Observation of Vortex Matching Phenomena in Antidot Array of NbN Thin Film

We report vortex matching phenomenon in rectangular antidot array fabricated on epitaxial NbN thin film. The antidot array was fabricated using Focussed Ion Beam milling technique. The magneto-transport measurements points to a period doubling transition at higher magnetic field for rectangular lattices. The results are discussed within the light of several models including the multi-vortex model, the matched lattice model and the super-matched lattice model.Comment: Added references, modified abstract and discussions and corrected typo-graphic errors. Accepted for proceedings of M2S-IX 2009, Tokyo (Physica C

Understanding Geographic Variations in Bmi in India

Comparison of Body Mass Index is a useful marker for energy imbalance and associated variations across populations. High BMI is associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, whereas low BMI is associated with increased mortality. BMI comparisons across geographical locations may give us indication as to which direction the public health policies should head and what could be the corrective approach towards a more balanced and healthier energy level. The current study uses Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data for women from 2005-06 to develop state-specific models of BMI and do inter-state comparisons. We also examined the individual versus contextual predictors of these variations. of the total sample (N = 118,734), 29% had a BMI lower than 18.5, and were classified as underweight, with Uttar Pradesh having the highest number of underweight women, followed by Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka. North-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram, collectively had lowest percentage of underweight residents. Female respondents who had higher levels of education, were married, and were employed, had a lower prevalence of being underweight (p\u3c0.000). Women who smoked and consumed alcohol were also more likely to be underweight. But addition of such individual level variables like income and wealth variables, educational and demographic variables, and health behaviors alter the odds of having a low BMI in some states (such as Punjab, Kerala, Goa & Delhi), but not in others (such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh & Manipur). In former types of states where individual level variables change the odds of having low BMI, continued investments in education, health education targeted toward health-adverse behaviors, and access to public health resources may show improvement in levels of BMI. On the other hand, states where individual level variables did not influence the odds of having low BMI in our analysis might have different genotypical characteristics of the female respondents. It is also possible that these states might need intervention not only at individual level, but also at the level of macroeconomic and developmental factors such as food security, or to health-related factors such as the availability, accessibility, and quality of health care services, particularly those directed toward women. The current study shows the need for two-pronged policy interventions to alter the BMI imbalance in India

Renormalization group equations in curved space-time with non-trivial Topology

Renormalization group equations for massless GUT's in curved space-time with non-trivial topology are formulated. The asymptotics of the effective action both at high and low energies are obtained. It is shown that the Casimir energy contribution at high curvature (early Universe) becomes non-essential in the effective action.Comment: 7 Page

The effect of insulin on equine lamellar basal epithelial cells mediated by the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor

Background In horses and ponies, insulin dysregulation leading to hyperinsulinemia may be associated with increased risk of laminitis, and prolonged infusion of insulin can induce the condition. It is unclear whether insulin may have a direct or indirect effect on the lamellar tissues. Insulin is structurally related to insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), and can bind the IGF-1 receptor, albeit at a lower affinity than IGF-1. Methods Immunohistochemistry was performed on formalin-fixed lamellar tissue sections from six normal horses, euthanised for non-research purposes, using an anti-IGF-1 receptor antibody. In further studies, lamellar epithelial cells were obtained by collagenase digestion from the hooves of 18 normal horses, also euthanised for non-research purposes, and incubated for 48 h in the presence of insulin (0–2,000 m IU/ml). The increase in cell numbers was determined using a cell proliferation assay, and compared to the effect of zero insulin using one-way ANOVA. Results Immunohistochemistry demonstrated IGF-1 receptors on lamellar epidermal epithelial cells. With cultured cells, insulin caused a concentration-dependent increase in cell proliferation compared to untreated cells (maximal effect 63.3 ± 12.8% more cells after 48 h with 1,000 m IU/ml insulin; P < 0.01). Co-incubation with a blocking antibody against the IGF-1 receptor significantly inhibited the proliferative effect of insulin (P < 0.01). Discussion These results demonstrate that IGF-1 receptors are present on lamellar epithelial cells. At high physiological concentrations, insulin may activate these cells, by a mechanism involving IGF-1 receptors, resulting in a proliferative effect. This mechanism could help to explain the link between hyperinsulinemia and laminitis

Dynamical dispersion relation for ELKO dark spinor fields

An intrinsic mass generation mechanism for exotic ELKO dark matter fields is scrutinized, in the context of the very special relativity (VSR). Our results are reported on unraveling inequivalent spin structures that educe an additional term on the associated Dirac operator. Contrary to the spinor fields of mass dimension 3/2, this term is precluded to be absorbed as a shift of some gauge vector potential, regarding the equations for the dark spinor fields. It leads to some dynamical constraints that can be intrinsically converted into a dark spinor mass generation mechanism, with the encoded symmetries maintained by the VSR. The dynamical mass is embedded in the VSR framework through a natural coupling to the kink solution of a \lambda \phi^{4} theory for a scalar field \phi. Our results evince the possibility of novel effective scenarios, derived from exotic couplings among dark spinor fields and scalar field topological solutions.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Phys.Lett.

Maximum likelihood soft-output detection through Sphere Decoding combined with box optimization

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Signal Processing. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Signal Processing 125 (2016) 249–260. DOI 10.1016/j.sigpro.2016.02.006.This paper focuses on the improvement of known algorithms for maximum likelihood soft-output detection. These algorithms usually have large computational complexity, that can be reduced by using clipping. Taking two well-known soft-output maximum likelihood algorithms (Repeated Tree Search and Single Tree Search) as a starting point, a number of modifications (based mainly on box optimization techniques) are proposed to improve the efficiency of the search. As a result, two new algorithms are proposed for soft-output maximum likelihood detection. One of them is based on Repeated Tree Search (which can be applied with and without clipping). The other one is based on Single Tree Search, which can only be applied to the case with clipping. The proposed algorithms are compared with the Single Tree Search algorithm, and their efficiency is evaluated in standard detection problems (4 4 16-QAM and 4 4 64-QAM) with and without clipping. The results show that the efficiency of the proposed algorithms is similar to that of the Single Tree Search algorithm in the case 4 4 16-QAM; however, in the case 4 4 64- QAM, the new algorithms are far more efficient than the Single Tree Search algorithm. & 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This work has been partially funded by Generalitat Valenciana through the projects ISIC/2012/006 and PROMETEO II/2014/003, and by Ministerio Espanol de Economia y Competitividad through the project TEC2012-38142-C04 and through the Grant RACHEL TEC2013-47141-C4-4-R.García Mollá, VM.; Simarro Haro, MDLA.; Martínez Zaldívar, FJ.; González Salvador, A.; Vidal Maciá, AM. (2016). Maximum likelihood soft-output detection through Sphere Decoding combined with box optimization. Signal Processing. 125:249-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sigpro.2016.02.006S24926012

Quantum Fields and Extended Objects in Space-Times with Constant Curvature Spatial Section

The heat-kernel expansion and $\zeta$-regularization techniques for quantum field theory and extended objects on curved space-times are reviewed. In particular, ultrastatic space-times with spatial section consisting in manifold with constant curvature are discussed in detail. Several mathematical results, relevant to physical applications are presented, including exact solutions of the heat-kernel equation, a simple exposition of hyperbolic geometry and an elementary derivation of the Selberg trace formula. With regards to the physical applications, the vacuum energy for scalar fields, the one-loop renormalization of a self-interacting scalar field theory on a hyperbolic space-time, with a discussion on the topological symmetry breaking, the finite temperature effects and the Bose-Einstein condensation, are considered. Some attempts to generalize the results to extended objects are also presented, including some remarks on path integral quantization, asymptotic properties of extended objects and a novel representation for the one-loop (super)string free energy.Comment: Latex file, 122 page