Hidden particle production at the ILC

In a class of new physics models, new physics sector is completely or partly hidden, namely, singlet under the Standard Model (SM) gauge group. Hidden fields included in such new physics models communicate with the Standard Model sector through higher dimensional operators. If a cutoff lies in the TeV range, such hidden fields can be produced at future colliders. We consider a scalar filed as an example of the hidden fields. Collider phenomenology on this hidden scalar is similar to that of the SM Higgs boson, but there are several features quite different from those of the Higgs boson. We investigate productions of the hidden scalar at the International Linear Collider (ILC) and study the feasibility of its measurements, in particular, how well the ILC distinguishes the scalar from the Higgs boson, through realistic Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: the version to be published in PR

Simulation Subsumption or Déjà vu on the Web

Simulation unification is a special kind of unification adapted to retrieving semi-structured data on the Web. This article introduces simulation subsumption, or containment, that is, query subsumption under simulation unification. Simulation subsumption is crucial in general for query optimization, in particular for optimizing pattern-based search engines, and for the termination of recursive rule-based web languages such as the XML and RDF query language Xcerpt. This paper first motivates and formalizes simulation subsumption. Then, it establishes decidability of simulation subsumption for advanced query patterns featuring descendant constructs, regular expressions, negative subterms (or subterm exclusions), and multiple variable occurrences. Finally, we show that subsumption between two query terms can be decided in O(n!n) where n is the sum of the sizes of both query terms

Cardiomyocyte Formation by Skeletal Muscle-Derived Multi-Myogenic Stem Cells after Transplantation into Infarcted Myocardium

BACKGROUND: Cellular cardiomyoplasty for myocardial infarction has been developed using various cell types. However, complete differentiation and/or trans-differentiation into cardiomyocytes have never occurred in these transplant studies, whereas functional contributions were reported. METHODS AND RESULTS: Skeletal muscle interstitium-derived CD34(+)/CD45(-) (Sk-34) cells were purified from green fluorescent protein transgenic mice by flowcytometory. Cardiac differentiation of Sk-34 cells was examined by in vitro clonal culture and co-culture with embryonic cardiomyocytes, and in vivo transplantation into a nude rat myocardial infarction (MI) model (left ventricle). Lower relative expression of cardiomyogenic transcription factors, such as GATA-4, Nkx2-5, Isl-1, Mef2 and Hand2, was seen in clonal cell culture. However, vigorous expression of these factors was seen on co-culture with embryonic cardiomyocytes, together with formation of gap-junctions and synchronous contraction following sphere-like colony formation. At 4 weeks after transplantation of freshly isolated Sk-34 cells, donor cells exhibited typical cardiomyocyte structure with formation of gap-junctions, as well as intercalated discs and desmosomes, between donor and recipient and/or donor and donor cells. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis detecting the rat and mouse genomic DNA and immunoelectron microscopy using anti-GFP revealed donor-derived cells. Transplanted Sk-34 cells were incorporated into infarcted portions of recipient muscles and contributed to cardiac reconstitution. Significant improvement in left ventricular function, as evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography and micro-tip conductance catheter, was also observed. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: Skeletal muscle-derived multipotent Sk-34 cells that can give rise to skeletal and smooth muscle cells as reported previously, also give rise to cardiac muscle cells as multi-myogenic stem cells, and thus are a potential source for practical cellular cardiomyoplasty

Detector decoy quantum key distribution

Photon number resolving detectors can enhance the performance of many practical quantum cryptographic setups. In this paper, we employ a simple method to estimate the statistics provided by such a photon number resolving detector using only a threshold detector together with a variable attenuator. This idea is similar in spirit to that of the decoy state technique, and is specially suited for those scenarios where only a few parameters of the photon number statistics of the incoming signals have to be estimated. As an illustration of the potential applicability of the method in quantum communication protocols, we use it to prove security of an entanglement based quantum key distribution scheme with an untrusted source without the need of a squash model and by solely using this extra idea. In this sense, this detector decoy method can be seen as a different conceptual approach to adapt a single photon security proof to its physical, full optical implementation. We show that in this scenario the legitimate users can now even discard the double click events from the raw key data without compromising the security of the scheme, and we present simulations on the performance of the BB84 and the 6-state quantum key distribution protocols.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure

Quantity and quality of antigravity muscles in patients undergoing living-donor lobar lung transplantation: 1-year longitudinal analysis using chest computed tomography images

Background: Skeletal muscle dysfunction is a common feature in patients with severe lung diseases. Although lung transplantation aims to save these patients, the surgical procedure and disuse may cause additional deterioration and prolonged functional disability. We investigated the postoperative course of antigravity muscle condition in terms of quantity and quality using chest computed tomography. Methods: 35 consecutive patients were investigated for 12 months after living-donor lobar lung transplantation (LDLLT). The erector spinae muscles (ESMs), which are antigravity muscles, were evaluated, and the cross-sectional area (ESMCSA) and mean attenuation (ESMCT) were analysed to determine the quantity and quality of ESMs. Functional capacity was evaluated by the 6-min walk distance (6MWD). Age-matched living donors with lower lobectomy were evaluated as controls. Results: Recipient and donor ESMCSA values temporarily decreased at 3 months and recovered by 12 months post-operatively. The ESMCSA of recipients, but not that of donors, surpassed baseline values by 12 months post-operatively. Increased ESMCSA (ratio to baseline ≥1) may occur at 12 months in patients with a high baseline ESMCT. Although the recipient ESMCT may continuously decrease for 12 months, the ESMCT is a major determinant, in addition to lung function, of the postoperative 6MWD at both 3 and 12 months. Conclusion: The quantity of ESMs may increase within 12 months after LDLLT in recipients with better muscle quality at baseline. The quality of ESMs is also important for physical performance; therefore, further approaches to prevent deterioration in muscle quality are required

Neogene strike-slip faulting in Sakhalin and the Japan Sea opening

Laurent Jolivet est Professeur à l'Université d'Orléans au 1er Septembre 2009International audienceWe describe structural data from a 2000 km N-S dextral strike-slip zone extending from northern Sakhalin to the southeast corner of the Japan Sea. Satellite images, field data, and focal mechanisms of earthquakes in Sakhalin are included in the interpretation. Since Miocene time the deformation in Sakhalin has been taken up by N-S dextral strike-slip faults with a reverse component and associated en e'chelon folds. Narrow en échelon Neogene basins were formed along strike-sup faults and were later folded in a second stage of deformation. We propose a model of basin formation along extension al faults delimitating dominos between two major strike-slip faults, and subsequent counterclockwise rotation of the dominos in a dextral transpressional regime, basins becoming progressively oblique to the direction of maximum horizontal compression and undergoing shortening. The association of both dextral and compressional focal mechanisms of earthquakes indicates that the same transpressional regime still prevails today in Sakhalin. We present fault set measurements undertaken in Noto Peninsula and Yatsuo Basin at the southern end of the Sakhalin-East Japan Sea strike-slip zone. Early and middle Miocene formations recorded the same transtensional regime as observed along the west coast of NE Honshu. During the early and middle Miocene the strike-slip regime was transpressional to the north in Sakhalin and Hokkaido, and transtensional to the south along the west coast of NE Honshu as far as Noto Peninsula and Yatsuo basin. Dextral motion accommodated the opening of the Japan Sea as a pull-apart basin, with the Tsushima fault to the west. The opening of the Japan Sea ceased at the end of the middle Miocene when transtension started to change to E-W compression in the Japan arc. Subduction of the Japan Sea lithosphere under the Japan arc started 1.8 Ma ago. The evolution of the stress regime from transtensional to compressional in the southern part of the strike-slip zone is related to the inception of the subduction of the young Philippine Sea Plate lithosphere under the Japan arc during the late Miocene. Subduction related extension is a necessary condition for the opening of the Japan Sea. Two possible mechanisms can account for dextral shear in this area: (1) counterclockwise rotation of crustal blocks due to the collision of India with Asia, (2) extrusion of the Okhotsk Sea block squeezed between the North America and Eurasia plates

Search for More Declarativity

Good tree search algorithms are a key requirement for inference engines of rule languages. As Prolog exemplifies, inference engines based on traditional uninformed search methods with their well-known deficiencies are prone to compromise declarativity, the primary concern of rule languages. The paper presents a new family of uninformed search algorithms that combine the advantages of the traditional ones while avoiding their shortcomings. Moreover, the paper introduces a formal framework based on partial orderings, which allows precise and elegant analysis of such algorithms

Extreme viral partitioning in a marine-derived High Arctic lake

ABSTRACT High-latitude, perennially stratified (meromictic) lakes are likely to be especially vulnerable to climate warming because of the importance of ice in maintaining their water column structure and associated distribution of microbial communities. This study aimed to characterize viral abundance, diversity, and distribution in a meromictic lake of marine origin on the far northern coast of Ellesmere Island, in the Canadian High Arctic. We collected triplicate samples for double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) viromics from five depths that encompassed the major features of the lake, as determined by limnological profiling of the water column. Viral abundance and virus-to-prokaryote ratios were highest at greater depths, while bacterial and cyanobacterial counts were greatest in the surface waters. The viral communities from each zone of the lake defined by salinity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen concentrations were markedly distinct, suggesting that there was little exchange of viral types among lake strata. Ten viral assembled genomes were obtained from our libraries, and these also segregated with depth. This well-defined structure of viral communities was consistent with that of potential hosts. Viruses from the monimolimnion, a deep layer of ancient Arctic Ocean seawater, were more diverse and relatively abundant, with few similarities to available viral sequences. The Lake A viral communities also differed from published records from the Arctic Ocean and meromictic Ace Lake in Antarctica. This first characterization of viral diversity from this sentinel environment underscores the microbial richness and complexity of an ecosystem type that is increasingly exposed to major perturbations in the fast-changing Arctic. IMPORTANCE The Arctic is warming at an accelerating pace, and the rise in temperature has increasing impacts on the Arctic biome. Lakes are integrators of their surroundings and thus excellent sentinels of environmental change. Despite their importance in the regulation of key microbial processes, viruses remain largely uncharacterized in Arctic lacustrine environments. We sampled a highly stratified meromictic lake near the northern limit of the Canadian High Arctic, a region in rapid transition due to climate change. We found that the different layers of the lake harbored viral communities that were strikingly dissimilar and highly divergent from known viruses. Viruses were more abundant in the deepest part of the lake containing ancient Arctic Ocean seawater that was trapped during glacial retreat and were genomically unlike any viruses previously described. This research demonstrates the complexity and novelty of viral communities in an environment that is vulnerable to ongoing perturbation