5,258 research outputs found
Rights-based reasoning in discussions about lesbian and gay issues: implications for moral educators
Despite a paucity of psychological research exploring the interface between lesbian and gay issues and human rights, a human rights framework has been widely adopted in debates to gain equality for lesbians and gay men. Given this prominence within political discourse of human rights as a framework for the promotion of positive social change for lesbians and gay men, the aim of this study was to explore the extent to which rights-based arguments are employed when talking about lesbian and gay issues in a social context. An analysis of six focus group discussions with students showed that when lesbian and gay issues are discussed, rights-based reasoning is employed intermittently, and in relation to certain issues more so than others. The implications of these findings for moral education aimed at promoting positive social change for lesbians and gay men are discussed.</p
Comparison of bulk milk antibody and youngstock serology screens for determining herd status for Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus
BACKGROUND: This paper examines the use of Bulk Milk antibody (BM Ab), Youngstock (YS) serology (Check Tests) and Bulk Milk PCR (BM PCR) for determining the presence or absence of animals persistently infected (PI) with Bovine Viral Diarrhoea Virus (BVDV) within a herd. Data is presented from 26 herds where average herd sizes were 343 and 98 animals for dairy and beef units respectively. Seventeen herds had sufficient data to analyse using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) and probability curves enabling calculation of the sensitivity and specificity of BM Ab and YS Check tests for determining the presence of PI animals within herds in this dataset. RESULTS: Using BM Ab to screen a herd for the presence of PI animals, achieved a herd level sensitivity and specificity of 80.00 % (44.39–97.48 %) and 85.71 % (42.13–99.64 %) respectively (95 % confidence intervals quoted). Sensitivity and specificity of YS Check Tests at a cut off of 3/10 Ab positive YS were 81.82 % (48.22–97.72 %) and 66.67 % (22.28–95.67 %) respectively (95 % confidence interval). These results were achieved by comparing the screening tests to whole herd PI searches that took place 1–19 months after the initial screen with a mean interval of 8 months. Removal of this delay by taking BM samples on the day of a whole herd test and simulating a YS Check Test from the herd test data produced improvements in the reliability of the Check Tests. BM Ab sensitivity and specificity remained unchanged. However, the Check Test sensitivity and specificity improved to 90.9 % (58.72–99.77 %) and 100 % (54.07–100 %) respectively (95 % confidence interval) at a cut of off 2.5/10 Ab positive animals. Our limited BM PCR results identified 5/23 dairy farms with a positive BM PCR result; two contained milking PIs, two had non-milking PIs and another had no PIs identified. CONCLUSIONS: Delaying a PI search following an initial herd screen decreased the diagnostic accuracy and relevance of our results. With careful interpretation, longitudinal surveillance using a combination of the techniques discussed can successfully determine farm status and therefore allow changes in BVDV status to be detected early, thus enabling prompt action in the event of a BVDV incursion
Double Parton Scattering Singularity in One-Loop Integrals
We present a detailed study of the double parton scattering (DPS)
singularity, which is a specific type of Landau singularity that can occur in
certain one-loop graphs in theories with massless particles. A simple formula
for the DPS singular part of a four-point diagram with arbitrary
internal/external particles is derived in terms of the transverse momentum
integral of a product of light cone wavefunctions with tree-level matrix
elements. This is used to reproduce and explain some results for DPS
singularities in box integrals that have been obtained using traditional loop
integration techniques. The formula can be straightforwardly generalised to
calculate the DPS singularity in loops with an arbitrary number of external
particles. We use the generalised version to explain why the specific MHV and
NMHV six-photon amplitudes often studied by the NLO multileg community are not
divergent at the DPS singular point, and point out that whilst all NMHV
amplitudes are always finite, certain MHV amplitudes do contain a DPS
divergence. It is shown that our framework for calculating DPS divergences in
loop diagrams is entirely consistent with the `two-parton GPD' framework of
Diehl and Schafer for calculating proton-proton DPS cross sections, but is
inconsistent with the `double PDF' framework of Snigirev.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Minor corrections and clarifications added.
Version accepted for publication in JHE
MINLO: Multi-scale improved NLO
In the present work we consider the assignment of the factorization and
renormalization scales in hadron collider processes with associated jet
production, at next-to-leading order (NLO) in perturbation theory. We propose a
simple, definite prescription to this end, including Sudakov form factors to
consistently account for the distinct kinematic scales occuring in such
collisions. The scheme yields results that are accurate at NLO and, for a large
class of observables, it resums to all orders the large logarithms that arise
from kinematic configurations involving disparate scales. In practical terms
the method is most simply understood as an NLO extension of the matrix element
reweighting procedure employed in tree level matrix element-parton shower
merging algorithms. By way of a proof-of-concept, we apply the method to Higgs
and Z boson production in association with up to two jets.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figure
Single Cut Integration
We present an analytic technique for evaluating single cuts for one-loop
integrands, where exactly one propagator is taken to be on shell. Our method
extends the double-cut integration formalism of one-loop amplitudes to the
single-cut case. We argue that single cuts give meaningful information about
amplitudes when taken at the integrand level. We discuss applications to the
computation of tadpole coefficients.Comment: v2: corrected typo in abstrac
HIGGS PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE SUPERSYMMETRIC MODEL WITH A GAUGE SINGLET
We discuss the Higgs sector of the supersymmetric standard model extended by
a gauge singlet for the range of parameters, which is compatible with universal
soft supersymmetry breaking terms at the GUT scale. We present results for the
masses, couplings and decay properties of the lightest Higgs bosons, in
particular with regard to Higgs boson searches at LEP. The prospects differ
significantly from the ones within the MSSM.Comment: 12 pages (Plain Tex), 7 fig
Central Exclusive Production in QCD
We investigate the theoretical description of the central exclusive
production process, h1+h2 -> h1+X+h2. Taking Higgs production as an example, we
sum logarithmically enhanced corrections appearing in the perturbation series
to all orders in the strong coupling. Our results agree with those originally
presented by Khoze, Martin and Ryskin except that the scale appearing in the
Sudakov factor, mu=0.62 \sqrt{\hat{s}}, should be replaced with
mu=\sqrt{\hat{s}}, where \sqrt{\hat{s}} is the invariant mass of the centrally
produced system. We confirm this result using a fixed-order calculation and
show that the replacement leads to approximately a factor 2 suppression in the
cross-section for central system masses in the range 100-500 GeV.Comment: 41 pages, 19 figures; minor typos fixed; version published in JHE
Arginase strongly impairs neuronal nitric oxide-mediated airway smooth muscle relaxation in allergic asthma
BACKGROUND: Using guinea pig tracheal preparations, we have recently shown that endogenous arginase activity attenuates inhibitory nonadrenergic noncholinergic (iNANC) nerve-mediated airway smooth muscle relaxation by reducing nitric oxide (NO) production – due to competition with neuronal NO-synthase (nNOS) for the common substrate, L-arginine. Furthermore, in a guinea pig model of allergic asthma, airway arginase activity is markedly increased after the early asthmatic reaction (EAR), leading to deficiency of agonist-induced, epithelium-derived NO and subsequent airway hyperreactivity. In this study, we investigated whether increased arginase activity after the EAR affects iNANC nerve-derived NO production and airway smooth muscle relaxation. METHODS: Electrical field stimulation (EFS; 150 mA, 4 ms, 4 s, 0.5 – 16 Hz)-induced relaxation was measured in tracheal open-ring preparations precontracted to 30% with histamine in the presence of 1 μM atropine and 3 μM indomethacin. The contribution of NO to EFS-induced relaxation was assessed by the nonselective NOS inhibitor N(ω)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA, 100 μM), while the involvement of arginase activity in the regulation of EFS-induced NO production and relaxation was investigated by the effect of the specific arginase inhibitor N(ω)-hydroxy-nor-L-arginine (nor-NOHA, 10 μM). Furthermore, the role of substrate availability to nNOS was measured in the presence of exogenous L-arginine (5.0 mM). RESULTS: At 6 h after ovalbumin-challenge (after the EAR), EFS-induced relaxation (ranging from 3.2 ± 1.1% at 0.5 Hz to 58.5 ± 2.2% at 16 Hz) was significantly decreased compared to unchallenged controls (7.1 ± 0.8% to 75.8 ± 0.7%; P < 0.05 all). In contrast to unchallenged controls, the NOS inhibitor L-NNA did not affect EFS-induced relaxation after allergen challenge, indicating that NO deficiency underlies the impaired relaxation. Remarkably, the specific arginase inhibitor nor-NOHA normalized the impaired relaxation to unchallenged control (P < 0.05 all), which effect was inhibited by L-NNA (P < 0.01 all). Moreover, the effect of nor-NOHA was mimicked by exogenous L-arginine. CONCLUSION: The results clearly demonstrate that increased arginase activity after the allergen-induced EAR contributes to a deficiency of iNANC nerve-derived NO and decreased airway smooth muscle relaxation, presumably via increased substrate competition with nNOS
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