146 research outputs found
Duality Transformations in Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theories coupled to Supergravity,
We consider duality transformations in N=2, d=4 Yang--Mills theory coupled to
N=2 supergravity. A symplectic and coordinate covariant framework is
established, which allows one to discuss stringy `classical and quantum duality
symmetries' (monodromies), incorporating T and S dualities. In particular, we
shall be able to study theories (like N=2 heterotic strings) which are
formulated in symplectic basis where a `holomorphic prepotential' F does not
exist, and yet give general expressions for all relevant physical quantities.
Duality transformations and symmetries for the N=1 matter coupled Yang--Mills
supergravity system are also exhibited. The implications of duality symmetry on
all N>2 extended supergravities are briefly mentioned. We finally give the
general form of the central charge and the N=2 semiclassical spectrum of the
dyonic BPS saturated states (as it comes by truncation of the N=4 spectrum).Comment: 41 pages, harvmac, no figures. References added, and minor printing
error corrected
Integrating agriculture and health research for development: LCIRAH as an interdisciplinary programme to address a global challenge
The multiple burdens of persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, along with the rapidly growing rates of overweight, obesity, and associated chronic diseases, are major challenges globally. The role of agriculture and the food system in meeting these challenges is very poorly understood. Achieving food security and addressing malnutrition in all its forms, a Sustainable Development Goal, requires an understanding of how changing food systems affect health outcomes and the development of new tools to design and evaluate interventions. An interinstitutional programme to address this interdisciplinary research challenge is described. Over the past seven years, the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health has built a portfolio of successful and innovative research, trained a new cadre of interdisciplinary researchers in âAgri-Health,â and built an international research community with a particular focus on strengthening research capacity in low- and middle-income countries. The evolution of this programme is described, and key factors contributing to its success are discussed that may be of general value in designing interdisciplinary research programmes directed at supporting global development goals
New approaches in W-gravities
We have devoted an effort to study some nonlinear actions, characteristics of
the -theories, in the framework of the soldering formalism. We have
disclosed interesting new results concerning the embedding of the original
chiral -particles in different metrical spaces in the final soldered
action, i.e., the metric gets modified by the soldering interference process.
The results are presented in a weak field approximation for the
case when N is greater than 3 and also in an exact way for . We
have promoted a generalization of the interference phenomena to -theories of different chiralities and shown that the geometrical features
introduced can yield a new understanding about the interference formalism in
quantum field theories.Comment: 28 pages, Late
Machine Learning in Automated Text Categorization
The automated categorization (or classification) of texts into predefined
categories has witnessed a booming interest in the last ten years, due to the
increased availability of documents in digital form and the ensuing need to
organize them. In the research community the dominant approach to this problem
is based on machine learning techniques: a general inductive process
automatically builds a classifier by learning, from a set of preclassified
documents, the characteristics of the categories. The advantages of this
approach over the knowledge engineering approach (consisting in the manual
definition of a classifier by domain experts) are a very good effectiveness,
considerable savings in terms of expert manpower, and straightforward
portability to different domains. This survey discusses the main approaches to
text categorization that fall within the machine learning paradigm. We will
discuss in detail issues pertaining to three different problems, namely
document representation, classifier construction, and classifier evaluation.Comment: Accepted for publication on ACM Computing Survey
Black Hole Entropy Function, Attractors and Precision Counting of Microstates
In these lecture notes we describe recent progress in our understanding of
attractor mechanism and entropy of extremal black holes based on the entropy
function formalism. We also describe precise computation of the microscopic
degeneracy of a class of quarter BPS dyons in N=4 supersymmetric string
theories, and compare the statistical entropy of these dyons, expanded in
inverse powers of electric and magnetic charges, with a similar expansion of
the corresponding black hole entropy. This comparison is extended to include
the contribution to the entropy from multi-centered black holes as well.Comment: LaTeX file, 196 pages, based on lectures given at various schools;
v2: added appendix E containing analysis of the multiple D5-brane system,
expanded discussion on duality orbits, other minor changes, references added;
v3: equations (5.6.20) and (5.6.21) corrected; v4: minor corrections to
equations (C.19), (C.20
Hepatitis B care cascade among people with HIV/HBV coinfection in the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design, 2012-2016
A care cascade is a critical tool for evaluating delivery of care for chronic infections across sequential stages, starting with diagnosis and ending with viral suppression. However, there have been few data describing the hepatitis B virus (HBV) care cascade among people living with HIV infection who have HBV coinfection. We conducted a cross-sectional study among people living with HIV and HBV coinfection receiving care between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016 within 13 United States and Canadian clinical cohorts contributing data to the North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design (NA-ACCORD). We evaluated each of the steps in this cascade, including: 1) laboratory-confirmed HBV infection, 2) tenofovir-based or entecavir-based HBV therapy prescribed, 3) HBV DNA measured during treatment, and 4) viral suppression achieved via undetectable HBV DNA. Among 3,953 persons with laboratory-confirmed HBV (median age, 50 years; 6.5% female; 43.8% were Black; 7.1% were Hispanic), 3,592 (90.9%; 95% confidence interval, 90.0-91.8%) were prescribed tenofovir-based antiretroviral therapy or entecavir along with their antiretroviral therapy regimen, 2,281 (57.7%; 95% confidence interval, 56.2-59.2%) had HBV DNA measured while on therapy, and 1,624 (41.1%; 95% confidence interval, 39.5-42.6) achieved an undetectable HBV DNA during HBV treatment. Our study identified significant gaps in measurement of HBV DNA and suppression of HBV viremia among people living with HIV and HBV coinfection in the United States and Canada. Periodic evaluation of the HBV care cascade among persons with HIV/HBV will be critical to monitoring success in completion of each step
Mechanisms underlying a thalamocortical transformation during active tactile sensation
During active somatosensation, neural signals expected from movement of the sensors are suppressed in the cortex, whereas information related to touch is enhanced. This tactile suppression underlies low-noise encoding of relevant tactile features and the brainâs ability to make fine tactile discriminations. Layer (L) 4 excitatory neurons in the barrel cortex, the major target of the somatosensory thalamus (VPM), respond to touch, but have low spike rates and low sensitivity to the movement of whiskers. Most neurons in VPM respond to touch and also show an increase in spike rate with whisker movement. Therefore, signals related to self-movement are suppressed in L4. Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons in L4 show similar dynamics to VPM neurons. Stimulation of halorhodopsin in FS interneurons causes a reduction in FS neuron activity and an increase in L4 excitatory neuron activity. This decrease of activity of L4 FS neurons contradicts the "paradoxical effect" predicted in networks stabilized by inhibition and in strongly-coupled networks. To explain these observations, we constructed a model of the L4 circuit, with connectivity constrained by in vitro measurements. The model explores the various synaptic conductance strengths for which L4 FS neurons actively suppress baseline and movement-related activity in layer 4 excitatory neurons. Feedforward inhibition, in concert with recurrent intracortical circuitry, produces tactile suppression. Synaptic delays in feedforward inhibition allow transmission of temporally brief volleys of activity associated with touch. Our model provides a mechanistic explanation of a behavior-related computation implemented by the thalamocortical circuit
Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology
notes: As the primary author, OâMalley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. âMacrobeâ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes â the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history â will transform some of the philosophy of biologyâs standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology â including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer â that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations
Uso de dilatador temporårio em papilas mamårias de vacas, submetidas a lesÔes experimentais
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