Ising cubes with enhanced surface couplings

Using Monte Carlo techniques, Ising cubes with ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions and enhanced couplings between surface spins are studied. In particular, at the surface transition, the corner magnetization shows non-universal, coupling-dependent critical behavior in the thermodynamic limit. Results on the critical exponent of the corner magnetization are compared to previous findings on two-dimensional Ising models with three intersecting defect lines.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures included, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Impacts of labour on interactions between economics and animal welfare in extensive sheep farms

This study quantified interactions between animal welfare and farm profitability in British extensive sheep farming systems. Qualitative welfare assessment methodology was used to assess welfare from the animal's perspective in 20 commercial extensive sheep farms and to estimate labour demand for welfare, based on the assessed welfare scores using data collected from farm inventories. The estimated labour demand was then used as a coefficient in a linear program based model to establish the gross margin maximising farm management strategy for given farm situations, subject to constraints that reflected current resource limitations including labour supply. Regression analysis showed a significant relationship between the qualitative welfare assessment scores and labour supply on the inventoried farms but there was no significant relationship between current gross margin and assessed welfare scores. However, to meet the labour demand of the best welfare score, a reduction in flock size and in the average maximum farm gross margin was often required. These findings supported the hypothesis that trade-offs between animal welfare and farm profitability are necessary in providing maximum animal welfare via on-farm labour and sustainable British extensive sheep farming systems.Sheep, Labour, Animal Welfare, Linear Programme, Livestock Production/Industries, C6, Q10, Q19, Q57,

Cleaved TMEM106B forms amyloid aggregates in central and peripheral nervous systems

Filaments made of residues 120-254 of transmembrane protein 106B (TMEM106B) form in an age-dependent manner and can be extracted from the brains of neurologically normal individuals and those of subjects with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. TMEM106B filament formation requires cleavage at residue 120 of the 274 amino acid protein; at present, it is not known if residues 255-274 form the fuzzy coat of TMEM106B filaments. Here we show that a second cleavage appears likely, based on staining with an antibody raised against residues 263-274 of TMEM106B. We also show that besides the brain TMEM106B inclusions form in dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord, where they were mostly found in non-neuronal cells. We confirm that in the brain, inclusions were most abundant in astrocytes. No inclusions were detected in heart, liver, spleen or hilar lymph nodes. Based on their staining with luminescent conjugated oligothiophenes, we confirm that TMEM106B inclusions are amyloids. By in situ immunoelectron microscopy, TMEM106B assemblies were often found in structures resembling endosomes and lysosomes.</p

The bulk correlation length and the range of thermodynamic Casimir forces at Bose-Einstein condensation

The relation between the bulk correlation length and the decay length of thermodynamic Casimir forces is investigated microscopically in two three-dimensional systems undergoing Bose-Einstein condensation: the perfect Bose gas and the imperfect mean-field Bose gas. For each of these systems, both lengths diverge upon approaching the corresponding condensation point from the one-phase side, and are proportional to each other. We determine the proportionality factors and discuss their dependence on the boundary conditions. The values of the corresponding critical exponents for the decay length and the correlation length are the same, equal to 1/2 for the perfect gas, and 1 for the imperfect gas

2d Stringy Black Holes and Varying Constants

Motivated by the recent interest on models with varying constants and whether black hole physics can constrain such theories, two-dimensional charged stringy black holes are considered. We exploit the role of two-dimensional stringy black holes as toy models for exploring paradoxes which may lead to constrains on a theory. A two-dimensional charged stringy black hole is investigated in two different settings. Firstly, the two-dimensional black hole is treated as an isolated object and secondly, it is contained in a thermal environment. In both cases, it is shown that the temperature and the entropy of the two-dimensional charged stringy black hole are decreased when its electric charge is increased in time. By piecing together our results and previous ones, we conclude that in the context of black hole thermodynamics one cannot derive any model independent constraints for the varying constants. Therefore, it seems that there aren't any varying constant theories that are out of favor with black hole thermodynamics.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, to appear in JHE

Learning from text-based close call data

A key feature of big data is the variety of data sources that are available; which include not just numerical data but also image or video data or even free text. The GB railways collects a large volume of free text data daily from railway workers describing close call hazard reports: instances where an accident could have – but did not – occur. These close call reports contain valuable safety information which could be useful in managing safety on the railway, but which can be lost in the very large volume of data – much larger than is viable for a human analyst to read. This paper describes the application of rudimentary natural language processing (NLP) techniques to uncover safety information from close calls. The analysis has proven that basic information extraction is possible using the rudimentary techniques, but has also identified some limitations that arise using only basic techniques. Using these findings further research in this area intends to look at how the techniques that have been proven to date can be improved with the use of more advanced NLP techniques coupled with machine-learning

Global embeddings of scalar-tensor theories in (2+1)-dimensions

We obtain (3+3)- or (3+2)-dimensional global flat embeddings of four uncharged and charged scalar-tensor theories with the parameters B or L in the (2+1)-dimensions, which are the non-trivially modified versions of the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black holes. The limiting cases B=0 or L=0 exactly are reduced to the Global Embedding Minkowski Space (GEMS) solution of the BTZ black holes.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure

Seasonal development and pathological changes associated with the parasitic nematode Philometroides sanguineus in wild crucian carp Carassius carassius (L.) in England

Pathological changes associated with the parasitic nematode Philometroides sanguineus (Rudolphi, 1819) are described for the first time from observations of infections in wild crucian carp Carassius carassius (L.) in England. The damage caused by P. sanguineus was influenced strongly by host size, parasite development and the seasonal migrations of female nematodes within host tissues. Male and unfertilized female nematodes located on the swim-bladder wall caused only minor, localized changes. In contrast, the migration of gravid female nematodes into the fins during autumn provoked an acute inflammatory response comprising neutrophils, eosinophils and lymphocytes. This was accompanied by fin distortion, swelling of the dorsal and caudal tissues, degenerative changes and localized oedema. The encapsulation of female nematodes in connective tissue throughout winter limited additional tissue damage. The emergence of gravid nematodes from the fins in spring to facilitate larval dispersal caused necrosis, hyperplasia and loss of skin integrity. This activity was again accompanied by acute inflammatory reactions. Pathological changes were more severe in crucian carp measuring less than 60 mm in length, with no signs of debilitation in larger fish. These observations suggest that any impact of P. sanguineus is strictly seasonal and may be limited to fry. Lesions caused by this parasite, only recently recorded in Britain, may represent an additional pressure upon wild crucian carp populations already threatened by hybridization, competition and habitat loss

Binding Energy of Charged Excitons in ZnSe-based Quantum Wells

Excitons and charged excitons (trions) are investigated in ZnSe-based quantum well structures with (Zn,Be,Mg)Se and (Zn,Mg)(S,Se) barriers by means of magneto-optical spectroscopy. Binding energies of negatively () and positively (X+) charged excitons are measured as functions of quantum well width, free carrier density and in external magnetic fields up to 47 T. The binding energy of shows a strong increase from 1.4 to 8.9 meV with decreasing quantum well width from 190 to 29 A. The binding energies of X+ are about 25% smaller than the binding energy in the same structures. The magnetic field behavior of and X+ binding energies differ qualitatively. With growing magnetic field strength, increases its binding energy by 35-150%, while for X+ it decreases by 25%. Zeeman spin splittings and oscillator strengths of excitons and trions are measured and discussed

Comparing the efficacy, safety, and utility of intensive insulin algorithms for a primary care practice

Diabetes management is firmly based within the primary care community. Landmark randomized, controlled trials have demonstrated that even modest reductions in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) can yield improvements in economic and medical end-points. Diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease associated with loss of pancreatic β-cell function. Therefore, most patients will eventually require insulin therapies in order to achieve their individualized targeted HbA1c as their β-cell function and mass wanes. Although clinicians understand the importance of early insulin initiation, there is little agreement as to when to introduce insulin as a therapeutic option. Once initiated, questions remain as to whether to allow the patients to self-titrate their dose or whether the dosing should be tightly regulated by the clinician. Physicians have many evidence-based basal insulin protocols from which to choose, all of which have been shown to drive HbA1c levels to the American Diabetes Association target of ≤7%. This article will discuss ways by which insulin therapies can be effectively introduced to patients within busy primary care practices. Published evidence-based basal insulin protocols will be evaluated for safety and efficacy