Form Factors for Exclusive Semileptonic BB--Decays

We developed the new parton model approach for exclusive semileptonic decays of $B$-meson to $D,~D^*$ by extending the inclusive parton model, and by combining with the results of the HQET, motivated by Drell-Yan process. Without the nearest pole dominance ans\"atze, we {\bf derived} the dependences of hadronic form factors on $q^2$. We also calculated numerically the slope of the Isgur-Wise function, which is consistent with the experimental results.Comment: 20 pages, RevTex, 2 ps figure files(uuencoded in seperate file

Supporting Pedagogical Practices Through the Interactive Learning Network (ILN)

Led by Mr. James Henri, Deputy Director of CITE, the IPPO project is co-investigated by six staff members of the Division of Information & Technology Studies. Like in the IPPO project, the seminar will be run as a team effort of the IPPO team.This seminar is co-organised with the Faculty of Education Research Office In this seminar, the speakers share with participants their experiences of implementing different online pedagogical practices using the ILN, the online learning support platform that CITE has developed. The speakers will draw on a collaborative action research project, the Innovative Pedagogical Practices Online (IPPO) project, funded by HKU SPACE Research Grant and launched early in 2003 within the Division of IT&S. Objectives of the study included investigating the learning styles of part-time students in the BEd ITE and LIS programs to enhance motivation and performance. Innovative practices were developed and trialed using the ILN platform to investigate how self-directed BEd students are in their learning. The ILN is a purpose built Content and Learner Management System allowing online delivery and access to materials. It is also a community-building environment where teachers/students work as teams and engage in reflective, collegial patterns of work. It facilitates both cognitive and social scaffolding, enabling educators and students to become progressively more involved in the community to sustain their commitment and interests. This environment is designed to support academic programs that rely heavily on pedagogies that emphasize the emergence and growth of autonomous, collaborative learning, rather than teacher-directed delivery of learning materials. This presentation will outline overall pedagogical design and showcase three examples of IPPO highlighting the ILN features used. The various approaches to integrating ILN to support pedagogy, peer and student-teacher interaction, and scaffolding will be demonstrated. Lecturers will provide an assessment of how well learning outcomes were achieved in their IPPO environments.published_or_final_versionCentre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kon

Source of tubercle bacilli in cervical lymph nodes: A prospective study

A prospective study searching for associated mycobacterial infection of the upper aerodigestive tract in patients with cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN) was carried out. One hundred and thirteen patients with a clinical suspicion of cervical TBLN were included. All patients had a physical examination of the upper aerodigestive tract. Routine endoscopy and biopsy of the nasopharynx were performed. All of them had surgery to the cervical lymph node. Seventy-five patients had histologically confirmed cervical TBLN. Culture of the lymph node specimen showed Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 68 (90 per cent). In 45 (60 per cent) patients with cervical TBLN the primary foci of infection could not be found. Twenty-nine (39 per cent) had radiographic evidence of active or healed pulmonary tuberculosis. Sputum culture from two patients showed Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Five patients (six per cent) had tuberculous nasopharyngitis. In one of them (one per cent) the tuberculous nasopharyngitis was primary as no other evidence of mycobacterial infection was found. In the present study, mycobacterial infection of other parts of the upper aerodigestive tract was not found.published_or_final_versio

General analysis on the use of tesla's resonators in domino forms for wireless power transfer

In this paper, we present a brief overview of historical developments of wireless power and an analysis on the use of Tesla's resonators in domino forms for wireless power transfer. Relay resonators are spaced between the transmitter and receiver coils with the objectives of maximizing energy efficiency and increasing the overall transmission distance between the power source and the load. Analytical expressions for the optimal load and maximum efficiency at resonance frequency are derived. These equations are verified with practical measurements obtained from both coaxial and noncoaxial domino resonator systems. To avoid the use of high operating frequency for wireless power transfer in previous related research, the technique presented here can be used at submegahertz operation so as to minimize the power loss in both the power supply and the output stage. We demonstrated both theoretically and practically that unequal spacing for the coaxial straight domino systems has better efficiency performance than the equal-spacing method. Also, the flexibility of using resonators in various domino forms is demonstrated. © 2012 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Inflammation-induced changes in BKCa currents in cutaneous dorsal root ganglion neurons from the adult rat

