Extreme Electron-Phonon Coupling in Boron-based Layered Superconductors

The phonon-mode decomposition of the electron-phonon coupling in the MgB2-like system Li_{1-x}BC is explored using first principles calculations. It is found that the high temperature superconductivity of such systems results from extremely strong coupling to only ~2% of the phonon modes. Novel characteristics of E_2g branches include (1) ``mode lambda'' values of 25 and greater compared to a mean of $\sim 0.4$ for other modes, (2) a precipitous Kohn anomaly, and (3) E_2g phonon linewidths within a factor of ~2 of the frequency itself, indicating impending breakdown of linear electron-phonon theory. This behavior in borne out by recent inelastic x-ray scattering studies of MgB2 by Shukla et al.Comment: 4 two-column pages, 4 figures. Equations simplified. Figure 4 changed. Comparison with new data include

Conceptualizing gendered vulnerability to climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya:

Not all women or all men are equally vulnerable. Manifestations of vulnerability to climate change vary in different groups of people, based on their position in a social and gender structure in a particular location and at a particular time. We need to understand the pre-existing conditions, what we term “contextual conditions” that underlie experiences of vulnerability and lead to its complexity and reproduction. This paper is based on a literature review and takes the standpoint that not only is gender a powerful and pervasive contextual condition, but that it intersects with other contextual conditions to shape vulnerabilities. Further, gender and other contextual conditions also influence and are influenced by socioeconomic drivers of change to produce differential gendered vulnerabilities. Therefore, manifestations of gendered vulnerability to climate change are the result of complex and interlinked factors, which cannot be simplified for the sake of efficiency. This paper offers a conceptual framework bringing together these interlinkages and intersectionalities in understanding differential gendered vulnerabilities

Constrained Curve Fitting

We survey techniques for constrained curve fitting, based upon Bayesian statistics, that offer significant advantages over conventional techniques used by lattice field theorists.Comment: Lattice2001(plenary); plenary talk given by G.P. Lepage at Lattice 2001 (Berlin); 9 pages, 5 figures (postscript specials

On the existence of traveling waves in the 3D Boussinesq system

We extend earlier work on traveling waves in premixed flames in a gravitationally stratified medium, subject to the Boussinesq approximation. For three-dimensional channels not aligned with the gravity direction and under the Dirichlet boundary conditions in the fluid velocity, it is shown that a non-planar traveling wave, corresponding to a non-zero reaction, exists, under an explicit condition relating the geometry of the crossection of the channel to the magnitude of the Prandtl and Rayleigh numbers, or when the advection term in the flow equations is neglected.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

STAT5a/b contribute to sex bias in vascular disease: A neuroendocrine perspective

Previous studies have elucidated a neuroendocrine mechanism consisting of the hypothalamus (growth hormone releasing hormone, GHRH) – pituitary (growth hormone, GH) – STAT5a/b axis that underlies sex-biased gene expression in the liver. It is now established that male vs female patterned secretion of GHRH, and thus of circulating GH levels (“pulsatile” vs “more continuous” respectively), leading to differently patterned activation of PY-STAT5a/b in hepatocytes results in sex-biased gene expression of cohorts of hundreds of downstream genes. This review outlines new data in support of a STAT5a/b-based mechanism of sex bias in the vascular disease pulmonary hypertension (PH). Puzzling observations in PH include its 2-4-fold higher prevalence in women but a male-dominance in many rodent models, and, paradoxically, inhibition of PH development by estrogens in such models. We observed that conditional deletion of STAT5a/b in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) in mice converted the male-dominant model of chronic hypoxia-induced PH into a female-dominant phenotype. In human idiopathic PH, there was reduced STAT5a/b and PY-STAT5 in cells in late-stage obliterative pulmonary arterial lesions in both men and women. A juxtaposition of the prior liver data with the newer PH-related data drew attention to the hypothalamus-GH-STAT5 axis, which is the major target of estrogens at the level of the hypothalamus. This hypothesis explains many of the puzzling aspects of sex bias in PH in humans and rodent models. The extension of STAT5-anchored mechanisms of sex bias to vascular disease emphasizes the contribution of central neuroendocrine processes in generating sexual dimorphism in different tissues and cell types

Eta invariants for flat manifolds

Using H. Donnelly result from the article "Eta Invariants for G-Spaces" we calculate the eta invariants of the signature operator for almost all 7-dimensional flat manifolds with cyclic holonomy group. In all cases this eta invariants are an integer numbers. The article was motivated by D. D. Long and A. Reid article "On the geometric boundaries of hyperbolic 4-manifolds, Geom. Topology 4, 2000, 171-178Comment: 18 pages, a new version with referees comment

Gauged Gravity via Spectral Asymptotics of non-Laplace type Operators

We construct invariant differential operators acting on sections of vector bundles of densities over a smooth manifold without using a Riemannian metric. The spectral invariants of such operators are invariant under both the diffeomorphisms and the gauge transformations and can be used to induce a new theory of gravitation. It can be viewed as a matrix generalization of Einstein general relativity that reproduces the standard Einstein theory in the weak deformation limit. Relations with various mathematical constructions such as Finsler geometry and Hodge-de Rham theory are discussed.Comment: Version accepted by J. High Energy Phys. Introduction and Discussion significantly expanded. References added and updated. (41 pages, LaTeX: JHEP3 class, no figures

Determination of two-body potentials from n-body spectra

We show how the two-body potential may be uniquely determined from n-body spectra where the hypercentral approximation is valid. We illustrate this by considering an harmonic oscillator potential which has been altered by changing the energy or normalisation constant of the ground state of the n-body system and finding how this modifies the two-body potential. It is shown that with increasing number of particles the spectrum must be known more precisely to obtain the two-body potential to the same degree of accuracy.Comment: 13 pages of text (LATEX), 3 figures (not included, available from authors), NIKHEF-93-P

Kagera Regional and District Projections

This report presents population projections for the period 2003 to 2025 for the Kagera Region and its districts. The projections were made using a Cohort Component Method (Spectrum System), whereby three components responsible for population change, namely: mortality, fertility and migration were projected separately as well as HIV/AIDS prevalence. The projected components were then applied to 2002 midyear base population in order to come up with the desired projections from 2003 to 2025. The report gives mortality, fertility, migration and HIV/AIDS assumptions, which depicts Kagera’s demographic and socio-economic future trends. The results include estimated population by sex in single years and five-year age groups as well as some demographic indicators. Population growth for the period 2003 to 2025 shows an increase in growth rates. The projections show that population growth rate will increase from 3.1 percent in 2003 (with a population of 1,982,612) to 3.7 percent in 2025 (with a population of 4,511,927). Sex Ratio at birth is projected to increase from 96 male births per 100 females in 2003 to 99 male births per 100 females in 2025. Mortality estimates show that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is expected to decline for both sexes from 117 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 72 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025. Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) for both sexes will also decline from 195 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2003 to 113 deaths per 1,000 live births in the year 2025. The mortality projected estimates further show that the life expectancy at birth for females is higher compared to that of males, which is expected. Life expectancy at birth for Kagera will increase from 48 years in 2003 to 55 years in 2025 for both sexes. For male population, life expectancy at birth will increase from 46 years in year 2003 to 54 years in 2025, while for female population the life expectancy at birth will increase from 49 years in 2003 to 56 years in 2025