Y. Cheng

Particles beyond the Standard Model (SM) can generically have lifetimes that are long compared to SM particles at the weak scale. When produced at experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, these long-lived particles (LLPs) can decay far from the interaction vertex of the primary proton-proton collision. Such LLP signatures are distinct from those of promptly decaying particles that are targeted by the majority of searches for new physics at the LHC, often requiring customized techniques to identify, for example, significantly displaced decay vertices, tracks with atypical properties, and short track segments. Given their non-standard nature, a comprehensive overview of LLP signatures at the LHC is beneficial to ensure that possible avenues of the discovery of new physics are not overlooked. Here we report on the joint work of a community of theorists and experimentalists with the ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb experiments --- as well as those working on dedicated experiments such as MoEDAL, milliQan, MATHUSLA, CODEX-b, and FASER --- to survey the current state of LLP searches at the LHC, and to chart a path for the development of LLP searches into the future, both in the upcoming Run 3 and at the High-Luminosity LHC. The work is organized around the current and future potential capabilities of LHC experiments to generally discover new LLPs, and takes a signature-based approach to surveying classes of models that give rise to LLPs rather than emphasizing any particular theory motivation. We develop a set of simplified models; assess the coverage of current searches; document known, often unexpected backgrounds; explore the capabilities of proposed detector upgrades; provide recommendations for the presentation of search results; and look towards the newest frontiers, namely high-multiplicity "dark showers", highlighting opportunities for expanding the LHC reach for these signals.

This document is the final report of the ATLAS-CMS Dark Matter Forum, a forum organized by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations with the participation of experts on theories of Dark Matter, to select a minimal basis set of dark matter simplified models that should support the design of the early LHC Run-2 searches. A prioritized, compact set of benchmark models is proposed, accompanied by studies of the parameter space of these models and a repository of generator implementations. This report also addresses how to apply the Effective Field Theory formalism for collider searches and present the results of such interpretations.

We report the triton ($t$) production in mid-rapidity ($|y| <$ 0.5) Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$= 7.7--200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment from the first phase of the beam energy scan at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The nuclear compound yield ratio ($\mathrm{N}_t \times \mathrm{N}_p/\mathrm{N}_d^2$), which is predicted to be sensitive to the fluctuation of local neutron density, is observed to decrease monotonically with increasing charged-particle multiplicity ($dN_{ch}/d\eta$) and follows a scaling behavior. The $dN_{ch}/d\eta$ dependence of the yield ratio is compared to calculations from coalescence and thermal models. Enhancements in the yield ratios relative to the coalescence baseline are observed in the 0\%-10\% most central collisions at 19.6 and 27 GeV, with a significance of 2.3$\sigma$ and 3.4$\sigma$, respectively, giving a combined significance of 4.1$\sigma$. The enhancements are not observed in peripheral collisions or model calculations without critical fluctuation, and decreases with a smaller $p_{T}$ acceptance. The physics implications of these results on the QCD phase structure and the production mechanism of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions are discussed.

We report the beam energy and collision centrality dependence of fifth and sixth order cumulants (C_{5}, C_{6}) and factorial cumulants (κ_{5}, κ_{6}) of net-proton and proton number distributions, from center-of-mass energy (sqrt[s_{NN}]) 3 GeV to 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. Cumulant ratios of net-proton (taken as proxy for net-baryon) distributions generally follow the hierarchy expected from QCD thermodynamics, except for the case of collisions at 3 GeV. The measured values of C_{6}/C_{2} for 0%-40% centrality collisions show progressively negative trend with decreasing energy, while it is positive for the lowest energy studied. These observed negative signs are consistent with QCD calculations (for baryon chemical potential, μ_{B}≤110 MeV) which contains the crossover transition range. In addition, for energies above 7.7 GeV, the measured proton κ_{n}, within uncertainties, does not support the two-component (Poisson+binomial) shape of proton number distributions that would be expected from a first-order phase transition. Taken in combination, the hyperorder proton number fluctuations suggest that the structure of QCD matter at high baryon density, μ_{B}∼750 MeV at sqrt[s_{NN}]=3 GeV is starkly different from those at vanishing μ_{B}∼24 MeV at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and higher collision energies.

We report here the first observation of directed flow (v_{1}) of the hypernuclei _{Λ}^{3}H and _{Λ}^{4}H in mid-central Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=3 GeV at RHIC. These data are taken as part of the beam energy scan program carried out by the STAR experiment. From 165×10^{6} events in 5%-40% centrality, about 8400 _{Λ}^{3}H and 5200 _{Λ}^{4}H candidates are reconstructed through two- and three-body decay channels. We observe that these hypernuclei exhibit significant directed flow. Comparing to that of light nuclei, it is found that the midrapidity v_{1} slopes of _{Λ}^{3}H and _{Λ}^{4}H follow baryon number scaling, implying that the coalescence is the dominant mechanism for these hypernuclei production in the 3 GeV Au+Au collisions.

We measure triangular flow relative to the reaction plane at 3 GeV center-of-mass energy in Au+Au collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. A significant v3 signal for protons is observed, which increases for higher rapidity, higher transverse momentum, and more peripheral collisions. The triangular flow is essentially rapidity-odd with a slope at midrapidity, dv3/dy|(y=0), opposite in sign compared to the slope for directed flow. No significant v3 signal is observed for charged pions and kaons. Comparisons with models suggest that a mean field potential is required to describe these results, and that the triangular shape of the participant nucleons is the result of stopping and nuclear geometry.7 MoreReceived 21 September 2023Accepted 6 March 2024DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.109.044914©2024 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Equations of state of nuclear matterResearch AreasNuclear structure & decaysNuclear matterEquations of state of nuclear matterResearch AreasCollective flowEquations of state of nuclear matterRelativistic heavy-ion collisionsTransport in heavy-ion collisionsNuclear Physics

We report on measurements of sequential ϒ suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV with the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) through both the dielectron and dimuon decay channels. In the 0%-60% centrality class, the nuclear modification factors (R_{AA}), which quantify the level of yield suppression in heavy-ion collisions compared to p+p collisions, for ϒ(1S) and ϒ(2S) are 0.40±0.03(stat)±0.03(sys)±0.09(norm) and 0.26±0.08(stat)±0.02(sys)±0.06(norm), respectively, while the upper limit of the ϒ(3S) R_{AA} is 0.17 at a 95% confidence level. This provides experimental evidence that the ϒ(3S) is significantly more suppressed than the ϒ(1S) at RHIC. The level of suppression for ϒ(1S) is comparable to that observed at the much higher collision energy at the Large Hadron Collider. These results point to the creation of a medium at RHIC whose temperature is sufficiently high to strongly suppress excited ϒ states.

Various models of the QCD phase diagram favor a first-order phase transition to quark-gluon plasma, and therefore a critical endpoint which could manifest itself in measurable fluctuations and correlations. The authors report measurements of the moments of the net proton multiplicity fluctuations (cumulants) and correlation functions from the RHIC beam energy scan. They establish that at $\sqrt{{s}_{N\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}N}}=3$ GeV the produced system is dominated by hadronic rather than thermal interactions. This puts a limit on the search for the elusive critical point in the QCD phase diagram to energies higher than 3 GeV.

As the LHC luminosity is ramped up to 3 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex Notation="TeX">$\,\times 10^{34}~{\hbox {cm}}^{2}~s^{1}$</tex></formula> and beyond, the high rates, multiplicities, and energies of particles seen by the detectors will pose a unique challenge. Only a tiny fraction of the produced collisions can be stored offline and immense real-time data reduction is needed. An effective trigger system must maintain high trigger efficiencies for the physics we are most interested in while suppressing the enormous QCD backgrounds. This requires massive computing power to minimize the online execution time of complex algorithms. A multi-level trigger is an effective solution to meet this challenge. The Fast Tracker (FTK) is an upgrade to the current ATLAS trigger system that will operate at full Level-1 output rates and provide high-quality tracks reconstructed over the entire inner detector by the start of processing in the Level-2 Trigger. FTK solves the combinatorial challenge inherent to tracking by exploiting the massive parallelism of associative memories that can compare inner detector hits to millions of pre-calculated patterns simultaneously. The tracking problem within matched patterns is further simplified by using pre-computed linearized fitting constants and relying on fast DSPs in modern commercial FPGAs. Overall, FTK is able to compute the helix parameters for all tracks in an event and apply quality cuts in less than 100 <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$\mu{\hbox {s}}$</tex> </formula> . The system design is defined and the performance presented with respect to high transverse momentum (high- <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$p_{\rm T}$</tex></formula> ) Level-2 objects: b jets, tau jets, and isolated leptons. We test FTK algorithms using the full ATLAS simulation with WH events up to <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$3\times 10^{34}~{\hbox {cm}}^{2}{\hbox {s}}^{1}$</tex></formula> luminosity and compare the FTK results with the offline tracking capability. We present the architecture and the reconstruction performance for the mentioned high- <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex Notation="TeX">$p_{\rm T}$</tex></formula> Level-2 objects.

The elliptic (v_{2}) and triangular (v_{3}) azimuthal anisotropy coefficients in central ^{3}He+Au, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV are measured as a function of transverse momentum (p_{T}) at midrapidity (|η|<0.9), via the azimuthal angular correlation between two particles both at |η|<0.9. While the v_{2}(p_{T}) values depend on the colliding systems, the v_{3}(p_{T}) values are system independent within the uncertainties, suggesting an influence on eccentricity from subnucleonic fluctuations in these small-sized systems. These results also provide stringent constraints for the hydrodynamic modeling of these systems.

We propose a peak-tracking BOTDA (PT-BOTDA) equipped with an efficient dynamic Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) searching scheme based on ternary search. The proposed scheme establishes a feedback loop between the selected frequency and the corresponding Brillouin gain to reduce the required number of scanning frequencies in one measurement. We also demonstrate the performance evaluation of the proposed scheme under scenarios with different searching granularities and dynamic sensing ranges. Experimental results indicate that in all situations, the proposed PT-BOTDA can achieve at least 85% and 97% reduction in the number of scanning frequencies for 1-MHz and 0.1-MHz frequency steps, respectively, with a 3-meter spatial resolution, while maintaining a convincing BFS searching accuracy under sufficient SNR condition using a smaller searching interval.

The linear and mode-coupled contributions to higher-order anisotropic flow are presented for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 27, 39, 54.4, and 200 GeV and compared to similar measurements for Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The coefficients and the flow harmonics' correlations, which characterize the linear and mode-coupled response to the lower-order anisotropies, indicate a beam energy dependence consistent with an influence from the specific shear viscosity ($\eta/s$). In contrast, the dimensionless coefficients, mode-coupled response coefficients, and normalized symmetric cumulants are approximately beam-energy independent, consistent with a significant role from initial-state effects. These measurements could provide unique supplemental constraints to (i) distinguish between different initial-state models and (ii) delineate the temperature ($T$) and baryon chemical potential ($\mu_{B}$) dependence of the specific shear viscosity $\frac{\eta}{s} (T, \mu_B)$.

Density fluctuations near the QCD critical point can be probed via an intermittency analysis in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We report the first measurement of intermittency in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 7.7-200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The scaled factorial moments of identified charged hadrons are analyzed at mid-rapidity and within the transverse momentum phase space. We observe a power-law behavior of scaled factorial moments in Au+Au collisions and a decrease in the extracted scaling exponent (ν) from peripheral to central collisions. The ν is consistent with a constant for different collisions energies in the mid-central (10-40%) collisions. Moreover, the ν in the 0-5% most central Au+Au collisions exhibits a non-monotonic energy dependence that reaches a minimum around sNN = 27 GeV. The physics implications on the QCD phase structure are discussed.

The longitudinal and transverse spin transfers to Λ (Λ¯) hyperons in polarized proton-proton collisions are expected to be sensitive to the helicity and transversity distributions, respectively, of (anti)strange quarks in the proton, and to the corresponding polarized fragmentation functions. We report improved measurements of the longitudinal spin transfer coefficient, DLL, and the transverse spin transfer coefficient, DTT, to Λ and Λ¯ in polarized proton-proton collisions at s=200 GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The dataset includes longitudinally polarized proton-proton collisions with an integrated luminosity of 52 pb−1, and transversely polarized proton-proton collisions with a similar integrated luminosity. Both datasets have about twice the statistics of previous results and cover a kinematic range of |ηΛ(Λ¯)|<1.2 and transverse momentum pT,Λ(Λ¯) up to 8 GeV/c. We also report the first measurements of the hyperon spin transfer coefficients DLL and DTT as a function of the fractional jet momentum z carried by the hyperon, which can provide more direct constraints on the polarized fragmentation functions.3 MoreReceived 27 September 2023Accepted 28 November 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.012004Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasFragmentation functionsParton distribution functionsQuantum chromodynamicsSpin-dependent parton distribution functionsStrong interactionParticles & Fields

Given graphs $G_1,\ldots,G_s$ all on a common vertex set and a graph $H$ with $e(H) = s$, a copy of $H$ is \emph{transversal} or \emph{rainbow} if it contains one edge from each $G_i$. We establish a stability result for transversal Hamilton cycles: the minimum degree required to guarantee a transversal Hamilton cycle can be lowered as long as the graph collection $G_1,\ldots,G_n$ is far in edit distance from several extremal cases. We obtain an analogous result for Hamilton paths. The proof is a combination of our newly developed regularity-blow-up method for transversals, along with the absorption method.

We report results on an elastic cross section measurement in proton–proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy s=510 GeV, obtained with the Roman Pot setup of the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The elastic differential cross section is measured in the four-momentum transfer squared range 0.23≤−t≤0.67 GeV2. This is the only measurement of the proton-proton elastic cross section in this t range for collision energies above the Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) and below the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) colliders. We find that a constant slope B does not fit the data in the aforementioned t range, and we obtain a much better fit using a second-order polynomial for B(t). This is the first measurement below the LHC energies for which the non-constant behavior B(t) is observed. The t dependence of B is determined using six subintervals of t in the STAR measured t range, and is in good agreement with the phenomenological models. The measured elastic differential cross section dσ/dt agrees well with the results obtained at s=540 GeV for proton–antiproton collisions by the UA4 experiment. We also determine that the integrated elastic cross section within the STAR t-range is σelfid=462.1±0.9(stat.)±1.1(syst.)±11.6(scale) μb.

Angular distributions of charged particles relative to jet axes are studied in √sNN=200 GeV Au+Au collisions as a function of the jet orientation with respect to the event plane. This differential study tests the expected path-length dependence of energy loss experienced by a hard-scattered parton as it traverses the hot and dense medium formed in heavy-ion collisions. A second-order event plane is used in the analysis as an experimental estimate of the reaction plane formed by the collision impact parameter and the beam direction. Charged-particle jets with 15<pT,jet<20 and 20<pT,jet<40GeV/c were reconstructed with the anti-kT algorithm with radius parameter setting of R=0.4 in the 20–50% centrality bin to maximize the initial-state eccentricity of the interaction region. The reaction plane fit method is implemented to remove the flow-modulated background with better precision than prior methods. Yields and widths of jet-associated charged-hadron distributions are extracted in three angular bins between the jet axis and the event plane. The event-plane (EP) dependence is further quantified by ratios of the associated yields in different EP bins. No dependence on orientation of the jet axis with respect to the event plane is seen within the uncertainties in the kinematic regime studied. This finding is consistent with a similar experimental observation by ALICE in √sNN = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collision data.Received 25 July 2023Revised 19 December 2023Accepted 2 February 2024DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.109.044909©2024 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasJet quenchingQCD in nuclear reactionsQuark & gluon jetsQuark-gluon plasmaRelativistic heavy-ion collisionsNuclear Physics

This study was designed to reveal the relationship among browning, polyphenol degradation, Maillard reaction (MR) and flavor variation in jujube fruit (JF) during air-impingement jet drying (AIJD). Five kinds of JFs were dried by AIJD at 60 °C and vacuum freeze drying. Colorimeter and chemometric analysis found that AIJD induced color changes of JF pulp and peel. AIJD also reduced the total polyphenols content and total flavonoids levels in JF. The Fe3+ reducing capacity and 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) cationic radical scavenging capacity of JF were reduced by 31.6% and 8.2%, respectively. Seven polyphenols were identified in JF, and epicatechin was found related to change of JF pulp color by sparse partial least square (sPLS). sPLS revealed that 3-deoxy glucosone, N-ε-carboxymethyl-l-lysine and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural associated with JF color. sPLS found that MR generated 3-methyl-butanoic acid and cyclobutanone during AIJD of JF. Chemometrics is an effective tool to disclose mechanism of color changes in food.

Abstract Partons traversing the strongly interacting medium produced in heavy-ion collisions are expected to lose energy depending on their color charge and mass. We measure the nuclear modification factors for charm- and bottom-decay electrons, defined as the ratio of yields, divided by the number of binary nucleon–nucleon collisions, in $$\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}}=200$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>NN</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>200</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> GeV Au+Au collisions to p + p collisions ( $$R_{\textrm{AA}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>AA</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> ), or in central to peripheral Au+Au collisions ( $$R_{\textrm{CP}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>CP</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> ). We find the bottom-decay electron $$R_{\textrm{AA}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>AA</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> and $$R_{\textrm{CP}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>CP</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> to be significantly higher than those of charm-decay electrons. Model calculations including mass-dependent parton energy loss in a strongly coupled medium are consistent with the measured data. These observations provide evidence of mass ordering of charm and bottom quark energy loss when traversing through the strongly coupled medium created in heavy-ion collisions.

