Limb bone scaling in hopping diprotodonts and quadrupedal artiodactyls

Bone adaptation is modulated by the timing, direction, rate, and magnitude of mechanical loads. To investigate whether frequent slow, or infrequent fast, gaits could dominate bone adaptation to load, we compared scaling of the limb bones from two mammalian herbivore clades that use radically different high-speed gaits, bipedal hopping and quadrupedal galloping. Forelimb and hindlimb bones were collected from 20 artiodactyl and 15 diprotodont species (body mass M 1.05 - 1536 kg) and scanned in clinical computed tomography or X-ray microtomography. Second moment of area (Imax) and bone length (l) were measured. Scaling relations (y = axb) were calculated for l vs M for each bone and for Imax vs M and Imax vs l for every 5% of length. Imax vs M scaling relationships were broadly similar between clades despite the diprotodont forelimb being nearly unloaded, and the hindlimb highly loaded, during bipedal hopping. Imax vs l and l vs M scaling were related to locomotor and behavioural specialisations. Low-intensity loads may be sufficient to maintain bone mass across a wide range of species. Occasional high-intensity gaits might not break through the load sensitivity saturation engendered by frequent low-intensity gaits

Puzzles in BB physics

I discuss some puzzles observed in exclusive $B$ meson decays, concentrating on the large difference between the direct CP asymmetries in the $B^0\to \pi^\mp K^\pm$ and $B^\pm\to \pi^0 K^\pm$ modes, the large $B^0\to\pi^0\pi^0$ branching ratio, and the large deviation of the mixing-induced CP asymmetries in the $b\to sq\bar q$ penguins from those in the $b\to c\bar c s$ trees.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, talk presented at the 9th Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India, Jan. 3-14, 2006; reference adde

Tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous hands with object shape and texture identification

This paper reports on the development of two number of robotic hands have been developed which focus on tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous robotic hands. The aim of developing these hands was to achieve a system that seamlessly interfaced between humans and robots. To provide sensory feedback, to a remote operator tactile sensors were developed to be mounted on the robotic hands. Two systems were developed, the first, being a skin sensor capable of shape reconstruction placed on the palm of the hand to feed back the shape of objects grasped and the second is a highly sensitive tactile array for surface texture identification

Elucidating social networking apps decisions: Performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of behavioural intention and use behaviour towards social networking apps. Exogenous latent constructs, namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence are the key antecedents proposed based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to predict the usage intention and behaviour of social networking apps (i.e. endogenous latent constructs). Experience as a moderator is the extended construct to explain social networking apps user’s behavioural intention. Design/methodology/approach: To target young generation (Millennial), a cross-sectional data collection approach was conducted to collect data from the social networking apps users (i.e. Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and others) whereby a total of 384 valid questionnaires were obtained from six universities in Malaysia. Statistical analysis using partial least squares path modelling approach and a variance-based structural equation modelling (VB-SEM) techniques is performed to analyse the measurement and structural relationship. Findings: The findings indicate that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence determine behavioural intention, and behavioural intention impacts social networking apps use behaviour. Moreover, the moderation analysis reveals that the relationship between effort expectancy and behavioural intention is moderated by experience, whereas the relationship between social influence and behavioural intention is not moderated by experience. Originality/value: While the surge of social networking apps has gained tremendous popularity among Millennial as an attractive market segment, previous studies mainly have focussed on intention and behaviour of online users in general. Despite apps and related technologies which have opened a new era of effective communications in marketing, social networking apps usage intention and behaviour focussing on Millennial is not well understood in the current literature. This study contributes and sheds lights on the current issue of social networking apps usage intention and behaviour and looks into a key rising market segment, the Millennial users. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Evidence for Factorization in Three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 Decays

Motivated by recent experimental results, we use a factorization approach to study the three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 decay modes. Two mechanisms are proposed for kaon pair production: current-produced (from vacuum) and transition (from B meson). The Bbar0 --> D(*)+ K- K0 decay is governed solely by the current-produced mechanism. As the kaon pair can be produced only by the vector current, the matrix element can be extracted from e+ e- --> K Kbar processes via isospin relations. The decay rates obtained this way are in good agreement with experiment. Both current-produced and transition processes contribute to B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decays. By using QCD counting rules and the measured B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decay rates, the measured decay spectra can be understood.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

