Properties of Charged Rotating Electroweak Sphaleron-Antisphaleron Systems

We perform a systematic study of stationary sphaleron-antisphaleron systems of Weinberg-Salam theory at the physical value of the weak mixing angle. These systems include rotating sphaleron-antisphaleron pairs, chains and vortex rings. We show that the angular momentum of these solutions is proportional to their electric charge. We study the dependence of their energy and magnetic moment on their angular momentum. We also investigate the influence of their angular momentum on their local properties, in particular on their energy density and on the node structure of their Higgs field configuration. Furthermore, we discuss the equilibrium condition for these solutions.Comment: superfluous figures remove

A prospective, blinded evaluation of a video-assisted ‘4-stage approach’ during undergraduate student practical skills training

BACKGROUND: The 4-stage approach (4-SA) is used as a didactic method for teaching practical skills in international courses on resuscitation and the structured care of trauma patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate objective and subjective learning success of a video-assisted 4-SA in teaching undergraduate medical students. METHODS: The participants were medical students learning the principles of the acute treatment of trauma patients in their multidiscipline course on emergency and intensive care medicine. The participants were quasi- randomly divided into two groups. The 4-SA was used in both groups. In the control group, all four steps were presented by an instructor. In the study group, the first two steps were presented as a video. At the end of the course a 5-minute objective, structured clinical examination (OSCE) of a simulated trauma patient was conducted. The test results were divided into objective results obtained through a checklist with 9 dichotomous items and the assessment of the global performance rated subjectively by the examiner on a Likert scale from 1 to 6. RESULTS: 313 students were recruited; the results of 256 were suitable for analysis. The OSCE results were excellent in both groups and did not differ significantly (control group: median 9, interquantil range (IQR) 8–9, study group: median 9, IQR 8–9; p = 0.29). The global performance was rated significantly better for the study group (median 1, IQR 1–2 vs. median 2, IQR 1–3; p < 0.01). The relative knowledge increase, stated by the students in their evaluation after the course, was greater in the study group (85% vs. 80%). CONCLUSION: It is possible to employ video assistance in the classical 4-SA with comparable objective test results in an OSCE. The global performance was significantly improved with use of video assistance

Media Use and Green Lifestyle Politics in Diverse Cultural Contexts of Postmaterialist Orientation and Generalized Trust: Findings From a Multilevel Analysis

In lifestyle politics, citizens take political action by adapting their everyday lives to address transnational challenges, such as climate change. An important driver of lifestyle politics is exposure to media - both mass media, serving as important information sources, and social media, enabling discussion and expression. To explore how elements of culture shape this relationship, this study examines (a) the link between media use (measured by mass media and social media use) and lifestyle politics across 28 European countries and (b) how cultural context factors (measured by national levels of postmaterialist orientation and trust) moderate this relationship. Results of a multilevel analysis support the positive link between mass media use and lifestyle politics across all countries. However, the results also suggest that the relationship between social media use and lifestyle politics is positive only in countries with postmaterialist orientations and high levels of trust, underscoring the importance of cultural context factors

Strong Resemblance in the Amplitude of Oscillatory Brain Activity in Monozygotic Twins Is Not Caused by "Trivial" Similarities in the Composition of the Skull

Previous twin studies have shown strong heritability of electroencephalogram amplitude characteristics, such as power spectra. However, it has been suggested that these high heritabilities may reflect "trivial" twin resemblance in intervening tissues such as the skull. Here we demonstrate strong monozygotic twin correlation (0.79 < r < 0.88) of eyes-closed resting-state magnetoencephalogram power, which is insensitive to intervening tissues. These results confirm that brain activity itself is highly heritable. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Efficient delivery of radical cystectomy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for muscle‐invasive bladder cancer

