The factor VII activating protease G511E (Marburg) variant and cardiovascular risk

A previous study had shown a strong relationship between a variant in factor VII activating protease (FSAP G511E) and advanced carotid atheroma. In-vitro, the variant has reduced fibrinolytic but normal pro-coagulant activity, which may constitute a prothrombotic state. The current study has addressed risk for coronary heart disease in a prospective study of cardio vascular disorders (Northwick Park Heart Study II). An interactive effect upon risk was found between the 511E allele and elevated levels of cholesterol and triglyceride. Fibrinogen could substitute for triglyceride levels in this risk-interaction analysis. The findings support the proposal that the FSAP 511E allele exacerbates atherosclerosis or its clinical sequelae

Professionalism and the Millbank Tendency: The Political Sociology of New Labour's employees

This article analyses party employees, one of the most under-researched subjects in the study of British political parties. We draw on a blend of quantitative and qualitative data in order to shed light on the social and political profiles of Labour Party staff, and on the question of their professionalisation. The latter theme is developed through a model derived from the sociology of professions. While a relatively limited proportion of party employees conform to the pure ideal-type of professionalism, a considerably greater number manifest enough of the core characteristics of specialisation, commitment, mobility, autonomy and self-regulation to be reasonably described as 'professionals in pursuit of political outcomes'

Metabolic niches and biodiversity : a test case in the deep sea benthos

The great anthropogenic alterations occurring to carbon availability in the oceans necessitate an understanding of the energy requirements of species and how changes in energy availability may impact biodiversity. The deep-sea floor is characterized naturally by extremely low availability of chemical energy and is particularly vulnerable to changes in carbon flux from surface waters. Because the energetic requirements of organisms impact nearly every aspect of their ecology and evolution, we hypothesize that species are adapted to specific levels of carbon availability and occupy a particular metabolic niche. We test this hypothesis in deep-sea, benthic invertebrates specifically examining how energetic demand, axes of the metabolic niche, and geographic range size vary over gradients of chemical energy availability. We find that benthic invertebrates with higher energetic expenditures, and ecologies associated with high energy demand, are located in areas with higher chemical energy availability. In addition, we find that range size and location of deep-sea, benthic species is determined by geographic patterns in chemical energy availability. Our findings indicate that species may be adapted to specific energy regimes, and the metabolic niche can potentially link scales from individuals to ecosystems as well as adaptation to patterns in biogeography and biodiversity

Equivalent thermo-mechanical parameters for perfect crystals

Thermo-elastic behavior of perfect single crystal is considered. The crystal is represented as a set of interacting particles (atoms). The approach for determination of equivalent continuum values for the discrete system is proposed. Averaging of equations of particles' motion and long wave approximation are used in order to make link between the discrete system and equivalent continuum. Basic balance equations for equivalent continuum are derived from microscopic equations. Macroscopic values such as Piola and Cauchy stress tensors and heat flux are represented via microscopic parameters. Connection between the heat flux and temperature is discussed. Equation of state in Mie-Gruneisen form connecting Cauchy stress tensor with deformation gradient and thermal energy is obtained from microscopic considerations.Comment: To be published in proceedings of IUTAM Simposium on "Vibration Analysis of Structures with Uncertainties", 2009; 14 pages

Analysis of Strong-Coupling Parameters for Superfluid 3He

Superfluid $^{3}$He experiments show strong deviation from the weak-coupling limit of the Ginzburg-Landau theory, and this discrepancy grows with increasing pressure. Strong-coupling contributions to the quasiparticle interactions are known to account for this effect and they are manifest in the five $\beta$-coefficients of the fourth order Ginzburg-Landau free energy terms. The Ginzburg-Landau free energy also has a coefficient $g_{z}$ to include magnetic field coupling to the order parameter. From NMR susceptibility experiments, we find the deviation of $g_{z}$ from its weak-coupling value to be negligible at all pressures. New results for the pressure dependence of four different combinations of $\beta$-coefficients, $\beta$_{345}, $\beta$_{12}, $\beta$_{245}, and $\beta$_{5} are calculated and comparison is made with theory.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Manuscript prepared for QFS200

Quantifying the frequency and volume of urine deposition by grazing sheep using tri-axial accelerometers

Urine patches deposited in pasture by grazing animals are sites of reactive nitrogen (N) loss to the environment due to high concentrations of N exceeding pasture uptake requirements. In order to upscale N losses from the urine patch, several urination parameters are required, including where, when and how often urination events occur as well as the volume and chemical composition. There are limited data available in this respect, especially for sheep. Here, we seek to address this knowledge gap by using non-invasive sensor-based technology (accelerometers) on ewes grazing in situ, using a Boolean algorithm to detect urination events in the accelerometer signal. We conducted an initial study with penned Welsh Mountain ewes (n = 5), with accelerometers attached to the hind, to derive urine flow rate and to determine whether urine volume could be estimated from ewe squat time. Then accelerometers attached to the hind of Welsh Mountain ewes (n = 30 at each site) were used to investigate the frequency of sheep urination events (n = 35 946) whilst grazing two extensively managed upland pastures (semi-improved and unimproved) across two seasons (spring and autumn) at each site (35–40 days each). Sheep urinated at a frequency of 10.2 ± 0.2 and 8.1 ± 0.3 times per day in the spring and autumn, respectively, while grazing the semi-improved pasture. Urination frequency was greater (19.0 ± 0.4 and 15.3 ± 0.3 times per day in the spring and autumn, respectively) in the unimproved pasture. Ewe squat duration could be reliably used to predict the volume of urine deposited per event and was thus used to estimate mean daily urine production volumes. Sheep urinated at a rate of 16.6 mL/s and, across the entire dataset, sheep squatted for an average of 9.62 ± 0.03 s per squatting event, producing an estimated average individual urine event volume of 159 ± 1 mL (n = 35 946 events), ranging between 17 and 745 mL (for squat durations of 1 to 45 s). The estimated mean daily urine volume was 2.15 ± 0.04 L (n = 2 669 days) across the entire dataset. The data will be useful for modelling studies estimating N losses (e.g. ammonia (NH3) volatilisation, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission via nitrification and denitrification and nitrate (NO3−) leaching) from urine patches

Orbital effect of in-plane magnetic field on quantum transport in chaotic lateral dots

We show how the in-plane magnetic field, which breaks time-reversal and rotational symmetries of the orbital motion of electrons in a heterostructure due to the momentum-dependent inter-subband mixing, affects weak localisation correction to conductance of a large-area chaotic lateral quantum dot and parameteric dependences of universal conductance fluctuations in it.Comment: 4 pages with a figur

Accuracy and Limitations of Fitting and Stereoscopic Methods to Determine the Direction of Coronal Mass Ejections from Heliospheric Imagers Observations

Using data from the Heliospheric Imagers (HIs) onboard STEREO, it is possible to derive the direction of propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in addition to their speed with a variety of methods. For CMEs observed by both STEREO spacecraft, it is possible to derive their direction using simultaneous observations from the twin spacecraft and also, using observations from only one spacecraft with fitting methods. This makes it possible to test and compare different analyses techniques. In this article, we propose a new fitting method based on observations from one spacecraft, which we compare to the commonly used fitting method of Sheeley et al. (1999). We also compare the results from these two fitting methods with those from two stereoscopic methods, focusing on 12 CMEs observed simultaneously by the two STEREO spacecraft in 2008 and 2009. We find evidence that the fitting method of Sheeley et al. (1999) can result in significant errors in the determination of the CME direction when the CME propagates outside of 60deg \pm 20 deg from the Sun-spacecraft line. We expect our new fitting method to be better adapted to the analysis of halo or limb CMEs with respect to the observing spacecraft. We also find some evidence that direct triangulation in the HI fields-of-view should only be applied to CMEs propagating approximatively towards Earth (\pm 20deg from the Sun-Earth line). Last, we address one of the possible sources of errors of fitting methods: the assumption of radial propagation. Using stereoscopic methods, we find that at least seven of the 12 studied CMEs had an heliospheric deflection of less than 20deg as they propagated in the HI fields-of-view, which, we believe, validates this approximation.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted to Solar Physic

Chaotic scalar fields as models for dark energy

We consider stochastically quantized self-interacting scalar fields as suitable models to generate dark energy in the universe. Second quantization effects lead to new and unexpected phenomena is the self interaction strength is strong. The stochastically quantized dynamics can degenerate to a chaotic dynamics conjugated to a Bernoulli shift in fictitious time, and the right amount of vacuum energy density can be generated without fine tuning. It is numerically observed that the scalar field dynamics distinguishes fundamental parameters such as the electroweak and strong coupling constants as corresponding to local minima in the dark energy landscape. Chaotic fields can offer possible solutions to the cosmological coincidence problem, as well as to the problem of uniqueness of vacua.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures. Replaced by final version accepted by Phys. Rev.