Disruptions from a Traumatic Event: A Clinical Vignette

The paper presents a clinical vignette regarding the psychological assessment of a seven years old boy, following a traumatic event, an accident with a bus that resulted in his grandfather’s death. We wish to illustrate how the administration of projective techniques, like the Rorschach, can reveal several manifestations of the impact that the traumatic event had on the chil

A novel evolutionary formulation of the maximum independent set problem

We introduce a novel evolutionary formulation of the problem of finding a maximum independent set of a graph. The new formulation is based on the relationship that exists between a graph's independence number and its acyclic orientations. It views such orientations as individuals and evolves them with the aid of evolutionary operators that are very heavily based on the structure of the graph and its acyclic orientations. The resulting heuristic has been tested on some of the Second DIMACS Implementation Challenge benchmark graphs, and has been found to be competitive when compared to several of the other heuristics that have also been tested on those graphs

Panchromatic fits to the Globular Cluster NGC 6366

We present panchromatic isochrone fits to the color magnitude data of the globular cluster NGC 6366, based on HST ACS/WFC and SOAR photometric data. Before performing the isochrone fits, we corrected the photometric data for differential reddening and calculated the mean ridge line of the color magnitude diagrams. We compared the isochrones of Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database and PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code (with microscopic diffusion starting on the main sequence). Based on previous determinations of the metallicity of this cluster we test it from [Fe/H]=-1.00 to [Fe/H]= -0.50, and the age from 9 to 13 Gyrs. The uncertainties do not decrease when we fit simultaneous colors. We also find that the Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database isochrones have a better fit in the sub giant branch and low main sequence than the PAdova and TRieste Stellar Evolution Code. Considering the most recent spectroscopic determination of the metallicity ([Fe/H]= -0.67), we find E(B-V)=0.69+/-0.02, (m-M)_V=15.02+/-0.07 and 11+/-2 Gyr for NGC 6366.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of the conference "Reading the book of globular clusters with the lens of stellar evolution", to be published in Memorie della Societ\'a Astronomica Italian

Selecting SUDS in the Valencia Region of Spain

This paper reports on a study of the implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) in two Spanish towns (Xàtiva and Benaguasil) as part of the EU LIFE+ Project AQUAVAL, which has been conceived to introduce examples of sustainable drainage to the Valencia Region of Spain. Six sites in a range of common urban spaces and land uses are selected and appropriate SUDS techniques proposed by means of a decision-support process. This primarily consisted of the systematic application of key selection criteria through matrices and scores, followed by a brief sustainability analysis. Stakeholders’ preferences and opinions as well as educational and social opportunities are highly considered throughout the process. General monitoring requirements and major limitations in using the methodology are outlined, stressing the need for improvement of four main aspects: local data regarding SUDS performance, detail of the sustainability analysis, support through comprehensive modelling tools, and level of stakeholder engagement. The importance of creating showcases for SUDS in Mediterranean Regions, thus adapting key selection criteria as to foster sustainable drainage understanding and expertise is highlighted

Reliability of shoulder rotators isometric strength test using a novel pulley electromechanical dynamometer. Influence of the assessment position

Indexación: Scopus.Background: The shoulder complex, because of its relatively extensive freedom of motion, offers a great variety of testing positions and articular planes for strength examination. Despite this, reliability of results are not clearly addressed. A novel pulley electromechanical dynamometer (FED) (functional electronic dynamometer) could be an alternative in strength assessment, however, the relative and absolute reliability have not been reported in the literature. Objectives: To report the results of shoulder internal (IR) and rotators (ER) peak torque reliability in two assessment positions by FED in asymptomatic subjects. Methods: Fifty-two healthy college students were included and tested twice within a two week period. In a supine position, the subjects randomly performed four isometric strength tests (i.e. IR at 40°, IR at 90°, ER at 40°, and ER at 90° of shoulder abduction). Results: The intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) for relative reliability at 90° were 0.96 (0.94-0.98) for IR and 0.94 (0.90-0.96) for ER. ICC at 40° were 0.89 (0.80-0.94) for IR and 0.97 (0.94-0.98) for ER. Absolute reliability expressed as standard error of measurement compared to the mean (SEM%) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of minimal detectable change percentage (MDC%) at 90° were 8.8% (-20.8, 28.4%) and 11.4% (-28.0, 35.2%) for ER. MDC% at 40° were 12.6% (-35.5, 34.8%) for IR and 18.1% (-28.1, 35, 2%) for ER. Conclusions: Isometric strength testing protocol using FED showed an excellent reproducibility and can be safely used in clinical settings to monitor the strength changes in a group of individuals or in a single individual. © 2018, Asian Journal of Sports Medicine.http://asjsm.com/en/articles/60406.htm

Comparison of the physical properties of vermicompost from paper mill sludge and green compost as substitutes for peat-based potting media

The properties of vermicompost, green compost, and their mixes as substitutes for peat were evaluated regarding their recommendation for potting media. The mixes with a maximum of 50% of vermicompost or green compost had acceptable air filled porosity (AFP) and easily available water (EAW). In the vermicompost the level of organic matter (OM), dry bulk density (DBD) and shrinkage were acceptable; however, the AFP and EAW together were not at the recommended level in the different batches; as a consequence, vermicompost should not be used alone for potting media. In the green compost, the level of OM was low which increased the DBD and consequently the AFP was diminished. The particle size distribution (PSD) was different among peat, vermicompost and green compost. The coarse peat had the lower proportion of particles from 0.25 to 2.00 mm (41%) whereas the green compost had the lower coarseness index (CI: percentage by weight of particles larger than 0.5 mm in diameter), 48.4%. The direct effect of the PSD, OM and DBD in the water and air availability was confirmed. Moreover, there were high correlations between the OM, DBD, shrinkage, pore volume and PSD with the water release curve. Those properties should be considered in order to increase the level of substitution of vermicompost in peat-based potting media

An Experimental Study on the Heat Enhancement and the Bio-Heat Transfer Using Gold Macro Road and Ultrasound: A Potential Alternative to Kill Cancer Cells

We have previously proposed a method of treating solid tumors with a combination of gold macro-rods irradiated with ultrasound. Macro particle sized rods offer a greater circumferential treatment area over nanoparticle options. Experimental studies were conducted to investigate the heat enhancement and the bio-heat transfer to breast chicken using gold macro rod and ultrasound. An ultrasound, other than a focused ultrasound, may produce heat enough to cook a chicken breast up to about 1 cm diameter if a single gold rod is placed on the superficial tissue. Simulations and experimental results will provide the means to evaluate the treatment, to better design a patient-specific therapy to achieve maximum destruction of tumor and injury minimization of healthy tissue by controlling size, shape and location of gold seeds and ultrasound parameters

Creating agent platforms to host agent-mediated services that share resources

After a period where the Internet was exclusively filled with content, the present efforts are moving towards services, which handle the raw information to create value from it. Therefore labors to create a wide collection of agent-based services are being perfomed in several projects, such as Agentcities does. In this work we present an architecture for agent platforms named a-Buildings. The aim of the proposed architecture is to ease the creation, installation, search and management of agent-mediated services and the share of resources among services. To do so the a-Buildings architecture creates a new level of abstraction on top of the standard FIPA agent platform specification. Basically, an a-Building is a service-oriented platform which offers a set of low level services to the agents it hosts. We define low level services as those required services that are neccesary to create more complex high level composed services.Postprint (published version