myTea: Connecting the Web to Digital Science on the Desktop

Bioinformaticians regularly access the hundreds of databases and tools that are available to them on the Web. None of these tools communicate with each other, causing the scientist to copy results manually from a Web site into a spreadsheet or word processor. myGrids' Taverna has made it possible to create templates (workflows) that automatically run searches using these databases and tools, cutting down what previously took days of work into hours, and enabling the automated capture of experimental details. What is still missing in the capture process, however, is the details of work done on that material once it moves from the Web to the desktop: if a scientist runs a process on some data, there is nothing to record why that action was taken; it is likewise not easy to publish a record of this process back to the community on the Web. In this paper, we present a novel interaction framework, built on Semantic Web technologies, and grounded in usability design practice, in particular the Making Tea method. Through this work, we introduce a new model of practice designed specifically to (1) support the scientists' interactions with data from the Web to the desktop, (2) provide automatic annotation of process to capture what has previously been lost and (3) associate provenance services automatically with that data in order to enable meaningful interrogation of the process and controlled sharing of the results

In-situ XPS analysis of the atomic layer deposition of aluminium oxide on titanium dioxide

Ultra-thin aluminium oxide was grown on a rutile titanium dioxide surface by atomic layer deposition using trimethylaluminium and water precursors. This process, carried out using realistic temperatures and pressures (1 mbar, 450 K), was monitored in-situ using high-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This provides insight into the surface chemistry at the interface between the two oxide layers - specifically the reduction of titanium atoms from Ti4+ to Ti3+ upon dosing of trimethylaluminium. These defect states become locked into the heterojunction's interface, with implications to its electronic structure, and can act as an indicator as to when complete coverage of the rutile substrate is achieved

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effect of prenatal omega-3 LCPUFA supplementation to reduce the incidence of preterm birth: The ORIP trial

Introduction: Preterm birth accounts for more than 85% of all perinatal complications and deaths. Seventy-five per cent of early preterm births (EPTBs) occur spontaneously and without identifiable risk factors. The need for a broadly applicable, effective strategy for primary prevention is paramount. Secondary outcomes from the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to Optimise Mother Infant Outcome trial showed that maternal supplementation until delivery with omega-3 (ω-3) long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA), predominantly as DHA, resulted in a 50% reduction in the incidence of EPTB and an increase in the incidence of post-term induction or post-term prelabour caesarean section due to extended gestation. We aim to determine the effectiveness of supplementing the maternal diet with ω-3 LCPUFA until 34 weeks’ gestation on the incidence of EPTB. Methods and analysis: This is a multicentre, parallel group, randomised, blinded and controlled trial. Women less than 20 weeks’ gestation with a singleton or multiple pregnancy and able to give informed consent are eligible to participate. Women will be randomised to receive high DHA fish oil capsules or control capsules without DHA. Capsules will be taken from enrolment until 34 weeks’ gestation. The primary outcome is the incidence of EPTB, defined as delivery before 34 completed weeks’ gestation. Key secondary outcomes include length of gestation, incidence of post-term induction or prelabour caesarean section and spontaneous EPTB. The target sample size is 5540 women (2770 per group), which will provide 85% power to detect an absolute reduction in the incidence of preterm birth of 1.16% (from 2.45% to 1.29%) between the DHA and control group (two sided α=0.05). The primary analysis will be based on the intention-to-treat principle. Trial registration number: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry Number: 2613001142729; Pre-results

The impact of the child welfare principle on access to assisted reproductive technology

