1,049 research outputs found
Muonium-antimuonium conversion in models with heavy neutrinos
We study muonium-antimuonium conversion and mu+ e- to mu- e+ scattering
within two different lepton-flavor-violating models with heavy neutrinos: model
I is a typical seesaw that violates lepton number as well as flavor; model II
has a neutrino mass texture where lepton number is conserved. We look for the
largest possible amplitudes of these processes that are consistent with current
bounds. We find that model I has very limited chance of providing an observable
signal, except if a finely tuned condition in parameter space occurs. Model II,
on the other hand, requires no fine tuning and could cause larger effects.
However, the maximum amplitude provided by this model is still two orders of
magnitude below the sensitivity of current experiments: one predicts an
effective coupling G_MM up to 10^{-4}G_F for heavy neutrino masses near 10 TeV.
We have also clarified some discrepancies in previous literature on this
subject.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, reference adde
Rigorous results on spontaneous symmetry breaking in a one-dimensional driven particle system
We study spontaneous symmetry breaking in a one-dimensional driven
two-species stochastic cellular automaton with parallel sublattice update and
open boundaries. The dynamics are symmetric with respect to interchange of
particles. Starting from an empty initial lattice, the system enters a symmetry
broken state after some time T_1 through an amplification loop of initial
fluctuations. It remains in the symmetry broken state for a time T_2 through a
traffic jam effect. Applying a simple martingale argument, we obtain rigorous
asymptotic estimates for the expected times ~ L ln(L) and ln() ~ L,
where L is the system size. The actual value of T_1 depends strongly on the
initial fluctuation in the amplification loop. Numerical simulations suggest
that T_2 is exponentially distributed with a mean that grows exponentially in
system size. For the phase transition line we argue and confirm by simulations
that the flipping time between sign changes of the difference of particle
numbers approaches an algebraic distribution as the system size tends to
infinity.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure
The role of law and ethics in developing business management as a profession
Currently, business management is far from being recognised as a profession. This paper suggests that a professional spirit should be developed which could function as a filter of commercial reasoning. Broadly, management will not be organised within the framework of a well-established profession unless formal knowledge, licensing, professional autonomy and professional codes of conduct are developed sufficiently. In developing business management as a profession, law may play a key role. Where the idea is that business management should be more professsionalised, managers must show that they are willing to adopt ethical values, while arriving at business decisions. The paper argues that ethics cannot survive without legal regulation, which, in turn, will not be supported by law unless lawyers can find alternative solutions to the large mechanisms of the official society, secured by the monopolised coercion of the nation state. From a micro perspective of law and business ethics, communities can be developed with their own conventions, rules and standards that are generated and sanctioned within the boundaries of the communities themselves
Addressing Adherence Using Genotype-Specific PBPK Modeling—Impact of Drug Holidays on Tamoxifen and Endoxifen Plasma Levels
Genome-Wide Mapping of Uncapped and Cleaved Transcripts Reveals a Role for the Nuclear mRNA Cap-Binding Complex in Cotranslational RNA Decay in Arabidopsis
RNA turnover is necessary for controlling proper mRNA levels posttranscriptionally. In general, RNA degradation is via exoribonucleases that degrade RNA either from the 5′ end to the 3′ end, such as XRN4, or in the opposite direction by the multisubunit exosome complex. Here, we use genome-wide mapping of uncapped and cleaved transcripts to reveal the global landscape of cotranslational mRNA decay in the Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptome. We found that this process leaves a clear three nucleotide periodicity in open reading frames. This pattern of cotranslational degradation is especially evident near the ends of open reading frames, where we observe accumulation of cleavage events focused 16 to 17 nucleotides upstream of the stop codon because of ribosomal pausing during translation termination. Following treatment of Arabidopsis plants with the translation inhibitor cycloheximide, cleavage events accumulate 13 to 14 nucleotides upstream of the start codon where initiating ribosomes have been stalled with these sequences in their P site. Further analysis in xrn4 mutant plants indicates that cotranslational RNA decay is XRN4 dependent. Additionally, studies in plants lacking CAP BINDING PROTEIN80/ABA HYPERSENSITIVE1, the largest subunit of the nuclear mRNA cap binding complex, reveal a role for this protein in cotranslational decay. In total, our results demonstrate the global prevalence and features of cotranslational RNA decay in a plant transcriptome
JulianA: An automatic treatment planning platform for intensity-modulated proton therapy and its application to intra- and extracerebral neoplasms
Creating high quality treatment plans is crucial for a successful
radiotherapy treatment. However, it demands substantial effort and special
training for dosimetrists. Existing automated treatment planning systems
typically require either an explicit prioritization of planning objectives,
human-assigned objective weights, large amounts of historic plans to train an
artificial intelligence or long planning times. Many of the existing
auto-planning tools are difficult to extend to new planning goals.
A new spot weight optimisation algorithm, called JulianA, was developed. The
algorithm minimises a scalar loss function that is built only based on the
prescribed dose to the tumour and organs at risk (OARs), but does not rely on
historic plans. The objective weights in the loss function have default values
that do not need to be changed for the patients in our dataset. The system is a
versatile tool for researchers and clinicians without specialised programming
skills. Extending it is as easy as adding an additional term to the loss
function. JulianA was validated on a dataset of 19 patients with intra- and
extracerebral neoplasms within the cranial region that had been treated at our
institute. For each patient, a reference plan which was delivered to the cancer
patient, was exported from our treatment database. Then JulianA created the
auto plan using the same beam arrangement. The reference and auto plans were
given to a blinded independent reviewer who assessed the acceptability of each
plan, ranked the plans and assigned the human-/machine-made labels.
The auto plans were considered acceptable in 16 out of 19 patients and at
least as good as the reference plan for 11 patients. Whether a plan was crafted
by a dosimetrist or JulianA was only recognised for 9 cases. The median time
for the spot weight optimisation is approx. 2 min (range: 0.5 min - 7 min)
Measurement of the branching ratio for beta-delayed alpha decay of 16N
While the 12C(a,g)16O reaction plays a central role in nuclear astrophysics,
the cross section at energies relevant to hydrostatic helium burning is too
small to be directly measured in the laboratory. The beta-delayed alpha
spectrum of 16N can be used to constrain the extrapolation of the E1 component
of the S-factor; however, with this approach the resulting S-factor becomes
strongly correlated with the assumed beta-alpha branching ratio. We have
remeasured the beta-alpha branching ratio by implanting 16N ions in a segmented
Si detector and counting the number of beta-alpha decays relative to the number
of implantations. Our result, 1.49(5)e-5, represents a 24% increase compared to
the accepted value and implies an increase of 14% in the extrapolated S-factor
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