Virtual Knot Theory --Unsolved Problems

This paper is an introduction to the theory of virtual knots and links and it gives a list of unsolved problems in this subject.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX documen

All reversible dynamics in maximally non-local theories are trivial

A remarkable feature of quantum theory is non-locality (i.e. the presence of correlations which violate Bell inequalities). However, quantum correlations are not maximally non-local, and it is natural to ask whether there are compelling reasons for rejecting theories in which stronger violations are possible. To shed light on this question, we consider post-quantum theories in which maximally non-local states (non-local boxes) occur. It has previously been conjectured that the set of dynamical transformations possible in such theories is severely limited. We settle the question affirmatively in the case of reversible dynamics, by completely characterizing all such transformations allowed in this setting. We find that the dynamical group is trivial, in the sense that it is generated solely by local operations and permutations of systems. In particular, no correlations can ever be created; non-local boxes cannot be prepared from product states (in other words, no analogues of entangling unitary operations exist), and classical computers can efficiently simulate all such processes.Comment: 4+3 pages, 1 figure, minor notational changes to match published versio

Can Law Improve Prevention and Treatment of Cancer?

The December 2011 issue of Public Health (the Journal of the Royal Society for Public Health) contains a symposium entitled: Legislate, Regulate, Litigate? Legal approaches to the prevention and treatment of cancer. This symposium explores the possibilities for using law and regulation – both internationally and at the national level – as the policy instrument for preventing and improving the treatment of cancer and other leading non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In this editorial, we argue that there is an urgent need for more legal scholarship on cancer and other leading NCDs, as well as greater dialogue between lawyers, public health practitioners and policy-makers about priorities for law reform, and feasible legal strategies for reducing the prevalence of leading risk factors. The editorial discusses two important challenges that frequently stand in the way of a more effective use of law in this area. The first is the tendency to dismiss risk factors for NCDs as purely a matter of individual \u27personal responsibility\u27; the second is the fact that effective regulatory responses to risks for cancer and NCDs will in many cases provoke conflict with the tobacco, alcohol and food industries. After briefly identifying some of the strategies that law can deploy in the prevention of NCDs, we briefly introduce each of the ten papers that make up the symposium

EEMCS final report for the causal modeling for air transport safety (CATS) project

This document reports on the work realized by the DIAM in relation to the completion of the CATS model as presented in Figure 1.6 and tries to explain some of the steps taken for its completion. The project spans over a period of time of three years. Intermediate reports have been presented throughout the project’s progress. These are presented in Appendix 1. In this report the continuous‐discrete distribution‐free BBNs are briefly discussed. The human reliability models developed for dealing with dependence in the model variables are described and the software application UniNet is presente

Variational Analysis of Constrained M-Estimators

We propose a unified framework for establishing existence of nonparametric M-estimators, computing the corresponding estimates, and proving their strong consistency when the class of functions is exceptionally rich. In particular, the framework addresses situations where the class of functions is complex involving information and assumptions about shape, pointwise bounds, location of modes, height at modes, location of level-sets, values of moments, size of subgradients, continuity, distance to a "prior" function, multivariate total positivity, and any combination of the above. The class might be engineered to perform well in a specific setting even in the presence of little data. The framework views the class of functions as a subset of a particular metric space of upper semicontinuous functions under the Attouch-Wets distance. In addition to allowing a systematic treatment of numerous M-estimators, the framework yields consistency of plug-in estimators of modes of densities, maximizers of regression functions, level-sets of classifiers, and related quantities, and also enables computation by means of approximating parametric classes. We establish consistency through a one-sided law of large numbers, here extended to sieves, that relaxes assumptions of uniform laws, while ensuring global approximations even under model misspecification

Advancing the Right to Health: The Vital Role of Law

Effective laws and an enabling legal environment are essential to a healthy society. Most public health challenges – from infectious and non-communicable diseases to injuries, from mental illness to universal health coverage – have a legal component. At global, national and local levels, law is a powerful tool for advancing the right to health. This tool is, however, often underutilized. This report aims to raise awareness about the role that public health laws can play in advancing the right to health and in creating the conditions for all people to live healthy lives. The report provides guidance about issues and requirements to be addressed during the process of developing or reforming public health laws, with case studies drawn from countries around the world to illustrate effective practices and critical features of effective public health legislation. Advancing the right to health: the vital role of law is the result of a collaboration between the World Health Organisation, the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO), the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Washington D.C., USA, and Sydney Law School, University of Sydney. The Project Directors were: Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law and University Professor, Georgetown University; Faculty Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University; Mr David Patterson, Senior Legal Expert – Health; Department of Research & Learning, International Development Law Organization; Professor Roger Magnusson, Professor of Health Law & Governance, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney; Mr Oscar Cabrera, Executive Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Ms Helena Nygren-Krug (2011–2013), Senior Advisor, Human Rights & Law, UNAIDS. The content and structure of the report reflect the consensus reached at the second of two international consultations in public health law that preceded the preparation of the report, hosted by WHO and IDLO in Cairo, Egypt, 26-28 April 2010. Part 1 introduces the human right to health and its role in guiding and evaluating law reform efforts, including efforts to achieve the goal of universal health coverage. Part 2 discusses the process of public health law reform. The law reform process refers to the practical steps involved in advancing the political goal of law reform, and the kinds of issues and obstacles that may be encountered along the way. Part 2 identifies some of the actors who may initiate or lead the public health law reform process, discusses principles of good governance during that process, and ways of building a consensus around the need for public health law reform. Part 3 turns from the process of reforming public health laws to the substance or content of those laws. It identifies a number of core areas of public health practice where regulation is essential in order to ensure that governments (at different levels) discharge their basic public health functions. Traditionally, these core areas of public health practice have included: the provision of clean water and sanitation, monitoring and surveillance of public health threats, the management of communicable diseases, and emergency powers. Building on these core public health functions, Part 3 goes on to consider a range of other public health priorities where law has a critical role to play. These priorities include tobacco control, access to essential medicines, the migration of health care workers, nutrition, maternal, reproductive and child health, and the role of law in advancing universal access to quality health services for all members of the population. The report includes many examples that illustrate the ways in which different countries have used law to protect the health of their populations in ways that are consistent with their human rights obligations. Countries vary widely in terms of their constitutional structure, size, history and political culture. For these reasons, the examples given are not intended to be prescriptive, but to provide useful comparisons for countries involved in the process of legislative review

Improved thermal paint formulation

Potassium silicate-treated zinc oxide paint stabilizes pigment against ultraviolet-induced, bleachable degradation in infrared region, and permits use of ZnO as pigment in ultraviolet-stable coatings based upon polymethyl siloxane elastomers and resins. Material has low absorptance/emittance ratio

The role of Bacterial-based Protist Communities in Aquatic and Soil Ecosystems and the Carbon Biogeochemical Cycle, with Emphasis on Naked Amoebae

Current research is reviewed on aquatic and soil microbial ecology with attention to the fate of organic carbon in bacterial-based protist food webs, including some new data. Particular attention is given to the effects of pulsed sources of low-molecular weight organic sources of carbon on soil respiration, changes in bacterial, nanoflagellate, and naked amoeba C-biomass, and evidence for throughput of carbon in microbial food webs in Arctic and some low-latitude, temperate soil environments. The proportion of pulsed sources of glucose-C that is sequestered in microbial biomass relative to loss as CO2 is examined in laboratory experimental studies, and implications of the research for microbial community dynamics and global warming due to terrestrial sources of respiratory CO2 are discussed

A heat receiver design for solar dynamic space power systems

An advanced heat pipe receiver designed for a solar dynamic space power system is described. The power system consists of a solar concentrator, solar heat receiver, Stirling heat engine, linear alternator and waste heat radiator. The solar concentrator focuses the sun's energy into a heat receiver. The engine and alternator convert a portion of this energy to electric power and the remaining heat is rejected by a waste heat radiator. Primary liquid metal heat pipes transport heat energy to the Stirling engine. Thermal energy storage allows this power system to operate during the shade portion of an orbit. Lithium fluoride/calcium fluoride eutectic is the thermal energy storage material. Thermal energy storage canisters are attached to the midsection of each heat pipe. The primary heat pipes pass through a secondary vapor cavity heat pipe near the engine and receiver interface. The secondary vapor cavity heat pipe serves three important functions. First, it smooths out hot spots in the solar cavity and provides even distribution of heat to the engine. Second, the event of a heat pipe failure, the secondary heat pipe cavity can efficiently transfer heat from other operating primary heat pipes to the engine heat exchanger of the defunct heat pipe. Third, the secondary heat pipe vapor cavity reduces temperature drops caused by heat flow into the engine. This unique design provides a high level of reliability and performance

Ultrastructure of Diplophrys parva, a New Small Freshwater Species, and a Revised Analysis of Labyrinthulea (Heterokonta)

We describe Diplophrys parva n. sp., a freshwater heterotroph, using fine structural and sequence evidence. Cells are small (L = 6.5 ± 0.08, W = 5.5 ± 0.06 µm; mean ± SE) enclosed by an envelope/theca of overlapping scales, slightly oval to elongated-oval with rounded ends, (1.0 × 0.5–0.7 µm), one to several intracellular refractive granules (~ 1.0–2.0 µm), smaller hyaline peripheral vacuoles, a nucleus with central nucleolus, tubulo-cristate mitochondria, and a prominent Golgi apparatus with multiple stacked saccules (~ 10). It is smaller than published sizes of Diplophrys archeri (~ 10–20 µm), modestly less than Diplophrys marina (~ 5–9 µm), and differs in scale size and morphology from D. marina. No cysts were observed. We transfer D. marina to a new genus Amphifila as it falls within a molecular phylogenetic clade extremely distant from that including D. parva. Based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence, Labyrinthulea are revised to include six new families, including Diplophryidae for Diplophrys and Amphifilidae containing Amphifila. The other new families have distinctive morphology: Oblongichytriidae and Aplanochytriidae are distinct clades on the rDNA tree, but Sorodiplophryidae and Althorniidae lack sequence data. Aplanochytriidae is in Labyrinthulida; the rest are in Thraustochytrida; Labyrinthomyxa is excluded