3,251 research outputs found
Thermally induced behavior of the K-exchanged erionite. A further step in understanding the structural modifications of the erionite group upon heating
Fibrous erionite is a naturally occurring zeolite considered to be highly carcinogenic upon inhalation, even more than crocidolite. Since no iron is typically present in erionite, its toxicity has been attributed to ion-exchanged Fe participating in Fenton chemistry. Recently, a study aimed at investigating possible fiber inactivation routes surprisingly showed that, despite having completely occluded all available pores with K ions, the erionite-Na sample preserved the property to upload Fe (II) within the structure. In this work, the thermal behavior of the K-exchanged erionite-Na was investigated by TG/ DSC and in situ XRPD analyses in order to provide relevant information for modeling the thermally induced behavior of the erionite group. Rietveld refinement results evidenced a general trend of cell parameters and volume with temperature similar to that observed for erionite-K from Rome (Oregon, USA). However, the dependence of Tdehydrand Tbreakfrom Si/Si+Al ratio observed in zeolites (high Si content favours a lower Tdehydrand a higher Tbreak) is not observed, possibly due to the effect of the relevant amount of large K ions dispersed within the erionite cage, acting as reinforcing blocks for the framework. Heating produces a progressive emptying of the Ca sites, common effect previously observed in erionite samples showing different chemistry. In addition, K1 s.s. remains unchanged evidencing the absence of any âinternal ion exchangeâ process, whereas s.s. at K2 increases in the range 438-573 K and then slowly decreases in the range 700-1218 K. Both Rietveld and DSC data suggest the motion of K ions from OW sites toward the walls of the erionite cavity during dehydration
Identifying Unconventional E Models at Colliders
Recently it was shown that, in the framework of superstring inspired \E
models, the presence of generation dependent discrete symmetries allows us to
construct a phenomenologically viable class of models in which the three
generations of fermions do not have the same embedding within the fundamental
{\bf 27} dimensional representation of E. In this scenario, these different
embeddings of the conventional fermions imply that the left-handed charged
leptons and the right-handed -type quarks are coupled in a non--universal
way to the new neutral gauge bosons present in these models. It
was also shown that a unique signature for this scenario, would be a deviation
from unity for the ratio of cross sections for the production of two different
lepton species in annihilation. However, several different scenarios
are possible, depending on the particular assignment chosen for ,
and and for the right-handed -type quarks, as well as on the type
of boson. Such scenarios can not be disentangled from one another by
means of cross section measurements alone. In this paper we examine the
possibility of identifying the pattern of embeddings through measurements of
polarized and unpolarized asymmetries for fermion pair-production at the 500
GeV Next Linear Collider (NLC). We show that it will be possible to
identify the different patterns of unconventional assignments for the
left-handed leptons and for the quark, for masses as large as
TeV.Comment: Plain Tex, 15 pages, + 9 figure available upon request
([email protected] or [email protected]), UM-TH 93--1
Supersymmetric Leptogenesis
We study leptogenesis in the supersymmetric standard model plus the seesaw.
We identify important qualitative differences that characterize supersymmetric
leptogenesis with respect to the non-supersymmetric case. The lepton number
asymmetries in fermions and scalars do not equilibrate, and are related via a
non-vanishing gaugino chemical potential. Due to the presence of new anomalous
symmetries, electroweak sphalerons couple to winos and higgsinos, and QCD
sphalerons couple to gluinos, thus modifying the corresponding chemical
equilibrium conditions. A new constraint on particles chemical potentials
corresponding to an exactly conserved -charge, that also involves the number
density asymmetry of the heavy sneutrinos, appears. These new ingredients
determine the matrices that mix up the density asymmetries of the
lepton flavours and of the heavy sneutrinos. We explain why in all temperature
ranges the particle thermodynamic system is characterized by the same number of
independent quantities. Numerical differences with respect to usual treatment
remain at the level.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures. Typos corrected, one reference added. Version
published in JCA
Factors affecting the vaccination choices of pregnant women for their children. A systematic review of the literature
In recent years, an increase in vaccine hesitancy has led to a decrease in vaccination coverage in several countries. We conducted a systematic review of studies that assessed knowledge of and attitudes toward pediatric vaccinations, and the vaccination choices and their determinants among pregnant women. A total of 6,277 records were retrieved, and 16 full texts were included in the narrative synthesis. The published literature on the topic shows that, overall, pregnant women believe that vaccines are important for the protection of their children and the community, but various concerns and misunderstandings persist around vaccine safety and efficacy, which reduce the trust of expectant mothers in immunization. Nevertheless, such attitudes and choices vary depending on the vaccine being considered and the corresponding determinants should therefore be studied in the context of each specific vaccination. Further research on this topic is needed, particularly in non-western countries
CP violation in scatterings, three body processes and the Boltzmann equations for leptogenesis
We obtain the Boltzmann equations for leptogenesis including decay and
scattering processes with two and three body initial or final states. We
present an explicit computation of the CP violating scattering asymmetries. We
analyze their possible impact in leptogenesis, and we discuss the validity of
their approximate expressions in terms of the decay asymmetry. In scenarios in
which the initial heavy neutrino density vanishes, the inclusion of CP
asymmetries in scatterings can enforce a cancellation between the lepton
asymmetry generated at early times and the asymmetry produced at later times.
We argue that a sizeable amount of washout is crucial for spoiling this
cancellation, and we show that in the regimes in which the washouts are
particularly weak, the inclusion of CP violation in scatterings yields a
reduction in the final value of the lepton asymmetry. In the strong washout
regimes the inclusion of CP violation in scatterings still leads to a
significant enhancement of the lepton asymmetry at high temperatures; however,
due to the independence from the early conditions that is characteristic of
these regimes, the final value of the lepton asymmetry remains approximately
unchanged.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures. One appendix added. Some numerical results and
corresponding figures (mainly fig. 3) corrected. Final version to be
published in JHE
Domino: exploring mobile collaborative software adaptation
Social Proximity Applications (SPAs) are a promising new area for ubicomp software that exploits the everyday changes in the proximity of mobile users. While a number of applications facilitate simple file sharing between coâpresent users, this paper explores opportunities for recommending and sharing software between users. We describe an architecture that allows the recommendation of new system components from systems with similar histories of use. Software components and usage histories are exchanged between mobile users who are in proximity with each other. We apply this architecture in a mobile strategy game in which players adapt and upgrade their game using components from other players, progressing through the game through sharing tools and history. More broadly, we discuss the general application of this technique as well as the security and privacy challenges to such an approach
The unbinding transition of mixed fluid membranes
A phenomenological model for the unbinding transition of multi-component
fluid membranes is proposed, where the unbinding transition is described using
a theory analogous to Flory-Huggins theory for polymers. The coupling between
the lateral phase separation of inclusion molecules and the membrane-substrate
distance explains the phase coexistence between two unbound phases as observed
in recent experiments by Marx et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 138102 (2002)].
Bellow a critical end-point temperature, we find that the unbinding transition
becomes first-order for multi-component membranes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 eps figure
R_b and New Physics: A Comprehensive Analysis
We survey the implications for new physics of the discrepancy between the LEP
measurement of and its Standard Model prediction. Two broad classes of
models are considered: () those in which new Z\bbar b couplings arise at
tree level, through or -quark mixing with new particles, and ()
those in which new scalars and fermions alter the Z \bbar b vertex at one
loop. We keep our analysis as general as possible in order to systematically
determine what kinds of features can produce corrections to of the right
sign and magnitude. We are able to identify several successful mechanisms,
which include most of those which have been recently been proposed in the
literature, as well as some earlier proposals (\eg\ supersymmetric models). By
seeing how such models appear as special cases of our general treatment we are
able to shed light on the reason for, and the robustness of, their ability to
explain .Comment: 60 pages, 8 figures, plain tex, uses epsf. Final version to appear in
Phys. Rev. D; propgating sign error corrected in eqs. 78, 87, 88, 89, 98, and
107; results unchange
Signals of Unconventional E Models at Colliders
Generation dependent discrete symmetries often appear in models derived from
superstring theories. In particular, in the framework of E models the
presence of such symmetries is required in order to allow for the radiative
generation of naturally small neutrino masses. Recently it was shown that by
imposing suitable generation dependent discrete symmetries, a class of models
can be consistently constructed in which the three sets of known fermions in
each generation do not have the same assignments with respect to the {\bf 27}
representation of E. In this scenario, the different embedding in the gauge
group of the three generations implies in particular that the known charged
leptons couple in a non--universal way to the new neutral gauge bosons
present in these models. We exploit this fact to study the
signature of this class of models at present and future colliders. We
show that some signals of deviation from lepton universality as well as some
other discrepancies with the standard model predictions which have been
observed at the TRISTAN collider in the production rate of and ,
can be accounted for if the mass is not much heavier than 300 GeV. We
also study the discovery limits for lepton universality violation of this type
at LEP-2 and at the 500 GeV Next Linear Collider (NLC). We show that
models predicting unconventional assignments for the leptons will give an
unmistakable signature, when the mass is as heavy as GeV
(LEP-2) and TeV (NLC).Comment: Plain Tex, 20 pages. 4 PostScript figures (uses `epsf.tex'). Modified
file-format. No changes in the tex
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