When human life begins

The moment attributed to the beginning of human life is debated not only in religious and political communities, but within the scientific community as well. Particular attention is given to this issue as advances in science make it possible to manipulate the embryo and fetus at early stages of development. This study explores these issues as they are revealed in the literature. In particular, examination of the stages of human development associated with this issue and the correlation between these stages and their influence on ethical concerns in current scientific technologies such as abortion, cloning, and embryonic stem cell experimentation

B Production Asymmetries in Perturbative QCD

This paper explores a new mechanism for B production in which a b quark combines with a light parton from the hard-scattering process before hadronizing into the B hadron. This recombination mechanism can be calculated within perturbative QCD up to a few nonperturbative constants. Though suppressed at large transverse momentum by a factor Lambda_QCD m_b/p_t^2 relative to b quark fragmentation production, it can be important at large rapidities. A signature for this heavy-quark recombination mechanism in proton-antiproton colliders is the presence of rapidity asymmetries in B cross sections. Given reasonable assumptions about the size of nonperturbative parameters entering the calculation, we find that the asymmetries are only significant for rapidities larger than those currently probed by collider experiments.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 4 ps figures, tightenlines, sections added, final version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Parton Distributions in the Valon Model

The parton distribution functions determined by CTEQ at low $Q^2$ are used as inputs to test the validity of the valon model. The valon distributions in a nucleon are first found to be nearly $Q$ independent. The parton distribution in a valon are shown to be consistent with being universal, independent of the valon type. The momentum fractions of the partons in the valon add up separately to one. These properties affirm the validity of the valon model. The various distributions are parameterized for convenient application of the model.Comment: 9 pages + 9 figures in ep

Comparison of Nuclear Suppression Effects on Meson Production at High p_T and p_L

The medium effect on the pion distribution at high $p_T$ in $AA$ collisions is compared to that of the pion distribution at high $p_L$ in $pA$ collisions. Both the suppression of the spectra and the energy losses of the measured pions are studied. Although the medium effect on $p_T$ is larger than on $p_L$, the difference is found surprisingly to be not as big as one would naively expect.Comment: 8 RevTex pages with 5 figure

Scaling Distributions of Quarks, Mesons and Proton for all pTp_T, Energy and Centrality

We present the evidences for the existence of a universal scaling behavior of the production of $\pi^0$ at all transverse momenta in heavy-ion collisions at all centralities and all collision energies. The corresponding scaling behavior of the quarks is then derived just before the quarks recombine with antiquarks to form the pions. The degradation effect of the dense medium on the quark $p_T$ is derived from the scaling distribution. In the recombination model it is then possible to calculate the $p_T$ distributions of the produced proton and kaon, which are scaling also. Experimentally verifiable predictions are made. Implications of the existence of the scaling behavior are discussed.Comment: 10 pages in RevTeX, including 14 figures in eps file

The bard−uˉbar{d} - \bar{u} asymmetry of the proton in a Pion Cloud Model approach

We study the $bar{d} - \bar{u}$ asymmetry of the proton in a model approach in which hadronic fluctuations of the nucleon are generated through gluon splitting and recombination mechanisms. Within this framework, it is shown that the asymmetry of the proton is consistently described by including only nucleon fluctuations to $|\pi N>$ and $|\pi \Delta>$ bound states. Predictions of the model closely agree with the recent experimental data of the E866/NuSea Collaboration.Comment: Final version. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Effect of Grain Boundary Character Distribution on the Impact Toughness of 410NiMo Weld Metal

Grain boundary character distributions in 410NiMo weld metal were studied in the as-welded, first-stage, and second-stage postweld heat treatment (PWHT) conditions, and these were correlated with the Charpy-V impact toughness values of the material. The high impact toughness values in the weld metal in the as-welded and first-stage PWHT conditions compared to that in the second-stage condition are attributed to the higher fraction of low-energy I pound boundaries. A higher volume fraction of retained austenite and coarser martensite after second-stage PWHT accompanied by the formation of the ideal cube component in the 2-hour heat-treated specimen led to a reduction in the toughness value. A subsequent increase in the PWHT duration at 873 K (600 A degrees C) enhanced the formation of {111}aOE (c) 112 >, which impedes the adverse effect of the cubic component, resulting in an increase in the impact toughness. In addition to this, grain refinement during 4-hour PWHT in the second stage also increased the toughness of the weld metal

The shape of the <i>T</i>_z = +1 nucleus ⁹⁴Pd and the role of proton-neutron interactions on the structure of its excited states

Reduced transition probabilities have been extracted between excited, yrast states in the N = Z + 2 nucleus 94Pd. The transitions of interest were observed following decays of the Iπ = 14+ , Ex = 2129-keV isomeric state, which was populated following the projectile fragmentation of a 124Xe primary beam at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung accelerator facility as part of FAIR Phase-0. Experimental information regarding the reduced E2 transition strengths for the decays of the yrast 8+ and 6+ states was determined following isomer-delayed Eγ1 − Eγ2 − △T2,1 coincidence method, using the LaBr3(Ce)-based FATIMA fast-timing coincidence gamma-ray array, which allowed direct determination of lifetimes of states in 94Pd using the Generalized Centroid Difference (GCD) method. The experimental value for the half-life of the yrast 8+ state of 755(106) ps results in a reduced transition probability of B(E2:8+ →6+ ) = 205+34 −25 e2fm4 , which enables a precise verification of shell-model calculations for this unique system, lying directly between the N = Z line and the N = 50 neutron shell closure. The determined B(E2) value provides an insight into the purity of (g9/2)n configurations in competition with admixtures from excitations between the (lower) N = 3 pf and (higher) N = 4 gds orbitals for the first time. The results indicate weak collectivity expected for near-zero quadrupole deformation and an increasing importance of the T = 0 proton-neutron interaction at N = 48