Ab initio nuclear structure calculations with GPU acceleration

We present a description of our {\em ab initio} nuclear structure formalism and its implementation in our highly parallel codebase. We discuss our strategy for incorporating hardware acceleration with Graphics Processing Units and the timing improvements that it produced. Finally, we use these systems to perform an extensive range of {\em ab initio} calculations for neutron drops in 10 and 20 MeV external harmonic-oscillator traps using chiral nucleon-nucleon plus three-nucleon interactions. We present ground state energies and energy differences, radii, internal energies, and level splitting physics results for neutron numbers $N$ = $2 - 40$ using the no-core full configuration model. We compare with quantum Monte Carlo results using AV8$^\prime$ with Urbana IX and Illinois-7 3N forces, where available, and with the nonlocal NN interaction JISP16. These results lead to insights on the distinctions between candidates for the nuclear strong interaction and inform applications to develop new generations of energy density functionals for nuclei. In addition, in light of a promising new correlation between neutron drop and nuclear observables, we present expanded $N=20$ neutron drop results and use the correlation to compare them with the experimental result for the difference in neutron and proton radii of $^{48}$Ca

Value of Social Science Research Often Measured by What You Don\u27t See

In early April, our UCF colleagues at the Florida Space Institute secured a $55 million grant to produce an instrument for space research. Congratulations

\u27Everything I Love is Illegal, Immoral or Against the Advice of the Surgeon General\u27

The recent situation of TV anchor Jennifer Livingston in La Crosse, Wisc., offers a glimpse into how external indicators of health are becoming stigmatized in the public-health efforts to battle the “epidemic of obesity.

The Future of Health Care? Lessons of a Simple Model

Transforming health care is as much about social change and resistance as it is about individual health and party politics

Violence is Not a Virus, but it is Transmitted

Recent mass shootings have again brought out the violence is a disease crowd. Their thinking is that if we reduce the availability of firearms, we will decrease violence

\u27Smart\u27 Justice is Based on More Than Just Reducing Costs

I attended a statewide “justice summit” in December, but left wondering about how some people think we should achieve that

Genes coding for virulence determinants of Campylobacter jejuni in human clinical and cattle isolates from Alberta, Canada, and their potential role in colonization of poultry

Forty nine Campylobacter jejuni isolates from cattle feces collected from Alberta feedlots and 50 clinical C. jejuni isolates from people in Alberta were tested for the presence of 14 genes encoding putative virulence factors by PCR. These included genes implicated in adherence and colonization (flaC, cadF, docC, racR, jlpA, peb1, and dnaJ), invasion (virB11, ciaB, pldA, and iamA) and protection against harsh conditions (htrA, cbrA, and sodB). The genes examined were widely distributed in both the cattle fecal isolates and the human isolates. Of the isolates tested, 67% contained all of the genes except virB11. The cadF gene was found in 100% of the isolates tested. The presence or absence of virulence-associated genes was not associated with the ability of the organism to colonize birds. All of the C. jejuni isolates used to challenge birds were able to colonize the animals regardless of virulence gene profile. While some diversity in the profile of the occurrence of virulence-associated genes in C. jejuni exists, the distribution of these putative virulence-associated genes isolates from feedlotcattle feces and humans in Alberta was similar. In addition it was not possible to predict the ability of the selected isolates tocolonize young chicks based on the presence of these genes coding for virulence determinants. [Int Microbiol 2011; 14(1):25-32

Population-Induced Phase Transitions and the Verification of Chemical Reaction Networks

We show that very simple molecular systems, modeled as chemical reaction networks, can have behaviors that exhibit dramatic phase transitions at certain population thresholds. Moreover, the magnitudes of these thresholds can thwart attempts to use simulation, model checking, or approximation by differential equations to formally verify the behaviors of such systems at realistic populations. We show how formal theorem provers can successfully verify some such systems at populations where other verification methods fail