Explore the vast range of titles available.

A bstract The accurate identification of heavy-flavour jets — those which originate from bottom or charm quarks — is crucial for precision studies of the Standard Model and searches for new physics. However, assigning flavour to jets presents significant challenges, primarily due to issues with infrared and collinear (IRC) safety. This paper aims to address these challenges by evaluating recently-proposed jet algorithms designed to be IRC-safe and applicable in high-precision measurements. We compare these algorithms across benchmark heavy-flavour production processes and kinematic regimes that are relevant for LHC phenomenology. Exploiting both fixed-order calculations in QCD as well as parton shower simulations, we analyse the infrared sensitivity of these new algorithms at different stages of the event evolution and compare to flavour labelling strategies currently adopted by LHC collaborations. The results highlight that, while all algorithms lead to more robust flavour assignments compared to current techniques, they vary in performance depending on the observable and energy regime. The study lays groundwork for robust, flavour-aware jet analyses in current and future collider experiments to maximise the physics potential of experimental data by reducing discrepancies between theoretical and experimental methods.

The accurate identification of heavy-flavour jets, those which originate from bottom or charm quarks, is crucial for precision studies of the Standard Model and searches for new physics. However, assigning flavour to jets presents significant challenges, primarily due to issues with infrared and collinear (IRC) safety. This paper aims to address these challenges by evaluating recently-proposed jet algorithms designed to be IRC-safe and applicable in high-precision measurements. We compare these algorithms across benchmark heavy-flavour production processes and kinematic regimes that are relevant for LHC phenomenology. Exploiting both fixed-order calculations in QCD as well as parton shower simulations, we analyse the infrared sensitivity of these new algorithms at different stages of the event evolution and compare to flavour-labelling strategies currently adopted by LHC collaborations. The results highlight that, while all algorithms lead to more robust flavour-assignments compared to current techniques, they vary in performance depending on the observable and energy regime. The study lays groundwork for robust, flavour-aware jet analyses in current and future collider experiments to maximise the physics potential of experimental data by reducing discrepancies between theoretical and experimental methods.

Objective: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy affects ~6 in 1,000 neonates, leading to significant neurological sequela (e.g. cognitive deficits and cerebral palsy). Maternal smoke exposure (SE) is one of the common causes of neurological disorders; however, female offspring seems to be less affected than males in our previous study. We also showed that maternal SE exaggerated neurological disorders caused by neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in adolescent male offspring. Here, we aimed to examine whether female littermates of these males are protected from such insult. Methods: BALB/c dams were exposed to cigarette smoke generated from 2 cigarettes twice daily for 6 weeks before mating, during gestation and lactation. To induce hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, half of the pups from each litter underwent left carotid artery occlusion, followed by exposure to 8% oxygen (92% nitrogen) at postnatal day (P) 10. Behavioral tests were performed at P40-45, and brain tissues were collected at P45. Results: Maternal SE worsened the deficits in short-term memory and motor function in females with hypoxic-ischemic injury; however, reduced anxiety due to injury was observed in the control offspring, but not the SE offspring. Both hypoxic-ischemic injury and maternal SE caused significant loss of neuronal cells and synaptic proteins, along with increased oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. Conclusions: Oxidative stress and inflammatory response due to maternal SE may be the mechanism of worsened neurological outcomes by hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in females, which was similar to their male littermates shown in our previous study.

Studying the dynamic changes of extreme temperatures and associated large-scale atmospheric circulation is important for predicting the occurrence of extreme temperatures and reducing their adverse impact and damage. Based on the surface temperature data sets collected from 87 weather stations over the arid region of Northwest China (ARNC) during 1960–2017, the Sen’s slope estimator, Mann–Kendall test, Cumulative anomaly, Moving t-test, and Synthetic analysis methods were used to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics and breaking-point change characteristics of extreme temperatures, and to discuss its associated large-scale atmospheric circulation. The results revealed that at the temporal scale, summer days (SU25), warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), and warm spell duration indicator (WSDI) showed a remarkable increasing trend at the rates of 2.27, 1.49, 3, and 2.28 days/decade, respectively. The frost days (FD), cold days (TX10p), cold nights (TN10p), and cold spell duration indicator (CSDI) significantly decreased at the rates of −3.71, −0.86, −1.77, and −0.76 days/decade, respectively, during the study period. Spatially, the warming trend in the study area is very obvious as a whole, despite pronounced spatial differences in warming rate. After the breakpoint years, the frequency and probability distribution for extreme warm and cold indices were all inclined to the hotter part of the density distribution. This indicates that the climate over the study region shifted sharply and tended to be warmer. The analysis of large-scale atmospheric circulation indicates that the warming trend in the arid region of Northwest China (ARNC) is positively correlated with geopotential height at 500 hPa and negatively correlated with total cloudiness. The findings from this study have important implications for forecasting extreme temperature events and mitigating the impacts of climatological disasters in this region.

Funded by a $3M Department of Defense (DoD) National Defense Education Program (NDEP) award, we are developing and deploying on a national scale a follow-up curriculum to \"Our Place In Space!\", or OPIS!, in which approx. 3,500 survey-level astronomy students are using our global network of \"Skynet\" robotic telescopes each year. The goal of this new curriculum, called \"Astrophotography of the Multi-Wavelength Universe!\", or MWU!, is to boost the number of these students who choose STEM majors. During Y1, our participating educators have developed MWU!'s (now renumbered) 2nd and 4th modules, and are in the process of developing its 3rd and 7th modules (out of 7). Solid progress has also been made on the software front, (1) where we have developed new graphing/analysis/modeling interfaces in support of Modules 2 and 4, and in response to feedback from the participating educators; and (2) where we are in the process of developing and adding astrophotography capabilities to Afterglow Access (AgA), our student-level, web-based, image processing and analysis application, in support of Modules 1 - 3 and 5 - 7. On the hardware front, development of our first four signal-processing units proceeds on schedule; these are key to Skynet's integration of a global network of radio telescopes, capable of exploring the invisible universe. Preparations have also been made on the evaluation and accessibility fronts, for when the first MWU! modules are deployed in Spring 2023.