663 research outputs found
Radiative corrections to scalar-fermion pair production in high energy e+e- collisions
We study the one-loop radiative corrections to pair production of the
supersymmetric scalar partners of the standard fermions in e+e- annihilation.
Both electroweak and SUSY-QCD corrections are considered. Applications are for
production of scalar fermions of the third generation, e^+e^-\to \wt{f}_i
\wt{f}_j^* (i,j=1,2), , as well as for production of scalar
quarks of the first and second generation. Effects on integrated cross sections
are discussed and also the one-loop induced forward-backward asymmetries are
studied. It is found that at low energy, \sqrt{s}\approx 500 \to 1000 GeV, the
corrections are dominated by the QCD contributions, At high energy,
TeV, the electroweak box diagrams give a substantial
contribution and even dominate in some regions of parameters space. The purely
loop-induced forward-backward asymmetry can reach values of several per cent.Comment: 23 pages, latex, 13 figure
The effects of CdSe incorporation into bulk heterojunction solar cells
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Hybrid solar cells based on CdSe nanoparticles and a PPV-type polymer containing fluorene and thiophene units (PFT) were investigated. The CdSe/PFT devices showed very low photocurrent and fill factor values, which was attributed to the poor charge transport in the TOPO-capped CdSe nanoparticle phase. Thus, ternary systems based on mixtures of PFT/CdSe and the fullerene derivative PCBM were investigated. The CdSe: PCBM ratio was varied, and nanoparticles with different sizes were also used. It was observed that for the optimized composition of 20 wt% PFT + 40 wt% CdSe + 40 wt% PCBM the devices presented higher photocurrents and efficiencies. The photophysical and electrochemical properties and microscopy images (AFM and HRTEM) of the ternary systems were systematically investigated to elucidate the mechanism of action of the inorganic nanoparticles in these ternary hybrid devices.202348454853Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento CientÃfico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [05/56924-0
Phenomenology of the nMSSM from colliders to cosmology
Low energy supersymmetric models provide a solution to the hierarchy problem
and also have the necessary ingredients to solve two of the most outstanding
issues in cosmology: the origin of dark matter and baryonic matter. One of the
most attractive features of this framework is that the relevant physical
processes are related to interactions at the weak scale and therefore may be
tested in collider experiments in the near future. This is true for the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) as well as for its extension with the
addition of one singlet chiral superfield, the so-called nMSSM. It has been
recently shown that within the nMSSM an elegant solution to both the problem of
baryogenesis and dark matter may be found, that relies mostly on the mixing of
the singlet sector with the Higgs sector of the theory. In this work we review
the nMSSM model constraints from cosmology and present the associated collider
phenomenology at the LHC and the ILC. We show that the ILC will efficiently
probe the neutralino, chargino and Higgs sectors, allowing to confront
cosmological observations with computations based on collider measurements. We
also investigate the prospects for a direct detection of dark matter and the
constraints imposed by the current bounds of the electron electric dipole
moment in this model.Comment: 44 pp, 10 figures; Fig.9 replaced; discussion on CP violation
extended and references added; few minor additions in text about details of
the cut
Theoretical uncertainties in sparticle mass predictions from computational tools
We estimate the current theoretical uncertainty in sparticle mass predictions
by comparing several state-of-the-art computations within the minimal
supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). We find that the theoretical uncertainty
is comparable to the expected statistical errors from the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC), and significantly larger than those expected from a future e+e- Linear
Collider (LC). We quantify the theoretical uncertainty on relevant sparticle
observables for both LHC and LC, and show that the value of the error is
significantly dependent upon the supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking parameters. We
also present the theoretical uncertainty induced in fundamental-scale SUSY
breaking parameters when they are fitted from LHC measurements. Two regions of
the SUSY parameter space where accurate predictions are particularly difficult
are examined in detail: the large tan(beta) and focus point regimes.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures; comment added pointing out that 2-loop QCD
corrections to mt are incorrect in some of the programs investigated. We give
the correct formul
Historical analysis of the Brazilian cervical cancer screening program from 2006 to 2013: a time for reflection
BACKGROUND: The Cervical Cancer Database of the Brazilian National Health Service (SISCOLO) contains information regarding all cervical cytological tests and, if properly explored, can be used as a tool for monitoring and managing the cervical cancer screening program. The aim of this study was to perform a historical analysis of the cervical cancer screening program in Brazil from 2006 to 2013.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data necessary to calculate quality indicators were obtained from the SISCOLO, a Brazilian health system tool. Joinpoint analysis was used to calculate the annual percentage change.
RESULTS: We observed important trends showing decreased rates of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and an increased rate of rejected exams from 2009 to 2013. The index of positivity was maintained at levels below those indicated by international standards; very low frequencies of unsatisfactory cases were observed over the study period, which partially contradicts the low rate of positive cases. The number of positive cytological diagnoses was below that expected, considering that developed countries with low frequencies of cervical cancer detect more lesions annually.
