589 research outputs found
Kinetics of exciton photoluminescence in type-II semiconductor superlattices
The exciton decay rate at a rough interface in type-II semiconductor
superlattices is investigated. It is shown that the possibility of
recombination of indirect excitons at a plane interface essentially affects
kinetics of the exciton photoluminescence at a rough interface. This happens
because of strong correlation between the exciton recombination at the plane
interface and at the roughness. Expressions that relate the parameters of the
luminescence kinetics with statistical characteristics of the rough interface
are obtained. The mean height and length of roughnesses in GaAs/AlAs
superlattices are estimated from the experimental data.Comment: 3 PostScript figure
The complete spectrum of the area from recoupling theory in loop quantum gravity
We compute the complete spectrum of the area operator in the loop
representation of quantum gravity, using recoupling theory. This result extends
previous derivations, which did not include the ``degenerate'' sector, and
agrees with the recently computed spectrum of the connection-representation
area operator.Comment: typos corrected in eqn.(21). Latex with IOP and epsf styles, 1 figure
(eps postscript file), 12 pages. To appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Flavor Changing Neutral Currents involving Heavy Quarks with Four Generations
We study various FCNC involving heavy quarks in the Standard Model (SM) with
a sequential fourth generation. After imposing , and constraints, we find can be enhanced by an order of magnitude to ,
while decays can reach , which are orders of magnitude
higher than in SM. However,these rates are still not observable for the near
future.With the era of LHC approaching, we focus on FCNC decays involving
fourth generation and quarks. We calculate the rates for
loop induced FCNC decays , as well as
t^\prime\to tZ,\tH, tg, t\gamma. If is of order , tree level decay would dominate, posing a challenge
since -tagging is less effective. For ,
would tend to dominate, while could also open for heavier
, leading to thepossibility of quadruple- signals via . The FCNC decays could still dominate if
is just above 200 GeV. For the case of , ingeneral would be dominant, hence it behaves like a heavy top. For both and
, except for the intriguing light case, FCNC decays are in the
range, and are quite detectable at the LHC.For a possible
future ILC, we find the associated production of FCNC ,
are below sensitivity, while
and can be better probed.Tevatron Run-II can still probe the
lighter or scenario. LHC would either discover the fourth generation
and measure the FCNC rates, or rule out the fourth generation conclusively.Comment: 31 pages, 15 eps figures, version to appear in JHE
Efficiency of split-mouth designs
. The purpose of this paper is (1) to investigate the similarity of the amount, distribution, and, severity of periodontal disease of the within-patient experimental units, (2) to estimate the relative efficiencies of split-mouth designs when compared to whole-mouth designs, and (3) to discuss how stratification on initial pocket depth can result in large differences in the power of the test-statistics in the different disease categories. Periodontal disease characteristics are not always homogeneously distributed over the within-patient experimental units and this heterogeneity can reduce the efficiency of split-mouth designs. In particular, if analyses are stratified on initial pocket depth, sites with an initial probing depth deeper than 6 mm may be small in number and asymmetrically distributed when compared to sites with an initial probing depth less than 6 mm. This may result in large differences of the power of the test statistics among the different disease categories and should lead to a careful interpretation of the statistical significance tests. When disease characteristics are symmetrically distributed over the within-patient experimental units and a sufficient number of sites is present per experimental unit, the split-mouth design can provide moderate to large gains in relative efficiency. In the absence of a symmetric disease distribution, wholemouth clinical trials may be preferable.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75701/1/j.1600-051X.1990.tb01060.x.pd
Seesaw mechanism in the sneutrino sector and its consequences
The seesaw-extended MSSM provides a framework in which the observed light
neutrino masses and mixing angles can be generated in the context of a natural
theory for the TeV-scale. Sneutrino-mixing phenomena provide valuable tools for
connecting the physics of neutrinos and supersymmetry. We examine the
theoretical structure of the seesaw-extended MSSM, retaining the full
complexity of three generations of neutrinos and sneutrinos. In this general
framework, new flavor-changing and CP-violating sneutrino processes are
allowed, and are parameterized in terms of two matrices that
respectively preserve and violate lepton number. The elements of these matrices
can be bounded by analyzing the rate for rare flavor-changing decays of charged
leptons and the one-loop contribution to neutrino masses. In the former case,
new contributions arise in the seesaw extended model which are not present in
the ordinary MSSM. In the latter case, sneutrino--antisneutrino mixing
generates the leading correction at one-loop to neutrino masses, and could
provide the origin of the observed texture of the light neutrino mass matrix.
