Some Issues in a Gauge Model of Unparticles

We address in a recent gauge model of unparticles the issues that are important for consistency of a gauge theory, i.e., unitarity and Ward identity of physical amplitudes. We find that non-integrable singularities arise in physical quantities like cross section and decay rate from gauge interactions of unparticles. We also show that Ward identity is violated due to the lack of a dispersion relation for charged unparticles although the Ward-Takahashi identity for general Green functions is incorporated in the model. A previous observation that the unparticle's (with scaling dimension d) contribution to the gauge boson self-energy is a factor (2-d) of the particle's has been extended to the Green function of triple gauge bosons. This (2-d) rule may be generally true for any point Green functions of gauge bosons. This implies that the model would be trivial even as one that mimics certain dynamical effects on gauge bosons in which unparticles serve as an interpolating field.Comment: v1:16 pages, 3 figures. v2: some clarifications made and presentation improved, calculation and conclusion not modified; refs added and updated. Version to appear in EPJ

Local nonsimilarity method for the two-phase boundary layer in mixed convection laminar film condensation

The two-phase boundary layer in laminar film condensation was solved by Koh for the free convection regime and forced convection regime using the similarity method. But the problem on mixed convection does not admit similarity solutions. The current work develops a local nonsimilarity method for the full spectrum of mixed convection, with a generic boundary layer formulation reduced to two specific cases mathematically identical to Koh's formulations on the two limiting cases for either free or forced convection. Other solution methods for mixed convection in the literature are compared and critically evaluated to ensure a high level of accuracy in the current method. The current solution is used to extend Fujii's correlation for mixed convection to the region where the energy convection effect is significant but has been hitherto neglected. The modified Fujii correlation provides a practical engineering tool for evaluating laminar film condensation with a mixed convection boundary laye

Homologous Muscle Contraction during Unilateral Movement Does Not Show a Dominant Effect on Leg Representation of the Ipsilateral Primary Motor Cortex

Co-activation of homo- and heterotopic representations in the primary motor cortex (M1) ipsilateral to a unilateral motor task has been observed in neuroimaging studies. Further analysis showed that the ipsilateral M1 is involved in motor execution along with the contralateral M1 in humans. Additionally, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies have revealed that the size of the co-activation in the ipsilateral M1 has a muscle-dominant effect in the upper limbs, with a prominent decline of inhibition within the ipsilateral M1 occurring when a homologous muscle contracts. However, the homologous muscle-dominant effect in the ipsilateral M1 is less clear in the lower limbs. The present study investigates the response of corticospinal output and intracortical inhibition in the leg representation of the ipsilateral M1 during a unilateral motor task, with homo- or heterogeneous muscles. We assessed functional changes within the ipsilateral M1 and in corticospinal outputs associated with different contracting muscles in 15 right-handed healthy subjects. Motor tasks were performed with the right-side limb, including movements of the upper and lower limbs. TMS paradigms were measured, consisting of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and recruitment curves (RCs) of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the right M1, and responses were recorded from the left rectus femoris (RF) and left tibialis anterior (TA) muscles. TMS results showed that significant declines in SICI and prominent increases in MEPs of the left TA and left RF during unilateral movements. Cortical activations were associated with the muscles contracting during the movements. The present data demonstrate that activation of the ipsilateral M1 on leg representation could be increased during unilateral movement. However, no homologous muscle-dominant effect was evident in the leg muscles. The results may reflect that functional coupling of bilateral leg muscles is a reciprocal movement

Construction of microfluidic biochips with enhanced functionalities using 3D femtosecond laser direct writing

The extreme nonlinear interaction betweenfemtosecond laser pulses and large-band-gapmaterials has enabled three-dimensional (3D)microfabrication inside transparent materials. In thepast decade, this technique has been used forcreating a variety of functional components in glassmaterials, including microoptics, microfluidics,microelectronics, micromechanics, etc. Using thesebuilding blocks, femtosecond laser microfabricationalso allows for construction of highly integratedmicrodevices. Here, we provide an overview of ourlatest progress made along this direction, includingfocal spot engineering and nanofluidic fabrication.In particular, we show that 3D micro-/nano-fluidiccomponents with arbitrary geometries can bedirectly formed inside glass. This opens uppromising prospects for a broad spectrum ofapplications based on compact and complex 3Dmicrofluidic networks. Our work shows that thistechnique holds promise for fabricating 3D hybridmicro-systems, such as Lab-on-a-chip devices andMicro Total Analysis Systems in the future

