1,826 research outputs found
A local moments estimation of the spectrum of a large dimensional covariance matrix
This paper considers the problem of estimating the population spectral distribution from a sample covariance matrix when its dimension is large. We generalize the contour-integral based method in Mestre (2008) and present a local moment estimation procedure. Compared with the original, the new procedure can be applied successfully to models where the asymptotic clusters of sample eigenvalues generated by different population eigenvalues are not all separate. The proposed estimates are proved to be consistent. Numerical results illustrate the implementation of the estimation procedure and demonstrate its efficiency in various cases.postprin
Use of plant epidermis for determination of macrophytes consumed by Distichodus rostratus Günther, 1864 (Pisces : Distichodontidae), of Taabo artificial lake (Basin of Bandama, Côte d’Ivoire).
Fish constitutes one of the principal sources of proteins in the majority of African countries such as Côte d'Ivoire. However, its production is subjected to various constraints primarily of nutritional nature. This study was initiated to determine the plant base diet of local fish Distichodus rostratus for its valorisation in aquaculture. The micro-histological method was applied to the stomach contents and aquatic plants inventoried in Ahondo (Taabo Lake) in order to determine floristic composition of consumed food by D. rostratus. After treatment in sodium hypochlorite, the epidermis of plants were observed using an optic microscope and compared. The results revealed that the plant species consumed by this Fish species were, essentially, Ipomoea aquatica, Echinochloa pyramidalis, Polygonum senegalense and Pycreus macrostachys.Keywords : Distichodus rostratus, diet, epidermis, Aquatic plants, Macrophytis
QCD Approach to B->D \pi Decays and CP Violation
The branching ratios and CP violations of the decays, including
both the color-allowed and the color-suppressed modes, are investigated in
detail within QCD framework by considering all diagrams which lead to three
effective currents of two quarks. An intrinsic mass scale as a dynamical gluon
mass is introduced to treat the infrared divergence caused by the soft
collinear approximation in the endpoint regions, and the Cutkosky rule is
adopted to deal with a physical-region singularity of the on mass-shell quark
propagators. When the dynamical gluon mass is regarded as a universal
scale, it is extracted to be around MeV from one of the
well-measured decay modes. The resulting predictions for all
branching ratios are in agreement with the current experimental measurements.
As these decays have no penguin contributions, there are no direct
asymmetries. Due to interference between the Cabibbo-suppressed and the
Cabibbo-favored amplitudes, mixing-induced CP violations are predicted in the
decays to be consistent with the experimental data at
1- level. More precise measurements will be helpful to extract weak
angle .Comment: 21pages,5 figures,3 tables, typos corrected and numerical result for
one of decay channels is improve
Experimental Tests of General Relativity
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity,
especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and
fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many
practical purposes involving spacecraft navigation, geodesy, and time transfer.
Here I review the foundations of general relativity, discuss recent progress in
the tests of relativistic gravity in the solar system, and present motivations
for the new generation of high-accuracy gravitational experiments. I discuss
the advances in our understanding of fundamental physics that are anticipated
in the near future and evaluate the discovery potential of the recently
proposed gravitational experiments.Comment: revtex4, 30 pages, 10 figure
Dynamical coupled-channels: the key to understanding resonances
Recent developments on a dynamical coupled-channels model of hadronic and
electromagnetic production of nucleon resonances are summarized.Comment: Invited Plenary talk at the 20th European Conference on Few-Body
Problems in Physics (EFB20), September 10-14 2007, Pisa, Italy. To appear in
the proceedings in Few-Body System
The Exotic XYZ Charmonium-like Mesons
Charmonium, the spectroscopy of c\bar{c} mesons, has recently enjoyed a
renaissance with the discovery of several missing states and a number of
unexpected charmonium-like resonances. The discovery of these new states has
been made possible by the extremely large data samples made available by the
B-factories at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and at KEK in Japan, and
at the CESR e^+e^- collider at Cornell. Conventional c\bar{c} states are well
described by quark potential models. However, many of these newly discovered
charmonium-like mesons do not seem to fit into the conventional c\bar{c}
spectrum. There is growing evidence that at least some of these new states are
exotic, i.e. new forms of hadronic matter such as mesonic-molecules,
tetraquarks, and/or hybrid mesons. In this review we describe expectations for
the properties of conventional charmonium states and the predictions for
molecules, tetraquarks and hybrids and the various processes that can be used
to produce them. We examine the evidence for the new candidate exotic mesons,
possible explanations, and experimental measurements that might shed further
light on the nature these states.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures. Review for Ann Rev Nucl & Part Sc
Elevated TAK1 augments tumor growth and metastatic capacities of ovarian cancer cells through activation of NF-κB signaling
Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-activating kinase 1 (TAK1) is a serine/threonine kinase which is frequently associated with human cancer progression. However, its functional role in tumorigenesis is still controversial. Here, we report that TAK1 enhances the oncogenic capacity of ovarian cancer cells through the activation of NF-κB signaling. We found that TAK1 is frequently upregulated and significantly associated with high-grade and metastatic ovarian cancers. Mechanistic studies showed that Ser412 phosphorylation is required for TAK1 in activating NF-κB signaling and promotes aggressiveness of ovarian cancer cells. Conversely, suppression of TAK1 activity by point mutation at Ser412, RNAi mediated gene knockdown or TAK1 specific inhibitor ((5Z) -7-Oxozeaenol) remarkably impairs tumor growth and metastasis in ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo. Our study underscores the importance of targeting TAK1 as a promising therapeutic approach to counteract the ovarian cancer progression.published_or_final_versio
Observation of anomalous decoherence effect in a quantum bath at room temperature
Decoherence of quantum objects is critical to modern quantum sciences and
technologies. It is generally believed that stronger noises cause faster
decoherence. Strikingly, recent theoretical research discovers the opposite
case for spins in quantum baths. Here we report experimental observation of the
anomalous decoherence effect for the electron spin-1 of a nitrogen-vacancy
centre in high-purity diamond at room temperature. We demonstrate that under
dynamical decoupling, the double-transition can have longer coherence time than
the single-transition, even though the former couples to the nuclear spin bath
as twice strongly as the latter does. The excellent agreement between the
experimental and the theoretical results confirms the controllability of the
weakly coupled nuclear spins in the bath, which is useful in quantum
information processing and quantum metrology.Comment: 22 pages, related paper at http://arxiv.org/abs/1102.557
Elevated TAK1 augments tumor growth and metastatic capacities of ovarian cancer cells through activation of NF-κB signaling
Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-activating kinase 1 (TAK1) is a serine/threonine kinase which is frequently associated with human cancer progression. However, its functional role in tumorigenesis is still controversial. Here, we report that TAK1 enhances the oncogenic capacity of ovarian cancer cells through the activation of NF-κB signaling. We found that TAK1 is frequently upregulated and significantly associated with high-grade and metastatic ovarian cancers. Mechanistic studies showed that Ser412 phosphorylation is required for TAK1 in activating NF-κB signaling and promotes aggressiveness of ovarian cancer cells. Conversely, suppression of TAK1 activity by point mutation at Ser412, RNAi mediated gene knockdown or TAK1 specific inhibitor ((5Z) -7-Oxozeaenol) remarkably impairs tumor growth and metastasis in ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo. Our study underscores the importance of targeting TAK1 as a promising therapeutic approach to counteract the ovarian cancer progression.published_or_final_versio
Universal quantum control of two-electron spin quantum bits using dynamic nuclear polarization
One fundamental requirement for quantum computation is to perform universal
manipulations of quantum bits at rates much faster than the qubit's rate of
decoherence. Recently, fast gate operations have been demonstrated in logical
spin qubits composed of two electron spins where the rapid exchange of the two
electrons permits electrically controllable rotations around one axis of the
qubit. However, universal control of the qubit requires arbitrary rotations
around at least two axes. Here we show that by subjecting each electron spin to
a magnetic field of different magnitude we achieve full quantum control of the
two-electron logical spin qubit with nanosecond operation times. Using a single
device, a magnetic field gradient of several hundred milliTesla is generated
and sustained using dynamic nuclear polarization of the underlying Ga and As
nuclei. Universal control of the two-electron qubit is then demonstrated using
quantum state tomography. The presented technique provides the basis for single
and potentially multiple qubit operations with gate times that approach the
threshold required for quantum error correction.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary Material included as ancillary
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