In silico identification and characterisation of 17 polymorphic anonymous non-coding sequence markers (ANMs) for red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica)

Peer reviewedPostprin

Variations for Some Painlev\'e Equations

This paper first discusses irreducibility of a Painlev\'e equation $P$. We explain how the Painlev\'e property is helpful for the computation of special classical and algebraic solutions. As in a paper of Morales-Ruiz we associate an autonomous Hamiltonian $\mathbb{H}$ to a Painlev\'e equation $P$. Complete integrability of $\mathbb{H}$ is shown to imply that all solutions to $P$ are classical (which includes algebraic), so in particular $P$ is solvable by ''quadratures''. Next, we show that the variational equation of $P$ at a given algebraic solution coincides with the normal variational equation of $\mathbb{H}$ at the corresponding solution. Finally, we test the Morales-Ramis theorem in all cases $P_{2}$ to $P_{5}$ where algebraic solutions are present, by showing how our results lead to a quick computation of the component of the identity of the differential Galois group for the first two variational equations. As expected there are no cases where this group is commutative

The Wheel of Business Model Reinvention: How to Reshape Your Business Model and Organizational Fitness to Leapfrog Competitors

In today's rapidly changing business landscapes, new sources of sustainable competitive advantage can often only be attained from business model reinvention, based on disruptive innovation and not incremental change or continuous improvement. Extant literature indicates that business models and their reinvention have recently been the focus of scholarly investigations in the field of strategic management, especially focusing on the search for new bases of building strategic competitive advantage, not only to outperform competitors but to especially leapfrog them into new areas of competitive advantage. While the available results indicate that progress is being made on clarifying the nature and key dimensions of business models, relatively little guidance of how to reshape business models and its organizational fitness dimensions have emerged. This article presents a systemic framework for business model reinvention, illustrates its key dimensions, and proposes a systemic operationalization process. Moreover, it provides a tool that helps organizations to evaluate both existing and proposed new business models.

Geoids in General Relativity: Geoid Quasilocal Frames

We develop, in the context of general relativity, the notion of a geoid -- a surface of constant "gravitational potential". In particular, we show how this idea naturally emerges as a specific choice of a previously proposed, more general and operationally useful construction called a quasilocal frame -- that is, a choice of a two-parameter family of timelike worldlines comprising the worldtube boundary of the history of a finite spatial volume. We study the geometric properties of these geoid quasilocal frames, and construct solutions for them in some simple spacetimes. We then compare these results -- focusing on the computationally tractable scenario of a non-rotating body with a quadrupole perturbation -- against their counterparts in Newtonian gravity (the setting for current applications of the geoid), and we compute general-relativistic corrections to some measurable geometric quantities.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures; v2: reference added; v3: introduction clarified, reference adde

Identification and characterisation of 17 polymorphic candidate genes for response to parasitic nematode (Trichostrongylus tenuis) infection in red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica)

Acknowledgements This study was funded by a BBSRC studentship (MA Wenzel) and NERC Grants NE/H00775X/1 and NE/D000602/1 (SB Piertney). We are grateful to Jacob Hoglund for providing willow grouse samples, Mario Roder, Keliya Bai, Marianne James, Matt Oliver, Gill Murray-Dickson, Francois Mougeot and Jesus Martınez-Padilla for help with fieldwork, and all grouse estate factors, owners and keepers, most particularly Alistair Mitchell, Shaila Rao, Christopher Murphy, Richard Cooke and Fred Taylor, for providing access to estate game larders.Peer reviewedPostprin

Gravitational Waves from Preheating in M-flation

Matrix inflation, or M-flation, is a string theory motivated inflationary model with three scalar field matrices and gauge fields in the adjoint representation of the $\mathbf{U}(N)$ gauge group. One of these $3N^2$ scalars appears as the effective inflaton while the rest of the fields (scalar and gauge fields) can play the role of isocurvature fields during inflation and preheat fields afterwards. There is a region in parameter space and initial field values, "the hilltop region," where predictions of the model are quite compatible with the recent Planck data. We show that in this hilltop region, if the inflaton ends up in the supersymmetric vacuum, the model can have an embedded preheating mechanism. Couplings of the preheat modes are related to the inflaton self-couplings and therefore are known from the CMB data. Through lattice simulations performed using a symplectic integrator, we numerically compute the power spectra of gravitational waves produced during the preheating stage following M-flation. The preliminary numerical simulation of the spectrum from multi-preheat fields peaks in the GHz band with an amplitude $\Omega_{\mathrm{gw}}h^{2} \propto 10^{-16}$, suggesting that the model has concrete predictions for the ultra-high frequency gravity-wave probes. This signature could be used to distinguish the model from rival inflationary modelsComment: v1:27 pages and 7 figures; v2: typos corrected; v3: references added; v4: matched the JCAP versio

Use of depot medroxyprogesterone acetate and fracture risk

Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), which has a high rate of use among teenagers in Europe and the United States, has been associated with impaired bone mineral acquisition during adolescence and accelerated bone loss in later life. Studies on the association between DMPA use and fracture risk are limited.; We aimed at evaluating the relationship between use of hormonal contraceptives, specifically DMPA, and fracture risk.; We conducted a case-control analysis using the United Kingdom-based General Practice Research Database.; Participants were females aged 20-44 yr with an incident fracture diagnosis between 1995 and 2008.; Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of incident fracture in relation to exposure to DMPA or combined oral contraceptives were assessed. Adjustments were made for smoking, body mass index, and additional potential confounders.; We identified 17,527 incident fracture cases and 70,130 control patients (DMPA exposure: 11 and 8%, respectively). Compared with nonuse, current use of one to two, three to nine, or 10 or more DMPA prescriptions yielded adjusted OR for fractures of 1.18 (95% CI = 0.93-1.49), 1.36 (95% CI = 1.15-1.60), and 1.54 (95% CI = 1.33-1.78), respectively. Fracture risk was highest after longer treatment duration (<2-3 yr), and there was no difference in patients below and above the age of 30 yr. For users of combined estrogen-containing oral contraceptives, the OR were around 1.; This population-based study suggests that use of DMPA is associated with a slightly increased risk of fractures