Line-Defect Waveguides in Hexagon-Hole type Photonic Crystal Slabs: Design and Fabrication using Focused Ion Beam Technology

Photonic-crystal slabs (PCS) patterned with a 2D triangular-lattice having hexagonal holes rotated with respect to their symmetry axis can provide a larger bandgap than similar slabs with circular holes. A step forward towards integrated optical devices is introducing line ‘defects’ in PCS, the goal being the achievement of single-mode waveguiding over a frequency range as large as possible, inside the gap. We present the design for defect waveguides with reduced width and a novel fabrication technique, which is an integration of optical lithography with focused ion beam (FIB) high-resolution etching. This technique allows a good alignment between a line ‘defect’ and conventional ridge waveguides

pATsi: Paralogs and singleton genes from Arabidopsis thaliana

Arabidopsis thaliana is widely accepted as a model species in plant biology. Its genome, due to its small size and diploidy, was the first to be sequenced among plants, making this species also a reference for plant comparative genomics. Nevertheless, the evolutionary mechanisms that shaped the Arabidopsis genome are still controversial. Indeed, duplications, translocations, inversions, and gene loss events that contributed to the current organization are difficult to be traced. A reliable identification of paralogs and single-copy genes is essential to understand these mechanisms. Therefore, we implemented a dedicated pipeline to identify paralog genes and classify single-copy genes into opportune categories. PATsi, a web-accessible database, was organized to allow the straightforward access to the paralogs organized into networks and to the classification of single-copy genes. This permits to efficiently explore the gene collection of Arabidopsis for evolutionary investigations and comparative genomics

Wearable electrical stimulation to improve lymphatic function

The lymphatic system is a network of vessels and glands spread throughout the body. It plays a vital role in transport mechanisms and overall functioning of tissues. Lymphoedema is a long-term condition caused by impaired lymphatic drainage. It can lead to skin damage, recurring infections and reduced body functions. This work has developed and tested a fabric based wearable electrical stimulation device for lymphoedema management. The electrodes and conductive interconnections were directly printed onto an everyday clothing fabric using screen-printing technique. The wearable device is lightweight, highly flexible, breathable, conformable, and can be cleaned to enable reuse. Lymphatic imaging was used to identify changes in lymph behaviour resulting from use of the e-textile device. Preliminary results confirm increase in lymphatic function through use of the wearable device

Holonomic functions of several complex variables and singularities of anisotropic Ising n-fold integrals

Lattice statistical mechanics, often provides a natural (holonomic) framework to perform singularity analysis with several complex variables that would, in a general mathematical framework, be too complex, or could not be defined. Considering several Picard-Fuchs systems of two-variables "above" Calabi-Yau ODEs, associated with double hypergeometric series, we show that holonomic functions are actually a good framework for actually finding the singular manifolds. We, then, analyse the singular algebraic varieties of the n-fold integrals $\chi^{(n)}$, corresponding to the decomposition of the magnetic susceptibility of the anisotropic square Ising model. We revisit a set of Nickelian singularities that turns out to be a two-parameter family of elliptic curves. We then find a first set of non-Nickelian singularities for $\chi^{(3)}$ and $\chi^{(4)}$, that also turns out to be rational or ellipic curves. We underline the fact that these singular curves depend on the anisotropy of the Ising model. We address, from a birational viewpoint, the emergence of families of elliptic curves, and of Calabi-Yau manifolds on such problems. We discuss the accumulation of these singular curves for the non-holonomic anisotropic full susceptibility.Comment: 36 page

The Beta Ansatz: A Tale of Two Complex Structures

Brane tilings, sometimes called dimer models, are a class of bipartite graphs on a torus which encode the gauge theory data of four-dimensional SCFTs dual to D3-branes probing toric Calabi-Yau threefolds. An efficient way of encoding this information exploits the theory of dessin d’enfants, expressing the structure in terms of a permutation triple, which is in turn related to a Belyi pair, namely a holomorphic map from a torus to a P1 with three marked points. The procedure of a-maximization, in the context of isoradial embeddings of the dimer, also associates a complex structure to the torus, determined by the R-charges in the SCFT, which can be compared with the Belyi complex structure. Algorithms for the explicit construction of the Belyi pairs are described in detail. In the case of orbifolds, these algorithms are related to the construction of covers of elliptic curves, which exploits the properties of Weierstraß elliptic functions. We present a counter example to a previous conjecture identifying the complex structure of the Belyi curve to the complex structure associated with R-charges

Trauma of the heart and the aorta. Case`s report

Secția Chirurgie Cardiacă a Viciilor Dobândite, IMSP Spitalul Clinic Republican ”Timofei Moșneaga”, Chișinău, Republica Moldova, Al XIII-lea Congres al Asociației Chirurgilor „Nicolae Anestiadi” și al III-lea Congres al Societății de Endoscopie, Chirurgie miniminvazivă și Ultrasonografie ”V.M.Guțu” din Republica MoldovaIntroducere: Traumatismele cordului și aortei reprezintă 2,7-3,2% din urgențele cardiochirurgicale. Complexitatea cazurilor sunt extrem de variate. Indicația operatorie poate fi necesară atît în traumatisme penetrante cît și nepenetrante. Din trauma cordului penetrant doar 35% din pacienți supraviețuiesc pînă la unitatea de gardă. Material și metode: În cadrul clinicii s-au studiat 7 cazuri operate cu traumatismul cordului și aortei. În 2 cazuri intervenția fiind secundară, efectuată pe cord deschis cu by-pass cardiopulmonar, pentru rezolvarea defectelor restante postpenetrante. Trauma aortei în toate cazurile a fost nepenetrantă, ce a condus la declanșarea anevrismului de aortă. Rezultate: Pacienții operați au o supraviețuire de100%. În cazurile intervențiilor pe cord deschis s-a efectuat și corecție valvulară. La pacienții cu anevrism de aortă s-a efectuat protezarea segmentului aortic, în dependență de localizarea anevrismului operația s-a efectuat cu by-pass cardiopulmonar sau cu șunt de ocolire. Concluzii: Intervenția primară de urgență majoră pentru trauma cordului penetrant este vital necesară, dar în dependență de gravitatea leziunii unele defecte necesită reintervenție secundară pe cord deschis.Introduction: Heart and aortic trauma represents for 2.7-3.2% of cardiac surgery. The complexity of the cases is extremely varied. The operative indication may be required both in penetrating and non-penetrating traumas. From penetrating heart trauma, only 35% of patients survive to the on-call unit. Materials and methods: In the clinic, was studied 7 cases of heart and aortic trauma. In 2 cases, the intervention was secondary, performed on open heart with cardiopulmonary bypass, to solve post penetrating defects. The aortic trauma in all cases was nonpenetrating, which led to the onset of aortic aneurysm. Results: Operated patients have a survival of 100%. In cases of open heart surgery, valvular correction was also performed. In patients with aortic aneurysm, aortic segment prosthesis was performed, depending on the location of the aneurysm, the operation was performed by cardiopulmonary bypass or bypass shunt. Conclusions: The primary emergency intervention for penetrating heart trauma is vital, but depending on the severity, some defects require secondary open-heart re-insertion

Prospects for progress on health inequalities in England in the post-primary care trust era : professional views on challenges, risks and opportunities

Background - Addressing health inequalities remains a prominent policy objective of the current UK government, but current NHS reforms involve a significant shift in roles and responsibilities. Clinicians are now placed at the heart of healthcare commissioning through which significant inequalities in access, uptake and impact of healthcare services must be addressed. Questions arise as to whether these new arrangements will help or hinder progress on health inequalities. This paper explores the perspectives of experienced healthcare professionals working within the commissioning arena; many of whom are likely to remain key actors in this unfolding scenario. Methods - Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 professionals involved with health and social care commissioning at national and local levels. These included representatives from the Department of Health, Primary Care Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities, Local Authorities, and third sector organisations. Results - In general, respondents lamented the lack of progress on health inequalities during the PCT commissioning era, where strong policy had not resulted in measurable improvements. However, there was concern that GP-led commissioning will fare little better, particularly in a time of reduced spending. Specific concerns centred on: reduced commitment to a health inequalities agenda; inadequate skills and loss of expertise; and weakened partnership working and engagement. There were more mixed opinions as to whether GP commissioners would be better able than their predecessors to challenge large provider trusts and shift spend towards prevention and early intervention, and whether GPs’ clinical experience would support commissioning action on inequalities. Though largely pessimistic, respondents highlighted some opportunities, including the potential for greater accountability of healthcare commissioners to the public and more influential needs assessments via emergent Health & Wellbeing Boards. Conclusions - There is doubt about the ability of GP commissioners to take clearer action on health inequalities than PCTs have historically achieved. Key actors expect the contribution from commissioning to address health inequalities to become even more piecemeal in the new arrangements, as it will be dependent upon the interest and agency of particular individuals within the new commissioning groups to engage and influence a wider range of stakeholders.</p

High-Density Linkage Map Construction and QTL Identification in a Diploid Blueberry Mapping Population

Genotyping by sequencing approaches have been widely applied in major crops and are now being used in horticultural crops like berries and fruit trees. As the original and largest producer of cultivated blueberry, the United States maintains the most diverse blueberry germplasm resources comprised of many species of different ploidy levels. We previously constructed an interspecific mapping population of diploid blueberry by crossing the parent F1#10 (Vaccinium darrowii Fla4B × diploid V. corymbosum W85–20) with the parent W85–23 (diploid V. corymbosum). Employing the Capture-Seq technology developed by RAPiD Genomics, with an emphasis on probes designed in predicted gene regions, 117 F1 progeny, the two parents, and two grandparents of this population were sequenced, yielding 131.7 Gbp clean sequenced reads. A total of 160,535 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), referenced to 4,522 blueberry genome sequence scaffolds, were identified and subjected to a parent-dependent sliding window approach to further genotype the population. Recombination breakpoints were determined and marker bins were deduced to construct a high density linkage map. Twelve blueberry linkage groups (LGs) consisting of 17,486 SNP markers were obtained, spanning a total genetic distance of 1,539.4 cM. Among 18 horticultural traits phenotyped in this population, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that were significant over at least 2 years were identified for chilling requirement, cold hardiness, and fruit quality traits of color, scar size, and firmness. Interestingly, in 1 year, a QTL associated with timing of early bloom, full bloom, petal fall, and early green fruit was identified in the same region harboring the major QTL for chilling requirement. In summary, we report here the first high density bin map of a diploid blueberry mapping population and the identification of several horticulturally important QTLs

High-spin States in \u3csup\u3e191, 193\u3c/sup\u3eAu and \u3csup\u3e192\u3c/sup\u3ePt: Evidence for Oblate Deformation and Triaxial Shapes

High-spin states of 191, 193Au and 192Pt have been populated in the 186W(11B, xn) and 186W(11B, p4n) reactions, respectively, at a beam energy of 68 MeV and their γ decay was studied using the YRAST Ball detector array at the Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University. The level scheme of 193Au has been extended up to Iπ = 55/2+. New transitions were observed also in 191Au and 192Pt. Particle-plus-Triaxial-Rotor (PTR) and Total Routhian Surface (TRS) calculations were performed to determine the equilibrium deformations of the Au isotopes. The predictions for oblate deformations in these nuclei are in agreement with the experimental data. Development of nonaxial shapes is discussed within the framework of the PTR model