The productions of the top-pions and top-Higgs associated with the charm quark at the hadron colliders

In the topcolor-assistant technicolor (TC2) model, the typical physical particles, top-pions and top-Higgs, are predicted and the existence of these particles could be regarded as the robust evidence of the model. These particles are accessible at the Tevatron and LHC, and furthermore the flavor-changing(FC) feature of the TC2 model can provide us a unique chance to probe them. In this paper, we study some interesting FC production processes of top-pions and top-Higgs at the Tevatron and LHC, i.e., $c\Pi_{t}^{-}$ and $c\Pi_{t}^{0}(h_{t}^{0})$ productions. We find that the light charged top-pions are not favorable by the Tevatron experiments and the Tevatron has a little capability to probe neutral top-pion and top-Higgs via these FC production processes. At the LHC, however, the cross section can reach the level of $10\sim 100$ pb for $c\Pi_t^-$ production and $10\sim 100$ fb for $c\Pi_t^0(h_t^0)$ production. So one can expect that enough signals could be produced at the LHC experiments. Furthermore, the SM background should be clean due to the FC feature of the processes and the FC decay modes $\Pi_t^-\to b\bar{c}, \Pi_t^0(h_t^0)\to t\bar{c}$ can provide us the typical signal to detect the top-pions and top-Higgs. Therefore, it is hopeful to find the signal of top-pions and top-Higgs with the running of the LHC via these FC processes.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Evaluation on the Effects of Deicing Chemicals on Soil and Water Environment

AbstractDeicing chemicals are widely used to clear the pavement snow in the cold areas of China and many other countries in winter, because of their simple operation and excellent snow-melting effect, which leads to more convenience for traffic and low probability of traffic accident in the city, especially in metropolis. However, with the ever-growing application of deicing chemicals, their negative effects on environment such as soil and water system increased dramatically. Based on the related researches in China and abroad, this paper summarized the two categories of deicing chemicals and their working principles, and then provided the unique characteristics of deicing chemicals’ effects on soil and water environment in large cities, which may need considerable quantity of the chemicals to relieve traffic congestion. What's more, main aspects of impacts by deicing chemicals on regional soil and water environment and the fundamental factors related to the aspects above respectively were generalized, in order to propose a conceptual model to evaluate the harmful effects. Moreover, this paper put forward some suggestions for the further research in this field to fulfill the model, and provided a scientific basis for the pollution prevention of deicing chemicals on urban environment

Constitutive Modeling for Al–Cu–Mg Alloy in Creep Aging Process

The aim of this paper is to develop a set of creep aging constitutive equations for Al–Cu–Mg alloys containing plate- or rod-like precipitates. Average length, aspect ratio and relative volume fraction are introduced to quantitatively analyze precipitates evaluation of such alloy in creep aging process. The strong interaction between creep deformation and aging treatment is considered by the intermediate state variables of dislocation density and precipitate characteristic dimension. A unified creep aging constitutive equation is derived, in which the correlations between microscopic characteristics and macroperformances of material are linked by the yield strength of the material. Using AA2124 as subject, a series of uniaxial tensile creep tests are carried out at 185°C for 12 h under different stresses. The material constants within constitutive models are determined with the experimental data. A good agreement between experimental and computed values confirms that the established constitutive equations can well characterize the creep behaviors

Diffuse interstitial and multiple cavitary lung lesions due to Talaromyces marneffei infection in a non-HIV patient

AbstractA 57-year-old man presented with unproductive cough and dyspnea for 6 months in Fujian Province, China. His misuse of a large amount of steroids (accumulated dose equivalent to 3530 mg prednisolone) resulted in Talaromyces marneffei infection. Chest computed tomographic scan revealed diffuse interstitial and multiple cavitary lung lesions. Treatment with amphotericin B combined with itraconazole resulted in total recovery, with marked regression of lung lesions

Mass measurements of neutron-deficient Y, Zr, and Nb isotopes and their impact on rp and νp nucleosynthesis processes

© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This manuscript is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For further details please see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Using isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental storage ring CSRe in Lanzhou, the masses of 82Zr and 84Nb were measured for the first time with an uncertainty of ∼10 keV, and the masses of 79Y, 81Zr, and 83Nb were re-determined with a higher precision. The latter are significantly less bound than their literature values. Our new and accurate masses remove the irregularities of the mass surface in this region of the nuclear chart. Our results do not support the predicted island of pronounced low α separation energies for neutron-deficient Mo and Tc isotopes, making the formation of Zr–Nb cycle in the rp-process unlikely. The new proton separation energy of 83Nb was determined to be 490(400) keV smaller than that in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2012. This partly removes the overproduction of the p-nucleus 84Sr relative to the neutron-deficient molybdenum isotopes in the previous νp-process simulations.Peer reviewe

Aerosol particles at a high-altitude site on the Southeast Tibetan Plateau, China: Implications for pollution transport from South Asia

      Bulk aerosol samples were collected from 16 July 2008 to 26 July 2009 at Lulang, a high-altitude (>3300m above sea level) site on the southeast Tibetan Plateau (TP); objectives were to determine chemical characteristics of the aerosol and identify its major sources. We report aerosol (total suspended particulate, TSP) mass levels and the concentrations of selected elements, carbonaceous species, and water-soluble inorganic ions. Significant buildup of aerosol mass and chemical species (organic carbon, element carbon, nitrate, and sulfate) occurred during the premonsoon, while lower concentrations were observed during the monsoon. Seasonal variations in aerosol and chemical species were driven by precipitation scavenging and atmospheric circulation. Two kinds of high-aerosol episodes were observed: one was enriched with dust indicators (Fe and Ca2+), and the other was enhanced with organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), SO42−, NO3−, and Fe. The TSP loadings during the latter were 3 to 6 times those on normal days. The greatest aerosol optical depths (National Centers for Environmental Protection/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis) occurred upwind, in eastern India and Bangladesh, and trajectory analysis indicates that air pollutants were transported from the southwest. Northwesterly winds brought high levels of natural emissions (Fe, Ca2+) and low levels of pollutants (SO42−, NO3−, K+, and EC); this was consistent with high aerosol optical depths over the western deserts and Gobi. Our work provides evidence that both geological and pollution aerosols from surrounding regions impact the aerosol population of the TP

JAZ8 Interacts with VirE3 attenuating agrobacterium mediated root tumorigenesis

Agrobacterium tumefaciens can cause crown gall tumors by transferring both an oncogenic piece of DNA (T-DNA) and several effector proteins into a wide range of host plants. For the translocated effector VirE3 multiple functions have been reported. It acts as a transcription factor in the nucleus binding to the Arabidopsis thaliana pBrp TFIIB-like protein to activate the expression of VBF, an F-box protein involved in degradation of the VirE2 and VIP1 proteins, facilitating Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Also VirE3 has been found at the plasma membrane, where it could interact with VirE2. Here, we identified AtJAZ8 in a yeast two-hybrid screening with VirE3 as a bait and confirmed the interaction by pull-down and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays. We also found that the deletion of virE3 reduced Agrobacterium virulence in a root tumor assay. Overexpression of virE3 in Arabidopsis enhanced tumorigenesis, whereas overexpression of AtJAZ8 in Arabidopsis significantly decreased the numbers of tumors formed. Further experiments demonstrated that AtJAZ8 inhibited the activity of VirE3 as a plant transcriptional regulator, and overexpression of AtJAZ8 in Arabidopsis activated AtPR1 gene expression while it repressed the expression of AtPDF1.2. Conversely, overexpression of virE3 in Arabidopsis suppressed the expression of AtPR1 whereas activated the expression of AtPDF1.2. Our results proposed a novel mechanism of counter defense signaling pathways used by Agrobacterium, suggesting that VirE3 and JAZ8 may antagonistically modulate the salicylic acid/jasmonic acid (SA/JA)-mediated plant defense signaling response during Agrobacterium infection.Plant science

Acoustic repertoires related to surface behaviours of the Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) in Brunei Bay, Malaysia

Behavioural observation and acoustic recordings of Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) were performed simultaneously in Brunei Bay, Malaysia. Surface behavioural observations were classified into four categories: travelling, foraging, socialising, and milling. A total of 8.43 hours of acoustic recordings were used to retrieve four different types of sounds: whistles, burst-pulsed sounds, click trains, and biphonal sounds. The recorded whistles were frequency-modulated sounds with durations ranging from 0.06 to 3.86 s and a mean minimum frequency of 6.5±2.5 kHz. The burst-pulsed frequency ranged from >48 kHz in at least four variations. Click trains were made up of broadband clicks with variable inter-click intervals and frequencies >48 kHz. The first biphonic sounds for Irrawaddy dolphins have been revealed in this study. Whistle rates were extremely high in milling. Compared to travelling and foraging, socialising had a significantly higher rate of click trains. Across all surface behaviours, there was no significant difference in burst-pulsed rates. This study laid the groundwork for ongoing monitoring of Irrawaddy dolphins and expanding conservation efforts for this species in Malaysi

Fractional Quantum Hall Effect via Holography: Chern-Simons, Edge States, and Hierarchy

We present three holographic constructions of fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) via string theory. The first model studies edge states in FQHE using supersymmetric domain walls in N=6 Chern-Simons theory. We show that D4-branes wrapped on CP^1 or D8-branes wrapped on CP^3 create edge states that shift the rank or the level of the gauge group, respectively. These holographic edge states correctly reproduce the Hall conductivity. The second model presents a holographic dual to the pure U(N)_k (Yang-Mills-)Chern-Simons theory based on a D3-D7 system. Its holography is equivalent to the level-rank duality, which enables us to compute the Hall conductivity and the topological entanglement entropy. The third model introduces the first string theory embedding of hierarchical FQHEs, using IIA string on C^2/Z_n.Comment: 36 pages, 6 figures; v2: with an improved derivation of Hall conductivity in section 3.2, typo corrections, and additional references; v3: explanations and comments adde