Scattering of Giant Holes

We study scalar excitations of high spin operators in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, which are dual to solitons propagating on a long folded string in AdS_3 x S^1. In the spin chain description of the gauge theory, these are associated to holes in the magnon distribution in the sl(2,R) sector. We compute the all-loop hole S-matrix from the asymptotic Bethe ansatz, and expand in leading orders at weak and strong coupling. The worldsheet S-matrix of solitonic excitations on the GKP string is calculated using semiclassical quantization. We find an exact agreement between the gauge theory and string theory results.Comment: 13 pages. v2: minor corrections, references adde

Rice protein radicals: growth and stability under microwave treatment

published_or_final_versio

Enhancement of anammox performance in a novel non-woven fabric membrane bioreactor (nMBR)

© 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry. To reduce operating costs and membrane fouling of conventional membrane bioreactors (cMBR), a novel MBR using a non-woven fabric membrane (nMBR) was constructed and the performance of the two MBRs was compared for anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) cultivation. The results showed that the start-up period for the nMBR (44 days) was notably shorter than that for the cMBR (56 days), meanwhile the nMBR achieved a 2-times higher nitrogen removal rate (231.5 mg N per L per d) compared to the cMBR (112.3 mg N per L per d). Illumina MiSeq sequencing showed that Candidatus Kuenenia and Candidatus Jettenia were the main distinguished anammox bacteria. FISH analysis revealed that anammox bacteria predominated in both reactors, especially in the nMBR (58%) corresponding to a qPCR analysis of 1.07 × 109 copies per mL (day 120). N2O emission analysis confirmed the advantage of the nMBR in N2O reduction to reduce the influence of greenhouse gas emission while treating identical nitrogen. These results clearly demonstrated that nMBRs could be a prospective choice for anammox start-up and performance enhancement

\Omega-deformation of B-twisted gauge theories and the 3d-3d correspondence

We study \Omega-deformation of B-twisted gauge theories in two dimensions. As an application, we construct an \Omega-deformed, topologically twisted five-dimensional maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on the product of a Riemann surface $\Sigma$ and a three-manifold $M$, and show that when $\Sigma$ is a disk, this theory is equivalent to analytically continued Chern-Simons theory on $M$. Based on these results, we establish a correspondence between three-dimensional $\mathcal{N} = 2$ superconformal theories and analytically continued Chern-Simons theory. Furthermore, we argue that there is a mirror symmetry between {\Omega}-deformed two-dimensional theories.Comment: 26 pages. v2: the discussion on the boundary condition for vector multiplet improved, and other minor changes mad

Repeatability of Corneal Elevation Maps in Keratoconus Patients Using the Tomography Matching Method

To assess repeatability of corneal tomography in successive measurements by Pentacam in keratoconus (KC) and normal eyes based on the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm. The study involved 143 keratoconic and 143 matched normal eyes. ICP algorithm was used to estimate six single and combined misalignment (CM) parameters, the root mean square (RMS) of the difference in elevation data pre (PreICP-RMS) and post (PosICP-RMS) tomography matching. Corneal keratometry, expressed in the form of M, J0 and J45 (power vector analysis parameters), was used to evaluate the effect of misalignment on corneal curvature measurements. The PreICP-RMS and PosICP-RMS were statistically higher (P < 0.01) in KC than normal eyes. CM increased significantly (p = 0.00), more in KC (16.76 ± 20.88 μm) than in normal eyes (5.43 ± 4.08 μm). PreICP-RMS, PosICP-RMS and CM were correlated with keratoconus grade (p < 0.05). Corneal astigmatism J0 was different (p = 0.01) for the second tomography measurements with misalignment consideration (−1.11 ± 2.35 D) or not (−1.18 ± 2.35 D), while M and J45 kept similar. KC corneas consistently show higher misalignments between successive tomography measurements and lower repeatability compared with healthy eyes. The influence of misalignment is evidently clearer in the estimation of astigmatism than spherical curvature. These higher errors appear correlated with KC progression

Mechanisms of particle preferential concentration induced by secondary motions in a dilute turbulent square duct flow

Particle-laden turbulent square duct flows at Reτ = 300 (based on the duct half-width and the mean friction velocity) are investigated using direct numerical simulation with one-way coupled Lagrangian particle tracking. Four particle-to-fluid density ratios are considered with the corresponding shear Stokes number St+ = 0.31, 25, 125, and 260. Particle motion is governed by drag, lift, added-mass, and pressure gradient forces. The main purpose of this work is to examine the effect of the turbulence-driven secondary flows on particle preferential accumulation and their dependence on the Stokes number. Results obtained indicate that the cross-stream secondary motions encourage inertial particles to accumulate preferentially in the duct corners, where the maximum of the cross-sectional particle concentration occurs. The extent of accumulation here is strongly dependent on the Stokes number, with the greatest accumulation found at St+ = 25. Interestingly, the maximum of the intensity of the secondary particle velocity along the corner bisector is also achieved at St+ = 25, whereas in the region adjacent to the wall, it is found to decrease with a particle Stokes number. Additionally, it is observed that the higher inertia particles are more easily trapped in the stagnation zone of secondary flows with low turbulence intensity in the corner region. In the near-wall region, the heavier particles (St+ ≥ 25) are prone to reside and form elongated clusters along the low-speed streamwise velocity streaks, with this trend less pronounced with the increasing Stokes number. Along the wall, away from the corner where the secondary motion is attenuated, particle accumulation is dominated by the near-wall coherent vortices. This phenomenon is further discussed using a region-based correlation analysis between the particle spatial distribution and local flow topology. An in-depth particle dynamic analysis determines that the average cross-sectional drag force resulting from the secondary flow is mainly responsible for the particle motion throughout the duct cross section, which tends to push particles away from the walls in the near-wall region but shows the exact opposite trend in the bulk flow region. Moreover, the pressure gradient force also plays an important role for low-inertia particles. As the Stokes number is increased, the lift force becomes progressively dominant in the viscous sublayer, acting to pull particles toward the corners and walls of the duct

The Liouville side of the Vortex

We analyze conformal blocks with multiple (semi-)degenerate field insertions in Liouville/Toda conformal field theories an show that their vector space is fully reproduced by the four-dimensional limit of open topological string amplitudes on the strip with generic boundary conditions associated to a suitable quiver gauge theory. As a byproduct we identify the non-abelian vortex partition function with a specific fusion channel of degenerate conformal blocks

One-step synthesis of high purity silicon carbide powder

Silicon carbide (Sic) powder was synthesized from liquid silicon in one step at the presence of a catalyst bar consisting of silica and carbon. The silicon carbide powders were formed by the carbothermal reaction between liquid silicon and gaseous CO, and the average particle size (D-50) of the as-prepared silicon carbide powder was 0.41 mu m. The powder was characterized by XRD, SEM, particle size analysis and elemental analysis. The mechanism for the formation of the silicon carbide powder was discussed

Prevalence of under and over weight in children with neurodisability, using body composition measures

We aimed to compare rates of under and overweight in children with different neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) by measuring weight, height/length, arm-to-leg bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and subscapular and triceps skinfolds in 146 children aged 4-16 years attending special schools. Z scores were calculated and skinfolds and lean mass Z scores were further adjusted for height. Underweight was found in 9% (14) children (body mass index (BMI) &lt; 2nd) but only 3% (4) had skinfolds &lt;5th centile. Overweight was much commoner, with 41% (58) children having BMI &gt; 95th and 20% (14) had skinfolds &gt;95th centile. Children with cerebral palsy were very short with low BMI and lean mass, but only 8% (3) had skinfolds &lt;5th centile. The children with Down syndrome were also very short and once adjusted for height, half had skinfolds &gt;95th centile. We conclude that overweight and raised body fat is now common in children with NDD, even when the BMI is low

The Slow-Releasing Hydrogen Sulfide Donor, GYY4137, Exhibits Novel Anti-Cancer Effects In Vitro and In Vivo

The slow-releasing hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor, GYY4137, caused concentration-dependent killing of seven different human cancer cell lines (HeLa, HCT-116, Hep G2, HL-60, MCF-7, MV4-11 and U2OS) but did not affect survival of normal human lung fibroblasts (IMR90, WI-38) as determined by trypan blue exclusion. Sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) was less potent and not active in all cell lines. A structural analogue of GYY4137 (ZYJ1122) lacking sulfur and thence not able to release H2S was inactive. Similar results were obtained using a clonogenic assay. Incubation of GYY4137 (400 µM) in culture medium led to the generation of low (<20 µM) concentrations of H2S sustained over 7 days. In contrast, incubation of NaHS (400 µM) in the same way led to much higher (up to 400 µM) concentrations of H2S which persisted for only 1 hour. Mechanistic studies revealed that GYY4137 (400 µM) incubated for 5 days with MCF-7 but not IMR90 cells caused the generation of cleaved PARP and cleaved caspase 9, indicative of a pro-apoptotic effect. GYY4137 (but not ZYJ1122) also caused partial G2/M arrest of these cells. Mice xenograft studies using HL-60 and MV4-11 cells showed that GYY4137 (100–300 mg/kg/day for 14 days) significantly reduced tumor growth. We conclude that GYY4137 exhibits anti-cancer activity by releasing H2S over a period of days. We also propose that a combination of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest contributes to this effect and that H2S donors should be investigated further as potential anti-cancer agents