Three-tangle for mixtures of generalized GHZ and generalized W states

We give a complete solution for the three-tangle of mixed three-qubit states composed of a generalized GHZ state, a|000>+b|111>, and a generalized W state, c|001>+d|010>+f|100>. Using the methods introduced by Lohmayer et al. we provide explicit expressions for the mixed-state three-tangle and the corresponding optimal decompositions for this more general case. Moreover, as a special case we obtain a general solution for a family of states consisting of a generalized GHZ state and an orthogonal product state

Pilot evaluation of a web-based intervention targeting sexual health service access

Sexual health service access is fundamental to good sexual health, yet interventions designed toaddress this have rarely been implemented or evaluated. In this paper, pilot evaluation findingsfor a targeted public health behavior change intervention, delivered via a website and web-app,aiming to increase uptake of sexual health services amongst 13 to 19 year-olds are reported. Apre-post questionnaire-based design was used. Matched baseline and follow-up data wasidentified from 148 respondents aged 13-18 years. Outcome measures were self-reported serviceaccess, self-reported intention to access services, and beliefs about services and service accessidentified through needs analysis. Objective service access data provided by local sexual healthservices was also analyzed. Analysis suggests the intervention had a significant positive effect onpsychological barriers to and antecedents of service access amongst females. Males, whoreported greater confidence in service access compared with females, significantly increasedservice access by time 2 follow-up. Available objective service access data supports the assertionthat the intervention may have led to increases in service access. There is real promise for thisnovel digital intervention. Further evaluation is planned as the model is licensed to and rolled outby other local authorities in the UK. Publisher Statement: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Health Education Research following peer review. The version of record Brown, KE, Newby, K, Caley, M, Danahay, A & Kehal, I 2016, 'Pilot evaluation of a web-based intervention targeting sexual health service access' Health Education Research, vol 31, no. 2, pp. 273-282 is available online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/her/cyw00

Murine startle mutant Nmf11 affects the structural stability of the glycine receptor and increases deactivation

Dysfunctional glycinergic inhibitory transmission underlies the debilitating neurological condition, hyperekplexia, which is characterised by exaggerated startle reflexes, muscle hypertonia and apnoea. Here we investigated the N46K missense mutation in the GlyR α1 subunit gene found in the ethylnitrosourea (ENU) murine mutant, Nmf11, which causes reduced body size, evoked tremor, seizures, muscle stiffness, and morbidity by postnatal day 21. Introducing the N46K mutation into recombinant GlyR α1 homomeric receptors, expressed in HEK cells, reduced the potencies of glycine, β-alanine and taurine by 9-, 6- and 3-fold respectively, and that of the competitive antagonist strychnine by 15-fold. Replacing N46 with hydrophobic, charged or polar residues revealed that the amide moiety of asparagine was crucial for GlyR activation. Co-mutating N61, located on a neighbouring β loop to N46, rescued the wild-type phenotype depending on the amino acid charge. Single-channel recording identified that burst length for the N46K mutant was reduced and fast agonist application revealed faster glycine deactivation times for the N46K mutant compared with the WT receptor. Overall, these data are consistent with N46 ensuring correct alignment of the α1 subunit interface by interaction with juxtaposed residues to preserve the structural integrity of the glycine binding site. This represents a new mechanism by which GlyR dysfunction induces startle disease

Relaxation rate of the reverse biased asymmetric exclusion process

We compute the exact relaxation rate of the partially asymmetric exclusion process with open boundaries, with boundary rates opposing the preferred direction of flow in the bulk. This reverse bias introduces a length scale in the system, at which we find a crossover between exponential and algebraic relaxation on the coexistence line. Our results follow from a careful analysis of the Bethe ansatz root structure.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure

The hand of Homo naledi

A nearly complete right hand of an adult hominin was recovered from the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Based on associated hominin material, the bones of this hand are attributed to Homo naledi. This hand reveals a long, robust thumb and derived wrist morphology that is shared with Neandertals and modern humans, and considered adaptive for intensified manual manipulation. However, the finger bones are longer and more curved than in most australopiths, indicating frequent use of the hand during life for strong grasping during locomotor climbing and suspension. These markedly curved digits in combination with an otherwise human-like wrist and palm indicate a significant degree of climbing, despite the derived nature of many aspects of the hand and other regions of the postcranial skeleton in H. naledi

Hastening the Wheels of Change: International Cold War Pressure and Civil Rights Reform During the Truman Presidency

