The variation in physical and structural properties with processing conditions of injection moulded rigid PVC

A blend of commercial PVC was injection moulded using two different cavities: a small thin square plaque and a larger rectangular one of a variety of thicknesses. The effects of changes in processing conditions were related to the resulting properties and structure of these mouldings and shown to vary with positioning in the plaque. [Continues.

Identification of the proteins, including MAGEG1, that make up the human SMC5-6 protein complex

The SMC protein complexes play important roles in chromosome dynamics. The function of the SMC5-6 complex remains unclear, though it is involved in resolution of different DNA structures by recombination. We have now identified and characterized the four non-SMC components of the human complex and in particular demonstrated that the MAGEG1 protein is part of this complex. MAGE proteins play important but as yet undefined roles in carcinogenesis, apoptosis, and brain development. We show that, with the exception of the SUMO ligase hMMS21/hNSE2, depletion of any of the components results in degradation of all the other components. Depletion also confers sensitivity to methyl methanesulfonate. Several of the components are modified by sumoylation and ubiquitination

Scalability of quantum computation with addressable optical lattices

We make a detailed analysis of error mechanisms, gate fidelity, and scalability of proposals for quantum computation with neutral atoms in addressable (large lattice constant) optical lattices. We have identified possible limits to the size of quantum computations, arising in 3D optical lattices from current limitations on the ability to perform single qubit gates in parallel and in 2D lattices from constraints on laser power. Our results suggest that 3D arrays as large as 100 x 100 x 100 sites (i.e., $\sim 10^6$ qubits) may be achievable, provided two-qubit gates can be performed with sufficiently high precision and degree of parallelizability. Parallelizability of long range interaction-based two-qubit gates is qualitatively compared to that of collisional gates. Different methods of performing single qubit gates are compared, and a lower bound of $1 \times 10^{-5}$ is determined on the error rate for the error mechanisms affecting $^{133}$Cs in a blue-detuned lattice with Raman transition-based single qubit gates, given reasonable limits on experimental parameters.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Diversity, urban space and the right to the provincial city

Using three vignettes of the same physical space this article contributes to understanding of how the right to the city is contested in provincial England in the early twenty-first century. Oral history and ethnographic material gathered in Peterborough between 2010 and 2012 are drawn on to shed new light on the politics of diversity and urban space. This highlights the multiple place attachments and trans-spatial practices of all residents, including the white ethnic majority, as well as contrasting forms of active intervention in space with their different temporalities and affective intensities. The article carries its own diversity politics, seeking to reduce the harm done by racism through challenging the normalisation of the idea of a local, indigenous population, left out by multiculturalism. It simultaneously raises critical questions about capitalist regeneration strategies in terms of their impact both on class inequality and on the environment

Improved end-member characterisation of modern organic matter pools in the Ohrid Basin (Albania, Macedonia) and evaluation of new palaeoenvironmental proxies

We present elemental, lipid biomarker and, in the supplement, compound-specific isotope (δ13C, δ2H) data for soils and leaf litter collected in the catchment of Lake Ohrid (Albania, Macedonia), as well as macrophytes, particulate organic matter and sediments from the lake itself. Lake Ohrid provides an outstanding archive of continental environmen- tal change of at least 1.2 million years and the purpose of our study is to ground truth organic geochemical proxies that we developed in order to study past changes in the terres- trial biome. We show that soils dominate the lipid signal of the lake sediments rather than the vegetation or aquatic biomass. There is a strong imprint of suberin monomers on the composition of total lipid extracts and chain-length distri- butions of n-alkanoic acids, n-alcohols, ω-hydroxy acids and α, ω-dicarboxylic acids. Our end-member survey identifies that ratios of mid-chain length suberin-derived to long-chain length cuticular-derived alkyl compounds as well as their av- erage chain length distributions can be used as new molecular proxies of organic matter sources to the lake. We tested these for the 8.2 ka event, a pronounced and widespread Holocene climate fluctuation. In SE Europe climate became drier and cooler in response to the event, as is clearly recognisable in the carbonate and organic carbon records of Lake Ohrid sed- iments. Our new proxies indicate biome modification in re- sponse to hydrological changes, identifying two phases of in- creased soil organic matter (OM) supply, first from soils with moderately degraded OM and then from more degraded soils. Our study demonstrates that geochemical fingerprinting of terrestrial OM should focus on the main lipid sources, rather than the living biomass. Both can exhibit climate-controlled variability, but are generally not identical

States of Negative Energy and AdS5×S5/ZkAdS_5 \times S_5/Z_k

We develop a careful definition of energy for nonsupersymmetric warped product asymptotically $AdS_d \times M_q$ solutions which include a nonzero p-form. In the case of an electric p-form extending along all the AdS directions, and in particular in the case of self-dual fields like those used in the Freund-Rubin construction, the Hamiltonian is well defined only if a particular asymptotic gauge for the p-form is used. Rather surprisingly, asymptotically this gauge is time dependent, despite the fact the field and metric are not. We then consider a freely orbifolded $AdS_5 \times S_5$ and demonstrate that the standard boundary conditions allow states of arbitrarily negative energy. The states consist of time symmetric initial data describing bubbles that are regular up to singularities due to smeared D3-branes. We discuss the evolution of this data and point out that if the usual boundary conditions are enforced such bubbles may never reach infinity.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure, v2: minor corrections, added referenc

Study protocol: A multi-centre, double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel group, phase II trial (RIDD) to determine the efficacy of intra-nodular injection of anti-TNF to control disease progression in early Dupuytren’s disease, with an embedded dose response study. [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

Dupuytren’s disease is a common fibrotic condition of the hand affecting 4% of the population and causes the fingers to curl irreversibly into the palm. It has a strong familial tendency, there is no approved treatment for early stage disease, and patients with established digital contractures are most commonly treated by surgery. This is associated with prolonged recovery, and less invasive techniques have high recurrence rates. The myofibroblasts, the cells responsible for the excessive matrix deposition and contraction, are aggregated in nodules. Using excised diseased and control human tissue, we found that immune cells interspersed amongst the myofibroblasts secrete cytokines. Of these, only tumour necrosis factor (TNF) promoted the development of myofibroblasts. The clinically approved anti-TNF agents led to inhibition of the myofibroblast phenotype in vitro. This clinical trial is designed to assess the efficacy of the anti-TNF agent adalimumab on participants with early disease. The first part is a dose-ranging study where nodules of participants already scheduled for surgery will be injected with either placebo (saline) or varying doses of adalimumab. The excised tissue will then be analysed for markers of myofibroblast activity. The second part of the study will recruit participants with early stage disease. They will be randomised 1: 1 to receive either adalimumab or placebo at 3 month intervals over 1 year and will then be followed for a further 6 months. Outcome measures will include nodule hardness, size and disease progression. The trial will also determine the cost-effectiveness of adalimumb treatment for this group of participants

Charged-rotating black holes and black strings in higher dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory with a positive cosmological constant

We present arguments for the existence of charged, rotating black holes in $d=2N+1$ dimensions, with $d\geq 5$ with a positive cosmological constant. These solutions posses both, a regular horizon and a cosmological horizon of spherical topology and have $N$ equal-magnitude angular momenta. They approach asymptotically the de Sitter spacetime background. The counterpart equations for $d=2N+2$ are investigated, by assuming that the fields are independant of the extra dimension $y$, leading to black strings solutions. These solutions are regular at the event horizon. The asymptotic form of the metric is not the de Sitter form and exhibit a naked singularity at finite proper distance.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure