Discriminating 1D new physics solutions in b→sℓℓb\to s\ell\ell decays

The recent measurements of $R_{K^+}$, $R_{K_S^0}$, $R_{K^{*+}}$, $B_s\to\mu^+\mu^-$, a set of CP-averaged angular observables for the $B^0\to K^{*0}\mu^+\mu^-$ decay, and its isospin partner $B^+\to K^{*+}\mu^+\mu^-$ by the LHCb Collaboration, consistently hint at lepton universality violation in the $b\to s\ell\ell$ transitions. In this work, we first perform global fits to the $b\to s\ell\ell$ data and show that five one-dimensional scenarios, i.e, $\delta C_9^{\mu}$, $\delta C_{10}^{\mu}$, $\delta C_L^{\mu}$, $\delta C_9^{\mu}=C_{10}^{\mu\prime}$, and $\delta C_9^{\mu}=-C_9^{\mu\prime}$ can best explain the so-called B anamolies. Furthermore, we explore how these scenarios can be distinguished from each other. For this purpose, we first study the combinations of four angular asymmetries $A_i$~$(i=3,4,5,9)$ and find that they cannot distinguish the five new physics scenarios. We then show that a newly constructed ratio $R_{S}$ can uniquely discriminate the five new physics scenarios in proper intervals of $q^2$ if it can be measured with a percent level precision.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures; latest $R_{K_S^0}$, $R_{K^{*+}}$ data include

Multi-time Combined Gas and Electric System Optimal Power Flow Incorporating Wind Power

AbstractTo alleviate environment pollution, it has become a tendency for energy adjustment that natural gas is taking the place of fossil fuels. The coupling between natural gas system and electric system is being strengthened by gas-fired power plants. A multi-time combined gas and electric system optimal power flow (M-GEOPF) model is proposed aiming at minimizing the overall cost. To address available wind power uncertainty, underestimation and overestimation of wind power are considered in the model. A test case on the combined IEEE 39-bus system and Belgium 20-node natural gas system is performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method

2-(4-Isopropyl-4-methyl-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-5-methyl­nicotinic acid

In the title herbicideh/phytocide, known as imaza­pic, C14H17N3O3, the pyridine and imidazole rings are almost coplanar [dihedral angle = 3.08 (5)°]. An intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, an N—H⋯O hydrogen bond links mol­ecules into a chain parallel to [010]

A friendly-environmental strategy: application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to ornamental plants for plant growth and garden landscape

The demand for ornamental plants is increasing due to urban greening and rural construction, while the growing environment of plants, especially the soil environment, is deteriorating. Hence, sustainable methods of ornamental plant cultivation need to be developed quickly. The application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to ornamental plants can be one of the eco-friendly ways to achieve the objective. Soil AMF establish mycorrhizal symbiosis with roots of ornamental plants, which can develop a marvelous mycorrhizal mycelium network in the rhizosphere to stimulate nutrient and water acquisition of host plants. Numerous researches have proven that AMF improved the quality of ornamental plants, like fruit yield, height, biomass, seed quality, the size and number of flowers, leaf, and root. In addition, mycorrhizal fungi also improve nutrient uptake and endogenous hormone balance of host plants. Another important function of AMF is to regulate the physiological, biochemical, and molecular responses of host plants to adversity, including drought stress, temperature stress, heavy-metal stress, and insect and disease stress. From the perspective of the ecological garden landscape, AMF richness would maintain plant abundance, nutrient and energy balance, and higher productivity in normal and soil environment stress, thus, establishing a friendly-environmental ecosystem. This review also provides the basis to exploit and improve the commercial application of AMF in ornamental plants in the future

Multi-Queue Request Scheduling for Profit Maximization in IaaS Clouds

[EN] In cloud computing, service providers rent heterogeneous servers from cloud providers, i.e., Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), to meet requests of consumers. The heterogeneity of servers and impatience of consumers pose great challenges to service providers for profit maximization. In this article, we transform this problem into a multi-queue model where the optimal expected response time of each queue is theoretically analyzed. A multi-queue request scheduling algorithm framework is proposed to maximize the total profit of service providers, which consists of three components: request stream splitting, requests allocation, and server assignment. A request stream splitting algorithm is designed to split the arriving requests to minimize the response time in the multi-queue system. An allocation algorithm, which adopts a one-step improvement strategy, is developed to further optimize the response time of the requests. Furthermore, an algorithm is developed to determine the appropriate number of required servers of each queue. After statistically calibrating parameters and algorithm components over a comprehensive set of random instances, the proposed algorithms are compared with the state-of-the-art over both simulated and real-world instances. The results indicate that the proposed multi-queue request scheduling algorithm outperforms the other algorithms with acceptable computational time.This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant 2017YFB1400800, in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61872077 and 61832004, and in part by the Collaborative InnovationCenter of Wireless Communications Technology. The work of Quan Z. Sheng was supported in part by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship under Grant FT140101247 and in part by Discovery Project under Grant DP180102378. The work of Ruben Ruiz was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities through the project OPTEP-Port Terminal Operations Optimization under Grant RTI2018-094940-B-I00 financed with FEDER fundsWang, S.; Li, X.; Sheng, QZ.; Ruiz García, R.; Zhang, J.; Beheshti, A. (2021). Multi-Queue Request Scheduling for Profit Maximization in IaaS Clouds. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems. 32(11):2838-2851. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPDS.2021.3075254S28382851321

A Microwave-Assisted Extraction Method for Determining Hot Water Solubility of Wood

A microwave-assisted extraction method is proposed as an alternative to the conventional method for determining the hot water solubility of wood. In this alternative method, microwave heating substitutes for the boiling water to extract part of the extraneous components as well as starches in wood tissues. Experimental results indicate that 100 mL water can be heated to boiling in only 75 s under the microwave radiation. Hence, only 15-20 min are required to complete the extraction procedure for Liquidambar formosana Hance and Swietenia mahagoni Jacq., 10 min and 5 min for Taiwania cryptomerioides and Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb) Hook, respectively. In general, a 15-min microwave heating has the potential to be an alternative to the conventional method, which requires 3 h for the hot water solubility determination