963 research outputs found

    The elastic wave velocity response of methane gas hydrate formation in vertical gas migration systems

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    Knowledge of the elastic wave velocities of hydrate-bearing sediments is important for geophysical exploration and resource evaluation. Methane gas migration processes play an important role in geological hydrate accumulation systems, whether on the seafloor or in terrestrial permafrost regions, and their impact on elastic wave velocities in sediments needs further study. Hence, a high-pressure laboratory apparatus was developed to simulate natural continuous vertical migration of methane gas through sediments. Hydrate saturation (S h) and ultrasonic P- and S-wave velocities (V p and V s) were measured synchronously by time domain reflectometry (TDR) and by ultrasonic transmission methods respectively during gas hydrate formation in sediments. The results were compared to previously published laboratory data obtained in a static closed system. This indicated that the velocities of hydrate-bearing sediments in vertical gas migration systems are slightly lower than those in closed systems during hydrate formation. While velocities increase at a constant rate with hydrate saturation in the closed system, P-wave velocities show a fast–slow–fast variation with increasing hydrate saturation in the vertical gas migration system. The observed velocities are well described by an effective-medium velocity model, from which changing hydrate morphology was inferred to cause the fast–slow–fast velocity response in the gas migration system. Hydrate forms firstly at the grain contacts as cement, then grows within the pore space (floating), then finally grows into contact with the pore walls again. We conclude that hydrate morphology is the key factor that influences the elastic wave velocity response of methane gas hydrate formation in vertical gas migration systems

    Edge reconstruction in the fractional quantum Hall regime

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    The interplay of electron-electron interaction and confining potential can lead to the reconstruction of fractional quantum Hall edges. We have performed exact diagonalization studies on microscopic models of fractional quantum Hall liquids, in finite size systems with disk geometry, and found numerical evidence of edge reconstruction under rather general conditions. In the present work we have taken into account effects like layer thickness and Landau level mixing, which are found to be of quantitative importance in edge physics. Due to edge reconstruction, additional nonchiral edge modes arise for both incompressible and compressible states. These additional modes couple to electromagnetic fields and thus can be detected in microwave conductivity measurements. They are also expected to affect the exponent of electron Green's function, which has been measured in tunneling experiments. We have studied in this work the electric dipole spectral function that is directly related to the microwave conductivity measurement. Our results are consistent with the enhanced microwave conductivity observed in experiments performed on samples with an array of antidots at low temperatures, and its suppression at higher temperatures. We also discuss the effects of the edge reconstruction on the single electron spectral function at the edge.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure

    Interlayer hopping properties of electrons in layered metals

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    A formalism is proposed to study the electron tunneling between extended states, based on the spin-boson Hamiltonian previously used in two-level systems. It is applied to analyze the out--of--plane tunneling in layered metals considering different models. By studying the effects of in--plane interactions on the interlayer tunneling of electrons near the Fermi level, we establish the relation between departure from Fermi liquid behavior driven by electron correlations inside the layer and the out of plane coherence. Response functions, directly comparable with experimental data are obtained

    Neonatal diabetes, gallbladder agenesis, duodenal atresia, and intestinal malrotation caused by a novel homozygous mutation in RFX6

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    Recently, bi-allelic mutations in the transcription factor RFX6 were described as the cause of a rare condition characterized by neonatal diabetes with pancreatic and biliary hypoplasia and duodenal/jejunal atresia. A male infant developed severe hyperglycemia (446mg/dL) within 24h of birth. Acute abdominal concerns by day five necessitated exploratory surgery that revealed duodenal atresia, gallbladder agenesis, annular pancreas and intestinal malrotation. He also exhibited chronic diarrhea and feeding intolerance, cholestatic jaundice, and subsequent liver failure. He died of sepsis at four months old while awaiting liver transplantation. The phenotype of neonatal diabetes with intestinal atresia and biliary agenesis clearly pointed to RFX6 as the causative gene; indeed, whole exome sequencing revealed a novel homozygous RFX6 mutation c.779A>C; p.Lys260Thr (K260T). This missense mutation also changes the consensus 5′ splice donor site before intron 7 and is thus predicted to cause disruption in splicing. Both parents, who were not known to be related, were heterozygous carriers. Targeted genetic testing based on consideration of phenotypic features may reveal a cause among the many genes now associated with heterogeneous forms of monogenic neonatal diabetes. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using modern sequencing technology to identify one such rare cause. Continued research is needed to determine the possible cost-effectiveness of this approach, especially when clear phenotypic clues are absent. Further study of patients with RFX6 mutations should clarify its role in pancreatic, intestinal and enteroendocrine cellular development and explain features such as the diarrhea exhibited in our case

    Direct Measurements of Absolute Branching Fractions for D0 and D+ Inclusive Semimuonic Decays

