1,234 research outputs found
Non-perturbative effects and the resummed Higgs transverse momentum distribution at the LHC
We investigate the form of the non-perturbative parameterization in both the
impact parameter (b) space and transverse momentum (p_T) space resummation
formalisms for the transverse momentum distribution of single massive bosons
produced at hadron colliders. We propose to analyse data on Upsilon
hadroproduction as a means of studying the non-perturbative contribution in
processes with two gluons in the initial state. We also discuss the theoretical
errors on the resummed Higgs transverse momentum distribution at the LHC
arising from the non-perturbative contribution.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure
Finite-sample system identification: An overview and a new correlation method
Finite-sample system identification algorithms can be used to build guaranteed confidence regions for unknown model parameters under mild statistical assumptions. It has been shown that in many circumstances these rigorously built regions are comparable in size and shape to those that could be built by resorting to the asymptotic theory. The latter sets are, however, not guaranteed for finite samples and can sometimes lead to misleading results. The general principles behind finite-sample methods make them virtually applicable to a large variety of even nonlinear systems. While these principles are simple enough, a rigorous treatment of the attendant technical issues makes the corresponding theory complex and not easy to access. This is believed to be one of the reasons why these methods have not yet received widespread acceptance by the identification community and this letter is meant to provide an easy access point to finite-sample system identification by presenting the fundamental ideas underlying these methods in a simplified manner. We then review three (classes of) methods that have been proposed so far-1) Leave-out Sign-dominant Correlation Regions (LSCR); 2) Sign-Perturbed Sums (SPS); 3) Perturbed Dataset Methods (PDMs). By identifying some difficulties inherent in these methods, we also propose in this letter a new sign-perturbation method based on correlation which overcome some of these difficulties
Brachypodium distachyon as a model for defining the allergen potential of non-prolamin proteins
Epitope databases and the protein sequences of published plant genomes are suitable to identify some of the proteins causing food allergies and sensitivities. Brachypodium distachyon, a diploid wild grass with a sequenced genome and low prolamin content, is the closest relative of the allergen cereals, such as wheat or barley. Using the Brachypodium genome sequence, a workflow has been developed to identify potentially harmful proteins which may cause either celiac disease or wheat allergy-related symptoms. Seed tissue-specific expression of the potential allergens has been determined, and intact epitopes following an in silico digestion with several endopeptidases have been identified. Molecular function of allergen proteins has been evaluated using Gene Ontology terms. Biologically overrepresented proteins and potentially allergen protein families have been identified. © 2012 The Author(s)
Role of A2A adenosine receptors in regulation of opsonized E. coli-induced macrophage function
Adenosine is a biologically active molecule that is formed at sites of metabolic stress associated with trauma and inflammation, and its systemic level reaches high concentrations in sepsis. We have recently shown that inactivation of A2A adenosine receptors decreases bacterial burden as well as IL-10, IL-6, and MIP-2 production in mice that were made septic by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Macrophages are important in both elimination of pathogens and cytokine production in sepsis. Therefore, in the present study, we questioned whether macrophages are responsible for the decreased bacterial load and cytokine production in A2A receptor-inactivated septic mice. We showed that A2A KO and WT peritoneal macrophages obtained from septic animals were equally effective in phagocytosing opsonized E. coli. IL-10 production induced by opsonized E. coli was decreased in macrophages obtained from septic A2A KO mice as compared to WT counterparts. In contrast, the release of IL-6 and MIP-2 induced by opsonized E. coli was higher in septic A2A KO macrophages than WT macrophages. These results suggest that peritoneal macrophages are not responsible for the decreased bacterial load and diminished MIP-2 and IL-6 production that are observed in septic A2A KO mice. In contrast, peritoneal macrophages may contribute to the suppressive effect of A2A receptor inactivation on IL-10 production during sepsis
From Crop Domestication to Super-domestication
Research related to crop domestication has been transformed by technologies and discoveries in the genome sciences as well as information-related sciences that are providing new tools for bioinformatics and systems' biology. Rapid progress in archaeobotany and ethnobotany are also contributing new knowledge to understanding crop domestication. This sense of rapid progress is encapsulated in this Special Issue, which contains 18 papers by scientists in botanical, crop sciences and related disciplines on the topic of crop domestication. One paper focuses on current themes in the genetics of crop domestication across crops, whereas other papers have a crop or geographic focus. One feature of progress in the sciences related to crop domestication is the availability of well-characterized germplasm resources in the global network of genetic resources centres (genebanks). Germplasm in genebanks is providing research materials for understanding domestication as well as for plant breeding. In this review, we highlight current genetic themes related to crop domestication. Impressive progress in this field in recent years is transforming plant breeding into crop engineering to meet the human need for increased crop yield with the minimum environmental impact – we consider this to be ‘super-domestication’. While the time scale of domestication of 10 000 years or less is a very short evolutionary time span, the details emerging of what has happened and what is happening provide a window to see where domestication might – and can – advance in the future
