On higher analogues of Courant algebroids

In this paper, we study the algebraic properties of the higher analogues of Courant algebroid structures on the direct sum bundle $TM\oplus\wedge^nT^*M$ for an $m$-dimensional manifold. As an application, we revisit Nambu-Poisson structures and multisymplectic structures. We prove that the graph of an $(n+1)$-vector field $\pi$ is closed under the higher-order Dorfman bracket iff $\pi$ is a Nambu-Poisson structure. Consequently, there is an induced Leibniz algebroid structure on $\wedge^nT^*M$. The graph of an $(n+1)$-form $\omega$ is closed under the higher-order Dorfman bracket iff $\omega$ is a premultisymplectic structure of order $n$, i.e. \dM\omega=0. Furthermore, there is a Lie algebroid structure on the admissible bundle $A\subset\wedge^{n}T^*M$. In particular, for a 2-plectic structure, it induces the Lie 2-algebra structure given in \cite{baez:classicalstring}.Comment: 13 page

Volatility distribution in the S&P500 Stock Index

We study the volatility of the S&P500 stock index from 1984 to 1996 and find that the volatility distribution can be very well described by a log-normal function. Further, using detrended fluctuation analysis we show that the volatility is power-law correlated with Hurst exponent $\alpha\cong0.9$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Self-Cleaning Glass of Photocatalytic Anatase TiO2@Carbon Nanotubes Thin Film by Polymer-Assisted Approach

Due to the good photocatalytic activity, the TiO2@CNTs thin film is highly desirable to apply to the self-cleaning glass for green intelligent building. Here, the TiO2@CNTs thin film has been successfully achieved by polymer-assisted approach of an aqueous chemical solution method. The polymer, polyethylenimine, aims to combine the Ti4+ with CNTs for film formation of TiO2@CNTs. The resultant thin film was uniform, highly transparent, and super-hydrophilic. Owing to fast electron transport and effectively hindering electron-hole recombination, the TiO2@CNTs thin film has nearly twofold photocatalytic performance than pure TiO2. The TiO2@CNTs thin films show a good application for self-cleaning glasses

Enhanced Botrytis cinerea resistance of Arabidopsis plants grown in compost may be explained by increased expression of defense-related genes, as revealed by microarray analysis

Composts are the products obtained after the aerobic degradation of different types of organic matter waste and can be used as substrates or substrate/soil amendments for plant cultivation. There is a small but increasing number of reports that suggest that foliar diseases may be reduced when using compost, rather than standard substrates, as growing medium. The purpose of this study was to examine the gene expression alteration produced by the compost to gain knowledge of the mechanisms involved in compost-induced systemic resistance. A compost from olive marc and olive tree leaves was able to induce resistance against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis, unlike the standard substrate, perlite. Microarray analyses revealed that 178 genes were differently expressed, with a fold change cut-off of 1, of which 155 were up-regulated and 23 were down-regulated in compost-grown, as against perlite-grown plants. A functional enrichment study of up-regulated genes revealed that 38 Gene Ontology terms were significantly enriched. Response to stress, biotic stimulus, other organism, bacterium, fungus, chemical and abiotic stimulus, SA and ABA stimulus, oxidative stress, water, temperature and cold were significantly enriched, as were immune and defense responses, systemic acquired resistance, secondary metabolic process and oxireductase activity. Interestingly, PR1 expression, which was equally enhanced by growing the plants in compost and by B. cinerea inoculation, was further boosted in compost-grown pathogen-inoculated plants. Compost triggered a plant response that shares similarities with both systemic acquired resistance and ABA-dependent/independent abiotic stress responses

Genome-Wide Identification of R2R3-MYB Genes and Expression Analyses During Abiotic Stress in

The R2R3-MYB is one of the largest families of transcription factors, which have been implicated in multiple biological processes. There is great diversity in the number of R2R3-MYB genes in different plants. However, there is no report on genome-wide characterization of this gene family in cotton. In the present study, a total of 205 putative R2R3-MYB genes were identified in cotton D genome (Gossypium raimondii), that are much larger than that found in other cash crops with fully sequenced genomes. These GrMYBs were classified into 13 groups with the R2R3-MYB genes from Arabidopsis and rice. The amino acid motifs and phylogenetic tree were predicted and analyzed. The sequences of GrMYBs were distributed across 13 chromosomes at various densities. The results showed that the expansion of the G. Raimondii R2R3-MYB family was mainly attributable to whole genome duplication and segmental duplication. Moreover, the expression pattern of 52 selected GrMYBs and 46 GaMYBs were tested in roots and leaves under different abiotic stress conditions. The results revealed that the MYB genes in cotton were differentially expressed under salt and drought stress treatment. Our results will be useful for determining the precise role of the MYB genes during stress responses with crop improvement

