String Diagrammatic Trace Theory

We extend the theory of formal languages in monoidal categories to the multi-sorted, symmetric case, and show how this theory permits a graphical treatment of topics in concurrency. In particular, we show that Mazurkiewicz trace languages are precisely symmetric monoidal languages over monoidal distributed alphabets. We introduce symmetric monoidal automata, which define the class of regular symmetric monoidal languages. Furthermore, we prove that Zielonka's asynchronous automata coincide with symmetric monoidal automata over monoidal distributed alphabets. Finally, we apply the string diagrams for symmetric premonoidal categories to derive serializations of traces.Comment: Paper accepted for MFCS 202

Association of Prematurity and Urogenital Comorbidities with Postoperative Outcomes of Ureteroneocystostomy for Vesicoureteral Reflux

Background: It is estimated that 20-30% of congenital anomalies involve the kidney and ureter, and these rates are even higher in infants with low birth weights. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) occurs when there is a backflow of urine from the bladder to the kidney. Depending on severity, this condition may require surgical correction with ureteroneocystostomy (UNC). The impact of premature birth and presence of urogenital comorbidities on outcomes of UNC is not known. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between premature birth and urogenital comorbidities with operative outcomes of UNC for VUR. Methods: The 2020 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program-Pediatric (NSQIP-P) database was analyzed for patients undergoing UNC for VUR. 1742 patients were evaluated with 1623 meeting inclusion criteria. The patients were divided into full term (\u3e37 weeks gestation at birth) and preterm (birth). Patient demographics, comorbid conditions, urogenital comorbidities, and outcomes were evaluated. Further analysis of factors associated with ectopic ureter was performed. Results: Out of 1623 UNC patients analyzed, 8.6% were preterm and 91.4% were full term. In basic statistics, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, esophageal/gastric/intestinal disease, developmental delay, structural CNS abnormality, neuromuscular disorder, nutritional support, congenital malformation, cardiac risk factors, ASA classification, gestational age, and urogenital comorbidities were significantly associated with prematurity. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that congenital malformation (p=0.007), major cardiac risk factors (p=0.002), and gestational age of 35-36 weeks are significantly associated with risk of ectopic ureter (p\u3c0.001). Conclusion: While prematurity alone is not associated with incidence of VUR, preterm patients undergoing UNC have a significantly higher risk of postoperative complications despite no differences in operative approach, VUR disease severity, and prior VUR procedure compared to full term patients undergoing this procedure. Preterm patients tend to have more comorbidities which may contribute to this finding. Ectopic ureter is associated with prematurity and factors such as congenital malformations and major cardiac risk factors may increase the risk for ectopic ureter in this population

An 8.56 keV Absorption Line in the Hyperluminous X-Ray Source in NGC 4045: Ultrafast Outflow or Cyclotron Line?

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This work is licenced under the terms of the Creative Commons license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/We report on the discovery of an absorption line at E=8.56−0.11+0.05 keV detected with a significance of >3.3σ in the NuSTAR and XMM-Newton spectra of a newly discovered hyperluminous X-ray source (L X > 1041 erg s−1) in the galaxy NGC 4045 at a distance of 32 Mpc. The source was first discovered serendipitously in a Swift/XRT observation of the galaxy, and Swift monitoring reveals a highly variable source changing by over an order of magnitude from maximum to minimum. The origin of the absorption line appears likely to be from highly ionized iron with a blueshift of 0.19c, indicating an ultrafast outflow. However, the large equivalent width of the line ( EW=−0.22−0.09+0.08 keV) paired with the lack of other absorption lines detected is difficult to reconcile with models. An alternative explanation is that the line is due to a cyclotron resonance scattering feature produced by the interaction of X-ray photons with the powerful magnetic field of a neutron star.Peer reviewe

Identification of caspase 3 motifs and critical aspartate residues in human Phospholipase D1b and Phopsholipase D2a

Stimulation of mammalian cells frequently initiates phospholipase D-catalysed hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine in the plasma membrane to yield phosphatidic acid (PA) a novel lipid messenger. PA plays a regulatory role in important cellular processes such as secretion, cellular shape change and movement. A number of studies have highlighted that PLD-based signalling also plays a pro-mitogenic and pro-survival role in cells and therefore anti-apoptotic. We show that human PLD1b and PLD2a contain functional caspase-3 cleavage sites and identify the critical aspartate residues within PLD1b that affect its activation by phorbol esters and attenuate phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis during apoptosis

Double-impulse magnetic focusing of launched cold atoms.

We have theoretically investigated three-dimensional focusing of a launched cloud of cold atoms using a pair of magnetic lens pulses (the alternate-gradient method). Individual lenses focus radially and defocus axially or vice versa. The performance of the two possible pulse sequences are compared and found to be ideal for loading both 'pancake' and 'sausage' shaped magnetic/optical microtraps. It is shown that focusing aberrations are considerably smaller for double-impulse magnetic lenses compared to single-impulse magnetic lenses. An analysis of clouds focused by the double-impulse technique is presented

A New Sample of Transient Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources Serendipitously Discovered by Swift/XRT

© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are our best laboratories for studying extreme super-Eddington accretion. Most studies of these objects are of relatively persistent sources; however, there is growing evidence to suggest a large fraction of these sources are transient. Here we present a sample of five newly reported transient ULXs in the galaxies NGC 4945, NGC 7793, and M81 serendipitously discovered in Swift/XRT observations. Swift monitoring of these sources have provided well-sampled lightcurves, allowing for us to model the lightcurves with the disk-instability model of Hameury & Lasota, which implies durations of 60–400 days and that the mass-accretion rate through the disk is close to or greater than the Eddington rate. Of the three source regions with prior Hubble Space Telescope imaging, color–magnitude diagrams of the potential stellar counterparts show varying ages of the possible stellar counterparts. Our estimation of the rates of these sources in these three galaxies is 0.4–1.3 yr−1. We find that, while persistent ULXs dominate the high end of galaxy luminosity functions, the number of systems that produce ULX luminosities are likely dominated by transient sources.Peer reviewe

Orbital Decay in M82 X-2

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/M82 X-2 is the first pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source discovered. The luminosity of these extreme pulsars, if isotropic, implies an extreme mass transfer rate. An alternative is to assume a much lower mass transfer rate, but with an apparent luminosity boosted by geometrical beaming. Only an independent measurement of the mass transfer rate can help discriminate between these two scenarios. In this paper, we follow the orbit of the neutron star for 7 yr, measure the decay of the orbit ( Ṗorb/Porb≈−8·10−6yr−1 ), and argue that this orbital decay is driven by extreme mass transfer of more than 150 times the mass transfer limit set by the Eddington luminosity. If this is true, the mass available to the accretor is more than enough to justify its luminosity, with no need for beaming. This also strongly favors models where the accretor is a highly magnetized neutron star.Peer reviewe