The Gravitational Constant as a quantum mechanical expression

A quantitatively verifiable expression for the Gravitational Constant is derived in terms of quantum mechanical quantities. This derivation appears to be possible by selecting a suitable physical process in which the transformation of the equation of motion into a quantum mechanical wave equation can be obtained by Einstein's geodesic approach. The selected process is the pi-meson, modeled as the one-body equivalent of a two-body quantum mechanical oscillator in which the vibrating mass is modeled as the result of the two energy fluxes from the quark and the antiquark. The quantum mechanical formula for the Gravitational Constant appears to show a quantitatively verifiable relationship with the Higgs boson as conceived in the Standard Model.Comment: 17 page

Diabetes in Danish Bank Voles (M. glareolus): Survivorship, Influence on Weight, and Evaluation of Polydipsia as a Screening Tool for Hyperglycaemia

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have concluded that the development of polydipsia (PD, a daily water intake ≥ 21 ml) among captive Danish bank voles, is associated with the development of a type 1 diabetes (T1D), based on findings of hyperglycaemia, glucosuria, ketonuria/-emia, lipemia, destroyed beta cells, and presence of autoantibodies against GAD65, IA-2, and insulin. AIM AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed data from two separate colonies of Danish bank voles in order to 1) estimate survivorship after onset of PD, 2) evaluate whether the weight of PD voles differed from non-PD voles, and, 3), evaluate a state of PD as a practical and non-invasive tool to screen for voles with a high probability of hypeglycaemia. In addition, we discuss regional differences related to the development of diabetes in Scandinavian bank voles and the relevance of the Ljungan virus as proposed etiological agent. RESULTS: We found that median survival after onset of PD is at least 91 days (lower/upper quartiles = 57/134 days) with a maximum recording of at least 404 days survivorship. The development of PD did not influence the weight of Danish bank voles. The measures of accuracy when using PD as predictor of hyperglycaemia, i.e. sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value, equalled 69%, 97%, 89%, and 89%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The relatively long survival of Danish PD bank voles suggests potentials for this model in future studies of the long-term complications of diabetes, of which some observations are mentioned. Data also indicates that diabetes in Danish bank is not associated with a higher body weight. Finally, the method of using measurements of daily water intake to screen for voles with a high probability of hyperglycaemia constitutes a considerable refinement when compared to the usual, invasive, methods

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

On the feasibility of a 750 GeV complementary Higgs boson

Summary: It is shown that the adoption of the Stueckelberg mechanism, as an alternative to the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking mechanism, gives an adequate explanation for the recent reported signatures in LHC experiments at CERN, which points to the existence of a 750 GeV complementary boson next to the 125 GeV Higgs field boson. Keywords: Higgs mechanism, Stueckelberg mechanism, 125 GeV boson, 750 GeV boso