Weak convergence of finite element approximations of linear stochastic evolution equations with additive noise II. Fully discrete schemes

We present an abstract framework for analyzing the weak error of fully discrete approximation schemes for linear evolution equations driven by additive Gaussian noise. First, an abstract representation formula is derived for sufficiently smooth test functions. The formula is then applied to the wave equation, where the spatial approximation is done via the standard continuous finite element method and the time discretization via an I-stable rational approximation to the exponential function. It is found that the rate of weak convergence is twice that of strong convergence. Furthermore, in contrast to the parabolic case, higher order schemes in time, such as the Crank-Nicolson scheme, are worthwhile to use if the solution is not very regular. Finally we apply the theory to parabolic equations and detail a weak error estimate for the linearized Cahn-Hilliard-Cook equation as well as comment on the stochastic heat equation

A Look Back, A Path Forward: Moving Toward Diversity and Inclusion in Cardiovascular Society Presidents

Despite the number of female cardiologists increasing over time, women comprise only <15% of practicing cardiologists worldwide. Women cardiologists are less likely to be full professors, receive research funding, or have a registered clinical trial. Although there has been an increase in women authors of cardiovascular scientific publications over the past 40 years, women are still less likely to be first or senior authors, and they are underrepresented on cardiovascular journal editorial boards. It is well known that women hold few departmental leadership positions in medicine—they are less often cardiology division chiefs or fellowship program directors, and this holds true even in specialties that are female dominated. Additionally, there is a dearth of women and men from diverse backgrounds. Black people comprise 13% of the U.S. population but represent only 2% of cardiologists. Black cardiologists are underrepresented in leadership roles, as well as at the level of full professor. Similarly, only 2% of practicing cardiologists are Hispanic or Latino, and Indigenous people are underrepresented in both medicine and cardiology

The role of formal controls in facilitating information system diffusion

Information systems (IS) studies highlight that IS usage, a pre-requisite for IS diffusion, may be difficult to attain when usage is voluntary because users can resist using the system. User resistance may be overcome through the application of organizational controls. Control theory explains how users' actions and practices are shaped in line with organizational guidelines and procedures. This paper reports on a qualitative case study and shows how formal control mechanisms (behavior and outcome controls) can have a positive and conclusive impact on IS diffusion. The paper makes three contributions to knowledge. First, it proposes a model of IS diffusion, which explains how the application of outcome control mechanisms can lead to IS diffusion despite user resistance. Second, it suggests that IS diffusion paths are iterative, rather than smooth and linear. Finally, the paper demonstrates that despite a lack of reward expectancy, sanction expectancy can be effective during an IS diffusion process

Negotiating sacred roles:a sociological exploration of priests who are mothers

In 1992, in a historic move, the Church of England voted to allow women's ordination to priesthood and in 1994 the first women priests started to be ordained. Despite much research interest, the experiences of priests who are mothers to dependent children have been minimally investigated. Based on in-depth interviews with seventeen mothers ordained in the Church, this paper will focus on how the sacred-profane boundary is managed. Priests who are mothers have a particular insight into the Church hierarchy as they symbolically straddle the competing discourses of sacred and profane. However, instead of reifying these binaries, the experiences of these women show how such dualisms are challenged and managed in everyday life. Indeed, in terms of experience, ritual, ministry and preaching, priests who are mothers are resisting, recasting and renegotiating sacred terrain in subtle and nuanced ways. Mothers thus not only negotiate the practical and sacramental demands placed on priests, but also illuminate how the sacred domain is regulated and constructed

Perceptions on the accessibility of Islamic banking in the UK—Challenges, opportunities and divergence in opinion

This study examines the views of UK-based Muslims, Islamic Scholars and Islamic banking employees on the current state of the latter industry, both in practical terms and as regards engagement with the nation’s large, but often marginalised Islamic community. The British Government has recently championed the Islamic banking sector and committed to supporting it as a means of addressing financial services needs and consolidating London’s position as the global centre for Islamic investment. The analysis adds to the substantive literature in two principal ways: (i) by contextualising the evidence via the notions of empowerment, engagement and social justice that underpin both the state’s attempts to foster growth and the central tenets of Islam; and (ii) by placing comparison of the opinions of key groups at the heart of the investigation. The findings reveal that while progress has been made, UK-based Muslims see several substantive impediments to access, including the complex terminology of Islamic banking products, the lack of internet banking facilities and branch networks as well as a generalised lack of interest in marketing on the part of the institutions. Whilst some coincidence of perception is evident, the views of bankers are shown to be out of line with those of the other parties in a number of key areas. For example, bankers appear to see less potential in the role of the internet as a medium for spreading awareness than do either potential customers or religious scholars. The paper therefore concludes with a call for multi-party Ijtihad and Qiyas (deductive analogy) that will encourage industrial outreach and, in so doing, support long-term growth

Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV

A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV. The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81 GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the 95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure

Improvement of functioning and health with ixekizumab in the treatment of active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis in a 52-week, randomized, controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the effect of ixekizumab on self-reported functioning and health in patients with active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). Methods COAST-X was a randomized, controlled trial conducted in patients with nonradiographic axial SpA over 52 weeks. Participants were randomized at a ratio of 1:1:1 to receive 80 mg of ixekizumab subcutaneously every 4 weeks or 2 weeks or placebo for 52 weeks. Self-reported functioning and health end points included the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) health survey, Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS) health index, and European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions-5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) health-utility descriptive system. Results Compared to placebo, ixekizumab treatment resulted in improvement of SF-36 physical component summary scores from baseline, with a score of 4.7 improving to 8.9 with ixekizumab therapy every 4 weeks (P = 3 improvements based on the ASAS health index from baseline to weeks 16 and 52 (P < 0.05). Significantly more patients receiving ixekizumab every 4 weeks reported improvements in "good health status" on the ASAS health index (ASAS score of <= 5) at weeks 16 and 52 (P < 0.05). Patients receiving ixekizumab reported improvements on the EQ-5D-5L compared to those who received placebo at week 16 (0.11 versus 0.17 for patients receiving treatment every 4 weeks and 0.19 for patients receiving treatment every 2 weeks; P < 0.05), which remained consistent at week 52. There were no clinical meaningful differences in responses based on the ixekizumab dosing regimen for patients who received ixekizumab therapy every 2 weeks or every 4 weeks. Conclusion In patients with nonradiographic axial SpA, therapy with ixekizumab was superior to placebo in the improvement of self-reported functioning and health at weeks 16 and 52.Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters