Neutral Higgs boson pair production via γγ\gamma\gamma collision in the minimal supersymmetric standard model at linear colliders

We investigate in detail the $\gamma\gamma$ fusion production mechanisms of two neutral Higgs bosons ($h^0A^0$, $H^0A^0$, $h^0H^0$ and $H^0H^0$) within the framework of the mSUGRA-inspired minimal supersymmetric standard model(MSSM) at an $e^+e^-$ linear colliders, which provide a probe of the trilinear Higgs self-couplings. We calculate the dependence of the production rates on Higgs boson masses, the ratio of the vacuum expectation values $\tan \beta$ and the CMS energy $\sqrt{s}$. We find that the cross section for the $H^0H^0$ production at LC can reach $0.2 fb$, while the cross section of $A^0H^0$ production is only $10^{-4}\sim 10^{-3} fb$ under our parameters.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev.

Deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus in drug-resistant epilepsy in the MORE multicenter patient registry

Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background and objectives: The efficacy of deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT DBS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) was demonstrated in the double-blind Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus for Epilepsy randomized controlled trial. The Medtronic Registry for Epilepsy (MORE) aims to understand the safety and longer-term effectiveness of ANT DBS therapy in routine clinical practice. Methods: MORE is an observational registry collecting prospective and retrospective clinical data. Participants were at least 18 years old, with focal DRE recruited across 25 centers from 13 countries. They were followed for at least 2 years in terms of seizure frequency (SF), responder rate (RR), health-related quality of life (Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory 31), depression, and safety outcomes. Results: Of the 191 patients recruited, 170 (mean [SD] age of 35.6 [10.7] years, 43% female) were implanted with DBS therapy and met all eligibility criteria. At baseline, 38% of patients reported cognitive impairment. The median monthly SF decreased by 33.1% from 15.8 at baseline to 8.8 at 2 years (p 10 implantations) had 42.8% reduction in median monthly SF by 2 years in comparison with 25.8% in low-volume center. In patients with cognitive impairment, the reduction in median monthly SF was 26.0% by 2 years compared with 36.1% in patients without cognitive impairment. The most frequently reported adverse events were changes (e.g., increased frequency/severity) in seizure (16%), memory impairment (patient-reported complaint, 15%), depressive mood (patient-reported complaint, 13%), and epilepsy (12%). One definite sudden unexpected death in epilepsy case was reported. Discussion: The MORE registry supports the effectiveness and safety of ANT DBS therapy in a real-world setting in the 2 years following implantation. Classification of evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that ANT DBS reduces the frequency of seizures in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy.The MORE registry was sponsored and funded by Medtronic, plc.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Safeguarding public values by project-based construction clients: Leads for future research

In an environment with large interdependencies like the construction industry, projectbased public construction organisations are challenged to seek for 'new' ways to safeguard public values and project outcomes. Public bodies increasingly depend on private parties to achieve public values. Hence, due to the character of their tasks, they remain socialpolitically responsible. In order to find leads for future research into safeguarding public values by construction clients, an explorative literature study was conducted. The fields of institutional logics, public organisation science and public value management were used to gain insights in relevant multi-level organisational concepts considering the meaning of public values in the daily practice of public clients. Hybridity was found as characteristic of public-private partnerships. Furthermore, the management of institutional complexity as a central task for public construction clients implies the importance of monitoring ambidexterity and accountability. Future research into the understanding of safeguarding public values at all levels of public construction clients must centralise these concepts in order to contribute to the professionalization of public construction clients.</p

Micropropagation of juvenile eucalptus regans

No abstract availabl

Assessing the Maturity of Public Construction Client Organisations

The construction sector is changing, and commissioning organisations have to rethink the way they approach the market. This is especially important for client organisations operating in the public domain, because of their role as change agent in the sector and their social responsibilities. The ‘Public Commissioning Maturity Model’ (PCMM), first presented in 2014, was created to raise awareness amount construction clients’ organisations to the range and width of their commissioning task. It provides a means to elicit discussion on the current and desired state of the organisation’s competences, thereby supporting these organisations in further professionalization. As a result of sixworkshop-based discussion sessions and five panel discussions, the value of the model was determined. In this paper, the validation path of the model in practice is described. The findings resulted in changes to improve the usability of the model for the construction sector, as well as alterations to increase the understanding of the model for workshop participants. Adjustments regarding stylistic issues and elements in the maturity model and supporting materials were also made. Applying the PCMM has proven to enableassessment of the current and desired organisational performance on different aspects of public commissioning by eliciting discussion and raising awareness. It is however not constituted for numerical ranking, sector-wide monitoring or benchmarking purposes, while these needs also exist among client organisations. Furthermore, it was found that the model is less suitable for organisations in the middle of a comprehensive change process

Real Estate Development by Architectural Firms: Is the Business Model Future-Proof?

Architectural firms need business models that are able to deal with the diversity and uncertainty of their work to run a successful business over time. Little is known about the business models that are used in architectural service delivery and how they enable or constrain firms to create and capture value in their projects. In this research, a theoretical framework is used to systematically analyse the business models for the delivery of real estate development services by architectural firms. The findings are based on interview data collected at 22 Dutch architectural firms and show that the resources which are necessary for value creation may either enhance or constrain the firm's value capture. This research contributes to construction management literature by providing a profound insight into the pitfalls and opportunities of real estate development by architectural firms. It helps architects to improve their business models in order to enable organizational sustainability

Sex discrimination and occupational segregation in the Australian labour market

This paper explores the implications of the difference between the occupational distribution for males and females in a joint model determining earnings and occupation. The male/female wage differential is evaluated for a number of broad occupational classifications. This is followed by an evaluation of the role and relative importance of inter-occupational and intra-occupational effects as contributors to the overall male/female wage differential The main conclusion following from the econometric results is that intra-occupational effects dominate Thus, policies which attempt to address the gender wage differential by re-allocation of labour across occupations are unlikely to solve the problem

Ants recognize foes and not friends

Discriminating among individuals and rejecting non-group members is essential for the evolution and stability of animal societies. Ants are good models for studying recognition mechanisms, because they are typically very efficient in discriminating ‘friends’ (nest-mates) from ‘foes’ (non-nest-mates). Recognition in ants involves multicomponent cues encoded in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles. Here, we tested whether workers of the carpenter ant Camponotus herculeanus use the presence and/or absence of cuticular hydrocarbons to discriminate between nest-mates and non-nest-mates. We supplemented the cuticular profile with synthetic hydrocarbons mixed to liquid food and then assessed behavioural responses using two different bioassays. Our results show that (i) the presence, but not the absence, of an additional hydrocarbon elicited aggression and that (ii) among the three classes of hydrocarbons tested (unbranched, mono-methylated and dimethylated alkanes; for mono-methylated alkanes, we present a new synthetic pathway), only the dimethylated alkane was effective in eliciting aggression. Our results suggest that carpenter ants use a fundamentally different mechanism for nest-mate recognition than previously thought. They do not specifically recognize nest-mates, but rather recognize and reject non-nest-mates bearing odour cues that are novel to their own colony cuticular hydrocarbon profile. This begs for a reappraisal of the mechanisms underlying recognition systems in social insects

Genetic variation and parental performance under inbreeding for growth in Eucalyptus globulus

We aimed to better understand the genetic architecture of growth in E. globulus undergoing inbreeding by comparing families from selfing (SELF), open pollination (OP) and unrelated polymix crossing (POL) of common parents. Stem diameter at breast height (DBH) was assessed at 4, 6 and 10 years after planting in a field trial. • The OP heritability was overestimated at an early age relative to the POL heritability. • No significant correlations were found between the SELF and POL parental effects, indicating substantial non-additive genetic variation under inbreeding. The OP family effects were better correlated with the SELF than the POL population, and only at age 10 years, after substantial mortality of inbred progeny has occurred, was the positive correlation between OP and POL families significantly different from zero. • The estimated dominance variance arising from inbreeding was nearly 10-fold greater than the dominance variance associated with random mating and the additive variance, and appeared to be a major contributor to the variation in inbreeding depression amongst selfed families