7,053 research outputs found
Supersymmetric geometries of IIA supergravity I
IIA supergravity backgrounds preserving one supersymmetry locally admit four
types of Killing spinors distinguished by the orbits of on the
space of spinors. We solve the Killing spinor equations of IIA supergravity
with and without cosmological constant for Killing spinors representing two of
these orbits, with isotropy groups and .
In both cases, we identify the geometry of spacetime and express the fluxes in
terms of the geometry. We find that the geometric constraints of backgrounds
with a invariant Killing spinor are identical to
those found for heterotic backgrounds preserving one supersymmetry.Comment: 21 page
Spitzer Observations of Interstellar Object 1I/`Oumuamua
1I/`Oumuamua is the first confirmed interstellar body in our Solar System.
Here we report on observations of `Oumuamua made with the Spitzer Space
Telescope on 2017 November 21--22 (UT). We integrated for 30.2~hours at 4.5
micron (IRAC channel 2). We did not detect the object and place an upper limit
on the flux of 0.3 uJy (3sigma). This implies an effective spherical diameter
less than [98, 140, 440] meters and albedo greater than [0.2, 0.1, 0.01] under
the assumption of low, middle, or high thermal beaming parameter eta,
respectively. With an aspect ratio for `Oumuamua of 6:1, these results
correspond to dimensions of [240:40, 341:57, 1080:180] meters, respectively. We
place upper limits on the amount of dust, CO, and CO2 coming from this object
that are lower than previous results; we are unable to constrain the production
of other gas species. Both our size and outgassing limits are important because
`Oumuamua's trajectory shows non-gravitational accelerations that are sensitive
to size and mass and presumably caused by gas emission. We suggest that
`Oumuamua may have experienced low-level post-perihelion volatile emission that
produced a fresh, bright, icy mantle. This model is consistent with the
expected eta value and implied high albedo value for this solution, but, given
our strict limits on CO and CO2, requires another gas species --- probably H2O
--- to explain the observed non-gravitational acceleration. Our results extend
the mystery of `Oumuamua's origin and evolution
Dioxin Toxicity In Vivo Results from an Increase in the Dioxin-Independent Transcriptional Activity of the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor
The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) is the nuclear receptor mediating the toxicity of dioxins -widespread and persistent pollutants whose toxic effects include tumor promotion, teratogenesis, wasting syndrome and chloracne. Elimination of Ahr in mice eliminates dioxin toxicity but also produces adverse effects, some seemingly unrelated to dioxin. Thus the relationship between the toxic and dioxin-independent functions of Ahr is not clear, which hampers understanding and treatment of dioxin toxicity. Here we develop a Drosophila model to show that dioxin actually increases the in vivo dioxin-independent activity of Ahr. This hyperactivation resembles the effects caused by an increase in the amount of its dimerisation partner Ahr nuclear translocator (Arnt) and entails an increased transcriptional potency of Ahr, in addition to the previously described effect on nuclear translocation. Thus the two apparently different functions of Ahr, dioxin-mediated and dioxin-independent, are in fact two different levels (hyperactivated and basal, respectively) of a single function
NF-κB Activity Initiates Human ESC-Derived Neural Progenitor Cell Differentiation by Inducing a Metabolic Maturation Program.
