Data taking strategy for the phase study in ψ′→K+K−\psi^{\prime} \to K^+K^-

The study of the relative phase between strong and electromagnetic amplitudes is of great importance for understanding the dynamics of charmonium decays. The information of the phase can be obtained model-independently by fitting the scan data of some special decay channels, one of which is $\psi^{\prime} \to K^{+}K^{-}$. To find out the optimal data taking strategy for a scan experiment in the measurement of the phase in $\psi^{\prime} \to K^{+} K^{-}$, the minimization process is analyzed from a theoretical point of view. The result indicates that for one parameter fit, only one data taking point in the vicinity of a resonance peak is sufficient to acquire the optimal precision. Numerical results are obtained by fitting simulated scan data. Besides the results related to the relative phase between strong and electromagnetic amplitudes, the method is extended to analyze the fits of other resonant parameters, such as the mass and the total decay width of $\psi^{\prime}$.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Stoner gap in the superconducting ferromagnet UGe2

We report the temperature ($T$) dependence of ferromagnetic Bragg peak intensities and dc magnetization of the superconducting ferromagnet UGe2 under pressure ($P$). We have found that the low-$T$ behavior of the uniform magnetization can be explained by a conventional Stoner model. A functional analysis of the data produces the following results: The ferromagnetic state below a critical pressure can be understood as the perfectly polarized state, in which heavy quasiparticles occupy only majority spin bands. A Stoner gap $\Delta(P)$ decreases monotonically with increasing pressure and increases linearly with magnetic field. We show that the present analysis based on the Stoner model is justified by a consistency check, i.e., comparison of density of states at the Fermi energy deduced from the analysis with observed electronic specific heat coeffieients. We also argue the influence of the ferromagnetism on the superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. to be published in Phys. Rev.

Genetic variation of wheat landraces in Afghanistan

Dissertação de mestrado em Ensino de Biologia e de Geologia no 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Terra e Departamento de Ciências da VidaO presente relatório é referente ao período de Estágio Pedagógico, desenvolvido no âmbito do Mestrado em Ensino de Biologia e de Geologia no 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário. O relatório descreve e analisa as atividades organizadas e desenvolvidas durante o estágio realizado na Escola Secundária D. Duarte, durante o ano letivo de 2013/2014. As práticas letivas foram circunscritas ao lecionamento supervisionado dos temas selecionados em Geologia e Biologia do 10º ano. Mais concretamente, os Métodos de estudo para o interior da geosfera e Vulcanologia e o Transporte nas plantas. Neste trabalho participaram alunos de duas turmas tendo sido lecionado o conteúdo de Geologia à turma A e o de Biologia à turma B. As estratégias e os recursos foram avaliados por intermédio de instrumentos de avaliação: diagnóstica (pré-teste e pós-teste, no início e final, respetivamente, de cada um dos períodos de lecionamento); sumativa (questões, específicas dos conteúdos selecionados, e integradas no terceiro e quinto teste sumativo); e questionários. Tanto em Geologia como em Biologia, verificou-se evolução positiva nos resultados do pré para o pós-teste. Relativamente aos testes sumativos, a avaliação foi diferenciada em procedimental e conceptual. Apesar dos resultados positivos a nível conceptual, os alunos revelaram muitas dificuldades a nível procedimental, provavelmente relacionado com o facto de a amostra ter uma média de idades inferior a 15 anos, não tendo sido preparados para o tipo de questões (itens de construção) utilizadas na avaliação procedimental. A análise dos resultados permitiu concluir que as estratégias e recursos tiveram influência na construção dos conhecimentos científicos de Geologia e Biologia. Nos questionários, os alunos também consideraram que as estratégias e recursos contribuíram para as suas aprendizagens. Neste trabalho, identificam-se as limitações das estratégias, dos recursos e dos procedimentos do docente, propondo-se possíveis alternativas e soluções.This report comprises the period of Pedagogical Training, developed within the framework of the Master in Teaching of Biology and Geology in the 3rd Cycle of Basic Education and Secondary Education. The report describes and analyzes the activities organized and carried out during the internship at D. Duarte High School, throughout the academic year of 2013/2014. The practices were confined to the supervised teaching of the selected themes in 10th grade Geology and Biology. Specifically, the Methods of study into the interior of the geosphere and Volcanology and Transport in plants. Students from two classes participated in this work, having been taught the content of Geology in class A and of Biology in class B. Strategies and resources were evaluated by means of assessment tools: diagnostic (pre-test and post-test, respectively in the beginning and end of each of the teaching periods); summative (specific questions of the selected content, and integrated in the third and fifth summative test); and questionnaires. It was ascertain, both in Biology and Geology, a positive development of the results from the pre to the post-test. Regarding summative tests, evaluation was differentiated as procedural and conceptual. Despite the positive results at the conceptual level, students revealed many difficulties in the procedural level, probably related to the fact that the age average of the sample was less than 15 years old and had not been prepared for the type of questions (building items) used in the procedural evaluation. The analysis of the results permitted to conclude that the strategies and resources influenced the construction of scientific knowledge of geology and biology. In the questionnaires, students also felt that the strategies and resources contributed to their learning. In this work are identified the limitations of the strategies, resources and teacher procedures, proposing possible alternatives and solutions

Quantum Dense Coding Exploiting Bright EPR Beam

Highly efficient quantum dense coding for continuous variables has been experimentally accomplished by means of exploiting bright EPR beam with anticorrelation of amplitude quadratures and correlation of phase quadratures, which is generated from a nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier operating in the state of deamplification. Two bits of classical information are encoded on two quadratures of a half of bright EPR beam at the sender Alice and transmitted to the receiver Bob via one qubit of the shared quantum state after encoding. The amplitude and phase signals are simultaneously decoded with the other half of EPR beam by the direct measurement of the Bell-state at Bob. The signal to noise ratios of the simultaneously measured amplitude and phase signals are improved 5.4dB and 4.8dB with respect to that of the shot noise limit respectively. A high degree of immunity to unauthorized eavesdropping of the presented quantum communication scheme is experimentally demonstrated.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Lack of association between estrogen receptor β dinucleotide repeat polymorphism and autoimmune thyroid diseases in Japanese patients

BACKGROUND: The autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), such as Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), appear to develop as a result of complex interactions between predisposing genes and environmental triggers. Susceptibility to AITDs is conferred by genes in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and genes unlinked to HLA, including the CTLA-4 gene. Recently, estrogen receptor (ER) β, located at human chromosome 14q23-24.1, was identifed. We analyzed a dinucleotide (CA)n repeat polymorphism located in the flanking region of ERβ gene in patients with AITDs and in normal subjects. High heterozygosity makes this polymorphism a useful marker in the genetic study of disorders affecting female endocrine systems. We also correlated a ERβ gene microsatellite polymorphism with bone mineral density (BMD) in the distal radius and biochemical markers of bone turnover in patients with GD in remission. RESULTS: Fourteen different alleles were found in 133 patients with GD, 114 patients with HT, and 179 controls subjects. The various alleles were designated as allele(*)1 through allele(*)14 according to the number of the repeats, from 18 to 30. There was no significant difference in the distributions of ERβ alleles between patient groups and controls. Although recent study demonstrated a significant relation between a allele(*)9 in the ERβ gene and BMD in postmenopausal Japanese women, there were no statistically significant interaction between this allele and BMD in the distal radius, nor biochemical markers in patients with GD in remission. CONCLUSIONS: The present results do not support an association between the ERβ microsatellite marker and AITD in the Japanese population. We also suggest that the ERβ microsatellite polymorphism has at most a minor pathogenic importance in predicting the risk of osteoporosis as a complication of GD

Spectral Correlation in Incommensurate Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We investigate the energy spectra of clean incommensurate double-walled carbon nanotubes, and find that the overall spectral properties are described by the so-called critical statistics of Anderson metal-insulator transition. In the energy spectra, there exist three different regimes characterized by Wigner-Dyson, Poisson, and semi-Poisson distributions. This feature implies that the electron transport in incommensurate multi-walled nanotubes can be either diffusive, ballistic, or intermediate between them, depending on the position of the Fermi energy.Comment: final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Cosmic-ray strangelets in the Earth's atmosphere

If strange quark matter is stable in small lumps, we expect to find such lumps, called ``strangelets'', on Earth due to a steady flux in cosmic rays. Following recent astrophysical models, we predict the strangelet flux at the top of the atmosphere, and trace the strangelets' behavior in atmospheric chemistry and circulation. We show that several strangelet species may have large abundances in the atmosphere; that they should respond favorably to laboratory-scale preconcentration techniques; and that they present promising targets for mass spectroscopy experiments.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, revtex

Information loss in local dissipation environments

The sensitivity of entanglement to the thermal and squeezed reservoirs' parameters is investigated regarding entanglement decay and what is called sudden-death of entanglement, ESD, for a system of two qubit pairs. The dynamics of information is investigated by means of the information disturbance and exchange information. We show that for squeezed reservoir, we can keep both of the entanglement and information survival for a long time. The sudden death of information is seen in the case of thermal reservoir