Comment on "Tricritical Behavior in Rupture Induced by Disorder"

In their letter, Andersen, Sornette, and Leung [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2140 (1997)] describe possible behaviors for rupture in disordered media, based on the mean field-like democratic fiber bundle model. In this model, fibers are pulled with a force which is distributed uniformly. A fiber breaks if the stress on it exceeds a threshold chosen from a probability distribution, and the force is then redistributed over the intact fibers. Andersen et al. claim the existence of a tricritical point, separating a "first-order" regime, characterized by a sudden global failure, from a "second-order" regime, characterized by a divergence in the breaking rate. We show that a first-order transition is an artifact of a (large enough) discontinuity put by hand in the disorder distribution. Thus, in generic physical cases, a first-order regime is not present. This result is obtained from a graphical method, which, unlike Andersen at al.'s analytical solution, enables us to distinguish the various classes of qualitatively different behaviors of the model.Comment: 1 page, 1 figure included, revte

Structural Flyby Characterization of Nanoporosity

Recently, Ferreira da Silva et al. [3] have performed a gradient pattern analysis of a canonical sample set (CSS) of scanning force microscopy (SFM) images of p-Si. They applied the so-called Gradient Pattern Analysis to images of three typical p-Si samples distinguished by different absorption energy levels and aspect ratios. Taking into account the measures of spatial asymmetric fluctuations they interpreted the global porosity not only in terms of the amount of roughness, but rather in terms of the structural complexity (e.g., walls and fine structures as slots). This analysis has been adapted in order to operate in a OpenGL flyby environment (the StrFB code), whose application give the numerical characterization of the structure during the flyby real time. Using this analysis we compare the levels of asymmetric fragmentation of active porosity related to different materials as p-Si and "porous diamond-like" carbon. In summary we have shown that the gradient pattern analysis technique in a flyby environment is a reliable sensitive method to investigate, qualitatively and quantitatively, the complex morphology of active nanostructures

The Core Mass Function in the Massive Protocluster G286.21+0.17 revealed by ALMA

We study the core mass function (CMF) of the massive protocluster G286.21+0.17 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array via 1.3~mm continuum emission at a resolution of 1.0\arcsec\ (2500~au). We have mapped a field of 5.3\arcmin$\times$5.3\arcmin\ centered on the protocluster clump. We measure the CMF in the central region, exploring various core detection algorithms, which give source numbers ranging from 60 to 125, depending on parameter selection. We estimate completeness corrections due to imperfect flux recovery and core identification via artificial core insertion experiments. For masses $M\gtrsim1\:M_\odot$, the fiducial dendrogram-identified CMF can be fit with a power law of the form ${\rm{d}}N/{\rm{d}}{\rm{log}}M\propto{M}^{-\alpha}$ with $\alpha \simeq1.24\pm0.17$, slightly shallower than, but still consistent with, the index of the Salpeter stellar initial mass function of 1.35. Clumpfind-identified CMFs are significantly shallower with $\alpha\simeq0.64\pm0.13$. While raw CMFs show a peak near $1\:M_\odot$, completeness-corrected CMFs are consistent with a single power law extending down to $\sim 0.5\:M_\odot$, with only a tentative indication of a shallowing of the slope around $\sim1\:M_\odot$. We discuss the implications of these results for star and star cluster formation theories.Comment: 11 pages, accepted by Ap

Profesionales de salud y violencia intrafamiliar contra el niño y el adolescente

OBJECTIVES: To understand how heath care professionals approach family violence against children and teenagers. METHODS: This was a qualitative case study with 30 health care professionals. RESULTS: Health care professionals were concerned with the lack of successful family problems resolution. Measures used by health care professionals emphasized punitive actions instead of caring behaviors. The characteristics of the job did not allow of the health care professionals to express their feelings and reactions and to know how to successfully address family violence. Health care professionals' approaches to address violence with families who already experienced violence may also become violent acts against those families. CONCLUSION: Approaches used to address family violence against children and teenagers reflect a lack of integration among the several categories of health care professionals and health care services.OBJETIVO: Comprender el modo cómo los profesionales de salud abordan las situaciones relacionadas a la violencia intrafamiliar contra el niño y el adolescente. MÉTODOS: Se trata de una investigación de naturaleza cualitativa, de tipo estudio de caso, realizado con 30 profesionales de salud. RESULTADOS: Los profesionales se mostraron preocupados con la falta de resolución de los problemas. Revelaron que las medidas emprendidas priorizan la punición en lugar de la atención y que la estructura de trabajo no les permitía exponer sus sentimientos y reacciones y lidiar con ellos. El modo de abordar a las familias que ya vivenciaron violencia puede configurar un acto violento para con éstas. CONCLUSIÓN: La manera cómo se realiza la mayoría de las abordajes en casos de violencia contra el niño y el adolescente refleja la falta de integración entre los profesionales y los diversos sectores.OBJETIVO: Compreender o modo como os profissionais de saúde abordam as situações envolvidas na violência intrafamiliar contra a criança e o adolescente. MÉTODOS: Pesquisa de natureza qualitativo, na modalidade de estudo de caso, realizado com 30 profissionais de saúde. RESULTADOS: Os profissionais mostraram-se preocupados com a falta de resolução dos problemas. Revelaram que as medidas empreendidas priorizam a punição em lugar do atendimento e que a estrutura de trabalho não lhes permitia expor seus sentimentos e reações e com eles lidar. O modo de abordar as famílias que já vivenciaram violência pode configurar um ato violento para com estas. CONCLUSÃO: A maneira como é realizada a maioria das abordagens em casos de violência contra a criança e o adolescente reflete a falta de integração entre os profissionais e os diversos setores.Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do SulUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL

A cell-based smoothed finite element method for kinematic limit analysis

This paper presents a new numerical procedure for kinematic limit analysis problems, which incorporates the cell-based smoothed finite element method with second-order cone programming. The application of a strain smoothing technique to the standard displacement finite element both rules out volumetric locking and also results in an efficient method that can provide accurate solutions with minimal computational effort. The non-smooth optimization problem is formulated as a problem of minimizing a sum of Euclidean norms, ensuring that the resulting optimization problem can be solved by an efficient second-order cone programming algorithm. Plane stress and plane strain problems governed by the von Mises criterion are considered, but extensions to problems with other yield criteria having a similar conic quadratic form or 3D problems can be envisaged

Accurate masses and radii of normal stars: modern results and applications

This paper presents and discusses a critical compilation of accurate, fundamental determinations of stellar masses and radii. We have identified 95 detached binary systems containing 190 stars (94 eclipsing systems, and alpha Centauri) that satisfy our criterion that the mass and radius of both stars be known to 3% or better. To these we add interstellar reddening, effective temperature, metal abundance, rotational velocity and apsidal motion determinations when available, and we compute a number of other physical parameters, notably luminosity and distance. We discuss the use of this information for testing models of stellar evolution. The amount and quality of the data also allow us to analyse the tidal evolution of the systems in considerable depth, testing prescriptions of rotational synchronisation and orbital circularisation in greater detail than possible before. The new data also enable us to derive empirical calibrations of M and R for single (post-) main-sequence stars above 0.6 M(Sun). Simple, polynomial functions of T(eff), log g and [Fe/H] yield M and R with errors of 6% and 3%, respectively. Excellent agreement is found with independent determinations for host stars of transiting extrasolar planets, and good agreement with determinations of M and R from stellar models as constrained by trigonometric parallaxes and spectroscopic values of T(eff) and [Fe/H]. Finally, we list a set of 23 interferometric binaries with masses known to better than 3%, but without fundamental radius determinations (except alpha Aur). We discuss the prospects for improving these and other stellar parameters in the near future.Comment: 56 pages including figures and tables. To appear in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. Ascii versions of the tables will appear in the online version of the articl

Salivary Amylase Induction by Tannin-Enriched Diets as a Possible Countermeasure Against Tannins

