Ten-Dimensional Super-Twistors and Super-Yang-Mills

Four-dimensional super-twistors provide a compact covariant description of on-shell N=4 d=4 super-Yang-Mills. In this paper, ten-dimensional super-twistors are introduced which similarly provide a compact covariant description of on-shell d=10 super-Yang-Mills. The super-twistor variables are Z=(lambda^alpha, mu_alpha, Gamma^m) where lambda^alpha and mu_alpha are constrained bosonic d=10 spinors and Gamma^m is a constrained fermionic d=10 vector. The Penrose map relates the twistor superfield Phi(Z) with the d=10 super-Yang-Mills vertex operator lambda^alpha A_alpha(x,theta) which appears in the pure spinor formalism of the superstring, and the cubic super-Yang-Mills amplitude is proportional to the super-twistor integral \int dZ Phi_1 Phi_2 Phi_3.Comment: 14 pages harvmac, added short clarificatio

Solvothermal Synthesis of Ternary Sulfides of Sb2 − xBixS3(x = 0.4, 1) with 3D Flower-Like Architectures

Flower-like nanostructures of Sb2 − xBixS3(x = 0.4, 1.0) were successfully prepared using both antimony diethyldithiocarbamate [Sb(DDTC)3] and bismuth diethyldithiocarbamate [Bi(DDTC)3] as precursors under solvothermal conditions at 180 °C. The prepared Sb2 − xBixS3 with flower-like 3D architectures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The flower-like architectures, with an average diameter of ~4 μm, were composed of single-crystalline nanorods with orthorhombic structures. The optical absorption properties of the Sb2 − xBixS3 nanostructures were investigated by UV–Visible spectroscopy, and the results indicate that the Sb2 − xBixS3 compounds are semiconducting with direct band gaps of 1.32 and 1.30 eV for x = 0.4 and 1.0, respectively. On the basis of the experimental results, a possible growth mechanism for the flower-like Sb2 − xBixS3 nanostructures is suggested

Molecular characterization of Vibrio cholerae outbreak strains with altered El Tor biotype from southern India

Forty-four Vibrio cholerae isolates collected over a 7-month period in Chennai, India in 2004 were characterized for gene traits, antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic fingerprints. All 44 isolates were identified as O1 El Tor Ogawa, positive for various toxigenic and pathogenic genes viz. ace, ctxB, hlyA, ompU, ompW, rfbO1, rtx, tcpA, toxR and zot. Nucleotide sequencing revealed the presence of cholera toxin B of classical biotype in all the El Tor isolates, suggesting infection of isolates by classical CTXΦ. Antibiogram analysis showed a broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance that was also confirmed by the presence of resistant genes in the genomes. All isolates contained a class 1 integron and an SXT constin. However, isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol and tested negative for the chloramphenicol resistant gene suggesting a deletion in SXT constin. Fingerprinting analysis of isolates by ERIC- and Box PCR revealed similar DNA patterns indicating the clonal dissemination of a single predominant V. cholerae O1 strain throughout the 2004 outbreak in Chennai

Can bounded and self-interested agents be teammates? Application to planning in ad hoc teams

Planning for ad hoc teamwork is challenging because it involves agents collaborating without any prior coordination or communication. The focus is on principled methods for a single agent to cooperate with others. This motivates investigating the ad hoc teamwork problem in the context of self-interested decision-making frameworks. Agents engaged in individual decision making in multiagent settings face the task of having to reason about other agents’ actions, which may in turn involve reasoning about others. An established approximation that operationalizes this approach is to bound the infinite nesting from below by introducing level 0 models. For the purposes of this study, individual, self-interested decision making in multiagent settings is modeled using interactive dynamic influence diagrams (I-DID). These are graphical models with the benefit that they naturally offer a factored representation of the problem, allowing agents to ascribe dynamic models to others and reason about them. We demonstrate that an implication of bounded, finitely-nested reasoning by a self-interested agent is that we may not obtain optimal team solutions in cooperative settings, if it is part of a team. We address this limitation by including models at level 0 whose solutions involve reinforcement learning. We show how the learning is integrated into planning in the context of I-DIDs. This facilitates optimal teammate behavior, and we demonstrate its applicability to ad hoc teamwork on several problem domains and configurations

Graphene Photonics and Optoelectronics

The richness of optical and electronic properties of graphene attracts enormous interest. Graphene has high mobility and optical transparency, in addition to flexibility, robustness and environmental stability. So far, the main focus has been on fundamental physics and electronic devices. However, we believe its true potential to be in photonics and optoelectronics, where the combination of its unique optical and electronic properties can be fully exploited, even in the absence of a bandgap, and the linear dispersion of the Dirac electrons enables ultra-wide-band tunability. The rise of graphene in photonics and optoelectronics is shown by several recent results, ranging from solar cells and light emitting devices, to touch screens, photodetectors and ultrafast lasers. Here we review the state of the art in this emerging field.Comment: Review Nature Photonics, in pres

