On slip pulses at a sheared frictional viscoelastic/ non deformable interface

We study the possibility for a semi-infinite block of linear viscoelastic material, in homogeneous frictional contact with a non-deformable one, to slide under shear via a periodic set of ``self-healing pulses'', i.e. a set of drifting slip regions separated by stick ones. We show that, contrary to existing experimental indications, such a mode of frictional sliding is impossible for an interface obeying a simple local Coulomb law of solid friction. We then discuss possible physical improvements of the friction model which might open the possibility of such dynamics, among which slip weakening of the friction coefficient, and stress the interest of developing systematic experimental investigations of this question.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures. submitted to PR

Thermal Conductivity of Isotopically Enriched 28Si Revisited

The thermal conductivity of isotopically enriched 28Si (enrichment better than 99.9%) was redetermined independently in three laboratories by high precision experiments on a total of 4 samples of different shape and degree of isotope enrichment in the range from 5 to 300 K with particular emphasis on the range near room temperature. The results obtained in the different laboratories are in good agreement with each other. They indicate that at room temperature the thermal conductivity of isotopically enriched 28Si exceeds the thermal conductivity of Si with a natural, unmodified isotope mixture by 102 %. This finding is in disagreement with an earlier report by Ruf et al. At 26 K the thermal conductivity of 28Si reaches a maximum. The maximum value depends on sample shape and the degree of isotope enrichment and exceeds the thermal conductivity of natural Si by a factor of 8 for a 99.982% 28Si enriched sample. The thermal conductivity of Si with natural isotope composition is consistently found to be 3% lower than the values recommended in the literature

The Framework for Assessing Changes To Sea-level (FACTS) v1.0: a platform for characterizing parametric and structural uncertainty in future global, relative, and extreme sea-level change

Future sea-level rise projections are characterized by both quantifiable uncertainty and unquantifiable structural uncertainty. Thorough scientific assessment of sea-level rise projections requires analysis of both dimensions of uncertainty. Probabilistic sea-level rise projections evaluate the quantifiable dimension of uncertainty; comparison of alternative probabilistic methods provides an indication of structural uncertainty. Here we describe the Framework for Assessing Changes To Sea-level (FACTS), a modular platform for characterizing different probability distributions for the drivers of sea-level change and their consequences for global mean, regional, and extreme sea-level change. We demonstrate its application by generating seven alternative probability distributions under multiple emissions scenarios for both future global mean sea-level change and future relative and extreme sea-level change at New York City. These distributions, closely aligned with those presented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report, emphasize the role of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets as drivers of structural uncertainty in sea-level change projections

Hypertensive conditions of pregnancy, preterm birth, and premenopausal breast cancer risk: a premenopausal breast cancer collaborative group analysis

Purpose: Women with preeclampsia are more likely to deliver preterm. Reports of inverse associations between preeclampsia and breast cancer risk, and positive associations between preterm birth and breast cancer risk are difficult to reconcile. We investigated the co-occurrence of preeclampsia/gestational hypertension with preterm birth and breast cancer risk using data from the Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaborative Group. Methods: Across 6 cohorts, 3096 premenopausal breast cancers were diagnosed among 184,866 parous women. We estimated multivariable hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for premenopausal breast cancer risk using Cox proportional hazards regression. Results: Overall, preterm birth was not associated (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.92, 1.14), and preeclampsia was inversely associated (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.76, 0.99), with premenopausal breast cancer risk. In stratified analyses using data from 3 cohorts, preterm birth associations with breast cancer risk were modified by hypertensive conditions in first pregnancies (P-interaction = 0.09). Preterm birth was positively associated with premenopausal breast cancer in strata of women with preeclampsia or gestational hypertension (HR 1.52, 95% CI: 1.06, 2.18), but not among women with normotensive pregnancy (HR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.28). When stratified by preterm birth, the inverse association with preeclampsia was more apparent, but not statistically different (P-interaction = 0.2), among women who did not deliver preterm (HR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.68, 1.00) than those who did (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 0.73, 1.56). Conclusion: Findings support an overall inverse association of preeclampsia history with premenopausal breast cancer risk. Estimates for preterm birth and breast cancer may vary according to other conditions of pregnancy

Dairy foods, calcium, and risk of breast cancer overall and for subtypes defined by estrogen receptor status: a pooled analysis of 21 cohort studies

Background: Epidemiologic studies examining the relations between dairy product and calcium intakes and breast cancer have been inconclusive, especially for tumor subtypes. Objective: To evaluate the associations between intakes of specific dairy products and calcium and risk of breast cancer overall and for subtypes defined by estrogen receptor (ER) status. Method: We pooled the individual-level data of over 1 million women who were followed for a maximum of 8-20 years across studies. Associations were evaluated for dairy product and calcium intakes and risk of incident invasive breast cancer overall (n = 37,861 cases) and by subtypes defined by ER status. Study-specific multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated and then combined using random-effects models. Results: Overall, no clear association was observed between the consumption of specific dairy foods, dietary (from foods only) calcium, and total (from foods and supplements) calcium, and risk of overall breast cancer. Although each dairy product showed a null or very weak inverse association with risk of overall breast cancer (P, test for trend >0.05 for all), differences by ER status were suggested for yogurt and cottage/ricotta cheese with associations observed for ER-negative tumors only (pooled HR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.83, 0.98 comparing >= 60 g/d with = 25 g/d with Conclusion: Our study shows that adult dairy or calcium consumption is unlikely to associate with a higher risk of breast cancer and that higher yogurt and cottage/ricotta cheese intakes were inversely associated with the risk of ER-negative breast cancer, a less hormonally dependent subtype with poor prognosis. Future studies on fermented dairy products, earlier life exposures, ER-negative breast cancer, and different racial/ethnic populations may further elucidate the relation

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes

In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (F-ROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that F-ROH is significantly associated (p <0.0005) with apparently deleterious changes in 32 out of 100 traits analysed. These changes are associated with runs of homozygosity (ROH), but not with common variant homozygosity, suggesting that genetic variants associated with inbreeding depression are predominantly rare. The effect on fertility is striking: F-ROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44-66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of F-ROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in F-ROH is independent of all environmental confounding.Peer reviewe

Searches for invisible decays of the Higgs boson in pp collisions at root S=7, 8, and 13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe