| 1. |
- Schael, S, et al.
(författare)
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Precision electroweak measurements on the Z resonance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Physics Reports. - : Elsevier BV. - 0370-1573 .- 1873-6270. ; 427:5-6, s. 257-454
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report on the final electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the Z resonance by the experiments operating at the electron-positron colliders SLC and LEP. The data consist of 17 million Z decays accumulated by the ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL experiments at LEP, and 600 thousand Z decays by the SLID experiment using a polarised beam at SLC. The measurements include cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries and polarised asymmetries. The mass and width of the Z boson, m(Z) and Gamma(Z), and its couplings to fermions, for example the p parameter and the effective electroweak mixing angle for leptons, are precisely measured: m(Z) = 91.1875 +/- 0.0021 GeV, Gamma(Z) = 2.4952 +/- 0.0023 GeV, rho(l) = 1.0050 +/- 0.0010, sin(2)theta(eff)(lept) = 0.23153 +/- 0.00016. The number of light neutrino species is determined to be 2.9840 +/- 0.0082, in agreement with the three observed generations of fundamental fermions. The results are compared to the predictions of the Standard Model (SM). At the Z-pole, electroweak radiative corrections beyond the running of the QED and QCD coupling constants are observed with a significance of five standard deviations, and in agreement with the Standard Model. Of the many Z-pole measurements, the forward-backward asymmetry in b-quark production shows the largest difference with respect to its SM expectation, at the level of 2.8 standard deviations. Through radiative corrections evaluated in the framework of the Standard Model, the Z-pole data are also used to predict the mass of the top quark, m(t) = 173(+10)(+13) GeV, and the mass of the W boson, m(W) = 80.363 +/- 0.032 GeV. These indirect constraints are compared to the direct measurements, providing a stringent test of the SM. Using in addition the direct measurements of m(t) and m(W), the mass of the as yet unobserved SM Higgs boson is predicted with a relative uncertainty of about 50% and found to be less than 285 GeV at 95% confidence level. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Power, M. J., et al.
(författare)
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Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum : an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data
- 2008
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Ingår i: Climate Dynamics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0930-7575 .- 1432-0894. ; 30:7-8, s. 887-907
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to ∼11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from ∼19,000 to ∼17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ∼13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to ∼3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load.
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| 3. |
- Meyer, H., et al.
(författare)
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Overview of physics results from MAST
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 49:10, s. 104017-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several improvements to the MAST plant and diagnostics have facilitated new studies advancing the physics basis for ITER and DEMO, as well as for future spherical tokamaks (STs). Using the increased heating capabilities P-NBI <= 3.8 MW H-mode at I-P = 1.2 MA was accessed showing that the energy confinement on MAST scales more weakly with I-P and more strongly with B-t than in the ITER IPB98(y, 2) scaling. Measurements of the fuel retention of shallow pellets extrapolate to an ITER particle throughput of 70% of its original designed total throughput capacity. The anomalous momentum diffusion, chi(phi), is linked to the ion diffusion, chi(i), with a Prandtl number close to P-phi approximate to chi(phi)/chi(i) approximate to 1, although chi(i) approaches neoclassical values. New high spatial resolution measurements of the edge radial electric field, E-r, show that the position of steepest gradients in electron pressure and E-r (i.e. shearing rate) are coincident, but their magnitudes are not linked. The T-e pedestal width on MAST scales with root beta(ped)(pol) rather than rho(pol). The edge localized mode (ELM) frequency for type-IV ELMs, new in MAST, was almost doubled using n = 2 resonant magnetic perturbations from a set of four external coils (n = 1, 2). A new internal 12 coil set (n <= 3) has been commissioned. The filaments in the inter-ELM and L-mode phase are different from ELM filaments, and the characteristics in L-mode agree well with turbulence calculations. A variety of fast particle driven instabilities were studied from 10 kHz saturated fishbone like activity up to 3.8 MHz compressional Alfven eigenmodes. Fast particle instabilities also affect the off-axis NBI current drive, leading to fast ion diffusion of the order of 0.5 m(2) s(-1) and a reduction in the driven current fraction from 40% to 30%. EBW current drive start-up is demonstrated for the first time in a ST generating plasma currents up to 55 kA. Many of these studies contributed to the physics basis of a planned upgrade to MAST.
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| 4. |
- Lloyd, B., et al.
(författare)
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Overview of physics results from MAST
- 2007
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 47:10, s. S658-S667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Substantial advances have been made on the Mega AmpÚre Spherical Tokamak (MAST). The parameter range of the MAST confinement database has been extended and it now also includes pellet-fuelled discharges. Good pellet retention has been observed in H-mode discharges without triggering an ELM or an H/L transition during peripheral ablation of low speed pellets. Co-ordinated studies on MAST and DIII-D demonstrate a strong link between the aspect ratio and the beta scaling of H-mode energy confinement, consistent with that obtained when MAST data were merged with a subset of the ITPA database. Electron and ion ITBs are readily formed and their evolution has been investigated. Electron and ion thermal diffusivities have been reduced to values close to the ion neoclassical level. Error field correction coils have been used to determine the locked mode threshold scaling which is comparable to that in conventional aspect ratio tokamaks. The impact of plasma rotation on sawteeth has been investigated and the results have been well-modelled using the MISHKA-F code. Alfvén cascades have been observed in discharges with reversed magnetic shear. Measurements during off-axis NBCD and heating are consistent with classical fast ion modelling and indicate efficient heating and significant driven current. Central electron Bernstein wave heating has been observed via the O-X-B mode conversion process in special magnetically compressed plasmas. Plasmas with low pedestal collisionality have been established and further insight has been gained into the characteristics of filamentary structures at the plasma edge. Complex behaviour of the divertor power loading during plasma disruptions has been revealed by high resolution infra-red measurements.
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| 5. |
- Ng, M Y M, et al.
(författare)
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Meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide linkage studies of schizophrenia
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular Psychiatry. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1359-4184 .- 1476-5578. ; 14:8, s. 774-785
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A genome scan meta-analysis (GSMA) was carried out on 32 independent genome-wide linkage scan analyses that included 3255 pedigrees with 7413 genotyped cases affected with schizophrenia (SCZ) or related disorders. The primary GSMA divided the autosomes into 120 bins, rank-ordered the bins within each study according to the most positive linkage result in each bin, summed these ranks (weighted for study size) for each bin across studies and determined the empirical probability of a given summed rank (P(SR)) by simulation. Suggestive evidence for linkage was observed in two single bins, on chromosomes 5q (142-168 Mb) and 2q (103-134 Mb). Genome-wide evidence for linkage was detected on chromosome 2q (119-152 Mb) when bin boundaries were shifted to the middle of the previous bins. The primary analysis met empirical criteria for 'aggregate' genome-wide significance, indicating that some or all of 10 bins are likely to contain loci linked to SCZ, including regions of chromosomes 1, 2q, 3q, 4q, 5q, 8p and 10q. In a secondary analysis of 22 studies of European-ancestry samples, suggestive evidence for linkage was observed on chromosome 8p (16-33 Mb). Although the newer genome-wide association methodology has greater power to detect weak associations to single common DNA sequence variants, linkage analysis can detect diverse genetic effects that segregate in families, including multiple rare variants within one locus or several weakly associated loci in the same region. Therefore, the regions supported by this meta-analysis deserve close attention in future studies.
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| 6. |
- Duggan, D., et al.
(författare)
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Two genome-wide association studies of aggressive prostate cancer implicate putative prostate tumor suppressor gene DAB2IP
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 99:24, s. 1836-1844
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The consistent finding of a genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer suggests that there are germline sequence variants predisposing individuals to this disease. These variants could be useful in screening and treatment. Methods: We performed an exploratory genome-wide association scan in 498 men with aggressive prostate cancer and 494 control subjects selected from a population-based case-control study in Sweden. We combined the results of this scan with those for aggressive prostate cancer from the publicly available Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) Study. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that showed statistically significant associations with the risk of aggressive prostate cancer based on two-sided allele tests were tested for their association with aggressive prostate cancer in two independent study populations composed of individuals of European or African American descent using one-sided tests and the genetic model (dominant or additive) associated with the lowest value in the exploratory study. Results: Among the approximately 60000 SNPs that were common to our study and CGEMS, we identified seven that had a similar (positive or negative) and statistically significant (P<.01) association with the risk of aggressive prostate cancer in both studies. Analysis of the distribution of these SNPs among 1032 prostate cancer patients and 571 control subjects of European descent indicated that one, rs1571801, located in the DAB2IP gene, which encodes a novel Ras GTPase-activating protein and putative prostate tumor suppressor, was associated with aggressive prostate cancer (one-sided P value =. 004). The association was also statistically significant in an African American study population that included 210 prostate cancer patients and 346 control subjects (one-sided P value =. 02). Conclusion: A genetic variant in DAB2IP may be associated with the risk of aggressive prostate cancer and should be evaluated further.
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| 7. |
- Green, J. A., et al.
(författare)
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The 6-GHz multibeam maser survey-I. Techniques
- 2009
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Ingår i: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 392:2, s. 783-794
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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