Noncommutative Mixmaster Cosmologies

In this paper we investigate a variant of the classical mixmaster universe model of anisotropic cosmology, where the spatial sections are noncommutative 3-tori. We consider ways in which the discrete dynamical system describing the mixmaster dynamics can be extended to act on the noncommutative torus moduli, and how the resulting dynamics differs from the classical one, for example, in the appearance of exotic smooth structures. We discuss properties of the spectral action, focussing on how the slow-roll inflation potential determined by the spectral action affects the mixmaster dynamics. We relate the model to other recent results on spectral action computation and we identify other physical contexts in which this model may be relevant.Comment: 24 pages LaTe

Caboclos of Nazareth: Improvisation and Renovation in Maracatu de Baque Solto of Pernambuco.

This dissertation looks at an expressive musical-poetic form that has developed over the last hundred years, maracatu de baque solto of Pernambuco, but which has only recently begun to receive critical attention. Featuring poetic duels between poet-singers (or mestres) of different groups, maracatu draws on a variety of regional musical genres while also engaging creatively with mass-mediated cultural production. Maracatus organize performances in their local neighborhoods, present in neighboring towns and cities during Carnival, and participate in large festival productions. Based on three years of ethnographic and historical fieldwork in and around the town of Nazaré da Mata from 2009 to 2012, the dissertation looks at different understandings of authenticity and the dynamic relationship between modernity and tradition as articulated differently within maracatu and by its intermediaries. In exploring how the expressive genre of maracatu continues to develop, I examine how cultural identities and practices can shift, calcify, or transform over time in relation to socioeconomic change, political developments, or interaction with other social groups. Since its “discovery” by elite artists, researchers, and funding institutions, the emphasis on maracatu’s rural identity and origins on the sugar plantations has often minimized or obscured its subsequent development by generations of working-class practitioners in the urban and semi-urban peripheries since the rural exodus of the middle twentieth century. Institutional frameworks created by folklore research and elite intellectual production about popular culture have shaped the ways in which maracatu eventually achieved recognition among a broader public in Pernambuco as well as other regions of Brazil. My research touches upon the strengths and limits of cultura popular as a form of resistance by exploring how elite interventions and popular practices have become entwined. I develop the idea of coronelismo cultural, or “cultural boss-ism,” as a way of analyzing how maracatu has developed within the persisting structures of patronage and domination that are strongly rooted in the region’s history. As maracatu is only sparsely represented in the academic literature, it is hoped that this dissertation will contribute to our understanding of similar expressive forms elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean.PhDAnthropology and HistoryUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111558/1/cestrad_1.pd

Asymptotic safety, hypergeometric functions, and the Higgs mass in spectral action models

We study the renormalization group flow for the Higgs self coupling in the presence of gravitational correction terms. We show that the resulting equation is equivalent to a singular linear ODE, which has explicit solutions in terms of hypergeometric functions. We discuss the implications of this model with gravitational corrections on the Higgs mass estimates in particle physics models based on the spectral action functional.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX, 8 PDF figure

Preliminary Design of the DarkNESS Observatory for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

The Dark matter as a sterile NEutrino Search Satellite (DarkNESS) is a collaboration between Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), University of Illinois Department of Aerospace Engineering\u27s Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI), and CU Aerospace. Fermilab\u27s project seeks to clarify the X-ray emission spotted by the European Space Agency in galaxy clusters, hypothesized to result from the decay of sterile neutrinos that may be associated with dark matter. Limited by atmospheric interference, ground telescopes cannot discern the weak X-ray signal. A small satellite deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) outfitted with an advanced Skipper X-ray detector has been proposed to observe the galactic center, potentially detecting the signal. DarkNESS is a challenging mission involving multiple operational constraints. This paper presents the results of the feasibility assessment undertaken for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) that revealed the thermal, power, and pointing constraints imposed by orbital mechanics on the mission concept of operations, along with their resolutions. The DarkNESS mission’s next milestone is the Critical Design Review scheduled for early 2024

Formas de estar con la violencia. La violencia como factor de estructuración social

El objeto de estudio de esta investigación es la violencia, entendida como un recurso socialmente estructurado y subjetivamente modelado que determina nuestra forma de relacionarnos con los demás. Se analiza qué papel adquiere la violencia en la estructuración de las relaciones sociales que se establecen dentro de la zona de El Casco, en Cuscatancingo, San Salvador, El Salvador. Se sostiene que la apropiación que el sujeto hace de la violencia en el plano subjetivo influye al momento de definir cuál es el lugar que ocupa en el mundo (frente a sí mismo y frente a los demás), cómo se relaciona en su círculo familiar y comunitario, cómo asume y reconstruye su historia, y cómo se visualiza a sí mismo en el plano nacional, local y global

Centro recreativo municipal Talpetate municipio de Cobán, departamento Alta Verapaz.

