General Gauge Mediation at the Weak Scale

We completely characterize General Gauge Mediation (GGM) at the weak scale by solving all IR constraints over the full parameter space. This is made possible through a combination of numerical and analytical methods, based on a set of algebraic relations among the IR soft masses derived from the GGM boundary conditions in the UV. We show how tensions between just a few constraints determine the boundaries of the parameter space: electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB), the Higgs mass, slepton tachyons, and left-handed stop/sbottom tachyons. While these constraints allow the left-handed squarks to be arbitrarily light, they place strong lower bounds on all of the right-handed squarks. Meanwhile, light EW superpartners are generic throughout much of the parameter space. This is especially the case at lower messenger scales, where a positive threshold correction to $m_h$ coming from light Higgsinos and winos is essential in order to satisfy the Higgs mass constraint.Comment: 43 pages, 20 figures, mathematica package included in the sourc

A probabilistic analysis of argument cogency

This paper offers a probabilistic treatment of the conditions for argument cogency as endorsed in informal logic: acceptability, relevance, and sufficiency. Treating a natural language argument as a reason-claim-complex, our analysis identifies content features of defeasible argument on which the RSA conditions depend, namely: change in the commitment to the reason, the reason’s sensitivity and selectivity to the claim, one’s prior commitment to the claim, and the contextually determined thresholds of acceptability for reasons and for claims. Results contrast with, and may indeed serve to correct, the informal understanding and applications of the RSA criteria concerning their conceptual dependence, their function as update-thresholds, and their status as obligatory rather than permissive norms, but also show how these formal and informal normative approachs can in fact align

The central image of a gravitationally lensed quasar

A galaxy can act as a gravitational lens, producing multiple images of a background object. Theory predicts there should be an odd number of images but, paradoxically, almost all observed lenses have 2 or 4 images. The missing image should be faint and appear near the galaxy's center. These ``central images'' have long been sought as probes of galactic cores too distant to resolve with ordinary observations. There are five candidates, but in one case the third image is not necessarily a central image, and in the others, the central component might be a foreground source rather than a lensed image. Here we report the most secure identification of a central image, based on radio observations of PMN J1632-0033, one of the latter candidates. Lens models incorporating the central image show that the mass of the lens galaxy's central black hole is less than 2 x 10^8 M_sun, and the galaxy's surface density at the location of the central image is more than 20,000 M_sun per square parsec, in agreement with expectations based on observations of galaxies hundreds of times closer to the Earth.Comment: Nature, in press [7 pp, 2 figs]. Standard media embargo applies before publicatio

High-level production of animal-free recombinant transferrin from saccharomyces cerevisiae

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Animal-free recombinant proteins provide a safe and effective alternative to tissue or serum-derived products for both therapeutic and biomanufacturing applications. While recombinant insulin and albumin already exist to replace their human counterparts in cell culture media, until recently there has been no equivalent for serum transferrin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The first microbial system for the high-level secretion of a recombinant transferrin (rTf) has been developed from <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>strains originally engineered for the commercial production of recombinant human albumin (Novozymes' Recombumin^®USP-NF) and albumin fusion proteins (Novozymes' albufuse^®). A full-length non-N-linked glycosylated rTf was secreted at levels around ten-fold higher than from commonly used laboratory strains. Modification of the yeast 2 μm-based expression vector to allow overexpression of the ER chaperone, protein disulphide isomerase, further increased the secretion of rTf approximately twelve-fold in high cell density fermentation. The rTf produced was functionally equivalent to plasma-derived transferrin.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>expression system has enabled the cGMP manufacture of an animal-free rTf for industrial cell culture application without the risk of prion and viral contamination, and provides a high-quality platform for the development of transferrin-based therapeutics.</p

World health system performance revisited: the impact of varying the relative importance of health system goals

BACKGROUND: In 2002, the World Health Organization published a health system performance ranking for 191 member countries. The ranking was based on five indicators, with fixed weights common to all countries. METHODS: We investigate the feasibility and desirability of using mathematical programming techniques that allow weights to vary across countries to reflect their varying circumstances and objectives. RESULTS: By global distributional measures, scores and ranks are found to be not very sensitive to changes in weights, although differences can be large for individual countries. CONCLUSIONS: Building the flexibility of variable weights into calculation of the performance index is a useful way to respond to the debates and criticisms appearing since publication of the ranking

A Lagrangian scheme for the solution of nonlinear diffusion equations using moving simplex meshes

A Lagrangian numerical scheme for solving nonlinear degenerate Fokker{Planck equations in space dimensions d>2 is presented. It applies to a large class of nonlinear diffusion equations, whose dynamics are driven by internal energies and given external potentials, e.g. the porous medium equation and the fast diffusion equation. The key ingredient in our approach is the gradient ow structure of the dynamics. For discretization of the Lagrangian map, we use a finite subspace of linear maps in space and a variational form of the implicit Euler method in time. Thanks to that time discretisation, the fully discrete solution inherits energy estimates from the original gradient ow, and these lead to weak compactness of the trajectories in the continuous limit. Consistency is analyzed in the planar situation, d = 2. A variety of numerical experiments for the porous medium equation indicates that the scheme is well-adapted to track the growth of the solution's support

Fast algorithms for automatic mapping with space-limited covariance functions

In this paper we discuss a fast Bayesian extension to kriging algorithms which has been used successfully for fast, automatic mapping in emergency conditions in the Spatial Interpolation Comparison 2004 (SIC2004) exercise. The application of kriging to automatic mapping raises several issues such as robustness, scalability, speed and parameter estimation. Various ad-hoc solutions have been proposed and used extensively but they lack a sound theoretical basis. In this paper we show how observations can be projected onto a representative subset of the data, without losing significant information. This allows the complexity of the algorithm to grow as O(n m 2), where n is the total number of observations and m is the size of the subset of the observations retained for prediction. The main contribution of this paper is to further extend this projective method through the application of space-limited covariance functions, which can be used as an alternative to the commonly used covariance models. In many real world applications the correlation between observations essentially vanishes beyond a certain separation distance. Thus it makes sense to use a covariance model that encompasses this belief since this leads to sparse covariance matrices for which optimised sparse matrix techniques can be used. In the presence of extreme values we show that space-limited covariance functions offer an additional benefit, they maintain the smoothness locally but at the same time lead to a more robust, and compact, global model. We show the performance of this technique coupled with the sparse extension to the kriging algorithm on synthetic data and outline a number of computational benefits such an approach brings. To test the relevance to automatic mapping we apply the method to the data used in a recent comparison of interpolation techniques (SIC2004) to map the levels of background ambient gamma radiation. © Springer-Verlag 2007

Suizidprävention: Vorgehensweisen und Wirksamkeit

According to official statistics every year 11,000 persons in Germany die from suicide. 20 years ago nearly 19,000 suicides were registered. What are the causes for this decrease? Do suicide preventive measures contribute to the reduction of suicide rates? Different universal prevention strategies ( e. g. restriction of access to means) and selective approaches ( programs for special high-risk groups; e. g. patients after attempted suicide) are presented and discussed regarding their preventive value. In most cases it is hardly possible to scientifically prove the efficacy of suicide prevention strategies. Neither the role of psychosocial interventions nor the impact of psychotropic agents can be sufficiently quantified. Due to various methodological reasons ( e. g. small sample sizes and the lack of randomization), interpretation of the data is difficult. In terms of a comprehensive approach of suicide prevention a combination of different activities should be most adequate in the long run

A systematic review on health resilience to economic crises

Background The health effects of recent economic crises differ markedly by population group. The objective of this systematic review is to examine evidence from longitudinal studies on factors influencing resilience for any health outcome or health behaviour among the general population living in countries exposed to financial crises. Methods We systematically reviewed studies from six electronic databases (EMBASE, Global Health, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science) which used quantitative longitudinal study designs and included: (i) exposure to an economic crisis; (ii) changes in health outcomes/behaviours over time; (iii) statistical tests of associations of health risk and/or protective factors with health outcomes/behaviours. The quality of the selected studies was appraised using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. PRISMA reporting guidelines were followed. Results From 14,584 retrieved records, 22 studies met the eligibility criteria. These studies were conducted across 10 countries in Asia, Europe and North America over the past two decades. Ten socio-demographic factors that increased or protected against health risk were identified: gender, age, education, marital status, household size, employment/occupation, income/ financial constraints, personal beliefs, health status, area of residence, and social relations. These studies addressed physical health, mortality, suicide and suicide attempts, mental health, and health behaviours. Women’s mental health appeared more susceptible to crises than men’s. Lower income levels were associated with greater increases in cardiovascular disease, mortality and worse mental health. Employment status was associated with changes in mental health. Associations with age, marital status, and education were less consistent, although higher education was associated with healthier behaviours. Conclusions Despite widespread rhetoric about the importance of resilience, there was a dearth of studies which operationalised resilience factors. Future conceptual and empirical research is needed to develop the epidemiology of resilience