Why are Orlicz spaces useful for Statistical Physics?

We review a new formalism based on Orlicz spaces for the description of large regular statistical systems. Our presentation includes both classical and quantum systems. The presented approach has the advantage that statistical mechanics is much better settled.Comment: 11 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1302.346

Functions of operators and the classes associated with them

The important classes of normally solvable, ϴ₊ (ϴ₋) and strictly singular (strictly cosingular) operators have long been studied in the setting of bounded or closed operators between Banach spaces. Results by Kato, Lacey, et al (see Goldberg [16; III.1.9, III.2.1 and III.2.3] ) led to the definition of certain norm related functions of operators (Γ, Δ and Γ₀) which provided a powerful new way to study the classes of ϴ₊ and strictly singular operators (see for example Gramsch[19], Lebow and Schechter[28] and Schechter[36]). Results by Brace and R.-Kneece[4] among others led to the definition of analogous functions (Γ' and Δ') which were used to study ϴ₋ and strictly cosingular operators (see for example Weis, [37] and [38]). Again this problem was considered mainly for the case of bounded operators between Banach spaces. This thesis represents a contribution to knowledge in the sense that by considering the functions Γ', Δ' and Γ'₀, as well as the minimum modulus function in the more general setting of unbounded linear operators between normed linear spaces, we obtain the classes of F₋ and Range Open operators which turn out to be closely related to the classes of ϴ₋ and normally solvable operators respectively. We also define unbounded strictly cosingular operators and find that many of the classical results on ϴ₋, normally solvable and bounded strictly cosingular operators go through for F₋, range open and unbounded strictly cosingular operators respectively. This ties up with work done by R. W. Cross and provides a workable framework within which to study ϴ₋ and ϴ₊ type operators in the much more. general setting of unbounded linear operators between normed linear spaces

On applications of Orlicz Spaces to Statistical Physics

We present a new rigorous approach based on Orlicz spaces for the description of the statistics of large regular statistical systems, both classical and quantum. This approach has the advantage that statistical mechanics is much better settled. In particular, a new kind of renormalization leading to states having a well defined entropy function is presented.Comment: 20 page

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of contingency management for cannabis use in early psychosis: the CIRCLE randomised clinical trial

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance amongst people with psychosis. Continued cannabis use following the onset of psychosis is associated with poorer functional and clinical outcomes. However, finding effective ways of intervening has been very challenging. We examined the clinical and cost-effectiveness of adjunctive contingency management (CM), which involves incentives for abstinence from cannabis use, in people with a recent diagnosis of psychosis. CIRCLE was a pragmatic multi-centre randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited via Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services across the Midlands and South East of England. They had had at least one episode of clinically diagnosed psychosis (affective or non-affective); were aged 18 to 36; reported cannabis use in at least 12 out of the previous 24 weeks; and were not currently receiving treatment for cannabis misuse, or subject to a legal requirement for cannabis testing. Participants were randomised via a secure web-based service 1:1 to either an experimental arm, involving 12 weeks of CM plus a six-session psychoeducation package, or a control arm receiving the psychoeducation package only. The total potential voucher reward in the CM intervention was £240. The primary outcome was time to acute psychiatric care, operationalised as admission to an acute mental health service (including community alternatives to admission). Primary outcome data were collected from patient records at 18 months post-consent by assessors masked to allocation. The trial was registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN33576045. Five hundred fifty-one participants were recruited between June 2012 and April 2016. Primary outcome data were obtained for 272 (98%) in the CM (experimental) group and 259 (95%) in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in time to acute psychiatric care (the primary outcome) (HR 1.03, 95% CI 0.76, 1.40) between groups. By 18 months, 90 (33%) of participants in the CM group, and 85 (30%) of the control groups had been admitted at least once to an acute psychiatric service. Amongst those who had experienced an acute psychiatric admission, the median time to admission was 196 days (IQR 82, 364) in the CM group and 245 days (IQR 99, 382) in the control group. Cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that there is an 81% likelihood that the intervention was cost-effective, mainly resulting from higher mean inpatient costs for the control group compared with the CM group; however, the cost difference between groups was not statistically significant. There were 58 adverse events, 27 in the CM group and 31 in the control group. Overall, these results suggest that CM is not an effective intervention for improving the time to acute psychiatric admission or reducing cannabis use in psychosis, at least at the level of voucher reward offered

One-carbon metabolism in cancer

Cells require one-carbon units for nucleotide synthesis, methylation and reductive metabolism, and these pathways support the high proliferative rate of cancer cells. As such, anti-folates, drugs that target one-carbon metabolism, have long been used in the treatment of cancer. Amino acids, such as serine are a major one-carbon source, and cancer cells are particularly susceptible to deprivation of one-carbon units by serine restriction or inhibition of de novo serine synthesis. Recent work has also begun to decipher the specific pathways and sub-cellular compartments that are important for one-carbon metabolism in cancer cells. In this review we summarise the historical understanding of one-carbon metabolism in cancer, describe the recent findings regarding the generation and usage of one-carbon units and explore possible future therapeutics that could exploit the dependency of cancer cells on one-carbon metabolism

Local scale patterns of gene flow and genetic diversity in a crop–wild–weedy complex of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) under traditional agricultural field conditions in Kenya

Little information is available on the extent and patterns of gene flow and genetic diversity between cultivated sorghum and its wild related taxa under local agricultural conditions in Africa. As well as expanding knowledge on the evolutionary and domestication processes for sorghum, such information also has importance in biosafety, conservation and breeding programmes. Here, we examined the magnitude and dynamics of crop–wild gene flow and genetic variability in a crop–wild–weedy complex of sorghum under traditional farming in Meru South district, Kenya. We genotyped 110 cultivated sorghum, and 373 wild sorghum individuals using a panel of ten polymorphic microsatellite loci. We combined traditional measures of genetic diversity and differentiation with admixture analysis, population assignment, and analyses of spatial genetic structure to assess the extent and patterns of gene flow and diversity between cultivated and wild sorghum. Our results indicate that gene flow is asymmetric with higher rates from crop to wild forms than vice versa. Surprisingly, our data suggests that the two congeners have retained substantial genetic distinctness in the face of gene flow. Nevertheless, we found no significant differences in genetic diversity measures between them. Our study also did not find evidence of isolation by distance in cultivated or wild sorghum, which suggests that gene dispersal in the two conspecifics is not limited by geographic distance. Overall our study highlights likely escape and dispersal of transgenes within the sorghum crop–wild–weedy complex if genetically engineered varieties were to be introduced in Africa’s traditional farming system

Rising atmospheric methane: 2007-2014 growth and isotopic shift

From 2007 to 2013, the globally averaged mole fraction of methane in the atmosphere increased by 5.7±1.2ppb yr$^{-1}$. Simultaneously, $\delta^{13}$C$_\text{CH4}$ (a measure of the $^{13}$C/$^{12}$C isotope ratio in methane) has shifted to significantly more negative values since 2007. Growth was extreme in 2014, at 12.5±0.4ppb, with a further shift to more negative values being observed at most latitudes. The isotopic evidence presented here suggests that the methane rise was dominated by significant increases in biogenic methane emissions, particularly in the tropics, for example, from expansion of tropical wetlands in years with strongly positive rainfall anomalies or emissions from increased agricultural sources such as ruminants and rice paddies. Changes in the removal rate of methane by the OH radical have not been seen in other tracers of atmospheric chemistry and do not appear to explain short-term variations in methane. Fossil fuel emissions may also have grown, but the sustained shift to more $^{13}$C-depleted values and its significant interannual variability, and the tropical and Southern Hemisphere loci of post-2007 growth, both indicate that fossil fuel emissions have not been the dominant factor driving the increase. A major cause of increased tropical wetland and tropical agricultural methane emissions, the likely major contributors to growth, may be their responses to meteorological change.This work was supported by the UK Natural Environment Research Council projects NE/N016211/1 The Global Methane Budget, NE/M005836/1 Methane at the edge, NE/K006045/1 The Southern Methane Anomaly and NE/I028874/1 MAMM. We thank the UK Meteorological Office for flask collection and hosting the continuous measurement at Ascension, the Ascension Island Government for essential support, and Thumeka Mkololo for flask collection in Cape Tow