Background\ud Inflammation-induced sensitization of primary afferents is associated with a decrease in K+ current. However, the type of K+ current and basis for the decrease varies as a function of target of innervation. Because glabrous skin of the rat hindpaw is used often to assess changes in nociception in models of persistent pain, the purpose of the present study was to determine the type and extent to which K+ currents contribute to the inflammation-induced sensitization of cutaneous afferents. Acutely dissociated retrogradely labeled cutaneous dorsal root ganglion neurons from naïve and inflamed (3 days post complete Freund’s adjuvant injection) rats were studied with whole cell and perforated patch techniques.\ud \ud Results\ud Inflammation-induced sensitization of small diameter cutaneous neurons was associated with an increase in action potential duration and rate of decay of the afterhyperpolarization. However, no changes in voltage-gated K+ currents were detected. In contrast, Ca2+ modulated iberiotoxin sensitive and paxilline sensitive K+ (BKCa) currents were significantly smaller in small diameter IB4+ neurons. This decrease in current was not associated with a detectable change in total protein levels of the BKCa channel α or β subunits. Single cell PCR analysis revealed a significant change in the pattern of expression of α subunit splice variants and β subunits that were consistent, at least in part, with inflammation-induced changes in the biophysical properties of BKCa currents in cutaneous neurons.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Results of this study provide additional support for the conclusion that it may be possible, if not necessary to selectively treat pain arising from specific body regions. Because a decrease in BKCa current appears to contribute to the inflammation-induced sensitization of cutaneous afferents, BKCa channel openers may be effective for the treatment of inflammatory pain

Analysis of Platforms and Functions of Mobile-Based Personal Health Record Systems

ObjectivesLittle is known about the platforms and functionalities of mobile-based personal health record (PHR) applications. The objective of this study was to investigate these two features of PHR systems.MethodsThe unit of analysis was general hospitals with more than 100 beds. This study was based on a PHR survey conducted from May 1 to June 30, 2020 and the National Health Insurance administrative data as of March 31, 2020. The study considered the platform, Android and iPhone operation system (iOS), and types of functionalities of PHR systems. Among the 316 target hospitals, 103 hospitals had adopted PHR systems. A logistic regression analysis was used.ResultsThis study found that 103 hospitals had adopted mobile-based PHR systems for their patients. Sixty-four hospitals (62.1%) were adopting both Android and iOS, but 36 (35.0%) and 3 (2.9%) hospitals were adopting Android only or iOS only, respectively. The PHR systems of hospitals adopting both platforms were more likely to have functions for viewing prescriptions, clinical diagnostic test results, and upcoming appointment status compared to those adopting a single platform (p \u3c 0.001). The number of beds (odds ratio [OR] = 1.004; confidence interval [CI], 1.001–1.007; p = 0.0029) and the number of computed tomography systems (CTs) per 100 beds (OR = 6.350; CI, 1.006–40.084; p = 0.0493) were significantly associated with the adoption of both platforms.ConclusionsMore than 60% of hospitals had adopted both Android and iOS platforms for their patients in Korea. Hospitals adopting both platforms had additional functionalities and significant association with the number of beds and CTs

Regulatory role of miR-142-3p on the functional hepatic cancer stem cell marker CD133

This journal suppl. entitled: Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CATumor relapse after therapy typifies hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is believed to be attributable to residual cancer stem cells (CSCs) that survive initial treatment. We have previously identified a CSC population derived from HCC that is characterized by the expression of the transmembrane glycoprotein, CD133. Despite our growing knowledge of the importance of a functional CD133+ liver CSC subset in driving HCC, the regulatory mechanism of CD133 is not known. Epigenetic changes are believed to be essential in the control of cancer and stem cells. We report here the dynamic epigenetic regulation of the functional liver CSC marker CD133 by promoter methylation and miR-142-3p regulation. Unlike in other tumor types, we found DNA methylation to only play a minor role in the control of CD133 expression in HCC. More importantly, our results revealed that miR-142-3p plays an integral part in the direct targeting of ...postprin

Observation of First-Order Metal-Insulator Transition without Structural Phase Transition in VO_2

An abrupt first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT) without structural phase transition is first observed by current-voltage measurements and micro-Raman scattering experiments, when a DC electric field is applied to a Mott insulator VO_2 based two-terminal device. An abrupt current jump is measured at a critical electric field. The Raman-shift frequency and the bandwidth of the most predominant Raman-active A_g mode, excited by the electric field, do not change through the abrupt MIT, while, they, excited by temperature, pronouncedly soften and damp (structural MIT), respectively. This structural MIT is found to occur secondarily.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Remarks on the Upper Bounds on the Higgs Boson Mass from Triviality

We study the effects of the one-loop matching conditions on Higgs boson and top quark masses on the triviality bounds on the Higgs boson mass using $\beta_{\lambda}$ with corrected two-loop coefficients. We obtain quite higher results than previous ones and observe that the triviality bounds are not nearly influenced by varying top quark mass over the range measured at CDF and D0. The effects of typo errors in $\beta_{\lambda}^{(2)}$ and the one-loop matching condition on the top quark mass are negligible. We estimate the size of effects on the triviality bounds from the one-loop matching condition on the Higgs boson mass.Comment: 9 pages, tar'ed gzip'ed uuencoded files, LaTex, 5 PostScript figures. To appear in Physical Review