Calculating error bars for neutrino mixing parameters

One goal of contemporary particle physics is to determine the mixing angles and mass-squared differences that constitute the phenomenological constants that describe neutrino oscillations. Of great interest are not only the best fit values of these constants but also their errors. Some of the neutrino oscillation data is statistically poor and cannot be treated by normal (Gaussian) statistics. To extract confidence intervals when the statistics are not normal, one should not utilize the value for chisquare versus confidence level taken from normal statistics. Instead, we propose that one should use the normalized likelihood function as a probability distribution; the relationship between the correct chisquare and a given confidence level can be computed by integrating over the likelihood function. This allows for a definition of confidence level independent of the functional form of the !2 function; it is particularly useful for cases in which the minimum of the !2 function is near a boundary. We present two pedagogic examples and find that the proposed method yields confidence intervals that can differ significantly from those obtained by using the value of chisquare from normal statistics. For example, we find that for the first data release of the T2K experiment the probability that chisquare is not zero, as defined by the maximum confidence level at which the value of zero is not allowed, is 92%. Using the value of chisquare at zero and assigning a confidence level from normal statistics, a common practice, gives the over estimation of 99.5%.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Dose-adapted post-transplant cyclophosphamide for HLA-haploidentical transplantation in Fanconi anemia.

We developed a haploidentical transplantation protocol with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (CY) for in vivo T-cell depletion (TCD) using a novel adapted-dosing schedule (25 mg/kg on days +3 and +4) for Fanconi anemia (FA). With median follow-up of 3 years (range, 37 days to 6.2 years), all six patients engrafted. Two patients with multiple pre-transplant comorbidities died, one from sepsis and one from sepsis with associated chronic GVHD. Four patients without preexisting comorbidities and early transplant referrals are alive with 100% donor chimerism and excellent performance status. We conclude that adjusted-dosing post-transplant CY is effective in in vivo TCD to promote full donor engraftment in patients with FA

Evidence for the intense exchange of MazG in marine cyanophages by horizontal gene transfer

Background: S-PM2 is a phage capable of infecting strains of unicellular cyanobacteria belonging to the genus Synechococcus. S-PM2, like other myoviruses infecting marine cyanobacteria, encodes a number of bacterial-like genes. Amongst these genes is one encoding a MazG homologue that is hypothesized to be involved in the adaption of the infected host for production of progeny phage. Methodology/Principal Findings: This study focuses on establishing the occurrence of mazG homologues in other cyanophages isolated from different oceanic locations. Degenerate PCR primers were designed using the mazG gene of S-PM2. The mazG gene was found to be widely distributed and highly conserved among Synechococcus myoviruses and podoviruses from diverse oceanic provinces. Conclusions/Significance: This study provides evidence of a globally connected cyanophage gene pool, the cyanophage mazG gene having a small effective population size indicative of rapid lateral gene transfer despite being present in a substantial fraction of cyanophage. The Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus phage mazG genes do not cluster with the host mazG gene, suggesting that their primary hosts are not the source of the mazG gene

Designing molecules to bypass the singlet-triplet bottleneck in the electroluminescence of organic light-emitting-diode materials

Electroluminescence in organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials occurs via the recombination of excitonic electrons-hole pairs Only the singlet excitons of commonly used OLED materials, e.g., Aluminum trihydroxyquinoline (AlQ$_3$), decay radiatively, limiting the external quantum efficiency to a maximum 25%. Thus 75% of the energy is lost due to the triplet bottleneck for radiative recombination. We consider molecules derived from AlQ$_3$ which bypass the triplet bottleneck by designing structures which contain strong spin-orbit coupling. As a first stage of this work, groundstate energies and vertical excitation energies of Al-arsenoquinolines and Al-boroarsenoquinolines are calculated. It is found that the substitution of N by As leads to very favourable results, while the boron substitution leads to no advantage.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figue

Beta-blockers to prevent gastroesophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: Nonselective beta-adrenergic blockers decrease portal pressure and prevent variceal hemorrhage. Their effectiveness in preventing varices is unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned 213 patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension (minimal hepatic venous pressure gradient [HVPG] of 6 mm Hg) to receive timolol, a nonselective beta-blocker (108 patients), or placebo (105 patients). The primary end point was the development of gastroesophageal varices or variceal hemorrhage. Endoscopy and HVPG measurements were repeated yearly. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 54.9 months, the rate of the primary end point did not differ significantly between the timolol group and the placebo group (39 percent and 40 percent, respectively; P=0.89), nor were there significant differences in the rates of ascites, encephalopathy, liver transplantation, or death. Serious adverse events were more common among patients in the timolol group than among those in the placebo group (18 percent vs. 6 percent, P=0.006). Varices developed less frequently among patients with a baseline HVPG of less than 10 mm Hg and among those in whom the HVPG decreased by more than 10 percent at one year and more frequently among those in whom the HVPG increased by more than 10 percent at one year. CONCLUSIONS: Nonselective beta-blockers are ineffective in preventing varices in unselected patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension and are associated with an increased number of adverse events. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00006398.

Neutrino Oscillations: Hierarchy Question

The only experimentally observed phenomenon that lies outside the standard model of the electroweak interaction is neutrino oscillations. A way to try to unify the extensive neutrino oscillation data is to add a phenomenological mass term to the Lagrangian that is not diagonal in the flavor basis. The goal is then to understand the world's data in terms of the parameters of the mixing matrix and the differences between the squares of the masses of the neutrinos. An outstanding question is what is the correct ordering of the masses, the hierarchy question. We point out a broken symmetry relevant to this question, the symmetry of the simultaneous interchange of hierarchy and the sign of $\theta_{13}$. We first present the results of an analysis of data that well determine the phenomenological parameters but are not sensitive to the hierarchy. We find $\theta_{13} = 0.152\pm 0.014$, $\theta_{23} = 0.25^{+0.03}_{-0.05} \pi$ and $\Delta_{32} = 2.45\pm 0.14 \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$, results consistent with others. We then include data that are sensitive to the hierarchy and the sign of $\theta_{13}$. We find, unlike others, four isolated minimum in the $\chi^2$-space as predicted by the symmetry. Now that Daya Bay and RENO have determined $\theta_{13}$ to be surprisingly large, the Super-K atmospheric data produce meaningful symmetry breaking such that the inverse hierarchy is preferred at the 97.2 % level.Comment: to appear in Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Fission and Neutron Rich Nuclei (ICFN5), (Sanibel Island, Florina, Nov. 4-10, 2012).10 pages, 8 figure

Supersymmetry Flows, Semi-Symmetric Space Sine-Gordon Models And The Pohlmeyer Reduction

We study the extended supersymmetric integrable hierarchy underlying the Pohlmeyer reduction of superstring sigma models on semi-symmetric superspaces F/G. This integrable hierarchy is constructed by coupling two copies of the homogeneous integrable hierarchy associated to the loop Lie superalgebra extension f of the Lie superalgebra f of F and this is done by means of the algebraic dressing technique and a Riemann-Hilbert factorization problem. By using the Drinfeld-Sokolov procedure we construct explicitly, a set of 2D spin \pm1/2 conserved supercharges generating supersymmetry flows in the phase space of the reduced model. We introduce the bi-Hamiltonian structure of the extended homogeneous hierarchy and show that the two brackets are of the Kostant-Kirillov type on the co-adjoint orbits defined by the light-cone Lax operators L_\pm. By using the second symplectic structure, we show that these supersymmetries are Hamiltonian flows, we compute part of the supercharge algebra and find the supersymmetric field variations they induce. We also show that this second Poisson structure coincides with the canonical Lorentz-Invariant symplectic structure of the WZNW model involved in the Lagrangian formulation of the extended integrable hierarchy, namely, the semi-symmetric space sine-Gordon model (SSSSG), which is the Pohlmeyer reduced action functional for the transverse degrees of freedom of superstring sigma models on the cosets F/G. We work out in some detail the Pohlmeyer reduction of the AdS_2xS^2 and the AdS_3xS^3 superstrings and show that the new conserved supercharges can be related to the supercharges extracted from 2D superspace. In particular, for the AdS_2xS^2 example, they are formally the same.Comment: V2: Two references added, V3: Modifications in section 2.6, V4: Published versio

Some Performance Characteristics of Subsurface Gravel Wetlands for Stormwater Management

Subsurface gravel wetlands were originally purposed for wastewater treatment and more recently have been used for stormwater treatment as a green infrastructure technology. Systems are sized to hold the water quality volume above, and drain within 24–48 hours. Design guidance follows static sizing principles with very little hydraulic calculations, which has left a gap in hydraulic performance data. Data from 12 years of field monitoring of various systems constructed in the northeast United States is presented. These systems include fully-sized as well as undersized (hold less that the water quality volume). Hydraulics are controlled by a restrictive outlet. At the same time, this outlet also creates the wetland characteristics of the system. Pollutant removal efficiencies for common stormwater pollutants are some of the highest for green infrastructure systems, with a significant component being microbially-mediated in the low dissolved oxygen gravel layers. This is a book chapter published by the American Society of Civil Engineers in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2020: Emerging and Innovative Technologies and International Perspectives in 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1061/978078448294