1,091 research outputs found
Characterising Jupiter's dynamo radius using its magnetic energy spectrum
Jupiter's magnetic field is generated by the convection of liquid metallic hydrogen in its interior. The transition from molecular hydrogen to metallic hydrogen as temperature and pressure increase is believed to be a smooth one. As a result, the electrical conductivity in Jupiter varies continuously from being negligible at the surface to a large value in the deeper region. Thus, unlike the Earth where the upper boundary of the dynamoâthe dynamo radiusâis definitively located at the core-mantle boundary, it is not clear at what depth dynamo action becomes significant in Jupiter. In this paper, using a numerical model of the Jovian dynamo, we examine the magnetic energy spectrum at different depth and identify a dynamo radius below which (and away from the deep inner core) the shape of the magnetic energy spectrum becomes invariant. We find that this shift in the behaviour of the magnetic energy spectrum signifies a change in the dynamics of the system as electric current becomes important. Traditionally, a characteristic radius derived from the LowesâMauersberger spectrumâthe Lowes radiusâgives a good estimate to the Earth's core-mantle boundary. We argue that in our model, the Lowes radius provides a lower bound to the dynamo radius. We also compare the LowesâMauersberger spectrum in our model to that obtained from recent Juno observations. The Lowes radius derived from the Juno data is significantly lower than that obtained from our models. The existence of a stably stratified region in the neighbourhood of the transition zone might provide an explanation of this result
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Room temperature "optical nanodiamond hyperpolarizer": Physics, design, and operation.
Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) is a powerful suite of techniques that deliver multifold signal enhancements in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and MRI. The generated athermal spin states can also be exploited for quantum sensing and as probes for many-body physics. Typical DNP methods require the use of cryogens, large magnetic fields, and high power microwave excitation, which are expensive and unwieldy. Nanodiamond particles, rich in Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) centers, have attracted attention as alternative DNP agents because they can potentially be optically hyperpolarized at room temperature. Here, unraveling new physics underlying an optical DNP mechanism first introduced by Ajoy et al. [Sci. Adv. 4, eaar5492 (2018)], we report the realization of a miniature "optical nanodiamond hyperpolarizer," where 13C nuclei within the diamond particles are hyperpolarized via the NV centers. The device occupies a compact footprint and operates at room temperature. Instrumental requirements are very modest: low polarizing fields, low optical and microwave irradiation powers, and convenient frequency ranges that enable miniaturization. We obtain the best reported optical 13C hyperpolarization in diamond particles exceeding 720 times of the thermal 7 T value (0.86% bulk polarization), corresponding to a ten-million-fold gain in averaging time to detect them by NMR. In addition, the hyperpolarization signal can be background-suppressed by over two-orders of magnitude, retained for multiple-minute long periods at low fields, and deployed efficiently even to 13C enriched particles. Besides applications in quantum sensing and bright-contrast MRI imaging, this work opens possibilities for low-cost room-temperature DNP platforms that relay the 13C polarization to liquids in contact with the high surface-area particles
Maternal Obesity Promotes Diabetic Nephropathy in Rodent Offspring
Maternal obesity is known to increase the risk of obesity and diabetes in offspring. Though diabetes is a key risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD), the relationship between maternal obesity and CKD has not been clearly defined. In this study, a mouse model of maternal obesity was employed to determine the impact of maternal obesity on development of diabetic nephropathy in offspring. Female C57BL/6 mice were fed high-fat diet (HFD) for six weeks prior to mating, during gestation and lactation. Male offspring were weaned to normal chow diet. At postnatal Week 8, offspring were randomly administered low dose streptozotocin (STZ, 55 mg/kg/day for five days) to induce diabetes. Assessment of renal damage took place at postnatal Week 32. We found that offspring of obese mothers had increased renal fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress. Importantly, offspring exposed to maternal obesity had increased susceptibility to renal damage when an additional insult, such as STZ-induced diabetes, was imposed. Specifically, renal inflammation and oxidative stress induced by diabetes was augmented by maternal obesity. Our findings suggest that developmental programming induced by maternal obesity has implications for renal health in offspring. Maternal obesity should be considered a risk factor for CKD
Breakup Temperature of Target Spectators in Au + Au Collisions at E/A = 1000 MeV
Breakup temperatures were deduced from double ratios of isotope yields for
target spectators produced in the reaction Au + Au at 1000 MeV per nucleon.
