| 1. |
- 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. |
- Bravo, J. M., et al.
(författare)
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Incorporating Forecasts of Rainfall in Two Hydrologic Models Used for Medium-Range Streamflow Forecasting
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. - 1084-0699. ; 14:5, s. 435-445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study reports on the performance of two medium-range streamflow forecast models: (1) a multilayer feed-forward artificial neural network; and (2) a distributed hydrologic model. Quantitative precipitation forecasts were used as input to both models. The Furnas Reservoir on the Rio Grande River was selected as a case study, primarily because of the availability of quantitative precipitation forecasts from the Brazilian Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies and due to its importance in the Brazilian hydropower generating system. Streamflow forecasts were calculated for a drainage area of about 51,900 km(2), with lead times up to 12 days, at daily intervals. The Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index, the root-mean-square error, the mean absolute error, and the mean relative error were used to assess the relative performance of the models. Results showed that the performance of streamflow forecasts was strongly dependent on the quality of quantitative precipitation forecasts used. The artificial neural network (ANN) method seemed to be less sensitive to precipitation forecast error relative to the distributed hydrological model. Hence, the latter presented a better skill in flow forecasting when using the more accurate perfect precipitation forecast. The conceptual hydrological model also demonstrates better forecast skill than ANN models for longer lead times, when the representation of the rainfall-runoff process and of the water storage in the watershed becomes more important than the flow routing along the drainage network. In addition, results obtained by incorporating a quantitative precipitation forecast in both models performed better than the current streamflow obtained by the Brazilian national electric system operator using statistical models which do not utilize information on precipitation, whether observed or forecast.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Chou, M-Y, et al.
(författare)
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Oxidation-specific epitopes are important targets of innate immunity.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of internal medicine. - : Wiley. - 1365-2796 .- 0954-6820. ; 263:5, s. 479-88
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the oxidation of LDL, a central pathophysiological component of atherogenesis, a wide variety of chemical and physical changes occur leading to the generation of oxidation-specific neoepitopes. These epitopes are not only immunogenic, leading to adaptive humoral responses, but are also a prominent target of multiple arcs of innate immunity. The pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) of innate immunity are germ line encoded, conserved by natural selection, and bind to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) common on multiple structures. However, it is not intuitive as to why they should recognize oxidation-specific neoepitopes. Yet it is clear that multiple macrophage scavenger receptors, which are classic PRRs, recognize oxidation-specific epitopes, such as those found on oxidized LDL (OxLDL). Other innate proteins, such as C-reactive protein, also bind to OxLDL. Natural antibodies (NAbs), the humoral arc of innate immunity, provide a nonredundant role in the first line of defence against pathogens, but are also believed to provide important homeostatic house-keeping functions against self-antigens. Our work demonstrates that oxidation-specific epitopes, as found on OxLDL, are a major target of NAbs. In this review, we will discuss the specific example of the prototypic NAb T15/E06, which is increased in atherosclerotic mice and mediates atheroprotection, and discuss the potential role of NAbs in atherogenesis, and in inflammation in general. We also review data that oxidation-specific epitopes are generated whenever cells undergo programmed cell death, forming a common set of PAMPs recognized by oxidation-specific PRRs on macrophages, NAbs and innate proteins. We present the hypothesis that oxidation-specific epitopes on apoptotic cells exerted evolutionary pressure for the conservation of these PRRs and also serve to maintain the expansion of a substantial proportion of NAbs directed to these stress-induced self-antigens.
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| 5. |
- Chou, S.M., et al.
(författare)
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Speaker-dependent bimodal integration of Chinese phonemes and letters using multimodal self-organizing networks
- 2007
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Ingår i: The 2007 IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks. - Piscataway, NJ : IEEE Communications Society. - 9781424413799 ; , s. 248-253
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a model of integration of auditory and visual information as in the human cortex. More specifically, we demonstrate a possible way in which the phonetic symbols and associated Mandarin Chinese phonemes pronounced by different speakers are mapped onto the model of cortical areas. Our model has been strongly influenced by recent fMRI studies on integration of letters and speech sounds in the human brain. The model is based on multimodal self-organizing networks (MuSoNs) which were introduced in our previous works and proved to be a convenient tool to describe and study mapping and integration of sensory information as in the cortex. The model also shows how phonemes pronounced by different speakers are mapped onto overlapping cortical areas
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| 6. |
- Learmonth, T., et al.
(författare)
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Observation of multiple Zhang-Rice excitations in a correlated solid : Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering study of Li2CuO2
- 2007
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Ingår i: Europhysics letters. - : IOP Publishing. - 0295-5075 .- 1286-4854. ; 79:4, s. 47012-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multiple Zhang-Rice type spectral features have been observed in resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) from the quasi -one-dimensional cuprate charge transfer insulator Li2CuO2. The first feature appears at constant emission energy, and is associated with a Zhang-Rice singlet final state. The second is an interplaquette charge transfer excitation that results in a novel triplet Zhang-Rice -type final state. It is accompanied by the presence of a O 2p nonbonding to upper Hubbard band excitation at an energy close to that of a calculated triplet charge transfer Zhang-Rice -type excitation. The site selectivity and polarization rules associated with RIXS allows these two excitations to be distinguished.
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