The mapping class group and the Meyer function for plane curves

For each d>=2, the mapping class group for plane curves of degree d will be defined and it is proved that there exists uniquely the Meyer function on this group. In the case of d=4, using our Meyer function, we can define the local signature for 4-dimensional fiber spaces whose general fibers are non-hyperelliptic compact Riemann surfaces of genus 3. Some computations of our local signature will be given.Comment: 24 pages, typo adde

Congregational bonding social capital and psychological type : an empirical enquiry among Australian churchgoers

This study explores the variation in levels of bonding social capital experienced by individual churchgoers, drawing on data generated by the Australian National Church Life Survey, and employing a five-item measure of church-related bonding social capital. Data provided by 2065 Australian churchgoers are used to test the thesis that individual differences in bonding social capital are related to a psychological model of psychological types (employing the Jungian distinctions). The data demonstrated that higher levels of bonding social capital were found among extraverts (compared with introverts), among intuitive types (compared with sensing types) and among feeling types (compared with thinking types), but no significant differences were found between judging types and perceiving types

Interpretation and reporting of process capability results: focus on improvement

A global financial services company followed a software-mediated process assessment (SMPA) approach based on ISO/IEC 15504, ISO/IEC 20000 and the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL®). Using an action research approach, the Incident Management, Problem Management, and Change Management processes were assessed at two points in time during an ITSM process improvement project. This paper analyzes the results of the process assessments, highlights issues with the interpretation of the results, and offers an alternative method to report process capability results to motivate process improvement. The study found that by using the proportion of SMPA recommendations as a proxy measure for process improvement, the processes did improve yielding fewer recommendations in cycle 2 when compared to cycle 1 of the action research

Carboxyhaemoglobin levels and their determinants in older British men

Background: Although there has been concern about the levels of carbon monoxide exposure, particularly among older people, little is known about COHb levels and their determinants in the general population. We examined these issues in a study of older British men.Methods: Cross-sectional study of 4252 men aged 60-79 years selected from one socially representative general practice in each of 24 British towns and who attended for examination between 1998 and 2000. Blood samples were measured for COHb and information on social, household and individual factors assessed by questionnaire. Analyses were based on 3603 men measured in or close to (< 10 miles) their place of residence.Results: The COHb distribution was positively skewed. Geometric mean COHb level was 0.46% and the median 0.50%; 9.2% of men had a COHb level of 2.5% or more and 0.1% of subjects had a level of 7.5% or more. Factors which were independently related to mean COHb level included season (highest in autumn and winter), region (highest in Northern England), gas cooking (slight increase) and central heating (slight decrease) and active smoking, the strongest determinant. Mean COHb levels were more than ten times greater in men smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day (3.29%) compared with non-smokers (0.32%); almost all subjects with COHb levels of 2.5% and above were smokers (93%). Pipe and cigar smoking was associated with more modest increases in COHb level. Passive cigarette smoking exposure had no independent association with COHb after adjustment for other factors. Active smoking accounted for 41% of variance in COHb level and all factors together for 47%.Conclusion: An appreciable proportion of men have COHb levels of 2.5% or more at which symptomatic effects may occur, though very high levels are uncommon. The results confirm that smoking (particularly cigarette smoking) is the dominant influence on COHb levels

Nitrogen and sulphur management: challenges for organic sources in temperate agricultural systems

A current global trend towards intensification or specialization of agricultural enterprises has been accompanied by increasing public awareness of associated environmental consequences. Air and water pollution from losses of nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S), are a major concern. Governments have initiated extensive regulatory frameworks, including various land use policies, in an attempt to control or reduce the losses. This paper presents an overview of critical input and loss processes affecting N and S for temperate climates, and provides some background to the discussion in subsequent papers evaluating specific farming systems. Management effects on potential gaseous and leaching losses, the lack of synchrony between supply of nutrients and plant demand, and options for optimizing the efficiency of N and S use are reviewed. Integration of inorganic and organic fertilizer inputs and the equitable re-distribution of nutrients from manure are discussed. The paper concludes by highlighting a need for innovative research that is also targeted to practical approaches for reducing N and S losses, and improving the overall synchrony between supply and demand

Conformal weights in the Kerr/CFT correspondence

It has been conjectured that a near-extreme Kerr black hole is described by a 2d CFT. Previous work has shown that CFT operators dual to axisymmetric gravitational perturbations have integer conformal weights. In this paper, we study the analogous problem in 5d. We consider the most general near-extreme vacuum black hole with two rotational symmetries. This includes Myers-Perry black holes, black rings and Kaluza-Klein black holes. We find that operators dual to gravitational (or electromagnetic or massless scalar field) perturbations preserving both rotational symmetries have integer conformal weights, the same for all black holes considered.Comment: 19 page

Evidence for the Jacobi shape transition in hot 46Ti

The gamma-rays from the decay of the GDR in 46Ti compound nucleus formed in the 18O+28Si reaction at bombarding energy 105 MeV have been measured in an experiment using a setup consisting of the combined EUROBALL IV, HECTOR and EUCLIDES arrays. A comparison of the extracted GDR lineshape data with the predictions of the thermal shape fluctuation model shows evidence for the Jacobi shape transition in hot 46Ti. In addition to the previously found broad structure in the GDR lineshape region at 18-27 MeV caused by large deformations, the presence of a low energy component (around 10 MeV), due to the Coriolis splitting in prolate well deformed shape, has been identified for the first time.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of the COMEX1 conference, June 2003, Paris; to be published in Nucl. Phys.

A Model-Based Analysis of GC-Biased Gene Conversion in the Human and Chimpanzee Genomes

GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC) is a recombination-associated process that favors the fixation of G/C alleles over A/T alleles. In mammals, gBGC is hypothesized to contribute to variation in GC content, rapidly evolving sequences, and the fixation of deleterious mutations, but its prevalence and general functional consequences remain poorly understood. gBGC is difficult to incorporate into models of molecular evolution and so far has primarily been studied using summary statistics from genomic comparisons. Here, we introduce a new probabilistic model that captures the joint effects of natural selection and gBGC on nucleotide substitution patterns, while allowing for correlations along the genome in these effects. We implemented our model in a computer program, called phastBias, that can accurately detect gBGC tracts about 1 kilobase or longer in simulated sequence alignments. When applied to real primate genome sequences, phastBias predicts gBGC tracts that cover roughly 0.3% of the human and chimpanzee genomes and account for 1.2% of human-chimpanzee nucleotide differences. These tracts fall in clusters, particularly in subtelomeric regions; they are enriched for recombination hotspots and fast-evolving sequences; and they display an ongoing fixation preference for G and C alleles. They are also significantly enriched for disease-associated polymorphisms, suggesting that they contribute to the fixation of deleterious alleles. The gBGC tracts provide a unique window into historical recombination processes along the human and chimpanzee lineages. They supply additional evidence of long-term conservation of megabase-scale recombination rates accompanied by rapid turnover of hotspots. Together, these findings shed new light on the evolutionary, functional, and disease implications of gBGC. The phastBias program and our predicted tracts are freely available. © 2013 Capra et al

Gauge-Higgs Unification In Spontaneously Created Fuzzy Extra Dimensions

We propose gauge-Higgs unification in fuzzy extra dimensions as a possible solution to the Higgs naturalness problem. In our approach, the fuzzy extra dimensions are created spontaneously as a vacuum solution of certain four-dimensional gauge theory. As an example, we construct a model which has a fuzzy torus as its vacuum. The Higgs field in our model is associated with the Wilson loop wrapped on the fuzzy torus. We show that the quadratic divergence in the mass of the Higgs field in the one-loop effective potential is absent. We then argue based on symmetries that the quantum corrections to the Higgs mass is suppressed including all loop contributions. We also consider a realization on the worldvolume theory of D3-branes probing $C^3/(Z_N \times Z_N)$ orbifold with discrete torsion.Comment: 1+38 pages, 4 figures v2: refs adde