Theory of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope with a Two-Protrusion Tip

We consider a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) such that tunneling occurs through two atomically sharp protrusions on its tip. When the two protrusions are separated by at least several atomic spacings, the differential conductance of this STM depends on the electronic transport in the sample between the protrusions. Furthermore two-protrusion tips commonly occur during STM tip preparation. We explore possible applications to probing dynamical impurity potentials on a metallic surface and local transport in an anisotropic superconductor.Comment: revtex, 11 pages, 6 figures upon reques

Religious Vehicle Stickers in Nigeria: a discourse of identity, faith and social vision

This study focuses on analysing the ways in which vehicle stickers construct individual and group identities, people’s religious faith and social vision in the context of religious assumptions and practices in Nigeria. Data comprise 73 vehicle stickers collected in Lagos and Ota, between 2006 and 2007 and are analysed within the framework of the post-structuralist model of discourse analysis which views discourse as a product of a complex system of social and institutional practices that sustain its continuous existence (Derrida, 1982; Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1995; Foucault, 1972, 1981). Results show that through stickers people define their individual and group identities within religious institutional practices. And as a means of group identification, they guarantee social security and privileges. In constructing social vision the stickers help mould the individual aspiration about a future which transcends the present. Significantly, stickers in the data also reveal the tension between Islam and Christianity and the struggle to propagate one above the other. KEY WORDS: assumption, discourse, discursive, practices, religion, stickers

Soft gluons in Higgs plus two jet production

We investigate the effects of an all order QCD resummation of soft gluon emissions for Higgs boson production in association with two hard jets. We consider both the gluon-gluon fusion and weak boson fusion processes and show how to resum a large part of the leading logarithms in the jet veto scale. Our resummation improves on previous analyses which also aim to include the effects of multiple soft gluon radiation. In addition we calculate the interference between weak boson fusion and gluon-gluon fusion and find that it is small.Comment: 15 pages and 5 figure

A note on the universality of the Hagedorn behavior of pp-wave strings

Following on from recent studies of string theory on a one-parameter family of integrable deformations of $AdS_{5}\times S^{5}$ proposed by Lunin and Maldacena, we carry out a systematic analysis of the high temperature properties of type IIB strings on the associated pp-wave geometries. In particular, through the computation of the thermal partition function and free energy we find that not only does the theory exhibit a Hagedorn transition in both the $(J,0,0)$ and $(J,J,J)$ class of pp-waves, but that the Hagedorn temperature is insensitive to the deformation suggesting an interesting universality in the high temperature behaviour of the pp-wave string theory. We comment also on the implications of this universality on the confinement/deconfinement transition in the dual $\mathcal{N}=1$ Leigh-Strassler deformation of ${\cal N}=4$ Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 25 pages; fixed minor typo; added reference

Deformed PP-waves from the Lunin-Maldacena Background

In this article we study a pp-wave limit of the Lunin-Maldacena background. We show that the relevant string theory background is a homogeneous pp-wave. We obtain the string spectrum. The dual field theory is a deformation of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We have shown that, for a class of operators, at O(g_{YM}^2) and at leading order in N, all contributions to the anomalous dimension come from F-terms. We are able to identify the operator in the deformed super Yang-Mills which is dual to the lowest string mode. By studying the undeformed theory we are able to provide some evidence, directly in the field theory, that a small set of nearly protected operators decouple. We make some comments on operators in the Yang-Mills theory that are dual to excited string modes.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure; Final version to appear in JHE

Microstructure and Phase Formation in a Rapidly Solidified Laser-Deposited Ni-Cr-B-Si-C Hardfacing Alloy

In this study, microstructural evolutions and phase selection phenomena during laser deposition of a hardfacing Ni-Cr-B-Si-C alloy at different processing conditions are experimentally investigated. The results show that even minor variations in the thermal conditions during solidification can modify the type and morphology of the phases. Higher undercoolings obtained at faster cooling rates suppressed the primary borides and encouraged floret-shape mixtures of Ni and Cr5B3 via a metastable reaction. Variations in the boride phases are discussed in terms of nucleation-and growth-controlled phase selection mechanisms. These selection processes also influenced the nature and proportion of the Ni-B-Si eutectics by changing the amount of the boron available for the final eutectic reactions. The results of this work emphasize the importance of controlling the cooling rate during deposition of these industrially important alloys using laser beam or other rapid solidification techniques. (C) The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 201

International evaluation of the psychometrics of health-related quality of life questionnaires for use among long-term survivors of testicular and prostate cancer

Background: Understanding of the physical, functional and psychosocial health problems and needs of cancer survivors requires cross-national and cross-cultural standardization of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires that capture the full range of issues relevant to cancer survivors. To our knowledge, only one study has investigated in a comprehensive way whether a questionnaire used to evaluate HRQoL in cancer patients under active treatment is also reliable and valid when used among (long-term) cancer survivors. In this study we evaluated, in an international context, the psychometrics of HRQoL questionnaires for use among long-term, disease-free, survivors of testicular and prostate cancer. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited long-term survivors of testicular and prostate cancer from Northern and Southern Europe and from the United Kingdom who had participated in two phase III EORTC clinical trials. Participants completed the SF-36 Health Survey, the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, the QLQ-PR25 (for prostate cancer) or the QLQ-TC26 (for testicular cancer) questionnaires, and the Impact of Cancer questionnaire. Testicular cancer survivors also completed subscales from the Nordic Questionnaire for Monitoring the Age Diverse Workforce. Results: Two hundred forty-two men (66% response rate) were recruited into the study. The average time since treatment was more than 10 years. Overall, there were few missing questionnaire data, although scales related to sexuality, satisfaction with care and relationship concern

Southern Ocean Action Plan (2021-2030) in support of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

In 2017, the United Nations proclaimed a Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (hereafter referred to as the UN Ocean Decade) from 2021 until 2030 to support efforts to reverse the cycle of decline in ocean health. To achieve this ambitious goal, this initiative aims to gather ocean stakeholders worldwide behind a common framework that will ensure ocean science can fully support countries in creating improved conditions for sustainable development of the world’s oceans. The initiative strives to strengthen the international cooperation needed to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of society at the global scale. Based on the recommendations in the Implementation Plan of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Version 2.0, July 2021), the Southern Ocean community engaged in a stakeholder - oriented process to develop the Southern Ocean Action Plan. The Southern Ocean process engaged a broad community, which includes the scientific research community, the business and industry sector, and governance and management bodies. As part of this global effort, the Southern Ocean Task Force identified the needs of the Southern Ocean community to address the challenges related to the unique environmental characteristics and governance structure of the Southern Ocean. Through this community-driven process, we identified synergies within the Southern Ocean community and beyond in order to elaborate an Action Plan that provides a framework for Southern Ocean stakeholders to formulate and develop tangible actions and deliverables that support the UN Ocean Decade vision. Through the publication of this Action Plan, the Southern Ocean Task Force aims to mobilise the Southern Ocean community and inspire all stakeholders to seek engagement and leverage opportunities to deliver innovative solutions that maintain and foster the unique conditions of the Southern Ocean. This framework provides an initial roadmap to strengthen links between science, industry and policy, as well as to encourage internationally collaborative activities in order to address existing gaps in our knowledge and data coverage

A phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) in the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study reveals potential pleiotropy in African Americans

We performed a hypothesis-generating phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) to identify and characterize cross-phenotype associations, where one SNP is associated with two or more phenotypes, between thousands of genetic variants assayed on the Metabochip and hundreds of phenotypes in 5,897 African Americans as part of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) I study. The PAGE I study was a National Human Genome Research Institute-funded collaboration of four study sites accessing diverse epidemiologic studies genotyped on the Metabochip, a custom genotyping chip that has dense coverage of regions in the genome previously associated with cardio- metabolic traits and outcomes in mostly European-descent populations. Here we focus on identifying novel phenome-genome relationships, where SNPs are associated with more than one phenotype. To do this, we performed a PheWAS, testing each SNP on the Metabochip for an association with up to 273 phenotypes in the participating PAGE I study sites. We identified 133 putative pleiotropic variants, defined as SNPs associated at an empirically derived p-value threshold of p<0.01 in two or more PAGE study sites for two or more phenotype classes. We further annotated these PheWAS-identified variants using publicly available functional data and local genetic ancestry. Amongst our novel findings is SPARC rs4958487, associated with increased glucose levels and hypertension. SPARC has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes and is also known to have a potential role in fibrosis, a common consequence of multiple conditions including hypertension. The SPARC example and others highlight the potential that PheWAS approaches have in improving our understanding of complex disease architecture by identifying novel relationships between genetic variants and an array of common human phenotypes

Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Sarcomas are a broad family of mesenchymal malignancies exhibiting remarkable histologic diversity. We describe the multi-platform molecular landscape of 206 adult soft tissue sarcomas representing 6 major types. Along with novel insights into the biology of individual sarcoma types, we report three overarching findings: (1) unlike most epithelial malignancies, these sarcomas (excepting synovial sarcoma) are characterized predominantly by copy-number changes, with low mutational loads and only a few genes (, , ) highly recurrently mutated across sarcoma types; (2) within sarcoma types, genomic and regulomic diversity of driver pathways defines molecular subtypes associated with patient outcome; and (3) the immune microenvironment, inferred from DNA methylation and mRNA profiles, associates with outcome and may inform clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Overall, this large-scale analysis reveals previously unappreciated sarcoma-type-specific changes in copy number, methylation, RNA, and protein, providing insights into refining sarcoma therapy and relationships to other cancer types