Collider Tests of Compact Space Dimensions Using Weak Gauge Bosons
We present collider tests of the recent proposal for weak-scale quantum
gravity due to new large compact space dimensions in which only the graviton
(\G) propagates. We show that the existing high precision LEP-I -pole data
can impose non-trivial constraints on the scale of the new dimensions, via the
decay mode Z\to f\bar{f}+\G (). These bounds are comparable to
those obtained at high energy colliders and provide the first sensitive probe
of the scalar graviton. We also study W(Z)+\G production and the anomalous
signal from virtual \G-states at the Fermilab Tevatron, and compare
them with the LEP-I bound and those from LEP-II and future linear colliders.Comment: 4 pages, 1 postscript figure include
Surface Hardening and Self-Organized Fractality Through Etching of Random Solids
When a finite volume of etching solution is in contact with a disordered
solid, complex dynamics of the solid-solution interface develop. If the etchant
is consumed in the chemical reaction, the dynamics stop spontaneously on a
self-similar fractal surface. As only the weakest sites are corroded, the solid
surface gets progressively harder and harder. At the same time it becomes
rougher and rougher uncovering the critical spatial correlations typical of
percolation. From this, the chemical process reveals the latent percolation
criticality hidden in any random system. Recently, a simple minimal model has
been introduced by Sapoval et al. to describe this phenomenon. Through analytic
and numerical study, we obtain a detailed description of the process. The time
evolution of the solution corroding power and of the distribution of resistance
of surface sites is studied in detail. This study explains the progressive
hardening of the solid surface. Finally, this dynamical model appears to belong
to the universality class of Gra dient Percolation.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures (1457 Kb
The Supersymmetric Origin of Matter
The Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) can provide
the correct neutralino relic abundance and baryon number asymmetry of the
universe. Both may be efficiently generated in the presence of CP violating
phases, light charginos and neutralinos, and a light top squark. Due to the
coannihilation of the neutralino with the light stop, we find a large region of
parameter space in which the neutralino relic density is consistent with WMAP
and SDSS data. We perform a detailed study of the additional constraints
induced when CP violating phases, consistent with the ones required for
baryogenesis, are included. We explore the possible tests of this scenario from
present and future electron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) measurements, direct
neutralino detection experiments, collider searches and the b -> s gamma decay
rate. We find that the EDM constraints are quite severe and that electron EDM
experiments, together with stop searches at the Tevatron and Higgs searches at
the LHC, will provide a definite test of our scenario of electroweak
baryogenesis in the next few years.Comment: 30 pages, 14 figure
Spintronic single qubit gate based on a quantum ring with spin-orbit interaction
In a quantum ring connected with two external leads the spin properties of an
incoming electron are modified by the spin-orbit interaction resulting in a
transformation of the qubit state carried by the spin. The ring acts as a one
qubit spintronic quantum gate whose properties can be varied by tuning the
Rashba parameter of the spin-orbit interaction, by changing the relative
position of the junctions, as well as by the size of the ring. We show that a
large class of unitary transformations can be attained with already one ring --
or a few rings in series -- including the important cases of the Z, X, and
Hadamard gates. By choosing appropriate parameters the spin transformations can
be made unitary, which corresponds to lossless gates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
kt Effects in Direct-Photon Production
We discuss the phenomenology of initial-state parton-kt broadening in
direct-photon production and related processes in hadron collisions. After a
brief summary of the theoretical basis for a Gaussian-smearing approach, we
present a systematic study of recent results on fixed-target and collider
direct-photon production, using complementary data on diphoton and pion
production to provide empirical guidance on the required amount of kt
broadening. This approach provides a consistent description of the observed
pattern of deviation of next-to-leading order QCD calculations relative to the
direct-photon data, and accounts for the shape and normalization difference
between fixed-order perturbative calculations and the data. We also discuss the
uncertainties in this phenomenological approach, the implications of these
results on the extraction of the gluon distribution of the nucleon, and the
comparison of our findings to recent related work.Comment: LaTeX, uses revtex and epsf, 37 pages, 15 figure
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