Consistent reductions of IIB*/M* theory and de Sitter supergravity

We construct consistent non-linear Kaluza Klein reduction ansatze for a subset of fields arising from the reduction of IIB* and M* theory on dS_5 x H^5 and dS_4 x AdS_7, respectively. These reductions yield four and five-dimensional de Sitter supergravities, albeit with wrong sign kinetic terms. We also demonstrate that the ansatze may be used to lift multi-centered de Sitter black hole solutions to ten and eleven dimensions. The lifted dS_5 black holes correspond to rotating E4-branes of IIB* theory.Comment: 27 pages, late

Monetization: a theory and applications

Chapter 1 introduces the topic. In Chapter 2, I present a review of the theoretical work on monetization and money. This chapter identifies the classic schools of thought on what monetization is and combines these with recent interdisciplinary scholarship to produce a theory of monetization for the 21st Century. It is shown that this theory provides improved explanatory power and generates many more interesting avenues for further research than the current theories. The major contribution of this chapter is a new theory of monetization that builds on the work of classic sociology, economics, and anthropology. Chapter 3 extends the theoretical work of Chapter 2 to connect it with familiar sociological literatures describing exchange, social networks, and trust. It highlights the importance these factors for understanding monetization as institutional change. It compares this enhanced theoretical understanding to simpler economic models typically employed and demonstrates that the social network interpretation of monetization out-performs the simpler economic labor supply and demand explanation. Basic correlation analysis is used to support the empirical propositions, and a discussion of the unique challenges to studying monetization empirically is provided. The major conclusion of this chapter is that social network position is closely related to the degree of labor monetization among rural households in a transitional economy. Chapter 4 is unique in treating monetization as an outcome variable and exploring the basic demographic, economic, and agricultural factors that predict this transition in a transaction common to many world economies: the exchange of agricultural labor. It uses data from Nang Rong District, Thailand to demonstrate that many of these factors are related to agricultural participation and labor monetization in opposite ways, suggesting an antagonism between labor monetization and traditional agriculture. Utilizing the longitudinal character of the data, the greater degree of monetization observed at a later time period is shown to be a response to changes in the structural parameters of the model, while declining agricultural participation is better explained by the shifting composition of the population through common demographic processes like population aging. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings, draws connections, and suggests directions for future study

Type 2 diabetes: a cohort study of treatment, ethnic and social group influences on glycated haemoglobin

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether in people with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (HbA1c>7.5%) improvement in HbA1c varies by ethnic and social group. DESIGN: Prospective 2-year cohort of type 2 diabetes treated in general practice. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: All patients with type 2 diabetes in 100 of the 101 general practices in two London boroughs. The sample consisted of an ethnically diverse group with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes aged 37–71 years in 2007 and with HbA1c recording in 2008–2009. OUTCOME MEASURE: Change from baseline HbA1c in 2007 and achievement of HbA1c control in 2008 and 2009 were estimated for each ethnic, social and treatment group using multilevel modelling. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 6104 people; 18% were white, 63% south Asian, 16% black African/Caribbean and 3% other ethnic groups. HbA1c was lower after 1 and 2 years in all ethnic groups but south Asian people received significantly less benefit from each diabetes treatment. After adjustment, south Asian people were found to have 0.14% less reduction in HbA1c compared to white people (95% CI 0.04% to 0.24%) and white people were 1.6 (95% CI 1.2 to 2.0) times more likely to achieve HbA1c controlled to 7.5% or less relative to south Asian people. HbA1c reduction and control in black African/Caribbean and white people did not differ significantly. There was no evidence that social deprivation influenced HbA1c reduction or control in this cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In all treatment groups, south Asian people with poorly controlled diabetes are less likely to achieve controlled HbA1c, with less reduction in mean HbA1c than white or black African/Caribbean people

Scaling Cosmologies from Duality Twisted Compactifications

Oscillating moduli fields can support a cosmological scaling solution in the presence of a perfect fluid when the scalar field potential satisfies appropriate conditions. We examine when such conditions arise in higher-dimensional, non-linear sigma-models that are reduced to four dimensions under a generalized Scherk-Schwarz compactification. We show explicitly that scaling behaviour is possible when the higher-dimensional action exhibits a global SL(n,R) or O(2,2) symmetry. These underlying symmetries can be exploited to generate non-trivial scaling solutions when the moduli fields have non-canonical kinetic energy. We also consider the compactification of eleven-dimensional vacuum Einstein gravity on an elliptic twisted torus.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure

Post-Test Analysis of a 10-Year Sodium Heat Pipe Life Test

High-temperature heat pipes are being evaluated for use in energy conversion applications such as fuel cells, gas turbine re-combustors, Stirling cycle heat sources; and with the resurgence of space nuclear power both as reactor heat removal elements and as radiator elements. Long operating life and reliable performance are critical requirements for these applications. Accordingly, long-term materials compatibility is being evaluated through the use of high-temperature life test heat pipes. Thermacore, Inc., has carried out a sodium heat pipe 10-year life test to establish long-term operating reliability. Sodium heat pipes have demonstrated favorable materials compatibility and heat transport characteristics at high operating temperatures in air over long time periods. A representative one-tenth segment Stirling Space Power Converter heat pipe with an Inconel 718 envelope and a stainless steel screen wick has operated for over 87,000 hr (10 years) at nearly 700 C. These life test results have demonstrated the potential for high-temperature heat pipes to serve as reliable energy conversion system components for power applications that require long operating lifetime with high reliability. Detailed design specifications, operating history, and post-test analysis of the heat pipe and sodium working fluid are described. Lessons learned and future life test plans are also discussed

Phosphorylation of the VP16 transcriptional activator protein during herpes simplex virus infection and mutational analysis of putative phosphorylation sites

AbstractVP16 is a virion phosphoprotein of herpes simplex virus and a transcriptional activator of the viral immediate-early (IE) genes. We identified four novel VP16 phosphorylation sites (Ser18, Ser353, Ser411, and Ser452) at late times in infection but found no evidence of phosphorylation of Ser375, a residue reportedly phosphorylated when VP16 is expressed from a transfected plasmid. A virus carrying a Ser375Ala mutation of VP16 was viable in cell culture but with a slow growth rate. The association of the mutant VP16 protein with IE gene promoters and subsequent IE gene expression was markedly reduced during infection, consistent with prior transfection and in vitro results. Surprisingly, the association of Oct-1 with IE promoters was also diminished during infection by the mutant strain. We propose that Ser375 is important for the interaction of VP16 with Oct-1, and that the interaction is required to enable both proteins to bind to IE promoters

Non-geometric flux vacua, S-duality and algebraic geometry

The four dimensional gauged supergravities descending from non-geometric string compactifications involve a wide class of flux objects which are needed to make the theory invariant under duality transformations at the effective level. Additionally, complex algebraic conditions involving these fluxes arise from Bianchi identities and tadpole cancellations in the effective theory. In this work we study a simple T and S-duality invariant gauged supergravity, that of a type IIB string compactified on a $T^6/(Z_2 x Z_2)$ orientifold with O3/O7-planes. We build upon the results of recent works and develop a systematic method for solving all the flux constraints based on the algebra structure underlying the fluxes. Starting with the T-duality invariant supergravity, we find that the fluxes needed to restore S-duality can be simply implemented as linear deformations of the gauge subalgebra by an element of its second cohomology class. Algebraic geometry techniques are extensively used to solve these constraints and supersymmetric vacua, centering our attention on Minkowski solutions, become systematically computable and are also provided to clarify the methods.Comment: 47 pages, 10 tables, typos corrected, Accepted for Publication in Journal of High Energy Physic

Academic drift in vocational qualifications? Explorations through the lens of literacy

Retention, attainment and progression have become key issues in post-compulsory education in the UK, as the policy agenda of increasing and widening participation has taken hold. Keeping students in the system, enabling them to gain qualifications and thereby progress to higher level courses is a key educational goal. Yet alongside increasing progression and attainment have emerged discussion of the nature and extent of academic drift within vocational education. This paper seeks to explore these issues in the context of the vocational curriculum in Further Education colleges in Scotland. Using the lens of literacy practices, we explore the ways in which the expectations upon students of the reading and writing associated with learning their subjects can illuminate the nature and extent of academic drift. We indicate evidence to suggest that there is increasing emphasis given to educational rather than occupational relevance in the vocational curriculu

Qualitative Analysis of Isotropic Curvature String Cosmologies

A complete qualitative study of the dynamics of string cosmologies is presented for the class of isotopic curvature universes. These models are of Bianchi types I, V and IX and reduce to the general class of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes in the limit of vanishing shear isotropy. A non-trivial two-form potential and cosmological constant terms are included in the system. In general, the two-form potential and spatial curvature terms are only dynamically important at intermediate stages of the evolution. In many of the models, the cosmological constant is important asymptotically and anisotropy becomes dynamically negligible. There also exist bouncing cosmologies.Comment: Accepted to Classical and Quantum Gravity, 40 pages, 12 figures (uses "graphicx" package for figures

Increased SK3 expression in DM1 lens cells leads to impaired growth through a greater calcium-induced fragility

Although cataract is a characteristic feature of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), little is known of the underlying mechanisms. We generated four lens epithelial cell lines derived from DM1 cataracts and two from age-matched, non-DM cataracts. Small-pool PCR revealed typical large triplet repeat expansions in the DM1 cells. Furthermore, real-time PCR analysis showed reduced SIX5 expression and increased expression of the Ca2+-activated K+ channel SK3 in the DM1 cells. These cells also exhibited longer population doubling times which did not arise through reduced proliferation, but rather increased cell death as shown by increased release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Using 86Rb+ as a tracer for K+, we found no difference in the resting K+ influx or efflux kinetics. In all cases, the ouabain sensitive component of the influx contributed ~50% of the total. However, stimulating internal Ca2+ by exposure to ionomycin not only caused greater stimulation of K+ (86Rb) efflux in the DM1 cells but also induced a higher rate of cell death (LDH assay). Since both the hyper-stimulation of K+ efflux and cell death were reduced by the highly specific SK inhibitor apamin, we suggest that increased expression of SK3 has a critical role in the increased Ca2+-induced fragility in DM1 cells. The present data, therefore, both help explain the lower epithelial cell density previously observed in DM1 cataracts and provide general insights into mechanisms underlying the fragility of other DM1-affected tissues