This paper describes the design of a novel double-flexure two-axis tilt sensor with a tilt readout based on an optical walk-off sensor. The performance of the device has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The walk-off sensor has demonstrated a sensitivity of 10−11 rad Hz−1/2 at 1 Hz. The tilt sensor has measured seismic noise ∼10−9–10−10 rad Hz−1/2 for frequency in the 2–10 Hz range.

Post-stroke spasticity is a cause of gait dysfunction and disability. Focal vibration (FV) of agonist-antagonist upper limb muscle pairs reduces flexor spasticity; however, its effects on ankle plantarflexor spasticity are uncertain.To assess the effects of focal vibration administered by a trained operator to the ankle plantarflexor and dorsiflexor muscles on post-stroke lower limb spasticity.A randomized, single-blind controlled trial of 64 participants with stroke and plantarflexor spasticity assigned to 3 groups by centralized, computer-generated randomization (1:1:1): 1) physiotherapy alone (CON), 2) physiotherapy+gastrocnemius vibration (FV_GM) and 3) physiotherapy+tibialis anterior vibration (FV_TA). Physiotherapists and assessors were blinded to group assignment. The experimental groups underwent 15, 20-min vibration sessions at 40 Hz. We performed evaluations at baseline and after the final treatment: Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Clonus scale, Functional Ambulation Categories (FAC), Fugl-Meyer Assessment - Lower Extremity (FMA_LE), Modified Barthel Index (MBI), and electromyography and ultrasound elastography. Primary outcome was remission rate (number and proportion of participants) of the MAS.MAS remission rate was higher in FV_GM and FV_TA than CON groups (CON vs. FV_GM: p=0.009, odds ratio 0.15 [95% confidence interval 0.03-0.67]; CON vs. FV_TA: p=0.002, 0.12 [0.03-0.51]). Remission rate was higher in the experimental than CON groups for the Clonus scale (CON vs. FV_GM: p<0.001, OR 0.07 [95% CI 0.01-0.31]; CON vs. FV_TA: p=0.006, 0.14 [95% CI 0.03-0.61]). FAC remission rate was higher in the FV_TA than the CON (p=0.009, 0.18 [0.05-0.68]) and FV_GM (p=0.014, 0.27 [0.07-0.99]) groups. Ultrasound variables of the paretic medial gastrocnemius decreased more in FV_GM than CON and FV_TA groups (shear modulus: p=0.006; shear wave velocity: p=0.008).Focal vibration reduced post-stroke spasticity of the plantarflexor muscles. Vibration of the tibialis anterior improved ambulation more than vibration of the gastrocnemius or physiotherapy alone. Gastrocnemius vibration may reduce spasticity by changing muscle stiffness.

We describe the design and expected performance of a the Fast Tracker Trigger (FTK) system for the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The FTK is a highly parallel hardware system designed to operate at the Level 1 trigger output rate. It is designed to provide global tracks reconstructed in the inner detector with resolution comparable to the full offline reconstruction as input of the Level 2 trigger processing. The hardware system is based on associative memories for pattern recognition and fast FPGAs for track reconstruction. The FTK is expected to dramatically improve the performance of track based isolation and b-tagging with little to no dependencies of pile-up interactions.

The aim of this study is to explore the epidemiological characteristics of peripheral T-cell lymphoma in Beijing. All data were extracted from the Beijing Cancer Registry database from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2018. Segi's World Standard Population was used to estimate the age-standardized rate (ASR). Changes in trends were examined using joinpoint regression analysis. The observed survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Relative survival was calculated using Ederer II and standardized using the Brenner method and International Cancer Survival Standard (ICSS) group 1 age structure. Stratified by gender, area, and histological type, incidence, mortality, and age of onset trends were observed in Beijing. In Beijing, there were 801 new cases and 463 deaths of T-cell lymphoma from 2007 to 2018. Peripheral T-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS) was the most prevalent subtype (37.45%), followed by angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL; 20.35%), NK/T-cell lymphoma (NK/TCL; 17.60%), and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL; 10.24%). The crude incidence and mortality rates were 0.52 and 0.30 per 100,000 person-years, respectively, whereas the age-standardized incidence and mortality rates (ASIR and ASMR) were 0.35 and 0.18 per 100,000 person-years, respectively. Both ASIR and ASMR were more prevalent in men (0.48 and 0.24 per 100,000) and urban area (0.38 and 0.19 per 100,000) than in women (0.22 and 0.11 per 100,000) and rural area (0.30 and 0.15 per 100,000). The average annual percentage change (AAPC) of ASIR and ASMR was 5.72% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.79%-9.81%) and 4.35% (95% CI: -0.09%-8.99%), respectively. The age-specific incidence rate increased with age and peaked at the age groups of 10-14 and 80-84. The mean and median age of onset increased between 2007 and 2018. In addition, it decreased after the age of onset was age standardization (β = -0.41, P = 0.26). The 5-year age-standardized relative survival was 39.02% for all patients, 58.14% for NK/TCL, 57.60% for ALCL, 31.38% for AITL, and 29.18% for PTCL-NOS. T-cell lymphoma incidence was rising, but survival was dismal in Beijing, indicating the need for improved early diagnosis and standardized treatment.

The use of tracking information at the trigger level in the LHC Run II period is crucial for the trigger and data acquisition system and will be even more so as contemporary collisions that occur at every bunch crossing will increase in Run III. The Fast TracKer is part of the ATLAS trigger upgrade project; it is a hardware processor that will provide every Level-1 accepted event (100 kHz) and within 100μs, full tracking information for tracks with momentum as low as 1 GeV . Providing fast, extensive access to tracking information, with resolution comparable to the offline reconstruction, FTK will help in precise detection of the primary and secondary vertices to ensure robust selections and improve the trigger performance.

More and more rare genetic variants are being detected in the human genome, and it is believed that besides common variants, some rare variants also explain part of the phenotypic variance for human diseases. Due to the importance of rare variants, many statistical methods have been proposed to test for associations between rare variants and human traits. However, in existing studies, most methods only test for associations between multiple loci and one trait; therefore, the joint information of multiple traits has not been considered simultaneously and sufficiently. In this article, we present a study of testing for associations between rare variants and multiple traits, where trait value can be binary, ordinal, quantitative and/or any mixture of them. Based on the method of generalized Kendall’s τ, a nonparametric method called NM-RV is proposed. A new kernel function for U-statistic, which could incorporate the information of each rare variant itself, is also presented and is expected to enhance the power of rare variant analysis. We further consider the asymptotic distribution of the proposed association test statistic. Our simulation work suggests that the proposed method is more powerful and robust than existing methods in testing for associations between rare variants and multiple traits,especially for multivariate ordinal traits.

As the LHC luminosity is ramped up to 3×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">34</sup> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> s <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> and beyond, the high rates, multiplicities, and energies of particles seen by the detectors will pose a unique challenge. Only a tiny fraction of the produced collisions can be stored on tape and immense real-time data reduction is needed. An effective trigger system must maintain high trigger efficiencies for the physics we are most interested in, and at the same time suppress the enormous QCD backgrounds. This requires massive computing power to minimize the online execution time of complex algorithms. A multi-level trigger is an effective solution for an otherwise impossible problem. The Fast Tracker (FTK) is a proposed upgrade to the current ATLAS trigger system that will operate at full Level-1 output rates and provide high quality tracks reconstructed over the entire detector by the start of processing in Level-2. FTK solves the combinatorial challenge inherent to tracking by exploiting massive parallelism of associative memories that can compare inner detector hits to millions of pre-calculated patterns simultaneously. The tracking problem within matched patterns is further simplified by using pre-computed linearized fitting constants and leveraging fast DSPs in modern commercial FPGAs. Overall, FTK is able to compute the helix parameters for all tracks in an event and apply quality cuts in less than 100 μs. The system design is defined and studied with respect to high transverse momentum (high-P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> ) Level-2 objects: b-jets, tau-jets, and isolated leptons. We test FTK algorithms using ATLAS full simulation with WH events up to 3×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">34</sup> cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-2</sup> s <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> luminosity and comparing FTK results with the offline tracking capability. We present the architecture and the reconstruction performances for the mentioned high-P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">T</sub> Level-2 objects.

Ocean waves interacting in shallow water at the shore generate land waves propagating inland. To study these waves vertical, horizontal and tilt seismic noise were measured simultaneously at one location. Vibration isolators designed for gravitational wave research were used for detection. Cross-correlation between the above components was calculated. We found correlations between all of them. However, only the correlation between horizontal and vertical motions could be addressed to land waves, and other correlations are thought to be due to local rigid body motion of the large building in which the experiments were located.

Given graphs $G_1,\ldots,G_s$ all on the same vertex set and a graph $H$ with $e(H) \leq s$, a copy of $H$ is transversal or rainbow if it contains at most one edge from each $G_c$. When $s=e(H)$, such a copy contains exactly one edge from each $G_i$. We study the case when $H$ is spanning and explore how the regularity blow-up method, that has been so successful in the uncoloured setting, can be used to find transversals. We provide the analogues of the tools required to apply this method in the transversal setting. Our main result is a blow-up lemma for transversals that applies to separable bounded degree graphs $H$. Our proofs use weak regularity in the $3$-uniform hypergraph whose edges are those $xyc$ where $xy$ is an edge in the graph $G_c$. We apply our lemma to give a large class of spanning $3$-uniform linear hypergraphs $H$ such that any sufficiently large uniformly dense $n$-vertex $3$-uniform hypergraph with minimum vertex degree $\Omega(n^2)$ contains $H$ as a subhypergraph. This extends work of Lenz, Mubayi and Mycroft.

Global polarizations ($P$) of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}} (\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}})$ hyperons have been observed in noncentral heavy-ion collisions. The strong magnetic field primarily created by the spectator protons in such collisions would split the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ and $\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}$ global polarizations ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}P={P}_{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}\ensuremath{-}{P}_{\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}}&lt;0$). Additionally, quantum chromodynamics predicts topological charge fluctuations in vacuum, resulting in a chirality imbalance or parity violation in a local domain. This would give rise to an imbalance ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}n=\frac{{N}_{\text{L}}\ensuremath{-}{N}_{\text{R}}}{\ensuremath{\langle}{N}_{\text{L}}+{N}_{\text{R}}\ensuremath{\rangle}}\ensuremath{\ne}0$) between left- and right-handed $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ ($\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}$) as well as a charge separation along the magnetic field, referred to as the chiral magnetic effect (CME). This charge separation can be characterized by the parity-even azimuthal correlator ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\gamma}$) and parity-odd azimuthal harmonic observable ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{a}_{1}$). Measurements of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}P, \mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\gamma}$, and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{a}_{1}$ have not led to definitive conclusions concerning the CME or the magnetic field, and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}n$ has not been measured previously. Correlations among these observables may reveal new insights. This paper reports measurements of correlation between $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}n$ and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}{a}_{1}$, which is sensitive to chirality fluctuations, and correlation between $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}P$ and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ sensitive to magnetic field in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions at 27 GeV. For both measurements, no correlations have been observed beyond statistical fluctuations.

We report on new measurements of elliptic flow ($v_2$) of electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays at mid-rapidity ($|y|<0.8$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 27 and 54.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. Heavy-flavor decay electrons ($e^{\rm HF}$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 54.4 GeV exhibit a non-zero $v_2$ in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) region of $p_{\rm T}<$ 2 GeV/$c$ with the magnitude comparable to that at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}=200$ GeV. The measured $e^{\rm HF}$ $v_2$ at 54.4 GeV is also consistent with the expectation of their parent charm hadron $v_2$ following number-of-constituent-quark scaling as other light and strange flavor hadrons at this energy. These suggest that charm quarks gain significant collectivity through the evolution of the QCD medium and may reach local thermal equilibrium in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}=54.4$ GeV. The measured $e^{\rm HF}$ $v_2$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}=$ 27 GeV is consistent with zero within large uncertainties. The energy dependence of $v_2$ for different flavor particles ($\pi,\phi,D^{0}/e^{\rm HF}$) shows an indication of quark mass hierarchy in reaching thermalization in high-energy nuclear collisions.

This thesis reports on the search for dark matter in data taken with the ATLAS detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The identification of dark matter and the determination of its properties

Background: Auditory steady-state response (ASSR) and click-evoked auditory brain response (c-ABR) have been used for hearing assessment for decades years, the correlation of the two methods and the effects of type and degree of hearing loss (HL) to the correlation in infants younger than 6 months of age are unclear.Objectives: To compare the correlation of ASSR and c-ABR and then to analyse the effects of type and degree of HL on the correlation in infants younger than 6 months of age.Material and methods: Retrospective study comparing ASSR thresholds at various frequencies with c-ABR thresholds. 182 ears from 96 infants were assessed and classified according to types and degrees of HL.Results: The correlation coefficients were: 0.823, 0.864, 0.891, 0.871, 0.908, 0.915 and 0.913 between ASSR thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 2–4, 1–2–4, 0.5–1–2–4 kHz and c-ABR thresholds respectively. The correlation coefficients in the group of sensorineural HL (SHL) (r = 0.763–0.900) were higher than conductive HL (r = 0.309–0.619) across all frequencies. The coefficients of severe-profound SHL (r = 0.595–0.790) were higher than mild-moderate SHL (r = 0.434–0.687) across all frequencies.Conclusions and significance: ASSR was one valuable cross-check measure by providing frequency specific information in auditory assessment.

The Standard Model (SM) is a theory that describes the fundamental particles and their interactions, with the exception of gravitational interactions. Experimental observations over the past several decades have proven that the SM accurately describes the physics at energy levels accessible in the laboratory. The discovery of the Higgs boson during RunI of the LHC marks the completion of the theory, but various experimental hints and theoretical calculations also point to limitations of the SM.

Viral entry into cells can involve thiol-disulfide exchange with exofacial thiols on cell surfaces. The importance of thiol-mediated uptake for viral entry and beyond is poorly understood because efficient inhibitors do not exist. Here we use fluorescent cyclic oligochalcogenides that enter cells by thiol-mediated uptake to systematically screen for inhibitors, including epidithiodiketopiperazines, benzopolysulfanes, disulfide-bridged g-turned peptides, heteroaromatic sulfones and cyclic thiosulfonates, thiosulfinates and disulfides. Different activities found with different reporters reveal thiol-mediated uptake as a complex multitarget process. Initial tests with pseudo-lentivectors expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein do not exclude potential for the development of new antivirals

The extended use of tracking information at the trigger level in the LHC is crucial for the trigger and data acquisition (TDAQ) system to fulfill its task.Precise and fast tracking is important to identify specific decay products of the Higgs boson or new phenomena, as well as to distinguish the contributions coming from the many collisions that occur at every bunch crossing.However, track reconstruction is among the most demanding tasks performed by the TDAQ computing farm; in fact, complete reconstruction at full Level-1 trigger accept rate (100 kHz) is not possible.In order to overcome this limitation, the ATLAS experiment is planning the installation of a dedicated processor, the Fast Tracker (FTK), which is aimed at achieving this goal.The FTK is a pipeline of high performance electronics, based on custom and commercial devices, which is expected to reconstruct, with high resolution, the trajectories of charged-particle tracks with a transverse momentum above 1 GeV, using the ATLAS inner tracker information.Pattern recognition and the track parameter extraction are expected to be performed in roughly 100 µs, allowing all the high level trigger selections to use the tracks provided by FTK in order to build high quality and robust triggering.

This chapter gives an overview of searches for dark matter (DM) at the ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A generalized introduction to DM is given in Chap. 3 , in which Sect. 3.5 presents the three complementary approaches of DM searches, namely direct detection, indirect detection, and collider production. Similar collider-based searches for DM have been conducted by the CMS experiment at the LHC as well, and to a lesser extent at the Tevatron, but they are not discussed here.

This chapter gives a detailed description of the main background processes in this analysis, how they are estimated and the result of the modeling in various dedicated control regions and validation regions. The selections are placed on physics objects described in Chap. 8 The control regions and validation regions are defined to be similar but orthogonal to the signal region, which is described in Chap. 9

Dark matter (DM), the existence of which was observed through the gravitational effects in large astrophysical systems, is one of the greatest mysteries in physics today. In the Standard Model discussed in Chap. 2 , there is no viable dark matter candidate. This chapter is devoted to give an overview of what we know so far of dark matter, and the theoretical and experimental efforts underway to find out more about this elusive matter that makes up more than a quarter of the mass–energy of our universe.

This chapter gives a description of the simplified model used in the resolved analysis, (where the Higgs boson is reconstructed as two separate b-quark jets), which is the focus of this thesis.

This chapter discusses the systematic uncertainties associated with the Monte Carlo (MC) simulated samples used in this analysis. The simulated signal samples are discussed in Sect. 7.3 , and the background samples from simulation are given in Sect. 8.1.2 For definitions and reconstruction method of the physics objects used in this analysis, see Chap. 8 The systematic uncertainty figures are used in the final statistical interpretation and limit setting in Chap. 12

This chapter describes the physics objects used in this analysis, including the lists of samples from data and simulated background processes, and the physical and kinematic variables constructed that are used to identify the events and separate background from signal.

This chapter presents a detailed description of the selection criteria used in this analysis to reject background and maximize signal sensitivity. The reconstructed objects used in the selection are jets, E T miss, electrons, and muons. A discussion of the definition of these objects can be found in Chap. 8 , where the triggers used in this analysis are also discussed.

This chapter presents an overview of the analysis in search of dark matter (DM) produced in association with a Higgs boson in the $$h \rightarrow b\bar{b}$$ channel [1]. For other types of collider searches for DM, see Chap. 5 This chapter is organized as follows: Sect. 6.1 briefly states the physics motivation for such a search; the models used for this analysis, including both EFT models and a simplified model, are introduced in Sect. 6.2; and Sect. 6.3 describes the two analysis methods used in this analysis, categorized by the way the Higgs boson is reconstructed.

This chapter presents the results of this search and the statistical interpretations. For a description of the Z ′ -2HDM signal model that is used to benchmark this search, see Chap. 7 The signal region selections are defined in Chap. 9 The various background processes are described in Chap. 10

This article recorded the analysis and comparison between the medicinal nature theory of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) and ethnomedicine(EM). The vocabulary of "medicinal nature" was suggested to indicate the properties of ethnomedicine. Based on the influence of TCM medicinal nature theory on EM in China, the application of medicinal nature theory in EM was divided into 3 classes, and the standardizing principles for EM medicinal nature were proposed. It was suggested that medicinal quality, flavor, tendency, tropism, degree and efficiency can be used for the classification standard for EM medicinal nature.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is host to a number of high energy physics experiments, one of which being the ATLAS experiment using the namesake detector, on which the work of this thesis is based. This chapter provides a brief introduction to the LHC and the ATLAS detector. More information on the LHC can be found in [1–3]. Information on the design, construction, and operation of the ATLAS detector can be found in [4–8].

This thesis presents a novel analysis, searching for dark matter (DM) pair production in association with a Higgs boson which decays into a pair of bottom quarks. The analysis is performed using data from pp collisions collected at $$\sqrt{s} = 8\,\mathrm{TeV}$$ with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, for an integrated luminosity of 20. 3 fb−1. Two techniques are employed, one in which the two b-quark jets from the Higgs boson decay are reconstructed separately (resolved), and the other in which they are found inside a single large-radius jet using boosted jet techniques (boosted). A set of increasing E T miss thresholds defines the final signal regions for each channel, optimized for individual signals in the parameter space probed. The resolved channel analysis consists of the focus of this thesis.

The presence of spores in milk can cause numerous quality and shelf life issues for dairy products. Microfiltration (MF) using a 1.4 µm pore size can effectively remove vegetative bacterial cells from milk and is used in commercial applications. However, this pore size may not be equally effective in spore removal. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of MF using a 1.4 µm and a 1.2 µm pore size for removing spores of Bacillus licheniformis (BL) and Geobacillus spp. (GEO) from skim milk. Cell sizes of both spores and vegetative cells were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface charge by zeta potential analysis, and surface hydrophobicity by contact angle measurements, in triplicate. Commercially pasteurized skim milk was inoculated in a sterilized feed tank with a spore suspension at about 106 spores/mL and was then treated by MF (in triplicate) using ceramic Isoflux membranes at 6°C, cross-flow velocity of 4.1 m/s, and transmembrane pressure between 69 and 74 kPa. Total aerobic plate count and spore count of the permeate were conducted. An unpaired t test was used to determine significant differences between samples at the P < 0.05 significance level. Vegetative cell length ranged between 2.40 and 3.82 µm and the width between 0.39 and 0.64 µm. Spores were shorter and wider, averaging 1.39–1.58 µm in length and 0.63–0.88 µm in width, thus having a higher probability to pass through a 1.4 µm membrane. Indeed, for BL (1.39 µm length by 0.63 µm width), an average spore reduction of only 2.17 log was achieved by 1.4 µm pore size. For the 1.2 µm membrane, a 4.57 log reduction was achieved. For GEO spores, their larger spore size (1.58 µm length by 0.81 µm width) allowed a practically complete removal using both pore sizes (spore counts in permeate below the detection limit). The surface properties of BL and GEO indicated that they may interact differently with the membrane. Both spore species and the ceramic membrane had negative surface charge at the milk pH, indicating slight electrostatic repulsion between them. GEO spores were hydrophilic, while BL spores were slightly hydrophobic; the ceramic membrane surface changes from hydrophilic (in unfouled state) to hydrophobic after adsorption of caseins during MF. Consequently, BL spores may experience slight attractive force to the membrane through hydrophobic interactions, which will facilitate their passage through the membrane. A good understanding of all factors that affect the removal of spores using MF can lead to the production of milk with lower spore count, higher quality, and increased shelf life.

The existence of dark matter (DM) is one of the most striking evidences of physics beyond the Standard Model. Based on standard cosmology theory and observations, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9 % visible matter, 26.8 % DM, and 68.3 % dark energy [1]; in other words, of all the matter in our universe, there are about five times more DM compared with standard, visible matter. Despite its abundance and a plethora of direct and indirect evidence, the properties of DM, its physical laws, and how it connects to Standard Model (SM) particles remain unknown.

The Fast Tracker (FTK) processor is an approved ATLAS upgrade that will reconstruct tracks using the full silicon tracker at Level-1 rate (up to 100 KHz). FTK uses a completely parallel approach to read the silicon tracker information, execute the pattern matching and reconstruct the tracks. This approach, according to detailed simulation results, allows full tracking with nearly offline resolution within an execution time of 100μs. A central component of the system is the associative memories (AM); these special devices reduce the pattern matching combinatoric problem, providing identification of coarse resolution track candidates. The system consists of a pipeline of several components with the goal to organize and filter the data for the AM, then to reconstruct and filter the final tracks. This document presents an overview of the system and reports the status of the different elements of the system.

The existing three-level ATLAS trigger system is deployed to reduce the event rate from the bunch crossing rate of 40 MHz to ∼ 200 Hz for permanent storage at the LHC design luminosity of 1034 cm−2 s−1. When the LHC exceeds the design luminosity, the load on the Level-2 trigger system will significantly increase due both to the need for more sophisticated algorithms to suppress background and the larger event sizes. The Fast Tracker is a proposed upgrade to the current ATLAS trigger system that will operate at the full Level-1 accepted rate of 100 kHz and provide high quality tracks at the beginning of processing in the Level-2 trigger, by performing track reconstruction in hardware with massive parallelism of associative memories. The concept design is being advanced and justified with the performance in important physics areas, b-tagging, τ-tagging and lepton isolation. The prototyping with current technology is underway and R&D with new technologies has been started.

Two Homes at War Yangyang Cheng (bio) Recently, I spoke at a virtual event on Chinese politics and Western perceptions of China. During the question-and-answer session, an audience member asked if any of the speakers were concerned that rising tensions between the United States and China could lead to a new Cold War or even full-blown military conflict. The moderator directed the question to me, the only U.S.-based panelist who was also born and raised in China, but he repeated it with a slight modification: do any of your friends or relatives worry about a potential war between the two superpowers? I appreciated the moderator’s thoughtfulness in trying to create some distance between me and a sensitive subject. I figured that was also the reason he had omitted the second part of the question: if there is a war, which side will you take? “I’m going to be very frank here,” I said. “I myself am deeply worried about the possibility of war.” I explained that war between my birth country and my adopted home is neither implausible nor inevitable. To dismiss this remote yet real prospect would be irresponsible, but so is the assumption that the existing hegemon and a rising power are destined for battle. In responding to the question, I avoided getting excessively personal. I did not confess, for example, how many times during the past few years I have woken up in the morning, scrolled through news alerts on my phone, read about the latest provocation from either side of the Pacific, and smelled fire and metal in the air. Or how often I have looked out the window and pictured scenes of combat in the city streets. I know I am only indulging my imagination, seeking a visual outlet for my anxiety, but my sense of vulnerability is not imaginary. Wars take many forms. What we call the Cold War was a hot war for millions on the margins of empires. Today, I can feel the weight of a border on my back, and borders are where wars begin. I have developed a habit of checking on the three most important documents I own: my Chinese passport, my U.S. visa, and my PhD diploma. I open drawers and cabinets [End Page 67] to make sure they are in their right places. I trace my fingers along the emblems on each, symbols of power and prestige in different places and contexts. I wonder which would be the first to lose its value, which might become a burden, and which could grant me shelter and safe passage if the time comes. My American friends think I’m paranoid. A few familiar with my writing tell me that I have nothing to worry about: in the eyes of Uncle Sam, my harsh critiques of the Chinese government would certainly dispel any misgivings my nationality might raise. These people mean well, but those who take the safety of belonging for granted cannot comprehend the incurable condition of exile. I understand the risk of dissent against an ever more belligerent Beijing. To be severed from one’s native land inflicts an immense loss, but that loss is my private pain. It’s not meant to serve as currency to purchase another country’s trust. Many Chinese nationalists similarly assume that, by denouncing Beijing’s policies, I have aligned myself with Washington’s objectives. They accuse me of fanning the flames of geopolitical conflict—I did not know that a junior academic could have so much power!—and gloat when simmering hostilities between the two countries endanger my being. According to some messages I receive on social media, any precarity I face as a Chinese immigrant in the United States, including the wave of anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, is a rightful punishment for betraying my race and my motherland. I hear in these charges the same question the moderator spared me from: whose side are you on? Being able to contemplate this as an intellectual exercise is a mark of privilege. When I left China in 2009 to pursue my doctorate in physics in the United States, I was...

Viral entry into cells can involve thiol-disulfide exchange with exofacial thiols on cell surfaces. The importance of thiol-mediated uptake for viral entry and beyond is poorly understood because efficient inhibitors do not exist. Here we use fluorescent cyclic oligochalcogenides that enter cells by thiol-mediated uptake to systematically screen for inhibitors, including epidithiodiketopiperazines, benzopolysulfanes, disulfide-bridged g-turned peptides, heteroaromatic sulfones and cyclic thiosulfonates, thiosulfinates and disulfides. Different activities found with different reporters reveal thiol-mediated uptake as a complex multitarget process. Initial tests with pseudo-lentivectors expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike protein do not exclude potential for the development of new antivirals

Original Data

Original Data

Using the RQMD model, transverse momentum distributions and particle ratios are studied for {sup 197}Au + {sup 197}Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV. In particular, they present results on the mean transverse momentum of charged pions, charged kaons, protons and anti-protons and compare with experimental measurements. They discuss an approach to study early partonic collectivity in high energy nuclear collisions.

Yangyang Cheng examines a historical precedent for the emerging technological rivalry between the US and China.

R\"{o}dl, Ruci\'{n}ski and Szemer\'{e}di proved that every $n$-vertex $k$-graph $H$, $k\geq3, \gamma>0$ and $n$ is sufficiently large, with $\delta_{k-1}(H)\geq(1/2+\gamma)n$ contains a tight Hamilton cycle, which can be seen as a generalization of Dirac's theorem in hypergraphs. In this paper, we extend this result to the rainbow setting as follows. A $k$-graph system $\textbf{H}=\{H_i\}_{i\in[m]}$ is a family of not necessarily distinct $k$-graphs on the same $n$-vertex set $V$, a $k$-graph $G$ on $V$ is rainbow if $E(G)\subseteq\bigcup_{i\in[m]}E(H_i)$ and $|E(G)\cap E(H_i)|\leq 1$ for $i\in[m]$. Then we show that given $k\geq3, \gamma>0$, sufficiently large $n$ and an $n$-vertex $k$-graph system $\textbf{H}=\{H_i\}_{i\in[n]}$, if $\delta_{k-1}(H_i)\geq(1/2+\gamma)n$ for $i\in[n]$, then there exists a rainbow tight Hamilton cycle.