Tannins are characterized by protein-binding affinity. They have astringent/bitter properties that act as deterrents, affecting diet selection. Two groups of salivary proteins, proline-rich proteins and histatins, are effective precipitators of tannin, decreasing levels of available tannins. The possibility of other salivary proteins having a co-adjuvant role on host defense mechanisms against tannins is unknown. In this work, we characterized and compared the protein profile of mice whole saliva from animals fed on three experimental diets: tannin-free diet, diet with the incorporation of 5% hydrolyzable tannins (tannic acid), or diet with 5% condensed tannins (quebracho). Protein analysis was performed by one-dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight mass spectrometry to allow the dynamic study of interactions between diet and saliva. Since abundant salivary proteins obscure the purification and identification of medium and low expressed salivary proteins, we used centrifugation to obtain saliva samples free from proteins that precipitate after tannin binding. Data from Peptide Mass Fingerprinting allowed us to identify ten different proteins, some of them showing more than one isoform. Tannin-enriched diets were observed to change the salivary protein profile. One isoform of α-amylase was overexpressed with both types of tannins. Aldehyde reductase was only identified in saliva of the quebracho group. Additionally, a hypertrophy of parotid salivary gland acini was observed by histology, along with a decrease in body mass in the first 4 days of the experimental period

HST survey of the Orion Nebula Cluster in the H2_2O 1.4 μ\mum absorption band: I. A census of substellar and planetary mass objects

In order to obtain a complete census of the stellar and sub-stellar population, down to a few M$_{Jup}$ in the $\sim1$ Myr old Orion Nebula Cluster, we used the infrared channel of the Wide Field Camera 3 of the Hubble Space Telescope with the F139M and F130N filters. These bandpasses correspond to the $1.4 \mu$m H$_2$O absorption feature and an adjacent line-free continuum region. Out of $4,504$ detected sources, $3,352$ (about $75\%$) appear fainter than m$_{130}=14$ (Vega mag) in the F130N filter, a brightness corresponding to the hydrogen-burning limit mass (M$\simeq 0.072 M_\odot$) at $\sim 1$ Myr. Of these, however, only $742$ sources have a negative F130M-139N color index, indicative of the presence of H$_2$O vapor in absorption, and can therefore be classified as bona-fide M and L dwarfs, with effective temperatures T$\lesssim 2850$ K at an assumed $1$ Myr cluster age. On our color-magnitude diagram, this population of sources with H$_2$O absorption appears clearly distinct from the larger background population of highly reddened stars and galaxies with positive F130M-F139N color index, and can be traced down to the sensitivity limit of our survey, m$_{130}\simeq 21.5$, corresponding to a $1$ Myr old $\simeq 3$M$_{Jup}$, planetary mass object under about 2 magnitudes of visual extinction. Theoretical models of the BT-Settl family predicting substellar isochrones of $1, 2$ and $3$ Myr (down to $\sim 1$M$_{Jup}$) fail to reproduce the observed H$_2$O color index at M$\lesssim 20$M$_{Jup}$. We perform a Bayesian analysis to determine extinction, mass and effective temperature of each sub-stellar member of our sample, together with its membership probability.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. The resolution of several figures has been downgraded to comply with the size limit of arXiv submission

Spatial differences between stars and brown dwarfs: a dynamical origin?

We use $N$-body simulations to compare the evolution of spatial distributions of stars and brown dwarfs in young star-forming regions. We use three different diagnostics; the ratio of stars to brown dwarfs as a function of distance from the region's centre, $\mathcal{R}_{\rm SSR}$, the local surface density of stars compared to brown dwarfs, $\Sigma_{\rm LDR}$, and we compare the global spatial distributions using the $\Lambda_{\rm MSR}$ method. From a suite of twenty initially statistically identical simulations, 6/20 attain $\mathcal{R}_{\rm SSR} << 1$ $and$ $\Sigma_{\rm LDR} << 1$ $and$ $\Lambda_{\rm MSR} << 1$, indicating that dynamical interactions could be responsible for observed differences in the spatial distributions of stars and brown dwarfs in star-forming regions. However, many simulations also display apparently contradictory results - for example, in some cases the brown dwarfs have much lower local densities than stars ($\Sigma_{\rm LDR} << 1$), but their global spatial distributions are indistinguishable ($\Lambda_{\rm MSR} = 1$) and the relative proportion of stars and brown dwarfs remains constant across the region ($\mathcal{R}_{\rm SSR} = 1$). Our results suggest that extreme caution should be exercised when interpreting any observed difference in the spatial distribution of stars and brown dwarfs, and that a much larger observational sample of regions/clusters (with complete mass functions) is necessary to investigate whether or not brown dwarfs form through similar mechanisms to stars.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA