The decay Bs -> mu+ mu-: updated SUSY constraints and prospects

We perform a study of the impact of the recently released limits on BR(Bs -> mu+ mu-) by LHCb and CMS on several SUSY models. We show that the obtained constraints can be superior to those which are derived from direct searches for SUSY particles in some scenarios, and the use of a double ratio of purely leptonic decays involving Bs -> mu+ mu- can further strengthen such constraints. We also discuss the experimental sensitivity and prospects for observation of Bs -> mu+ mu- during the sqrt(s)=7 TeV run of the LHC, and its potential implications.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures. v2: Improved discussion of constraints from B -> tau nu, references adde

An Ecological Alternative to Snodgrass & Vanderwart: 360 High Quality Colour Images with Norms for Seven Psycholinguistic Variables

This work presents a new set of 360 high quality colour images belonging to 23 semantic subcategories. Two hundred and thirty-six Spanish speakers named the items and also provided data from seven relevant psycholinguistic variables: age of acquisition, familiarity, manipulability, name agreement, typicality and visual complexity. Furthermore, we also present lexical frequency data derived from Internet search hits. Apart from the high number of variables evaluated, knowing that it affects the processing of stimuli, this new set presents important advantages over other similar image corpi: (a) this corpus presents a broad number of subcategories and images; for example, this will permit researchers to select stimuli of appropriate difficulty as required, (e.g., to deal with problems derived from ceiling effects); (b) the fact of using coloured stimuli provides a more realistic, ecologically-valid, representation of real life objects. In sum, this set of stimuli provides a useful tool for research on visual object-and word- processing, both in neurological patients and in healthy controls

Net contribution and predictive ability of the CUN-BAE body fatness index in relation to cardiometabolic conditions

BACKGROUND: The CUN-BAE (Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body adiposity estimator) index is an anthropometric index based on age, sex and body mass index (BMI) for a refined prediction of body fatness in adults. CUN-BAE may help detect metabolically unhealthy individuals with otherwise normal weight according to BMI or waist circumference (WC). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether CUN-BAE, independent of its components (BMI, age and sex), was associated with cardiometabolic conditions including arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome (MetS). METHODS: The ENRICA study was based on a cross-sectional sample of non-institutionalized men and women representative of the adult Spanish population. Body weight, height, and WC were measured in all participants. The residual of CUN-BAE (rCUN-BAE), i.e. the part of the index not explained by its components, was calculated. The associations of CUN-BAE, rCUN-BAE, BMI and WC with hypertension, diabetes and MetS were analysed by multivariate logistic regression, and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) was calculated. RESULTS: The sample included 12,122 individuals. rCUN-BAE was associated with hypertension (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.07-1.21) and MetS (OR 1.48, 1.37-1.60), but not with diabetes (OR 1.05, 0.94-1.16). In subjects with a BMI?<?25 kg/m2, CUN-BAE was significantly associated with all three outcome variables. CUN-BAE was more strongly associated with the cardiometabolic conditions than BMI and WC and fit similar AICs. CONCLUSIONS: The CUN-BAE index for body fatness was positively associated with hypertension, diabetes and MetS in adults independent of BMI or WC. CUN-BAE may help to identify individuals with cardiometabolic conditions beyond BMI, but this needs to be confirmed in prospective settings.Funding: The ENRICA study was funded and financed by Sanofi-Aventis. Specific funding for this analysis came from the governmental Spain FIS PI12/1166 and PI11/01379 projects and from the “UAM Chair in Epidemiology and Control of Cardiovascular Risk”

Independent and combined influence of healthy lifestyle factors on academic performance in adolescents: DADOS Study

