Eliminating ambiguities for quantum corrections to strings moving in AdS4×CP3AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3

We apply a physical principle, previously used to eliminate ambiguities in quantum corrections to the 2 dimensional kink, to the case of spinning strings moving in $AdS_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$, thought of as another kind of two dimensional soliton. We find that this eliminates the ambiguities and selects the result compatible with AdS/CFT, providing a solid foundation for one of the previous calculations, which found agreement. The method can be applied to other classical string "solitons".Comment: 18 pages, latex; references added, comments added at end of section 4, a few words changed; footnote added on page 1

The Zwitterionic Cell Wall Teichoic Acid of Staphylococcus aureus Provokes Skin Abscesses in Mice by a Novel CD4+ T-Cell-Dependent Mechanism

Zwitterionic polysaccharide (ZPS) components of the bacterial cell envelope have been shown to exert a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II-dependent activation of CD4+ T cells, which in turn can modulate the outcome and progression of infections in animal models. We investigated the impact of zwitterionic cell wall teichoic acid (WTA) produced by Staphylococcus aureus on the development of skin abscesses in a mouse model. We also compared the relative biological activities of WTA and capsular polysaccharide (CP), important S. aureus pathogenicity factors, in abscess formation. Expression of both WTA and CP markedly affected the ability of S. aureus to induce skin abscess formation in mice. Purified wild-type zwitterionic WTA was more active in inducing abscess formation than negatively charged mutant WTA or purified CP8. To assess the ability of purified native WTA to stimulate T cell proliferation in vitro, we co-cultivated WTA with human T-cells and antigen presenting cells in the presence and absence of various inhibitors of MHC-II presentation. Wild-type WTA induced T cell proliferation to a significantly greater extent than negatively charged WTA. T cell activation was dependent on the presentation of WTA on MHC II, since inhibitors of MHC II-dependent presentation and antibodies to MHC II significantly reduced T cell proliferation. T cells activated in vitro with wild-type WTA, but not negatively charged WTA, induced abscess formation when injected subcutaneously into wild-type mice. CD4−/− mice similarly injected with WTA failed to develop abscesses. Our results demonstrate that the zwitterionic WTA of S. aureus induces CD4+ T-cell proliferation in an MHCII-dependent manner, which in turn modulates abscess formation in a mouse skin infection model. An understanding of this novel T cell-dependent host response to staphylococcal abscess formation may lead to the development of new strategies to combat S. aureus skin and soft tissue infections

Simple manipulation of a microwave dressed-state ion qubit

Many schemes for implementing quantum information processing require that the atomic states used have a non-zero magnetic moment, however such magnetically sensitive states of an atom are vulnerable to decoherence due to fluctuating magnetic fields. Dressing an atom with an external field is a powerful method of reducing such decoherence [N. Timoney et al., Nature 476, 185], even if the states being dressed are strongly coupled to the environment. We introduce an experimentally simpler method of manipulating such a dressed-state qubit, which allows the implementation of general rotations of the qubit, and demonstrate this method using a trapped ytterbium ion

Kaluza-Klein gauge and minimal integrable extension of OSp(4|6)/(SO(1,3) x U(3)) sigma-model

Basing upon experience from performing double-dimensional reduction of the D=11 supermembrane on AdS_4 x S^7 background to Type IIA superstring on AdS_4 x CP^3 we introduce Kaluza-Klein (partial) kappa-symmetry gauge as a vanishing condition of the contribution to the D=11 supervielbein components tangent to D=10 space-time proportional to the differential of the coordinate parametrizing compact 11-th space-time dimension, that is identified with the supermembrane world-volume compact dimension. For AdS_4 x S^7 supermembrane Kaluza-Klein gauge removes half Grassmann coordinates associated with 8 space-time supersymmetries, broken by the AdS_4 x CP^3 superbackground, by imposing D=3 (anti-)Majorana condition on them. The consideration relies on the realization of osp(4|8) isometry superalgebra of the AdS_4 x S^7 superbackground as D=3 N=8 superconformal algebra. Requiring further vanishing of the D=10 dilaton leaves in the sector of broken supersymmetries just two Grassmann coordinates organized into D=3 (anti-)Majorana spinor that defines minimal SL(2,R)-covariant extension of the OSp(4|6)/(SO(1,3)x U(3)) sigma-model. Among 4 possibilities of such a minimal extension we consider in detail one, that corresponds to picking out D=3 Majorana coordinate related to broken Poincare supersymmetry, and show that the AdS_4 x CP^3 superstring equations of motion in this partial kappa-symmetry gauge are integrable. Also the relation between the OSp(4|6)/(SO(1,3) x U(3)) sigma-model and the AdS_4 x CP^3 superstring is revisited.Comment: LaTeX, 22 pages; v2: minor improvements in the text, typos corrected, references adde

A systematic review of school health policy measurement tools: Implementation determinants and outcomes

BACKGROUND: Governments in some countries or states/provinces mandate school-based policies intended to improve the health and well-being of primary and secondary students and in some cases the health of school staff. Examples include mandating a minimum time spent per week in programmed physical activity, mandating provision of healthy foods and limiting fat content of school meals, and banning tobacco products or use on school campuses. Although school health researchers have studied whether schools, districts, or states/provinces are meeting requirements, it is unclear to what extent implementation processes and determinants are assessed. The purposes of the present systematic review of quantitative measures of school policy implementation were to (1) identify quantitative school health policy measurement tools developed to measure implementation at the school, district, or state/provincial levels; (2) describe the policy implementation outcomes and determinants assessed and identify the trends in measurement; and (3) assess pragmatic and psychometric properties of identified implementation measures to understand their quality and suitability for broader application. METHODS: Peer-reviewed journal articles published 1995-2020 were included if they (1) had multiple-item quantitative measures of school policy implementation and (2) addressed overall wellness, tobacco, physical activity, nutrition, obesity prevention, or mental health/bullying/social-emotional learning. The final sample comprised 86 measurement tools from 67 peer-review articles. We extracted study characteristics, such as psychometric and pragmatic measure properties, from included articles based on three frameworks: (1) Implementation Outcomes Framework, (2) Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, and (3) Policy Implementation Determinants Framework. RESULTS: Most implementation tools were developed to measure overall wellness policies which combined multiple policy topics (n = 35, 40%) and were in survey form (n = 75, 87%). Fidelity was the most frequently prevalent implementation outcome (n = 70, 81%), followed by adoption (n = 32, 81%). The implementation determinants most assessed were readiness for implementation, including resources (n = 43, 50%), leadership (n = 42, 49%), and policy communication (n = 41, 48%). Overall, measures were low-cost and had easy readability. However, lengthy tools and lack of reported validity/reliability data indicate low transferability. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation science can contribute to more complete and rigorous assessment of school health policy implementation processes, which can improve implementation strategies and ultimately the intended health benefits. Several high-quality measures of implementation determinants and implementation outcomes can be applied to school health policy implementation assessment. Dissemination and implementation science researchers can also benefit from measurement experiences of school health researchers

QCD properties of twist operators in the N=6 Chern-Simons theory

We consider twist-1, 2 operators in planar N=6 superconformal Chern-Simons ABJM theory. We derive higher order anomalous dimensions from integrability and test various QCD-inspired predictions known to hold in N=4 SYM. In particular, we show that the asymptotic anomalous dimensions display intriguing remnants of Gribov-Lipatov reciprocity and Low-Burnett-Kroll logarithmic cancellations. Wrapping effects are also discussed and shown to be subleading at large spin.Comment: 22 pages, expanded reference

On the Fermionic Frequencies of Circular Strings

We revisit the semiclassical computation of the fluctuation spectrum around different circular string solutions in AdS_5xS^5 and AdS_4xCP^3, starting from the Green-Schwarz action. It has been known that the results for these frequencies obtained from the algebraic curve and from the worldsheet computations sometimes do not agree. In particular, different methods give different results for the half-integer shifts in the mode numbers of the frequencies. We find that these discrepancies can be removed if one carefully takes into account the transition matrices in the spin bundle over the target space.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur