Operator Product Expansion and Zero Mode Structure in Logarithmic CFT

The generic structure of 1-, 2- and 3-point functions of fields residing in indecomposable representations of arbitrary rank are given. These in turn determine the structure of the operator product expansion in logarithmic conformal field theory. The crucial role of zero modes is discussed in some detail.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the 36th International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of Elementary Particles, 7p

The Travels of Marco Polo, The Venetian (1298), edited by Michael W. Charney

Marco Polo was the frst Western traveller to speak of Burma (Mien). His late thirteenth century account has been translated numerous times, one of the most popular editions being Henry Yule’s (tr.) The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East in the nineteenth century and the revision of this translation by Henri Cordier in the early twentieth. The Yule- Cordier edition of 1903 is widely available in reprint. Less widely available is the present translation made by W. Marsden from Ramusio’s collection of travels published in 1818 and re-edited by Thomas Wright in September 1854, published as The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian. (London: Henry G. Bohn). Polo’s account of events in Burma can be dated to the early-mid 1290s, for he returned to Venice in 1295, although the Travels were not put into writing until 1298. The version below has been made from the copy in the British Library

Prostate Cancer Care Before and After Medicare Eligibility.

Prior studies suggest Medicare eligibility confers significant and substantial reductions in mortality and beneficial increases in health service utilization. We compared 13,882 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer at ages 63 to 64 years with 14,774 patients diagnosed at ages 65 to 66 (controls) in 2004 to 2007. Compared with controls, patients diagnosed with prostate cancer before Medicare eligibility had no statistically significant or meaningful differences in cancer stage, time to treatment, or type of treatment

Analysis of a variational model for nematic shells

We analyze an elastic surface energy which was recently introduced by G. Napoli and L.Vergori to model thin films of nematic liquid crystals. We show how a novel approach that takes into account also the extrinsic properties of the surfaces coated by the liquid crystal leads to considerable differences with respect to the classical intrinsic energy. Our results concern three connected aspects: i) using methods of the calculus of variations, we establish a relation between the existence of minimizers and the topology of the surface; ii) we prove, by a Ginzburg-Landau approximation, the well-posedness of the gradient flow of the energy; iii) in the case of a parametrized axisymmetric torus we obtain a stronger characterization of global and local minimizers, which we supplement with numerical experiments.Comment: Revised version. Includes referee's comments. Some proofs are changed. To appear on Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences (M3AS