Fermion masses in the economical 3-3-1 model

We show that, in frameworks of the economical 3-3-1 model, all fermions get masses. At the tree level, one up-quark and two down-quarks are massless, but the one-loop corrections give all quarks the consistent masses. This conclusion is in contradiction to the previous analysis in which, the third scalar triplet has been introduced. This result is based on the key properties of the model: First, there are three quite different scales of vacuum expectation values: \om \sim {\cal O}(1) \mathrm{TeV}, v \approx 246 \mathrm{GeV} and $u \sim {\cal O}(1) \mathrm{GeV}$. Second, there exist two types of Yukawa couplings with different strengths: the lepton-number conserving couplings $h$'s and the lepton-number violating ones $s$'s satisfying the condition in which the second are much smaller than the first ones: $s \ll h$. With the acceptable set of parameters, numerical evaluation shows that in this model, masses of the exotic quarks also have different scales, namely, the $U$ exotic quark ($q_U = 2/3$) gains mass $m_U \approx 700$ GeV, while the D_\al exotic quarks (q_{D_\al} = -1/3) have masses in the TeV scale: m_{D_\al} \in 10 \div 80 TeV.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

Characterization of strain fields in Si1-xGex island structures by means of quantitative high-resolution electron microscopy

This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Peer Reviewe

DOUBLE-TROUBLE: TAKOTSUBO AND ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME IN A YOUNG WOMAN

Background: The original case series of patients with Takotsubo Syndrome (TTS) reported no significant epicardial coronary artery disease during angiography. However, recent evidence suggests an increasing overlap between the two diseases. We report a case of a 48-year old woman who had untreated generalized anxiety disorder and presented with angina. Case: A 48-year old woman with untreated general anxiety disorder presented with a 5 hour history of angina. An electrocardiogram demonstrated a prolonged QTc, no ST segment changes and new T-wave inversions in the anterolateral leads. High-sensitivity troponin was 4,336 ng/L and her InterTAK score was 91 with a 99.6% probability of TTS. Decision-making: Due to her persistent chest pain and EKG changes the patient underwent emergent left heart catheterization which showed critical occlusion of the 1st diagonal and 71% stenosis of the distal left circumflex. She underwent a primary PCI of both lesions. Her chest pain resolved after 6 hours of a nitrolgycerin infusion postoperatively and a transthoracic echocardiogram showed hypokinesis of the mid-distal apical, periapical, septal, lateral, inferior and anterior wall with an ejection fraction of 30-35%. The distribution of hypokinesia was out of proportion to the territory supplied by the culprit artery, suggesting a possibility of the apical type of Takotsubo syndrome. She was started on guideline-directed medical therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and dual antiplatelet therapy Conclusion: Patients with TTS may have coexistent significant epicardial CAD. Prolonged QTc and lack of ST-segment elevation in patients with CAD may help identify an additional diagnosis of TTS

The Higgs Sector of the Minimal 3 3 1 Model Revisited

The mass spectrum and the eigenstates of the Higgs sector of the minimal 3 3 1 model are revisited in detail. There are discrepancies between our results and previous results by another author.Comment: 20 pages, latex, two figures. One note and one reference are adde

The fear of bad smell: Health risk awareness related to using waste in agricultural production in Vietnam

Waste watersWater reuseAgricultural productionFish farmingIrrigation waterPublic healthRisksSkin diseasesOrganic fertilizersWomen

Irreducible representations of Upq[gl(2/2)]

The two-parametric quantum superalgebra $U_{pq}[gl(2/2)]$ and its representations are considered. All finite-dimensional irreducible representations of this quantum superalgebra can be constructed and classified into typical and nontypical ones according to a proposition proved in the present paper. This proposition is a nontrivial deformation from the one for the classical superalgebra gl(2/2), unlike the case of one-parametric deformations.Comment: Latex, 8 pages. A reference added in v.

Generalization of a theorem of Gonchar

Let $X, Y$ be two complex manifolds, let $D\subset X,$ $G\subset Y$ be two nonempty open sets, let $A$ (resp. $B$) be an open subset of $\partial D$ (resp. $\partial G$), and let $W$ be the 2-fold cross $((D\cup A)\times B)\cup (A\times(B\cup G)).$ Under a geometric condition on the boundary sets $A$ and $B,$ we show that every function locally bounded, separately continuous on $W,$ continuous on $A\times B,$ and separately holomorphic on $(A\times G) \cup (D\times B)$ "extends" to a function continuous on a "domain of holomorphy" $\hat{W}$ and holomorphic on the interior of $\hat{W}.$Comment: 14 pages, to appear in Arkiv for Matemati

Challenges in diagnosing scrub typhus among hospitalized patients with undifferentiated fever at a national tertiary hospital in northern Vietnam

BACKGROUND: Scrub typhus (ST) is a leading cause of non-malarial febrile illness in Southeast Asia, but evidence of its true disease burden is limited because of difficulties of making the clinical diagnosis and lack of adequate diagnostic tests. To describe the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of ST, we conducted an observational study using multiple diagnostic assays at a national tertiary hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We enrolled 1,127 patients hospitalized with documented fever between June 2012 and May 2013. Overall, 33 (2.9%) patients were diagnosed with ST by PCR and/or screening of ELISA for immunoglobulin M (IgM) with confirmatory tests: 14 (42.4%) were confirmed by indirect immunoperoxidase assay (IIP), and 19 (57.6%) were by IIP and PCR. Living by farming, conjunctival injection, eschar, aspartate aminotransferase elevation, and alanine aminotransferase elevation were significantly associated with ST cases (adjusted odds ratios (aORs): 2.8, 3.07, 48.8, 3.51, and 4.13, respectively), and having a comorbidity and neutrophilia were significantly less common in ST cases (aORs: 0.29 and 0.27, respectively). The majority of the ST cases were not clinically diagnosed with rickettsiosis (72.7%). Dominant IIP reactions against a single antigen were identified in 15 ST cases, whereas indistinguishably high reactions against multiple antigens were seen in 11 ST cases. The most frequently observed dominant IIP reaction was against Karp antigen (eight cases) followed by Gilliam (four cases). The highest diagnostic accuracy of IgM ELISA in acute samples was 78%. In a phylogenetic analysis of the 56-kDa type-specific antigen gene, the majority (14 cases) were located in the Karp-related branch followed by the Gilliam-related (two cases), Kato-related (two cases), and TA763-related clades (one case). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Both the clinical and laboratory diagnoses of ST remain challenging at a tertiary hospital. Implementation of both serological and nucleic acid amplification assays covering endemic O. tsutsugamushi strains is essential

Titanium dioxide - activated carbon composite for photoelectrochemical degradation of phenol

In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) and titanium dioxide – activated carbon composite (TiO2–AC) were prepared by sol-gel method for photoelectrochemical (PEC) applications. Characterization of the materials was performed by scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results show that TiO2 was successfully loaded on activated carbon (AC), producing TiO2–AC with 2.61 eV of bandgap energy, lower than that of TiO2 (3.15 eV). Photoanodes based on TiO2 and TiO2–AC were fabricated and applied to PEC experiments for phenol degradation. In comparison with the TiO2 photoanode, the TiO2–AC one exhibited superior photocatalytic activity, which was indicated by a high current density and effective phenol removal. A mechanism of phenol PEC degradation on the TiO2–AC photoanode was proposed, which includes interaction between protonated phenol and active sites bearing oxygen on the photoanode surface. A kinetic model according to this mechanism was also established and fitted to experimental findings, resulting in rate constants of elementary reactions