Cosmology = topology/geometry: mathematical evidence for the Holographic Principle

In August 2015 NORDITA (Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics) hosted a conference where Hawking strongly supported the conjectured relationship between string theory and quantum fields that was initiated with the holographic principle some 20 years ago by ’t Hooft, Maldacena, Susskind and Witten. We bring together results of several papers showing how mathematics can come to the party: the fundamentals of flat (even higher-dimensional) space can be derived very simply from topological properties on a surface. Specifically, Desargues, Pappus or other configurations do not have to be assumed a priori or as self-evident (a fundamental weakness of Hilbert’s work in 1899) to develop the foundations of geometry. Are black holes places where non-commutative (quantum) behaviour reigns while Euclidean (flat) space is where commutativity holds sway? So, we cannot hope to look inside a black hole unless we know how “deformable” topology is related to “flat” geometry

ICAR: endoscopic skull‐base surgery

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Bi-allelic variants in HOPS complex subunit VPS41 cause cerebellar ataxia and abnormal membrane trafficking.

Membrane trafficking is a complex, essential process in eukaryotic cells responsible for protein transport and processing. Deficiencies in vacuolar protein sorting (VPS) proteins, key regulators of trafficking, cause abnormal intracellular segregation of macromolecules and organelles and are linked to human disease. VPS proteins function as part of complexes such as the homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) tethering complex, composed of VPS11, VPS16, VPS18, VPS33A, VPS39 and VPS41. The HOPS-specific subunit VPS41 has been reported to promote viability of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease but to date has not been linked to human disease. Here, we describe five unrelated families with nine affected individuals, all carrying homozygous variants in VPS41 that we show impact protein function. All affected individuals presented with a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder consisting of cognitive impairment, cerebellar atrophy/hypoplasia, motor dysfunction with ataxia and dystonia, and nystagmus. Zebrafish disease modelling supports the involvement of VPS41 dysfunction in the disorder, indicating lysosomal dysregulation throughout the brain and providing support for cerebellar and microglial abnormalities when vps41 was mutated. This provides the first example of human disease linked to the HOPS-specific subunit VPS41 and suggests the importance of HOPS complex activity for cerebellar function

A review on regulations, current status, effects and reduction strategies of emissions for marine diesel engines

Marine diesel engines, which provide main power source for ships, mainly contribute to air pollution in ports and coastal areas. Thus there is an increasing demand on tightening the emission standards for marine diesel engines, which necessitates the research on various emission reduction strategies. This review covers emission regulations and emission factors (EFs), environmental effects and available emission reduction solutions for marine diesel engines. Not only the establishment of the emission control areas (ECAs) in the regulations but also many experiments show high concerns about the sulfur limits in fuels, sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Research results reveal that NOx emissions from marine diesel engines account for 50% of total NOx in harbors and coastal regions. Sulfur content in fuel oil is an important parameter index that determines the development direction of emission control technologies. Despites some issues, biodiesel, methanol and liquefied nature gas (LNG) play their important roles in reducing emissions as well as in replacing fossil energy, being promising fuels for marine diesel engines. Fuel-water emulsion (FWE) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are effective treatment option for NOx emissions control. Common rail fuel injection is an effective fuel injection strategy to achieve simultaneous reductions in particulate matter (PM) and NOx. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and wet scrubbing are the most mature and effective exhaust aftertreatment methods for marine diesel engines, which show 90% De-NOx efficiency and 95% De-SOx efficiency. It can be concluded that the integrated multi-pollutant treatment for ship emissions holds great promise

Kinetics of Oxidation of Aliphatic Alcohols by Potassium Dichromate in Aqueous and Micellar Media

The kinetics of oxidation of four aliphatic alcohols in acidic aqueous and micellar media were investigated. The reaction was found to be first-order with respect to both alcohol and oxidant. Pseudo-first-order kinetics were found to be perfectly applicable with ethanol, 1-propanol and 2-propanol while deviation was observed at intermediate stages of the reaction with methanol. The pseudo-first-order rate constants were found to be independent of concentration of the oxidant. The presence of TX-100 enhanced the rate of the reaction for all alcohols. Negative salt effects were observed with addition of KCl to the reaction mixture. A suitable mechanism for the reaction was suggested which agrees with the experimental findings.Keywords: Oxidation, dichromate, alcohol, pseudo-first-order, micellar effec