In the early Cold War arena, international pressure on the United States to live according to its ideological rhetoric enabled the Truman Administration to set a precedent for federal engagement in domestic civil rights reform. As the United States led the march to institutionalise human rights as the standard of moral legitimacy in the global arena, the country’s grisly record of racial oppression and violence invited foreign and domestic criticism alike. This paper intends to prove five discrete points. First: Cold War tensions brought questions of moral legitimacy to the forefront of the U.S. national agenda. Second: during the Truman presidency, the country’s ability to export democracy came to depend largely on its human rights record. Third: due to their belief in the principles of freedom and equality, President Harry S. Truman and his advisors at least tacitly supported legal and economic desegregation (though perhaps not social.) Fourth: foreign pressure on the United States to live according to its ideological rhetoric gave the Truman Administration the incentive to take action on an issue they were already rhetorically committed to. Finally, I argue that although most of the steps taken towards civil rights during the Truman presidency were more symbolic than substantive, the administration set a precedent for federal engagement with race discrimination that would continue throughout the twentieth century, and ultimately destroy the Jim Crow legal system and other institutions of racial oppression

Internationalizing the Study Abroad Classroom: An Intensive English Program at the American Graduate School in Paris

The American Graduate School in Paris (AGS) is a not-for-profit institution founded in 1994 to provide U.S. higher education in France to students from around the world pursuing graduate degrees in International Relations, Diplomacy, and Business. Since 2008, AGS has partnered with Arcadia University located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, USA, to provide summer, semester, and academic year undergraduate study abroad programs in these fields. While current study abroad participants are undergraduate students pursuing degrees at U.S. institutions, AGS has recently received permission to internationalize the study abroad classroom by recruiting students from around the world. Because AGS courses are delivered exclusively in English, and maintaining the academic rigor of its study abroad program is of utmost importance to the institution, it has been deemed necessary to not only set appropriate English language requirements for prospective international students in this initial phase of recruitment, but to develop a future Intensive English Program (IEP) that would serve as a precursor or complementary course to enrollment in the undergraduate study abroad program. This Course-Linked Capstone provides a comprehensive plan for designing, delivering, and evaluating an IEP at AGS. Best practices in the fields of International Education, English as a Foreign Language, administration of Intensive English Programs, international student recruitment, and cultural learning have been reviewed and incorporated into the program design. This program seeks to diversify program offerings at AGS, increase accessibility of the current undergraduate study abroad program to a greater number of international participants, and foster a more global study abroad experience in which diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives are represented. Keywords: Intensive English Program, France, study abroad, orientation, cultural learnin

A Unique Panel of Patient-Derived Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cell Lines Provides a Preclinical Pathway for Therapeutic Testing

Background: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) incidence continues to rise with increasing morbidity and mortality, with limited treatment options for advanced disease. Future improvements in targeted therapy will rely on advances in genomic/transcriptomic understanding and the use of model systems for basic research. We describe here the panel of 16 primary and metastatic cSCC cell lines developed and characterised over the past three decades in our laboratory in order to provide such a resource for future preclinical research and drug screening. Methods: Primary keratinocytes were isolated from cSCC tumours and metastases, and cell lines were established. These were characterised using short tandem repeat (STR) profiling and genotyped by whole exome sequencing. Multiple in vitro assays were performed to document their morphology, growth characteristics, migration and invasion characteristics, and in vivo xenograft growth. Results: STR profiles of the cSCC lines allow the confirmation of their unique identity. Phylogenetic trees derived from exome sequence analysis of the matched primary and metastatic lines provide insight into the genetic basis of disease progression. The results of in vivo and in vitro analyses allow researchers to select suitable cell lines for specific experimentation. Conclusions: There are few well-characterised cSCC lines available for widespread preclinical experimentation and drug screening. The described cSCC cell line panel provides a critical tool for in vitro and in vivo experimentation

controlling the disease

Surveillance and outbreak reports Surveillance of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Europe, 2003-2007 15 by I Devaux, D Manissero, K Fernandez de la Hoz, K Kremer, D van Soolingen, on behalf of the EuroTB network Analysis of tuberculosis treatment outcomes in the European Union and European Economic Area: efforts needed towards optimal case management and control 21 by D Manissero, V Hollo, E Huitric, C Ködmön, A Amato-Gauci Risk of developing tuberculosis from a school contact: retrospective cohort study