235 research outputs found
Effect of Antimony and Cerium on the Formation of Chunky Graphite during Solidification of Heavy-Section Castings of Near-Eutectic Spheroidal Graphite Irons
Thermal analysis is applied to the study of the formation of chunky graphite (CHG) in heavysection castings of spheroidal graphite cast irons. To that aim, near-eutectic melts prepared in one single cast house were poured into molds containing up to four large cubic blocks 30 cm in size. Four melts have been prepared and cast that had a cerium content varying in relation with the spheroidizing alloy used. Postinoculation or addition of antimony was achieved by fixing appropriate amounts of materials in the gating system of each block. Cooling curves recorded in the center of the blocks show that solidification proceeds in three steps: a short primary deposition of graphite followed by an initial and then a bulk eutectic reaction. Formation of CHG could be unambiguously associated with increased recalescence during the bulk eutectic reaction. While antimony strongly decreases the amount of CHG, it appears that the ratio of the contents in antimony and cerium should be higher than 0.8 in order to avoid this graphite degeneracy
Production in Two-Photon Processes at TRISTAN
We have carried out an inclusive measurement of production
in two-photon processes at TRISTAN. The mean was 58 GeV and the
integrated luminosity was 199 pb. High-statistics samples were
obtained under such conditions as no-, anti-electron, and remnant-jet tags. The
remnant-jet tag, in particular, allowed us, for the first time, to measure the
cross sections separately for the resolved-photon and direct processes.Comment: 20 pages, Latex format, 4 figures and KEK-mark included. Table 1
revised. To be published in Phys. Lett.
Measurement of the forward-backward asymmetries for charm- and bottom-quark pair productions at =58GeV with electron tagging
We have measured, with electron tagging, the forward-backward asymmetries of
charm- and bottom-quark pair productions at =58.01GeV, based on
23,783 hadronic events selected from a data sample of 197pb taken with
the TOPAZ detector at TRISTAN. The measured forward-backward asymmetries are
and , which are consistent with the standard model
predictions.Comment: 19 pages, Latex format (article), 5 figures included. to be published
in Phys. Lett.
Measurement of the cross-section and forward-backward charge asymmetry for the b and c-quark in e+e- annihilation with inclusive muons at sqrt(s) = 58 GeV
We have studied inclusive muon events using all the data collected by the
TOPAZ detector at sqrt(s)=58 GeV with an integrated luminosity of 273pb-1. From
1328 inclusive muon events, we measured the ratio R_qq of the cross section for
qq-bar production to the total hadronic cross section and forward-backward
asymmetry A^q_FB for b and c quarks. The obtained results are R_bb =
0.13+-0.02(stat)+-0.01(syst), R_cc = 0.36+-0.05(stat)+-0.05(syst), A^b_FB =
-0.20+-0.16(stat)+-0.01(syst) and A^c_FB = -0.17+-0.14(stat)+-0.02(syst), in
fair agreement with a prediction of the standard model.Comment: To be published in EPJ C. 24 pages, 12 figure
Measurement of inclusive electron cross section in collisions at TRISTAN
We have studied open charm production in collisions with the
TOPAZ detector at the TRISTAN collider. In this study, charm
quarks were identified by electrons (and positrons) from semi-leptonic decays
of charmed hadrons. The data corresponded to an integrated luminosity of 95.3
pb at a center-of-mass energy of 58 GeV. The results are presented as
the cross sections of inclusive electron production in
collisions with an anti-tag condition, as well as the subprocess cross
sections, which correspond to resolved-photon processes. The latter were
measured by using a sub-sample with remnant jets. A comparison with various
theoretical predictions based on direct and resolved-photon processes showed
that our data prefer that with relatively large gluon contents in a photon at
small , with the next-to-leading order correction, and with a
charm-quark mass of 1.3 GeV.Comment: 26 pages, Latex format (article), 5 figures included, to be published
in Phys. Lett.
-Two Higgs Doublet Model and its Collider Phenomenology
Smallness of neutrino masses can be explained by introducing a tiny vacuum
expectation value of an extra-Higgs doublet which couples to right-handed
neutrinos (). This situation is naturally realized in -Two Higgs
Doublet Model (THDM), where a TeV-scale seesaw mechanism can work well. We
investigate observable phenomenology of THDM at LHC and ILC experiments.
Charged Higgs boson () in THDM is almost originated from the
extra-Higgs doublet and its coupling strength to neutrinos are not small. Then
this model induces rich phenomenology at the LHC, for example, when
, observable charged tracks can be induced from long lived
charged Higgs. On the other hand, when , right-handed
neutrinos can be long-lived, and secondary vertices may be tagged at the LHC.
The THDM also predicts observable lepton number violating process at the
ILC.Comment: 17 pages, 27 eps file
IRAK4 deficiency presenting with anti-NMDAR encephalitis and HHV6 reactivation
IRAK4 deficiency is an inborn error of immunity predisposing patients to invasive pyogenic infections. Currently, there is no established simple assay that enables precise characterization of IRAK4 mutant alleles in isolation. Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune condition that is characterized by psychiatric symptoms, involuntary movement, seizures, autonomic dysfunction, and central hypoventilation. It typically occurs in adult females associated with tumors. Only a few infantile cases with anti-NMDAR encephalitis have been so far reported. We identified a 10-month-old boy with IRAK4 deficiency presenting with anti-NMDAR encephalitis and human herpes virus 6 (HHV6) reactivation. The diagnosis of IRAK4 deficiency was confirmed by the identification of compound heterozygous mutations c.29_30delAT (p.Y10Cfs*9) and c.35G>C (p.R12P) in the IRAK4 gene, low levels of IRAK4 protein expression in peripheral blood, and defective fibroblastic cell responses to TLR and IL-1 (TIR) agonist. We established a novel NF-κB reporter assay using IRAK4-null HEK293T, which enabled the precise evaluation of IRAK4 mutations. Using this system, we confirmed that both novel mutations identified in the patient are deleterious. Our study provides a new simple and reliable method to analyze IRAK4 mutant alleles. It also suggests the possible link between inborn errors of immunity and early onset anti-NMDAR encephalitis
Population Genetic Structure of the Grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans in the South and East of the Iberian Peninsula
The grasshopper Eyprepocnemis plorans subsp. plorans harbors a very widespread polymorphism for supernumerary (B) chromosomes which appear to have arisen recently. These chromosomes behave as genomic parasites because they are harmful for the individuals carrying them and show meiotic drive in the initial stages of population invasion. The rapid increase in B chromosome frequency at intrapopulation level is thus granted by meiotic drive, but its spread among populations most likely depends on interpopulation gene flow. We analyze here the population genetic structure in 10 natural populations from two regions (in the south and east) of the Iberian Peninsula. The southern populations were coastal whereas the eastern ones were inland populations located at 260–655 m altitude. The analysis of 97 ISSR markers revealed significant genetic differentiation among populations (average GST = 0.129), and the Structure software and AMOVA indicated a significant genetic differentiation between southern and eastern populations. There was also significant isolation by distance (IBD) between populations. Remarkably, these results were roughly similar to those found when only the markers showing low or no dropout were included, suggesting that allelic dropout had negligible effects on population genetic analysis. We conclude that high gene flow helped this parasitic B chromosome to spread through most of the geographical range of the subspecies E. plorans plorans.This study was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CGL2009-11917), and was partially performed by FEDER funds. MIMP was supported by a fellowship (FPU) from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Observation of Highly Virtual Photon-Photon Collisions to Hadrons at TRISTAN
We have observed highly virtual () photon-photon collisions
to hadronic final states at . The integrated
luminosity of the data sample was 241pb. Both scattered beam-electrons
and scattered beam-positrons were detected using low-angle calorimeters (i.e.,
both photons were highly virtual, "double-tag"); we obtained 115 hadronic
events with an estimated background of . The cross section obtained
was pb in the GeV and GeV region, while the lowest order quark-parton model predicted 3.00pb.Comment: 14 pages, latex (revtex), 2 figures, available at
http://topsun1.kek.jp/~enomoto/dtag.p
Human Endometrial CD98 Is Essential for Blastocyst Adhesion
BACKGROUND: Understanding the molecular basis of embryonic implantation is of great clinical and biological relevance. Little is currently known about the adhesion receptors that determine endometrial receptivity for embryonic implantation in humans. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using two human endometrial cell lines characterized by low and high receptivity, we identified the membrane receptor CD98 as a novel molecule selectively and significantly associated with the receptive phenotype. In human endometrial samples, CD98 was the only molecule studied whose expression was restricted to the implantation window in human endometrial tissue. CD98 expression was restricted to the apical surface and included in tetraspanin-enriched microdomains of primary endometrial epithelial cells, as demonstrated by the biochemical association between CD98 and tetraspanin CD9. CD98 expression was induced in vitro by treatment of primary endometrial epithelial cells with human chorionic gonadotropin, 17-β-estradiol, LIF or EGF. Endometrial overexpression of CD98 or tetraspanin CD9 greatly enhanced mouse blastocyst adhesion, while their siRNA-mediated depletion reduced the blastocyst adhesion rate. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that CD98, a component of tetraspanin-enriched microdomains, appears to be an important determinant of human endometrial receptivity during the implantation window
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