A compartive study of the retentive capability of the Sydney mini-screw with 6mm orthodontic anchorage miniscrews in the tibia and femur of New Zealand rabbits by removal torque test

Aim: To investigate the retentive capability of the Sydney Mini-screw with injectable bone cement by removal torque. Method: 16 New Zealand White rabbits were divided evenly into 2 groups, T1 0 week to assess primary stability and T2 8 weeks to test secondary stability. Three groups of miniscrews Sydney Mini-screw with Cement (SMSC) N=12, Sydney Miniscrew without cement (SMS) N=10 and control Aarhus (CA) 6mm screw N=10 were placed randomly and evenly between the right and left tibial and femoral sites. The SMSC and SMS required predrilling of a pilot hole and the SMSC had injectable bone cement PRODENSE. Removal torque was measured and Friedman's Test and two-sample t-test were used for statistical analysis, where appropriate. Results: Removal torque values at T1 for CA, SMS, SMSC were not significantly different (p=0.072) but were significantly different at T2 (p=0.012). Only SMS (p=0.006) showed statistically significant difference between T1 and T2. The different surgical locations at T2 did not statistically differ from each other either (p=0.948). Conclusion: Sydney Miniscrew with and without cement had significantly higher secondary stability and had a trend towards increased primary compared to a normal control miniscrew. More research is required with an increased sample size

Sex, size and isotopes: cryptic trophic ecology of an apex predator, the white shark Carcharodon carcharias

Demographic differences in resource use are key components of population and species ecology across the animal kingdom. White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are migratory, apex predators, which have undergone significant population declines across their range. Understanding their ecology is key to ensuring that management strategies are effective. Here, we carry out the first stable isotope analyses of free-swimming white sharks in South Africa. Biopsies were collected in Gansbaai (34.5805°S, 19.3518°E) between February and July 2015. We used Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipsis in R and traditional statistical analyses to quantify and compare isotopic niches of male and female sharks of two size classes, and analyse relationships between isotopic values and shark length. Our results reveal cryptic trophic differences between the sexes and life stages. Males, but not females, were inferred to feed in more offshore or westerly habitats as they grow larger, and only males exhibited evidence of an ontogenetic niche shift. Lack of relationship between δ13C, δ15N and female shark length may be caused by females exhibiting multiple migration and foraging strategies, and a greater propensity to travel further north. Sharks  3 m, drivers of which may include individual dietary specialisation and temporal factors. The differences in migratory and foraging behaviour between sexes, life stages, and individuals will affect their exposure to anthropogenic threats, and should be considered in management strategies

Model dependence of single-energy fits to pion photoproduction data

Model dependence of multipole analysis has been explored through energy-dependent and single-energy fits to pion photoproduction data. The MAID energy-dependent solution has been used as input for an event generator producing realistic pseudo data. These were fitted using the SAID parametrization approach to determine single-energy and energy-dependent solutions over a range of lab photon energies from 200 to 1200 MeV. The resulting solutions were found to be consistent with the input amplitudes from MAID. Fits with a $\chi$-squared per datum of unity or less were generally achieved. We discuss energy regions where consistent results are expected, and explore the sensitivity of fits to the number of included single- and double-polarization observables. The influence of Watson's theorem is examined in detail.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Intermittent applied mechanical loading induces subchondral bone thickening that may be intensified locally by contiguous articular cartilage lesions

Objectives: Changes in subchondral bone (SCB) and cross-talk with articular cartilage (AC) have been linked to osteoarthritis (OA). Using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) this study: (1) examines changes in SCB architecture in a non-invasive loading mouse model in which focal AC lesions are induced selectively in the lateral femur, and (2) determines any modifications in the contralateral knee, linked to changes in gait, which might complicate use of this limb as an internal control. Methods: Right knee joints of CBA mice were loaded: once with 2weeks of habitual use (n=7), for 2weeks (n=8) or for 5weeks (n=5). Both left (contralateral) and right (loaded) knees were micro-CT scanned and the SCB and trabecular bone analysed. Gait analysis was also performed. Results: These analyses showed a significant increase in SCB thickness in the lateral compartments in joints loaded for 5weeks, which was most marked in the lateral femur; the contralateral non-loaded knee also showed transient SCB thickening (loaded once and repetitively). Epiphyseal trabecular bone BV/TV and trabecular thickness were also increased in the lateral compartments after 5 weeks of loading, and in all joint compartments in the contralateral knee. Gait analysis showed that applied loading only affected gait in the contralateral himd-limb in all groups of mice from the second week after the first loading episode. Conclusions: These data indicate a spatial link between SCB thickening and AC lesions following mechanical trauma, and the clear limitations associated with the use of contralateral joints as controls in such OA models, and perhaps in OA diagnosis

An Equation of State of a Carbon-Fibre Epoxy Composite under Shock Loading

An anisotropic equation of state (EOS) is proposed for the accurate extrapolation of high-pressure shock Hugoniot (anisotropic and isotropic) states to other thermodynamic (anisotropic and isotropic) states for a shocked carbon-fibre epoxy composite (CFC) of any symmetry. The proposed EOS, using a generalised decomposition of a stress tensor [Int. J. Plasticity \textbf{24}, 140 (2008)], represents a mathematical and physical generalisation of the Mie-Gr\"{u}neisen EOS for isotropic material and reduces to this equation in the limit of isotropy. Although a linear relation between the generalised anisotropic bulk shock velocity $U^{A}_{s}$ and particle velocity $u_{p}$ was adequate in the through-thickness orientation, damage softening process produces discontinuities both in value and slope in the $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ relation. Therefore, the two-wave structure (non-linear anisotropic and isotropic elastic waves) that accompanies damage softening process was proposed for describing CFC behaviour under shock loading. The linear relationship $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ over the range of measurements corresponding to non-linear anisotropic elastic wave shows a value of $c^{A}_{0}$ (the intercept of the $U^{A}_{s}$-$u_{p}$ curve) that is in the range between first and second generalised anisotropic bulk speed of sound [Eur. Phys. J. B \textbf{64}, 159 (2008)]. An analytical calculation showed that Hugoniot Stress Levels (HELs) in different directions for a CFC composite subject to the two-wave structure (non-linear anisotropic elastic and isotropic elastic waves) agree with experimental measurements at low and at high shock intensities. The results are presented, discussed and future studies are outlined.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

QCD analysis of the CCFR data for xF3xF_3 and Higher--Twist Contribution

The QCD analysis of the $xF_3$ structure function measured in deep-inelastic scattering of neutrinos and antineutrinos on an iron target at the Fermilab Tevatron is done in 1--, 2-- and 3--loop order of QCD. The x dependence of the higher--twist contribution is evaluated. The experimental value of higher--twist corrections to the Gross--Llewellyn Smith sum rule is discussed.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 3 Postscript figures, revised versio

K^+ -> pi^+pi^0e^+e^-: a novel short-distance probe

We study the decay K^+ -> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^-, currently under analysis by the NA62 Collaboration at CERN. In particular, we provide a detailed analysis of the Dalitz plot for the long-distance, gamma^*-mediated, contributions (Bremsstrahlung, direct emission and its interference). We also examine a set of asymmetries to isolate genuine short-distance effects. While we show that charge asymmetries are not required to test short distances, they provide the best environment for its detection. This constitutes by itself a strong motivation for NA62 to study K^- decays in the future. We therefore provide a detailed study of different charge asymmetries and the corresponding estimated signals. Whenever possible, we make contact with the related processes K^+ -> pi^+ pi^0 gamma and K_L -> pi^+ pi^- e^+ e^- and discuss the advantages of K^+ -> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^- over them.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Higher twists and αs(MZ)\alpha_s(M_Z) extractions from the NNLO QCD analysis of the CCFR data for xF3xF_3 structure function

A detailed next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD analysis is performed for the experimental data of the CCFR collaboration for the $xF_3$ structure function. Theoretical ambiguities of the results of our NNLO fits are estimated by application of the Pad\'e resummation technique and variation of the factorization and renormalization scales. The NNLO and N$^3$LO $\alpha_s(Q^2)$ $\bar{MS}$-matching conditions are used. In the process of the fits we are taking into account of twist-4 $1/Q^2$-terms. We found that the amplitude of the $x$-shape of the twist-4 factor is decreasing in NLO and NNLO, though some remaining twist-4 structure seems to retain in NNLO in the case when statistical uncertainties are taken into account. The question of the stability of these results to the application of the [0/2] Pad\'e resummation technique is considered. Our NNLO results for $\alpha_s(M_Z)$ values, extracted from the CCFR $xF_3$ data, are $\alpha_s(M_Z)=0.118 \pm 0.002 (stat) \pm 0.005 (syst)\pm 0.003 (theory)$ provided the twist-4 contributions are fixed through the infrared renormalon model and $\alpha_s(M_Z)=0.121^{+0.007}_{0.010}(stat)\pm 0.005 (syst) \pm 0.003 (theory)$ provided the twist-4 terms are considered as free parameters.Comment: 33 pages LaTeX, 3 ps figures; minor misprints are eliminated, 2 new referencies are added; accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys.

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe