Hadronic Production of the Doubly Charmed Baryon Ξcc\Xi_{cc} with Intrinsic Charm

The effects of the intrinsic charm on the hadronic production of $\Xi_{cc}$ are studied. By taking reasonable intrinsic charm component into account, the change of the theoretical prediction on the production of $\Xi_{cc}$ for LHC and Tevatron is small, but in contrast it may enhance significantly for SELEX. The reason is that the collision energy at LHC and Tevatron is so large that the gluon-gluon fusion sub-process, which is irrelevant to intrinsic charm, becomes dominant. But the situation for SELEX is quite different. Our numerical results for SELEX show that by considering all the contributions from various sub-processes, the predicted cross-section may be enhanced by a factor so big as $10^2$ due to a modulating intrinsic charm being taken into account. Therefore, the hadronic production of $\Xi_{cc}$ at SELEX may be sensitive enough in observing the intrinsic charm inside the incident hadrons.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. More discussions are adde

Inverse kinematic control algorithm for a welding robot - positioner system to trace a 3D complex curve

The welding robots equipped with rotary positioners have been widely used in several manufacturing industries. However, for welding a 3D complex weld seam, a great deal of points should be created to ensure the weld path smooth. This is a boring job and is a great challenge - rotary positioner system since the robot and the positioner must move simultaneously at the same time. Therefore, in this article, a new inverse kinematics solution is proposed to generate the movement codes for a six DOFs welding robot incorporated with a rotary positioner. In the algorithm, the kinematic error is minimized, and the actual welding error is controlled so that it is always less than an allowable limit. It has shown that the proposed algorithm is useful in developing an offline CAD-based programming tool for robots when welding complex 3D paths. The use of the algorithm increases the accuracy of the end-effector positioning and orientation, and reduces the time for teaching a welding robot - positioner system. Simulation scenarios demonstrate the potency of the suggested method

Constructing the Bridge from Isotropic to Anisotropic Pitches for Preparing Pitch-Based Carbon Fibers with Tunable Structures and Properties

Synthetic naphthalene pitches (SNPs) with isotropy and anisotropy were prepared by a simple thermal polycondensation method to fabricate pitch-based carbon fibers. The structural characteristic, thermal stability, phase-separation behavior, and melt-spinnability of the SNPs and the structural properties of the derived carbon fibers were systematically investigated. The results show that spinnable SNPs with controllable mesophase contents ranging from 0 to 100 vol % and softening points (210–290 °C) could be easily obtained by a nitrogen-bubbling treatment to improve their thermal stability and melt-spinnability by avoiding the phase separation of liquid crystal (LC) in the pitch. An experimental phase diagram of spinnability and mesophase content is newly proposed for predicting the spinnability of a mesophase-containing pitch. The LC has a significant influence not only on the constituents, structure, and physical properties of the SNPs but also on the final structure and properties of the corresponding pitch-based carbon fibers. The low ash content (less than 0.15 wt %) in the pitch precursor is found to have no obvious effect on the pitch spinnability and the mechanical properties of derivative large-diameter carbon fibers

On Metric Dimension of Functigraphs

The \emph{metric dimension} of a graph $G$, denoted by $\dim(G)$, is the minimum number of vertices such that each vertex is uniquely determined by its distances to the chosen vertices. Let $G_1$ and $G_2$ be disjoint copies of a graph $G$ and let $f: V(G_1) \rightarrow V(G_2)$ be a function. Then a \emph{functigraph} $C(G, f)=(V, E)$ has the vertex set $V=V(G_1) \cup V(G_2)$ and the edge set $E=E(G_1) \cup E(G_2) \cup \{uv \mid v=f(u)\}$. We study how metric dimension behaves in passing from $G$ to $C(G,f)$ by first showing that $2 \le \dim(C(G, f)) \le 2n-3$, if $G$ is a connected graph of order $n \ge 3$ and $f$ is any function. We further investigate the metric dimension of functigraphs on complete graphs and on cycles.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

A Uniform Description of the States Recently Observed at B-factories

The newly found states Y(4260), Y(4361), Y(4664) and Z$^\pm$(4430) stir broad interest in the study of spectroscopy in a typical charmonium scale. The Y(4260) which was observed earlier has been interpreted as hybrid, molecular state, and baryonium, etc. In this note we show for the first time that these new structures, which are hard to be interpreted as charmonium states, can be systematically embedded into an extended baryonium picture. According to this assignment, the so far known characters of these states are understandable. And, in the same framework, we make some predictions for experimenters to measure in the future.Comment: 6 pages in Latex. to appear in J.Phys.

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in patients with liver disease in eastern China

The role of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in the pathogenesis of liver disease has recently gained much interest. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with T. gondii infection in patients with liver disease from three cities in Shandong and Henan provinces, China. A case–control study was conducted from December 2014 to November 2015 and included 1142 patients with liver disease and 1142 healthy controls. Serum samples were collected from all individuals and were examined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the presence of anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies. Information on the demographics, clinical, and lifestyle characteristics of the participants was collected from the medical records and by the use of a questionnaire. The prevalence of anti-T. gondii IgG was 19·7% in patients with liver disease compared with 12·17% in the controls. Only 13 patients had anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies compared with 12 control individuals (1·14% vs. 1·05%, respectively). The highest seroprevalence was detected in patients with liver cancer (22·13%), followed by hepatitis patients (20·86%), liver cirrhosis patients (20·42%), and steatosis patients (20%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that consumption of raw meat (odds ratio (OR) = 1·32; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·01–1·71; P = 0·03) and source of drinking water from wells (OR = 1·56; 95% CI 1·08–2·27; P = 0·01) were independent risk factors for T. gondii infection in liver disease patients. These findings indicate that T. gondii infection is more likely to be present in patients with liver disease. Therefore, efforts should be directed toward health education of populations at high risk of T. gondii infection and measures should be taken to protect vulnerable patients with liver disease

Diagnosis of partially observed petri net based on analytical redundancy relationships

In this paper, we design an efficient diagnosis technique for partially observed discrete event systems modeled by labeled Petri nets. The fault detection is based on analytical redundancy relationships derived from the nominal model. The decomposition of the Tun‐induced subnet to connected subgraphs allows determining the subgraphs that may contain faults. To appreciate the fault localization, a set of analytical redundancy relationships is etablished for each fault transition based on the fault model. The proposed diagnosis approach is independent of the length of the observed sequence and independent of the number of unobservable transitions. The detected faults with the proposed approach are faults which led to a change in the number of tokens in the net

Plasmon-phonon coupling in large-area graphene dot and antidot arrays

Nanostructured graphene on SiO2 substrates pave the way for enhanced light-matter interactions and explorations of strong plasmon-phonon hybridization in the mid-infrared regime. Unprecedented large-area graphene nanodot and antidot optical arrays are fabricated by nanosphere lithography, with structural control down to the sub-100 nanometer regime. The interaction between graphene plasmon modes and the substrate phonons is experimentally demonstrated and structural control is used to map out the hybridization of plasmons and phonons, showing coupling energies of the order 20 meV. Our findings are further supported by theoretical calculations and numerical simulations.Comment: 7 pages including 6 figures. Supporting information is available upon request to author

MAGeCK enables robust identification of essential genes from genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screens

We propose the Model-based Analysis of Genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 Knockout (MAGeCK) method for prioritizing single-guide RNAs, genes and pathways in genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screens. MAGeCK demonstrates better performance compared with existing methods, identifies both positively and negatively selected genes simultaneously, and reports robust results across different experimental conditions. Using public datasets, MAGeCK identified novel essential genes and pathways, including EGFR in vemurafenib-treated A375 cells harboring a BRAF mutation. MAGeCK also detected cell type-specific essential genes, including BCR and ABL1, in KBM7 cells bearing a BCR-ABL fusion, and IGF1R in HL-60 cells, which depends on the insulin signaling pathway for proliferation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13059-014-0554-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Nonmyeloablative regimen preserves "niches" allowing for peripheral expansion of donor T-cells

AbstractT-cell recovery following myeloablative preparatory regimens and cord blood transplantation in adult patients gen erally occurs between 1 and 3 years following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. T-cell reconstitution may involve thymic education of donor-derived precursors or peripheral expansion of mature T-cells transferred in the graft. We measured quantitative and qualitative immunologic reconstitution, T-cell receptor spectratyping, and T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC) levels in adult recipients of umbilical cord blood transplants following a novel nonmyeloablative regimen. These results were compared to previously published results of similar patients receiving a myeloablative regimen and cord blood stem cells. With small numbers of patients treated so far, T-cells (CD3+) reached normal levels in adults 6 to 12 months following nonmyeloablative transplantation compared with 24 months in adults receiving a myeloablative regimen. At 12 months after transplantation, the numbers of phenotypically naive (CD45RA) T-cells were higher in those receiving the nonmyeloablative regimen. The T-cell repertoire in cord blood recipients treated with a nonmyeloablative regimen was markedly more diverse and robust compared with the repertoire in those receiving the myeloablative regimen at similar time points. TRECs (which are generated within the thymus and identify new thymic emigrants and those that have not divided) were detected 12 months after transplantation in the nonmyeloablative recipients, whereas TRECs were not detected in adults until 18 to 24 months in those receiving myeloablative regimens. Thus, in adults receiving a nonmyeloablative preparatory regimen, the quantitative and qualitative recovery of T-cells occurs through rapid peripheral expansion. The ability of patients receiving a nonmyeloablative regimen to recover within a few months suggests that the peripheral niches in which T-cells can proliferate are preserved in these patients compared to those receiving ablative regimens. Moreover, the presence of TREC-positive cells within 1 year suggests that thymic recovery is likewise accelerated in non myeloablative compared to myeloablative regimens.Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2002;8(5):249-56