6,078 research outputs found
The stiff-man syndrome
In 1956 Moersch and Woltman first recorded a state of 'progressive fluctuating rigidity and spasm', for which they coined the term 'stiff-man syndrome', signifying that the aetiology and pathogenesis of the condition were unknown. At the time of writing only 16 cases have been described. It. is suggested that the case under consideration falls into this syndrome, although there are a number of features at variance with the published cases
Anisotropically Inflating Universes
We show that in theories of gravity that add quadratic curvature invariants
to the Einstein-Hilbert action there exist expanding vacuum cosmologies with
positive cosmological constant which do not approach the de Sitter universe.
Exact solutions are found which inflate anisotropically. This behaviour is
driven by the Ricci curvature invariant and has no counterpart in the general
relativistic limit. These examples show that the cosmic no-hair theorem does
not hold in these higher-order extensions of general relativity and raises new
questions about the ubiquity of inflation in the very early universe and the
thermodynamics of gravitational fields.Comment: 5 pages, further discussion and references adde
Pseudorabies in the Dog and Cat
Pseudorabies, also called Aujesky\u27s Disease, Mad Itch, and Infectious Bulbar Paralysis, is a viral disease which primarily affects pigs. It occurs in a wide variety of domestic and wild animals and birds, but not in apes, reptiles, or insects. The natural viral reservoir is swine, in which it produces high mortality in suckling pigs, relatively low mortality in older pigs, and may produce carriers showing few or no symptoms
Thermodynamic Properties of the Spin-1/2 Antiferromagnetic ladder Cu2(C2H12N2)2Cl4 under Magnetic Field
Specific heat () measurements in the spin-1/2
Cu(CHN)Cl system under a magnetic field up to
are reported and compared to the results of numerical calculations
based on the 2-leg antiferromagnetic Heisenberg ladder. While the temperature
dependences of both the susceptibility and the low field specific heat are
accurately reproduced by this model, deviations are observed below the critical
field at which the spin gap closes. In this Quantum High Field phase,
the contribution of the low-energy quantum fluctuations are stronger than in
the Heisenberg ladder model. We argue that this enhancement can be attributed
to dynamical lattice fluctuations. Finally, we show that such a Heisenberg
ladder, for , is unstable, when coupled to the 3D lattice, against a
lattice distortion. These results provide an alternative explanation for the
observed low temperature ( -- ) phase (previously
interpreted as a 3D magnetic ordering) as a new type of incommensurate gapped
state.Comment: Minor changes, list of authors complete
IMPACTS OF POLICY REFORMS ON THE SUPPLY OF MEXICAN LABOR TO U.S. FARMS: NEW EVIDENCE FROM MEXICO
The availability of immigrant farmworkers from Mexico critically shapes fruit, vegetable, and horticultural (FVH) production in the United States. We test the impact of recent policy reforms on the supply of Mexican labor to U.S. farms, using a 2-way fixed effects model and new data from rural Mexico.Labor and Human Capital,
VIRUS-INDUCED DIABETES MELLITUS : I. HYPERGLYCEMIA AND HYPOINSULINEMIA IN MICE INFECTED WITH ENCEPHALOMYOCARDITIS VIRUS
Infection of DBA/2N male mice with encephalomyocarditis virus resulted in a diabeteslike syndrome characterized by hyperglycemia, glycosuria, hypoinsulinemia, polydipsia, and polyphagia. Blood glucose levels were elevated within 4 days after infection and reached a maximum mean level of 320 mg/100 ml within 12 days. Approximately 60–80% of the animals developed a transient hyperglycemia while 10–15% of the animals remained hyperglycemic for well over 6 mo. The remaining animals failed to become hyperglycemic but many had abnormal glucose tolerance curves. Hyperglycemia was most pronounced when animals were allowed free access to food, and the incidence of byperglycemia was related both to the strain and sex of the animals, with few females developing hyperglycemia. The amount of immunoreactive insulin in the plasma of infected hyperglycemic mice was significantly lower than in appropriate controls, and injection of exogenous insulin resulted in a rapid drop in the blood glucose levels. Despite the fact that certain animals were hyperglycemic for many months, virus could not be recovered from the pancreas after the first 10 days of the infection
Electrostatic Properties of Polymers Subjected to Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Treatment; Correlation of Experimental Results with Atomistic Modeling
this study, PE, PTFE, PS and PMMA were exposed to a He+O2, APGD and pre and post treatment surface chemistries were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. Semi-empirical and ab-initio calculations were performed to correlate the experimental results with sonic plausible molecular and electronic structure features of the oxidation process. For the PE and PS, significant surface oxidation showing C-O, C=O, and O-C=O bonding, and a decrease in the surface contact angles was observed. For the PTFE and PM MA, little change in the surface composition was observed. The molecular modeling calculations were performed on single and multiple oligomers and showed regardless of oxidation mechanism, e.g. -OH, =O or a combination thereof, experimentally observed levels of surface oxidation were unlikely to lead to a significant change in the electronic structure of PE and PS, and that the increased hydrophilic properties are the primary reason for the observed changes in its electrostatic behavior. Calculations for PTFE and PMMA argue strongly against significant oxidation of those materials, as confirmed by the XPS results
Stable Isotropic Cosmological Singularities in Quadratic Gravity
We show that, in quadratic lagrangian theories of gravity, isotropic
cosmological singularities are stable to the presence of small scalar, vector
and tensor inhomogeneities. Unlike in general relativity, a particular exact
isotropic solution is shown to be the stable attractor on approach to the
initial cosmological singularity. This solution is also known to act as an
attractor in Bianchi universes of types I, II and IX, and the results of this
paper reinforce the hypothesis that small inhomogeneous and anisotropic
perturbations of this attractor form part of the general cosmological solution
to the field equations of quadratic gravity. Implications for the existence of
a 'gravitational entropy' are also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
Amp\`ere-Class Pulsed Field Emission from Carbon-Nanotube Cathodes in a Radiofrequency Resonator
Pulsed field emission from cold carbon-nanotube cathodes placed in a
radiofrequency resonant cavity was observed. The cathodes were located on the
backplate of a conventional -cell resonant cavity operating at
1.3-GHz and resulted in the production of bunch train with maximum average
current close to 0.7 Amp\`ere. The measured Fowler-Nordheim characteristic,
transverse emittance, and pulse duration are presented and, when possible,
compared to numerical simulations. The implications of our results to
high-average-current electron sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Applied Physics Letter
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