Making it Matter: Reframing the U.S. Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jesse Kohn

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In thinking about how we can teach Black Lives Matter in a U.S. survey, this essay suggests beginning the course with two readings: Ta-Nehisi Coates' "The Case for Reparations" and Amiri Baraka's Dutchman.  These texts can be used to place Black Lives Matters in historical context, question normative narratives of American history, and encourage student activism in their schools and communities.

Affective Decision Making in Artificial Intelligence : Making Virtual Characters With High Believability

OpenAIRE

Johansson, Anja

2012-01-01

Artificial intelligence is often used when creating believable virtual characters in games or in other types of virtual environments. The intelligent behavior these characters show to the player is often flawed, leading to a worse gameplay experience. In particular, there is often little or no emotional impact on the decision making of the characters. This thesis focuses on extending decision-making and pathfinding mechanisms for virtual characters, with a particular focus on the use of emoti...

Beyond communication - research as communicating: making user and audience studies matter - paper 2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenda Dervin

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. This is the written version of the keynote address (Making user studies matter: Thank you Mister Feynman and Monsieur Foucault delivered by senior author Dervin. The paper is linked to the Invited Paper in this issue and like that paper, reports on a project involving a dialogue between researchers and practitioners in library and information science, human computer interaction, and communication focusing on gaps in our understandings of users and audiences as well as in our efforts to collaborate with each other to conduct and apply research to the design and implementation of information, library, communication, and media systems. Argument. Our main conclusion in Paper 1 was that the traditional modes used for communication in social science research are not doing the job for user and audience studies. We set out five propositions relating to this conclusion: (1 the traditional modes of communicating in the research enterprise are not working; (2 Do the social sciences matter? Some serious and fundamental attacks; (3 a call to focus on the special problematics of the social sciences: agency, structure, power and the good; (4 eschewing scientific recipes and scholarly creeds and bringing back the joys of adventuring and muddling; (5 the paradox of communicating—freedom is another word for nothing left to lose. Conclusion. We argue for shared dialogue in communicating across the three fields studied here: this will introduce uncertainty, but, rather than relying upon 'authority', the individual will be encouraged through the exploration of that uncertainty, to make their own sense of the offerings of others.

Making the most of the relic density for dark matter searches at the LHC 14 TeV Run

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Busoni, Giorgio; Simone, Andrea De; Jacques, Thomas; Morgante, Enrico; Riotto, Antonio

2015-01-01

As the LHC continues to search for new weakly interacting particles, it is important to remember that the search is strongly motivated by the existence of dark matter. In view of a possible positive signal, it is essential to ask whether the newly discovered weakly interacting particle can be be assigned the label 'dark matter'. Within a given set of simplified models and modest working assumptions, we reinterpret the relic abundance bound as a relic abundance range, and compare the parameter space yielding the correct relic abundance with projections of the Run II exclusion regions. Assuming that dark matter is within the reach of the LHC, we also make the comparison with the potential 5σ discovery regions. Reversing the logic, relic density calculations can be used to optimize dark matter searches by motivating choices of parameters where the LHC can probe most deeply into the dark matter parameter space. In the event that DM is seen outside of the region giving the correct relic abundance, we will learn that either thermal relic DM is ruled out in that model, or the DM-quark coupling is suppressed relative to the DM coupling strength to other SM particles

Dark Matter: The "Gravitational Pull" of Maternalist Discourses on Politicians' Decision Making for Early Childhood Policy in Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Bown, Kathryn; Sumsion, Jennifer; Press, Frances

2011-01-01

The article reports on a study investigating influences on Australian politicians' decision making for early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy. The astronomical concept of dark matter is utilised as a metaphor for considering normalising, and therefore frequently difficult to detect and disrupt, influences implicated in politicians'…

Things get worse before getting better : outsourcing NPD activities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smets, L.P.M.; Oorschot, van K.E.; Langerak, F.

2011-01-01

To sustain the pace of new product development (NPD), manufacturers are increasingly outsourcing parts of the NPD process, such as design and engineering. However, by outsourcing design and engineering activities, things often get worse before getting better in terms of cycle time, development

Insomnia in epilepsy is associated with continuing seizures and worse quality of life.

Science.gov (United States)

Quigg, Mark; Gharai, Sean; Ruland, Jeff; Schroeder, Catherine; Hodges, Matthew; Ingersoll, Karen S; Thorndike, Frances P; Yan, Guofen; Ritterband, Lee M

2016-05-01

To evaluate how insomnia is associated with seizure control and quality of life in patients with epilepsy. Consecutive patients with epilepsy attending clinical visits were surveyed with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Patients had to be treated with at least one anticonvulsant and could not have had documented psychogenic pseudoseizure. The presence or absence of seizures and quality of life (QOLIE-P-10) within the past 4 weeks was recorded. Other variables included demographic and clinical data, sleep-wake timing, the Hörne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and mood (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D). 207 patients completed surveys. 43% had clinically significant insomnia, and 51% had at least mild insomnia. 58% were seizure free. Mean ISI scores were significantly worse for those with continuing seizures, and more severe ISI scores correlated strongly with worse QOL. Younger age, shorter duration of epilepsy, use of sedative/hypnotics, medical and sleep comorbidities, delayed sleep timing and chronotype, excessive sleepiness, and depression were all associated with more severe insomnia. Those with unexpected health care visits over the most recent 4 weeks had worse insomnia. After adjustment for these covariates, more severe insomnia remained significantly associated with lack of seizure freedom and with worse QOL. Insomnia is common in epilepsy, and is associated with short term poor seizure control and worse QOL. Future studies must evaluate cause-and-effect relationships. Assessment of insomnia may be important in the comprehensive care of epilepsy and may influence control of epileptic seizures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Brain asymmetry in the white matter making and globularity

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Constantina eTheofanopoulou

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Recent studies from the field of language genetics and evolutionary anthropology have put forward the hypothesis that the emergence of our species-specific brain is to be understood not in terms of size, but in light of developmental changes that gave rise to a more globular braincase configuration after the split from Neanderthals-Denisovans. On the grounds that (i white matter myelination is delayed relative to other brain structures and in humans is protracted compared with other primates and (ii neural connectivity is linked genetically to our brain/skull morphology and language-ready brain, I take it that one significant evolutionary change in Homo sapiens’ lineage is the interhemispheric connectivity mediated by the Corpus Callosum. The size, myelination and fiber caliber of the Corpus Callosum presents an anterior-to-posterior increase, in a way that inter-hemispheric connectivity is more prominent in the sensory motor areas, whereas high- order areas are more intra-hemispherically connected. Building on evidence from language-processing studies that account for this asymmetry (‘lateralization’ in terms of brain rhythms, I present an evo-devo hypothesis according to which the myelination of the Corpus Callosum, Brain Asymmetry and Globularity are conjectured to make up the angles of a co-evolutionary triangle that gave rise to our language-ready brain.

Inelastic dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, David; Weiner, Neal

2001-01-01

Many observations suggest that much of the matter of the universe is nonbaryonic. Recently, the DAMA NaI dark matter direct detection experiment reported an annual modulation in their event rate consistent with a WIMP relic. However, the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) Ge experiment excludes most of the region preferred by DAMA. We demonstrate that if the dark matter can only scatter by making a transition to a slightly heavier state (Δm∼100 keV), the experiments are no longer in conflict. Moreover, differences in the energy spectrum of nuclear recoil events could distinguish such a scenario from the standard WIMP scenario. Finally, we discuss the sneutrino as a candidate for inelastic dark matter in supersymmetric theories

Maximizers versus satisficers: Decision-making styles, competence, and outcomes

OpenAIRE

Andrew M. Parker; Wändi Bruine de Bruin; Baruch Fischhoff

2007-01-01

Our previous research suggests that people reporting a stronger desire to maximize obtain worse life outcomes (Bruine de Bruin et al., 2007). Here, we examine whether this finding may be explained by the decision-making styles of self-reported maximizers. Expanding on Schwartz et al.\\ (2002), we find that self-reported maximizers are more likely to show problematic decision-making styles, as evidenced by self-reports of less behavioral coping, greater dependence on others when making decision...

Age Effects and Heuristics in Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Besedeš, Tibor; Deck, Cary; Sarangi, Sudipta; Shor, Mikhael

2012-05-01

Using controlled experiments, we examine how individuals make choices when faced with multiple options. Choice tasks are designed to mimic the selection of health insurance, prescription drug, or retirement savings plans. In our experiment, available options can be objectively ranked allowing us to examine optimal decision making. First, the probability of a person selecting the optimal option declines as the number of options increases, with the decline being more pronounced for older subjects. Second, heuristics differ by age with older subjects relying more on suboptimal decision rules. In a heuristics validation experiment, older subjects make worse decisions than younger subjects.

Impeded Dark Matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Slatyer, Tracy R. [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Wang, Xiao-Ping [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics,Johannes Gutenberg University,Staudingerweg 7, 55099 Mainz (Germany); Xue, Wei [Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2016-12-12

We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

Impeded Dark Matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopp, Joachim; Liu, Jia; Slatyer, Tracy R.; Wang, Xiao-Ping; Xue, Wei

2016-01-01

We consider dark matter models in which the mass splitting between the dark matter particles and their annihilation products is tiny. Compared to the previously proposed Forbidden Dark Matter scenario, the mass splittings we consider are much smaller, and are allowed to be either positive or negative. To emphasize this modification, we dub our scenario “Impeded Dark Matter”. We demonstrate that Impeded Dark Matter can be easily realized without requiring tuning of model parameters. For negative mass splitting, we demonstrate that the annihilation cross-section for Impeded Dark Matter depends linearly on the dark matter velocity or may even be kinematically forbidden, making this scenario almost insensitive to constraints from the cosmic microwave background and from observations of dwarf galaxies. Accordingly, it may be possible for Impeded Dark Matter to yield observable signals in clusters or the Galactic center, with no corresponding signal in dwarfs. For positive mass splitting, we show that the annihilation cross-section is suppressed by the small mass splitting, which helps light dark matter to survive increasingly stringent constraints from indirect searches. As specific realizations for Impeded Dark Matter, we introduce a model of vector dark matter from a hidden SU(2) sector, and a composite dark matter scenario based on a QCD-like dark sector.

Complementary cognitive capabilities, economic decision making, and aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ye; Baldassi, Martine; Johnson, Eric J; Weber, Elke U

2013-09-01

Fluid intelligence decreases with age, yet evidence about age declines in decision-making quality is mixed: Depending on the study, older adults make worse, equally good, or even better decisions than younger adults. We propose a potential explanation for this puzzle, namely that age differences in decision performance result from the interplay between two sets of cognitive capabilities that impact decision making, one in which older adults fare worse (i.e., fluid intelligence) and one in which they fare better (i.e., crystallized intelligence). Specifically, we hypothesized that older adults' higher levels of crystallized intelligence can provide an alternate pathway to good decisions when the fluid intelligence pathway declines. The performance of older adults relative to younger adults therefore depends on the relative importance of each type of intelligence for the decision at hand. We tested this complementary capabilities hypothesis in a broad sample of younger and older adults, collecting a battery of standard cognitive measures and measures of economically important decision-making "traits"--including temporal discounting, loss aversion, financial literacy, and debt literacy. We found that older participants performed as well as or better than younger participants on these four decision-making measures. Structural equation modeling verified our hypothesis: Older participants' greater crystallized intelligence offset their lower levels of fluid intelligence for temporal discounting, financial literacy, and debt literacy, but not for loss aversion. These results have important implications for public policy and for the design of effective decision environments for older adults.

Dynamical matter-parity breaking and gravitino dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, Jonas; Weniger, Christoph; Yanagida, Tsutomu T.; Tokyo Univ.

2010-10-01

Scenarios where gravitinos with GeV masses make up dark matter are known to be in tension with high reheating temperatures, as required by e.g. thermal leptogenesis. This tension comes from the longevity of the NLSPs, which can destroy the successful predictions of the standard primordial nucleosynthesis. However, a small violation of matter parity can open new decay channels for the NLSP, avoiding the BBN problems, while being compatible with experimental cosmic-ray constraints. In this paper, we propose a model where matter parity, which we assume to be embedded in the U(1) B-L gauge symmetry, is broken dynamically in a hidden sector at low scales. This can naturally explain the smallness of the matter parity breaking in the visible sector. We discuss the dynamics of the corresponding pseudo Nambu-Goldstone modes of B-L breaking in the hidden sector, and we comment on typical cosmic-ray and collider signatures in our model. (orig.)

Dynamical matter-parity breaking and gravitino dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmidt, Jonas; Weniger, Christoph [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Tokyo Univ. (JP). Inst. for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU); Yanagida, Tsutomu T. [Tokyo Univ. (JP). Inst. for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU); Tokyo Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Physics

2010-10-15

Scenarios where gravitinos with GeV masses make up dark matter are known to be in tension with high reheating temperatures, as required by e.g. thermal leptogenesis. This tension comes from the longevity of the NLSPs, which can destroy the successful predictions of the standard primordial nucleosynthesis. However, a small violation of matter parity can open new decay channels for the NLSP, avoiding the BBN problems, while being compatible with experimental cosmic-ray constraints. In this paper, we propose a model where matter parity, which we assume to be embedded in the U(1){sub B-L} gauge symmetry, is broken dynamically in a hidden sector at low scales. This can naturally explain the smallness of the matter parity breaking in the visible sector. We discuss the dynamics of the corresponding pseudo Nambu-Goldstone modes of B-L breaking in the hidden sector, and we comment on typical cosmic-ray and collider signatures in our model. (orig.)

Making Matter Making Us: Thinking with Grosz to Find Freedom in New Feminist Materialisms

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Alecia Youngblood

2013-01-01

In this paper, I offer a very close reading of Grosz [2010. "Feminism, Materialism, and Freedom." In "New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics," edited by Diana Coole and Samantha Frost, 139-157. Durham, NC: Duke University Press] thinking with Bergson in order to re-conceptualise freedom, matter, and the subject in new…

Better and worse students in the class or better or worse classes in school. Dynamics of potential recommendations for teachers and parents of students.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liutsyna Preuss-Kukhta

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The article deals with pedagogical tools of educational system. The principle of separation of students into better and worse is analyzed. It is said that even the worst students should be trained in such a way that in the future they could realize themselves. Such reflections have potentially hypothetical category.Key words: education system, good students, bad students, school.

Deviant white matter structure in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder points to aberrant myelination and affects neuropsychological performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Onnink, A Marten H; Zwiers, Marcel P; Hoogman, Martine; Mostert, Jeanette C; Dammers, Janneke; Kan, Cornelis C; Vasquez, Alejandro Arias; Schene, Aart H; Buitelaar, Jan; Franke, Barbara

2015-12-03

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood is characterized by gray and white matter abnormalities in several brain areas. Considerably less is known about white matter microstructure in adults with ADHD and its relation with clinical symptoms and cognitive performance. In 107 adult ADHD patients and 109 gender-, age- and IQ-matched controls, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to investigate whole-skeleton changes of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AD, RD). Additionally, we studied the relation of FA and MD values with symptom severity and cognitive performance on tasks measuring working memory, attention, inhibition, and delay discounting. In comparison to controls, participants with ADHD showed reduced FA in corpus callosum, bilateral corona radiata, and thalamic radiation. Higher MD and RD were found in overlapping and even more widespread areas in both hemispheres, also encompassing internal and external capsule, sagittal stratum, fornix, and superior lateral fasciculus. Values of FA and MD were not associated with symptom severity. However, within some white matter clusters that distinguished patients from controls, worse inhibition performance was associated with reduced FA and more impulsive decision making was associated with increased MD. This study shows widespread differences in white matter integrity between adults with persistent ADHD and healthy individuals. Changes in RD suggest aberrant myelination as a pathophysiological factor in persistent ADHD. The microstructural differences in adult ADHD may contribute to poor inhibition and greater impulsivity but appear to be independent of disease severity. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

White-matter microstructure and hearing acuity in older adults: a population-based cross-sectional DTI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rigters, Stephanie C; Cremers, Lotte G M; Ikram, M Arfan; van der Schroeff, Marc P; de Groot, Marius; Roshchupkin, Gennady V; Niessen, Wiro J N; Baatenburg de Jong, Robert J; Goedegebure, André; Vernooij, Meike W

2018-01-01

To study the relation between the microstructure of white matter in the brain and hearing function in older adults we carried out a population-based, cross-sectional study. In 2562 participants of the Rotterdam Study, we conducted diffusion tensor imaging to determine the microstructure of the white-matter tracts. We performed pure-tone audiogram and digit-in-noise tests to quantify hearing acuity. Poorer white-matter microstructure, especially in the association tracts, was related to poorer hearing acuity. After differentiating the separate white-matter tracts in the left and right hemisphere, poorer white-matter microstructure in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus and the right uncinate fasciculus remained significantly associated with worse hearing. These associations did not significantly differ between middle-aged (51-69 years old) and older (70-100 years old) participants. Progressing age was thus not found to be an effect modifier. In a voxel-based analysis no voxels in the white matter were significantly associated with hearing impairment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The clinical impact of cerebellar grey matter pathology in multiple sclerosis.

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Alfredo Damasceno

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The cerebellum is an important site for cortical demyelination in multiple sclerosis, but the functional significance of this finding is not fully understood. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical and cognitive impact of cerebellar grey-matter pathology in multiple sclerosis patients. METHODS: Forty-two relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients and 30 controls underwent clinical assessment including the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS and cerebellar functional system (FS score, and cognitive evaluation, including the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT and the Symbol-Digit Modalities Test (SDMT. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed with a 3T scanner and variables of interest were: brain white-matter and cortical lesion load, cerebellar intracortical and leukocortical lesion volumes, and brain cortical and cerebellar white-matter and grey-matter volumes. RESULTS: After multivariate analysis high burden of cerebellar intracortical lesions was the only predictor for the EDSS (p<0.001, cerebellar FS (p = 0.002, arm function (p = 0.049, and for leg function (p<0.001. Patients with high burden of cerebellar leukocortical lesions had lower PASAT scores (p = 0.013, while patients with greater volumes of cerebellar intracortical lesions had worse SDMT scores (p = 0.015. CONCLUSIONS: Cerebellar grey-matter pathology is widely present and contributes to clinical dysfunction in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients, independently of brain grey-matter damage.

Exothermic dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graham, Peter W.; Saraswat, Prashant; Harnik, Roni; Rajendran, Surjeet

2010-01-01

We propose a novel mechanism for dark matter to explain the observed annual modulation signal at DAMA/LIBRA which avoids existing constraints from every other dark matter direct detection experiment including CRESST, CDMS, and XENON10. The dark matter consists of at least two light states with mass ∼few GeV and splittings ∼5 keV. It is natural for the heavier states to be cosmologically long-lived and to make up an O(1) fraction of the dark matter. Direct detection rates are dominated by the exothermic reactions in which an excited dark matter state downscatters off of a nucleus, becoming a lower energy state. In contrast to (endothermic) inelastic dark matter, the most sensitive experiments for exothermic dark matter are those with light nuclei and low threshold energies. Interestingly, this model can also naturally account for the observed low-energy events at CoGeNT. The only significant constraint on the model arises from the DAMA/LIBRA unmodulated spectrum but it can be tested in the near future by a low-threshold analysis of CDMS-Si and possibly other experiments including CRESST, COUPP, and XENON100.

Complementary Cognitive Capabilities, Economic Decision-Making, and Aging

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ye; Baldassi, Martine; Johnson, Eric J.; Weber, Elke U.

2014-01-01

Fluid intelligence decreases with age, yet evidence about age declines in decision-making quality is mixed: Depending on the study, older adults make worse, equally good, or even better decisions than younger adults. We propose a potential explanation for this puzzle, namely that age differences in decision performance result from the interplay between two sets of cognitive capabilities that impact decision making, one in which older adults fare worse (i.e., fluid intelligence) and one in which they fare better (i.e., crystallized intelligence). Specifically, we hypothesized that older adults’ higher levels of crystallized intelligence can provide an alternate pathway to good decisions when the fluid intelligence pathway declines. The performance of older adults relative to younger adults therefore depends on the relative importance of each type of intelligence for the decision at hand. We tested this complementary capabilities hypothesis in a broad sample of younger and older adults, collecting a battery of standard cognitive measures and measures of economically important decision-making “traits”—including temporal discounting, loss aversion, financial literacy, and debt literacy. We found that older participants performed as well as or better than younger participants on these four decision-making measures. Structural equation modeling verified our hypothesis: Older participants’ greater crystallized intelligence offset their lower levels of fluid intelligence for temporal discounting, financial literacy, and debt literacy, but not for loss aversion. These results have important implications for public policy and for the design of effective decision environments for older adults. PMID:24040999

Matter and Interactions: a particle physics perspective

OpenAIRE

Organtini, Giovanni

2011-01-01

In classical mechanics matter and fields are completely separated. Matter interacts with fields. For particle physicists this is not the case. Both matter and fields are represented by particles. Fundamental interactions are mediated by particles exchanged between matter particles. In this paper we explain why particle physicists believe in such a picture, introducing the technique of Feynman diagrams starting from very basic and popular analogies with classical mechanics, making the physics ...

Baryonic dark matter and Machos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griest, K.

2000-01-01

A brief description of the status of baryons in the Universe is given, along with recent results from the MACHO collaboration and their meaning. A dark matter halo consisting of baryons in the form of Machos is ruled out, leaving an elementary particle as the prime candidate for the dark matter. The observed microlensing events may make up around 20% of the dark matter in the Milky Way, or may indicate an otherwise undetected component of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Stars of strange matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bethe, H.A.; Brown, G.E.; Cooperstein, J.

1987-01-01

We investigate suggestions that quark matter with strangeness per baryon of order unity may be stable. We model this matter at nuclear matter densities as a gas of close packed Λ-particles. From the known mass of the Λ-particle we obtain an estimate of the energy and chemical potential of strange matter at nuclear densities. These are sufficiently high to preclude any phase transition from neutron matter to strange matter in the region near nucleon matter density. Including effects from gluon exchange phenomenologically, we investigate higher densities, consistently making approximations which underestimate the density of transition. In this way we find a transition density ρ tr > or approx.7ρ 0 , where ρ 0 is nuclear matter density. This is not far from the maximum density in the center of the most massive neutron stars that can be constructed. Since we have underestimated ρ tr and still find it to be ∝7ρ 0 , we do not believe that the transition from neutron to quark matter is likely in neutron stars. Moreover, measured masses of observed neutron stars are ≅1.4 M sun , where M sun is the solar mass. For such masses, the central (maximum) density is ρ c 0 . Transition to quark matter is certainly excluded for these densities. (orig.)

Cytoplasmic TRADD Confers a Worse Prognosis in Glioblastoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharmistha Chakraborty

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1-associated death domain protein (TRADD is an important adaptor in TNFR1 signaling and has an essential role in nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB activation and survival signaling. Increased expression of TRADD is sufficient to activate NF-κB. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of NF-κB activation as a key pathogenic mechanism in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM, the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults.We examined the expression of TRADD by immunohistochemistry (IHC and find that TRADD is commonly expressed at high levels in GBM and is detected in both cytoplasmic and nuclear distribution. Cytoplasmic IHC TRADD scoring is significantly associated with worse progression-free survival (PFS both in univariate and multivariate analysis but is not associated with overall survival (n = 43 GBMs. PFS is a marker for responsiveness to treatment. We propose that TRADD-mediated NF-κB activation confers chemoresistance and thus a worse PFS in GBM. Consistent with the effect on PFS, silencing TRADD in glioma cells results in decreased NF-κB activity, decreased proliferation of cells, and increased sensitivity to temozolomide. TRADD expression is common in glioma-initiating cells. Importantly, silencing TRADD in GBM-initiating stem cell cultures results in decreased viability of stem cells, suggesting that TRADD may be required for maintenance of GBM stem cell populations. Thus, our study suggests that increased expression of cytoplasmic TRADD is both an important biomarker and a key driver of NF-κB activation in GBM and supports an oncogenic role for TRADD in GBM.

ADMX Dark-Matter Axion Search

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenberg, Leslie J.

2004-01-01

The axion, a hypothetical elementary particle, emerged from a compelling solution to the Strong-CP Problem in QCD. Subsequently, the axion was recognized to be a good Cold Dark Matter candidate. Although dark-matter axions have only feeble couplings to matter and radiation, these axions may be detected through resonant conversion of axions into microwave photons in a high-Q cavity threaded by a strong static magnetic field. This technique is at present the only means whereby dark-matter axions with plausible couplings may be detected at the required sensitivity. This talk describes recent results from the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX), now the world's most sensitive search for axions. There will also be a short overview of the ADMX upgrade, which promises sensitivity to even the more feebly coupled dark matter axions even should they make up only a minority fraction of the local dark matter halo

Divergent discourse between protests and counter-protests: #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallagher, Ryan J; Reagan, Andrew J; Danforth, Christopher M; Dodds, Peter Sheridan

2018-01-01

Since the shooting of Black teenager Michael Brown by White police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, the protest hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has amplified critiques of extrajudicial killings of Black Americans. In response to #BlackLivesMatter, other Twitter users have adopted #AllLivesMatter, a counter-protest hashtag whose content argues that equal attention should be given to all lives regardless of race. Through a multi-level analysis of over 860,000 tweets, we study how these protests and counter-protests diverge by quantifying aspects of their discourse. We find that #AllLivesMatter facilitates opposition between #BlackLivesMatter and hashtags such as #PoliceLivesMatter and #BlueLivesMatter in such a way that historically echoes the tension between Black protesters and law enforcement. In addition, we show that a significant portion of #AllLivesMatter use stems from hijacking by #BlackLivesMatter advocates. Beyond simply injecting #AllLivesMatter with #BlackLivesMatter content, these hijackers use the hashtag to directly confront the counter-protest notion of "All lives matter." Our findings suggest that Black Lives Matter movement was able to grow, exhibit diverse conversations, and avoid derailment on social media by making discussion of counter-protest opinions a central topic of #AllLivesMatter, rather than the movement itself.

Impact of Particulate Matter Exposure and Surrounding “Greenness” on Chronic Absenteeism in Massachusetts Public Schools

OpenAIRE

MacNaughton, Piers; Eitland, Erika; Kloog, Itai; Schwartz, Joel; Allen, Joseph

2017-01-01

Chronic absenteeism is associated with poorer academic performance and higher attrition in kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12) schools. In prior research, students who were chronically absent generally had fewer employment opportunities and worse health after graduation. We examined the impact that environmental factors surrounding schools have on chronic absenteeism. We estimated the greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)) and fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) wit...

Why Models Matter: The Making and Unmaking of Governability in Macroeconomic Discourse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benjamin Braun

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Like other branches of economic theory, macroeconomics has the potential not only to represent but also to perform the economy. This performative potential is greatest when a ‘governability paradigm’ is established within macroeconomic discourse – that is, when theory has produced both a sense of understanding and practical control over the economy. In such periods, macroeconomic models become embedded in the ideational infrastructure of the economy, making possible both the interpretation of past data and the formation of expectations regarding the future. Viewing macroeconomics as a quest for governability, this article traces the formation of two distinct governability paradigms: the neoclassical synthesis paradigm of the post-war era, and the new neoclassical synthesis paradigm of the 1990s and 2000s. It shows how in both cases macroeconomic discourse went through three phases: first, the formulation of a basic vision of the economy; second, the formalisation and operationalisation of this vision; and third, the development of methods to measure, estimate, and predict associated variables. These shifts in macroeconomics and its models matter because the establishment of a governability paradigm tends to produce overconfidence not only among economists and policymakers, but also among market actors. Macroeconomic discourse itself therefore contributes to the cycles of boom and bust in modern capitalist economies.

Indirect detection of dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, J; Lamanna, G; Lavalle, J

2006-01-01

This article is an experimental review of the status and prospects of indirect searches for dark matter. Experiments observe secondary particles such as positrons, antiprotons, antideuterons, gamma-rays and neutrinos which could originate from annihilations of dark matter particles in various locations in the galaxy. Data exist from some experiments which have been interpreted as hints of evidence for dark matter. These data and their interpretations are reviewed together with the new experiments which are planned to resolve the puzzles and make new measurements which could give unambiguous results

Axion: Mass -- Dark Matter Abundance Relation

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2016-01-01

The axion is a hypothetical particle which would explain why QCD is approximately T-conserving, and is also an excellent Cold Dark Matter candidate. It should be possible to make a clean theoretical prediction relating the dark matter density in axions and the axion mass (under reasonable assumptions about inflation). But the axion's early-Universe dynamics, which establish its density as dark matter, are unexpectedly rich in a way which is only starting to yield to quantitative numerical study.

The Axion Dark-Matter eXperiment (ADMX): Recent Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenberg, Leslie J.

2010-01-01

The axion is a hypothetical elementary particle whose existence would explain the baffling absence of CP violation in the strong interactions. It's properties in addition make it a good dark-matter candidate. Even though dark-matter axions would make up the overwhelming majority of mass in the universe, they are extraordinarily difficult to detect. We have developed a detector, ADMX, for dark-matter axions that is at heart an exquisitely sensitive detector of electromagnetic radiation. This talk will describe the progress we have made in this experimental search.

Recycling Piaget: Posthumanism and Making Children's Knowledge Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Aslanian, Teresa K.

2018-01-01

A growing body of research incorporates children's perspectives into the research process. If we are to take children's perspectives seriously in education research, research methodologies must be capable of addressing issues that matter to children. This article engages in a theoretical discussion that considers how a posthuman research…

Quark Condensate in the Strange Matter

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LU Chang-Fang; LU" Xiao-Fu

2003-01-01

In a nonlinear chiral SU(3) framework, we investigate the quark condensate in the strange matter including N, Σ, Ξ, and Λ, making use of chiral symmetry spontaneous breaking Lagrangian and mean-field approximation. The results show that the chiral symmetry is restored partially when the strange matter density increases and that 〈π→2〉 plays a very important role in the strange matter which may approach the constituents of the neutron stars. In addition, we can find that the strange matter density where the π-condensate emerges leads to the ratio of the nucleon number to baryon number.

The association of cognitive impairment with gray matter atrophy and cortical lesion load in clinically isolated syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Diker, Sevda; Has, Arzu Ceylan; Kurne, Aslı; Göçmen, Rahşan; Oğuz, Kader Karlı; Karabudak, Rana

2016-11-01

Multiple sclerosis can impair cognition from the early stages and has been shown to be associated with gray matter damage in addition to white matter pathology. To investigate the profile of cognitive impairment in clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), and the contribution of cortical inflammation, cortical and deep gray matter atrophy, and white matter lesions to cognitive decline. Thirty patients with clinically isolated syndrome and twenty demographically- matched healthy controls underwent neuropsychologic assessment through the Rao Brief Repeatable Battery, and brain magnetic resonance imaging with double inversion recovery using a 3T scanner. Patients with clinically isolated syndrome performed significantly worse than healthy controls on tests that evaluated verbal memory, visuospatial learning and memory, and verbal fluency. Significant deep gray matter atrophy was found in the patients but cortical volume was not lower than the controls. Visual memory tests correlated with the volume of the hippocampus, cerebral white matter and deep gray matter structures and with cerebellar cortical atrophy. Cortical or white matter lesion load did not affect cognitive test results. In our patients with CIS, it was shown that cognitive impairment was mainly related to cerebral white matter, cerebellar cortical and deep gray matter atrophy, but not with cortical inflammation, at least in the early stage of disease. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research chief wants to make science matter

CERN Multimedia

König, R

1999-01-01

The new research chief of the European Union, Phillippe Busquin wants to move science into the heart of EU decision-taking. He would like to make European research more 'cohesive, focused, mobile and multilateral' (2 pages).

Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at direct detection experiments

OpenAIRE

Giudice, Gian F.; Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

2018-01-01

We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experimen...

The Symptoms Get Worse after Pregnancy in Sheehan's Syndrome: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingwen Hao

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Sheehan’s syndrome, which is pituitary necrosis after severe postpartum hemorrhage and hypovolemia, may cause hypopituitarism immediately or several years later, depending on the degree of tissue destruction. We report an unusual case, in which a 55-year-old woman with Sheehan's syndrome got worse symptoms after spontaneous labor. In 1998, she had severe postpartum hemorrhage and pituitary necrosis during the third delivery, thus it was diagnosed as Sheehan’s syndrome by clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, and magnetic resonance imaging. She was treated by replacement therapy including hydrocortisone and levothyroxine sodium. However, she had the fourth spontaneous pregnancy in 2000 and got worse symptoms after delivery. We carefully concluded that pregnancy provided no evidence against the diagnosis of Sheehan’s syndrome because pregnancy might improve hypopituitarism by stimulating the pituitary remnant to undergo hyperplasia and irritating the placenta to secrete hormone. However, pregnancy might aggravate the symptoms by inducing autoimmunity as well. All in all, early diagnosis and adequate medical treatment are important to provide a good prognosis of Sheehan’s syndrome.

Search for Dark Matter at ATLAS

CERN Document Server

Conventi, Francesco; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Dark Matter composes almost 25% of our Universe, but its identity is still unknown which makes it a large challenge for current fundamental physics. A lot of approaches are used to discover the identity of Dark Matter and one of them, collider searches, are discussed in this talk. The latest results on Dark Matter search at ATLAS using 2015 and 2016 data are presented. Results from searches for new physics in the events with final states containing large missing transverse energy + X (photons, jets, boson) are shown. Higgs to invisible and dijet searches are used in sense of complementarity to constrain properties of Dark Matter.

White matter microstructure and cognitive decline in metabolic syndrome: a review of diffusion tensor imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Alfaro, Freddy J; Gavrieli, Anna; Saade-Lemus, Patricia; Lioutas, Vasileios-Arsenios; Upadhyay, Jagriti; Novak, Vera

2018-01-01

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors defined by the presence of abdominal obesity, glucose intolerance, hypertension and/or dyslipidemia. It is a major public health epidemic worldwide, and a known risk factor for the development of cognitive dysfunction and dementia. Several studies have demonstrated a positive association between the presence of metabolic syndrome and worse cognitive outcomes, however, evidence of brain structure pathology is limited. Diffusion tensor imaging has offered new opportunities to detect microstructural white matter changes in metabolic syndrome, and a possibility to detect associations between functional and structural abnormalities. This review analyzes the impact of metabolic syndrome on white matter microstructural integrity, brain structure abnormalities and their relationship to cognitive function. Each of the metabolic syndrome components exerts a specific signature of white matter microstructural abnormalities. Metabolic syndrome and its components exert both additive/synergistic, as well as, independent effects on brain microstructure thus accelerating brain aging and cognitive decline. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Executive dysfunctions in migraine with and without aura: what is the role of white matter lesions?

Science.gov (United States)

Le Pira, Francesco; Reggio, Ester; Quattrocchi, Graziella; Sanfilippo, Cristina; Maci, Tiziana; Cavallaro, Tiziana; Zappia, Mario

2014-01-01

Executive dysfunctions and white matter lesions on magnetic resonance imaging have been reported in migraine. The aim of this study was to determine whether any correlation between these 2 variables exists. Forty-four subjects affected by migraine with or without aura were compared with 16 healthy subjects. A battery of neuropsychological tests assessing executive functions was administered to all subjects. Number and total volume of white matter lesions were assessed in the whole brain and in the frontal lobe. The performances of both groups of migraineurs, with and without aura, were significantly worse when compared with controls on Boston Scanning Test. Moreover, we found lower performances compared with controls respectively on Frontal Assessment Battery in patients with migraine with aura and on Controlled Oral Word Association Test in patients with migraine without aura. Nineteen patients (43.2%) and one control subject (6.2%) had white matter lesions. We did not find any significant correlation between white matter lesions load and neuropsychological performances. On the basis of our results, white matter lesions load on magnetic resonance imaging do not seem to contribute to neuropsychological performances deficit in migraineurs. © 2013 American Headache Society.

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome Patients Have Worse Sleep Quality Compared to Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luciana Balester Mello de Godoy

Full Text Available To compare sleep quality and sustained attention of patients with Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS, mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA and normal individuals.UARS criteria were presence of excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale-ESS-≥ 10 and/or fatigue (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale-MFIS-≥ 38 associated to Apnea/hypopnea index (AHI ≤ 5 and Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI > 5 events/hour of sleep or more than 30% of total sleep time with flow limitation. Mild OSA was considered if the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS ≥ 10 and/or fatigue (MFIS ≥ 38 associated to AHI ≥ 5 and ≤ 15 events/hour. "Control group" criteria were AHI < 5 events/hour and RDI ≤ 5 events/hour and ESS ≤ 9, without any sleep, clinical, neurological or psychiatric disorder. 115 individuals (34 UARS and 47 mild OSA patients and 34 individuals in "control group", adjusted for age, gender, body mass index (BMI and schooling years, performed sleep questionnaires and sustained attention evaluation. Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT was performed five times (each two hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.UARS patients had worse sleep quality (Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire-FOSQ-and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-PSQI: p < 0.05 and more fatigue than mild OSA patients (p = 0.003 and scored significantly higher in both Beck inventories than "control group" (p < 0.02. UARS patients had more lapses early in the morning (in time 1 compared to the results in the afternoon (time 5 than mild OSA (p = 0.02. Mild OSA patients had more lapses in times 2 than in time 5 compared to "control group" (p = 0.04.UARS patients have a worse sleep quality, more fatigue and a worse early morning sustained attention compared to mild OSA. These last had a worse sustained attention than controls.

Dark matter: Theoretical perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, M.S.

1993-01-01

I both review and make the case for the current theoretical prejudice: a flat Universe whose dominant constituent is nonbaryonic dark matter, emphasizing that this is still a prejudice and not yet fact. The theoretical motivation for nonbaryonic dark matter is discussed in the context of current elementary-particle theory, stressing that: (1) there are no dark matter candidates within the standard model of particle physics; (2) there are several compelling candidates within attractive extensions of the standard model of particle physics; and (3) the motivation for these compelling candidates comes first and foremost from particle physics. The dark-matter problem is now a pressing issue in both cosmology and particle physics, and the detection of particle dark matter would provide evidence for ''new physics.'' The compelling candidates are: a very light axion ( 10 -6 eV--10 -4 eV); a light neutrino (20 eV--90 eV); and a heavy neutralino (10 GeV--2 TeV). The production of these particles in the early Universe and the prospects for their detection are also discussed. I briefly mention more exotic possibilities for the dark matter, including a nonzero cosmological constant, superheavy magnetic monopoles, and decaying neutrinos

The prognostic value of thrombelastography in identifying neurosurgical patients with worse prognosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Windeløv, Nis A; Welling, Karen-Lise; Ostrowski, Sisse R

2011-01-01

Coagulopathy in patients with intracranial haemorrhage or traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with clinical deterioration and worse outcome. Whole blood viscoelastic haemostatic assays, like thrombelastography (TEG), might aid conventional coagulation assays in identification of patients w...... prognosis. Low concordance with conventional coagulation assays indicates that TEG might be valuable in identifying patients with clinically relevant coagulopathy....

Hidden charged dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng, Jonathan L.; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Tu, Huitzu; Yu, Hai-Bo

2009-01-01

Can dark matter be stabilized by charge conservation, just as the electron is in the standard model? We examine the possibility that dark matter is hidden, that is, neutral under all standard model gauge interactions, but charged under an exact (\\rm U)(1) gauge symmetry of the hidden sector. Such candidates are predicted in WIMPless models, supersymmetric models in which hidden dark matter has the desired thermal relic density for a wide range of masses. Hidden charged dark matter has many novel properties not shared by neutral dark matter: (1) bound state formation and Sommerfeld-enhanced annihilation after chemical freeze out may reduce its relic density, (2) similar effects greatly enhance dark matter annihilation in protohalos at redshifts of z ∼ 30, (3) Compton scattering off hidden photons delays kinetic decoupling, suppressing small scale structure, and (4) Rutherford scattering makes such dark matter self-interacting and collisional, potentially impacting properties of the Bullet Cluster and the observed morphology of galactic halos. We analyze all of these effects in a WIMPless model in which the hidden sector is a simplified version of the minimal supersymmetric standard model and the dark matter is a hidden sector stau. We find that charged hidden dark matter is viable and consistent with the correct relic density for reasonable model parameters and dark matter masses in the range 1 GeV ∼ X ∼< 10 TeV. At the same time, in the preferred range of parameters, this model predicts cores in the dark matter halos of small galaxies and other halo properties that may be within the reach of future observations. These models therefore provide a viable and well-motivated framework for collisional dark matter with Sommerfeld enhancement, with novel implications for astrophysics and dark matter searches

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome Patients Have Worse Sleep Quality Compared to Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Science.gov (United States)

de Godoy, Luciana Balester Mello; Luz, Gabriela Pontes; Palombini, Luciana Oliveira; E Silva, Luciana Oliveira; Hoshino, Wilson; Guimarães, Thaís Moura; Tufik, Sergio; Bittencourt, Lia; Togeiro, Sonia Maria

2016-01-01

To compare sleep quality and sustained attention of patients with Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS), mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and normal individuals. UARS criteria were presence of excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale-ESS-≥ 10) and/or fatigue (Modified Fatigue Impact Scale-MFIS-≥ 38) associated to Apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) ≤ 5 and Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) > 5 events/hour of sleep or more than 30% of total sleep time with flow limitation. Mild OSA was considered if the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS ≥ 10) and/or fatigue (MFIS ≥ 38) associated to AHI ≥ 5 and ≤ 15 events/hour. "Control group" criteria were AHI sleep, clinical, neurological or psychiatric disorder. 115 individuals (34 UARS and 47 mild OSA patients and 34 individuals in "control group"), adjusted for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and schooling years, performed sleep questionnaires and sustained attention evaluation. Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) was performed five times (each two hours) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. UARS patients had worse sleep quality (Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire-FOSQ-and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-PSQI: p sleep quality, more fatigue and a worse early morning sustained attention compared to mild OSA. These last had a worse sustained attention than controls.

What Makes Nurses Intend To Leave Their Profession?

OpenAIRE

Li, Jian

2014-01-01

Background The nurse shortage is an increasing problem worldwide, which has significant impact on quality of care and patient safety. It has been reported that most industrialized countries in America and Europe are or will be facing nursing shortages. However, the nurse shortage happens not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries, such as in China. In addition, the international East-West migration of nurses makes the situation worse in the less develo...

The Decoy Effect as a Nudge: Boosting Hand Hygiene With a Worse Option.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Meng; Sun, Yan; Chen, Hui

2018-05-01

This article provides the first test of the decoy effect as a nudge to influence real-world behavior. The decoy effect is the phenomenon that an additional but worse option can boost the appeal of an existing option. It has been widely demonstrated in hypothetical choices, but its usefulness in real-world settings has been subject to debate. In three longitudinal experiments in food-processing factories, we tested two decoy sanitation options that were worse than the existing sanitizer spray bottle. Results showed that the presence of a decoy, but not an additional copy of the original sanitizer bottle in a different color, drastically increased food workers' hand sanitizer use from the original sanitizer bottle and, consequently, improved workers' passing rate in hand sanitary tests from 60% to 70% to above 90% for 20 days. These findings indicate that the decoy effect can be a powerful nudge technique to influence real-world behavior.

Resonant SIMP dark matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soo-Min Choi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available We consider a resonant SIMP dark matter in models with two singlet complex scalar fields charged under a local dark U(1D. After the U(1D is broken down to a Z5 discrete subgroup, the lighter scalar field becomes a SIMP dark matter which has the enhanced 3→2 annihilation cross section near the resonance of the heavier scalar field. Bounds on the SIMP self-scattering cross section and the relic density can be fulfilled at the same time for perturbative couplings of SIMP. A small gauge kinetic mixing between the SM hypercharge and dark gauge bosons can be used to make SIMP dark matter in kinetic equilibrium with the SM during freeze-out.

Dark matter in the universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bahcall, J.; Piran, T.; Weinberg, S.

1988-01-01

If standard gravitational theory is correct, then most of the matter in the universe is in an unidentified form which does not emit enough light to have been detected by current instrumentation. This proceedings was devoted to a discussion of the so-called ''missing matter'' problem in the universe. The goal of the School was to make current research work on unseen matter accessible to students or facilities without prior experience in this area. Due to the pedagogical nature of the School and the strong interactions between students and the lecturers, the written lectures included in this volume often contain techniques and explanations not found in more formal journal publications

Sterile neutrinos as dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dodelson, S.; Widrow, L.M.

1994-01-01

The simplest model that can accommodate a viable nonbaryonic dark matter candidate is the standard electroweak theory with the addition of right-handed (sterile) neutrinos. We consider a single generation of neutrinos with a Dirac mass μ and a Majorana mass M for the right-handed component. If M much-gt μ (standard hot dark matter corresponds to M=0), then sterile neutrinos are produced via oscillations in the early Universe with energy density independent of M. However, M is crucial in determining the large scale structure of the Universe; for M∼100 eV, sterile neutrinos make an excellent warm dark matter candidate

In search of dark matter

CERN Document Server

Freeman, Kenneth C

2006-01-01

The dark matter problem is one of the most fundamental and profoundly difficult to solve problems in the history of science. Not knowing what makes up most of the known universe goes to the heart of our understanding of the Universe and our place in it. In Search of Dark Matter is the story of the emergence of the dark matter problem, from the initial erroneous ‘discovery’ of dark matter by Jan Oort to contemporary explanations for the nature of dark matter and its role in the origin and evolution of the Universe. Written for the educated non-scientist and scientist alike, it spans a variety of scientific disciplines, from observational astronomy to particle physics. Concepts that the reader will encounter along the way are at the cutting edge of scientific research. However the themes are explained in such a way that no prior understanding of science beyond a high school education is necessary.

Significant gamma-ray lines from dark matter annihilation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duerr, Michael [DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg (Germany); Fileviez Perez, Pavel; Smirnov, Juri [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg (Germany)

2016-07-01

Gamma-ray lines from dark matter annihilation are commonly seen as a ''smoking gun'' for the particle nature of dark matter. However, in many dark matter models the continuum background from tree-level annihilations makes such a line invisible. I present two simple extensions of the Standard Model where the continuum contributions are suppressed and the gamma-ray lines are easily visible over the continuum background.

Make Learning Matter for the Multitasking Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Jill

2012-01-01

Technological advances have created amazing opportunities for people throughout the world to access and share information. These opportunities have helped to create a generation of young adolescents who want to make the most of each minute of the day, seizing opportunities to seek information and communicate at the same time. This generation is…

Dark matter: Theoretical perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Turner, M.S.

1993-01-01

The author both reviews and makes the case for the current theoretical prejudice: a flat Universe whose dominant constituent is nonbaryonic dark matter, emphasizing that this is still a prejudice and not yet fact. The theoretical motivation for nonbaryonic dark matter is discussed in the context of current elementary-particle theory, stressing that (i) there are no dark-matter candidates within the open-quotes standard modelclose quotes of particle physics, (ii) there are several compelling candidates within attractive extensions of the standard model of particle physics, and (iii) the motivation for these compelling candidates comes first and foremost from particle physics. The dark-matter problem is now a pressing issue in both cosmology and particle physics, and the detection of particle dark matter would provide evidence for open-quotes new physics.close quotes The compelling candidates are a very light axion (10 -6 --10 -4 eV), a light neutrino (20--90 eV), and a heavy neutralino (10 GeV--2 TeV). The production of these particles in the early Universe and the prospects for their detection are also discussed. The author briefly mentions more exotic possibilities for the dark matter, including a nonzero cosmological constant, superheavy magnetic monopoles, and decaying neutrinos. 119 refs

Dark matter: Theoretical perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, M.S. (Chicago Univ., IL (United States). Enrico Fermi Inst. Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States))

1993-01-01

I both review and make the case for the current theoretical prejudice: a flat Universe whose dominant constituent is nonbaryonic dark matter, emphasizing that this is still a prejudice and not yet fact. The theoretical motivation for nonbaryonic dark matter is discussed in the context of current elementary-particle theory, stressing that: (1) there are no dark matter candidates within the standard model of particle physics; (2) there are several compelling candidates within attractive extensions of the standard model of particle physics; and (3) the motivation for these compelling candidates comes first and foremost from particle physics. The dark-matter problem is now a pressing issue in both cosmology and particle physics, and the detection of particle dark matter would provide evidence for new physics.'' The compelling candidates are: a very light axion ( 10[sup [minus]6] eV--10[sup [minus]4] eV); a light neutrino (20 eV--90 eV); and a heavy neutralino (10 GeV--2 TeV). The production of these particles in the early Universe and the prospects for their detection are also discussed. I briefly mention more exotic possibilities for the dark matter, including a nonzero cosmological constant, superheavy magnetic monopoles, and decaying neutrinos.

Dark matter: Theoretical perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, M.S. [Chicago Univ., IL (United States). Enrico Fermi Inst.]|[Fermi National Accelerator Lab., Batavia, IL (United States)

1993-01-01

I both review and make the case for the current theoretical prejudice: a flat Universe whose dominant constituent is nonbaryonic dark matter, emphasizing that this is still a prejudice and not yet fact. The theoretical motivation for nonbaryonic dark matter is discussed in the context of current elementary-particle theory, stressing that: (1) there are no dark matter candidates within the standard model of particle physics; (2) there are several compelling candidates within attractive extensions of the standard model of particle physics; and (3) the motivation for these compelling candidates comes first and foremost from particle physics. The dark-matter problem is now a pressing issue in both cosmology and particle physics, and the detection of particle dark matter would provide evidence for ``new physics.`` The compelling candidates are: a very light axion ( 10{sup {minus}6} eV--10{sup {minus}4} eV); a light neutrino (20 eV--90 eV); and a heavy neutralino (10 GeV--2 TeV). The production of these particles in the early Universe and the prospects for their detection are also discussed. I briefly mention more exotic possibilities for the dark matter, including a nonzero cosmological constant, superheavy magnetic monopoles, and decaying neutrinos.

Blood Pressure Control in Aging Predicts Cerebral Atrophy Related to Small-Vessel White Matter Lesions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyle C. Kern

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Cerebral small-vessel damage manifests as white matter hyperintensities and cerebral atrophy on brain MRI and is associated with aging, cognitive decline and dementia. We sought to examine the interrelationship of these imaging biomarkers and the influence of hypertension in older individuals. We used a multivariate spatial covariance neuroimaging technique to localize the effects of white matter lesion load on regional gray matter volume and assessed the role of blood pressure control, age and education on this relationship. Using a case-control design matching for age, gender, and educational attainment we selected 64 participants with normal blood pressure, controlled hypertension or uncontrolled hypertension from the Northern Manhattan Study cohort. We applied gray matter voxel-based morphometry with the scaled subprofile model to (1 identify regional covariance patterns of gray matter volume differences associated with white matter lesion load, (2 compare this relationship across blood pressure groups, and (3 relate it to cognitive performance. In this group of participants aged 60–86 years, we identified a pattern of reduced gray matter volume associated with white matter lesion load in bilateral temporal-parietal regions with relative preservation of volume in the basal forebrain, thalami and cingulate cortex. This pattern was expressed most in the uncontrolled hypertension group and least in the normotensives, but was also more evident in older and more educated individuals. Expression of this pattern was associated with worse performance in executive function and memory. In summary, white matter lesions from small-vessel disease are associated with a regional pattern of gray matter atrophy that is mitigated by blood pressure control, exacerbated by aging, and associated with cognitive performance.

Characteristics of gray matter morphological change in Parkinson's disease patients with semantic abstract reasoning deficits.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Li; Nie, Kun; Zhao, Xin; Feng, Shujun; Xie, Sifen; He, Xuetao; Ma, Guixian; Wang, Limin; Huang, Zhiheng; Huang, Biao; Zhang, Yuhu; Wang, Lijuan

2018-04-23

Semantic abstract reasoning(SAR) is an important executive domain that is involved in semantic information processing and enables one to make sense of the attributes of objects, facts and concepts in the world. We sought to investigate whether Parkinson's disease subjects(PDs) have difficulty in SAR and to examine the associated pattern of gray matter morphological changes. Eighty-six PDs and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. PDs were grouped into PD subjects with Similarities preservation(PDSP, n = 62) and PD subjects with Similarities impairment(PDSI, n = 24)according to their performance on the Similarities subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Brain structural images were captured with a 3T MRI scanner. Surface-based investigation of cortical thickness and automated segmentation of deep gray matter were conducted using FreeSurfer software. PDs performed notably worse on the Similarities test than controls(F = 13.56, P < 0.001).In the PDSI group, cortical thinning associated with Similarities scores was found in the left superior frontal, left superior parietal and left rostral middle frontal regions. Notable atrophy of the bilateral hippocampi was observed, but only the right hippocampus volume was positively correlated with the Similarities scores of the PDSI group. PDs have difficulty in SAR, and this limitation may be associated with impaired conceptual abstraction and generalization along with semantic memory deficits. Cortical thinning in the left frontal and parietal regions and atrophy in the right hippocampus may explain these impairments among Chinese PDs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mitigating DDoS Attacks using OpenFlow-based Software Defined Networking

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jonker, Mattijs; Sperotto, Anna; Latré, Steven; Charalambides, Marinos; François, Jérôme; Schmitt, Corinna; Stiller, Burkhard

Over the last years, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks have become an increasing threat on the Internet, with recent attacks reaching traffic volumes of up to 500 Gbps. To make matters worse, web-based facilities that offer “DDoS-as-a-service‿ (i.e., Booters) allow for the layman to

Factors associated with worse lung function in cystic fibrosis patients with persistent staphylococcus aureus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Junge, S. (Sibylle); Görlich, D. (Dennis); Reijer, M.D. (Martijn Den); B. Wiedemann (Baerbel); B. Tümmler (Burkhard); H. Ellemunter; Dübbers, A. (Angelika); Küster, P. (Peter); M. Ballmann; Koerner-Rettberg, C. (Cordula); Große-Onnebrink, J. (Jörg); Heuer, E. (Eberhardt); Sextro, W. (Wolfgang); Mainz, J.G. (Jochen G.); Hammermann, J. (Jutta); Riethmüller, J. (Joachim); Graepler-Mainka, U.M. (Ute M.); Staab, D. (Doris); Wollschläger, B. (Bettina); Szczepanski, R. (Rüdiger); A. Schuster (Antje); Tegtmeyer, F.-K. (Friedrich-Karl); Sutharsan, S. (Sivagurunathan); Wald, A. (Alexandra); Nofer, J.-R. (Jerzy-Roch); W.J.B. van Wamel (Willem); Becker, K. (Karsten); Peters, G. (Georg); Kahl, B.C. (Barbara C.)

2016-01-01

textabstractBackground Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, it is not clear which factors are associated with worse lung function in patients with persistent S. aureus airway cultures. Our main hypothesis was that patients with high S. aureus density in

Simulating Gravity: Dark Matter and Gravitational Lensing in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Ford, Jes; Stang, Jared; Anderson, Catherine

2015-01-01

Dark matter makes up most of the matter in the universe but very little of a standard introductory physics curriculum. Here we present our construction and use of a spandex sheet-style gravity simulator to qualitatively demonstrate two aspects of modern physics related to dark matter. First, we describe an activity in which students explore the…

Dark matter in axion landscape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryuji Daido

2017-02-01

Full Text Available If there are a plethora of axions in nature, they may have a complicated potential and create an axion landscape. We study a possibility that one of the axions is so light that it is cosmologically stable, explaining the observed dark matter density. In particular we focus on a case in which two (or more shift-symmetry breaking terms conspire to make the axion sufficiently light at the potential minimum. In this case the axion has a flat-bottomed potential. In contrast to the case in which a single cosine term dominates the potential, the axion abundance as well as its isocurvature perturbations are significantly suppressed. This allows an axion with a rather large mass to serve as dark matter without fine-tuning of the initial misalignment, and further makes higher-scale inflation to be consistent with the scenario.

Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at direct detection experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Giudice, Gian F.; Kim, Doojin; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

2018-05-01

We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experiments, but require unconventional searches for energetic recoil electrons in coincidence with displaced multi-track events. Related experimental strategies can also be used to probe MeV-range boosted dark matter via their interactions with electrons inside the target material.

Onset of bell's palsy in late pregnancy and early puerperium is associated with worse long-term outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Katie M; Heiser, Alyssa; Gaudin, Robert; Hadlock, Tessa A; Jowett, Nate

2017-12-01

The incidence of Bell's palsy (BP) is elevated in the late phases of pregnancy. Controversy exists as to whether pregnancy is a risk factor for worse outcomes in BP, and whether such outcomes are the result of factors intrinsic to pregnancy or the tendency to withhold medical therapy in this cohort. Long-term facial function outcomes in cases of pregnancy-associated BP (PABP) were compared against outcomes in cases affecting nonpregnant adult women of child-bearing age by a blinded expert using the electronic clinician-graded facial function scale (eFACE) facial grading system. Fifty-one pregnancy-associated cases and 58 nonpregnancy-associated cases were included. Among patients who received early corticosteroid therapy, significantly worse static, synkinesis, and composite facial function eFACE scores were demonstrated among cases of PABP compared to nonpregnancy-associated cases (static median = 86 vs. 92.5, P = 0.005; synkinesis median = 79 vs. 86, P = 0.007; composite median = 78 vs. 84, P = 0.023). Among those not treated with corticosteroids, significantly worse dynamic and composite facial function eFACE scores were demonstrated in cases of PABP compared to those for nonpregnancy-associated cases (dynamic median = 74 vs. 92.5, P = 0.038; composite median = 73 vs. 86.5, P = 0.038). A trend toward improved outcomes was demonstrated within both groups for those treated with corticosteroids compared to those who were not. In comparison to cases unrelated to pregnancy, late-term PABP is associated with worse long-term outcomes to a degree that cannot solely be explained by differences in medical therapy. 4. Laryngoscope, 127:2854-2859, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Dark Matter searches with the ATLAS Detector

CERN Document Server

Suchek, Stanislav; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Dark Matter composes almost 25% of our Universe, but its identity is still unknown which makes it a large challenge for current fundamental physics. A lot of approaches are used to discover the identity of Dark Matter and one of them, collider searches, are discussed in this talk. The latest results on Dark Matter search at ATLAS using 2015 and 2016 data are presented. Results from searches for new physics in the events with final states containing large missing transverse energy and a single photon or Higgs boson are shown. Higgs to invisible and dijet searches are used in sense of complementarity to constrain properties of Dark Matter. Results and perspectives for all these searches are presented.

Medication cost problems among chronically ill adults in the US: did the financial crisis make a bad situation even worse?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piette JD

2011-04-01

Full Text Available John D Piette1, Ann Marie Rosland1, Maria J Silveira1, Rodney Hayward1, Colleen A McHorney21Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 2US Outcomes Research, Merck and Co, Inc, North Wales, PA, USAAbstract: A national internet survey was conducted between March and April 2009 among 27,302 US participants in the Harris Interactive Chronic Illness Panel. Respondents reported behaviors related to cost-related medication non-adherence (CRN and the impacts of medication costs on other aspects of their daily lives. Among respondents aged 40–64 and looking for work, 66% reported CRN in 2008, and 41% did not fill a prescription due to cost pressures. More than half of respondents aged 40–64 and nearly two-thirds of those in this group who were looking for work or disabled reported other impacts of medication costs, such as cutting back on basic needs or increasing credit card debt. More than one-third of respondents aged 65+ who were working or looking for work reported CRN. Regardless of age or employment status, roughly half of respondents reporting medication cost hardship said that these problems had become more frequent in 2008 than before the economic recession. These data show that many chronically ill patients, particularly those looking for work or disabled, reported greater medication cost problems since the economic crisis began. Given links between CRN and worse health, the financial downturn may have had significant health consequences for adults with chronic illness.Keywords: medication adherence, cost-of-care, access to care, chronic disease

Origins and challenges of viral dark matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Krishnamurthy, Siddharth R; Wang, David

2017-07-15

The accurate classification of viral dark matter - metagenomic sequences that originate from viruses but do not align to any reference virus sequences - is one of the major obstacles in comprehensively defining the virome. Depending on the sample, viral dark matter can make up from anywhere between 40 and 90% of sequences. This review focuses on the specific nature of dark matter as it relates to viral sequences. We identify three factors that contribute to the existence of viral dark matter: the divergence and length of virus sequences, the limitations of alignment based classification, and limited representation of viruses in reference sequence databases. We then discuss current methods that have been developed to at least partially circumvent these limitations and thereby reduce the extent of viral dark matter. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Probes for dark matter physics

Science.gov (United States)

Khlopov, Maxim Yu.

The existence of cosmological dark matter is in the bedrock of the modern cosmology. The dark matter is assumed to be nonbaryonic and consists of new stable particles. Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) miracle appeals to search for neutral stable weakly interacting particles in underground experiments by their nuclear recoil and at colliders by missing energy and momentum, which they carry out. However, the lack of WIMP effects in their direct underground searches and at colliders can appeal to other forms of dark matter candidates. These candidates may be weakly interacting slim particles, superweakly interacting particles, or composite dark matter, in which new particles are bound. Their existence should lead to cosmological effects that can find probes in the astrophysical data. However, if composite dark matter contains stable electrically charged leptons and quarks bound by ordinary Coulomb interaction in elusive dark atoms, these charged constituents of dark atoms can be the subject of direct experimental test at the colliders. The models, predicting stable particles with charge ‑ 2 without stable particles with charges + 1 and ‑ 1 can avoid severe constraints on anomalous isotopes of light elements and provide solution for the puzzles of dark matter searches. In such models, the excessive ‑ 2 charged particles are bound with primordial helium in O-helium atoms, maintaining specific nuclear-interacting form of the dark matter. The successful development of composite dark matter scenarios appeals for experimental search for doubly charged constituents of dark atoms, making experimental search for exotic stable double charged particles experimentum crucis for dark atoms of composite dark matter.

Stories of Another Kind: Engaging in Generative Conversations in Pedagogical Spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Hoskins, Marie

2012-01-01

Many of us from what are referred to as "dominant cultures" are reluctant to speak because of fear of offending those who are marginalized and perhaps making matters worse. Over the last several years, I have attended talks on various kinds of discrimination, especially when racialization is the main focus. As a White woman of privilege,…

Great Expectations for Middle School Counselors

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Robert J.

2012-01-01

During the Great Recession, 2008 to 2010, school systems scrambled to balance budgets, and the ratio of counselors to students became even larger. To make matters worse, the Great Recession had a major impact on cuts in educational funding. Budget cutbacks tend to occur where the public will be least likely to notice. The loss of teachers and the…

Biofuels. Is the curse worse than the disease?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doornbosch, R.; Steenblik, R.

2007-09-01

Biofuels have been championed as an energy source that can increase security of supply, reduce vehicle emissions and provide a new income stream for farmers. These claims are contested, however. Critics assert that biofuels will increase energy-price volatility, food prices and even life-cycle emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper presents salient facts and figures to shed light on these controversial issues and asks whether biofuels offer a cure that is worse than the disease they seek to heal. The information gathered in this paper gives rise to two fundamental questions: (1) Do the technical means exist to produce biofuels in ways that enable the world to meet demand for transportation energy in more secure and less harmful ways, on a meaningful scale and without compromising the ability to feed a growing population?; and (2) Do current national and international policies that promote the production of biofuels represent the most cost-effective means of using biomass and the best way forward for the transport sector?

Particulate matter in rural and urban nursery schools in Portugal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nunes, R.A.O.; Branco, P.T.B.S.; Alvim-Ferraz, M.C.M.; Martins, F.G.; Sousa, S.I.V.

2015-01-01

Studies have been showing strong associations between exposures to indoor particulate matter (PM) and health effects on children. Urban and rural nursery schools have different known environmental and social differences which make their study relevant. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate indoor PM concentrations on different microenvironments of three rural nursery schools and one urban nursery school, being the only study comparing urban and rural nursery schools considering the PM 1 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 fractions (measured continuously and in terms of mass). Outdoor PM 2.5 and PM 10 were also obtained and I/O ratios have been determined. Indoor PM mean concentrations were higher in the urban nursery than in rural ones, which might have been related to traffic emissions. However, I/O ratios allowed concluding that the recorded concentrations depended more significantly of indoor sources. WHO guidelines and Portuguese legislation exceedances for PM 2.5 and PM 10 were observed mainly in the urban nursery school. - Highlights: • This is the only study comparing urban and rural nurseries considering PM fractions. • A low number of children in classrooms is enough to increase PM concentrations. • Children in urban nurseries are exposed to higher PM concentrations than in rural. • Children were mainly exposed to the finer fractions, which are worse to health. - PM levels were higher in the urban nursery than in the rural ones, which might have been related to traffic emissions. Still concentrations depended more significantly of indoor sources

Supersymmetry with Small mu: Connections between Naturalness, DarkMatter, and (Possibly) Flavor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kitano, Ryuichiro Kitano; Nomura, Yasunori

2006-06-11

Weak scale supersymmetric theories often suffer from several naturalness problems: the problems of reproducing the correct scale for electroweak symmetry breaking, the correct abundance for dark matter, and small rates for flavor violating processes. We argue that the first two problems point to particular regions of parameter space in models with weak scale supersymmetry: those with a small {mu} term. This has an interesting implication on direct dark matter detection experiments. We find that, if the signs of the three gaugino mass parameters are all equal, we can obtain a solid lower bound on the spin-independent neutralino-nucleon cross section, {sigma}{sub SI}. In the case that the gaugino masses satisfy the unified mass relations, we obtain {sigma}{sub SI} {approx}> 4 x 10{sup -46} cm{sup 2} (1 x 10{sup -46} cm{sup 2}) for fine-tuning in electroweak symmetry breaking no worse than 10% (5%). We also discuss a possibility that the three problems listed above are all connected to the hierarchy of fermion masses. This occurs if supersymmetry breaking and electroweak symmetry breaking (the Higgs fields) are coupled to matter fields with similar hierarchical structures. The discovery of {mu} {yields} e transition processes in near future experiments is predicted in such a framework.

Factors Associated with Worse Lung Function in Cystic Fibrosis Patients with Persistent Staphylococcus aureus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sibylle Junge

Full Text Available Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF. However, it is not clear which factors are associated with worse lung function in patients with persistent S. aureus airway cultures. Our main hypothesis was that patients with high S. aureus density in their respiratory specimens would more likely experience worsening of their lung disease than patients with low bacterial loads.Therefore, we conducted an observational prospective longitudinal multi-center study and assessed the association between lung function and S. aureus bacterial density in respiratory samples, co-infection with other CF-pathogens, nasal S. aureus carriage, clinical status, antibiotic therapy, IL-6- and IgG-levels against S. aureus virulence factors.195 patients from 17 centers were followed; each patient had an average of 7 visits. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed models. Our main hypothesis was only supported for patients providing throat specimens indicating that patients with higher density experienced a steeper lung function decline (p<0.001. Patients with exacerbations (n = 60, S. aureus small-colony variants (SCVs, n = 84 and co-infection with Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (n = 44 had worse lung function (p = 0.0068; p = 0.0011; p = 0.0103. Patients with SCVs were older (p = 0.0066 and more often treated with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (p = 0.0078. IL-6 levels positively correlated with decreased lung function (p<0.001, S. aureus density in sputa (p = 0.0016, SCVs (p = 0.0209, exacerbations (p = 0.0041 and co-infections with S. maltophilia (p = 0.0195 or A. fumigatus (p = 0.0496.In CF-patients with chronic S. aureus cultures, independent risk factors for worse lung function are high bacterial density in throat cultures, exacerbations, elevated IL-6 levels, presence of S. aureus SCVs and co-infection with S. maltophilia.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00669760.

Neutralino Dark Matter in non-universal and non-minimal SUSY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, S.F.

2010-01-01

We discuss neutralino dark matter in non-universal SUSY including the NUHM, SU(5) with non-universal gauginos. In the MSSM we argue from naturalness that non-universal soft mass parameters are preferred, with non-universal gaugino masses enabling supernatural dark matter beyond the MSSM, we also discuss neutralino dark matter in the U SSM and E 6 SSM. In the E 6 SSM a light neutralino LSP coming from the inert Higgsino and singlino sector is unavoidable and makes an attractive dark matter candidate.

Asymmetric dark matter and baryogenesis from pseudoscalar inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cado, Yann; Sabancilar, Eray, E-mail: yann.cado@epfl.ch, E-mail: eray.sabancilar@epfl.ch [Laboratory of Particle Physics and Cosmology, Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

2017-04-01

We show that both the baryon asymmetry of the Universe and the dark matter abundance can be explained within a single framework that makes use of maximally helical hypermagnetic fields produced during pseudoscalar inflation and the chiral anomaly in the Standard Model. We consider a minimal asymmetric dark matter model free from anomalies and constraints. We find that the observed baryon and the dark matter abundances are achieved for a wide range of inflationary parameters, and the dark matter mass ranges between 7–15 GeV . The novelty of our mechanism stems from the fact that the same source of CP violation occurring during inflation explains both baryonic and dark matter in the Universe with two inflationary parameters, hence addressing all the initial condition problems in an economical way.

Preventing the cure from being worse than the disease: special issues in hospital outsourcing.

Science.gov (United States)

Beardwood, John; Alleyne, Andrew

2004-01-01

Like private sector organizations, hospitals are increasingly outsourcing services from food/cafeteria and security and facilities maintenance to the consulting and training of personnel and information technology (IT) functions. Also like private sector organizations, while hospitals seek the cure that will improve services at less cost, without careful management, the cure can be worse than the disease.

Reentry Tachycardia in Children: Adenosine Can Make It Worse.

Science.gov (United States)

Hien, Maximilian D; Benito Castro, Fernando; Fournier, Philippe; Filleron, Anne; Tran, Tu-Anh

2016-10-08

We report on a rare but severe complication of adenosine use in a child with reentry tachycardia. Treatment with adenosine, which is the standard medical therapy of atrioventricular reentry tachycardia, led to the development of an irregular wide complex tachycardia, caused by rapid ventricular response to atrial fibrillation. The girl was finally stabilized with electrical cardioversion. We analyze the pathomechanism and discuss possible treatment options. Atrial fibrillation, as well as its conduction to the ventricles, can be caused by adenosine. Rapid ventricular response in children with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is more frequent than previously believed. A patient history of atrial fibrillation is a contraindication for cardioversion with adenosine and needs to be assessed in children with reentry tachycardia. High-risk patients may potentially profit from prophylactic comedication with antiarrhythmic agents, such as flecainide, ibutilide, or vernakalant, before adenosine administration.

The cosmic cocktail three parts dark matter

CERN Document Server

Freese, Katherine

2014-01-01

The ordinary atoms that make up the known universe-from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars-constitute only 5 percent of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The rest is known as dark matter and dark energy, because their precise identities are unknown. The Cosmic Cocktail is the inside story of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling enigmas of modern science - what is the universe made of? - told by one of today's foremost pioneers in the study of dark matter. Blending cutting-edge science with her own behind-the-scenes insights as a leading researcher in the

Is cyberbullying worse than traditional bullying? Examining the differential roles of medium, publicity, and anonymity for the perceived severity of bullying.

Science.gov (United States)

Sticca, Fabio; Perren, Sonja

2013-05-01

Cyberbullying, a modern form of bullying performed using electronic forms of contact (e.g., SMS, MMS, Facebook, YouTube), has been considered as being worse than traditional bullying in its consequences for the victim. This difference was mainly attributed to some specific aspect that are believed to distinguish cyberbullying from traditional bullying: an increased potential for a large audience, an increased potential for anonymous bullying, lower levels of direct feedback, decreased time and space limits, and lower levels of supervision. The present studies investigated the relative importance of medium (traditional vs. cyber), publicity (public vs. private), and bully's anonymity (anonymous vs. not anonymous) for the perceived severity of hypothetical bullying scenarios among a sample of Swiss seventh- and eight-graders (study 1: 49% female, mean age = 13.7; study 2: 49% female, mean age = 14.2). Participants ranked a set of hypothetical bullying scenarios from the most severe one to the least severe one. The scenarios were experimentally manipulated based on the aspect of medium and publicity (study 1), and medium and anonymity (study 2). Results showed that public scenarios were perceived as worse than private ones, and that anonymous scenarios were perceived as worse than not anonymous ones. Cyber scenarios generally were perceived as worse than traditional ones, although effect sizes were found to be small. These results suggest that the role of medium is secondary to the role of publicity and anonymity when it comes to evaluating bullying severity. Therefore, cyberbullying is not a priori perceived as worse than traditional bullying. Implications of the results for cyberbullying prevention and intervention are discussed.

Researchers and practitioners talk about users and each other: making user and audience studies matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brenda Dervin

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. We report here on the research phase of a multi-stage dialogue examining convergences and divergences in how three fields (library and information science, human computer interaction and communication and media studies looked at users and each other. Focus was on what researchers and practitioners saw as the big unanswered questions in user studies and what they saw as the convergences and divergences across disciplinary and practice-research divides. Method. Eighty-three international experts in the three fields were interviewed by phone; thirty-one local experts, public and academic librarians serving universities and colleges in central Ohio, were interviewed using self-journals and focus group reports. Analysis. A thematic analysis was completed. Purpose was not to fix substantive differences but to tap ways in which convergences and divergences showed relevance to the communicative aspects of the research enterprise. A theory of dialogue was applied that purposively positioned this analysis as only one of potentially many. Results. All informants showed strong commitment to improving user studies and making them matter more to design, practice and society. At the same time, regardless of field or perspective, they struggled with the incoherencies of avalanches of user research. They decried the general inability to communicate across fields and between research and practice. They decried the ways in which structural conditions seemed to constrain possibilities. Yet, they hoped for making things better. Conclusion. . The traditional modes used for communication in the social science research enterprise are not doing the job for user studies. We need to reclaim some procedures lost in the current emphases on quantity over quality and invent other options. This is the theme of our second paper, in this same issue.

Microstructural white matter alterations and hippocampal volumes are associated with cognitive deficits in craniopharyngioma.

Science.gov (United States)

Fjalldal, S; Follin, C; Svärd, D; Rylander, L; Gabery, S; Petersén, Å; van Westen, D; Sundgren, P C; Björkman-Burtscher, I M; Lätt, J; Ekman, B; Johanson, A; Erfurth, E M

2018-06-01

Patients with craniopharyngioma (CP) and hypothalamic lesions (HL) have cognitive deficits. Which neural pathways are affected is unknown. To determine whether there is a relationship between microstructural white matter (WM) alterations detected with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and cognition in adults with childhood-onset CP. A cross-sectional study with a median follow-up time of 22 (6-49) years after operation. The South Medical Region of Sweden (2.5 million inhabitants). Included were 41 patients (24 women, ≥17 years) surgically treated for childhood-onset CP between 1958-2010 and 32 controls with similar age and gender distributions. HL was found in 23 patients. Subjects performed cognitive tests and magnetic resonance imaging, and images were analyzed using DTI of uncinate fasciculus, fornix, cingulum, hippocampus and hypothalamus as well as hippocampal volumetry. Right uncinate fasciculus was significantly altered ( P  ≤ 0.01). Microstructural WM alterations in left ventral cingulum were significantly associated with worse performance in visual episodic memory, explaining approximately 50% of the variation. Alterations in dorsal cingulum were associated with worse performance in immediate, delayed recall and recognition, explaining 26-38% of the variation, and with visuospatial ability and executive function, explaining 19-29%. Patients who had smaller hippocampal volume had worse general knowledge ( P  = 0.028), and microstructural WM alterations in hippocampus were associated with a decline in general knowledge and episodic visual memory. A structure to function relationship is suggested between microstructural WM alterations in cingulum and in hippocampus with cognitive deficits in CP. © 2018 The authors.

A constrained variational calculation for beta-stable matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howes, C.; Bishop, R.F.; Irvine, J.M

1978-01-01

A method of lowest-order constrained variation previously applied by the authors to asymmetric nuclear matter is extended to include electrons and muons making the nucleon fluid electrically neutral and stable against beta decay. The equilibrium composition of a nucleon fluid is calculated as a function of baryon number density and an equation of state for beta-stable matter is deduced for the Reid soft-core interaction. (author)

Money matters: Rapid post-earthquake financial decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Wald, David J.; Franco, Guillermo

2016-01-01

Post-earthquake financial decision-making is a realm beyond that of many people. In the immediate aftermath of a damaging earthquake, billions of dollars of relief, recovery, and insurance funds are in the balance through new financial instruments that allow those with resources to hedge against disasters and those at risk to limit their earthquake losses and receive funds for response and recovery.

EXTRAGALACTIC DARK MATTER AND DIRECT DETECTION EXPERIMENTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baushev, A. N.

2013-01-01

Recent astronomical data strongly suggest that a significant part of the dark matter content of the Local Group and Virgo Supercluster is not incorporated into the galaxy halos and forms diffuse components of these galaxy clusters. A portion of the particles from these components may penetrate the Milky Way and make an extragalactic contribution to the total dark matter containment of our Galaxy. We find that the particles of the diffuse component of the Local Group are apt to contribute ∼12% to the total dark matter density near Earth. The particles of the extragalactic dark matter stand out because of their high speed (∼600 km s –1 ), i.e., they are much faster than the galactic dark matter. In addition, their speed distribution is very narrow (∼20 km s –1 ). The particles have an isotropic velocity distribution (perhaps, in contrast to the galactic dark matter). The extragalactic dark matter should provide a significant contribution to the direct detection signal. If the detector is sensitive only to the fast particles (v > 450 km s –1 ), then the signal may even dominate. The density of other possible types of the extragalactic dark matter (for instance, of the diffuse component of the Virgo Supercluster) should be relatively small and comparable with the average dark matter density of the universe. However, these particles can generate anomaly high-energy collisions in direct dark matter detectors.

Decision-making and planning in full recovery of anorexia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindner, Susanne E; Fichter, Manfred M; Quadflieg, Norbert

2012-11-01

Based on findings of persisting neuropsychological impairments in women recovered from anorexia nervosa (rec AN), this study examined decision-making and planning, for achieving a desired goal, as central executive functions in a large sample of rec AN. The definition of recovery included physiological, behavioral, and psychological variables. A total of 100 rec AN women were compared to 100 healthy women, 1:1 matched for age and educational level. Decision-making was assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task and planning with the Tower of London. Expert interviews and self-ratings were used for assessing the inclusion/exclusion criteria and control variables. Compared to healthy controls, rec AN women were better in decision-making and worse in planning even after considering control variables. This study does not support results from other studies showing that rec AN participants perform better in decision-making. Results from this study show that planning is impaired even after full recovery from AN. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Treatment decision-making strategies and influences in patients with localized prostate carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Gwede, Clement K; Pow-Sang, Julio; Seigne, John; Heysek, Randy; Helal, Mohamed; Shade, Kristin; Cantor, Alan; Jacobsen, Paul B

2005-10-01

Patients diagnosed with localized prostate carcinoma need to interpret complicated medical information to make an informed treatment selection from among treatments that have comparable efficacy but differing side effects. The authors reported initial results for treatment decision-making strategies among men receiving definitive treatment for localized prostate carcinoma. One hundred nineteen men treated with radical prostatectomy (44%) or brachytherapy (56%) consented to participate. Guided by a cognitive-affective theoretic framework, the authors assessed differences in decision-making strategies, and treatment and disease-relevant beliefs and affects, in addition to demographic and clinical variables. Approximately half of patients reported difficulty (49%) and distress (45%) while making treatment decisions, but no regrets (74%) regarding the treatment choice they made. Patients who underwent prostatectomy were younger, were more likely to be employed, had worse tumor grade, and had a shorter time since diagnosis (P Decision-making aids or other interventions to reduce decisional difficulty and emotional distress during decision making were indicated.

arXiv Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter at Direct Detection Experiments

CERN Document Server

Giudice, Gian F.; Park, Jong-Chul; Shin, Seodong

2018-05-10

We explore a novel class of multi-particle dark sectors, called Inelastic Boosted Dark Matter (iBDM). These models are constructed by combining properties of particles that scatter off matter by making transitions to heavier states (Inelastic Dark Matter) with properties of particles that are produced with a large Lorentz boost in annihilation processes in the galactic halo (Boosted Dark Matter). This combination leads to new signals that can be observed at ordinary direct detection experiments, but require unconventional searches for energetic recoil electrons in coincidence with displaced multi-track events. Related experimental strategies can also be used to probe MeV-range boosted dark matter via their interactions with electrons inside the target material.

Strongly Interacting Matter at Very High Energy Density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McLerran, L.

2011-01-01

The authors discuss the study of matter at very high energy density. In particular: what are the scientific questions; what are the opportunities to makes significant progress in the study of such matter and what facilities are now or might be available in the future to answer the scientific questions? The theoretical and experimental study of new forms of high energy density matter is still very much a 'wild west' field. There is much freedom for developing new concepts which can have order one effects on the way we think about such matter. It is also a largely 'lawless' field, in that concepts and methods are being developed as new information is generated. There is also great possibility for new experimental discovery. Most of the exciting results from RHIC experiments were unanticipated. The methods used for studying various effects like flow, jet quenching, the ridge, two particle correlations etc. were developed as experiments evolved. I believe this will continue to be the case at LHC and as we use existing and proposed accelerators to turn theoretical conjecture into tangible reality. At some point this will no doubt evolve into a precision science, and that will make the field more respectable, but for my taste, the 'wild west' times are the most fun.

Hemiparesis and epilepsy are associated with worse reported health status following unilateral stroke in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Sabrina E; Vargas, Gray; Cucchiara, Andrew J; Zelonis, Sarah J; Beslow, Lauren A

2015-04-01

Perinatal and childhood stroke result in neurological impairment in the majority of survivors, but less is known about patient and parent perception of function following stroke in children. Our aim was to characterize parent-proxy and child-reported health status in children following unilateral arterial ischemic stroke or intraparenchymal hemorrhage. Fifty-nine children 2-18 years (30 girls, 29 boys) with unilateral arterial ischemic stroke or spontaneous intraparenchymal hemorrhage at least 6 months before evaluation were enrolled from a single center. The PedsQL version 4.0 Generic Short Form and PedsQL version 3.0 Cerebral Palsy Module were administered to childhood stroke subjects and parents. Generic PedsQL Inventory scores were compared between children with stroke and published data from healthy children. Reported health status scores for children with varying degrees of hemiparesis were compared. Children with stroke had lower reported health status scores on the Generic PedsQL Inventory than healthy children. Children with moderate-severe hemiparesis had worse scores than children without hemiparesis on several measures of the Cerebral Palsy Module as reported by both parents and children. The parents of children with epilepsy reported worse scores on several measures compared with children without epilepsy, and the parent scores were lower on several measures for children with lower intelligence quotients. Agreement between parent and child scores was better on the Cerebral Palsy Module than on the Generic Inventory. Children with stroke have worse reported health status than healthy controls. Degree of hemiparesis, epilepsy, and lower intelligence quotient affect reported health status on some measures. Agreement between parent-proxy and child scores ranges from slight to good which suggests that both provide useful information. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Framing matters: Effects of framing on older adults’ exploratory decision-making

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Jessica A.; Blanco, Nathaniel; Maddox, W. Todd

2016-01-01

We examined framing effects on exploratory decision-making. In Experiment 1 we tested older and younger adults in two decision-making tasks separated by one week, finding that older adults’ decision-making performance was preserved when maximizing gains, but declined when minimizing losses. Computational modeling indicates that younger adults in both conditions, and older adults in gains-maximization, utilized a decreasing threshold strategy (which is optimal), but older adults in losses were better fit by a fixed-probability model of exploration. In Experiment 2 we examined within-subjects behavior in older and younger adults in the same exploratory decision-making task, but without a time separation between tasks. We replicated the older adult disadvantage in loss-minimization from Experiment 1, and found that the older adult deficit was significantly reduced when the loss-minimization task immediately followed the gains-maximization task. We conclude that older adults’ performance in exploratory decision-making is hindered when framed as loss-minimization, but that this deficit is attenuated when older adults can first develop a strategy in a gains-framed task. PMID:27977218

The Making and Breaking of Trust in Pension Providers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dalen, H.P.; Henkens, K.

2017-01-01

Trust in pension institutions is pivotal in making pension decisions, like saving or enrolling in pension programs. But which traits of pension institutions matter in making or breaking trust in providers like pension funds, banks or insurance companies? This paper presents an empirical analysis of

Soil organic matter dynamics and the global carbon cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Post, W.M.; Emanuel, W.R.; King, A.W.

1992-01-01

The large size and potentially long residence time of the soil organic matter pool make it an important component of the global carbon cycle. Net terrestrial primary production of about 60 Pg C·yr -1 is, over a several-year period of time, balanced by an equivalent flux of litter production and subsequent decomposition of detritus and soil organic matter. We will review many of the major factors that influence soil organic matter dynamics that need to be explicitly considered in development of global estimates of carbon turnover in the world's soils. We will also discuss current decomposition models that are general enough to be used to develop a representation of global soil organic matter dynamics

Has matter's mother paid a call?

CERN Multimedia

Weiss, P

2003-01-01

"..Stunning results .. are prompting a growing chorus of physicists to say that it's time to declare success in a decades-long quest to make quark-gluon plasma - an extremely hot, dense soup of matter that contains loose fundamental particles known as quarks and gluons" (1 page).

From Bad to Worse: Anemia on Admission and Hospital-Acquired Anemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Colleen G; Li, Liang; Sun, Zhiyuan; Hixson, Eric D; Tang, Anne S; Phillips, Shannon C; Blackstone, Eugene H; Henderson, J Michael

2017-12-01

Anemia at hospitalization is often treated as an accompaniment to an underlying illness, without active investigation, despite its association with morbidity. Development of hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) has also been associated with increased risk for poor outcomes. Together, they may further heighten morbidity risk from bad to worse. The aims of this study were to (1) examine mortality, length of stay, and total charges in patients with present-on-admission (POA) anemia and (2) determine whether these are exacerbated by development of HAA. In this cohort investigation, from January 1, 2009, to August 31, 2011, a total of 44,483 patients with POA anemia were admitted to a single health system compared with a reference group of 48,640 without POA anemia or HAA. Data sources included the University HealthSystem Consortium database and electronic medical records. Risk-adjustment methods included logistic and linear regression models for mortality, length of stay, and total charges. Present-on-admission anemia was defined by administrative coding. Hospital-acquired anemia was determined by changes in hemoglobin values from the electronic medical record. Approximately one-half of the patients experienced worsening of anemia with development of HAA. Risk for death and resource use increased with increasing severity of HAA. Those who developed severe HAA had 2-fold greater odds for death; that is, mild POA anemia with development of severe HAA resulted in greater mortality (odds ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 2.08-3.18; P < 0.001), increased length of stay (2.23; 2.16-2.31; P < 0.001), and higher charges (2.09; 2.03-2.15; P < 0.001). Present-on-admission anemia is associated with increased mortality and resource use. This risk is further increased from bad to worse when patients develop HAA. Efforts to address POA anemia and HAA deserve attention.

Framing matters: Effects of framing on older adults' exploratory decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Jessica A; Blanco, Nathaniel J; Maddox, W Todd

2017-02-01

We examined framing effects on exploratory decision-making. In Experiment 1 we tested older and younger adults in two decision-making tasks separated by one week, finding that older adults' decision-making performance was preserved when maximizing gains, but it declined when minimizing losses. Computational modeling indicates that younger adults in both conditions, and older adults in gains maximization, utilized a decreasing threshold strategy (which is optimal), but older adults in losses were better fit by a fixed-probability model of exploration. In Experiment 2 we examined within-subject behavior in older and younger adults in the same exploratory decision-making task, but without a time separation between tasks. We replicated the older adult disadvantage in loss minimization from Experiment 1 and found that the older adult deficit was significantly reduced when the loss-minimization task immediately followed the gains-maximization task. We conclude that older adults' performance in exploratory decision-making is hindered when framed as loss minimization, but that this deficit is attenuated when older adults can first develop a strategy in a gains-framed task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Does Gender Matter in the Relationship between Anxiety and Decision-Making?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fenghua Zhang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available There is an ongoing debate about whether and how anxiety level affects behavioral performance in risk and/or ambiguous decision-making. According to the literature, we suggest that gender difference might be a confounding factor that has contributed to heterogeneous findings in previous studies. To examine this idea, 135 students who participated in this study were divided into six groups according to their gender (male/female and trait anxiety level (high/medium/low; measured by the Trait form of Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. All groups finished the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT for ambiguous decision-making, and the Game of Dice Task (GDT for risk decision-making. Behavioral results revealed that the IGT but not the GDT showed an interaction between anxiety and gender. Specifically, men outperformed women in the IGT, but only when their trait anxiety levels were low. Meanwhile, the GDT showed a main effect of anxiety grouping, such that low anxious participants were more risk-seeking than their medium anxious counterparts. These findings indicate that gender selectively modulates the influence of anxiety on ambiguous decision-making, but not risk decision-making. The theoretical and practical implications of the current findings are discussed.

Factors associated with worse lung function in cystic fibrosis patients with persistent staphylococcus aureus

OpenAIRE

Junge, S. (Sibylle); Görlich, D. (Dennis); Reijer, M.D. (Martijn Den); Wiedemann, Baerbel; Tümmler, Burkhard; Ellemunter, H.; Dübbers, A. (Angelika); Küster, P. (Peter); Ballmann, M.; Koerner-Rettberg, C. (Cordula); Große-Onnebrink, J. (Jörg); Heuer, E. (Eberhardt); Sextro, W. (Wolfgang); Mainz, J.G. (Jochen G.); Hammermann, J. (Jutta)

2016-01-01

textabstractBackground Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, it is not clear which factors are associated with worse lung function in patients with persistent S. aureus airway cultures. Our main hypothesis was that patients with high S. aureus density in their respiratory specimens would more likely experience worsening of their lung disease than patients with low bacterial loads. Methods Therefore, we conducted an observational prospective longitudi...

Do Elderly Patients With Non-hematologic Malignancies Have A Worse Outcome in the ICU?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzu-Tao Chen

2009-12-01

Conclusion: The main cause of death and survival rates, both short-term and long-term, were not worse in elderly patients with non-hematologic malignancies in the ICU, and the main reasons for patient death were sepsis and respiratory failure, rather than the malignancy itself. Therefore, an ICU admission policy should not exclude elderly patients with non-hematologic malignancies merely because of concerns about survival rate or life expectancy.

Decision-making in adolescent females who deliberately self-harm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rigler Tristan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Self-harming behaviour most commonly begins in adolescence and is more frequent among adolescent females. We explored the hypothesis that adolescent females who deliberately selfharm were more likely to perform worse on a decision-making task. Previous research in adolescents who self-harm reported impaired decision-making. However, research put little emphasis on older adolescents and the emotional learning. In our research, we presented the Iowa Gambling Task to 35 adolescent females who self-harmed and were treated at a psychiatric clinic, and to 35 healthy female controls. Our results show that in comparison to the control group the adolescents who self-harm took more risky decisions and were less concerned about the outcome. In addition, the clinical group also focused more on immediate gains and showed a reduced ability to learn from poor decisions in the past. Further research is suggested to explore the potential neurological correlates of decision-making and selfharming behaviour.

VDR mRNA overexpression is associated with worse prognostic factors in papillary thyroid carcinoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

June Young Choi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between vitamin D receptor gene (VDR expression and prognostic factors in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC. mRNA sequencing and somatic mutation data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA were analyzed. VDR mRNA expression was compared to clinicopathologic variables by linear regression. Tree-based classification was applied to find cutoff and patients were split into low and high VDR group. Logistic regression, Kaplan–Meier analysis, differentially expressed gene (DEG test and pathway analysis were performed to assess the differences between two VDR groups. VDR mRNA expression was elevated in PTC than that in normal thyroid tissue. VDR expressions were high in classic and tall-cell variant PTC and lateral neck node metastasis was present. High VDR group was also associated with classic and tall cell subtype, AJCC stage IV and lower recurrence-free survival. DEG test reveals that 545 genes were upregulated in high VDR group. Thyroid cancer-related pathways were enriched in high VDR group in pathway analyses. VDR mRNA overexpression was correlated with worse prognostic factors such as subtypes of papillary thyroid carcinoma that are known to be worse prognosis, lateral neck node metastasis, advanced stage and recurrence-free survival.

[Decision making and executive function in severe traumatic brain injured patients: validation of a decision-making task and correlated features].

Science.gov (United States)

Wiederkehr, S; Barat, M; Dehail, P; de Sèze, M; Lozes-Boudillon, S; Giroire, J-M

2005-02-01

At the chronic stage, severe traumatic brain injured (TBI) patients experience difficulty in making decisions. Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of the prefrontal cortex, in particular the orbitofrontal region, in decision-making. The aim of the present study was to validate a decision-making task in this population and to ascertain whether the components of their dysexecutive syndrome may affect their decision-making and lead to difficulties for social rehabilitation. Fifteen TBI patients and 15 controlled subjects matched for age, sex and years of education were assessed by a battery of executive tests (GREFEX) and by the gambling task (GT). The TBI subjects performed significantly worse than the controlled group in five out of six GREFEX tests. The TBI choices are significantly more disadvantageous than the choices of the control group when considering the three last blocks of 20 cards of the GT. The GT total score correlated significantly with execution time of the Stroop interference condition and the Trail Making Task B, as well as with the two measures (correct sequence span and number of crossed boxes) of the double condition of Baddeley's task. We postulate that executive functioning (supervisory attentional system) influence performance in the gambling task through mechanisms of inhibitory control, divided attention and working memory. Thus, this task seems to be determined by multiple factors; the process of decision-making may depend on frontal integrity.

Matter-antimatter and matter-matter interactions at intermediate energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Antonio Carlos Fontes dos

2002-01-01

This article presents some of the recent experimental advances on the study on antimatter-matter and matter-matter interactions, and some of the subtle differences stimulated a great theoretical efforts for explanation of the results experimentally observed

Decision making in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Labudda, Kirsten; Frigge, Kristina; Horstmann, Simone; Aengenendt, Joerg; Woermann, Friedrich G; Ebner, Alois; Markowitsch, Hans J; Brand, Matthias

2009-01-01

The mesiotemporal lobe is involved in decision making processes because bilateral amygdala damage can cause impairments in decision making that is mainly based on the processing of emotional feedback. In addition to executive functions, previous studies have suggested the involvement of feedback processing in decision making under risk when explicit information about consequences and their probabilities is provided. In the current study, we investigated whether unilateral mesiotemporal damage, comprising of the hippocampus and/or the amygdala, results in alterations of both kinds of decision making. For this purpose, we preoperatively examined 20 patients with refractory unilateral mesiotemporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and a comparison group (CG) of 20 healthy volunteers with the Iowa Gambling Task to assess decision making based on feedback processing, the Game of Dice Task to assess decision making under risk, and with a neuropsychological test battery. Results indicate that TLE patients performed normally in decision making under risk, but can exhibit disturbances in decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task. A subgroup analysis revealed that those patients with a preference for the disadvantageous alternatives performed worse on executive subcomponents and had seizure onset at an earlier age in comparison to the patient subgroup without disadvantageous decision making. Furthermore, disadvantageous decision making can emerge in patients with selective hippocampal sclerosis not extended to the amygdala. Thus, our results demonstrate for the first time that presurgical patients with TLE can have selective reductions in decision making and that these deficits can result from hippocampal lesions without structural amygdala abnormalities.

Natural course of subarachnoid hemorrhage is worse in elderly patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix Hendrik Pahl

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Aging is a major risk factor for poor outcome in patients with ruptured or unruptured intracranial aneurysms (IA submitted to treatment. It impairs several physiologic patterns related to cerebrovascular hemodynamics and homeostasis. Objective Evaluate clinical, radiological patterns and prognostic factors of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH patients according to age. Method Three hundred and eighty nine patients with aneurismal SAH from a Brazilian tertiary institution (Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual de São Paulo were consecutively evaluated from 2002 to 2012 according to Fisher and Hunt Hess classifications and Glasgow Outcome Scale. Results There was statistically significant association of age with impaired clinical, radiological presentation and outcomes in cases of SAH. Conclusion Natural course of SAH is worse in elderly patients and thus, proper recognition of the profile of such patients and their outcome is necessary to propose standard treatment.

Factors Associated with Worse Lung Function in Cystic Fibrosis Patients with Persistent Staphylococcus aureus

OpenAIRE

Junge, Sibylle; G?rlich, Dennis; den Reijer, Martijn; Wiedemann, B?rbel; T?mmler, Burkhard; Ellemunter, Helmut; D?bbers, Angelika; K?ster, Peter; Ballmann, Manfred; Koerner-Rettberg, Cordula; Gro?e-Onnebrink, J?rg; Heuer, Eberhardt; Sextro, Wolfgang; Mainz, Jochen G.; Hammermann, Jutta

2016-01-01

Background Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen in cystic fibrosis (CF). However, it is not clear which factors are associated with worse lung function in patients with persistent S. aureus airway cultures. Our main hypothesis was that patients with high S. aureus density in their respiratory specimens would more likely experience worsening of their lung disease than patients with low bacterial loads. Methods Therefore, we conducted an observational prospective longitudinal multi-ce...

Tibial Eminence Involvement With Tibial Plateau Fracture Predicts Slower Recovery and Worse Postoperative Range of Knee Motion.

Science.gov (United States)

Konda, Sanjit R; Driesman, Adam; Manoli, Arthur; Davidovitch, Roy I; Egol, Kenneth A

2017-07-01

To examine 1-year functional and clinical outcomes in patients with tibial plateau fractures with tibial eminence involvement. Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Academic Medical Center. All patients who presented with a tibial plateau fracture (Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) 41-B and 41-C). Patients were divided into fractures with a tibial eminence component (+TE) and those without (-TE) cohorts. All patients underwent similar surgical approaches and fixation techniques for fractures. No tibial eminence fractures received fixation specifically. Short musculoskeletal functional assessment (SMFA), pain (Visual Analogue Scale), and knee range-of-motion (ROM) were evaluated at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively and compared between cohorts. Two hundred ninety-three patients were included for review. Patients with OTA 41-C fractures were more likely to have an associated TE compared with 41-B fractures (63% vs. 28%, P knee ROM (75.16 ± 51 vs. 86.82 ± 53 degree, P = 0.06). At 6 months, total SMFA and knee ROM was significantly worse in the +TE cohort (29 ± 17 vs. 21 ± 18, P ≤ 0.01; 115.6 ± 20 vs. 124.1 ± 15, P = 0.01). By 12 months postoperatively, only knee ROM remained significantly worse in the +TE cohort (118.7 ± 15 vs. 126.9 ± 13, P time points. Knee ROM remains worse throughout the postoperative period in the +TE cohort. Functional outcome improves less rapidly in the +TE cohort but achieves similar results by 1 year. Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Number of rib fractures thresholds independently predict worse outcomes in older patients with blunt trauma.

Science.gov (United States)

Shulzhenko, Nikita O; Zens, Tiffany J; Beems, Megan V; Jung, Hee Soo; O'Rourke, Ann P; Liepert, Amy E; Scarborough, John E; Agarwal, Suresh K

2017-04-01

There have been conflicting reports regarding whether the number of rib fractures sustained in blunt trauma is associated independently with worse patient outcomes. We sought to investigate this risk-adjusted relationship among the lesser-studied population of older adults. A retrospective review of the National Trauma Data Bank was performed for patients with blunt trauma who were ≥65 years old and had rib fractures between 2009 and 2012 (N = 67,695). Control data were collected for age, sex, injury severity score, injury mechanism, 24 comorbidities, and number of rib fractures. Outcome data included hospital mortality, hospital and intensive care unit durations of stay, duration of mechanical ventilation, and the occurrence of pneumonia. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were performed. Sustaining ≥5 rib fractures was associated with increased intensive care unit admission (odds ratio: 1.14, P rib fractures was associated with an increased incidence of pneumonia (odds ratio: 1.32, P rib fractures was associated with increased mortality (odds ratio: 1.51, P rib fractures is a significant predictor of worse outcomes independent of patient characteristics, comorbidities, and trauma burden. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

On importance of dark matter for LHC physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bednyakov, V.A.

2000-01-01

The aim of this paper is to attract attention of the LHC high-energy physics community to non-accelerator, low-energy experiments that are also very sensitive to new physics. This example concerns the search for supersymmetric dark matter particles. It is shown that non-observation of the SUSY dark matter candidates with a high-accuracy detector can exclude large domains of the MSSM parameter space and, in particular, can make especially desirable collider search for light SUSY charged Higgs boson

Is delayed surgery related to worse outcomes in native left-sided endocarditis?

Science.gov (United States)

Tepsuwan, Thitipong; Rimsukcharoenchai, Chartaroon; Tantraworasin, Apichat; Woragidpoonpol, Surin; Schuarattanapong, Suphachai; Nawarawong, Weerachai

2016-05-01

Timing of surgery in the management of infective endocarditis is controversial, and there is still no definite conclusion on how early the surgery should be performed. This study focuses on the outcomes of surgery during the active period of infective endocarditis in consideration of the duration after diagnosis. One hundred and thirty-four patients with active native valve infective endocarditis who underwent surgery from January 2006 to December 2013 were reviewed retrospectively. They were divided in 2 groups based on timing of surgery: early group (first week after diagnosis, n = 37) and delayed group (2 to 6 weeks after diagnosis, n = 97). Compared to the delayed group, the early group had significantly more patients in New York Heart Association class IV (81% vs. 43.3%), more mechanically ventilated (54.1% vs. 18.6%), more on inotropic support (62.2% vs. 38.1%), and hence a worse EuroSCORE II (14.8% vs. 8.8%). Operative mortality was comparable (5.4% vs. 10.3%) and 7-year survival was similar (77.4% vs. 74.6%). On multivariable regression analysis, delayed surgery did not impact on short- and long-term outcomes. Preoperative cardiac arrest and infection with Haemophilus, Actinobacillus, Cardiobacterium, Eikenella, or Kingella were risk factors for higher operative mortality. Predictors of poor 7-year survival were diabetes mellitus and acute renal failure. Delayed surgery is not associated with worse outcomes. Both early and delayed approaches are safe and provide acceptable results. Timing of surgery should be tailored to each patient's clinical status, not based on duration of endocarditis alone. © The Author(s) 2016.

Eureka! Physics of Particles, Matter and the Universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Sullivan, Colm T

1997-01-01

To provide a simple account of the whole of physics within 200 pages (excluding a glossary and index) of a small-format book is an extraordinarily ambitious project, yet this is what Roger Blin-Stoyle has attempted in Eureka! and, on the whole, he has succeeded admirably. Furthermore, he has achieved this without resorting to much more than a dozen mathematical expressions, most of them in the treatment of special relativity. To say that the account is comprehensive would be something of an understatement; this reviewer failed to detect a single topic, pure or applied, which could be described as part of mainstream physics which did not get at least a mention in these pages. The book is well written and the explanations are clear, as one would expect from an author who is an eminent scientist and who has given a professional lifetime to physics education and the promotion of the discipline. The reader should be warned, however, not to expect anything very radical - there are no novel treatments, no unique insights. The strength of the book lies in its clarity and compactness. The material is presented in a matter-of-fact manner with no forced emphasis on the exotic, so often a feature of recent attempts to present physics to the lay reader. The modern trend towards early specialization in physics courses in schools and universities has many unhappy consequences, not least of which is the loss of awareness of the essential unity of the subject. In this little book Professor Blin-Stoyle makes a valiant and welcome attempt to address the balance. Anyone with an interest in getting to know what is involved in that area of human knowledge we call physics could do a lot worse than start here. (book review)

[Parapneumonic pleural effusion: difficulties in making therapeutic decisions].

Science.gov (United States)

Chudzicka, Aleksandra; Chciałowski, Andrzej

2007-01-01

Pneumonia is the second most common cause of pleural effusion. The presence of pleural fluid makes the prognosis in patients with pneumonia worse and causes a higher mortality rate. This is why it is very important to undertake suitable treatment as soon as possible. Most parapneumonic pleural effusions resolve with antibiotic alone, but sometimes more invasive treatment is necessary. Therapeutic decisions are based on different criteria. For many years determining biochemical fluid characteristics has been used for this purpose. Presentlythe usefullness of new parameters is being evaluated. Their application in diagnostics was possible thanks to better knowledge of mechanisms that participate in the development of parapneumonic pleural effusion.

