Elements of Difficulty in Arithmetic Experienced By High School Mathematics Students

Many pupils experience a more-than-ordinary difficulty with the fundamental processes of arithmetic. This study is an attempt to determine what problems lead to this difficulty in understanding common mathematical concepts

Highly efficient heritable targeted deletions of gene clusters and non-coding regulatory regions in Arabidopsis using CRISPR/Cas9

Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas9 is considered the best instrument for genome engineering in plants. This methodology is based on the nuclease activity of Cas9 that is guided to specific genome sequences by single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) thus enabling researchers to engineer simple mutations or large chromosomal deletions. Current methodologies for targeted genome editing in plants using CRISPR/Cas9 are however largely inefficient, mostly due to low Cas9 activity, variable sgRNA efficiency and low heritability of genetic lesions. Here, we describe a newly developed strategy to enhance CRISPR/Cas9 efficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana focusing on the design of novel binary vectors (pUbiCAS9-Red and pEciCAS9-Red), the selection of highly efficient sgRNAs, and the use of direct plant regeneration from induced cell cultures. Our work demonstrates that by combining these three independent developments, heritable targeted chromosomal deletions of large gene clusters and intergenic regulatory sequences can be engineered at a high efficiency. Our results demonstrate that this improved CRISPR/Cas9 methodology can provide a fast, efficient and cost-effective tool to engineer targeted heritable chromosomal deletions, which will be instrumental for future high-throughput functional genomics studies in plants

Two-Pion Exchange in Proton-Proton Scattering

The contribution of the box and crossed two-pion-exchange diagrams to proton-proton scattering at 90$^{\circ}_{c.m.}$ is calculated in the laboratory momentum range up to 12 GeV/c. Relativistic form factors related to the nucleon and pion size and representing the pion source distribution based on the quark structure of the hadronic core are included at each vertex of the pion-nucleon interaction. These form factors depend on the four-momenta of the exchanged pions and scattering nucleons. Feynman-diagram amplitudes calculated without form factors are checked against those derived from dispersion relations. In this comparison, one notices that a very short-range part of the crossed diagram, neglected in dispersion-relation calculations of the two-pion-exchange nucleon-nucleon potential, gives a sizable contribution. In the Feynman-diagram calculation with form factors the agreement with measured spin-separated cross sections, as well as amplitudes in the lower part of the energy range considered, is much better for pion-nucleon pseudo-vector vis \`a vis pseudo-scalar coupling. While strengths of the box and crossed diagrams are comparable for laboratory momenta below 2 GeV/c, the crossed diagram dominates for larger momenta, largely due to the kinematics of the crossed diagram allowing a smaller momentum transfer in the nucleon center of mass. An important contribution arises from the principal-value part of the integrals which is non-zero when form factors are included. It seems that the importance of the exchange of color singlets may extend higher in energy than expected

Dibenzo[a,e]penta­cyclo­[12.2.1.16,9.02,13.05.10]octa­deca-2(13),5(10)-diene

In the title compound, C26H24, the central cyclo­octa­tetra­ene ring has a boat conformation, and the mol­ecule is saddle shaped. The seat is defined by the mean plane of the four-atom attachment points (r.m.s. deviation = 0.014 Å) of the two bicyclo­heptane substituents. These substituents comprise the pommel and cantle, with each mean plane defined by four atoms proximate to the seat (r.m.s. deviations = 0.001 and 0.000 Å). Relative to the seat, the pommel and cantle bend up 33.36 (5) and 34.22 (4)°, while the benzo units (flaps, r.m.s. deviations = 0.008 and 0.013 Å) bend down 33.48 (4) and 36.58 (4)°

25,26-Bis(propan-2-yl­idene)hepta­cyclo[20.2.1.110,13.02,21.03,8.09,14.015,20]hexa­cosa-2(21),3,5,7,9(14),11,15,17,19,23-deca­ene

In the title compound, C32H28, the central cyclo­octa­tetra­ene ring has a boat conformation, and the mol­ecule is saddle shaped. The seat is defined by the mean plane of the four-atom attachment points (r.m.s. deviation = 0.014 Å) of the two bicyclo­heptenyl substituents. These substituents comprise the pommel and cantle, with each mean plane defined by four atoms proximate to the seat (r.m.s. deviations = 0.002 and 0.004 Å). Relative to the seat, the pommel and cantle bend up 31.16 (4) and 29.40 (5)°, while the benzo units (flaps, r.m.s. deviations = 0.006 and 0.009 Å) bend down 36.75 (4) and 38.46 (4)°. The mean planes of the dimethyl­ethyl­idene units are almost perpendicular to the saddle seat, making dihedral angles 86.89 (4) and 88.01 (4)°

Light hadron and diquark spectroscopy in quenched QCD with overlap quarks on a large lattice

A simulation of quenched QCD with the overlap Dirac operator has been completed using 100 Wilson gauge configurations at beta = 6 on an 18^3 x 64 lattice and at beta = 5.85 on a 14^3 x 48 lattice, both in Landau gauge. We present results for light meson and baryon masses, meson final state "wave functions," and other observables, as well as some details on the numerical techniques that were used. Our results indicate that scaling violations, if any, are small. We also present an analysis of diquark correlations using the quark propagators generated in our simulation.Comment: 28 LaTeX pages, 41 figures, v2: minor updates, version published in JHE

Spectra of heavy-light and heavy-heavy mesons containing charm quarks, including higher spin states for Nf=2+1N_f=2+ 1

We study the spectra of heavy-light and heavy-heavy mesons containing charm quarks, including higher spin states. We use two sets of $N_f = 2 + 1$ gauge configurations, one set from QCDSF using the SLiNC action, and the other configurations from the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal collaboration, using the HEX smeared clover action. To extract information about the excited states, we choose a suitable basis of operators to implement the variational method.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Talk presented at the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice2011, July 11-16, 2011, The Village at Squaw Valley, California, US

Winterberg's conjectured breaking of the superluminal quantum correlations over large distances

We elaborate further on a hypothesis by Winterberg that turbulent fluctuations of the zero point field may lead to a breakdown of the superluminal quantum correlations over very large distances. A phenomenological model that was proposed by Winterberg to estimate the transition scale of the conjectured breakdown, does not lead to a distance that is large enough to be agreeable with recent experiments. We consider, but rule out, the possibility of a steeper slope in the energy spectrum of the turbulent fluctuations, due to compressibility, as a possible mechanism that may lead to an increased lower-bound for the transition scale. Instead, we argue that Winterberg overestimated the intensity of the ZPF turbulent fluctuations. We calculate a very generous corrected lower bound for the transition distance which is consistent with current experiments.Comment: 7 pages, submitted to Int. J. Theor. Phy