Assisted Reproductive Technology has, in the last 40 years, raised numerous ethical questions. One of these ethical questions has been whether or not children born as a result of Assisted Reproductive Technology treatments may be harmed as a consequence of being brought into existence in this way. Harm caused to children is quite rightly a serious concern for society and society expects the State to intervene to protect children from parents who pose a significant risk to their children. Towards this end section 13(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 requires licensed infertility treatment clinics to ‘take into account the welfare of the child who may be born as a result of treatment’ when considering whether or not to provide a woman with treatment services. This thesis will argue that section 13(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 should be amended as it is acts as nothing more than an arbitrary and unjustified infringement on an individual’s right to reproductive liberty; is an ineffectual means of promoting the welfare of the child who may be born as a result of treatment; is philosophically incoherent; and is inconsistent with the law as applied in so-called ‘wrongful life’ cases. The argument that section 13(5) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 should be amended will be grounded upon the contention that an individual’s right to reproductive liberty should be accorded particular respect. This thesis will argue for a right to reproductive liberty which encompasses a negative right of the individual to be free from unjustified interference by the State when making reproductive choices. The pervasive influence of the child welfare principle as applied in the context of decisions directly impacting upon them has, it will be argued, played a significant part in the inclusion and retention of section 13(5) within the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. This thesis will examine the way in which the child welfare principle as applied to children has grown in influence and how an unquestioning adherence to this worthy principle has led to an incongruous version of it being applied at the pre-conception stage. While the State have a solid mandate to protect the welfare of children this thesis will argue that that mandate cannot realistically be extended to apply to future children, when to refuse an individual access to Assisted Reproductive Technology has the effect of preventing the child whose welfare is to be taken into account from being brought into existence in the first place

On the stability of the Discrete Generalized Multigroup method

This paper investigates the stability of the recondensation procedure of the Discrete Generalized Multigroup method and proposes alternatives to improve stability of the original formulation. Instabilities are shown to happen when employing a simple Picard fixed point iteration and an ill-informed group mapping scheme. This work presents a mapping procedure that improves stability of the original method for fine group calculations. Additionally, a relaxation scheme, Krasnoselskij iteration, is introduced to the fixed point iteration to further improve the stability characteristics and remove the need for fine group flux updates. Both improvements are applied on heterogeneous problems using the SHEM361 and the NG2042 group structures. The results indicate improved stability from a well-informed group mapping and demonstrate the possibility of eliminating the need for fine group flux updates.United States. Dept. of Energy. Naval Reactors Divisio

Simple benchmark for evaluating self-shielding models

Accounting for self-shielding effects is paramount to accurate generation of multigroup cross sections for use in deterministic reactor physics neutronics calculations. Historically, equivalence in dilution and subgroup techniques have been the preeminent means of accounting for these effects, but recent work has proposed new solutions, including the Embedded Self-Shielding Method (ESSM). This paper presents a very simple benchmark problem to compare these and future self-shielding methods. The benchmark is perhaps the simplest problem in which both energy and spatial self-shielding effects are important, a two-region problem with a lumped resonant material. A single resonance in a single energy group is considered. Scattering is approximated using the narrow resonance approximation, decoupling each energy value and allowing an easily-computed reference solution to be obtained. Equivalence in dilution using two-term rational expansions and the subgroup method were both found to give very accurate solutions on this benchmark, with errors less than 1% in nearly all cases. One-term rational expansions and ESSM showed much larger errors

Phase-resolved optical emission spectroscopy of a neutralizer-free gridded ion thruster

International audienc

Transient propagation dynamics of flowing plasmas accelerated by radio-frequency electric fields

International audienceFlowing plasmas are of significant interest due to their role in astrophysical phenomena and potential applications in magnetic-confined fusion and spacecraft propulsion. The acceleration of a charge-neutral plasma beam using the radio-frequency self-bias concept could be particularly useful for the development of neutralizer-free propulsion sources. However, the mechanisms that lead to space-charge compensation of the exhaust beam are unclear. Here, we spatially and temporally resolve the propagation of electrons in an accelerated plasma beam that is generated using the self-bias concept with phase-resolved optical emission spectroscopy. When combined with measurements of the extraction-grid voltage, ion and electron currents, and plasma potential, the pulsed-periodic propagation of electrons during the interval of sheath collapse at the grids is found to enable the compensation of space charge