Guangzhou (GZ) is one of the highly industrialized and economically vibrant cities in China, yet it remains relatively understudied in terms of its air quality, which has become severely degraded. In this study, extensive air sampling campaigns had been conducted at GZ urban sites and in Dinghu Mountain (DM), a rural site, in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) during the spring of 2001 and 2005. Additionally, roadside and tunnel samples were collected in GZ in 2000 and 2005. Later, exhaust samples from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)- and gasoline-fueled taxis were collected in 2006. All samples were analyzed for C2-C10 non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). NMHC profiles showed significant differences in the exhaust samples between gasoline- and LPG-fueled taxis. Propane (47%) was the dominant hydrocarbon in the exhaust of the LPG-fueled taxis, while ethene (35%) was the dominant one in that of gasoline-fueled taxis. The use of LPG-fueled buses and taxis since 2003 and the leakage from these LPG-fueled vehicles were the major factors for the much higher level of propane in GZ urban area in 2005 compared to 2001. The mixing ratios of toluene, ethylbenzene, m/p-xylene and o-xylene decreased at the GZ and DM sites between 2001 and 2005, especially for toluene in GZ, despite the sharp increase in the number of registered motor vehicles in GZ. This phenomenon was driven in part by the closure of polluting industries as well as the upgrading of the road network in urban GZ and in part by the implementation of more stringent emission standards for polluting industries and motor vehicles in the PRD region. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bartonellae are blood- and vector-borne Gram-negative bacteria, recognized as emerging pathogens. Whole-blood samples were collected from 58 free-ranging lions (Panthera leo) in South Africa and 17 cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) from Namibia. Blood samples were also collected from 11 cheetahs (more than once for some of them) at the San Diego Wildlife Safari Park. Bacteria were isolated from the blood of three (5%) lions, one (6%) Namibian cheetah and eight (73%) cheetahs from California. The lion Bartonella isolates were identified as B. henselae (two isolates) and B. koehlerae subsp. koehlerae. The Namibian cheetah strain was close but distinct from isolates from North American wild felids and clustered between B. henselae and B. koehlerae. It should be considered as a new subspecies of B. koehlerae. All the Californian semi-captive cheetah isolates were different from B. henselae or B. koehlerae subsp. koehlerae and from the Namibian cheetah isolate. They were also distinct from the strains isolated from Californian mountain lions (Felis concolor) and clustered with strains of B. koehlerae subsp. bothieri isolated from free-ranging bobcats (Lynx rufus) in California. Therefore, it is likely that these captive cheetahs became infected by an indigenous strain for which bobcats are the natural reservoir.

Observation of neutrinoless double beta decay, a lepton number violating process that has been proposed to clarify the nature of neutrino masses, has spawned an enormous world-wide experimental effort. Relating nuclear decay rates to high-energy, beyond the standard model (BSM) physics requires detailed knowledge of nonperturbative QCD effects. Using lattice QCD, we compute the necessary matrix elements of short-range operators, which arise due to heavy BSM mediators, that contribute to this decay via the leading order π^{-}→π^{+} exchange diagrams. Utilizing our result and taking advantage of effective field theory methods will allow for model-independent calculations of the relevant two-nucleon decay, which may then be used as input for nuclear many-body calculations of the relevant experimental decays. Contributions from short-range operators may prove to be equally important to, or even more important than, those from long-range Majorana neutrino exchange.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming neutrino oscillation experiment that is poised to answer key questions about the nature of neutrinos. Lattice QCD has the ability to make significant impact upon DUNE, beginning with computations of nucleon-neutrino interactions with weak currents. Nucleon amplitudes involving the axial form factor are part of the primary signal measurement process for DUNE, and precise calculations from LQCD can significantly reduce the uncertainty for inputs into Monte Carlo generators. Recent calculations of the nucleon axial charge have demonstrated that sub-percent precision is possible on this vital quantity. In these proceedings, we discuss preliminary results for the CalLat collaboration's calculation of the axial form factor of the nucleon. These computations are performed with Möbius domain wall valence quarks on HISQ sea quark ensembles generated by the MILC and CalLat collaborations. The results use a variety of ensembles including several at physical pion mass.

Lattice QCD calculations of two-nucleon interactions have been underway for about a decade, but still haven't reached the pion mass regime necessary for matching onto effective field theories and extrapolating to the physical point. Furthermore, results from different methods, including the use of the Lüscher formalism with different types of operators, as well as the HALQCD potential method, do not agree even qualitatively at very heavy pion mass. We investigate the role that different operators employed in the literature may play on the extraction of spectra for use within the Lüscher method. We first explore expectations from Effective Field Theory solved within a finite volume, for which the exact spectrum may be computed given different physical scenarios. We then present preliminary lattice QCD results for two-nucleon spectra calculated using different operators on a common lattice ensemble.

