Nitrogen cycling and bacterial production

I. Bacterial abundance and production in Nueces and Guadalupe Estuaries, Texas -- II. Ammonium regeneration and utilization in Nueces Estuary, Texas -- III. Comparison of benthic ammonium flux with ammonium regeneration in the water column of Nueces and Guadalupe Estuaries, Texas -- IV. Denitrification in Nueces and Guadalupe Estuaries, Texas -- V. Ammonium regeneration and utilization in Guadalupe Estuary, Texas.Marine Scienc

Wrong-Higgs Interactions without Flavor Problems and their Effects on Physical Observables

We consider the wrong-Higgs interactions such as type-III two Higgs doublet models. Generally, such interactions cause flavor problems. However, if new Yukawa interactions have the same flavor structure as that of the standard model(SM), we do not have any flavor problems. In this work we propose a microscopic model for the wrong-Higgs interactions aligned with SM ones in the context of supersymmetry(SUSY) and show their phenomenological implications. Low energy contraints from muon g-2 and rare B decays can be relieved and it can be viable to have low mass superparticle spectra with light dark matter which is preferred by recent experiments such as DAMA/LIBRA, CDMS-II and CoGeNT. We also briefly discuss modification of Higgs decay in colliders.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Taste symmetry breaking with HYP-smeared staggered fermions

We study the impact of hypercubic (HYP) smearing on the size of taste breaking for staggered fermions, comparing to unimproved and to asqtad-improved staggered fermions. As in previous studies, we find a substantial reduction in taste-breaking compared to unimproved staggered fermions (by a factor of 4-7 on lattices with spacing $a\approx 0.1$fm). In addition, we observe that discretization effects of next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion (${\cal O}(a^2 p^2)$) are markedly reduced by HYP smearing. Compared to asqtad valence fermions, we find that taste-breaking in the pion spectrum is reduced by a factor of 2.5-3, down to a level comparable to the expected size of generic ${\cal O}(a^2)$ effects. Our results suggest that, once one reaches a lattice spacing of $a\approx 0.09$fm, taste-breaking will be small enough after HYP smearing that one can use a modified power counting in which ${\cal O}(a^2) \ll {\cal O}(p^2)$, simplify fitting to phenomenologically interesting quantities.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, references updated, minor change

Non-secret correlations can be used to distribute secrecy

A counter-intuitive result in entanglement theory was shown in [PRL 91 037902 (2003)], namely that entanglement can be distributed by sending a separable state through a quantum channel. In this work, following an analogy between the entanglement and secret key distillation scenarios, we derive its classical analog: secrecy can be distributed by sending non-secret correlations through a private channel. This strengthens the close relation between entanglement and secrecy.Comment: 4 page

AN ANALYSIS OF BANK CONSOLIDATION TRENDS IN RURAL PENNSYLVANIA

U.S. banking markets have undergone important structural and institutional changes. Overall, the sector has experienced steady consolidation through mergers and acquisitions that have resulted in fewer banks holding a greater value of the total assets. Despite consolidation, new branch offices and the growth of alternative providers has increased the access to banking-type services. This paper documents and describes trends in the banking industry in Pennsylvania, with special emphasis on rural areas. The first section shows that while the number of "bricks and mortar" offices in the state's rural counties has grown, the distribution of the growth has been quite uneven. As a result, access has potentially declined for some of the state's rural residents. In the second section the analysis shows that consolidation is dramatically reducing the number of banks headquartered in Pennsylvania. The analysis shows that, should current trends continuethe loss of 1.25 banks per quarterthen there will be no banks headquartered in rural Pennsylvania in 2025. Consolidation appears to be having an effect on the competitiveness of rural banking markets. While the analysis suggests that urban county banking markets remain fairly competitive, it also suggests that the state's rural banking markets may have less competition.Financial Economics,

Supersymmetry with radiatively-driven naturalness: implications for WIMP and axion searches

By insisting on naturalness in both the electroweak and QCD sectors of the MSSM, the portrait for dark matter production is seriously modified from the usual WIMP miracle picture. In SUSY models with radiatively-driven naturalness (radiative natural SUSY or RNS) which include a DFSZ-like solution to the strong CP and SUSY mu problems, dark matter is expected to be an admixture of both axions and higgsino-like WIMPs. The WIMP/axion abundance calculation requires simultaneous solution of a set of coupled Boltzmann equations which describe quasi-stable axinos and saxions. In most of parameter space, axions make up the dominant contribution of dark matter although regions of WIMP dominance also occur. We show the allowed range of PQ scale f_a and compare to the values expected to be probed by the ADMX axion detector in the near future. We also show WIMP detection rates which are suppressed from usual expectations because now WIMPs comprise only a fraction of the total dark matter. Nonetheless, ton-scale noble liquid detectors should be able to probe the entirety of RNS parameter space. Indirect WIMP detection rates are less propitious since they are reduced by the square of the depleted WIMP abundance.Comment: 25 pages with 14 .png figures; submitted to special issue "Supersymmetry and Dark Matter" in Symmetry, edited by D. Clin

Security Assistance to South Korea: Assessment of Political, Military, and Economic Issues from 1947 to 1989.

South Korea is one of the most important allies of the United States. Because of its location in East Asia between China, Japan, and Russia, South Korea is a strategically important partner of the United States. Since the Korean War, the United States and South Korea have tried to maintain the regional stability, and South Korea has played a significant role for the East Asian power balance between those countries. The relationship between the United States and South Korea changed through time from the Korean War to the rebuilding phase of South Korea\u27s economy, and finally a progression towards a more independent South Korea capable of a larger portion of military self-defense. U.S. security assistance program has played a key role to the rebuilding process of South Korea. Security assistance has been used to supplement economic and military enhancement in South Korea. South Korea is one of the best examples that demonstrate intangible U.S. support for nations whose defense was deemed vital to U.S. security