Charmless B(s)→VVB_{(s)}\to VV Decays in Factorization-Assisted Topological-Amplitude Approach

Within the factorization-assisted topological-amplitude approach, we studied the 33 charmless $B_{(s)} \to VV$ decays, where $V$ stands for a light vector meson. According to the flavor flows, the amplitude of each process can be decomposed into 8 different topologies. In contrast to the conventional flavor diagrammatic approach, we further factorize each topological amplitude into decay constant, form factors and unknown universal parameters. By $\chi^2$ fitting 46 experimental observables, we extracted 10 theoretical parameters with $\chi^2$ per degree of freedom around 2. Using the fitted parameters, we calculated the branching fractions, polarization fractions, CP asymmetries and relative phases between polarization amplitudes of each decay mode. The decay channels dominated by tree diagram have large branching fractions and large longitudinal polarization fraction. The branching fractions and longitudinal polarization fractions of color-suppressed decays become smaller. Current experimental data of large transverse polarization fractions in the penguin dominant decay channels can be explained by only one transverse amplitude of penguin annihilation diagram. Our predictions of those not yet measured channels can be tested in the ongoing LHCb experiment and the Belle-II experiment in future.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure

Direct CP violation in τ±→K±ρ0(ω)ντ→K±π+π−ντ\tau^\pm\rightarrow K^\pm \rho^0 (\omega)\nu_\tau \rightarrow K^\pm \pi^+\pi^-\nu_\tau

We study the direct CP violation in the $\tau^\pm\rightarrow K^\pm \rho^0 (\omega)\nu_\tau \rightarrow K^\pm \pi^+\pi^-\nu_\tau$ decay process in the Standard Model. An interesting mechanism involving the charge symmetry violating mixing between $\rho^0$ and $\omega$ is applied to enlarge the CP asymmetry. With this mechanism, the maximum differential and localized integrated CP asymmetries can reach $-(5.6^{+2.9}_{-1.7})\times10^{-12}$ and $6.3^{+2.4}_{-3.3}\times 10^{-11}$, respectively, which still leave plenty room for CP-violating New Physics to be discovered through this process

Transport of the Saharan dust air plumes over the tropical North Atlantic from FORMOSAT–3/COSMIC observation

AbstractLong–range transport of the Saharan dust plumes during May–August of each year is a prominent feature over the tropical North Atlantic. Observations of temperature profiles are highly desirable in clarifying the impacts of the Saharan dust plumes over the tropical North Atlantic. In this work we evaluate positive temperature anomalies (inversions in the lower troposphere) in the North Atlantic low troposphere originating from Western Africa, and to examine the correspondence of these events to Saharan dust plumes, using several temperature sources and satellite–detected measurements of Aerosol Index. We combine profiles of temperature observations from FORMOSAT–3/COSMIC (F3C) with aerosol observations from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to provide direct evidence of the Saharan dust plumes modifying environmental stability. The F3C observations show good profile measurements compared with the radiosondes in the lower troposphere, with the average temperature differences less than 0.5K. The F3C results were also compared with the Aqua Advanced Infrared Radiation Sounder (AIRS) and meteorological analyses from the National Centers for Environmental Predictions (NCEP), the United Kingdom Met Office (UKMO), and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). Our results show that hot air plumes are associated with the Saharan dust plumes during their transport across the tropical North Atlantic. There were eleven distinctive hot air plumes during May–August 2007 and 2008, respectively. These hot air plumes increase environmental temperatures below 5–km altitudes, with the maximum increase of 1–2K around 2–km. This leads to increase of environmental stability below 2–km altitudes and decrease of environmental stability between 2– and 5–km altitudes. By changing the vertical distribution of environmental stability, the Saharan dust plumes act to stabilize environmental air below 2–km while destabilize environmental air from 2– to 5–km altitudes. These results are distinctively presented in the F3C and AIRS observations but less obvious in the meteorological analyses

Examining Scientific Writing Styles from the Perspective of Linguistic Complexity

Publishing articles in high-impact English journals is difficult for scholars around the world, especially for non-native English-speaking scholars (NNESs), most of whom struggle with proficiency in English. In order to uncover the differences in English scientific writing between native English-speaking scholars (NESs) and NNESs, we collected a large-scale data set containing more than 150,000 full-text articles published in PLoS between 2006 and 2015. We divided these articles into three groups according to the ethnic backgrounds of the first and corresponding authors, obtained by Ethnea, and examined the scientific writing styles in English from a two-fold perspective of linguistic complexity: (1) syntactic complexity, including measurements of sentence length and sentence complexity; and (2) lexical complexity, including measurements of lexical diversity, lexical density, and lexical sophistication. The observations suggest marginal differences between groups in syntactical and lexical complexity.Comment: 6 figure

Hookworm infestation, an old but not vanished disease

AbstractHookworms, together with other helminthes infestations, were serious health problems in Taiwan before. With improvements in public health and medicine, the prevalence of parasite infestations drops significantly and current attention has been shifted to foreign laborers coming from the Southeast Asia. Herein we reported a case of hookworm infestation who presented as subacute diarrhea. Initially, only peripheral eosinophilia was revealed. Anti-helminth treatment, but not the immunosuppressant for eosinophilic gastroenteritis, was given when the hookworm ova were finally harvested after repeated stool examinations. Please remember the old diseases when you meet a patient with gastrointestinal complaints and peripheral eosinophilia, especially when there are intermittent skin atopic manifestations. Repeated parasite ova checks with concentration method are necessary in acute stage, especially when the worm burden is not heavy

The Individual and Combined Effects of Deoxynivalenol and Aflatoxin B1 on Primary Hepatocytes of Cyprinus Carpio

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are important food-borne mycotoxins that have been implicated in animal and human health. In this study, individual and combinative effects of AFB1 and DON were tested in primary hepatocytes of Cyprinus carpio. The results indicated that the combinative effects of AFB1 and DON (0.01 μg/mL AFB1 and 0.25 μg/mL DON; 0.02 μg/mL AFB1 and 0.25 μg/mL DON; 0.02 μg/mL AFB1 and 0.5 μg/mL DON) were higher than that of individual mycotoxin (P < 0.05). The activity of AST, ALT and LDH in cell supernatant was higher than that of control group (P < 0.05) when the mycotoxins were exposed to primary hepatocytes for 4 h. The decreased cell number was observed in tested group by inverted light microscopy. The mitochondrial swelling, endoplasmic reticulum dilation and a lot of lipid droplets were observed in primary hepatocytes by transmission electron microscope. Therefore, this combination was classified as an additive response of the two mycotoxins