Deep-Elastic pp Scattering at LHC from Low-x Gluons

Deep-elastic pp scattering at c.m. energy 14 TeV at LHC in the momentum transfer range 4 GeV*2 < |t| < 10 GeV*2 is planned to be measured by the TOTEM group. We study this process in a model where the deep-elastic scattering is due to a single hard collision of a valence quark from one proton with a valence quark from the other proton. The hard collision originates from the low-x gluon cloud around one valence quark interacting with that of the other. The low-x gluon cloud can be identified as color glass condensate and has size ~0.3 F. Our prediction is that pp differential cross section in the large |t| region decreases smoothly as momentum transfer increases. This is in contrast to the prediction of pp differential cross section with visible oscillations and smaller cross sections by a large number of other models.Comment: 10 pages, including 4 figure

Beyond recurrent costs: an institutional analysis of the unsustainability of donor-supported reforms in agricultural extension

International donors have spent billions of dollars over the past four decades in developing and/or reforming the agricultural extension service delivery arrangements in developing countries. However, many of these reforms, supported through short-term projects, became unsustainable once aid funding had ceased. The unavailability of recurrent funding has predominantly been highlighted in the literature as the key reason for this undesirable outcome, while little has been written about institutional factors. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of taking an institutional perspective in explaining the unsustainability of donor-supported extension reforms and derive lessons for improvement. Using a framework drawn from the school of institutionalism in a Bangladeshi case study, we have found that a reform becomes unsustainable because of poor demands for extension information and advice; missing, weak, incongruent, and perverse institutional frameworks governing the exchange of extension goods (services); and a lack of institutional learning and change during the reform process. Accordingly, we have argued that strategies for sustainable extension reforms should move beyond financial considerations and include such measures as making extension goods (services) more tangible and monetary in nature, commissioning in-depth studies to learn about local institutions, crafting new institutions and/or reforming the weak and perverse institutions prevailing in developing countries. We emphasize the need to address three categories of institutions – regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive – and call for an alignment among them. We further argue that, in order to be sustainable, a reform should take a systemic approach in institutional capacity building and, for this to be possible, adopt a long-term program approach, as opposed to a short-term project approach

Weak-Light Ultraslow Vector Optical Solitons via Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

We propose a scheme to generate temporal vector optical solitons in a lifetime broadened five-state atomic medium via electromagnetically induced transparency. We show that this scheme, which is fundamentally different from the passive one by using optical fibers, is capable of achieving distortion-free vector optical solitons with ultraslow propagating velocity under very weak drive conditions. We demonstrate both analytically and numerically that it is easy to realize Manakov temporal vector solitons by actively manipulating the dispersion and self- and cross-phase modulation effects of the system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Grass-Legume Mixtures for Diversified and Profitable Forage Production

Grass-legume mixtures can improve forage yields, nutritive value, and net economic benefits. A replicated experiment was conducted from 2013-2017 at the University of Wyoming Sheridan Research and Extension Center to determine forage yield, nutritive value, and gross margin for meadow bromegrass (Bromus riparius Rehm.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), and birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) mixtures and monocultures. Treatments included 50-50% and 70-30% mixtures of meadow bromegrass with each legume and 50-25-25% mixture of meadow bromegrass with two legumes and 50-16.7-16.7-16.7% mixture of meadow bromegrass, alfalfa, sainfoin, and birdsfoot trefoil. Grass monocultures received 0, 50, and 100 pounds of nitrogen (N) per acre as urea. The study was established in 2013 and plots were harvested in mid-June, August, and October each year from 2014 to 2017. Harvested samples were used to estimate forage dry matter (DM) yield and nutritive value using the near infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Economic analysis was based on expenses involved in producing each crop according to different treatment and cumulative forage DM yields. Gross margin was calculated each year from the difference of cash inflow and variable operational cost. Total forage DM yield from mixtures was consistently higher than legume and grass monocultures. This was particularly evident in the 50-50% and 70-30% mixtures of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa and 70-30% mixture of meadow bromegrass with birdsfoot trefoil. Some of the grass-legume mixtures containing alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil improved forage nutritive value to levels equivalent to good quality alfalfa. The 50-50% mixture of meadow bromegrass with alfalfa had the highest four-year total gross margin of $1497 per acre. There were no significant gains in profits for meadow bromegrass monoculture with or without N fertilizer. Overall, grass-legume mixtures, which include alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil, have potential market value comparable to good quality, pure alfalfa

Magnetotransport properties of a magnetically modulated two-dimensional electron gas with the spin-orbit interaction

We study the electrical transport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in presence of a constant perpendicular magnetic field $(B_0 \hat z)$ which is weakly modulated by ${\bf B_1} = B_1 \cos (q x) \hat z$, where $B_1 \ll B_0$ and $q = 2 \pi/a$ with $a$ is the modulation period. We obtain the analytical expressions of the diffusive conductivities for spin-up and spin-down electrons. The conductivities for spin-up and spin-down electrons oscillate with different frequencies and produce beating patterns in the amplitude of the Weiss and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. We show that the Rashba strength can be determined by analyzing the beating pattern in the Weiss oscillation. We find a simple equation which determines the Rashba spin-orbit interaction strength if the number of Weiss oscillations between any two successive nodes is known from the experiment. We compare our results with the electrically modulated 2DEG with the Rashba interaction. For completeness, we also study the beating pattern formation in the collisional and the Hall conductivities.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, re-written with new result

Ga+, In+ and Tl+ Impurities in Alkali Halide Crystals: Distortion Trends

A computational study of the doping of alkali halide crystals (AX: A = Na, K; X = Cl, Br) by ns2 cations (Ga+, In+ and Tl+) is presented. Active clusters of increasing size (from 33 to 177 ions) are considered in order to deal with the large scale distortions induced by the substitutional impurities. Those clusters are embedded in accurate quantum environments representing the surrounding crystalline lattice. The convergence of the distortion results with the size of the active cluster is analyced for some selected impurity systems. The most important conclusion from this study is that distortions along the (100) and (110) crystallographic directions are not independent. Once a reliable cluster model is found, distortion trends as a function of impurity, alkali cation and halide anion are identified and discussed. These trends may be useful when analycing other cation impurities in similar host lattices.Comment: LaTeX file. 7 pages and 2 pictures. Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy

Investigating The Relationship Between Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Household Consumption Expenditure (HCE) In Two SAARC Countries: Nepal and Pakistan

Abstract This study examines the matter of trends (level and slope), cycle and irregular components in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Household Consumption Expenditure (HCE) of two SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries: Nepal and Pakistan. SAARC countries produce GDP (PPP) US$9.9 trillion and GDP (Nominal) US$ 2.9 trillion and constitute 9.12% of global economy as of 2015. The mentioned two countries from this region are selected due to their importance in the SAARC region and their challenges during last few decades i.e. Political crisis and natural disasters. In this study the multivariate unobserved components model is used to decompose the GDP and HCE and examine the relationships between these two variables of Nepal and Pakistan. The time period of this study is 1970-2014 and Kushnirs statistical data is employed. The maximum likelihood smoother is employed in the trend plus stochastic cycle methodology of Koopman et al. (2009) to estimate the model. It is found here that there have no deficiencies in the diagnostics of normality, auxiliary, prediction, and forecast. And residual diagnostics also present that it is nicely fitted with this model. Empirical results clearly show that there have strong correlations between the GDP and HCE in irregular components in both the countries of Nepal and Pakistan. Finally, in both slope and cycle, the correlations between GDP and HCE of Nepal and Pakistan are found perfectly positive in the short and long run

Exploitation of nitric oxide donors to control bacterial adhesion on ready‐to‐eat vegetables and dispersal of pathogenic biofilm from polypropylene

Background Nitric oxide (NO) donors have been used to control biofilm formation. NO can be delivered in situ using organic carriers and act as a signaling molecule. Cells exposed to NO shift from biofilm to the planktonic state and are better exposed to the action of disinfectants. In this study, we investigate the capability of the NO donors molsidomine, MAHAMA NONOate, NO‐aspirin and diethylamine NONOate to act as anti‐adhesion agents on ready‐to‐eat vegetables, as well as dispersants to a number of pathogenic biofilms on plastic. Results Our results showed that 10pM molsidomine reduced the attachment of Salmonella enterica sv Typhimurium 14 028 to pea shoots and coriander leaves of about 0.5 Log(CFU/leaf) when compared with untreated control. The association of 10 pM molsidomine with 0.006% H2O2 showed a synergistic effect, obtaining a significant reduction in cell collection on the surface of the vegetable of about 1 Log(CFU/leaf). Similar results were obtained for MAHMA NONOate. We also showed that the association of diethylamine NONOate at 10 mM and 10pM with the quaternary ammonium compound diquat bromide improves the effectiveness of biofilm dispersal by 50% when compared with the donor alone. Conclusions Our findings reveal the dual role of NO compounds in biofilm control. Molsidomine, MAHMA NONOate and diethylamine NONOate are good candidates in either preventing biofilm formation or dispersing biofilm, especially when used in conjunction with disinfectants. NO compounds have the potential to be developed into tool‐kit for pro‐active practices for GAPs, HACCP and Cleaning‐in‐place (CIP) protocols in industrial settings where washing is routinely applied. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Modelling and characterization of cell collapse in aluminium foams during dynamic loading

Plate-impact experiments have been conducted to investigate the elastic–plastic behaviour of shock wave propagation and pore collapse mechanisms of closed-cell aluminium foams. FE modelling using a meso-scale approach has been carried out with the FE software ABAQUS/Explicit. A micro-computed tomography-based foam geometry has been developed and microstructural changes with time have been investigated to explore the effects of wave propagation. Special attention has been given to the pore collapse mechanism. The effect of velocity variations on deformation has been elucidated with three different impact conditions using the plate-impact method. Free surface velocity (ufs) was measured on the rear of the sample to understand the evolution of the compaction. At low impact velocities, the free-surface velocity increased gradually, whereas an abrupt rise of free-surface velocity was found at an impact velocity of 845 m/s with a copper flyer-plate which correlates with the appearance of shock. A good correlation was found between experimental results and FE predictions

Pseudo- Three-Dimensional Analysis of Cyclic Deformation of Ground Subject to Seismic Liquefaction

A Numerical tool was developed to evaluate the effects of differential movement which occurs at the ground surface during earthquakes. A special emphasis is placed on liquefaction of subsoils. A complicated three-dimensional analysis was avoided by using a pseudo-three-dimensional method of finite element analysis which runs on an element mesh of the ground surface topography as seen from the sky. The present analysis takes into account the nonlinear stress-strain behavior of soils, the ground softening due to pore pressure development, and the irregularity in the topography. The proposed method was applied to several cases in which buried pipelines were damaged by seismic liquefaction. The calculated results showed that the differential movement of the ground in cyclic manners is not significant. Thus, it seems that those pipeline failures were induced not by the cyclic ground movement but by the monotonic or permanent displacement which accumulated to several meters