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    By analyzing about 33 pb1\rm pb^{-1} data sample collected at and around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider, we directly measure the branching fractions for the neutral and charged DD inclusive semimuonic decays to be BF(D0μ+X)=(6.8±1.5±0.7)BF(D^0 \to \mu^+ X) =(6.8\pm 1.5\pm 0.7)% and BF(D+μ+X)=(17.6±2.7±1.8)BF(D^+ \to \mu^+ X) =(17.6 \pm 2.7 \pm 1.8)%, and determine the ratio of the two branching fractions to be BF(D+μ+X)BF(D0μ+X)=2.59±0.70±0.25\frac{BF(D^+ \to \mu^+ X)}{BF(D^0 \to \mu^+ X)}=2.59\pm 0.70 \pm 0.25

    Framework for evaluating the health impact of the scale-up of malaria control interventions on all-cause child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

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    Concerted efforts from national and international partners have scaled up malaria control interventions, including insecticide-treated nets, indoor residual spraying, diagnostics, prompt and effective treatment of malaria cases, and intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scale-up warrants an assessment of its health impact to guide future efforts and investments; however, measuring malaria-specific mortality and the overall impact of malaria control interventions remains challenging. In 2007, Roll Back Malaria's Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group proposed a theoretical framework for evaluating the impact of full-coverage malaria control interventions on morbidity and mortality in high-burden SSA countries. Recently, several evaluations have contributed new ideas and lessons to strengthen this plausibility design. This paper harnesses that new evaluation experience to expand the framework, with additional features, such as stratification, to examine subgroups most likely to experience improvement if control programs are working; the use of a national platform framework; and analysis of complete birth histories from national household surveys. The refined framework has shown that, despite persisting data challenges, combining multiple sources of data, considering potential contributions from both fundamental and proximate contextual factors, and conducting subnational analyses allows identification of the plausible contributions of malaria control interventions on malaria morbidity and mortality

    Measurement of branching fractions for the inclusive Cabibbo-favored ~K*0(892) and Cabibbo-suppressed K*0(892) decays of neutral and charged D mesons

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    The branching fractions for the inclusive Cabibbo-favored ~K*0 and Cabibbo-suppressed K*0 decays of D mesons are measured based on a data sample of 33 pb-1 collected at and around the center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider. The branching fractions for the decays D+(0) -> ~K*0(892)X and D0 -> K*0(892)X are determined to be BF(D0 -> \~K*0X) = (8.7 +/- 4.0 +/- 1.2)%, BF(D+ -> ~K*0X) = (23.2 +/- 4.5 +/- 3.0)% and BF(D0 -> K*0X) = (2.8 +/- 1.2 +/- 0.4)%. An upper limit on the branching fraction at 90% C.L. for the decay D+ -> K*0(892)X is set to be BF(D+ -> K*0X) < 6.6%

    Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for D0Ke+νeD^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e and D0πe+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e and Determinations of the Form Factors f+K(0)f_{+}^{K}(0) and f+π(0)f^{\pi}_{+}(0)

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    The absolute branching fractions for the decays D0Ke+νeD^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e and D0πe+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e are determined using 7584±198±3417584\pm 198 \pm 341 singly tagged Dˉ0\bar D^0 sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged Dˉ0\bar D^0 meson, 104.0±10.9104.0\pm 10.9 events for D0Ke+νeD^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e and 9.0±3.69.0 \pm 3.6 events for D0πe+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e decays are observed. Those yield the absolute branching fractions to be BF(D0Ke+νe)=(3.82±0.40±0.27)BF(D^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e)=(3.82 \pm 0.40\pm 0.27)% and BF(D0πe+νe)=(0.33±0.13±0.03)BF(D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e)=(0.33 \pm 0.13\pm 0.03)%. The vector form factors are determined to be f+K(0)=0.78±0.04±0.03|f^K_+(0)| = 0.78 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.03 and f+π(0)=0.73±0.14±0.06|f^{\pi}_+(0)| = 0.73 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.06. The ratio of the two form factors is measured to be f+π(0)/f+K(0)=0.93±0.19±0.07|f^{\pi}_+(0)/f^K_+(0)|= 0.93 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.07.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

    Measurements of the observed cross sections for e+ee^+e^-\to exclusive light hadrons containing π0π0\pi^0\pi^0 at s=3.773\sqrt s= 3.773, 3.650 and 3.6648 GeV

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    By analyzing the data sets of 17.3, 6.5 and 1.0 pb1^{-1} taken, respectively, at s=3.773\sqrt s= 3.773, 3.650 and 3.6648 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider, we measure the observed cross sections for e+eπ+ππ0π0e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\pi^0, K+Kπ0π0K^+K^-\pi^0\pi^0, 2(π+ππ0)2(\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0), K+Kπ+ππ0π0K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\pi^0 and 3(π+π)π0π03(\pi^+\pi^-)\pi^0\pi^0 at the three energy points. Based on these cross sections we set the upper limits on the observed cross sections and the branching fractions for ψ(3770)\psi(3770) decay into these final states at 90% C.L..Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
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