322 research outputs found
A parametric study of alternative support systems for cylindrical GRP storage vessels
Paper presenting a parametric study of alternative support systems for cylindrical GRP storage vessels
Lepton Flavour Violation in Unparticle Physics
Recently H. Georgi has introduced an unparticle \unpart in order to
describe the low energy physics of a nontrivial scale invariant sector of an
effective theory. In this work we have explored the phenomenology of an
unparticle using the lepton flavour violating decay , and found that the branching ratio of this decay is strongly dependent
on the scaling dimension.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; typographical errors corrected and references
added in version
N=1 Supergravity Chaotic Inflation in the Braneworld Scenario
We study a N=1 Supergravity chaotic inflationary model, in the context of the
braneworld scenario. It is shown that successful inflation and reheating
consistent with phenomenological constraints can be achieved via the new terms
in the Friedmann equation arising from brane physics. Interestingly, the model
satisfies observational bounds with sub-Planckian field values, implying that
chaotic inflation on the brane is free from the well known difficulties
associated with the presence of higher order non-renormalizable terms in the
superpotential. A bound on the mass scale of the fifth dimension, M_5 \gsim
1.3 \times 10^{-6} M_P, is obtained from the requirement that the reheating
temperature be higher than the temperature of the electroweak phase transition.Comment: 5 pages, 1 Table, Revtex
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Effect of blending Jersey and Holstein-Friesian milk on Cheddar cheese processing, composition and quality
The effect of Jersey milk use solely or at different inclusion rates in Holstein-Friesian milk on Cheddar cheese production was investigated. Cheese was produced every month over a year using nonstandardized milk consisting of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% Jersey milk in Holstein-Friesian milk in a 100-L vat. Actual, theoretical, and moisture-adjusted yield increased linearly with percentage of Jersey milk. This was also associated with increased fat and protein recoveries and lower yield of whey. The composition of whey was also affected by the percentage of Jersey milk, with lower whey protein and higher whey lactose and solids. Cutting time was lower when Jersey milk was used, but the cutting to milling time was higher because of slower acidity development. Hence, overall cheesemaking time was not affected by the use of Jersey milk. Using Jersey milk increased cheese fat content in autumn, winter, and spring and decreased cheese moisture in spring and summer. Cheese protein, salt, and pH levels were not affected. Cheese was analyzed for texture and color, and it was professionally graded at 3 and 8â
mo. The effect of Jersey on cheese sensory quality was an increase in cheese yellowness during summer and a higher total grading score at 3â
mo in winter; no other difference in cheese quality was found. The study indicates that using Jersey milk is a valid method of improving Cheddar cheese yield
The bacterial biome of ticks and their wildlife hosts at the urbanâwildland interface
Advances in sequencing technologies have revealed the complex and diverse microbial communities present in ticks (Ixodida). As obligate blood-feeding arthropods, ticks are responsible for a number of infectious diseases that can affect humans, livestock, domestic animals and wildlife. While cases of human tick-borne diseases continue to increase in the northern hemisphere, there has been relatively little recognition of zoonotic tick-borne pathogens in Australia. Over the past 5 years, studies using high-throughput sequencing technologies have shown that Australian ticks harbour unique and diverse bacterial communities. In the present study, free-ranging wildlife (n=203), representing ten mammal species, were sampled from urban and peri-urban areas in New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD) and Western Australia (WA). Bacterial metabarcoding targeting the 16S rRNA locus was used to characterize the microbiomes of three sample types collected from wildlife: blood, ticks and tissue samples. Further sequence information was obtained for selected taxa of interest. Six tick species were identified from wildlife: Amblyomma triguttatum, Ixodes antechini, Ixodes australiensis, Ixodes holocyclus, Ixodes tasmani and Ixodes trichosuri. Bacterial 16S rRNA metabarcoding was performed on 536 samples and 65 controls, generating over 100 million sequences. Alpha diversity was significantly different between the three sample types, with tissue samples displaying the highest alpha diversity (P<0.001). Proteobacteria was the most abundant taxon identified across all sample types (37.3â%). Beta diversity analysis and ordination revealed little overlap between the three sample types (P<0.001). Taxa of interest included Anaplasmataceae, Bartonella, Borrelia, Coxiellaceae, Francisella, Midichloria, Mycoplasma and Rickettsia. Anaplasmataceae bacteria were detected in 17.7% (95/536) of samples and included Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Neoehrlichia species. In samples from NSW, âCa. Neoehrlichia australisâ, âCa. Neoehrlichia arcanaâ, Neoehrlichia sp. and Ehrlichia sp. were identified. A putative novel Ehrlichia sp. was identified from WA and Anaplasma platys was identified from QLD. Nine rodent tissue samples were positive for a novel Borrelia sp. that formed a phylogenetically distinct clade separate from the Lyme Borrelia and relapsing fever groups. This novel clade included recently identified rodent-associated Borrelia genotypes, which were described from Spain and North America. Bartonella was identified in 12.9% (69/536) of samples. Over half of these positive samples were obtained from black rats (Rattus rattus), and the dominant bacterial species identified were Bartonella coopersplainsensis and Bartonella queenslandensis. The results from the present study show the value of using unbiased high-throughput sequencing applied to samples collected from wildlife. In addition to understanding the sylvatic cycle of known vector-associated pathogens, surveillance work is important to ensure preparedness for potential zoonotic spillover events
Relaxing the Cosmological Moduli Problem
Typically the moduli fields acquire mass m =C H in the early universe, which
shifts the position of the minimum of their effective potential and leads to an
excessively large energy density of the oscillating moduli fields at the later
stages of the evolution of the universe. This constitutes the cosmological
moduli problem, or Polonyi field problem. We show that the cosmological moduli
problem can be solved or at least significantly relaxed in the theories in
which C >> 1, as well as in some models with C << 1.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Postscript figure
On Stable Sector in Supermembrane Matrix Model
We study the spectrum of SU(2) x SO(2) matrix supersymmetric quantum
mechanics. We use angular coordinates that allow us to find an explicit
solution of the Gauss law constraints and single out the quantum number n (the
Lorentz angular momentum). Energy levels are four-fold degenerate with respect
to n and are labeled by n_q, the largest n in a quartet. The Schr\"odinger
equation is reduced to two different systems of two-dimensional partial
differential equations. The choice of a system is governed by n_q. We present
the asymptotic solutions for the systems deriving thereby the asymptotic
formula for the spectrum. Odd n_q are forbidden, for even n_q the spectrum has
a continuous part as well as a discrete one, meanwhile for half-integer n_q the
spectrum is purely discrete. Taking half-integer n_q one can cure the model
from instability caused by the presence of continuous spectrum.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure
Probing neutrino properties with charged scalar lepton decays
Supersymmetry with bilinear R-parity violation provides a predictive
framework for neutrino masses and mixings in agreement with current neutrino
oscillation data. The model leads to striking signals at future colliders
through the R-parity violating decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle.
Here we study charged scalar lepton decays and demonstrate that if the scalar
tau is the LSP (i) it will decay within the detector, despite the smallness of
the neutrino masses, (ii) the relative ratio of branching ratios Br({tilde
tau}_1 --> e sum nu_i)/ Br({tilde tau}_1 --> mu sum nu_i) is predicted from the
measured solar neutrino angle, and (iii) scalar muon and scalar electron decays
will allow to test the consistency of the model. Thus, bilinear R-parity
breaking SUSY will be testable at future colliders also in the case where the
LSP is not the neutralino.Comment: 24 pages, 8 ps figs Report-no.: IFIC/02-33 and ZU-TH 11/0
Tensor-scalar gravity and binary-pulsar experiments
Some recently discovered nonperturbative strong-field effects in
tensor-scalar theories of gravitation are interpreted as a scalar analog of
ferromagnetism: "spontaneous scalarization". This phenomenon leads to very
significant deviations from general relativity in conditions involving strong
gravitational fields, notably binary-pulsar experiments. Contrary to
solar-system experiments, these deviations do not necessarily vanish when the
weak-field scalar coupling tends to zero. We compute the scalar "form factors"
measuring these deviations, and notably a parameter entering the pulsar timing
observable gamma through scalar-field-induced variations of the inertia moment
of the pulsar. An exploratory investigation of the confrontation between
tensor-scalar theories and binary-pulsar experiments shows that nonperturbative
scalar field effects are already very tightly constrained by published data on
three binary-pulsar systems. We contrast the probing power of pulsar
experiments with that of solar-system ones by plotting the regions they exclude
in a generic two-dimensional plane of tensor-scalar theories.Comment: 35 pages, REVTeX 3.0, uses epsf.tex to include 9 Postscript figure
Brane Decay of a (4+n)-Dimensional Rotating Black Hole. II: spin-1 particles
The present works complements and expands a previous one, focused on the
emission of scalar fields by a (4+n)-dimensional rotating black hole on the
brane, by studying the emission of gauge fields on the brane from a similar
black hole. A comprehensive analysis of the particle, energy and angular
momentum emission rates is undertaken, for arbitrary angular momentum of the
black hole and dimensionality of spacetime. Our analysis reveals the existence
of a number of distinct features associated with the emission of spin-1 fields
from a rotating black hole on the brane, such as the behaviour and magnitude of
the different emission rates, the angular distribution of particles and energy,
the relative enhancement compared to the scalar fields, and the magnitude of
the superradiance effect. Apart from their theoretical interest, these features
can comprise clear signatures of the emission of Hawking radiation from a
brane-world black hole during its spin-down phase upon successful detection of
this effect during an experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 19 figures, Latex fil
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