Towards a Wearer-Centred Framework for Animal Biotelemetry

The emerging discipline of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) aims to understand the relation between animals and technology in naturalistic settings, to design technology that can support animals in different contexts and to develop user-centred research methods and frameworks that enable animals to take part in the design process as legitimate contributors [11]. Given existing interspecies differences and communication barriers, measuring the behaviour of animals involved in ACI research can be instrumental to achieving any or all of these aims, as a way of gauging the animals’ patterns, needs and preferences. Indeed, measuring behaviour is a common practice among ACI researchers, who take various approaches to this task [5,15,17,24]. In this respect, the use of biotelemetry devices such as VHF tags and GPS trackers, or bio-logging and environmental sensors has a significant potential [22]. At the same time, biotelemetry has been used for many years in many areas of biological research. Biotelemetry is used to improve the quality of physiological and behavioural data collected from animals and in an attempt to reduce researchers’ intrusion in the animals’ habitat [2]. However, there is evidence that carrying biotelemetry tags may influence the bearer’s physiology and behaviour [20]. Such impacts interfere with the validity of recorded data [14] and the welfare of individual animal wearers [1,3,13]. Neither of these effects are compatible with the animal-centred perspective advocated by ACI, on both scientific and ethical grounds. Our analysis of current body-attached device design and biotelemetry-enabled studies points to a general lack of wearer-centred perspective. To address these issues, we have developed a framework to inform the design of wearer-centred biotelemetry interventions, in order to support the implementation of animal-centred research methodologies and design solutions in ACI and other disciplines

Relevance of multiband Jahn-Teller effects on the electron-phonon interaction in A3A_3C60_{60}

Assessing the effective relevance of multiband effects in the fullerides is of fundamental importance to understand the complex superconducting and transport properties of these compounds. In this paper we investigate in particular the role of the multiband effects on the electron-phonon (el-ph) properties of the $t_{1u}$ bands coupled with the Jahn-Teller intra-molecular $H_g$ vibrational modes in the C$_{60}$ compounds. We show that, assuming perfect degeneracy of the electronic bands, vertex diagrams arising from the breakdown of the adiabatic hypothesis, are one order of magnitude smaller than the non-crossing terms usually retained in the Migdal-Eliashberg (ME) theory. These results permit to understand the robustness on ME theory found by numerical calculations. The effects of the non degeneracy of the $t_{1u}$ in realistic systems are also analyzed. Using a tight-binding model we show that the el-ph interaction is mainly dominated by interband scattering within a single electronic band. Our results question the reliability of a degenerate band modeling and show the importance of these combined effects in the $A_3$C$_{60}$ family.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figure

Equity in the finance and delivery of health care: some tentative cross-country comparisons

Equity is widely acknowledged to be an important goal in the field of health care. Indeed, McLachlan and Maynard (1982) have gone so far as to suggest that' the vast majority of the population would elect for equity to be the prime consideration' (p. 556)—a view endorsed by Mooney (1986, p. 145). Several researchers have investigated how successful their own country's delivery and/or financing system is in achieving its stated equity goals. In general the strategy of these studies is to compare the current situation with some ideal or 'target* situation. Le Grand (1978), for example, in what has become a classic study in the field, compares the distributions across socio-economic groups of illness and public expenditure on health care in Britain in 1972, and concludes that the National Health Service (NHS) has failed to achieve equity in the delivery of health care

Hemispherical power asymmetries in the WMAP 7-year low-resolution temperature and polarization maps

We test the hemispherical power asymmetry of the WMAP 7-year low-resolution temperature and polarization maps. We consider two natural estimators for such an asymmetry and exploit our implementation of an optimal angular power spectrum estimator for all the six CMB spectra. By scanning the whole sky through a sample of 24 directions, we search for asymmetries in the power spectra of the two hemispheres, comparing the results with Monte Carlo simulations drawn from the WMAP 7-year best-fit model. Our analysis extends previous results to the polarization sector. The level of asymmetry on the ILC temperature map is found to be compatible with previous results, whereas no significant asymmetry on the polarized spectra is detected. Moreover, we show that our results are only weakly affected by the a posteriori choice of the maximum multipole considered for the analysis. We also forecast the capability to detect dipole modulation by our methodology at Planck sensitivity.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Horizontal equity in the delivery of health care

This paper offers a critical appraisal of the various methods used to date to investigate inequity in the delivery of health care. It concludes that none of the methods used to date is particularly well equipped to provide unbiassed estimates of the extent of inequity. It also concludes that Le Grand's (1978) approach is likely to point towards inequity favouring the rich even when none exists. The paper offers an alternative approach, which builds on the approaches to date but seeks to overcome their deficiencies

Assessment of ab initio models of protein complexes by molecular dynamics.

Determining how proteins interact to form stable complexes is of crucial importance, for example in the development of novel therapeutics. Computational methods to determine the thermodynamically stable conformation of complexes from the structure of the binding partners, such as RosettaDock, might potentially emerge to become a promising alternative to traditional structure determination methods. However, while models virtually identical to the correct experimental structure can in some cases be generated, the main difficulty remains to discriminate correct or approximately correct models from decoys. This is due to the ruggedness of the free-energy landscape, the approximations intrinsic in the scoring functions, and the intrinsic flexibility of proteins. Here we show that molecular dynamics simulations performed starting from a number top-scoring models can not only discriminate decoys and identify the correct structure, but may also provide information on an initial map of the free energy landscape that elucidates the binding mechanism

New constraints on parity symmetry from a re-analysis of the WMAP-7 low-resolution power spectra

8 páginas, 6 figuras, 3 tablas.-- El Pdf del archivo es la versión pre-print: arXiv:1006.1979v2 .-- et al.The parity symmetry of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) pattern as seen by Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7 yr (WMAP 7 yr) is tested jointly in temperature and polarization at large angular scale. A quadratic maximum likelihood (QML) estimator is applied to the WMAP 7-yr low-resolution maps to compute all polarized CMB angular power spectra. The analysis is supported by 10 000 realistic Monte Carlo realizations. We confirm the previously reported parity anomaly for TT in the range δℓ=[2, 22] at >99.5 per cent C.L. No anomalies have been detected in TT for a wider ℓ range (up to ℓmax= 40). No violations have been found for EE, TE and BB which we test here for the first time. The cross-spectra TB and EB are found to be consistent with zero. We also forecast Planck capabilities in probing parity violations on low-resolution maps.Support for LAMBDA is provided by the NASA Office of Space Science. This work was supported by ASI through ASI/INAF Agreement I/072/09/0 for the Planck LFI Activity of Phase E2.Peer reviewe

Computational Modeling of Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein Complexes with their Targets

Recombinant therapeutic proteins are playing an ever-increasing role in the clinic. High-affinity binding candidates can be produced in a high-throughput manner through the process of selection and evolution from large libraries, but the structures of the complexes with target protein can only be determined for a small number of them in a costly, low-throughput manner, typically by x-ray crystallography. Reliable modeling of complexes would greatly help to understand their mode of action and improve them by further engineering, for example, by designing bi-paratopic binders. Designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) are one such class of antibody mimetics that have proven useful in the clinic, in diagnostics and research. Here we have developed a standardized procedure to model DARPin–target complexes that can be used to predict the structures of unknown complexes. It requires only the sequence of a DARPin and a structure of the unbound target. The procedure includes homology modeling of the DARPin, modeling of the flexible parts of a target, rigid body docking to ensembles of the target and docking with a partially flexible backbone. For a set of diverse DARPin–target complexes tested it generated a single model of the complex that well approximates the native state of the complex. We provide a protocol that can be used in a semi-automated way and with tools that are freely available. The presented concepts should help to accelerate the development of novel bio-therapeutics for scaffolds with similar properties

Cataract and optic disk drusen in a patient with glycogenosis and di George syndrome: clinical and molecular report

Background We report the ophthalmic findings of a patient with type Ia glycogen storage disease (GSD Ia), DiGeorge syndrome (DGS), cataract and optic nerve head drusen (ONHD). Case presentation A 26-year-old white woman, born at term by natural delivery presented with a post-natal diagnosis of GSD Ia. Genetic testing by array-comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) for DGS was required because of her low levels of serum calcium. The patient has been followed from birth, attending the day-hospital every six months at the San Paolo Hospital, Milan, outpatient clinic for metabolic diseases and previously at another eye center. During the last day-hospital visit, a complete eye examination showed ONHD and cataract in both eyes. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) was subsequently done to check for any association between the eye problems and metabolic aspects. Conclusions This is the first description of ocular changes in a patient with GSD Ia and DGS. Mutations explaining GSD Ia and DGS were found but no specific causative mutation for cataract and ONHD. The metabolic etiology of her lens changes is known, whereas the pathogenesis of ONHD is not clear. Although the presence of cataract and ONHD could be a coincidence; the case reported could suggest that hypocalcemia due to DGS could be the common biochemical pathway