Cherenkov and Scintillation Light Separation in Organic Liquid Scintillators

The CHErenkov / Scintillation Separation experiment (CHESS) has been used to demonstrate the separation of Cherenkov and scintillation light in both linear alkylbenzene (LAB) and LAB with 2g/L of PPO as a fluor (LAB/PPO). This is the first such demonstration for the more challenging LAB/PPO cocktail and improves on previous results for LAB. A time resolution of 338 +/- 12 ps FWHM results in an efficiency for identifying Cherenkov photons in LAB/PPO of 70 +/- 3% and 63 +/- 8% for time- and charge-based separation, respectively, with scintillation contamination of 36 +/- 5% and 38 +/- 4%. LAB/PPO data is consistent with a rise time of 0.75 +/- 0.25 ns

Structural Characterization and Numerical Modeling of Historic Quincha Walls

Quincha is a construction technique found in upper stories of many historic residential buildings on the coast of Peru, consisting of a timber frame with a woven cane and mud infill. This article presents the methodology for the development of a numerical model of the quincha system. The quincha walls have been subdivided into three components, the timber frame, bracing, and infill, and the modeling of each component is calibrated separately using experimental and analytical techniques. The resulting numerical model is found to successfully reproduce the behaviour of test specimens. The developed model can be used to assess the global seismic behavior of historic buildings containing quincha of varying geometries. This is demonstrated by modeling a portion of one of the facades of a well-known casona in Lima, Hotel el Comercio

Is there something of the MCT in orientationally disordered crystals ?

Molecular Dynamics simulations have been performed on the orientationally disordered crystal chloroadamantane: a model system where dynamics are almost completely controlled by rotations. A critical temperature T_c = 225 K as predicted by the Mode Coupling Theory can be clearly determined both in the alpha and beta dynamical regimes. This investigation also shows the existence of a second remarkable dynamical crossover at the temperature T_x > T_c consistent with a previous NMR and MD study [1]. This allows us to confirm clearly the existence of a 'landscape-influenced' regime occurring in the temperature range [T_c-T_x] as recently proposed [2,3].Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, REVTEX

Human papillomavirus-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted cervical cancer vaccine: Immunogenicity and safety in healthy Chinese women from Hong Kong

Objective To assess the immunogenicity and safety of human papillomavirus-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted cervical cancer vaccine in Chinese women aged 18 to 35 years enrolled from Hong Kong. Design Double-blind, randomised controlled trial with vaccine and placebo groups. Setting Single-centre study in Hong Kong. Participants Three hundred women enrolled (150 per group) between March 2006 and June 2007. Interventions Subjects received three doses of human papillomavirus-16/18 vaccine or placebo (aluminium hydroxide), administered intramuscularly at 0, 1, and 6 months. Main outcome measures Human papillomavirus-16/18 seroconversion rates and geometric mean titres at month 7 (in human papillomavirus-16/18 recipients); reactogenicity and safety (in all subjects). Results A total of 294 women completed the study (148 in the vaccine group, 146 in placebo group). All initially seronegative subjects in the vaccine group had seroconverted for human papillomavirus-16/18 antibodies by month 7. Anti-human papillomavirus-16 and anti-human papillomavirus-18 antibody geometric mean titres were 10 422 (95% confidence interval, 8730-12 442) EL.U/mL and 4649 (3975-5437) EL.U/mL, respectively. High compliance (99% in both groups) was observed for the three-vaccination course. The frequencies of local injection site reactions were higher in the vaccine than placebo group; pain being the most common symptom in both groups. Regarding solicited symptoms, fatigue and myalgia were the most frequent in both groups. Five serious adverse events (four in vaccine group, one in placebo group) were reported, but all were considered unrelated to the vaccinations. Conclusion The human papillomavirus-16/18 AS04-adjuvanted vaccine was highly immunogenic, safe, and generally well tolerated in Chinese women from Hong Kong.published_or_final_versio

A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus

The Trojan population consists of two swarms of asteroids following the same orbit as Jupiter and located at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points of the Jupiter-Sun system (leading and following Jupiter by 60 degrees). The asteroid 617 Patroclus is the only known binary Trojan (Merline et al. 2001). The orbit of this double system was hitherto unknown. Here we report that the components, separated by 680 km, move around the system centre of mass, describing roughly a circular orbit. Using the orbital parameters, combined with thermal measurements to estimate the size of the components, we derive a very low density of 0.8 g/cc. The components of Patroclus are therefore very porous or composed mostly of water ice, suggesting that they could have been formed in the outer part of the solar system.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Are zona pellucida genes involved in recurrent oocyte lysis observed during in vitro fertilization?

PURPOSE: Complete oocyte lysis in in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a rare event, but one against which we remain helpless. The recurrence of this phenomenon in some women in each of their IVF attempts, regardless of treatment, together with the results of animal experiments led us to investigate the possible involvement of the genes encoding for the glycoproteins constituting the zona pellucida (ZP). PATIENTS & METHODS: Over the last ten years, during which we treated over 500 women each year, three women suffered recurrent oocyte lysis during their IVF attempts in our Centre for Reproductive Biology. For each of these three cases, we sequenced the four genes and promoter sequences encoding the glycoproteins of the ZP. The sequence variations likely to cause a change in protein expression or structure, were investigated in a control group of 35 women who underwent IVF without oocyte lysis and with normal rates of fertilization. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: We found no mutations in the ZP genes sequenced. Only some polymorphisms present in the control group and in the general population were detected, excluding their specific involvement in the phenotype observed. Thus, although we suspected that complete oocyte lysis was due to a genetic cause, it did not seem possible to directly incriminate the genes encoding the proteins of the ZP in the observed phenotype. Further study of the genes involved in the processing and organization of ZP glycoproteins may allow elucidation of the mechanism underlying recurrent oocyte lysis during in vitro fertilization

Integrating evolution into ecological modelling: accommodating phenotypic changes in agent based models.

PMCID: PMC3733718This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Evolutionary change is a characteristic of living organisms and forms one of the ways in which species adapt to changed conditions. However, most ecological models do not incorporate this ubiquitous phenomenon. We have developed a model that takes a 'phenotypic gambit' approach and focuses on changes in the frequency of phenotypes (which differ in timing of breeding and fecundity) within a population, using, as an example, seasonal breeding. Fitness per phenotype calculated as the individual's contribution to population growth on an annual basis coincide with the population dynamics per phenotype. Simplified model variants were explored to examine whether the complexity included in the model is justified. Outputs from the spatially implicit model underestimated the number of individuals across all phenotypes. When no phenotype transitions are included (i.e. offspring always inherit their parent's phenotype) numbers of all individuals are always underestimated. We conclude that by using a phenotypic gambit approach evolutionary dynamics can be incorporated into individual based models, and that all that is required is an understanding of the probability of offspring inheriting the parental phenotype