122 research outputs found
The Jefferson Lab Frozen Spin Target
A frozen spin polarized target, constructed at Jefferson Lab for use inside a
large acceptance spectrometer, is described. The target has been utilized for
photoproduction measurements with polarized tagged photons of both longitudinal
and circular polarization. Protons in TEMPO-doped butanol were dynamically
polarized to approximately 90% outside the spectrometer at 5 T and 200--300 mK.
Photoproduction data were acquired with the target inside the spectrometer at a
frozen-spin temperature of approximately 30 mK with the polarization maintained
by a thin, superconducting coil installed inside the target cryostat. A 0.56 T
solenoid was used for longitudinal target polarization and a 0.50 T dipole for
transverse polarization. Spin-lattice relaxation times as high as 4000 hours
were observed. We also report polarization results for deuterated propanediol
doped with the trityl radical OX063.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, preprint submitted to Nuclear Instruments and
Methods in Physics Research, Section
Unconventional carrier-mediated ferromagnetism above room temperature in ion-implanted (Ga, Mn)P:C
Ion implantation of Mn ions into hole-doped GaP has been used to induce
ferromagnetic behavior above room temperature for optimized Mn concentrations
near 3 at.%. The magnetism is suppressed when the Mn dose is increased or
decreased away from the 3 at.% value, or when n-type GaP substrates are used.
At low temperatures the saturated moment is on the order of one Bohr magneton,
and the spin wave stiffness inferred from the Bloch-law T^3/2 dependence of the
magnetization provides an estimate Tc = 385K of the Curie temperature that
exceeds the experimental value, Tc = 270K. The presence of ferromagnetic
clusters and hysteresis to temperatures of at least 330K is attributed to
disorder and proximity to a metal-insulating transition.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (RevTex4
Phenomenology of flavor-mediated supersymmetry breaking
The phenomenology of a new economical SUSY model that utilizes dynamical SUSY
breaking and gauge-mediation (GM) for the generation of the sparticle spectrum
and the hierarchy of fermion masses is discussed. Similarities between the
communication of SUSY breaking through a messenger sector, and the generation
of flavor using the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism are exploited, leading to
the identification of vector-like messenger fields with FN fields, and the
messenger U(1) as a flavor symmetry. An immediate consequence is that the first
and second generation scalars acquire flavor-dependent masses, but do not
violate FCNC bounds since their mass scale, consistent with effective SUSY, is
of order 10 TeV. We define and advocate a minimal flavor-mediated model (MFMM),
recently introduced in the literature, that successfully accommodates the small
flavor-breaking parameters of the standard model using order one couplings and
ratios of flavon field vevs. The mediation of SUSY breaking occurs via two-loop
log-enhanced GM contributions, as well as several one-loop and two-loop
Yukawa-mediated contributions for which we provide analytical expressions. The
MFMM is parameterized by a small set of masses and couplings, with values
restricted by several model constraints and experimental data. The
next-to-lightest sparticle (NLSP) always has a decay length that is larger than
the scale of a detector, and is either the lightest stau or the lightest
neutralino. Similar to ordinary GM models, the best collider search strategies
are, respectively, inclusive production of at least one highly ionizing track,
or events with many taus plus missing energy. In addition, D^0 - \bar{D}^0
mixing is also a generic low energy signal. Finally, the dynamical generation
of the neutrino masses is briefly discussed.Comment: 54 pages, LaTeX, 8 figure
Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology
Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements
Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology
Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements
TRY plant trait database â enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traitsâthe morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plantsâdetermine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of traitâbased plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traitsâalmost complete coverage for âplant growth formâ. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and traitâenvironmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives
New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE Δ4 allele
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