Nuclear burst plasma injection into the magnetosphere and resulting spacecraft charging

The passage of debris from a high altitude ( 400 km) nuclear burst over the ionospheric plasma is found to be capable of exciting large amplitude whistler waves which can act to structure a collisionless shock. This instability will occur in the loss cone exits of the nuclear debris bubble, and the accelerated ambient ions will freestream along the magnetic field lines into the magnetosphere. Using Starfish-like parameters and accounting for plasma diffusion and thermalization of the propagating plasma mass, it is found that synchronous orbit plasma fluxes of high temperature electrons (near 10 keV) will be significantly greater than those encountered during magnetospheric substorms. These fluxes will last for sufficiently long periods of time so as to charge immersed bodies to high potentials and arc discharges to take place

Real-time analogue gauge transcription on mobile phone

The objective of this paper is to automatically read any circular single pointer analogue gauge in real-time on mobile phone. We make the following contributions: (i) we show how to efficiently and accurately read gauges on mobile phones using a convolutional neural network (CNN) system which accepts both a high and low resolution gauge image; (ii) we introduce a large synthetic image dataset (far superior in size to prior works) with ground truth gauge readings, pointer layout and scale face homographies that is suitable for training a CNN for real world application; (iii) we also release a new real world analogue gauge dataset (larger meter variation than any previous) with annotation suitable for testing three different types of tasks and finally (iv) we beat state of the art performance for gauge reading on this dataset and an existing public dataset in multiple metrics by large margins, notably with pointer angle error less than 1 degree. Our method is fast and lightweight and runs up to 25fps on mobile devices

Estimating 3D hand pose using hierarchical multi-label classification

This paper presents an analysis of the design of classifiers for use in a hierarchical object recognition approach. In this approach, a cascade of classifiers is arranged in a tree in order to recognize multiple object classes. We are interested in the problem of recognizing multiple patterns as it is closely related to the problem of locating an articulated object. Each different pattern class corresponds to the hand in a different pose, or set of poses. For this problem obtaining labelled training data of the hand in a given pose can be problematic. Given a parametric 3D model, generating training data in the form of example images is cheap, and we demonstrate that it can be used to design classifiers almost as good as those trained using non-synthetic data. We compare a variety of different template-based classifiers and discuss their merits

Factors affecting the patterns of total amount and proportions of leukocytes in Bovine milk

Differential leukocyte count (DSCC) in milk is considered important to improve knowledge of udder immune response. The investigations on milk DSCC were limited by the techniques available until recently, when a high-throughput tool to perform DSCC opened the way to explore these factors in rapid and economically sustainable ways. We hypothesized that DSCC alone does not fully describe the pattern of these cells, since the total amount is also influenced by milk yield and SCC. Therefore, this study was designed to describe DSCC and total amount of different leukocytes in milk during the course of lactation in cows differing in parity and in levels of SCC. This study considered 17,939 individual milk tests from 12 dairy herds in Lombardy Region, where DCC testing was applied in the period of February 2018\u2013December 2019 (23 months). The samples were divided into two subsets\u2014\u201chealthy\u201d (HS) with SCC 64200,000 cells/mL and \u201cinflamed\u201d (IS) with SCC >200,000 cells/mL. Cow in HS have a P + LT average between 5.0 7 108 and 3.0 7 109 cells. In IS cows, the values were 1.6 7 1010 and 2.5 7 1010. Therefore, the presence of a well-defined inflammatory process increased the overall amount of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and lymphocytes (LYM) of 1 log, from 1 7 109 to 1 7 1010. The assessment of the total amount of PMN and LYM, to our knowledge, have never been reported in scientific literature; the values observed may be proposed as benchmarks for studies on udder immune response. When data were analyzed by days in milk (DIM),they showed that cows in first and second lactation have a significantly lower amount of PMN + LYM, when compared to cows in third and higher lactation. However, these differences are numerically not very large (7%), and suggest that, in healthy animals, the number of immune cells is kept as constant as possible. In IS, the analysis of trends based on DIM showed that both DSCC and P + LT have a significant negative trend. These data suggest that only in this group, the presence of high SCC as lactation proceeds is associated with a progressive increase in the number of macrophages. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing the pattern of DSCC and the total amount of PMN + LYM in relation to parity, days in milk, and SCC, and it may be considered as the first contribution in the investigation on mammary gland immune response by the means of differential cell counts in milk

De Aeschyli Amymona satyrica

The paper offers a survey of Aeschylus’ satyr drama Amymone, which was staged probably in 463 BC together with the trilogy of the Danaids. After discussion on the argument of the play and its possible reconstruction, the three surviving fragments are presented with critical text, Latin translation and thorough commentary.The paper offers a survey of Aeschylus’ satyr drama Amymone, which was staged probably in 463 BC together with the trilogy of the Danaids. After discussion on the argument of the play and its possible reconstruction, the three surviving fragments are presented with critical text, Latin translation and thorough commentary

ΟΥΑΙ ΟΥΑΙ, il secondo grido dell’aquila : Angeli apocalittici e demoni sconfitti nella iscrizione greca (integrata) della "Natività mistica" di Botticelli

The focus of this contribution is on the long inscription in Greek placed on the upper margin of Botticelli’s Mystic Nativity, and in particular on the lacuna that compromises the readability of the last passage of text, for which a proposal for integration is made. According to the proposed reconstruction, the Devil, represented by the host of ridiculous little demons in almost cartoonish postures, “is sinking himself in the earth” – ΤΑΦΡΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΝ according to our integration – overwhelmed and annihilated by divine glory in its highest triumph, the Nativity of Jesus Christ

773-4 Long Term Efficacy and Safety of Endovascular Low Dose Irradiation In a Swine Model of Restenosis After Angloplasty

Restenosis after balloon angioplasty is characterized by neointima formation. We have previously shown that ionizing radiation reduce neointima formation two weeks after angioplasty in a swine model of restenosis. To determine the durability of this effect and the long term safety after endovascular irradiation twenty one miniswine coronary arteries underwent overstretch balloon injury with a 3.5mm angioplasty balloon in the LAD, LCX and RCA. High energy 1921ridium source was introduced immediately by random assignment to deliver 700 or 1400 cGy in 14 injured coronary arteries (LAD and CX). Six months later an angiogram was performed, the animals were killed and the coronary arteries were perfusion fixed. Serial sections were stained with H&E, WG, MT then evaluated by histopathologic and morphometric techniques. Intimal area (IA) and area of intimal thickness corrected for the extent of injury (INFL) was measured in the irradiated and control arteries and compared with pigs that underwent the same treatment but were followed for 2 weeks only.ResultsAll treated arteries were patent with normal angiographic appearance. Lumen diameters at baseline and follow-up were similar. There was no difference in fibrosis at the adventitia, media, perivascular space or adjacent segments of myocardium of the irradiated arteries compared with control.Control700 cGy1400 cGyIN/FL 2Weeks0.59±0.230.42±0.15**0.17±0.16****IN/FL 6 Months0.50±0.20.35±0.18*0.31±0.16**IA 6 Months (mm)1.25±0.250.85±0.47***0.62±0.45**P values: control versus treatment group:*P=0.009**P<0.001***P=0.05.****P<0.0001ConclusionsEndovascular low dose irradiation in this model is safe andthe inhibitory effect of localized radiation on neointimal thickening (restenos is like) response to angioplasty is maintained at six months

In vitro and ex vivo methods predict the enhanced lung residence time of liposomal ciprofloxacin formulations for nebulisation

