Reentrant violation of special relativity in the low-energy corner

In the effective relativistic quantum field theories the energy region, where the special relativity holds, can be sandwiched from both the high and low energies sides by domains where the special relativity is violated. An example is provided by 3He-A where the relativistic quantum field theory emerges as the effective theory. The reentrant violation of the special relativity in the ultralow energy corner is accompanied by the redistribution of the momentum-space topological charges between the fermionic flavors. At this ultralow energy an exotic massless fermion with the topological charge $N_3=2$ arises, whose energy spectrum mixes the classical and relativistic behavior. This effect can lead to neutrino oscillations if neutrino flavors are still massless at this energy scale.Comment: RevTeX file, 5 pages, one figure, submitted to JETP Let

'Midas, transmuting all, into paper': the Bank of England and the Banque de France during the Napoleonic Wars

This paper assesses Revolutionary and Napoleonic wartime economic policy. Suspension of gold convertibility in 1797 allowed the Bank of England to nurture British monetary orthodoxy. The Order of the Privy Council suspended gold payments on Bank of England notes and afforded simultaneous protection to the government and the Bank in pursuit of the conflicting goals of price stability and war finance. The government, the Bank of England and the commercial banks formed a loose alliance drawing on due political and legal processes and also paid close attention to public opinion. We suggest that the on-going solvency of the Bank of England was facilitated by suspension and allowed the Bank to continue to make substantial profits throughout the Wars. It became acceptable for merchants to continue to trade with non-convertible Bank of England notes and for the government to finance the war effort, even with significant recourse to unfunded debt. These aspects combined to create a suspension of convertibility that did not undermine the currency. By contrast, the Assignats debacle had cost the French monetary system its reputation in the last decade of the 18th century and so Napoleonic finance had to evolve within a more rigid and limiting framework

Skill Generalization Following Computer-Based Cognitive Retraining Among Individuals with Acquired Brain Injury

Individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) often experience cognitive deficits. This creates many challenges in learning or relearning skills and generalizing skills among different contexts and task demands. Computer-Based Cognitive Retraining (CBCR) is a common intervention utilized by occupational therapists to help remediate cognitive deficits in individuals with ABI. Although research has shown that CBCR programs are effective at improving cognitive domains, there is limited evidence to support generalization of these skills to functional daily living tasks. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to assess the occurrence of generalizing gained skills in overall cognition, attention, and memory from a CBCR program to a medication-box task in individuals with ABI. This study utilized the Parrot Software for the CBCR intervention and evaluated changes in overall cognition, attention, and memory skills with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA©), and generalization of those skills utilizing a performance-based medication-box task. The results indicated that the Parrot Software CBCR was effective at improving overall cognition, but not significantly in any particular cognitive domain. In addition, the gains in overall cognition failed to generalize to improved performance in the medication-box task. Extraneous variables did not affect the changes in cognition. However, participants without previous CBCR experience improved significantly when compared to participants with previous CBCR experience. Future areas of research should include interventions that can bridge the gap between CBCR and performance in daily living tasks

Graph-Based Object Classification for Neuromorphic Vision Sensing

Neuromorphic vision sensing (NVS) devices represent visual information as sequences of asynchronous discrete events (a.k.a., "spikes'") in response to changes in scene reflectance. Unlike conventional active pixel sensing (APS), NVS allows for significantly higher event sampling rates at substantially increased energy efficiency and robustness to illumination changes. However, object classification with NVS streams cannot leverage on state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs), since NVS does not produce frame representations. To circumvent this mismatch between sensing and processing with CNNs, we propose a compact graph representation for NVS. We couple this with novel residual graph CNN architectures and show that, when trained on spatio-temporal NVS data for object classification, such residual graph CNNs preserve the spatial and temporal coherence of spike events, while requiring less computation and memory. Finally, to address the absence of large real-world NVS datasets for complex recognition tasks, we present and make available a 100k dataset of NVS recordings of the American sign language letters, acquired with an iniLabs DAVIS240c device under real-world conditions

Equiano’s World: Chronicling the Life and Times of Gustavus Vassa

Equiano’s World (www.equianosworld.org) is a website that chronicles the life and times of Gustavus Vassa (c. 1741–1797), who is known most frequently by his birth name, Olaudah Equiano. Vassa became well known in Britain after the publication of his autobiography in 1789 and for his prominent role in the movement for abolition of the British slave trade, which was only finally enacted in 1807, ten years after his death. The associated database includes all known documentation on Vassa and information relevant to the study of his life. Foremost among these materials is his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, which was republished nine times in his lifetime. Other documentation includes contemporary newspaper accounts, legal documents, and images from his life experiences. The website addresses issues arising from the context of Vassa’s life, including his place of birth, his name, and his influence on the abolition movement. It demonstrates that he only wanted to be known by the name he was given when he was enslaved rather than by his birth name; even today he is best known as Olaudah Equiano or even simply Equiano, even though Equiano was not a surname. His unusual experience as an enslaved servant to a British naval officer during the Seven Years’ War and afterwards to a merchant in the Caribbean gave him particular insight into the horrors of slavery and his commitment to its abolition. Because of the education he received on British ships and subsequently in London after he purchased his own freedom, he stands out as a prominent and literate intellectual and political activist. His autobiography continues to be read widely and taught in university courses. The project is part of a broader initiative that explores the testimonies and personal profiles of Africans who were enslaved during the era of slavery, most of whom were taken to the Americas.The article outlines the structure of the website into seven sections: first, a Home page that includes a project history, acknowledgements, technical details, and a discussion of the “Best Practices” that underlie the project. The second section focuses on Context, examining key settings from the interior of the Bight of Biafra where Vassa was born, the slave trade of the late eighteenth century, the Middle Passage across the Atlantic, the Seven Years’ War, and London and Britain in the late eighteenth century. The section on his travels has a chronological timeline and maps relating to them. The Associates section contains biographical sketches and images of his family, those whom he knew while he was enslaved, his associates in the Abolition movement, his co-religionists, and his connections in scientific and military circles. It also includes a list of individuals who subscribed to his autobiography. The section on Studying Equiano includes his autobiography, a list of its editions, and over 200 legal documents, letters, and newspaper notices and accounts. The Resources section includes a bibliography of several hundred items that discuss Vassa and his work, as well as audio and visual resources, links to websites on Vassa, slavery and diaspora. This article discusses technical details of website construction, which uses a backend known as Regenerated Identities (RegID). The website relies on open-source content and has a search function that enables location of people, places, and periods relevant to Vassa’s life.Equiano’s World (www.equianosworld.org) est un site web qui fait la chronique de la vie et de l’époque de Gustave Vassa (env. 1741-1797), plus connu sous son nom de naissance, Olaudah Equiano. Vassa est devenu connu en Grande-Bretagne après la publication de son autobiographie en 1789 et pour son rôle prépondérant dans le mouvement pour l’abolition de la traite des esclaves britanniques, finalement décrétée en 1807, dix ans après son décès. La base de données associée au site inclut toute la documentation connue sur Vassa et les informations pertinentes pour l’étude de sa vie. L’élément majeur parmi ces contenus est son autobiographie, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African (publiée sous le titre français La véridique histoire par lui-même d’Olaudah Equiano, Africain, esclave aux Caraïbes, homme libre) qui a été rééditée neuf fois de son vivant. Parmi les autres documents, on trouve notamment des articles de journaux, des documents officiels et des images de ses expériences de vie. Le site web aborde les questions soulevées par le contexte de la vie de Vassa, y compris son lieu de naissance, son nom et son influence sur le mouvement abolitionniste. Il démontre qu’il ne voulait être connu que sous son nom d’esclave, Gustave Vassa, plutôt que sous son nom de naissance ; encore à ce jour, il est mieux connu sous le nom d’Olaudah Equiano, ou même simplement Equiano, qui n’était même pas un nom de famille. Son expérience atypique d’esclave au service d’un officier de marine britannique pendant la guerre de Sept Ans et ensuite au service d’un marchand dans les Caraïbes lui a octroyé une connaissance approfondie des horreurs de l’esclavage et a été à l’origine de son engagement pour l’abolition. Grâce à l’éducation qu’il a reçue sur les navires britanniques, puis à Londres après avoir racheté sa propre liberté, il se démarque comme un éminent intellectuel instruit et militant. Son autobiographie est toujours amplement lue et enseignée dans les universités. Le projet fait partie d’une initiative plus large qui explore les témoignages et profils individuels d’Africains assujettis à l’ère de l’esclavage, dont la plupart ont été emmenés aux Amériques. L’article expose les grandes lignes de la structure du site web en sept sections : d’abord, une page d’accueil qui comprend un historique du projet, des remerciements, des détails techniques et un débat sur les « bonnes pratiques » à la base du projet. La deuxième section s’attache au contexte, par l’examen d’éléments-clés de l’intérieur du golfe du Biafra où Vassa est né : la traite des esclaves de la fin du xviiie siècle, le Passage du Milieu transatlantique, la guerre de Sept Ans, et Londres et la Grande-Bretagne à la fin du xviiie siècle. Cette section sur ses voyages présente une chronologie et des cartes associées. La section sur les associés contient des croquis biographiques et des images des membres de sa famille, de ceux qu’il a connus pendant son esclavage, de ses associés du mouvement abolitionniste, de ses coreligionnaires et de ses connaissances dans les cercles scientifiques et militaires. Elle comprend également une liste de personnes qui ont soutenu financièrement son autobiographie. Cette section sur l’étude d’Equiano comprend son autobiographie, une liste des rééditions, et plus de deux cents documents officiels, lettres, avis et articles de journaux. La section ressources comprend une bibliographie de plusieurs centaines d’items autour de Vassa et de son œuvre, ainsi que des ressources audio et visuelles, des liens vers des sites concernant Vassa, l’esclavage et la diaspora. Cet article débat des détails techniques de la construction d’un site web qui utilise une interface appelée Regenerated Identities (RegID). Le site repose sur des contenus open source et présente une fonction de recherche qui permet de cibler des noms de personnes, de lieux et des périodes pertinentes de la vie de Vassa.Equiano’s World (www.equianosworld.org) es un sitio web que hace la crónica de la vida y de la época de Gustavus Vassa (1741–1797, aproximadamente), más conocido por su nombre de nacimiento, Olaudah Equiano. Vassa se hizo conocido en Gran Bretaña luego de la publicación de su autobiografía en 1789 y por su papel preponderante en el movimiento para la abolición de la trata de los esclavos británicos, decretada finalmente en 1807, diez años después de su muerte. La base de datos del sitio incluye toda la documentación conocida sobre Vassa y las informaciones pertinentes para el estudio de su vida. El elemento mayor entre estos contenidos es su autobiografía, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (publicada en castellano con el título de Narración de la vida de Olaudah Equiano, el africano, escrita por él mismo. Autobiografía de un esclavo liberto del siglo xviii), reeditada nueve veces en vida del autor. Entre los documentos se encuentran en particular artículos de diarios, documentos oficiales e imágenes de sus experiencias de vida. El sitio web aborda las cuestiones relacionadas con el contexto de la vida de Vassa, incluyendo su lugar de nacimiento, su nombre y su influencia en el movimiento abolicionista. Demuestra que quería ser conocido únicamente por su nombre de esclavo, Gustavus Vassa, y no por su nombre de nacimiento; hoy se lo conoce más por el nombre de Olaudah Equiano, o simplemente Equiano, que ni siquiera era un apellido. Su experiencia atípica de esclavo al servicio de un oficial naval británico durante la Guerra de los Siete Años y luego al servicio de un comerciante en el Caribe le otorgó un conocimiento profundo de los horrores de la esclavitud, lo que dio origen a su compromiso por la abolición. Gracias a la educación que recibió en las naves británicas, y más tarde en Londres, después de haber comprado su propia libertad, se destaca como un eminente intelectual, instruido y militante. Su autobiografía sigue siendo muy leída y estudiada en las universidades. El proyecto forma parte de una iniciativa más amplia que explora los testimonios y perfiles individuales de africanos sometidos en la época de la esclavitud, cuya amplia mayoría fue trasladada al continente americano.El artículo expone las grandes líneas de la estructura del sitio web en siete secciones: en primer lugar, una página de inicio que comprende la historia del proyecto, agradecimientos, detalles técnicos, y un debate sobre las “buenas prácticas” que sustentan el proyecto. La segunda sección apunta al contexto, a través del examen de elementos clave del interior del golfo de Biafra, donde nació Vassa: la trata de esclavos de fines del siglo xviii, el Pasaje del Medio transatlántico, la Guerra de los Siete Años, Londres y Gran Bretaña a fines del siglo xviii. La sección sobre sus viajes presenta una cronología y mapas adjuntos. La sección sobre los asociados contiene croquis biográficos e imágenes de los miembros de su familia, de quienes conoció durante su esclavitud, de sus asociados en el movimiento abolicionista, de sus correligionarios y de sus conocidos en los círculos científicos y militares. Contiene también una lista de personas que ayudaron a financiar su autobiografía. La sección sobre el estudio de Equiano comprende su autobiografía, una lista de reediciones, y más de doscientos documentos oficiales, cartas, avisos y artículos en los diarios. La sección recursos comprende una bibliografía de cientos de ítems sobre Vassa y su obra, como también recursos de audio y visuales, vínculos a sitios sobre Vassa, la esclavitud y la diáspora. El artículo debate detalles técnicos de la construcción de un sitio web que utiliza una interfaz llamada Regenerated Identities (RegID). El sitio se basa en contenidos open source y presenta una función de búsqueda que permite dar con nombres de personas, lugares y períodos relacionados con la vida de Vassa.Equiano’s World (www.equianosworld.org) é um website que propõe a crónica da vida e do tempo de Gustave Vassa (c. 1741–1797), mais conhecido pelo seu nome de nascimento, Olaudah Equiano. Vassa tornou-se famoso na Grã-Bretanha depois da publicação de sua autobiografia em 1789 e pelo seu papel importante no movimento da abolição do trato de escravos britânico, decretada finalmente em 1807, dez anos depois de sua morte. A base de dados associada ao site inclue toda a documentação conhecida sobre Vassa e as informações pertinentes para o estudo de sua vida. O elemento principal entre estes conteúdos é sua autobiografia, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African (publicado em francês com o título La véridique histoire par lui-même d’Olaudah Equiano, Africain, esclave aux Caraïbes, homme libre) que foi reeditada nove vezes durante a sua vida. Entre os outros documentos, encontra-se nomeadamente artigos de jornais, documentos oficiais assim como imagens de suas experiências de vida. O site web aborda os problemas colocados pelo contexto da vida de Vassa, incluindo seu lugar de nascimento, seu nome e sua influência sobre o movimento abolicionista. Mostra como ele queria ser conhecido pelo seu nome de escravo, Gustave Vassa, antes que pelo seu nome de nascimento; ainda hoje, é mais conhecido pelo nome de Olaudah Equiano, ou simplesmente Equiano, que nem era um sobrenome. Sua experiência atípica de escravo ao serviço de um oficial da marinha britânica durante a guerre de Sete Anos e depois ao serviço de um negociante nas Caraíbas tem-lhe dado um conhecimento aprofundado dos horrores da escravidão e originou o seu envolvimento na abolição.A educação que recebeu nos navios britânicos, e a seguir em Londres, depois de ter comprado sua liberdade, permitiram que se tornasse um grande intelectual instruído e militante. Sua autobiografia continua sendo largamente lida e comentada nas universidades. O projeto faz parte de uma iniciativa mais ampla que explora as testemunhas e os perfis individuais de Africanos escravizados no tempo da escravidão, sendo a maioria levados para as Américas.Este artigo apresenta a estrutura do website em sete secções : primeiro, uma Página de apresentação que inclue um histórico do projeto, agradecimentos, pormenores técnicos e uma discussão sobre as « boas práticas » na base do projeto. A segunda secção enfoca o Contexto, examinando elementos-chaves do interior do golfo do Biafra onde Vassa nasceu : o trato de escravos no final do século XVIII, o Middle Passage transatlântico, a guerra de Sete Anos, e Londres e a Grã-Bretanha no final do século XVIII. A secção sobre suas viagens apresenta uma cronologia e mapas referentes. A secção sobre os Associados contem esboços biográficos e imagens dos membros de sua família, das pessoas que conheceu durante a sua escravidão, de seus associados no movimento abolicionista, de seus correligionários, e das suas conexões com os círculos científicos e militares. Inclue também uma lista das pessoas que financiaram sua autobiografia. A secção sobre o Estudo de Equiano inclue sua autobiografia, uma lista das edições, e mais de duzentos documentos oficiais, cartas, avisos e artigos de jornais. A secção Recursos inclue uma bibliografia de várias centenas de itens referentes a Vassa e sua obra, assim como recursos audio e visuais, links para outros sites sobre Vassa, a escravidão e a diáspora. Este artigo discute os detalhes técnicos da construção de um website que usa uma interface chamada Regenerated Identities (RegID). O site baseia-se sobre conteúdos open source e apresenta uma função de pesquisa que permite enfocar nomes de pessoas, de lugares e de períodos pertinentes da vida de Vassa

The Role of Sodium Bicarbonate in the Management of Some Toxic Ingestions

Adverse reactions to commonly prescribed medications and to substances of abuse may result in severe toxicity associated with increased morbidity and mortality. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2013, at least 2113 human fatalities attributed to poisonings occurred in the United States of America. In this article, we review the data regarding the impact of systemic sodium bicarbonate administration in the management of certain poisonings including sodium channel blocker toxicities, salicylate overdose, and ingestion of some toxic alcohols and in various pharmacological toxicities. Based on the available literature and empiric experience, the administration of sodium bicarbonate appears to be beneficial in the management of a patient with the above-mentioned toxidromes. However, most of the available evidence originates from case reports, case series, and expert consensus recommendations. The potential mechanisms of sodium bicarbonate include high sodium load and the development of metabolic alkalosis with resultant decreased tissue penetration of the toxic substance with subsequent increased urinary excretion. While receiving sodium bicarbonate, patients must be monitored for the development of associated side effects including electrolyte abnormalities, the progression of metabolic alkalosis, volume overload, worsening respiratory status, and/or worsening metabolic acidosis. Patients with oliguric/anuric renal failure and advanced decompensated heart failure should not receive sodium bicarbonate

V,W and X in Technicolour Models

Light techni-fermions and pseudo Goldstone bosons that contribute to the electroweak radiative correction parameters V,W and X may relax the constraints on technicolour models from the experimental values of the parameters S and T. Order of magnitude estimates of the contributions to V,W and X from light techni-leptons are made when the the techni-neutrino has a small Dirac mass or a large Majorana mass. The contributions to V,W and X from pseudo Goldstone bosons are calculated in a gauged chiral Lagrangian. Estimates of V,W and X in one family technicolour models suggest that the upper bounds on S and T should be relaxed by between 0.1 and 1 depending upon the precise particle spectrum.Comment: 19 pages + 2 pages of ps figs, SWAT/1

Ontogeny of the digestive tract in stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) larvae

Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) is an important candidate species for diversification of freshwater aquaculture in India. However, high mortality rate during larval rearing is the most serious bottleneck in commercial production of this species. A proper understanding of the ontogenic development of digestive system provides the basis to understand the nutritional physiology of larvae and develop appropriate feeding strategies. In the present study, the ontogenical development of the digestive tract in H. fossilis larvae was studied from hatching until 30 day post-hatching (dph) at 29 °C. At hatching (2.8 ± 0.2 mm standard length, SL), the digestive tract was undifferentiated and attached dorsally to the yolk sac. At 1 dph (2.9 ± 0.2 mm SL), the mouth opened and oral valves were visible. At 2 dph (3.0 ± 0.3 mm SL), goblet cells were observed in the buccoparyngaeal cavity. At this age, exogenous feeding started and the intestine was differentiated into the anterior and posterior regions, and the rudimentary liver and pancreas were also seen. Small supranuclear vacuoles were observed in the enterocytes of the posterior intestine at 2 dph. Zymogen granules were observed in acinar cells of pancreas by 3 dph, and islets of Langerhans were visible at 4 dph (3.5 ± 0.1 mm SL). At the same age, most of the yolk sac reserves were consumed, whereas they were completely exhausted by 5 dph (3.9 ± 0.5 mm SL). Between 4 and 6 dph, the liver elongated in size and started to accumulate lipids in the hepatocytes. Gastric glands were detected at 4 dph, and the pyloric sphincter was completely differentiated at 9 dph (6.1 ± 0.4 mm SL) as an epithelial fold that separated stomach from the anterior intestine. By 13 dph (8.6 ± 0.2 mm SL), profuse gastric glands were visible inside longitudinal mucosal folds of the stomach. The formation of gastric glands and their development were noticed as the last events in the development of the digestive tract in H. fossilis. This indicated the end of the larval period and the commencement of the juvenile stage. Considering these observations, it is suggested that H. fossilis larvae have a morphologically complete digestive tract by 13 dph. The findings of the study on the development of the digestive system in H. fossilis may help in synchronising the larval stage of development and feeding strategies and would be helpful in improving larval rearing techniques for catfish species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A condensed matter interpretation of SM fermions and gauge fields

We present the bundle Aff(3) x C x /(R^3), with a geometric Dirac equation on it, as a three-dimensional geometric interpretation of the SM fermions. Each C x /(R^3) describes an electroweak doublet. The Dirac equation has a doubler-free staggered spatial discretization on the lattice space Aff(3) x C (Z^3). This space allows a simple physical interpretation as a phase space of a lattice of cells in R^3. We find the SM SU(3)_c x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y action on Aff(3) x C x /(R^3) to be a maximal anomaly-free special gauge action preserving E(3) symmetry and symplectic structure, which can be constructed using two simple types of gauge-like lattice fields: Wilson gauge fields and correction terms for lattice deformations. The lattice fermion fields we propose to quantize as low energy states of a canonical quantum theory with Z_2-degenerated vacuum state. We construct anticommuting fermion operators for the resulting Z_2-valued (spin) field theory. A metric theory of gravity compatible with this model is presented too.Comment: Minimal modifications in comparison with the published versio