Heat flow method to Lichnerowicz type equation on closed manifolds

In this paper, we establish existence results for positive solutions to the Lichnerowicz equation of the following type in closed manifolds -\Delta u=A(x)u^{-p}-B(x)u^{q},\quad in\quad M, where $p>1, q>0$, and $A(x)>0$, $B(x)\geq0$ are given smooth functions. Our analysis is based on the global existence of positive solutions to the following heat equation {ll} u_t-\Delta u=A(x)u^{-p}-B(x)u^{q},\quad in\quad M\times\mathbb{R}^{+}, u(x,0)=u_0,\quad in\quad M with the positive smooth initial data $u_0$.Comment: 10 page

Status report of CPHS and neutron activities at Tsinghua University

The Compact Pulsed Hadron Source (CPHS) project that was launched in September 2009 at Tsinghua University has reached a first commissioning stage in conjunction with ongoing activities to fulfill the eventual design goal of a ∼1013 n/s epithermal-to-cold neutron yield for education, instrumentation development, and industrial applications. Here, we report the latest progress on the commissioning and applications of 3MeV proton and neutron beam lines in the last one and half years, and the design, fabrication, engineering of the 13 MeV/16kW proton accelerator system

Branching ratios and CP-violating asymmetries of Bs→h1h2B_s \to h_1 h_2 decays in the general two-Higgs doublet models

Based on the low-energy effective Hamiltonian with the generalized factorization, we calculate the new physics contributions to branching ratios and CP-violating asymmetries of the charmless hadronic decays $B_s \to h_1 h_2$ in the standard model and the general two-Higgs doublet models (models I, II, and III). Within the considered paramter space, we find the following. (a) In models I and II, the new physics corrections are always small in size and will be masked by other larger known theoretical uncertainties. (b) In model III, the new physics corrections to the branching ratios of those QCD penguin-dominated decays \ov B_s \to K^0\etapp, K^+ K^{-*}, etc., are large in size and insensitive to the variations of \mhp and \nceff. For tree- or electroweak penguin-dominated decay modes, however, the new physics corrections are very small in size. (c) For \ov B_s \to K^+ K^{-*} and other seven decay modes, the branching ratios are at the level of $(1-3)\times 10^{-5}$ and will be measurable at the future hadron colliders with large $b$ production. (d) Among the studied thirty nine $B_s$ meson decay modes, seven of them can have a CP-violating asymmetry ${\cal A}_{CP}$ larger than 20% in magnitude. The new physics corrections are small or moderate in magnitude. (e) Because of its large and \nceff stable branching ratio and CP violating asymmetry, the decay \ov B_s \to K^+ K^{-*} seems to be the "best" channel to find CP violation of $B_s$ system through studies of two-body charmless decays of $B_s$ meson.Comment: 39 pages, Revtex, 9 eps figures, final version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.

Comparison of linear primary permanent magnet vernier machine and linear vernier hybrid machine

This journal issue contain selected papers from the 2014 IEEE International Magnetics (INTERMAG) ConferenceGQ - Electrical Machines for industrial and automotive applicationspublished_or_final_versio

Volume-regulated Cl- current: contributions of distinct Cl- channel and localized Ca2+ signals.

The swelling-activated chloride current (ICl,swell) is induced when a cell swells and plays a central role in maintaining cell volume in response to osmotic stress. The major contributor of ICl,swell is the volume regulated anion channel (VRAC). LRRC8A (SWELL1) was recently identified as an essential component of VRAC but the mechanisms of VRAC activation are still largely unknown; moreover, other Cl- channels, such as anoctamin 1 (ANO1) were also suggested to contribute to ICl,swell. In this present study, we investigated the roles of LRRC8A and ANO1 in activation of ICl,swell; we also explored the role of intracellular Ca2+ in ICl,swell activation. We used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approach, electrophysiology, live fluorescent imaging, selective pharmacology and other approaches to show that both LRRC8A and ANO1 can be activated by cell swelling in HEK293 cells. Yet, both channels contribute biophysically and pharmacologically distinct components to ICl,swell, with LRRC8A being the major component. Cell swelling induced oscillatory Ca2+ transients and these Ca2+ signals were required to activate both, the LRRC8A- and ANO1-dependent components of ICl,swell. Both ICl,swell components required localized rather than global Ca2+ for activation. Interestingly, while intracellular Ca2+ was necessary and sufficient to activate ANO1, it was necessary but not sufficient to activate LRRC8A-mediated currents. Finally, Ca2+ transients linked to the ICl,swell activation were mediated by the GPCR-independent PLC isoforms

Computational investigation of the phase stability and the electronic properties for Gd-doped HfO_2

Rare earth doping is an important approach to improve the desired properties of high-k gate dielectric oxides. We have carried out a comprehensive theoretical investigation on the phase stability, band gap, formation of oxygen vacancies, and dielectric properties for the Gd-doped HfO_2. Our calculated results indicate that the tetragonal phase is more stable than the monoclinic phase when the Gd doping concentration is greater than 15.5%, which is in a good agreement with the experimental observations. The dopant's geometric effect is mainly responsible for the phase stability. The Gd doping enlarges the band gap of the material. The dielectric constant for the Gd-doped HfO_2 is in the range of 20–30 that is suitable for high-k dielectric applications. The neutral oxygen vacancy formation energy is 3.2 eV lower in the doped material than in pure HfO_2. We explain the experimental observation on the decrease of photoluminescence intensities in the Gd-doped HfO_2 according to forming the dopant-oxygen vacancy complexes

Experimental Implementation of the Quantum Random-Walk Algorithm

The quantum random walk is a possible approach to construct new quantum algorithms. Several groups have investigated the quantum random walk and experimental schemes were proposed. In this paper we present the experimental implementation of the quantum random walk algorithm on a nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computer. We observe that the quantum walk is in sharp contrast to its classical counterpart. In particular, the properties of the quantum walk strongly depends on the quantum entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, published versio

Reducing water use by alternate-furrow irrigation with livestock wastewater reduces antibiotic resistance gene abundance in the rhizosphere but not in the non-rhizosphere

One effective approach to treating large amounts of wastewater produced during livestock production is to use it to irrigate crops. However, antibiotic compounds and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associated with livestock wastewater may enter the soil and plants. ARGs are spread readily among microbial populations by mobile genetic elements, and may pose threats to human health. Compared with conventional furrow irrigation (CFI), alternate-furrow irrigation (AFI) can reduce water use and still achieve high yields. These different irrigation methods may influence the fate of ARGs in soil however, few reports have studied the combined effects of AFI and irrigation with livestock wastewater upon the distribution of ARGs in soil. Here, swine wastewater was used to irrigate cultivated peppers, and compared to relatively ARG-free groundwater. AFI was compared to CFI (100%) at three AFI irrigation rates (80%, 65% and 50% of CFI). The results showed that wastewater irrigation resulted in greater accumulation of antibiotic compounds and ARGs in soil than groundwater. The effect of wastewater was much more pronounced in the rhizosphere than non-rhizosphere soil. Compared with CFI, AFI using wastewater reduced the relative abundance of ARGs in the pepper rhizosphere, but the concentration of antibiotic compounds was largely unaffected; though antibiotic compound concentrations in roots were significantly lower, the abundance of ARGs in roots at 50% and 65% rates and in fruits at 50% rate were significantly increased when using wastewater. The soil bacterial communities did not change significantly between the different irrigation rates. Different behaviours were observed between ARGs and antibiotic compounds at different irrigation rates. Antibiotic compound availability plays an important role in the diffusion of ARGs. In conclusion, AFI of livestock wastewater can reduce the relative abundance of ARGs in rhizosphere soil, but low irrigation amount should be employed carefully for the safe agricultural production

Counter-current chromatography for the separation of terpenoids: A comprehensive review with respect to the solvent systems employed

Copyright @ 2014 The Authors.This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.Natural products extracts are commonly highly complex mixtures of active compounds and consequently their purification becomes a particularly challenging task. The development of a purification protocol to extract a single active component from the many hundreds that are often present in the mixture is something that can take months or even years to achieve, thus it is important for the natural product chemist to have, at their disposal, a broad range of diverse purification techniques. Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is one such separation technique utilising two immiscible phases, one as the stationary phase (retained in a spinning coil by centrifugal forces) and the second as the mobile phase. The method benefits from a number of advantages when compared with the more traditional liquid-solid separation methods, such as no irreversible adsorption, total recovery of the injected sample, minimal tailing of peaks, low risk of sample denaturation, the ability to accept particulates, and a low solvent consumption. The selection of an appropriate two-phase solvent system is critical to the running of CCC since this is both the mobile and the stationary phase of the system. However, this is also by far the most time consuming aspect of the technique and the one that most inhibits its general take-up. In recent years, numerous natural product purifications have been published using CCC from almost every country across the globe. Many of these papers are devoted to terpenoids-one of the most diverse groups. Naturally occurring terpenoids provide opportunities to discover new drugs but many of them are available at very low levels in nature and a huge number of them still remain unexplored. The collective knowledge on performing successful CCC separations of terpenoids has been gathered and reviewed by the authors, in order to create a comprehensive document that will be of great assistance in performing future purifications. © 2014 The Author(s)

Copper accumulation and physiological markers of soybean (Glycine max) grown in agricultural soil amended with copper nanoparticles

Environmental Biolog