A novel research definition of bladder health in women and girls: Implications for research and public health promotion

BACKGROUND:Bladder health in women and girls is poorly understood, in part, due to absence of a definition for clinical or research purposes. This article describes the process used by a National Institutes of Health funded transdisciplinary research team (The Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms [PLUS] Consortium) to develop a definition of bladder health. METHODS:The PLUS Consortium identified currently accepted lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and outlined elements of storage and emptying functions of the bladder. Consistent with the World Health Organization's definition of health, PLUS concluded that absence of LUTS was insufficient and emphasizes the bladder's ability to adapt to short-term physical, psychosocial, and environmental challenges for the final definition. Definitions for subjective experiences and objective measures of bladder dysfunction and health were drafted. An additional bioregulatory function to protect against infection, neoplasia, chemical, or biologic threats was proposed. RESULTS:PLUS proposes that bladder health be defined as: "A complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being related to bladder function and not merely the absence of LUTS. Healthy bladder function permits daily activities, adapts to short-term physical or environmental stressors, and allows optimal well-being (e.g., travel, exercise, social, occupational, or other activities)." Definitions for each element of bladder function are reported with suggested subjective and objective measures. CONCLUSIONS:PLUS used a comprehensive transdisciplinary process to develop a bladder health definition. This will inform instrument development for evaluation of bladder health promotion and prevention of LUTS in research and public health initiatives

Indirect Detection of a Light Higgsino Motivated by Collider Data

Kane and Wells recently argued that collider data point to a Higgsino-like lightest supersymmetric partner which would explain the dark matter in our Galactic halo. They discuss direct detection of such dark-matter particles in laboratory detectors. Here, we argue that such a particle, if it is indeed the dark matter, might alternatively be accessible in experiments which search for energetic neutrinos from dark-matter annihilation in the Sun. We provide accurate analytic estimates for the rates which take into account all relevant physical effects. Currently, the predicted signal falls roughly one to three orders of magnitude below experimental bounds, depending on the mass and coupling of the particle; however, detectors such as MACRO, super-Kamiokande, and AMANDA will continue to take data and should be able to rule out or confirm an interesting portion of the possible mass range for such a dark-matter particle within the next five years.Comment: 10 pages, RevTe

Model-Independent Comparison of Direct vs. Indirect Detection of Supersymmetric Dark Matter

We compare the rate for elastic scattering of neutralinos from various nuclei with the flux of upward muons induced by energetic neutrinos from neutralino annihilation in the Sun and Earth. We consider both scalar and axial-vector interactions of neutralinos with nuclei. We find that the event rate in a kg of germanium is roughly equivalent to that in a $10^5$- to $10^7$-m$^2$ muon detector for a neutralino with primarily scalar coupling to nuclei. For an axially coupled neutralino, the event rate in a 50-gram hydrogen detector is roughly the same as that in a 10- to 500-m$^2$ muon detector. Expected experimental backgrounds favor forthcoming elastic-scattering detectors for scalar couplings while the neutrino detectors have the advantage for axial-vector couplings.Comment: 10 pages, self-unpacking uuencoded PostScript fil

Optical Properties of Deep Ice at the South Pole - Absorption

We discuss recent measurements of the wavelength-dependent absorption coefficients in deep South Pole ice. The method uses transit time distributions of pulses from a variable-frequency laser sent between emitters and receivers embedded in the ice. At depths of 800 to 1000 m scattering is dominated by residual air bubbles, whereas absorption occurs both in ice itself and in insoluble impurities. The absorption coefficient increases approximately exponentially with wavelength in the measured interval 410 to 610 nm. At the shortest wavelength our value is about a factor 20 below previous values obtained for laboratory ice and lake ice; with increasing wavelength the discrepancy with previous measurements decreases. At around 415 to 500 nm the experimental uncertainties are small enough for us to resolve an extrinsic contribution to absorption in ice: submicron dust particles contribute by an amount that increases with depth and corresponds well with the expected increase seen near the Last Glacial Maximum in Vostok and Dome C ice cores. The laser pulse method allows remote mapping of gross structure in dust concentration as a function of depth in glacial ice.Comment: 26 pages, LaTex, Accepted for publication in Applied Optics. 9 figures, not included, available on request from [email protected]

Cosmic-ray strangelets in the Earth's atmosphere

If strange quark matter is stable in small lumps, we expect to find such lumps, called ``strangelets'', on Earth due to a steady flux in cosmic rays. Following recent astrophysical models, we predict the strangelet flux at the top of the atmosphere, and trace the strangelets' behavior in atmospheric chemistry and circulation. We show that several strangelet species may have large abundances in the atmosphere; that they should respond favorably to laboratory-scale preconcentration techniques; and that they present promising targets for mass spectroscopy experiments.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, revtex

Utility-Scale Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaic Projects: A Technology and Market Overview

Over the last several years, solar energy technologies have been, or are in the process of being, deployed at unprecedented levels. A critical recent development, resulting from the massive scale of projects in progress or recently completed, is having the power sold directly to electric utilities. Such 'utility-scale' systems offer the opportunity to deploy solar technologies far faster than the traditional 'behind-the-meter' projects designed to offset retail load. Moreover, these systems have employed significant economies of scale during construction and operation, attracting financial capital, which in turn can reduce the delivered cost of power. This report is a summary of the current U.S. utility-scale solar state-of-the-market and development pipeline. Utility-scale solar energy systems are generally categorized as one of two basic designs: concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV). CSP systems can be further delineated into four commercially available technologies: parabolic trough, central receiver (CR), parabolic dish, and linear Fresnel reflector. CSP systems can also be categorized as hybrid, which combine a solar-based system (generally parabolic trough, CR, or linear Fresnel) and a fossil fuel energy system to produce electric power or steam

Limits to the muon flux from WIMP annihilation in the center of the Earth with the AMANDA detector

A search for nearly vertical up-going muon-neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the center of the Earth has been performed with the AMANDA-B10 neutrino detector. The data sample collected in 130.1 days of live-time in 1997, ~10^9 events, has been analyzed for this search. No excess over the expected atmospheric neutrino background is oberved. An upper limit at 90% confidence level on the annihilation rate of neutralinos in the center of the Earth is obtained as a function of the neutralino mass in the range 100 GeV-5000 GeV, as well as the corresponding muon flux limit.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Version accepted for publication in Physical Review

The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope: Principle of Operation and First Results

AMANDA is a high-energy neutrino telescope presently under construction at the geographical South Pole. In the Antarctic summer 1995/96, an array of 80 optical modules (OMs) arranged on 4 strings (AMANDA-B4) was deployed at depths between 1.5 and 2 km. In this paper we describe the design and performance of the AMANDA-B4 prototype, based on data collected between February and November 1996. Monte Carlo simulations of the detector response to down-going atmospheric muon tracks show that the global behavior of the detector is understood. We describe the data analysis method and present first results on atmospheric muon reconstruction and separation of neutrino candidates. The AMANDA array was upgraded with 216 OMs on 6 new strings in 1996/97 (AMANDA-B10), and 122 additional OMs on 3 strings in 1997/98.Comment: 36 pages, 23 figures, submitted to Astroparticle Physic

The AMANDA Neutrino Telescope and the Indirect Search for Dark Matter

With an effective telescope area of order 10^4 m^2, a threshold of ~50 GeV and a pointing accuracy of 2.5 degrees, the AMANDA detector represents the first of a new generation of high energy neutrino telescopes, reaching a scale envisaged over 25 years ago. We describe its performance, focussing on the capability to detect halo dark matter particles via their annihilation into neutrinos.Comment: Latex2.09, 16 pages, uses epsf.sty to place 15 postscript figures. Talk presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe (DM98), Santa Monica, California, Feb. 199

Physics and Astrophysics of Strange Quark Matter

3-flavor quark matter (strange quark matter; SQM) can be stable or metastable for a wide range of strong interaction parameters. If so, SQM can play an important role in cosmology, neutron stars, cosmic ray physics, and relativistic heavy-ion collisions. As an example of the intimate connections between astrophysics and heavy-ion collision physics, this Chapter gives an overview of the physical properties of SQM in bulk and of small-baryon number strangelets; discusses the possible formation, destruction, and implications of lumps of SQM (quark nuggets) in the early Universe; and describes the structure and signature of strange stars, as well as formation and detection of strangelets in cosmic rays. It is concluded, that astrophysical and laboratory searches are complementary in many respects, and that both should be pursued to test the intriguing possibility of a strange ground state for hadronic matter, and (more generally) to improve our knowledge of the strong interactions.Comment: 45 pages incl. figures. To appear in "Hadrons in Dense Matter and Hadrosynthesis", Lecture Notes in Physics, Springer Verlag (ed. J.Cleymans