BACKGROUND: Cystectomy delay >90 days after a diagnosis of muscle‐invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) adversely affects pathologic stage and survival outcomes in patients who undergo primary surgery. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), the impact of the timing of cystectomy delivery on these outcomes is uncertain. Poor communication between urologic and medical oncologists can result in cystectomy delay after systemic treatment. The authors of this report hypothesized that a delay in cystectomy delivery after NAC is associated with adverse survival outcomes. METHODS: An eligible cohort of 153 patients with MIBC received NAC and underwent radical cystectomy between 1990 and 2007. At the authors' institution, the genitourinary team strives to schedule patients for surgery at the time of initial evaluation or after their first chemotherapy cycle. Clinicopathologic characteristics, including timing of cystectomy, chemotherapy delivery, vital status, and reasons for excessive surgical delay, were analyzed retrospectively using an institutional database. A Cox proportional regression model was used to test the association between the timing of cystectomy delivery and survival. RESULTS: The median follow‐up for all patients was 3.6 years. The median time to cystectomy was 16.6 weeks and 6.9 weeks from the first and last day of NAC, respectively. In multivariate analyses, the timing of cystectomy delivery from the termination of NAC did not significantly alter the risk of survival. The most common reason for cystectomy delivery beyond 10 weeks (28 patients; 18%) was procedural scheduling. CONCLUSIONS: Cystectomy delivery within 10 weeks after NAC did not compromise patient survival and, thus, provided a reasonable window for patient recovery and surgical intervention. Cancer 2012;. © 2011 American Cancer Society. The authors analyzed the timing between the termination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and cystectomy and assessed its impact on the survival of patients with muscle‐invasive bladder cancer. By using a multidisciplinary approach, the authors determined that the median time to cystectomy was 6.9 weeks. The results indicated that undergoing cystectomy within 10 weeks after the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not compromise cancer‐specific or overall survival.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89461/1/26240_ftp.pd

Electrical, Optical and Thermal Investigations of Cobalt Oxide-Antimony Doped Tin Oxide (CoO-ATO) Thin Films and Nanofiber Membranes

The main aim of this thesis work is to investigate the electrical, optical and thermal impact characteristics of cobalt oxide doped antimony tin oxide (CoO-ATO) in the form of thin films and nanofiber membranes. CoO-ATO is a novel composite material that has the potential to be used as reinforced aircraft coatings, military garment coatings, or more specifically as an anti-reflective (AR) top coating for photovoltaic (PV) cells. This work will be critical in determining the effectiveness of using a CoO-ATO layer in these applications. Electrospun nanofibers and spin coated thin films consisting of a polymeric solution of CoO-ATO will be used. Thin films are created using spin coating techniques, and nanofiber membranes are created using an electrospinning technique. Polystyrene (PS) will be used as a solute, and chloroform as a solvent, to create the solution. It is hypothesized that coatings of this material will have improved optical characteristics as compared to traditional ATO coatings and minimum impact from thermal cycling making it a favorable candidate for PV cells. This work will do an electrical, optical and thermal cycling impact characterization of CoO-ATO thin films and nanofiber membranes for a doping range of x% CoO where x ranged from 0.

Framtidsvägen - hur blir den framgångsrik? Föreslagna organisationsförändringar till följd av Gymnasieutredningen Framtidsvägen SOU 2008:27

Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka organisationsförändringar som kan behövas hos gymnasieskolor med gymnasieutredningens (SOU 2008:27) förslag som grund. Gymnasieutredningen ställer många gymnasieskolor inför stora förändringar, bland annat så ändras fokus och näringslivet inträder på ett mer organiserat sätt på skolans arena genom programråd och nationella råd. 15 veckors praktik (APU) blir obligatoriskt och möjligheterna att ha specialutformat program och lokala kurser begränsas kraftigt. Det intressanta är då att undersöka hur dessa förändringar kan organiseras och hanteras. Hur bör skolorna arbeta för att kunna nå intentionerna i gymnasieutredningen och vilka nya yrkesroller kommer att behövas? Teori: Jag har använt en organisationsteoretisk modell som grund. Metod: Materialet har samlats in genom intervjuer av några personer som har skrivit remisser till gymnasieutredningen. De här intervjufrågorna har varit öppna i sin form och har sedan analyserats kvalitativt med hänsyn till organisationsteoretiskt forskning. Resultat: Den organisationsförändring som behövs framförallt i skolan är att skapa ett nätverk för att utveckla samarbetet mellan näringsliv och gymnasieskola genom att bygga upp programråd och utveckla APU:n (som kallas APL i utredningen) både till innehåll och kvalitet. Att arbeta om programstrukturen och innehåll i kurser så att examensmålen kan nås och utbildningen blir mer holistisk. När resultatet kopplas till organisationsteoretiska modeller tycks matrisorganisationen var mer ändamålsenlig eftersom skolan då kan behålla sin basorganisation och arbeta med förändringar inom skolans struktur genom att tillsätta projekt för att nå sina nya mål. Dessutom följer inte gamla strukturer och konflikter med in i de nya projektgrupperna. Både rektor, handledare på APL och yrkeslärare kommer att få en förändrad yrkesroll och den blir en helt ny yrkeroll – examensansvariga lärare

Muon pair production in electron proton collisions

Events containing pairs of isolated muons at high invariant masses have been detected at HERA with the H1 detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 70.9 1/pb of electron(positron)-proton scattering at centre of mass energies of 318 GeV. The results are well described by the Standard Model prediction which is dominated by photon-photon collisions. No evidence of processes beyond the standard model has been observed

Investigation of glass corrosion in acid solutions with ²⁹Si-MAS-NMR

Thin foils of potash-lime-silicate glass were corroded in acid solutions for different time periods. The formation of a gel layer was determined by IR spectroscopy and solution analysis. The applicability of ²⁹Si-MAS-NMR spectroscopy as an analytical tool for characterizing gel layers was investigated. The obtained spectra of increasingly corroded foils show the growth of a new peak at the highfield side of the main glass peak. This peak can be attributed to Q4 silicon units. The formation of Q4 silicon is believed to be due to a condensation reaction of previously hydrolyzed Si-OH groups in the gel layer

Protein crystals in adenovirus type 5-infected cells: requirements for intranuclear crystallogenesis, structural and functional analysis

Intranuclear crystalline inclusions have been observed in the nucleus of epithelial cells infected with Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) at late steps of the virus life cycle. Using immuno-electron microscopy and confocal microscopy of cells infected with various Ad5 recombinants modified in their penton base or fiber domains, we found that these inclusions represented crystals of penton capsomers, the heteromeric capsid protein formed of penton base and fiber subunits. The occurrence of protein crystals within the nucleus of infected cells required the integrity of the fiber knob and part of the shaft domain. In the knob domain, the region overlapping residues 489–492 in the FG loop was found to be essential for crystal formation. In the shaft, a large deletion of repeats 4 to 16 had no detrimental effect on crystal inclusions, whereas deletion of repeats 8 to 21 abolished crystal formation without altering the level of fiber protein expression. This suggested a crucial role of the five penultimate repeats in the crystallisation process. Chimeric pentons made of Ad5 penton base and fiber domains from different serotypes were analyzed with respect to crystal formation. No crystal was found when fiber consisted of shaft (S) from Ad5 and knob (K) from Ad3 (heterotypic S5-K3 fiber), but occurred with homotypic S3K3 fiber. However, less regular crystals were observed with homotypic S35-K35 fiber. TB5, a monoclonal antibody directed against the Ad5 fiber knob was found by immunofluorescence microscopy to react with high efficiency with the intranuclear protein crystals in situ. Data obtained with Ad fiber mutants indicated that the absence of crystalline inclusions correlated with a lower infectivity and/or lower yields of virus progeny, suggesting that the protein crystals might be involved in virion assembly. Thus, we propose that TB5 staining of Ad-infected 293 cells can be used as a prognostic assay for the viability and productivity of fiber-modified Ad5 vectors