Light hadron spectroscopy with O(a) improved dynamical fermions

We present the first results for the static quark potential and the light hadron spectrum using dynamical fermions at $\beta=5.2$ using an O(a) improved Wilson fermion action together with the standard Wilson plaquette action for the gauge part. Sea quark masses were chosen such that the pseudoscalar-vector mass ratio, m_PS/m_V$, varies from 0.86 to 0.67. Finite-size effects are studied by using three different volumes, 8^3\cdot 24, 12^3\cdot 24 and 16^3\cdot 24. Comparing our results to previous ones obtained using the quenched approximation, we find evidence for sea quark effects in quantities like the static quark potential and the vector-pseudoscalar hyperfine splitting.Comment: 38 pages, 14 Postscript figure, LaTe

For Joan:Some letters with reverence, an honorary degree, and a dialogical tribute

In 2012, I co‐taught, with Anne‐Charlott Callerstig, a master's course module at Linköping University in Swedenentitled ‘Intersectional Gender, and Institutional and Organizational Work’. Towards the end of the course I was emailed by Donald Van Houten asking for contributions to a text to be presented at a reception on International Women's Day, 8 March 2012, at the University of Oregon, honouring Joan Acker and her remarkable career. The reception was part of the Lorwin Lecture Series on ‘Civil Rights and Civil Liberties’ and the Wayne Morse Center symposium on ‘Gender Equity and Capitalism’. To honour Joan and her legacy, I was asked to send a personal statement testifying to Joan's impact on her life and work, to be collected together in a small book. We were using some of Joan's writing as key texts on the module, so it seemed appropriate to do something collectively, and accordingly I asked the students to write short ‘letters’ to Joan. I sent off our letters, which we called ‘Some Letters Written with Reverence’; I trust Joan received them and liked them. Therefore, here in this writing for Joan there are three parts. In the first, the ‘letters’ are reproduced; the next is the edited proposal I wrote for Joan to be awarded an honorary doctorate at Hanken School of Economics, the Swedish‐language business school in Helsinki, Finland; she received the honour in 2011; and for the last part, I add an additional personal tribute and reflection from the vantage point of now, today

Comics, graphic narratives, and lesbian lives

Lesbian comics and graphic narratives have gained unprecedented cultural presence in the twenty-first century. Yet despite the surge in interest in the work of artists such as Alison Bechdel, and despite the existence of a substantial online archive about lesbian comics created by artists, readers, and collectors, relatively little critical attention has been directed to this work. The chapter begins to fill this gap. Taking the Bechdel’s work as its start-and-end point, it provides an overview of major developments in lesbian comics and contextualises them including in relation to the gendered conditions of possibility that define comics culture

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Mobile Sensors: Assessment of Fugitive Methane Emissions from Near and Far-Field Sources

<p>The primary focus of this dissertation is on the assessment of fugitive methane emissions from near and far-field sources. Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted in the United States from anthropogenic activities. Due to measurement and model limitations, there is not an accurate assessment of how much methane in the atmosphere is due to anthropogenic sources. This dissertation focuses on measuring the methane emissions from two of the three largest anthropogenic sources -- landfills and natural gas systems. All measurements are made with a single fixed or single mobile sensor. Methods are developed to assess the source strength for both near (i.e. natural gas) and far-field (i.e. landfill) sources using either the fixed or mobile sensor. </p><p> </p><p>For far-field measurements, a standardized version of a mobile tracer correlation measurement method was developed and used for assessment of methane emissions from 15 landfills in 56 field deployments from 2009 to 2013. A total of 1876 mobile tracer correlation measurement transects were attempted over 131 field sampling days. </p><p>Transects were analyzed using signal to noise ratio, plume correlation, and emission rate difference method quality indicators. The application of the method quality indicators yield 456 transects (33\%) that pass data acceptance criteria. </p><p>For near-field sources, techniques are developed for 1) fixed sensors sampling through time downwind of a source and 2) mobile sensors passing across plumes downwind of a source. For the fixed sensor, the lateral plume geometry is reconstructed from the fluctuating wind direction using a derived relationship between the wind direction and crosswind plume position. The crosswind plume spread is estimated with two different methods (modeled and observed), and subsequently used a Gaussian plume inversion to estimate the source strengths. For the fixed sensor, the sensor takes measurements for about 20 minutes and we are able to reconstruct the ensemble average of the plume. </p><p>For the mobile sensor, the vehicle drives through the plume in the crosswind direction. </p><p>The measurements show the lateral plume geometry of an instantaneous plume. The instantaneous plume has a narrowed Gaussian structure. </p><p>Two techniques are tested using data from controlled methane release experiments; these two techniques are 1) linear-squares and 2) a probabilistic approach. For the probabilistic approach, Bayesian inference tools are applied and special attention is paid to the relevant likelihood functions for both short time averaged concentrations from a single fixed sensor and spatial transects of instantaneous concentration measurements from a mobile sensor. The two techniques are also tested on measurements downwind of multiple natural gas production facilities in Wyoming for the fixed sensor and in Colorado for the moving sensor. The results for both the fixed and mobile techniques show promise for use with gas sensors on industry work trucks, opportunistically providing surveillance over a region of well pads.</p>Dissertatio