D3-brane Vacua in Stabilized Compactifications

D3-branes feel no force in no-scale flux compactifications of type IIB string theory, but the nonperturbative effects required to stabilize the Kahler moduli break the no-scale structure and generate a potential for D3-brane motion, confining the branes to certain loci. D3-branes away from these loci break supersymmetry spontaneously, by an F-term. We present the general conditions for supersymmetric D3-brane vacua in models with a single Kahler modulus, then explicitly calculate these vacua for D3-branes moving on the tip of the warped deformed conifold. We find both continuous moduli spaces and isolated vacua. In addition, we show that anti-D3-branes and D3-branes are localized to the same regions by the nonperturbative potential, avoiding a potential obstacle to brane inflation. We apply these results to determine whether angular motion of a brane in a throat could play an important role in inflation, and find that any inflation along the angular directions is short-lived because the field space is very small.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX. v2: references added, typos fixe

noteEd - A web-based lecture capture system

Electronic capture and playback of lectures has long been the aim of many academic projects. Synote is an application developed under MACFoB (Multimedia Annotation and Community Folksonomy Building) project to synchronise the playback of lecture materials. However, Synote provides no functionality to capture such multimedia. This project involves the creation of a system called noteEd, which will capture a range of multimedia from lectures and make them available to Synote. This report describes the evolution of the noteEd project throughout the design and implementation of the proposed system. The performance of the system was checked in a user acceptance test with the customer, which is discussed after screenshots of our solution. Finally, the project management is presented containing a final project evaluation

Embodied Knowledge and Accessible Community: An Oral History of ‘Four Rehearsals and a Performance\u27

In this article we discuss how an oral history project emerged through our involvement in a collaborative, creative project at the University of Kansas called Four Rehearsals and a Performance (FRAP). FRAP utilized improvisation in dance and music, bringing together community members across ability to explore how knowledge and community are created. Our analysis explores themes of embodiment, community, and how participants experienced the space of FRAP. We first describe how FRAP became a project, and then we discuss how our oral history project emerged as part of FRAP. After providing specific examples of themes and experiences shared by our interviewees, we reflect on the successes and failures of creating a fully accessible performance space. We consider this oral history a “queer oral history” following Horacio Roque Ramírez and Nan Alamilla Boyd’s introduction in Bodies of Evidence, as it is a project with an “overtly political function and a liberating quality.” Both FRAP and our oral history project explored the politics of which bodies are valued and which bodies are seen as capable of creative production

Disciplining Diagnoses: Sexology, Eugenics, and Trans* Subjectivities

While some believe that eugenics ended after World War II, eugenics heavily influenced the development and evolution of diagnoses of gender variance. Where eugenicists applied the terms “degenerate” and “unfit” to those deemed undesirable in the early twentieth century, so too did sexologists, many of whom were also eugenicists, when describing and constructing the diagnostic category of transvestite. I trace the evolution of trans-diagnostic categories and argue that eugenics significantly influenced how both sexologists and transpeople understood transvestism in the 20th century, particularly in relation to race, sexuality, and disability. Reflecting the common eugenic strategies of the first several decades of the 1900s, many sexologists commented on degeneracy, heredity, and disability within texts focused on transvestism. Their eugenic leanings were also evidenced by anxieties concerning transvestites marrying and reproducing, two actions that eugenicists sought to control. The wide influence of eugenic ideology in sexological writings made the separation of eugenics and transvestism irreversible. Reading texts about and by transvestites and transsexuals while recognizing the discursive and historical context in which they wrote, I point out the ways in which understandings of gender and eugenics were mutually productive in these writings. While current descriptions of transsexuals do not include terms like “degeneracy,” its vestigial meanings remain. The present-day search for causes and “cures” for transsexualism are rooted in this history of eugenics. Recognizing and acknowledging this history is crucial for understanding what is at stake for inhabiting these diagnoses, and for how trans* communities will negotiate them moving forward

Fluid-fluid phase separation in a soft porous medium

Various biological and chemical processes lead to the nucleation and growth of non-wetting fluid bubbles within the pore space of a granular medium, such as the formation of gas bubbles in liquid-saturated lake-bed sediments. In sufficiently soft porous materials, the non-wetting nature of these bubbles can result in the formation of open cavities within the granular solid skeleton. Here, we consider this process through the lens of phase separation, where thermomechanics govern the separation of the non-wetting phase from a fluid-fluid-solid mixture. We construct a phase-field model informed by large-deformation poromechanics, in which two immiscible fluids interact with a poroelastic solid skeleton. Our model captures the competing effects of elasticity and fluid-fluid-solid interactions. We use a phase-field damage model to capture the mechanics of the granular solid. As a model problem, we consider an initial distribution of non-wetting fluid in the pore space that separates into multiple cavities. We use simulations and linear-stability analysis to identify the key parameters that control phase separation, the conditions that favour the formation of cavities, and the characteristic size of the resulting cavities

