Extracting Mass Hierarchy Information from Simple Analysis of Neutrino Mass Splitting

Based on the independent measurements on neutrino mass splitting $|\Delta m^2_{\mu\mu}|$, $|\Delta m^2_{ee}|$, $\Delta m^2_{21}$, and recent measurements by the T2K Collaboration, we carry out a simple fitting analysis on $\Delta m^2_{32}$ and $\Delta m^2_{31}$ in normal hierarchy and inverse hierarchy respectively, suggesting \Delta m^2_{32}=(2.46\pm0.07)\times10^{-3}~\mbox{eV}^2 and \Delta m^2_{31}=(2.53\pm0.07)\times10^{-3}~\mbox{eV}^2 in normal hierarchy, or $\Delta m^2_{32}$=-(2.51\pm0.07)\times10^{-3}~\mbox{eV}^2 and $\Delta m^2_{31}$=-(2.44\pm0.07)\times10^{-3}~\mbox{eV}^2 in invert hierarchy. The simple analysis indicate that both normal and inverted hierarchy are consistent with current experimental measurements on mass splitting. The p-value for normal hierarchy and that for inverted hierarchy are 62% and 55%, respectively. This reveals a slight favor for the normal hierarchy. It is suggested that further measurements on the mass splitting with higher accuracy are necessary to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy.Comment: 5 latex pages, 5 figures. Final version as publishe

Quark-lepton complementarity and self-complementarity in different schemes

With the progress of increasingly precise measurements on the neutrino mixing angles, phenomenological relations such as quark-lepton complementarity (QLC) among mixing angles of quarks and leptons and self-complementarity (SC) among lepton mixing angles have been observed. Using the latest global fit results of the quark and lepton mixing angles in the standard Chau-Keung scheme, we calculate the mixing angles and CP-violating phases in the other eight different schemes. We check the dependence of these mixing angles on the CP-violating phases in different phase schemes. The dependence of QLC and SC relations on the CP phase in the other eight schemes is recognized and then analyzed, suggesting that measurements on CP-violating phases of the lepton sector are crucial to the explicit forms of QLC and SC in different schemes.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, version accepted for publication in PR

Social Support in an Internet-Based Weight Loss Intervention among College Students

Objective: To assess college students’ perceptions regarding online social support in an 8-week Internet-based weight loss intervention. Participants: Participants were those randomized to the intervention group of an online weight loss intervention targeting overweight and obese college students. Methods: Members of the intervention group had access to a private discussion forum and weekly live chat sessions, allowing for anonymous interactions. Following the 8-week intervention, intervention group members were invited to complete an online focus group, discussing these tools. The transcripts were directly copied from the live chat conversation history. Using thematic analysis, perceptions regarding online social support were identified, coded and sorted and organized into themes. Results: Two online focus groups were conducted (n=7, overall). Thematic analysis indicated that participants appreciated the social support provided by the forum and live chat sessions. While many preferred the interactive feature of the live chat sessions, others enjoyed the constant availability of the forum. However, barriers including time restrictions, technology-related preferences, and concerns about online interpersonal relationships were also identified. Conclusions: Combining forum and live chat sessions may benefit individuals differently, based on preference, and both should likely be incorporated into an online weight loss intervention

Task mapping on a dragonfly supercomputer

The dragonfly network topology has recently gained traction in the design of high performance computing (HPC) systems and has been implemented in large-scale supercomputers. The impact of task mapping, i.e., placement of MPI ranks onto compute cores, on the communication performance of applications on dragonfly networks has not been comprehensively investigated on real large-scale systems. This paper demonstrates that task mapping affects the communication overhead significantly in dragonflies and the magnitude of this effect is sensitive to the application, job size, and the OpenMP settings. Among the three task mapping algorithms we study (in-order, random, and recursive coordinate bisection), selecting a suitable task mapper reduces application communication time by up to 47%

Finite-size analysis of continuous-variable measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution

We study the impact of the finite-size effect on the continuous-variable measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (CV-MDI QKD) protocol, mainly considering the finite-size effect on the parameter estimation procedure. The central-limit theorem and maximum likelihood estimation theorem are used to estimate the parameters. We also analyze the relationship between the number of exchanged signals and the optimal modulation variance in the protocol. It is proved that when Charlie's position is close to Bob, the CV-MDI QKD protocol has the farthest transmission distance in the finite-size scenario. Finally, we discuss the impact of finite-size effects related to the practical detection in the CV-MDI QKD protocol. The overall results indicate that the finite-size effect has a great influence on the secret key rate of the CV-MDI QKD protocol and should not be ignored.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Numerical simulation of the optimal two-mode attacks for two-way continuous-variable quantum cryptography in reverse reconciliation

We analyze the security of the two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol in reverse reconciliation against general two-mode attacks, which represent all accessible attacks at fixed channel parameters. Rather than against one specific attack model, the expression of secret key rates of the two-way protocol are derived against all accessible attack models. It is found that there is an optimal two-mode attack to minimize the performance of the protocol in terms of both secret key rates and maximal transmission distances. We identify the optimal two-mode attack, give the specific attack model of the optimal two-mode attack and show the performance of the two-way protocol against the optimal two-mode attack. Even under the optimal two-mode attack, the performances of two-way protocol are still better than the corresponding one-way protocol, which shows the advantage of making a double use of the quantum channel and the potential of long-distance secure communication using two-way protocol.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Improvement of two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution with virtual photon subtraction

We propose a method to improve the performance of two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol by virtual photon subtraction. The Virtual photon subtraction implemented via non-Gaussian post-selection not only enhances the entanglement of two-mode squeezed vacuum state but also has advantages in simplifying physical operation and promoting efficiency. In two-way protocol, virtual photon subtraction could be applied on two sources independently. Numerical simulations show that the optimal performance of renovated two-way protocol is obtained with photon subtraction only used by Alice. The transmission distance and tolerable excess noise are improved by using the virtual photon subtraction with appropriate parameters. Moreover, the tolerable excess noise maintains a high value with the increase of distance so that the robustness of two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution system is significantly improved, especially at long transmission distance.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

The relationship between supply factor and firm's capital structure : a US study

1 online resource (iii, 28 p.)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 26-28).The past work which has studied the impact of the factors of the firm’s capital structure has always focused on the demand side. That is to maximize the firm’s value through different capital structures, industries’ bankruptcy costs and the tax shield. Several theories have been developed through these efforts, such as Trade-off and Pecking Order Theories. Since the financial crisis in the second half of 2007, issues over the supply of credit have gained attention, so increasingly scholars are now taking supply factors such as the impact of access to public bond markets into account. In this way, this paper will discuss the relationship between the supply factors and firms’ capital structure