Diffractive arrays of gold nanoparticles near an interface: critical role of the substrate

The optical properties of periodic arrays of plasmonic nanoantennas are strongly affected by coherent multiple scattering in the plane of the array, which leads to sharp spectral resonances in both transmission and reflection when the wavelength is commensurate with the period. We demonstrate that the presence of a substrate (i.e., an asymmetric refractive-index environment) can inhibit long-range coupling between the particles and suppress lattice resonances, in agreement with recent experimental results. We find the substrate-to-superstrate index contrast and the distance between the array and the interface to be critical parameters determining the strength of diffractive coupling. Our rigorous electromagnetic simulations are well reproduced by a simple analytical model. These findings are important in the design of periodic structures and in the assessment of their optical resonances for potential use in sensing and other photonic technologies

Corrupción global

Esta publicación del Centro de Estudios Internacionales y de la Iniciativa Internacional sobre la Corrupción y Gobernabilidad, parte de la necesidad de no sujetar el juicio moral a la determinación jurídica, sin negar la importancia de esta misma. Planteamos que la corrupción no es solamente, ni primordialmente, asunto de individuos, culturas, gobiernos o países. Es un asunto de poder que a su vez impone y promueve definiciones e incluso luchas y estrategias relativas a concepción que, de paso, no involucran ni cuestionan las estructuras del mega-poder. Es decir, del poder que incluso define sistemas, instituciones, leyes y procedimientos de alcance global y nacional, legalizando la gran corrupción o haciéndola aparecer como un derecho y atributo inherente a lo que suele llamarse la globalización.Indice I. Presentación 7. II. La corrupción, una perspectiva estructural / Alejandro Bendaña 11. III. La corrupción no explica todo /Ángel Saldomando 27. IV. Forma en que los donantes del norte promueven la corrupción / Joseph Hanlon 57

R-chie: a web server and R package for visualizing RNA secondary structures

Visually examining RNA structures can greatly aid in understanding their potential functional roles and in evaluating the performance of structure prediction algorithms. As many functional roles of RNA structures can already be studied given the secondary structure of the RNA, various methods have been devised for visualizing RNA secondary structures. Most of these methods depict a given RNA secondary structure as a planar graph consisting of base-paired stems interconnected by roundish loops. In this article, we present an alternative method of depicting RNA secondary structure as arc diagrams. This is well suited for structures that are difficult or impossible to represent as planar stem-loop diagrams. Arc diagrams can intuitively display pseudo-knotted structures, as well as transient and alternative structural features. In addition, they facilitate the comparison of known and predicted RNA secondary structures. An added benefit is that structure information can be displayed in conjunction with a corresponding multiple sequence alignments, thereby highlighting structure and primary sequence conservation and variation. We have implemented the visualization algorithm as a web server R-chie as well as a corresponding R package called R4RNA, which allows users to run the software locally and across a range of common operating systems

Analysis of a passive heat sink for temperature stabilization of high-power LED bulbs

In this paper we present a numerical analysis and experimental measurements of the temperature stabilization of high-power LED chips that we have obtained by employing an aluminum passive heat sink, designed to be used in a compact light bulb configuration. We demonstrate that our system keeps the temperature of the LED chip well-below 70 degrees C yielding long-term operation of the device. Our simulations have been performed for a low-cost device ready to install in public streetlights. The experimental measurements performed in different configurations show a nice agreement with the numerical calculations.Balvis, E.; Bendaña, R.; Michinel Alvarez, H.; Fernández De Córdoba Castellá, PJ.; Paredes, A. (2015). Analysis of a passive heat sink for temperature stabilization of high-power LED bulbs. Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 605:0120051-0120058. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/605/1/012005S0120051012005860

Clinical and pathological characteristics of peripheral T-cell lymphomas in a Spanish population: a retrospective study

We investigated the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) in 13 sites across Spain. Relevant clinical antecedents, CD30 expression and staining pattern, prognostic indices using the International Prognostic Index and the Intergruppo Italiano Linfomi system, treatments, and clinical outcomes were examined. A sizeable proportion of 175 patients had a history of immune-related disorders (autoimmune 16%, viral infections 17%, chemo/radiotherapy-treated carcinomas 19%). The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 7·9 and 15·8 months, respectively. Prognostic indices influenced PFS and OS, with a higher number of adverse factors resulting in shorter survival (P 15% of cells were positive in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive and -negative anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and extranodal natural killer PTCL groups. We observed PTCL distribution across subtypes based on haematopathological re-evaluation. Poor prognosis, effect of specific prognostic indices, relevance of histopathological sub-classification, and response level to first-line treatment on outcomes were confirmed. Immune disorders amongst patients require further examination involving genetic studies and identification of associated immunosuppressive factors.This study was sponsored by Takeda

Clinical and pathological characteristics of peripheral T‐cell lymphomas in a Spanish population: a retrospective study

We investigated the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) in 13 sites across Spain. Relevant clinical antecedents, CD30 expression and staining pattern, prognostic indices using the International Prognostic Index and the Intergruppo Italiano Linfomi system, treatments, and clinical outcomes were examined. A sizeable proportion of 175 patients had a history of immune-related disorders (autoimmune 16%, viral infections 17%, chemo/radiotherapy-treated carcinomas 19%). The median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 7·9 and 15·8 months, respectively. Prognostic indices influenced PFS and OS, with a higher number of adverse factors resulting in shorter survival (P 15% of cells were positive in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive and -negative anaplastic large-cell lymphoma and extranodal natural killer PTCL groups. We observed PTCL distribution across subtypes based on haematopathological re-evaluation. Poor prognosis, effect of specific prognostic indices, relevance of histopathological sub-classification, and response level to first-line treatment on outcomes were confirmed. Immune disorders amongst patients require further examination involving genetic studies and identification of associated immunosuppressive factors

Evolutionary Modeling and Prediction of Non-Coding RNAs in Drosophila

We performed benchmarks of phylogenetic grammar-based ncRNA gene prediction, experimenting with eight different models of structural evolution and two different programs for genome alignment. We evaluated our models using alignments of twelve Drosophila genomes. We find that ncRNA prediction performance can vary greatly between different gene predictors and subfamilies of ncRNA gene. Our estimates for false positive rates are based on simulations which preserve local islands of conservation; using these simulations, we predict a higher rate of false positives than previous computational ncRNA screens have reported. Using one of the tested prediction grammars, we provide an updated set of ncRNA predictions for D. melanogaster and compare them to previously-published predictions and experimental data. Many of our predictions show correlations with protein-coding genes. We found significant depletion of intergenic predictions near the 3′ end of coding regions and furthermore depletion of predictions in the first intron of protein-coding genes. Some of our predictions are colocated with larger putative unannotated genes: for example, 17 of our predictions showing homology to the RFAM family snoR28 appear in a tandem array on the X chromosome; the 4.5 Kbp spanned by the predicted tandem array is contained within a FlyBase-annotated cDNA

Fighting corruption : a non-corporate perspective

The dominant definition and framework for the analysis of corruption – which then informs or misleadsthe ways to address corruption -- is much too narrow a definition and itself a construct of the systemic abuse of economic power as it presents itself today in the world. Ours is a global justice perspective and our objective is to place corruption in the contemporary context of corporate globalization. We wish to reach important constituencies outraged about corruption and help channel that understanding into a broader movement that tackles corruption atthe root and structural level, and not simply in a few corporate-friendly limited expressions. We view corruptionas aprocessfacilitatedby institutions and economic interests, and not simply single acts by single individuals chiefly in the South. With this in mind, we articulate a broader and more contemporary understanding of corruption that can help people, victims in particular, account for many of the daily economic injustices suffered