On the assimilation of Martian total ozone retrievals

The technique of data assimilation gives us an opportunity to further our understanding of important photochemical processes in the Martian atmosphere, through the creation of a reanalysis product that can be used to investigate the temporal and spatial agreement between model and observations and determine any possible causes of identified differences. In this study [1], we have assimilated, for the first time, total ozone retrievals into a Mars Global Circulation model (GCM) to study the ozone cycle

Association between active commuting and incident cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality: prospective cohort study

Objective: To investigate the association between active commuting and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and all cause mortality. Design: Prospective population based study. Setting: UK Biobank. Participants: 263 450 participants (106 674 (52%) women; mean age 52.6), recruited from 22 sites across the UK. The exposure variable was the mode of transport used (walking, cycling, mixed mode v non-active (car or public transport)) to commute to and from work on a typical day. Main outcome measures: Incident (fatal and non-fatal) CVD and cancer, and deaths from CVD, cancer, or any causes. Results: 2430 participants died (496 were related to CVD and 1126 to cancer) over a median of 5.0 years (interquartile range 4.3-5.5) follow-up. There were 3748 cancer and 1110 CVD events. In maximally adjusted models, commuting by cycle and by mixed mode including cycling were associated with lower risk of all cause mortality (cycling hazard ratio 0.59, 95% confidence interval 0.42 to 0.83, P=0.002; mixed mode cycling 0.76, 0.58 to 1.00, P<0.05), cancer incidence (cycling 0.55, 0.44 to 0.69, P<0.001; mixed mode cycling 0.64, 0.45 to 0.91, P=0.01), and cancer mortality (cycling 0.60, 0.40 to 0.90, P=0.01; mixed mode cycling 0.68, 0.57 to 0.81, P<0.001). Commuting by cycling and walking were associated with a lower risk of CVD incidence (cycling 0.54, 0.33 to 0.88, P=0.01; walking 0.73, 0.54 to 0.99, P=0.04) and CVD mortality (cycling 0.48, 0.25 to 0.92, P=0.03; walking 0.64, 0.45 to 0.91, P=0.01). No statistically significant associations were observed for walking commuting and all cause mortality or cancer outcomes. Mixed mode commuting including walking was not noticeably associated with any of the measured outcomes. Conclusions: Cycle commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD, cancer, and all cause mortality. Walking commuting was associated with a lower risk of CVD independent of major measured confounding factors. Initiatives to encourage and support active commuting could reduce risk of death and the burden of important chronic conditions

Sleep characteristics modify the association between genetic predisposition to obesity and anthropometric measurements in 119,679 UK Biobank participants

Background - Obesity is a multifactorial condition influenced by genetics, lifestyle and environment. Objective - To investigate whether the association between a validated genetic profile risk score for obesity (GPRS-obesity) with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) was modified by sleep characteristics. Design - This study included cross-sectional data from 119,859 white European adults, aged 37-73 years, participating on the UK Biobank. Interactions between GPRS-obesity, and sleep characteristics (sleep duration, chronotype, day napping, and shift work) in their effects on BMI and WC were investigated. Results - The GPRS-obesity was associated with BMI (β:0.57 kg.m-2 per standard deviation (SD) increase in GPRS, [95%CI:0.55, 0.60]; P=6.3x10-207) and WC (β:1.21 cm, [1.15, 1.28]; P=4.2x10-289). There were significant interactions between GPRS-obesity and a variety of sleep characteristics in their relationship with BMI (P-interaction <0.05). In participants who slept <7 hrs or >9 hrs daily, the effect of GPRS-obesity on BMI was stronger (β:0.60 [0.54, 0.65] and 0.73 [0.49, 0.97] kg.m-2 per SD increase in GPRS, respectively) than in normal length sleepers (7-9 hours; β:0.52 [0.49, 0.55] kg.m-2 per SD). A similar pattern was observed for shiftworkers (β:0.68 [0.59, 0.77] versus 0.54 [0.51, 0.58] kg.m-2 for non-shiftworkers) and for night-shiftworkers (β:0.69 [0.56, 0.82] versus 0.55 [0.51, 0.58] kg.m-2 for non-night- shiftworkers), for those taking naps during the day (β:0.65 [0.52, 0.78] versus 0.51 [0.48, 0.55] kg.m-2 for those who never/rarely had naps) and for those with a self-reported evening chronotype (β:0.72 [0.61, 0.82] versus β:0.52 [0.47, 0.57] kg.m-2 for morning chronotype). Similar findings were obtained using WC as the outcome. Conclusions – This study shows that the association between genetic risk for obesity and phenotypic adiposity measures is exacerbated by adverse sleeping characteristics

Extended chiral algebras and the emergence of SU(2) quantum numbers in the Coulomb gas

We study a set of chiral symmetries contained in degenerate operators beyond the `minimal' sector of the c(p,q) models. For the operators h_{(2j+2)q-1,1}=h_{1,(2j+2)p-1} at conformal weight [ (j+1)p-1 ][ (j+1)q -1 ], for every 2j \in N, we find 2j+1 chiral operators which have quantum numbers of a spin j representation of SU(2). We give a free-field construction of these operators which makes this structure explicit and allows their OPEs to be calculated directly without any use of screening charges. The first non-trivial chiral field in this series, at j=1/2, is a fermionic or para-fermionic doublet. The three chiral bosonic fields, at j=1, generate a closed W-algebra and we calculate the vacuum character of these triplet models.Comment: 23 pages Late

Dietary fat and total energy intake modifies the association of genetic profile risk score on obesity: evidence from 48 170 UK Biobank participants

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial condition influenced by both genetics and lifestyle. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the association between a validated genetic profile risk score for obesity (GPRS-obesity) and body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) was modified by macronutrient intake in a large general population study. Methods: This study included cross-sectional data from 48 170 white European adults, aged 37–73 years, participating on the UK Biobank. Interactions between GPRS-obesity, and macronutrient intake (including total energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and dietary fibre intake) and its effects on BMI and WC were investigated. Results: The 93-SNPs genetic profile risk score was associated with a higher BMI (β:0.57 kg.m−2 per standard deviation (s.d.) increase in GPRS, [95%CI:0.53–0.60]; P=1.9 × 10−183) independent of major confounding factors. There was a significant interaction between GPRS and total fat intake (P[interaction]=0.007). Among high fat intake individuals, BMI was higher by 0.60 [0.52, 0.67] kg.m−2 per s.d. increase in GPRS-obesity; the change in BMI with GPRS was lower among low fat intake individuals (β:0.50 [0.44, 0.57] kg.m-2). Significant interactions with similar patterns were observed for saturated fat intake (High β:0.66 [0.59, 0.73] versus Low β:0.49 [0.42, 0.55] kg.m-2, P-interaction=2 × 10-4), and total energy intake (High β:0.58 [0.51, 0.64] versus Low β:0.49 [0.42, 0.56] kg.m−2, P-interaction=0.019), but not for protein intake, carbohydrate intake and fiber intake (P-interaction >0.05). The findings were broadly similar using WC as the outcome. Conclusions: These data suggest that the benefits of reducing the intake of fats and total energy intake, may be more important in individuals with high genetic risk for obesity

Performance of nano-structured multilayer PVD coating TiAlN/VN in dry high speed milling of aerospace aluminium 7010-T7651

A low-friction and wear resistant TiAlN/VN multilayer coating with TiAlN/VN bilayer thickness 3 nm has been grown by using the combined cathodic arc etching and unbalanced magnetron sputtering deposition on high speed steel tools for dry cutting of aluminium alloys. In this paper, in-lab and industrial high speed milling tests have been performed on an aerospace aluminium alloy 7010-T7651. The results show that the TiAlN/VN coated tools achieved lower cutting forces, lower metal surface roughness, and significantly longer tool lifetime by three times over the uncoated tools as a result of the low friction and eliminated tool-metal adhesion. Under the same conditions, a TiAlN based multicomponent coating TiAlCrYN also increased the tool lifetime by up to 100% despite the high cutting forces measured

Associations of grip strength with cardiovascular, respiratory, and cancer outcomes and all cause mortality: prospective cohort study of half a million UK Biobank participants

Objective: To investigate the association of grip strength with disease specific incidence and mortality and whether grip strength enhances the prediction ability of an established office based risk score. Design: Prospective population based study. Setting: UK Biobank. Participants: 502 293 participants (54% women) aged 40-69 years. Main outcome measures: All cause mortality as well as incidence of and mortality from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer (all cancer, colorectal, lung, breast, and prostate). Results: Of the participants included in analyses, 13 322 (2.7%) died over a mean of 7.1 (range 5.3-9.9) years’ follow-up. In women and men, respectively, hazard ratios per 5 kg lower grip strength were higher (all at P<0.05) for all cause mortality (1.20, 95% confidence interval 1.17 to 1.23, and 1.16, 1.15 to 1.17) and cause specific mortality from cardiovascular disease (1.19, 1.13 to 1.25, and 1.22, 1.18 to 1.26), all respiratory disease (1.31, 1.22 to 1.40, and 1.24, 1.20 to 1.28), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (1.24, 1.05 to 1.47, and 1.19, 1.09 to 1.30), all cancer (1.17, 1.13 to 1.21, 1.10, 1.07 to 1.13), colorectal cancer (1.17, 1.04 to 1.32, and 1.18, 1.09 to 1.27), lung cancer (1.17, 1.07 to 1.27, and 1.08, 1.03 to 1.13), and breast cancer (1.24, 1.10 to 1.39) but not prostate cancer (1.05, 0.96 to 1.15). Several of these relations had higher hazard ratios in the younger age group. Muscle weakness (defined as grip strength <26 kg for men and <16 kg for women) was associated with a higher hazard for all health outcomes, except colon cancer in women and prostate cancer and lung cancer in both men and women. The addition of handgrip strength improved the prediction ability, based on C index change, of an office based risk score (age, sex, diabetes diagnosed, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and smoking) for all cause (0.013) and cardiovascular mortality (0.012) and incidence of cardiovascular disease (0.009). Conclusion: Higher grip strength was associated with a range of health outcomes and improved prediction of an office based risk score. Further work on the use of grip strength in risk scores or risk screening is needed to establish its potential clinical utility

Non-detection of a statistically anisotropic power spectrum in large-scale structure

We search a sample of photometric luminous red galaxies (LRGs) measured by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for a quadrupolar anisotropy in the primordial power spectrum, in which P(\vec{k}) is an isotropic power spectrum P(k) multiplied by a quadrupolar modulation pattern. We first place limits on the 5 coefficients of a general quadrupole anisotropy. We also consider axisymmetric quadrupoles of the form P(\vec{k}) = P(k){1 + g_*[(\hat{k}\cdot\hat{n})^2-1/3]} where \hat{n} is the axis of the anisotropy. When we force the symmetry axis \hat{n} to be in the direction (l,b)=(94 degrees,26 degrees) identified in the recent Groeneboom et al. analysis of the cosmic microwave background, we find g_*=0.006+/-0.036 (1 sigma). With uniform priors on \hat{n} and g_* we find that -0.41<g_*<+0.38 with 95% probability, with the wide range due mainly to the large uncertainty of asymmetries aligned with the Galactic Plane. In none of these three analyses do we detect evidence for quadrupolar power anisotropy in large scale structure.Comment: 23 pages; 10 figures; 3 tables; replaced with version published in JCAP (added discussion of scale-varying quadrupolar anisotropy

Eliminating Ditransitives

Abstract. We discuss how higher arity verbs such as give or promise can be treated in an algebraic framework that admits only unary and binary relations and does not rely on event variables