Calogero-Sutherland Approach to Defect Blocks

Extended objects such as line or surface operators, interfaces or boundaries play an important role in conformal field theory. Here we propose a systematic approach to the relevant conformal blocks which are argued to coincide with the wave functions of an integrable multi-particle Calogero-Sutherland problem. This generalizes a recent observation in 1602.01858 and makes extensive mathematical results from the modern theory of multi-variable hypergeometric functions available for studies of conformal defects. Applications range from several new relations with scalar four-point blocks to a Euclidean inversion formula for defect correlators.Comment: v2: changes for clarit

Evaluation of rK39 rapid diagnostic tests for canine visceral leishmaniasis : longitudinal study and meta-analysis

Canine visceral leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease caused by the intracellular parasite Leishmania infantum. It is an important veterinary disease, and dogs are also the main animal reservoir for human infection. The disease is widespread in the Mediterranean area, and parts of Asia and South and Central America, and is potentially fatal in both dogs and humans unless treated. Diagnosis of canine infections requires serological or molecular tests. Detection of infection in dogs is important prior to treatment, and in epidemiological studies and control programmes, and a sensitive and specific rapid diagnostic test would be very useful. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have been developed, but their diagnostic performance has been reported to be variable. We evaluated the sensitivity of a RDT based on serological detection of the rK39 antigen in a cohort of naturally infected Brazilian dogs. The sensitivity of the test to detect infection was relatively low, but increased with time since infection and the severity of infection. We then carried out a meta-analysis of published studies of rK39 RDTs, evaluating the sensitivity to detect disease and infection. The results suggest that rK39 RDTs may be useful in a veterinary clinical setting, but the sensitivity to detect infection is too low for operational control programmes

Multiscale analysis of materials with anisotropic microstructure as micropolar continua

Multiscale procedures are often adopted for the continuum modeling of materials composed of a specific micro-structure. Generally, in mechanics of materials only two-scales are linked. In this work the original (fine) micro-scale description, thought as a composite material made of matrix and fibers/particles/crystals which can interact among them, and a scale-dependent continuum (coarse) macro-scale are linked via an energy equivalence criterion. In particular the multiscale strategy is proposed for deriving the constitutive relations of anisotropic composites with periodic microstructure and allows us to reduce the typically high computational cost of fully microscopic numerical analyses. At the microscopic level the material is described as a lattice system while at the macroscopic level the continuum is a micropolar continuum, whose material particles are endowed with orientation besides position. The derived constitutive relations account for shape, texture and orientation of inclusions as well as internal scale parameters, which account for size effects even in the elastic regime in the presence of geometrical and/or load singularities. Applications of this procedure concern polycrystals, wherein an important descriptor of the underlying microstructure gives the orientation of the crystal lattice of each grain, fiber reinforced composites, as well as masonry-like materials. In order to investigate the effects of micropolar constants in the presence of material non central symmetries, some numerical finite element simulations, with elements specifically formulated for micropolar media, are presented. The performed simulations, which extend several parametric analyses earlier performed [1], involve two-dimensional media, in the linear framework, subjected to compression loads distributed in a small portion of the medium