Constraints on field flows of quintessence dark energy

The quest for understanding the late-time acceleration is haunted by an immense freedom in the analysis of dynamical models for dark energy in extended parameter spaces. Oftentimes having no prior knowledge at our disposal, arbitrary choices are implemented to reduce the degeneracies between parameters. We also encounter this issue in the case of quintessence fields, where a scalar degree of freedom drives the late-time acceleration. In this study, we implement a more physical prescription, the flow condition, to fine-tune the quintessence evolution for several field potentials. We find that this prescription agrees well with the most recent catalogue of data, namely supernovae type Ia, baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic clocks, and distance to the last scattering surface, and it enables us to infer the initial conditions for the field, both potential and cosmological parameters. At 2σ we find stricter bounds on the potential parameters f/mpl>0.26 and n<0.15 for the PNGB and IPL potentials, respectively, while constraints on cosmological parameters remain extremely consistent across all assumed potentials. By implementing information criteria to assess their ability to fit the data, we do not find any evidence against thawing models, which in fact are statistically equivalent to ΛCDM, and the freezing ones are moderately disfavored. Through our analysis we place upper bounds on the slope of quintessence potentials, consequently revealing a strong tension with the recently proposed swampland criterion, finding the 2σ upper bound of λ∼0.31 for the exponential potential. © 2019 American Physical Society

Radiological and physicochemical properties of red mud based geopolymers

A significant amount of red mud generated as a by-product of the Bayer process in the aluminum industry may cause environmental problems if appropriate treatment is not carried out. The presented research dealt with the possibility of application of red mud as a pigment or as raw material for use in the construction material industry. In relation to the aim of this work, the physicochemical characterization was performed and the natural radioactivity of red mud as an industrial waste and a geopolymer sample based on it was determined. The presented research is a contribution to the potential solution for environmental protection through the synthesis of possible construction material based on red mud. The radiological hazard orginating from226Ra,232Th, and40K in the samples was assesed throught the absorbed dose rate and the annual effective dose rate, calculated in accordance with the UNSCEAR 2010 report. Physicochemical characterization of all samples was conducted using X-ray diffraction and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. © 2018, Vinca Inst Nuclear Sci. All rights reserved

Excitotoxic cell death induces delayed proliferation of endogenous neuroprogenitor cells in organotypic slice cultures of the rat spinal cord

The aim of the present report was to investigate whether, in the mammalian spinal cord, cell death induced by transient excitotoxic stress could trigger activation and proliferation of endogenous neuroprogenitor cells as a potential source of a lesion repair process and the underlying time course. Because it is difficult to address these issues in vivo, we used a validated model of spinal injury based on rat organotypic slice cultures that retain the fundamental tissue cytoarchitecture and replicate the main characteristics of experimental damage to the whole spinal cord. Excitotoxicity evoked by 1 h kainate application produced delayed neuronal death (40%) peaking after 1 day without further losses or destruction of white matter cells for up to 2 weeks. After 10 days, cultures released a significantly larger concentration of endogenous glutamate, suggesting functional network plasticity. Indeed, after 1 week the total number of cells had returned to untreated control level, indicating substantial cell proliferation. Activation of progenitor cells started early as they spread outside the central area, and persisted for 2 weeks. Although expression of the neuronal progenitor phenotype was observed at day 3, peaked at 1 week and tapered off at 2 weeks, very few cells matured to neurons. Astroglia precursors started proliferating later and matured at 2 weeks. These data show insult-related proliferation of endogenous spinal neuroprogenitors over a relatively brief time course, and delineate a narrow temporal window for future experimental attempts to drive neuronal maturation and for identifying the factors regulating this process. \ua9 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

In vivo MRI and ex vivo histological assessment of the cardioprotection induced by ischemic preconditioning, postconditioning and remote conditioning in a closed-chest porcine model of reperfused acute myocardial infarction: importance of microvasculature

BACKGROUND: Cardioprotective value of ischemic post- (IPostC), remote (RIC) conditioning in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is unclear in clinical trials. To evaluate cardioprotection, most translational animal studies and clinical trials utilize necrotic tissue referred to the area at risk (AAR) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, determination of AAR by MRI' may not be accurate, since MRI-indices of microvascular damage, i.e., myocardial edema and microvascular obstruction (MVO), may be affected by cardioprotection independently from myocardial necrosis. Therefore, we assessed the effect of IPostC, RIC conditioning and ischemic preconditioning (IPreC; positive control) on myocardial necrosis, edema and MVO in a clinically relevant, closed-chest pig model of AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS: Acute myocardial infarction was induced by a 90-min balloon occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) in domestic juvenile female pigs. IPostC (6 x 30 s ischemia/reperfusion after 90-min occlusion) and RIC (4 x 5 min hind limb ischemia/reperfusion during 90-min LAD occlusion) did not reduce myocardial necrosis as assessed by late gadolinium enhancement 3 days after reperfusion and by ex vivo triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining 3 h after reperfusion, however, the positive control, IPreC (3 x 5 min ischemia/reperfusion before 90-min LAD occlusion) did. IPostC and RIC attenuated myocardial edema as measured by cardiac T2-weighted MRI 3 days after reperfusion, however, AAR measured by Evans blue staining was not different among groups, which confirms that myocardial edema is not a measure of AAR, IPostC and IPreC but not RIC decreased MVO. CONCLUSION: We conclude that IPostC and RIC interventions may protect the coronary microvasculature even without reducing myocardial necrosis

Simulations and performance of the QUBIC optical beam combiner

QUBIC, the Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology, is a novel ground-based instrument that aims to measure the extremely faint B-mode polarisation anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background at intermediate angular scales (multipoles o

Certain Member States of the European Union Do Not Seem Eager to Adopt the Euro. Why? an Example of Arguments Vs. Facts

Economic analysis may be threatened by politics and there has been plenty of politics in regard to the euro. Certain Central and Eastern European countries, after they became members of the European Union in 2004, started the process to join the euro area. There seemed to be broad political consensus and enthusiasm for the common currency and the European Monetary Union in those countries at the time. Prior to the global financial crisis that started in 2008, institutional research and academic and other arguments for adopting the euro focused on cost-benefit analyses emphasizing positive effects of the euro. Twenty years after the introduction of the euro, certain EU member states do not seem enthusiastic to give up their national currency. The key reason seems to be that the financial crisis revealed the incomplete monetary architecture of the euro area. This research reviews key arguments for the adoption of the euro before the crisis and compares them to the evidence before and after the crisis. The analytical framework used includes an example of a country with the euro (Greece) in comparison with its two neighboring countries without the euro (Bulgaria and Romania) in the region of southeastern Europe and the Western Balkans. The analysis finds that good times benefit all, while bad times can bring disproportionate harm to the country with the euro. Keywords: monetary policy, euro, southeastern Europe, European Monetary Unio

LED-based Vis-NIR spectrally tunable light source - the optimization algorithm

© 2016, The Author(s). Background: A novel numerical method for calculating the contributions of individual diodes in a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs), aimed at simulating a blackbody radiation source, is examined. The intended purpose of the light source is to enable calibration of various types of optical sensors, particularly optical radiation pyrometers in the spectral range from 700 nm to 1070 nm. Results: This numerical method is used to determine and optimize the intensity coefficients of individual LEDs that contribute to the overall spectral distribution. The method was proven for known spectral distributions: “flat” spectrum, International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standard daylight illuminant D65 spectrum, Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide (HMI) High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamp, and finally blackbody radiation spectra at various temperatures. Conclusions: The method enables achieving a broad range of continuous spectral distributions and compares favorably with other methods proposed in the literature

Korporatismus als Transformationskonsens der Fall Ungarn im osteuropaeischen Vergleich

SIGLEUuStB Koeln(38)-940106451 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and insect damage in Serbian forests

This paper examines the relationship between North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and damage made by insects in Serbian forests. The damage has been separated into three groups: bark beetles, gypsy moth and damage made by other insects. For North Atlantic Oscillation the NAO index is used. The period of investigation was 1969-2001. Data were studied on an annual scale as well as with five-year moving averages. Analysis showed a statistically significant correlation for NAO index and gypsy moth