Preface Modeling soil system: Complexity under your feet

none4openDe Bartolo S.; Otten W.; Cheng Q.; Tarquis A.M.De Bartolo, S.; Otten, W.; Cheng, Q.; Tarquis, A. M

Theory of Heavy Baryon Decay

We discuss various topics in the theory of heavy baryon decays. Among these are recent applications of the Relativistic Three Quark Model to semileptonic, nonleptonic, one-pion and one-photon transitions among heavy baryons, new higher order perturbative results on the correlator of two heavy baryon currents and on the semi-inclusive decay $\Lambda_b \to X_c + D_s^{(*)-}$.Comment: 10 pages, invited talk given by J.G. K\"orner at the 3rd International Conference on B Physics and CP Violation (BCONF99), Taipei, Taiwan, 3-7 Dec 1999, to appear in the Proceedings, edited by H.Y. Cheng and W.S. Hou (World Scientific, 2000

Resistance and Synergism of Insecticides in Diamondback Moth, Plutella Xylostella (Lepidoptera : Yponomeutidae)

A leaf-dipped bioassay was conducted to evaluate the toxicity of insecticides cypermethrin, permethrin, fipronil, avermectin b1 and emamectin benzoate against two lowland (Karak & Cheng strain) and a susceptible strains of diamondback moth (DBM). The synergistic effect of piperonyl butoxide (PBO), S,S,8- tributylphosphorotrithioate (DEF) and maleic acid diethyl ester (MADE) on the toxicity of the insecticides tested were also conducted by the combined leafdipped/topical bioassay. Both the lowland strains showed high LC50 values (> Ug/mL) for cypermethrin and permethrin. Based on the LC50 values, toxicities of the insecticides tested in decreasing order for the Karak and Cheng strains were : emamectin benzoate> avermectin b] > fipronil > permethrin > cypermethrin. The most toxic insecticide was emamectin benzoate with LC50 value of 1.62 X 10-5mg/L and 1.59 X 10-5mg/L for Cheng and Karak strain respectively. The slope of the concentration-mortality line indicated that both field-collected strains gave homogenous response towards the cypermethrin and permethrin but not the newer insecticides. The results also showed that the DBM developed high level of resistance toward cypermethrin and permethrin. Cheng strain showed a higher resistance ratio for fipronil compared with the Karak strain. In synergism study, cypermethrin was highly synergised by PBO compared to other insecticides tested. Cypermethrin was synergised 19.8-fold and 12.6-fold for Karak and Cheng strain respectively. Both DEF and MADE showed little synergistic effects to the insecticides tested with synergistic ratio of less than 3-fold for both Cheng and Karak strain respectively. The results suggested that microsomal monooxygenases played an important role in the detoxification metabolism of cypermethrin in both strains of DBM. Esterases and glutathione s-ttansferases, however, played a minor role in the metabolism of the insecticides for both strains of DBM

Potential of a cyclone prototype spacer to improve in vitro dry powder delivery

Copyright The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are creditedPurpose: Low inspiratory force in patients with lung disease is associated with poor deagglomeration and high throat deposition when using dry powder inhalers (DPIs). The potential of two reverse flow cyclone prototypes as spacers for commercial carrierbased DPIs was investigated. Methods: Cyclohaler®, Accuhaler® and Easyhaler® were tested with and without the spacers between 30-60 Lmin-1. Deposition of particles in the next generation impactor and within the devices was determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Results: Reduced induction port deposition of the emitted particles from the cyclones was observed due to the high retention of the drug within the spacers (e.g. salbutamol sulphate (SS): 67.89 ± 6.51 % at 30 Lmin-1 in Cheng 1). Fine particle fractions of aerosol as emitted from the cyclones were substantially higher than the DPIs alone. Moreover, the aerodynamic diameters of particles emitted from the cyclones were halved compared to the DPIs alone (e.g. SS from the Cyclohaler® at 4 kPa: 1.08 ± 0.05 μm vs. 3.00 ± 0.12 μm, with and without Cheng 2, respectively) and unaltered with increased flow rates. Conclusion: This work has shown the potential of employing a cyclone spacer for commercial carrier-based DPIs to improve inhaled drug delivery.Peer reviewe

The Policies of State Succession: Harmonizing Self-Determination and Global Order in the Twenty-First Century Tai-Heng Cheng, State Succession and Commercial Obligations

I differ with Cheng\u27s appraisal of certain events and think that we need a more sophisticated analysis of the twin policy goals he identifies and embraces--self-determination and global order--before they can offer real policy guidance. But State Succession and Commercial Obligations stands out as a rigorously researched, original, and insightful effort to understand this quite confused and opaque body of international law. Cheng\u27s work will both enable and encourage a more candid, reasoned, and constructive debate about the global policies at stake each time “a state fundamentally changes its structures of power and authority, and an authoritative international response is needed to manage disruptions to international arrangements that may result from that change.” Briefly, I find Cheng\u27s analysis of the dynamics of State succession relative to commercial obligations sophisticated, pragmatic, descriptively comprehensive, and, for the most part, normatively compelling. But it may be too ambitious. Defining disruptions to global commerce as the principal indicia of State succession tends to inflect, and at times to bias, the general analysis of the diverse phenomena that fall within the rubric of State succession. This commercial focus can obscure or normatively predispose our understanding and appraisal of equally vital, but non-economic, dimensions of State succession, including the core policy goals--self-determination and global order--that Cheng identifies and recommends. And to a certain extent, this compromises the work\u27s descriptive accuracy and normative appeal

Value and selfhood: pragmatism, Confucianism, and phenomenology

This article articulates a dialogue between Edward Casey, Cheng Chung‐ying, and me that began at the Eastern Division annual meeting in Philadelphia of the American Philosophical Association, in a session sponsored by the International Society for Chinese Philosophy. There, we read brief versions of the papers presented in this issue and commented on one another. Casey represented Continental phenomenology, Cheng the Chinese tradition as he has developed it into onto‐generative hermeneutics, and I the melding of American pragmatic and Confucian traditions that I have been developing

High-precision determination of the pion-nucleon σ\sigma-term from Roy-Steiner equations

We present a determination of the pion-nucleon ($\pi N$) $\sigma$-term $\sigma_{\pi N}$ based on the Cheng-Dashen low-energy theorem (LET), taking advantage of the recent high-precision data from pionic atoms to pin down the $\pi N$ scattering lengths as well as of constraints from analyticity, unitarity, and crossing symmetry in the form of Roy-Steiner equations to perform the extrapolation to the Cheng-Dashen point in a reliable manner. With isospin-violating corrections included both in the scattering lengths and the LET, we obtain $\sigma_{\pi N}=(59.1\pm 1.9\pm 3.0)$ MeV $=(59.1\pm 3.5)$ MeV, where the first error refers to uncertainties in the $\pi N$ amplitude and the second to the LET. Consequences for the scalar nucleon couplings relevant for the direct detection of dark matter are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; title changed by journal, version to be published in PR