8,691 research outputs found
Report of the 2005 Snowmass Top/QCD Working Group
This report discusses several topics in both top quark physics and QCD at an
International Linear Collider (ILC). Issues such as measurements at the
threshold, including both theoretical and machine requirements, and
the determination of electroweak top quark couplings, are reviewed. New results
concerning the potential of a 500 GeV collider for measuring
couplings and the top quark Yukawa coupling are presented. The status of higher
order QCD corrections to jet production cross sections, heavy quark form
factors, and longitudinal gauge boson scattering, needed for percent-level
studies at the ILC, are reviewed. A new study of the measurement of the
hadronic structure of the photon at a collider is presented. The
effects on top quark properties from several models of new physics, including
composite models, Little Higgs theories, and CPT violation, are studied.Comment: 39 pages, many figs; typos fixed and refs added. Contributed to the
2005 International Linear Collider Physics and Detector Workshop and 2nd ILC
Accelerator Workshop, Snowmass, Colorado, 14-27 Aug 200
Erasmus Language students in a British University – a case study
Students’ assessment of their academic experience is actively sought by Higher Education institutions, as evidenced in the National Student Survey introduced in 2005. Erasmus students, despite their growing numbers, tend to be excluded from these satisfaction surveys, even though they, too, are primary customers of a University. This study aims to present results from bespoke questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with a sample of Erasmus students studying languages in a British University. These methods allow us insight into the experience of these students and their assessment as a primary customer, with a focus on language learning and teaching, university facilities and student support. It investigates to what extent these factors influence their levels of satisfaction and what costs of adaptation if any, they encounter. Although excellent levels of satisfaction were found, some costs affect their experience. They relate to difficulties in adapting to a learning methodology based on a low number of hours and independent learning and to a guidance and support system seen as too stifling. The results portray this cohort’s British University as a well-equipped and well-meaning but ultimately overbearing institution, which may indicate that minimising costs can eliminate some sources of dissatisfaction
Quantifying Exocytosis by Combination of Membrane Capacitance Measurements and Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy in Chromaffin Cells
Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRF-Microscopy) allows the observation of individual secretory vesicles in real-time during exocytosis. In contrast to electrophysiological methods, such as membrane capacitance recording or carbon fiber amperometry, TIRF-Microscopy also enables the observation of vesicles as they reside close to the plasma membrane prior to fusion. However, TIRF-Microscopy is limited to the visualization of vesicles that are located near the membrane attached to the glass coverslip on which the cell grows. This has raised concerns as to whether exocytosis measured with TIRF-Microscopy is comparable to global secretion of the cell measured with membrane capacitance recording. Here we address this concern by combining TIRF-Microscopy and membrane capacitance recording to quantify exocytosis from adrenal chromaffin cells. We found that secretion measured with TIRF-Microscopy is representative of the overall secretion of the cells, thereby validating for the first time the TIRF method as a measure of secretion. Furthermore, the combination of these two techniques provides a new tool for investigating the molecular mechanism of synaptic transmission with combined electrophysiological and imaging techniques
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SDSS spectroscopic survey of stars
In addition to optical photometry of unprecedented quality, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is also producing a massive spectroscopic database. They discuss determination of stellar parameters, such as effective temperature, gravity and metallicity from SDSS spectra, describe correlations between kinematics and metallicity, and study their variation as a function of the position in the Galaxy. They show that stellar parameter estimates by Beers et al. show a good correlation with the position of a star in the g-r vs. u-g color-color diagram, thereby demonstrating their robustness as well as a potential for photometric parameter estimation methods. Using Beers et al. parameters, they find that the metallicity distribution of the Milky Way stars at a few kpc from the galactic plane is bimodal with a local minimum at [Z/Z{sub {circle_dot}}] {approx} -1.3. The median metallicity for the low-metallicity [Z/Z{sub {circle_dot}}] < =1.3 subsample is nearly independent of Galactic cylindrical coordinates R and z, while it decreases with z for the high-metallicity [Z/Z{sub {circle_dot}}] > -1.3 sample. they also find that the low-metallicity sample has {approx} 2.5 times larger velocity dispersion and that it does not rotate (at the {approx} 10 km/s level), while the rotational velocity of the high-metallicity sample decreases smoothly with the height above the galactic plane
Self-Consistent Quasi-Particle RPA for the Description of Superfluid Fermi Systems
Self-Consistent Quasi-Particle RPA (SCQRPA) is for the first time applied to
a more level pairing case. Various filling situations and values for the
coupling constant are considered. Very encouraging results in comparison with
the exact solution of the model are obtained. The nature of the low lying mode
in SCQRPA is identified. The strong reduction of the number fluctuation in
SCQRPA vs BCS is pointed out. The transition from superfluidity to the normal
fluid case is carefully investigated.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures and 1 table, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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Hybrid bubble chamber studies of K+ p and K- p interactions at 75-GeV/c
We propose to expose the FNAL 30' liquid hydrogen bubble chamber to K{sup +} and K{sup -} beams both at 75 GeV/c. Each exposure consists of 100,000 equivalent K pictures. We plan to use the upstream tagging system currently in place and a downstream spectrometer with acceptance considerably increased over that of the current PHC system. This new downstream system will also be equipped with a lead glass photon detector with good spatial and energy resolution. We will study comparison of K{sup +} and K{sup -} results, as well as results from {pi}{sup +}, {pi}{sup -} , and {bar p} beams at this energy which are the subject of separate proposals
A Study of Cosmic Ray Composition in the Knee Region using Multiple Muon Events in the Soudan 2 Detector
Deep underground muon events recorded by the Soudan 2 detector, located at a
depth of 2100 meters of water equivalent, have been used to infer the nuclear
composition of cosmic rays in the "knee" region of the cosmic ray energy
spectrum. The observed muon multiplicity distribution favors a composition
model with a substantial proton content in the energy region 800,000 -
13,000,000 GeV/nucleus.Comment: 38 pages including 11 figures, Latex, submitted to Physical Review
On the problem of the justification of river rights
This article aims to work out the social conditions that determine whether the
communication of river rights finds success in society. Employing the context of
hydropower development in the Mekong region, the article finds that an essentialist
strategy which claims that river rights have unlimited ‘moral’ validity regardless of any
of the decision consequences is unlikely to succeed. Instead, it is proposed that moral
conflicts over river rights may ultimately only be resolvable ‘unmorally’, that is, by
procedural legitimacy – and this is best captured by employing a methodological
framework composed of thematic, social and temporal dimension
Docking of LDCVs Is Modulated by Lower Intracellular [Ca2+] than Priming
Many regulatory steps precede final membrane fusion in neuroendocrine cells. Some parts of this preparatory cascade, including fusion and priming, are dependent on the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i). However, the functional implications of [Ca2+]i in the regulation of docking remain elusive and controversial due to an inability to determine the modulatory effect of [Ca2+]i. Using a combination of TIRF-microscopy and electrophysiology we followed the movement of large dense core vesicles (LDCVs) close to the plasma membrane, simultaneously measuring membrane capacitance and [Ca2+]i. We found that a free [Ca2+]i of 700 nM maximized the immediately releasable pool and minimized the lateral mobility of vesicles, which is consistent with a maximal increase of the pool size of primed LDCVs. The parameters that reflect docking, i.e. axial mobility and the fraction of LDCVs residing at the plasma membrane for less than 5 seconds, were strongly decreased at a free [Ca2+]i of 500 nM. These results provide the first evidence that docking and priming occur at different free intracellular Ca2+ concentrations, with docking efficiency being the most robust at 500 nM
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