Random Walks on a Fluctuating Lattice: A Renormalization Group Approach Applied in One Dimension

We study the problem of a random walk on a lattice in which bonds connecting nearest neighbor sites open and close randomly in time, a situation often encountered in fluctuating media. We present a simple renormalization group technique to solve for the effective diffusive behavior at long times. For one-dimensional lattices we obtain better quantitative agreement with simulation data than earlier effective medium results. Our technique works in principle in any dimension, although the amount of computation required rises with dimensionality of the lattice.Comment: PostScript file including 2 figures, total 15 pages, 8 other figures obtainable by mail from D.L. Stei

Quantifying the checks and balances of collaborative governance systems for adaptive carnivore management

Recovering or threatened carnivore populations are often harvested to minimise their impact on human activities, such as livestock farming or game hunting. Increasingly, harvest quota decisions involve a set of scientific, administrative and political institutions operating at national and sub-national levels whose interactions and collective decision-making aim to increase the legitimacy of management and ensure population targets are met. In practice, however, assessments of how quota decisions change between these different actors and what consequences these changes have on population trends are rare. We combine a state-space population modelling approach with an analysis of quota decisions taken at both regional and national levels between 2007 and 2018 to build a set of decision-making models that together predict annual harvest quota values for Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Norway. We reveal a tendency for administrative decision-makers to compensate for consistent quota increases by political actors, particularly when the lynx population size estimate is above the regional target. Using population forecasts based on the ensemble of decision-making models, we show that such buffering of political biases ensures lynx population size remains close to regional and national targets in the long term. Our results go beyond the usual qualitative assessment of collaborative governance systems for carnivore management, revealing a system of checks and balances that, in the case of lynx in Norway, ensures both multi-stakeholder participation and sustainable harvest quotas. Nevertheless, we highlight important inter-regional differences in decision-making and population forecasts, the socio-ecological drivers of which need to be better understood to prevent future population declines. Synthesis and applications. Our work analyses the sequence of decisions leading to yearly quotas for lynx harvest in Norway, highlighting the collaborative and structural processes that together shape harvest sustainability. In doing so, we provide a predictive framework to evaluate participatory decision-making processes in wildlife management, paving the way for scientists and decision-makers to collaborate more widely in identifying where decision biases might lie and how institutional arrangements can be optimised to minimise them. We emphasise, however, that this is only possible if wildlife management decisions are documented and transparent

Political institutions and debt crises

This paper shows that political institutions matter in explaining defaults on external and domestic debt obligations. We explore a large number of political and macroeconomic variables using a non-parametric technique to predict safety from default. The advantage of this technique is that it is able to identify patterns in the data that are not captured in standard probit analysis. We find that political factors matter, and do so in different ways for democratic and non-democratic regimes, and for domestic and external debt. In democracies, a parliamentary system or sufficient checks and balances almost guarantee the absence of default on external debt when economic fundamentals or liquidity are sufficiently strong. In dictatorships, high stability and tenure play a similar role for default on domestic debt

Disordered ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: A case study of Fermi-Bose mixtures

We present a review of properties of ultracold atomic Fermi-Bose mixtures in inhomogeneous and random optical lattices. In the strong interacting limit and at very low temperatures, fermions form, together with bosons or bosonic holes, {\it composite fermions}. Composite fermions behave as a spinless interacting Fermi gas, and in the presence of local disorder they interact via random couplings and feel effective random local potential. This opens a wide variety of possibilities of realizing various kinds of ultracold quantum disordered systems. In this paper we review these possibilities, discuss the accessible quantum disordered phases, and methods for their detection. The discussed quantum phases include Fermi glasses, quantum spin glasses, "dirty" superfluids, disordered metallic phases, and phases involving quantum percolation.Comment: 29 pages and 11 figure

European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) on-site inspection forms for forensic pathology, anthropology, odontology, genetics, entomology and toxicology for forensic and medico-legal scene and corpse investigation: the Parma form

Further to a previous publication by the European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) concerning on-site forensic and medico-legal scene and corpse investigation, this publication provides guidance for forensic medical specialists, pathologists and, where present, coroners’ activity at a scene of death inspection and to harmonize the procedures for a correct search, detection, collection, sampling and storage of all elements which may be useful as evidence, and ensure documentation of all these steps. This ECLM’s inspection form provides a checklist to be used on-site for the investigation of a corpse present at a crime or suspicious death scene. It permits the collection of all relevant data not only for the pathologist, but also for forensic anthropologists, odontologists, geneticists, entomologists and toxicologists, thus supporting a collaborative work approach. Detailed instructions for the completion of forms are provided

Salmon Mortalities at Inver Bay and McSwyne’s Bay Finfish farms, County Donegal, Ireland, during 2003

This report details the investigations into a major mortality of farmed salmon at Inver Bay and McSwyne’s Bay, Co. Donegal in July 2003. Previous reports were provided on 29th July 2003 and on 11th August 2003. The information is based upon analysis and research by MI scientists, a review of environmental data, survey reports by external consultants, inputs from veterinary practitioners who visited the site, reports from DCMNR staff in Killybegs, and site visits made by DCMNR / MI inspectors. Following a review meeting of the principal investigators on the 9th October, 2003, MI proceeded to carry out further scientific investigations. DCMNR also commissioned Kirk McClure Morton Consulting Engineers (KMM) to carry out a parallel investigation of the mortalities at Inver Bay and McSwynes Bay salmon farms. MI provided support as required to the KMM study, the report for which was furnished to DCMNR and MI on 11 February 2004. (KMM, 2004) MI wishes to acknowledge the high level of co-operation and assistance that it received from the owners and staff of Creevin Fish Farm Ltd, Eany Fish Products Ltd and Ocean Farms Ltd. It also wishes to acknowledge the assistance of veterinary practitioners, DCMNR staff and others in the course of this investigation.Funder: Marine Institut

A phase I study of intravenous liposomal daunorubicin (DaunoXome) in paediatric patients with relapsed or resistant solid tumours

Anthracyclines are widely used in paediatric oncology, but their use is limited by the risk of cumulative cardiac toxicity. Encapsulating anthracyclines in liposomes may reduce cardiac toxicity and possibly increase drug availability to tumours. A phase I study in paediatric patients was designed to establish the dose limiting toxicity (DLT) and maximum tolerated dose (MTD) after a single course of liposomal daunorubicin, ‘DaunoXome', as a 1 h infusion on day 1 of a 21 day cycle. Patients were stratified into two groups according to prior treatment: Group A (conventional) and group B (heavily pretreated patients). Dose limiting toxicity was expected to be haematological, and a two-step escalation was planned, with and without G-CSF support. Pharmacokinetic studies were carried out in parallel. In all, 48 patients aged from 1 to 18 years were treated. Dose limiting toxicity was neutropenia for both groups. Maximum tolerated dose was defined as 155 mg m−2 for Group A and 100 mg m−2 for Group B. The second phase with G-CSF was interrupted because of evidence of cumulative cardiac toxicity. Cardiac toxicity was reported in a total of 15 patients in this study. DaunoXome shares the early cardiotoxicity of conventional anthracyclines in paediatric oncology. This study has successfully defined a haematological MTD for DaunoXome, but the significance of this is limited given the concerns of delayed cardiac toxicity. The importance of longer-term follow-up in patients enrolled into phase I studies has been underestimated previously, and may lead to an under-recognition of important adverse events

Quantifying the checks and balances of collaborative governance systems for adaptive carnivore management

1. Recovering or threatened carnivore populations are often harvested to minimise their impact on human activities, such as livestock farming or game hunting. Increasingly, harvest quota decisions involve a set of scientific, administrative and political institutions operating at national and sub-national levels whose interactions and collective decision-making aim to increase the legitimacy of management and ensure population targets are met. In practice, however, assessments of how quota decisions change between these different actors and what consequences these changes have on population trends are rare. 2. We combine a state-space population modelling approach with an analysis of quota decisions taken at both regional and national levels between 2007 and 2018 to build a set of decision-making models that together predict annual harvest quota values for Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Norway. 3. We reveal a tendency for administrative decision-makers to compensate for consistent quota increases by political actors, particularly when the lynx population size estimate is above the regional target. Using population forecasts based on the ensemble of decision-making models, we show that such buffering of political biases ensures lynx population size remains close to regional and national targets in the long term. 4. Our results go beyond the usual qualitative assessment of collaborative governance systems for carnivore management, revealing a system of checks and balances that, in the case of lynx in Norway, ensures both multi-stakeholder participation and sustainable harvest quotas. Nevertheless, we highlight important inter-regional differences in decision-making and population forecasts, the socio-ecological drivers of which need to be better understood to prevent future population declines. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our work analyses the sequence of decisions leading to yearly quotas for lynx harvest in Norway, highlighting the collaborative and structural processes that together shape harvest sustainability. In doing so, we provide a predictive framework to evaluate participatory decision-making processes in wildlife management, paving the way for scientists and decision-makers to collaborate more widely in identifying where decision biases might lie and how institutional arrangements can be optimised to minimise them. We emphasise, however, that this is only possible if wildlife management decisions are documented and transparent

Is Pretenure Interdisciplinary Research a Career Risk?

Despite initiatives to promote interdisciplinary research, early-career academics continue to perceive professional risks to working at the interface between traditional disciplines. Unexpectedly, the inherent practical challenges of interdisciplinary scholarship, such as new methodologies and lexicons, are not the chief source of the perceived risk. The perception of risk is pervasive across disciplines, and it persists despite efforts to support career development for individuals with common interests [Mitchell and Weiler, 2011]. Suggestions that interdisciplinary work can go unrewarded in academia [Clark et al., 2011] foster a concern that targeting interdisciplinary questions, such as those presented by climate change, will pose problems for acquiring and succeeding in a tenure-track position. If self-preservation limits the questions posed by early-career academics, a perceived career risk is as damaging as a real one to new transdisciplinary initiatives. Thus, institutions should address the source of this perception whether real or specious

Efficient Identification of Critical Residues Based Only on Protein Structure by Network Analysis

Despite the increasing number of published protein structures, and the fact that each protein's function relies on its three-dimensional structure, there is limited access to automatic programs used for the identification of critical residues from the protein structure, compared with those based on protein sequence. Here we present a new algorithm based on network analysis applied exclusively on protein structures to identify critical residues. Our results show that this method identifies critical residues for protein function with high reliability and improves automatic sequence-based approaches and previous network-based approaches. The reliability of the method depends on the conformational diversity screened for the protein of interest. We have designed a web site to give access to this software at http://bis.ifc.unam.mx/jamming/. In summary, a new method is presented that relates critical residues for protein function with the most traversed residues in networks derived from protein structures. A unique feature of the method is the inclusion of the conformational diversity of proteins in the prediction, thus reproducing a basic feature of the structure/function relationship of proteins