Fragmentation functions of mesons in the Field-Feynman model

The fragmentation functions of the pion with distinction between $D_{u}^{\pi^{+}}$, $D_{d}^{\pi^{+}}$, and $D_{s}^{\pi^{+}}$ are studied in the Field-Feynman recursive model, by taking into account the flavor structure in the excitation of quark-antiquark pairs by the initial quarks. The obtained analytical results are compatible with available empirical results. The framework is also extended to predict the fragmentation functions of the kaon with distinction between $D_{\bar{s}}^{K^{+}}(z)$, $D_{u}^{K^{+}}(z)$, $D_{s}^{K^{+}}(z)$, and $D_{d}^{K^{+}}(z)$. This work gives a significant modification of the original model, and the predictions can be tested by future experiments on the fragmentation functions of the kaon.Comment: 6 Latex pages, 10 figures, to appear in EPJ

Port-Access cardiac surgery: from a learning process to the standard.

Background: Port-Access™ surgery has been one of the most innovative and controversial methods in the spectrum of minimally invasive techniques for cardiac operations and has been widely used for the treatment of several cardiac diseases. The technique was introduced in our center to evaluate its efficacy in reproducing standardized results without an additional risk. Methods: Endovascular cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) through femoral access and endoluminal aortic occlusion were used in 129 patients for a variety of surgical procedures, all of which were video-assisted. A minimal (4-6 cm) anterior thoracotomy through the fourth intercostal space was used in all cases as the surgical approach. Results: More than 96% of the planned cases concluded as true Port-Access™ procedures. Mean CBP and crossclamp times were 87.2 min. ± 51.2 (range of 10-457) and 54.9 min. ± 30.6 (range of 10-190), respectively. Hospital mortality for the overall group was 1.5%, and mitral valve surgery had a 2.2% hospital death rate. The incidence of early neurological events was 0.7%. Mean extubation time, ICU stay, and total length of hospital stay were 5 hours ± 6 hrs. (range of 2-32), 12 hours ± 11.8 hrs. (range of 5-78), and 7 days ± 7.03 days (range of 1-72), respectively. Conclusions: Our experience indicates that the Port- Access™ technique is safe and permits reproduction of standardized results with the use of a very limited surgical approach. We are convinced that this is a superior procedure for certain types of surgery, including isolated primary or redo mitral surgery, repair of a variety of atrial septal defects (ASDs), and atrial tumors. It is especially useful in high-risk patients, such as elderly patients or those requiring reoperation. Simplification of the procedure is nevertheless desirable in order to further reduce the time of operation and to address other drawbacks

Logics for Rough Concept Analysis

Taking an algebraic perspective on the basic structures of Rough Concept Analysis as the starting point, in this paper we introduce some varieties of lattices expanded with normal modal operators which can be regarded as the natural rough algebra counterparts of certain subclasses of rough formal contexts, and introduce proper display calculi for the logics associated with these varieties which are sound, complete, conservative and with uniform cut elimination and subformula property. These calculi modularly extend the multi-type calculi for rough algebras to a `nondistributive' (i.e. general lattice-based) setting

Scaling of Anisotropic Flow and Momentum-Space Densities for Light Particles in Intermediate Energy Heavy Ion Collisions

Anisotropic flows ($v_2$ and $v_4$) of light nuclear clusters are studied by Isospin-Dependent Quantum Molecular Dynamics model for the system of $^{86}$Kr + $^{124}$Sn at intermediate energy and large impact parameters. Number-of-nucleon scaling of the elliptic flow ($v_2$) are demonstrated for the light fragments up to $A$ = 4, and the ratio of $v_4/v_2^2$ shows a constant value of 1/2. In addition, the momentum-space densities of different clusters are also surveyed as functions of transverse momentum, in-plane transverse momentum and azimuth angle relative to the reaction plane. The results can be essentially described by momentum-space power law. All the above phenomena indicate that there exists a number-of-nucleon scaling for both anisotropic flow and momentum-space densities for light clusters, which can be understood by the coalescence mechanism in nucleonic degree of freedom for the cluster formation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Physics Letters

Scaling of anisotropy flows in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions

Anisotropic flows ($v_1$, $v_2$ and $v_4$) of light nuclear clusters are studied by a nucleonic transport model in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. The number-of-nucleon scalings of the directed flow ($v_1$) and elliptic flow ($v_2$) are demonstrated for light nuclear clusters. Moreover, the ratios of $v_4/v_2^2$ of nuclear clusters show a constant value of 1/2 regardless of the transverse momentum. The above phenomena can be understood by the coalescence mechanism in nucleonic level and are worthy to be explored in experiments.Comment: Invited talk at "IX International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions", Rio de Janeiro, Aug 28- Sept 1, 2006; to appear on the proceeding issue in Nuclear Physics

Collective modes of asymmetric nuclear matter in Quantum HadroDynamics

We discuss a fully relativistic Landau Fermi liquid theory based on the Quantum Hadro-Dynamics ($QHD$) effective field picture of Nuclear Matter ({\it NM}). From the linearized kinetic equations we get the dispersion relations of the propagating collective modes. We focus our attention on the dynamical effects of the interplay between scalar and vector channel contributions. A beautiful ``mirror'' structure in the form of the dynamical response in the isoscalar/isovector degree of freedom is revealed, with a complete parallelism in the role respectively played by the compressibility and the symmetry energy. All that strongly supports the introduction of an explicit coupling to the scalar-isovector channel of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. In particular we study the influence of this coupling (to a $\delta$-meson-like effective field) on the collective response of asymmetric nuclear matter ($ANM$). Interesting contributions are found on the propagation of isovector-like modes at normal density and on an expected smooth transition to isoscalar-like oscillations at high baryon density. Important ``chemical'' effects on the neutron-proton structure of the mode are shown. For dilute $ANM$ we have the isospin distillation mechanism of the unstable isoscalar-like oscillations, while at high baryon density we predict an almost pure neutron wave structure of the propagating sounds.Comment: 18 pages (LATEX), 8 Postscript figures, uses "epsfig

On the Lorentz structure of the symmetry energy

We investigate in detail the density dependence of the symmetry energy in a relativistic description by decomposing the iso-vector mean field into contributions with different Lorentz covariant properties. We find important effects of the iso-vector, scalar channel (i.e. $\delta$-meson like) on the high density behavior of the symmetry energy. Applications to static properties of finite nuclei and to dynamic situations of heavy ion collisions are explored and related to each other. The nuclear structure studies show only moderate effects originating from the virtual $\delta$ meson. At variance, in heavy ion collisions one finds important contributions on the reaction dynamics arising from the different Lorentz structure of the high density symmetry energy when a scalar iso-vector $\delta$ field is introduced. Particularly interesting is the related neutron/proton effective mass splitting for nucleon transport effects and for resonance and particle production around the threshold. We show that the $\delta$-like channel turns out to be essential for the production of pions, when comparing with experimental data, in particular for high momentum selections.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures (.eps

Determination of the natural frequencies of a prototype Kaplan turbine

The natural frequencies of a turbine can be calculated from numerical methods. By comparing these natural frequencies with excitation sources, one can know the danger of a resonance and a possible failure in a component of the turbine. Therefore, it is often very important to have an accurate numerical model of the turbine to determine these natural frequencies. There are not many publications on the determination of the natural frequencies of reduced-scale models of Kaplan turbines. More papers exist for pump turbines or Francis turbines. For real Kaplan turbines, very few experiments can be found to determine mode shapes and natural frequencies. In this paper a Kaplan turbine of 37MW (maximum power), 12.5m (maximum head) and 50 m3 /s (maximum flowrate) was tested. The turbine was equipped to determine the natural frequencies of the runner in air. For this purpose, one accelerometer in each blade of the runner was installed and a total of 16 impacts were done in each blade. Frequencies and mode shapes were obtained. In parallel, a numerical model was obtained. Numerical and experimental results were compared and an accurate numerical model is presented. With this numerical model the natural frequencies of the runner in water were calculated.This research activity is framed within the context of the XFLEX HYDRO project. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 857832. No. 857832).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Inclusive B-Meson Production in e^+ e^- and p p-bar Collisions

We provide nonperturbative fragmentation functions for B mesons, both at leading and next-to-leading order in the MS-bar factorization scheme with five massless quark flavors. They are determined by fitting the fractional energy distribution of B mesons inclusively produced in e^+ e^- annihilation at CERN LEP1. Theoretical predictions for the inclusive production of B mesons with high transverse momenta in p p-bar scattering obtained with these fragmentation functions nicely agree, both in shape and normalization, with data recently taken at the Fermilab Tevatron.Comment: 20 pages (Latex), 6 figures (Postscript

Asymmetric nuclear matter in a Hartree-Fock approach to non-linear QHD

The Equation of State (EOS) for asymmetric nuclear matter is discussed starting from a phenomenological hadronic field theory of Serot-Walecka type including exchange terms. In a model with self interactions of the scalar sigma-meson we show that the Fock terms naturally lead to isospin effects in the nuclear EOS. These effects are quite large and dominate over the contribution due to isovector mesons. We obtain a potential symmetry term of "stiff" type, i.e. increasing with baryon density and an interesting behaviour of neutron/proton effective masses of relevance for transport properties of asymmetric dense matter.Comment: 12 pages (LATEX), 3 Postscript figures, revised versio