7,113 research outputs found
Novel Quantum Criticality in CeRuSi near Absolute Zero Observed by Thermal Expansion and Magnetostriction
We report linear thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements for
CeRuSi in magnetic fields up to 52.6 mT and at temperatures down to 1
mK. At high temperatures, this compound showed Landau-Fermi-liquid behavior:
The linear thermal expansion coefficient and the magnetostriction coefficient
were proportional to the temperature and magnetic field, respectively. In
contrast, a pronounced non-Fermi-liquid effect was found below 50 mK. The
negative contribution of thermal expansion and magnetostriction suggests the
existence of an additional quantum critical point
Measurement of the atmospheric muon charge ratio with the OPERA detector
The OPERA detector at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) was used
to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV energy region. We
analyzed 403069 atmospheric muons corresponding to 113.4 days of livetime
during the 2008 CNGS run. We computed separately the muon charge ratio for
single and for multiple muon events in order to select different energy regions
of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and to test the charge ratio dependence on
the primary composition. The measured charge ratio values were corrected taking
into account the charge-misidentification errors. Data have also been grouped
in five bins of the "vertical surface energy". A fit to a simplified model of
muon production in the atmosphere allowed the determination of the pion and
kaon charge ratios weighted by the cosmic ray energy spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Maximum-likelihood estimation for diffusion processes via closed-form density expansions
This paper proposes a widely applicable method of approximate
maximum-likelihood estimation for multivariate diffusion process from
discretely sampled data. A closed-form asymptotic expansion for transition
density is proposed and accompanied by an algorithm containing only basic and
explicit calculations for delivering any arbitrary order of the expansion. The
likelihood function is thus approximated explicitly and employed in statistical
estimation. The performance of our method is demonstrated by Monte Carlo
simulations from implementing several examples, which represent a wide range of
commonly used diffusion models. The convergence related to the expansion and
the estimation method are theoretically justified using the theory of Watanabe
[Ann. Probab. 15 (1987) 1-39] and Yoshida [J. Japan Statist. Soc. 22 (1992)
139-159] on analysis of the generalized random variables under some standard
sufficient conditions.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOS1118 the Annals of
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Bezlotoxumab for Prevention of Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection
BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients. Recurrences are common after antibiotic therapy. Actoxumab and bezlotoxumab are human monoclonal antibodies against C. difficile toxins A and B, respectively. METHODS We conducted two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trials, MODIFY I and MODIFY II, involving 2655 adults receiving oral standard-of-care antibiotics for primary or recurrent C. difficile infection. Participants received an infusion of bezlotoxumab (10 mg per kilogram of body weight), actoxumab plus bezlotoxumab (10 mg per kilogram each), or placebo; actoxumab alone (10 mg per kilogram) was given in MODIFY I but discontinued after a planned interim analysis. The primary end point was recurrent infection (new episode after initial clinical cure) within 12 weeks after infusion in the modified intention-to-treat population. RESULTS In both trials, the rate of recurrent C. difficile infection was significantly lower with bezlotoxumab alone than with placebo (MODIFY I: 17% [67 of 386] vs. 28% [109 of 395]; adjusted difference, −10.1 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], −15.9 to −4.3; P<0.001; MODIFY II: 16% [62 of 395] vs. 26% [97 of 378]; adjusted difference, −9.9 percentage points; 95% CI, −15.5 to −4.3; P<0.001) and was significantly lower with actoxumab plus bezlotoxumab than with placebo (MODIFY I: 16% [61 of 383] vs. 28% [109 of 395]; adjusted difference, −11.6 percentage points; 95% CI, −17.4 to −5.9; P<0.001; MODIFY II: 15% [58 of 390] vs. 26% [97 of 378]; adjusted difference, −10.7 percentage points; 95% CI, −16.4 to −5.1; P<0.001). In prespecified subgroup analyses (combined data set), rates of recurrent infection were lower in both groups that received bezlotoxumab than in the placebo group in subpopulations at high risk for recurrent infection or for an adverse outcome. The rates of initial clinical cure were 80% with bezlotoxumab alone, 73% with actoxumab plus bezlotoxumab, and 80% with placebo; the rates of sustained cure (initial clinical cure without recurrent infection in 12 weeks) were 64%, 58%, and 54%, respectively. The rates of adverse events were similar among these groups; the most common events were diarrhea and nausea. CONCLUSIONS Among participants receiving antibiotic treatment for primary or recurrent C. difficile infection, bezlotoxumab was associated with a substantially lower rate of recurrent infection than placebo and had a safety profile similar to that of placebo. The addition of actoxumab did not improve efficacy. (Funded by Merck; MODIFY I and MODIFY II ClinicalTrials.gov numbers, NCT01241552 and NCT01513239.
Observation of a first candidate in the OPERA experiment in the CNGS beam
The OPERA neutrino detector in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS)
has been designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in
direct appearance mode through the study of the
channel. The hybrid apparatus consists of an emulsion/lead target complemented
by electronic detectors and it is placed in the high energy long-baseline CERN
to LNGS beam (CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. Runs with CNGS
neutrinos were successfully carried out in 2008 and 2009. After a brief
description of the beam, the experimental setup and the procedures used for the
analysis of the neutrino events, we describe the topology and kinematics of a
first candidate charged-current event satisfying the kinematical
selection criteria. The background calculations and their cross-check are
explained in detail and the significance of the event is assessed.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure
Precise measurement on the binding energy of hypertriton from the nuclear emulsion data using analysis with machine learning
6 pags., 3 figs.A machine learning model has been developed to search for events of production and decay of a hypertriton in nuclear emulsion data, which
is used for measuring the binding energy of the hypertriton at the best precision. The developed model employs an established technique
for object detection and is trained with surrogate images generated by Monte Carlo simulations and image transfer techniques. The first
hypertriton event has already been detected with the developed method only with 10−4 of the total emulsion data. It implies that a sufficient
number of hypertriton events will soon be detected for the precise measurement of the hypertriton binding energy
Hypernuclear event detection in the nuclear emulsion with Monte Carlo simulation and machine learning
This study developed a novel method for detecting hypernuclear events
recorded in nuclear emulsion sheets using machine learning techniques. The
artificial neural network-based object detection model was trained on surrogate
images created through Monte Carlo simulations and image-style transformations
using generative adversarial networks. The performance of the proposed model
was evaluated using -decay events obtained from the J-PARC E07 emulsion
data. The model achieved approximately twice the detection efficiency of
conventional image processing and reduced the time spent on manual visual
inspection by approximately 1/17. The established method was successfully
applied to the detection of hypernuclear events. This approach is a
state-of-the-art tool for discovering rare events recorded in nuclear emulsion
sheets without any real data for training.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figure
WASA-FRS experiments in FAIR Phase-0 at GSI
We have developed a new and unique experimental setup integrating the central part of the Wide Angle Shower Apparatus (WASA) into the Fragment Separator (FRS) at GSI. This combination opens up possibilities of new experiments with high-resolution spectroscopy at forward and measurements of light decay particles with nearly full solid-angle acceptance in coincidence. The first series of the WASA-FRS experiments have been successfully carried out in 2022. The developed experimental setup and two physics experiments performed in 2022 including the status of the preliminary data analysis are introduced
Glycerol as a cheap, safe and sustainable solvent for the catalytic and regioselective β,β-diarylation of acrylates over palladium nanoparticles
Herein we show that glycerol can be considered as a promising cheap and green solvent for the regioselective β,β-diarylation of alkenes. Whereas this reaction is generally catalyzed under an inert atmosphere by expensive phosphine or carbene-palladium complexes, we show here that the diarylation of alkenes can be conveniently achieved in glycerol in the presence of air-stable palladium nanoparticles. These palladium nanoparticles were stabilized over a sugar-based surfactant derived from biomass. By an adjustment of the reaction temperature, we were able to control the mono- and diarylation step of alkenes, thus offering a convenient route to unsymmetrical diarylated alkenes. At the end of the reaction, the diarylated alkenes were cleanly and selectively extracted from the glycerol-palladium catalytic phase using supercritical carbon dioxide, thus affording a convenient purification work-up. Within the framework of green chemistry, this work combines (i) catalysis in a cheap, safe and sustainable medium, (ii) easily made and air-stable palladium nanoparticles as the catalyst, and (iii) a clean and selective extraction of the reaction products with supercritical carbon dioxide
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