Rectal bleeding after hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer: Correlation between clinical and dosimetric parameters and the incidence of grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akimoto, Tetsuo; Muramatsu, Hiroyuki; Takahashi, Mitsuhiro; Saito, Jun-ichi; Kitamoto, Yoshizumi; Harashima, Koichi; Miyazawa, Yasushi; Yamada, Masami; Ito, Kazuto; Kurokawa, Kouhei; Yamanaka, Hidetoshi; Nakano, Takashi; Mitsuhashi, Norio; Niibe, Hideo

2004-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the incidence and severity of rectal bleeding after high-dose hypofractionated radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer, and to explore the factors affecting the incidence of Grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding. Methods and materials: The data of 52 patients who had been treated by external beam RT for localized prostate cancer between 1999 and 2002 were analyzed. All the patients had received hypofractionated external beam RT to a total dose of 69 Gy in 3-Gy fractions, three fractions weekly. The clinical and dosimetric factors affecting the incidence of Grade 2 or worse late rectal bleeding were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. The effect of the percentage of the whole rectal volume receiving 30%, 50%, 80%, and 90% of the prescribed radiation dose (V 30 , V 50 , V 80 , and V 90 , respectively) on the incidence of rectal bleeding was evaluated. Results: Of the 52 patients, 13 (25%) developed Grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding. One patient who needed laser coagulation and blood transfusion for the treatment of rectal bleeding was classified as having Grade 3 rectal bleeding. The median time to the development of Grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding was 11 months. The results of the univariate analysis revealed that the presence of a history of diabetes mellitus (p 30 ≥ 60%, V 50 ≥ 40% (p 80 ≥ 25%, and V 90 ≥ 15% (p < 0.001) were statistically significant risk factors for the occurrence of Grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding. The results of the multivariate analysis revealed that a history of diabetes mellitus was the most statistically significant risk factor for the occurrence of rectal bleeding after hypofractionated RT for prostate cancer (p < 0.05). Conclusion: A history of diabetes mellitus was the most statistically significant risk factor for the occurrence of Grade 2 or worse rectal bleeding after high-dose hypofractionated RT, although dosimetric factors were also closely associated with the risk of rectal bleeding

Axion experiment makes its debut

CERN Multimedia

Dumé, Belle

2004-01-01

An experiment built from components recycled from other experiments has put new limits on the properties of particles that might be the "dark matter" that makes up about 25% of the universe. The CERN Axion Solar telescope (CAST) was built to search for exotic particles called axions that might be produced inside the sun (1 page)

The impact of baryons on the direct detection of dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelso, Chris [Department of Physics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224 (United States); Savage, Christopher; Freese, Katherine [Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden); Valluri, Monica [Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (United States); Stinson, Gregory S. [Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg (Germany); Bailin, Jeremy, E-mail: ckelso@unf.edu, E-mail: chris@savage.name, E-mail: mvalluri@umich.edu, E-mail: ktfreese@umich.edu, E-mail: stinson@mpia.de, E-mail: jbailin@ua.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States)

2016-08-01

The spatial and velocity distributions of dark matter particles in the Milky Way Halo affect the signals expected to be observed in searches for dark matter. Results from direct detection experiments are often analyzed assuming a simple isothermal distribution of dark matter, the Standard Halo Model (SHM). Yet there has been skepticism regarding the validity of this simple model due to the complicated gravitational collapse and merger history of actual galaxies. In this paper we compare the SHM to the results of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation to investigate whether or not the SHM is a good representation of the true WIMP distribution in the analysis of direct detection data. We examine two Milky Way-like galaxies from the MaGICC cosmological simulations (a) with dark matter only and (b) with baryonic physics included. The inclusion of baryons drives the shape of the DM halo to become more spherical and makes the velocity distribution of dark matter particles less anisotropic especially at large heliocentric velocities, thereby making the SHM a better fit. We also note that we do not find a significant disk-like rotating dark matter component in either of the two galaxy halos with baryons that we examine, suggesting that dark disks are not a generic prediction of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We conclude that in the Solar neighborhood, the SHM is in fact a good approximation to the true dark matter distribution in these cosmological simulations (with baryons) which are reasonable representations of the Milky Way, and hence can also be used for the purpose of dark matter direct detection calculations.

Sexual picture processing interferes with decision-making under ambiguity.

Science.gov (United States)

Laier, Christian; Pawlikowski, Mirko; Brand, Matthias

2014-04-01

Many people watch sexually arousing material on the Internet in order to receive sexual arousal and gratification. When browsing for sexual stimuli, individuals have to make several decisions, all possibly leading to positive or negative consequences. Decision-making research has shown that decisions under ambiguity are influenced by consequences received following earlier decisions. Sexual arousal might interfere with the decision-making process and should therefore lead to disadvantageous decision-making in the long run. In the current study, 82 heterosexual, male participants watched sexual pictures, rated them with respect to sexual arousal, and were asked to indicate their current level of sexual arousal before and following the sexual picture presentation. Afterwards, subjects performed one of two modified versions of the Iowa Gambling Task in which sexual pictures were displayed on the advantageous and neutral pictures on the disadvantageous card decks or vice versa (n = 41/n = 41). Results demonstrated an increase of sexual arousal following the sexual picture presentation. Decision-making performance was worse when sexual pictures were associated with disadvantageous card decks compared to performance when the sexual pictures were linked to the advantageous decks. Subjective sexual arousal moderated the relationship between task condition and decision-making performance. This study emphasized that sexual arousal interfered with decision-making, which may explain why some individuals experience negative consequences in the context of cybersex use.

Reduced Structural Connectivity in Frontostriatal White Matter Tracts in the Associative Loop in Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Levitt, James J; Nestor, Paul G; Levin, Laura; Pelavin, Paula; Lin, Pan; Kubicki, Marek; McCarley, Robert W; Shenton, Martha E; Rathi, Yogesh

2017-11-01

The striatum receives segregated and integrative white matter tracts from the cortex facilitating information processing in the cortico-basal ganglia network. The authors examined both types of input tracts in the striatal associative loop in chronic schizophrenia patients and healthy control subjects. Structural and diffusion MRI scans were acquired on a 3-T system from 26 chronic schizophrenia patients and 26 matched healthy control subjects. Using FreeSurfer, the associative cortex was parcellated into ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex subregions. The striatum was manually parcellated into its associative and sensorimotor functional subregions. Fractional anisotropy and normalized streamlines, an estimate of fiber counts, were assessed in four frontostriatal tracts (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-associative striatum, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex-associative striatum, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum). Furthermore, these measures were correlated with a measure of cognitive control, the Trail-Making Test, Part B. Results showed reduced fractional anisotropy and fewer streamlines in chronic schizophrenia patients for all four tracts, both segregated and integrative. Post hoc t tests showed reduced fractional anisotropy in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex-associative striatum and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum and fewer normalized streamlines in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum and in the left and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum in chronic schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, normalized streamlines in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-sensorimotor striatum negatively correlated with Trail-Making Test, Part B, time spent in healthy control subjects but not in chronic schizophrenia patients. These findings demonstrated that structural connectivity is

Method for separating gaseous mixtures of matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuster, E.; Kersting, A.

1979-01-01

Molecules to be separated from a mixture of matter of a chemical component are excited in a manner known per se by narrow-band light sources, and a chemical reaction partner for reacting with these molecules is admixed while supplied with energy by electromagnetic radiation or heating, and as additionally required for making chemical reactions possible. A method is described for separating gaseous mixtures of matter by exciting the molecules to be separated with laser radiation and causing the excited species to react chemically with a reaction partner. It may be necessary to supply additional energy to the reaction partner to make the chemical reaction possible. The method is applicable to the separation of hydrogen isotopes by the bromination of normal methanol in a mixture normal methanol and deuterated methanol; of uranium isotope by the reactions of UF 6 with SF 4 , SiCl 4 , HCl, or SO 2 ; and of boron isotopes by the reaction of BH 3 with NH 3

Why we need to see the dark matter to understand the dark energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunz, M

2008-01-01

Abstract. The cosmological concordance model contains two separate constituents which interact only gravitationally with themselves and everything else, the dark matter and the dark energy. In the standard dark energy models, the dark matter makes up some 20% of the total energy budget today, while the dark energy is responsible for about 75%. Here we show that these numbers are only robust for specific dark energy models and that in general we cannot measure the abundance of the dark constituents separately without making strong assumptions

Predicting IT Governance Performance : A Method for Model-Based Decision Making

OpenAIRE

Simonsson, Mårten

2008-01-01

Contemporary enterprises are largely dependent on Information Technology (IT), which makes decision making on IT matters important. There are numerous issues that confuse IT decision making, including contradictive business needs, financial constraints, lack of communication between business and IT stakeholders and difficulty in understanding the often heterogeneous and integrated IT systems. The discipline of IT governance aims at providing the decision making structures, processes, and rela...

Structure formation constraints on Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armendariz-Picon, Cristian; Neelakanta, Jayanth T.

2012-01-01

We study the growth of cosmic structure in a ΛCDM universe under the assumption that dark matter self-annihilates with an averaged cross section times relative velocity that grows with the scale factor, an increase known as Sommerfeld-enhancement. Such an evolution is expected in models in which a light force carrier in the dark sector enhances the annihilation cross section of dark matter particles, and has been invoked, for instance, to explain anomalies in cosmic ray spectra reported in the past. In order to make our results as general as possible, we assume that dark matter annihilates into a relativistic species that only interacts gravitationally with the standard model. This assumption also allows us to test whether the additional relativistic species mildly favored by cosmic-microwave background data could originate from dark matter annihilation. We do not find evidence for Sommerfeld-enhanced dark matter annihilation and derive the corresponding upper limits on the annihilation cross-section

Dark matter and leptogenesis linked by classical scale invariance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Khoze, Valentin V.; Plascencia, Alexis D. [Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Department of Physics, Durham University,South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE United Kingdom (United Kingdom)

2016-11-07

In this work we study a classically scale invariant extension of the Standard Model that can explain simultaneously dark matter and the baryon asymmetry in the universe. In our set-up we introduce a dark sector, namely a non-Abelian SU(2) hidden sector coupled to the SM via the Higgs portal, and a singlet sector responsible for generating Majorana masses for three right-handed sterile neutrinos. The gauge bosons of the dark sector are mass-degenerate and stable, and this makes them suitable as dark matter candidates. Our model also accounts for the matter-anti-matter asymmetry. The lepton flavour asymmetry is produced during CP-violating oscillations of the GeV-scale right-handed neutrinos, and converted to the baryon asymmetry by the electroweak sphalerons. All the characteristic scales in the model: the electro-weak, dark matter and the leptogenesis/neutrino mass scales, are generated radiatively, have a common origin and related to each other via scalar field couplings in perturbation theory.

Decision-making impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipe Filardi da Rocha

2011-08-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the process of decision-making in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT. In addition, we intend to expand the understanding of clinical and demographic characteristics that influence decision-making. METHOD: Our sample consisted of 214 subjects (107 diagnosed with OCD and 107 healthy controls who were evaluated on their clinical, demographic and neuropsychological features. Moreover, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT, a task that detects and measures decision-making impairments, was used. RESULTS: We found that OCD patients performed significantly worse on the IGT. Furthermore, features such as symptoms of anxiety did not influence IGT performance. CONCLUSION: Impaired decision-making seems to be a key feature of OCD. Given that OCD is a complex heterogeneous disorder, homogeneous groups are necessary for an accurate characterization of our findings.

Experimental developments in relativistic heavy-ion collisions published between Quark Matter 2002 and the beginning of Quark Matter 2004

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hemmick, Thomas K

2004-01-01

The Quark Matter conference is the 'meeting of record' for the field of relativistic heavy-ion physics. Each such conference is filled with exciting new data frequently presented to the world for the first time. However, the field also makes significant progress during the 18 months between Quark Matter conferences. Such progress is summarized in a single talk near the beginning of the conference and sets the stage for the newest data and discoveries. This paper is the experimental summary of selected results published in journals and presented at conferences between the end of QM2002 and the beginning of QM2004

All-flavour search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way with IceCube/DeepCore

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aartsen, M.G.; Hill, G.C.; Robertson, S.; Wallace, A.; Whelan, B.J. [University of Adelaide, Department of Physics, Adelaide (Australia); Abraham, K.; Bernhard, A.; Coenders, S.; Holzapfel, K.; Huber, M.; Jurkovic, M.; Krings, K.; Resconi, E.; Turcati, A.; Veenkamp, J. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physik-department, Garching (Germany); Ackermann, M.; Bernardini, E.; Blot, S.; Bretz, H.P.; Cruz Silva, A.H.; Franckowiak, A.; Gluesenkamp, T.; Gora, D.; Jacobi, E.; Karg, T.; Kintscher, T.; Kunwar, S.; Middell, E.; Mohrmann, L.; Nahnhauer, R.; Satalecka, K.; Schoenwald, A.; Spiering, C.; Stasik, A.; Stoessl, A.; Strotjohann, N.L.; Terliuk, A.; Usner, M.; Santen, J. van; Yanez, J.P. [DESY, Zeuthen (Germany); Adams, J. [University of Canterbury, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch (New Zealand); Aguilar, J.A.; Ansseau, I.; Heereman, D.; Meagher, K.; Meures, T.; O' Murchadha, A.; Pinat, E.; Raab, C. [Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Science Faculty CP230, Brussels (Belgium); Ahlers, M.; Braun, J.; Chirkin, D.; Day, M.; Desiati, P.; Diaz-Velez, J.C.; Fahey, S.; Feintzeig, J.; Ghorbani, K.; Gladstone, L.; Griffith, Z.; Halzen, F.; Hanson, K.; Hoshina, K.; Jero, K.; Karle, A.; Kelley, J.L.; Kheirandish, A.; Krueger, C.; Mancina, S.; McNally, F.; Merino, G.; Sabbatini, L.; Tobin, M.N.; Tosi, D.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Van Rossem, M.; Wandkowsky, N.; Wendt, C.; Westerhoff, S.; Wille, L.; Xu, D.L. [University of Wisconsin, Department of Physics, Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, Madison, WI (United States); Ahrens, M.; Bohm, C.; Dumm, J.P.; Finley, C.; Flis, S.; Hultqvist, K.; Walck, C.; Wolf, M.; Zoll, M. [Stockholm University, Department of Physics, Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm (Sweden); Altmann, D.; Anton, G.; Katz, U.; Kittler, T.; Tselengidou, M. [Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet Erlangen-Nuernberg, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erlangen (Germany); Andeen, K. [Marquette University, Department of Physics, Milwaukee, WI (United States); Anderson, T.; Arlen, T.C.; Dunkman, M.; Huang, F.; Keivani, A.; Lanfranchi, J.L.; Pankova, D.V.; Quinnan, M.; Tesic, G. [Pennsylvania State University, Department of Physics, University Park, PA (United States); Archinger, M.; Baum, V.; Boeser, S.; Del Pino Rosendo, E.; Di Lorenzo, V.; Eberhardt, B.; Ehrhardt, T.; Foesig, C.C.; Koepke, L.; Krueckl, G.; Sandroos, J.; Steuer, A.; Wiebe, K. [University of Mainz, Institute of Physics, Mainz (Germany); Arguelles, C.; Axani, S.; Collin, G.H.; Conrad, J.M.; Jones, B.J.P.; Moulai, M. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Auffenberg, J.; Bissok, M.; Glagla, M.; Haack, C.; Hansmann, B.; Hansmann, T.; Kemp, J.; Konietz, R.; Leuermann, M.; Leuner, J.; Penek, Oe.; Raedel, L.; Reimann, R.; Rongen, M.; Schimp, M.; Schoenen, S.; Schumacher, L.; Stahlberg, M.; Vehring, M.; Wallraff, M.; Wickmann, S.; Wiebusch, C.H. [RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut, Aachen (Germany); Bai, X. [South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Physics Department, Rapid City, SD (United States); Barwick, S.W.; Yodh, G. [University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, CA (United States); Bay, R.; Filimonov, K.; Price, P.B.; Woschnagg, K. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Beatty, J.J. [Ohio State University, Department of Physics, Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, Columbus, OH (United States); Ohio State University, Department of Astronomy, Columbus, OH (United States); Becker Tjus, J.; Bos, F.; Eichmann, B.; Kroll, M.; Mandelartz, M.; Schoeneberg, S.; Tenholt, F. [Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet fuer Physik and Astronomie, Bochum (Germany); Becker, K.H.; Bindig, D.; Helbing, K.; Hickford, S.; Hoffmann, R.; Kopper, S.; Naumann, U.; Obertacke Pollmann, A.; Omairat, A.; Posselt, J.; Soldin, D. [University of Wuppertal, Department of Physics, Wuppertal (Germany); BenZvi, S. [University of Rochester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester, NY (United States); Berghaus, P. [National Research Nuclear University, Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI), Moscow (Russian Federation); Berley, D.; Blaufuss, E.; Cheung, E.; Felde, J.; Hellauer, R.; Hoffman, K.D.; Huelsnitz, W.; Maunu, R.; Olivas, A.; Schmidt, T.; Song, M.; Sullivan, G.W.; Wissing, H. [University of Maryland, Department of Physics, College Park, MD (United States); Besson, D.Z. [University of Kansas, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lawrence, KS (United States); Binder, G.; Gerhardt, L.; Klein, S.R.; Miarecki, S.; Tatar, J. [University of California, Department of Physics, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); and others

2016-10-15

We present the first IceCube search for a signal of dark matter annihilations in the Milky Way using all-flavour neutrino-induced particle cascades. The analysis focuses on the DeepCore sub-detector of IceCube, and uses the surrounding IceCube strings as a veto region in order to select starting events in the DeepCore volume. We use 329 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 86-string configuration during 2011-2012. No neutrino excess is found, the final result being compatible with the background-only hypothesis. From this null result, we derive upper limits on the velocity-averaged self-annihilation cross-section, left angle σ{sub A}v right angle, for dark matter candidate masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming both a cuspy and a flat-cored dark matter halo profile. For dark matter masses between 200 GeV and 10 TeV, the results improve on all previous IceCube results on left angle σ{sub A}v right angle, reaching a level of 10{sup -23} cm{sup 3} s {sup -1}, depending on the annihilation channel assumed, for a cusped NFW profile. The analysis demonstrates that all-flavour searches are competitive with muon channel searches despite the intrinsically worse angular resolution of cascades compared to muon tracks in IceCube. (orig.)

Hypercharged dark matter and direct detection as a probe of reheating.

Science.gov (United States)

Feldstein, Brian; Ibe, Masahiro; Yanagida, Tsutomu T

2014-03-14

The lack of new physics at the LHC so far weakens the argument for TeV scale thermal dark matter. On the other hand, heavier, nonthermal dark matter is generally difficult to test experimentally. Here we consider the interesting and generic case of hypercharged dark matter, which can allow for heavy dark matter masses without spoiling testability. Planned direct detection experiments will be able to see a signal for masses up to an incredible 1010  GeV, and this can further serve to probe the reheating temperature up to about 109  GeV, as determined by the nonthermal dark matter relic abundance. The Z-mediated nature of the dark matter scattering may be determined in principle by comparing scattering rates on different detector nuclei, which in turn can reveal the dark matter mass. We will discuss the extent to which future experiments may be able to make such a determination.

Modified dark matter: Relating dark energy, dark matter and baryonic matter

Science.gov (United States)

Edmonds, Douglas; Farrah, Duncan; Minic, Djordje; Ng, Y. Jack; Takeuchi, Tatsu

Modified dark matter (MDM) is a phenomenological model of dark matter, inspired by gravitational thermodynamics. For an accelerating universe with positive cosmological constant (Λ), such phenomenological considerations lead to the emergence of a critical acceleration parameter related to Λ. Such a critical acceleration is an effective phenomenological manifestation of MDM, and it is found in correlations between dark matter and baryonic matter in galaxy rotation curves. The resulting MDM mass profiles, which are sensitive to Λ, are consistent with observational data at both the galactic and cluster scales. In particular, the same critical acceleration appears both in the galactic and cluster data fits based on MDM. Furthermore, using some robust qualitative arguments, MDM appears to work well on cosmological scales, even though quantitative studies are still lacking. Finally, we comment on certain nonlocal aspects of the quanta of modified dark matter, which may lead to novel nonparticle phenomenology and which may explain why, so far, dark matter detection experiments have failed to detect dark matter particles.

Galactic optical cloaking of visible baryonic matter

Science.gov (United States)

Smolyaninov, Igor I.

2018-05-01

Three-dimensional gravitational cloaking is known to require exotic matter and energy sources, which makes it arguably physically unrealizable. On the other hand, typical astronomical observations are performed using one-dimensional paraxial line of sight geometries. We demonstrate that unidirectional line of sight gravitational cloaking does not require exotic matter, and it may occur in multiple natural astronomical scenarios that involve gravitational lensing. In particular, recently discovered double gravitational lens SDSSJ 0 9 4 6 +1 0 0 6 together with the Milky Way appear to form a natural paraxial cloak. A natural question to ask, then, is how much matter in the Universe may be hidden from view by such natural gravitational cloaks? It is estimated that the total volume hidden from an observer by gravitational cloaking may reach about 1% of the total volume of the visible Universe.

Can the flyby anomaly be attributed to earth-bound dark matter?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adler, Stephen L.

2009-01-01

We make preliminary estimates to assess whether the recently reported flyby anomaly can be attributed to dark matter interactions. We consider both elastic and exothermic inelastic scattering from dark matter constituents; for isotropic dark matter velocity distributions, the former decrease, while the latter increase, the final flyby velocity. The fact that the observed flyby velocity anomaly shows examples with both positive and negative signs, requires the dominance of different dark matter scattering processes along different flyby trajectories. The magnitude of the observed anomalies requires dark matter densities many orders of magnitude greater than the galactic halo density. Such a large density could result from an accumulation cascade, in which the solar system-bound dark matter density is much higher than the galactic halo density, and the earth-bound density is much higher than the solar system-bound density. We discuss a number of strong constraints on the hypothesis of a dark matter explanation for the flyby anomaly. These require dark matter to be non-self-annihilating, with the dark matter scattering cross section on nucleons much larger, and the dark matter mass much lighter, than usually assumed.

GW170817 falsifies dark matter emulators

Science.gov (United States)

Boran, S.; Desai, S.; Kahya, E. O.; Woodard, R. P.

2018-02-01

On August 17, 2017 the LIGO interferometers detected the gravitational wave (GW) signal (GW170817) from the coalescence of binary neutron stars. This signal was also simultaneously seen throughout the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays. We point out that this simultaneous detection of GW and EM signals rules out a class of modified gravity theories, termed "dark matter emulators," which dispense with the need for dark matter by making ordinary matter couple to a different metric from that of GW. We discuss other kinds of modified gravity theories which dispense with the need for dark matter and are still viable. This simultaneous observation also provides the first observational test of Einstein's weak equivalence principle (WEP) between gravitons and photons. We estimate the Shapiro time delay due to the gravitational potential of the total dark matter distribution along the line of sight (complementary to the calculation by Abbott et al. [Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017)], 10.3847/2041-8213/aa920c) to be about 400 days. Using this estimate for the Shapiro delay and from the time difference of 1.7 seconds between the GW signal and gamma rays, we can constrain violations of the WEP using the parametrized post-Newtonian parameter γ , and it is given by |γGW-γEM|<9.8 ×10-8.

Resolving astrophysical uncertainties in dark matter direct detection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frandsen, Mads Toudal; Kahlhoefer, Felix; McCabe, Christopher

2012-01-01

We study the impact of the assumed velocity distribution of galactic dark matter particles on the interpretation of results from nuclear recoil detectors. By converting experimental data to variables that make the astrophysical unknowns explicit, different experiments can be compared without...... implicit assumptions concerning the dark matter halo. We extend this framework to include the annual modulation signal, as well as multiple target elements. Recent results from DAMA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II can be brought into agreement if the velocity distribution is very anisotropic and thus allows a large...

Does it matter where we test?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greifeneder, Elke

2012-01-01

, often in the participants’ natural environment. Any chosen place, however, might be noisy. Distractions are ubiquitous in a user’s natural environment. An awareness of the potential influences of distractions on users’ behavior during test situations is of great importance, because the validity...... in a laboratory and participants in their natural environment. The results of the experiment showed that participants were highly distracted and that participants in their natural environment needed more time to complete the same test. The setting did not affect successful task completions, the participants......’ judgments of sites or their decision-making processes. This work can conclude that it does not matter where we test, but it matters what happens during the test....

The Physics of Life. Part I: The Animate Organism as an Active Condensed Matter Body

OpenAIRE

Kukuruznyak , Dmitry ,

2017-01-01

Nonequilibrium "active agents" establish bonds with each other and create a quickly evolving condensed state known as active matter. Recently, active matter composed of motile self-organizing biopolymers demonstrated a biotic-like motion similar to cytoplasmic streaming. It was suggested that the active matter could produce cells. However, active matter physics cannot yet define an " organism " and thus make a satisfactory connection to biology. This paper describes an organism made of active...

A brief history of decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchanan, Leigh; O'Connell, Andrew

2006-01-01

Sometime around the middle of the past century, telephone executive Chester Barnard imported the term decision making from public administration into the business world. There it began to replace narrower terms, like "resource allocation" and "policy making," shifting the way managers thought about their role from continuous, Hamlet-like deliberation toward a crisp series of conclusions reached and actions taken. Yet, decision making is, of course, a broad and ancient human pursuit, flowing back to a time when people sought guidance from the stars. From those earliest days, we have strived to invent better tools for the purpose, from the Hindu-Arabic systems for numbering and algebra, to Aristotle's systematic empiricism, to friar Occam's advances in logic, to Francis Bacon's inductive reasoning, to Descartes's application of the scientific method. A growing sophistication with managing risk, along with a nuanced understanding of human behavior and advances in technology that support and mimic cognitive processes, has improved decision making in many situations. Even so, the history of decision-making strategies--captured in this time line and examined in the four accompanying essays on risk, group dynamics, technology, and instinct--has not marched steadily toward perfect rationalism. Twentieth-century theorists showed that the costs of acquiring information lead executives to make do with only good-enough decisions. Worse, people decide against their own economic interests even when they know better. And in the absence of emotion, it's impossible to make any decisions at all. Erroneous framing, bounded awareness, excessive optimism: The debunking of Descartes's rational man threatens to swamp our confidence in our choices. Is it really surprising, then, that even as technology dramatically increases our access to information, Malcolm Gladwell extols the virtues of gut decisions made, literally, in the blink of an eye?

Decision making in euthymic bipolar I and bipolar II disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Martino, D J; Strejilevich, S A; Torralva, T; Manes, F

2011-06-01

The main aim of this study was to compare a large population of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) types I and II strictly defined as euthymic with healthy controls on measures of decision making. An additional aim was to compare performance on a decision-making task between patients with and without a history of suicide attempt. Eighty-five euthymic patients with BD-I or BD-II and 34 healthy controls were included. All subjects completed tests to assess verbal memory, attention and executive functions, and a decision-making paradigm (the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT). Both groups of patients had worse performance than healthy controls on measures of verbal memory, attention and executive function. No significant differences were found between BD-I, BD-II and healthy controls on measures of decision making. By contrast, patients with a history of suicide attempt had lower performance in the IGT than patients without a history of suicide attempt. Patients with euthymic BD-I and BD-II had intact decision-making abilities, suggesting that this does not represent a reliable trait marker of the disorder. In addition, our results provide further evidence of an association between impairments in decision making and vulnerability to suicidal behavior.

The fair factor in matters of trust.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Lauren L

2006-01-01

Communities are bound together by trust among their members. Trust thrives when a pervasive sense of fairness exists. Evidence suggests that trust has social, professional, and economic value for today's organizations, making it worthy of attention. Matters of trust and justice are important and timely for nurse leaders to consider given the challenge to improve practice settings in a manner that enhances nurse satisfaction. The aim of this article is to make explicit the value in building organizational justice and trust within an organization's nursing community. Nursing leadership strategies are integrated, thus offering practical guidance in creating a culture of justice, making trust explicit, and establishing trustworthiness.

Phenomenology of quintessino dark matter: Production of next lightest supersymmetric particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi Xiaojun; Wang Jianxiong; Zhang Chao; Zhang Xinmin

2004-01-01

In the model of quintessino as the dark matter particle, the dark matter and dark energy are unified in one superfield, where the dynamics of the Quintessence drives the Universe acceleration and its superpartner, quintessino, makes up the dark matter of the Universe. This scenario predicts the existence of long-lived τ-tilde as the next lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we study the possibility of detecting τ-tilde produced by the high energy cosmic neutrinos interacting with the earth matter. By a detailed calculation we find that the event rate is one to several hundred per year at a detector with an effective area of 1 km 2 . The study in this paper can be also applied to models of gravitino or axino dark matter particles

How did matter gain the upper hand over antimatter?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quinn, Helen

2009-01-01

Antimatter exists. We routinely make it in laboratories. For every familiar particle type we find a matching antiparticle with opposite charge, but exactly the same mass. For example, a positron with positive charge has the same mass as an electron; an antiproton with negative charge has the same mass as a proton. Antimatter occurs naturally all over the universe wherever high-energy particles collide. The laws of physics for antimatter are very, very similar to those for antimatter--so far we know only one tiny difference in them, a detail of the weak interactions of quarks that earned Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa a share of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Physics. Our understanding of the early Universe also tells us that after inflation ended equal amounts of matter and antimatter were produced. Today there's a lot of matter in the universe, but very little antimatter. This leaves a big question for cosmology. How did matter gain the upper hand over antimatter? It's a question at the root of our existence. Without this excess, there would be no stars, no Earth, and no us. When a particle meets its antiparticle, they annihilate each other in a flash of radiation. This process removed all the antimatter and most of the matter as the universe expanded and cooled. All that's left today is the excess amount of matter when destruction began to dominate over production. To get from equality to inequality for matter and antimatter requires a difference in the laws of physics between them and some special situation where it affects the balance between them. But, when we try to use the tiny difference we know about between quark and antiquark weak interactions to generate the imbalance, it doesn't work. We find a way that it can indeed give a small excess of matter over antimatter, but not nearly enough to give us all the matter we see in our universe. We can patch up the theory by adding unknown particles to it to make a scenario that works. Indeed we can do that in

Context matters: where would you be the least worse off in the US if you were uninsured?

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Carolyn; Pagán, José A; Hardeman, Rachel

2010-01-01

We examined the health care access, quality, and cost experienced by uninsured Latino mothers in two communities in Minnesota and Texas. These communities differ substantially by the size of the local population without health insurance coverage. Four focus groups were conducted with uninsured Latino mothers who were caring for at least one child in their household. Seventeen mothers participated in each community. All focus groups were conducted by the same trained staff from a non-profit, community-based research organization. Uninsured Latino mothers in Minnesota rated the quality of health care services in their community to be much higher than their Texas counterparts, but were more likely to emphasize the high costs of care and health insurance coverage. Participants in Texas also described having to go to Mexico to obtain health care services. Policies making provision for health care services to the uninsured are likely to be more effective when they take into account the context or composition of each specific local health care system as well as the financial and non-financial spillovers that these uninsurance-related contexts generate.

Including chemical-related impact categories in LCA on printed matter does it matter?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Henrik Fred; Hansen, Morten Søes; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky

2004-01-01

global warming, acidification and nutrification. The studies focus on energy consumption including the emissions and impact categories related to energy. The chemical-related impact categories comprising ecotoxicity and human toxicity are not included at all or only to a limited degree. In this paper we...... include these chemical-related impact categories by making use of some of the newest knowledge about emissions from the production at the printing industry combined with knowledge about the composition of the printing materials used during the production of offset printed matter. This paper is based...... printed matter produced on a fictitious sheet feed offset printing industry in Europe has been identified and shown in Figure 1 (light bars). „Ï The effect of including the chemical related impact categories is substantial as shown in Figure 1, e.g. the importance of paper is reduced from 67% to 31...

Does Evidence Matter? How Middle School Students Make Decisions About Socioscientific Issues

Science.gov (United States)

Emery, Katherine Beth

People worldwide are faced with making decisions daily. While many decisions are quick (e.g., what clothes to wear), others, such as those about environmental issues (e.g., overfishing), require more thought and have less immediate outcomes. How one makes such decisions depends on how one interprets, evaluates, and uses evidence. The central objective of this thesis was to investigate environmental science literacy in general, and specifically, to understand how evidence and other factors impact decision-making. I conducted three main studies: First, I provide an example of how decision-making practices affect environmental systems and services through a descriptive case study of Atlantic bluefin tuna overfishing. I reviewed the scientific, historical and cultural factors contributing to a paradox of marine preservation in the Mediterranean and highlighted the need for education and informed decision-making about such social and ecological issues. This study motivated me to investigate how people make decisions about environmental issues. Second, I interviewed middle school students to understand how they describe and evaluate evidence hypothetically and in practice about environmental issues---a key component of environmental literacy. Students discussed how they would evaluate evidence and then were then given a packet containing multiple excerpts of information from conflicting stakeholders about an environmental issue and asked how they would make voting or purchasing decisions about these issues. Findings showed that students' ideas about evaluating evidence (e.g., by scientific and non-scientific criteria) match their practices in part. This study was unique in that it investigated how students evaluate evidence that (1) contradicts other evidence and (2), conflicts with the student's prior positions. Finally, I investigated whether middle school students used evidence when making decisions about socioscientific issues. I hypothesized that holding a strong

Interacting dark matter disguised as warm dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boehm, Celine; Riazuelo, Alain; Hansen, Steen H.; Schaeffer, Richard

2002-01-01

We explore some of the consequences of dark-matter-photon interactions on structure formation, focusing on the evolution of cosmological perturbations and performing both an analytical and a numerical study. We compute the cosmic microwave background anisotropies and matter power spectrum in this class of models. We find, as the main result, that when dark matter and photons are coupled, dark matter perturbations can experience a new damping regime in addition to the usual collisional Silk damping effect. Such dark matter particles (having quite large photon interactions) behave like cold dark matter or warm dark matter as far as the cosmic microwave background anisotropies or matter power spectrum are concerned, respectively. These dark-matter-photon interactions leave specific imprints at sufficiently small scales on both of these two spectra, which may allow us to put new constraints on the acceptable photon-dark-matter interactions. Under the conservative assumption that the abundance of 10 12 M · galaxies is correctly given by the cold dark matter, and without any knowledge of the abundance of smaller objects, we obtain the limit on the ratio of the dark-matter-photon cross section to the dark matter mass σ γ-DM /m DM -6 σ Th /(100 GeV)≅6x10 -33 cm 2 GeV -1

Searching for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Smith High-Velocity Cloud

Science.gov (United States)

Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gomez-Vargas, German A.; Hewitt, John W.; Linden, Tim; Tibaldo, Luigi

2014-01-01

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use gamma-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant gamma-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (approximately 3 x 10 (sup -26) cubic centimeters per second) for dark matter masses less than or approximately 30 gigaelectronvolts annihilating via the B/B- bar oscillation or tau/antitau channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

Searching for dark matter annihilation in the Smith high-velocity cloud

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drlica-Wagner, Alex; Gómez-Vargas, Germán A.; Hewitt, John W.; Linden, Tim; Tibaldo, Luigi

2014-01-01

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (∼ 3 × 10 –26 cm 3 s –1 ) for dark matter masses ≲ 30 GeV annihilating via the b b-bar or τ + τ – channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

Searching for dark matter annihilation in the Smith high-velocity cloud

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Drlica-Wagner, Alex [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Gómez-Vargas, Germán A. [Departamento de Fisíca, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago (Chile); Hewitt, John W. [CRESST, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250 (United States); Linden, Tim [The Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Tibaldo, Luigi [W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

2014-07-20

Recent observations suggest that some high-velocity clouds may be confined by massive dark matter halos. In particular, the proximity and proposed dark matter content of the Smith Cloud make it a tempting target for the indirect detection of dark matter annihilation. We argue that the Smith Cloud may be a better target than some Milky Way dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies and use γ-ray observations from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for a dark matter annihilation signal. No significant γ-ray excess is found coincident with the Smith Cloud, and we set strong limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section assuming a spatially extended dark matter profile consistent with dynamical modeling of the Smith Cloud. Notably, these limits exclude the canonical thermal relic cross section (∼ 3 × 10{sup –26} cm{sup 3} s{sup –1}) for dark matter masses ≲ 30 GeV annihilating via the b b-bar or τ{sup +}τ{sup –} channels for certain assumptions of the dark matter density profile; however, uncertainties in the dark matter content of the Smith Cloud may significantly weaken these constraints.

Making a Case for Premarital Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanley, Scott M.

2001-01-01

Proposes that premarital education efforts can reduce marital distress and divorce. Using a combination of rational argument and empirical findings, four key benefits of premarital education are discussed: (a) it fosters deliberation; (b) it sends the message that marriage matters; (c) it make seeking help an option; and (d) it may lower risk for…

Guidelines for psychological evaluations in child protection matters.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

The problems of abused and neglected children are epidemic in our society (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, 2008) and create issues that psychologists may be called upon to address. Psychologists are positioned to contribute significantly to decision making in child protection matters. Psychological data and expertise may provide sources of information and a perspective not otherwise available to courts regarding the functioning of parties, and thus may increase the fairness of decisions by the court, state agency, or other party. such matters. These guidelines are a revision of the 1999 "Guidelines for Psychological Evaluations in Child Protection Matters" (American Psychological Association [APA], 1999). These guidelines are informed by APA's "Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct" ("APA Ethics Code"; APA, 2002a, 2010).

Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Suffer from Worse Periodontal Health-Evidence from a Meta-Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Quan; Zhang, Bin; Xing, Helin; Yang, Shuo; Xu, Juan; Liu, Hongchen

2018-01-01

Background and Objective: It is widely accepted that there is an association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and periodontitis. However, whether the periodontal status of the COPD patients is worse than that of the non-COPD subjects is seldom assessed. The findings currently available are inconsistent, some even contradictory. Therefore, we performed this meta-analysis to compare the periodontal health status of COPD patients and non-COPD subjects. Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched for all of the eligible studies which comparing the periodontal status between COPD patients and non-COPD subjects. The results of periodontal parameters in each study were extracted and the mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each parameter were calculated to determine their overall effects. Results: In total, 14 studies involving 3348 COPD patients and 20612 non-COPD controls were included and 9 periodontal indexes were analyzed. The mean differences (95% CIs) between COPD and non-COPD subjects for probing depth, clinical attachment loss, level of alveolar bone loss, plaque index, oral hygiene index, bleeding index, bleeding on probing, gingival index, and remaining teeth were 0.261 (0.020-0.501), 0.480 (0.280-0.681), 0.127 (0.000-0.254), 0.226 (0.043-0.408), 0.802 (0.326-1.279), 0.241 (-0.106 to 0.588), 6.878 (5.489-8.266), 0.364 (0.036-0.692), and -3.726 (-5.120 to -2.331), respectively. Conclusion: In summary, this meta-analysis demonstrates that the COPD patients suffer from worse periodontal health status, indicated by deeper periodontal pockets, high level of clinical attachment loss, worse oral hygiene, more inflammation and bleeding in the gingival tissue, and lower number of remaining teeth. Nevertheless, considering the limitations in our meta-analysis, more high-quality, and well-designed studies focusing on the periodontal health of the COPD patients are required to validate our conclusion.

Does Money Matter in Education? Second Edition

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Bruce D.

2016-01-01

This second edition policy brief revisits the long and storied literature on whether money matters in providing a quality education. It includes research released since the original brief in 2012 and covers a handful of additional topics. Increasingly, political rhetoric adheres to the unfounded certainty that money does not make a difference in…

Quantum-mechanical machinery for rational decision-making in classical guessing game

Science.gov (United States)

Bang, Jeongho; Ryu, Junghee; Pawłowski, Marcin; Ham, Byoung S.; Lee, Jinhyoung

2016-02-01

In quantum game theory, one of the most intriguing and important questions is, “Is it possible to get quantum advantages without any modification of the classical game?” The answer to this question so far has largely been negative. So far, it has usually been thought that a change of the classical game setting appears to be unavoidable for getting the quantum advantages. However, we give an affirmative answer here, focusing on the decision-making process (we call ‘reasoning’) to generate the best strategy, which may occur internally, e.g., in the player’s brain. To show this, we consider a classical guessing game. We then define a one-player reasoning problem in the context of the decision-making theory, where the machinery processes are designed to simulate classical and quantum reasoning. In such settings, we present a scenario where a rational player is able to make better use of his/her weak preferences due to quantum reasoning, without any altering or resetting of the classically defined game. We also argue in further analysis that the quantum reasoning may make the player fail, and even make the situation worse, due to any inappropriate preferences.

Quantum-mechanical machinery for rational decision-making in classical guessing game.

Science.gov (United States)

Bang, Jeongho; Ryu, Junghee; Pawłowski, Marcin; Ham, Byoung S; Lee, Jinhyoung

2016-02-15

In quantum game theory, one of the most intriguing and important questions is, "Is it possible to get quantum advantages without any modification of the classical game?" The answer to this question so far has largely been negative. So far, it has usually been thought that a change of the classical game setting appears to be unavoidable for getting the quantum advantages. However, we give an affirmative answer here, focusing on the decision-making process (we call 'reasoning') to generate the best strategy, which may occur internally, e.g., in the player's brain. To show this, we consider a classical guessing game. We then define a one-player reasoning problem in the context of the decision-making theory, where the machinery processes are designed to simulate classical and quantum reasoning. In such settings, we present a scenario where a rational player is able to make better use of his/her weak preferences due to quantum reasoning, without any altering or resetting of the classically defined game. We also argue in further analysis that the quantum reasoning may make the player fail, and even make the situation worse, due to any inappropriate preferences.

Thermoluminescence of Simulated Interstellar Matter after Gamma-ray Irradiation

OpenAIRE

Koike, K.; Nakagawa, M.; Koike, C.; Okada, M.; Chihara, H.

2002-01-01

Interstellar matter is known to be strongly irradiated by radiation and several types of cosmic ray particles. Simulated interstellar matter, such as forsterite $\\rm Mg_{2}SiO_{4}$, enstatite $\\rm MgSiO_{3}$ and magnesite $\\rm MgCO_{3}$ has been irradiated with the $\\rm ^{60}Co$ gamma-rays in liquid nitrogen, and also irradiated with fast neutrons at 10 K and 70 K by making use of the low-temperature irradiation facility of Kyoto University Reactor (KUR-LTL. Maximum fast neutron dose is $10^{...

A fermionic molecular dynamics technique to model nuclear matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vantournhout, K.; Jachowicz, N.; Ryckebusch, J.

2009-01-01

Full text: At sub-nuclear densities of about 10 14 g/cm 3 , nuclear matter arranges itself in a variety of complex shapes. This can be the case in the crust of neutron stars and in core-collapse supernovae. These slab like and rod like structures, designated as nuclear pasta, have been modelled with classical molecular dynamics techniques. We present a technique, based on fermionic molecular dynamics, to model nuclear matter at sub-nuclear densities in a semi classical framework. The dynamical evolution of an antisymmetric ground state is described making the assumption of periodic boundary conditions. Adding the concepts of antisymmetry, spin and probability distributions to classical molecular dynamics, brings the dynamical description of nuclear matter to a quantum mechanical level. Applications of this model vary from investigation of macroscopic observables and the equation of state to the study of fundamental interactions on the microscopic structure of the matter. (author)

Particulate matter mass concentrations produced from pavement surface abrasion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fullova Dasa

2017-01-01

Full Text Available According to the latest findings particulate matter belong to the most significant pollutants in Europe together with ground-level ozone O3 and nitrogen dioxide NO2. Road traffic is one of the main sources of particulate matter. Traffic volume has unpleasant impact on longevity of the pavements and also on the environment. Vehicle motions cause mechanical wearing of the asphalt pavement surface - wearing course by vehicle tyres. The paper deals with abrasion of bituminous wearing courses of pavements. The asphalt mixtures are compared in terms of mechanically separated particulate matter. The samples of asphalt mixtures were rutted in wheel tracking machine. The particulate matter measurements were performed in laboratory conditions. The experimental laboratory measurements make it possible to sample particulates without contamination from exhaust emissions, abraded particles from vehicles, resuspension of road dust and climate affects. The paper offers partial results of measurements on six trial samples of asphalt mixtures with different composition. It presents particulate matter morphology and the comparison of rutted asphalt samples in terms of PM mass concentrations and chemical composition.

Classroom Materials for Teaching "The Particle Nature of Matter." Practical Paper No. 173.

Science.gov (United States)

Pella, Milton O.; And Others

This document presents the lesson plans and tests used in the research study reported in Technical Report 173 (ED 070 658), together with descriptions of models and films developed for the teaching program. Thirty-one lessons are included, covering the topics of matter and energy; making interferences; particles; a model for matter; particles and…

Inside charged black holes. II. Baryons plus dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamilton, Andrew J.S.; Pollack, Scott E.

2005-01-01

This is the second of two companion papers on the interior structure of self-similar accreting charged black holes. In the first paper, the black hole was allowed to accrete only a single fluid of charged baryons. In this second paper, the black hole is allowed to accrete in addition a neutral fluid of almost noninteracting dark matter. Relativistic streaming between outgoing baryons and ingoing dark matter leads to mass inflation near the inner horizon. When enough dark matter has been accreted that the center-of-mass frame near the inner horizon is ingoing, then mass inflation ceases and the fluid collapses to a central singularity. A null singularity does not form on the Cauchy horizon. Although the simultaneous presence of ingoing and outgoing fluids near the inner horizon is essential to mass inflation, reducing one or the other of the ingoing dark matter or outgoing baryonic streams to a trace relative to the other stream makes mass inflation more extreme, not the other way around as one might naively have expected. Consequently, if the dark matter has a finite cross section for being absorbed into the baryonic fluid, then the reduction of the amount of ingoing dark matter merely makes inflation more extreme, the interior mass exponentiating more rapidly and to a larger value before mass inflation ceases. However, if the dark matter absorption cross section is effectively infinite at high collision energy, so that the ingoing dark matter stream disappears completely, then the outgoing baryonic fluid can drop through the Cauchy horizon. In all cases, as the baryons and the dark matter voyage to their diverse fates inside the black hole, they only ever see a finite amount of time pass by in the outside universe. Thus the solutions do not depend on what happens in the infinite past or future. We discuss in some detail the physical mechanism that drives mass inflation. Although the gravitational force is inward, inward means opposite direction for ingoing and

Remote Lower White Matter Integrity Increases the Risk of Long-Term Cognitive Impairment After Ischemic Stroke in Young Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaapsmeerders, Pauline; Tuladhar, Anil M; Arntz, Renate M; Franssen, Sieske; Maaijwee, Noortje A M; Rutten-Jacobs, Loes C A; Schoonderwaldt, Hennie C; Dorresteijn, Lucille D A; van Dijk, Ewoud J; Kessels, Roy P C; de Leeuw, Frank-Erik

2016-10-01

Poststroke cognitive impairment occurs frequently in young patients with ischemic stroke (18 through 50 years of age). Accumulating data suggest that stroke is associated with lower white matter integrity remote from the stroke impact area, which might explain why some patients have good long-term cognitive outcome and others do not. Given the life expectancy of decades in young patients, we therefore investigated remote white matter in relation to long-term cognitive function. We included all consecutive first-ever ischemic stroke patients, left/right hemisphere, without recurrent stroke or transient ischemic attack during follow-up, aged 18 through 50 years, admitted to our university medical center between 1980 and 2010. One hundred seventeen patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning including a T1-weighted scan, a diffusion tensor imaging scan, and completed a neuropsychological assessment. Patients were compared with a matched stroke-free control group (age, sex, and education matched). Cognitive impairment was defined as >1.5 SD below the mean cognitive index score of controls and no cognitive impairment as ≤1 SD. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics was used to assess the white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity). About 11 years after ischemic stroke, lower remote white matter integrity was associated with a worse long-term cognitive performance. A lower remote white matter integrity, even in the contralesional hemisphere, was observed in cognitively impaired patients (n=25) compared with cognitively unimpaired patients (n=71). These findings indicate that although stroke has an acute onset, it might have long lasting effects on remote white matter integrity and thereby increases the risk of long-term cognitive impairment. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Relations between mental workload and decision-making in an organizational setting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

María Soria-Oliver

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Asbtract Background The complexity of current organizations implies a potential overload for workers. For this reason, it is of interest to study the effects that mental workload has on the performance of complex tasks in professional settings. Objective The objective of this study is to empirically analyze the relation between the quality of decision-making, on the one hand, and the expected and real mental workload, on the other. Methods The study uses an ex post facto prospective design with a sample of 176 professionals from a higher education organization. Expected mental workload (Pre-Task WL and real mental workload (Post-Task WL were measured with the unweighted NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX questionnaire; difference between real WL and expected WL (Differential WL was also calculated; quality of decision-making was measured by means of the Decision-Making Questionnaire. Results General quality of decision-making and Pre-Task WL relation is compatible with an inverted U pattern, with slight variations depending on the specific dimension of decision-making that is considered. There were no verifiable relations between Post-Task WL and decision-making. The subjects whose expected WL matched the real WL showed worse quality in decision-making than subjects with high or low Differential WL. Conclusions The relations between mental workload and decision-making reveal a complex pattern, with evidence of nonlinear relations.

Kin-aesthetic Space-making

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brabrand, Helle

2016-01-01

-Francois Lyotard’s Gestus , discussing the work-of-art as a sensuously expressed ‘torsion’ of space/ time/ matter, producing its own space/ time/ matter. Erin Brannigan in Dancefilm uses the gesture-model as well, and points to a hybrid practice where dance and film work on each other. Likewise Shaun Gallagher...... as well as their production of meaning. Concurrently the practice questions presentation/ representation and creator/ spectator relations. Gesture-models call for an understanding of the work-of-art as creating affordance; affordance in the sense that effects generated between embodied-enactive perception......’s How the Body Shapes the Mind forms part of the theoretical approach to motile kin-aesthetical forces of art-making, underlying this paper. In my practice I work with body- and space gestures, interchanging through a ‘third’ material, featured on screens. The hybrid production includes animated 2 and 3...

Matter, dark matter, and anti-matter in search of the hidden universe

CERN Document Server

Mazure, Alain

2012-01-01

For over ten years, the dark side of the universe has been headline news. Detailed studies of the rotation of spiral galaxies, and 'mirages' created by clusters of galaxies bending the light from very remote objects, have convinced astronomers of the presence of large quantities of dark (unseen) matter in the cosmos. Moreover, in the 1990s, it was discovered that some four to five billion years ago the expansion of the universe entered a phase of acceleration. This implies the existence of dark energy. The nature of these 'dark; ingredients remains a mystery, but they seem to comprise about 95 percent of the matter/energy content of the universe. As for ordinary matter, although we are immersed in a sea of dark particles, including primordial neutrinos and photons from 'fossil' cosmological radiation, both we and our environment are made of ordinary, baryonic matter. Strangely, even if 15-20 percent of matter is baryonic matter, this represents only 4-5 percent of the total matter/energy content of the cosmos...

Quantifying Matter

CERN Document Server

Angelo, Joseph A

2011-01-01

Quantifying Matter explains how scientists learned to measure matter and quantify some of its most fascinating and useful properties. It presents many of the most important intellectual achievements and technical developments that led to the scientific interpretation of substance. Complete with full-color photographs, this exciting new volume describes the basic characteristics and properties of matter. Chapters include:. -Exploring the Nature of Matter. -The Origin of Matter. -The Search for Substance. -Quantifying Matter During the Scientific Revolution. -Understanding Matter's Electromagnet

Should we naturalize mind, or should we arithmetize matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marchal Bruno

2017-12-01

Full Text Available We provide an argument showing that once we assume the mechanist hypothesis in the cognitive science then we have to explain physics from intensional number theory and/or mathematical computer science alone. The proof is constructive. It shows how to derive the physical laws from elementary arithmetic. It makes the computationalist thesis empirically refutable, by comparing the physics extracted from numbers and the inferred physics from observation. The proof shows that if mechanism is true, we cannot naturalize the mind, and we have to arithmetize matter, or beliefs in matter, instead.

Perceived Mattering to the Family and Physical Violence within the Family by Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Gregory C.; Cunningham, Susan M.; Colangelo, Melissa; Gelles, Richard J.

2011-01-01

Mattering is the extent to which people believe they make a difference in the world around them. This study hypothesizes that adolescents who believe they matter less to their families will more likely threaten or engage in intrafamily physical violence. The data come from a national sample of 2,004 adolescents. Controlling for respondents' age,…

Higher Education as a Matter of National Security: Can a Democracy Plan Ahead?

Science.gov (United States)

Skaggs, David

2014-01-01

What is often viewed as the fairly arcane business of determining and administering higher education policy is a matter of great national interest and, actually, a matter of national security. It thus makes a difference for American society in ways you may not have considered. The ability of the United States to protect itself and its interests…

Cold Dark Matter Cosmogony with Hydrodynamics and Galaxy Formation: Galaxy Properties at Redshift Zero

Science.gov (United States)

Cen, Renyue; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.

1993-11-01

We have supplemented our code, which computes the evolution of the physical state of a representative piece of the universe, to include not only the dynamics of dark matter (with a standard PM code) and the hydrodynamics of the gaseous component (including detailed collisional and radiative processes), but also galaxy formation on a heuristic but plausible basis. If, within a cell, the gas is Jeans-unstable, collapsing and cooling rapidly, it is transformed to galaxy subunits, which are then followed with a collisionless code. We study two representative boxes with sizes L = (80, 8) h-1 Mpc, in both cases utilizing a mesh of 2003 cells containing 2003 dark matter particles and having nominal resolutions of (400, 40) h-1 kpc, respectively, with true resolution approximately 2.5 times worse. We adopt the standard cold dark matter (CDM) perturbation spectrum with an amplitude of σ8 ≡ = (δM/M)rms,8 = 0.77, a compromise between the COBE normalization σ8 = 1.05 and that indicated by the small-scale velocity dispersion (perhaps σ8 = 0.45). We find a mass function which is similar to that observed. There is a strong correlation between galactic age and environment. Identifying the oldest fraction with elliptical and 50 galaxies, we find a density morphology relation of the same type as is observed as well as a correlation between gas mass/total mass ratio and morphology that is similar to observations. In addition, we find that low-mass galaxies contain relatively more dark matter than giants. We present analytic fits to our derived results for "bias," the dependence of ρgal/ on ρtot/. Spatial structures resemble quantitatively those seen in redshift surveys, with galaxies concentrated in clusters and on filaments (or sheets) which surround quite empty voids. The void probability statistics indicate that this model is consistent with magnitude-limited real data. The small-scale velocity field is too large compared with the observed velocity correlation function

Dark Matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Einasto J.

2011-06-01

Full Text Available I give a review of the development of the concept of dark matter. The dark matter story passed through several stages from a minor observational puzzle to a major challenge for theory of elementary particles. Modern data suggest that dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, and that it consists of some unknown non-baryonic particles. Dark matter is the dominant matter component in the Universe, thus properties of dark matter particles determine the structure of the cosmic web.

Black Lives Matter: A Call to Action for Counseling Psychology Leaders.

Science.gov (United States)

Crowell, Candice; Mosley, Della; Falconer, Jameca; Faloughi, Reuben; Singh, Anneliese; Stevens-Watkins, Danelle; Cokley, Kevin

2017-08-01

Police brutality and widespread systemic racism represent historical and current sources of trauma in Black communities. Both the Black Lives Matter movement and counseling psychology propose to confront these realities at multiple levels. Black Lives Matter seeks to increase awareness about systemic racism and promote resilience among Black people. Counseling psychology states values of multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy. Executive leadership in counseling psychology may seek to promote racial justice, yet struggle with how to participate in Black Lives Matter movements and address racial discrimination within larger systems spontaneously and consistently. However, counseling psychology trainees and professionals are actively involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, leading the way forward. Through the framework of spontaneity in social movements, this manuscript highlights what counseling psychologists are currently contributing to Black Lives Matter and makes recommendations that build on the opportunity counseling psychologists have for further involvement in the movement.

Non-baryonic dark matter: observational evidence and detection methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergstroem, Lars

2000-01-01

The evidence for the existence of dark matter in the universe is reviewed. A general picture emerges, where both baryonic and non-baryonic dark matter is needed to explain current observations. In particular, a wealth of observational information points to the existence of a non-baryonic component, contributing between around 20 and 40% of the critical mass density needed to make the universe geometrically flat on large scales. In addition, an even larger contribution from vacuum energy (or cosmological constant) is indicated by recent observations. To the theoretically favoured particle candidates for non-baryonic dark matter belong axions, supersymmetric particles, and of less importance, massive neutrinos. The theoretical foundation and experimental situation for each of these is reviewed. Direct and indirect methods for detection of supersymmetric dark matter are described in some detail. Present experiments are just reaching the required sensitivity to discover or rule out some of these candidates, and major improvements are planned over the coming years. (author)

Identifying WIMP dark matter from particle and astroparticle data

Science.gov (United States)

Bertone, Gianfranco; Bozorgnia, Nassim; Kim, Jong Soo; Liem, Sebastian; McCabe, Christopher; Otten, Sydney; Ruiz de Austri, Roberto

2018-03-01

One of the most promising strategies to identify the nature of dark matter consists in the search for new particles at accelerators and with so-called direct detection experiments. Working within the framework of simplified models, and making use of machine learning tools to speed up statistical inference, we address the question of what we can learn about dark matter from a detection at the LHC and a forthcoming direct detection experiment. We show that with a combination of accelerator and direct detection data, it is possible to identify newly discovered particles as dark matter, by reconstructing their relic density assuming they are weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) thermally produced in the early Universe, and demonstrating that it is consistent with the measured dark matter abundance. An inconsistency between these two quantities would instead point either towards additional physics in the dark sector, or towards a non-standard cosmology, with a thermal history substantially different from that of the standard cosmological model.

Discriminating dark matter candidates using direct detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belanger, G.; Nezri, E.; Pukhov, A.

2009-01-01

We examine the predictions for both the spin-dependent and spin-independent direct detection rates in a variety of new particle physics models with dark matter candidates. We show that a determination of both spin-independent and spin-dependent amplitudes on protons and neutrons can in principle discriminate different candidates of dark matter up to a few ambiguities. We emphasize the importance of making measurements with different spin-dependent sensitive detector materials and the need for significant improvement of the detector sensitivities. Scenarios where exchange of new colored particles contributes significantly to the elastic scattering cross sections are often the most difficult to identify, the LHC should give an indication whether such scenarios are relevant for direct detection.

Hyponatremia Is Associated with Worse Outcomes from Fall Injuries in the Elderly

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Spencer C. H. Kuo

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Hyponatremia has been proposed as a contributor to falls in the elderly, which have become a major global issue with the aging of the population. This study aimed to assess the clinical presentation and outcomes of elderly patients with hyponatremia admitted due to fall injuries in a Level I trauma center. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data obtained from the Trauma Registry System for trauma admissions from January 2009 through December 2014. Hyponatremia was defined as a serum sodium level <135 mEq/L, and only patients who had sustained a fall at ground level (<1 m were included. We used Chi-square tests, Student t-tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare elderly patients (age ≥65 years with hyponatremia (n = 492 to those without (n = 2002, and to adult patients (age 20–64 years with hyponatremia (n = 125. Results: Significantly more elderly patients with hyponatremia presented to the emergency department (ED due to falls compared to elderly patients without hyponatremia (73.7% vs. 52.6%; OR: 2.5, 95% CI: 2.10–3.02; p < 0.001. Elderly patients with hyponatremia presented with a worse outcome, measured by significantly higher odds of intubation (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.15–4.83; p = 0.025, a longer in-hospital length of stay (LOS (11 days vs. 9 days; p < 0.001, higher proportion of intensive care unit (ICU admission (20.9% vs. 16.2%; OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.07–1.76; p = 0.013, and higher mortality (OR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.53–3.96; p < 0.001, regardless of adjustment by Injury Severity Scores (ISS (AOR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.42–4.21; p = 0.001. Conclusions: Our results show that hyponatremia is associated with worse outcome from fall-related injuries in the elderly, with an increased ISS, longer LOS, and a higher risk of death.

Relationship power, decision making, and sexual relations: an exploratory study with couples of Mexican origin.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, S Marie; Beckman, Linda J; Browner, Carole H; Sherman, Christy A

2002-11-01

This study explored how couples of Mexican origin define power in intimate relationships, what makes men and women feel powerful in relationships, and the role of each partner in decision making about sexual and reproductive matters. Interviews were conducted with each partner of 39 sexually active couples and data were analyzed using content analysis. Results indicate that power is perceived as control over one s partner and the ability to make decisions. Women say they feel more powerful in relationships when they make unilateral decisions and have economic independence. Men feel powerful when they have control over their partner and bring home money. Respondents agreed that women make decisions about household matters and children, while men make decisions related to money. Findings indicate that whereas couples share decision making about sexual activities and contraceptive use, men are seen as initiators of sexual activity and women are more likely to suggest condom use.

Mirror matter as self-interacting dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohapatra, R.N.; Nussinov, S.; Teplitz, V.L.

2002-01-01

It has been argued that the observed core density profile of galaxies is inconsistent with having a dark matter particle that is collisionless and that alternative dark matter candidates which are self-interacting may explain observations better. One new class of self-interacting dark matter that has been proposed in the context of mirror universe models of particle physics is the mirror hydrogen atom, whose stability is guaranteed by the conservation of mirror baryon number. We show that the effective transport cross section for mirror hydrogen atoms has the right order of magnitude for solving the 'cuspy' halo problem. Furthermore, the suppression of dissipation effects for mirror atoms due to a higher mirror mass scale prevents the mirror halo matter from collapsing into a disk, strengthening the argument for mirror matter as galactic dark matter

Accounts that matter and count

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Elkjær, Bente; Brandi, Ulrik

In the paper, we propose that professional accountability and textual enactments hereof can be understood within the field of organisational learning. This means that professional accountability is not only a matter of legitimate knowledge and a responsible identity but also of organising work....... In this pursuit, we are inspired by the dilemma in the literature on professionals as an occupational group safeguarding societal accountable knowledge, and professionals entering enterprises and the organisational professionalism that follows from these movements. We are aware that not all may accept...... that management consultants as professionals but stretching the case may, nevertheless, make us see similar issues for other groups of more acknowledged professionals. Taking professional accountability into work and enterprises makes it possible for us to highlight that professional accountability...

A study on the role of influence group in public policy making

OpenAIRE

Abbas Monavarian; Mojtaba Amiri; Narges Sadat Razavimehr

2014-01-01

Nowadays, learning more about influence groups on public policy making is one of most important subjects of management science. Governments are the primary sources for public policy making but influenced groups participate indirectly and while they remain out of power, they put pressure on many decisions. Some of participants in public policy making are not influenced groups but mostly, due to their participation in policy public making matter are called influenced groups. This research, from...

Risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse in relation to smoking among women with persistent human papillomavirus infection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kirsten Egebjerg; Schmiedel, Sven; Frederiksen, Kirsten

2012-01-01

were also conducted. Hazard ratios (HRs) for a diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 or worse/high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions or worse (CIN3+) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in the 2 groups. RESULTS: Among high-risk HPV positive women......BACKGROUND: Smoking has been associated with cervical cancer. We examined whether smoking increases the risk for high-grade cervical lesions in women with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. METHODS: In a population-based cohort study, 8,656 women underwent a structured interview......, and subsequently cervical cells were obtained for HPV DNA testing. Women with high-risk HPV infection and no prevalent cervical disease at baseline (n=1,353) were followed through the Pathology Data Bank for cervical lesions for up to 13 years. Separate analyses of women with persistent high-risk HPV infection...

A Comparison of the Health Effects of Ambient Particulate Matter Air Pollution from Five Emission Sources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil J. Hime

2018-06-01

Full Text Available This article briefly reviews evidence of health effects associated with exposure to particulate matter (PM air pollution from five common outdoor emission sources: traffic, coal-fired power stations, diesel exhaust, domestic wood combustion heaters, and crustal dust. The principal purpose of this review is to compare the evidence of health effects associated with these different sources with a view to answering the question: Is exposure to PM from some emission sources associated with worse health outcomes than exposure to PM from other sources? Answering this question will help inform development of air pollution regulations and environmental policy that maximises health benefits. Understanding the health effects of exposure to components of PM and source-specific PM are active fields of investigation. However, the different methods that have been used in epidemiological studies, along with the differences in populations, emission sources, and ambient air pollution mixtures between studies, make the comparison of results between studies problematic. While there is some evidence that PM from traffic and coal-fired power station emissions may elicit greater health effects compared to PM from other sources, overall the evidence to date does not indicate a clear ‘hierarchy’ of harmfulness for PM from different emission sources. Further investigations of the health effects of source-specific PM with more advanced approaches to exposure modeling, measurement, and statistics, are required before changing the current public health protection approach of minimising exposure to total PM mass.

What does society owe me if I am responsible for being worse off?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Martin Marchman

2014-01-01

Luck egalitarians need to address the question of cost-responsibility: If an indi- vidual is responsible for being worse off than others, then what benefits, if any, is that individual uniquely cost-responsible for? By applying luck egalitarianism to justice in health I discuss different answers...... to this question inspired by two different interpretations of luck egalitarianism, namely ‘standard luck egalitarianism’ and ‘all luck egalitarianism’, respectively. Even though I argue that the latter is more plausible than the former, I ultimately suggest and defend a third interpretation of luck egalitarianism......, which I label ‘universal luck egalitarianism’. Finally, I adjust my findings to a (all things considered) more plausible currency, namely welfare....

Criminal Violence and State Responses in the Northern Triangle

Science.gov (United States)

2016-12-01

Organizations: The Changing Relationships in a Time of Turmoil,” February 2013, 9. 48Ibid. 49Ibid., 15. 50Ibid., 9. 51José Miguel Cruz , “Criminal...To make matters worse, in 2009, a coup removed President Manuel Zelaya from office in an attempt to allow democratic leadership to continue.133 As...171Pion-Berlin, Military Missions, 73. 49 Cruz during his talk with WOLA, this structural response from the government stems from over twenty years

White Matter Microstructural Compromise Is Associated With Cognition But Not Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Military Veterans With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorg, Scott F; Schiehser, Dawn M; Bondi, Mark W; Luc, Norman; Clark, Alexandra L; Jacobson, Mark W; Frank, Lawrence R; Delano-Wood, Lisa

2016-01-01

To investigate white matter microstructure compromise in Veterans with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its possible contribution to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and neuropsychological functioning via diffusion tensor imaging. Thirty-eight Veterans with mild (n = 33) and moderate (n = 5) TBI and 17 military control participants without TBI completed neuropsychological testing and psychiatric screening and underwent magnetic resonance imaging an average of 4 years following their TBI event(s). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and diffusivity measures were extracted from 9 white matter tracts. Compared with military control participants, TBI participants reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms and performed worse on measures of memory and psychomotor-processing speed. Traumatic brain injury was associated with lower FA in the genu of the corpus callosum and left cingulum bundle. Fractional anisotropy negatively correlated with processing speed and/or executive functions in 7 of the 8 tracts. Regional FA did not correlate with memory or PTSD symptom ratings. Results suggest that current PTSD symptoms are independent of TBI-related white matter alterations, as measured by diffusion tensor imaging. In addition, white matter microstructural compromise may contribute to reduced processing speed in our sample of participants with history of neurotrauma. Findings of the current study add insight into the factors associated with complicated recovery from mild to moderate TBI.

Resolving astrophysical uncertainties in dark matter direct detection

CERN Document Server

Frandsen, Mads T; McCabe, Christopher; Sarkar, Subir; Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai

2012-01-01

We study the impact of the assumed velocity distribution of galactic dark matter particles on the interpretation of results from nuclear recoil detectors. By converting experimental data to variables that make the astrophysical unknowns explicit, different experiments can be compared without implicit assumptions concerning the dark matter halo. We extend this framework to include the annual modulation signal, as well as multiple target elements. Recent results from DAMA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II can be brought into agreement if the velocity distribution is very anisotropic and thus allows a large modulation fraction. However constraints from CDMS and XENON cannot be evaded by appealing to such astrophysical uncertainties alone.

Priority for the worse-off and the social cost of carbon

Science.gov (United States)

Adler, Matthew; Anthoff, David; Bosetti, Valentina; Garner, Greg; Keller, Klaus; Treich, Nicolas

2017-06-01

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a key tool in climate policy. The SCC expresses in monetary terms the social impact of the emission of a ton of CO2 in a given year. The SCC is calculated using a `social welfare function’ (SWF): a method for assessing social welfare. The dominant SWF in climate policy is the discounted-utilitarian SWF. Individuals’ well-being numbers (utilities) are summed, and the values for later generations are reduced (`discounted’). This SWF has been criticized for ignoring the distribution of well-being and including an arbitrary time preference. Here, we use a `prioritarian’ SWF, with no time discount, to calculate the SCC. This SWF gives extra weight (`priority’) to worse-off individuals. Prioritarianism is a well-developed concept in ethics and welfare economics, but has been rarely used in climate scholarship. We find substantial differences between the discounted-utilitarian and non-discounted prioritarian SCCs.

Depression and College Stress among University Undergraduates: Do Mattering and Self-Esteem Make a Difference?

Science.gov (United States)

Dixon, Sarah K.; Kurpius, Sharon E. Robinson

2008-01-01

Depression and college stress, major concerns among undergraduates, are potentially related to self-esteem and mattering. This study investigated the interrelationships among these four variables. Participants included college students (199 males and 256 females) between the ages of 18 and 23. Significant sex differences were found with women…

Solid Matter

CERN Document Server

Angelo, Joseph A

2011-01-01

Supported by a generous quantity of full-color illustrations and interesting sidebars, Solid Matter introduces the basic characteristics and properties of solid matter. It briefly describes the cosmic connection of the elements, leading readers through several key events in human pre-history that resulted in more advanced uses of matter in the solid state. Chapters include:. -Solid Matter: An Initial Perspective. -Physical Behavior of Matter. -The Gravity of Matter. -Fundamentals of Materials Science. -Rocks and Minerals. -Metals. -Building Materials. -Carbon Earth's Most Versatile Element. -S

Search for pseudoscalar cold dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

van Bibber, K.; Stoeffl, W.; LLNL Collaborators

1992-05-29

AH dynamical evidence points to the conclusion that the predominant form of matter in the universe is in a non-luminous form. Furthermore, large scale deviations from uniform Hubble flow, and the recent COBE reports of inhomogeneities in the cosmic microwave background strongly suggest that we live in an exactly closed universe. If this is true, then ordinary baryonic matter could only be a minority component (10% at most) of the missing mass, and that what constitutes the majority of the dark matter must involve new physics. The axion is one of very few well motivated candidates which may comprise the dark matter. Additionally it is a `cold` dark-matter candidate which is preferred by the COBE data. We propose to construct and operate an experiment to search for axions which may constitute the dark matter of our own galaxy. As proposed by Sikivie, dark-matter axions may be detected by their stimulated conversion into monochromatic microwave photons in a tunable high-Q cavity inside a strong magnetic field. Our ability to mount an experiment quickly and take data within one year is due to a confluence of three factors. The first is the availability of a compact high field superconducting magnet and a local industrial partner, Wang NMR, who can make a very thermally efficient and economical cryostat for it. The second is an ongoing joint venture with the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences to do R&D on metalized precision-formed ceramic microwave cavities for the axion search, and INR has commited to providing all the microwave cavity arrays for this experiment, should this proposal be approved. The third is a commitment of very substantial startup capital monies from MIT for all of the state-of-the-art ultra-low noise microwave electronics, to one of our outstanding young collaborators who is joining their faculty.

Hierarchical phase space structure of dark matter haloes: Tidal debris, caustics, and dark matter annihilation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afshordi, Niayesh; Mohayaee, Roya; Bertschinger, Edmund

2009-01-01

Most of the mass content of dark matter haloes is expected to be in the form of tidal debris. The density of debris is not constant, but rather can grow due to formation of caustics at the apocenters and pericenters of the orbit, or decay as a result of phase mixing. In the phase space, the debris assemble in a hierarchy that is truncated by the primordial temperature of dark matter. Understanding this phase structure can be of significant importance for the interpretation of many astrophysical observations and, in particular, dark matter detection experiments. With this purpose in mind, we develop a general theoretical framework to describe the hierarchical structure of the phase space of cold dark matter haloes. We do not make any assumption of spherical symmetry and/or smooth and continuous accretion. Instead, working with correlation functions in the action-angle space, we can fully account for the hierarchical structure (predicting a two-point correlation function ∝ΔJ -1.6 in the action space), as well as the primordial discreteness of the phase space. As an application, we estimate the boost to the dark matter annihilation signal due to the structure of the phase space within virial radius: the boost due to the hierarchical tidal debris is of order unity, whereas the primordial discreteness of the phase structure can boost the total annihilation signal by up to an order of magnitude. The latter is dominated by the regions beyond 20% of the virial radius, and is largest for the recently formed haloes with the least degree of phase mixing. Nevertheless, as we argue in a companion paper, the boost due to small gravitationally-bound substructure can dominate this effect at low redshifts.

Hierarchical phase space structure of dark matter haloes: Tidal debris, caustics, and dark matter annihilation

Science.gov (United States)

Afshordi, Niayesh; Mohayaee, Roya; Bertschinger, Edmund

2009-04-01

Most of the mass content of dark matter haloes is expected to be in the form of tidal debris. The density of debris is not constant, but rather can grow due to formation of caustics at the apocenters and pericenters of the orbit, or decay as a result of phase mixing. In the phase space, the debris assemble in a hierarchy that is truncated by the primordial temperature of dark matter. Understanding this phase structure can be of significant importance for the interpretation of many astrophysical observations and, in particular, dark matter detection experiments. With this purpose in mind, we develop a general theoretical framework to describe the hierarchical structure of the phase space of cold dark matter haloes. We do not make any assumption of spherical symmetry and/or smooth and continuous accretion. Instead, working with correlation functions in the action-angle space, we can fully account for the hierarchical structure (predicting a two-point correlation function ∝ΔJ-1.6 in the action space), as well as the primordial discreteness of the phase space. As an application, we estimate the boost to the dark matter annihilation signal due to the structure of the phase space within virial radius: the boost due to the hierarchical tidal debris is of order unity, whereas the primordial discreteness of the phase structure can boost the total annihilation signal by up to an order of magnitude. The latter is dominated by the regions beyond 20% of the virial radius, and is largest for the recently formed haloes with the least degree of phase mixing. Nevertheless, as we argue in a companion paper, the boost due to small gravitationally-bound substructure can dominate this effect at low redshifts.

Gamma-ray boxes from axion-mediated dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibarra, Alejandro; Gehler, Sergio López; Pato, Miguel; Lee, Hyun Min; Park, Wan-Il

2013-01-01

We compute the gamma-ray output of axion-mediated dark matter and derive the corresponding constraints set by recent data. In such scenarios the dark matter candidate is a Dirac fermion that pair-annihilates into axions and/or scalars. Provided that the axion decays (at least partly) into photons, these models naturally give rise to a box-shaped gamma-ray spectrum that may present two distinct phenomenological behaviours: a narrow box, resembling a line at half the dark matter mass, or a wide box, spanning an extensive energy range up to the dark matter mass. Remarkably, we find that in both cases a sizable gamma-ray flux is predicted for a thermal relic without fine-tuning the model parameters nor invoking boost factors. This large output is in line with recent Fermi-LAT observations towards the galactic centre region and is on the verge of being excluded. We then make use of the Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. data to derive robust, model-independent upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section for the narrow and wide box scenarios. H.E.S.S. constraints, in particular, turn out to match the ones from Fermi-LAT at hundreds of GeV and extend to multi-TeV masses. Future Čerenkov telescopes will likely probe gamma-ray boxes from thermal dark matter relics in the whole multi-TeV range, a region hardly accessible to direct detection, collider searches and other indirect detection strategies

Occupational exposures are associated with worse morbidity in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Paulin, Laura M; Diette, Gregory B; Blanc, Paul D; Putcha, Nirupama; Eisner, Mark D; Kanner, Richard E; Belli, Andrew J; Christenson, Stephanie; Tashkin, Donald P; Han, MeiLan; Barr, R Graham; Hansel, Nadia N

2015-03-01

Links between occupational exposures and morbidity in individuals with established chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remain unclear. To determine the impact of occupational exposures on COPD morbidity. A job exposure matrix (JEM) determined occupational exposure likelihood based on longest job in current/former smokers (n = 1,075) recruited as part of the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcomes in COPD Study, of whom 721 had established COPD. Bivariate and multivariate linear regression models estimated the association of occupational exposure with COPD, and among those with established disease, the occupational exposure associations with 6-minute-walk distance (6MWD), the Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC), the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), 12-item Short-Form Physical Component (SF-12), and COPD exacerbations requiring health care utilization, adjusting for demographics, current smoking status, and cumulative pack-years. An intermediate/high risk of occupational exposure by JEM was found in 38% of participants. In multivariate analysis, those with job exposures had higher odds of COPD (odds ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.97). Among those with COPD, job exposures were associated with shorter 6MWDs (-26.0 m; P = 0.006); worse scores for mMRC (0.23; P = 0.004), CAT (1.8; P = 0.003), SGRQ (4.5; P = 0.003), and SF-12 Physical (-3.3; P Accounting for smoking, occupational exposure was associated with COPD risk and, for those with established disease, shorter walk distance, greater breathlessness, worse quality of life, and increased exacerbation risk. Clinicians should obtain occupational histories from patients with COPD because work-related exposures may influence disease burden.

Malnutrition is associated with worse health-related quality of life in children with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Brinksma, Aeltsje; Sanderman, Robbert; Roodbol, Petrie F; Sulkers, Esther; Burgerhof, Johannes G M; de Bont, Eveline S J M; Tissing, Wim J E

2015-10-01

Malnutrition in childhood cancer patients has been associated with lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL). However, this association has never actually been tested. Therefore, we aimed to determine the association between nutritional status and HRQOL in children with cancer. In 104 children, aged 2-18 years and diagnosed with hematological, solid, or brain malignancies, nutritional status and HRQOL were assessed at diagnosis and at 3, 6, and 12 months using the child- and parent-report versions of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic scale and the PedsQL 3.0 Cancer Module. Scores on both scales range from 0 to 100. Undernourished children (body mass index (BMI) or fat-free mass children on the domains physical functioning (-13.3), social functioning (-7.0), cancer summary scale (-5.9), and nausea (-14.7). Overnourished children (BMI or fat mass >2 SDS) reported lower scores on emotional (-8.0) and cognitive functioning (-9.2) and on the cancer summary scale (-6.6), whereas parent-report scores were lower on social functioning (-7.5). Weight loss (>0.5 SDS) was associated with lower scores on physical functioning (-13.9 child-report and -10.7 parent-report), emotional (-7.4) and social functioning (-6.0) (child-report), pain (-11.6), and nausea (-7.8) (parent-report). Parents reported worse social functioning and more pain in children with weight gain (>0.5 SDS) compared with children with stable weight status. Undernutrition and weight loss were associated with worse physical and social functioning, whereas overnutrition and weight gain affected the emotional and social domains of HRQL. Interventions that improve nutritional status may contribute to enhanced health outcomes in children with cancer.

Cerebral White Matter Hypoperfusion Increases with Small-Vessel Disease Burden. Data From the Third International Stroke Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Arba, Francesco; Mair, Grant; Carpenter, Trevor; Sakka, Eleni; Sandercock, Peter A G; Lindley, Richard I; Inzitari, Domenico; Wardlaw, Joanna M

2017-07-01

Leukoaraiosis is associated with impaired cerebral perfusion, but the effect of individual and combined small-vessel disease (SVD) features on white matter perfusion is unclear. We studied patients recruited with perfusion imaging in the Third International Stroke Trial. We rated individual SVD features (leukoaraiosis, lacunes) and brain atrophy on baseline plain computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Separately, we assessed white matter at the level of the lateral ventricles in the cerebral hemisphere contralateral to the stroke for visible areas of hypoperfusion (present or absent) on 4 time-based perfusion imaging parameters. We examined associations between SVD features (individually and summed) and presence of hypoperfusion using logistic regression adjusted for age, sex, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, hypertension, and diabetes. A total of 115 patients with median (interquartile range) age of 81 (72-86) years, 78 (52%) of which were male, had complete perfusion data. Hypoperfusion was most frequent on mean transit time (MTT; 63 patients, 55%) and least frequent on time to maximum flow (19 patients, 17%). The SVD score showed stronger independent associations with hypoperfusion (e.g., MTT, odds ratio [OR] = 2.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.56-5.03) than individual SVD markers (e.g., white matter hypoattenuation score, MTT, OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.09-2.04). Baseline blood pressure did not differ by presence or absence of hypoperfusion or across strata of SVD score. Presence of white matter hypoperfusion increased with SVD summed score. The SVD summed score was associated with hypoperfusion more consistently than individual SVD features, providing validity to the SVD score concept. Increasing SVD burden indicates worse perfusion in the white matter. Copyright © 2017 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spin precession experiments for light axionic dark matter

Science.gov (United States)

Graham, Peter W.; Kaplan, David E.; Mardon, Jeremy; Rajendran, Surjeet; Terrano, William A.; Trahms, Lutz; Wilkason, Thomas

2018-03-01

Axionlike particles are promising candidates to make up the dark matter of the Universe, but it is challenging to design experiments that can detect them over their entire allowed mass range. Dark matter in general, and, in particular, axionlike particles and hidden photons, can be as light as roughly 10-22 eV (˜10-8 Hz ), with astrophysical anomalies providing motivation for the lightest masses ("fuzzy dark matter"). We propose experimental techniques for direct detection of axionlike dark matter in the mass range from roughly 10-13 eV (˜102 Hz ) down to the lowest possible masses. In this range, these axionlike particles act as a time-oscillating magnetic field coupling only to spin, inducing effects such as a time-oscillating torque and periodic variations in the spin-precession frequency with the frequency and direction of these effects set by the axion field. We describe how these signals can be measured using existing experimental technology, including torsion pendulums, atomic magnetometers, and atom interferometry. These experiments demonstrate a strong discovery capability, with future iterations of these experiments capable of pushing several orders of magnitude past current astrophysical bounds.

[Cognitive mechanisms in risky decision-making in cannabis users].

Science.gov (United States)

J R, Alameda-Bailén; M P, Salguero-Alcañiz; A, Merchán-Clavellino; S, Paíno-Quesada

2014-01-01

The relationship between the use of cannabis and the decision-making processes was explored. A computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task (Cards Software) in its normal and reverse version was used, and the Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) model, which characterize the process of decision-making based on the parameters: Recency, Consistency, Loss aversion and Utility shape, was applied. Seventy-three cannabis consumers and a control group with 73 nonconsumers participated in the study. In the normal mode, subjects in the control group scored higher than cannabis consumers. Both groups showed consistent responses and aversion to loss. Nonconsumers showed greater influence of the gain-loss frequency, while consumers were more influenced by the magnitude of the gain-loss. The influence of immediate choices was higher among consumers who showed a quick oblivion while in the control group this process was more gradual. In the reverse mode, task performance was better among control group participants. Both groups showed consistency, loss aversion, more influenced by the magnitude of the gain-loss, and low influence of immediate elections. The results show the relationship between drug use and the decision-making processes, being consistent with the results obtained in other studies where consumers had worse results than control group. Moreover, the PVL parameters allow to adequately characterize decision-making. This confirms the relationship between drug use and decision-making by either the vulnerability prior to consumption or the neurotoxicity of drugs.

Soft Matter The stuff that dreams are made of

CERN Document Server

Piazza, Roberto

2011-01-01

‘Soft matter may, as Roberto Piazza puts it, be the stuff of dreams, but it is also the stuff of life. That is what makes this book so engaging – because it shows the ingenuity that both nature and humankind have invested in the bendy, stretchy, fragile, tough and adaptable substances we find all around us. There is plenty of hard science in this soft matter, and Piazza offers an urbane and eloquent tour through it.’ Philip Ball, multi-award winning science writer. This book takes you for a leisurely walk through the ‘middle earth’ that scientists call soft matter -- much smaller than what we observe with the naked eye, but not as remote as the esoteric realm of molecules, atoms and fundamental particles. From toys to trainers, our civilization would be very different if we did not have plastic. From milk to paint, what would we do without colloids? We ourselves fall into the category of soft matter, made as we are of a molecular origami of proteins, DNA and other biological compounds. This fascinat...

Sentence processing and verbal working memory in a white-matter-disconnection patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Lars; Cunitz, Katrin; Obleser, Jonas; Friederici, Angela D

2014-08-01

The Arcuate Fasciculus/Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (AF/SLF) is the white-matter bundle that connects posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex. Its causal functional role in sentence processing and verbal working memory is currently under debate. While impairments of sentence processing and verbal working memory often co-occur in patients suffering from AF/SLF damage, it is unclear whether these impairments result from shared white-matter damage to the verbal-working-memory network. The present study sought to specify the behavioral consequences of focal AF/SLF damage for sentence processing and verbal working memory, which were assessed in a single patient suffering from a cleft-like lesion spanning the deep left superior temporal gyrus, sparing most surrounding gray matter. While tractography suggests that the ventral fronto-temporal white-matter bundle is intact in this patient, the AF/SLF was not visible to tractography. In line with the hypothesis that the AF/SLF is causally involved in sentence processing, the patient׳s performance was selectively impaired on sentences that jointly involve both complex word orders and long word-storage intervals. However, the patient was unimpaired on sentences that only involved long word-storage intervals without involving complex word orders. On the contrary, the patient performed generally worse than a control group across standard verbal-working-memory tests. We conclude that the AF/SLF not only plays a causal role in sentence processing, linking regions of the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus to the temporo-parietal region, but moreover plays a crucial role in verbal working memory, linking regions of the left ventral inferior frontal gyrus to the left temporo-parietal region. Together, the specific sentence-processing impairment and the more general verbal-working-memory impairment may imply that the AF/SLF subserves both sentence processing and verbal working memory, possibly pointing to the AF

PACS technologies and reliability: are we making things better or worse?

Science.gov (United States)

Horii, Steven C.; Redfern, Regina O.; Kundel, Harold L.; Nodine, Calvin F.

2002-05-01

In the process of installing picture archiving and communications (PACS) and speech recognition equipment, upgrading it, and working with previously stored digital image information, the authors encountered a number of problems. Examination of these difficulties illustrated the complex nature of our existing systems and how difficult it is, in many cases, to predict the behavior of these systems. This was found to be true even for our relatively small number of interconnected systems. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate some of the principles of understanding complex system interaction through examples from our experience. The work for this paper grew out of a number of studies we had carried out on our PACS over several years. The complex nature of our systems was evaluated through comparison of our operations with known examples of systems in other industries. Three scenarios: a network failure, a system software upgrade, and attempting to read media from an old archive showed that the major systems used in the radiology departments of many healthcare facilities (HIS, RIS, PACS, and speed recognition) are likely to interact in complex and often unpredictable ways. These interactions may be very difficult or impossible to predict, so that some plans should be made to overcome the negative aspects of the problems that result. Failures and problems, often unpredictable ones, are a likely side effect of having multiple information handling and processing systems interconnected and interoperating. Planning to avoid, or at least not be so vulnerable, to such difficulties is an important aspect of systems planning.

Breakup of relativistic π+π- atoms in matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afanasyev, L.G.; Tarasov, A.V.

1996-01-01

The relativistic motion of atoms formed by π+ and π- mesons in matter is considered. Exact analytic expressions for the form factors of hydrogenlike atoms for discrete-discrete transitions are obtained in a form convenient for numerical calculations. The total and transition cross sections for the interaction of π+π- atoms with matter are calculated in the Born approximation. The evolution of atomic-state populations is treated in terms of kinetic equations. The method of calculation makes it possible to obtain the populations of discrete atomic states, as well as the probability of transitions to the continuous spectrum (ionization). The proposed method yields the first experimental estimate of the lifetime of the π+π- atom

White matter hypoperfusion and damage in dementia: post-mortem assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Love, Seth; Miners, J Scott

2015-01-01

Neuroimaging has revealed a range of white matter abnormalities that are common in dementia, some that predict cognitive decline. The abnormalities may result from structural diseases of the cerebral vasculature, such as arteriolosclerosis and amyloid angiopathy, but can also be caused by nonstructural vascular abnormalities (eg, of vascular contractility or permeability), neurovascular instability or extracranial cardiac or vascular disease. Conventional histopathological assessment of the white matter has tended to conflate morphological vascular abnormalities with changes that reflect altered interstitial fluid dynamics or white matter ischemic damage, even though the latter may be of extracranial or nonstructural etiology. However, histopathology is being supplemented by biochemical approaches, including the measurement of proteins involved in the molecular responses to brain ischemia, myelin proteins differentially susceptible to ischemic damage, vessel-associated proteins that allow rapid measurement of microvessel density, markers of blood-brain barrier dysfunction and axonal injury, and mediators of white matter damage. By combining neuroimaging with histopathology and biochemical analysis, we can provide reproducible, quantitative data on the severity of white matter damage, and information on its etiology and pathogenesis. Together these have the potential to inform and improve treatment, particularly in forms of dementia to which white matter hypoperfusion makes a significant contribution. © 2014 International Society of Neuropathology.

A systematic effective operator analysis of semi-annihilating dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, Yi; Spray, Andrew

2017-01-01

Semi-annihilation is a generic feature of dark matter theories stabilized by symmetries larger than a ℤ 2 . It contributes to thermal freeze out, but is irrelevant for direct and collider searches. This allows semi-annihilating dark matter to avoid those limits in a natural way. We use an effective operator approach to make the first model-independent study of the associated phenomenology. We enumerate all possible operators that contribute to 2→2 semi-annihilation up to dimension 6, plus leading terms at dimension 7. We find that when the only light states charged under the dark symmetry are dark matter, the model space is highly constrained. Only fifteen operators exist, and just two for single-component dark sectors. If there can be additional light, unstable “dark partner” states the possible phenomenology greatly increases, at the cost of additional model dependence in the dark partner decay modes. We also derive the irreducible constraints on models with single-component dark matter from cosmic ray searches and astrophysical observations. We find that for semi-annihilation to electrons and light quarks, the thermal relic cross sections can be excluded for dark matter masses up to 100 GeV. However, significant model space for semi-annihilating dark matter remains.

Financial burden is associated with worse health-related quality of life in adults with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Peipert, Benjamin J; Goswami, Sneha; Helenowski, Irene; Yount, Susan E; Sturgeon, Cord

2017-12-01

Health-related quality of life and financial burden among patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is poorly described. It is not known how financial burden influences health-related quality of life in this population. We hypothesized that the financial burden attributable to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is associated with worse health-related quality of life. United States adults (≥18 years) with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 were recruited from the AMENSupport MEN online support group. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and financial burden were assessed via an online survey. The instrument Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System 29-item profile measure was used to assess health-related quality of life. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify significant variables in each Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System domain. Out of 1,378 members in AMENSupport, our survey link was accessed 449 times (33%). Of 153 US respondents who completed our survey, 84% reported financial burden attributable to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. The degree of financial burden had a linear relationship with worse health-related quality of life across all Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System domains (r = 0.36-0.55, P financial event(s). Borrowing money from friends/family (30%), unemployment (13%), and spending >$100/month out-of-pocket on prescription medications (46%) were associated consistently with impaired health-related quality of life (ß = 3.75-6.77, P times more likely to be unemployed and declare bankruptcy than the US population, respectively. This study characterizes the financial burden in patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1. Individuals with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 report a high degree of financial burden, negative financial events, and unemployment. Each of these factors was associated with worse health-related quality of life

Properties of color-flavor locked strange quark matter in an external strong magnetic field

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

崔帅帅; 彭光雄; 陆振烟; 彭程; 徐建峰

2015-01-01

The properties of color-flavor locked strange quark matter in an external strong magnetic field are investigated in a quark model with density-dependent quark masses. Parameters are determined by stability arguments. It is found that the minimum energy per baryon of the color-flavor locked (MCFL) matter decreases with increasing magnetic-field strength in a certain range, which makes MCFL matter more stable than other phases within a proper magnitude of the external magnetic field. However, if the energy of the field itself is added, the total energy per baryon will increase.

Serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR genotype and childhood trauma are associated with individual differences in decision making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott F Stoltenberg

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The factors that influence individual differences in decision making are not yet fully characterized, but convergent evidence is accumulating that implicates serotonin (5-HT system function. Therefore, both genes and environments that influence serotonin function are good candidates for association with risky decision making. In the present study we examined associations between common polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4; 5-HTTLPR and rs25531, the experience of childhood trauma and decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT in 391 (64.5% female healthy Caucasian adults. Homozygosity for the 5-HTTLPR L allele was associated with riskier decision making in the first block of 20 trials (i.e. decision making under ambiguity, p = .004. In addition, mean IGT performance was significantly worse in blocks 3-5 (i.e. decision making under risk, p≤ .05 for those participants who reported experiencing higher levels of childhood trauma. Our findings add to the growing evidence that genetic variation in the 5-HT system is associated with individual differences in decision making under ambiguity; and we report that the experience of childhood trauma is associated with relatively poor decision making under risk.

Biologically Active Organic Matter in Soils of European Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Semenov, V. M.; Kogut, B. M.; Zinyakova, N. B.; Masyutenko, N. P.; Malyukova, L. S.; Lebedeva, T. N.; Tulina, A. S.

2018-04-01

Experimental and literature data on the contents and stocks of active organic matter in 200 soil samples from the forest-tundra, southern-taiga, deciduous-forest, forest-steppe, dry-steppe, semidesert, and subtropical zones have been generalized. Natural lands, agrocenoses, treatments of long-term field experiments (bare fallow, unfertilized and fertilized crop rotations, perennial plantations), and different layers of soil profile are presented. Sphagnum peat and humus-peat soil in the tundra and forest-tundra zones are characterized by a very high content of active organic matter (300-600 mg C/100 g). Among the zonal soils, the content of active organic matter increases from the medium (75-150 mg C/100 g) to the high (150-300 mg C/100 g) level when going from soddy-podzolic soil to gray forest and dark-gray forest soils and then to leached chernozem. In the series from typical chernozem to ordinary and southern chernozem and chestnut and brown semidesert soils, a decrease in the content of active organic matter to the low (35-75 mg C/100 g) and very low (organic matter. Most arable soils are mainly characterized by low or very low contents of active organic matter. In the upper layers of soils, active organic matter makes up 1.2-11.1% of total Corg. The profile distribution of active organic matter in the studied soils coincides with that of Corg: their contents appreciably decrease with depth, except for brown semidesert soil. The stocks of active organic matter vary from 0.4 to 5.4 t/ha in the layer of 0-20 cm and from 1.0 to 12.4/ha in the layer of 0-50 cm of different soil types.

Tuning strain of granular matter by basal assisted Couette shear

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Yiqiu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We present a novel Couette shear apparatus capable of generating programmable azimuthal strain inside 2D granular matter under Couette shear. The apparatus consists of 21 independently movable concentric rings and two boundary wheels with frictional racks. This makes it possible to quasistatically shear the granular matter not only from the boundaries but also from the bottom. We show that, by specifying the collective motion of wheels and rings, the apparatus successfully generates the desired strain profile inside the sample granular system, which is composed of about 2000 photoelastic disks. The motion and stress of each particle is captured by an imaging system utilizing reflective photoelasticimetry. This apparatus provides a novel method to investigate shear jamming properties of granular matter with different interior strain profiles and unlimited strain amplitudes.

Probing Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter with Gravitational Waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovetz, Ely D

2017-09-29

Primordial black holes (PBHs) have long been suggested as a candidate for making up some or all of the dark matter in the Universe. Most of the theoretically possible mass range for PBH dark matter has been ruled out with various null observations of expected signatures of their interaction with standard astrophysical objects. However, current constraints are significantly less robust in the 20  M_{⊙}≲M_{PBH}≲100  M_{⊙} mass window, which has received much attention recently, following the detection of merging black holes with estimated masses of ∼30  M_{⊙} by LIGO and the suggestion that these could be black holes formed in the early Universe. We consider the potential of advanced LIGO (aLIGO) operating at design sensitivity to probe this mass range by looking for peaks in the mass spectrum of detected events. To quantify the background, which is due to black holes that are formed from dying stars, we model the shape of the stellar-black-hole mass function and calibrate its amplitude to match the O1 results. Adopting very conservative assumptions about the PBH and stellar-black-hole merger rates, we show that ∼5  yr of aLIGO data can be used to detect a contribution of >20  M_{⊙} PBHs to dark matter down to f_{PBH}99.9% confidence level. Combined with other probes that already suggest tension with f_{PBH}=1, the obtainable independent limits from aLIGO will thus enable a firm test of the scenario that PBHs make up all of dark matter.

Black Lives Matter in Information Literacy

OpenAIRE

Angela Pashia

2016-01-01

The institutional racism addressed by the Black Lives Matter movement is encoded in many of the structures of academia, including academic libraries. As a librarian who teaches information literacy, I ask students to think about which voices are represented in the scholarly literature, make explicit the implicit biases of the way scholarly materials are organized in the library and research databases, and examine the way their own biases affect their evaluations of information. In this articl...

Making and Breaking Property Rights

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Justesen, Mogens Kamp

2015-01-01

This paper analyzes why some governments protect property rights while others do not. Although institutional constraints may affect government incentives to protect property rights, the paper emphasizes that different political institutions have dissimilar effects. Coalition institutions that make...... governments accountable to large groups in society are particularly important, whereas division of powers between veto players is hypothesized to have more ambiguous effects on property rights. Empirical analyses of panel data support the proposition that coalition institutions matter for property-rights...

Annual report 1987 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggen, H.; Benschop, H.; Ebbing, G.

1988-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of yound physicists. The research groups are classified in eight socalled research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretical high-energy physics. This annual report accounts for the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs

Emotion detection deficits and changes in personality traits linked to loss of white matter integrity in primary progressive aphasia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Namita Multani

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Non-cognitive features including personality changes are increasingly recognized in the three PPA variants (semantic-svPPA, non fluent-nfvPPA, and logopenic-lvPPA. However, differences in emotion processing among the PPA variants and its association with white matter tracts are unknown. We compared emotion detection across the three PPA variants and healthy controls (HC, and related them to white matter tract integrity and cortical degeneration. Personality traits in the PPA group were also examined in relation to white matter tracts. Thirty-three patients with svPPA, nfvPPA, lvPPA, and 32 HC underwent neuropsychological assessment, emotion evaluation task (EET, and MRI scan. Patients' study partners were interviewed on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR and completed an interpersonal traits assessment, the Interpersonal Adjective Scale (IAS. Diffusion tensor imaging of uncinate fasciculus (UF, superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF, and voxel-based morphometry to derive gray matter volumes for orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, anterior temporal lobe (ATL regions were performed. In addition, gray matter volumes of white matter tract-associated regions were also calculated: inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, posterior temporal lobe (PTL, inferior parietal lobe (IPL and occipital lobe (OL. ANCOVA was used to compare EET performance. Partial correlation and multivariate linear regression were conducted to examine association between EET and neuroanatomical regions affected in PPA. All three variants of PPA performed significantly worse than HC on EET, and the svPPA group was least accurate at recognizing emotions. Performance on EET was related to the right UF, SLF, and ILF integrity. Regression analysis revealed EET performance primarily relates to the right UF integrity. The IAS subdomain, cold-hearted, was also associated with right UF integrity. Disease-specific emotion recognition and personality changes occur

Extra U(1), effective operators, anomalies and dark matter

CERN Document Server

Dudas, Emilian; Mambrini, Yann; Zaldivar, Bryan

2013-01-01

A general analysis is performed on the dimension-six operators mixing an almost hidden Z' to the Standard Model (SM), when the Z' communicates with the SM via heavy mediators. These are fermions charged under both Z' and the SM, while all SM fermions are neutral under Z'. We classify the operators as a function of the gauge anomalies behaviour of mediators and explicitly compute the dimension-six operators coupling Z' to gluons, generated at one-loop by chiral but anomaly-free, sets of fermion mediators. We prove that only one operator contribute to the couplings between Z' charged matter and on-shell gluons. We then make a complete phenomenological analysis of the scenario where the lightest fermion charged under Z' is the dark matter candidate. Combining results from WMAP/PLANCK data, mono-jet searches at LHC, and direct/indirect dark matter detections restrict considerably the allowed parameter space.

Time-Averaged Adiabatic Potentials: Versatile Matter-Wave Guides and Atom Traps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lesanovsky, Igor; Klitzing, Wolf von

2007-01-01

We demonstrate a novel class of trapping potentials, time-averaged adiabatic potentials (TAAP), which allows the generation of a large variety of traps for quantum gases and matter-wave guides for atom interferometers. Examples include stacks of pancakes, rows of cigars, and multiple rings or sickles. The traps can be coupled through controllable tunneling barriers or merged altogether. We present analytical expressions for pancake-, cigar-, and ring-shaped traps. The ring geometry is of particular interest for guided matter-wave interferometry as it provides a perfectly smooth waveguide of widely tunable diameter and thus adjustable sensitivity of the interferometer. The flexibility of the TAAP would make possible the use of Bose-Einstein condensates as coherent matter waves in large-area atom interferometers

Dark matter annihilation in the milky way galaxy: effects of baryonic compression.

Science.gov (United States)

Prada, F; Klypin, A; Flix, J; Martínez, M; Simonneau, E

2004-12-10

If the dark matter (DM), which is considered to constitute most of the mass of galaxies, is made of supersymmetric particles, the central region of our Galaxy should emit gamma rays produced by their annihilation. We use detailed models of the Milky Way to make accurate estimates of continuum gamma-ray fluxes. We argue that the most important effect, which was previously neglected, is the compression of the dark matter due to the infall of baryons to the galactic center: it boosts the expected signal by a factor 1000. To illustrate this effect, we computed the expected gamma fluxes in the minimal supergravity scenario. Our models predict that the signal could be detected at high confidence levels by imaging atmospheric C erenkov telescopes assuming that neutralinos make up most of the DM in the Universe.

A more randomly organized grey matter network is associated with deteriorating language and global cognition in individuals with subjective cognitive decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Verfaillie, Sander C J; Slot, Rosalinde E R; Dicks, Ellen; Prins, Niels D; Overbeek, Jozefien M; Teunissen, Charlotte E; Scheltens, Philip; Barkhof, Frederik; van der Flier, Wiesje M; Tijms, Betty M

2018-03-30

Grey matter network disruptions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are associated with worse cognitive impairment cross-sectionally. Our aim was to investigate whether indications of a more random network organization are associated with longitudinal decline in specific cognitive functions in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). We included 231 individuals with SCD who had annually repeated neuropsychological assessment (3 ± 1 years; n = 646 neuropsychological investigations) available from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (54% male, age: 63 ± 9, MMSE: 28 ± 2). Single-subject grey matter networks were extracted from baseline 3D-T1 MRI scans and we computed basic network (size, degree, connectivity density) and higher-order (path length, clustering, betweenness centrality, normalized path length [lambda] and normalized clustering [gamma]) parameters at whole brain and/or regional levels. We tested associations of network parameters with baseline and annual cognition (memory, attention, executive functioning, language composite scores, and global cognition [all domains with MMSE]) using linear mixed models, adjusted for age, sex, education, scanner and total gray matter volume. Lower network size was associated with steeper decline in language (β ± SE = 0.12 ± 0.05, p organized grey matter network was associated with a steeper decline of cognitive functioning, possibly indicating the start of cognitive impairment. © 2018 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Making yourself indispensable.

Science.gov (United States)

Zenger, John H; Folkman, Joseph R; Edinger, Scott K

2011-10-01

Peter Drucker and other leadership thinkers have long argued that leaders should focus on strengthening their strengths. How should they do that? Improving on a weakness is pretty easy and straight forward: You can make measurable progress by honing and practicing basic techniques. But developing a strength is a different matter, because simply doing more of what you're good at will yield only incremental improvements. If you are strong technically, becoming even more of a technical expert won't make you a dramatically better leader. If, however, you use what the authors call "nonlinear development"--similar to an athlete's cross-training--you can achieve exponential results. Your technical expertise will become more powerful if, for instance, you build on your communication skills, enabling you to explain technical problems both more broadly and more effectively. The authors, all from the leadership development consultancy Zenger Folkman, present a step-by-step process by which developing leaders can identify their strengths (through either a formal or an informal 360-degree evaluation), select appropriate complementary skills (the article identifies up to a dozen for each core strength), and develop those skills to dramatically improve their strengths--making themselves uniquely valuable to their companies.

Interpreting dark matter direct detection independently of the local velocity and density distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fox, Patrick J.; Kribs, Graham D.; Tait, Tim M. P.

2011-01-01

We demonstrate precisely what particle physics information can be extracted from a single direct detection observation of dark matter while making absolutely no assumptions about the local velocity distribution and local density of dark matter. Our central conclusions follow from a very simple observation: the velocity distribution of dark matter is positive definite, f(v)≥0. We demonstrate the utility of this result in several ways. First, we show a falling deconvoluted recoil spectrum (deconvoluted of the nuclear form factor), such as from ordinary elastic scattering, can be 'mocked up' by any mass of dark matter above a kinematic minimum. As an example, we show that dark matter much heavier than previously considered can explain the CoGeNT excess. Specifically, m χ Ge can be in just as good agreement as light dark matter, while m χ >m Ge depends on understanding the sensitivity of xenon to dark matter at very low recoil energies, E R < or approx. 6 keVnr. Second, we show that any rise in the deconvoluted recoil spectrum represents distinct particle physics information that cannot be faked by an arbitrary f(v). As examples of resulting nontrivial particle physics, we show that inelastic dark matter and dark matter with a form factor can both yield such a rise.

