Classification of invariant AHS--structures on semisimple locally symmetric spaces

In this article, we discuss which semisimple locally symmetric spaces admit an AHS--structure invariant to local symmetries. We classify them for all types of AHS--structures and determine possible equivalence classes of such AHS--structures.Comment: submited to CEJ

AHS-structures and affine holonomies

We show that a large class of non-metric, non-symplectic affine holonomies can be realized, uniformly and without case by case considerations, by Weyl connections associated to the natural AHS-structures on certain generalized flag manifolds.Comment: AMS-LaTeX, 8 pages, v2: changes in exposition; final version; to appear in Proc. Amer. Math. So

Black Holes in the Universe: Generalized Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Solutions

We present new exact solutions {which presumably describe} black holes in the background of a spatially flat, pressureless dark matter (DM)-, or dark matter plus dark energy (DM+DE)-, or quintom-dominated universe. These solutions generalize Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metrics. For a DM- or (DM+DE)-dominated universe, the area of the black hole apparent horizon (AH) decreases with the expansion of the universe while that of the cosmic AH increases. However, for a quintom-dominated universe, the black hole AH first shrinks and then expands, while the cosmic AH first expands and then shrinks. A (DM+DE)-dominated universe containing a black hole will evolve to the Schwarzschild-de Sitter solution with both AHs approaching constant size. In a quintom-dominated universe, the black hole and cosmic AHs will coincide at a certain time, after which the singularity becomes naked, violating Cosmic Censorship.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

The marine algae of Tasmania

A classified list of the algae which have been recorded from Tasmania and the adjacent islands. This Record is based on the labours of many workers. Probably the first Tasmanian seaweed to receive a scientific name was the largest, though not the longest, of them all, the giant kelp, Sarcophycus potatorum, gathered during the survey of the Huon River and D'Entrecasteaux Channel made by the Recherche and the Esperance in 1792-3. The specific name was given to it by the French botanist Labillardiere, who observed that the natives of Tasmania "used portions of its great leaves folded into the form of "a pouch, for the purpose of keeping fresh water.

A MODEL OF THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF AFRICAN HORSE SICKNESS TO THE EQUINE BREEDING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

A deterministic model for the economic impact of African Horse Sickness (AHS) on the equine breeding industry was developed for South Africa. It was applied to the case of the 2007/2008 outbreak of AHS in the Eastern Cape as a pilot application of the model, using data from breeders in the province. It was concluded that the deterministic model’s extension to include other areas of equine livelihoods could be effective in exposing the need for further research into the control and treatment of AHS in South Africa.African horse sickness, economic impact, South Africa, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Access to healthcare for undocumented migrants: Analysis of avoidable hospital admissions in Sicily from 2003 to 2013

Access to healthcare services for undocumented migrants is one of the main public health issues currently being debated among European countries. Exclusion from primary healthcare services may lead to serious consequences for migrants' health. We analyzed the risk among undocumented migrants, in comparison with regular migrants, of being hospitalized for preventable conditions in the Region of Sicily (Italy). We performed a hospital-based cross-sectional study of the foreign population hospitalized in the Sicily region between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2013. The first outcome was the proportion of avoidable hospitalization (AHs) among regular and irregular migrants. Second outcomes were the subcategories of AHs for chronic, acute and vaccine preventable diseases. 85 309 hospital admissions were analyzed. In the hospitalized population, in comparison to regular migrants, undocumented migrants show a higher proportion of hospitalization for diseases preventable through primary and preventive care (AOR1·48, 95%CI 1·37-1·59). The proportion of avoidable hospitalizations associated with the lack of legal status is higher for vaccine preventable conditions (AOR 2·06, 95%CI 1·66-2·56) than for chronic conditions (AOR 1·47, 95%CI 1·42-1·63) and acute conditions (AOR 1·37; 95%CI 1·23-1·53). Between 2003 and 2013, the proportion of avoidable hospitalizations decreased both in regular and undocumented migrants but decreased faster for regular than for undocumented migrants. Undocumented migrants experience higher proportion of hospitalization for preventable conditions in comparison with regular migrants probably due to a lack of access to the national healthcare service. Policies and strategies to involve them in primary healthcare and preventive services should be developed to tackle this inequality