BACKGROUND. Few studies have analyzed the combined effect of lifestyle factors on academic performance (AP) in adolescents. The aim of this study was to analyze the independent and combined effects of weight status, screen time, sleep quality, daily meal frequency, cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity (PA) on AP in adolescents. METHODS. A total of 262 adolescents (13.9±0.3 years) from the DADOS study were included in the analysis. Weight status was assessed through body mass index (kg/m 2 ). Participants completed questionnaires to evaluate screen time, sleep quality and daily meal frequency. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the 20-m shuttle run test. PA was evaluated by a wrist-worn GENEActiv accelerometer. AP was assessed through the final academic grades and a validated questionnaire. RESULTS. Non-overweight status, low screen time, good sleep quality and proper meal frequency showed independent, positive influence on AP. Moreover, adolescents achieving at least 3 healthy lifestyles were more likely to be in the high-performance group for academic grades than those achieving ≤ 1 (math OR: 3.02-9.51, language OR: 3.51-6.76 and grade point average OR: 4.22-9.36). CONCLUSIONS. Although individual healthy lifestyles are independently and positively associated with AP, the cumulative effect of multiple healthy lifestyles have a stronger impact

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Comparison of the impact of atrial fibrillation on the risk of early death after stroke in women versus men

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is considered a predictive factor of poor clinical outcome in patients with an ischemic stroke (IS). This study addressed whether the impact of AF on the in-hospital mortality after first ever IS is different according to the patient’s gender. METHODS: We prospectively studied 1678 patients with first ever IS consecutively admitted to two University Hospitals. We recorded demographic data, vascular risk factors, and the stroke severity (NIHSS) at admission analyzing their impact on the in-hospital mortality and on the combined mortality-dependency at discharge using a Cox proportional hazards model. Two variable interactions between those factors independently related to in-hospital mortality and combined mortality-dependency at discharge were tested. RESULTS: Overall in-hospital mortality was 11.3%. Cox proportional hazards model showed that NIHSS at admission (HR: 1.178 [95% CI 1.149–1.207]), age (HR: 1.044 [95% CI 1.026–1.061]), AF (HR: 1.416 [95% CI 1.048–1.913]), male gender (HR: 1.853 [95% CI 1.323–2.192) and ischemic heart disease (HR: 1.527 [95% CI 1.063–2.192]) were independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. A significant interaction between gender and AF was found (p = 0.017). Data were stratified by gender, showing that AF was an independent predictor of poor outcome just for woman (HR: 2.183 [95% CI 1.403–3.396]; p < 0.001). The independent predictors of combined mortality-disability at discharge were NIHSS at admission (HR: 1.052 [95% CI 1.041–1.063]), age (HR: 1.011 [95% CI 1.004–1.018]), AF (HR: 1.197 [95% CI 1.031–1.390]), ischemic heart disease (HR: 1.222 [95% CI 1.004–1.488]), and smoking (HR: 1.262 [95% CI 1.033–1.541]). CONCLUSIONS: The impact of AF is different in the twogenders and appears as a specific ischemic stroke predictor of in-hospital mortality just for women

Radio Frequency and DC High Voltage Breakdown of High Pressure Helium, Argon, and Xenon

[EN] Motivated by the possibility of guiding daughter ions from double beta decay events to single-ion sensors for barium tagging, the NEXT collaboration is developing a program of R&D to test radio frequency (RF) carpets for ion transport in high pressure xenon gas. This would require carpet functionality in regimes at higher pressures than have been previously reported, implying correspondingly larger electrode voltages than in existing systems. This mode of operation appears plausible for contemporary RF-carpet geometries due to the higher predicted breakdown strength of high pressure xenon relative to low pressure helium, the working medium in most existing RF carpet devices. In this paper we present the first measurements of the high voltage dielectric strength of xenon gas at high pressure and at the relevant RF frequencies for ion transport (in the 10MHz range), as well as new DC and RF measurements of the dielectric strengths of high pressure argon and helium gases at small gap sizes. We find breakdown voltages that are compatible with stable RF carpet operation given the gas, pressure, voltage, materials and geometry of interest.Woodruff, K.; Baeza-Rubio, J.; Huerta, D.; Jones, BJP.; Mcdonald, AD.; Norman, L.; Nygren, DR.... (2020). Radio Frequency and DC High Voltage Breakdown of High Pressure Helium, Argon, and Xenon. Journal of Instrumentation. 15(4):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/P04022S115154Dehmelt, H. G., & Major, F. G. (1962). Orientation of(He4)+Ions by Exchange Collisions with Cesium Atoms. Physical Review Letters, 8(5), 213-214. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.8.213Wada, M., Ishida, Y., Nakamura, T., Yamazaki, Y., Kambara, T., Ohyama, H., … Katayama, I. (2003). Slow RI-beams from projectile fragment separators. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 204, 570-581. doi:10.1016/s0168-583x(02)02151-1Gehring, A. E., Brodeur, M., Bollen, G., Morrissey, D. J., & Schwarz, S. (2016). Research and development of ion surfing RF carpets for the cyclotron gas stopper at the NSCL. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 376, 221-224. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2016.02.012Ranjan, M., Purushothaman, S., Dickel, T., Geissel, H., Plass, W. R., Schäfer, D., … Dendooven, P. (2011). New stopping cell capabilities: RF carpet performance at high gas density and cryogenic operation. EPL (Europhysics Letters), 96(5), 52001. doi:10.1209/0295-5075/96/52001Arai, F., Ito, Y., Katayama, I., Schury, P., Sonoda, T., Wada, M., & Wollnik, H. (2015). Performance of Ion Surfing Rf-carpets for High-Energy RI Beam Gas Catcher. Proceedings of the Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science (ARIS2014). doi:10.7566/jpscp.6.030110Schwarz, S. (2011). RF ion carpets: The electric field, the effective potential, operational parameters and an analysis of stability. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 299(2-3), 71-77. doi:10.1016/j.ijms.2010.09.021Paschen, F. (1889). Ueber die zum Funkenübergang in Luft, Wasserstoff und Kohlensäure bei verschiedenen Drucken erforderliche Potentialdifferenz. Annalen der Physik, 273(5), 69-96. doi:10.1002/andp.18892730505Jones, F. L., & Morgan, G. D. (1951). High-Frequency Discharges: I Breakdown Mechanism and Similarity Relationship. Proceedings of the Physical Society. Section B, 64(7), 560-573. doi:10.1088/0370-1301/64/7/303Townsend, W. G., & Williams, G. C. (1958). The Electrical Breakdown of Gases in Uniform High Frequency Fields at Low Pressure. Proceedings of the Physical Society, 72(5), 823-832. doi:10.1088/0370-1328/72/5/318Sato, M., & Shoji, M. (1997). Breakdown Characteristics of RF Argon Capacitive Discharge. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 36(Part 1, No. 9A), 5729-5730. doi:10.1143/jjap.36.5729Lisovskiy, V. A., & Yegorenkov, V. D. (1998). Rf breakdown of low-pressure gas and a novel method for determination of electron-drift velocities in gases. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 31(23), 3349-3357. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/31/23/008Fukugita, M., & Yanagida, T. (1986). Barygenesis without grand unification. Physics Letters B, 174(1), 45-47. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(86)91126-3Moe, M. K. (1991). Detection of neutrinoless double-beta decay. Physical Review C, 44(3), R931-R934. doi:10.1103/physrevc.44.r931Sinclair, D., Rollin, E., Smith, J., Mommers, A., Ackeran, N., Aharmin, B., … Breidenbach, M. (2011). Prospects for Barium Tagging in Gaseous Xenon. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 309, 012005. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/309/1/012005Brunner, T., Fudenberg, D., Sabourov, A., Varentsov, V. L., Gratta, G., & Sinclair, D. (2013). A setup for Ba-ion extraction from high pressure Xe gas for double-beta decay studies with EXO. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 317, 473-475. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2013.05.086Twelker, K., Kravitz, S., Díez, M. M., Gratta, G., Fairbank, W., Albert, J. B., … Benitez-Medina, C. (2014). An apparatus to manipulate and identify individual Ba ions from bulk liquid Xe. Review of Scientific Instruments, 85(9), 095114. doi:10.1063/1.4895646Mong, B., Cook, S., Walton, T., Chambers, C., Craycraft, A., Benitez-Medina, C., … Auty, D. J. (2015). Spectroscopy of Ba andBa+deposits in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO. Physical Review A, 91(2). doi:10.1103/physreva.91.022505Brunner, T., Fudenberg, D., Varentsov, V., Sabourov, A., Gratta, G., Dilling, J., … Albert, J. B. (2015). An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 379, 110-120. doi:10.1016/j.ijms.2015.01.003Nygren, D. R. (2016). Detection of the barium daughter in 136Xe →136Ba+2e− by in situ single-molecule fluorescence imaging. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 824, 2-5. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.11.038Jones, B. J. P., McDonald, A. D., & Nygren, D. R. (2016). Single molecule fluorescence imaging as a technique for barium tagging in neutrinoless double beta decay. Journal of Instrumentation, 11(12), P12011-P12011. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/12/p12011Byrnes, N., Foss, F. W., Jones, B. J. ., McDonald, A. D., Nygren, D. R., … Thapa, P. (2019). Progress toward Barium Tagging in High Pressure Xenon Gas with Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1312, 012001. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1312/1/012001McDonald, A. D., Jones, B. J. P., Nygren, D. R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Azevedo, C. D. R., … Cárcel, S. (2018). Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging. Physical Review Letters, 120(13). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.120.132504(2019). Imaging individual barium atoms in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO. Nature, 569(7755), 203-207. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1169-4Thapa, P., Arnquist, I., Byrnes, N., Denisenko, A. A., Foss, F. W., Jones, B. J. P., … Woodruff, K. (2019). Barium Chemosensors with Dry-Phase Fluorescence for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay. Scientific Reports, 9(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-019-49283-xMartín-Albo, J., Muñoz Vidal, J., Ferrario, P., Nebot-Guinot, M., Gómez-Cadenas, J. J., … Cárcel, S. (2016). Sensitivity of NEXT-100 to neutrinoless double beta decay. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2016(5). doi:10.1007/jhep05(2016)159Bainglass, E., Jones, B. J. P., Foss, F. W., Huda, M. N., & Nygren, D. R. (2018). Mobility and clustering of barium ions and dications in high-pressure xenon gas. Physical Review A, 97(6). doi:10.1103/physreva.97.062509Postel, O. B., & Cappelli, M. A. (2000). Vacuum emission and breakdown characteristics of a planar He–Xe microdischarge. Applied Physics Letters, 76(5), 544-546. doi:10.1063/1.125813Sosov, Y., & Theodosiou, C. E. (2004). Determination of electric field-dependent effective secondary emission coefficients for He/Xe ions on brass. Journal of Applied Physics, 95(8), 4385-4388. doi:10.1063/1.1655677Lieberman, M. A., & Lichtenberg, A. J. (2005). Principles of Plasma Discharges and Materials Processing. doi:10.1002/0471724254Lisovskiy, V. A., Yakovin, S. D., & Yegorenkov, V. D. (2000). Low-pressure gas breakdown in uniform dc electric field. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 33(21), 2722-2730. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/33/21/310Smith, H. B., Charles, C., & Boswell, R. W. (2003). Breakdown behavior in radio-frequency argon discharges. Physics of Plasmas, 10(3), 875-881. doi:10.1063/1.1531615Bhattacharya, A. K. (1976). Measurement of breakdown potentials and Townsend ionization coefficients for the Penning mixtures of neon and xenon. Physical Review A, 13(3), 1219-1225. doi:10.1103/physreva.13.1219Jacques, L., Bruynooghe, W., Boucique, R., & Wieme, W. (1986). Experimental determination of the primary and secondary ionisation coefficients in krypton and xenon. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 19(9), 1731-1739. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/19/9/017Bradford, H. M., Fraser, D. M., Langstroth, G. F. O., & MacDonald, A. D. (1959). ELECTRICAL BREAKDOWN IN XENON AND KRYPTON AT ULTRAHIGH FREQUENCIES. Canadian Journal of Physics, 37(10), 1166-1170. doi:10.1139/p59-133Park, J., Henins, I., Herrmann, H. W., & Selwyn, G. S. (2001). Gas breakdown in an atmospheric pressure radio-frequency capacitive plasma source. Journal of Applied Physics, 89(1), 15-19. doi:10.1063/1.1323754Moravej, M., Yang, X., Nowling, G. R., Chang, J. P., Hicks, R. F., & Babayan, S. E. (2004). Physics of high-pressure helium and argon radio-frequency plasmas. Journal of Applied Physics, 96(12), 7011-7017. doi:10.1063/1.1815047Borg Dezani, V., & Ginoux, J. L. (1994). Investigation of breakdown voltage curves for pure helium and silane–helium mixtures. Physics of Plasmas, 1(4), 1060-1063. doi:10.1063/1.870786McDonald, A. D., Woodruff, K., Atoum, B. A., González-Díaz, D., Jones, B. J. P., Adams, C., … Azevedo, C. D. . (2019). Electron drift and longitudinal diffusion in high pressure xenon-helium gas mixtures. Journal of Instrumentation, 14(08), P08009-P08009. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/p08009Rogers, L., Clark, R. A., Jones, B. J. P., McDonald, A. D., Nygren, D. R., Psihas, F., … Azevedo, C. D. . (2018). High voltage insulation and gas absorption of polymers in high pressure argon and xenon gases. Journal of Instrumentation, 13(10), P10002-P10002. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/13/10/p10002Okawa, M., Shioiri, T., Okubo, H., & Yanabu, S. (1988). Area effect on electric breakdown of copper and stainless steel electrodes in vacuum. IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation, 23(1), 77-81. doi:10.1109/14.2336Kihara, T. (1952). The Mathematical Theory of Electrical Discharges in Gases. Reviews of Modern Physics, 24(1), 45-61. doi:10.1103/revmodphys.24.45Hamaker, A., Brodeur, M., Kelly, J. M., Long, J., Nicoloff, C., Ryan, S., … Wada, M. (2016). Experimental investigation of the repelling force from RF carpets. International Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 404, 14-19. doi:10.1016/j.ijms.2016.04.00

Flower-mediated plant-butterfly interactions in an heterogeneous tropical coastal ecosystem

Background Interspecific interactions play an important role in determining species richness and persistence in a given locality. However at some sites, the studies, especially for interaction networks on adult butterflies are scarce. The present study aimed the following objectives: (1) determine butterfly species richness and diversity that visit flowering plants, (2) compare species richness and diversity in butterfly-plant interactions among six different vegetation types and (3) analyze the structure of butterfly-flowering plant interaction networks mediated by flowers. Methods The study was developed in six vegetation types within the natural reserve of La Mancha, located in Veracruz, Mexico. In each vegetation type, we recorded the frequency of flower visits by butterflies monthly in round plots (of radius 5 m) for 12 months. We calculated Shannon diversity for butterfly species and diversity of interactions per vegetation type. We determined the classic Jaccard similarity index among vegetation types and estimated parameters at network and species-level. Results We found 123 species of butterflies belonging to 11 families and 87 genera. The highest number of species belonged to Hesperiidae (46 species), followed by Nymphalidae (28) and Pieridae (14). The highest butterfly diversity and interaction diversity was observed in pioneer dune vegetation (PDV), coastal dune scrub (CDS) and tropical deciduous flooding forest and wetland (TDF-W). The same order of vegetation types was found for interaction diversity. Highest species similarity was found between PDV-CDS and PDV-TDF. The butterfly-plant interaction network showed a nested structure with one module. The species Ascia monuste, Euptoieta hegesia and Leptotes cassius were the most generalist in the network, while Horama oedippus, E. hegesia, and L. cassius were the species with highest dependencies per plant species. Discussion Our study is important because it constitutes a pioneer study of butterfly-plant interactions in this protected area, at least for adult butterflies; it shows the diversity of interactions among flowering plants and butterflies. Our research constitutes the first approach (at a community level) to explore the functional role of pollination services that butterflies provide to plant communities. We highlighted that open areas show a higher diversity and these areas shared a higher number of species that shaded sites. In the interaction networks parameters, our results highlighted the higher dependence of butterflies by the flowers on which they feed than vice versa. In conclusion, the plant species (as a feeding resource) seem to limit the presence of butterfly species. Thus, this protected area is highly relevant for Lepidoptera diversity and the interaction between these insects and flowering plants. We suggest that studying plant and butterfly diversity in tropical habitats will provide insight into their interspecific interactions and community structure

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover.

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale