Possibility of Searching for Fourth Generation Neutrino at Future ep Colliders

We investigate the production of fourth generation neutrino in the context of new $e \nu_4 W$ magnetic dipole moment type interaction in $ep$ collisions at the future lepton-hadron colliders. We have obtained the mass limits of 700 GeV for THERA ($\sqrt S$=1 TeV) and 2.8 TeV for LC$\otimes$ LHC ($\sqrt S$=3.74 TeV).Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, typos adde

LATE SWING KNEE MECHANICS IN ELITE RUGBY UNION PLAYERS AND TRAINED SPRINTERS

Hamstring injuries are highly prevalent in running-based sports such as sprinting and rugby union, and are thought to occur during the late swing phase where the hamstrings are under great load and strain. The aim of this study was to investigate the knee mechanics of elite rugby players and speed-matched sprinters during the late swing phase of maximum effort over-ground running. Elite rugby players demonstrated reduced knee extension velocity through late swing, which was associated with a smaller maximum knee flexion angle during the mid-swing phase. As rugby players displayed a greater absolute knee flexion moment, power absorption and negative work, we suggest that the kinematic differences displayed by rugby players may be an adaptation to reduce the velocity of hamstring stretch and load on the hamstring muscles during late swing

Atenolol versus losartan in children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome

BACKGROUND : Aortic-root dissection is the leading cause of death in Marfan's syndrome. Studies suggest that with regard to slowing aortic-root enlargement, losartan may be more effective than beta-blockers, the current standard therapy in most centers. METHODS : We conducted a randomized trial comparing losartan with atenolol in children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome. The primary outcome was the rate of aortic-root enlargement, expressed as the change in the maximum aortic-root-diameter z score indexed to body-surface area (hereafter, aortic-root z score) over a 3-year period. Secondary outcomes included the rate of change in the absolute diameter of the aortic root; the rate of change in aortic regurgitation; the time to aortic dissection, aortic-root surgery, or death; somatic growth; and the incidence of adverse events. RESULTS : From January 2007 through February 2011, a total of 21 clinical centers enrolled 608 participants, 6 months to 25 years of age (mean [+/- SD] age, 11.5 +/- 6.5 years in the atenolol group and 11.0 +/- 6.2 years in the losartan group), who had an aorticroot z score greater than 3.0. The baseline-adjusted rate of change (+/- SE) in the aortic-root z score did not differ significantly between the atenolol group and the losartan group (-0.139 +/- 0.013 and -0.107 +/- 0.013 standard-deviation units per year, respectively; P = 0.08). Both slopes were significantly less than zero, indicating a decrease in the degree of aortic-root dilatation relative to body-surface area with either treatment. The 3-year rates of aortic-root surgery, aortic dissection, death, and a composite of these events did not differ significantly between the two treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS : Among children and young adults with Marfan's syndrome who were randomly assigned to losartan or atenolol, we found no significant difference in the rate of aorticroot dilatation between the two treatment groups over a 3-year period

Neutron Structure Function and A=3 Mirror Nuclei

We investigate deep inelastic scattering from He-3 and H-3 within a conventional convolution treatment of binding and Fermi motion effects. Using realistic Faddeev wave functions together with a nucleon spectral function, we demonstrate that the free neutron structure function can be extracted in deep-inelastic scattering from A=3 mirror nuclei, with nuclear effects canceling to within 2% for x < 0.85.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Telomere length and telomerase activity in T cells are biomarkers of high-performing centenarians

It is generally recognized that the function of the immune system declines with increased age and one of the major immune changes is impaired T-cell responses upon antigen presentation/stimulation. Some "high-performing" centenarians (100+ years old) are remarkably successful in escaping, or largely postponing, major age-related diseases. However, the majority of centenarians ("low-performing") have experienced these pathologies and are forced to reside in long-term nursing facilities. Previous studies have pooled all centenarians examining heterogeneous populations of resting/unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). T cells represent around 60% of PBMC and are in a quiescence state when unstimulated. However, upon stimulation, T cells rapidly divide and exhibit dramatic changes in gene expression. We have compared stimulated T-cell responses and identified a set of transcripts expressed in vitro that are dramatically different in high- vs. low-performing centenarians. We have also identified several other measurements that are different between high- and low-performing centenarians: (a) The amount of proliferation following in vitro stimulation is dramatically greater in high-performing centenarians compared to 67- to 83-year-old controls and low-performing centenarians; (b) telomere length is greater in the high-performing centenarians; and (c) telomerase activity following stimulation is greater in the high-performing centenarians. In addition, we have validated a number of genes whose expression is directly related to telomere length and these are potential fundamental biomarkers of aging that may influence the risk and progression of multiple aging conditions

