4,329 research outputs found
Prostaglandins in breast cancer: relationship to disease stage and hormone status.
Tissue prostaglandin (PG) content and production by human breast cancers were measured in 24 human mammary carcinoma specimens. The 5 compounds studied were PGE1, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, and TXB2. The tissue content of all 5 compounds was higher in neoplastic tissue in comparison with the paired noncancerous breast tissue. However, microsomal PG synthetase activity in vitro in noncancerous and neoplastic breast tissue was comparable. Increased thromboxane formation was associated with three clinical variables--tumour size, axillary lymph node metastases and distant metastasis. A lesion negative for either oestrogen or progesterone receptor content tended to produce more TXB2 but lower PGE2 and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha. Results obtained in this pilot study may provide clues as to what direction future larger studies could take in the search for reliable prognostic indicators for breast cancer
Nearly Optimal Private Convolution
We study computing the convolution of a private input with a public input
, while satisfying the guarantees of -differential
privacy. Convolution is a fundamental operation, intimately related to Fourier
Transforms. In our setting, the private input may represent a time series of
sensitive events or a histogram of a database of confidential personal
information. Convolution then captures important primitives including linear
filtering, which is an essential tool in time series analysis, and aggregation
queries on projections of the data.
We give a nearly optimal algorithm for computing convolutions while
satisfying -differential privacy. Surprisingly, we follow
the simple strategy of adding independent Laplacian noise to each Fourier
coefficient and bounding the privacy loss using the composition theorem of
Dwork, Rothblum, and Vadhan. We derive a closed form expression for the optimal
noise to add to each Fourier coefficient using convex programming duality. Our
algorithm is very efficient -- it is essentially no more computationally
expensive than a Fast Fourier Transform.
To prove near optimality, we use the recent discrepancy lowerbounds of
Muthukrishnan and Nikolov and derive a spectral lower bound using a
characterization of discrepancy in terms of determinants
The Littlest Higgs in Anti-de Sitter Space
We implement the SU(5)/SO(5) littlest Higgs theory in a slice of 5D Anti-de
Sitter space bounded by a UV brane and an IR brane. In this model, there is a
bulk SU(5) gauge symmetry that is broken to SO(5) on the IR brane, and the
Higgs boson is contained in the Goldstones from this breaking. All of the
interactions on the IR brane preserve the global symmetries that protect the
Higgs mass, but a radiative potential is generated through loops that stretch
to the UV brane where there are explicit SU(5) violating boundary conditions.
Like the original littlest Higgs, this model exhibits collective breaking in
that two interactions must be turned on in order to generate a Higgs potential.
In AdS space, however, collective breaking does not appear in coupling
constants directly but rather in the choice of UV brane boundary conditions. We
match this AdS construction to the known low energy structure of the littlest
Higgs and comment on some of the tensions inherent in the AdS construction. We
calculate the 5D Coleman-Weinberg effective potential for the Higgs and find
that collective breaking is manifest. In a simplified model with only the SU(2)
gauge structure and the top quark, the physical Higgs mass can be of order 200
GeV with no considerable fine tuning (25%). We sketch a more realistic model
involving the entire gauge and fermion structure that also implements T-parity,
and we comment on the tension between T-parity and flavor structure.Comment: 42 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables; v2: minor rewording, JHEP format; v3:
to match JHEP versio
Operator renewal theory and mixing rates for dynamical systems with infinite measure
We develop a theory of operator renewal sequences in the context of infinite
ergodic theory. For large classes of dynamical systems preserving an infinite
measure, we determine the asymptotic behaviour of iterates of the
transfer operator. This was previously an intractable problem.
Examples of systems covered by our results include (i) parabolic rational
maps of the complex plane and (ii) (not necessarily Markovian) nonuniformly
expanding interval maps with indifferent fixed points.
In addition, we give a particularly simple proof of pointwise dual ergodicity
(asymptotic behaviour of ) for the class of systems under
consideration.
In certain situations, including Pomeau-Manneville intermittency maps, we
obtain higher order expansions for and rates of mixing. Also, we obtain
error estimates in the associated Dynkin-Lamperti arcsine laws.Comment: Preprint, August 2010. Revised August 2011. After publication, a
minor error was pointed out by Kautzsch et al, arXiv:1404.5857. The updated
version includes minor corrections in Sections 10 and 11, and corresponding
modifications of certain statements in Section 1. All main results are
unaffected. In particular, Sections 2-9 are unchanged from the published
versio
Collective Quartics from Simple Groups
This article classifies Little Higgs models that have collective quartic
couplings. There are two classes of collective quartics: Special Cosets and
Special Quartics. After taking into account dangerous singlets, the smallest
Special Coset models are SU(5)/SO(5) and SU(6)/Sp(6). The smallest Special
Quartic model is SU(5)/SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) and has not previously been
considered as a candidate Little Higgs model.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure
Surface collective modes in the topological insulators BiSe and BiSbTeSe
We used low-energy, momentum-resolved inelastic electron scattering to study
surface collective modes of the three-dimensional topological insulators
BiSe and BiSbTeSe. Our goal was to
identify the "spin plasmon" predicted by Raghu and co-workers [S. Raghu, et
al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 116401 (2010)]. Instead, we found that the primary
collective mode is a surface plasmon arising from the bulk, free carrers in
these materials. This excitation dominates the spectral weight in the bosonic
function of the surface, , at THz energy scales, and
is the most likely origin of a quasiparticle dispersion kink observed in
previous photoemission experiments. Our study suggests that the spin plasmon
may mix with this other surface mode, calling for a more nuanced understanding
of optical experiments in which the spin plasmon is reported to play a role.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Diagramming social practice theory:An interdisciplinary experiment exploring practices as networks
Achieving a transition to a low-carbon energy system is now widely recognised as a key challenge facing humanity. To date, the vast majority of research addressing this challenge has been conducted within the disciplines of science, engineering and economics utilising quantitative and modelling techniques. However, there is growing awareness that meeting energy challenges requires fundamentally socio-technical solutions and that the social sciences have an important role to play. This is an interdisciplinary challenge but, to date, there remain very few explorations of, or reflections on, interdisciplinary energy research in practice. This paper seeks to change that by reporting on an interdisciplinary experiment to build new models of energy demand on the basis of cutting-edge social science understandings. The process encouraged the social scientists to communicate their ideas more simply, whilst allowing engineers to think critically about the embedded assumptions in their models in relation to society and social change. To do this, the paper uses a particular set of theoretical approaches to energy use behaviour known collectively as social practice theory (SPT) - and explores the potential of more quantitative forms of network analysis to provide a formal framework by means of which to diagram and visualize practices. The aim of this is to gain insight into the relationships between the elements of a practice, so increasing the ultimate understanding of how practices operate. Graphs of practice networks are populated based on new empirical data drawn from a survey of different types (or variants) of laundry practice. The resulting practice networks are analysed to reveal characteristics of elements and variants of practice, such as which elements could be considered core to the practice, or how elements between variants overlap, or can be shared. This promises insights into energy intensity, flexibility and the rootedness of practices (i.e. how entrenched/ established they are) and so opens up new questions and possibilities for intervention. The novelty of this approach is that it allows practice data to be represented graphically using a quantitative format without being overly reductive. Its usefulness is that it is readily applied to large datasets, provides the capacity to interpret social practices in new ways, and serves to open up potential links with energy modeling. More broadly, a significant dimension of novelty has been the interdisciplinary approach, radically different to that normally seen in energy research. This paper is relevant to a broad audience of social scientists and engineers interested in integrating social practices with energy engineering
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