Genetic Determinants of Phosphate Response in Drosophila

Phosphate is required for many important cellular processes and having too little phosphate or too much can cause disease and reduce life span in humans. However, the mechanisms underlying homeostatic control of extracellular phosphate levels and cellular effects of phosphate are poorly understood. Here, we establish Drosophila melanogaster as a model system for the study of phosphate effects. We found that Drosophila larval development depends on the availability of phosphate in the medium. Conversely, life span is reduced when adult flies are cultured on high phosphate medium or when hemolymph phosphate is increased in flies with impaired Malpighian tubules. In addition, RNAi-mediated inhibition of MAPK-signaling by knockdown of Ras85D, phl/D-Raf or Dsor1/MEK affects larval development, adult life span and hemolymph phosphate, suggesting that some in vivo effects involve activation of this signaling pathway by phosphate. To identify novel genetic determinants of phosphate responses, we used Drosophila hemocyte-like cultured cells (S2R+) to perform a genome-wide RNAi screen using MAPK activation as the readout. We identified a number of candidate genes potentially important for the cellular response to phosphate. Evaluation of 51 genes in live flies revealed some that affect larval development, adult life span and hemolymph phosphate levels

The efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’) for smoking cessation in China

Background Considering the extreme shortage of smoking cessation services in China, and the acceptability, feasibility and efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions for quitting smoking in other countries, here we propose a study of “the efficacy of mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’) for smoking cessation in China”. The primary objective of this proposed project is to assess whether a program of widely accessed mobile phone-based text message interventions (‘Happy Quit’) will be effective at helping people in China who smoke, to quit. Based on the efficacy of previous studies in smoking cessation, we hypothesize that ‘Happy Quit’ will be an effective, feasible and affordable smoking cessation program in China. Methods/Design In this single-blind, randomized trial, undertaken in China, about 2000 smokers willing to make a quit attempt will be randomly allocated, using an independent telephone randomization system that includes a minimization algorithm balancing for sex (male, female), age (19–34 or \u3e34 years), educational level (≤ or \u3e12 years), and Fagerstrom score for nicotine addiction (≤5, \u3e5), to ‘Happy Quit’, comprising motivational messages and behavioral-change support, or to a control group that receives text messages unrelated to quitting. Messages will be developed to be suitable for Chinese. A pilot study will be conducted before the intervention to modify the library of messages and interventions. The primary outcome will be self-reported continuous smoking abstinence. A secondary outcome will be point prevalence of abstinence. Abstinence will be assessed at six time points (4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks post-intervention). A third outcome will be reductions in number of cigarettes smoked per day. Discussion/Implications The results will provide valuable insights into bridging the gap between need and services received for smoking cessation interventions and tobacco use prevention in China. It will also serve as mHealth model for extending the public health significance of other interventions, such as mental health interventions

Correlations in Economic Time Series

The correlation function of a financial index of the New York stock exchange, the S&P 500, is analyzed at 1 min intervals over the 13-year period, Jan 84 -- Dec 96. We quantify the correlations of the absolute values of the index increment. We find that these correlations can be described by two different power laws with a crossover time t_\times\approx 600 min. Detrended fluctuation analysis gives exponents $\alpha_1=0.66$ and $\alpha_2=0.93$ for $t<t_\times$ and $t>t_\times$ respectively. Power spectrum analysis gives corresponding exponents $\beta_1=0.31$ and $\beta_2=0.90$ for $f>f_\times$ and $f< f_\times$ respectively.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Efficacy of WeChat-based online smoking cessation intervention (‘WeChat WeQuit’) in China:a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundChina has approximately 300 million current smokers, and smoking cessation services are limited. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a Cognitive Behavioral Theory-based smoking cessation intervention (‘WeChat WeQuit’) via the most popular social media platform in China, WeChat. MethodsA parallel, single-blind, two-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted via WeChat between March 19, 2020 and November 16, 2022. Chinese-speaking adult smokers (n = 2000) willing to quit within one month were recruited and randomised in a 1:1 ratio. The intervention group (n = 1005) received the ‘WeChat WeQuit’ program and the control group (n = 955) received control messages for 14 weeks (2-week prequit and 12-week postquit). Participants were followed up to 26 weeks after the quit date. The primary outcome was self-reported continuous smoking abstinence rate, biochemically validated at 26 weeks. The secondary outcomes were self-reported 7-day and continuous abstinence rates at 6 months. All analyses were by intention to treat. The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03169686). FindingsBy intention-to-treat analysis, the biochemically verified 26-week continuous abstinence rate was 11.94% in the intervention group and 2.81% in the control group (OR = 4.68, 95% CI: 3.07–7.13, p &lt; 0.0001). The self-reported 7-day abstinence rates ranged from 39.70% at week 1–32.04% at week 26 for the intervention group and 14.17%–11.86% in the control group for weeks 1 and 26, respectively; the self-reported continuous abstinence rates at weeks 1 and 26 ranged from 34.33% to 24.28% and 9.65% to 6.13% in the intervention group and the control group respectively (all p &lt; 0.0001). Participants with low nicotine dependence or previous quit attempts were more likely to successfully quit smoking.InterpretationThe ‘WeChat WeQuit’ intervention significantly increased smoking abstinence rates at 6 months and should be considered for treatment-seeking smokers in China. FundingThe research is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province ( 2020JJ4794, YLiao), the K.C. Wong Postdoctoral Fellowship for YLiao to study at King's College London, and China Medical Board (CMB) Open Competition Program (grant no. 15-226, 22-485, YLiao).</p