Twisted algebra R-matrices and S-matrices for bn(1)b_n^{(1)} affine Toda solitons and their bound states

We construct new $U_q(a^{(2)}_{2n-1})$ and $U_q(e^{(2)}_6)$ invariant $R$-matrices and comment on the general construction of $R$-matrices for twisted algebras. We use the former to construct $S$-matrices for $b^{(1)}_n$ affine Toda solitons and their bound states, identifying the lowest breathers with the $b^{(1)}_n$ particles.Comment: Latex, 24 pages. Various misprints corrected. New section added clarifying relationship between R-matrices and S-matrice

Annual report on surveillance of respiratory infectious diseases 2013, the Netherlands

Het griepseizoen (influenza) 2013/2014 was erg mild, na de uitzonderlijk langdurende epidemie in het seizoen 2012/2013. Ook was het een mild seizoen wat betreft het aantal mensen dat een longontsteking (pneumonie) opliep. In 2013 waren er geen grote uitbraken van de meldingsplichtige luchtweginfectieziekten legionellose (308 meldingen), papegaaienziekte (psittacose; 51 meldingen), Q-koorts (19 meldingen) en tuberculose (848 meldingen). Deze aantallen waren in het verslagjaar vergelijkbaar of lager dan het aantal meldingen in voorgaande jaren. Dit blijkt uit de jaarlijkse surveillance luchtweginfectieziekten 2013 van het RIVM. Griep en longontsteking leiden tot veel ziekenhuisopnames en sterfte in Nederland, waardoor het RIVM ze actief volgt. In vergelijking met griep komen de meldingsplichtige luchtweginfecties in Nederlands maar weinig voor. Ze zijn meldingsplichtig, omdat tijdige maatregelen, zoals de besmettingsbron opsporen, belangrijk kunnen zijn om uitbraken of verdere verspreiding van de ziekte te voorkomen. Het RIVM volgt ook potentieel gevaarlijke nieuwe luchtweginfecties die elders in de wereld voorkomen. In mei 2014 werden voor het eerst in Nederland twee patiënten gediagnostiseerd met het MERS coronavirus. In het seizoen 2013/2014 lag het aantal mensen dat met griepachtige klachten bij de huisarts kwam begin 2014 gedurende vier weken boven de grens waarmee een griepepidemie wordt geduid. Bij de patiënten met griepachtige klachten kwam naast influenzavirus vaak RSV (respiratoir syncytieel virus) en neusverkoudheid (rhinovirus) voor. Er kwamen minder mensen met een longontsteking bij de huisarts dan voorgaande seizoenen, maar het aantal longontstekingpatiënten in verpleeghuizen bleef gelijk.The 2013/2014 influenza season was extremely mild in the Netherlands, compared to the exceptionally long-lasting epidemic in 2012/2013. In addition, the number of pneumonia patients and overall mortality, possible complications of influenza, were low. In 2013, no major outbreaks of the notifiable respiratory infectious diseases legionellosis (308 notifications), psittacosis (51 notifications), Q-fever (19 notifications) and tuberculosis (848 notifications) occurred. These incidences are either comparable to or lower than preceding years. These are the outcomes of the annual report: 'Surveillance of respiratory infectious diseases 2013, the Netherlands', published by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). Influenza and pneumonia are an important cause of hospital admissions and death in the Netherlands, a reason for the RIVM to actively monitor these diseases. In comparison to influenza, notifiable respiratory infectious diseases only rarely occur. These diseases are notifiable, as timely measures like source finding, are important for preventing outbreaks and/ or ongoing transmission of the disease. The RIVM also monitors potential threats to public health from new (worldwide) respiratory infections. In May 2014, the first two cases of MERS coronavirus were diagnosed in the Netherlands. During the 2013/2014 influenza-season, the number of patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) consulting a general practitioner, was above the threshold set for an influenza epidemic for four weeks at the beginning of 2014. In nose and throat samples of ILI-patients, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and rhinovirus were found in addition to the influenza virus. During the 2013/2014 influenza-season, fewer patients consulted the general practitioner for pneumonia than in previous years, however the number of pneumonia patients in nursing homes was similar.Ministerie van VW

Flight of the dragonflies and damselflies

This work is a synthesis of our current understanding of the mechanics, aerodynamics and visually mediated control of dragonfly and damselfly flight, with the addition of new experimental and computational data in several key areas. These are: the diversity of dragonfly wing morphologies, the aerodynamics of gliding flight, force generation in flapping flight, aerodynamic efficiency, comparative flight performance and pursuit strategies during predatory and territorial flights. New data are set in context by brief reviews covering anatomy at several scales, insect aerodynamics, neuromechanics and behaviour. We achieve a new perspective by means of a diverse range of techniques, including laser-line mapping of wing topographies, computational fluid dynamics simulations of finely detailed wing geometries, quantitative imaging using particle image velocimetry of on-wing and wake flow patterns, classical aerodynamic theory, photography in the field, infrared motion capture and multi-camera optical tracking of free flight trajectories in laboratory environments. Our comprehensive approach enables a novel synthesis of datasets and subfields that integrates many aspects of flight from the neurobiology of the compound eye, through the aeromechanical interface with the surrounding fluid, to flight performance under cruising and higher-energy behavioural modes

A second generation cervico-vaginal lavage device shows similar performance as its preceding version with respect to DNA yield and HPV DNA results

Contains fulltext : 118480.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Attendance rates of cervical screening programs can be increased by offering HPV self-sampling to non-attendees. Acceptability, DNA yield, lavage volumes and choice of hrHPV test can influence effectiveness of the self-sampling procedures and could therefore play a role in recruiting non-attendees. To increase user-friendliness, a frequently used lavage sampler was modified. In this study, we compared this second generation lavage device with the first generation device within similar birth cohorts. METHODS: Within a large self-sampling cohort-study among non-responders of the Dutch cervical screening program, a subset of 2,644 women received a second generation self-sampling lavage device, while 11,977 women, matched for age and ZIP-code, received the first generation model. The second generation device was different in shape, color, lavage volume, and packaging, in comparison to its first generation model. The Cochran's test was used to compare both devices for hrHPV positivity rate and response rate. To correct for possible heterogeneity between age and ZIP codes in both groups the Breslow-Day test of homogeneity was used. A T-test was utilized to compare DNA yields of the obtained material in both groups. RESULTS: Median DNA yields were 90.4 mug/ml (95% CI 83.2-97.5) and 91.1 mug/ml (95% CI 77.8-104.4, p= 0.726) and hrHPV positivity rates were 8.2% and 6.9% (p= 0.419) per sample self-collected by the second - and the first generation of the device (p= 0.726), respectively. In addition, response rates were comparable for the two models (35.4% versus 34.4%, p= 0.654). CONCLUSIONS: Replacing the first generation self-sampling device by an ergonomically improved, second generation device resulted in equal DNA yields, comparable hrHPV positivity rates and similar response rates. Therefore, it can be concluded that the clinical performance of the first and second generation models are similar. Moreover, participation of non-attendees in cervical cancer screening is probably not predominantly determined by the type of self-collection device

Study of Bc+B_c^+ decays to the K+K−π+K^+K^-\pi^+ final state and evidence for the decay Bc+→χc0π+B_c^+\to\chi_{c0}\pi^+

A study of $B_c^+\to K^+K^-\pi^+$ decays is performed for the first time using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies of $7$ and $8$ TeV. Evidence for the decay $B_c^+\to\chi_{c0}(\to K^+K^-)\pi^+$ is reported with a significance of 4.0 standard deviations, resulting in the measurement of $\frac{\sigma(B_c^+)}{\sigma(B^+)}\times\mathcal{B}(B_c^+\to\chi_{c0}\pi^+)$ to be $(9.8^{+3.4}_{-3.0}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.8(\mathrm{syst}))\times 10^{-6}$. Here $\mathcal{B}$ denotes a branching fraction while $\sigma(B_c^+)$ and $\sigma(B^+)$ are the production cross-sections for $B_c^+$ and $B^+$ mesons. An indication of $\bar b c$ weak annihilation is found for the region $m(K^-\pi^+)<1.834\mathrm{\,Ge\kern -0.1em V\!/}c^2$, with a significance of 2.4 standard deviations.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-022.html, link to supplemental material inserted in the reference

Shape description and matching using integral invariants on eccentricity transformed images

Matching occluded and noisy shapes is a problem frequently encountered in medical image analysis and more generally in computer vision. To keep track of changes inside the breast, for example, it is important for a computer aided detection system to establish correspondences between regions of interest. Shape transformations, computed both with integral invariants (II) and with geodesic distance, yield signatures that are invariant to isometric deformations, such as bending and articulations. Integral invariants describe the boundaries of planar shapes. However, they provide no information about where a particular feature lies on the boundary with regard to the overall shape structure. Conversely, eccentricity transforms (Ecc) can match shapes by signatures of geodesic distance histograms based on information from inside the shape; but they ignore the boundary information. We describe a method that combines the boundary signature of a shape obtained from II and structural information from the Ecc to yield results that improve on them separately

The NMR side-chain assignments and solution structure of enzyme IIBcellobiose of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system of Escherichia coli

The assignment of the side-chain Nh IR resonances and the determination of the three-dimensional solution structure of the C10S mutant of enzyme IIBcellobiose (IIBcel) of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system of Escherichia coli are presented. The side-chain resonances were assigned nearly completely using a variety of mostly heteronuclear NMR experiments, including HCCH-TOCSY, HCCH-COSY, and COCCH-TOCSY experiments as well as CBCACOHA, CBCA(CO)NH, and HBHA(CBCA)(CO)NH experiments.In order to obtain the three-dimensional structure, NOE data were collected from N-15-NOESY-HSQC, C-13-HSQC-NOESY, and 2D NOE experiments. The distance restraints derived from these NOE data were used in distance geometry calculations followed by molecular dynamics and simulated annealing protocols. In an iterative procedure, additional NOE assignments were derived from the calculated structures and new structures were calculated. The final set of structures, calculated with approximately 2000 unambiguous and ambiguous distance restraints, has an rms deviation of 1.1 Angstrom, on C alpha atoms. IIBcel consists of a four stranded parallel beta-sheet, in the order 2134. The sheet is flanked with two and three alpha-helices on either side. Residue 10, a cysteine in the wild-type enzyme, which is phosphorylated during the catalytic cycle, is located at the end of the first beta-strand. A loop that is proposed to be involved in the binding of the phosphoryl-group follows the cysteine. The loop appears to be disordered in the unphosphorylated state.</p