The Democratic Foundations of the Just City

Key Insights From a European Comparative Study

ACUTE SPATIOTEMPORAL AND MUSCLE EXCITATION REPONSES TO WEARABLE LOWER LIMB LOADING DURING MAXIMAL VELOCITY SPRINTING

This study quantified the mechanical effects of adding light wearable loads to the thigh or shank segments during maximal velocity sprinting. Eight university level sprinters performed two 40 m sprints under each condition (unloaded, thigh loaded, shank loaded) in a randomised order, and effects were analysed using magnitude based inferences. In both loaded conditions, there was a possibly small decrease in step velocity which was associated with a likely small decrease in step rate and no clear difference in step length. There was a likely small increase in contact time in the thigh-loaded condition, and possibly small increases in both flight and contact time in the shank-loaded condition. There were no clear differences in biceps femoris or semitendinosus excitation between any conditions. These results provide information which can be used to objectively implement wearable resistance in to periodised training programmes

General Anaesthetic Modulation of Memory-Related Gene Expression Using an In vitro Brain Slice Model

General anaesthetics cause widespread neurochemical and physiological changes in the brain. However, the precise mechanism of amnesic action is largely unknown. Gene expression changes in the hippocampus have been a focal point for investigation in this area, while effects on the cerebral cortex have been largely underreported even though the cerebral cortex has been shown to play a large role in memory consolidation and storage. Amnesia is likely due to the change in expression of memory-related genes within the neocortex or hippocampus of the mammalian brain. The first aim of this research was to investigate the in vitro cortical gene expression pattern of two memory-related genes; activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf), after a t=4 hour exposure to propofol- or sevoflurane- induced anaesthesia using an adult mouse brain slice model and real-time quantitative PCR. Five animals were used for each anaesthetic and a t=0 hour control, t=4 hour control and t=4 hour treated 400 μm slice were taken from each animal. Seizure-like activity was recorded from the brain slices to ensure viability of the tissue before carrying out the anaesthetic exposure. RNA was extracted, DNAse-treated, and then converted to cDNA. Quantitative PCR was then carried out to analyse Bdnf and Arc expression differences between the t=4 hour control and t=4 hour treated samples using Gapdh, β2m, Actb and HRPT1 as reference genes. The second research aim was to determine the Bdnf protein expression level and localisation after a t=4 hour exposure to propofol using western blot and immunohistochemistry methodologies. Our research demonstrated that Arc was significantly down-regulated after exposure to sevoflurane for t=4 hours (p<0.05). Arc was also shown to be up-regulated after a t=4 hour exposure to propofol while Bdnf showed a downregulation to sevoflurane but an upregulation to propofol, however this data was not statistically significant. Western blot data showed that the rabbit polyclonal Bdnf antibody was binding to an off-target epitope at 55 kDa with mouse brain, heart, lung, liver, spleen and kidney whole tissue lysate. A newly sourced commercial Bdnf antibody was validated and western blot data showed recognition of the Bdnf epitope at the correct predicted size of 28 kDa in the mouse brain, heart and kidney. Immunohistochemistry of frozen mouse brain sections failed to produce a positive signal for two different Bdnf antibodies due to encountering technical issues. Hematoxylin and Eosin staining showed the tissue was still intact after the sectioning procedure. These issues could be resolved in the future by improving the tissue fixation length and optimising the antigen retrieval step. Eleven recommendations have been made to provide further insight into the gene expression levels of memory-related genes in the mouse brain. This includes varying the induction and maintenance of the two anaesthetic drugs, role of epigenetic modification, evaluating the mental state of the mice (depression), investigating Bdnf knockout, differential expression between areas of the brain and brain electrical activity. In addition, the gene expression pattern after a period of anaesthetic exposure should also be analysed. This may help elucidate the causes of postoperative cognitive dysfunction. Whole transcriptome analysis using RNA-Seq could be used to determine the expression levels of other known memory-related genes after anaesthetic exposure