14,275 research outputs found
Asian Cities: Cultural heritage and the interplay between nation building and internationalism
It is over a decade since the volume The Disappearing Asian City (Logan 2002) was published. An edited volume bringing together a number of experts on the region, the book identified the threats facing buildings, archaeological sites and the historic character of cities, as well as the myriad of challenges of raising civic and regulatory awareness about the value of cultural heritage in times of rapid transformation. It was a set of concerns and arguments that remain as pertinent as ever. Those who have lived and worked in different parts of Asia over the past decade on cultural heritage issues, frequently use the terms \u27extraordinary\u27 or \u27bewildering\u27 to describe the scale and speed of transformation that has taken place. Indeed, for those concerned about maintaining continuities between past and present - whether they be social, spiritual or material - the development of cities, the wholesale movements of communities in and out of urban landscapes, together with the dramatic increase in industries like tourism, has often been disorienting, and in some cases deeply confronting: both professionally and emotionally. And yet, to focus on loss and destruction would miss a whole set of other fascinating, emergent and important trends. As numerous publications in the intervening period have shown, cultural heritage has become a topic of intense interest and debate in the majority of Asian societies, for a host of reasons (Askew 2010; Broudehoux 2004; Pai 2013)
Half-Life of O
We have measured the half-life of O, a superallowed decay isotope. The O was produced by the
C(He,n)O reaction using a carbon aerogel target. A
low-energy ion beam of O was mass separated and implanted in a thin
beryllium foil. The beta particles were counted with plastic scintillator
detectors. We find s. This result is
higher than an average value from six earlier experiments, but agrees more
closely with the most recent previous measurement.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Flight test evaluation of an RAF high altitude partial pressure protective assembly
A partial pressure suit was evaluated during tests in an F-104 and F-15 as a protective garment for emergency descents. The garment is an pressure jerkin and modified anti-g suit combined with an oronasal mask. The garment can be donned and doffed at the aircraft to minimize thermal buildup. The oronasal mask was favored by the pilots due to its immobility on the face during high g-loading. The garment was chosen to provide optimum dexterity for the pilot, which is not available in a full pressure suit, while protecting the pilot at altitudes up to 18,288 meters, during a cabin decompression, and subsequent aircraft descent. During cabin decompressions in the F-104 and F-15, cabin pressure altitude was measured at various aircraft angles of attack, Mach numbers, and altitudes to determine the effect of the aerodynamic slipstream on the cabin altitude
Random quantum codes from Gaussian ensembles and an uncertainty relation
Using random Gaussian vectors and an information-uncertainty relation, we
give a proof that the coherent information is an achievable rate for
entanglement transmission through a noisy quantum channel. The codes are random
subspaces selected according to the Haar measure, but distorted as a function
of the sender's input density operator. Using large deviations techniques, we
show that classical data transmitted in either of two Fourier-conjugate bases
for the coding subspace can be decoded with low probability of error. A
recently discovered information-uncertainty relation then implies that the
quantum mutual information for entanglement encoded into the subspace and
transmitted through the channel will be high. The monogamy of quantum
correlations finally implies that the environment of the channel cannot be
significantly coupled to the entanglement, and concluding, which ensures the
existence of a decoding by the receiver.Comment: 9 pages, two-column style. This paper is a companion to
quant-ph/0702005 and quant-ph/070200
Large gauge invariant non-standard neutrino interactions
Theories beyond the Standard Model must necessarily respect its gauge
symmetry. This implies strict constraints on the possible models of
non-standard neutrino interactions, which we analyze. The focus is set on the
effective low-energy dimension six and eight operators involving four leptons,
decomposing them according to all possible tree-level mediators, as a guide for
model building. The new couplings are required to have sizeable strength, while
processes involving four charged leptons are required to be suppressed. For
non-standard interactions in matter, only diagonal tau-neutrino interactions
can escape these requirements and can be allowed to result from dimension six
operators. Large non-standard neutrino interactions from dimension eight
operators alone are phenomenologically allowed in all flavour channels and
shown to require at least two new mediator particles. The new couplings must
obey general cancellation conditions both at the dimension six and eight
levels, which result from expressing the operators obtained from the mediator
analysis in terms of a complete basis of operators. We illustrate with one
example how to apply this information to model building.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables. Final version in PR
Spectroscopy of electron-induced fluorescence in organic liquid scintillators
Emission spectra of several organic liquid-scintillator mixtures which are
relevant for the proposed LENA detector have been measured by exciting the
medium with electrons of ~10keV. The results are compared with spectra
resulting from ultraviolet light excitation. Good agreement between spectra
measured by both methods has been found.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure
Fat transforms ascorbic acid from inhibiting to promoting acid-catalysed N-nitrosation
<b>Background</b>: The major potential site of acid nitrosation is the proximal stomach, an anatomical site prone to
a rising incidence of metaplasia and adenocarcinoma. Nitrite, a pre-carcinogen present in saliva, can be
converted to nitrosating species and N-nitroso compounds by acidification at low gastric pH in the presence
of thiocyanate.
<b>Aims</b>: To assess the effect of lipid and ascorbic acid on the nitrosative chemistry under conditions simulating
the human proximal stomach.
<b>Methods</b>: The nitrosative chemistry was modelled in vitro by measuring the nitrosation of four secondary
amines under conditions simulating the proximal stomach. The N-nitrosamines formed were measured by gas
chromatography–ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry, while nitric oxide and oxygen levels were measured
amperometrically.
<b>Results</b>: In absence of lipid, nitrosative stress was inhibited by ascorbic acid through conversion of nitrosating
species to nitric oxide. Addition of ascorbic acid reduced the amount of N-nitrosodimethylamine formed by
fivefold, N-nitrosomorpholine by .1000-fold, and totally prevented the formation of N-nitrosodiethylamine
and N-nitrosopiperidine. In contrast, when 10% lipid was present, ascorbic acid increased the amount of Nnitrosodimethylamine,
N-nitrosodiethylamine and N-nitrosopiperidine formed by approximately 8-, 60- and
140-fold, respectively, compared with absence of ascorbic acid.
<b>Conclusion</b>: The presence of lipid converts ascorbic acid from inhibiting to promoting acid nitrosation. This
may be explained by nitric oxide, formed by ascorbic acid in the aqueous phase, being able to regenerate
nitrosating species by reacting with oxygen in the lipid phase
Fluorescence decay-time constants in organic liquid scintillators
The fluorescence decay-time constants have been measured for several
scintillator mixtures based on phenyl-o-xylylethane (PXE) and linear
alkylbenzene (LAB) solvents. The resulting values are of relevance for the
physics performance of the proposed large-volume liquid scintillator detector
LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy). In particular, the impact of the measured
values to the search for proton decay via p -> K+ antineutrino is evaluated in
this work.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Rokhlin Dimension for Flows
This research was supported by GIF Grant 1137/2011, SFB 878 Groups, Geometry and Actions and ERC Grant No. 267079. Part of the research was conducted at the Fields institute during the 2014 thematic program on abstract harmonic analysis, Banach and operator algebras, and at the Mittag–Leffler institute during the 2016 program on Classification of Operator Algebras: Complexity, Rigidity, and Dynamics.Peer reviewedPostprin
Anomalous Higgs Couplings at the LHC
We discuss the impact and potential discovery of physics beyond the Standard
Model, coupling to the Higgs sector, at the LHC. Using a model-independent
effective Lagrangian approach, pure Higgs and Higgs-gauge operators are
analyzed, and their origin in terms of tree-level exchange of unknown heavy
messengers is systematically derived. It is demonstrated that early signals at
the LHC may result from a simultaneous modification of Higgs-fermion and
Higgs-gauge boson couplings induced by those operators, pointing towards
singlet scalar or a triplet vector -- barring fine-tuned options. Of course,
the Higgs discovery itself will also be affected by such new couplings. With
increasing statistics, the remaining options can be discriminated from each
other. On the other hand, the discovery of a new scalar doublet may require
technology beyond the LHC, since the Higgs self-couplings have to be measured.
Our conclusions are based on the complete set of tree-level decompositions of
the effective operators unbiased by a specific model.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, version to appear in Phys.Rev.
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