Liposomal ciprofloxacin formulations have been developed with the aim of enhancing lung residence time, thereby reducing the burden of inhaled antimicrobial therapy which requires multiple daily administration due to rapid absorptive clearance of antibiotics from the lungs. However, there is a lack of a predictive methodology available to assess controlled release inhalation delivery systems and their effect on drug disposition. In this study, three ciprofloxacin formulations were evaluated: a liposomal formulation, a solution formulation and a 1:1 combination of the two (mixture formulation). Different methodologies were utilised to study the release profiles of ciprofloxacin from these formulations: (i) membrane diffusion, (ii) air interface Calu-3 cells and (iii) isolated perfused rat lungs. The data from these models were compared to the performance of the formulations in vivo. The solution formulation provided the highest rate of absorptive transport followed by the mixture formulation, with the liposomal formulation providing substantially slower drug release. The rank order of drug release/transport from the different formulations was consistent across the in vitro andex vivo methods, and this was predictive of the profiles in vivo. The use of complimentary in vitro and ex vivo methodologies provided a robust analysis of formulation behaviour, including mechanistic insights, and predicted in vivo pharmacokinetics.© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Expressive visual text-to-speech as an assistive technology for individuals with autism spectrum conditions.

Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) experience marked difficulties in recognising the emotions of others and responding appropriately. The clinical characteristics of ASC mean that face to face or group interventions may not be appropriate for this clinical group. This article explores the potential of a new interactive technology, converting text to emotionally expressive speech, to improve emotion processing ability and attention to faces in adults with ASC. We demonstrate a method for generating a near-videorealistic avatar (XpressiveTalk), which can produce a video of a face uttering inputted text, in a large variety of emotional tones. We then demonstrate that general population adults can correctly recognize the emotions portrayed by XpressiveTalk. Adults with ASC are significantly less accurate than controls, but still above chance levels for inferring emotions from XpressiveTalk. Both groups are significantly more accurate when inferring sad emotions from XpressiveTalk compared to the original actress, and rate these expressions as significantly more preferred and realistic. The potential applications for XpressiveTalk as an assistive technology for adults with ASC is discussed.This research was conducted during an international research internship towards an MSc (Res) degree at Maastricht University, funded by Erasmus. This research also received support from the Centre for Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement, Coventry University, UK; the Autism Research Trust; the Medical Research Council UK; and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

Aerogeni kontaktni dermatitis uzrokovan 2-amino-2-metil-1-propanolom u tvornici kozmetike

The authors described two cases of airborne contact dermatitis caused by 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP 100) in two subjects with periorbital erythema and itching skin. The AMP 100 has been used to replace ammonia as a hair dye component in the cosmetic industry with the purpose to eliminate its smell. Patch tests proved positive only to dilutions of 10% and 20% in the two described patients, as well as in other six asymptomatic subjects operating in the same working environment. The authors have diagnosed an irritative airborne contact dermatitis by AMP 100.Aerogeni kontaktni dermatitis pojavljuje se kao iritacija ili kao alergija. Uzrokuju ga brojni agensi, od kojih su gotovo svi uobičajeni za radni okoliš u proizvodnji kozmetike. Alergije su relativno ceste a lezije su gotovo uvijek simetrično raspoređene po licu, vratu i rukama, odnosno pod pazuhom i na preponama. Dosada, međutim, nije zabilježen niti jedan slučaj aerogenog kontaktnog dermatitisa uzrokovanog 2-amino-2-metil-1-propanolom [AMP 100) koji je uveden kao zamjena za amonijak u proizvadnji lakova i boja za kosu. Ovaj rad opisuje dva zabilježena slučaja aerogenog kontaktnog dermatitisa uzrokovanog AMP-om 100 u pacijenata s periorbitalnim eritemom i svrbežom. Reakcije na epikutano alergijsko testiranje pokazale SL se pozitivnima samo s otopinama od 10% i 20%, i to ne samo u dvoje opisanih pacijenata nego i u šest ispitanika koji nisu iskazivali simptome a radili su na istome radnom mjestu. Autori su pritom dijagnosticirali iritativni oblik aerogenoga kontaktnog dermatitisa uzrokovanog AMP-om 100. Stoga autori vjeruju da bi AMR 100 trebalo dodati zamjetnoj listi proizvoda koji uzrokuju aerogeni Kontaktni dermatitis u kozmetičkoj industriji, štoviše, zbog stalne uporabe AMP-a 100 u frizerskim salonima trebalo bi obratiti pozornost na zaštitu od njegovih učinaka na frizere