A coupled analysis of sloshing in floating structures by integrating moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method with a time domain multibody dynamic analysis software

Sloshing effects inside partially filled tanks on LNG carriers and FPSOs motions cannot be ignored. It is necessary to analyze the floating structures motion with the sloshing behavior simultaneously to obtain more accurate stability predictions because the phenomenon may affect the safety and the operability of the vessels in seaways and during loading and offloading process. In the present study, in order to model the coupled effects of platforms motion in waves and the liquid sloshing inside its tank, a hybrid timedomain simulation approach based on the integration of two simulators is proposed. The Numerical Offshore Tank (TPN) simulator, which is a time domain multibody dynamic analysis software, is used for the simulation of open domain hydrodynamic forces. It is able to perform calculations of coupled floating structures motion with the dynamic of mooring and connection lines and risers considering environmental condition such as wave, current and wind. In the other hand, due to the highly nonlinear aspect of the sloshing phenomenon, the Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method, which demands huge computing resources and it is more suitable to confined domain problems, is used to simulate the sloshing motion and to calculate the loads on the tank walls. The effects due to sloshing is then feed-backed to the TPN simulator as additional force and moment to solve the motion equation of the floating structure. The calculation can be distributed in a PCs cluster and each sloshing tank is solved in a different node. In this way, it allows the calculation of many tanks without increasing the computational time. Simulations were carried out with and without considering the coupled sloshing motions, and the results were compared to assess the effects of the liquid cargo sloshing on the motion of the floating structure

The Strange Parton Distribution of the Nucleon: Global Analysis and Applications

The strangeness degrees of freedom in the parton structure of the nucleon are explored in the global analysis framework, using the new CTEQ6.5 implementation of the general mass perturbative QCD formalism of Collins. We systematically determine the constraining power of available hard scattering experimental data on the magnitude and shape of the strange quark and anti-quark parton distributions. We find that current data favor a distinct shape of the strange sea compared to the isoscalar non-strange sea. A new reference parton distribution set, CTEQ6.5S0, and representative sets spanning the allowed ranges of magnitude and shape of the strange distributions, are presented. Some applications to physical processes of current interest in hadron collider phenomenology are discussed.Comment: 19 pages; revised version submitted to JHE

R-parity violation effect on the top-quark pair production at linear colliders

We investigate in detail the effects of the R-parity lepton number violation in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) on the top-quark pair production via both $e^--e^+$ and $\gamma-\gamma$ collision modes at the linear colliders. We find that with the present experimental constrained $\rlap/{R}$ parameters, the effect from $\rlap/{R}$ interactions on the processes $e^+e^-\to t\bar{t}$ and $e^+e^- \to \gamma\gamma \to t\bar{t}$ could be significant and may reach -30% and several percent, respectively. Our results show that the $\rlap/{R}$ effects are sensitive to the c.m.s. energy and the relevant $\rlap/{R}$ parameters. However, they are not sensitive to squark and slepton masses when $m_{\tilde{q}} \geq 400 GeV$ (or $m_{\tilde{l}} \geq 300 GeV$) and are almost independent on the $\tan\beta$Comment: Accepted by Phys.Rev.

Pair production of neutralinos via gluon-gluon collisions

The production of a neutralino pair via gluon-gluon fusion is studied in the minimal supersymmetric model(MSSM) at proton-proton colliders. The numerical analysis of their production rates are carried out in the mSUGRA scenario. The results show that this cross section may reach about 80 femto barn for $\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{1}\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ pair production and 23 femto barn for $\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}\tilde{\chi}^{0}_{2}$ pair production with suitable input parameters at the future LHC collider. It shows that this loop mediated process can be competitive with the quark-antiquark annihilation process at the LHC.Comment: LaTex file, l4 pages, 5 EPS figure

Pair Production of the Lightest Chargino via Gluon-Gluon Collisions

The production of the lightest chargino pair from gluon-gluon fusion is studied in the minimal supersymmetric model(MSSM) at proton-proton colliders. We find that with the chosen parameters, the production rate of the subprocess can be over 2.7 femto barn when the chargino is higgsino-like, and the corresponding total cross section in proton-proton collider can reach 56 femto barn at the LHC in the CP-conserving MSSM. It shows that this loop mediated subprocess can be competitive with the standard Drell-Yan subprocess in proton-proton colliders, especially at the LHC. Furthermore, our calculation shows it would be possible to extract information about some CP-violating phase parameters, if we collected enough chargino pair events.Comment: 39 pages, LaTex, 8 figure

Muon anomalous magnetic moment in the standard model with two Higgs doublets

The muon anomalous magnetic moment is investigated in the standard model with two Higgs doublets (S2HDM) motivated from spontaneous CP violation. Thus all the effective Yukawa couplings become complex. As a consequence of the non-zero phase in the couplings, the one loop contribution from the neutral scalar bosons could be positive and negative relying on the CP phases. The interference between one and two loop diagrams can be constructive in a large parameter space of CP-phases. This will result in a significant contribution to muon anomalous magnetic moment even in the flavor conserving process with a heavy neutral scalar boson ($m_h \sim$ 200 GeV) once the effective muon Yukawa coupling is large ($|\xi_\mu|\sim 50$). In general, the one loop contributions from lepton flavor changing scalar interactions become more important. In particular, when all contributions are positive in a reasonable parameter space of CP phases, the recently reported 2.6 sigma experiment vs. theory deviation can be easily explained even for a heavy scalar boson with a relative small Yukawa coupling in the S2HDM.Comment: 8 pages, RevTex file, 5 figures, published version Phys. Rev. D 54 (2001) 11501

Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on epigenetics and hypertension

Hypertension, defined as a condition associated with 65140-mm Hg systolic blood pressure or 6590-mm Hg diastolic blood pressure, affects >1 billion people worldwide,1 and in 2009 it cost the US healthcare system more than $73 billion.2 Despite the availability of many antihypertensive therapies, individual responses vary, and efficacy remains a concern. Current treatments have yielded only modest reductions in the overall disease risk even in countries where therapeutics are available and affordable. The initiating causes and the pathogenic mechanisms for disease and its comorbidities remain largely unknown, and prognostic markers for adult hypertension that could improve its diagnosis, prevention, and, ultimately, its management are not yet available. As a result, 4828$3.6 trillion more over the next 10 years.

Reply to Elmendorf and Ettinger: Photoperiod playsa dominantand irreplaceable role in triggering secondary growth resumption

In their Letter, Elmendorf and Ettinger (1) question the dominant role of photoperiod in driving secondary growth resumption (hereafter referred to as xylem formation onset) of the Northern Hemisphere conifers, recently reported by Huang et al. (2). Their opinions are grounded on the following three aspects, including 1) the seasonality of the photoperiod, 2) the dependence of the predictor variables (e.g., photoperiod, forcing, and chilling) on the response variable (the date of onset of xylem formation, day of the year [DOY]), and 3) the limited value of the obtained models for interannual forecasting. We think they bring up an interesting issue that deserves further discussion and clarification. Photoperiod is acknowledged to regulate spring bud swelling while wood formation starts (3, 4). Although photoperiod seasonality occurs at each site, its influence is marginal in our study given that the analysis involved comparisons among sites across the Northern Hemisphere. Our conclusion that photoperiod plays a dominant role was built upon the combination of several coherent pieces of evidence, rather than “the crux of Huang et al….” as they pointed out. First, we clearly stated that model 2, which modeled DOY as a function of the mean annual temperature of the site (MAT), forcing, chilling, and soil moisture, was considered the best model in terms of parsimony according to minimum Akaike information criterion and Bayesian information criterion, rather than R2 as referred to in their Letter. Second, photoperiod interacted with MAT and can explain 61.7% of the variance of MAT alone (2). Therefore, we concluded that secondary growth resumption was driven primarily by MAT and photoperiod or by their interaction, which is challenging to be disentangled without experimental data, we agree. In terms of biological functioning, they play an ..

Improved measurement of the branching ratio of J/psi-->K_S K_L

The branching ratio of J/psi-->K_S K_L is measured with improved precision to be B(J/psi-->K_S K_L) = (1.82\pm 0.04\pm 0.13)\times 10^{-4}. using J/psi data collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider. This result is used to test the perturbative QCD ``12%'' rule between psi(2S) and J/psi decays and to investigate the relative phase between the three-gluon and one-photon annihilation amplitudes in J/psi decays.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.