Lexicographic cones and the ordered projective tensor product

We introduce lexicographic cones, a method of assigning an ordered vector space \Lex(S) to a poset $S$, generalising the standard lexicographic cone. These lexicographic cones are then used to prove that the projective tensor cone of two arbitrary cones is a cone, and to find a new characterisation of finite-dimensional vector lattices.Comment: 8 page

Tacrolimus in pediatric renal transplantation

Tacrolimus was used as the primary immunosuppressive agent in 69 pediatric renal transplantations between December 17, 1989, and June 30, 1995. Children undergoing concomitant or prior liver and/or intestinal transplantation were excluded from analysis. The mean recipient age was 10.3±5.0 years (range, 0.7-17.5 years). Seventeen (24.6%) children were undergoing retransplantation, and six (8.7%) had a panel reactive antibody level of 40% or higher. Thirty-nine (57%) cases were with cadaveric kidneys, and 30 (43%) were with living donors. The mean donor age was 28.0±14.7 years (range, 1.0-50.0 years), and the mean cold ischemia time for the cadaveric kidneys was 27.0±9.4 hr. The antigen match was 2.7±1.2, and the mismatch was 3.1±1.2. All patients received tacrolimus and steroids, without antibody induction, and 26% received azathioprine as well. The mean follow-up was 32±20 months. One- and 4-year actuarial patient survival rates were 100% and 95%. One- and 4-year actuarial graft survival rates were 99% and 85%. The mean serum creatinine level was 1.2±0.8 mg/dl, and the calculated creatinine clearance was 82±26 ml/min/1.73 m2. The mean tacrolimus dose was 0.22±0.14 mg/kg/day, and the level was 9.5±4.8 ng/ml. The mean prednisone dose was 2.1±4.9 mg/day (0.07±0.17 mg/kg/day), and 73% of successfully transplanted children were off prednisone. Seventy-nine percent were not taking any antihypertensive medications. The mean serum cholesterol level was 158±54 mg/dl. The incidence of delayed graft function was 4.3%. The incidence of rejection was 49%, and the incidence of steroid-resistant rejection was 6%. The incidence of rejection decreased to 27% in the most recent 26 cases (January 1994 through June 1995). The incidence of new-onset diabetes was 10.1%; six of the seven affected children were able to be weaned off insulin. The incidence of cytomegalovirus disease was 13%, and that of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder was 10%; the incidence of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder in the last 40 transplants was 5% (two cases). All of the children who developed posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder are alive and have functioning allografts. Based on this data, we believe that tacrolimus is a superior immunosuppressive agent in pediatric renal transplant patients, with excellent short- and medium-term patient and graft survival, an ability to withdraw steroids in the majority of patients, and, with more experience, a decreasing rate of rejection and vital complications

Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders in adult and pediatric renal transplant patients receiving tacrolimus-based immunosuppression

Between March 27, 1989 and December 31, 1997, 1316 kidney transplantations alone were performed under tacrolimus-based immunosuppression at our center. Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) developed in 25 (1.9%) cases; the incidence in adults was 1.2% (15/1217), whereas in pediatric patients it was 10.1% (10/99; P<.0001). PTLD was diagnosed 21.0±22.5 months after transplantation, 25.0±24.7 months in adults and 14.4±18.2 months in pediatric patients. Of the 4 adult cases in whom both the donor and recipient Epstein Barr virus (EBV) serologies were known, 2 (50%) were seropositive donor → seronegative recipient. Of 7 pediatric cases in whom both the donor and recipient EBV serologies were known, 6 (86%) were EBV seropositive donor → seronegative recipient. Acute rejection was observed before the diagnosis of PTLD in 8 (53%) of 15 adults and 3 (30%) of 10 pediatric patients. Initial treatment of PTLD included a marked decrease or cessation of immunosuppression with concomitant ganciclovir therapy; two adults and two pediatric patients required chemotherapy. With a mean follow-up of 24.9 ±30.1 months after transplantation, the 1- and 5-year actuarial patient and graft survival rates in adults were 93% and 86%, and 80% and 60%, respectively. Two adults died, 3.7 and 46.2 months after transplantation, of complications related to PTLD, and 10 (including the 2 deaths) lost their allograft 3.7-84.7 months after transplantation. In children, the 1- and 5-year actuarial patient and graft survival rates were 100% and 100%, and 100% and 89%, respectively. No child died; one child lost his allograft 41.3 months after transplantation. One child had presumed recurrent PTLD that responded to discontinuation of tacrolimus and reinitiation of antiviral therapy. The mean serum creatinine level in adults was 2.5±1.2 mg/dl, and in children, it was 1.3±0.6 mg/dl. Under tacrolimus-based immunosuppression, PTLD is less common after renal transplantation in adults than in children, but PTLD in children is associated with more favorable outcomes than in adults

Jizz and the joy of pattern recognition:virtuosity, discipline and the agency of insight in UK naturalists’ arts of seeing

Approaches to visual skilling from anthropology and STS have tended to highlight the forces of discipline and control in understanding how shared visual accounts of the world are created in the face of potential differences brought about by multi-sensorial perception. Drawing upon a range of observational and interview material from an immersion in naturalist training and biological recording activities between 2003 and 2009, I focus upon jizz, a distinct form of gestalt perception much coveted by naturalist communities in the UK. Jizz is described as a tacit and embodied way of seeing that instantaneously reveals the identity of a species, relying upon but simultaneously suspending the arduous and meticulous study of an organism’s diagnostic characteristics. I explore the potential and limitations of jizz to allow for both visual precision and an enchanted and varied form of encounter with nature. In so doing, I explore how the specific characteristics of wild, intangible and irreverent virtuoso performance work closely together with disciplining taxonomic standards. As such, discipline and irreverence work together, are mutually enabling, and allow for an accommodation rather than a segregation of potential difference brought about by perceptual variety

Electroweak Symmetry Breaking in the DSSM

We study the theoretical and phenomenological consequences of modifying the Kahler potential of the MSSM two Higgs doublet sector. Such modifications naturally arise when the Higgs sector mixes with a quasi-hidden conformal sector, as in some F-theory GUT models. In the Delta-deformed Supersymmetric Standard Model (DSSM), the Higgs fields are operators with non-trivial scaling dimension 1 < Delta < 2. The Kahler metric is singular at the origin of field space due to the presence of quasi-hidden sector states which get their mass from the Higgs vevs. The presence of these extra states leads to the fact that even as Delta approaches 1, the DSSM does not reduce to the MSSM. In particular, the Higgs can naturally be heavier than the W- and Z-bosons. Perturbative gauge coupling unification, a large top quark Yukawa, and consistency with precision electroweak can all be maintained for Delta close to unity. Moreover, such values of Delta can naturally be obtained in string-motivated constructions. The quasi-hidden sector generically contains states charged under SU(5)_GUT as well as gauge singlets, leading to a rich, albeit model-dependent, collider phenomenology.Comment: v3: 40 pages, 3 figures, references added, typos correcte

Automation of one-loop QCD corrections

We present the complete automation of the computation of one-loop QCD corrections, including UV renormalization, to an arbitrary scattering process in the Standard Model. This is achieved by embedding the OPP integrand reduction technique, as implemented in CutTools, into the MadGraph framework. By interfacing the tool so constructed, which we dub MadLoop, with MadFKS, the fully automatic computation of any infrared-safe observable at the next-to-leading order in QCD is attained. We demonstrate the flexibility and the reach of our method by calculating the production rates for a variety of processes at the 7 TeV LHC.Comment: 64 pages, 12 figures. Corrected the value of m_Z in table 1. In table 2, corrected the values of cross sections in a.4 and a.5 (previously computed with mu=mtop/2 rather than mu=mtop/4). In table 2, corrected the values of NLO cross sections in b.3, b.6, c.3, and e.7 (the symmetry factor for a few virtual channels was incorrect). In sect. A.4.3, the labeling of the four-momenta was incorrec