Intermittency on catalysts

The present paper provides an overview of results obtained in four recent papers by the authors. These papers address the problem of intermittency for the Parabolic Anderson Model in a \emph{time-dependent random medium}, describing the evolution of a ``reactant'' in the presence of a ``catalyst''. Three examples of catalysts are considered: (1) independent simple random walks; (2) symmetric exclusion process; (3) symmetric voter model. The focus is on the annealed Lyapunov exponents, i.e., the exponential growth rates of the successive moments of the reactant. It turns out that these exponents exhibit an interesting dependence on the dimension and on the diffusion constant.Comment: 11 pages, invited paper to appear in a Festschrift in honour of Heinrich von Weizs\"acker, on the occasion of his 60th birthday, to be published by Cambridge University Pres

Intermittency on catalysts: three-dimensional simple symmetric exclusion

We continue our study of intermittency for the parabolic Anderson model $\partial u/\partial t = \kappa\Delta u + \xi u$ in a space-time random medium $\xi$, where $\kappa$ is a positive diffusion constant, $\Delta$ is the lattice Laplacian on $\Z^d$, $d \geq 1$, and $\xi$ is a simple symmetric exclusion process on $\Z^d$ in Bernoulli equilibrium. This model describes the evolution of a \emph{reactant} $u$ under the influence of a \emph{catalyst} $\xi$. In G\"artner, den Hollander and Maillard (2007) we investigated the behavior of the annealed Lyapunov exponents, i.e., the exponential growth rates as $t\to\infty$ of the successive moments of the solution $u$. This led to an almost complete picture of intermittency as a function of $d$ and $\kappa$. In the present paper we finish our study by focussing on the asymptotics of the Lyaponov exponents as $\kappa\to\infty$ in the \emph{critical} dimension $d=3$, which was left open in G\"artner, den Hollander and Maillard (2007) and which is the most challenging. We show that, interestingly, this asymptotics is characterized not only by a \emph{Green} term, as in $d\geq 4$, but also by a \emph{polaron} term. The presence of the latter implies intermittency of \emph{all} orders above a finite threshold for $\kappa$.Comment: 38 page

Observations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect at high angular resolution towards the galaxy clusters A665, A2163 and CL0016+16

We report on the first observation of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with the Diabolo experiment at the IRAM 30 metre telescope. A significant brightness decrement is detected in the direction of three clusters (Abell 665, Abell 2163 and CL0016+16). With a 30 arcsecond beam and 3 arcminute beamthrow, this is the highest angular resolution observation to date of the SZ effect.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables, accepted to New Astronom

A solid-reagent dispenser for use in the azocoll protease assay (and other insoluble substrate analyses).

A solid-reagent dispenser for use in the azocoll protease assay (and other insoluble substrate analyses)

“Harry Potter and the Multitudinous Maladies”: a retrospective population-based observational study of morbidity and mortality among witches and wizards

OBJECTIVES To describe the prevalence of maladies and deaths among witches and wizards in the Harry Potter world, their causes, and associated therapies. DESIGN Retrospective population-based observational study (report analysis) undertaken 10 February - 19 March 2022. SETTING All locations described in the Harry Potter books, predominantly Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but also selected locations, including Privet Drive No 4, Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, and The Burrow. PARTICIPANTS All witches and wizards mentioned at least once in any of the seven Harry Potter books. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Overall numbers of maladies and deaths. Secondary outcomes were changes in morbidity and mortality over time, causes of morbidity and mortality, and treatments. RESULTS A total of 603 wizards or witches named in the Potter books experienced 1541 maladies and injuries (1410 non-fatal) and 131 deaths. Overall morbidity incidence was 471 events per 1000 individuals, and mortality, after adjustment for Lord Voldemort's multi-mortality, was 20.6%. The most frequent causes of morbidity were traumatic injuries during duels or fights (553 cases, 39.2%), magical objects, potions, plants, or creatures (345, 24.5%), and non-combative trauma (221, 15.7%). Most deaths were related to wizarding duels (101 of 131, 77.1%). Treatments were rarely described; the most frequent were jinxes (274, 19.4%) and potions (136, 9.6%). Hospital stays were shorter than a week for almost all non-fatal maladies (1397 of 1410, 99.1%). CONCLUSIONS Morbidity and, in particular, mortality were very high and predominantly caused by magical means. Further investigation into the safety at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is warranted. The few treatments used had high success rates; rapid recovery was the rule, and hospital stays generally brief. Efforts should be undertaken to identify the magical therapies and interventions used and to introduce these novel remedies into Muggle medicine

Harry Potter and the Multitudinous Maladies: a retrospective population-based observational study of morbidity and mortality among witches and wizards

Objectives: To describe the prevalence of maladies and deaths among witches and wizards in the Harry Potter world, their causes, and associated therapies. Design: Retrospective population-based observational study (report analysis) undertaken 10 February - 19 March 2022. Setting: All locations described in the Harry Potter books, predominantly Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but also selected locations, including Privet Drive No 4, Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic, and The Burrow. Participants: All witches and wizards mentioned at least once in any of the seven Harry Potter books. Main outcome measures: Overall numbers of maladies and deaths. Secondary outcomes were changes in morbidity and mortality over time, causes of morbidity and mortality, and treatments. Results: A total of 603 wizards or witches named in the Potter books experienced 1541 maladies and injuries (1410 non-fatal) and 131 deaths. Overall morbidity incidence was 471 events per 1000 individuals, and mortality, after adjustment for Lord Voldemort's multi-mortality, was 20.6%. The most frequent causes of morbidity were traumatic injuries during duels or fights (553 cases, 39.2%), magical objects, potions, plants, or creatures (345, 24.5%), and non-combative trauma (221, 15.7%). Most deaths were related to wizarding duels (101 of 131, 77.1%). Treatments were rarely described;the most frequent were jinxes (274, 19.4%) and potions (136, 9.6%). Hospital stays were shorter than a week for almost all non-fatal maladies (1397 of 1410, 99.1%). Conclusions: Morbidity and, in particular, mortality were very high and predominantly caused by magical means. Further investigation into the safety at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is warranted. The few treatments used had high success rates;rapid recovery was the rule, and hospital stays generally brief. Efforts should be undertaken to identify the magical therapies and interventions used and to introduce these novel remedies into Muggle medicine

A framework for the standardisation of tropical tuna purse seine CPUE: application to the yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean

We revised the existing framework for tuna CPUE standardisation in light of the increasing literature that advocates the use of mixed effects models to account for the characteristics of logbook data. We apply the framework on yellowfin tuna (YFT) from the Indian Ocean, caught by the purse seine EU fleet (Spain and France) from 1984 to 2015. We used a comprehensive list of candidate covariates, including non- conventional covariates, and run exploratory models to assess the contribution of each covariate. Due to the large number of covariates, the lasso – least absolute shrinkage and selection operator- method was applied for data mining and model selection purposes. The results are two standardised YFT CPUE time series for the period 1984-2015, one for large fish caught in free-school related sets, and one for mainly juveniles caught in floating object related sets. Issues on the usefulness of highly aggregated data (low resolution: annual and fleet wide) is discussed along with the need for more detailed information on the use of dFADs, preferably at the level of a fishing trip.Preprin

Group status drives majority and minority integration preferences

WOS:000300955100009 (Nº de Acesso Web of Science)“Prémio Científico ISCTE-IUL 2013”This research examined preferences for national-and campus-level assimilative and pluralistic policies among Black and White students under different contexts, as majority-and minority-group members. We targeted attitudes at two universities, one where 85% of the student body is White, and another where 76% of students are Black. The results revealed that when a group constituted the majority, its members generally preferred assimilationist policies, and when a group constituted the minority, its members generally preferred pluralistic policies. The results support a functional perspective: Both majority and minority groups seek to protect and enhance their collective identities

Prognostic and therapeutic considerations of antibodies against c-ter apolipoprotein A-1 in the general population.

Autoantibodies against apolipoprotein A1 (anti-apoA1 IgGs) and its C-terminal region (cter apoA1) have emerged as an independent biomarker for cardiovascular disease. Cter apoA1 mimetic peptides were shown to reverse the deleterious anti-apoA1 IgG effects in vitro. We evaluated the association of anti-cter apoA1 IgGs with overall mortality in the general population and tested the ability of a cter apoA1 mimetic peptide to reverse the anti-apoA1 IgG-induced inflammatory response and mortality in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Anti-cter apoA1 IgGs were measured in serum samples of 6386 participants of the CoLaus study of which 5220 were followed for a median duration of 5.6 years. The primary outcome was overall mortality. The peptide inhibitory concentration 50% (IC <sub>50</sub> ) was determined in vitro on HEK-Blue-4 and RAW cells. ApoE <sup>-/-</sup> mice were exposed to 16 weeks of anti-apoA1IgG passive immunisation with and without peptide co-incubation. Anti-cter apoA1 IgGs were associated with higher interleukin 6 levels and independently predicted overall mortality; an increase of one standard deviation of anti-cter apoA1 IgG level was associated with an 18% increase in mortality risk (hazard ratio: 1.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.04-1.33; P = 0.009). The cterApoA1 analogue reversed the antibody-mediated inflammatory response with an IC <sub>50</sub> of 1 µm in vitro but did not rescue the significant anti-apoA1 IgG-induced mortality rate in vivo (69% vs. 23%, LogRank P = 0.02). Anti-cter apoA1 IgG independently predicts overall mortality in the general population. Despite being effective in vitro, our cter apoA1 analogue did not reverse the anti-apoA1 IgG-induced mortality in mice. Our data suggest that these autoantibodies are not readily treatable through cognate peptide immunomodulation