Anatomical abnormalities in gray and white matter of the cortical surface in persons with schizophrenia.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tiziano Colibazzi

Full Text Available Although schizophrenia has been associated with abnormalities in brain anatomy, imaging studies have not fully determined the nature and relative contributions of gray matter (GM and white matter (WM disturbances underlying these findings. We sought to determine the pattern and distribution of these GM and WM abnormalities. Furthermore, we aimed to clarify the contribution of abnormalities in cortical thickness and cortical surface area to the reduced GM volumes reported in schizophrenia.We recruited 76 persons with schizophrenia and 57 healthy controls from the community and obtained measures of cortical and WM surface areas, of local volumes along the brain and WM surfaces, and of cortical thickness.We detected reduced local volumes in patients along corresponding locations of the brain and WM surfaces in addition to bilateral greater thickness of perisylvian cortices and thinner cortex in the superior frontal and cingulate gyri. Total cortical and WM surface areas were reduced. Patients with worse performance on the serial-position task, a measure of working memory, had a higher burden of WM abnormalities.Reduced local volumes along the surface of the brain mirrored the locations of abnormalities along the surface of the underlying WM, rather than of abnormalities of cortical thickness. Moreover, anatomical features of white matter, but not cortical thickness, correlated with measures of working memory. We propose that reductions in WM and smaller total cortical surface area could be central anatomical abnormalities in schizophrenia, driving, at least partially, the reduced regional GM volumes often observed in this illness.

Directly Detecting MeV-Scale Dark Matter Via Solar Reflection.

Science.gov (United States)

An, Haipeng; Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef; Ritz, Adam

2018-04-06

If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few   MeV/c^{2} and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a large range of the mass versus cross section parameter space, {m_{e},σ_{e}}, the "reflected" component of the DM flux is far more energetic than the end point of the ambient galactic DM energy distribution, making it detectable with existing DM detectors sensitive to an energy deposition of 10-10^{3}  eV. After numerically simulating the small reflected component of the DM flux, we calculate its subsequent signal due to scattering on detector electrons, deriving new constraints on σ_{e} in the MeV and sub-MeV range using existing data from the XENON10/100, LUX, PandaX-II, and XENON1T experiments, as well as making projections for future low threshold direct detection experiments.

Directly Detecting MeV-Scale Dark Matter Via Solar Reflection

Science.gov (United States)

An, Haipeng; Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef; Ritz, Adam

2018-04-01

If dark matter (DM) particles are lighter than a few MeV /c2 and can scatter off electrons, their interaction within the solar interior results in a considerable hardening of the spectrum of galactic dark matter received on Earth. For a large range of the mass versus cross section parameter space, {me,σe}, the "reflected" component of the DM flux is far more energetic than the end point of the ambient galactic DM energy distribution, making it detectable with existing DM detectors sensitive to an energy deposition of 10 -103 eV . After numerically simulating the small reflected component of the DM flux, we calculate its subsequent signal due to scattering on detector electrons, deriving new constraints on σe in the MeV and sub-MeV range using existing data from the XENON10/100, LUX, PandaX-II, and XENON1T experiments, as well as making projections for future low threshold direct detection experiments.

Zero-order filter for diffractive focusing of de Broglie matter waves

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eder, S. D.; Ravn, A. K.; Samelin, B.

2017-01-01

The manipulation of neutral atoms and molecules via their de Broglie wave properties, also referred to asde Broglie matter wave optics, is relevant for several fields ranging from fundamental quantum mechanics testsand quantum metrology to measurements of interaction potentials and new imaging...... Broglie matter wave diffractive focusing elements. The zero-order filter makes it possible to measure even at low beam intensities. We present measurements of zero-order filtered, focused, neutral helium beams generated at source stagnation pressures between 11 and 81 bars. We show that for certain...

Does dark matter consist of baryons of new stable family quarks?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bregar, G.; Mankoc Borstnik, N. S.

2009-01-01

We investigate the possibility that the dark matter consists of clusters of the heavy family quarks and leptons with zero Yukawa couplings to the lower families. Such a family is predicted by the approach unifying spin and charges as the fifth family. We make a rough estimation of properties of baryons of these new family members, of their behavior during the evolution of the Universe and when scattering on the ordinary matter, and study possible limitations on the family properties due to the cosmological and direct experimental evidences.

Making Evaluation Matter

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Chapter 8, 'The Importance of Understanding Context and Structures in ... He examines the potential for using capability approach (CA)-based tools for ...... condom vending machines, and support to establish community-based organizations ...

Making Interaction Matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Machacek, Erika

an understanding of the specific industrial peculiarities and to inform on prevailing, dynamic forms of interfirm governance. First, the GVC is mapped. Second, the filaments of rare earth-based phosphor powders for energy-efficient lamps and adjacent segments for recycling, and of rare-earth based magnets...... are investigated. Third, the REE-product potential from Southern Greenlandic rare earth-bearing deposits is compared with the potential from REE-bearing mineral occurrences of similarly advanced projects in Australia, Canada and South Africa. Findings unfold a highly complex industry with segment...

Making Memories Matter

OpenAIRE

Gold, Paul E.; Korol, Donna L.

2012-01-01

This article reviews some of the neuroendocrine bases by which emotional events regulate brain mechanisms of learning and memory. In laboratory rodents, there is extensive evidence that epinephrine influences memory processing through an inverted-U relationship, at which moderate levels enhance and high levels impair memory. These effects are, in large part, mediated by increases in blood glucose levels subsequent to epinephrine release, which then provide support for the brain processes en...

Making memories matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paul E. Gold

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article reviews some of the neuroendocrine bases by which emotional events regulate brain mechanisms of learning and memory. In laboratory rodents, there is extensive evidence that epinephrine influences memory processing through an inverted-U relationship, at which moderate levels enhance and high levels impair memory. These effects are, in large part, mediated by increases in blood glucose levels subsequent to epinephrine release, which then provide support for the brain processes engaged by learning and memory. These brain processes include augmentation of neurotransmitter release and of energy metabolism, the latter apparently including a key role for astrocytic glycogen. In addition to up- and down-regulation of learning and memory in general, physiological concomitants of emotion and arousal can also switch the neural system that controls learning at a particular time, at once improving some attributes of learning and impairing others in a manner that results in a change in the strategy used to solve a problem.

Making Memories Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Gold, Paul E.; Korol, Donna L.

2012-01-01

This article reviews some of the neuroendocrine bases by which emotional events regulate brain mechanisms of learning and memory. In laboratory rodents, there is extensive evidence that epinephrine influences memory processing through an inverted-U relationship, at which moderate levels enhance and high levels impair memory. These effects are, in large part, mediated by increases in blood glucose levels subsequent to epinephrine release, which then provide support for the brain processes engaged by learning and memory. These brain processes include augmentation of neurotransmitter release and of energy metabolism, the latter apparently including a key role for astrocytic glycogen. In addition to up- and down-regulation of learning and memory in general, physiological concomitants of emotion and arousal can also switch the neural system that controls learning at a particular time, at once improving some attributes of learning and impairing others in a manner that results in a change in the strategy used to solve a problem. PMID:23264764

Decisions, Decisions: The Neurobiology of the effects of Dopamine Replacement Therapy on Decision-Making in Parkinson’s Disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Lee

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Dopamine replacement therapy (DRT alleviates motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease but induces neuropsychiatric side-effects. This review evaluates recent research into the decision-making deficits caused by DRT arising because dopamine ‘overdoses’ a relatively-intact ventral striatum while replenishing the dorsal striatum. Consequently, patients on medication are worse at learning from losses but better at learning from wins than healthy controls. Additionally, due to greater disruption of medication on limbic than cognitive neural circuits, patients are poorer at decision-making under risk than decision-making under ambiguity. Particularly, task components related to ventral fronto-striatal and orbitofrontal regions are affected more than those related to dorsal and prefrontal regions. Selective deficits in feedback processing and outcome evaluation due to limbic overdose likely drive this effect.

Worse Prognosis in Heart Failure Patients with 30-Day Readmission

Science.gov (United States)

Tung, Ying-Chang; Chou, Shing-Hsien; Liu, Kuan-Liang; Hsieh, I-Chang; Wu, Lung-Sheng; Lin, Chia-Pin; Wen, Ming-Shien; Chu, Pao-Hsien

2016-01-01

Background Heart failure (HF) readmission results in substantial expenditure on HF management. This study aimed to evaluate the readmission rate, outcome, and predictors of HF readmission. Methods Patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF readmission rate, mortality and predictors of readmission. Results A total of 433 de novo HF patients with LVEF readmission rates were 10.9% and 27%, respectively. At the end of the 6-month follow-up, the readmission group had higher mortality than the non-readmission group (27.66% vs. 10.36%; p = 0.001). The survivors of the 30-day readmission had similar mortality rates at 6 months, regardless of the cause of readmission (cardiovascular vs. non-cardiovascular: 25% vs. 30.43%, p = 0.677). Among all the parameters, prescription of beta blockers independently reduced the risk of 30-day readmission (odds ratio 0.15; 95% confidence interval 0.02-0.99; p = 0.049). Conclusions Those HF patients who suffered from 30-day readmission had worse prognosis at the 6-month follow-up. Regardless of the readmission causes, the patients surviving the 30-day readmission had similar mortality rates at 6-month follow-up. These results underscored the importance of reducing readmission as a means to improve HF outcome. PMID:27899857

D matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shiu, Gary; Wang Liantao

2004-01-01

We study the properties and phenomenology of particlelike states originating from D branes whose spatial dimensions are all compactified. They are nonperturbative states in string theory and we refer to them as D matter. In contrast to other nonperturbative objects such as 't Hooft-Polyakov monopoles, D-matter states could have perturbative couplings among themselves and with ordinary matter. The lightest D particle (LDP) could be stable because it is the lightest state carrying certain (integer or discrete) quantum numbers. Depending on the string scale, they could be cold dark matter candidates with properties similar to that of WIMPs or wimpzillas. The spectrum of excited states of D matter exhibits an interesting pattern which could be distinguished from that of Kaluza-Klein modes, winding states, and string resonances. We speculate about possible signatures of D matter from ultrahigh energy cosmic rays and colliders

Asymmetric Dark Matter and Dark Radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blennow, Mattias; Martinez, Enrique Fernandez; Mena, Olga; Redondo, Javier; Serra, Paolo

2012-01-01

Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) models invoke a particle-antiparticle asymmetry, similar to the one observed in the Baryon sector, to account for the Dark Matter (DM) abundance. Both asymmetries are usually generated by the same mechanism and generally related, thus predicting DM masses around 5 GeV in order to obtain the correct density. The main challenge for successful models is to ensure efficient annihilation of the thermally produced symmetric component of such a light DM candidate without violating constraints from collider or direct searches. A common way to overcome this involves a light mediator, into which DM can efficiently annihilate and which subsequently decays into Standard Model particles. Here we explore the scenario where the light mediator decays instead into lighter degrees of freedom in the dark sector that act as radiation in the early Universe. While this assumption makes indirect DM searches challenging, it leads to signals of extra radiation at BBN and CMB. Under certain conditions, precise measurements of the number of relativistic species, such as those expected from the Planck satellite, can provide information on the structure of the dark sector. We also discuss the constraints of the interactions between DM and Dark Radiation from their imprint in the matter power spectrum

Peripheral Leukocytosis Is Inversely Correlated with Intratumoral CD8+ T-Cell Infiltration and Associated with Worse Outcome after Chemoradiotherapy in Anal Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Martin

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Peripheral blood leukocytosis has been implicated in promoting tumor progression leading to worse survival, but the mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain unexplored. Here, we examined the prognostic role of pretreatment white blood cell (WBC count and clinicopathologic parameters in the context of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL and myeloperoxidase+ tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs in patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT. After a median follow-up of 26 months, leukocytosis correlated with advanced T-stage (p < 0.001 and N-stage (p < 0.001, and predicted for worse distant-metastasis-free survival (p = 0.006, disease-free-survival (DFS, p = 0.029, and overall survival (p = 0.013. Importantly, leukocytosis was associated with a lower intraepithelial CD8+ TIL density (p = 0.014, whereas low CD8+ TIL expression in the intraepithelial compartment was associated with worse DFS (p = 0.028. Additionally, high TAN expression in the peritumoral compartment was associated with a significantly lower density of CD8+ TIL (p = 0.039, albeit, TAN expression lacked prognostic value. In conclusion, leukocytosis constitutes an important prognostic marker in ASCC patients treated with CRT. In conjunction with intratumoral TIL and TAN, these data provide for the first time important insight on the correlation of peripheral blood leukocytosis with the intratumoral immune contexture and could be relevant for future patient stratification using immunotherapies in ASCC.

Inelastic dark matter in light of DAMA/LIBRA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, Spencer; Weiner, Neal; Kribs, Graham D.; Tucker-Smith, David

2009-01-01

Inelastic dark matter, in which weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)-nucleus scatterings occur through a transition to an excited WIMP state ∼100 keV above the ground state, provides a compelling explanation of the DAMA annual modulation signal. We demonstrate that the relative sensitivities of various dark matter direct detection experiments are modified such that the DAMA annual modulation signal can be reconciled with the absence of a reported signal at CDMS-Soudan, XENON10, ZEPLIN, CRESST, and KIMS for inelastic WIMPs with masses O(100 GeV). We review the status of these experiments, and make predictions for upcoming ones. In particular, we note that inelastic dark matter leads to highly suppressed signals at low energy, with most events typically occurring between 20 and 45 keV (unquenched) at xenon and iodine experiments, and generally no events at low (∼10 keV) energies. Suppressing the background in this high-energy region is essential to testing this scenario. The recent CRESST data suggest seven observed tungsten events, which is consistent with expectations from this model. If the tungsten signal persists at future CRESST runs, it would provide compelling evidence for inelastic dark matter, while its absence should exclude it.

Compact perturbative expressions for neutrino oscillations in matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denton, Peter B. [Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Physics & Astronomy Department, Vanderbilt University,PMB 401807, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States); Minakata, Hisakazu [Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo,C.P. 66.318, 05315-970 São Paulo (Brazil); Department of Physics, Yachay Tech University,San Miguel de Urcuquí 100119 (Ecuador); Parke, Stephen J. [Theoretical Physics Department, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States)

2016-06-08

We further develop and extend a recent perturbative framework for neutrino oscillations in uniform matter density so that the resulting oscillation probabilities are accurate for the complete matter potential versus baseline divided by neutrino energy plane. This extension also gives the exact oscillation probabilities in vacuum for all values of baseline divided by neutrino energy. The expansion parameter used is related to the ratio of the solar to the atmospheric Δm{sup 2} scales but with a unique choice of the atmospheric Δm{sup 2} such that certain first-order effects are taken into account in the zeroth-order Hamiltonian. Using a mixing matrix formulation, this framework has the exceptional feature that the neutrino oscillation probability in matter has the same structure as in vacuum, to all orders in the expansion parameter. It also contains all orders in the matter potential and sin θ{sub 13}. It facilitates immediate physical interpretation of the analytic results, and makes the expressions for the neutrino oscillation probabilities extremely compact and very accurate even at zeroth order in our perturbative expansion. The first and second order results are also given which improve the precision by approximately two or more orders of magnitude per perturbative order.

Are economic recessions at the time of leaving school associated with worse physical functioning in later life?

Science.gov (United States)

Hessel, Philipp; Avendano, Mauricio

2013-11-01

To examine whether economic conditions at the time of leaving school or college are associated with physical functioning in later life among cohorts in 11 European countries. Data came from 10,338 participants in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) aged 50-74 who left school or college between 1956 and 1986. Data on functional limitations, as well as employment, marriage, and fertility retrospective histories were linked to national unemployment rates during the year individuals left school. Models included country-fixed effects and controls for early-life circumstances. Greater unemployment rates during the school-leaving year were associated with fewer functional limitations at ages 50-74 among men (rate ratio 0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.47-0.83), but more physical functioning limitations among women (rate ratio 1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.13-1.50), particularly among those with (post-)secondary education. Economic conditions at the age of leaving school were associated with several labor market, marriage, fertility, and health behavior outcomes, but controlling for these factors did not attenuate associations. Results were similar in models that controlled for selection into higher education due to measured covariates. Worse economic conditions during the school-leaving year predicted better health at later life among men but worse health among women. Both selection and causation mechanisms may explain this association. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MR spectroscopy of cerebral white matter in type 2 diabetes; no association with clinical variables and cognitive performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tiehuis, Audrey; Meer, Femke van der; Mali, Willem; Luijten, Peter [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Radiology (Hp E01.332), PO Box 85500, GA, Utrecht (Netherlands); Pleizier, Marc; Biessels, Geert Jan; Kappelle, Jaap [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Neurology, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2010-02-15

Type 2 diabetes (DM2) is associated with cognitive decline, but the pathogenesis of this important complication remains unclear. We investigated whether abnormalities in neuronal metabolism or membrane integrity in normal appearing cerebral white matter are associated with cognitive impairment in patients with DM2. Single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1.5 T), aimed at N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), total choline (Cho), and total creatine (Cr), was performed in the cerebral white matter (centrum semiovale) of 72 patients with DM2 and 40 control subjects. All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological evaluation. Patients with DM2 performed worse with respect to global neuropsychological functioning than controls (p < 0.05), in particular on memory and information processing speed. We observed no differences in NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, or NAA/Cho ratio's between patients with DM2 and controls. Cognitive performance in patients with DM2 was not correlated with any of these brain metabolites, neither were the clinical variables. We conclude that disturbances in neuronal viability and cellular membrane status assessed by NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, NAA/Cho ratios cannot explain cognitive decline in patients with DM2. (orig.)

MR spectroscopy of cerebral white matter in type 2 diabetes; no association with clinical variables and cognitive performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tiehuis, Audrey; Meer, Femke van der; Mali, Willem; Luijten, Peter; Pleizier, Marc; Biessels, Geert Jan; Kappelle, Jaap

2010-01-01

Type 2 diabetes (DM2) is associated with cognitive decline, but the pathogenesis of this important complication remains unclear. We investigated whether abnormalities in neuronal metabolism or membrane integrity in normal appearing cerebral white matter are associated with cognitive impairment in patients with DM2. Single voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1.5 T), aimed at N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), total choline (Cho), and total creatine (Cr), was performed in the cerebral white matter (centrum semiovale) of 72 patients with DM2 and 40 control subjects. All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological evaluation. Patients with DM2 performed worse with respect to global neuropsychological functioning than controls (p < 0.05), in particular on memory and information processing speed. We observed no differences in NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, or NAA/Cho ratio's between patients with DM2 and controls. Cognitive performance in patients with DM2 was not correlated with any of these brain metabolites, neither were the clinical variables. We conclude that disturbances in neuronal viability and cellular membrane status assessed by NAA/Cr, Cho/Cr, NAA/Cho ratios cannot explain cognitive decline in patients with DM2. (orig.)

Regret and adaptive decision making in young children.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Eimear; McCormack, Teresa; Beck, Sarah R; Feeney, Aidan

2015-07-01

In line with the claim that regret plays a role in decision making, O'Connor, McCormack, and Feeney (Child Development, 85 (2014) 1995-2010) found that children who reported feeling sadder on discovering they had made a non-optimal choice were more likely to make a different choice the next time around. We examined two issues of interpretation regarding this finding: whether the emotion measured was indeed regret and whether it was the experience of this emotion, rather than the ability to anticipate it, that affected decision making. To address the first issue, we varied the degree to which children aged 6 or 7 years were responsible for an outcome, assuming that responsibility is a necessary condition for regret. The second issue was addressed by examining whether children could accurately anticipate that they would feel worse on discovering they had made a non-optimal choice. Children were more likely to feel sad if they were responsible for the outcome; however, even if they were not responsible, children were more likely than chance to report feeling sadder. Moreover, across all conditions, feeling sadder was associated with making a better subsequent choice. In a separate task, we demonstrated that children of this age cannot accurately anticipate feeling sadder on discovering that they had not made the best choice. These findings suggest that although children may feel regret following a non-optimal choice, even if they were not responsible for an outcome, they may experience another negative emotion such as frustration. Experiencing either of these emotions seems to be sufficient to support better decision making. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Laboratory Measurements of Particulate Matter Concentrations from Asphalt Pavement Abrasion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fullová Daša

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of emissions from road traffic is compounded by the fact that the number of vehicles and driven kilometres increase each year. Road traffic is one of the main sources of particulate matter and traffic volume is still increasing and has unpleasant impact on longevity of the pavements and the environment. Vehicle motions cause mechanical wearing of the asphalt pavement surface - wearing course by vehicle tyres. The contribution deals with abrasion of bituminous wearing courses of pavements. The asphalt mixtures of wearing courses are compared in terms of mechanically separated particulate matter. The samples of asphalt mixtures were rutted in wheel tracking machine. The particulate matter measurements were performed in laboratory conditions. The experimental laboratory measurements make it possible to sample particulates without contamination from exhaust emissions, abraded particles from vehicles, resuspension of road dust and climate affects. The contribution offers partial results of measurements on six trial samples of asphalt mixtures with different composition. It presents particulate matter morphology and the comparison of rutted asphalt samples in terms of PM mass concentrations and chemical composition.

What's so Good About a Wise and Knowledgeable Public?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahlström, Kristoffer

2012-01-01

that the public tends to be largely ignorant on the issues relevant to governance. To make matters worse, social psychological research on how ignorance tends to breed overconfidence gives us reason to believe that the public will not only lack knowledge on the relevant issues, but also wisdom, in the Socratic......—irrespective of what account of wisdom available in the literature we opt for. In fact, it might just be that what the public needs is nothing but the most basic epistemic good: true belief....

The making and breaking of trust in pension providers : An empirical study of pension participants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dalen, Harry; Henkens, Kene

2018-01-01

Trust in pension institutions is pivotal in making pension decisions, like saving or enrolling in pension programs. But which traits of pension institutions matter in making or breaking trust in providers like pension funds, banks or insurance companies? This paper presents an empirical analysis of

Closing in on mass-degenerate dark matter scenarios with antiprotons and direct detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garny, Mathias; Ibarra, Alejandro; Pato, Miguel; Vogl, Stefan

2012-01-01

Over the last years both cosmic-ray antiproton measurements and direct dark matter searches have proved particularly effective in constraining the nature of dark matter candidates. The present work focusses on these two types of constraints in a minimal framework which features a Majorana fermion as the dark matter particle and a scalar that mediates the coupling to quarks. Considering a wide range of coupling schemes, we derive antiproton and direct detection constraints using the latest data and paying close attention to astrophysical and nuclear uncertainties. Both signals are strongly enhanced in the presence of degenerate dark matter and scalar masses, but we show that the effect is especially dramatic in direct detection. Accordingly, the latest direct detection limits take the lead over antiprotons. We find that antiproton and direct detection data set stringent lower limits on the mass splitting, reaching 19% at a 300 GeV dark matter mass for a unity coupling. Interestingly, these limits are orthogonal to ongoing collider searches at the Large Hadron Collider, making it feasible to close in on degenerate dark matter scenarios within the next years

Closing in on mass-degenerate dark matter scenarios with antiprotons and direct detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garny, Mathias [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Ibarra, Alejandro; Pato, Miguel; Vogl, Stefan [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Physik-Department

2012-07-15

Over the last years both cosmic-ray antiproton measurements and direct dark matter searches have proved particularly effective in constraining the nature of dark matter candidates. The present work focusses on these two types of constraints in a minimal framework which features a Majorana fermion as the dark matter particle and a scalar that mediates the coupling to quarks. Considering a wide range of coupling schemes, we derive antiproton and direct detection constraints using the latest data and paying close attention to astrophysical and nuclear uncertainties. Both signals are strongly enhanced in the presence of degenerate dark matter and scalar masses, but we show that the effect is especially dramatic in direct detection. Accordingly, the latest direct detection limits take the lead over antiprotons. We find that antiproton and direct detection data set stringent lower limits on the mass splitting, reaching 19% at a 300 GeV dark matter mass for a unity coupling. Interestingly, these limits are orthogonal to ongoing collider searches at the Large Hadron Collider, making it feasible to close in on degenerate dark matter scenarios within the next years.

Seven (and a half) reasons to believe in mirror matter: from neutrino puzzles to the inferred dark matter in the universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foot, R.

2001-02-01

Parity and time reversal are obvious and plausible candidates for fundamental symmetries of nature. Hypothesising that these symmetries exist implies the existence of a new form of matter, called mirror matter. The mirror matter theory (or exact parity model) makes four main predictions: 1) Dark matter in the form of mirror matter should exist in the Universe (i.e. mirror galaxies, stars, planets, meteoroids...), 2) Maximal ordinary neutrino - mirror neutrino oscillations if neutrinos have mass, 3) Orthopositronium should have a shorter effective lifetime than predicted by QED (in 'vacuum' experiments) because of the effects of photon-mirror photon mixing and 4) Higgs production and decay rate should be 50% lower than in the standard model due to Higgs mirror - Higgs mixing (assuming that the separation of the Higgs masses is larger than their decay widths). At the present time there is strong experimental/observational evidence supporting the first three of these predictions, while the fourth one is not tested yet because the Higgs boson, predicted in the standard model of particle physics, is yet to be found. This experimental/observational evidence is rich and varied ranging from the atmospheric and solar neutrino deficits, MACHO gravitational microlensing events, strange properties of extra-solar planets, the existence of 'isolated' planets, orthopositronium lifetime anomaly, Tunguska and other strange 'meteor' events including perhaps, the origin of the moon. The purpose of this article is to provide a not too technical review of these ideas along with some new results

Long-term follow-up of the risk for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse in HPV-negative women after conization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gosvig, Camilla F; Huusom, Lene D; Andersen, Klaus K

2015-01-01

Little research has been conducted on the long-term value of human papillomavirus (HPV) testing after conization. We investigated whether cytology adds to the value of a negative HPV test for long-term prediction of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+). In addition, we...

The positron excess as a smoking gun for dynamical dark matter?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dienes, Keith R. [Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 (United States); Kumar, Jason [Department of Physics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Thomas, Brooks [Department of Physics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 (Canada)

2014-06-24

One of the most puzzling aspects of recent data from the AMS-02 experiment is an apparent rise in the cosmic-ray positron fraction as a function of energy. This feature is observed out to energies of approximately 350 GeV. One explanation of these results interprets the extra positrons as arising from the decays of dark-matter particles. This in turn typically requires that such particles have rather heavy TeV-scale masses and not undergo simple two-body decays to leptons. In this talk, by contrast, we show that Dynamical Dark Matter (DDM) can not only match existing AMS-02 data on the positron excess, but also accomplish this feat with significantly lighter dark-matter constituents undergoing simple two-body decays to leptons. We also demonstrate that the Dynamical Dark Matter framework makes a fairly robust prediction that the positron fraction should level off and then remain roughly constant out to approximately 1 TeV, without experiencing any sharp downturns. Thus, if we interpret the positron excess in terms of decaying dark matter, the existence of a plateau in the positron fraction at energies less than 1 TeV may be taken as a “smoking gun” of Dynamical Dark Matter.

The positron excess as a smoking gun for dynamical dark matter?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dienes, Keith R.; Kumar, Jason; Thomas, Brooks

2014-01-01

One of the most puzzling aspects of recent data from the AMS-02 experiment is an apparent rise in the cosmic-ray positron fraction as a function of energy. This feature is observed out to energies of approximately 350 GeV. One explanation of these results interprets the extra positrons as arising from the decays of dark-matter particles. This in turn typically requires that such particles have rather heavy TeV-scale masses and not undergo simple two-body decays to leptons. In this talk, by contrast, we show that Dynamical Dark Matter (DDM) can not only match existing AMS-02 data on the positron excess, but also accomplish this feat with significantly lighter dark-matter constituents undergoing simple two-body decays to leptons. We also demonstrate that the Dynamical Dark Matter framework makes a fairly robust prediction that the positron fraction should level off and then remain roughly constant out to approximately 1 TeV, without experiencing any sharp downturns. Thus, if we interpret the positron excess in terms of decaying dark matter, the existence of a plateau in the positron fraction at energies less than 1 TeV may be taken as a “smoking gun” of Dynamical Dark Matter

Annual report '84 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooren, M.J.H. van; Miltenburg, J.W.

1984-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight socalled research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconuctors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles of which three are in INIS scope, respectively dealing with the experimental deiscovery of intermediate vector bosons at CERN, the study of macroscopic properties of nuclear matter by collision experiments of high-energetic nuclei, and how atoms can be made 'visible' by atomic-collision experiments. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs

Dark matter detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Forster, G.

1995-01-01

A fundamental question of astrophysics and cosmology is the nature of dark matter. Astrophysical observations show clearly the existence of some kind of dark matter, though they cannot yet reveal its nature. Dark matter can consist of baryonic particles, or of other (known or unknown) elementary particles. Baryonic dark matter probably exists in the form of dust, gas, or small stars. Other elementary particles constituting the dark matter can possibly be measured in terrestrial experiments. Possibilities for dark matter particles are neutrinos, axions and weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). While a direct detection of relic neutrinos seems at the moment impossible, there are experiments looking for baryonic dark matter in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects, and for particle dark matter in the form of axions and WIMPS. (orig.)

Phenomenology of ELDER dark matter

Science.gov (United States)

Kuflik, Eric; Perelstein, Maxim; Lorier, Nicolas Rey-Le; Tsai, Yu-Dai

2017-08-01

We explore the phenomenology of Elastically Decoupling Relic (ELDER) dark matter. ELDER is a thermal relic whose present density is determined primarily by the cross-section of its elastic scattering off Standard Model (SM) particles. Assuming that this scattering is mediated by a kinetically mixed dark photon, we argue that the ELDER scenario makes robust predictions for electron-recoil direct-detection experiments, as well as for dark photon searches. These predictions are independent of the details of interactions within the dark sector. Together with the closely related Strongly-Interacting Massive Particle (SIMP) scenario, the ELDER predictions provide a physically motivated, well-defined target region, which will be almost entirely accessible to the next generation of searches for sub-GeV dark matter and dark photons. We provide useful analytic approximations for various quantities of interest in the ELDER scenario, and discuss two simple renormalizable toy models which incorporate the required strong number-changing interactions among the ELDERs, as well as explicitly implement the coupling to electrons via the dark photon portal.

The Search for Primordial Molecular Cloud Matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Kooten, Elishevah M M E

evolution. Some of the least altered, most primitive meteorites can give us clues to the original make-up of the interstellar molecular cloud from which the Sun and its surrounding planets formed, thus, permitting us to trace Solar System formation from its most early conditions. Using state......Our Solar System today presents a somewhat static picture compared to the turbulent start of its existence. Meteorites are the left-over building blocks of planet formation and allow us to probe the chemical and physical processes that occurred during the first few million years of Solar System...... prebiotic species such as amino acids, determining the formation pathways of this organic matter is of utmost importance to understanding the habitability of Earth as well as exoplanetary systems. Hence, further detailed analyses of organic matter in some of the meteorites with primordial signatures have...

Disposal Of Waste Matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jeong Hyeon; Lee, Seung Mu

1989-02-01

This book deals with disposal of waste matter management of soiled waste matter in city with introduction, definition of waste matter, meaning of management of waste matter, management system of waste matter, current condition in the country, collect and transportation of waste matter disposal liquid waste matter, industrial waste matter like plastic, waste gas sludge, pulp and sulfuric acid, recycling technology of waste matter such as recycling system of Black clawson, Monroe and Rome.

Probing the stability of superheavy dark matter particles with high-energy neutrinos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esmaili, Arman; Peres, O.L.G.

2012-01-01

Full text: There is currently mounting evidence for the existence of dark matter in our Universe from various astrophysical and cosmological observations, but the two of the most fundamental properties of the dark matter particle, the mass and the lifetime, are only weakly constrained by the astronomical and cosmological evidence of dark matter. We derive lower limits on the lifetime of dark matter particles with masses in the range 10 TeV - 10 18 GeV from the non-observation of ultrahigh energy neutrinos in the AMANDA, IceCube, Auger and ANITA experiments. All these experiments probe different energy windows and perfectly complement each other. For dark matter particles which produce neutrinos in a two body or a three body decay, we find that the dark matter lifetime must be longer than ∼ 10 26 s for masses between 10 TeV and the Grand Unification scale. We will consider various scenarios where the decay of the dark matter particle produces high energy neutrinos. Neutrinos travel in the Universe without suffering an appreciable attenuation, even for EeV neutrinos, in contrast to photons which rapidly lose their energy via pair production. This remarkable property makes neutrinos a very suitable messenger to constrain the lifetime of superheavy dark matter particles. Finally, we also calculate, for concrete particle physics scenarios, the limits on the strength of the interactions that induce the dark matter decay. (author)

Asymmetric Dark Matter and Dark Radiation

CERN Document Server

Blennow, Mattias; Mena, Olga; Redondo, Javier; Serra, Paolo

2012-01-01

Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) models invoke a particle-antiparticle asymmetry, similar to the one observed in the Baryon sector, to account for the Dark Matter (DM) abundance. Both asymmetries are usually generated by the same mechanism and generally related, thus predicting DM masses around 5 GeV in order to obtain the correct density. The main challenge for successful models is to ensure efficient annihilation of the thermally produced symmetric component of such a light DM candidate without violating constraints from collider or direct searches. A common way to overcome this involves a light mediator, into which DM can efficiently annihilate and which subsequently decays into Standard Model particles. Here we explore the scenario where the light mediator decays instead into lighter degrees of freedom in the dark sector that act as radiation in the early Universe. While this assumption makes indirect DM searches challenging, it leads to signals of extra radiation at BBN and CMB. Under certain conditions, pre...

Morals Matter in Economic Games

Science.gov (United States)

Brodbeck, Felix C.; Kugler, Katharina G.; Reif, Julia A. M.; Maier, Markus A.

2013-01-01

Contrary to predictions from Expected Utility Theory and Game Theory, when making economic decisions in interpersonal situations, people take the interest of others into account and express various forms of solidarity, even in one-shot interactions with anonymous strangers. Research in other-regarding behavior is dominated by behavioral economical and evolutionary biological approaches. Psychological theory building, which addresses mental processes underlying other-regarding behavior, is rare. Based on Relational Models Theory (RMT, [1]) and Relationship Regulation Theory (RRT, [2]) it is proposed that moral motives influence individuals’ decision behavior in interpersonal situations via conscious and unconscious (automatic) processes. To test our propositions we developed the ‘Dyadic Solidarity Game’ and its solitary equivalent, the ‘Self-Insurance Game’. Four experiments, in which the moral motives “Unity” and “Proportionality” were manipulated, support the propositions made. First, it was shown that consciously activated moral motives (via framing of the overall goal of the experiment) and unconsciously activated moral motives (via subliminal priming) influence other-regarding behavior. Second, this influence was only found in interpersonal, not in solitary situations. Third, by combining the analyses of the two experimental games the extent to which participants apply the Golden Rule (“treat others how you wish to be treated”) could be established. Individuals with a “Unity” motive treated others like themselves, whereas individuals with a “Proportionality” motive gave others less then they gave themselves. The four experiments not only support the assumption that morals matter in economic games, they also deliver new insights in how morals matter in economic decision making. PMID:24358115

Morals matter in economic games.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felix C Brodbeck

Full Text Available Contrary to predictions from Expected Utility Theory and Game Theory, when making economic decisions in interpersonal situations, people take the interest of others into account and express various forms of solidarity, even in one-shot interactions with anonymous strangers. Research in other-regarding behavior is dominated by behavioral economical and evolutionary biological approaches. Psychological theory building, which addresses mental processes underlying other-regarding behavior, is rare. Based on Relational Models Theory (RMT, [1] and Relationship Regulation Theory (RRT, [2] it is proposed that moral motives influence individuals' decision behavior in interpersonal situations via conscious and unconscious (automatic processes. To test our propositions we developed the 'Dyadic Solidarity Game' and its solitary equivalent, the 'Self-Insurance Game'. Four experiments, in which the moral motives "Unity" and "Proportionality" were manipulated, support the propositions made. First, it was shown that consciously activated moral motives (via framing of the overall goal of the experiment and unconsciously activated moral motives (via subliminal priming influence other-regarding behavior. Second, this influence was only found in interpersonal, not in solitary situations. Third, by combining the analyses of the two experimental games the extent to which participants apply the Golden Rule ("treat others how you wish to be treated" could be established. Individuals with a "Unity" motive treated others like themselves, whereas individuals with a "Proportionality" motive gave others less then they gave themselves. The four experiments not only support the assumption that morals matter in economic games, they also deliver new insights in how morals matter in economic decision making.

Morals matter in economic games.

Science.gov (United States)

Brodbeck, Felix C; Kugler, Katharina G; Reif, Julia A M; Maier, Markus A

2013-01-01

Contrary to predictions from Expected Utility Theory and Game Theory, when making economic decisions in interpersonal situations, people take the interest of others into account and express various forms of solidarity, even in one-shot interactions with anonymous strangers. Research in other-regarding behavior is dominated by behavioral economical and evolutionary biological approaches. Psychological theory building, which addresses mental processes underlying other-regarding behavior, is rare. Based on Relational Models Theory (RMT, [1]) and Relationship Regulation Theory (RRT, [2]) it is proposed that moral motives influence individuals' decision behavior in interpersonal situations via conscious and unconscious (automatic) processes. To test our propositions we developed the 'Dyadic Solidarity Game' and its solitary equivalent, the 'Self-Insurance Game'. Four experiments, in which the moral motives "Unity" and "Proportionality" were manipulated, support the propositions made. First, it was shown that consciously activated moral motives (via framing of the overall goal of the experiment) and unconsciously activated moral motives (via subliminal priming) influence other-regarding behavior. Second, this influence was only found in interpersonal, not in solitary situations. Third, by combining the analyses of the two experimental games the extent to which participants apply the Golden Rule ("treat others how you wish to be treated") could be established. Individuals with a "Unity" motive treated others like themselves, whereas individuals with a "Proportionality" motive gave others less then they gave themselves. The four experiments not only support the assumption that morals matter in economic games, they also deliver new insights in how morals matter in economic decision making.

IceCube events and decaying dark matter: hints and constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Esmaili, Arman; Kang, Sin Kyu; Dario Serpico, Pasquale

2014-12-01

In the light of the new IceCube data on the (yet unidentified) astrophysical neutrino flux in the PeV and sub-PeV range, we present an update on the status of decaying dark matter interpretation of the events. In particular, we develop further the angular distribution analysis and discuss the perspectives for diagnostics. By performing various statistical tests (maximum likelihood, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling tests) we conclude that currently the data show a mild preference (below the two sigma level) for the angular distribution expected from dark matter decay vs. the isotropic distribution foreseen for a conventional astrophysical flux of extragalactic origin. Also, we briefly develop some general considerations on heavy dark matter model building and on the compatibility of the expected energy spectrum of decay products with the IceCube data, as well as with existing bounds from gamma-rays. Alternatively, assuming that the IceCube data originate from conventional astrophysical sources, we derive bounds on both decaying and annihilating dark matter for various final states. The lower limits on heavy dark matter lifetime improve by up to an order of magnitude with respect to existing constraints, definitively making these events—even if astrophysical in origin—an important tool for astroparticle physics studies.

IceCube events and decaying dark matter: hints and constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esmaili, Arman; Kang, Sin Kyu; Serpico, Pasquale Dario

2014-01-01

In the light of the new IceCube data on the (yet unidentified) astrophysical neutrino flux in the PeV and sub-PeV range, we present an update on the status of decaying dark matter interpretation of the events. In particular, we develop further the angular distribution analysis and discuss the perspectives for diagnostics. By performing various statistical tests (maximum likelihood, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling tests) we conclude that currently the data show a mild preference (below the two sigma level) for the angular distribution expected from dark matter decay vs. the isotropic distribution foreseen for a conventional astrophysical flux of extragalactic origin. Also, we briefly develop some general considerations on heavy dark matter model building and on the compatibility of the expected energy spectrum of decay products with the IceCube data, as well as with existing bounds from gamma-rays. Alternatively, assuming that the IceCube data originate from conventional astrophysical sources, we derive bounds on both decaying and annihilating dark matter for various final states. The lower limits on heavy dark matter lifetime improve by up to an order of magnitude with respect to existing constraints, definitively making these events—even if astrophysical in origin—an important tool for astroparticle physics studies

Regional white matter lesions predict falls in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogama, Noriko; Sakurai, Takashi; Shimizu, Atsuya; Toba, Kenji

2014-01-01

Preventive strategy for falls in demented elderly is a clinical challenge. From early-stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), patients show impaired balance and gait. The purpose of this study is to determine whether regional white matter lesions (WMLs) can predict balance/gait disturbance and falls in elderly with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) or AD. Cross-sectional. Hospital out-patient clinic. One hundred sixty-three patients diagnosed with aMCI or AD were classified into groups having experienced falls (n = 63) or not (n = 100) in the previous year. Cognition, depression, behavior and psychological symptoms of dementia, medication, and balance/gait function were evaluated. Regional WMLs were visually analyzed as periventricular hyperintensity in frontal caps, bands, and occipital caps, and as deep white matter hyperintensity in frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes, basal ganglia, thalamus, and brain stem. Brain atrophy was linearly measured. The fallers had a greater volume of WMLs and their posture/gait performance tended to be worse than nonfallers. Several WMLs in particular brain regions were closely associated with balance and gait impairment. Besides polypharmacy, periventricular hyperintensity in frontal caps and occipital WMLs were strong predictors for falls, even after potential risk factors for falls were considered. Regional white matter burden, independent of cognitive decline, correlates with balance/gait disturbance and predicts falls in elderly with aMCI and AD. Careful insight into regional WMLs on brain magnetic resonance may greatly help to diagnose demented elderly with a higher risk of falls. Copyright © 2014 American Medical Directors Association, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High Right Ventricular Stroke Work Index Is Associated with Worse Kidney Function in Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanjanahattakij, Napatt; Sirinvaravong, Natee; Aguilar, Francisco; Agrawal, Akanksha; Krishnamoorthy, Parasuram; Gupta, Shuchita

2018-01-01

In patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), worse kidney function is associated with worse overall cardiac mechanics. Right ventricular stroke work index (RVSWI) is a parameter of right ventricular function. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship between RVSWI and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in patients with HFpEF. This was a single-center cross-sectional study. HFpEF is defined as patients with documented heart failure with ejection fraction > 50% and pulmonary wedge pressure > 15 mm Hg from right heart catheterization. RVSWI (normal value 8-12 g/m/beat/m2) was calculated using the formula: RVSWI = 0.0136 × stroke volume index × (mean pulmonary artery pressure - mean right atrial pressure). Univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to study the correlation between RVSWI and GFR. Ninety-one patients were included in the study. The patients were predominantly female (n = 64, 70%) and African American (n = 61, 67%). Mean age was 66 ± 12 years. Mean GFR was 59 ± 35 mL/min/1.73 m2. Mean RVSWI was 11 ± 6 g/m/beat/m2. Linear regression analysis showed that there was a significant independent inverse relationship between RVSWI and GFR (unstandardized coefficient = -1.3, p = 0.029). In the subgroup with combined post and precapillary pulmonary hypertension (Cpc-PH) the association remained significant (unstandardized coefficient = -1.74, 95% CI -3.37 to -0.11, p = 0.04). High right ventricular workload indicated by high RVSWI is associated with worse renal function in patients with Cpc-PH. Further prospective studies are needed to better understand this association. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Dark Matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bashir, A.; Cotti, U.; De Leon, C. L.; Raya, A; Villasenor, L.

2008-01-01

One of the biggest scientific mysteries of our time resides in the identification of the particles that constitute a large fraction of the mass of our Universe, generically known as dark matter. We review the observations and the experimental data that imply the existence of dark matter. We briefly discuss the properties of the two best dark-matter candidate particles and the experimental techniques presently used to try to discover them. Finally, we mention a proposed project that has recently emerged within the Mexican community to look for dark matter

Low-Mass Dark Matter Search Results and Radiogenic Backgrounds for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pepin, Mark David [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

2016-12-01

An ever-increasing amount of evidence suggests that approximately one quarter of the energy in the universe is composed of some non-luminous, and hitherto unknown, “dark matter”. Physicists from numerous sub-fields have been working on and trying to solve the dark matter problem for decades. The common solution is the existence of some new type of elementary particle with particular focus on weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). One avenue of dark matter research is to create an extremely sensitive particle detector with the goal of directly observing the interaction of WIMPs with standard matter. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) project operated at the Soudan Underground Laboratory from 2003–2015, under the CDMS II and SuperCDMS Soudan experiments, with this goal of directly detecting dark matter. The next installation, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, is planned for near-future operation. The reason the dark-matter particle has not yet been observed in traditional particle physics experiments is that it must have very small cross sections, thus making such interactions extremely rare. In order to identify these rare events in the presence of a background of known particles and interactions, direct detection experiments employ various types and amounts of shielding to prevent known backgrounds from reaching the instrumented detector(s). CDMS utilized various gamma and neutron shielding to such an effect that the shielding, and other experimental components, themselves were sources of background. These radiogenic backgrounds must be understood to have confidence in any WIMP-search result. For this dissertation, radiogenic background studies and estimates were performed for various analyses covering CDMS II, SuperCDMS Soudan, and SuperCDMS SNOLAB. Lower-mass dark matter t c2 inent in the past few years. The CDMS detectors can be operated in an alternative, higher-biased, mode v to decrease their energy thresholds and correspondingly increase their sensitivity

Increased Transfusion of Fresh Frozen Plasma is Associated with Mortality or Worse Functional Outcomes After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Retrospective Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Li-Min; Li, Rui; Zhao, Xiao-Chun; Zhang, Qian; Luo, Xing-Liao

2017-08-01

The fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion threshold and timing for traumatic brain injury (TBI)-associated coagulopathy are controversial. Thus, a multicenter retrospective study was conducted to determine whether or not FFP transfusion is associated with poor outcomes after severe TBI. Data from decompressive craniotomy after blunt force trauma that took place between December 2013 and June 2016 were collected in a multicenter chart. The primary outcomes were mortality and survival, as well as worse outcomes (defined as a Glasgow Outcome Scale [GOS] score ≤3) and better outcomes (GOS score ≥4). Secondary outcomes included 90-day survival rates in all patients with or without FFP transfusion, as well as length of hospital stay in patients with a better prognosis (GOS score ≥4). Univariate analysis, bivariate logistic regression, Spearman rank correlation, and Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed to account for the association between perioperative FFP transfusion and different outcomes. Bivariate logistic analysis showed that mortality and worse outcomes were correlated with FFP transfusion and Glasgow Coma Scale score (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that mortality was statistically higher in the FFP transfusion groups compared with the no FFP transfusion groups, regardless of the severity of TBI (P < 0.05). The overall complications, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and pneumonia rate were significantly higher for patients receiving FFP transfusion (P < 0.05). Increased perioperative FFP infusion was independently associated with mortality or worse outcomes across a spectrum of surgical risk profiles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Why we need to see the dark matter to understand the dark energy

OpenAIRE

Kunz, Martin

2007-01-01

The cosmological concordance model contains two separate constituents which interact only gravitationally with themselves and everything else, the dark matter and the dark energy. In the standard dark energy models, the dark matter makes up some 20% of the total energy budget today, while the dark energy is responsible for about 75%. Here we show that these numbers are only robust for specific dark energy models and that in general we cannot measure the abundance of the dark constituents sepa...

Rational snacking: Young children’s decision-making on the marshmallow task is moderated by beliefs about environmental reliability

OpenAIRE

Kidd, Celeste; Palmeri, Holly; Aslin, Richard N.

2012-01-01

Children are notoriously bad at delaying gratification to achieve later, greater rewards (e.g.,Piaget, 1970)—and some are worse at waiting than others. Individual differences in the ability-to-wait have been attributed to self-control, in part because of evidence that long-delayers are more successful in later life (e.g., Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Here we provide evidence that, in addition to self-control, children’s wait-times are modulated by an implicit, rational decision-making proc...

A general holographic insulator/superconductor model with dark matter sector away from the probe limit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peng, Yan, E-mail: yanpengphy@163.com [School of Mathematical Sciences, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, Shandong 273165 (China); School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Shaanxi Sci-Tech University, Hanzhong, Shaanxi 723000 (China); Pan, Qiyuan, E-mail: panqiyuan@126.com [Department of Physics, Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Structures and Quantum Control of Ministry of Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081 (China); Liu, Yunqi, E-mail: liuyunqi@hust.edu.cn [School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074 (China)

2017-02-15

We investigate holographic phase transitions with dark matter sector in the AdS soliton background away from the probe limit. In cases of weak backreaction, we find that the larger coupling parameter α makes the gap of condensation shallower and the critical chemical potential keeps as a constant. In contrast, for very heavy backreaction, the dark matter sector could affect the critical chemical potential and the order of phase transitions. We also find the jump of the holographic topological entanglement entropy corresponds to a first order transition between superconducting states in this model with dark matter sector. More importantly, for certain sets of parameters, we observe novel phenomenon of retrograde condensation. In a word, the dark matter sector provides richer physics in the phase structure and the holographic superconductor properties are helpful in understanding dark matter.

A general holographic insulator/superconductor model with dark matter sector away from the probe limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, Yan; Pan, Qiyuan; Liu, Yunqi

2017-01-01

We investigate holographic phase transitions with dark matter sector in the AdS soliton background away from the probe limit. In cases of weak backreaction, we find that the larger coupling parameter α makes the gap of condensation shallower and the critical chemical potential keeps as a constant. In contrast, for very heavy backreaction, the dark matter sector could affect the critical chemical potential and the order of phase transitions. We also find the jump of the holographic topological entanglement entropy corresponds to a first order transition between superconducting states in this model with dark matter sector. More importantly, for certain sets of parameters, we observe novel phenomenon of retrograde condensation. In a word, the dark matter sector provides richer physics in the phase structure and the holographic superconductor properties are helpful in understanding dark matter.

A general holographic insulator/superconductor model with dark matter sector away from the probe limit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Peng

2017-02-01

Full Text Available We investigate holographic phase transitions with dark matter sector in the AdS soliton background away from the probe limit. In cases of weak backreaction, we find that the larger coupling parameter α makes the gap of condensation shallower and the critical chemical potential keeps as a constant. In contrast, for very heavy backreaction, the dark matter sector could affect the critical chemical potential and the order of phase transitions. We also find the jump of the holographic topological entanglement entropy corresponds to a first order transition between superconducting states in this model with dark matter sector. More importantly, for certain sets of parameters, we observe novel phenomenon of retrograde condensation. In a word, the dark matter sector provides richer physics in the phase structure and the holographic superconductor properties are helpful in understanding dark matter.

Color-flavor locked strange quark matter in a mass density-dependent model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yuede; Wen Xinjian

2007-01-01

Properties of color-flavor locked (CFL) strange quark matter have been studied in a mass-density-dependent model, and compared with the results in the conventional bag model. In both models, the CFL phase is more stable than the normal nuclear matter for reasonable parameters. However, the lower density behavior of the sound velocity in this model is completely opposite to that in the bag model, which makes the maximum mass of CFL quark stars in the mass-density-dependent model larger than that in the bag model. (authors)

Search for domain wall dark matter with atomic clocks on board global positioning system satellites.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Benjamin M; Blewitt, Geoffrey; Dailey, Conner; Murphy, Mac; Pospelov, Maxim; Rollings, Alex; Sherman, Jeff; Williams, Wyatt; Derevianko, Andrei

2017-10-30

Cosmological observations indicate that dark matter makes up 85% of all matter in the universe yet its microscopic composition remains a mystery. Dark matter could arise from ultralight quantum fields that form macroscopic objects. Here we use the global positioning system as a ~ 50,000 km aperture dark matter detector to search for such objects in the form of domain walls. Global positioning system navigation relies on precision timing signals furnished by atomic clocks. As the Earth moves through the galactic dark matter halo, interactions with domain walls could cause a sequence of atomic clock perturbations that propagate through the satellite constellation at galactic velocities ~ 300 km s -1 . Mining 16 years of archival data, we find no evidence for domain walls at our current sensitivity level. This improves the limits on certain quadratic scalar couplings of domain wall dark matter to standard model particles by several orders of magnitude.

Fermion number non-conservation and cold neutral fermionic matter in (V-A) gauge theories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matveev, V.A.; Rubakov, V.A.; Tavkhelidze, A.N.; Tokarev, V.F.

1987-01-01

It is shown that in four-dimensional abelian (V-A) theories, the ground state of cold neutral fermionic matter is an anomalous state containing domains of abnormal phase surrounded by the normal vacuum. Inside these domains, there exists a gauge field condensate which makes real fermions disappear both inside and outside the domains. In non-abelian theories, the abnormal matter is unstable in its turn, and the system rolls back down into the normal state with a small number of fermions above the topologically non-trivial vacuum. Thus, in several non-abelian gauge theories, the fermion number density of cold neutral matter cannot exceed some critical value. (orig.)

