Black Hole Shadows: How to Fix the Extended Gravity Theory

The first images of black hole shadows open new possibilities to develop modern extended gravity theories. We discuss the shadow calculations in non-rotating case both when $g_{11} = - g_{00}^{-1}$ and $g_{11} \neq - g_{00}^{-1}$. We demonstrate the application to few different models: Horndesky theory with Gauss-Bonnet invariant, loop quantum gravity and conformal gravity. The difference of these theories from shadow models with the theory of general relativity is shown. In addition we show that when the rotation is taken into account the requirements to the observational accuracy decrease

Sintering oxide ceramics based on AI[2]O[3] and ZrO[2], activated by MgO, TiO[2] and SiO[2] additives

The positive effect of the addition of MgO and TiO[2] in an amount of no more than 1 wt. % on sintering and physico-mechanical properties of alumina ceramics is established. Addition of 5% of SiO[2] to A1[2]O[3] provides the mechanism of liquid phase sintering of ceramics, which leads to increase in its density and strength up to 480 MPa. In ceramic system A1[2]O[3] - ZrO[2] - Y[2]O[3] highest level of physical and mechanical properties of the composition had a hypereutectic composition 16.6% A1[2]O[3] - 76% Z1O[2] - 7.4% Y[2]O[3]. In this composition two mechanisms of hardening are realized simultaneously, such as transformational hardening by t-m -ZrO[2] transition and dispersion strengthening with high-modulus particles of [alpha]- A1[2]O[3]

Stromal and Tumor Glioma-Derived Cells with Similar Characteristics have Differences in α-Smooth Muscle Actin Expression and Localization

Gliomas are solid brain tumors composed of tumor cells and recruited heterogenic stromal components. The study of the interactions between the perivascular niche and its surrounding cells is of great value in unraveling mechanisms of drug resistance in malignant gliomas. In this study, we isolated the stromal diploid cell population from oligodendroglioma and a mixed population of tumor aneuploid and stromal diploid cells from astrocytoma specimens. The stromal cells expressed neural stem/progenitor and mesenchymal markers showing the same discordant phenotype that is typical for glioma cells. Moreover, some of the stromal cells expressed CD133. For the first time, we demonstrated that this type of stromal cells had the typical myofibroblastic phenotype as the α-SMA+ cells formed α-SMA fibers and exhibited the specific function to deposit extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins at least in vitro. Immunofluorescent analysis showed diffuse or focal α-SMA staining in the cytoplasm of the astrocytoma-derived, A172, T98G, and U251MG glioma cells. We could suggest that α-SMA may be one of the main molecules, bearing protective functions. Possible mechanisms and consequences of α-SMA disruptions in gliomas are discussed

Boosting Local Field Enhancement by on-Chip Nanofocusing and Impedance-Matched Plasmonic Antennas

Strongly confined surface plasmon-polariton modes can be used for efficiently delivering the electromagnetic energy to nano-sized volumes by reducing the cross sections of propagating modes far beyond the diffraction limit, i.e., by nanofocusing. This process results in significant local-field enhancement that can advantageously be exploited in modern optical nanotechnologies, including signal processing, biochemical sensing, imaging and spectroscopy. Here, we propose, analyze, and experimentally demonstrate on-chip nanofocusing followed by impedance-matched nanowire antenna excitation in the end-fire geometry at telecom wavelengths. Numerical and experimental evidences of the efficient excitation of dipole and quadrupole (dark) antenna modes are provided, revealing underlying physical mechanisms and analogies with the operation of plane-wave Fabry-P\'erot interferometers. The unique combination of efficient nanofocusing and nanoantenna resonant excitation realized in our experiments offers a major boost to the field intensity enhancement up to $\sim 12000$, with the enhanced field being evenly distributed over the gap volume of $30\times 30\times 10\ {\rm nm}^3$, and promises thereby a variety of useful on-chip functionalities within sensing, nonlinear spectroscopy and signal processing

The Standard Model Prediction of the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment

This article reviews and updates the Standard Model prediction of the muon g-2. QED, electroweak and hadronic contributions are presented, and open questions discussed. The theoretical prediction deviates from the present experimental value by 2-3 standard deviations, if e+e- annihilation data are used to evaluate the leading hadronic term.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures. v2: Updated version to appear in J.Phys.G. Comments and references added, typo corrected in eq.(17

Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya

Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization