Considering a preferential selection mechanism of load destination, we introduce a new method to quantify initial load distribution and subsequently construct a simple cascading model. By attacking the node with the highest load, we investigate the cascading dynamics in some synthetic networks. Surprisingly, we observe that for several networks of different structural patterns, a counterintuiti...

The status of CP violation and the CKM matrix is reviewed. Direct CP violation in B decay has been established and the measurement of sin 2β in ψK modes reached 5% accuracy. I discuss the implications of these, and of the possible deviations of the CP asymmetries in b → s modes from that in ψK. The first meaningful measurements of α and γ are explained, together with their significance for cons...

Significant progress has been made in recent years on the development of gravitational wave detectors. Sources such as coalescing compact binary systems, low-mass X-ray binaries, stellar collapses and pulsars are all possible candidates for detection. The most promising design of gravitational wave detector uses test masses a long distance apart and freely suspended as pendulums on Earth or in ...

Petroleum-derived hydrocarbons are among the most persistent soil contaminants, and some hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms can produce biosurfactants to increase bioavailability and degradation. The aim of this work was to identify biosurfactant-producing bacterial strains isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated sites, and to evaluate their biosurfactant properties. The drop-collapse method a...

Detailed topographic data collected with an airborne laser scanner can help determine the extent of bank erosion and identify banks that are more vulnerable to bank collapse and thus require stabilization efforts. The Minnesota River which flows through a 95% agricultural watershed has been ranked among the top 20 most polluted rivers in the U.S. Greater than 50% of the sediment load carried by...

Oryctes agamemnon (Burmeister 1847) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) was accidentally introduced in the southwestern oases of Tunisia (Tozeur) around 1980 and spread to the Rjim Maatoug region. In these areas O. agamemnon was specific to date palm trees causing severe damage that can result in potential danger due to collapse of the tree. This study was conducted from April 2004 to March 2006 in 4 si...

Shield crossing loess stratum will encounter many engineering problems such as excessive local soil deformation and ground collapse crater. Based on the phenomenon characteristics of caused by large-diameter shield strata, this paper summarizes curve, analyzes causes reaction deformation, main laws strata. And fuzzy mathematical method is used to analyze influencing factors provide theoretical ...

We explore corrections to electroweak parameters in the context of Extended Technicolor (ETC) models in which the ETC gauge-boson which generates the top-quark mass carries weak SU(2) charge. For mt ∼ 150 GeV there exist potentially large corrections to the Z decay width to b-quarks. Interestingly, in contrast to the situation in ETC models where the gauge-boson which generates the top-quark ma...

The implications of the many proper time amplitudes for the process Φ → K o + ¯ K o was discussed in a recent letter of B. Kayser and L. Stodolsky who predicted a small correction (∼ 5%) to the usually predicted phase oscillation frequency for forthcoming Φ factory experiments. Based on previous work (also using the many proper times formalism), we predicted a much larger correction factor ≈ 2....

The P-decay of cosmic-ray mesons is discussed. The possible process of decay into electron-neutrino plus a neutral particle is treated in some detail. This process is found to fit in well with the familiar formalism of P-decay of atomic nuclei. A comparison is made with present experimental data on mesons.