Quark Number Fractionalization in N=2 Supersymmetric SU(2)×U(1)NfSU(2) \times U(1)^{N_f} Gauge Theories

Physical quark-number charges of dyons are determined, via a formula which generalizes that of Witten for the electric charge, in N=2 supersymmetric theories with $SU(2) \times U(1)^{N_f}$ gauge group. The quark numbers of the massless monopole at a nondegenerate singularity of QMS turn out to vanish in all cases. A puzzle related to CP invariant cases is solved. Generalization of our results to $SU(N_c)\times U(1)^{N_f}$ gauge theories is straightforward.Comment: Latex file, 14 pages, 1 Postscript figur

On the Beta Function in Supersymmetric Gauge Theories

We re-examine perturbative and nonperturbative aspects of the beta function in N=1 and N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories, make comments on the recent literature on the subject and discuss the exactness of several known results such as the NSVZ beta function.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX2

Surfactant-free synthesis of pure anatase TiO2 nanorods suitable for dye-sensitized solar cells

A non-aqueous, solvothermal method was applied to the synthesis of TiO(2) nanorods in pure anatase crystal phase using Ti(IV)-isopropoxide. The use of benzyl alcohol as both solvent and reactant was investigated in combination with the addition of acetic acid to the reaction mixture. Various values of the AcOH : Ti(OiPr)(4) molar ratio were realized in the synthesis and tested in order to obtain a significant dimensional and morphological control over the resulting TiO(2) nanostructures, as well as to devise a simple and scalable synthetic protocol. On the basis of the experimental results, a substantially modified version of the well-established "benzyl alcohol route' was then designed and developed. X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy revealed that monodisperse anatase nanorods having a length of about 13-17 nm and a diameter of 5 nm can be obtained when AcOH and Ti(OiPr)(4) are reacted in comparable proportions. Investigation of the characteristic parameters of dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using the synthesized nanorods as photoanode revealed a power conversion efficiency of about 7.5% corresponding to an improvement of 28% with respect to a commercial spheroidal nanotitania (P25) based reference device

Vacuum Structure and Flavor Symmetry Breaking in Supersymmetric SO(n_c) Gauge Theories

We determine the vacuum structure and phases of N=1 theories obtained via a mass \mu for the adjoint chiral superfield in N=2, SO(n_c) SQCD. For large number of flavors these theories have two groups of vacua. The first exhibits dynamical breaking of flavor symmetry \USp(2n_f) \to U(n_f) and arises as a relevant deformation of a non-trivial superconformal theory. These are in the confined phase. The second group, in an IR-free phase with unbroken flavor symmetry, is produced from a Coulomb branch singularity with Seiberg's dual gauge symmetry. In the large-\mu regime both groups of vacua are well-described by dual quarks and mesons, and dynamical symmetry breaking in the first group occurs via meson condensation. We follow the description of these vacua from weak to strong coupling and demonstrate a nontrivial agreement between the phases and the number of vacua in the two regimes. We construct the semiclassical monopole flavor multiplets and argue that their multiplicity is consistent with the number of N=1 vacua.Comment: 67 pages, harvmac; Typos corrected, section 4.1 reworde

Diagnostic performance of multi-organ ultrasound with pocket-sized device in the management of acute dyspnea

The availability of ultra-miniaturized pocket ultrasound devices (PUD) adds diagnostic power to the clinical examination. Information on accuracy of ultrasound with handheld units in immediate differential diagnosis in emergency department (ED) is poor. The aim of this study is to test the usefulness and accuracy of lung ultrasound (LUS) alone or combined with ultrasound of the heart and inferior vena cava (IVC) using a PUD for the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea (AD)

Treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction

Heart failure, in its diverse forms based on the value of the ejection fraction, is associated to high mortality and the frequent need for hospitalization, with a consequent heavy burden on healthcare resources. For an appropriate treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), there are no specific drugs effective for this condition. Those indicated in HF with reduced EF (HFrEF) are of more benefit in that form of HF, according to the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology of 2016: ACE-inhibitors, beta-blockers, anti-aldosterones are all indicated with a class of recommendation/level of evidence IA; therapy with loop diuretics is indicated in the case of clinical congestion (IB). Studies carried out with ACE-inhibitor (or angiotensin-receptor antagonist) or beta-blocker or anti-aldosterone to evaluate their efficacy also in HFpEF have substantially shown a benefit only on a reduction in the hospitalization rate. The same guidelines identify regular aerobic activity (IA) as more effective in the condition of HFpEF and indicate, appropriately, the need to treat comorbidities (IC) in the elderly (where they are more present and more numerous). They also recommend to avoid certain associations of drugs and, obviously, harmful (and contraindicated) medications that could worsen the clinical picture or might be potentially lethal

Heterodimers based on CoPt3-Au nanocrystals with tunable domain size.

We describe an approach to synthesize colloidal nanocrystal heterodimers composed of CoPt3 and Au. The growth is based on the nucleation of gold domains on preformed CoPt3 nanocrystals. It is a highly versatile methodology which allows us to tune independently the size of the two domains in each dimer by varying several reaction parameters. The statistical analysis of the distribution of the domain sizes in the dimers and the compositional mapping achieved by dark field imaging and energy dispersive spectroscopy confirm that the two domains in each dimer are indeed made of CoPt3 and Au, respectively. Structural characterization by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows that the two domains, both having cubic fcc Bravais lattice, can share a common {111}, {100}, or {110} facet, depending on the size of the initial CoPt3 seeds. The magnetization measurements evidence a ferromagnetic CoPt3 phase with a relatively low anisotropy as a consequence of their disordered crystalline structure, regardless of the presence of a Au tip. We believe that this prototype of nanocrystal dimer, which can be manipulated under air, can find several applications in nanoscience, as the Au section can be exploited as the preferential anchor point for various molecules, while the CoPt3 domain can be used for magnetic detection

Modulation of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation by Dopamine Analogs

The action of dopamine on the aggregation of the unstructured alpha-synuclein (α-syn) protein may be linked to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Dopamine and its oxidation derivatives may inhibit α-syn aggregation by non-covalent binding. Exploiting this fact, we applied an integrated computational and experimental approach to find alternative ligands that might modulate the fibrillization of α-syn. Ligands structurally and electrostatically similar to dopamine were screened from an established library. Five analogs were selected for in vitro experimentation from the similarity ranked list of analogs. Molecular dynamics simulations showed they were, like dopamine, binding non-covalently to α-syn and, although much weaker than dopamine, they shared some of its binding properties. In vitro fibrillization assays were performed on these five dopamine analogs. Consistent with our predictions, analyses by atomic force and transmission electron microscopy revealed that all of the selected ligands affected the aggregation process, albeit to a varying and lesser extent than dopamine, used as the control ligand. The in silico/in vitro approach presented here emerges as a possible strategy for identifying ligands interfering with such a complex process as the fibrillization of an unstructured protein

Dynamical Symmetry Breaking in Supersymmetric SU(n_c) and USp(2n_c) Gauge Theories

We find the phase and flavor symmetry breaking pattern of each N=1 supersymmetric vacuum of SU(n_c) and USp(2 n_c) gauge theories, constructed from the exactly solvable N=2 theories by perturbing them with small adjoint and generic bare hypermultiplet (quark) masses. In SU(n_c) theories with n_f \leq n_c the vacua are labelled by an integer r, in which the flavor U(n_f) symmetry is dynamically broken to U(r) \times U(n_f-r) in the limit of vanishing bare hyperquark masses. In the r=1 vacua the dynamical symmetry breaking is caused by the condensation of magnetic monopoles in the n_f representation. For general r, however, the monopoles in the {}_{n_f}C_r representation, whose condensation could explain the flavor symmetry breaking but would produce too-many Nambu--Goldstone multiplets, actually "break up" into "magnetic quarks": the latter with nonabelian interactions condense and induce confinement and dynamical symmetry breaking. In USp(2n_c) theories with n_f \leq n_c + 1, the flavor SO(2n_f) symmetry is dynamically broken to U(n_f), but with no description in terms of a weakly coupled local field theory. In both SU(n_c) and USp(2 n_c) theories, with larger numbers of quark flavors, besides the vacua with these properties, there exist also vacua in free magnetic phase, with unbroken global symmetry.Comment: 90 pages, typos fixe

Geometry description and mesh construction from medical imaging∗

We present a new method for defining and meshing patient-specific domains from medical images. Our approach is based on an atlas image segmentation technique, and relies on the modular registration algorithm of S. Bertoluzza et al. [25]. The mesh of the patient-specific domain is generated by deforming the corresponding mesh on an a priori segmented and meshed reference image (the atlas). Our method aims at automating the process at the interface of medical imaging and numerical simulation, thus reducing the computational cost in those situations where simulations have to be managed on numerous medical images of similar patients