Inducing the mu and the B mu Term by the Radion and the 5d Chern-Simons Term

In 5-dimensional models with gauge-Higgs unification, the F-term vacuum expectation value of the radion provides, in close analogy to the Giudice-Masiero mechanism, a natural source for the mu and B mu term. Both the leading order gauge theory lagrangian and the supersymmetric Chern-Simons term contain couplings to the radion superfield which can be used for this purpose. We analyse the basic features of this mechanism for mu term generation and provide an explicit example, based on a variation of the SU(6) gauge-Higgs unification model of Burdman and Nomura. This construction contains all the relevant features used in our generic analysis. More generally, we expect our mechanism to be relevant to many of the recently discussed orbifold GUT models derived from heterotic string theory. This provides an interesting way of testing high-scale physics via Higgs mass patterns accessible at the LHC.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, concrete model significantly improved, references adde

Presence of an expressed 13-tubulin gene (TUBB) in the HLA class I region may provide the genetic basis for HLA-linked microtubule dysfunction

An expressed beta-tubulin gene (TUBB) has previously been localized to chromosome region 6pter-p21 in man. By using a panel of deletion mutant cell lines and radiation-reduced hybrids containing fragments of chromosome 6, the TUBB locus could be mapped to the HLA class I region at 6p21.3. A long range restriction map including TUBB and several HLA class I genes was then generated by rotating field gel electrophoresis. The results show that TUBB maps to a segment 170-370 kb telomeric of HLA-C. This location suggests that a mutation at the TUBB locus could be the cause for certain forms of HLAlinked microtubule dysfunction, including immotile cilia syndrome

Testing the National Reading Panel’s Fluency Claims: A Study Examining Repeated Readings and Tracking the Nature of Miscues

The National Reading Panel’s (NRP; 2000) claim that reading fluency is the direct result of phonemic awareness skills seemed to set a research direction for numerous literacy scholars. As a result, much of the reading fluency research examined the construct from a particular perspective seemingly informed by the NRP. The summative results of a generation of fluency research have subsequently defined reading fluency as a principal and predicative construct in children’s reading potential. The current study examined how children develop reading fluency skills and reports data gathered from a New York City elementary school. Specifically, the present work tracked the nature of the reading miscues. The empirical data suggest that students make nearly as many semantic mistakes as phonics miscues, even after long periods of phonics instruction. This research underscores the complexity of fluency skill development process and that providing more phonics instruction does not always ameliorate fluency deficiencies

Phase Transitions in Smectic Liquid Crystal Systems

Liquid crystal systems show strong responses to small changes in both temperature and electric field. Changing these conditions can result in phase shifts and other similar behaviors. We study several theoretical models of smectic liquid crystals. The ideas and notation are first developed in basic polynomial models used to describe liquid crystal systems dependent only on temperature. Specifically, smectic-C to smectic-A phase transitions are examined in a fourth-order polynomial model. The bifurcations in the nonlinear equations are shown to correspond to the phase transi- tions in the system. Similar analytic techniques are then applied to a more complex model, based on the work of Schaub and Mukamel[1]. This model, which includes terms for electric field depen- dance and chirality, describes smectic-C* liquid crystal molecules wound into helixes. Increasing temperature and electric field strength tends to unwind the helixes into the smectic-A or smectic- C state. The phase transition from the smectic-C* phase to smectic-A phase is identified analytically in the special case of zero electric field. Numeric analysis of the system in general is undertaken with bvp5c, a Matlab boundary value problem solver. The region of transition from smectic-C* to smectic-C is mapped using numeric solutions, and specific areas of interest wherein the phase transition changes in nature are highlighted

Free Information, Not Free Labor

The increased institutional demand for all faculty to publish scholarly work, even for faculty in non-research institutions, has created a near perfect two-sided market effect for commercial entities to profit from the labor of already overburdened academics while offering little-to-no compensation to these individuals or their institutions. As significant, institutional-level pushback against the cost of access to scholarly materials has begun to coalesce, it seems prudent if not pressing to revisit once more the longstanding debates over labor, cost, and access in scholarly publishing and to argue for more ethical, equitable, and democratizing models. To that end, this essay 1) argues for the notion that all for-profit commercial academic publishing and distribution is predatory and perpetuates an unethical labor model in which commercial entities profit from free labor in the academy and 2) asks how the open source movement offers a model for more ethical, non-profit publishing practices. It concludes that making newly published work freely available in open repositories, whether run by individual or groups of colleges or universities, should function as only a first step towards rethinking the forms of journal article and book and the means by which they are produced

Free Information, Not Free Labor

The increased institutional demand for all faculty to publish scholarly work, even for faculty in non-research institutions, has created a near perfect two-sided market effect for commercial entities to profit from the labor of already overburdened academics while offering little-to-no compensation to these individuals or their institutions. As significant, institutional-level pushback against the cost of access to scholarly materials has begun to coalesce, it seems prudent if not pressing to revisit once more the longstanding debates over labor, cost, and access in scholarly publishing and to argue for more ethical, equitable, and democratizing models. To that end, this essay 1) argues for the notion that all for-profit commercial academic publishing and distribution is predatory and perpetuates an unethical labor model in which commercial entities profit from free labor in the academy and 2) asks how the open source movement offers a model for more ethical, non-profit publishing practices. It concludes that making newly published work freely available in open repositories, whether run by individual or groups of colleges or universities, should function as only a first step towards rethinking the forms of journal article and book and the means by which they are produced

A study of microwave transistors as oscillators

A computer program for implementing design of oscillators is developed that is also capable of extension to analyze more complex circuits

Light Scattering on Random Dielectric Layers

Scattering of light by a random stack of dielectric layers represents a one-dimensional scattering problem, where the scattered field is a three-dimensional vector field. We investigate the dependence of the scattering properties (band gaps and Anderson localization) on the wavelength, strength of randomness and relative angle of the incident wave. There is a characteristic angular dependence of Anderson localization for wavelengths close to the thickness of the layers. In particular, the localization length varies non-monotonously with the angle. In contrast to Anderson localization, absorptive layers do not have this characteristic angular dependence.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Bridging a Complete Transection Lesion of Adult Rat Spinal Cord with Growth Factor-Treated Nitrocellulose Implants

The ability of a substrate bound neurotrophic factor to promote growth of ascending sensory axons across a complete transection lesion of the rat spinal cord was examined in a transplantation model. Aspiration lesions created a 3 mm long cavity in the upper lumbar spinal cord of adult rats. Five weeks after injury two strips of nerve growth factortreated nitrocellulose, were implanted, each in a medio-lateral position, and apposed to the rostral and caudal surfaces of the cavity. Control animals received untreated nitrocellulose implants. Fetal spinal cord tissue was transplanted alongsideand between these strips. Six weeks post transplantation, animals were sacrificed and vibratome sections through the grafts were processed for immunocytochemical demonstration of ingrowing axons expressing calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP-IR), Immunolabeled axons were abundant at the caudal interface between host tissue and the NGF-treated nitrocellulose implants, with dense fascicles of fibers abutting the grafts. As the distance from the caudal surface increased some CGRP-IR fibers extended into the fetal tissue although most appeared to remain oriented in a longitudinal course adjacent to the nitrocellulose. Labeled axons were evident along the entire length of the nitrocellulose and appeared to aggregate at the rostral tip of the implant, with many fibers extending into the host spinal cord rostral to the lesion/transplant site. When untreated nitrocellulose was implanted, fewer labeled axons appeared to extend beyond the caudal host-graft interface. Most CGRP-IR axons displayed limited association or contact with the untreated nitrocellulose in this condition. Computer-assisted quantitative analysis indicated that NGF-treated nitrocellulose supported regrowing host axons for nearly three times the length exhibited by axons associated with non-treated nitrocellulose implants. These results indicate that substrate bound nerve growth factor has the capacity to enhance the regrowth of ascending sensory axons across a traumatic spinal cord injury site. The potential to reestablish functional contacts across such a lesion may be heightened by the ability of neurotrophic factors to promote more extensive axonal regrowth