Coupled-channels Faddeev AGS calculation of K−ppnK^{-}ppn and K−pppK^{-}ppp quasi-bound states

Using separable $\bar{K}N-\pi\Sigma$ potentials in the Faddeev equations, we calculated the binding energies and widths of the $K^{-}pp$, $K^{-}ppn$ and $K^{-}ppp$ quasi-bound states on the basis of three- and four-body Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas equations in the momentum representation. One- and two-pole version of $\bar{K}N-\pi\Sigma$ interaction are considered and the dependence of the resulting few-body energy on the two-body $\bar{K}N-\pi\Sigma$ potential was investigated. The $s$-wave [3+1] and [2+2] sub-amplitudes are obtained by using the Hilbert-Schmidt expansion procedure for the integral kernels. As a result, we found a four-body resonance of the $K^{-}ppn$ and $K^{-}ppp$ quasi-bound states with a binding energy in the range $B_{K^{-}ppn}\sim{55-70}$ and $B_{K^{-}ppp}\sim{90-100}$ MeV, respectively. The calculations yielded full width of $\Gamma_{K^{-}ppn}\sim{16-20}$ and $\Gamma_{K^{-}ppp}\sim{7-20}$ MeV.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Accuracy of c-KIT in lung cancer prognosis; a systematic review protocol" instead of c-KIT expression in lung cancer prognostic evaluation - A systematic review protocol

Background: Extensive efforts have been made to investigate c-KIT expression in lung cancer specimens and its correlation with clinical outcomes, but the issue remains unresolved. Thus, this study will be conducted to clarify the prognostic value of c-KIT expression in lung cancer patients. Materials and Methods: We will search Pubmed, SCOPUS, and ISI web of sciences with no restriction of language. Studies with any design (except case reports or case series) evaluating correlations of c-KIT expression with survival or outcome in patients with lung cancer will be included. The outcome measures will include all types of survival indexes, including overall survival rate and disease free survival using Kaplan-Meier analysis and hazard ratios. Study selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent researchers. Quality assessment (assessment of risk of bias) and data synthesis will be implemented using Stata software version 11.1. Results: No ethical issues are predicted. These findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at national and international conferences. Conclusions: This systematic review protocol is registered in the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews, registration number = CRD42015023391

Urbanisation-driven land degradation and socioeconomic challenges in peri-urban areas: Insights from Southern Europe

Climate change and landscape transformation have led to rapid expansion of peri-urban areas globally, representing new ‘laboratories’ for the study of human–nature relationships aiming at land degradation management. This paper contributes to the debate on human-driven land degradation processes by highlighting how natural and socioeconomic forces trigger soil depletion and environmental degradation in peri-urban areas. The aim was to classify and synthesise the interactions of urbanisation-driven factors with direct or indirect, on-site or off-site, and short-term or century-scale impacts on land degradation, focussing on Southern Europe as a paradigmatic case to address this issue. Assuming complex and multifaceted interactions among influencing factors, a relevant contribution to land degradation was shown to derive from socioeconomic drivers, the most important of which were population growth and urban sprawl. Viewing peri-urban areas as socio-environmental systems adapting to intense socioeconomic transformations, these factors were identified as forming complex environmental ‘syndromes’ driven by urbanisation. Based on this classification, we suggested three key measures to support future land management in Southern European peri-urban areas

A Generalized Hypergreedy Algorithm for Weighted Perfect Matching

We give a generalization of the hypergreedy algorithm for minimum weight perfect matching on a complete edge weighted graph whose weights satisfy the triangle inequality

A General Class of Heuristics for Minimum Weight Perfect Matching and Fast Special Cases with Doubly and Triply Logarithmic Errors

We give a class of heuristic algorithms for minimum weight perfect matching on a complete edgeweighted graph K(V) satisfying the triangle inequality, where V is a set of an even number, n, of vertices.This class is a generalization of the Onethird heuristics, the hypergreedy heuristic, and it possibly employs any given exact or approximate perfect matching algorithm as an auxiliary heuristic to an appropriate subgraph of K(V)

Unraveling urban form and collision risk: The spatial distribution of traffic accidents in Zanjan, Iran

Official statistics demonstrate the role of traffic accidents in the increasing number of fa-talities, especially in emerging countries. In recent decades, the rate of deaths and injuries caused by traffic accidents in Iran, a rapidly growing economy in the Middle East, has risen significantly with respect to that of neighboring countries. The present study illustrates an exploratory spatial analysis’ framework aimed at identifying and ranking hazardous locations for traffic accidents in Zanjan, one of the most populous and dense cities in Iran. This framework quantifies the spatiotem-poral association among collisions, by comparing the results of different approaches (including Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), Natural Breaks Classification (NBC), and Knox test). Based on descriptive statistics, five distance classes (2–26, 27–57, 58–105, 106–192, and 193–364 meters) were tested when predicting location of the nearest collision within the same temporal unit. The empirical results of our work demonstrate that the largest roads and intersections in Zanjan had a significantly higher frequency of traffic accidents than the other locations. A comparative analysis of distance bandwidths indicates that the first (2–26 m) class concentrated the most intense level of spatiotem-poral association among traffic accidents. Prevention (or reduction) of traffic accidents may benefit from automatic identification and classification of the most risky locations in urban areas. Thanks to the larger availability of open-access datasets reporting the location and characteristics of car accidents in both advanced countries and emerging economies, our study demonstrates the potential of an integrated analysis of the level of spatiotemporal association in traffic collisions over metropolitan regions

Arctic wetland system dynamics under climate warming

Warming and hydrological changes have already affected and shifted environments in the Arctic. Arctic wetlands are complex systems of coupled hydrological, ecological, and permafrost-related processes, vulnerable to such environmental changes. This review uses a systems perspective approach to synthesize and elucidate the various interlinked responses and feedbacks of Arctic wetlands to hydroclimatic changes. Starting from increased air temperatures, subsequent permafrost thaw and concurrent hydrological changes are identified as key factors for both shrinkage and expansion of wetland area. Other diverse factors further interact with warming, hydrological changes, and permafrost thaw in altering the Arctic wetland systems. Surface albedo shifts driven by land cover alterations are powerful in reinforcing Arctic warming, while vegetation-related factors can balance and decelerate permafrost thaw, causing negative feedback loops. With the vast amounts of carbon stored in Arctic wetlands, their changes in turn affect the global carbon cycle. Overall, the systems perspectives outlined and highlighted in this review can be useful in structuring and elucidating the interactions of wetlands with climate, hydrological, and other environmental changes in the Arctic, including the essential permafrost-carbon feedback. This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems Water and Life > Stresses and Pressures on Ecosystems Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change

Expression of EMSY, a novel BRCA2-link protein, is associated with lymph node metastasis and increased tumor size in breast carcinomas

Background: The EMSY gene encodes a BRCA2-binding partner protein that represses the DNA repair function of BRCA2 in non-hereditary breast cancer. Although amplification of EMSY gene has been proposed to have prognostic value in breast cancer, no data have been available concerning EMSY tissue expression patterns and its associations with clinicopathological features. Materials and Methods: In the current study, we examined the expression and localization pattern of EMSY protein by immunohistochemistry and assessed its prognostic value in a well-characterized series of 116 unselected breast carcinomas with a mean follow up of 47 months using tissue microarray technique. Results: Immunohistochemical expression of EMSY protein was detected in 76 of primary breast tumors, localized in nuclear (18), cytoplasmic (35) or both cytoplasmic and nuclear sites (23). Univariate analysis revealed a significant positive association between EMSY expression and lymph node metastasis (p value=0.045) and larger tumor size (p value=0.027), as well as a non-significant relation with increased risk of recurrence (p value=0.088), whereas no association with patients' survival (log rank test, p value=0.482), tumor grade or type was observed. Conclusions: Herein, we demonstrated for the first time the immunostaining pattern of EMSY protein in breast tumors. Our data imply that EMSY protein may have impact on clinicipathological parameters and could be considered as a potential target for breast cancer treatment