1,854 research outputs found
Depinning with dynamic stress overshoots: A hybrid of critical and pseudohysteretic behavior
A model of an elastic manifold driven through a random medium by an applied
force F is studied focussing on the effects of inertia and elastic waves, in
particular {\it stress overshoots} in which motion of one segment of the
manifold causes a temporary stress on its neighboring segments in addition to
the static stress. Such stress overshoots decrease the critical force for
depinning and make the depinning transition hysteretic. We find that the steady
state velocity of the moving phase is nevertheless history independent and the
critical behavior as the force is decreased is in the same universality class
as in the absence of stress overshoots: the dissipative limit which has been
studied analytically. To reach this conclusion, finite-size scaling analyses of
a variety of quantities have been supplemented by heuristic arguments.
If the force is increased slowly from zero, the spectrum of avalanche sizes
that occurs appears to be quite different from the dissipative limit. After
stopping from the moving phase, the restarting involves both fractal and
bubble-like nucleation. Hysteresis loops can be understood in terms of a
depletion layer caused by the stress overshoots, but surprisingly, in the limit
of very large samples the hysteresis loops vanish. We argue that, although
there can be striking differences over a wide range of length scales, the
universality class governing this pseudohysteresis is again that of the
dissipative limit. Consequences of this picture for the statistics and dynamics
of earthquakes on geological faults are briefly discussed.Comment: 43 pages, 57 figures (yes, that's a five followed by a seven), revte
Anisotropic normal-state properties of the MgB2 superconductor
Based on the experimentally found existence of two gaps in MgB2 (one gap
associated to the boron sigma-states and the other to the boron pi-states), the
different contributions to the transport properties, electrical conductivity
and Hall coefficient, were studied using the full potential-linearized
augmented plane wave method and the generalized gradient approximation. MgB2
doping was analyzed in the rigid band approximation. This permitted the study
of the partial substitution of magnesium for aluminium (Mg1-xAlxB2) as well as
other substitutions such as AB2 (A=Be, Zr, Nb and Ta). The sigma-bands (boron
sigma-states), which are associated to the large superconducting gap, are very
anisotropic at EF, while the pi-bands have very little anisotropic character.
In (Mg1-xAlxB2) Tc diminishes with Al content, the other compounds are not
superconductors. In this work it was found that with electron doping, such as
Al substitution, the sigma-band conductivity decreases and the corresponding
bands become less anisotropic. sigma-band contribution for BeB2 and ScB2 at EF
is very small and the anisotropy is much lower. For Zr, Nb and Ta there are no
sigma-bands at EF. These results give a connection between superconductivity
and the character of the sigma-band; band conductivity and band anisotropy.
This gives a plausible explanation for the diminution of Tc with different
doping of MgB2
Sunscreens - Which and what for?
It is well established that sun exposure is the main cause for the development of skin cancer. Chronic continuous UV radiation is believed to induce malignant melanoma, whereas intermittent high-dose UV exposure contributes to the occurrence of actinic keratosis as precursor lesions of squamous cell carcinoma as well as basal cell carcinoma. Not only photocarcinogenesis but also the mechanisms of photoaging have recently become apparent. In this respect the use of sunscreens seemed to prove to be more and more important and popular within the last decades. However, there is still inconsistency about the usefulness of sunscreens. Several studies show that inadequate use and incomplete UV spectrum efficacy may compromise protection more than previously expected. The sunscreen market is crowded by numerous products. Inorganic sunscreens such as zinc oxide and titanium oxide have a wide spectral range of activity compared to most of the organic sunscreen products. It is not uncommon for organic sunscreens to cause photocontact allergy, but their cosmetic acceptability is still superior to the one given by inorganic sunscreens. Recently, modern galenic approaches such as micronization and encapsulation allow the development of high-quality inorganic sunscreens. The potential systemic toxicity of organic sunscreens has lately primarily been discussed controversially in public, and several studies show contradictory results. Although a matter of debate, at present the sun protection factor (SPF) is the most reliable information for the consumer as a measure of sunscreen filter efficacy. In this context additional tests have been introduced for the evaluation of not only the protective effect against erythema but also protection against UV-induced immunological and mutational effects. Recently, combinations of UV filters with agents active in DNA repair have been introduced in order to improve photoprotection. This article reviews the efficacy of sunscreens in the prevention of epithelial and nonepithelial skin cancer, the effect on immunosuppression and the value of the SPF as well as new developments on the sunscreen market. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
Searching for the Nuclear Liquid-Gas Phase Transition in Au + Au Collisions at 35 MeV/nucleon
Within the framework of Classical Molecular Dynamics, we study the collision
Au + Au at an incident energy of 35 MeV/nucleon. It is found that the system
shows a critical behaviour at peripheral impact parameters, revealed through
the analysis of conditional moments of charge distributions, Campi Scatter
Plot, and the occurrence of large fluctuations in the region of the Campi plot
where this critical behaviour is expected. When applying the experimental
filters of the MULTICS-MINIBALL apparatus, it is found that criticality signals
can be hidden due to the inefficiency of the experimental apparatus. The
signals are then recovered by identifying semi-peripheral and peripheral
collisions looking to the velocity distribution of the largest fragment, then
by selecting the most complete events.Comment: RevTex file, 21 pages + 19 figures available upon request from
[email protected]
Recommended from our members
Erratum: Production and validation of scintillating structural components from low-background Poly(ethylene naphthalate)
[no abstract available
Circumstantial Evidence for a Critical Behavior in Peripheral Au + Au Collisions at 35 MeV/nucleon
The fragmentation resulting from peripheral Au + Au collisions at an incident
energy of E = 35 MeV/nucleon is investigated. A power-law charge distribution,
with , and an intermittency signal are observed
for events selected in the region of the Campi scatter plot where "critical"
behavior is expected.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex file, 4 postscript figures available upon request
from [email protected]
Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking in Switzerland from different points of view : protocol for a mixed-methods study
“To die with dignity” has reached the significance of a core value in democratic societies. Based on this unconditional value, people require autonomy and care. "Voluntary stopping of eating and drinking" (VSED) represents an alternative to assisted suicide because no one else is involved in the action of death fastening, even though from outside, it might be considered as an extreme form of passive euthanasia. However, there are no data available about the prevalence and frequency of either explicit VSED or the implicit reduction of food and liquid in Switzerland. The responsible and independent ethics committee of the Greater Region of Eastern Switzerland (EKOS 17/083) approved this study
The first search for bosonic super-WIMPs with masses up to 1 MeV/c with GERDA
We present the first search for bosonic super-WIMPs as keV-scale dark matter
candidates performed with the GERDA experiment. GERDA is a neutrinoless
double-beta decay experiment which operates high-purity germanium detectors
enriched in Ge in an ultra-low background environment at the Laboratori
Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN in Italy. Searches were performed for
pseudoscalar and vector particles in the mass region from 60 keV/c to 1
MeV/c. No evidence for a dark matter signal was observed, and the most
stringent constraints on the couplings of super-WIMPs with masses above 120
keV/c have been set. As an example, at a mass of 150 keV/c the most
stringent direct limits on the dimensionless couplings of axion-like particles
and dark photons to electrons of and
at 90% credible interval,
respectively, were obtained.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters, added list
of authors, updated ref. [21
Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment
Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black‐carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption; influence on liquid, mixed phase, and ice clouds; and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related, namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom‐up inventory methods are 7500 Gg yr −1 in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models and should be increased by a factor of almost 3. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial‐era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W m −2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27) W m −2 . Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the preindustrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W m −2 . Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial‐era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W m −2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W m −2 . Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co‐emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W m −2 , is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate forcing in the present‐day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short‐lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co‐emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of short‐lived co‐emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy‐related sources (fossil fuel and biofuel) have an industrial‐era climate forcing of +0.22 (−0.50 to +1.08) W m −2 during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all short‐lived emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing (i.e., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial‐era climate forcing by all short‐lived species from black‐carbon‐rich sources becomes slightly negative (−0.06 W m −2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of −1.45 to +1.29 W m −2 ). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black‐carbon‐rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co‐emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black‐carbon mitigation actions, non‐science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near‐term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black‐carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99106/1/jgrd50171.pd
Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30
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