On conformal Jordan cells of finite and infinite rank

This work concerns in part the construction of conformal Jordan cells of infinite rank and their reductions to conformal Jordan cells of finite rank. It is also discussed how a procedure similar to Lie algebra contractions may reduce a conformal Jordan cell of finite rank to one of lower rank. A conformal Jordan cell of rank one corresponds to a primary field. This offers a picture in which any finite conformal Jordan cell of a given conformal weight may be obtained from a universal covering cell of the same weight but infinite rank.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, v2: typo corrected, comments added, version to be publishe

Human-centered challenges and contributions for the implementation of automated driving

Automated driving is expected to increase safety and efficiency of road transport. With regard to the implementation of automated driving, we observed that those aspects which need to be further developed especially relate to human capabilities. Based on this observation and the understanding that automation will most likely be applied in terms of partially automated driving, we distinguished 2 major challenges for the implementation of partially automated driving: (1) Defining appropriate levels of automation, and; (2) Developing appropriate transitions between manual control and automation. The Assisted Driver Model has provided a framework for the first challenge, because this model recommends levels of automation dependent on traffic situations. To conclude, this research also provided brief directions on the second challenge, i.e. solutions how to accommodate drivers with partially automatio

A "critical" climatic evaluation of last interglacial (MIS 5e) records from the Norwegian Sea

Sediment cores from the Norwegian Sea were studied to evaluate interglacial climate conditions of the marine isotope stage 5e (MIS 5e). Using planktic forminiferal assemblages as the core method, a detailed picture of the evolution of surface water conditions was derived. According to our age model, a step-like deglaciation of the Saalian ice sheets is noted between ca. 135 and 124.5 Kya, but the deglaciation shows little response with regard to surface ocean warming. From then on, the rapidly increasing abundance of subpolar forminifers, concomitant with decreasing iceberg indicators, provides evidence for the development of interglacial conditions sensu stricto (5e-ss), a period that lasted for about 9 Ky. As interpreted from the foraminiferal records, and supported by the other proxies, this interval of 5e-ss was in two parts: showing an early warm phase, but with a fresher, i.e., lower salinity, water mass, and a subsequent cooling phase that lasted until ca. 118.5 Kya. After this time, the climatic optimum with the most intense advection of Atlantic surface water masses occurred until ca. 116 Kya. A rapid transition with two notable climatic perturbations is observed subsequently during the glacial inception. Overall, the peak warmth of the last interglacial period occurred relatively late after deglaciation, and at no time did it reach the high warmth level of the early Holocene. This finding must be considered when using the last interglacial situation as an analogue model for enhanced meridional transfer of ocean heat to the Arctic, with the prospect of a future warmer climate

Systematic Review of Medicine-Related Problems in Adult Patients with Atrial Fibrillation on Direct Oral Anticoagulants

New oral anticoagulant agents continue to emerge on the market and their safety requires assessment to provide evidence of their suitability for clinical use. There-fore, we searched standard databases to summarize the English language literature on medicine-related problems (MRPs) of direct oral anticoagulants DOACs (dabigtran, rivaroxban, apixban, and edoxban) in the treatment of adults with atri-al fibrillation. Electronic databases including Medline, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstract (IPA), Scopus, CINAHL, the Web of Science and Cochrane were searched from 2008 through 2016 for original articles. Studies pub-lished in English reporting MRPs of DOACs in adult patients with AF were in-cluded. Seventeen studies were identified using standardized protocols, and two reviewers serially abstracted data from each article. Most articles were inconclusive on major safety end points including major bleeding. Data on major safety end points were combined with efficacy. Most studies inconsistently reported adverse drug reactions and not adverse events or medication error, and no definitions were consistent across studies. Some harmful drug effects were not assessed in studies and may have been overlooked. Little evidence is provided on MRPs of DOACs in patients with AF and, therefore, further studies are needed to establish the safety of DOACs in real-life clinical practice

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Clustering Algorithms: Their Application to Gene Expression Data

Gene expression data hide vital information required to understand the biological process that takes place in a particular organism in relation to its environment. Deciphering the hidden patterns in gene expression data proffers a prodigious preference to strengthen the understanding of functional genomics. The complexity of biological networks and the volume of genes present increase the challenges of comprehending and interpretation of the resulting mass of data, which consists of millions of measurements; these data also inhibit vagueness, imprecision, and noise. Therefore, the use of clustering techniques is a first step toward addressing these challenges, which is essential in the data mining process to reveal natural structures and iden-tify interesting patterns in the underlying data. The clustering of gene expression data has been proven to be useful in making known the natural structure inherent in gene expression data, understanding gene functions, cellular processes, and subtypes of cells, mining useful information from noisy data, and understanding gene regulation. The other benefit of clustering gene expression data is the identification of homology, which is very important in vaccine design. This review examines the various clustering algorithms applicable to the gene expression data in order to discover and provide useful knowledge of the appropriate clustering technique that will guarantee stability and high degree of accuracy in its analysis procedure

Differential impact of glucose administered intravenously and orally on circulating mir-375 levels in human subjects

Background: To date, numerous nucleic acid species have been detected in the systemic circulation including microRNAs (miRNAs); however their functional role in this compartment remains unclear. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether systemic levels of miRNAs abundant in blood, including the neuroendocrine tissue-enriched miR-375, are altered in response to a glucose challenge. Design: Twelve healthy males were recruited for an acute cross-over study which consisted of two tests each following an eight-hour fasting period. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed and blood samples were collected over a 3-hour period. Following a period of at least one week, the same participants were administered an isoglycemic intravenous glucose infusion (IIGI) with the same blood collection protocol. Results: The glucose response curve following the IIGI mimicked that obtained after the OGTT, but as expected systemic insulin levels were lower during the IIGI compared to the OGTT (P<0.05). MiR-375 levels in circulation were increased only in response to an OGTT and not during an IIGI. In addition, the response to the OGTT also coincided with the transient increase of circulating glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2), and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). Conclusions: The present findings show levels of miR-375 increase following administration of an OGTT and in light of its enrichment in cells of the gut, suggest that the gastrointestinal tract may play a significant role to the abundance and function of this microRNA in the blood

The RNA chaperone Hfq is essential for the virulence of Salmonella typhimurium

The RNA chaperone, Hfq, plays a diverse role in bacterial physiology beyond its original role as a host factor required for replication of Qβ RNA bacteriophage. In this study, we show that Hfq is involved in the expression and secretion of virulence factors in the facultative intracellular pathogen, Salmonella typhimurium. A Salmonella hfq deletion strain is highly attenuated in mice after both oral and intraperitoneal infection, and shows a severe defect in invasion of epithelial cells and a growth defect in both epithelial cells and macrophages in vitro. Surprisingly, we find that these phenotypes are largely independent of the previously reported requirement of Hfq for expression of the stationary phase sigma factor, RpoS. Our results implicate Hfq as a key regulator of multiple aspects of virulence including regulation of motility and outer membrane protein (OmpD) expression in addition to invasion and intracellular growth. These pleiotropic effects are suggested to involve a network of regulatory small non-coding RNAs, placing Hfq at the centre of post-transcriptional regulation of virulence gene expression in Salmonella. In addition, the hfq mutation appears to cause a chronic activation of the RpoE-mediated envelope stress response which is likely due to a misregulation of membrane protein expression

Two-Point Functions and Boundary States in Boundary Logarithmic Conformal Field Theories

Our main aim in this thesis is to address the results and prospects of boundary logarithmic conformal field theories: theories with boundaries that contain the above Jordan cell structure. We have investigated c_{p,q} boundary theory in search of logarithmic theories and have found logarithmic solutions of two-point functions in the context of the Coulomb gas picture. Other two-point functions have also been studied in the free boson construction of BCFT with SU(2)_k symmetry. In addition, we have analyzed and obtained the boundary Ishibashi state for a rank-2 Jordan cell structure [hep-th/0103064]. We have also examined the (generalised) Ishibashi state construction and the symplectic fermion construction at c=-2 for boundary states in the context of the c=-2 triplet model. The differences between two constructions are interpreted, resolved and extended beyond each case.Comment: Ph.D. Thesis (University of Oxford), 96 pages, the layout is modified from the origina