2,550 research outputs found
The Oscillation Probability of GeV Solar Neutrinos of All Active Species
In this paper, I address the oscillation probability of O(GeV) neutrinos of
all active flavours produced inside the Sun and detected at the Earth. Flavours
other than electron-type neutrinos may be produced, for example, by the
annihilation of WIMPs which may be trapped inside the Sun. In the GeV energy
regime, matter effects are important both for the ``1-3'' system and the
``1-2'' system, and for different neutrino mass hierarchies. A numerical scan
of the multidimensional three-flavour parameter space is performed,
``inspired'' by the current experimental situation. One important result is
that, in the three-flavour oscillation case, P{alpha,beta} is different from
P{beta,alpha} for a significant portion of the parameter space, even if there
is no CP-violating phase in the MNS matrix. Furthermore, P{mu,mu} has a
significantly different behaviour from P{tau,tau}, which may affect
expectations for the number of events detected at large neutrino telescopes.Comment: 38 pages, 10 figure
The description of crack growth on the basis of the strip-yield model for computation of crack opening loads, the crack tip stretch and strain rates
More Competences than You Knew? The Web of Health Competences for Union Action in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak
Supernova neutrino oscillations: A simple analytical approach
Analyses of observable supernova neutrino oscillation effects require the
calculation of the electron (anti)neutrino survival probability P_ee along a
given supernova matter density profile. We propose a simple analytical
prescription for P_ee, based on a double-exponential form for the crossing
probability and on the concept of maximum violation of adiabaticity. In the
case of two-flavor transitions, the prescription is shown to reproduce
accurately, in the whole neutrino oscillation parameter space, the results of
exact numerical calculations for generic (realistic or power-law) profiles. The
analytical approach is then generalized to cover three-flavor transitions with
(direct or inverse) mass spectrum hierarchy, and to incorporate Earth matter
effects. Compact analytical expressions, explicitly showing the symmetry
properties of P_ee, are provided for practical calculations.Comment: 22 pages (RevTeX) + 5 figures (PostScript
Mechanism of Bacterial Inactivation by (+)-Limonene and Its Potential Use in Food Preservation Combined Processes
This work explores the bactericidal effect of (+)-limonene, the major constituent of citrus fruits' essential oils, against E. coli. The degree of E. coli BJ4 inactivation achieved by (+)-limonene was influenced by the pH of the treatment medium, being more bactericidal at pH 4.0 than at pH 7.0. Deletion of rpoS and exposure to a sub-lethal heat or an acid shock did not modify E. coli BJ4 resistance to (+)-limonene. However, exposure to a sub-lethal cold shock decreased its resistance to (+)-limonene. Although no sub-lethal injury was detected in the cell envelopes after exposure to (+)-limonene by the selective-plating technique, the uptake of propidium iodide by inactivated E. coli BJ4 cells pointed out these structures as important targets in the mechanism of action. Attenuated Total Reflectance Infrared Microspectroscopy (ATR-IRMS) allowed identification of altered E. coli BJ4 structures after (+)-limonene treatments as a function of the treatment pH: ß-sheet proteins at pH 4.0 and phosphodiester bonds at pH 7.0. The increased sensitivity to (+)-limonene observed at pH 4.0 in an E. coli MC4100 lptD4213 mutant with an increased outer membrane permeability along with the identification of altered ß-sheet proteins by ATR-IRMS indicated the importance of this structure in the mechanism of action of (+)-limonene. The study of mechanism of inactivation by (+)-limonene led to the design of a synergistic combined process with heat for the inactivation of the pathogen E. coli O157:H7 in fruit juices. These results show the potential of (+)-limonene in food preservation, either acting alone or in combination with lethal heat treatments
Immunoprofiling of human uterine mast cells identifies three phenotypes and expression of ERβ and glucocorticoid receptor
Background: Human mast cells (MCs) are long-lived tissue-resident immune cells characterised by granules containing the proteases chymase and/or tryptase. Their phenotype is modulated by their tissue microenvironment. The human uterus has an outer muscular layer (the myometrium) surrounding the endometrium, both of which play an important role in supporting a pregnancy. The endometrium is a sex steroid target tissue consisting of epithelial cells (luminal, glandular) surrounded by a multicellular stroma, with the latter containing an extensive vascular compartment as well as fluctuating populations of immune cells that play an important role in regulating tissue function. The role of MCs in the human uterus is poorly understood with little known about their regulation or the impact of steroids on their differentiation status. The current study had two aims: 1) To investigate the spatial and temporal location of uterine MCs and determine their phenotype; 2) To determine whether MCs express receptors for steroids implicated in uterine function, including oestrogen (ERα, ERβ), progesterone (PR) and glucocorticoids (GR). Methods: Tissue samples from women (n=46) were used for RNA extraction (n=26) or fixed (n=20) for immunohistochemistry. Results: Messenger RNAs encoded by TPSAB1 (tryptase) and CMA1 (chymase) were detected in endometrial tissue homogenates. Immunohistochemistry revealed the relative abundance of tryptase MCs was myometrium>basal endometrium>functional endometrium. We show for the first time that uterine MCs are predominantly of the classical MC subtypes: (positive, +; negative, -) tryptase+/chymase- and tryptase+/chymase+, but a third subtype was also identified (tryptase-/chymase+). Tryptase+ MCs were of an ERβ+/ERα-/PR-/GR+ phenotype mirroring other uterine immune cell populations, including natural killer cells. Conclusions: Endometrial tissue resident immune MCs have three protease-specific phenotypes. Expression of both ERβ and GR in MCs mirrors that of other immune cells in the endometrium and suggests that MC function may be altered by the local steroid microenvironment
Non-adiabatic level crossing in (non-) resonant neutrino oscillations
We study neutrino oscillations and the level-crossing probability
P_{LZ}=\exp(-\gamma_n\F_n\pi/2) in power-law like potential profiles
. After showing that the resonance point coincides only for a
linear profile with the point of maximal violation of adiabaticity, we point
out that the ``adiabaticity'' parameter can be calculated at an
arbitrary point if the correction function \F_n is rescaled appropriately. We
present a new representation for the level-crossing probability,
P_{LZ}=\exp(-\kappa_n\G_n), which allows a simple numerical evaluation of
in both the resonant and non-resonant cases and where \G_n contains
the full dependence of on the mixing angle . As an application
we consider the case important for oscillations of supernova neutrinos.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 3 eps figure
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