Measurements of Metastable Staus at Linear Colliders

We consider scenarios in which the lightest sparticle (LSP) is the gravitino and the next-to-lightest sparticle (NLSP) is a metastable stau. We examine the production of stau pairs in e^{+}e^{-} annihilation at ILC and CLIC energies. In addition to three minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) benchmark scenarios proposed previously, we consider a new high-mass scenario in which effects catalyzed by stau bound states yield abundances of {6,7}Li that fit the astrophysical data better than standard Big-Bang nucleosynthesis. This scenario could be probed only at CLIC energies. In each scenario, we show how the stau mixing angle may be determined from measurements of the total stau pair-production cross sections with polarized beams, and of the tau polarization in stau decays. Using realistic ILC and CLIC luminosity spectra, we find for each scenario the centre-of-mass energy that maximizes the number of staus with \beta \gamma < 0.4, that may be trapped in a generic detector. The dominant sources of such slow-moving staus are generically the pair production and cascade decays of heavier sparticles with higher thresholds, and the optimal centre-of-mass energy is typically considerably beyond 2 m_{\tilde\tau_1}

Crystal structure, spectral characterization, molecular modeling studies and structural effects of the proton transfer process for (E)-5-methoxy-2-[(3,4-dimethylphenylimino) methyl]phenol

The main purpose of this study is to characterize a new organic material, (E)-5-methoxy-2-[(3,4-dimethylphenylimino)methyl]phenol, which was synthesized and grown as a single crystal. The molecular structure and spectroscopic properties of the ortho-hydroxy Schiff base compound were determined by X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques, experimentally and computationally with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. X-ray and UV-Vis studies show that the compound exists in an OH tautomeric form in the solid and solvent media. The gas phase geome-try optimizations of two possible forms of the title compound, resulting from the prototropic tautomerism, were ob-tained using DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G+(d,p) level of theory. A relaxed potential energy surface (PES) scan was performed based on the optimized geometry of the OH tautomeric form by varying the redundant internal co-ordinate, the O-H bond distance. According to the PES scan process, the molecular geometry is strongly affected by the intramolecular proton transfer. The calculated first hyperpolarizability indicates that the compound could be a good material for non-linear optical applications

Unparticle Searches Through Compton Scattering

We investigate the effects of unparticles on Compton scattering, e gamma -> e gamma based on a future e^+e^- linear collider such as the CLIC. For different polarization configurations, we calculate the lower limits of the unparticle energy scale Lambda_U for a discovery reach at the center of mass energies sqrt(s)=0.5 TeV- 3 TeV. It is shown that, especially, for smaller values of the mass dimension d, (1 <d <1.3), and for high energies and luminosities of the collider these bounds are very significant. As a stringent limit, we find Lambda_U>80 TeV for d<1.3 at sqrt(s)=3 TeV, and 1 ab^(-1) integrated luminosity per year, which is comparable with the limits calculated from other low and high energy physics implications.Comment: Table 1 and 2 have been combined as Table 1, references updated, minor typos have been correcte

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

The peatland map of Europe

Based on the ‘European Mires Book’ of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG), this article provides a composite map of national datasets as the first comprehensive peatland map for the whole of Europe. We also present estimates of the extent of peatlands and mires in each European country individually and for the entire continent. A minimum peat thickness criterion has not been strictly applied, to allow for (often historically determined) country-specific definitions. Our ‘peatland’ concept includes all ‘mires’, which are peatlands where peat is being formed. The map was constructed by merging national datasets in GIS while maintaining the mapping scales of the original input data. This ‘bottom-up’ approach indicates that the overall area of peatland in Europe is 593,727 km². Mires were found to cover more than 320,000 km² (around 54 % of the total peatland area). If shallow-peat lands (< 30 cm peat) in European Russia are also taken into account, the total peatland area in Europe is more than 1,000,000 km2, which is almost 10 % of the total surface area. Composite inventories of national peatland information, as presented here for Europe, may serve to identify gaps and priority areas for field survey, and help to cross-check and calibrate remote sensing based mapping approaches

Nitric oxide synthetic pathway and cGMP levels are altered in red blood cells from end-stage renal disease patients

Red blood cells (RBCs) enzymatically produce nitric oxide (NO) by a functional RBC-nitric oxide synthase (RBC-NOS). NO is a vascular key regulatory molecule. In RBCs its generation is complex and influenced by several factors, including insulin, acetylcholine, and calcium. NO availability is reduced in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and associated with endothelial dysfunction. We previously demonstrated that, through increased phosphatidylserine membrane exposure, ESRD-RBCs augmented their adhesion to human cultured endothelium, in which NO bioavailability decreased. Since RBC-NOS-dependent NO production in ESRD is unknown, this study aimed to investigate RBC-NOS levels/activation, NO production/bioavailability in RBCs from healthy control subjects (C, N = 18) and ESRD patients (N = 27). Although RBC-NOS expression was lower in ESRD-RBCs, NO, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), RBC-NOS Serine1177 phosphorylation level and eNOS/Calmodulin (CaM)/Heat Shock Protein-90 (HSP90) interaction levels were higher in ESRD-RBCs, indicating increased enzyme activation. Conversely, following RBCs stimulation with insulin or ionomycin, NO and cGMP levels were significantly lower in ESRD- than in C-RBCs, suggesting that uremia might reduce the RBC-NOS response to further stimuli. Additionally, the activity of multidrug-resistance-associated protein-4 (MRP4; cGMP-membrane transporter) was significantly lower in ESRD-RBCs, suggesting a possible compromised efflux of cGMP across the ESRD-RBCs membrane. This study for the first time showed highest basal RBC-NOS activation in ESRD-RBCs, possibly to reduce the negative impact of decreased NOS expression. It is further conceivable that high NO production only partially affects cell function of ESRD-RBCs maybe because in vivo they are unable to respond to physiologic stimuli, such as calcium and/or insulin

Cultural Distance and Firm Internationalization:A Meta-Analytical Review and Theoretical Implications

This paper presents the most comprehensive review and meta-analysis of the literature on cultural distance and firm internationalization to date. We analyze the effects of cultural distance on key strategic decisions throughout the entire process of internationalization. For the preinvestment stage, we examine the decisions on where to invest (location choice), how much to invest (degree of ownership), and how to organize the foreign expansion (entry and establishment mode). For the postinvestment stage, we examine the decisions of how to integrate the foreign subsidiary into the organization (transfer of practices) as well as the performance effects of cultural distance at both the subsidiary and the firm level. We find that firms are less likely to expand to culturally distant locations but if they do, they prefer greenfield investments and integrate subsidiaries more through transfer of management practices. Cultural distance does not seem to affect how much capital firms invest and whether they enter through a joint venture or full ownership. Interestingly, cultural distance has a strong negative effect on subsidiary performance but no effect on the performance of the whole multinational company. In addition, we find that the effects of cultural distance are not sensitive to time, but they are sensitive to the cultural framework used (e.g., Hofstede vs. Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) and the home country of the company (developed vs. emerging market). Based on our study, we feel confident to offer some theoretical insights, recommendations for improving the validity and reliability of cultural-distance research, and ideas for future research