Inclusion and exclusion in the globalisation of genomics; the case of rare genetic disease in Brazil

Within the context of a globalising agenda for genetic research where 'global health' is increasingly seen as necessarily informed by and having to account for genomics, the focus on rare genetic diseases is becoming prominent. Drawing from ethnographic research carried out separately by both authors in Brazil, this paper examines how an emerging focus on two different arenas of rare genetic disease, cancer genetics and a class of degenerative neurological diseases known as Ataxias, is subject to and a product of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion as this concerns participation in research and access to health care. It examines how in these different cases 'rarenesss' has been diversely situated and differently politicised and how clinicians, patients and their families grapple with the slippery boundaries between research, rights to health and the limits of care, therapy or prevention. It illustrates how attention to rare genetic disease in Brazil emerges at the intersection of a particular history of genetic research and public health infrastructure, densely complicated feedback loops between clinical care and research, patient mobilisation around the 'judicialisation' of health and recent state legislation regarding rare disease in Brazil. It highlights the relevance of local configurations in the way rare genetic disease is being made relevant for and by different communities

Tunable Circularly Polarized Terahertz Radiation from Magnetized Gas Plasma

It is shown, by simulation and theory, that circularly or elliptically polarized terahertz radiation can be generated when a static magnetic (B) field is imposed on a gas target along the propagation direction of a two-color laser driver. The radiation frequency is determined by $\sqrt{\omega_p^2+{\omega_c^2}/{4}} + {\omega_c}/{2}$, where $\omega_p$ is the plasma frequency and $\omega_c$ is the electron cyclotron frequency. With the increase of the B field, the radiation changes from a single-cycle broadband waveform to a continuous narrow-band emission. In high-B-field cases, the radiation strength is proportional to $\omega_p^2/\omega_c$. The B field provides a tunability in the radiation frequency, spectrum width, and field strength.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Laser opacity in underdense preplasma of solid targets due to quantum electrodynamics effects

We investigate how next-generation laser pulses at 10 PW $-$ 200 PW interact with a solid target in the presence of a relativistically underdense preplasma produced by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). Laser hole boring and relativistic transparency are strongly restrained due to the generation of electron-positron pairs and $\gamma$-ray photons via quantum electrodynamics (QED) processes. A pair plasma with a density above the initial preplasma density is formed, counteracting the electron-free channel produced by the hole boring. This pair-dominated plasma can block the laser transport and trigger an avalanche-like QED cascade, efficiently transfering the laser energy to photons. This renders a 1-$\rm\mu m$-scalelength, underdense preplasma completely opaque to laser pulses at this power level. The QED-induced opacity therefore sets much higher contrast requirements for such pulse in solid-target experiments than expected by classical plasma physics. Our simulations show for example, that proton acceleration from the rear of a solid with a preplasma would be strongly impaired.Comment: 5 figure

Conditional regularity of solutions of the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations and implications for intermittency

Two unusual time-integral conditional regularity results are presented for the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. The ideas are based on $L^{2m}$-norms of the vorticity, denoted by $\Omega_{m}(t)$, and particularly on $D_{m} = \Omega_{m}^{\alpha_{m}}$, where $\alpha_{m} = 2m/(4m-3)$ for $m\geq 1$. The first result, more appropriate for the unforced case, can be stated simply : if there exists an $1\leq m < \infty$ for which the integral condition is satisfied ($Z_{m}=D_{m+1}/D_{m}$) $$\int_{0}^{t}\ln (\frac{1 + Z_{m}}{c_{4,m}}) d\tau \geq 0$$ then no singularity can occur on $[0, t]$. The constant $c_{4,m} \searrow 2$ for large $m$. Secondly, for the forced case, by imposing a critical \textit{lower} bound on $\int_{0}^{t}D_{m} d\tau$, no singularity can occur in $D_{m}(t)$ for \textit{large} initial data. Movement across this critical lower bound shows how solutions can behave intermittently, in analogy with a relaxation oscillator. Potential singularities that drive $\int_{0}^{t}D_{m} d\tau$ over this critical value can be ruled out whereas other types cannot.Comment: A frequency was missing in the definition of D_{m} in (I5) v3. 11 pages, 1 figur

A discussion and plans for remodeling the hydraulic lighting plant at Chapman, Kansas

Citation: Gibbon, C. T. and Simpson, Jay W. A discussion and plans for remodeling the hydraulic lighting plant at Chapman, Kansas. Senior thesis, Kansas State Agricultural College, 1908.Introduction: When a hydro-electric generating plant it to be designed and installed the problem must be taken up with the greatest possible tact and detailed consideration. The first item of importance which must be taken into consideration is the probable amount of power that can be sold and the competition which is to be met in the sale

Phase transitions in the fractional three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations

The fractional Navier-Stokes equations on a periodic domain $[0,\,L]^{3}$ differ from their conventional counterpart by the replacement of the $-\nu\Delta\mathbf{u}$ Laplacian term by $\nu_{s}A^{s}\mathbf{u}$, where $A= - \Delta$ is the Stokes operator and $\nu_{s} = \nu L^{2(s-1)}$ is the viscosity parameter. Four critical values of the exponent $s$ have been identified where functional properties of solutions of the fractional Navier-Stokes equations change. These values are: $s=\frac{1}{3}$; $s=\frac{3}{4}$; $s=\frac{5}{6}$ and $s=\frac{5}{4}$. In particular, in the fractional setting we prove an analogue of one of the Prodi-Serrin regularity criteria ($s > \frac{1}{3}$), an equation of local energy balance ($s \geq \frac{3}{4}$) and an infinite hierarchy of weak solution time averages ($s > \frac{5}{6}$). The existence of our analogue of the Prodi-Serrin criterion for $s > \frac{1}{3}$ suggests that the convex integration schemes that construct H\"older-continuous solutions with epochs of regularity for $s < \frac{1}{3}$ are sharp with respect to the value of $s$

Lagrangian analysis of alignment dynamics for isentropic compressible magnetohydrodynamics

After a review of the isentropic compressible magnetohydrodynamics (ICMHD) equations, a quaternionic framework for studying the alignment dynamics of a general fluid flow is explained and applied to the ICMHD equations.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to a Focus Issue of New Journal of Physics on "Magnetohydrodynamics and the Dynamo Problem" J-F Pinton, A Pouquet, E Dormy and S Cowley, editor

A comparison of A-level performance in economics and business studies: how much more difficult is economics?

This paper uses ALIS data to compare academic performance in two subjects often viewed as relatively close substitutes for one another at A-level. The important role of GCSE achievement is confirmed for both subjects. There is evidence of strong gender effects and variation in outcomes across Examination Boards. A counterfactual exercise suggests that if the sample of Business Studies candidates had studied Economics nearly 40% of those who obtained a grade C or better in the former subject would not have done so in the latter. The opposite exercise uggests that 12% more Economics candidates would have achieved a grade C or better if they had taken Business Studies. In order to render a Business Studies A-level grade comparable to an Economics one in terms of relative difficulty, we estimate that a downward adjustment of 1.5 UCAS points should be applied to the former subject. This adjustment is lower than that suggested by correction factors based on conventional subject pair analysis for these two subjects