Coding, Multicast and Cooperation for Cache-Enabled Heterogeneous Small Cell Networks

Caching at the wireless edge is a promising approach to dealing with massive content delivery in heterogeneous wireless networks, which have high demands on backhaul. In this paper, a typical cache-enabled small cell network under heterogeneous file and network settings is considered using maximum distance separable (MDS) codes for content restructuring. Unlike those in the literature considering online settings with the assumption of perfect user request information, we estimate the joint user requests using the file popularity information and aim to minimize the long-term average backhaul load for fetching content from external storage subject to the overall cache capacity constraint by optimizing the content placement in all the cells jointly. Both multicast-aware caching and cooperative caching schemes with optimal content placement are proposed. In order to combine the advantages of multicast content delivery and cooperative content sharing, a compound caching technique, which is referred to as multicast-aware cooperative caching, is then developed. For this technique, a greedy approach and a multicast-aware in-cluster cooperative approach are proposed for the small-scale networks and large-scale networks, respectively. Mathematical analysis and simulation results are presented to illustrate the advantages of MDS codes, multicast, and cooperation in terms of reducing the backhaul requirements for cache-enabled small cell networks

Burden of Disease in Japan: Using National and Subnational Data to Inform Local Health Policy

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study has been instrumental in guiding global health policy development since the early 1990s. The GBD 2010 project provided rich information about the key causes of mortality, disability-adjusted life years, and their associated risk factors in Japan and provided a unique opportunity to incorporate these data into health planning. As part of the latest update of this project, GBD 2013, the Japanese GBD collaborators plan to update and refine the available burden of disease data by incorporating sub-national estimates of the burden of disease at the prefectural level. These estimates will provide health planners and policy makers at both the national and prefectural level with new, more refined tools to adapt local public health initiatives to meet the health needs of local populations. Moreover, they will enable the Japanese health system to better respond to the unique challenges in their rapidly aging population and as a complex combination of non-communicable disease risk factors begin to dominate the policy agenda. Regional collaborations will enable nations to learn from the experiences of other nations that may be at different stages of the epidemiological transition and have different exposure profiles and associated health effects. Such analyses and improvements in the data collection systems will further improve the health of the Japanese, maintain Japan's excellent record of health equity, and provide a better understanding of the direction of health policy in the region

Validity and reliability of a phone App and stopwatch for the measurement of 505 change of direction performance: a test-retest study design

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore the validity and reliability of a phone app (named: COD timer) and stopwatches for the measurement of change of direction (COD) performance. Methods: Sixty-two youth basketball players (age: 15.9 ± 1.4 yrs, height: 178.8 ± 11.0 cm, body mass: 70.0 ± 14.1 kg) performed six trials of 505 COD test (with the left side being the plant leg first, then the right side). The completion time was measured simultaneously via timing gates (with error correction processing algorithms), the phone app and stopwatches. Results: There was an almost perfect correlation and agreement between timing gates and COD timer (r = 0.978; SEE = 0.035 s; LoA =-0.08~0.06 s), but a lower correlation and agreement between timing gates and stopwatch (r = 0.954; SEE = 0.050 s; LoA =-0.17~0.04 s) with statistical significance in completion time (ES = 1.29, 95%CI: 1.15-1.43, p < 0.01). The coefficient of variation revealed similar level of dispersion between the three timing devices (timing gates: 6.58%; COD timer: 6.32%; stopwatch: 6.71%). Inter-observer reliability (ICC = 0.991) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.998) were excellent in COD timer, while the inter-observer reliability was lower (ICC = 0.890) in the stopwatches. Conclusion: In the 505 COD test, the COD timer was able to provide a valid and reliable measurement. On the contrary, stopwatch was not recommended because of large error. Thus, if timing gates are unavailable, practitioners can adopt the COD timer app to assess 505 COD speed times