1,985 research outputs found
Within-Session Analysis of Amphetamine-Elicited Rotation Behavior Reveals Differences between Young Adult and Middle-Aged F344/BN Rats with Partial Unilateral Striatal Dopamine Depletion
Preclinical modeling of Parkinson's disease using 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been valuable in developing and testing therapeutic strategies. Recent efforts have focused on modeling early stages of disease by infusing 6-OHDA into the striatum. The partial DA depletion that follows intrastriatal 6-OHDA is more variable than the near complete depletion following medial forebrain bundle infusion, and behavioral screening assays are not as well characterized in the partial lesion model. We compared relationships between amphetamine-elicited rotation behavior and DA depletion following intrastriatal 6-OHDA (12.5 μg) in 6 month vs. 18 month F344/BN rats, at 2-weeks and 6-weeks post-lesion. We compared the total number of rotations with within-session (bin-by-bin) parameters of rotation behavior as indicators of DA depletion. Striatal DA depletion was greater in the young adult than in the middle-aged rats at 2 weeks but not at 6 weeks post-lesion. The total number of rotations for the whole session and striatal DA depletion did not differ between the two age groups. Regression analysis revealed a greater relationship between within-session parameters of rotation behavior and DA depletion in the middle-aged group than in the young adult group. These results have implications for estimating DA depletion in preclinical studies using rats of different ages
Fast and precise map-making for massively multi-detector CMB experiments
Future cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation experiments aim to
measure an unprecedentedly small signal - the primordial gravity wave component
of the polarisation field B-mode. To achieve this, they will analyse huge
datasets, involving years worth of time-ordered data (TOD) from massively
multi-detector focal planes. This creates the need for fast and precise methods
to complement the M-L approach in analysis pipelines. In this paper, we
investigate fast map-making methods as applied to long duration, massively
multi-detector, ground-based experiments, in the context of the search for
B-modes. We focus on two alternative map-making approaches: destriping and TOD
filtering, comparing their performance on simulated multi-detector polarisation
data. We have written an optimised, parallel destriping code, the DEStriping
CARTographer DESCART, that is generalised for massive focal planes, including
the potential effect of cross-correlated TOD 1/f noise. We also determine the
scaling of computing time for destriping as applied to a simulated full-season
data-set for a realistic experiment. We find that destriping can out-perform
filtering in estimating both the large-scale E and B-mode angular power
spectra. In particular, filtering can produce significant spurious B-mode power
via EB mixing. Whilst this can be removed, it contributes to the variance of
B-mode bandpower estimates at scales near the primordial B-mode peak. For the
experimental configuration we simulate, this has an effect on the possible
detection significance for primordial B-modes. Destriping is a viable
alternative fast method to the full M-L approach that does not cause the
problems associated with filtering, and is flexible enough to fit into both M-L
and Monte-Carlo pseudo-Cl pipelines.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. MNRAS accepted. Typos corrected and computing
time/memory requirement orders-of-magnitude numbers in section 4 replaced by
precise number
Systematics of Leading Particle Production
Using a QCD inspired model developed by our group for particle production,
the Interacting Gluon Model (IGM), we have made a systematic analysis of all
available data on leading particle spectra. These data include diffractive
collisions and photoproduction at HERA. With a small number of parameters
(essentially only the non-perturbative gluon-gluon cross section and the
fraction of diffractive events) good agreement with data is found. We show that
the difference between pion and proton leading spectra is due to their
different gluon distributions. We predict a universality in the diffractive
leading particle spectra in the large momentum region, which turns out to be
independent of the incident energy and of the projectile type.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, 4 ps figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Non-linear Dynamics in QED_3 and Non-trivial Infrared Structure
In this work we consider a coupled system of Schwinger-Dyson equations for
self-energy and vertex functions in QED_3. Using the concept of a
semi-amputated vertex function, we manage to decouple the vertex equation and
transform it in the infrared into a non-linear differential equation of
Emden-Fowler type. Its solution suggests the following picture: in the absence
of infrared cut-offs there is only a trivial infrared fixed-point structure in
the theory. However, the presence of masses, for either fermions or photons,
changes the situation drastically, leading to a mass-dependent non-trivial
infrared fixed point. In this picture a dynamical mass for the fermions is
found to be generated consistently. The non-linearity of the equations gives
rise to highly non-trivial constraints among the mass and effective (`running')
gauge coupling, which impose lower and upper bounds on the latter for dynamical
mass generation to occur. Possible implications of this to the theory of
high-temperature superconductivity are briefly discussed.Comment: 29 pages LATEX, 7 eps figures incorporated, uses axodraw style.
Discussion on the massless case (section 2) modified; no effect on
conclusions, typos correcte
Quantum-Classical Transition of the Escape Rate of a Uniaxial Spin System in an Arbitrarily Directed Field
The escape rate \Gamma of the large-spin model described by the Hamiltonian H
= -DS_z^2 - H_zS_z - H_xS_x is investigated with the help of the mapping onto a
particle moving in a double-well potential U(x). The transition-state method
yields in the moderate-damping case as a Boltzmann average of the
quantum transition probabilities. We have shown that the transition from the
classical to quantum regimes with lowering temperature is of the first order
(d\Gamma/dT discontinuous at the transition temperature T_0) for h_x below the
phase boundary line h_x=h_{xc}(h_z), where h_{x,z}\equiv H_{x,z}/(2SD), and of
the second order above this line. In the unbiased case (H_z=0) the result is
h_{xc}(0)=1/4, i.e., one fourth of the metastability boundary h_{xm}=1, at
which the barrier disappears. In the strongly biased limit \delta\equiv 1-h_z
<< 1, one has h_{xc} \cong (2/3)^{3/4}(\sqrt{3}-\sqrt{2})\delta^{3/2}\cong
0.2345 \delta^{3/2}, which is about one half of the boundary value h_{xm} \cong
(2\delta/3)^{3/2} \cong 0.5443 \delta^{3/2}.The latter case is relevant for
experiments on small magnetic particles, where the barrier should be lowered to
achieve measurable quantum escape rates.Comment: 17 PR pages, 16 figures; published versio
Fluctuations in Hadronic and Nuclear Collisions
We investigate several fluctuation effects in high-energy hadronic and
nuclear collisions through the analysis of different observables. To introduce
fluctuations in the initial stage of collisions, we use the Interacting Gluon
Model (IGM) modified by the inclusion of the impact parameter. The inelasticity
and leading-particle distributions follow directly from this model. The
fluctuation effects on rapidity distributions are then studied by using
Landau's Hydrodynamic Model in one dimension. To investigate further the
effects of the multiplicity fluctuation, we use the Longitudinal Phase-Space
Model, with the multiplicity distribution calculated within the hydrodynamic
model, and the initial conditions given by the IGM. Forward-backward
correlation is obtained in this way.Comment: 22 pages, RevTex, 8 figures (included); Invited paper to the special
issue of Foundation of Physics dedicated to Mikio Namiki's 70th. birthda
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