Finding critical points using improved scaling Ansaetze

Analyzing in detail the first corrections to the scaling hypothesis, we develop accelerated methods for the determination of critical points from finite size data. The output of these procedures are sequences of pseudo-critical points which rapidly converge towards the true critical points. In fact more rapidly than previously existing methods like the Phenomenological Renormalization Group approach. Our methods are valid in any spatial dimensionality and both for quantum or classical statistical systems. Having at disposal fast converging sequences, allows to draw conclusions on the basis of shorter system sizes, and can be extremely important in particularly hard cases like two-dimensional quantum systems with frustrations or when the sign problem occurs. We test the effectiveness of our methods both analytically on the basis of the one-dimensional XY model, and numerically at phase transitions occurring in non integrable spin models. In particular, we show how a new Homogeneity Condition Method is able to locate the onset of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition making only use of ground-state quantities on relatively small systems.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. New version including more general Ansaetze basically applicable to all case

Decadal changes of the Western Arabian sea ecosystem

Historical data from oceanographic expeditions and remotely sensed data on outgoing longwave radiation, temperature, wind speed and ocean color in the western Arabian Sea (1950–2010) were used to investigate decadal trends in the physical and biochemical properties of the upper 300 m. 72 % of the 29,043 vertical profiles retrieved originated from USA and UK expeditions. Increasing outgoing longwave radiation, surface air temperatures and sea surface temperature were identified on decadal timescales. These were well correlated with decreasing wind speeds associated with a reduced Siberian High atmospheric anomaly. Shoaling of the oxycline and nitracline was observed as well as acidification of the upper 300 m. These physical and chemical changes were accompanied by declining chlorophyll-a concentrations, vertical macrofaunal habitat compression, declining sardine landings and an increase of fish kill incidents along the Omani coast

In the City

I curated In the City: Portraits from the City of London especially for the National Portrait Gallery. The intention was to place the unknown and unsung workers of London’s Square Mile alongside the familiar and famous corporate faces - striking a balance between the Gallery’s narrow institutional view of fame and celebrity and my own vision. The portraits in the installation were extracted from a unique project - the largest photographic project of its kind carried out in the UK during the past 20 years. In the City takes inspiration from People of the Twentieth Century by the German photographer August Sander and Irving Penn’s Small Trades series. The approach, using a 5x4 view camera, was uncompromising and formal, yet ‘subject sympathetic’ to reveal people in immaculate detail, regardless of their status. There was insufficient space to display all 138 images from the project, so my role as curator was to ensure the “invisible” workforce were not lost in the selection process. Hence my insistence that the portrait of Von, the despatch rider, serve as an iconic image for all the publicity materials

Monte Carlo investigations of phase transitions: status and perspectives

Using the concept of finite-size scaling, Monte Carlo calculations of various models have become a very useful tool for the study of critical phenomena, with the system linear dimension as a variable. As an example, several recent studies of Ising models are discussed, as well as the extension to models of polymer mixtures and solutions. It is shown that using appropriate cluster algorithms, even the scaling functions describing the crossover from the Ising universality class to the mean-field behavior with increasing interaction range can be described. Additionally, the issue of finite-size scaling in Ising models above the marginal dimension (d*=4) is discussed.Comment: 23 pages, including 14 PostScript figures. Presented at StatPhys-Taiwan, August 9-16, 1999. Also available as PDF file at http://www.cond-mat.physik.uni-mainz.de/~luijten/erikpubs.htm

A feasibility study of a rotary planar electrode array for electrical impedance mammography using a digital breast phantom

A feasibility study of an electrical impedance mammography (EIM) system with a rotary planar electrode array, named RPEIM, is presented. The RPEIM system is an evolution of the Sussex MK4 system, which is a prototype instrument for breast cancer detection. Comparing it with the other planar electrode EIM systems, the rotation feature enables a dramatic increase in the number of independent measurements. To assist impedance evaluation exploiting electrode array rotation, a synchronous mesh method is proposed. Using the synchronous mesh method, the RPEIM system is shown to have superior performance in image accuracy, spatial resolution and noise tolerance over the MK4 system. To validate the study, we report simulations based on a close-to-realistic 3D digital breast phantom, which comprises of: skin, nipple, ducts, acinus, fat and tumor. A digital breast phantom of a real patient is constructed, whose tumor was detected using the MK4 system. The reconstructed conductivity image of the breast phantom indicates that the breast phantom is a close replica of the patient’s real breast as assessed by the MK4 system in a clinical trial. A comparison between the RPEIM system and the MK4 system is made based on this phantom to assess the advantages of the RPEIM system

On directed interacting animals and directed percolation

We study the phase diagram of fully directed lattice animals with nearest-neighbour interactions on the square lattice. This model comprises several interesting ensembles (directed site and bond trees, bond animals, strongly embeddable animals) as special cases and its collapse transition is equivalent to a directed bond percolation threshold. Precise estimates for the animal size exponents in the different phases and for the critical fugacities of these special ensembles are obtained from a phenomenological renormalization group analysis of the correlation lengths for strips of width up to n=17. The crossover region in the vicinity of the collapse transition is analyzed in detail and the crossover exponent $\phi$ is determined directly from the singular part of the free energy. We show using scaling arguments and an exact relation due to Dhar that $\phi$ is equal to the Fisher exponent $\sigma$ governing the size distribution of large directed percolation clusters.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures; J. Phys. A 35 (2002) 272

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Polycation-π Interactions Are a Driving Force for Molecular Recognition by an Intrinsically Disordered Oncoprotein Family

Molecular recognition by intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) commonly involves specific localized contacts and target-induced disorder to order transitions. However, some IDPs remain disordered in the bound state, a phenomenon coined "fuzziness", often characterized by IDP polyvalency, sequence-insensitivity and a dynamic ensemble of disordered bound-state conformations. Besides the above general features, specific biophysical models for fuzzy interactions are mostly lacking. The transcriptional activation domain of the Ewing's Sarcoma oncoprotein family (EAD) is an IDP that exhibits many features of fuzziness, with multiple EAD aromatic side chains driving molecular recognition. Considering the prevalent role of cation-π interactions at various protein-protein interfaces, we hypothesized that EAD-target binding involves polycation- π contacts between a disordered EAD and basic residues on the target. Herein we evaluated the polycation-π hypothesis via functional and theoretical interrogation of EAD variants. The experimental effects of a range of EAD sequence variations, including aromatic number, aromatic density and charge perturbations, all support the cation-π model. Moreover, the activity trends observed are well captured by a coarse-grained EAD chain model and a corresponding analytical model based on interaction between EAD aromatics and surface cations of a generic globular target. EAD-target binding, in the context of pathological Ewing's Sarcoma oncoproteins, is thus seen to be driven by a balance between EAD conformational entropy and favorable EAD-target cation-π contacts. Such a highly versatile mode of molecular recognition offers a general conceptual framework for promiscuous target recognition by polyvalent IDPs. © 2013 Song et al

The body unbound: ritual scarification and autobiographical forms in Wole Soyinka’s Aké: the years of childhood

The scarification in Aké is invested with major significance apropos Soyinka’s ideas on African subjectivity. Scarification among the Yoruba is one of the rites of passage associated with personal development. Scarification literally and metaphorically “opens” the person up socially and cosmically. Personal formation and self-realization are enabled by the Yoruba social code brought into being by its mythology. The meaning of the scarification incident in Aké is profoundly different. Determined by the form of autobiography which creates a self-constituting subject, the enabling Yoruba sociocultural context is elided. The story of Soyinka’s personal development is allegorical of the story of the development of the modern African subject. For Soyinka, the African subject is a rational subject whose constitution precludes the splitting of the scientific and spiritual which is a consequence of the Cartesian rupture. The African subject should be open to other subjects and the object world. Subjectivity constituted by the autobiographical mode closes off the opening up symbolically signalled by scarification.Web of Scienc

Value of hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs [ASPs]:a systematic review

Abstract Background Hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) aim to promote judicious use of antimicrobials to combat antimicrobial resistance. For ASPs to be developed, adopted, and implemented, an economic value assessment is essential. Few studies demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of ASPs. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the economic and clinical impact of ASPs. Methods An update to the Dik et al. systematic review (2000–2014) was conducted on EMBASE and Medline using PRISMA guidelines. The updated search was limited to primary research studies in English (30 September 2014–31 December 2017) that evaluated patient and/or economic outcomes after implementation of hospital ASPs including length of stay (LOS), antimicrobial use, and total (including operational and implementation) costs. Results One hundred forty-six studies meeting inclusion criteria were included. The majority of these studies were conducted within the last 5 years in North America (49%), Europe (25%), and Asia (14%), with few studies conducted in Africa (3%), South America (3%), and Australia (3%). Most studies were conducted in hospitals with 500–1000 beds and evaluated LOS and change in antibiotic expenditure, the majority of which showed a decrease in LOS (85%) and antibiotic expenditure (92%). The mean cost-savings varied by hospital size and region after implementation of ASPs. Average cost savings in US studies were $732 per patient (range:$2.50 to $2640), with similar trends exhibited in European studies. The key driver of cost savings was from reduction in LOS. Savings were higher among hospitals with comprehensive ASPs which included therapy review and antibiotic restrictions. Conclusions Our data indicates that hospital ASPs have significant value with beneficial clinical and economic impacts. More robust published data is required in terms of implementation, LOS, and overall costs so that decision-makers can make a stronger case for investing in ASPs, considering competing priorities. Such data on ASPs in lower- and middle-income countries is limited and requires urgent attention