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- Schael, S, et al.
(författare)
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Precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Physics Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-1573 .- 1873-6270. ; 427:5-6, s. 257-454
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the final electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the Z resonance by the experiments operating at the electron-positron colliders SLC and LEP. The data consist of 17 million Z decays accumulated by the ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL experiments at LEP, and 600 thousand Z decays by the SLID experiment using a polarised beam at SLC. The measurements include cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries and polarised asymmetries. The mass and width of the Z boson, m(Z) and Gamma(Z), and its couplings to fermions, for example the p parameter and the effective electroweak mixing angle for leptons, are precisely measured: m(Z) = 91.1875 +/- 0.0021 GeV, Gamma(Z) = 2.4952 +/- 0.0023 GeV, rho(l) = 1.0050 +/- 0.0010, sin(2)theta(eff)(lept) = 0.23153 +/- 0.00016. The number of light neutrino species is determined to be 2.9840 +/- 0.0082, in agreement with the three observed generations of fundamental fermions. The results are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model (SM). At the Z-pole, electroweak radiative corrections beyond the running of the QED and QCD coupling constants are observed with a significance of five standard deviations, and in agreement with the Standard Model. Of the many Z-pole measurements, the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quark production shows the largest difference with respect to its SM expectation, at the level of 2.8 standard deviations. Through radiative corrections evaluated in the framework of the Standard Model, the Z-pole data are also used to predict the mass of the top quark, m(t) = 173(+10)(+13) GeV, and the mass of the W boson, m(W) = 80.363 +/- 0.032 GeV. These indirect constraints are compared to the direct measurements, providing a stringent test of the SM. Using in addition the direct measurements of m(t) and m(W), the mass of the as yet unobserved SM Higgs boson is predicted with a relative uncertainty of about 50% and found to be less than 285 GeV at 95% confidence level. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Raiteri, C. M., et al.
(författare)
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WEBT and XMM-Newton observations of 3C 454.3 during the post-outburst phase - Detection of the little and big blue bumps
- 2007
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 473:3, s. 819-827
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The quasar-type blazar 3C 454.3 was observed to undergo an unprecedented optical outburst in spring 2005, affecting the source brightness from the near-IR to the X-ray frequencies. This was first followed by a millimetric and then by a radio outburst, which peaked in February 2006. Aims. In this paper we report on follow-up observations to study the multiwavelength emission in the post-outburst phase. Methods. Radio, near-infrared, and optical monitoring was performed by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) collaboration in the 2006-2007 observing season. XMM-Newton observations on July 2-3 and December 18-19, 2006 added information on the X-ray and UV states of the source. Results. The source was in a faint state. The radio flux at the higher frequencies showed a fast decreasing trend, which represents the tail of the big radio outburst. It was followed by a quiescent state, common at all radio frequencies. In contrast, moderate activity characterized the near-IR and optical light curves, with a progressive increase of the variability amplitude with increasing wavelength. We ascribe this redder-when-brighter behaviour to the presence of a ""little blue bump"" due to line emission from the broad line region, which is clearly visible in the source spectral energy distribution (SED) during faint states. Moreover, the data from the XMM- Newton Optical Monitor reveal a rise of the SED in the ultraviolet, suggesting the existence of a "" big blue bump"" due to thermal emission from the accretion disc. The X-ray spectra are well fitted with a power- law model with photoelectric absorption, possibly larger than the Galactic one. However, the comparison with previous X-ray observations would imply that the amount of absorbing matter is variable. Alternatively, the intrinsic X-ray spectrum presents a curvature, which may depend on the X-ray brightness. In this case, two scenarios are possible. i) There is no extra absorption, and the X-ray spectrum hardens at low energies, the hardening being more evident in bright states; ii) there is a constant amount of extra absorption, likely in the quasar environment, and the X-ray spectrum softens at low energies, at least in faint X-ray states. This softening might be the result of a flux contribution by the high-frequency tail of the big blue bump.
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| 5. |
- Koga, H., et al.