Multi-scale glycemic variability: a link to gray matter atrophy and cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xingran Cui

Full Text Available Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM accelerates brain aging and cognitive decline. Complex interactions between hyperglycemia, glycemic variability and brain aging remain unresolved. This study investigated the relationship between glycemic variability at multiple time scales, brain volumes and cognition in type 2 DM.Forty-three older adults with and 26 without type 2 DM completed 72-hour continuous glucose monitoring, cognitive tests and anatomical MRI. We described a new analysis of continuous glucose monitoring, termed Multi-Scale glycemic variability (Multi-Scale GV, to examine glycemic variability at multiple time scales. Specifically, Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition was used to identify five unique ultradian glycemic variability cycles (GVC1-5 that modulate serum glucose with periods ranging from 0.5-12 hrs.Type 2 DM subjects demonstrated greater variability in GVC3-5 (period 2.0-12 hrs than controls (P<0.0001, during the day as well as during the night. Multi-Scale GV was related to conventional markers of glycemic variability (e.g. standard deviation and mean glycemic excursions, but demonstrated greater sensitivity and specificity to conventional markers, and was associated with worse long-term glycemic control (e.g. fasting glucose and HbA1c. Across all subjects, those with greater glycemic variability within higher frequency cycles (GVC1-3; 0.5-2.0 hrs had less gray matter within the limbic system and temporo-parietal lobes (e.g. cingulum, insular, hippocampus, and exhibited worse cognitive performance. Specifically within those with type 2 DM, greater glycemic variability in GVC2-3 was associated with worse learning and memory scores. Greater variability in GVC5 was associated with longer DM duration and more depression. These relationships were independent of HbA1c and hypoglycemic episodes.Type 2 DM is associated with dysregulation of glycemic variability over multiple scales of time. These time-scale-dependent glycemic fluctuations

The Making and Breaking of Trust in Pension Providers : An Empirical Study of Dutch Pension Participants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Dalen, Harry; Henkens, Kene

2017-01-01

Trust in pension institutions is pivotal in making pension decisions, like saving or enrolling in pension programs. But which traits of pension institutions matter in making or breaking trust in providers like pension funds, banks or insurance companies? This paper presents an empirical analysis of

The Evolution of Galaxies by the Incompatibility between Dark Matter and Baryonic Matter

OpenAIRE

Chung, Ding-Yu

2001-01-01

In this paper, the evolution of galaxies is by the incompatibility between dark matter and baryonic matter. Due to the structural difference, baryonic matter and dark matter are incompatible to each other as oil droplet and water in emulsion. In the interfacial zone between dark matter and baryonic matter, this incompatibility generates the modification of Newtonian dynamics to keep dark matter and baryonic matter apart. The five periods of baryonic structure development in the order of incre...

The Reduction of Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Gray Matter Volume Correlates with Loss of Economic Rationality in Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Hui-Kuan; Tymula, Agnieszka; Glimcher, Paul

2017-12-06

The population of people above 65 years old continues to grow, and there is mounting evidence that as humans age they are more likely to make errors. However, the specific effect of neuroanatomical aging on the efficiency of economic decision-making is poorly understood. We used whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis to determine where reduction of gray matter volume in healthy female and male adults over the age of 65 years correlates with a classic measure of economic irrationality: violations of the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preference. All participants were functionally normal with Mini-Mental State Examination scores ranging between 26 and 30. While our elders showed the previously reported decline in rationality compared with younger subjects, chronological age per se did not correlate with rationality measures within our population of elders. Instead, reduction of gray matter density in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex correlates tightly with irrational behavior. Interestingly, using a large fMRI sample and meta-analytic tool with Neurosynth, we found that this brain area shows strong coactivation patterns with nearly all of the value-associated regions identified in previous studies. These findings point toward a neuroanatomic locus for economic rationality in the aging brain and highlight the importance of understanding both anatomy and function in the study of aging, cognition, and decision-making. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Age is a crucial factor in decision-making, with older individuals making more errors in choices. Using whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis, we found that reduction of gray matter density in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex correlates with economic irrationality: reduced gray matter volume in this area correlates with the frequency and severity of violations of the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preference. Furthermore, this brain area strongly coactivates with other reward-associated regions identified with Neurosynth

Dark Matter

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

What You See Ain't What. You Got, Resonance, Vol.4,. No.9,1999. Dark Matter. 2. Dark Matter in the Universe. Bikram Phookun and Biman Nath. In Part 11 of this article we learnt that there are compelling evidences from dynamics of spiral galaxies, like our own, that there must be non-luminous matter in them. In this.

Simulations of cold nuclear matter at sub-saturation densities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giménez Molinelli, P.A., E-mail: pagm@df.uba.ar [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and IFIBA, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires 1428 (Argentina); Nichols, J.I. [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and IFIBA, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires 1428 (Argentina); López, J.A. [Department of Physics, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968 (United States); Dorso, C.O. [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and IFIBA, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires 1428 (Argentina)

2014-03-01

Ideal nuclear matter is expected to undergo a first order phase transition at the thermodynamic limit. At such phase transitions the size of density fluctuations (bubbles or droplets) scale with the size of the system. This means that simulations of nuclear matter at sub-saturation densities will inexorably suffer from what is vaguely referred to as “finite size effects”. It is usually thought that these finite size effects can be diminished by imposing periodic boundary conditions and making the system large enough, but as we show in this work, that is actually not the case at sub-saturation densities. In this paper we analyze the equilibrium configurations of molecular dynamics simulations of a classical model for symmetric ideal (uncharged) nuclear matter at sub-saturation densities and low temperatures, where phase coexistence is expected at the thermodynamic limit. We show that the most stable configurations in this density range are almost completely determined by artificial aspects of the simulations (i.e. boundary conditions) and can be predicted analytically by surface minimization. This result is very general and is shown to hold true for several well known semi-classical models of nuclear interaction and even for a simple Lennard-Jones potential. Also, in the limit of very large systems, when “small size” effects can be neglected, those equilibrium configurations seem to be restricted to a few structures reminiscent to the “Pasta Phases” expected in Neutron Star matter, but arising from a completely different origin: In Neutron Star matter, the non-homogeneous structures arise from a competition between nuclear and Coulomb interactions while for ideal nuclear matter they emerge from finite (yet not “small”) size effects. The role of periodic boundary conditions and finite size effects in Neutron Star matter simulations are reexamined.

Exploring dark matter microphysics with galaxy surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Escudero, Miguel; Mena, Olga [Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC-Universitat de València, Apartado de Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain); Vincent, Aaron C.; Wilkinson, Ryan J.; Boehm, Céline, E-mail: miguel.Escudero@uv.es, E-mail: omena@ific.uv.es, E-mail: aaron.vincent@durham.ac.uk, E-mail: ryan.wilkinson@durham.ac.uk, E-mail: c.m.boehm@durham.ac.uk [Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP), Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

2015-09-01

We use present cosmological observations and forecasts of future experiments to illustrate the power of large-scale structure (LSS) surveys in probing dark matter (DM) microphysics and unveiling potential deviations from the standard ΛCDM scenario. To quantify this statement, we focus on an extension of ΛCDM with DM-neutrino scattering, which leaves a distinctive imprint on the angular and matter power spectra. After finding that future CMB experiments (such as COrE+) will not significantly improve the constraints set by the Planck satellite, we show that the next generation of galaxy clustering surveys (such as DESI) could play a leading role in constraining alternative cosmologies and even have the potential to make a discovery. Typically we find that DESI would be an order of magnitude more sensitive to DM interactions than Planck, thus probing effects that until now have only been accessible via N-body simulations.

Identification of regions of normal grey matter and white matter from pathologic glioblastoma and necrosis in frozen sections using Raman imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Kast, Rachel; Auner, Gregory; Yurgelevic, Sally; Broadbent, Brandy; Raghunathan, Aditya; Poisson, Laila M; Mikkelsen, Tom; Rosenblum, Mark L; Kalkanis, Steven N

2015-11-01

In neurosurgical applications, a tool capable of distinguishing grey matter, white matter, and areas of tumor and/or necrosis in near-real time could greatly aid in tumor resection decision making. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive spectroscopic technique which provides molecular information about the tissue under examination based on the vibrational properties of the constituent molecules. With careful measurement and data processing, a spatial step and repeat acquisition of Raman spectra can be used to create Raman images. Forty frozen brain tissue sections were imaged in their entirety using a 300-µm-square measurement grid, and two or more regions of interest within each tissue were also imaged using a 25 µm-square step size. Molecular correlates for histologic features of interest were identified within the Raman spectra, and novel imaging algorithms were developed to compare molecular features across multiple tissues. In previous work, the relative concentration of individual biomolecules was imaged. Here, the relative concentrations of 1004, 1300:1344, and 1660 cm(-1), which correspond primarily to protein and lipid content, were simultaneously imaged across all tissues. This provided simple interpretation of boundaries between grey matter, white matter, and diseased tissue, and corresponded with findings from adjacent hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections. This novel, yet simple, multi-channel imaging technique allows clinically-relevant resolution with straightforward molecular interpretation of Raman images not possible by imaging any single peak. This method can be applied to either surgical or laboratory tools for rapid, non-destructive imaging of grey and white matter.

Does Visualization Matter? The Role of Interactive Data Visualization to Make Sense of Information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arif Perdana

2018-05-01

Full Text Available As part of business analytics (BA technologies, reporting and visualization play essential roles in mitigating users’ limitations (i.e., being inexperienced, having limited knowledge, and relying on simplified information. Reporting and visualization can potentially enhance users’ sense-making, thus permitting them to focus more on the information’s message rather than numerical analysis. To better understand the role of reporting and visualization in a contextualized environment, we investigate using interactive data visualization (IDV within accounting. We aim to understand whether IDV can help enhance non-professional investors’ ability to make sense of foundational financial statement analyses. This study conducted an experiment using a sample of 324 nonprofessional investors. Our findings indicate that nonprofessional investors who use IDV are more heuristically adept than non-professional investors who use non-IDV. These findings enrich the theoretical understanding of business analytics’ use in accounting decision making. The results of this study also suggest several practical courses of action, such as promoting wider use of IDV and making affordable IDV more broadly available, particularly for non-professional investors.

General Motors China versus Chery: Disputes Over Intellectual Property Rights

OpenAIRE

Shengjun Liu; Juan Antonio Fernandez

2007-01-01

Chery, a Chinese domestic car maker, launched a new mini car model, the QQ in July 2003. This was several months earlier than the planned launch date for General Motor (GM)'s new mini car, the Chevrolet Spark. The QQ looked very similar to the Chevrolet Spark but was priced much cheaper. GM claimed that the Chery QQ was a knockoff of the Matiz, a model owned by GM Daewoo. To make matters worse for GM, Chery was aggressively expanding into other countries where GM had a presence. The case was ...

A study of nuclear recoil backgrounds in dark matter detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Westerdale, Shawn S.

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the 1-1000 GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering off of nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating (alpha, n) yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development

A Study of Nuclear Recoil Backgrounds in Dark Matter Detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Westerdale, Shawn S. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

2016-01-01

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the $1-1000$ GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering from nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating ($\\alpha$, n)yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and

Annual report 1986 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggen, J.J.H.; Ebbing, G.E.G.

1987-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight socalled research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles of which one, treating superstring theory, is in INIS scope. (H.W.) refs.; figs.; tabs

Prospects for Dark Matter Measurements with the Advanced Gamma Ray Imaging System (AGIS)

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, James

2009-05-01

AGIS, a concept for a future gamma-ray observatory consisting of an array of 50 atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, would provide a powerful new tool for determining the nature of dark matter and its role in structure formation in the universe. The advent of more sensitive direct detection experiments, the launch of Fermi and the startup of the LHC make the near future an exciting time for dark matter searches. Indirect measurements of cosmic-ray electrons may already provide a hint of dark matter in our local halo. However, gamma-ray measurements will provide the only means for mapping the dark matter in the halo of our galaxy and other galaxies. In addition, the spectrum of gamma-rays (either direct annihilation to lines or continuum emission from other annihilation channels) will be imprinted with the mass of the dark matter particle, and the particular annihilation channels providing key measurements needed to identify the dark matter particle. While current gamma-ray instruments fall short of the generic sensitivity required to measure the dark matter signal from any sources other than the (confused) region around the Galactic center, we show that the planned AGIS array will have the angular resolution, energy resolution, low threshold energy and large effective area required to detect emission from dark matter annihilation in Galactic substructure or nearby Dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

A comprehensive approach to dark matter studies: exploration of simplified top-philic models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arina, Chiara; Backović, Mihailo [Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology (CP3),Université catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Conte, Eric [Groupe de Recherche de Physique des Hautes Énergies (GRPHE), Université de Haute-Alsace,IUT Colmar, F-68008 Colmar Cedex (France); Fuks, Benjamin [Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University Paris 06, UMR 7589, LPTHE, F-75005, Paris (France); CNRS, UMR 7589, LPTHE, F-75005, Paris (France); Guo, Jun [State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien/Département Recherches Subatomiques,Université de Strasbourg/CNRS-IN2P3, F-67037 Strasbourg (France); Heisig, Jan [Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University,Sommerfeldstr. 16, D-52056 Aachen (Germany); Hespel, Benoît [Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology (CP3),Université catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Krämer, Michael [Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University,Sommerfeldstr. 16, D-52056 Aachen (Germany); Maltoni, Fabio; Martini, Antony [Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology (CP3),Université catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Mawatari, Kentarou [Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie, Université Grenoble-Alpes,CNRS/IN2P3, 53 Avenue des Martyrs, F-38026 Grenoble (France); Theoretische Natuurkunde and IIHE/ELEM, Vrije Universiteit Brussel andInternational Solvay Institutes, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels (Belgium); Pellen, Mathieu [Universität Würzburg, Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik,Emil-Hilb-Weg 22, 97074 Würzburg (Germany); Vryonidou, Eleni [Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology (CP3),Université catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium)

2016-11-21

Studies of dark matter lie at the interface of collider physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Constraining models featuring dark matter candidates entails the capability to provide accurate predictions for large sets of observables and compare them to a wide spectrum of data. We present a framework which, starting from a model Lagrangian, allows one to consistently and systematically make predictions, as well as to confront those predictions with a multitude of experimental results. As an application, we consider a class of simplified dark matter models where a scalar mediator couples only to the top quark and a fermionic dark sector (i.e. the simplified top-philic dark matter model). We study in detail the complementarity of relic density, direct/indirect detection and collider searches in constraining the multi-dimensional model parameter space, and efficiently identify regions where individual approaches to dark matter detection provide the most stringent bounds. In the context of collider studies of dark matter, we point out the complementarity of LHC searches in probing different regions of the model parameter space with final states involving top quarks, photons, jets and/or missing energy. Our study of dark matter production at the LHC goes beyond the tree-level approximation and we show examples of how higher-order corrections to dark matter production processes can affect the interpretation of the experimental results.

Neutron star evolution and the structure of matter at high density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soyeur, Madeleine.

1981-09-01

The structure and properties of neutron stars are determined by the state of cold nuclear matter at high density. In order to investigate the behavior of matter inside neutron stars, observables sensitive to their internal structure have to be calculated and confronted to observations. The thermal radiation of neutron stars seems to be a good candidate to be such observable. It can be shown that the neutrino luminosity of neutron stars, responsible for their cooling in the early stages of their evolution is strongly dependent on possible phase transitions to superfluid nucleons, to pion condensation or to quark matter. The specific heat of matter is also not the same in the various phases expected at high density and is particularly sensitive to the nucleon superfluidity. At present, both the theoretical estimates and the observations of the thermal properties of neutron stars are still quite preliminary. In particular, large uncertainties due to possible reheating mechanisms and magnetic field effects make the theoretical interpretation of the steady radiation of pulsars quite difficult

Codecaying Dark Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Dror, Jeff Asaf; Kuflik, Eric; Ng, Wee Hao

2016-11-18

We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freeze-out, called codecaying dark matter. Multicomponent dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can codecay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark matter density is exponentially depleted through the decay of nearly degenerate particles rather than from Boltzmann suppression. The relic abundance is set by the dark matter annihilation cross section, which is predicted to be boosted, and the decay rate of the dark sector particles. The mechanism is viable in a broad range of dark matter parameter space, with a robust prediction of an enhanced indirect detection signal. Finally, we present a simple model that realizes codecaying dark matter.

Topological hierarchy matters — topological matters with superlattices of defects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He Jing; Kou Su-Peng

2016-01-01

Topological insulators/superconductors are new states of quantum matter with metallic edge/surface states. In this paper, we review the defects effect in these topological states and study new types of topological matters — topological hierarchy matters. We find that both topological defects (quantized vortices) and non topological defects (vacancies) can induce topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters after considering the superlattice of defects. These topological mid-gap states have nontrivial topological properties, including the nonzero Chern number and the gapless edge states. Effective tight-binding models are obtained to describe the topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters. (topical review)

Minors' rights in medical decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Hickey, Kathryn

2007-01-01

In the past, minors were not considered legally capable of making medical decisions and were viewed as incompetent because of their age. The authority to consent or refuse treatment for a minor remained with a parent or guardian. This parental authority was derived from the constitutional right to privacy regarding family matters, common law rule, and a general presumption that parents or guardians will act in the best interest of their incompetent child. However, over the years, the courts have gradually recognized that children younger than 18 years who show maturity and competence deserve a voice in determining their course of medical treatment. This article will explore the rights and interests of minors, parents, and the state in medical decision making and will address implications for nursing administrators and leaders.

Interventions for promoting participation in shared decision-making for children with cancer.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Coyne, Imelda

2013-01-01

Children\\'s rights to have their views heard in matters that affect their lives are now well established since the publication of the UN Convention treaty (1989). Children with cancer generally prefer to be involved in decision-making and consider it important that they have the opportunity to take part in decision-making concerning their health care, even in end-of-life decisions. There is considerable support for involving children in healthcare decision-making at a level commensurate with their experience, age and abilities. Thus healthcare professionals and parents need to know how they should involve children in decision-making and what interventions are most effective in promoting shared decision-making (SDM) for children with cancer.

Making It Safe, Making It Legal, and Creating Peace of Mind

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strom, Daniel J.

2001-01-01

The job of a medical or academic radiation safety officer has three parts: keeping it safe, keeping it legal, and helping people feel that they are safe. Absence of peace-of-mind about radiation protection matters can create very real health effects, even when there is little or no radiation exposure involved. Frightened people may make decisions such as changing jobs (and losing health insurance), terminating a pregnancy, or moving, all of which impact health. Furthermore, frightened people who choose to stick with it may suffer from anxiety, stress, insomnia, and weight loss or even weight gain. Genuinely listening to the concerns of those who benefit from radiation safety services can help to provide peace-of-mind and minimize decisions that are risky to health

Making It Safe, Making It Legal, and Creating Peace of Mind

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strom, Daniel J.

2001-11-01

The job of a medical or academic radiation safety officer has three parts: keeping it safe, keeping it legal, and helping people feel that they are safe. Absence of peace-of-mind about radiation protection matters can create very real health effects, even when there is little or no radiation exposure involved. Frightened people may make decisions such as changing jobs (and losing health insurance), terminating a pregnancy, or moving, all of which impact health. Furthermore, frightened people who choose to stick with it may suffer from anxiety, stress, insomnia, and weight loss or even weight gain. Genuinely listening to the concerns of those who benefit from radiation safety services can help to provide peace-of-mind and minimize decisions that are risky to health.

Making waste management public (or falling back to sleep).

Science.gov (United States)

Hird, Myra J; Lougheed, Scott; Rowe, R Kerry; Kuyvenhoven, Cassandra

2014-06-01

Human-produced waste is a major environmental concern, with communities considering various waste management practices, such as increased recycling, landfilling, incineration, and waste-to-energy technologies. This article is concerned with how and why publics assemble around waste management issues. In particular, we explore Noortje Marres and Bruno Latour's theory that publics do not exist prior to issues but rather assemble around objects, and through these assemblages, objects become matters of concern that sometimes become political. The article addresses this theory of making things public through a study of a small city in Ontario, Canada, whose landfill is closed and waste diversion options are saturated, and that faces unsustainable costs in shipping its waste to the United States, China, and other regions. The city's officials are undertaking a cost-benefit assessment to determine the efficacy of siting a new landfill or other waste management facility. We are interested in emphasizing the complexity of making (or not making) landfills public, by exploring an object in action, where members of the public may or may not assemble, waste may or may not be made into an issue, and waste is sufficiently routinized that it is not typically transformed from an object to an issue. We hope to demonstrate Latour's third and fifth senses of politics best account for waste management's trajectory as a persistent yet inconsistent matter of public concern.

Dark Matter Caustics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Natarajan, Aravind

2010-01-01

The continuous infall of dark matter with low velocity dispersion in galactic halos leads to the formation of high density structures called caustics. Dark matter caustics are of two kinds : outer and inner. Outer caustics are thin spherical shells surrounding galaxies while inner caustics have a more complicated structure that depends on the dark matter angular momentum distribution. The presence of a dark matter caustic in the plane of the galaxy modifies the gas density in its neighborhood which may lead to observable effects. Caustics are also relevant to direct and indirect dark matter searches.

Studying generalised dark matter interactions with extended halo-independent methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kahlhoefer, Felix [DESY, Notkestraße 85,D-22607 Hamburg (Germany); Wild, Sebastian [Physik-Department T30d, Technische Universität München,James-Franck-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

2016-10-20

The interpretation of dark matter direct detection experiments is complicated by the fact that neither the astrophysical distribution of dark matter nor the properties of its particle physics interactions with nuclei are known in detail. To address both of these issues in a very general way we develop a new framework that combines the full formalism of non-relativistic effective interactions with state-of-the-art halo-independent methods. This approach makes it possible to analyse direct detection experiments for arbitrary dark matter interactions and quantify the goodness-of-fit independent of astrophysical uncertainties. We employ this method in order to demonstrate that the degeneracy between astrophysical uncertainties and particle physics unknowns is not complete. Certain models can be distinguished in a halo-independent way using a single ton-scale experiment based on liquid xenon, while other models are indistinguishable with a single experiment but can be separated using combined information from several target elements.

Improved Limits for Higgs-Portal Dark Matter from LHC Searches.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoferichter, Martin; Klos, Philipp; Menéndez, Javier; Schwenk, Achim

2017-11-03

Searches for invisible Higgs decays at the Large Hadron Collider constrain dark matter Higgs-portal models, where dark matter interacts with the standard model fields via the Higgs boson. While these searches complement dark matter direct-detection experiments, a comparison of the two limits depends on the coupling of the Higgs boson to the nucleons forming the direct-detection nuclear target, typically parametrized in a single quantity f_{N}. We evaluate f_{N} using recent phenomenological and lattice-QCD calculations, and include for the first time the coupling of the Higgs boson to two nucleons via pion-exchange currents. We observe a partial cancellation for Higgs-portal models that makes the two-nucleon contribution anomalously small. Our results, summarized as f_{N}=0.308(18), show that the uncertainty of the Higgs-nucleon coupling has been vastly overestimated in the past. The improved limits highlight that state-of-the-art nuclear physics input is key to fully exploiting experimental searches.

Studying generalised dark matter interactions with extended halo-independent methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlhoefer, Felix; Wild, Sebastian

2016-07-01

The interpretation of dark matter direct detection experiments is complicated by the fact that neither the astrophysical distribution of dark matter nor the properties of its particle physics interactions with nuclei are known in detail. To address both of these issues in a very general way we develop a new framework that combines the full formalism of non-relativistic effective interactions with state-of-the-art halo-independent methods. This approach makes it possible to analyse direct detection experiments for arbitrary dark matter interactions and quantify the goodness-of-fit independent of astrophysical uncertainties. We employ this method in order to demonstrate that the degeneracy between astrophysical uncertainties and particle physics unknowns is not complete. Certain models can be distinguished in a halo-independent way using a single ton-scale experiment based on liquid xenon, while other models are indistinguishable with a single experiment but can be separated using combined information from several target elements.

Asymmetric creation of matter and antimatter in the expanding universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Papastamatiou, N.J.; Parker, L.

1979-01-01

We consider a simple model in which the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe is brought about by an effective two-particle interaction that violates baryon-number conservation as well as CP invariance. The particle fields participating in the interaction are quantized, and their time development in an isotropically expanding universe is found to all orders in the coupling constant. Pair production by the asymmetric interaction, as well as symmetric production by the gravitational field of the expanding universe, appear simultaneously in the solution. Taking an initial state in which no particles participating in the asymmetric interaction are present, we find the created baryon-number density. We consider in more detail the case when the matter-antimatter asymmetry is produced during a stage when the radius of the universe is small with respect to its present value. We make numerical estimates of the created matter-antimatter asymmetry, and put limits on possible values of the parameters of this model

Complementary aspects on matter-antimatter boundary layers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lehnert, B.

1990-05-01

This paper gives some complementary aspects on the problems of the matter-antimatter metagalaxy model and its cellular structure, as being proposed by Klein and Alfven. A previously outlined one-dimensional model of a magnetized matter-antimatter boundary layer is updated and extended, by introducing amended nuclear annihilation data, and by making improved approximations of the layer structure and its dependence on relevant parameters. The critical beta value obtained from this model leads to critical plasma densities which are not high enough to become reconcilable with a cellular matter-antimatter structure within the volume of a galaxy. Additional investigations are required on the questions whether the obtained beta limit would still apply to cells of the size of a galaxy, and whether large modification of this limit could result from further refinement of the theory and from the transition to a three-dimensional model. Attention is called to the wide area of further research on ambiplasma physics, and on a three-dimensional cell structure with associated problems of equilibrium and stability. In particular, the high-energy ambiplasma component has to be further analysed in terms of kinetic theory, on account of the large Larmor radii of the corresponding electrons and positrons

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE OF THE TEENAGERS MAKING USE OF SMOKING BLENDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Leonidovna Plotnikova

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In this article one can find the results of the research of the teenagers social intelligence at the age of 14-15 years old, making use of narcotic smoking blends. Some specific features of their social intelligence, development level of empathy and communicative skills in comparison with nonsmoking peers are given.Purpose: to find and describe specific features of the social intelligence of the teenagers at the age of 14-15 years old making use of the narcotic smoking blends in comparison with nonsmoking peers.Method: testing, Mann – Whitney U Test.Results: the teenagers making use of narcotic smoking blends have a low level of the social intelligence, communicative skills and empathic abilities. Such elements of the social intelligence as the ability to foresee the behavioral consequences in a concrete situation (prognostic competence and the ability to logical generalization of non-verbal reactions of a person are worse developed in comparison with nonsmoking peers. There are no significant differences between smoking girls and smoking boys.Areas of use: resocialization and rehabilitation of the addicted teenagers

Matter-antimatter and matter-matter interactions at intermediate energies; Interacao materia-antimateria e materia-materia a energias intermediarias

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos, Antonio Carlos Fontes dos [Missouri Univ., Rolla, MO (United States). Dept. of Physics]. E-mail: antoniocfs@hotmail.com

2002-07-01

This article presents some of the recent experimental advances on the study on antimatter-matter and matter-matter interactions, and some of the subtle differences stimulated a great theoretical efforts for explanation of the results experimentally observed.

Viscous self interacting dark matter and cosmic acceleration

Science.gov (United States)

Atreya, Abhishek; Bhatt, Jitesh R.; Mishra, Arvind

2018-02-01

Self interacting dark matter (SIDM) provides us with a consistent solution to certain astrophysical observations in conflict with collision-less cold DM paradigm. In this work we estimate the shear viscosity (η) and bulk viscosity (ζ) of SIDM, within kinetic theory formalism, for galactic and cluster size SIDM halos. To that extent we make use of the recent constraints on SIDM cross-section for the dwarf galaxies, LSB galaxies and clusters. We also estimate the change in solution of Einstein's equation due to these viscous effects and find that σ/m constraints on SIDM from astrophysical data provide us with sufficient viscosity to account for the observed cosmic acceleration at present epoch, without the need of any additional dark energy component. Using the estimates of dark matter density for galactic and cluster size halo we find that the mean free path of dark matter ~ few Mpc. Thus the smallest scale at which the viscous effect start playing the role is cluster scale. Astrophysical data for dwarf, LSB galaxies and clusters also seems to suggest the same. The entire analysis is independent of any specific particle physics motivated model for SIDM.

Asymmetric dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaplan, David E.; Luty, Markus A.; Zurek, Kathryn M.

2009-01-01

We consider a simple class of models in which the relic density of dark matter is determined by the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In these models a B-L asymmetry generated at high temperatures is transferred to the dark matter, which is charged under B-L. The interactions that transfer the asymmetry decouple at temperatures above the dark matter mass, freezing in a dark matter asymmetry of order the baryon asymmetry. This explains the observed relation between the baryon and dark matter densities for the dark matter mass in the range 5-15 GeV. The symmetric component of the dark matter can annihilate efficiently to light pseudoscalar Higgs particles a or via t-channel exchange of new scalar doublets. The first possibility allows for h 0 →aa decays, while the second predicts a light charged Higgs-like scalar decaying to τν. Direct detection can arise from Higgs exchange in the first model or a nonzero magnetic moment in the second. In supersymmetric models, the would-be lightest supersymmetric partner can decay into pairs of dark matter particles plus standard model particles, possibly with displaced vertices.

How Vocational Psychologists Can Make a Difference in K-12 Education

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Justin C.; Shannon, Lisa

2017-01-01

In general, vocational psychologists have not been engaged in applied research that demonstrates how career interventions can improve educational problems that matter to relevant decision-makers and stakeholders. This article describes how vocational psychology can make a difference in K-12 education by embracing an interdisciplinary…

Judgment and decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischhoff, Baruch

2010-09-01

The study of judgment and decision making entails three interrelated forms of research: (1) normative analysis, identifying the best courses of action, given decision makers' values; (2) descriptive studies, examining actual behavior in terms comparable to the normative analyses; and (3) prescriptive interventions, helping individuals to make better choices, bridging the gap between the normative ideal and the descriptive reality. The research is grounded in analytical foundations shared by economics, psychology, philosophy, and management science. Those foundations provide a framework for accommodating affective and social factors that shape and complement the cognitive processes of decision making. The decision sciences have grown through applications requiring collaboration with subject matter experts, familiar with the substance of the choices and the opportunities for interventions. Over the past half century, the field has shifted its emphasis from predicting choices, which can be successful without theoretical insight, to understanding the processes shaping them. Those processes are often revealed through biases that suggest non-normative processes. The practical importance of these biases depends on the sensitivity of specific decisions and the support that individuals have in making them. As a result, the field offers no simple summary of individuals' competence as decision makers, but a suite of theories and methods suited to capturing these sensitivities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A matter of quantum voltages

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sellner, Bernhard; Kathmann, Shawn M., E-mail: Shawn.Kathmann@pnnl.gov [Physical Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352 (United States)

2014-11-14

Voltages inside matter are relevant to crystallization, materials science, biology, catalysis, and aqueous chemistry. The variation of voltages in matter can be measured by experiment, however, modern supercomputers allow the calculation of accurate quantum voltages with spatial resolutions of bulk systems well beyond what can currently be measured provided a sufficient level of theory is employed. Of particular interest is the Mean Inner Potential (V{sub o}) – the spatial average of these quantum voltages referenced to the vacuum. Here we establish a protocol to reliably evaluate V{sub o} from quantum calculations. Voltages are very sensitive to the distribution of electrons and provide metrics to understand interactions in condensed phases. In the present study, we find excellent agreement with measurements of V{sub o} for vitrified water and salt crystals and demonstrate the impact of covalent and ionic bonding as well as intermolecular/atomic interactions. Certain aspects in this regard are highlighted making use of simple model systems/approximations. Furthermore, we predict V{sub o} as well as the fluctuations of these voltages in aqueous NaCl electrolytes and characterize the changes in their behavior as the resolution increases below the size of atoms.

The quark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rho, Mannque.

1980-04-01

The present status of our understanding of the physics of hadronic (nuclear or neutron) matter under extreme conditions, in particular at high densities is discussed. This is a problem which challenges three disciplines of physics: nuclear physics, astrophysics and particle physics. It is generally believed that we now have a correct and perhaps ultimate theory of the strong interactions, namely quantum chromodynamics (QCD). The constituents of this theory are quarks and gluons, so highly dense matters should be describable in terms of these constituents alone. This is a question that addresses directly to the phenomenon of quark confinement, one of the least understood aspects in particle physics. For nuclear physics, the possibility of a phase change between nuclear matter and quark matter introduces entirely new degrees of freedom in the description of nuclei and will bring perhaps a deeper understanding of nuclear dynamics. In astrophysics, the properties of neutron stars will be properly understood only when the equation of state of 'neutron' matter at densities exceeding that of nuclear matter can be realiably calculated. Most fascinating is the possibility of quark stars existing in nature, not entirely an absurd idea. Finally the quark matter - nuclear matter phase transition must have occured in the early stage of universe when matter expanded from high temperature and density; this could be an essential ingredient in the big-bang cosmology

Neutrino transport in stellar matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basdevant, J.L.

1985-09-01

We reconsider the neutrino transport problem in dense stellar matter which has a variety of applications among which the participation of neutrinos to the dynamics of type II supernova explosions. We describe the position of the problem and make some critiscism of previously used approximation methods. We then propose a method which is capable of handling simultaneously the optically thick, optically thin, and intermediate regimes, which is of crucial importance in such problems. The method consists in a simulation of the transport process and can be considered exact within numerical accuracy. We, finally exhibit some sample calculations which show the efficiency of the method, and present interesting qualitative physical features

Supersymmetry and dark matter in light of LHC 2010 and Xenon100 data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchmueller, O. [Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory; Cavanaugh, R. [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL (United States); Illinois Univ., Chicago, IL (United States). Physics Dept.; Colling, D. [Imperial College, London (GB). High Energy Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory] (and others)

2011-07-15

We make frequent test analyses of the CMSSM, NUHM1, VCMSSM and mSUGRA parameter spaces taking into account all the public results of searches for supersymmetry using data from the 2010 LHC run and the Xenon100 direct search for dark matter scattering. The LHC data set includes ATLAS and CMS searches for jets+ is not an element of {sub T} events (with or without leptons) and for the heavier MSSM Higgs bosons, and the upper limit on BR(B{sub s} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) including data from LHCb as well as CDF and DO. The absences of signals in the LHC data favour somewhat heavier mass spectra than in our previous analyses of the CMSSM, NUHM1 and VCMSSM, and somewhat smaller dark matter scattering cross sections, all close to or within the pre-LHC 68% CL ranges, but do not impact significantly the favoured regions of the mSUGRA parameter space. We also discuss the impact of the Xenon100 constraint on spin-independent dark matter scattering, stressing the importance of taking into account the uncertainty in the {pi}-nucleon {sigma} term sum {sub {pi}}{sub N}, that affects the spin-independent scattering matrix element, and we make predictions for spin-dependent dark matter scattering. Finally, we discuss briefly the potential impact of the updated predictions for sparticle masses in the CMSSM, NUHM1, VCMSSM and mSUGRA on future e{sup +}e{sup -} colliders. (orig.)

Emotion expression, decision-making and well-being.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Erte

2008-01-01

This chapter discusses the role of emotion expression in decision-making. To understand connections between emotion and decision it is helpful first to differentiate between emotion experience and emotion expression. Understanding how emotion expression influences decision-making is important as a practical matter. However, in contrast to emotion experience, economic research has paid little attention to the significance of emotion expression in decision-making. I review recent studies on emotion expression, paying specific attention to possible connections between emotion expression, punishment, fair economic exchange, and well-being. In contrast to emotions, which are typically difficult to control, I suggest that opportunities for emotion expression can feasibly be manipulated through appropriately designed policies. I further suggest that this approach may have the ability to positively affect well-being and economic outcomes. VALUE OF THE CHAPTER: The chapter provides new perspectives on how policy-makers can benefit by understanding the effect of emotion expression in decision-making. The chapter also suggests future research to improve our understanding of emotion expression.

Properties of matter at ultra-high densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banerjee, B.; Chitre, S.M.

1975-01-01

The recent discovery of pulsars and their subsequent identification with neutron stars has given a great impetus to the study of the behaviour of matter at ultra high densities. The object of these studies is to calculate the equation of state as a function of density. In this paper, the properties of electrically neutral, cold (T=0) matter at unusually high densities has been reviewed. The physics of the equation of state of such matter divides quite naturally in four density ranges. (i) At the very lowest densities the state of minimum energy is a lattice of 56 Fe atoms. This state persists upto 10 7 g/cm 3 . (ii) In the next density region the nuclei at the lattice sites become neutron rich because the high electron Fermi energy makes inverse beta decay possible. (iii) At a density 4.3 x 10 11 the nuclei become so neutron rich that the neutrons start 'dripping' out of the nuclei and form a gas. This density range is characterised by large, neutron-rich nuclei immersed in a neutron gas. (iv) At a density 2.4 x 10 14 g/cm 3 , the nuclei disappear and a fluid of uniform neutron matter with a small percentage of protons and electrons results. The above four density ranges have been discussed in detail as the equation of state is now well established upto the nuclear density 3 x 10 14 g/cm 3 . The problems of extending the equation of state beyond this density are also touched upon. (author)

Detecting dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dixon, Roger L.

2000-01-01

Dark matter is one of the most pressing problems in modern cosmology and particle physic research. This talk will motivate the existence of dark matter by reviewing the main experimental evidence for its existence, the rotation curves of galaxies and the motions of galaxies about one another. It will then go on to review the corroborating theoretical motivations before combining all the supporting evidence to explore some of the possibilities for dark matter along with its expected properties. This will lay the ground work for dark matter detection. A number of differing techniques are being developed and used to detect dark matter. These will be briefly discussed before the focus turns to cryogenic detection techniques. Finally, some preliminary results and expectations will be given for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment

Risky choice in younger versus older adults: Affective context matters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yumi Huang

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Earlier frameworks have indicated that older adults tend to experience decline in their deliberative decisional capacity, while their affective abilities tend to remain intact (Peters, Hess, Vastfjall, and Auman, 2007. The present study applied this framework to the study of risky decision-making across the lifespan. Two versions of the Columbia Card Task (CCT were used to trigger either affective decision-making (i.e., the ``warm'' CCT or deliberative decision-making (i.e., the ``cold'' CCT in a sample of 158 individuals across the lifespan. Overall there were no age differences in risk seeking. However, there was a significant interaction between age and condition, such that older adults were relatively more risk seeking in the cold condition only. In terms of everyday decision-making, context matters and risk propensity may shift within older adults depending upon the context.

Financial literacy is associated with white matter integrity in old age.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, S Duke; Boyle, Patricia A; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; Fleischman, Debra; Yu, Lei; James, Bryan D; Bennett, David A

2016-04-15

Financial literacy, the ability to understand, access, and utilize information in ways that contribute to optimal financial outcomes, is important for independence and wellbeing in old age. We previously reported that financial literacy is associated with greater functional connectivity between brain regions in old age. Here, we tested the hypothesis that higher financial literacy would be associated with greater white matter integrity in old age. Participants included 346 persons without dementia (mean age=81.36, mean education=15.39, male/female=79/267, mean MMSE=28.52) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project. Financial literacy was assessed using a series of questions imbedded as part of an ongoing decision making study. White matter integrity was assessed with diffusion anisotropy measured with diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI). We tested the hypothesis that higher financial literacy is associated with higher diffusion anisotropy in white matter, adjusting for the effects of age, education, sex, and white matter hyperintense lesions. We then repeated the analysis also adjusting for cognitive function. Analyses revealed regions with significant positive associations between financial literacy and diffusion anisotropy, and many remained significant after accounting for cognitive function. White matter tracts connecting right hemisphere temporal-parietal brain regions were particularly implicated. Greater financial literacy is associated with higher diffusion anisotropy in white matter of nondemented older adults after adjusting for important covariates. These results suggest that financial literacy is positively associated with white matter integrity in old age. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Matter and dark matter from false vacuum decay

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buchmueller, W.; Schmitz, K.; Vertongen, G.

2010-08-15

We study tachyonic preheating associated with the spontaneous breaking of B-L, the difference of baryon and lepton number. Reheating occurs through the decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos which are produced during preheating and in decays of the Higgs particles of B-L breaking. Baryogenesis is an interplay of nonthermal and thermal leptogenesis, accompanied by thermally produced gravitino dark matter. The proposed mechanism simultaneously explains the generation of matter and dark matter, thereby relating the absolute neutrino mass scale to the gravitino mass. (orig.)

Matter and dark matter from false vacuum decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchmueller, W.; Schmitz, K.; Vertongen, G.

2010-08-01

We study tachyonic preheating associated with the spontaneous breaking of B-L, the difference of baryon and lepton number. Reheating occurs through the decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos which are produced during preheating and in decays of the Higgs particles of B-L breaking. Baryogenesis is an interplay of nonthermal and thermal leptogenesis, accompanied by thermally produced gravitino dark matter. The proposed mechanism simultaneously explains the generation of matter and dark matter, thereby relating the absolute neutrino mass scale to the gravitino mass. (orig.)

A matter of life and death: controversy at the interface between clinical and legal decision-making in prolonged disorders of consciousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner-Stokes, Lynne

2017-07-01

Best interests decision-making and end-of-life care for patients in permanent vegetative or minimally conscious states (VS/MCS) is a complex area of clinical and legal practice, which is poorly understood by most clinicians, lawyers and members of the public. In recent weeks, the Oxford Shrieval lecture by Mr Justice Baker ('A Matter of Life and Death', 11 October 2016) and its subsequent reporting in the public press has sparked debate on the respective roles of clinicians, the Court of Protection and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments from patients with disorders of consciousness. The debate became polarised and confused by misquotation and inaccurate terminology, and highlighted a lack of knowledge about how patients in VS/MCS die in the absence of court approval. This article sets out the background and discussion and attempts to give a more accurate representation of the facts. In the spirit of transparency, I present a mortality review of all the patients in VS/MCS who have died under the care of my own unit in the last decade-with or without referral to the court, but always in accordance with the law. These data demonstrate that clinicians regularly undertake best interests decision-making in conjunction with families that may include life and death decisions (sometimes even the withdrawal or withholding of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration); and that these can be made within the current legal framework without necessarily involving the court in all cases. This is the first published case series of its kind. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Introduction to topological quantum matter & quantum computation

CERN Document Server

Stanescu, Tudor D

2017-01-01

What is -topological- about topological quantum states? How many types of topological quantum phases are there? What is a zero-energy Majorana mode, how can it be realized in a solid state system, and how can it be used as a platform for topological quantum computation? What is quantum computation and what makes it different from classical computation? Addressing these and other related questions, Introduction to Topological Quantum Matter & Quantum Computation provides an introduction to and a synthesis of a fascinating and rapidly expanding research field emerging at the crossroads of condensed matter physics, mathematics, and computer science. Providing the big picture, this book is ideal for graduate students and researchers entering this field as it allows for the fruitful transfer of paradigms and ideas amongst different areas, and includes many specific examples to help the reader understand abstract and sometimes challenging concepts. It explores the topological quantum world beyond the well-know...

Cosmological constraints on the gravitational interactions of matter and dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai, Yang; Salvado, Jordi; Stefanek, Ben A.

2015-01-01

Although there is overwhelming evidence of dark matter from its gravitational interaction, we still do not know its precise gravitational interaction strength or whether it obeys the equivalence principle. Using the latest available cosmological data and working within the framework of ΛCDM, we first update the measurement of the multiplicative factor of cosmology-relevant Newton’s constant over the standard laboratory-based value and find that it is consistent with one. In general relativity, dark matter equivalence principle breaking can be mimicked by a long-range dark matter force mediated by an ultra light scalar field. Using the Planck three year data, we find that the dark matter “fifth-force” strength is constrained to be weaker than 10 −4 of the gravitational force. We also introduce a phenomenological, post-Newtonian two-fluid description to explicitly break the equivalence principle by introducing a difference between dark matter inertial and gravitational masses. Depending on the decoupling time of the dark matter and ordinary matter fluids, the ratio of the dark matter gravitational mass to inertial mass is constrained to be unity at the 10 −6 level

EDITORIAL: Nobel Symposium 148: Graphene and Quantum Matter Nobel Symposium 148: Graphene and Quantum Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Niemi, Antti; Wilczek, Frank; Ardonne, Eddy; Hansson, Hans

2012-01-01

The 2010 Nobel Symposium on Graphene and Quantum Matter, was held at the Grand Hotel in Saltsjöbaden south of Stockholm on 27-31 May. The main theme of the meeting was graphene, and the symposium turned out to be very timely: two of the participants, Andre Geim and Kanstantin Novoselov returned to Stockholm less then six months later to receive the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. In these proceedings leading experts give up-to-date, historical, experimental, theoretical and technological perspectives on the remarkable material graphene, and several papers also make connections to other states of quantum matter. Saltsjöbaden is beautifully situated in the inner archipelago of Stockholm. It provided a pleasant setting for the talks and the ensuing discussions that took place in an enthusiastic and friendly atmosphere. The social programme included a boat trip in the light summer night and a dinner at the renowned Grand Hotel. These proceedings are ordered thematically, starting with historical overviews, followed by first experimental and then theoretical papers on the physics of graphene. Next are several papers addressing more general topics in quantum matter and finally contributions on the technological applications of graphene. We hope that this volume will serve as a source of knowledge and inspiration for any physicist interested in graphene, and at the same time provide a snapshot of a young field of research that is developing at very high speed. We are grateful to Marja Fahlander for excellent administrative support, and to the Nobel Foundation who funded the symposium.

Worse survival after breast cancer in women with anorexia nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Bens, Annet; Papadopoulos, Fotios C; Pukkala, Eero; Ekbom, Anders; Gissler, Mika; Mellemkjær, Lene

2018-04-01

A history of anorexia nervosa has been associated with a reduced risk of developing breast cancer. We investigated survival after breast cancer among women with a prior anorexia nervosa diagnosis compared with women in a population comparison group. This register-based study included combined data from Sweden, Denmark and Finland. A total of 76 and 1462 breast cancer cases identified among 22,654 women with anorexia nervosa and 224,619 women in a population comparison group, respectively, were included in the study. Hazard ratios (HR) for overall and breast cancer-specific mortality after breast cancer diagnosis were estimated using Cox regression. Cause of death was available only for Swedish and Danish women; therefore, the analysis on breast cancer-specific mortality was restricted to these women. We observed 23 deaths after breast cancer among anorexia nervosa patients and 247 among population comparisons. The overall mortality after the breast cancer diagnosis was increased in women with a history of anorexia nervosa compared with population comparisons (HR 2.5, 95% CI 1.6-3.9) after adjustment for age, period and extent of disease. Results were similar for overall (HR 2.3, 95% CI 1.4-3.6) and breast cancer-specific mortality (HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.3-3.6) among Swedish and Danish women. We found that female breast cancer patients with a prior diagnosis of anorexia nervosa have a worse survival compared with other breast cancer patients.

Dark matter universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahcall, Neta A

2015-10-06

Most of the mass in the universe is in the form of dark matter--a new type of nonbaryonic particle not yet detected in the laboratory or in other detection experiments. The evidence for the existence of dark matter through its gravitational impact is clear in astronomical observations--from the early observations of the large motions of galaxies in clusters and the motions of stars and gas in galaxies, to observations of the large-scale structure in the universe, gravitational lensing, and the cosmic microwave background. The extensive data consistently show the dominance of dark matter and quantify its amount and distribution, assuming general relativity is valid. The data inform us that the dark matter is nonbaryonic, is "cold" (i.e., moves nonrelativistically in the early universe), and interacts only weakly with matter other than by gravity. The current Lambda cold dark matter cosmology--a simple (but strange) flat cold dark matter model dominated by a cosmological constant Lambda, with only six basic parameters (including the density of matter and of baryons, the initial mass fluctuations amplitude and its scale dependence, and the age of the universe and of the first stars)--fits remarkably well all the accumulated data. However, what is the dark matter? This is one of the most fundamental open questions in cosmology and particle physics. Its existence requires an extension of our current understanding of particle physics or otherwise point to a modification of gravity on cosmological scales. The exploration and ultimate detection of dark matter are led by experiments for direct and indirect detection of this yet mysterious particle.

ΛΛ pairing in NΛ composite matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanigawa, Tomonori; Matsuzaki, Masayuki; Chiba, Satoshi

2003-01-01

ΛΛ pairing correlation in binary mixed matter of nucleons and lambdas is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model. Λ hyperons to be paired up are immersed in background nucleons in normal state. A phenomenological ΛΛ interaction, which is derived relativistically from the Lagrangian of the system, is adopted to the gap equation. It is found that increasing the nucleon density makes the ΛΛ pairing gap suppressed. This result suggests a mechanism, specific to relativistic models, of its dependence on the nucleon density. (author)

ΛΛ pairing in NΛ composite matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanigawa, Tomonori; Matsuzaki, Masayuki; Chiba, Satoshi

2002-01-01

ΛΛ pairing correlation in binary mixed matter of nucleons and lambdas is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model. Λ hyperons to be paired up are immersed in background nucleons in normal state. A phenomenological ΛΛ interaction, which is derived relativistically from the Lagrangian of the system, is adopted to the gap equation. It is found that increasing the nucleon density makes the ΛΛ pairing gap suppressed. This result suggests a mechanism, specific to relativistic models, of its dependence on the nucleon density. (author)

Nuclear regulatory decision making

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wieland, Patricia; Almeida, Ivan Pedro Salati de

2011-01-01

The scientific considerations upon which the nuclear regulations are based provide objective criteria for decisions on nuclear safety matters. However, the decisions that a regulatory agency takes go far beyond granting or not an operating license based on assessment of compliance. It may involve decisions about hiring experts or research, appeals, responses to other government agencies, international agreements, etc.. In all cases, top management of the regulatory agency should hear and decide the best balance between the benefits of regulatory action and undue risks and other associated impacts that may arise, including issues of credibility and reputation. The establishment of a decision framework based on well established principles and criteria ensures performance stability and consistency, preventing individual subjectivity. This article analyzes the challenges to the decision-making by regulatory agencies to ensure coherence and consistency in decisions, even in situations where there is uncertainty, lack of reliable information and even divergence of opinions among experts. The article explores the basic elements for a framework for regulatory decision-making. (author)

Dark Matter Searches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriyama, Shigetaka

2008-01-01

Recent cosmological as well as historical observations of rotational curves of galaxies strongly suggest the existence of dark matter. It is also widely believed that dark matter consists of unknown elementary particles. However, astrophysical observations based on gravitational effects alone do not provide sufficient information on the properties of dark matter. In this study, the status of dark matter searches is investigated by observing high-energy neutrinos from the sun and the earth and by observing nuclear recoils in laboratory targets. The successful detection of dark matter by these methods facilitates systematic studies of its properties. Finally, the XMASS experiment, which is due to start at the Kamioka Observatory, is introduced

Dence Cold Matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stavinskiy Alexey

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Possible way to create dense cold baryonic matter in the laboratory is discussed. The density of this matter is comparable or even larger than the density of neutron star core. The properties of this matter can be controlled by trigger conditions. Experimental program for the study of properties of dense cold matter for light and heavy ion collisions at initial energy range √sNN~2-3GeV is proposed..

Indirect detection of dark matter with γ rays.

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, Stefan

2015-10-06

The details of what constitutes the majority of the mass that makes up dark matter in the Universe remains one of the prime puzzles of cosmology and particle physics today-80 y after the first observational indications. Today, it is widely accepted that dark matter exists and that it is very likely composed of elementary particles, which are weakly interacting and massive [weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs)]. As important as dark matter is in our understanding of cosmology, the detection of these particles has thus far been elusive. Their primary properties such as mass and interaction cross sections are still unknown. Indirect detection searches for the products of WIMP annihilation or decay. This is generally done through observations of γ-ray photons or cosmic rays. Instruments such as the Fermi large-area telescope, high-energy stereoscopic system, major atmospheric gamma-ray imaging Cherenkov, and very energetic radiation imaging telescope array, combined with the future Cherenkov telescope array, will provide important complementarity to other search techniques. Given the expected sensitivities of all search techniques, we are at a stage where the WIMP scenario is facing stringent tests, and it can be expected that WIMPs will be either be detected or the scenario will be so severely constrained that it will have to be rethought. In this sense, we are on the threshold of discovery. In this article, I will give a general overview of the current status and future expectations for indirect searches of dark matter (WIMP) particles.

