4,675 research outputs found
A simplicial gauge theory
We provide an action for gauge theories discretized on simplicial meshes,
inspired by finite element methods. The action is discretely gauge invariant
and we give a proof of consistency. A discrete Noether's theorem that can be
applied to our setting, is also proved.Comment: 24 pages. v2: New version includes a longer introduction and a
discrete Noether's theorem. v3: Section 4 on Noether's theorem has been
expanded with Proposition 8, section 2 has been expanded with a paragraph on
standard LGT. v4: Thorough revision with new introduction and more background
materia
The engagement of further and higher education with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Podium commissioned the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR) at Canterbury Christ Church University to carry out research to capture the engagement of the further and higher education sectors and related stakeholders with the past, current and future opportunities presented by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The full report was released on 15 March 2011 to mark 500 days to go until the start of London 2012
Advances and challenges in umbilical cord blood and tissue bioprocessing: procurement and storage
Umbilical cord tissue and blood is banked to complement the rapidly advancing
field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for both
autologous and allogeneic therapeutic applications. Whilst many problems
concerning the use of the hematopoietic and multipotential mesenchymal
stromal cells contained therein may be addressed through the
future development of GMP-compliant manufacturing strategies, collection
and bioprocessing of these tissues can be optimised in the present
to maximise clinical outcomes. In this review, we describe current procurement,
processing and storage approaches for umbilical cord blood
and tissue; current challenges and how these may be met to augment
translation and use of therapeutics harnessing their derivatives
Curvature condensation and bifurcation in an elastic shell
We study the formation and evolution of localized geometrical defects in an
indented cylindrical elastic shell using a combination of experiment and
numerical simulation. We find that as a symmetric localized indentation on a
semi-cylindrical shell increases, there is a transition from a global mode of
deformation to a localized one which leads to the condensation of curvature
along a symmetric parabolic crease. This process introduces a soft mode in the
system, converting a load-bearing structure into a hinged, kinematic mechanism.
Further indentation leads to twinning wherein the parabolic crease bifurcates
into two creases that move apart on either side of the line of symmetry. A
qualitative theory captures the main features of the phenomena and leads to
sharper questions about the nucleation of these defects.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
What Are the Public Health Effects of Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising?
Background to the debate: Only two industrialized countries, the United States and New Zealand, allow direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription medicines, although New Zealand is planning a ban [ 1]. The challenge for these governments is ensuring that DTCA is more beneficial than harmful. Proponents of DTCA argue that it helps to inform the public about available treatments and stimulates appropriate use of drugs for high-priority illnesses (such as statin use in people with ischemic heart disease). Critics argue that the information in the adverts is often biased and misleading, and that DTCA raises prescribing costs without net evidence of health benefits
Light-Cone Quantization of the Liouville Model
We present the quantization of the Liouville model defined in light-cone
coordinates in (1,1) signature space. We take advantage of the representation
of the Liouville field by the free field of the Backl\"{u}nd transformation and
adapt the approch by Braaten, Curtright and Thorn.
Quantum operators of the Liouville field ,
, , are constructed consistently in
terms of the free field. The Liouville model field theory space is found to be
restricted to the sector with field momentum , , which
is a closed subspace for the Liouville theory operator algebra.Comment: 16 p, EFI-92-6
Confidential Boosting with Random Linear Classifiers for Outsourced User-generated Data
User-generated data is crucial to predictive modeling in many applications.
With a web/mobile/wearable interface, a data owner can continuously record data
generated by distributed users and build various predictive models from the
data to improve their operations, services, and revenue. Due to the large size
and evolving nature of users data, data owners may rely on public cloud service
providers (Cloud) for storage and computation scalability. Exposing sensitive
user-generated data and advanced analytic models to Cloud raises privacy
concerns. We present a confidential learning framework, SecureBoost, for data
owners that want to learn predictive models from aggregated user-generated data
but offload the storage and computational burden to Cloud without having to
worry about protecting the sensitive data. SecureBoost allows users to submit
encrypted or randomly masked data to designated Cloud directly. Our framework
utilizes random linear classifiers (RLCs) as the base classifiers in the
boosting framework to dramatically simplify the design of the proposed
confidential boosting protocols, yet still preserve the model quality. A
Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) is used to assist the Cloud's processing,
reducing the complexity of the protocol constructions. We present two
constructions of SecureBoost: HE+GC and SecSh+GC, using combinations of
homomorphic encryption, garbled circuits, and random masking to achieve both
security and efficiency. For a boosted model, Cloud learns only the RLCs and
the CSP learns only the weights of the RLCs. Finally, the data owner collects
the two parts to get the complete model. We conduct extensive experiments to
understand the quality of the RLC-based boosting and the cost distribution of
the constructions. Our results show that SecureBoost can efficiently learn
high-quality boosting models from protected user-generated data
āStill living with it even though itās goneā: Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to explore shared experiences of living with and beyond breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer
Purpose: Living with and beyond cancer is an increasingly common experience. While research is uncovering valuable individual experiences of those living with and beyond cancer, it has been argued that this idiographic approach is limited in outlook, reach and impact. This study contributes to the understanding of what it means to live with and beyond cancer by complementing idiographic knowledge with multiple perspectives from a group of participants who are living with and beyond cancer, to explore how individual experiences may be relevant to others. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with people who had received treatment for breast (n = 6), prostate (n = 6) or colorectal cancer (n = 6). Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The early findings were then shared with a wider group of people who had received treatment for breast, prostate or colorectal cancer (n = 26) in six focus groups, to explore whether they had similar experiences. Results: While individual accounts of living with and beyond cancer detail unique features specific to each person's experience, focus group discussions illustrated how participant life worlds interact and overlap. The findings identified thematic similarities within and between individual and group levels and across cancer types. Three super-ordinate themes describe the shared experience of living with and beyond cancer: i) the cancer shock, ii) managing cancer and getting through and iii) getting over cancer. Conclusions: A multiple perspective approach informs our understanding of shared experiences of living with and beyond cancer. This knowledge can be used to direct, design, and deliver relevant supportive cancer care
- ā¦