‘Together for Health’? How EU Governance of Health Undermines Active Biological Citizenship

This paper explores the potential for active biological citizenship in the discursive space opened by the Community law rights to receive cross-border health care services. By focusing on the European Patients’ Forum and the European Public Health Association as examples of actors facilitated by the European Union, the paper notes how this space might provide some opportunities for patients’ strategic engagement, but also how EU governance discourse is shaping and undermining the potential for activism.

Atomic ordering in nano-layered FePt

Monte Carlo simulation of chemical ordering kinetics in nano-layered L1₀ AB binary intermetallics was performed. The study addressed FePt thin layers considered as a material for ultra-high-density magnetic storage media and revealed metastability of the L1₀ c-variant superstructure with monoatomic planes parallel to the surface and off-plane easy magnetization. The layers, originally perfectly ordered in a c-variant of the L1₀ superstructure, showed homogeneous disordering running in parallel with a spontaneous re-orientation of the monoatomic planes leading to a mosaic microstructure composed of a- and b-L1₀-variant domains. The domains nucleated heterogeneously on the surface of the layer and grew discontinuously inwards its volume. Finally, the domains relaxed towards an equilibrium microstructure of the system. Two “atomistic-scale” processes: (i) homogeneous disordering and (ii) nucleation of the a- and b-L1₀-variant domains showed characteristic time scales. The same was observed for the domain microstructure relaxation. The discontinuous domain growth showed no definite driving force and proceeded due to thermal fluctuations. The above complex structural evolution has recently been observed experimentally in epitaxially deposited thin films of FePt.

A frequency measure robust to linear filtering

It is noted that the determination of an oscillation frequency by used of the power spectrum of measured time series is susceptible to filtering of the signal. Similarly, frequency measurements made by period counting can yield different, results depending on how the signal is filtered for noise reduction. In an attempt to eliminate these ambiguities, a new measure of frequency, based on an approximate reconstruction of the phase-space trajectory of the oscillator from the signal, is introduced. This measure is shown to be invariant under linear filtering. For this reason, it is also inaccessible by spectral methods. The effect of filtering on frequency for weakly nonlinear, noisy oscillators, to which this definition applies only imperfectly, is quantified. This work provides the theoretical basis for frequency measurements employing MIRVA filtering.

Managing Software Requirements Changes Based On Negotiation-Style Revision

For any proposed software project, when the software requirements specification has been established, requirements changes may result in not only a modification of the requirements specification but also a series of modifications of all existing artifacts during the development. Then it is necessary to provide effective and flexible requirements changes management. In this paper, we present an approach to managing requirements changes based on Booth’s negotiation-style framework for belief revision. Informally, we consider the current requirements specification as a belief set about the system-to-be. The request of requirements change is viewed as new information about the same system-to-be. Then the process of executing the requirements change is a process of revising beliefs about the system-to-be. We design a family of belief negotiation models appropriate for different processes of requirements revision, including the setting of the request of requirements change being fully accepted, the setting of the current requirements specification being fully preserved, and that of the current specification and the request of requirements change reaching a compromise. In particular, the prioritization of requirements plays an important role in reaching an agreement in each belief negotiation model designed in this paper.

Optical and infrared spectroscopy of the type IInSN1998S: days 3-127

We present contemporary optical and infrared spectroscopic observations of the type IIn SN 1998S covering the period between 3 and 127 days after discovery. During the first week the spectra are characterized by prominent broad H, He and C III/N III emission lines with narrow peaks, superimposed on a very blue continuum (T similar to 24 000 K). In the following two weeks the C III/N III emission vanished, together with the broad emission components of the H and He lines. Broad, blueshifted absorption components appeared in the spectra. The temperature of the continuum also dropped to similar to 14000 K. By the end of the first month the spectrum comprised broad, blueshifted absorptions in H, He, Si II, Fe II and Sc II. By day 44, broad emission components in H and He reappeared in the spectra. These persisted to as late as days similar to 100-130, becoming increasingly asymmetric. We agree with Leonard et al. that the broad emission lines indicate interaction between the ejecta and circumstellar material (CSM) emitted by the progenitor. We also agree that the progenitor of SN 1998S appears to have gone through at least two phases of mass-loss, giving rise to two CSM zones. Examination of the spectra indicates that the inner zone extended to less than or equal to 90 au, while the outer CSM extended from 185 an to over 1800 au.

Acculturation and religion in schools: the views of young people from minority belief backgrounds

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority
belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in-depth understanding of the inter-relationship between minority belief youth’s acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter-relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals’ motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt-out provision as stipulated by human rights law.

Mean field approach for tracking similar objects

In this paper, we consider the problem of tracking similar objects. We show how a mean field approach can be used to deal with interacting targets and we compare it with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Two mean field implementations are presented. The first one is more general and uses particle filtering. We discuss some simplifications of the base algorithm that reduce the computation time. The second one is based on suitable Gaussian approximations of probability densities that lead to a set of self-consistent equations for the means and covariances. These equations give the Kalman solution if there is no interaction. Experiments have been performed on two kinds of sequences. The first kind is composed of a single long sequence of twenty roaming ants and was previously analysed using MCMC. In this case, our mean field algorithms obtain substantially better results. The second kind corresponds to selected sequences of a football match in which the interaction avoids tracker coalescence in situations where independent trackers fail.

Characterization, crystallization and preliminary X—ray diffraction analysis of acutohaemolysin, a haemolytic toxin from Agkistrodon acutus venom

Acutohaemolysin, a phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from the venom of the snake Agkistrodon acutus, has been isolated and purified to homogeneity by anion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE-Sepharose column followed by cation-exchange chromatography on a CM-Sepharose column. It is an alkaline protein with an isoelectric point of 10.5 and is comprised of a single polypeptide chain of 13 938 Da. Its N-terminal amino-acid sequence shows very high similarity to Lys49-type PLA2 proteins from other snake venoms. Although its PLA2 enzymatic activity is very low, acutohaemolysin has a strong indirect haemolytic activity and anticoagulant activity. Acutohaemolysin crystals with a diffraction limit of 1.60 Å were obtained by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals belong to the space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 45.30, b = 59.55, c = 46.13 Å, [beta] = 117.69°. The asymmetric unit contains one molecule

The Influence of the User in Body-Centric Antennas and Propagation at 3–6 GHz—A Rician K-Factor Approach

We investigate whether the presence of a human body in wearable communications should be considered as part of the radiating structure or as part of the local radio environment. The Rician $K$ -factor was employed as a quantitative measure of the effect of the user's body for five environments and two mounting locations. Presented empirical results indicated that the environment had a greater impact on the $K$-factor values than the position of the transmit antenna for the ultrawideband signals used, confirming that the human body should be considered primarily as part of the overall radiating system when the antenna is worn on the body. Furthermore, independent variations also existed in the $K$-factor values for the differing antenna-body mounting positions, indicating that as the position changed, then the radiating effects and the contribution from the body changed. This is significant for ensuring body-antenna systems are accurately modeled in system-level simulations.

Microbial Communities Associated with Healthy and White Syndrome-Affected Echinopora lamellosa in Aquaria and Experimental Treatment with the Antibiotic Ampicillin

Prokaryotic and ciliate communities of healthy and aquarium White Syndrome (WS)-affected coral fragments were screened using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). A significant difference (R = 0.907, p < 0.001) in 16S rRNA prokaryotic diversity was found between healthy (H), sloughed tissue (ST), WS-affected (WSU) and antibiotic treated (WST) samples. Although 3 Vibrio spp were found inWS-affected samples, two of these species were eliminated following ampicillin treatment, yet lesions continued to advance, suggesting they play a minor or secondary role in the pathogenesis. The third Vibrio sp increased slightly in relative abundance in diseased samples and was abundant in non-diseased samples. Interestingly, a Tenacibaculum sp showed the greatest increase in relative abundance between healthy and WS-affected samples, demonstrating consistently high abundance across all WS-affected and treated samples, suggesting Tenacibaculum sp could be a more likely candidate for pathogenesis in this instance. In contrast to previous studies bacterial abundance did not vary significantly (ANOVA, F2, 6 = 1.000, p = 0.422) between H, ST, WSU or WST. Antimicrobial activity (assessed on Vibrio harveyi cultures) was limited in both H and WSU samples (8.1% ±8.2 and 8.0% ±2.5, respectively) and did not differ significantly (Kruskal-Wallis, χ2 (2) = 3.842, p = 0.146). A Philaster sp, a Cohnilembus sp and a Pseudokeronopsis sp. were present in all WS-affected samples, but not in healthy samples. The exact role of ciliates in WS is yet to be determined, but it is proposed that they are at least responsible for the neat lesion boundary observed in the disease.

Novel titania sol-gel derived film for luminescence-based oxygen sensing.

A novel method for the preparation of titania sol–gel derived oxygen sensors based on the ruthenium(II) dye, [Ru(bpy)3]2+, is described. A titania sol–gel paste film was cast onto microscope slides, and the dye ion-paired to the deprotonated, hydroxylated groups on the film's surface from an aqueous solution of the dye at pH 11. The resulting sensor film is extremely oxygen sensitive, with a PO2 (S = 1/2) value (i.e. the partial pressure of oxygen required in order to reduce the original, oxygen free, luminescence intensity by 50%) of 0.011 atm. The sensor undergoes 95% response to oxygen in 4 s, and shows 95% recovery of its luminescence in argon within 7 s.