The Neutrino Magnetic Moment Induced by Leptoquarks

Allowing leptoquarks to interact with both right-handed and left-handed neutrinos (i.e., ``non-chiral'' leptoquarks), we show that a non-zero neutrino magnetic moment can arise naturally. Although the mass of the non-chiral vector leptoquark that couples to the first generation fermions is constrained severely by universality of the $\pi^+$ leptonic decays and is found to be greater than 50 TeV, the masses of the second and third generation non-chiral vector leptoquarks may evade such constraint and may in general be in the range of $1\sim 100$ TeV. With reasonable input mass and coupling values, we find that the neutrino magnetic moment due to the second generation leptoquarks is of the order of $10^{-12}\sim 10^{-16} \mu_{\rm B}$ while that caused by the third generation leptoquarks, being enhanced significantly by the large top quark mass, is in the range of $10^{-10}\sim 10^{-14} \mu_{\rm B}$.Comment: 11 pages, 3 eps figures, uses revte

Implications of Recent Bˉ0→D(∗)0X0\bar{B}^0\to D^{(*)0}X^0 Measurements

The recent measurements of the color-suppressed modes $\bar B^0\to D^{(*)0}\pi^0$ imply non-vanishing relative final-state interaction (FSI) phases among various $\bar B\to D\pi$ decay amplitudes. Depending on whether or not FSIs are implemented in the topological quark-diagram amplitudes, two solutions for the parameters $a_1$ and $a_2$ are extracted from data using various form-factor models. It is found that $a_2$ is not universal: $|a_2(D\pi)|= 0.40-0.55$ and $|a_2(D^*\pi)|= 0.25-0.35$ with a relative phase of order $(50-55)^\circ$ between $a_1$ and $a_2$. If FSIs are not included in quark-diagram amplitudes from the outset, $a_2^{eff}/a_1^{eff}$ and $a_2^{eff}$ will become smaller. The large value of $|a_2(D\pi)|$ compared to $|a_2^{eff}(D\pi)|$ or naive expectation implies the importance of long-distance FSI contributions to color-suppressed internal $W$-emission via final-state rescatterings of the color-allowed tree amplitude.Comment: 17 pages. The Introduction is substantially revised and the order of the presentation in Sec. 2 is rearranged. To appear in Phys. Re

Bˉ0→π+X\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ X in the Standard Model

In this paper we investigate the possibility of studying $B\to \pi$ form factor using the semi-inclusive decays $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ + X_q$. In general $B\to PX$ semi-inclusive decays involve several hadronic parameters. But for $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ X_q$ decays we find that in the factorization approximation, the only unknown hadronic parameters are the form factors $F^{B\to \pi}_{0,1}$. Therefore these form factors can be studied in $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ X_q$ decays. Using theoretical model calculations for the form factors the branching ratios for $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ X_d(\Delta S = 0)$ and $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ X_s (\Delta S = -1)$, with the cut $E_{\pi} > 2.1$ GeV, are estimated to be in the ranges of $(3.1\sim 4.9) \times 10^{-5}(F^{B\to \pi}_1(0)/0.33)^2$ and $(2.5\sim 4.2)\times 10^{-5}(F_1^{B\to \pi}(0)/0.33)^2$, respectively, depending on the value of $\gamma$. The combined branching ratio for $\bar B^0 \to \pi^+ (X_d+ X_s)$ is about $7.4\times 10^{-5} (F^{B\to \pi}_1(0)/0.33)^2$ and is insensitive to $\gamma$. We also discuss CP asymmetries in these decay modes.Comment: RevTex 8 pages and two figure

The Fourth Element: Characteristics, Modelling, and Electromagnetic Theory of the Memristor

In 2008, researchers at HP Labs published a paper in {\it Nature} reporting the realisation of a new basic circuit element that completes the missing link between charge and flux-linkage, which was postulated by Leon Chua in 1971. The HP memristor is based on a nanometer scale TiO$_2$ thin-film, containing a doped region and an undoped region. Further to proposed applications of memristors in artificial biological systems and nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM), they also enable reconfigurable nanoelectronics. Moreover, memristors provide new paradigms in application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). A significant reduction in area with an unprecedented memory capacity and device density are the potential advantages of memristors for Integrated Circuits (ICs). This work reviews the memristor and provides mathematical and SPICE models for memristors. Insight into the memristor device is given via recalling the quasi-static expansion of Maxwell's equations. We also review Chua's arguments based on electromagnetic theory.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures, Accepted as a regular paper - the Proceedings of Royal Society

Low-Mass Baryon-Antibaryon Enhancements in B Decays

The nature of low-mass baryon-antibaryon enhancements seen in B decays is explored. Three possibilities include (i) states near threshold as found in a model by Nambu and Jona-Lasinio, (ii) isoscalar states with $J^{PC} = 0^{\pm +}$ coupled to a pair of gluons, and (iii) low-mass enhancements favored by the fragmentation process. Ways of distinguishing these mechanisms using angular distributions and flavor symmetry are proposed.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, no figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev. D. One reference adde