On the Running of the Cosmological Constant in Quantum General Relativity

We present arguments that show what the running of the cosmological constant means when quantum general relativity is formulated following the prescription developed by Feynman.Comment: 5 page

ROSAT observations of the dwarf starforming galaxy Holmerg II (UGC 4305)

We present ROSAT PSPC and HRI observations of the dwarf irregular galaxy Holmberg II (UGC4305). This is one of the most luminous dwarf galaxies (Lx~ 10^{40} erg s^{-1} cm^{-2}) detected in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. The X-ray emission comes from a single unresolved point source, coincident with a large HII region which emits intense radio emission. The source is variable on both year and day timescales, clearly favouring accretion into a compact object rather than a supernova remnant or a superbubble interpretation for the origin of the X-ray emission. However, its X-ray spectrum is well-fit by a a Raymond-Smith spectrum with kT~0.8 keV, lower than the temperature of X-ray binaries in nearby spiral galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Resummed Quantum Gravity

We present the current status of the a new approach to quantum general relativity based on the exact resummation of its perturbative series as that series was formulated by Feynman. We show that the resummed theory is UV finite and we present some phenomenological applications as well.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; presented at ICHEP0

ROSAT and ASCA Observations of X-ray Luminous starburst Galaxies : NGC3310 and NGC3690

We present ROSAT (HRI and PSPC) and ASCA observations of the two luminous (L_x ~10^{41-42} erg s^{-1}) star-forming galaxies NGC3310 and NGC3690. The HRI shows clearly that the sources are extended with the X-ray emission in NGC3690 coming from at least three regions. The combined 0.1-10 keV spectrum of NGC3310 can be described by two components, a Raymond-Smith plasma with temperature kT=0.81^{+0.09}_{-0.12} keV and a hard power-law, Gamma=1.44^{+0.20}_{-0.11}, (or alternatively a harder Raymond-Smith plasma with kT ~15 keV), while there is no substantial excess absorption above the Galactic. The soft component emission is probably due to a super-wind while the nature of the hard emission is more uncertain with likely origins, X-ray binaries, inverse Compton scattering of IR photons, an AGN or a very hot gas component (~10^8 K). The spectrum of NGC3690 is similar, with kT=0.83^{+0.02}_{-0.04} keV and Gamma=1.56^{+0.11}_{-0.11}. We also employ more complicated models such as a multi-temperature thermal plasma, a non-equilibrium ionization code or the addition of a third softer component which improve the fit but not at a statistically significant level (<2sigma). These results are similar to recent results on the archetypal star-forming galaxies M82 and NGC253.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 1 landascape table, Accepted for publication in MNRA

A note on the appearance of self-dual Yang-Mills fields in integrable hierarchies

A family of mappings from the solution spaces of certain generalized Drinfeld-Sokolov hierarchies to the self-dual Yang-Mills system on R^{2,2} is described. This provides an extension of the well-known relationship between self-dual connections and integrable hierarchies of AKNS and Drinfeld-Sokolov type

Microsatellite-stable diploid carcinoma: a biologically distinct and aggressive subset of sporadic colorectal cancer

Chromosomal instability and microsatellite instability represent the major pathways for colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. However, a significant percentage of CRC shows neither pattern of instability, and thus represents a potentially distinctive form of the disease. Flow cytometry was used to determine the degree of DNA aneuploidy in 46 consecutive sporadic colorectal cancers. Microsatellite status was determined by PCR amplification using standard markers, while immunostaining was used to examine the expression of p53. K- ras status was determined by restriction-mediated PCR assay. Twenty-five (54%) tumours were aneuploid, 14 (30%) were diploid and microsatellite-stable and seven (15%) were diploid and microsatellite-unstable. Tumours with microsatellite instability were more likely to be right sided, to occur in women and to be associated with an improved survival. Aneuploid tumours were significantly more common in men and were likely to be left sided. The diploid microsatellite-stable (MSS) tumours did not show a sex or site predilection, but were strongly associated with the presence of metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. Our data suggests that diploid, MSS tumours represent a biologically and phenotypically distinct subset of colorectal carcinoma, and one that is associated with the early development of metastases. We suggest that the genetic stability that characterizes these tumours may favour the maintenance of an invasive phenotype, and thus facilitate disease progression. These findings may have important implications for treatment options in this disease subset. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Use of tri-axial accelerometers to assess terrestrial mammal behaviour in the wild

Tri-axial accelerometer tags provide quantitative data on body movement that can be used to characterize behaviour and understand species ecology in ways that would otherwise be impossible. Using tags on wild terrestrial mammals, especially smaller species, in natural settings has been limited. Poor battery power also reduced the amount of data collected, which limits what can be derived about animal behaviour. Another challenge using wild animals, is acquiring observations of actual behaviours with which to compare tag data and create an adequate training set to reliably identify behavioural states. Brown hares were fitted with accelerometers for 5 weeks to evaluate their use in collecting detailed behaviour data and activity levels. Collared hares were filmed to associate actual behaviours with tag data. Observed behaviours were classified using Random Forests (ensemble learning method) to create a supervised model and then used to classify hare behaviour from the tags. Increased tag longevity allowed acquisition of large quantities of data from each individual and direct observation of tagged hare's behaviour. Random Forests accurately classified observed behaviours from tag data with an 11% error rate. Individual accuracy of behaviours varied with running (100% accuracy), feeding (94.7%) and vigilance (98.3%) having the highest classification accuracy. Hares spent 46% of their time being vigilant and 25% feeding when active. The combination of our tags and Random Forests facilitated large amounts of behavioural data to be collected on animals where observational studies could be limited, or impossible. The same method could be used on a range of terrestrial mammals to create models to investigate behaviour from tag data, to learn more about their behaviour and be used to answer many ecological questions. However, further development of methods for analysing tag data is needed to make the process quicker, simpler and more accurate

The dispersive self-dual Einstein equations and the Toda lattice

The Boyer-Finley equation, or $SU(\infty)$-Toda equation is both a reduction of the self-dual Einstein equations and the dispersionlesslimit of the $2d$-Toda lattice equation. This suggests that there should be a dispersive version of the self-dual Einstein equation which both contains the Toda lattice equation and whose dispersionless limit is the familiar self-dual Einstein equation. Such a system is studied in this paper. The results are achieved by using a deformation, based on an associative $\star$-product, of the algebra $sdiff(\Sigma^2)$ used in the study of the undeformed, or dispersionless, equations.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX. To appear: J. Phys.

Structural basis of the effect of activating mutations on the EGF receptor

Mutations within the kinase domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) are common oncogenic driver events in non-small cell lung cancer. Although the activation of EGFR in normal cells is primarily driven by growth-factor-binding-induced dimerization, mutations on different exons of the kinase domain of the receptor have been found to affect the equilibrium between its active and inactive conformations giving rise to growth-factor-independent kinase activation. Using molecular dynamics simulations combined with enhanced sampling techniques, we compare here the conformational landscape of the monomers and homodimers of the wild-type and mutated forms of EGFR ΔELREA and L858R, as well as of two exon 20 insertions, D770-N771insNPG, and A763-Y764insFQEA. The differences in the conformational energy landscapes are consistent with multiple mechanisms of action including the regulation of the hinge motion, the stabilization of the dimeric interface, and local unfolding transitions. Overall, a combination of different effects is caused by the mutations and leads to the observed aberrant signaling

The development and application of audit criteria for assessing knowledge exchange plans in health research grant applications.

Background: Research funders expect evidence of end user engagement and impact plans in research proposals. Drawing upon existing frameworks, we developed audit criteria to help researchers and their institutions assess the knowledge exchange plans of health research proposals. Findings: Criteria clustered around five themes: problem definition; involvement of research users; public and patient engagement; dissemination and implementation; and planning, management and evaluation of knowledge exchange. We applied these to a sample of grant applications from one research institution in the United Kingdom to demonstrate feasibility. Conclusion: Our criteria may be useful as a tool for researcher self-assessment and for research institutions to assess the quality of knowledge exchange plans and identify areas for systematic improvement