THE DARK MATTER DENSITY PROFILE OF THE FORNAX DWARF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jardel, John R.; Gebhardt, Karl

2012-01-01

We construct axisymmetric Schwarzschild models to measure the mass profile of the Local Group dwarf galaxy Fornax. These models require no assumptions to be made about the orbital anisotropy of the stars, as is the case for commonly used Jeans models. We test a variety of parameterizations of dark matter density profiles and find cored models with uniform density ρ c = (1.6 ± 0.1) × 10 –2 M ☉ pc –3 fit significantly better than the cuspy halos predicted by cold dark matter simulations. We also construct models with an intermediate-mass black hole, but are unable to make a detection. We place a 1σ upper limit on the mass of a potential intermediate-mass black hole at M . ≤ 3.2 × 10 4 M ☉ .

Annual report '82 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooren, M.J.H. van; Miltenburg, J.W.

1983-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight so-called research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizationa reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles one of them being in INIS scope, discusses some experiments with the 500 MeV electron accelerator MEA. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs

Non-Abelian behavior of α bosons in cold symmetric nuclear matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Hua; Bonasera, Aldo

2011-01-01

The ground-state energy of infinite symmetric nuclear matter is usually described by strongly interacting nucleons obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. We can imagine a unitary transformation which groups four nonidentical nucleons (i.e., with different spin and isospin) close in coordinate space. Those nucleons, being nonidentical, do not obey the Pauli principle, thus their relative momenta are negligibly small (just to fulfill the Heisenberg principle). Such a cluster can be identified with an α boson. But in dense nuclear matter, those α particles still obey the Pauli principle since are constituted of fermions. The ground state energy of nuclear matter α clusters is the same as for nucleons, thus it is degenerate. We could think of α particles as vortices which can now braid, for instance making 8 Be which leave the ground state energy unchanged. Further braiding to heavier clusters ( 12 C, 16 O,...) could give a different representation of the ground state at no energy cost. In contrast d-like clusters (i.e., N=Z odd-odd nuclei, where N and Z are the neutron and proton number, respectively) cannot describe the ground state of nuclear matter and can be formed at high excitation energies (or temperatures) only. We show that even-even, N=Z, clusters could be classified as non-Abelian states of matter. As a consequence an α condensate in nuclear matter might be hindered by the Fermi motion, while it could be possible a condensate of 8 Be or heavier clusters.

Dark Matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holt, S. S.; Bennett, C. L.

1995-01-01

These proceedings represent papers presented at the Astrophysics conference in Maryland, organized by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland. The topics covered included low mass stars as dark matter, dark matter in galaxies and clusters, cosmic microwave background anisotropy, cold and hot dark matter, and the large scale distribution and motions of galaxies. There were eighty five papers presented. Out of these, 10 have been abstracted for the Energy Science and Technology database

Timed Up and Go test, atrophy of medial temporal areas and cognitive functions in community-dwelling older adults with normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kose, Yujiro; Ikenaga, Masahiro; Yamada, Yosuke; Morimura, Kazuhiro; Takeda, Noriko; Ouma, Shinji; Tsuboi, Yoshio; Yamada, Tatsuo; Kimura, Misaka; Kiyonaga, Akira; Higaki, Yasuki; Tanaka, Hiroaki

2016-12-01

This study aimed to ascertain if performance on the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is associated with indicators of brain volume and cognitive functions among community-dwelling older adults with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment. Participants were 80 community-dwelling older adults aged 65-89years (44 men, 36 women), including 20 with mild cognitive impairment. Participants completed the TUG and a battery of cognitive assessments, including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Logical Memory I and II (LM-I, LM-II) subtests of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised; and the Trail Making Test A and B (TMT-A, TMT-B). Bilateral, right- and left-side medial temporal area atrophy as well as whole gray and white matter indices were determined with the Voxel-based Specific Regional Analysis System for Alzheimer's Disease. We divided participants into three groups based on TUG performance: "better" (≤6.9s); "normal" (7-10s); and "poor" (≥10.1s). Worse TMT-A and TMT-B performance showed significant independent associations with worse TUG performance (Pareas were significantly independently associated with worse TUG performance (Parea atrophy in community-dwelling older adults. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Descendit ad [in] inferna:'A matter of no small moment in bringing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Descendit ad [in] inferna:'A matter of no small moment in bringing about redemption' ... and make one suspicious about certain ecclesiastical biases. Spatial terms in the Creed should therefore not be demythologised, but rather be transformed in accordance with the insights of the contemporary physics of time and space.

Think twice: Impulsivity and decision making in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Grassi, Giacomo; Pallanti, Stefano; Righi, Lorenzo; Figee, Martijn; Mantione, Mariska; Denys, Damiaan; Piccagliani, Daniele; Rossi, Alessandro; Stratta, Paolo

2015-12-01

Recent studies have challenged the anxiety-avoidance model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), linking OCD to impulsivity, risky-decision-making and reward-system dysfunction, which can also be found in addiction and might support the conceptualization of OCD as a behavioral addiction. Here, we conducted an exploratory investigation of the behavioral addiction model of OCD by assessing whether OCD patients are more impulsive, have impaired decision-making, and biased probabilistic reasoning, three core dimensions of addiction, in a sample of OCD patients and healthy controls. We assessed these dimensions on 38 OCD patients and 39 healthy controls with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Beads Task. OCD patients had significantly higher BIS-11 scores than controls, in particular on the cognitive subscales. They performed significantly worse than controls on the IGT preferring immediate reward despite negative future consequences, and did not learn from losses. Finally, OCD patients demonstrated biased probabilistic reasoning as reflected by significantly fewer draws to decision than controls on the Beads Task. OCD patients are more impulsive than controls and demonstrate risky decision-making and biased probabilistic reasoning. These results might suggest that other conceptualizations of OCD, such as the behavioral addiction model, may be more suitable than the anxiety-avoidance one. However, further studies directly comparing OCD and behavioral addiction patients are needed in order to scrutinize this model.

Signals of dark matter in a supersymmetric two dark matter model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuoka, Hiroki; Suematsu, Daijiro; Toma, Takashi

2011-01-01

Supersymmetric radiative neutrino mass models have often two dark matter candidates. One is the usual lightest neutralino with odd R parity and the other is a new neutral particle whose stability is guaranteed by a discrete symmetry that forbids tree-level neutrino Yukawa couplings. If their relic abundance is comparable, dark matter phenomenology can be largely different from the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). We study this in a supersymmetric radiative neutrino mass model with the conserved R parity and a Z 2 symmetry weakly broken by the anomaly effect. The second dark matter with odd parity of this new Z 2 is metastable and decays to the neutralino dark matter. Charged particles and photons associated to this decay can cause the deviation from the expected background of the cosmic rays. Direct search of the neutralino dark matter is also expected to show different features from the MSSM since the relic abundance is not composed of the neutralino dark matter only. We discuss the nature of dark matter in this model by analyzing these signals quantitatively

Baryonic dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uson, Juan M.

2000-01-01

Many searches for baryonic dark matter have been conducted but, so far, all have been unsuccessful. Indeed, no more than 1% of the dark matter can be in the form of hydrogen burning stars. It has recently been suggested that most of the baryons in the universe are still in the form of ionized gas so that it is possible that there is no baryonic dark matter. Although it is likely that a significant fraction of the dark matter in the Milky Way is in a halo of non-baryonic matter, the data do not exclude the possibility that a considerable amount, perhaps most of it, could be in a tenuous halo of diffuse ionized gas

Moving Matters of Contemporary Art: Three New Materialist Propositions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katve-Kaisa Kontturi

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Fashioning a new materialist agenda, this essay calls for sensitivity to subtly moving matters present in the processes of making and encountering art. Otherwise, it claims, we will end up with seriously restricted understandings of art’s capabilities. Indeed, we might even miss art’s most inventive and moving offering: how it can change our thinking-feeling. In this essay, I suggest methods of relating to art in more bodily and material terms, and propose concepts that help to point out the materiality of encountering and making art. To make sense of how a new materialist approach might work in the case of contemporary art, I will offer three propositions that revolve around ontology, ethics and politics. These propositions arise from participation with art and are probed and provoked by a close relation to art.

PULSAR.MAKING VISIBLE THE SOUND OF STARS

OpenAIRE

Lega, Ferran

2015-01-01

[EN] Pulsar, making visible the sound of stars is a comunication based on a sound Installation raised as a site-specific project to show the hidden abilities of sound to generate images and patterns on the matter, using the acoustic science of cymatics. The objective of this communication will show people how through abstract and intangible sounds from celestial orbs of cosmos (radio waves generated by electromagnetic pulses from the rotation of neutrón stars), we can create ar...

Pore water geochemistry and the oxidation of sedimentary organic matter: Hatteras Abyssal Plain 1981

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heggie, D.; Lewis, T.; Graham, D.

1985-01-01

This report presents the pore water geochemistry from R/V an Endeavor cruise to an area of the Hatteras Abyssal Plain between 31 0 45' - 34 0 00'N and 69 0 37.5 - 72 0 07.5'W. The authors report on the down core variations of the products of organic matter oxidation, the stoichiometry of reactions and make a preliminary assessment of the rates of organic matter oxidation at several core locations. The authors found concentrations of total inorganic nitrogen species; nitrate, nitrite and ammonia in pore waters to be less than those predicted from a model of organic matter oxidation (Froelich et al. 1979) in sediments. The observations indicate that nitrogen is depleted over carbon as compared to typical marine organic matter. The down-core nitrate profiles over the study area were used to infer depths at which oxygen is near totally consumed in the sediments and hence to compute rates of oxygen consumption. The authors found oxygen consumption rates to vary by nearly an order of magnitude between core locations (1.7 - >15μmO 2 cm -2 yr -1 ). A simple model which combines the computed rates of oxidant consumption and the stoichiometry of organic matter oxidation was used to make estimates of organic carbon oxidation rates. These latter were found to vary between 1.3 and > 11.5 μm C cm -2 yr -1 . Highest carbon oxidation rates were found at the western boundary of the study area, and in all cases oxygen consumption was responsible for >85% of carbon oxidized. 11 references, 5 figures, 4 tables

Making women and men matter: the Philippine POPCOM experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Dañguilan, M J; Verzosa, E L

1996-01-01

To reorient population policies and programs and make population workers more gender-responsive was the challenge faced by the Philippine Population Commission (POPCOM), the government's central policymaking and coordinating body for population concerns. This paper traces the history of population policies in the Philippines and describes the factors that helped create a climate conducive to a rethinking of POPCOM's policies. POPCOM first conducted an institutional assessment to determine the levels of awareness of its population officers about gender, reproductive health, and population and development issues. A gender-responsive population policy framework with a reproductive health perspective was then developed to guide training programs, information management strategies, and pilot community-based action research programs. Problems anticipated in integrating a gender and reproductive health perspective include the Catholic Church, different priorities of government, and a reluctant Congress. Suggested strategies are (a) formation of a critical mass of various groups to demand policy shifts; (b) for women, development, and environment nongovernmental organizations to identify allies in government and international organizations; (c) regular dialogues between donors and the government's central planning agency; and (d) working through the media.

Ostracism Reduces Reliance on Poor Advice from Others during Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Byrne, Kaileigh A; Tibbett, Thomas P; Laserna, Lauren N; Carter-Sowell, Adrienne R; Worthy, Darrell A

2016-10-01

Decision-making is rarely context-free, and often both social information and non-social information are weighed into one's decisions. Incorporating information into a decision can be influenced by previous experiences. Ostracism has extensive effects, including taxing cognitive resources and increasing social monitoring. In decision-making situations, individuals are often faced with both objective and social information and must choose which information to include or filter out. How will ostracism affect the reliance on objective and social information during decision-making? Participants ( N =245) in Experiment 1 were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized in a standardized, group task. They then performed a dynamic decision-making task that involved the presentation of either non-social (i.e. biased reward feedback) or social (i.e., poor advice from a previous participant) misleading information. In Experiment 2, participants ( N =105) completed either the ostracism non-social condition or social misleading information condition with explicit instructions stating that the advice given was from an individual who did not partake in the group task. Ostracized individuals relied more on non-social misleading information and performed worse than included individuals. However, ostracized individuals discounted misleading social information and outperformed included individuals. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the findings of Experiment 1. Across two experiments, ostracized individuals were more critical of advice from others, both individuals who may have ostracized them and unrelated individuals. In other words, compared to included individuals, ostracized individuals underweighted advice from another individual, but overweighted non-social information during decision-making. We conclude that when deceptive objective information is present, ostracism results in disadvantageous decision-making.

Supersymmetric dark-matter Q-balls and their interactions in matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusenko, Alexander; Loveridge, Lee C.; Shaposhnikov, Mikhail

2005-01-01

Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model contain nontopological solitons, Q-balls, which can be stable and can be a form of cosmological dark matter. Understanding the interaction of SUSY Q-balls with matter fermions is important for both astrophysical limits and laboratory searches for these dark-matter candidates. We show that a baryon scattering off a baryonic SUSY Q-ball can convert into its antiparticle with a high probability, while the baryon number of the Q-ball is increased by two units. For a SUSY Q-ball interacting with matter, this process dominates over those previously discussed in the literature

Hybrid Dark Matter

OpenAIRE

Chao, Wei

2018-01-01

Dark matter can be produced in the early universe via the freeze-in or freeze-out mechanisms. Both scenarios were investigated in references, but the production of dark matters via the combination of these two mechanisms are not addressed. In this paper we propose a hybrid dark matter model where dark matters have two components with one component produced thermally and the other one produced non-thermally. We present for the first time the analytical calculation for the relic abundance of th...

Speech Matters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasse Jørgensen, Stina

2011-01-01

About Speech Matters - Katarina Gregos, the Greek curator's exhibition at the Danish Pavillion, the Venice Biannual 2011.......About Speech Matters - Katarina Gregos, the Greek curator's exhibition at the Danish Pavillion, the Venice Biannual 2011....

Thermal dark matter co-annihilating with a strongly interacting scalar

Science.gov (United States)

Biondini, S.; Laine, M.

2018-04-01

Recently many investigations have considered Majorana dark matter co-annihilating with bound states formed by a strongly interacting scalar field. However only the gluon radiation contribution to bound state formation and dissociation, which at high temperatures is subleading to soft 2 → 2 scatterings, has been included. Making use of a non-relativistic effective theory framework and solving a plasma-modified Schrödinger equation, we address the effect of soft 2 → 2 scatterings as well as the thermal dissociation of bound states. We argue that the mass splitting between the Majorana and scalar field has in general both a lower and an upper bound, and that the dark matter mass scale can be pushed at least up to 5…6TeV.

How do natural, uncultivated microbes interact with organic matter? Insights from single cell genomics and metagenomics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lloyd, Karen; Bird, Jordan; Schreiber, Lars

Abstract Since most of the microbes in marine sediments remain uncultured, little is known about the mechanisms by which these natural communities degrade organic matter (OM). Likewise, little is known about the make-up of labile OM in marine sediments beyond general functional classes such as pr......Abstract Since most of the microbes in marine sediments remain uncultured, little is known about the mechanisms by which these natural communities degrade organic matter (OM). Likewise, little is known about the make-up of labile OM in marine sediments beyond general functional classes...... such as proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, measured as monomers. However, microbes have complex interactions with specific polymers within these functional classes, which can be indicated by a microbe's enzymatic toolkit. We ...

Dark matters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, Joseph

2010-01-01

One of the greatest mysteries in the cosmos is that it is mostly dark. That is, not only is the night sky dark, but also most of the matter and the energy in the universe is dark. For every atom visible in planets, stars and galaxies today there exists at least five or six times as much 'Dark Matter' in the universe. Astronomers and particle physicists today are seeking to unravel the nature of this mysterious but pervasive dark matter, which has profoundly influenced the formation of structure in the universe. Dark energy remains even more elusive, as we lack candidate fields that emerge from well established physics. I will describe various attempts to measure dark matter by direct and indirect means, and discuss the prospects for progress in unravelling dark energy.

Concentrated dark matter: Enhanced small-scale structure from codecaying dark matter

OpenAIRE

Dror, Jeff A.; Kuflik, Eric; Melcher, Brandon; Watson, Scott

2018-01-01

We study the cosmological consequences of codecaying dark matter—a recently proposed mechanism for depleting the density of dark matter through the decay of nearly degenerate particles. A generic prediction of this framework is an early dark matter dominated phase in the history of the Universe, that results in the enhanced growth of dark matter perturbations on small scales. We compute the duration of the early matter dominated phase and show that the perturbations are robust against washout...

Implications of unitarity and gauge invariance for simplified dark matter models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlhoefer, Felix; Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai; Schwetz, Thomas; Vogl, Stefan

2016-01-01

We show that simplified models used to describe the interactions of dark matter with Standard Model particles do not in general respect gauge invariance and that perturbative unitarity may be violated in large regions of the parameter space. The modifications necessary to cure these inconsistencies may imply a much richer phenomenology and lead to stringent constraints on the model. We illustrate these observations by considering the simplified model of a fermionic dark matter particle and a vector mediator. Imposing gauge invariance then leads to strong constraints from dilepton resonance searches and electroweak precision tests. Furthermore, the new states required to restore perturbative unitarity can mix with Standard Model states and mediate interactions between the dark and the visible sector, leading to new experimental signatures such as invisible Higgs decays. The resulting constraints are typically stronger than the ‘classic’ constraints on DM simplified models such as monojet searches and make it difficult to avoid thermal overproduction of dark matter.

Implications of unitarity and gauge invariance for simplified dark matter models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahlhoefer, Felix; Schmidt-Hoberg, Kai; Schwetz, Thomas; Vogl, Stefan; Stockholm Univ.

2015-10-01

We show that simplified models used to describe the interactions of dark matter with Standard Model particles do not in general respect gauge invariance and that perturbative unitarity may be violated in large regions of the parameter space. The modifications necessary to cure these inconsistencies may imply a much richer phenomenology and lead to stringent constraints on the model. We illustrate these observations by considering the simplified model of a fermionic dark matter particle and a vector mediator. Imposing gauge invariance then leads to strong constraints from dilepton resonance searches and electroweak precision tests. Furthermore, the new states required to restore perturbative unitarity can mix with Standard Model states and mediate interactions between the dark and the visible sector, leading to new experimental signatures such as invisible Higgs decays. The resulting constraints are typically stronger than the 'classic' constraints on DM simplified models such as monojet searches and make it difficult to avoid thermal overproduction of dark matter.

Comprehensive characterization of atmospheric organic matter in Fresno, California fog water.

Science.gov (United States)

Herckes, Pierre; Leenheer, Jerry A; Collett, Jeffrey L

2007-01-15

Fogwater collected during winter in Fresno (CA) was characterized by isolating several distinct fractions and characterizing them by infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. More than 80% of the organic matter in the fogwater was recovered and characterized. The most abundant isolated fractions were those comprised of volatile acids (24% of isolated carbon) and hydrophilic acids plus neutrals (28%). Volatile acids, including formic and acetic acid, have been previously identified as among the most abundant individual species in fogwater. Recovered hydrophobic acids exhibited some properties similar to aquatic fulvic acids. An insoluble particulate organic matter fraction contained a substantial amount of biological material, while hydrophilic and transphilic fractions also contained material suggestive of biotic origin. Together, these fractions illustrate the important contribution biological sources make to organic matter in atmospheric fog droplets. The fogwater also was notable for containing a large amount of organic nitrogen present in a variety of species, including amines, nitrate esters, peptides, and nitroso compounds.

Conducting compositions of matter

Science.gov (United States)

Viswanathan, Tito (Inventor)

2000-01-01

The invention provides conductive compositions of matter, as well as methods for the preparation of the conductive compositions of matter, solutions comprising the conductive compositions of matter, and methods of preparing fibers or fabrics having improved anti-static properties employing the conductive compositions of matter.

Dark matter universe

Science.gov (United States)

Bahcall, Neta A.

2015-01-01

Most of the mass in the universe is in the form of dark matter—a new type of nonbaryonic particle not yet detected in the laboratory or in other detection experiments. The evidence for the existence of dark matter through its gravitational impact is clear in astronomical observations—from the early observations of the large motions of galaxies in clusters and the motions of stars and gas in galaxies, to observations of the large-scale structure in the universe, gravitational lensing, and the cosmic microwave background. The extensive data consistently show the dominance of dark matter and quantify its amount and distribution, assuming general relativity is valid. The data inform us that the dark matter is nonbaryonic, is “cold” (i.e., moves nonrelativistically in the early universe), and interacts only weakly with matter other than by gravity. The current Lambda cold dark matter cosmology—a simple (but strange) flat cold dark matter model dominated by a cosmological constant Lambda, with only six basic parameters (including the density of matter and of baryons, the initial mass fluctuations amplitude and its scale dependence, and the age of the universe and of the first stars)—fits remarkably well all the accumulated data. However, what is the dark matter? This is one of the most fundamental open questions in cosmology and particle physics. Its existence requires an extension of our current understanding of particle physics or otherwise point to a modification of gravity on cosmological scales. The exploration and ultimate detection of dark matter are led by experiments for direct and indirect detection of this yet mysterious particle. PMID:26417091

Non-Abelian states of matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Stern, Ady

2010-03-11

Quantum mechanics classifies all elementary particles as either fermions or bosons, and this classification is crucial to the understanding of a variety of physical systems, such as lasers, metals and superconductors. In certain two-dimensional systems, interactions between electrons or atoms lead to the formation of quasiparticles that break the fermion-boson dichotomy. A particularly interesting alternative is offered by 'non-Abelian' states of matter, in which the presence of quasiparticles makes the ground state degenerate, and interchanges of identical quasiparticles shift the system between different ground states. Present experimental studies attempt to identify non-Abelian states in systems that manifest the fractional quantum Hall effect. If such states can be identified, they may become useful for quantum computation.

The dark-matter world: Are there dark-matter galaxies?

OpenAIRE

Hwang, W-Y. Pauchy

2011-01-01

We attempt to answer whether neutrinos and antineutrinos, such as those in the cosmic neutrino background, would clusterize among themselves or even with other dark-matter particles, under certain time span, say 1 Gyr. With neutrino masses in place, the similarity with the ordinary matter increases and so is our confidence for neutrino clustering if time is long enough. In particular, the clusterings could happen with some seeds (cf. see the text for definition), the chance in the dark-matter...

Memory Matters

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Memory Matters KidsHealth / For Kids / Memory Matters What's in ... of your complex and multitalented brain. What Is Memory? When an event happens, when you learn something, ...

Matter in transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, Lara B.; Gray, James; Raghuram, Nikhil; Taylor, Washington

2016-01-01

We explore a novel type of transition in certain 6D and 4D quantum field theories, in which the matter content of the theory changes while the gauge group and other parts of the spectrum remain invariant. Such transitions can occur, for example, for SU(6) and SU(7) gauge groups, where matter fields in a three-index antisymmetric representation and the fundamental representation are exchanged in the transition for matter in the two-index antisymmetric representation. These matter transitions are realized by passing through superconformal theories at the transition point. We explore these transitions in dual F-theory and heterotic descriptions, where a number of novel features arise. For example, in the heterotic description the relevant 6D SU(7) theories are described by bundles on K3 surfaces where the geometry of the K3 is constrained in addition to the bundle structure. On the F-theory side, non-standard representations such as the three-index antisymmetric representation of SU(N) require Weierstrass models that cannot be realized from the standard SU(N) Tate form. We also briefly describe some other situations, with groups such as Sp(3), SO(12), and SU(3), where analogous matter transitions can occur between different representations. For SU(3), in particular, we find a matter transition between adjoint matter and matter in the symmetric representation, giving an explicit Weierstrass model for the F-theory description of the symmetric representation that complements another recent analogous construction.

Sleep pattern and decision-making in physicians from mobile emergency care service with 12-h work schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro, Eleni de Araújo Sales; de Almondes, Katie Moraes

2018-06-01

Shift work schedules are biological standpoint worse because compel the body to anticipate periods of wakefulness and sleep and thus eventually cause a disruption of biological rhythms. The objective of this study is to evaluate the sleep pattern and decision-making in physicians working in mobile units of emergency attention undergoing day shift and rotating shift. The study included 26 physicians. The instruments utilized were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Sleep Habits Questionnaire, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Chronotype Identification Questionnaire of Horne-Ostberg, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and hypothetical scenarios of decision-making created according to the Policy-Capturing Technique. For inclusion and exclusion criteria, the participants answered the Chalder Fatigue Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Inventory of Stress Symptoms for adults of Lipp. It was found good sleep quality for physicians on day shift schedule and bad sleep quality for physicians on rotating shift schedule. The IGT measure showed no impairment in decision-making, but the hypothetical scenarios revealed impairment decision-making during the shift for both schedules. Good sleep quality was related to a better performance in decision-making. Good sleep quality seems to influence a better performance in decision-making.

Mimicking dark matter through a non-minimal gravitational coupling with matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolami, O.; Páramos, J.

2010-01-01

In this study one resorts to the phenomenology of models endowed with a non-minimal coupling between matter and geometry, in order to develop a mechanism through which dynamics similar to that due to the presence of dark matter is generated. As a first attempt, one tries to account for the flattening of the galaxy rotation curves as an effect of the non-(covariant) conservation of the energy-momentum tensor of visible matter. Afterwards, one assumes instead that this non-minimal coupling modifies the scalar curvature in a way that can be interpreted as a dark matter component (albeit with negative pressure). It is concluded that it is possible to mimic known dark matter density profiles through an appropriate power-law coupling f 2 = (R/R 0 ) n , with a negative index n — a fact that reflects the dominance of dark matter at large distances. The properties of the model are extensively discussed, and possible cosmological implications are addressed

Correlation between white matter damage and gray matter lesions in multiple sclerosis patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xue-mei Han

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We observed the characteristics of white matter fibers and gray matter in multiple sclerosis patients, to identify changes in diffusion tensor imaging fractional anisotropy values following white matter fiber injury. We analyzed the correlation between fractional anisotropy values and changes in whole-brain gray matter volume. The participants included 20 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and 20 healthy volunteers as controls. All subjects underwent head magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Our results revealed that fractional anisotropy values decreased and gray matter volumes were reduced in the genu and splenium of corpus callosum, left anterior thalamic radiation, hippocampus, uncinate fasciculus, right corticospinal tract, bilateral cingulate gyri, and inferior longitudinal fasciculus in multiple sclerosis patients. Gray matter volumes were significantly different between the two groups in the right frontal lobe (superior frontal, middle frontal, precentral, and orbital gyri, right parietal lobe (postcentral and inferior parietal gyri, right temporal lobe (caudate nucleus, right occipital lobe (middle occipital gyrus, right insula, right parahippocampal gyrus, and left cingulate gyrus. The voxel sizes of atrophic gray matter positively correlated with fractional anisotropy values in white matter association fibers in the patient group. These findings suggest that white matter fiber bundles are extensively injured in multiple sclerosis patients. The main areas of gray matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis are the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, caudate nucleus, parahippocampal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Gray matter atrophy is strongly associated with white matter injury in multiple sclerosis patients, particularly with injury to association fibers.

Soft matter physics

CERN Document Server

Doi, Masao

2013-01-01

Soft matter (polymers, colloids, surfactants and liquid crystals) are an important class of materials in modern technology. They also form the basis of many future technologies, for example in medical and environmental applications. Soft matter shows complex behaviour between fluids and solids, and used to be a synonym of complex materials. Due to the developments of the past two decades, soft condensed matter can now be discussed on the same sound physical basis as solid condensedmatter. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview of soft matter for undergraduate and graduate students

Concurrent Preoperative Presence of Hydronephrosis and Flank Pain Independently Predicts Worse Outcome of Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Hsin-Chih; Jan, Hau-Chern; Wu, Wen-Jeng; Li, Ching-Chia; Li, Wei-Ming; Ke, Hung-Lung; Huang, Shu-Pin; Liu, Chia-Chu; Lee, Yung-Chin; Yang, Sheau-Fang; Liang, Peir-In; Huang, Chun-Nung

2015-01-01

To investigate the impact of preoperative hydronephrosis and flank pain on prognosis of patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma. In total, 472 patients with upper tract urothelial carcinoma managed by radical nephroureterectomy were included from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital Healthcare System. Clinicopathological data were collected retrospectively for analysis. The significance of hydronephrosis, especially when combined with flank pain, and other relevant factors on overall and cancer-specific survival were evaluated. Of the 472 patients, 292 (62%) had preoperative hydronephrosis and 121 (26%) presented with flank pain. Preoperative hydronephrosis was significantly associated with age, hematuria, flank pain, tumor location, and pathological tumor stage. Concurrent presence of hydronephrosis and flank pain was a significant predictor of non-organ-confined disease (multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio = 2.10, P = 0.025). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significantly poorer overall and cancer-specific survival in patients with preoperative hydronephrosis (P = 0.005 and P = 0.026, respectively) and in patients with flank pain (P hydronephrosis and flank pain independently predicted adverse outcome (hazard ratio = 1.98, P = 0.016 for overall survival and hazard ratio = 1.87, P = 0.036 for and cancer-specific survival, respectively) in multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. In addition, concurrent presence of hydronephrosis and flank pain was also significantly predictive of worse survival in patient with high grade or muscle-invasive disease. Notably, there was no difference in survival between patients with hydronephrosis but devoid of flank pain and those without hydronephrosis. Concurrent preoperative presence of hydronephrosis and flank pain predicted non-organ-confined status of upper tract urothelial carcinoma. When accompanied with flank pain, hydronephrosis represented an independent predictor for worse outcome in patients with upper tract

New ideas on the detection of cold dark matter and magnetic monopoles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez-Mestres, L.; Perret-Gallix, D.

1988-05-01

Superheated superconducting granules (SSG) provide several interesting targets for cold dark matter detection, not only through coherent scattering off nuclei, but also for Majorana fermions through spin-spin interactions. The concept of 'localized micro-avalanche' should introduce crucial improvements in SSG devices and, eventually, make feasible a cold dark matter detector based on nucleus recoil. Recent results on the metastability of very large granules also suggest that a SSG large area monopole detector may be feasible, if the theoretically conjectured detection principle (destruction of the superheated state by two injected flux quanta) is checked experimentally. We also consider the use of special crystal scintillators to detect Majorana fermions through inelastic scattering

Gaseous Matter

CERN Document Server

Angelo, Joseph A

2011-01-01

aseous Matter focuses on the many important discoveries that led to the scientific interpretation of matter in the gaseous state. This new, full-color resource describes the basic characteristics and properties of several important gases, including air, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and nitrogen. The nature and scope of the science of fluids is discussed in great detail, highlighting the most important scientific principles upon which the field is based. Chapters include:. Gaseous Matter An Initial Perspective. Physical Characteristics of Gases. The Rise of the Science of Gases. Kinetic Theory of

Damage to white matter bottlenecks contributes to language impairments after left hemispheric stroke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph C. Griffis

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Damage to the white matter underlying the left posterior temporal lobe leads to deficits in multiple language functions. The posterior temporal white matter may correspond to a bottleneck where both dorsal and ventral language pathways are vulnerable to simultaneous damage. Damage to a second putative white matter bottleneck in the left deep prefrontal white matter involving projections associated with ventral language pathways and thalamo-cortical projections has recently been proposed as a source of semantic deficits after stroke. Here, we first used white matter atlases to identify the previously described white matter bottlenecks in the posterior temporal and deep prefrontal white matter. We then assessed the effects of damage to each region on measures of verbal fluency, picture naming, and auditory semantic decision-making in 43 chronic left hemispheric stroke patients. Damage to the posterior temporal bottleneck predicted deficits on all tasks, while damage to the anterior bottleneck only significantly predicted deficits in verbal fluency. Importantly, the effects of damage to the bottleneck regions were not attributable to lesion volume, lesion loads on the tracts traversing the bottlenecks, or damage to nearby cortical language areas. Multivariate lesion-symptom mapping revealed additional lesion predictors of deficits. Post-hoc fiber tracking of the peak white matter lesion predictors using a publicly available tractography atlas revealed evidence consistent with the results of the bottleneck analyses. Together, our results provide support for the proposal that spatially specific white matter damage affecting bottleneck regions, particularly in the posterior temporal lobe, contributes to chronic language deficits after left hemispheric stroke. This may reflect the simultaneous disruption of signaling in dorsal and ventral language processing streams.

Renormalization group fixed points of foliated gravity-matter systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Biemans, Jorn [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands); Platania, Alessia [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania,Via S. Sofia 63, 95123 Catania (Italy); INFN, Catania section,Via S. Sofia 64, 95123, Catania (Italy); INAF, Catania Astrophysical Observatory,Via S. Sofia 78, 95123, Catania (Italy); Saueressig, Frank [Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP),Radboud University Nijmegen,Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen (Netherlands)

2017-05-17

We employ the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner formalism to study the renormalization group flow of gravity minimally coupled to an arbitrary number of scalar, vector, and Dirac fields. The decomposition of the gravitational degrees of freedom into a lapse function, shift vector, and spatial metric equips spacetime with a preferred (Euclidean) “time”-direction. In this work, we provide a detailed derivation of the renormalization group flow of Newton’s constant and the cosmological constant on a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background. Adding matter fields, it is shown that their contribution to the flow is the same as in the covariant formulation and can be captured by two parameters d{sub g}, d{sub λ}. We classify the resulting fixed point structure as a function of these parameters finding that the existence of non-Gaussian renormalization group fixed points is rather generic. In particular the matter content of the standard model and its most common extensions gives rise to one non-Gaussian fixed point with real critical exponents suitable for Asymptotic Safety. Moreover, we find non-Gaussian fixed points for any number of scalar matter fields, making the scenario attractive for cosmological model building.

Updated constraints on the dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Witte, Samuel J.; Gelmini, Graciela B.

2017-01-01

We present an updated halo-dependent and halo-independent analysis of viable light WIMP dark matter candidates which could account for the excess observed in CDMS-II-Si. We include recent constraints from LUX, PandaX-II, and PICO-60, as well as projected sensitivities for XENON1T, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, LZ, DARWIN, DarkSide-20k, and PICO-250, on candidates with spin-independent isospin conserving and isospin-violating interactions, and either elastic or exothermic scattering. We show that there exist dark matter candidates which can explain the CDMS-II-Si data and remain very marginally consistent with the null results of all current experiments, however such models are highly tuned, making a dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si very unlikely. We find that these models can only be ruled out in the future by an experiment comparable to LZ or PICO-250.

Methods That Matter: Integrating Mixed Methods for More Effective Social Science Research

Science.gov (United States)

Hay, M. Cameron, Ed.

2016-01-01

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

Annual report '85 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eggen, J.J.H.; Hofman, E.A.E.; Zwaan, B.E. van der

1986-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight socalled research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aformentioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles one of which being in INIS scope, dealing with the evidence of non-nucleonic degrees of freedom in nuclei from 500 MeV electroscattering experiments at NIKHEF-K. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs

Annual report'81 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heijn, J.; Hooren, M.J.H. van

1982-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight so-called research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles of which two are in INIS scope, entitled respectively: Non-perturbative methods in field theory; Balance between bulk and beam studies in atomic collision research. (H.W.) refs.; figs.; tabs

Matter and Energy

CERN Document Server

Karam, P Andrew

2011-01-01

In Matter and Energy, readers will learn about the many forms of energy, the wide variety of particles in nature, and Albert Einstein's world-changing realization of how matter can be changed into pure energy. The book also examines the recent discoveries of dark matter and dark energy and the future of the universe.

Condensed elementary particle matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kajantie, K.

1996-01-01

Quark matter is a special case of condensed elementary particle matter, matter governed by the laws of particle physics. The talk discusses how far one can get in the study of particle matter by reducing the problem to computations based on the action. As an example the computation of the phase diagram of electroweak matter is presented. It is quite possible that ultimately an antireductionist attitude will prevail: experiments will reveal unpredicted phenomena not obviously reducible to the study of the action. (orig.)

Ordinary Dark Matter versus Mysterious Dark Matter in Galactic Rotation

Science.gov (United States)

Gallo, C. F.; Feng, James

2008-04-01

To theoretically describe the measured rotational velocity curves of spiral galaxies, there are two different approaches and conclusions. (1) ORDINARY DARK MATTER. We assume Newtonian gravity/dynamics and successfully find (via computer) mass distributions in bulge/disk configurations that duplicate the measured rotational velocities. There is ordinary dark matter within the galactic disk towards the cooler periphery which has lower emissivity/opacity. There are no mysteries in this scenario based on verified physics. (2) MYSTERIOUS DARK MATTER. Others INaccurately assume the galactic mass distributions follow the measured light distributions, and then the measured rotational velocity curves are NOT duplicated. To alleviate this discrepancy, speculations are invoked re ``Massive Peripheral Spherical Halos of Mysterious Dark Matter.'' But NO matter has been detected in this UNtenable Halo configuration. Many UNverified ``Mysteries'' are invoked as necessary and convenient. CONCLUSION. The first approach utilizing Newtonian gravity/dynamics and searching for the ordinary mass distributions within the galactic disk simulates reality and agrees with data.

When Organizational Identification Elicits Moral Decision-Making: A Matter of the Right Climate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S. van Gils (Suzanne); M.A. Hogg (Michael A.); N. van Quaquebeke (Niels); D.L. van Knippenberg (Daan)

2017-01-01

textabstractTo advance current knowledge on ethical decision-making in organizations, we integrate two perspectives that have thus far developed independently: the organizational identification perspective and the ethical climate perspective. We illustrate the interaction between these perspectives

Dirac matter

CERN Document Server

Rivasseau, Vincent; Fuchs, Jean-Nöel

2017-01-01

This fifteenth volume of the Poincare Seminar Series, Dirac Matter, describes the surprising resurgence, as a low-energy effective theory of conducting electrons in many condensed matter systems, including graphene and topological insulators, of the famous equation originally invented by P.A.M. Dirac for relativistic quantum mechanics. In five highly pedagogical articles, as befits their origin in lectures to a broad scientific audience, this book explains why Dirac matters. Highlights include the detailed "Graphene and Relativistic Quantum Physics", written by the experimental pioneer, Philip Kim, and devoted to graphene, a form of carbon crystallized in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice, from its discovery in 2004-2005 by the future Nobel prize winners Kostya Novoselov and Andre Geim to the so-called relativistic quantum Hall effect; the review entitled "Dirac Fermions in Condensed Matter and Beyond", written by two prominent theoreticians, Mark Goerbig and Gilles Montambaux, who consider many other mater...

Strategies for dark matter detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, J.

1988-01-01

The present status of alternative forms of dark matter, both baryonic and nonbaryonic, is reviewed. Alternative arguments are presented for the predominance of either cold dark matter (CDM) or of baryonic dark matter (BDM). Strategies are described for dark matter detection, both for dark matter that consists of weakly interacting relic particles and for dark matter that consists of dark stellar remnants

Soil organic matter studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1977-01-01

A total of 77 papers were presented and discussed during this symposium, 37 are included in this Volume II. The topics covered in this volume include: biochemical transformation of organic matter in soils; bitumens in soil organic matter; characterization of humic acids; carbon dating of organic matter in soils; use of modern techniques in soil organic matter research; use of municipal sludge with special reference to heavy metals constituents, soil nitrogen, and physical and chemical properties of soils; relationship of soil organic matter and plant metabolism; interaction between agrochemicals and organic matter; and peat. Separate entries have been prepared for those 20 papers which discuss the use of nuclear techniques in these studies

Implications of the DAMA and CRESST experiments for mirror matter-type dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foot, R.

2004-01-01

Mirror atoms are expected to be a significant component of the galactic dark matter halo if mirror matter is identified with the nonbaryonic dark matter in the Universe. Mirror matter can interact with ordinary matter via gravity and via the photon-mirror photon kinetic mixing interaction--causing mirror charged particles to couple to ordinary photons with an effective electric charge εe. This means that the nuclei of mirror atoms can elastically scatter off the nuclei of ordinary atoms, leading to nuclear recoils, which can be detected in existing dark matter experiments. We show that the dark matter experiments most sensitive to this type of dark matter candidate (via the nuclear recoil signature) are the DAMA/NaI and CRESST/Sapphire experiments. Furthermore, we show that the impressive annual modulation signal obtained by the DAMA/NaI experiment can be explained by mirror matter-type dark matter for vertical bar ε vertical bar ∼5x10 -9 and is supported by DAMA's absolute rate measurement as well as the CRESST/Sapphire data. This value of vertical bar ε vertical bar is consistent with the value obtained from various solar system anomalies including the Pioneer spacecraft anomaly, anomalous meteorite events and lack of small craters on the asteroid Eros. It is also consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis

Studying the making of geographical knowledge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Adriansen, Hanne Kirstine; Madsen, Lene Møller

2009-01-01

The article addresses the issue of being a ‘double' insider when conducting interviews. Double insider means being an insider both in relation to one's research matter - in the authors' case the making of geographical knowledge - and in relation to one's interviewees - our colleagues. The article...... is a reflection paper in the sense that we reflect upon experiences drawn from a previous research project carried out in Danish academia. It is important that the project was situated in a Scandinavian workplace culture because this has bearings for the social, cultural, and economic situation in which knowledge...

Sterile neutrino dark matter

CERN Document Server

Merle, Alexander

2017-01-01

This book is a new look at one of the hottest topics in contemporary science, Dark Matter. It is the pioneering text dedicated to sterile neutrinos as candidate particles for Dark Matter, challenging some of the standard assumptions which may be true for some Dark Matter candidates but not for all. So, this can be seen either as an introduction to a specialized topic or an out-of-the-box introduction to the field of Dark Matter in general. No matter if you are a theoretical particle physicist, an observational astronomer, or a ground based experimentalist, no matter if you are a grad student or an active researcher, you can benefit from this text, for a simple reason: a non-standard candidate for Dark Matter can teach you a lot about what we truly know about our standard picture of how the Universe works.

Dark matter: the astrophysical case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, J.

2012-01-01

The identification of dark matter is one of the most urgent problems in cosmology. I describe the astrophysical case for dark matter, from both an observational and a theoretical perspective. This overview will therefore focus on the observational motivations rather than the particle physics aspects of dark matter constraints on specific dark matter candidates. First, however, I summarize the astronomical evidence for dark matter, then I highlight the weaknesses of the standard cold dark matter model (LCDM) to provide a robust explanation of some observations. The greatest weakness in the dark matter saga is that we have not yet identified the nature of dark matter itself

Population and the environment: a parable of firewood and other tales.

Science.gov (United States)

Nerlove, M

1991-12-01

The author analyzes the relationship between population and the environment, with a focus on "the role which environmental degradation and natural resources depletion may play in producing the...population pressure which lies behind such degradation and depletion especially in developing countries.... The principal conclusion of this analysis is that the possibilities for a stable equilibrium between human population and its environment are quite limited....I show that parental altruism toward their children can only make matters worse, if socially unchecked, by leading to an increase of the birthrate in every environmental state in comparison with that which would occur in its absence." excerpt

Governance and Community Responses to Floods in Poor Peri-urban Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schaer, Caroline

see their already considerable vulnerability increased for every flooding event. In the long term, climate change is expected to make matters worse for these already tried populations, due to an increase in storm frequency and intensity, and with them in the risk of floods. However, climate change......-induced changing weather patterns and more extreme weather events are only part of the explanation for this situation, as large segments of the urban population in West Africa are not offered the public services, infrastructure and protective regulations needed in order to respond to floods. In Senegal, in spite...

End-to-end information extraction without token-level supervision

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palm, Rasmus Berg; Hovy, Dirk; Laws, Florian

2017-01-01

Most state-of-the-art information extraction approaches rely on token-level labels to find the areas of interest in text. Unfortunately, these labels are time-consuming and costly to create, and consequently, not available for many real-life IE tasks. To make matters worse, token-level labels...... and output text. We evaluate our model on the ATIS data set, MIT restaurant corpus and the MIT movie corpus and compare to neural baselines that do use token-level labels. We achieve competitive results, within a few percentage points of the baselines, showing the feasibility of E2E information extraction...

NASA Finds Direct Proof of Dark Matter

Science.gov (United States)

2006-08-01

Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter. "This is the most energetic cosmic event, besides the Big Bang, which we know about," said team member Maxim Markevitch of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. Lensing Illustration Gravitational Lensing Explanation These observations provide the strongest evidence yet that most of the matter in the universe is dark. Despite considerable evidence for dark matter, some scientists have proposed alternative theories for gravity where it is stronger on intergalactic scales than predicted by Newton and Einstein, removing the need for dark matter. However, such theories cannot explain the observed effects of this collision. "A universe that's dominated by dark stuff seems preposterous, so we wanted to test whether there were any basic flaws in our thinking," said Doug Clowe of the University of Arizona at Tucson, and leader of the study. "These results are direct proof that dark matter exists." Animation of Cluster Collision Animation of Cluster Collision In galaxy clusters, the normal matter, like the atoms that make up the stars, planets, and everything on Earth, is primarily in the form of hot gas and stars. The mass of the hot gas between the galaxies is far greater than the mass of the stars in all of the galaxies. This normal matter is bound in the cluster by the gravity of an even greater mass of dark matter. Without dark matter, which is invisible and can only be detected through its gravity, the fast-moving galaxies and the hot gas would quickly fly apart. The team was granted more than 100 hours on the Chandra telescope to observe the galaxy cluster 1E0657-56. The cluster is also known as the bullet cluster, because it contains a spectacular bullet-shaped cloud of hundred

Basic X-ray scattering for soft matter

CERN Document Server

De Jeu, Wim H

2016-01-01

X-ray scattering is a well-established technique in materials science. Several excellent textbooks exist in the field, typically written by physicists who use mathematics to make things clear. Often these books do not reach students and scientists in the field of soft matter (polymers, liquid crystals, colloids, and self-assembled organic systems), who usually have a chemical-oriented background with limited mathematics. Moreover, often these people like to know more about x-ray scattering as a technique to be used, but do not necessarily intend to become an expert. This volume is unique in trying to accommodate both points. The aim of the book is to explain basic principles and applications of x-ray scattering in a simple way. The intention is a paperback of limited size that people will like to have on hand rather than on a shelf. Second, it includes a large variety of examples of x-ray scattering of soft matter with, at the end of each chapter, a more elaborate case study. Third, the book contains a separa...

Hunting for Dark Matter in Spheroidal Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Steele, Rebecca; Holwerda, Benne; Kielkopf, John F.

2018-06-01

Searches for blended spectra have been highly successful in identifying strongly lensing galaxies: these spectra show a low-redshift passive galaxy with much stronger emission lines from the source being lensed. We have recently identified 112 strong lensing candidates in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly Survey (GAMA). The improved sensitivity and redshift determination makes this a very clean sample of two-galaxy spectra, spanning both lower-mass galaxy strong lenses as well as a higher redshiftregime (z > 0.4). As a first step of a PhD project, we will vet the 112 candidate strong gravitational lenses using the new Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), which is both deeper and sharper than existing Sloan images. Once confirmed, these lower mass gravitational lenses can be targeted with the soon-to-launch James Webb Space Telescope or the Hubble Space Telescope for follow-up observations. Models of the gravitational lenses give us direct measures of the dark matter content of these low-mass galaxies, thought to be dominated by dark matter.

A Novel Type of Oil—generating Organic Matter —Crystal—enclosed Organic Matter

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

周中毅; 裴存民; 等

1992-01-01

The comparative study of organic matter in carbonate rocks and argillaceous rocks from the same horizon indicates that the organic thermal maturities of carbonate rocks are much lower than those of argillaceous rocks .Ana extensive analysis of extracted and inclused organic matter from the same sample shows that inclused organic matter is different from extracted organic matter,and the thermal maturity of the former is usually lower than that of the latter in terms of biomarker structural parameters.It seems that carbonate mineras could preserve organic matter and retard organic maturation.The inclused organic matter,abundant in most carbonate rocks,will be released from minerals and transformed into oil and gas during the high-thermal maturity stage.

Combination of e+/e- ratio from AMS-02 and gamma ray line from Fermi-LAT with implication for Dark Matter

OpenAIRE

Li, Shiyuan; Luo, Yonggang

2013-01-01

The precise AMS-02 data provide definite information for the e+/e- ratio in 100 - 350 GeV region. Assuming that the recent gamma ray line observed by Fermi-LAT experiment is product of dark matter in space and taken as input. We make a global fit for the AMS-02 e+/e- spectrum with both dark matter and pulsar contribution. For this spectrum over 130 GeV, pulsar is the dominant contribution. We also investigate the constrains on hadron production from dark matter annihilation.

On the nesting biology of Pirhosigma Giordani Soika (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae, with special reference to the use of vegetable matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel G. Hermes

2013-12-01

Full Text Available On the nesting biology of Pirhosigma Giordani Soika (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae, with special reference to the use of vegetable matter. The use of vegetable matter in nest building is not widespread among the Eumeninae, and is reported for the first time for the two species of potter wasps Pirhosigma superficiale and P. limpidum. These wasps make mostly spherical mud nests over which they attach small pieces of unmasticated plant matter. Use of plant fragments in this group of wasps is interpreted as camouflage behavior.

{lambda}{lambda} pairing in N{lambda} composite matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tanigawa, Tomonori [Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo (Japan); Matsuzaki, Masayuki [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokyo (Japan); Chiba, Satoshi [Fukuoka Univ. of Education, Dept. of Physics, Munakata, Fukuoka (Japan)

2002-09-01

{lambda}{lambda} pairing correlation in binary mixed matter of nucleons and lambdas is studied within the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov model. {lambda} hyperons to be paired up are immersed in background nucleons in normal state. A phenomenological {lambda}{lambda} interaction, which is derived relativistically from the Lagrangian of the system, is adopted to the gap equation. It is found that increasing the nucleon density makes the {lambda}{lambda} pairing gap suppressed. This result suggests a mechanism, specific to relativistic models, of its dependence on the nucleon density. (author)

Sense about Science--"Making Sense of Radiation" and Understanding Peer Review

Science.gov (United States)

Sierra, Leonor

2011-01-01

Sense About Science is a UK-based charitable trust that equips people to make sense of science and of evidence on issues that matter to society. It was set up in 2003 in response to newspaper front pages being full of headlines about mobile phones "frying your brain", genetically modified "Frankenstein foods", the MMR vaccine,…

Collapsed Dark Matter Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, Matthew R.; DiFranzo, Anthony

2018-02-01

The distributions of dark matter and baryons in the Universe are known to be very different: The dark matter resides in extended halos, while a significant fraction of the baryons have radiated away much of their initial energy and fallen deep into the potential wells. This difference in morphology leads to the widely held conclusion that dark matter cannot cool and collapse on any scale. We revisit this assumption and show that a simple model where dark matter is charged under a "dark electromagnetism" can allow dark matter to form gravitationally collapsed objects with characteristic mass scales much smaller than that of a Milky-Way-type galaxy. Though the majority of the dark matter in spiral galaxies would remain in the halo, such a model opens the possibility that galaxies and their associated dark matter play host to a significant number of collapsed substructures. The observational signatures of such structures are not well explored but potentially interesting.

Collapsed Dark Matter Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckley, Matthew R; DiFranzo, Anthony

2018-02-02

The distributions of dark matter and baryons in the Universe are known to be very different: The dark matter resides in extended halos, while a significant fraction of the baryons have radiated away much of their initial energy and fallen deep into the potential wells. This difference in morphology leads to the widely held conclusion that dark matter cannot cool and collapse on any scale. We revisit this assumption and show that a simple model where dark matter is charged under a "dark electromagnetism" can allow dark matter to form gravitationally collapsed objects with characteristic mass scales much smaller than that of a Milky-Way-type galaxy. Though the majority of the dark matter in spiral galaxies would remain in the halo, such a model opens the possibility that galaxies and their associated dark matter play host to a significant number of collapsed substructures. The observational signatures of such structures are not well explored but potentially interesting.