(författare)
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Development of an Oral Rehabilitation Robot
- 2008
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Ingår i: Gerontechnology. - Eindhoven. - 1569-111X. ; 7:2, s. 142-142
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is well known that the massage therapy is useful for the rehabilitation of various diseases. Althoughvarious apparatus have been developed for the massage of the torso and limbs, a machineto perform precise massage therapy to maxillofacial region is not developed yet.Therefore, we developed a robot system that provides massage therapy to the maxillofacialregion. The name of our newly developed robot was WAO-1. WAO-1 has been designedto perform appropriate massage to the patients with dry mouth. System descriptionThe mechanism of WAO-1 consists of two main parts: robot arms and the plungerdevice. The robot arms consist of two 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) manipulators used tocontrol the movement of the plunger device attached to the end-effector of each manipulator(Figure 1). The plunger device is the only part of the robot having direct contact withthe patient face. In order to control the motion of the plungers attached at each arm ofWAO-1, a position control system is implemented. The control system of WAO-1 is composedby a Massage Pattern Generator and Virtual Compliance Control1. Method Anevaluation experiment of WAO-1 is performed. In this experiment, WAO-1 provides themassage to 6 healthy volunteers (without any maxillofacial disorders). Each subject isprovided the massage to its parotid gland for 2 minutes. In order to confirm the effectivenessof the massage provide by WAO-1, the production of saliva was considered as aperformance index. This index is measured by using the Saxon test2; which is a standardmethod to confirm the effectiveness of the massage therapy. Results and discussionThe average production of saliva was increased by 0.63 g after providing the massage. Byanalyzing the collected data with a t-test, we found a significant difference (p < 0.05). Thusthe effectiveness of the massage to the parotid gland by WAO-1 is confirmed. On theother hand, when the doctor gives the massage to the parotid gland of the people, productionof saliva increases 1.4 g (average of 6 people). Therefore, the effect of WAO-1’s massageis less than that of doctor’s massage. We developed a robot system (WAO-1) whichcan massage the face. We think clinical trial is necessary to collect the data to certify theeffectiveness of robotic massage. The goal of this study is to establish robot massagetherapy as physiotherapy.
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| 6. |
- Koga, H., et al.
(författare)
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Development of an Oral Rehabilitation Robot for Massage Therapy
- 2007
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Ingår i: Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine, 2007. ITAB 2007. 6th International Special Topic Conference on. - : IEEE. - 9781424418671 - 9781424418688 ; , s. 111-114
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is well known that the massage therapy is useful for the rehabilitation of various diseases. Although various apparatus have been developed for the massage of the torso and limbs, a machine to perform precise massage therapy to maxillofacial region is not developed yet. Therefore, we developed a robot system that provides massage therapy to maxillofacial region. The name of our newly developed robot was WAO-1. WAO-1 has been designed to perform appropriate massage to the patients with dry mouth, etc. WAO-1 is composed by two 6-degree of freedom arms with plungers attached at the end-effectors. The massage is applied to the patient by controlling the force and position of the plunger (virtual compliance). As a preliminary step of the clinical application, a simulation therapy of robotic massage to stimulate salivary flow from parotid gland was performed. The dynamic force on patient's head during the massage using WAO-1 was evaluated. The results suggested that WAO-1 could perform equivalent massage to human hand. We expect that WAO-1 will be useful to provide massage therapy to several patients with oral health problems. This will aim in reducing the therapy costs due to the need of human efforts when long-time therapies are needed
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| 8. |
- Lin, Xue, et al.
(författare)
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Controlled release of matrix metalloproteinase-1 plasmid DNA prevents left ventricular remodeling in chronic myocardial infarction of rats.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Circulation journal : official journal of the Japanese Circulation Society. - 1347-4820. ; 73:12, s. 2315-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The present study investigated whether administration of controlled release matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) plasmid DNA prevents left ventricular (LV) remodeling in a rat chronic myocardial infarction (MI) model. METHODS AND RESULTS: Rats with a moderate-sized MI were randomized to 2 groups: injection of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing microspheres into the peri-infarct area (MI group, n=14) and injection of cationized gelatin microspheres incorporating MMP-1 plasmid DNA (MI+MMP-1 group, 50 microg MMP-1/20 microl; n=14). As a control group (n=14), rats received neither the coronary artery ligation nor the injection of PBS. Echocardiography, cardiac catheterization and histological studies were performed. At 2 and 4 weeks after the treatment, the MI+MMP-1 group had smaller LV end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions, better fractional area change and smaller akinetic areas than the MI group. The LV end-systolic elastance and time constant of isovolumic relaxation were also better in the MI+MMP-1 group compared with the MI group 4 weeks after the treatment. Fibrosis evaluated with Masson's trichrome staining was less in the MI+MMP-1 group than the MI group. CONCLUSIONS: Gelatin microspheres for the controlled release of MMP-1 plasmid DNA are promising for improving cardiac remodeling and function when they are administered during the chronic phase of MI.
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