Highly syntenic and yet divergent: a tale of two Theilerias

The published genomic sequences of the two major host-transforming Theileria species of cattle represent a rich resource of information that has allowed novel bioinformatic and experimental studies into these important apicomplexan parasites. Since their publication in 2005, the genomes of T. annulata and T. parva have been utilised for a diverse range of applications, ranging from candidate antigen discovery to the identification of genetic markers for population analysis. This has led to advancements in the quest for a sub-unit vaccine, while providing a greater understanding of variation among parasite populations in the field. The unique ability of these Theileria species to induce host cell transformation is the subject of considerable scientific interest and the availability of full genomic sequences has provided new insights into this area of research. This article reviews the data underlying published comparative analyses, focussing on the general features of gene expression, the major Tpr/Tar multi-copy gene family and a re-examination of the predicted macroschizont secretome. Codon usage between the Theileria species is reviewed in detail, as this underpins ongoing comparative studies investigating selection at the intra- and inter-species level. The TashAT/TpshAT family of genes, conserved between T. annulata and T. parva, encodes products targeted to the host nucleus and has been implicated in contributing to the transformed bovine phenotype. Species-specific expansion and diversification at this critical locus is discussed with reference to the availability, in the near future, of genomic datasets which are based on non-transforming Theileria species

Electroweak Corrections to the Top Quark Decay

We have calculated the one-loop electroweak corrections to the decay t-> bW+, including the counterterm for the CKM matrix elements V(tb). Previous calculations used an incorrect delta V(tb) that led to a gauge dependent amplitude. However, since the contribution stemming from delta V(tb) is small, those calculations only underestimate the width by roughly one part in 10^5.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Working in the Public Interest? What must planners do differently? Critical thoughts on the state of planning

The current moment is generating huge challenges and raising significant questions about how our societies operate and the future of our cities and countryside. Economic shutdowns are bringing structural inequalities into sharp relief even as they illustrate the daunting scale of the transformations required to reduce our environmental impacts. Many pieces have already been written about how we might not just adapt to a post-Covid world but take the opportunity to build better, healthier, fairer, greener cities. Any hopes for significant change would entail fundamental shifts in the role of planning. At the same time, however, powerful property lobbies threaten a return to a business-as-usual model of development that is led not by care for people and place but the greedy hand of an ever less fettered free market. In England, this is symbolised by a new Conservative government promising to yet again radically streamline a planning system it sees as an impediment to economic recovery. Current circumstances also therefore challenge us to think more broadly about what planning and being a planner really mean in 2020. What is the purpose of planning? Do planners have the tools, resources, and capabilities to address significant societal challenges, and are they trusted to do so? What role should public authorities have and how might this interface with the logics of the market and private-sector driven development? And finally, what is the ‘public interest’ that planners often invoke as the foundation for their work, and how might it be compromised by the nature of the systems we operate in and where we work? The ESRC-funded Working in the Public Interest project has been seeking answers to these questions over the past three years. The project team from the University of Sheffield, Newcastle University and University College London has been engaging closely with contemporary planning practice in both the public and private sectors, focusing attention on what planners do all day. In depth interviews, focus groups to discuss contemporary challenges in planning, and extensive and engaged ethnography have yielded a rich set of insights into the state of planning and the nature of contemporary planning work across the UK. In this booklet we offer a series of brief overviews of key themes that this research has highlighted. Our aim here is not to offer a definition or detailed theoretical discussion of the public interest. Instead we hope to explore how various different facets of planning work are changing. At a broad level our argument is that a much wider range of issues and practices, including for example work-life balance and organisational change, need to be considered alongside issues such as professionalism and ethics when thinking about what it means to work in the public interest. In doing so we hope to stimulate broader debate within and beyond the planning profession about the nature and value of planning. We also aim to highlight a series of key questions and challenges that are shaping planners’ work and that will have significant implications for the future

The falling chain of Hopkins, Tait, Steele and Cayley

A uniform, flexible and frictionless chain falling link by link from a heap by the edge of a table falls with an acceleration $g/3$ if the motion is nonconservative, but $g/2$ if the motion is conservative, $g$ being the acceleration due to gravity. Unable to construct such a falling chain, we use instead higher-dimensional versions of it. A home camcorder is used to measure the fall of a three-dimensional version called an $xyz$-slider. After frictional effects are corrected for, its vertical falling acceleration is found to be $a_x/g = 0.328 \pm 0.004$. This result agrees with the theoretical value of $a_x/g = 1/3$ for an ideal energy-conserving $xyz$-slider.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

WIMPonium

We explore the possibility that weakly interacting dark matter can form bound states - WIMPonium. Such states are expected in a wide class of models of particle dark matter, including some limits of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We examine the conditions under which we expect bound states to occur, and use analogues of NRQCD applied to heavy quarkonia to provide estimates for their properties, including couplings to the Standard Model. We further find that it may be possible to produce WIMPonium at the LHC, and explore the properties of the WIMP that can be inferred from measurements of the WIMPonium states