Fluctuation relations in non-equilibrium stationary states of Ising models

Fluctuation relations for the entropy production in non equilibrium stationary states of Ising models are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. Systems in contact with heat baths at two different temperatures or subject to external driving will be studied. In the first case, by considering different kinetic rules and couplings with the baths, the behavior of the probability distributions of the heat exchanged in a time $\tau$ with the thermostats, both in the disordered and in the low temperature phase, are discussed. The fluctuation relation is always verified in the large $\tau$ limit and deviations from linear response theory are observed. Finite-$\tau$ corrections are shown to obey a scaling behavior. In the other case the system is in contact with a single heat bath but work is done by shearing it. Also for this system the statistics collected for the mechanical work shows the validity of the fluctuation relation and preasymptotic corrections behave analogously to the case with two baths.Comment: 9 figure

Spatio-temporal crime hotspots and the ambient population

It is well known that, due to that inherent differences in their underlying causal mechanisms, different types of crime will have variable impacts on different groups of people. Furthermore, the locations of vulnerable groups of people are highly temporally dynamic. Hence an accurate estimate of the true population at risk in a given place and time is vital for reliable crime rate calculation and hotspot generation. However, the choice of denominator is fraught with difficulty because data describing popular movements, rather than simply residential location, are limited. This research will make use of new ‘crowd-sourced’ data in an attempt to create more accurate estimates of the population at risk for mobile crimes such as street robbery. Importantly, these data are both spatially and temporally referenced and can therefore be used to estimate crime rate significance in both space and time. Spatio-temporal cluster hunting techniques will be used to identify crime hotspots that are significant given the size of the ambient population in the area at the time

Combining information from multiple flood projections in a hierarchical Bayesian framework

This study demonstrates, in the context of flood frequency analysis, the potential of a recently proposed hierarchical Bayesian approach to combine information from multiple models. The approach explicitly accommodates shared multi-model discrepancy as well as the probabilistic nature of the flood estimates, and treats the available models as a sample from a hypothetical complete (but unobserved) set of models. The methodology is applied to flood estimates from multiple hydrological projections (the Future Flows Hydrology dataset) for 135 catchments in the UK. The advantages of the approach are shown to be: 1) to ensure adequate ‘baseline' with which to compare future changes; 2) to reduce flood estimate uncertainty; 3) to maximise use of statistical information in circumstances where multiple weak predictions individually lack power, but collectively provide meaningful information; 4) to diminish the importance of model consistency when model biases are large; and 5) to explicitly consider the influence of the (model performance) stationarity assumption. Moreover, the analysis indicates that reducing shared model discrepancy is the key to further reduction of uncertainty in the flood frequency analysis. The findings are of value regarding how conclusions about changing exposure to flooding are drawn, and to flood frequency change attribution studies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Brownian motion: a paradigm of soft matter and biological physics

This is a pedagogical introduction to Brownian motion on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Einstein's 1905 paper on the subject. After briefly reviewing Einstein's work in its contemporary context, we pursue some lines of further developments and applications in soft condensed matter and biology. Over the last century Brownian motion became promoted from an odd curiosity of marginal scientific interest to a guiding theme pervading all of the modern (live) sciences.Comment: 30 pages, revie

The conserved C-terminus of the PcrA/UvrD helicase interacts directly with RNA polymerase

Copyright: © 2013 Gwynn et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust project grant to MD (Reference: 077368), an ERC starting grant to MD (Acronym: SM-DNA-REPAIR) and a BBSRC project grant to PM, NS and MD (Reference: BB/I003142/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Formulation, characterisation and flexographic printing of novel Boger fluids to assess the effects of ink elasticity on print uniformity

Model elastic inks were formulated, rheologically characterised in shear and extension, and printed via flexography to assess the impact of ink elasticity on print uniformity. Flexography is a roll-to-roll printing process with great potential in the mass production of printed electronics for which understanding layer uniformity and the influence of rheology is of critical importance. A new set of flexo-printable Boger fluids was formulated by blending polyvinyl alcohol and high molecular weight polyacrylamide to provide inks of varying elasticity. During print trials, the phenomenon of viscous fingering was observed in all prints, with those of the Newtonian ink exhibiting a continuous striping in the printing direction. Increasing elasticity significantly influenced this continuity, disrupting it and leading to a quantifiable decrease in the overall relative size of the printed finger features. As such, ink elasticity was seen to have a profound effect on flexographic printing uniformity, showing the rheological tuning of inks may be a route to obtaining specific printed features

The ongoing value of first few X studies for COVID-19 in the Western Pacific Region

First few ‘X’ (FFX) studies for COVID-19 involve data collection from confirmed cases and their close contacts. They remain relevant especially as many remain susceptible to infection, and as they can provide detailed insight into vaccine effectiveness and the epidemiology of variants of concern, helping to inform a proportionate health response

ARIA 2016: Care pathways implementing emerging technologies for predictive medicine in rhinitis and asthma across the life cycle

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative commenced during a World Health Organization workshop in 1999. The initial goals were (1) to propose a new allergic rhinitis classification, (2) to promote the concept of multi-morbidity in asthma a

ARIA 2016:Care pathways implementing emerging technologies for predictive medicine in rhinitis and asthma across the life cycle

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative commenced during a World Health Organization workshop in 1999. The initial goals were (1) to propose a new allergic rhinitis classification, (2) to promote the concept of multi-morbidity in asthma and rhinitis and (3) to develop guidelines with all stakeholders that could be used globally for all countries and populations. ARIA-disseminated and implemented in over 70 countries globally-is now focusing on the implementation of emerging technologies for individualized and predictive medicine. MASK [MACVIA (Contre les Maladies Chroniques pour un Vieillissement Actif)-ARIA Sentinel NetworK] uses mobile technology to develop care pathways for the management of rhinitis and asthma by a multi-disciplinary group and by patients themselves. An app (Android and iOS) is available in 20 countries and 15 languages. It uses a visual analogue scale to assess symptom control and work productivity as well as a clinical decision support system. It is associated with an inter-operable tablet for physicians and other health care professionals. The scaling up strategy uses the recommendations of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. The aim of the novel ARIA approach is to provide an active and healthy life to rhinitis sufferers, whatever their age, sex or socio-economic status, in order to reduce health and social inequalities incurred by the disease

KNOTTIN: the knottin or inhibitor cystine knot scaffold in 2007

The KNOTTIN database provides standardized information on the small disulfide-rich proteins with a knotted topology called knottins or inhibitor cystine knots. Static pages present the essential historical or recent results about knottin discoveries, sequences, structures, syntheses, folding, functions, applications and bibliography. New tools, KNOTER3D and KNOTER1D, are provided to determine or predict if a user query (3D structure or sequence) is a knottin. These tools are now used to automate the database update. All knottin structures and sequences in the database are now standardized according to the knottin nomenclature based on loop lengths between knotted cysteines, and to the knottin numbering scheme. Therefore, the whole KNOTTIN database (sequences and structures) can now be searched using loop lengths, in addition to keyword and sequence (BLAST, HMMER) searches. Renumbered and structurally fitted knottin PDB files are available for download as well as renumbered sequences, sequence alignments and logos. The knottin numbering scheme is used for automatic drawing of standardized two-dimensional Colliers de Perles of any knottin structure or sequence in the database or provided by the user. The KNOTTIN database is available at http://knottin.cbs.cnrs.fr