Early detection of capping risk in pharmaceutical compacts

Capping is a common mechanical defect in tablet manufacturing, exhibited during or after the compression process. Predicting tablet capping in terms of process variables (e.g. compaction pressure and speed) and formulation properties is essential in pharmaceutical industry. In current work, a non-destructive contact ultrasonic approach for detecting capping risk in the pharmaceutical compacts prepared under various compression forces and speeds is presented. It is shown that the extracted mechanical properties can be used as early indicators for invisible capping (prior to visible damage). Based on the analysis of X-ray cross-section images and a large set of waveform data, it is demonstrated that the mechanical properties and acoustic wave propagation characteristics is significantly modulated by the tablet’s internal cracks and capping at higher compaction speeds and pressures. In addition, the experimentally extracted properties were correlated to the directly-measured porosity and tensile strength of compacts of Pearlitol®, Anhydrous Mannitol and LubriTose® Mannitol, produced at two compaction speeds and at three pressure levels. The effect compaction speed and pressure on the porosity and tensile strength of the resulting compacts is quantified, and related to the compact acoustic characteristics and mechanical properties. The detailed experimental approach and reported wave propagation data could find key applications in determining the bounds of manufacturing design spaces in the development phase, predicting capping during (continuous) tablet manufacturing, as well as online monitoring of tablet mechanical integrity and reducing batch-to-batch end-product quality variations

Intelligent optical performance monitor using multi-task learning based artificial neural network

An intelligent optical performance monitor using multi-task learning based artificial neural network (MTL-ANN) is designed for simultaneous OSNR monitoring and modulation format identification (MFI). Signals' amplitude histograms (AHs) after constant module algorithm are selected as the input features for MTL-ANN. The experimental results of 20-Gbaud NRZ-OOK, PAM4 and PAM8 signals demonstrate that MTL-ANN could achieve OSNR monitoring and MFI simultaneously with higher accuracy and stability compared with single-task learning based ANNs (STL-ANNs). The results show an MFI accuracy of 100% and OSNR monitoring root-mean-square error of 0.63 dB for the three modulation formats under consideration. Furthermore, the number of neuron needed for the single MTL-ANN is almost the half of STL-ANN, which enables reduced-complexity optical performance monitoring devices for real-time performance monitoring

Aromatic hydrocarbons as ozone precursors before and after outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis in the Pearl River Delta region, south China

In the second half of 2008 China's highly industrialized Pearl River Delta (PRD) region was hard-hit by the financial crisis (FC). This study reports volatile organic compounds measured in the PRD during November-December in both 2007 before the FC and 2008 after the FC. While total mixing ratios of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) on average were only about 7% lower from 40.2 ppbv in 2007 to 37.5 ppbv in 2008, their ozone formation potentials (OFPs) dropped about 30%, resulting from about 55% plummet of aromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) against a greater than 20% increase of total alkanes/alkenes. The elevated alkanes and alkenes in 2008 could be explained by greater emissions from vehicle exhausts and LPG combustion due to rapid increase of vehicle numbers and LPG consumption; the drop of AHs could be explained by reduced emissions from industries using AH-containing solvents due to the influence of the FC, as indicated by much lower ratios of toluene to benzene and of xylenes/ trichloroethylene/tetrachloroethylene to carbon monoxide (CO) in 2008. Source apportionment by positive matrix factorization (PMF) also revealed much less contribution of industry solvents to total anthropogenic NMHCs and particularly to toluene and xylenes in 2008 than in 2007. Based on PMF reconstructed source contributions, calculated OFPs by industrial emissions were responsible for 40.8% in 2007 in contrast to 18.4% in 2008. Further investigation into local industry output statistics suggested that the plummet of AHs in 2008 should be attributed to small enterprises, which contributed largely to ambient AHs due to their huge numbers and non-existent emission treatment, but were much more influenced by the FC. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved