Top mixing in effective theories

We review how top mixing with light quarks constrains new physics beyond the Standard Model using the effective Lagrangian approach.Comment: 4 pages, contribution to Workshop "Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory", April 200

Ghera: A Repository of Android App Vulnerability Benchmarks

Security of mobile apps affects the security of their users. This has fueled the development of techniques to automatically detect vulnerabilities in mobile apps and help developers secure their apps; specifically, in the context of Android platform due to openness and ubiquitousness of the platform. Despite a slew of research efforts in this space, there is no comprehensive repository of up-to-date and lean benchmarks that contain most of the known Android app vulnerabilities and, consequently, can be used to rigorously evaluate both existing and new vulnerability detection techniques and help developers learn about Android app vulnerabilities. In this paper, we describe Ghera, an open source repository of benchmarks that capture 25 known vulnerabilities in Android apps (as pairs of exploited/benign and exploiting/malicious apps). We also present desirable characteristics of vulnerability benchmarks and repositories that we uncovered while creating Ghera.Comment: 10 pages. Accepted at PROMISE'1

Strain bursts in plastically deforming Molybdenum micro- and nanopillars

Plastic deformation of micron and sub-micron scale specimens is characterized by intermittent sequences of large strain bursts (dislocation avalanches) which are separated by regions of near-elastic loading. In the present investigation we perform a statistical characterization of strain bursts observed in stress-controlled compressive deformation of monocrystalline Molybdenum micropillars. We characterize the bursts in terms of the associated elongation increments and peak deformation rates, and demonstrate that these quantities follow power-law distributions that do not depend on specimen orientation or stress rate. We also investigate the statistics of stress increments in between the bursts, which are found to be Weibull distributed and exhibit a characteristic size effect. We discuss our findings in view of observations of deformation bursts in other materials, such as face-centered cubic and hexagonal metals.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phil Ma

Evaluation of Dimethyl Anthranilate as a Nontoxic Starling Repellent for Feedlot Settings

Few objective estimates are available, but starling (Sturnus uulgaris) and, sometimes, blackbird (e.g., Agelaius phoeniceus) depredations at feedlots are considered serious economic problems (Besser et al. 1967, 1968; Feare 1975, 1980; Stickley 1979; Twedt and Glahn 1982). Losses may result either from feed contamination and disease transmission or, more likely, from feed consumption (Besser et al. 1968; Russell 1975; Twedt and Glahn 1982). These problems are exacerbated by the use of complete diets (Rickaby 1978) which are presented in open troughs to which starlings have access. Feare and Wadsworth (1981) have shown that these birds can take up to 9% of the high protein fraction of the diet, thus depriving cattle of their high energy source and altering the composition of the entire ration. Efforts to control problem birds at feedlots have focused mainly on attempts to trap or kill birds with mechanical devices or chemical agents (Besser et al. 1967; Bogadich 1968; Levingston 1967; Westetal.1967; Feareetal.1981). These approaches, however, fail to create a suboptimal environment for avian feeding activity, and birds rapidly reinfest feedlots when control measures are relaxed (Twedt and Glahn 1982). Additional problems arise when lethal chemicals; such as Starlicide (1% C-chloro-p-toludine hydrochloride on poultry pellets) are used, including: (1) potential primary and secondary hazards to nontarget animals (e.g., Cunningham, 1979), (2) bait aversion by target birds, (3) expense and labor in prebaiting, baiting and monitoring (Glahn 1981) and (5) rather short-term effectivenses when large numbers of birds are in the area (Feare et al. 1981)

Electromigration failure by shape change of voids in bamboo lines

The behavior of electromigration-induced voids in narrow, unpassivated aluminum interconnects is examined, using scanning electron microscopy. Some electromigration tests were interrupted several times in order to observe void nucleation, void growth, and finally the failure of the conductor line. It is found that voids which opened the line have a specific asymmetric shape with respect to the electron flow direction. Besides void nucleation and void growth, void shape changes can consume a major part of the lifetime of the conductor line. A first attempt to model these processes on the basis of diffusion along the void surface shows that voids with a noncircular initial shape tend to produce the fatal asymmetry due to electron wind effects, with the anisotropy of surface energy possibly playing only a minor role

An effective lagrangian description of charged Higgs decays H^+ -> Wg, WZ and Wh

Charged Higgs decays are discussed within an effective lagrangian extension of the two-higgs doublet model, assuming new physics appearing in the Higgs sector of this model. Low energy constrains are used to imposse bounds on certain dimension -six operators that describe the modified charged Higgs interactions. These bounds are used then to study the decays H^+ -> Wg, WZ and Wh, which can have branching ratios of order 10^-5, 10^-1 and O(1), respectively; thse modes are thus sensitive probes of the symmetries of the Higgs sector that could be tested at future colliders.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

A Model-independent Description of New Physics effects in e+e- to t tbar

We study the potential of a future $e^+e^-$ collider for the search of anomalous gamma t t bar and Z t t bar couplings, assuming that CP-invariance holds. This is done in a model-independent way, considering that all six possible couplings do appear. Two experimental situations are envisaged, with and without electron beam polarization. Observability limits in the form of domains in the 6-dimensional parameter space are established. Illustrations for specific constrained models are also presented and implications for new physics searches are discussed.Comment: 26 pages and 5 figures. e-mail: [email protected]

Elevated Temperature Compressive Strength Properties of Oxide Dispersion Strengthened NiAl After Cryo-milling and Roasting in Nitrogen

In an effort to superimpose two different elevated temperature strengthening mechanisms in NiAl, several lots of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) NiAl powder have been cryo-milled in liquid nitrogen to introduce AlN particles at the grain boundaries. As an alternative to cryo-milling, one lot of ODS NiAl was roasted in nitrogen to produce AlN. Both techniques resulted in hot extruded AlN-strengthened, ODS NiAl alloys which were stronger than the base ODS NiAl between 1200 and 1400 K. However, neither the cryo-milled nor the N2-roasted ODS NiAl alloys were as strong as cryo-milled binary NiAl containing like amounts of AlN. The reason(s) for the relative weakness of cryo-milled ODS NiAl is not certain; however the lack of superior strength in N2-roasted ODS NiAl is probably due to its relatively large AlN particles