Plantea el anteproyecto del centro recreativo municipal Talpetate, para Cobán Alta Verapaz, destinado a la distracción y recreación acuática familiar y turística. En la prefiguración establece premisas morfológicas, funcionales, ambientales, tecnológicas. Desarrolla un programa arquitectónico con área administrativa, zona de recreación activa con piscina de niños, piscina de adultos, área de toboganes, área de mesas y bancas, salón de eventos, servicios sanitarios; área comercial social con restaurante y área de kioscos y zona pública, entre otras. Este proyecto tiene una proyección a veinte años de vida útil y beneficiará a la población del municipio y a las comunidades cercanas, así mismo, pretende incrementar el turismo nacional e internacional

Trypanosomatids topoisomerase re-visited. New structural findings and role in drug discovery

AbstractThe Trypanosomatidae family, composed of unicellular parasites, causes severe vector-borne diseases that afflict human populations worldwide. Chagas disease, sleeping sickness, as well as different sorts of leishmaniases are amongst the most important infectious diseases produced by Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania spp., respectively. All these infections are closely related to weak health care services in low-income populations of less developed and least economically developed countries. Search for new therapeutic targets in order to hit these pathogens is of paramount priority, as no effective vaccine is currently in use against any of these parasites. Furthermore, present-day chemotherapy comprises old-fashioned drugs full of important side effects. Besides, they are prone to produce tolerance and resistance as a consequence of their continuous use for decades. DNA topoisomerases (Top) are ubiquitous enzymes responsible for solving the torsional tensions caused during replication and transcription processes, as well as in maintaining genomic stability during DNA recombination. As the inhibition of these enzymes produces cell arrest and triggers cell death, Top inhibitors are among the most effective and most widely used drugs in both cancer and antibacterial therapies. Top relaxation and decatenation activities, which are based on a common nicking–closing cycle involving one or both DNA strands, have been pointed as a promising drug target. Specific inhibitors that bind to the interface of DNA-Top complexes can stabilize Top-mediated transient DNA breaks. In addition, important structural differences have been found between Tops from the Trypanosomatidae family members and Tops from the host. Such dissimilarities make these proteins very interesting for drug design and molecular intervention. The present review is a critical update of the last findings regarding trypanosomatid’s Tops, their new structural features, their involvement both in the physiology and virulence of these parasites, as well as their use as promising targets for drug discovery

Erythrocytes from GGTA1/CMAH knockout pigs: implications for xenotransfusion and testing in non-human primates

Background Pig erythrocytes are potentially useful to solve the worldwide shortage of human blood for transfusion. Domestic pig erythrocytes, however, express antigens that are bound by human preformed antibodies. Advances in genetic engineering have made it possible to rapidly knock out the genes of multiple xenoantigens, namely galactose α1,3 galactose (aGal) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). We have recently targeted the GGTA1 and CMAH genes with zinc finger endonucleases resulting in double knockout pigs that no longer express aGal or Neu5Gc and attract significantly fewer human antibodies. In this study, we characterized erythrocytes from domestic and genetically modified pigs, baboons, chimpanzees, and humans for binding of human and baboon natural antibody, and complement mediated lysis. Methods Distribution of anti Neu5Gc IgG and IgM in pooled human AB serum was analyzed by ELISA. Erythrocytes from domestic pigs (Dom), aGal knockout pigs (GGTA1 KO), aGal and Neu5Gc double knockout pigs (GGTA1/CMAH KO), baboons, chimpanzees, and humans were analyzed by flow cytometry for aGal and Neu5Gc expression. In vitro comparative analysis of erythrocytes was conducted with pooled human AB serum and baboon serum. Total antibody binding was accessed by hemagglutination; complement-dependent lysis was measured by hemolytic assay; IgG or IgM binding to erythrocytes was characterized by flow cytometry. Results The pooled human AB serum contained 0.38 μg/ml anti Neu5Gc IgG and 0.085 μg/ml anti Neu5Gc IgM. Both Gal and Neu5Gc were not detectable on GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes. Hemagglutinaion of GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes with human serum was 3.5-fold lower compared to GGTA1 KO erythrocytes, but 1.6-fold greater when agglutinated with baboon serum. Hemolysis of GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes by human serum (25%) was reduced 9-fold compared to GGTA1 KO erythrocytes, but increased 1.64-fold by baboon serum. Human IgG binding was reduced 27-fold on GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes compared to GGTA1 KO erythrocytes, but markedly increased 3-fold by baboon serum IgG. Human IgM binding was decreased 227-fold on GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes compared to GGTA1 KO erythrocytes, but enhanced 5-fold by baboon serum IgM. Conclusions Removal of aGal and Neu5Gc antigens from pig erythrocytes significantly reduced human preformed antibody-mediated cytotoxicity but may have complicated future in vivo analysis by enhancing reactivity from baboons. The creation of the GGTA1/CMAH KO pig has provided the xenotransplantion researcher with organs and cells that attract fewer human antibodies than baboon and our closest primate relative, chimpanzee. These finding suggest that while GGTA1/CMAH KO erythrocytes may be useful for human transfusions, in vivo testing in the baboon may not provide a direct transplation to the clinic

Viral and bacterial septicaemic infections modulate the expression of PACAP splicing variants and VIP/PACAP receptors in brown trout immune organs

Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Acknowledgements The authors thank Richard Paley, Georgina Rimmer and Tom Hill for their contribution during the brown trout infection challenges carried out in CEFAS-Weymouth biosecurity facilities. Bartolomeo Gorgoglione and Nick G. H. Taylor were supported by a DEFRA contract C3490Peer reviewedPostprin

Caracterización clínica de leishmaniasis cutánea clásica en niños menores de 5 años del municipio de San José de Bocay, 2003

Tesis (Doctor en Medicina y Cirugía)--Universidad Americana, Managua, 2005Esta investigación define las características de la enfermedad por Leishmaniasis Cutánea Clásica en pacientes menores de 5 años de edad, en el municipio de San José de Bocay en el año 2003, no sólo a causa del incremento en el número de casos, sino también en especial por el impacto socio-económico y psicológico, característico de esta enfermedad frecuentemente debilitante y mutilante, pues el tener mayor conocimiento de este perfil patológico es una prioridad para el Programa Nacional de Leishmaniasis