New Developments in FormCalc 8.4

We present new developments in FeynArts 3.9 and FormCalc 8.4, in particular the MSSMCT model file including the complete one-loop renormalization, vectorization/parallelization issues, and the interface to the Ninja library for tensor reduction.Comment: 7 pages, proceedings contribution to Loops & Legs 2014, April 27-May 2, 2014, Weimar, German

The Active Audience? Gurus, Management Ideas and Consumer Variability

This study draws on an active audience perspective to develop a better understanding of mass audiences' attraction towards popular management ideas. It focuses on audience members' own experiences and, in particular, what audience activities actually play a role in shaping mass attraction, and how the deployment of these activities may vary. Analysing 65 in-depth interviews with management practitioners in their role as audience members of guru seminars, the authors identify different key consumption activities, and explain how individual management practitioners may shift in consumption orientation throughout the communication process. This paper argues that such a broader and more dynamic understanding of consumption activity is essential in understanding the success and impact of management ideas, and opens several fruitful research directions

Antiferro-quadrupole state of orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model with f^2 configuration

To clarify a key role of $f$ orbitals in the emergence of antiferro-quadrupole structure in PrPb$_{3}$, we investigate the ground-state property of an orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model by numerical diagonalization techniques. In PrPb$_{3}$, Pr$^{3+}$ has a $4f^{2}$ configuration and the crystalline-electric-field ground state is a non-Kramers doublet $\Gamma_{3}$. In a $j$-$j$ coupling scheme, the $\Gamma_{3}$ state is described by two local singlets, each of which consists of two $f$ electrons with one in $\Gamma_{7}$ and another in $\Gamma_{8}$ orbitals. Since in a cubic structure, $\Gamma_{7}$ has localized nature, while $\Gamma_{8}$ orbitals are rather itinerant, we propose the orbital-degenerate Kondo lattice model for an effective Hamiltonian of PrPb$_{3}$. We show that an antiferro-orbital state is favored by the so-called double-exchange mechanism which is characteristic of multi-orbital systems.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of Skutterudite2007 (September 26-30, 2007, Kobe

Local current distribution at large quantum dots (QDs): a self-consistent screening model

We report the implementation of the self-consistent Thomas-Fermi screening theory, together with the local Ohm's law to a quantum dot system in order to obtain local current distribution within the dot and at the leads. We consider a large dot (size $>700$ nm) defined by split gates, and coupled to the leads. Numerical calculations show that the non-dissipative current is confined to the incompressible strips. Due to the non-linear screening properties of the 2DES at low temperatures, this distribution is highly sensitive to external magnetic field. Our findings support the phenomenological models provided by the experimental studies so far, where the formation of the (direct) edge channels dominate the transport.Comment: 6 Pages, 2 Figure

Change of the work function of platinum electrodes induced by halide adsorption

The properties of a halogen-covered platinum(111) surface have been studied by using density functional theory (DFT), because halides are often present at electrochemical electrode/electrolyte interfaces. We focused in particular on the halogen-induced work function change as a function of the coverage of fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine. For electronegative adsorbates, an adsorption-induced increase of the work function is usually expected, yet we find a decrease of the work function for Cl, Br and I, which is most prominent at a coverage of approximately 0.25 ML. This coverage-dependent behavior can be explained by assuming a combination of charge transfer and polarization effects on the adsorbate layer. The results are contrasted to the adsorption of fluorine on calcium, a system in which a decrease in the work function is also observed despite a large charge transfer to the halogen adatom

Subsumption architecture for enabling strategic coordination of robot swarms in a gaming scenario

The field of swarm robotics breaks away from traditional research by maximizing the performance of a group - swarm - of limited robots instead of optimizing the intelligence of a single robot. Similar to current-generation strategy video games, the player controls groups of units - squads - instead of the individual participants. These individuals are rather unintelligent robots, capable of little more than navigating and using their weapons. However, clever control of the squads of autonomous robots by the game players can make for intense, strategic matches. The gaming framework presented in this article provides players with strategic coordination of robot squads. The developed swarm intelligence techniques break up complex squad commands into several commands for each robot using robot formations and path finding while avoiding obstacles. These algorithms are validated through a 'Capture the Flag' gaming scenario where a complex squad command is split up into several robot commands in a matter of milliseconds

On Secure Implementation of an IHE XUA-Based Protocol for Authenticating Healthcare Professionals

