Are Black Holes Elementary Particles?

Quantum black holes are the smallest and heaviest conceivable elementary particles. They have a microscopic size but a macroscopic mass. Several fundamental types have been constructed with some remarkable properties. Quantum black holes in the neighborhood of the Galaxy could resolve the paradox of ultra-high energy cosmic rays detected in Earth's atmosphere. They may also play a role as dark matter in cosmology.Comment: Lecture delivered in Conference on Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Quantum Field Theory: 75 Years since Solvay, 27 -29 November 2008, Nanyang Executive Centre, Singapore. 10 page

Adenoid cystic carcinoma: emerging role of translocations and gene fusions.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), the second most common salivary gland malignancy, is notorious for poor prognosis, which reflects the propensity of ACC to progress to clinically advanced metastatic disease. Due to high long-term mortality and lack of effective systemic treatment, the slow-growing but aggressive ACC poses a particular challenge in head and neck oncology. Despite the advancements in cancer genomics, up until recently relatively few genetic alterations critical to the ACC development have been recognized. Although the specific chromosomal translocations resulting in MYB-NFIB fusions provide insight into the ACC pathogenesis and represent attractive diagnostic and therapeutic targets, their clinical significance is unclear, and a substantial subset of ACCs do not harbor the MYB-NFIB translocation. Strategies based on detection of newly described genetic events (such as MYB activating super-enhancer translocations and alterations affecting another member of MYB transcription factor family-MYBL1) offer new hope for improved risk assessment, therapeutic intervention and tumor surveillance. However, the impact of these approaches is still limited by an incomplete understanding of the ACC biology, and the manner by which these alterations initiate and drive ACC remains to be delineated. This manuscript summarizes the current status of gene fusions and other driver genetic alterations in ACC pathogenesis and discusses new therapeutic strategies stemming from the current research

Collective Dynamics of Random Polyampholytes

We consider the Langevin dynamics of a semi-dilute system of chains which are random polyampholytes of average monomer charge $q$ and with a fluctuations in this charge of the size $Q^{-1}$ and with freely floating counter-ions in the surrounding. We cast the dynamics into the functional integral formalism and average over the quenched charge distribution in order to compute the dynamic structure factor and the effective collective potential matrix. The results are given for small charge fluctuations. In the limit of finite $q$ we then find that the scattering approaches the limit of polyelectrolyte solutions.Comment: 13 pages including 6 figures, submitted J. Chem. Phy

Stiff polymer in monomer ensemble

We make use of the previously developed formalism for a monomer ensemble and include angular dependence of the segments of the polymer chains thus described. In particular we show how to deal with stiffness when the polymer chain is confined to certain regions. We investigate the stiffness from the perspectives of a differential equation, integral equations, or recursive relations for both continuum and lattice models. Exact analytical solutions are presented for two cases, whereas numerical results are shown for a third case.Comment: 10 pages, including 6 figure

Boost Integrated Three-Phase Solar Inverter using Current Unfolding and Active Damping Methods

© 2018 IEEJ Industry Application Society. This paper proposes a three-phase grid connected solar inverter with integrated boost function. The circuit operating principle is based on current unfolding and injection method, which is similar to that of a SWISS rectifier. This approach requires only two high frequency switches operating at only half voltage stress, thus leading to a significant reduction in switching losses. Other switches only operate at line frequency, and therefore can be optimized to reduce conduction losses. The proposed inverter therefore can deliver high efficiency. This paper discusses the basic operating principle as well as control method for the inverter. It is revealed that the output currents of the proposed inverter contains intrinsic oscillation due to current unfolding operation. In order to solve this problem, an active damping method is proposed to stabilize the operation. As a result, stable operation of the proposed method is confirmed by simulation. The feasibility of the proposed inverter is also confirmed using a mini laboratory prototype

Genetic diversity in green gram [Vigna radiata (L.)] landraces analyzed by using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)

Green gram [Vigna radiata (L.)] landraces were collected from various localities of Southern Tamil Nadu, India, to determine the extent of genetic diversity at DNA level by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using 20 decamer primers. All the primers produced polymorphic amplificationproducts with some extent of variation. A total of 200 bands were generated with an average of 10 per primer and exhibited 83.0% polymorphism. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.64 to 0.93 and concentrated mostly between 0.76 to 0.93. This indicated a rather narrow genetic base of tested green gram landraces. Clustering of green gram landraces into two groups showed reasonable variability that may be exploited for selecting parents for breeding purposes. Generally distinct phenotypes identifiedusing RAPD markers could be potential sources of germplasm for green gram improvemen

Chromium-induced accumulation of peroxide content, stimulation of antioxidative enzymes and lipid peroxidation in green gram (Vigna radiata L. cv. Wilczek) leaves

Chromium (Cr)-induced oxidative damage and changes in contents of chlorophyll, protein, peroxide and malondialdehyde (MDA) and activities of enzymatic antioxidants were investigated in 4-day-old green gram (Vigna radiata L. cv. Wilczek) seedlings. Cr increased the contents of peroxide and MDA but decreased the contents of chlorophyll and proteins. Cr reduced the activities of catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR), but increased the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in green gramleaves. Lipid peroxidation is considered to be an important mechanism of Cr-induced oxidative damage in green gram leaves. The peroxidation of lipids can be initiated by free radicals. The effects of Crinducedoxidative damage and increase in the contents of peroxide and MDA in green gram leaves can be minimized by pretreatment with ascorbic acid (AA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) or both

A Study on Knowledge Sharing in Vietnamese Organizations

Knowledge sharing is very much a sign for the atmosphere of social interactions in the organizations, it depends on the quality of the conversation, formally or informally. In other words, for more effective knowledge sharing, communication competence is required in order to have appropriate conversation. During the past decades, most theories of communication competence have been developed on the basis of “western” conceptualization. This empirical research is conducted in order to study the organizational communication competence in a non-western country, Vietnam, and the effect of such competence to the employees’ knowledge sharing behavior respectively. Base on the data collected from 11 organizations, the effects of three culture dimensions, namely individualism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance to the communication competence were statistically analyzed; then, stemming from the certain level of communication competence, the behavior of organizational members towards knowledge sharing was explaine