The relative fitness of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis: a modelling study of household transmission in Peru.

The relative fitness of drug-resistant versus susceptible bacteria in an environment dictates resistance prevalence. Estimates for the relative fitness of resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains are highly heterogeneous and mostly derived from in vitro experiments. Measuring fitness in the field allows us to determine how the environment influences the spread of resistance. We designed a household structured, stochastic mathematical model to estimate the fitness costs associated with multidrug resistance (MDR) carriage in Mtb in Lima, Peru during 2010-2013. By fitting the model to data from a large prospective cohort study of TB disease in household contacts, we estimated the fitness, relative to susceptible strains with a fitness of 1, of MDR-Mtb to be 0.32 (95% credible interval: 0.15-0.62) or 0.38 (0.24-0.61), if only transmission or progression to disease, respectively, was affected. The relative fitness of MDR-Mtb increased to 0.56 (0.42-0.72) when the fitness cost influenced both transmission and progression to disease equally. We found the average relative fitness of MDR-Mtb circulating within households in Lima, Peru during 2010-2013 to be significantly lower than concurrent susceptible Mtb If these fitness levels do not change, then existing TB control programmes are likely to keep MDR-TB prevalence at current levels in Lima, Peru

On Lattice Computations of K+ --> pi+ pi0 Decay at m_K =2m_pi

We use one-loop chiral perturbation theory to compare potential lattice computations of the K+ --> pi+ pi0 decay amplitude at m_K=2m_pi with the experimental value. We find that the combined one-loop effect due to this unphysical pion to kaon mass ratio and typical finite volume effects is still of order minus 20-30%, and appears to dominate the effects from quenching.Comment: 4 pages, revte

Determination of CKM phases through rigid polygons of flavor SU(3) amplitudes

Some new methods for the extraction of CKM phases $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ using flavor SU(3) symmetry have been suggested through the construction of rigid polygons in the complex plane with sides equal to the decay amplitudes of B mesons into two mesons belonging to the light (charmless) pseudoscalar octet. These rigid polygons incorporate all the possible amplitude triangles and, being overdetermined, also serve as consistency checks and in estimating the rates of some decay modes. The same techniques also lead to numerous useful amplitude triangles when octet-singlet mixing has been taken into account and nearly physical $\eta,\eta'$ are used.Comment: A few detailed explanations added, some rearrangement of sections and a few minor changes in notation. 19 pages, 1 PostScript figure, uses psfig.st

Breaking a one-dimensional chain: fracture in 1 + 1 dimensions

The breaking rate of an atomic chain stretched at zero temperature by a constant force can be calculated in a quasiclassical approximation by finding the localized solutions ("bounces") of the equations of classical dynamics in imaginary time. We show that this theory is related to the critical cracks of stressed solids, because the world lines of the atoms in the chain form a two-dimensional crystal, and the bounce is a crack configuration in (unstable) mechanical equilibrium. Thus the tunneling time, Action, and breaking rate in the limit of small forces are determined by the classical results of Griffith. For the limit of large forces we give an exact bounce solution that describes the quantum fracture and classical crack close to the limit of mechanical stability. This limit can be viewed as a critical phenomenon for which we establish a Levanyuk-Ginzburg criterion of weakness of fluctuations, and propose a scaling argument for the critical regime. The post-tunneling dynamics is understood by the analytic continuation of the bounce solutions to real time.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Building Bridges with Boats: Preserving Community History through Intra- and Inter-Institutional Collaboration

This chapter discusses Launching through the Surf: The Dory Fleet of Pacific City, a project which documents the historical and contemporary role of dory fishers in the life of the coastal village of Pacific City, Oregon, U.S. Linfield College’s Department of Theatre and Communication Arts, its Jereld R. Nicholson Library, the Pacific City Arts Association, the Pacific City Dorymen\u27s Association, and the Linfield Center for the Northwest joined forces to engage in a collaborative college and community venture to preserve this important facet of Oregon’s history. Using ethnography as a theoretical grounding and oral history as a method, the project utilized artifacts from the dory fleet to augment interview data, and faculty/student teams created a searchable digital archive available via open access. The chapter draws on the authors’ experiences to identify a philosophy of strategic collaboration. Topics include project development and management, assessment, and the role of serendipity. In an era of value-added services where libraries need to continue to prove their worth, partnering with internal and external entities to create content is one way for academic libraries to remain relevant to agencies that do not have direct connections to higher education. This project not only developed a positive “town and gown” relationship with a regional community, it also benefited partner organizations as they sought to fulfill their missions. The project also serves as a potential model for intra- and inter-agency collaboration for all types of libraries

Nonet Symmetry and Two-Body Decays of Charmed Mesons

The decay of charmed mesons into pseudoscalar (P) and vector (V) mesons is studied in the context of nonet symmetry. We have found that it is badly broken in the PP channels and in the P sector of the PV channels as expected from the non-ideal mixing of the \eta and the \eta'. In the VV channels, it is also found that nonet symmetry does not describe the data well. We have found that this discrepancy cannot be attributed entirely to SU(3) breaking at the usual level of 20--30%. At least one, or both, of nonet and SU(3) symmetry must be very badly broken. The possibility of resolving the problem in the future is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, UTAPHY-HEP-

Rho primes in analyzing e+e- annihilation, MARK III, LASS and ARGUS data

The results of an analysis are presented of some recent data on the reactions $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$, $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\pi^0$ with the subtracted $\omega\pi^0$ events, $e^+e^-\to\omega\pi^0$, $e^+e^-\to\eta \pi^+\pi^-$, $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-$, $K^-p\to\pi^+\pi^-\Lambda$, the decays $J/\psi\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$, $tau^-\to\nu_tau\pi^+\pi^-\pi^-\pi^0$ $tau^-\to\nu_\tau\omega\pi^-$, upon taking into account both the strong energy dependence of the partial widths on energy and the previously neglected mixing of the $\rho$ type resonances. The above effects are shown to exert an essential influence on the specific values of masses and coupling constants of heavy resonances and hence are necessary to be accounted for in establishing their true nature.Comment: 20 pages, ReVTeX, 9 Postscript figures As compared to hep-ph/9607398, new material concerning the analysis of the ARGUS data on the tau decays into four pion hadronic states is adde