174 research outputs found
Self-Averaging, Distribution of Pseudo-Critical Temperatures and Finite Size Scaling in Critical Disordered Systems
The distributions of singular thermodynamic quantities in an ensemble
of quenched random samples of linear size at the critical point are
studied by Monte Carlo in two models. Our results confirm predictions of
Aharony and Harris based on Renormalization group considerations. For an
Ashkin-Teller model with strong but irrelevant bond randomness we find that the
relative squared width, , of is weakly self averaging. , where is the specific heat exponent and is the
correlation length exponent of the pure model fixed point governing the
transition. For the site dilute Ising model on a cubic lattice, known to be
governed by a random fixed point, we find that tends to a universal
constant independent of the amount of dilution (no self averaging). However
this constant is different for canonical and grand canonical disorder. We study
the distribution of the pseudo-critical temperatures of the ensemble
defined as the temperatures of the maximum susceptibility of each sample. We
find that its variance scales as and NOT as
R_\chi\sim 70R_\chi (T_c)\chiT_c(i,l)m_i(T_c,l)T_c(i,l)(T-T_c(i,l))/T_c$. This function is found to be universal and to behave
similarly to pure systems.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
New games, new rules: big data and the changing context of strategy
Big data and the mechanisms by which it is produced and disseminated introduce important changes in the ways information is generated and made relevant for organizations. Big data often represents miscellaneous records of the whereabouts of large and shifting online crowds. It is frequently agnostic, in the sense of being produced for generic purposes or purposes different from those sought by big data crunching. It is based on varying formats and modes of communication (e.g., texts, image and sound), raising severe problems of semiotic translation and meaning compatibility. Crucially, the usefulness of big data rests on their steady updatability, a condition that reduces the time span within which this data is useful or relevant. Jointly, these attributes challenge established rules of strategy making as these are manifested in the canons of procuring structured information of lasting value that addresses specific and long-term organizational objectives. The developments underlying big data thus seem to carry important implications for strategy making, and the data and information practices with which strategy has been associated. We conclude by placing the understanding of these changes within the wider social and institutional context of longstanding data practices and the significance they carry for management and organizations
TBCRC 030: a phase II study of preoperative cisplatin versus paclitaxel in triple-negative breast cancer: evaluating the homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) biomarker
Background: Cisplatin and paclitaxel are active in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Despite different mechanisms of action, effective predictive biomarkers to preferentially inform drug selection have not been identified. The homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) assay (Myriad Genetics, Inc.) detects impaired double-strand DNA break repair and may identify patients with BRCA1/2-proficient tumors that are sensitive to DNA-targeting therapy. The primary objective of TBCRC 030 was to detect an association of HRD with pathologic response [residual cancer burden (RCB)-0/1] to single-agent cisplatin or paclitaxel. Patients and methods: This prospective phase II study enrolled patients with germline BRCA1/2 wild-type/unknown stage I–III TNBC in a 12-week randomized study of preoperative cisplatin or paclitaxel. The HRD assay was carried out on baseline tissue; positive HRD was defined as a score ≥33. Crossover to an alternative chemotherapy was offered if there was inadequate response. Results: One hundred and thirty-nine patients were evaluable for response, including 88 (63.3%) who had surgery at 12 weeks and 51 (36.7%) who crossed over to an alternative provider-selected preoperative chemotherapy regimen due to inadequate clinical response. HRD results were available for 104 tumors (74.8%) and 74 (71.1%) were HRD positive. The RCB-0/1 rate was 26.4% with cisplatin and 22.3% with paclitaxel. No significant association was observed between HRD score and RCB response to either cisplatin [odds ratio (OR) for RCB-0/1 if HRD positive 2.22 (95% CI: 0.39–23.68)] or paclitaxel [OR for RCB-0/1 if HRD positive 0.90 (95% CI: 0.19–4.95)]. There was no evidence of an interaction between HRD and pathologic response to chemotherapy. Conclusions: In this prospective preoperative trial in TNBC, HRD was not predictive of pathologic response. Tumors were similarly responsive to preoperative paclitaxel or cisplatin chemotherapy
Compósito para a construção civil a partir de resíduos industriais
RESUMO Os estudos que visam à utilização dos resíduos industriais vêm se intensificando diante da pressão das organizações ambientais, escassez de recursos naturais, busca de certificações para ganho de mercado e minimização de impacto ambiental. O presente trabalho desenvolveu um novo compósito a base de resíduos industriais como cinzas de madeira, lodo de estação de tratamento de água (ETA) e resíduos de produção de cal com propriedades mecânicas que atendem às exigências da ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS - NBR 15270-1/2005, NBR 15270-2/2005 e NBR 5739/2007, objetivando a sua utilização na construção civil sem o acréscimo de cimento Portland. As resistências à compressão variaram de 2,35 a 16,48 MPa. O índice de absorção de água das amostras testadas também atendeu às normas aplicadas, demonstrando que ao longo do tempo de cura houve diminuição da porosidade com possível hidratação da cal. Os resultados do ensaio de resistência à compressão apresentaram variações durante o tempo de cura que podem ser justificadas pela presença de material orgânico no lodo de ETA e pelo tamanho das partículas de cinza de madeira que durante a homogeneização não foram destruídas completamente. Apesar das variações observadas nos resultados, as resistências dos compósitos se enquadram na classificação para blocos cilíndricos de concreto e blocos cerâmicos para alvenaria
Lean Manufacturing in Public Services: Prospects for Value Creation
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the utilization
of lean manufacturing systems in public service operations for poten-
tial added value. A case study of lean manufacturing implementation
at a UK city council was carried out using in-depth interviews with
key personnel coupled with documents collection. The Organizational
Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) was administered among front-line
employees. Results show that lean manufacturing systems could create
signi cant added value to the business and employees. A strong relation-
ship was demonstrated between the lean manufacturing implementation
and the a ective commitment level of employees. This paper is one of a
few studies that demonstrate the applicability of manufacturing systems
in other settings and that they can generate significant added value for
the service department and its employees
Tides in colliding galaxies
Long tails and streams of stars are the most noticeable upshots of galaxy
collisions. Their origin as gravitational, tidal, disturbances has however been
recognized only less than fifty years ago and more than ten years after their
first observations. This Review describes how the idea of galactic tides
emerged, in particular thanks to the advances in numerical simulations, from
the first ones that included tens of particles to the most sophisticated ones
with tens of millions of them and state-of-the-art hydrodynamical
prescriptions. Theoretical aspects pertaining to the formation of tidal tails
are then presented. The third part of the review turns to observations and
underlines the need for collecting deep multi-wavelength data to tackle the
variety of physical processes exhibited by collisional debris. Tidal tails are
not just stellar structures, but turn out to contain all the components usually
found in galactic disks, in particular atomic / molecular gas and dust. They
host star-forming complexes and are able to form star-clusters or even
second-generation dwarf galaxies. The final part of the review discusses what
tidal tails can tell us (or not) about the structure and content of present-day
galaxies, including their dark components, and explains how tidal tails may be
used to probe the past evolution of galaxies and their mass assembly history.
On-going deep wide-field surveys disclose many new low-surface brightness
structures in the nearby Universe, offering great opportunities for attempting
galactic archeology with tidal tails.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, Review to be published in "Tidal effects in
Astronomy and Astrophysics", Lecture Notes in Physics. Comments are most
welcom
Brain regions showing white matter loss in Huntington's Disease are enriched for synaptic and metabolic genes
Background The earliest white matter changes in Huntington’s disease are seen before disease onset in the premanifest stage around the striatum, within the corpus callosum, and in posterior white matter tracts. While experimental evidence suggests that these changes may be related to abnormal gene transcription, we lack an understanding of the biological processes driving this regional vulnerability. Methods Here, we investigate the relationship between regional transcription in the healthy brain, using the Allen Institute for Brain Science transcriptome atlas, and regional white matter connectivity loss at three time points over 24 months in subjects with premanifest Huntington’s disease relative to control participants. The baseline cohort included 72 premanifest Huntington’s disease participants and 85 healthy control participants. Results We show that loss of corticostriatal, interhemispheric, and intrahemispheric white matter connections at baseline and over 24 months in premanifest Huntington’s disease is associated with gene expression profiles enriched for synaptic genes and metabolic genes. Corticostriatal gene expression profiles are predominately associated with motor, parietal, and occipital regions, while interhemispheric expression profiles are associated with frontotemporal regions. We also show that genes with known abnormal transcription in human Huntington’s disease and animal models are overrepresented in synaptic gene expression profiles, but not in metabolic gene expression profiles. Conclusions These findings suggest a dual mechanism of white matter vulnerability in Huntington’s disease, in which abnormal transcription of synaptic genes and metabolic disturbance not related to transcription may drive white matter loss
A search for the decay
We search for the rare flavor-changing neutral-current decay in a data sample of 82 fb collected with the {\sl BABAR}
detector at the PEP-II B-factory. Signal events are selected by examining the
properties of the system recoiling against either a reconstructed hadronic or
semileptonic charged-B decay. Using these two independent samples we obtain a
combined limit of
at the 90% confidence level. In addition, by selecting for pions rather than
kaons, we obtain a limit of using only the hadronic B reconstruction method.Comment: 7 pages, 8 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
High-reflectivity broadband distributed Bragg reflector lattice matched to ZnTe
We report on the realization of a high quality distributed Bragg reflector
with both high and low refractive index layers lattice matched to ZnTe. Our
structure is grown by molecular beam epitaxy and is based on binary compounds
only. The high refractive index layer is made of ZnTe, while the low index
material is made of a short period triple superlattice containing MgSe, MgTe,
and ZnTe. The high refractive index step of Delta_n=0.5 in the structure
results in a broad stopband and the reflectivity coefficient exceeding 99% for
only 15 Bragg pairs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
EuFeAs under high pressure: an antiferromagnetic bulk superconductor
We report the ac magnetic susceptibility and resistivity
measurements of EuFeAs under high pressure . By observing nearly
100% superconducting shielding and zero resistivity at = 28 kbar, we
establish that -induced superconductivity occurs at ~30 K in
EuFeAs. shows an anomalous nearly linear temperature dependence
from room temperature down to at the same . indicates that
an antiferromagnetic order of Eu moments with ~20 K persists
in the superconducting phase. The temperature dependence of the upper critical
field is also determined.Comment: To appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., Vol. 78 No.
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