New Terms for the Compact Form of Electroweak Chiral Lagrangian

The compact form of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian is a reformulation of its original form and is expressed in terms of chiral rotated electroweak gauge fields, which is crucial for relating the information of underlying theories to the coefficients of the low-energy effective Lagrangian. However the compact form obtained in previous works is not complete. In this letter we add several new chiral invariant terms to it and discuss the contributions of these terms to the original electroweak chiral Lagrangian.Comment: 3 pages, references adde

Stormiest winter on record for Ireland and UK

Meteorological agencies of Ireland and the UK have confirmed that winter (December to February) 2013-14 (W2013/14) set records for precipitation totals and the occurrence of extreme wind speeds1,2,3. Less clear is whether storminess (characterised as the frequency and intensity of cyclones) during W2013/14 was equally unprecedented. We assess multidecadal variations in storminess by considering frequency and intensity together and find that W2013/14 was indeed exceptional. Given the potential societal impacts there is clearly a need to better understand the processes driving extreme cyclonic activity in the North Atlantic (NA)

Mixed-phase wavelet estimation by iterative linear inversion of high-order statistics

This is a review paper on the mixed-phase wavelet estimation using high-order statistics. We use an iterative linear inversion method as a primary thread, stringing together others including the maximum time-delayed moment (MTM) method and the normalized cumulant (NC) method. Both MTM and NC methods are not stable, because they make use of only single high-order-statistics slices. As for the iterative linear inversion method, it is stable but needs a good initial model. Therefore, we adopt a hybrid strategy that uses the MTM or NC method to generate an initial estimate of the wavelet for the iterative linear inversion method. The real seismic data test has shown that all inversions with different initial models converge to the same result within allowable accuracy. Therefore, the iterative linear inversion method is applicable to real multi-channel seismic data for wavelet estimation

Confirmatory factor analysis of the stagnation scale-a traditional chinese medicine construct operationalized for mental health practice

Background Traditional Chinese medicine stagnation ("yu") syndrome is characterized by a cluster of mind/body obstruction-like symptoms. Previous studies have operationalized the concept as a psychological construct through scale development, producing a three-factor 16-item inventory with good psychometric properties. Purpose The study aimed to further validate the Stagnation Scale by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and examine self-appraisal of stagnation as an illness. Method A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on a random community sample of 755 adults recruited by cluster sampling in Hong Kong. Results CFA revealed a good fit of the three-factor model (CFI=.95; RMSEA=.077; SRMR=.043). ROC analysis suggested a cutoff score at 50 on stagnation total score for predicting self-appraisal of an illness condition, with false positive and negative rates at 25.8% and 23.3%, respectively. Overall, 6.2% participants self-appraised to suffer stagnation symptoms to a degree of an illness, and for it, 1.9% participants intended to seek treatment. Stagnation showed positive correlations with physical distress, depression, and anxiety (r=.59-.76, p<.01) and negative correlation with age (r=?.22, p<.01). Conclusion The Stagnation Scale appeared to be robust in factorial and construct validity. With prevalence of illness by self-appraisal at 6.2% and intention for treatment at 1.9%, stagnation is a fairly common condition associated with treatment-seeking behaviors. © International Society of Behavioral Medicine 2011.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Epidermal Growth Factor Stimulates Cell Proliferation by Activating Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels in Rat Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Poster PresentationBackground and objective: We have previously found that voltage-gated delayed rectifier potassium current (IKDR, encoded by Kv1.2 and Kv2.1) participated in regulation of cell cycling progression in rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow. The present study was designed to investigate whether epidermal growth factor (EGF) regulates cell growth is mediated by activating IKDR. Methods: Whole-cell patch voltage-clamp, RT-PCR, Western blots, siRNA, cell proliferation assay were employed in the present study Results: EGF increased cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner, and the effect was countered by the broad spectrum protein tyrosine (PTK) inhibitor genistein and the EGFR kinase inhibitor AG556. We found that genistein and AG556 inhibited IKDR in a concentration-dependent manner, The protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) inhibitor orthovanadate enhanced IKDR, and counted the inhibitory effect of IKDR by genistein or AG556, suggesting the PTK-mediating modulation of IKDR. Interestingly EGF also increased IKDR, Downregulation of IKDR with siRNA targeting to Kv1.2 or Kv2.1 channels inhibited basal proliferation, and prevented EGF-stimulated proliferation in rat MSCs. Conclusion: These results demonstrate for the first time that EGF stimulates cell proliferation activating IKDR, and silencing Kv1.2 or Kv2.1 channels prevents the augmentation of proliferation by EFG, indicating that Kv1.2 and Kv2.1 channels mediate EGF effect in regulating cell growth in rat MSCs.published_or_final_versio

Protective effects of interactional justice on job insecurity of Chinese workers: evidence from a large-scale state-owned telecom company

The study attempted to explore protective effects of procedural justice on job insecurity and job attitudes of Chinese workers in the face of an impending organizational change. In a large-scale state-owned telecom company and its four subsidiary companies in China where a fundamental organizational change was about to take place, 592 employees were randomly sampled and surveyed. The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that procedural justice could bolster employees’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment partially through reducing their job insecurity. Further analysis of this partial mediating effect, in terms of two components of procedural justice, revealed a protective effect of interactional justice instead of formal procedure on job insecurity of Chinese employees in the face of the forthcoming organizational change. Implications for measures protecting employees’ psychological well-being in the decision-making process of human resource management leading up to organizational change are discussed later.published_or_final_versionThe 2nd IEEE Symposium on Web Society (SWS 2010), Beijing, China, 16-17 August 2010. In Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Web Society, 2010, p. 443-44

A Novel Eigenvalue Algorithm for the Complex Band Structure and Eigenmodes of Plasmonic Crystals

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Effects of key reaction parameters on the reductive dechlorination of chloroform with Pd/Fe? bimetal in aqueous solution

2009-2010 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Density functional theory studies of hydrogen bonding vibrations in sI gas hydrates

Abstract To analyze the vibrational modes of water and methane in structure I gas hydrates, we constructed a 178-atom supercell with two small cages of type 512 and six large cages of type 51262. We applied the density functional theory method to simulate the vibrational spectrum and normal modes of methane hydrates. In accord with our previous studies, we confirmed that two groups of hydrogen bond (H-bond) peaks (at around 291 and 210 cm−1) in the translational bands come from two kinds of intermolecular H-bond vibrational modes. This is the first investigation of H-bond vibrations in methane hydrates. The partial modes of CH4 were extracted. We found that the CH4 phonons in the translational region are below 180 cm−1 so that the influence of methane on the H-bond is insignificant. We proposed a new method to decompose gas hydrates via direct application of terahertz radiation to the H-bonds. Herein, we confirmed that CH4 molecules do not absorb this energy.</jats:p

Anti-inflammation activity and chemical composition of flower essential oil from Hedychium coronarium

Hedychium coronarium Koen. (Family Zingiberaceae), popularly named butterfly ginger, is widely available in tropical and subtropical regions. It has been used in folk medicine for many conditions, such as contusion inflammation, anti-rheumatic and so on. In this study, chemical compositions and anti-inflammatory activity of this flowers’ essential oil were investigated for the first time. Followed by GC–MS analysis, a total of 29 components were identified and the main constituents included -transocimenone (28.05%), linalool (18.52%), 1,8-cineole (11.35%), -terpineol (7.11%), 10-epi--eudesmol (6.06%), sabinene (4.59%) and terpinen-4-ol (3.17%). We measured the antioxidant activity of the essential oil in vitro (DPPH reduction assay and ferric reducing antioxidant power assay) and the antiinflammatory activity in vivo (carrageenan-induced hind paw edema in rats). The oil (100 mg/kg p.o.) produced significant inhibition of paw oedema, but showed poor antioxidant activity (with the DPPH IC50 value of 1091.00 g/ml and FRAP value of 0.22 mol Fe2+/mg). The results reveal that there is no direct correlation between anti-inflammatory effect and antioxidant activity of this essential oil