CONCLUSIONS: The evolution of indicators from 2006 to 2013 suggests that actions must be taken to improve the effectiveness of cervical cancer control in Brazil
Ecological Modeling of Aedes aegypti (L.) Pupal Production in Rural Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand
Background - Aedes aegypti (L.) is the primary vector of dengue, the most important arboviral infection globally. Until an effective vaccine is licensed and rigorously administered, Ae. aegypti control remains the principal tool in preventing and curtailing dengue transmission. Accurate predictions of vector populations are required to assess control methods and develop effective population reduction strategies. Ae. aegypti develops primarily in artificial water holding containers. Release recapture studies indicate that most adult Ae. aegypti do not disperse over long distances. We expect, therefore, that containers in an area of high development site density are more likely to be oviposition sites and to be more frequently used as oviposition sites than containers that are relatively isolated from other development sites. After accounting for individual container characteristics, containers more frequently used as oviposition sites are likely to produce adult mosquitoes consistently and at a higher rate. To this point, most studies of Ae. aegypti populations ignore the spatial density of larval development sites. Methodology - Pupal surveys were carried out from 2004 to 2007 in rural Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand. In total, 84,840 samples of water holding containers were used to estimate model parameters. Regression modeling was used to assess the effect of larval development site density, access to piped water, and seasonal variation on container productivity. A varying-coefficients model was employed to account for the large differences in productivity between container types. A two-part modeling structure, called a hurdle model, accounts for the large number of zeroes and overdispersion present in pupal population counts. Findings - The number of suitable larval development sites and their density in the environment were the primary determinants of the distribution and abundance of Ae. aegypti pupae. The productivity of most container types increased significantly as habitat density increased. An ecological approach, accounting for development site density, is appropriate for predicting Ae. aegypti population levels and developing efficient vector control program
Unparticle Searches Through Compton Scattering
We investigate the effects of unparticles on Compton scattering, e gamma -> e
gamma based on a future e^+e^- linear collider such as the CLIC. For different
polarization configurations, we calculate the lower limits of the unparticle
energy scale Lambda_U for a discovery reach at the center of mass energies
sqrt(s)=0.5 TeV- 3 TeV. It is shown that, especially, for smaller values of the
mass dimension d, (1 <d <1.3), and for high energies and luminosities of the
collider these bounds are very significant. As a stringent limit, we find
Lambda_U>80 TeV for d<1.3 at sqrt(s)=3 TeV, and 1 ab^(-1) integrated luminosity
per year, which is comparable with the limits calculated from other low and
high energy physics implications.Comment: Table 1 and 2 have been combined as Table 1, references updated,
minor typos have been correcte
Discovery of a single male Aedes aegypti (L.) in Merseyside, England
© The Author(s). 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. The file attached is the published (publishers PDF) version of the article
IS element IS16 as a molecular screening tool to identify hospital-associated strains of Enterococcus faecium
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hospital strains of <it>Enterococcus faecium </it>could be characterized and typed by various molecular methods (MLST, AFLP, MLVA) and allocated to a distinct clonal complex known as MLST CC17. However, these techniques are laborious, time-consuming and cost-intensive. Our aim was to identify hospital <it>E. faecium </it>strains and differentiate them from colonizing and animal variants by a simple, inexpensive and reliable PCR-based screening assay. We describe here performance and predictive value of a single PCR detecting the insertion element, IS<it>16</it>, to identify hospital <it>E. faecium </it>isolates within a collection of 260 strains of hospital, animal and human commensal origins.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Specific primers were selected amplifying a 547-bp fragment of IS<it>16</it>. Presence of IS<it>16 </it>was determined by PCR screenings among the 260 <it>E. faecium </it>isolates. Distribution of IS<it>16 </it>was compared with a prevalence of commonly used markers for hospital strains, <it>esp </it>and <it>hyl</it><sub><it>Efm</it></sub>. All isolates were typed by MLST and partly by PFGE. Location of IS<it>16 </it>was analysed by Southern hybridization of plasmid and chromosomal DNA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IS<it>16 </it>was exclusively distributed only among 155 invasive strains belonging to the clonal complex of hospital-associated strains ("CC17"; 28 MLST types) and various vancomycin resistance genotypes (<it>van</it>A/B/negative). The five invasive IS<it>16</it>-negative strains did not belong to the clonal complex of hospital-associated strains (CC17). IS<it>16 </it>was absent in all but three isolates from 100 livestock, food-associated and human commensal strains ("non-CC17"; 64 MLST types). The three IS<it>16</it>-positive human commensal isolates revealed MLST types belonging to the clonal complex of hospital-associated strains (CC17). The values predicting a hospital-associated strain ("CC17") deduced from presence and absence of IS<it>16 </it>was 100% and thus superior to screening for the presence of <it>esp </it>(66%) and/or <it>hyl</it><sub><it>Efm </it></sub>(46%). Southern hybridizations revealed chromosomal as well as plasmid localization of IS<it>16</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This simple screening assay for insertion element IS<it>16 </it>is capable of differentiating hospital-associated from human commensal, livestock- and food-associated <it>E. faecium </it>strains and thus allows predicting the epidemic strengths or supposed pathogenic potential of a given <it>E. faecium </it>isolate identified within the nosocomial setting.</p
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