Recent progress on univariate and multivariate polynomial and spline quasi-interpolants

Polynomial and spline quasi-interpolants (QIs) are practical and effective approximation operators. Among their remarkable properties, let us cite for example: good shape properties, easy computation and evaluation (no linear system to solve), uniform boundedness independently of the degree (polynomials) or of the partition (splines), good approximation order. We shall emphasize new results on various types of univariate and multivariate polynomial or spline QIs, depending on the nature of coefficient functionals, which can be differential, discrete or integral. We shall also present some applications of QIs to numerical methods

Simulation of the thermally induced austenitic phase transition in NiTi nanoparticles

The reverse martensitic ("austenitic") transformation upon heating of equiatomic nickel-titanium nanoparticles with diameters between 4 and 17 nm is analyzed by means of molecular-dynamics simulations with a semi-empirical model potential. After constructing an appropriate order parameter to distinguish locally between the monoclinic B19' at low and the cubic B2 structure at high temperatures, the process of the phase transition is visualized. This shows a heterogeneous nucleation of austenite at the surface of the particles, which propagates to the interior by plane sliding, explaining a difference in austenite start and end temperatures. Their absolute values and dependence on particle diameter are obtained and related to calculations of the surface induced size dependence of the difference in free energy between austenite and martensite.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in "The European Physical Journal B

Photoproduction of D∗±D^{*\pm} mesons associated with a leading neutron

The photoproduction of $D^{*\pm} (2010)$ mesons associated with a leading neutron has been observed with the ZEUS detector in $ep$ collisions at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 80 pb$^{-1}$. The neutron carries a large fraction, {$x_L>0.2$}, of the incoming proton beam energy and is detected at very small production angles, {$\theta_n<0.8$ mrad}, an indication of peripheral scattering. The $D^*$ meson is centrally produced with pseudorapidity {$|\eta| 1.9$ GeV}, which is large compared to the average transverse momentum of the neutron of 0.22 GeV. The ratio of neutron-tagged to inclusive $D^*$ production is $8.85\pm 0.93({\rm stat.})^{+0.48}_{-0.61}({\rm syst.})\%$ in the photon-proton center-of-mass energy range {$130 <W<280$ GeV}. The data suggest that the presence of a hard scale enhances the fraction of events with a leading neutron in the final state.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Observation of isolated high-E_T photons in deep inelastic scattering

First measurements of cross sections for isolated prompt photon production in deep inelastic ep scattering have been made using the ZEUS detector at the HERA electron-proton collider using an integrated luminosity of 121 pb^-1. A signal for isolated photons in the transverse energy and rapidity ranges 5 < E_T^gamma < 10 GeV and -0.7 < eta^gamma < 0.9 was observed for virtualities of the exchanged photon of Q^2 > 35 GeV^2. Cross sections are presented for inclusive prompt photons and for those accompanied by a single jet in the range E_T^jet \geq 6 GeV and -1.5 \leq eta^jet < 1.8. Calculations at order alpha^3alpha_s describe the data reasonably well.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Search for contact interactions, large extra dimensions and finite quark radius in ep collisions at HERA

A search for physics beyond the Standard Model has been performed with high-Q^2 neutral current deep inelastic scattering events recorded with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Two data sets, e^+ p \to e^+ X and e^- p \to e^- X, with respective integrated luminosities of 112 pb^-1 and 16 pb^-1, were analyzed. The data reach Q^2 values as high as 40000 GeV^2. No significant deviations from Standard Model predictions were observed. Limits were derived on the effective mass scale in eeqq contact interactions, the ratio of leptoquark mass to the Yukawa coupling for heavy leptoquark models and the mass scale parameter in models with large extra dimensions. The limit on the quark charge radius, in the classical form factor approximation, is 0.85 10^-16 cm.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters