Neospora caninum and Bovine Neosporosis: Current Vaccine Research

Neospora caninum, a tissue cyst-forming parasite, is the causative agent of bovine neosporosis. It is considered to be one of the most important transmissible causes of reproductive failure in cattle; abortion and neonatal mortality result in significant economic losses within the cattle industry worldwide. The balance between acute (mediated by the tachyzoite stage) and persistent (mediated by the bradyzoite stage) phases of the infection is influenced by the immune status of the animal, and for pregnant cows (the intermediate host) immune status is critical for transplacental (i.e. vertical) transmission of the parasite and associated disease outcomes. The horizontal route of transmission from the definitive host, the dog, occurs via ingestion of oocysts containing sporozoites, and plays a minor but important role in transmission of the infection to cattle. Despite the importance of this disease, there is no vaccine or treatment available currently, and at the present the only control measure to reduce the impact of disease is informed management on the farm. The development of vaccines, targeting key biological processes such as invasion and persistent infection, is needed urgently for the control of this widespread parasite

Bayesian hierarchical linear modeling of NFL quarterback rating

textWith endless amounts of statistics in American football, there are numerous ways to evaluate quarterback performance in the National Football League. Owners, general managers, and coaches are always looking for ways to improve quarterback play to increase overall team performance. In doing so, one may ask: Does the performance in the first quarter have any effect on the fourth quarter performance? This paper will investigate the linear dependence of the first quarter NFL QB rating on the fourth quarter NFL QB rating for 17 NFL starting quarterbacks from the 2014-2015 season. The aim is to use Bayesian hierarchical linear modeling to attain slope and intercept estimates for each quarterback in the study and attempt to determine what is causing the dependence, if any. Then, if a linear dependence is detected, investigating whether or not the statistic used is a viable measure of performance.Statistic

Langlands duality for finite-dimensional representations of quantum affine algebras

We describe a correspondence (or duality) between the q-characters of finite-dimensional representations of a quantum affine algebra and its Langlands dual in the spirit of q-alg/9708006 and 0809.4453. We prove this duality for the Kirillov-Reshetikhin modules and their irreducible tensor products. In the course of the proof we introduce and construct "interpolating (q,t)-characters" depending on two parameters which interpolate between the q-characters of a quantum affine algebra and its Langlands dual.Comment: 40 pages; several results and comments added. Accepted for publication in Letters in Mathematical Physic

The fermion determinant and the chiral gauge theory on a lattice

Considering as an example a simple lattice ansatz for the chiral fermion determinant, we demonstrate that even very mild violation of gauge invariance by the determinant at finite lattice spacing leads to the need for another scale in the full gauge theory. This new scale is much grater than the lattice spacing and is associated with the gauge variables.Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(chiral gauge), 3 pages, no figures, espcrc2. References to works of other authors are correcte

Photometry of the eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS J152419.33+220920.0

Aims. We present new photometry of the faint and poorly studied cataclysmic variable SDSS J152419.33+220920.0, analyze its light curve and provide an accurate ephemeris for this system. Methods. Time-resolved CCD differential photometry was carried out using the 1.5m and 0.84m telescopes at the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional at San Pedro Martir. Results. From time-resolved photometry of the system obtained during six nights (covering more than twenty primary eclipse cycles in more than three years), we show that this binary presents a strong primary and a weak secondary modulation. Our light curve analysis shows that only two fundamental frequencies are present, corresponding to the orbital period and a modulation with twice this frequency. We determine the accurate ephemeris of the system to be HJD(eclipse)= 2454967.6750(1) + 0.06531866661(1) E. A double-hump orbital period modulation, a standing feature in several bounce-back systems at quiescence, is present at several epochs. However, we found no other evidence to support the hypothesis that this system belongs to the post-minimum orbital-period systems