Weighted Supermembrane Toy Model

A weighted Hilbert space approach to the study of zero-energy states of supersymmetric matrix models is introduced. Applied to a related but technically simpler model, it is shown that the spectrum of the corresponding weighted Hamiltonian simplifies to become purely discrete for sufficient weights. This follows from a bound for the number of negative eigenvalues of an associated matrix-valued Schr\"odinger operator.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Lett. Math. Phys

Leistungsfähig, attraktiv, erfolgreich, jung und gesund: Der fitte Körper in post-fordistischen Verhältnissen

In the last forty years, fitness has evolved into a popular sportive practice that has been accompanied by fundamental social and economic changes. Not surprisingly, the fit body is therefore often characterized as a post-Fordist body. Assuming that the fit body represents the concurrence of being fit and keeping fit, the article describes the hegemonic position of the fit body in post-Fordist conditions. Furthermore, with reference to the example of the Lebensreformbewegung (“life reform movement”), it outlines a non-linear and partial genealogy of the fit body. In so doing, it points to the continuities and transformations between concepts of the “fit” body in Fordist and post-Fordist discourses and practices

GREAT/SOFIA atmospheric calibration

The GREAT observations need frequency-selective calibration across the passband for the residual atmospheric opacity at flight altitude. At these altitudes the atmospheric opacity has both narrow and broad spectral features. To determine the atmospheric transmission at high spectral resolution, GREAT compares the observed atmospheric emission with atmospheric model predictions, and therefore depends on the validity of the atmospheric models. We discusse the problems identified in this comparison with respect to the observed data and the models, and describe the strategy used to calibrate the science data from GREAT/SOFIA during the first observing periods.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Antibiotics in early life and childhood pre-B-ALL. Reasons to analyze a possible new piece in the puzzle

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer with precursor B-cell ALL (pB-ALL) accounting for~85% of the cases. Childhood pB-ALL development is infuenced by genetic susceptibility and host immune responses. The role of the intestinal microbiome in leukemogenesis is gaining increasing attention since Vicente-Dueñas’ seminal work demonstrated that the gut microbiome is distinct in mice genetically predisposed to ALL and that the alteration of this microbiome by antibiotics is able to trigger pB-ALL in Pax5 heterozygous mice in the absence of infectious stimuli. In this review we provide an overview on novel insights on the role of the microbiome in normal and preleukemic hematopoiesis, infammation, the efect of dysbiosis on hematopoietic stem cells and the emerging importance of the innate immune responses in the conversion from preleukemic to leukemic state in childhood ALL. Since antibiotics, which represent one of the most widely used medical interventions, alter the gut microbial composition and can cause a state of dysbiosis, this raises exciting epidemiological questions regarding the implications for antibiotic use in early life, especially in infants with a a preleukemic “frst hit”. Sheading light through a rigorous study on this piece of the puzzle may have broad implications for clinical practice

Leitfaden für die Anwendung des Punktesystems - Biodiversität auf Landwirtschaftsbetrieben

Das Punktesystem Ein Werkzeug zur Bestimmung und Abgeltung der Biodiversitätsleistung von Landwirtschaftbetrieben Im Bereich Ökologie müssen in den kommenden Jahren konkrete und messbare Ziele erreicht werden, um nationalen und internationalen Verpflichtungen sowie den Wünschen der Konsumenten gerecht zu werden. Für die Landwirte ist Ökologie ein wirtschaftlich wichtiges Argument, um Produkte in Zukunft erfolgreicher vermarktet werden können. Das FiBL hat zusammen mit der Schweizerischen Vogelwarte im Projekt „Mit Vielfalt punkten - Bauern beleben die Natur“ ein neues Punktesystem entwickelt, das die Leistungen von Landwirten zur Förderung der natürlichen Vielfalt bewertet. Das Punktesystem soll Bauern aufzeigen, wo und wie sie ihre Leistung für die Biodiversität verbessern können, und der Politik als Instrument dienen, um die landwirtschaftlichen Direktzahlungen vermehrt an quantifizierbare Leistungen für die Biodiversität zu knüpfen. Das System orientiert sich am Vorhandensein und der Pflege verschiede­ner Lebensräume für Tiere und Pflanzen - sowohl auf Ökoausgleichsflächen als auch im Kulturland -, sowie an deren Qualität und Lage. Es ist so aufgebaut, dass die Punktezahl vom Betriebsleiter selbst erhoben werden kann und erlaubt damit eine Selbstevaluation des Betriebes aus ökologischer Sicht. Gleichzeitig zeigt es dem Betriebsleiter mögliche Handlungsfelder für die Optimierung des Betriebes aus Sicht der Biodiversität auf. Das Punktesystem wird momentan wissenschaftlich validiert, wird aber auch schon in breit in der Praxis eingesetzt. Es wird - begleitet durch das FiBL - von der IG Bioweidebeef sowie zur naturschutzfachlichen Optimierung von Bio-Betrieben im Rahmen des Projektes „Förderung der Biodiversität auf Knospehöfen“ eingesetzt. Ein fast identisches Punktesystem wird von der IP Suisse - begleitet durch die Schweizerische Vogelwarte - im Rahmen des Migroslabels TerraSuisse eingesetzt

Decorrelation estimates for the eigenlevels of the discrete Anderson model in the localized regime

The purpose of the present work is to establish decorrelation estimates for the locally renormalized eigenvalues of the discrete Anderson model near two distinct energies inside the localization region. In dimension one, we prove these estimates at all energies. In higher dimensions, the energies are required to be sufficiently far apart from each other

Isolating lithologic versus tectonic signals of river profiles to test orogenic models for the Eastern and Southeastern Carpathians

Fluvial morphology is affected by a wide range of forcing factors, which can be external, such as faulting and changes in climate, or internal, such as variations in rock hardness or degree of fracturing. It is a challenge to separate internal and external forcing factors when they are co-located or occur coevally. Failure to account for both factors leads to potential misinterpretations. For example, steepening of channel network due to lithologic contrasts could be misinterpreted to be a function of increased tectonic displacements. These misinterpretations are enhanced over large areas, where landscape properties needed to calculate channel steepness (e.g., channel concavity) can vary significantly in space. In this study, we investigate relative channel steepness over the Eastern Carpathians, where it has been proposed that active rock uplift in the Southeastern Carpathians (SEC) gives way N- and NW-wards to ca. 8 Myrs of post-orogenic quiescence. We develop a technique to quantify relative channel steepness, the relative steepness index, based on a wide range of concavities, and show that the main signal shows an increase in relative steepness index from east to west across the range. Rock hardness measurements and geological studies suggest this difference is driven by lithology. When we isolate channel steepness by lithology to test for ongoing rock uplift along the range, we find steeper channels in the south of the study area compared to the same units in the North. This supports interpretations from longer timescale geological data that active rock uplift is fastest in the southern SEC

Relaxation of atomic polarization in paraffin-coated cesium vapor cells

The relaxation of atomic polarization in buffer-gas-free, paraffin-coated cesium vapor cells is studied using a variation on Franzen's technique of ``relaxation in the dark'' [Franzen, Phys. Rev. {\bf 115}, 850 (1959)]. In the present experiment, narrow-band, circularly polarized pump light, resonant with the Cs D2 transition, orients atoms along a longitudinal magnetic field, and time-dependent optical rotation of linearly polarized probe light is measured to determine the relaxation rates of the atomic orientation of a particular hyperfine level. The change in relaxation rates during light-induced atomic desorption (LIAD) is studied. No significant change in the spin relaxation rate during LIAD is found beyond that expected from the faster rate of spin-exchange collisions due to the increase in Cs density.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure