Supernova Relic Electron Neutrinos and anti-Neutrinos in future Large-scale Observatories

We investigate the signal from supernova relic neutrinos in future large scale observatories, such as MEMPHYS (UNO, Hyper-K), LENA and GLACIER, at present under study. We discuss that complementary information might be gained from the observation of supernova relic electron anti-neutrinos and neutrinos using the scattering on protons on one hand, and on nuclei such as oxygen, carbon or argon on the other hand. When determining the relic neutrino fluxes we also include, for the first time, the coupling of the neutrino magnetic moment to magnetic fields within the core-collapse supernova. We present numerical results on both the relic electron neutrino and anti-neutrino fluxes and on the number of events for electron neutrinos on carbon, oxygen and argon, as well as electron anti-neutrinos on protons, for various oscillation scenarios. The observation of supernova relic neutrinos might provide us with unique information on core-collapse supernova explosions, on the star formation history and on neutrino properties, that still remain unknown.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, 7 table

Power law in a gauge-invariant cut-off regularisation

We study one-loop quantum corrections of a compactified Abelian 5d gauge field theory. We use a cut-off regularisation procedure which respects the symmetries of the model, i.e. gauge invariance, exhibits the expected power-like divergences and therefore allows the derivation of power-law behavior of the effective 4d gauge coupling in a coherent manner.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 5 graphs, few references added, to appear in Phys.Rev. Rapid Communication

Parameter Detection of Thin Films From Their X-Ray Reflectivity by Support Vector Machines

Reflectivity measurements are used in thin film investigations for determining the desity and the thickness of layered structures and the roughness of external and internal surfaces. From the mathematical point of view the deduction of these parameters from a measured reflectivity curve represents an inverSe ptoblem. At present, curve fitting procedures, based to a large extent on expert knowledge are commonly used in practice. These techniques suffer from a low degree of automation. In this paper we present a new approach to the evaluation of reflectivity measurements using support vector machines. For the estimation of the different thin film parameters we provide sparse approximations of vector-valued functions, where we work in parallel on the same data sets. Our support vector machines were trained by simulated reflectivity curves generated by the optical matrix method. The solution of the corresponding quadratic programming problem makes use of the SVMTorch algorithm. We present numerical investigations to assess the performance of our method using models of practical relevance. It is concluded that the approximation by support vector machines represents a very promising tool in X-ray reflectivity investigations and seems also to be applicable for a much broader range of parameter detection problems in X-ray analysis

Impact of the Neutrino Magnetic Moment on the Neutrino Fluxes and the Electron Fraction in core-collapse Supernovae

We explore the effect of the neutrino magnetic moment on neutrino scattering with matter in a core-collapse Supernova. We study the impact both on the neutrino fluxes and on the electron fraction. We find that sizeable modifications require very large magnetic moments both for Dirac and Majorana neutrinos.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Two-loop neutrino masses with large R-parity violating interactions in supersymmetry

We attempt to reconcile large trilinear R-parity violating interactions in a supersymmetric (SUSY) theory with the observed pattern of neutrino masses and mixing. We show that, with a restricted number of such interaction terms with the $\lambda'$-type couplings in the range (0.1-1.0), it is possible to forbid one-loop contributions to the neutrino mass matrix. This is illustrated with the help of a `working example' where an econnomic choice of SUSY parameters is made, with three non-vanishing and `large' R-parity violating terms in the superpotential. The two-loop contributions in such a case can not only generate the masses in the requisite order but can also lead us to specific allowed regions of the parameter space.Comment: Revised version, 25 pages, 16 figure

Event-related desynchronization in motor imagery with EEG neurofeedback in the context of declarative interference and sleep

Motor imagery (MI) in combination with neurofeedback (NF) is a promising supplement to facilitate the acquisition of motor abilities and the recovery of impaired motor abilities following brain injuries. However, the ability to control MI NF is subject to a wide range of inter-individual variability. A substantial number of users experience difficulties in achieving good results, which compromises their chances to benefit from MI NF in a learning or rehabilitation context. It has been suggested that context factors, that is, factors outside the actual motor task, can explain individual differences in motor skill acquisition. Retrospective declarative interference and sleep have already been identified as critical factors for motor execution (ME) and MI based practice. Here, we investigate whether these findings generalize to practicing MI NF. Three groups underwent three blocks of practicing MI with NF, each on two subsequent days. In two of the groups, MI NF blocks were followed by either immediate or delayed declarative memory tasks. The control group performed only MI NF and no specific interference tasks. Two of the MI NF blocks were run on the first day of the experiment, the third in the morning of the second day. Significant within-block NF gains in mu and beta frequency event-related desynchronization (ERD) where evident for all groups. However, data did not provide evidence for an impact of immediate or delayed declarative interference on MI NF ERD. Also, MI NF ERD remained unchanged after a night of sleep. We did not observe the expected pattern of results for MI NF ERD with regard to declarative interference and a night of sleep. This is discussed in the context of variable experimental task designs, inter-individual differences, and performance measures

Dynamic optical coherence tomography. a non-invasive imaging tool for the distinction of nevi and melanomas

Along with the rising melanoma incidence in recent decades and bad prognoses resulting from late diagnoses, distinguishing between benign and malignant melanocytic lesions has become essential. Unclear cases may require the aid of non-invasive imaging to reduce unnecessary biopsies. This multicentric, case-control study evaluated the potential of dynamic optical coherence tomography (D-OCT) to identify distinguishing microvascular features in nevi. A total of 167 nevi, including dysplastic ones, on 130 participants of all ages and sexes were examined by D-OCT and dermoscopy with a histological reference. Three blinded analyzers evaluated the lesions. Then, we compared the features to those in 159 melanomas of a prior D-OCT study and determined if a differential diagnosis was possible. We identified specific microvascular features in nevi and a differential diagnosis of melanomas and nevi was achieved with excellent predictive values. We conclude that D-OCT overcomes OCT´s inability to distinguish melanocytic lesions based on its focus on microvascularization. To determine if an addition to the gold standard of a clinical-dermoscopic examination improves the diagnosis of unclear lesions, further studies, including a larger sample of dysplastic nevi and artificial intelligence, should be conducted

Brief review on the limit state function of dynamic scour protections

Offshore foundations, namely for offshore wind, wave and tidal applications, often require the use of scour protections. Rip-rap scour protections are an important element of the foundation to ensure that the natural frequency stays within the design limits. Scour protection design still presents a remarkable empirical nature, which typically leads to uncertainty on their behaviour under extreme met-ocean conditions. Therefore, reliability assessment of scour protections has been seen as a possibility to account for design uncertainty and to optimise the scour protections. However, the definition of a suitable limit state function is still a matter of research focus, namely, regarding the proper definition of the acceptable damage level for dynamic scour protections. This research provides a brief review on the recent studies related to both the limit state function and the calculation of damage numbers through bathymetric data. A discussion is raised on how the methodologies for calculating the damage number may influence the limit state function and a theoretical example is given to assess the effects on the probability of failure. Results have shown that the acceptable damage number requires a clearer definition, which should be based on the number of layers of rock material and the area of filter exposure. In addition, this research highlights the need for alternative ways to assess damage