Finally, we derive general formulae for sneutrino--antisneutrino oscillations
and sneutrino flavor-oscillations. Unfortunately, neither oscillation phenomena
is likely to be observable at future colliders.Comment: 69 pages, 5 figures, uses axodraw.sty. Version accepted for
publication in JHEP: some comments and one more Appendix with additional
discussion added, references update
Prevalência do Cryptosporidium parvum em crianças abaixo de 5 anos, residentes na zona urbana de Campo Grande, MS, Brasil, 1996
Monolayer doping of germanium with arsenic: A new chemical route to achieve optimal dopant activation
Reported here is a new chemical route for the wet chemical functionalization of germanium (Ge), whereby arsanilic acid is covalently bound to a chlorine (Cl)-terminated surface. This new route is used to deliver high concentrations of arsenic (As) dopants to Ge, via monolayer doping (MLD). Doping, or the introduction of Group III or Group V impurity atoms into the crystal lattice of Group IV semiconductors, is essential to allow control over the electronic properties of the material to enable transistor devices to be switched on and off. MLD is a diffusion-based method for the introduction of these impurity atoms via surface-bound molecules, which offers a nondestructive alternative to ion implantation, the current industry doping standard, making it suitable for sub-10 nm structures. Ge, given its higher carrier mobilities, is a leading candidate to replace Si as the channel material in future devices. Combining the new chemical route with the existing MLD process yields active carrier concentrations of dopants (>1 × 1019 atoms/cm3) that rival those of ion implantation. It is shown that the dose of dopant delivered to Ge is also controllable by changing the size of the precursor molecule. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data and density functional theory (DFT) calculations support the formation of a covalent bond between the arsanilic acid and the Cl-terminated Ge surface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) indicates that the integrity of the surface is maintained throughout the chemical procedure, and electrochemical capacitance voltage (ECV) data shows a carrier concentration of 1.9 × 1019 atoms/cm3 corroborated by sheet resistance measurements
Opera and poison : a secret and enjoyable approach to teaching and learning chemistry
The storyline of operas, with historical or fictional characters, often include potions and poisons. This has prompted a study of the chemistry behind some operatic plots. The results were originally presented as a lecture given at the University of Minho in
Portugal, within the context of the International Year of Chemistry.
The same lecture was subsequently repeated at other universities as an invited lecture for science students and in public theaters for wider audiences. The lecture included a multimedia and interactive
content that allowed the audience to listen to arias and to watch video clips with selected scenes extracted from operas. The present article, based on the lecture, demonstrates how chemistry and opera
can be related and may also serve as a source of motivation and inspiration for chemistry teachers looking for alternative pedagogical approaches. Moreover, the lecture constitutes a vehicle that transports chemistry knowledge to wider audiences through examples of everyday molecules, with particular emphasis on natural products.The author is pleased to express his gratitude to Jorge Calado and Michael John Smith for useful discussions. The author also thanks the reviewers of the manuscript for their helpful comments and suggestions. Thanks are due to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT,Portugal), QREN and FEDER/EU for financial support through the research centers, CQ/UM PEst-C/QUI/UI0686/2011. Ciencia Viva, Portugal, is also acknowledged for financial support of the activities organized by the University of Minho during the International Year of Chemistry. The author also expresses his gratitude to Ana Paula Ferreira and Andre Cunha Leal from RTP Antena 2 who contributed immensely to the popularization of the lecture on which this paper is based on
Barriers and coping mechanisms relating to agroforestry adoption by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe
PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate agroforestry adoption by
smallholder farmers in Gutu District, Zimbabwe.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY.APPROACH: The methodology was based on field data collected through
household questionnaires, key informant interviews and direct observations.
FINDINGS: Major findings reveal that traditional agroforestry was common in the study area. There
were no cases of innovative agroforestry other than dwindling remnants from a former trees-withpasture
project. Majority of respondents were willing to adopt innovative agroforestry
technologies to improve yields and income. Damage and destruction of plants by pests and
animals due to lack of fences emerged as the major challenges to the adoption of agroforestry.
Other challenges included seed availability and labour requirements. Possible coping strategies,
identified through consulting farmers and other stakeholders, would include local initiatives and
support from outside the community. Local and external efforts are required especially to secure
inputs and raise awareness, knowledge and skills with respect to specific agroforestry technologies.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The paper presents pointers on the involvement of women in agroforestry
and on the cultural significance of indigenous and exotic fruit trees. It provides practical lessons
useful to extension or rural development workers in a localised set-up.
ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The case study gives an insight into the problems faced by peasant farmers and
the requirements to make agroforestry successful. Practitioners in southern Africa could learn a
great deal about issues relating to smallholder farmers from reading this paperhttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raee2
Hybrid Meta-heuristics with VNS and Exact Methods: Application to Large Unconditional and Conditional Vertex p-Centre Problems
Large-scale unconditional and conditional vertex p-centre problems are solved using two meta-heuristics. One is based on a three-stage approach whereas the other relies on a guided multi-start principle. Both methods incorporate Variable Neighbourhood Search, exact method, and aggregation techniques. The methods are assessed on the TSP dataset which consist of up to 71,009 demand points with p varying from 5 to 100. To the best of our knowledge, these are the largest instances solved for unconditional and conditional vertex p-centre problems. The two proposed meta-heuristics yield competitive results for both classes of problems
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