Pairs of He and Li isotopes and pairs of He and H
isotopes (p, d and d, t) yield consistent temperatures after feeding
corrections, based on the quantum statistical model, are applied. The
temperatures rise with decreasing impact parameter from 4 MeV for peripheral to
about 10 MeV for the most central collisions.
The good agreement with the breakup temperatures measured previously for
projectile spectators at an incident energy of 600 MeV per nucleon confirms the
observed universality of the spectator decay at relativistic bombarding
energies. The measured temperatures also agree with the breakup temperatures
predicted by the statistical multifragmentation model. For these calculations a
relation between the initial excitation energy and mass was derived which gives
good simultaneous agreement for the fragment charge correlations.
The energy spectra of light charged particles, measured at =
150, exhibit Maxwellian shapes with inverse slope parameters much
higher than the breakup temperatures. The statistical multifragmentation model,
because Coulomb repulsion and sequential decay processes are included, yields
light-particle spectra with inverse slope parameters higher than the breakup
temperatures but considerably below the measured values. The systematic
behavior of the differences suggests that they are caused by
light-charged-particle emission prior to the final breakup stage.
PACS numbers: 25.70.Mn, 25.70.Pq, 25.75.-qComment: 29 pages, TeX with 11 included figures; Revised version accepted for
publication in Z. Phys. A Two additional figure
\u3cem\u3eRPGRIP1\u3c/em\u3e and Cone-Rod Dystrophy in Dogs
Coneârod dystrophies (crd) represent a group of progressive inherited blinding diseases characterized by primary dysfunction and loss of cone photoreceptors accompanying or preceding rod death. Recessive crd type 1 was described in dogs associated with an RPGRIP1 exon 2 mutation, but with lack of complete concordance between genotype and phenotype. This review highlights role of the RPGRIP1, a component of complex protein networks, and its function in the primary cilium, and discusses the potential mechanisms of genotypeâphenotype discordance observed in dogs with the RPGRIP1 mutation
Virtual Reality Applications in Rehabilitation
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39510-4_1One of the most valuable applications of virtual reality (VR) is in the domain of rehabilitation. After brain injuries or diseases, many patients suffer from impaired physical and/or cognitive capabilities, such as difficulties in moving arms or remembering names. Over the past two decades, VR has been tested and examined as a technology to assist patientsâ recovery and rehabilitation, both physical and cognitive. The increasing prevalence of low-cost VR devices brings new opportunities, allowing VR to be used in practice. Using VR devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs), special virtual scenes can be designed to assist patients in the process of re-training their brain and reorganizing their functions and abilities. However, such VR interfaces and applications must be comprehensively tested and examined for their effectiveness and potential side effects. This paper presents a review of related literature and discusses the new opportunities and challenges. Most of existing studies examined VR as an assessment method rather than a training/exercise method. Nevertheless, promising cases and positive preliminary results have been shown. Considering the increasing need for self-administered, home-based, and personalized rehabilitation, VR rehabilitation is potentially an important approach. This area requires more studies and research effort
Constraints from orbital motions around the Earth of the environmental fifth-force hypothesis for the OPERA superluminal neutrino phenomenology
It has been recently suggested by Dvali and Vikman that the superluminal
neutrino phenomenology of the OPERA experiment may be due to an environmental
feature of the Earth, naturally yielding a long-range fifth force of
gravitational origin whose coupling with the neutrino is set by the scale M_*,
in units of reduced Planck mass. Its characteristic length lambda should not be
smaller than one Earth's radius R_e, while its upper bound is expected to be
slightly smaller than the Earth-Moon distance (60 R_e). We analytically work
out some orbital effects of a Yukawa-type fifth force for a test particle
moving in the modified field of a central body. Our results are quite general
since they are not restricted to any particular size of lambda; moreover, they
are valid for an arbitrary orbital configuration of the particle, i.e. for any
value of its eccentricity . We find that the dimensionless strength coupling
parameter alpha is constrained to |alpha| <= 1 10^-10-4 10^-9 for 1 R_e <=
lambda <= 10 R_e by the laser data of the Earth's artificial satellite LAGEOS
II, corresponding to M_* >= 4 10^9 -1.6 10^10. The Moon perigee allows to
obtain |alpha| <= 3 10^-11 for the Earth-Moon pair in the range 15 R_e <=
lambda = 3 10^10 - 4.5 10^10. Our results
are neither necessarily limited to the superluminal OPERA scenario nor to the
Dvali-Vikman model, in which it is M_* = 10^-6 at lambda = 1 R_e, in contrast
with our bounds: they generally extend to any theoretical scenario implying a
fifth-force of Yukawa-type.Comment: LaTex2e, 18 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, 81 reference
Coccidioidomycosis Incidence in Arizona Predicted by Seasonal Precipitation
The environmental mechanisms that determine the inter-annual and seasonal variability in incidence of coccidioidomycosis are unclear. In this study, we use Arizona coccidioidomycosis case data for 1995â2006 to generate a timeseries of monthly estimates of exposure rates in Maricopa County, AZ and Pima County, AZ. We reveal a seasonal autocorrelation structure for exposure rates in both Maricopa County and Pima County which indicates that exposure rates are strongly related from the fall to the spring. An abrupt end to this autocorrelation relationship occurs near the the onset of the summer precipitation season and increasing exposure rates related to the subsequent season. The identification of the autocorrelation structure enabled us to construct a âprimaryâ exposure season that spans August-March and a âsecondaryâ season that spans AprilâJune which are then used in subsequent analyses. We show that OctoberâDecember precipitation is positively associated with rates of exposure for the primary exposure season in both Maricopa County (Râ=â0.72, pâ=â0.012) and Pima County (Râ=â0.69, pâ=â0.019). In addition, exposure rates during the primary exposure seasons are negatively associated with concurrent precipitation in Maricopa (Râ=ââ0.79, pâ=â0.004) and Pima (Râ=ââ0.64, pâ=â0.019), possibly due to reduced spore dispersion. These associations enabled the generation of models to estimate exposure rates for the primary exposure season. The models explain 69% (pâ=â0.009) and 54% (pâ=â0.045) of the variance in the study period for Maricopa and Pima counties, respectively. We did not find any significant predictors for exposure rates during the secondary season. This study builds on previous studies examining the causes of temporal fluctuations in coccidioidomycosis, and corroborates the âgrow and blowâ hypothesis
Concurrent use of prescription drugs and herbal medicinal products in older adults: A systematic review
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.The use of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) is common among older adults. However, little is known about concurrent use with prescription drugs as well as the potential interactions associated with such combinations. Objective Identify and evaluate the literature on concurrent prescription and HMPs use among older adults to assess prevalence, patterns, potential interactions and factors associated with this use. Methods Systematic searches in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, Web of Science and Cochrane from inception to May 2017 for studies reporting concurrent use of prescription medicines with HMPs in adults (â„65 years). Quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklists. The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) three stage approach to mixed method research was used to synthesise data. Results Twenty-two studies were included. A definition of HMPs or what was considered HMP was frequently missing. Prevalence of concurrent use by older adults varied widely between 5.3% and 88.3%. Prescription medicines most combined with HMPs were antihypertensive drugs, beta blockers, diuretics, antihyperlipidemic agents, anticoagulants, analgesics, antihistamines, antidiabetics, antidepressants and statins. The HMPs most frequently used were: ginkgo, garlic, ginseng, St Johnâs wort, Echinacea, saw palmetto, evening primrose oil and ginger. Potential risks of bleeding due to use of ginkgo, garlic or ginseng with aspirin or warfarin was the most reported herb-drug interaction. Some data suggests being female, a lower household income and less than high school education were associated with concurrent use. Conclusion Prevalence of concurrent prescription drugs and HMPs use among older adults is substantial and potential interactions have been reported. Knowledge of the extent and manner in which older adults combine prescription drugs will aid healthcare professionals can appropriately identify and manage patients at risk.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Liquid-gas phase transition in nuclear multifragmentation
The equation of state of nuclear matter suggests that at suitable beam
energies the disassembling hot system formed in heavy ion collisions will pass
through a liquid-gas coexistence region. Searching for the signatures of the
phase transition has been a very important focal point of experimental
endeavours in heavy ion collisions, in the last fifteen years. Simultaneously
theoretical models have been developed to provide information about the
equation of state and reaction mechanisms consistent with the experimental
observables. This article is a review of this endeavour.Comment: 63 pages, 27 figures, submitted to Adv. Nucl. Phys. Some typos
corrected, minor text change
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