Optimizing Omega

"The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com " Copyright Springer. DOI: 10.1007/s10898-008-9396-5This paper considers the Omega function, proposed by Cascon, Keating & Shadwick as a performance measure for comparing financial assets. We discuss the use of Omega as a basis for portfolio selection. We show that the problem of choosing portfolio weights in order to maximize Omega typically has many local solutions and we describe some preliminary computational experience of finding the global optimum using a NAG library implementation of the Huyer & Neumaier MCS method.Peer reviewe

``X-Ray Edge'' Singularities in Nanotubes and Quantum Wires with Multiple Subbands

Band theory predicts an inverse square root van Hove singularity in the tunneling density of states at the minimum energy of an unoccupied subband in a one-dimensional quantum wire. With interactions, an orthogonality catastrophe analogous to the x-ray edge effect for core levels in a metal strongly reduces this singularity by a power B of the energy above threshold, with B approximately 0.3 for typical carbon nanotubes. Despite the anomalous tunneling characteristic, good quasiparticles corresponding to the unoccupied subband states do exist.Comment: 4 page

Integrase-deficient lentiviral vectors mediate efficient gene transfer to human vascular smooth muscle cells with minimal genotoxic risk

We have previously shown that injury-induced neointima formation was rescued by adenoviral-Nogo-B gene delivery. Integrase-competent lentiviral vectors (ICLV) are efficient at gene delivery to vascular cells but present a risk of insertional mutagenesis. Conversely, integrase-deficient lentiviral vectors (IDLV) offer additional benefits through reduced mutagenesis risk, but this has not been evaluated in the context of vascular gene transfer. Here, we have investigated the performance and genetic safety of both counterparts in primary human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and compared gene transfer efficiency and assessed the genotoxic potential of ICLVs and IDLVs based on their integration frequency and insertional profile in the human genome. Expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) mediated by IDLVs (IDLV-eGFP) demonstrated efficient transgene expression in VSMCs. IDLV gene transfer of Nogo-B mediated efficient overexpression of Nogo-B in VSMCs, leading to phenotypic effects on VSMC migration and proliferation, similar to its ICLV version and unlike its eGFP control and uninfected VSMCs. Large-scale integration site analyses in VSMCs indicated that IDLV-mediated gene transfer gave rise to a very low frequency of genomic integration compared to ICLVs, revealing a close-to-random genomic distribution in VSMCs. This study demonstrates for the first time the potential of IDLVs for safe and efficient vascular gene transfer

Spin- and charge-density oscillations in spin chains and quantum wires

We analyze the spin- and charge-density oscillations near impurities in spin chains and quantum wires. These so-called Friedel oscillations give detailed information about the impurity and also about the interactions in the system. The temperature dependence of these oscillations explicitly shows the renormalization of backscattering and conductivity, which we analyze for a number of different impurity models. We are also able to analyze screening effects in one dimension. The relation to the Kondo effect and experimental consequences are discussed.Comment: Final published version. 15 pages in revtex format including 22 epsf-embedded figures. The latest version in PDF format is available from http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/papers/density-osc.pd

The Presence of Jesuit Values in a Selection of University of San Francisco Courses: The Students’ Perspective

Even with the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm (IPP) well-integrated into university coursework, the IPP works optimally in the presence of Jesuit values. But do students perceive the presence of these values in their courses? An effort was undertaken at the University of San Francisco (USF) to determine if student perception of USF’s core values in their courses could be measured, and if so, to what extent they were present. A total of 511 USF core values surveys were collected from both undergraduates and graduates in the School of Management from Spring 2014 to Intersession 2016. This paper reviews the development of the Original and Revised Surveys, and the findings that were made. This includes one low-scoring core values statement, and statistically significant differentials among international graduate students on a gender basis. The most significant finding was that all students perceived every USF core value on a substantive level in every course. Final recommendations include: (1) a detailed review of USF’s core values for clarity, and (2) a revision of the core values survey to better recognize values perception in international students of both genders

Van Hove Singularities in disordered multichannel quantum wires and nanotubes

We present a theory for the van Hove singularity (VHS) in the tunneling density of states (TDOS) of disordered multichannel quantum wires, in particular multi-wall carbon nanotubes. We assume close-by gates which screen off electron-electron interactions. Diagrammatic perturbation theory within a non-crossing approximation yields analytical expressions governing the disorder-induced broadening and shift of VHS's as new subbands are opened. This problem is nontrivial because the (lowest-order) Born approximation breaks down close to the VHS. Interestingly, compared to the bulk case, the boundary TDOS shows drastically altered VHS, even in the clean limit.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted with revisions in PR

Regge description of two pseudoscalar meson production in antiproton-proton annihilation

A Regge-inspired model is used to discuss the hard exclusive two-body hadronic reactions (pbar p ----> pi+ pi-, pi0 pi0, K+ K-, Kbar0 K0) for the FAIR facility project at GSI with the Panda detector. The comparison between the differential cross sections predictions and the available data is shown to determine the values of the few parameters of the model.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure

Application of a customized pathway-focused microarray for gene expression profiling of cellular homeostasis upon exposure to nicotine in PC12 cells

Maintenance of cellular homeostasis is integral to appropriate regulation of cellular signaling and cell growth and division. In this study, we report the development and quality assessment of a pathway-focused microarray comprising genes involved in cellular homeostasis. Since nicotine is known to have highly modulatory effects on the intracellular calcium homeostasis, we therefore tested the applicability of the homeostatic pathway-focused microarray on the gene expression in PC-12 cells treated with 1 mM nicotine for 48 h relative to the untreated control cells. We first provided a detailed description of the focused array with respect to its gene and pathway content and then assessed the array quality using a robust regression procedure that allows for the exclusion of unreliable measurements while decreasing the number of false positives. As a result, the mean correlation coefficient between duplicate measurements of the arrays used in this study (control vs. nicotine treatment, three samples each) has increased from 0.974±0.017 to 0.995±0.002. Furthermore, we found that nicotine affected various structural and signaling components of the AKT/PKB signaling pathway and protein synthesis and degradation processes in PC-12 cells. Since modulation of intracellular calcium concentrations ([Ca2+]i) and phosphatidylinositol signaling are important in various biological processes such as neurotransmitter release and tissue pathogenesis including tumor formation, we expect that the homeostatic pathway-focused microarray potentially can be used for the identification of unique gene expression profiles in comparative studies of drugs of abuse and diverse environmental stimuli, such as starvation and oxidative stress. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Photon and Z induced heavy charged lepton pair production at a hadron supercollider

We investigate the pair production of charged heavy leptons via photon-induced processes at the proposed CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Using effective photon and Z approximations, rates are given for $L^+L^-$ production due to $\gamma \gamma$ fusion and $Z \gamma$ fusion for the cases of inelastic, elastic and semi-elastic $pp$ collisions. These are compared with the corresponding rates for production via the gluon fusion and Drell-Yan mechanisms. Various $\gamma \gamma$ and $Z \gamma$ differential luminosities for $pp$ collisions are also presented.Comment: 22 pages, RevTex 3.0, 6 uuencoded and compressed postscript figures included. Reference to one paper changed from the original preprint number to the published version. Everything else unchange

On low temperature kinetic theory; spin diffusion, Bose Einstein condensates, anyons

The paper considers some typical problems for kinetic models evolving through pair-collisions at temperatures not far from absolute zero, which illustrate specific quantum behaviours. Based on these examples, a number of differences between quantum and classical Boltzmann theory is then discussed in more general terms.Comment: 25 pages, minor updates of previous versio