and suffer from high processing times. Moreover, despite their prevalence in robot motor log and fish-eye lens calibration for humanoid localization, current distance estimation techniques nonetheless remain highly dependent on multiple poles as vision landmarks, apart from being prone to huge localization errors. Thus, we propose a novel localization method consisting of a proposed corner extraction algorithm, namely, the contour intersection algorithm (CIA), and a distance estimation algorithm, namely, analytic geometric estimation (AGE), for efficiently identifying salient goalposts. At first, the proposed CIA algorithm, which is based on linear contour intersection using a projection matrix, is utilized to extract corners of a goalpost after performing an adaptive binarization process. Then, these extracted corner features are fed into our proposed AGE algorithm to estimate the real-word distance using analytic geometry methods. As a result, the proposed localization vision system and the state-of-the-art method obtained approximately 3-4 and 7-23 centimeter estimation errors, respectively. This demonstrates the capability of the proposed localization algorithm to outperform other methods, which renders it more effective in indoor task localization for further actions such as attack or defense strategies