Molecular and functional characterization of gap junctions in the avian inner ear.

To analyze the fundamental role of gap junctions in the vertebrate inner ear, we examined molecular and functional characteristics of gap junctional communication (GJC) in the auditory and vestibular system of the chicken. By screening inner ear tissues for connexin isoforms using degenerate reverse transcription-PCR, we identified, in addition to chicken Cx43 (cCx43) and the inner-ear-specific cCx30, an as yet uncharacterized connexin predicted to be the ortholog of the mammalian Cx26. In situ hybridization indicated that cCx30 and cCx26 transcripts were both widely expressed in the cochlear duct and utricle in an overlapping pattern, suggesting coexpression of these isoforms similar to that in the mammalian inner ear. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that cCx43 was present in gap junctions connecting supporting cells of the basilar papilla, in which its immunofluorescence colocalized with that of cCx30. However, cCx43 was absent from supporting cell gap junctions of the utricular macula. This variation in the molecular composition of gap junction plaques coincided with differences in the functional properties of GJC between the auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, adapted to examine the diffusion of calcein in inner ear explants, revealed asymmetric communication pathways among supporting cells in the basilar papilla but not in the utricular macula. This study supports the hypothesis that the coexpression of Cx26/Cx30 is unique to gap junctions in the vertebrate inner ear. Furthermore, it demonstrates asymmetric GJC within the supporting cell population of the auditory sensory epithelium, which might mediate potassium cycling and/or intercellular signaling

On the two-loop corrections to the Higgs masses in the NMSSM

We discuss the impact of the two-loop corrections to the Higgs mass in the NMSSM beyond $O(\alpha_S(\alpha_b + \alpha_t))$. For this purpose we use the combination of the public tools SARAH and SPheno to include all contributions stemming from superpotential parameters. We show that the corrections in the case of a heavy singlet are often MSSM-like and reduce the predicted mass of the SM-like state by about 1 GeV as long as $\lambda$ is moderately large. For larger values of $\lambda$ the additional corrections can increase the SM-like Higgs mass. If a light singlet is present the additional corrections become more important even for smaller values of $\lambda$ and can even dominate the ones involving the strong interaction. In this context we point out that important effects are not reproduced quantitatively when only including $O((\alpha_b+\alpha_t+\alpha_\tau)^2)$ corrections known from the MSSM.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

Black holes and non-relativistic quantum systems

We describe black holes in d+3 dimensions, whose thermodynamic properties correspond to those of a scale invariant non-relativistic d+1 dimensional quantum system with dynamical exponent z=2. The gravitational model involves a massive abelian vector field and a scalar field, in addition to the metric. The energy per particle in the dual theory is $|\mu| d/(d+2)$, exactly as in a non-interacting Fermi gas, while the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density is $\hbar/4\pi$.Comment: 8 pages; v2: discussion modifie

The Higgs Mass in the MSSM at two-loop order beyond minimal flavour violation

Soft supersymmetry-breaking terms provide a wealth of new potential sources of flavour violation, which are tightly constrained by precision experiments. This has posed a challenge to construct flavour models which both explain the structure of the Standard Model Yukawa couplings and also predict soft-breaking patterns that are compatible with these constraints. While such models have been studied in great detail, the impact of flavour violating soft terms on the Higgs mass at the two-loop level has been assumed to be small or negligible. In this letter, we show that large flavour violation in the up-squark sector can give a positive or negative mass shift to the SM-like Higgs of several GeV, without being in conflict with other observations. We investigate in which regions of the parameter space these effects can be expected.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Joint determination of orbits of spacecraft and moons of Mars by optical sighting of the moons

Scanning optical system to provide attitude and trajectory of unmanned spacecraft during orbit about Mar

Residual Stresses in Layered Manufacturing

Layered Manufacturing processes accumulate residual stresses during materialbuildup. These stresses may cause part warping and layer delamination. This paper presents work done on investigating residual stress accumulation andp(i,rt distortion of Layered Manufactured artifacts. A simple analyticaLmodel was developed and used to determine how the number of layers and the layer thickness influences part warping. Resllits show that thin layers produce lower part deflection as compared with depositing fewer and thicker layers. In addition to the analytical work, a finite element model wasdeveloped and used to illvestigate the deposition pattern's influence on. the part deflection. Finite element model and corresponding experimental analysis showed that the geometry of the deposition pattern significantly affects the resulting part distortion. This finite element model was also used to investigate an inter-layer surface defect,. known as the Christmas Thee Step, that is associated with Shape Deposition Manufacturing. Results indicate that the features of this defect are influenced only by the material deposited close. to the part·surface and the particular material deposited. The step is not affected by the deposition pattern.Mechanical Engineerin

About a possible 3rd order phase transition at T=0 in 4D gluodynamics

We revisit the question of the convergence of lattice perturbation theory for a pure SU(3) lattice gauge theory in 4 dimensions. Using a series for the average plaquette up to order 10 in the weak coupling parameter beta^{-1}, we show that the analysis of the extrapolated ratio and the extrapolated slope suggests the possibility of a non-analytical power behavior of the form (1/\beta -1/5.7(1))^{1.0(1)}, in agreement with another analysis based on the same asumption. This would imply that the third derivative of the free energy density diverges near beta =5.7. We show that the peak in the third derivative of the free energy present on 4^4 lattices disappears if the size of the lattice is increased isotropically up to a 10^4 lattice. On the other hand, on 4 x L^3 lattices, a jump in the third derivative persists when L increases. Its location coincides with the onset of a non-zero average for the Polyakov loop. We show that the apparent contradiction at zero temperature can be resolved by moving the singularity in the complex 1/\beta plane. If the imaginary part of the location of the singularity Gamma is within the range 0.001< Gamma < 0.01, it is possible to limit the second derivative of P within an acceptable range without affecting drastically the behavior of the perturbative coefficients. We discuss the possibility of checking the existence of these complex singularities by using the strong coupling expansion or calculating the zeroes of the partition function.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, contains a resolution of the main paradox and a discussion of possible check

Pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons in the color-flavor locked phase at moderate densities

The properties of the pseudoscalar Goldstone bosons in the color-flavor locked phase at moderate densities are studied within a model of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio type. The Goldstone bosons are constructed explicitly by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation for quark-quark scattering in random phase approximation. Main focus of our investigations are (i) the weak decay constant in the chiral limit, (ii) the masses of the flavored (pseudo-) Goldstone bosons for non-zero but equal quark masses, (iii) their masses and effective chemical potentials for non-equal quark masses, and (iv) the onset of kaon condensation. We compare our results with the predictions of the low-energy effective field theory. The deviations from results obtained in the weak-coupling limit are discussed in detail.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Renormalised four-point coupling constant in the three-dimensional O(N) model with N=0

We simulate self-avoiding walks on a cubic lattice and determine the second virial coefficient for walks of different lengths. This allows us to determine the critical value of the renormalized four-point coupling constant in the three-dimensional N-vector universality class for N=0. We obtain g* = 1.4005(5), where g is normalized so that the three-dimensional field-theoretical beta-function behaves as \beta(g) = - g + g^2 for small g. As a byproduct, we also obtain precise estimates of the interpenetration ratio Psi*, Psi* = 0.24685(11), and of the exponent \nu, \nu = 0.5876(2).Comment: 16 page

The Role of Affective Forecasting in Nutritional Health Outcomes and its Application to Behavior Change

Health outcomes are largely influenced by nutrition and diet choices, and many chronic disease states can be managed and prevented by optimizing diet. Nutritional intervention is a critical part of keeping high-risk patients from developing chronic disease, as well as minimizing symptoms of patients living with chronic disease. This is why patient adherence to dietary recommendations is so important, and why providers must understand how to promote patient behavior change when needed. When making decisions about health, people tend to fail to predict the intensity and duration of the emotions that will result from a given event or decision. Affective forecasting involves a person’s ability to predict their future emotions, and its impact bias error commonly accounts for overestimation of the intensity and duration of these emotions. This affective forecasting error could lead to patients make poor decisions about their health, including choosing not to comply with a specific diet to manage chronic disease. In order to combat this, it is essential for physicians to understand how to combat impact bias when introducing patients to new behavior change involving nutritional intervention. Providers need to be able to develop strategies to minimize affective forecasting error when patients are anticipating future emotions when told they need to change their behavior for their health. Research supports the idea that working to reduce focalism and adaptation neglect can decrease impact bias clouding patient decision-making. If physicians can implement strategies to achieve reduced impact bias, patients could potentially have increased adherence to diet intervention