594 research outputs found
Invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae in Sweden 1997â2009; evidence of increasing incidence and clinical burden of nonâtype b strains
Introduction of a conjugated vaccine against encapsulated Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) has led to a dramatic reduction of invasive Hib disease. However, an increasing incidence of invasive disease by H. influenzae nonâtype b has recently been reported. Nonâtype b strains have been suggested to be opportunists in an invasive context, but information on clinical consequences and related medical conditions is scarce. In this retrospective study, all H. influenzae isolates ( nâ = â 410) from blood and cerebrospinal fluid in three metropolitan Swedish regions between 1997 and 2009 from a population of approximately 3âmillion individuals were identified. All available isolates were serotyped by PCR ( nâ = â 250). We observed a statistically significant increase in the incidence of invasive H. influenzae disease, ascribed to nonâtypeable H. influenzae (NTHi) and encapsulated strains type f (Hif) in mainly individuals >60âyears of age. The medical reports from a subset of 136 cases of invasive Haemophilus disease revealed that 48% of invasive NTHi cases and 59% of invasive Hif cases, respectively, met the criteria of severe sepsis or septic shock according to the ACCP/SCCM classification of sepsis grading. Oneâfifth of invasive NTHi cases and more than oneâthird of invasive Hif cases were admitted to intensive care units. Only 37% of patients with invasive nonâtype b disease had evidence of immunocompromise, of which conditions related to impaired humoral immunity was the most common. The clinical burden of invasive nonâtype b H. influenzae disease, measured as days of hospitalization/100â000 individuals at risk and year, increased significantly throughout the study period.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87052/1/j.1469-0691.2010.03417.x.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87052/2/CLM_3417_sm_FigS1.pd
Mutation Symmetries in BPS Quiver Theories: Building the BPS Spectra
We study the basic features of BPS quiver mutations in 4D
supersymmetric quantum field theory with gauge symmetries.\ We show,
for these gauge symmetries, that there is an isotropy group
associated to a set of quiver mutations capturing
information about the BPS spectra. In the strong coupling limit, it is shown
that BPS chambers correspond to finite and closed groupoid orbits with an
isotropy symmetry group isomorphic to the discrete
dihedral groups contained in Coxeter with the
Coxeter number of G. These isotropy symmetries allow to determine the BPS
spectrum of the strong coupling chamber; and give another way to count the
total number of BPS and anti-BPS states of gauge theories. We
also build the matrix realization of these mutation groups from which we read directly the electric-magnetic
charges of the BPS and anti-BPS states of QFT as well as
their matrix intersections. We study as well the quiver mutation symmetries in
the weak coupling limit and give their links with infinite Coxeter groups. We
show amongst others that is contained in
; and isomorphic to the infinite Coxeter
. Other issues such as building
and are also
studied.Comment: LaTeX, 98 pages, 18 figures, Appendix I on groupoids adde
On Black Attractors in 8D and Heterotic/Type IIA Duality
Motivated by the study of black attractors in 8D supergravity with 16
supersymmetries, we use the field theory approach and 8D supersymmetry with non
trivial central charges to shed light on the exact duality between heterotic
string on T^2 and type IIA on real connected and compact surfaces {\Sigma}2. We
investigate the two constraints that should be obeyed by {\Sigma}2 and give
their solutions in terms of intersecting 2-cycles as well their classification
using Dynkin diagrams of affine Kac-Moody algebras. It is shown as well that
the moduli space of these dual theories is given by
SO(1,1)x((SO(2,r+2))/(SO(2)xSO(r+2))) where r stands for the rank of the gauge
symmetry G_{r} of the 10D heterotic string on T^2. The remarkable cases
r=-2,-1,0 as well as other features are also investigated.Comment: LaTex, 18 pages, 2 figures, To appear in JHE
The spatial sensitivity of the spectral diversityâbiodiversity relationship: an experimental test in a prairie grassland
Remote sensing has been used to detect plant biodiversity in a range of ecosystems based on the varying spectral properties of different species or functional groups. However, the most appropriate spatial resolution necessary to detect diversity remains unclear. At coarse resolution, differences among spectral patterns may be too weak to detect. In contrast, at fine resolution, redundant information may be introduced. To explore the effect of spatial resolution, we studied the scale dependence of spectral diversity in a prairie ecosystem experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA. Our study involved a scaling exercise comparing synthetic pixels resampled from high-resolution images within manipulated diversity treatments. Hyperspectral data were collected using several instruments on both ground and airborne platforms. We used the coefficient of variation (CV) of spectral reflectance in space as the indicator of spectral diversity and then compared CV at different scales ranging from 1 mm2 to 1 m2 to conventional biodiversity metrics, including species richness, Shannonâs index, Simpsonâs index, phylogenetic species variation, and phylogenetic species evenness. In this study, higher species richness plots generally had higher CV. CV showed higher correlations with Shannonâs index and Simpsonâs index than did species richness alone, indicating evenness contributed to the spectral diversity. Correlations with species richness and Simpsonâs index were generally higher than with phylogenetic species variation and evenness measured at comparable spatial scales, indicating weaker relationships between spectral diversity and phylogenetic diversity metrics than with species diversity metrics. High resolution imaging spectrometer data (1 mm2 pixels) showed the highest sensitivity to diversity level. With decreasing spatial resolution, the difference in CV between diversity levels decreased and greatly reduced the optical detectability of biodiversity. The optimal pixel size for distinguishing a diversity in these prairie plots appeared to be around 1 mm to 10 cm, a spatial scale similar to the size of an individual herbaceous plant. These results indicate a strong scaledependence of the spectral diversity-biodiversity relationships, with spectral diversity best able to detect a combination of species richness and evenness, and more weakly detecting phylogenetic diversity. These findings can be used to guide airborne studies of biodiversity and develop more effective large-scale biodiversity sampling methods
Employability and higher education: contextualising female students' workplace experiences to enhance understanding of employability development
Current political and economic discourses position employability as a responsibility of higher education, which deploys mechanisms such as supervised work experience (SWE) to embed employability skills development into the undergraduate curriculum. However, workplaces are socially constructed complex arenas of embodied knowledge that are gendered. Understanding the usefulness of SWE therefore requires consideration of the contextualised experiences of it, within these complex environments. This study considers higher education's use of SWE as a mechanism of employability skills development through exploration of female students' experiences of accounting SWE, and its subsequent shaping of their views of employment. Findings suggest that women experience numerous, indirect gender-based inequalities within their accounting SWE about which higher education is silent, perpetuating the framing of employability as a set of individual skills and abilities. This may limit the potential of SWE to provide equality of employability development. The study concludes by briefly considering how insights provided by this research could better inform higher education's engagement with SWE within the employability discourse, and contribute to equality of employability development opportunity
Regional Genetic Structure in the Aquatic Macrophyte Ruppia cirrhosa Suggests Dispersal by Waterbirds
The evolutionary history of the genus Ruppia has been shaped by hybridization, polyploidisation and vicariance that have resulted in a problematic taxonomy. Recent studies provided insight into species circumscription, organelle takeover by hybridization, and revealed the importance of verifying species identification to avoid distorting effects of mixing different species, when estimating population connectivity. In the present study, we use microsatellite markers to determine population diversity and connectivity patterns in Ruppia cirrhosa including two spatial scales: (1) from the Atlantic Iberian coastline in Portugal to the Siculo-Tunisian Strait in Sicily and (2) within the Iberian Peninsula comprising the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition. The higher diversity in the Mediterranean Sea suggests that populations have had longer persistence there, suggesting a possible origin and/or refugial area for the species. The high genotypic diversities highlight the importance of sexual reproduction for survival and maintenance of populations. Results revealed a regional population structure matching a continent-island model, with strong genetic isolation and low gene flow between populations. This population structure could be maintained by waterbirds, acting as occasional dispersal vectors. This information elucidates ecological strategies of brackish plant species in coastal lagoons, suggesting mechanisms used by this species to colonize new isolated habitats and dominate brackish aquatic macrophyte systems, yet maintaining strong genetic structure suggestive of very low dispersal.Fundacao para a Cincia e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) [PTDC/MAR/119363/2010, BIODIVERSA/0004/2015, UID/Multi/04326/2013]Pew FoundationSENECA FoundationMurcia Government, Spain [11881/PI/09]FCT Investigator Programme-Career Development [IF/00998/2014]Spanish Ministry of Education [AP2008-01209]European Community [00399/2012]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A Comparative Plasmonic Study of Nanoporous and Evaporated Gold Films
Previously, we have reported that nanoporous gold (NPG) films prepared by a chemical dealloying method have distinctive plasmonic properties, i.e., they can simultaneously support localized and propagating surface plasmon resonance modes (l-SPR and p-SPR, respectively). In this study, the plasmonic properties of NPG are quantified through direct comparison with thermally evaporated gold (EG) films. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy experiments reveal that the NPG films have 4â8.5 times more accessible surface area than EG films. Assemblies of streptavidinâlatex beads generate p-SPR responses on both NPG and EG films that correlate well with the bead density obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. A layer-by-layer assembly experiment on NPG involving biotinylated anti-avidin IgG and avidin, studied by l-SPR and SEM, shows that the l-SPR signal is directly linked to the accessibility of the interior of the NPG porosity, an adjustable experimental parameter that can be set by the dealloying condition and time
Antecedents and consequences of effectuation and causation in the international new venture creation process
The selection of the entry mode in an international market is of key importance for the venture. A process-based perspective on entry mode selection can add to the International Business and International Entrepreneurship literature. Framing the international market entry as an entrepreneurial process, this paper analyzes the antecedents and consequences of causation and effectuation in the entry mode selection. For the analysis, regression-based techniques were used on a sample of 65 gazelles. The results indicate that experienced entrepreneurs tend to apply effectuation rather than causation, while uncertainty does not have a systematic influence. Entrepreneurs using causation-based international new venture creation processes tend to engage in export-type entry modes, while effectuation-based international new venture creation processes do not predetermine the entry mod
Development of intuitive rules: Evaluating the application of the dual-system framework to understanding children's intuitive reasoning
This is an author-created version of this article. The original source of publication is Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Dec;13(6):935-53
The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF0321390
- âŠ