Competition between s-wave order and d-wave order in holographic superconductors

We study competition between s-wave order and d-wave order through two holographic superconductor models. We find that once the coexisting phase appears, it is always thermodynamically favored, and that the coexistence phase is narrow and one condensate tends to kill the other. The phase diagram is constructed for each model in terms of temperature and the ratio of charges of two orders. We further compare the behaviors of some thermodynamic quantities, and discuss the different aspects and identical ones between two models.Comment: 3 figures added, accepted by JHE

Analysis on Energy-saving Lighting Design of the Underground Construction

There are often no windows and lack of natural light in the most of underground space, so lighting design is the most basic for most underground architectural design. Natural lighting is not only for comfortable indoor energy-saving and healthy light environment, but also for the good indoor environment. We need to use natural light and artificial lighting conduction system to offset the lack of natural light and improve the effect of underground space of natural light

Linking Aboveground Traits to Root Traits and Local Environment: Implications of the Plant Economics Spectrum.

The plant economics spectrum proposes that ecological traits are functionally coordinated and adapt along environmental gradients. However, empirical evidence is mixed about whether aboveground and root traits are consistently linked and which environmental factors drive functional responses. Here we measure the strength of relationships between aboveground and root traits, and examine whether community-weighted mean trait values are adapted along gradients of light and soil fertility, based on the seedling censuses of 57 species in a subtropical forest. We found that aboveground traits were good predictors of root traits; specific leaf area, dry matter, nitrogen and phosphorus content were strongly correlated with root tissue density and specific root length. Traits showed patterns of adaptation along the gradients of soil fertility and light; species with fast resource-acquisitive strategies were more strongly associated with high soil phosphorus, potassium, openness, and with low nitrogen, organic matter conditions. This demonstrates the potential to estimate belowground traits from known aboveground traits in seedling communities, and suggests that soil fertility is one of the main factors driving functional responses. Our results extend our understanding of how ecological strategies shape potential responses of plant communities to environmental change

Engineered Diffraction Gratings for Acoustic Cloaking

We show that engineered diffraction gratings can considerably simplify the design of acoustic ground cloaking devices. Acoustic reflecting gratings are designed in such a way that all the incident energy is channeled toward the diffracted mode traveling in the direction opposite the direction of the incident field (retroreflection effect), and this effect is used to cloak an object placed over an acoustically rigid surface. Axisymmetric gratings consisting of rigid surfaces with just one groove per unit cell are used to design thin acoustic carpet cloaks. Finally, full-wave numerical simulations are performed and a conical carpet cloak is experimentally tested, showing an excellent scattering-cancellation effect

Establishment of persistent infection with foot-and-mouth disease virus in BHK-21 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is able to cause persistent infection in ruminants besides acute infection and disease. Since the mechanisms of viral persistence and the determining factors are still unknown, <it>in vitro </it>systems help explore and reveal mechanisms of persistence <it>in vivo </it>by providing useful models for the study of RNA genome mutations and evolution. Ammonium chloride, a lysosomotropic agent that raises intralysosomal pH, reduces the yield of FMDV during infection of BHK-21 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The persistent infection with FMDV serotype O in BHK-21 cells was selected and established readily after treatment of ammonium chloride that acts primarily on the cells. Intact virions were observed located inside the endosomes. Viral genome RNAs and specific proteins were detected in the persistent cells to validate the establishment of viral persistence. Infection of the persistent viruses could not form plaques in host cells but virulence was enhanced. Basing on analysis and comparison of cDNA sequences of resident viruses and wild type viruses, 15 amine acid mutations were found, all of which were located in nonstructural proteins rather than in structural proteins.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Therefore, persistent infection of cell cultures with FMDV is successfully established with some distinctive features. It would be worthwhile to further investigate the mechanisms of viral persistence.</p

Probing Primordial Gravitational Waves: Ali CMB Polarization Telescope

In this paper, we will give a general introduction to the project of Ali CMB Polarization Telescope (AliCPT), which is a Sino-US joint project led by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) and has involved many different institutes in China. It is the first ground-based Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization experiment in China and an integral part of China's Gravitational Waves Program. The main scientific goal of AliCPT project is to probe the primordial gravitational waves (PGWs) originated from the very early Universe. The AliCPT project includes two stages. The first stage referred to as AliCPT-1, is to build a telescope in the Ali region of Tibet with an altitude of 5,250 meters. Once completed, it will be the worldwide highest ground-based CMB observatory and open a new window for probing PGWs in northern hemisphere. AliCPT-1 telescope is designed to have about 7,000 TES detectors at 90GHz and 150GHz. The second stage is to have a more sensitive telescope (AliCPT-2) with the number of detectors more than 20,000. Our simulations show that AliCPT will improve the current constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ by one order of magnitude with 3 years' observation. Besides the PGWs, the AliCPT will also enable a precise measurement on the CMB rotation angle and provide a precise test on the CPT symmetry. We show 3 years' observation will improve the current limit by two order of magnitude.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 2 table