The importance of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) has been addressed in recent years by governments and institutions.Many large scale projects have been funded with the aim to allow healthcare professionals to consult patients data. Properties such as confidentiality, authentication and authorization are the key for the success for these projects. The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative promotes the coordinated use of established standards for authenticated and secure EHR exchanges among clinics and hospitals. In particular, the IHE integration profile named XUA permits to attest user identities by relying on SAML assertions, i.e. XML documents containing authentication statements. In this paper, we provide a formal model for the secure issuance of such an assertion. We first specify the scenario using the process calculus COWS and then analyse it using the model checker CMC. Our analysis reveals a potential flaw in the XUA profile when using a SAML assertion in an unprotected network. We then suggest a solution for this flaw, and model check and implement this solution to show that it is secure and feasible

Temperature-dependent rate coefficients for the reactions of the hydroxyl radical with the atmospheric biogenics isoprene, alpha-pinene and delta-3-carene

Pulsed laser methods for OH generation and detection were used to study atmospheric degradation reactions for three important biogenic gases: OHCisoprene (Reaction R1), OH+α-pinene (Reaction R2) and OH+Δ- 3-carene (Reaction R3). Gas-phase rate coefficients were characterized by non-Arrhenius kinetics for all three reactions. For (R1), k1 (241-356 K)= (1:93±0:08)× 10-11 exp{(466±12)/T} cm3 molecule-1 s-1 was determined, with a room temperature value of k1 (297 K)= (9:3± 0:4)×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1, independent of bath-gas pressure (5-200 Torr) and composition (MDN2 or air). Accuracy and precision were enhanced by online optical monitoring of isoprene, with absolute concentrations obtained via an absorption cross section, αisoprene = (1:28±0:06)× 10-17 cm2 molecule-1 at λ = 184:95 nm, determined in this work. These results indicate that significant discrepancies between previous absolute and relative-rate determinations of k1 result in part from σ values used to derive the isoprene concentration in high-precision absolute determinations. Similar methods were used to determine rate coefficients (in 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1/ for (R2)-(R3): k2 (238-357 K)= (1:83±0:04) ×exp{(330±6)/T } and k3 (235-357 K)= (2:48±0:14) ×exp{(357±17)/T }. This is the first temperature-dependent dataset for (R3) and enables the calculation of reliable atmospheric lifetimes with respect to OH removal for e.g. boreal forest springtime conditions. Room temperature values of k2 (296 K)= (5:4±0:2) ×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 and k3 (297 K)= (8:1±0:3)×10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 were independent of bathgas pressure (7-200 Torr, N2 or air) and in good agreement with previously reported values. In the course of this work, 184.95 nm absorption cross sections were determined: σ = (1:54±0:08) ×10-17 cm2 molecule-1 for α-pinene and (2:40±0:12)×10-17 cm2 molecule-1 for 1-3-carene

The Inflammasome Drives GSDMD-Independent Secondary Pyroptosis and IL-1 Release in the Absence of Caspase-1 Protease Activity.

Inflammasomes activate the protease caspase-1, which cleaves interleukin-1β and interleukin-18 to generate the mature cytokines and controls their secretion and a form of inflammatory cell death called pyroptosis. By generating mice expressing enzymatically inactive caspase-1 <sup>C284A</sup> , we provide genetic evidence that caspase-1 protease activity is required for canonical IL-1 secretion, pyroptosis, and inflammasome-mediated immunity. In caspase-1-deficient cells, caspase-8 can be activated at the inflammasome. Using mice either lacking the pyroptosis effector gasdermin D (GSDMD) or expressing caspase-1 <sup>C284A</sup> , we found that GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis prevented caspase-8 activation at the inflammasome. In the absence of GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis, the inflammasome engaged a delayed, alternative form of lytic cell death that was accompanied by the release of large amounts of mature IL-1 and contributed to host protection. Features of this cell death modality distinguished it from apoptosis, suggesting it may represent a distinct form of pro-inflammatory regulated necrosis

Lazy Mobile Intruders

We present a new technique for analyzing platforms that execute potentially malicious code, such as web-browsers, mobile phones, or virtualized infrastructures. Rather than analyzing given code, we ask what code an intruder could create to break a security goal of the platform. To avoid searching the infinite space of programs that the intruder could come up with (given some initial knowledge) we adapt the lazy intruder technique from protocol verification: the code is initially just a process variable that is getting instantiated in a demand-driven way during its execution. We also take into account that by communication, the malicious code can learn new information that it can use in subsequent operations, or that we may have several pieces of malicious code that can exchange information if they “meet”. To formalize both the platform and the malicious code we use the mobile ambient calculus, since it provides a small, abstract formalism that models the essence of mobile code. We provide a decision procedure for security against arbitrary intruder processes when the honest processes can only perform a bounded number of steps and without path constraints in communication. We show that this problem is NP-complete