Soil organic matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1976-01-01

The nature, content and behaviour of the organic matter, or humus, in soil are factors of fundamental importance for soil productivity and the development of optimum conditions for growth of crops under diverse temperate, tropical and arid climatic conditions. In the recent symposium on soil organic matter studies - as in the two preceding ones in 1963 and 1969 - due consideration was given to studies involving the use of radioactive and stable isotopes. However, the latest symposium was a departure from previous efforts in that non-isotopic approaches to research on soil organic matter were included. A number of papers dealt with the behaviour and functions of organic matter and suggested improved management practices, the use of which would contribute to increasing agricultural production. Other papers discussed the turnover of plant residues, the release of plant nutrients through the biodegradation of organic compounds, the nitrogen economy and the dynamics of transformation of organic forms of nitrogen. In addition, consideration was given to studies on the biochemical transformation of organic matter, characterization of humic acids, carbon-14 dating and the development of modern techniques and their impact on soil organic matter research

Effective description of dark matter self-interactions in small dark matter haloes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kummer, Janis

2017-07-01

Self-interacting dark matter may have striking astrophysical signatures, such as observ- able offsets between galaxies and dark matter in merging galaxy clusters. Numerical N-body simulations used to predict such observables typically treat the galaxies as collisionless test particles, a questionable assumption given that each galaxy is embedded in its own dark matter halo. To enable a more accurate treatment we develop an effective description of small dark matter haloes taking into account the two major effects due to dark matter self-scatterings: deceleration and evaporation. We point out that self-scatterings can have a sizeable impact on the trajectories of galaxies, diminishing the separation between galaxies and dark matter in merging clusters. This effect depends sensitively on the underlying particle physics, in particular the angular dependence of the self-scattering cross section, and cannot be predicted from the momentum transfer cross section alone.

Phase transition from nuclear matter to color superconducting quark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bentz, W. E-mail: bentz@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp; Horikawa, T.; Ishii, N.; Thomas, A.W

2003-06-02

We construct the nuclear and quark matter equations of state at zero temperature in an effective quark theory (the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model), and discuss the phase transition between them. The nuclear matter equation of state is based on the quark-diquark description of the single nucleon, while the quark matter equation of state includes the effects of scalar diquark condensation (color superconductivity). The effect of diquark condensation on the phase transition is discussed in detail.

Dark matter and cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schramm, D.N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the {Omega} = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between ``cold`` and ``hot`` non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed ``seeds`` that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations, such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.

Dark matter and cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schramm, D.N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the {Omega} = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between cold'' and hot'' non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed seeds'' that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations, such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed.

Dark matter and cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schramm, D.N.

1992-03-01

The cosmological dark matter problem is reviewed. The Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on the baryon density are compared with the densities implied by visible matter, dark halos, dynamics of clusters, gravitational lenses, large-scale velocity flows, and the Ω = 1 flatness/inflation argument. It is shown that (1) the majority of baryons are dark; and (2) non-baryonic dark matter is probably required on large scales. It is also noted that halo dark matter could be either baryonic or non-baryonic. Descrimination between ''cold'' and ''hot'' non-baryonic candidates is shown to depend on the assumed ''seeds'' that stimulate structure formation. Gaussian density fluctuations, such as those induced by quantum fluctuations, favor cold dark matter, whereas topological defects such as strings, textures or domain walls may work equally or better with hot dark matter. A possible connection between cold dark matter, globular cluster ages and the Hubble constant is mentioned. Recent large-scale structure measurements, coupled with microwave anisotropy limits, are shown to raise some questions for the previously favored density fluctuation picture. Accelerator and underground limits on dark matter candidates are also reviewed

What makes you clever the puzzle of intelligence

CERN Document Server

Partridge, Derek

2014-01-01

From Black Holes and Big Bangs to the Higgs boson and the infinitesimal building blocks of all matter, modern science has been spectacularly successful, with one glaring exception - intelligence. Intelligence still remains as one of the greatest mysteries in science. How do you chat so effortlessly? How do you remember, and why do you forget? From a basis of ten maxims What Makes You Clever explains the difficulties as well as the persuasive and persistent over-estimations of progress in Artificial Intelligence. Computers have transformed our lives, and will continue to do so for many years to come. But ever since the Turing Test proposed in 1950 up to IBM's Deep Blue computer that won the second six-game match against world champion Garry Kasparov, the science of artificial intelligence has struggled to make progress. The reader's expertise is engaged to probe human language, machine learning, neural computing, holistic systems and emergent phenomenon. What Makes You Clever reveals the difficulties that s...

Supermassive black holes do not correlate with dark matter haloes of galaxies.

Science.gov (United States)

Kormendy, John; Bender, Ralf

2011-01-20

Supermassive black holes have been detected in all galaxies that contain bulge components when the galaxies observed were close enough that the searches were feasible. Together with the observation that bigger black holes live in bigger bulges, this has led to the belief that black-hole growth and bulge formation regulate each other. That is, black holes and bulges coevolve. Therefore, reports of a similar correlation between black holes and the dark matter haloes in which visible galaxies are embedded have profound implications. Dark matter is likely to be non-baryonic, so these reports suggest that unknown, exotic physics controls black-hole growth. Here we show, in part on the basis of recent measurements of bulgeless galaxies, that there is almost no correlation between dark matter and parameters that measure black holes unless the galaxy also contains a bulge. We conclude that black holes do not correlate directly with dark matter. They do not correlate with galaxy disks, either. Therefore, black holes coevolve only with bulges. This simplifies the puzzle of their coevolution by focusing attention on purely baryonic processes in the galaxy mergers that make bulges.

Modification of SWAT model for simulation of organic matter in Korean watersheds.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Jae-Ho; Jung, Kwang-Wook; Gyeong Yoon, Chun

2012-01-01

The focus of water quality modeling of Korean streams needs to be shifted from dissolved oxygen to algae or organic matter. In particular, the structure of water quality models should be modified to simulate the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which is a key factor in calculating total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) in Korea, using 5-day BOD determined in the laboratory (Bottle BOD(5)). Considering the limitations in simulating organic matter under domestic conditions, we attempted to model total organic carbon (TOC) as well as BOD by using a watershed model. For this purpose, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was modified and extended to achieve better correspondence between the measured and simulated BOD and TOC concentrations. For simulated BOD in the period 2004-2008, the Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient increased from a value of -2.54 to 0.61. Another indicator of organic matter, namely, the simulated TOC concentration showed that the modified SWAT adequately reflected the observed values. The improved model can be used to predict organic matter and hence, may be a potential decision-making tool for TMDLs. However, it needs further testing for longer simulation periods and other catchments.

Making organization research matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Flyvbjerg, Bent

2006-01-01

Aristotle and Machiavelli to Max Weber and Pierre Bourdieu. Finally, we must effectively and dialogically communicate the results of our research to our fellow citizens and carefully listen to their feedback. If we do this – focus on specific values and interests in the context of particular power relations...

Making Strategic Analysis Matter

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Bryan Gabbard , Assessing the Tradecraft of Intelligence Analysis, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, TR-293, 2008. 4 See The Commission on the...July 7, 2011: http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP152.html Treverton, Gregory F., and C. Bryan Gabbard , Assessing the Tradecraft of

Indirect research of dark matter toward dwarf galaxies with the ANTARES neutrino telescope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumas, Alexis

2014-01-01

The first part of this document summarizes the astrophysical arguments to suppose the existence of dark matter. The cosmological model γCDM is presented as well as the concept of cross section of dark matter self-annihilation. Dwarf galaxies satellites of the Milky Way, the sources of our study are introduced into a second chapter. After recalling the large structures that make up the universe, the issues related to dwarf galaxies are addressed: missing satellites problem, distribution of dark matter density within them and tidal forces due to the Milky Way. The second part discusses the modeling of the dark matter density in dwarf galaxies. The methodology, using the Jeans equation and dispersion of projected stars velocities, is presented. Three dark matter profiles are retained: NFW, Burkert and Einasto and fifteen dwarf galaxies. Neutrino production during the self-annihilation of dark matter is then addressed. The energy spectra of neutrinos are generated with PYTHIA software and compared with other results for the galactic center. Twenty-three assumptions of mass dark matter candidates are chosen, ranging from 25 GeV/c 2 100 TeV/c 2 . Five self-annihilation channels are selected for analysis: b - b, W + W - T + T - μ + μ - νμ νμ. The third part includes a presentation of the detector used for the study, the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Three reconstruction algorithms developed and used in collaboration are also detailed: AAFIT, BBFit and GridFit. The analysis of data ANTARES aimed to find a neutrinos excess characteristic of dark matter self-annihilation is summarized in the sixth and final chapter. No excess was observed, a limit on the cross section of dark matter self-annihilation was determined. (author)

Secretly asymmetric dark matter

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Prateek; Kilic, Can; Swaminathan, Sivaramakrishnan; Trendafilova, Cynthia

2017-01-01

We study a mechanism where the dark matter number density today arises from asymmetries generated in the dark sector in the early Universe, even though the total dark matter number remains zero throughout the history of the Universe. The dark matter population today can be completely symmetric, with annihilation rates above those expected from thermal weakly interacting massive particles. We give a simple example of this mechanism using a benchmark model of flavored dark matter. We discuss the experimental signatures of this setup, which arise mainly from the sector that annihilates the symmetric component of dark matter.

If meaningfulness is not always fulfilling, why then does it matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Note

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We start from a quandary in the field of meaningfulness introduced by Susan Wolf, who attempts to make clear why meaning in life would matter. In common sense terms, fulfilment is considered to play a main role in the conceptualisation of meaningfulness. While initially taking this also for granted Wolf gradually comprehends that fulfilment is not the overall reason why meaning in life matters. She leaves however open the paramount question of what would make it then so particular. In this article, we explore this query to a fuller extent, and maintain that a promising road to an answer lays in the understanding that meaning in life is directive in an ineffable way. In order to fathom what this entails, a distinction between meaningfulness’ and ‘meaning in life’ will prove helpful. Both have often been considered synonyms, but we argue that they are quite distinct, yet intrinsically related. Starting from a subject that is mainly discussed in analytic philosophy, we build a bridge to phenomenological praxis, indicating that we can only understand its core function - its ineffable way of being directive - through phenomenology.

Patient decision making in the face of conflicting medication information

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily Elstad

2012-08-01

Full Text Available When patients consult more than one source of information about their medications, they may encounter conflicting information. Although conflicting information has been associated with negative outcomes, including worse medication adherence, little is known about how patients make health decisions when they receive conflicting information. The objective of this study was to explore the decision making strategies that individuals with arthritis use when they receive conflicting medication information. Qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with 20 men and women with arthritis. Interview vignettes posed scenarios involving conflicting information from different sources (e.g., doctor, pharmacist, and relative, and respondents were asked how they would respond to the situation. Data analysis involved inductive coding to identify emergent themes and deductive contextualization to make meaning from the emergent themes. In response to conflicting medication information, patients used rules of thumb, trial and error, weighed benefits and risks, and sought more information, especially from a doctor. Patients relied heavily on trial and error when there was no conflicting information involved in the vignette. In contrast, patients used rules of thumb as a unique response to conflicting information. These findings increase our understanding of what patients do when they receive conflicting medication information. Given that patient exposure to conflicting information is likely to increase alongside the proliferation of medication information on the Internet, patients may benefit from assistance in identifying the most appropriate decision strategies for dealing with conflicting information, including information about best information sources.

Worse patient-reported outcome after lateral approach than after anterior and posterolateral approach in primary hip arthroplasty

Science.gov (United States)

Havelin, Leif I; Furnes, Ove; Baste, Valborg; Nordsletten, Lars; Hovik, Oystein; Dimmen, Sigbjorn

2014-01-01

Background The surgical approach in total hip arthroplasty (THA) is often based on surgeon preference and local traditions. The anterior muscle-sparing approach has recently gained popularity in Europe. We tested the hypothesis that patient satisfaction, pain, function, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after THA is not related to the surgical approach. Patients 1,476 patients identified through the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register were sent questionnaires 1–3 years after undergoing THA in the period from January 2008 to June 2010. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) included the hip disability osteoarthritis outcome score (HOOS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D-3L), visual analog scales (VAS) addressing pain and satisfaction, and questions about complications. 1,273 patients completed the questionnaires and were included in the analysis. Results Adjusted HOOS scores for pain, other symptoms, activities of daily living (ADL), sport/recreation, and quality of life were significantly worse (p < 0.001 to p = 0.03) for the lateral approach than for the anterior approach and the posterolateral approach (mean differences: 3.2–5.0). These results were related to more patient-reported limping with the lateral approach than with the anterior and posterolateral approaches (25% vs. 12% and 13%, respectively; p < 0.001). Interpretation Patients operated with the lateral approach reported worse outcomes 1–3 years after THA surgery. Self-reported limping occurred twice as often in patients who underwent THA with a lateral approach than in those who underwent THA with an anterior or posterolateral approach. There were no significant differences in patient-reported outcomes after THA between those who underwent THA with a posterolateral approach and those who underwent THA with an anterior approach. PMID:24954494

Grey matter correlates of susceptibility to scams in community-dwelling older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Duke Han, S; Boyle, Patricia A; Yu, Lei; Arfanakis, Konstantinos; James, Bryan D; Fleischman, Debra A; Bennett, David A

2016-06-01

Susceptibility to scams is a significant issue among older adults, even among those with intact cognition. Age-related changes in brain macrostructure may be associated with susceptibility to scams; however, this has yet to be explored. Based on previous work implicating frontal and temporal lobe functioning as important in decision making, we tested the hypothesis that susceptibility to scams is associated with smaller grey matter volume in frontal and temporal lobe regions in a large community-dwelling cohort of non-demented older adults. Participants (N = 327, mean age = 81.55, mean education = 15.30, 78.9 % female) completed a self-report measure used to assess susceptibility to scams and an MRI brain scan. Results indicated an inverse association between overall grey matter and susceptibility to scams in models adjusted for age, education, and sex; and in models further adjusted for cognitive function. No significant associations were observed for white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, or total brain volume. Models adjusted for age, education, and sex revealed seven clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, left middle temporal, left orbitofrontal, right ventromedial prefrontal, right middle temporal, right precuneus, and right dorsolateral prefrontal regions. In models further adjusted for cognitive function, results revealed three significant clusters showing smaller grey matter in the right parahippocampal/hippocampal/fusiform, right hippocampal, and right middle temporal regions. Lower grey matter concentration in specific brain regions may be associated with susceptibility to scams, even after adjusting for cognitive ability. Future research is needed to determine whether grey matter reductions in these regions may be a biomarker for susceptibility to scams in old age.

Number theory and the periodicity of matter

CERN Document Server

Boeyens, Jan C A

2008-01-01

Presents a fully scientific account of the use of the golden ratio and explores the observation that stable nucleides obey a number theory based general lawThe interest in number theory is worldwide and covers the entire spectrum of human knowledge. Those aspects covered here will not be immediately accessible to the general lay readership, but, scientists of all pursuations immediately appreciate the importance of the applications described hereThe well-known interest of engineers, medical practitioners and information technologists in popular scientific matters, should make this an attractive buy for such individuals. Undergraduate students in these disciplines should be equally interested.

Nuclear pasta in hot dense matter and its implications for neutrino scattering

Science.gov (United States)

Roggero, Alessandro; Margueron, Jérôme; Roberts, Luke F.; Reddy, Sanjay

2018-04-01

The abundance of large clusters of nucleons in neutron-rich matter at subnuclear density is found to be greatly reduced by finite-temperature effects when matter is close to β equilibrium, compared to the case where the electron fraction is fixed at Ye>0.1 , as often considered in the literature. Large nuclei and exotic nonspherical nuclear configurations called pasta, favored in the vicinity of the transition to uniform matter at T =0 , dissolve at a relatively low temperature Tu as protons leak out of nuclei and pasta. For matter at β equilibrium with a negligible neutrino chemical potential we find that Tuβ≃4 ±1 MeV for realistic equations of state. This is lower than the maximum temperature Tmaxβ≃9 ±1 MeV at which nuclei can coexist with a gas of nucleons and can be explained by a change in the nature of the transition to uniform matter called retrograde condensation. An important new finding is that coherent neutrino scattering from nuclei and pasta makes a modest contribution to the opacity under the conditions encountered in supernovas and neutron star mergers. This is because large nuclear clusters dissolve at most relevant temperatures, and at lower temperatures, when clusters are present, Coulomb correlations between them suppress coherent neutrino scattering off individual clusters. Implications for neutrino signals from galactic supernovas are briefly discussed.

Annual report '83 Foundation for fundamental research on matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooren, M.J.H. van; Miltenburg, J.W.

1984-01-01

The Dutch Foundation for Fundamental Research of Matter (FOM) makes it her aim to stimulate the fundamentally scientific research of matter in the Netherlands. She attempts to obtain this by coordinating of existing research projects and by involving her institutes and research groups in the education of young physicists. The research groups are classified in eight so-called research communities: nuclear physics, atomic physics, metals, semiconductors, solid state, thermonuclear research and plasma physics, theoretic high-energy physics. Besides accounts of the management, financial and personnel affairs, and professional/organizational reports of the aforementioned research communities and corresponding research groups, this annual report presents a number of trend articles of which three are in INIS scope, respectively dealing with study of atomic collisions in electromagnetic-radiation fields, 3 He studies at extremely low temperatures, and a diagnostic system for measuring the electron temperature in a JET-plasma. (H.W.). refs.; figs.; tabs

Use of ORELA to produce neutrons for scattering studies on condensed matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peelle, R.W.; Lewis, T.A.; Mihalczo, J.T.; Mook, H.A.; Moon, R.M.

1975-09-01

The Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator (ORELA) is evaluated as a source of neutrons for condensed matter research. Two options are assessed: (1) use of the present target arrangement with minor modifications; and (2) the construction of a new target and experiment facility designed for condensed matter research and equipped with a subcritical fission booster. The expected source strength and time behavior are discussed, including the fundamentals of moderator design. The effect on the programs presently using the linac are considered. It is concluded that a special-purpose neutron source facility using pulsed electrons from ORELA and containing a subcritical booster could be built to make a cost-effective neutron scattering facility of great power and utility. (auth)

Macro Dark Matter

CERN Document Server

Jacobs, David M; Lynn, Bryan W.

2015-01-01

Dark matter is a vital component of the current best model of our universe, $\\Lambda$CDM. There are leading candidates for what the dark matter could be (e.g. weakly-interacting massive particles, or axions), but no compelling observational or experimental evidence exists to support these particular candidates, nor any beyond-the-Standard-Model physics that might produce such candidates. This suggests that other dark matter candidates, including ones that might arise in the Standard Model, should receive increased attention. Here we consider a general class of dark matter candidates with characteristic masses and interaction cross-sections characterized in units of grams and cm$^2$, respectively -- we therefore dub these macroscopic objects as Macros. Such dark matter candidates could potentially be assembled out of Standard Model particles (quarks and leptons) in the early universe. A combination of earth-based, astrophysical, and cosmological observations constrain a portion of the Macro parameter space; ho...

Geological factors of the isotopic distribution of carbon of organic matter in sedimentary rocks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maass, J.

1981-01-01

The isotope ratio of carbon of fossile organic matter can be regarded as a definite criterion of its genetic origin. As the biofacial character of organic matter, especially the chemical composition (H/C-ratio), decisively influences the mode and quantity of the potential hydrocarbon production, isotopic analysis is an essential method for the prognostic evaluation of sedimentary basins with regard to their oil and gas perspectives. The genetic relations to the parent substance continue in the bituminization and coalification products and make it possible to apply the isotopic analysis of carbon to prospection work for hydrocarbons. (author)

Does buccal cancer have worse prognosis than other oral cavity cancers?

Science.gov (United States)

Camilon, P Ryan; Stokes, William A; Fuller, Colin W; Nguyen, Shaun A; Lentsch, Eric J

2014-06-01

To determine whether buccal squamous cell carcinoma has worse overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) than cancers in the rest of the oral cavity. Retrospective analysis of a large population database. We began with a Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS and DSS for buccal versus nonbuccal tumors with unmatched data, followed by an analysis of cases matched for race, age at diagnosis, stage at diagnosis, and treatment modality. This was supported by a univariate Cox regression comparing buccal cancer to nonbuccal cancer, followed by a multivariate Cox regression that included all significant variables studied. With unmatched data, buccal cancer had significantly lesser OS and DSS values than cancers in the rest of the oral cavity (P cancer versus nonbuccal oral cancer were no longer significant. Univariate Cox regression models with respect to OS and DSS showed a significant difference between buccal cancer and nonbuccal cancer. However, with multivariate analysis, buccal hazard ratios for OS and DSS were not significant. With the largest series of buccal carcinoma to date, our study concludes that the OS and DSS of buccal cancer are similar to those of cancers in other oral cavity sites once age at diagnosis, tumor stage, treatment, and race are taken into consideration. The previously perceived poor prognosis of buccal carcinoma may be due to variations in tumor presentation, such as later stage and older patient age. 2b. © 2014 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Dark Matter Mystery Deepens in Cosmic "Train Wreck"

Science.gov (United States)

2007-08-01

Astronomers have discovered a chaotic scene unlike any witnessed before in a cosmic "train wreck" between giant galaxy clusters. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical telescopes revealed a dark matter core that was mostly devoid of galaxies, which may pose problems for current theories of dark matter behavior. "These results challenge our understanding of the way clusters merge," said Dr. Andisheh Mahdavi of the University of Victoria, British Columbia. "Or, they possibly make us even reexamine the nature of dark matter itself." There are three main components to galaxy clusters: individual galaxies composed of billions of stars, hot gas in between the galaxies, and dark matter, a mysterious substance that dominates the cluster mass and can be detected only through its gravitational effects. Illustration of Abell 520 System Illustration of Abell 520 System Optical telescopes can observe the starlight from the individual galaxies, and can infer the location of dark matter by its subtle light-bending effects on distant galaxies. X-ray telescopes like Chandra detect the multimillion-degree gas. A popular theory of dark matter predicts that dark matter and galaxies should stay together, even during a violent collision, as observed in the case of the so-called Bullet Cluster. However, when the Chandra data of the galaxy cluster system known as Abell 520 was mapped along with the optical data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and Subaru Telescope atop Mauna Kea, HI, a puzzling picture emerged. A dark matter core was found, which also contained hot gas but no bright galaxies. "It blew us away that it looks like the galaxies are removed from the densest core of dark matter," said Dr. Hendrik Hoekstra, also of University of Victoria. "This would be the first time we've seen such a thing and could be a huge test of our knowledge of how dark matter behaves." Animation of Galaxy Cluster Animation of Galaxy Cluster In addition to the dark matter core, a

Diseases of white matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holland, B.A.

1987-01-01

The diagnosis of white matter abnormalities was revolutionized by the advent of computed tomography (CT), which provided a noninvasive method of detection and assessment of progression of a variety of white matter processes. However, the inadequacies of CT were recognized early, including its relative insensitivity to small foci of abnormal myelin in the brain when correlated with autopsy findings and its inability to image directly white matter diseases of the spinal cord. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), on the other hand, sensitive to the slight difference in tissue composition of normal gray and white matter and to subtle increase in water content associated with myelin disorders, is uniquely suited for the examination of white matter pathology. Its clinical applications include the evaluation of the normal process of myelination in childhood and the various white matter diseases, including disorders of demyelination and dysmyelination

Baryonic matter and beyond

OpenAIRE

Fukushima, Kenji

2014-01-01

We summarize recent developments in identifying the ground state of dense baryonic matter and beyond. The topics include deconfinement from baryonic matter to quark matter, a diquark mixture, topological effect coupled with chirality and density, and inhomogeneous chiral condensates.

Exploring the mirror matter interpretation of the DAMA experiment: Has the dark matter problem been solved?

OpenAIRE

Foot, R.

2004-01-01

The self consistency between the impressive DAMA annual modulation signal and the differential energy spectrum is an important test for dark matter candidates.Mirror matter-type dark matter passes this test while other dark matter candidates, including standard (spin-independent) WIMPs and mini-electric charged particle dark matter, do not do so well.We argue that the unique properties of mirror matter-type dark matter seem to be just those required to fully explain the data, suggesting that ...

Linking white matter and deep gray matter alterations in premanifest Huntington disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andreia V. Faria

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Huntington disease (HD is a fatal progressive neurodegenerative disorder for which only symptomatic treatment is available. A better understanding of the pathology, and identification of biomarkers will facilitate the development of disease-modifying treatments. HD is potentially a good model of a neurodegenerative disease for development of biomarkers because it is an autosomal-dominant disease with complete penetrance, caused by a single gene mutation, in which the neurodegenerative process can be assessed many years before onset of signs and symptoms of manifest disease. Previous MRI studies have detected abnormalities in gray and white matter starting in premanifest stages. However, the understanding of how these abnormalities are related, both in time and space, is still incomplete. In this study, we combined deep gray matter shape diffeomorphometry and white matter DTI analysis in order to provide a better mapping of pathology in the deep gray matter and subcortical white matter in premanifest HD. We used 296 MRI scans from the PREDICT-HD database. Atrophy in the deep gray matter, thalamus, hippocampus, and nucleus accumbens was analyzed by surface based morphometry, and while white matter abnormalities were analyzed in (i regions of interest surrounding these structures, using (ii tractography-based analysis, and using (iii whole brain atlas-based analysis. We detected atrophy in the deep gray matter, particularly in putamen, from early premanifest stages. The atrophy was greater both in extent and effect size in cases with longer exposure to the effects of the CAG expansion mutation (as assessed by greater CAP-scores, and preceded detectible abnormalities in the white matter. Near the predicted onset of manifest HD, the MD increase was widespread, with highest indices in the deep and posterior white matter. This type of in-vivo macroscopic mapping of HD brain abnormalities can potentially indicate when and where therapeutics could be

Quantum superchemistry in an output coupler of coherent matter waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jing, H.; Cheng, J.

2006-01-01

We investigate the quantum superchemistry or Bose-enhanced atom-molecule conversions in a coherent output coupler of matter waves, as a simple generalization of the two-color photoassociation. The stimulated effects of molecular output step and atomic revivals are exhibited by steering the rf output couplings. The quantum noise-induced molecular damping occurs near a total conversion in a levitation trap. This suggests a feasible two-trap scheme to make a stable coherent molecular beam

Dark matter and its detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi Xiaojun; Qin Bo

2011-01-01

We first explain the concept of dark matter,then review the history of its discovery and the evidence of its existence. We describe our understanding of the nature of dark matter particles, the popular dark matter models,and why the weakly interacting massive particles (called WIMPs) are the most attractive candidates for dark matter. Then we introduce the three methods of dark matter detection: colliders, direct detection and indirect detection. Finally, we review the recent development of dark matter detection, including the new results from DAMA, CoGent, PAMELA, ATIC and Fermi. (authors)

A study on the role of influence group in public policy making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Monavarian

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, learning more about influence groups on public policy making is one of most important subjects of management science. Governments are the primary sources for public policy making but influenced groups participate indirectly and while they remain out of power, they put pressure on many decisions. Some of participants in public policy making are not influenced groups but mostly, due to their participation in policy public making matter are called influenced groups. This research, from practical research purpose and method view, is a descriptive research and survey branch. The study investigates the effect of university based Iranian Sociological Association on public policy making. The study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale and distributes it among some experts. The results of our survey indicate that that Iranian Sociological Association could influence on public policy making through elite and prominent leaders, self-knowledge and information, elective campaigns, stimulation and connecting with people and other groups.

Simple and compact expressions for neutrino oscillation probabilities in matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Minakata, Hisakazu; Parke, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

We reformulate perturbation theory for neutrino oscillations in matter with an expansion parameter related to the ratio of the solar to the atmospheric Δm"2 scales. Unlike previous works, we use a renormalized basis in which certain first-order effects are taken into account in the zeroth-order Hamiltonian. We show that the new framework has an exceptional feature that leads to the neutrino oscillation probability in matter with the same structure as in vacuum to first order in the expansion parameter. It facilitates immediate physical interpretation of the formulas, and makes the expressions for the neutrino oscillation probabilities extremely simple and compact. We find, for example, that the ν_e disappearance probability at this order is of a simple two-flavor form with an appropriately identified mixing angle and Δm"2. More generally, all the oscillation probabilities can be written in the universal form with the channel-discrimination coefficient of 0, ±1 or simple functions of θ_2_3. Despite their simple forms they include all order effects of θ_1_3 and all order effects of the matter potential, to first order in our expansion parameter.

Discovery potential for directional dark matter detection with nuclear emulsions

Science.gov (United States)

Guler, A. M.; NEWSdm Collaboration

2017-06-01

Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most exciting research topics. Several Experimental efforts are concentrated on the development, construction, and operation of detectors looking for the scattering of target nuclei with Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). In this field a new frontier can be opened by directional detectors able to reconstruct the direction of the WIMP-recoiled nucleus thus allowing to extend dark matter searches beyond the neutrino floor. Exploiting directionality would also give a proof of the galactic origin of dark matter making it possible to have a clear and unambiguous signal to background separation. The angular distribution of WIPM-scattered nuclei is indeed expected to be peaked in the direction of the motion of the Solar System in the Galaxy, i.e. toward the Cygnus constellation, while the background distribution is expected to be isotropic. Current directional experiments are based on the use of gas TPC whose sensitivity is limited by the small achievable detector mass. In this paper we show the potentiality in terms of exclusion limit of a directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made by newly developed nuclear emulsions and read-out systems reaching sub-micrometric resolution.

Compact bifluid hybrid stars: hadronic matter mixed with self-interacting fermionic asymmetric dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mukhopadhyay, Somnath; Basu, D.N. [HBNI, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata (India); Atta, Debasis [HBNI, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata (India); Government General Degree College, West Bengal (India); Imam, Kouser [HBNI, Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata (India); Aliah University, Department of Physics, Kolkata (India); Samanta, C. [Virginia Military Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lexington, VA (United States)

2017-07-15

The masses and radii of non-rotating and rotating configurations of pure hadronic stars mixed with self-interacting fermionic asymmetric dark matter are calculated within the two-fluid formalism of stellar structure equations in general relativity. The Equation of State (EoS) of nuclear matter is obtained from the density dependent M3Y effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. We consider the dark matter particle mass of 1 GeV. The EoS of self-interacting dark matter is taken from two-body repulsive interactions of the scale of strong interactions. We explore the conditions of equal and different rotational frequencies of nuclear matter and dark matter and find that the maximum mass of differentially rotating stars with self-interacting dark matter to be ∝1.94 M {sub CircleDot} with radius ∝10.4 km. (orig.)

Dark Matter Effective Theory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Del Nobile, Eugenio; Sannino, Francesco

2012-01-01

We organize the effective (self)interaction terms for complex scalar dark matter candidates which are either an isosinglet, isodoublet or an isotriplet with respect to the weak interactions. The classification has been performed ordering the operators in inverse powers of the dark matter cutoff...... scale. We assume Lorentz invariance, color and charge neutrality. We also introduce potentially interesting dark matter induced flavor-changing operators. Our general framework allows for model independent investigations of dark matter properties....

Strategic and non-strategic problem gamblers differ on decision-making under risk and ambiguity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorains, Felicity K; Dowling, Nicki A; Enticott, Peter G; Bradshaw, John L; Trueblood, Jennifer S; Stout, Julie C

2014-07-01

To analyse problem gamblers' decision-making under conditions of risk and ambiguity, investigate underlying psychological factors associated with their choice behaviour and examine whether decision-making differed in strategic (e.g., sports betting) and non-strategic (e.g., electronic gaming machine) problem gamblers. Cross-sectional study. Out-patient treatment centres and university testing facilities in Victoria, Australia. Thirty-nine problem gamblers and 41 age, gender and estimated IQ-matched controls. Decision-making tasks included the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and a loss aversion task. The Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) model was used to provide an explanation of cognitive, motivational and response style factors involved in IGT performance. Overall, problem gamblers performed more poorly than controls on both the IGT (P = 0.04) and the loss aversion task (P = 0.01), and their IGT decisions were associated with heightened attention to gains (P = 0.003) and less consistency (P = 0.002). Strategic problem gamblers did not differ from matched controls on either decision-making task, but non-strategic problem gamblers performed worse on both the IGT (P = 0.006) and the loss aversion task (P = 0.02). Furthermore, we found differences in the PVL model parameters underlying strategic and non-strategic problem gamblers' choices on the IGT. Problem gamblers demonstrated poor decision-making under conditions of risk and ambiguity. Strategic (e.g. sports betting, poker) and non-strategic (e.g. electronic gaming machines) problem gamblers differed in decision-making and the underlying psychological processes associated with their decisions. © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Quark matter 93

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Otterlund, Ingvar; Ruuskanen, Vesa

1993-12-15

In his welcome address to the 10th International Conference on Ultra- Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '93), held in Borlange, Sweden, from 20-24 June, Hans-Ake Gustafsson was puzzled why this year's conference was billed as the tenth in the series. He had tried to count but could only find eight forerunners - Bielefeld (1982), Brookhaven (1983), Helsinki (1984), Asilomar (1986), Nordkirchen (1987), Lenox (1988), Menton (1990), Gatlinburg (1991), making this year's meeting at Borlange the ninth. The answer was given by Helmut Satz in his introductory talk, pointing out that at the time of the Bielefeld meeting, a few conferences dealing with similar topics had already been held. The Bielefeld organizers thus did not consider their conference the first. Whatever its pedigree, the Borlange meeting covered particle production in highly excited and compressed nuclear matter, fluctuations and correlations, quark phenomena (quantum chromodynamics - QCD) in nuclear collisions, probes and signatures of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), future collider experiments and instrumentation. The theoretical talks were split between the fundamental properties of the hot and dense matter at or near equilibrium, and the interface between theory and experiment. The phenomenological modelling of heavy ion collisions seems to reproduce at least all the main features of the data with hadrons, resonances and strings as the degrees of freedom. However secondary interactions among the produced hadrons or strings need to be added. Hydrodynamic calculations lead to results which reproduce the main features of the collisions. With increasing collision energy, the parton degrees of freedom become more important. Klaus Geiger described an ambitious scheme treating the whole nucleus-nucleus collision in terms of a kinetic parton (quark/gluon) cascade. The initial parton distribution at the beginning of the collision is determined from the quark-gluon nuclear structure and the

Quark matter 93

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otterlund, Ingvar; Ruuskanen, Vesa

1993-01-01

In his welcome address to the 10th International Conference on Ultra- Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '93), held in Borlange, Sweden, from 20-24 June, Hans-Ake Gustafsson was puzzled why this year's conference was billed as the tenth in the series. He had tried to count but could only find eight forerunners - Bielefeld (1982), Brookhaven (1983), Helsinki (1984), Asilomar (1986), Nordkirchen (1987), Lenox (1988), Menton (1990), Gatlinburg (1991), making this year's meeting at Borlange the ninth. The answer was given by Helmut Satz in his introductory talk, pointing out that at the time of the Bielefeld meeting, a few conferences dealing with similar topics had already been held. The Bielefeld organizers thus did not consider their conference the first. Whatever its pedigree, the Borlange meeting covered particle production in highly excited and compressed nuclear matter, fluctuations and correlations, quark phenomena (quantum chromodynamics - QCD) in nuclear collisions, probes and signatures of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), future collider experiments and instrumentation. The theoretical talks were split between the fundamental properties of the hot and dense matter at or near equilibrium, and the interface between theory and experiment. The phenomenological modelling of heavy ion collisions seems to reproduce at least all the main features of the data with hadrons, resonances and strings as the degrees of freedom. However secondary interactions among the produced hadrons or strings need to be added. Hydrodynamic calculations lead to results which reproduce the main features of the collisions. With increasing collision energy, the parton degrees of freedom become more important. Klaus Geiger described an ambitious scheme treating the whole nucleus-nucleus collision in terms of a kinetic parton (quark/gluon) cascade. The initial parton distribution at the beginning of the collision is determined from the quark-gluon nuclear structure

Dark matter detection - II

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zacek, Viktor

2015-01-01

The quest for the mysterious missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of today's particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world-wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

Dark matter detection - I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zacek, Viktor

2015-01-01

The quest for the mysterious missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of today's particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world-wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

Dark matter detection - III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zacek, Viktor

2015-01-01

The quest for the missing mass of the universe has become one of the big challenges of todays particle physics and cosmology. Astronomical observations show that only 1% of the matter of the Universe is luminous. Moreover there is now convincing evidence that 85% of all gravitationally observable matter in the Universe is of a new exotic kind, different from the 'ordinary' matter surrounding us. In a series of three lectures we discuss past, recent and future efforts made world- wide to detect and/or decipher the nature of Dark Matter. In Lecture I we review our present knowledge of the Dark Matter content of the Universe and how experimenters search for it's candidates; In Lecture II we discuss so-called 'direct detection' techniques which allow to search for scattering of galactic dark matter particles with detectors in deep-underground laboratories; we discuss the interpretation of experimental results and the challenges posed by different backgrounds; In Lecture III we take a look at the 'indirect detection' of the annihilation of dark matter candidates in astrophysical objects, such as our sun or the center of the Milky Way; In addition we will have a look at efforts to produce Dark Matter particles directly at accelerators and we shall close with a look at alternative nonparticle searches and future prospects. (author)

Black Lives Matter in Information Literacy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Pashia

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The institutional racism addressed by the Black Lives Matter movement is encoded in many of the structures of academia, including academic libraries. As a librarian who teaches information literacy, I ask students to think about which voices are represented in the scholarly literature, make explicit the implicit biases of the way scholarly materials are organized in the library and research databases, and examine the way their own biases affect their evaluations of information. In this article, I examine some of the ways racism is build into the structure of the library and describe ways I teach students to recognize inequities in the sources they rely on for college level research.

A versatile tunable microcavity for investigation of light-matter interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Mochalov, Konstantin E.; Vaskan, Ivan S.; Dovzhenko, Dmitriy S.; Rakovich, Yury P.; Nabiev, Igor

2018-05-01

Light-matter interaction between a molecular ensemble and a confined electromagnetic field is a promising area of research, as it allows light-control of the properties of coupled matter. The common way to achieve coupling is to place an ensemble of molecules or quantum emitters into a cavity. In this approach, light-matter coupling is evidenced by modification of the spectral response of the emitter, which depends on the strength of interaction between emitter and cavity modes. However, there is not yet a user-friendly approach that allows the study of a large number of different and replaceable samples in a wide optical range using the same resonator. Here, we present the design of such a device that can speed up and facilitate investigation of light-matter interaction ranging from weak to strong coupling regimes in ultraviolet-visible and infrared (IR) spectral regions. The device is based on a tunable unstable λ/2 Fabry-Pérot microcavity consisting of plane and convex mirrors that satisfy the plane-parallelism condition at least at one point of the curved mirror and minimize the mode volume. Fine tuning of the microcavity length is provided by a Z-piezopositioner in a range up to 10 μm with a step of several nm. This design makes a device a versatile instrument that ensures easy finding of optimal conditions for light-matter interaction for almost any sample in both visible and IR areas, enabling observation of both electronic and vibrational couplings with microcavity modes thus paving the way to investigation of various coupling effects including Raman scattering enhancement, modification of chemical reactivity rate, lasing, and long-distance nonradiative energy transfer.

Gasoline cars produce more carbonaceous particulate matter than modern filter-equipped diesel cars.

Science.gov (United States)

Platt, S M; El Haddad, I; Pieber, S M; Zardini, A A; Suarez-Bertoa, R; Clairotte, M; Daellenbach, K R; Huang, R-J; Slowik, J G; Hellebust, S; Temime-Roussel, B; Marchand, N; de Gouw, J; Jimenez, J L; Hayes, P L; Robinson, A L; Baltensperger, U; Astorga, C; Prévôt, A S H

2017-07-13

Carbonaceous particulate matter (PM), comprising black carbon (BC), primary organic aerosol (POA) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA, from atmospheric aging of precursors), is a highly toxic vehicle exhaust component. Therefore, understanding vehicle pollution requires knowledge of both primary emissions, and how these emissions age in the atmosphere. We provide a systematic examination of carbonaceous PM emissions and parameterisation of SOA formation from modern diesel and gasoline cars at different temperatures (22, -7 °C) during controlled laboratory experiments. Carbonaceous PM emission and SOA formation is markedly higher from gasoline than diesel particle filter (DPF) and catalyst-equipped diesel cars, more so at -7 °C, contrasting with nitrogen oxides (NO X ). Higher SOA formation from gasoline cars and primary emission reductions for diesels implies gasoline cars will increasingly dominate vehicular total carbonaceous PM, though older non-DPF-equipped diesels will continue to dominate the primary fraction for some time. Supported by state-of-the-art source apportionment of ambient fossil fuel derived PM, our results show that whether gasoline or diesel cars are more polluting depends on the pollutant in question, i.e. that diesel cars are not necessarily worse polluters than gasoline cars.

The madness of crowds phenomenon in the collective decision-making by the cells, the cell's metacognition and cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Saakian, David B.

2018-02-01

Recently it has been found that the collective decision-making in the group is efficient only when the confidences (a version of metacognition) of the members are similar, and it has been assumed that the metacognition (self-reference) in general is crucial for the human cooperation. Our goal is to map the decision making by the cells to decision making by humans, looking the analog of metacognition in the cells, accurately calculate the collective sensing of chemical gradients by the cells, and apply our results to cancer. We formulated the model for the chemeosensing by the cells with different diameters, solved it accurately and found that the collective chemosensing is very similar to the collective decision making by humans. We found that the collective sensing of the ligand concentration can be worse than for the most sensitive cell. We introduced the metacognition of the cells, and verify that the metacognition is impaired for the cancer case. We assume as a hypothesis that the impaired cell metacognition in case of cancer does not allow normal multi-cellularity, and cancer can arise when the "two heads are better than one" principle fails, and there is a "madness of crowds" phenomenon instead.

Organic matter and soil moisture content and double cropping with organic matter sourceplants

OpenAIRE

John Bako Baon; Aris Wibawa

2005-01-01

Double cropping of coffee with organic matter source plants is thought to increase organic matter content of soil. This study examined the effect of double cropping of coffee and organic matter source plants on soil organic matter content and yield of coffee plants. Arabica coffee trees in Andungsari Experimental Station (Bondowoso district), 1400 m asl. and climate type C; and Robusta coffee trees in Sumberasin Experimental Station (Malang district), 550 m asl. and climate type C, were used ...

Primes, Geometry and Condensed Matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Al Rabeh R. H.

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Fascination with primes dates back to the Greeks and before. Primes are named by some "the elementary particles of arithmetic" as every nonprime integer is made of a unique set of primes. In this article we point to new connections between primes, geometry and physics which show that primes could be called "the elementary particles of physics" too. This study considers the problem of closely packing similar circles/spheres in 2D/3D space. This is in effect a discretization process of space and the allowable number in a pack is found to lead to some unexpected cases of prime configurations which is independent of the size of the constituents. We next suggest that a non-prime can be considered geometrically as a symmetric collection that is separable (factorable into similar parts- six is two threes or three twos for example. A collection that has no such symmetry is a prime. As a result, a physical prime aggregate is more difficult to split symmetrically resulting in an inherent stability. This "number/physical" stability idea applies to bigger collections made from smaller (prime units leading to larger stable prime structures in a limitless scaling up process. The distribution of primes among numbers can be understood better using the packing ideas described here and we further suggest that differing numbers (and values of distinct prime factors making a nonprime collection is an important factor in determining the probability and method of possible and subsequent disintegration. Disintegration is bound by energy conservation and is closely related to symmetry by Noether theorems. Thinking of condensed matter as the packing of identical elements, we examine plots of the masses of chemical elements of the periodic table, and also those of the elementary particles of physics, and show that prime packing rules seem to play a role in the make up of matter. The plots show convincingly that the growth of prime numbers and that of the masses of

Effects of Anterior Capsulotomy on Decision Making in Patients with Refractory Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chencheng Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Despite various lines of evidence implicating impaired decision-making ability in individuals with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD, neuropsychological investigation has generated inconsistent findings. Although the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC circuitry has been suggested, the involvement of the cortex has not yet been fully demonstrated. Moreover, it is unknown whether surgical intervention on the CSTC circuitry results in a predicted improvement of decision-making ability of OCD. Here we present a study of decision making based on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT to investigate decision making in a large sample of individuals with treatment-resistant OCD with and without anterior capsulotomy (AC. Task performance was evaluated in healthy subjects, individuals with OCD that had not undergone surgery, and postsurgical OCD patients with AC. The latter group was further divided into a short-term postsurgical group and a long-term postsurgical group. We found that the OCD patients without surgery performed significantly worse than the healthy controls on the IGT. There were no significant differences in decision-making between the presurgical OCD patients and those at the short-term postsurgical follow-up. Decision-making ability of the long-term postsurgical OCD patients was improved to the level comparable to that of healthy controls. All clinical symptoms (OCD, depression, and anxiety assessed by psychiatric rating scales were significantly alleviated post-surgically, but exhibited no correlation with their IGT task performance. Our findings provide strong evidence that OCD is linked to impairments in decision-making ability; that impaired CSTC circuitry function is directly involved in the manifestation of OCD; and that AC related improvements in cognitive functions are caused by long-term plasticity in the brain circuitry.

Dark matter in and around stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sivertsson, Sofia

2009-01-01

There is by now compelling evidence that most of the matter in the universe is in the form of dark matter, a form of matter quite different from the matter we experience in every day life. The gravitational effects of this dark matter have been observed in many different ways but its true nature is still unknown. In most models dark matter particles can annihilate with each other into standard model particles. The direct or indirect observation of such annihilation products could give important clues for the dark matter puzzle. For signals from dark matter annihilations to be detectable, typically high dark matter densities are required. Massive objects, such as stars, can increase the local dark matter density both via scattering off nucleons and by pulling in dark matter gravitationally as the star forms. Dark matter annihilations outside the star would give rise to gamma rays and this is discussed in the first paper. Furthermore dark matter annihilations inside the star would deposit energy inside the star which, if abundant enough, could alter the stellar evolution. Aspects of this are investigated in the second paper. Finally, local dark matter over densities formed in the early universe could still be around today; prospects of detecting gamma rays from such clumps are discussed in the third paper

Z2 SIMP dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernal, Nicolás; Chu, Xiaoyong

2016-01-01

Dark matter with strong self-interactions provides a compelling solution to several small-scale structure puzzles. Under the assumption that the coupling between dark matter and the Standard Model particles is suppressed, such strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs) allow for a successful thermal freeze-out through N-to-N' processes, where N dark matter particles annihilate to N' of them. In the most common scenarios, where dark matter stability is guaranteed by a Z 2 symmetry, the seemingly leading annihilating channel, i.e. 3-to-2 process, is forbidden, so the 4-to-2 one dominate the production of the dark matter relic density. Moreover, cosmological observations require that the dark matter sector is colder than the thermal bath of Standard Model particles, a condition that can be dynamically generated via a small portal between dark matter and Standard Model particles, à la freeze-in. This scenario is exemplified in the context of the Singlet Scalar dark matter model

Advances in Soft Matter Mechanics

CERN Document Server

Li, Shaofan

2012-01-01

"Advances in Soft Matter Mechanics" is a compilation and selection of recent works in soft matter mechanics by a group of active researchers in the field. The main objectives of this book are first to disseminate the latest developments in soft matter mechanics in the field of applied and computational mechanics, and second to introduce soft matter mechanics as a sub-discipline of soft matter physics. As an important branch of soft matter physics, soft matter mechanics has developed rapidly in recent years. A number of the novel approaches discussed in this book are unique, such as the coarse grained finite element method for modeling colloidal adhesion, entropic elasticity, meshfree simulations of liquid crystal elastomers, simulations of DNA, etc. The book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the field of mechanics, condensed matter physics and biomaterials. Dr. Shaofan Li is a professor of the University of California-Berkeley, U.S.A; Dr. Bohua Sun is a professor of Cape Peninsula Universit...

Might dark matter not be concentric with luminous matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Chongming; Lu Tan.

1986-12-01

In this paper, an idea on dark matter nonconcentric with luminous matter is proposed. This case could influence the rotation curve of galaxy differently in its different direction. Recently, Rubin and Ford's observation on rotation curve of Hickson 88a has been explained by means of the idea. Some possible observational predictions have also been given. (author)

Neutralino dark matter in gauge mediation after run I of LHC and LUX

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ding, Ran [School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071 (China); Wang, Liucheng, E-mail: lcwang@udel.edu [Bartol Research Institute, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Zhu, Bin [School of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071 (China)

2014-06-02

Neutralino can be the dark matter candidate in the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models if the conformal sequestered mechanism is assumed in the hidden sector. In this paper, we study this mechanism by using the current experimental results after the run I of LHC and LUX. By adding new Yukawa couplings between the messenger fields and Higgs fields, we find that this mechanism can predict a neutralino dark matter with correct relic density and a Higgs boson with mass around 125 GeV. All our survived points have some common features. First, the Higgs sector falls into the decoupling limit. So the properties of the light Higgs boson are similar to the predictions of the Standard Model one. Second, the correct EWSB hints a relatively small μ-term, which makes the lightest neutralino lighter than the lightest stau. So a bino–higgsino dark matter with correct relic density can be achieved. And the relatively small μ-term results in a small fine-tuning. Finally, this bino–higgsino dark matter can pass all current bounds, including both spin-independent and spin-dependent direct searches. The spin-independent cross section of our points can be examined by further experiments.

Vector Higgs-portal dark matter and the invisible Higgs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebedev, Oleg; Lee, Hyun Min; Mambrini, Yann

2011-11-01

The Higgs sector of the Standard Model offers a unique probe of the hidden sector. In this work, we explore the possibility of renormalizable Higgs couplings to the hidden sector vector fields which can constitute dark matter (DM). Abelian gauge sectors with minimal field content, necessary to render the gauge fields massive, have a natural Z 2 parity. This symmetry ensures stability of the vector fields making them viable dark matter candidates, while evading the usual electroweak constraints. We illustrate this idea with the Stueckelberg and Higgs mechanisms. Vector DM is consistent with the WMAP, XENON100, and LHC constraints, while it can affect significantly the invisible Higgs decay. Due to the enhanced branching ratio for the Higgs decay into the longitudinal components of the vector field, the vector Higgs portal provides an efficient way to hide the Higgs at the LHC. This could be the reason why the latest combined ATLAS/CMS data did not bring evidence for the existence of the Higgs boson. (orig.)

Vector Higgs portal dark matter and the invisible Higgs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebedev, Oleg; Lee, Hyun Min; Mambrini, Yann

2012-01-01

The Higgs sector of the Standard Model offers a unique probe of the hidden sector. In this work, we explore the possibility of renormalizable Higgs couplings to the hidden sector vector fields which can constitute dark matter (DM). Abelian gauge sectors with minimal field content, necessary to render the gauge fields massive, have a natural Z 2 parity. This symmetry ensures stability of the vector fields making them viable dark matter candidates, while evading the usual electroweak constraints. We illustrate this idea with the Stückelberg and Higgs mechanisms. Vector DM is consistent with the WMAP, XENON100, and LHC constraints, while it can affect significantly the invisible Higgs decay. Due to the enhanced branching ratio for the Higgs decay into the longitudinal components of the vector field, the vector Higgs portal provides an efficient way to hide the Higgs at the LHC. This could be the reason why the latest combined ATLAS/CMS data did not bring evidence for the existence of the Higgs boson.

Vector Higgs-portal dark matter and the invisible Higgs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lebedev, Oleg [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Lee, Hyun Min [European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland); Mambrini, Yann [Paris-Sud Univ., 91 - Orsay (France). Lab. de Physique Theorique

2011-11-15

The Higgs sector of the Standard Model offers a unique probe of the hidden sector. In this work, we explore the possibility of renormalizable Higgs couplings to the hidden sector vector fields which can constitute dark matter (DM). Abelian gauge sectors with minimal field content, necessary to render the gauge fields massive, have a natural Z{sub 2} parity. This symmetry ensures stability of the vector fields making them viable dark matter candidates, while evading the usual electroweak constraints. We illustrate this idea with the Stueckelberg and Higgs mechanisms. Vector DM is consistent with the WMAP, XENON100, and LHC constraints, while it can affect significantly the invisible Higgs decay. Due to the enhanced branching ratio for the Higgs decay into the longitudinal components of the vector field, the vector Higgs portal provides an efficient way to hide the Higgs at the LHC. This could be the reason why the latest combined ATLAS/CMS data did not bring evidence for the existence of the Higgs boson. (orig.)

Low Mass Dark Matter: Some Perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Shaolong

2012-01-01

The low mass (10 GeV scale) dark matter is indicted and favored by several recent dark matter direct detection experimental results, such as DAMA and CoGeNT. In this talk, we discuss some aspects of the low mass dark matter. We study the indirect detection of dark matter through neutrino flux from their annihilation in the center of the Sun, in a class of models where the dark matter-nucleon spin-independent interactions break the isospin symmetry. The indirect detection using neutrino telescopes can impose a relatively stronger constraint and brings tension to such explanation, if the dark matter self-annihilation is dominated by heavy quarks or τ-lepton final states. The asymmetric dark matter doesn't suffer the constraints from the indirect detection results. We propose a model of asymmetric dark matter where the matter and dark matter share the common origin, the asymmetries in both the matter and dark matter sectors are simultaneously generated through leptogenesis, and we explore how this model can be tested in direct search experiments.