CONSTRUCTION OF IMPROVED BRANCHING LATIN HYPERCUBE DESIGNS

In this paper,we propose a new method,called the level-collapsing method,to construct branching Latin hypercube designs(BLHDs).The obtained design has a sliced structure in the third part,that is,the part for the shared factors,which is desirable for the qualitative branching factors.The construction method is easy to implement,and(near)orthogonality can be achieved in the obtained BLHDs.A simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the new designs.

Even factors with a bounded number of components in iterated line graphs

We consider even factors with a bounded number of components in the n-times iterated line graphs L^n(G). We present a characterization of a simple graph G such that L^n(G) has an even factor with at most k components, based on the existence of a certain type of subgraphs in G. Moreover, we use this result to give some upper bounds for the minimum number of components of even factors in L^n(G) and also show that the minimum number of components of even factors in L^n(G) is stable under the closure operation on a claw-free graph G, which extends some known results. Our results show that it seems to be NP-hard to determine the minimum number of components of even factors of iterated line graphs. We also propose some problems for further research.

Revisiting the Kπ puzzle in the pQCD factorization approach

In this paper,we calculated the branching ratios and direct CP violation of the four B→Kπ decays with the inclusion of all currently known next-to-leading order（NLO） contributions by employing the perturbative QCD（pQCD） factorization approach.We found that（a） Besides the 10%enhancement from the NLO vertex corrections,the quark-loops and magnetic penguins,the NLO contributions to the form factors can provide an additional^15%enhancement to the branching ratios,and lead to a very good agreement with the data;（b） The NLO pQCD predictions are A_（CP）^（dir）（B^0→K~＋π~0）=（-6.5±3.1）%and A_（CP）^（dir）（B~＋→K~＋π~0）=（2.2±2.0）%,become well consistent with the data due to the inclusion of the NLO contributions.

Reliable buffered clock tree routing algorithm with process variation tolerance

When IC technology is scaled into the very deep sub-micron regime, the optical proximity effects （OPE） turn into noticeable in optical lithography. Consequently, clock skew becomes more and more susceptible to process variations, such as OPE. In this paper, we propose a new buffered clock tree routing algorithm to prevent the influence of OPE and process variations to clock skew. Based on the concept of BSF （branch sensitivity factor）, our algorithm manages to reduce the skew sensitivity of the clock tree in the topology generation. The worst case skew due to the wire width change has been estimated, and proper buffers are inserted to avoid large capacitance load. Experimental results show that our algorithm can produce a more reliable, processinsensitive clock tree, and control clock skews in their permissible range evidently.

Thermonuclear ^19F(p,α0)^16O reaction rate

The thermonuclear^19F（p,α0）16O reaction rate in the temperature region 0.007–10 GK has been derived by re-evaluating the available experimental data, together with the low-energy theoretical R-matrix extrapolations.Our new rate deviates by up to about 30% compared to the previous results, although all rates are consistent within the uncertainties. At very low temperature（e.g. 0.01 GK） our reaction rate is about 20% lower than the most recently published rate, because of a difference in the low energy extrapolated S-factor and a more accurate estimate of the reduced mass used in the calculation of the reaction rate. At temperatures above ^1 GK, our rate is lower, for instance, by about 20% around 1.75 GK, because we have re-evaluated the previous data（Isoya et al., Nucl. Phys.7, 116（1958）） in a meticulous way. The present interpretation is supported by the direct experimental data. The uncertainties of the present evaluated rate are estimated to be about 20% in the temperature region below 0.2 GK,and are mainly caused by the lack of low-energy experimental data and the large uncertainties in the existing data.Asymptotic giant branch（AGB） stars evolve at temperatures below 0.2 GK, where the^19F（p,α）16O reaction may play a very important role. However, the current accuracy of the reaction rate is insufficient to help to describe, in a careful way, the fluorine over-abundances observed in AGB stars. Precise cross section（or S factor） data in the low energy region are therefore needed for astrophysical nucleosynthesis studies.