The axial coupling of the nucleon, g_A, is the strength of its coupling to the weak axial current of the standard model of particle physics, in much the same way as the electric charge is the strength of the coupling to the electromagnetic current. This axial coupling dictates the rate at which neutrons decay to protons, the strength of the attractive long-range force between nucleons and other features of nuclear physics. Precision tests of the standard model in nuclear environments require a quantitative understanding of nuclear physics that is rooted in quantum chromodynamics, a pillar of the standard model. The importance of g_A makes it a benchmark quantity to determine theoretically-a difficult task because quantum chromodynamics is non-perturbative, precluding known analytical methods. Lattice quantum chromodynamics provides a rigorous, non-perturbative definition of quantum chromodynamics that can be implemented numerically. It has been estimated that a precision of two per cent would be possible by 2020 if two challenges are overcome^1,2: contamination of g_A from excited states must be controlled in the calculations and statistical precision must be improved markedly^2-10. Here we use an unconventional method ¹¹ inspired by the Feynman-Hellmann theorem that overcomes these challenges. We calculate a g_A value of 1.271 ± 0.013, which has a precision of about one per cent.

Background: Measurements of exclusive meson production are a useful tool in the study of hadronic structure. In particular, one can discern the relevant degrees of freedom at different distance scales through these studies. Purpose: To study the transition between nonperturbative and perturbative quantum chromodynamics as the square of four-momentum transfer to the struck proton, -t, is increased. Method: Cross sections for the H1(e,e′π+)n reaction were measured over the -t range of 0.272 to 2.127 GeV2 with limited azimuthal coverage at fixed beam energy of 4.709 GeV, Q2 of 2.4 GeV2, and W of 2.0 GeV at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) Hall C. Results: The -t dependence of the measured π+ electroproduction cross section generally agrees with prior data from JLab Halls B and C. The data are consistent with a Regge amplitude-based theoretical model but show poor agreement with a generalized parton distribution-based model. Conclusion: The agreement of cross sections with prior data implies small contribution from the interference terms, and the confirmation of the change in t slopes between the low- and high - t regions previously observed in photoproduction indicates the changing nature of the electroproduction reaction in our kinematic regime.

Backward-angle meson electroproduction above the resonance region, which was previously ignored, is anticipated to offer unique access to the three quark plus sea component of the nucleon wave function. In this Letter, we present the first complete separation of the four electromagnetic structure functions above the resonance region in exclusive ω electroproduction off the proton, ep→e^{'}pω, at central Q^{2} values of 1.60, 2.45  GeV^{2}, at W=2.21  GeV. The results of our pioneering -u≈-u_{min} study demonstrate the existence of a unanticipated backward-angle cross section peak and the feasibility of full L/T/LT/TT separations in this never explored kinematic territory. At Q^{2}=2.45  GeV^{2}, the observed dominance of σ_{T} over σ_{L}, is qualitatively consistent with the collinear QCD description in the near-backward regime, in which the scattering amplitude factorizes into a hard subprocess amplitude and baryon to meson transition distribution amplitudes: universal nonperturbative objects only accessible through backward-angle kinematics.

The H1(e,e′K+)Λ reaction was studied as a function of the Mandelstam variable -t using data from the E01-004 (FPI-2) and E93-018 experiments that were carried out in Hall C at the 6 GeV Jefferson Laboratory. The cross section was fully separated into longitudinal and transverse components, and two interference terms at four-momentum transfers Q2 of 1.00, 1.36, and 2.07GeV2. The kaon form factor was extracted from the longitudinal cross section using the Regge model by Vanderhaeghen et al. [Phys. Rev. C 57, 1454 (1998)PRVCAN0556-281310.1103/PhysRevC.57.1454]. The results establish the method, previously used successfully for pion analyses, for extracting the kaon form factor. Data from 12 GeV Jefferson Laboratory experiments are expected to have sufficient precision to distinguish between theoretical predictions, for example, recent perturbative QCD calculations with modern parton distribution amplitudes. The leading-twist behavior for light mesons is predicted to set in for values of Q2 between 5 and 10GeV2, which makes data in the few-GeV regime particularly interesting. The Q2 dependence at fixed x and -t of the longitudinal cross section that we extracted seems consistent with the QCD factorization prediction within the experimental uncertainty.