Thermodynamics, gravitational anomalies and cones

By studying the Euclidean partition function on a cone, we argue that pure and mixed gravitational anomalies generate a "Casimir momentum" which manifests itself as parity violating coefficients in the hydrodynamic stress tensor and charge current. The coefficients generated by these anomalies enter at a lower order in the hydrodynamic gradient expansion than would be naively expected. In 1+1 dimensions, the gravitational anomaly affects coefficients at zeroth order in the gradient expansion. The mixed anomaly in 3+1 dimensions controls the value of coefficients at first order in the gradient expansion.Comment: 37 page

Antipsychotic drug use and community-acquired pneumonia

Antipsychotics are generally distinguished as atypical and typical agents, which are indicated in the treatment of acute and chronic psychoses and other psy

Whole Genome PCR Scanning Reveals the Syntenic Genome Structure of Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae Strains in the O1/O139 Population

Vibrio cholerae is commonly found in estuarine water systems. Toxigenic O1 and O139 V. cholerae strains have caused cholera epidemics and pandemics, whereas the nontoxigenic strains within these serogroups only occasionally lead to disease. To understand the differences in the genome and clonality between the toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of V. cholerae serogroups O1 and O139, we employed a whole genome PCR scanning (WGPScanning) method, an rrn operon-mediated fragment rearrangement analysis and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to analyze the genome structure of different strains. WGPScanning in conjunction with CGH revealed that the genomic contents of the toxigenic strains were conservative, except for a few indels located mainly in mobile elements. Minor nucleotide variation in orthologous genes appeared to be the major difference between the toxigenic strains. rrn operon-mediated rearrangements were infrequent in El Tor toxigenic strains tested using I-CeuI digested pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis and PCR analysis based on flanking sequence of rrn operons. Using these methods, we found that the genomic structures of toxigenic El Tor and O139 strains were syntenic. The nontoxigenic strains exhibited more extensive sequence variations, but toxin coregulated pilus positive (TCP+) strains had a similar structure. TCP+ nontoxigenic strains could be subdivided into multiple lineages according to the TCP type, suggesting the existence of complex intermediates in the evolution of toxigenic strains. The data indicate that toxigenic O1 El Tor and O139 strains were derived from a single lineage of intermediates from complex clones in the environment. The nontoxigenic strains with non-El Tor type TCP may yet evolve into new epidemic clones after attaining toxigenic attributes

New Antenatal Model in Africa and India (NAMAI) study: implementation research to improve antenatal care using WHO recommendations

Background: In 2020, an estimated 287 000 women died globally from pregnancy‐related causes and 2 million babies were stillborn. Many of these outcomes can be prevented by quality healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth. Within the continuum of maternal health, antenatal care (ANC) is a key moment in terms of contact with the health system, yet it remains an underutilized platform. This paper describes the protocol for a study conducted in collaboration with Ministries of Health and country research partners that aims to employ implementation science to systematically introduce and test the applicability of the adapted WHO ANC package in selected sites across four countries. Methods: Study design is a mixed methods stepped-wedge cluster randomized implementation trial with a nested cohort component (in India and Burkina Faso). The intervention is composed of two layers: (i) the country- (or state)-specific ANC package, including evidence-based interventions to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes, and (ii) the co-interventions (or implementation strategies) to help delivery and uptake of the adapted ANC package. Using COM-B model, co-interventions support behaviour change among health workers and pregnant women by (1) training health workers on the adapted ANC package and ultrasound (except in India), (2) providing supplies, (3) conducting mentoring and supervision and (4) implementing community mobilization strategies. In Rwanda and Zambia, a fifth strategy includes a digital health intervention. Qualitative data will be gathered from health workers, women and their families, to gauge acceptability of the adapted ANC package and its components, as well as experience of care. The implementation of the adapted ANC package of interventions, and their related costs, will be documented to understand to what extent the co-interventions were performed as intended, allowing for iteration. Discussion: Results from this study aim to build the global evidence base on how to implement quality ANC across different settings and inform pathways to scale, which will ultimately lead to stronger health systems with better maternal and perinatal outcomes. On the basis of the study results, governments will be able to adopt and plan for national scale-up, aiming to improve ANC nationally. This evidence will inform global guidance. Trial registration number: ISRCTN, ISRCTN16610902. Registered 27 May 2022. https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN16610902