Human neural development begins at embryonic day 19 and marks the beginning of organogenesis. Neural stem cells in the neural tube undergo profound functional, morphological, and metabolic changes during neural specification, coordinated by a combination of exogenous and endogenous cues. The temporal cell signaling activities that mediate this process, during development and in the postnatal brain, are incompletely understood. We have applied gene expression studies and transcription factor-activated reporter lentiviruses during in vitro neural specification of human pluripotent stem cells. We show that nuclear factor κB orchestrates a multi-faceted metabolic program necessary for the maturation of neural progenitor cells during neurogenesis
Designer SiO2 Metasurfaces for Efficient Passive Radiative Cooling
In recent years, an increasing number of passive radiative cooling materials are proposed in the literature, with several examples relying on the use of silica (SiO2) due to its unique stability, non-toxicity, and availability. Nonetheless, due to its bulk phonon-polariton band, SiO2 presents a marked reflection peak within the atmospheric transparency window (8-13 mu m), leading to an emissivity decrease that poses a challenge to fulfilling the criteria for sub-ambient passive radiative cooling. Thus, the latest developments in this field are devoted to the design of engineered SiO2 photonic structures, to increase the cooling potential of bulk SiO2 radiative coolers. This review seeks to identify the most effective photonic design and fabrication strategies for SiO2 radiative emitters by evaluating their cooling efficacy, as well as their scalability, providing an in-depth analysis of the fundamental principles, structural models, and results (both numerical and experimental) of various types of SiO2 radiative coolers
The Rich Structure of Gauss-Bonnet Holographic Superconductors
We study fully backreacting, Gauss-Bonnet (GB) holographic superconductors in
5 bulk spacetime dimensions. We explore the system's dependence on the scalar
mass for both positive and negative GB coupling, . We find that when
the mass approaches the Breitenlohner-Freedman (BF) bound and
the effect of backreaction is to increase the
critical temperature, , of the system: the opposite of its effect in the
rest of parameter space. We also find that reducing below zero
increases and that the effect of backreaction is diminished. We study the
zero temperature limit, proving that this system does not permit regular
solutions for a non-trivial, tachyonic scalar field and constrain possible
solutions for fields with positive masses. We investigate singular, zero
temperature solutions in the Einstein limit but find them to be incompatible
with the concept of GB gravity being a perturbative expansion of Einstein
gravity. We study the conductivity of the system, finding that the inclusion of
backreaction hinders the development of poles in the conductivity that are
associated with quasi-normal modes approaching the real axis from elsewhere in
the complex plane.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, V3, Added discussion of non-tachyonic scalars,
alterations to figures and tex
Classical and Quantum Solitons in the Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Theories
We construct the soliton solutions in the symmetric space sine-Gordon
theories. The latter are a series of integrable field theories in
1+1-dimensions which are associated to a symmetric space F/G, and are related
via the Pohlmeyer reduction to theories of strings moving on symmetric spaces.
We show that the solitons are kinks that carry an internal moduli space that
can be identified with a particular co-adjoint orbit of the unbroken subgroup H
of G. Classically the solitons come in a continuous spectrum which encompasses
the perturbative fluctuations of the theory as the kink charge becomes small.
We show that the solitons can be quantized by allowing the collective
coordinates to be time-dependent to yield a form of quantum mechanics on the
co-adjoint orbit. The quantum states correspond to symmetric tensor
representations of the symmetry group H and have the interpretation of a fuzzy
geometric version of the co-adjoint orbit. The quantized finite tower of
soliton states includes the perturbative modes at the base.Comment: 53 pages, additional comments and small errors corrected, final
journal versio
Mindfulness-based stress reduction in Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review
Background:
Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) is increasingly being used to improve outcomes such as stress and depression in a range of long-term conditions (LTCs). While systematic reviews on MBSR have taken place for a number of conditions there remains limited information on its impact on individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Methods:
Medline, Central, Embase, Amed, CINAHAL were searched in March 2016. These databases were searched using a combination of MeSH subject headings where available and keywords in the title and abstracts. We also searched the reference lists of related reviews. Study quality was assessed based on questions from the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool.
Results:
Two interventions and three papers with a total of 66 participants were included. The interventions were undertaken in Belgium (n = 27) and the USA (n = 39). One study reported significantly increased grey matter density (GMD) in the brains of the MBSR group compared to the usual care group. Significant improvements were reported in one study for a number of outcomes including PD outcomes, depression, mindfulness, and quality of life indicators. Only one intervention was of reasonable quality and both interventions failed to control for potential confounders in the analysis. Adverse events and reasons for drop-outs were not reported. There was also no reporting on the costs/benefits of the intervention or how they affected health service utilisation.
Conclusion:
This systematic review found limited and inconclusive evidence of the effectiveness of MBSR for PD patients. Both of the included interventions claimed positive effects for PD patients but significant outcomes were often contradicted by other results. Further trials with larger sample sizes, control groups and longer follow-ups are needed before the evidence for MBSR in PD can be conclusively judged
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