Enforcing policies with privacy guardians

AbstractReasoning about privacy in electronic environments populated with privacy-concerned agents that exchange personal data requires control of ownership and proving the right of possession of a piece of data. The privacy policy expressed by an individual for his personal data can be enforced by a context-aware mobile agent, called alter-ego, accompanying the personal data disclosed.We discuss the first steps towards a formal framework for expressing policies on information disclosure and their integration in the behavior specification of the alter-egos, that enables characterization of an environment manipulating personal data from the privacy perspective

Impact of Obesity on Atrial Electrophysiological Substrate

(1) Background: Obesity is a well-established worldwide recognised risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). Prior review papers reported on the associations between obesity and AF development, but not on the relation between obesity and atrial electrophysiology. We therefore conducted a systematic review to describe the current knowledge of the characteristics of the atrial electrophysiological substrate in obese individuals and how they relate to the development of AF.(2) Methods:A search was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for publications evaluating the impact of obesity on atrial electrophysiology, electrical substrates, and their relation to the development of AF. (3) Results:A systematic literature search retrieved 477 potential publications based on the inclusion criteria; 76 full-text articles were selected for the present systematic review. The literature demonstrated that obesity predisposes to not only a higher AF incidence but also to more extensive atrial electrophysiological abnormalities increasing susceptibility to AF development. (4) Conclusion:Obesity may predispose to an overall increase in atrial electropathology, consisting of an increase in the slowing of the conduction, conduction block, low-voltage areas, and complex fractionated electrograms. To determine the impact of obesity-induced atrial electrical abnormalities on the long-term clinical outcome, further prospective studies are mandatory.</p

Localization of quasiparticles in a disordered vortex

We study the diffusive motion of low-energy normal quasiparticles along the core of a single vortex in a dirty, type-II, s-wave superconductor. The physics of this system is argued to be described by a one-dimensional supersymmetric nonlinear sigma model, which differs from the sigma models known for disordered metallic wires. For an isolated vortex and quasiparticle energies less than the Thouless energy, we recover the spectral correlations that are predicted by random matrix theory for the universality class C. We then consider the transport problem of transmission of quasiparticles through a vortex connected to particle reservoirs at both ends. The transmittance at zero energy exhibits a weak localization correction reminiscent of quasi-one-dimensional metallic systems with symmetry index beta = 1. Weak localization disappears with increasing energy over a scale set by the Thouless energy. This crossover should be observable in measurements of the longitudinal heat conductivity of an ensemble of vortices under mesoscopic conditions. In the regime of strong localization, the localization length is shown to decrease by a factor of 8 as the quasiparticle energy goes to zero.Comment: 38 pages, LaTeX2e + epsf, 4 eps figures, one reference adde

Integrated Risk Management for Mega Events

The largest special events (mega events) such as World’s Fairs and Expositions, the FIFA World Cup Final, or the Olympic Games put a tremendous amount of pressure on the food production chain associated with these events, increasing the potential for food safety and security breaches. Any breach could have harmful consequences for both the people attending the event and the companies supplying the event. Evolving in such a context where normal operations take place on a much larger scale, both in terms of volume and visibility, requires a re-evaluation of standard risk management procedures. This report provides managers with an invaluable risk-analysis grid specific to the food industry, which identifies the main risk factors and undesirable outcomes associated with mega events. Once this is done, appropriate risk management strategies can be implemented. No date is fixed to share the complete version of the document. Les événements spéciaux de grande envergure (les méga-événements), tels que les expositions universelles, la finale de la Coupe du monde de la FIFA ou les Jeux Olympiques, exercent des pressions énormes sur la chaîne de production et de distribution alimentaire associée à ces événements. Les caractéristiques propres à ces méga-événements augmentent, par le fait même, les risques d’atteinte à la sûreté et à la sécurité des aliments. Toute défaillance dans la chaîne alimentaire pourrait entraîner des conséquences néfastes à la fois sur les participants et sur les entreprises reliées à l’événement. Le fait d’évoluer dans un tel contexte, où les activités normales se déroulent sur une échelle beaucoup plus grande, en termes de volume et de visibilité, nécessite une réévaluation des procédures normales de gestion des risques. Le présent rapport offre aux gestionnaires une grille indispensable d’analyse de risques. Celle-ci est spécifique à l’industrie alimentaire et définit les principaux facteurs de risque et les effets indésirables liés aux méga-événements. Une fois cette étape franchie, des stratégies adéquates de gestion des risques peuvent être adoptées. Aucune date n'a encore été fixée pour rendre disponible la version complète du document.Food Safety, Food Security, Food Supply Chain, Risk, Mega-Event, Risk Management, Risk Factor, Risk Analysis Grid, Sécurité alimentaire, sûreté alimentaire, chaîne d’approvisionnement (supply chain), risque, méga-événement, gestion du risque, facteur de risque, grille d’analyse des risques

The Bethe Ansatz for AdS5 x S5 Bound States

We reformulate the nested coordinate Bethe ansatz in terms of coproducts of Yangian symmetry generators. This allows us to derive the nested Bethe equations for the bound state string S-matrices. We find that they coincide with the Bethe equations obtained from a fusion procedure. The bound state number dependence in the Bethe equations appears through the parameters x^{\pm} and the dressing phase only.Comment: typos correcte

Wrapping interactions and the genus expansion of the 2-point function of composite operators

We perform a systematic analysis of wrapping interactions for a general class of theories with color degrees of freedom, including N=4 SYM. Wrapping interactions arise in the genus expansion of the 2-point function of composite operators as finite size effects that start to appear at a certain order in the coupling constant at which the range of the interaction is equal to the length of the operators. We analyze in detail the relevant genus expansions, and introduce a strategy to single out the wrapping contributions, based on adding spectator fields. We use a toy model to demonstrate our procedure, performing all computations explicitly. Although completely general, our treatment should be particularly useful for applications to the recent problem of wrapping contributions in some checks of the AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: 41 pages, LaTeX, 12 figures, minor changes, final version in NP

Attitudes towards Oral Health in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Qualitative Study Nested within a Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) present a higher incidence and severity of periodontitis than the general population. Our study, Outcomes of Periodontal Treatment in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (OPERA), was a randomized waiting-list controlled trial using mixed methods. Patients randomized to the intervention arm received intensive periodontal treatment, and those in the control arm received the same treatment with a 6-mo delay. Aim: The nested qualitative component aimed to explore patients’ experiences and priorities concerning oral health and barriers and facilitators for trial participation. Methods: Using purposive sampling until thematic saturation was reached, we conducted 21 one-to-one semistructured interviews with randomized patients in either of the 2 treatment arms as well as with patients who did not consent for trial participation. Results: The patients described their experiences about RA, oral health, and study participation. Previous experiences with dental care professionals shaped patients’ current perceptions about oral health and the place of oral health on their list of priorities compared with other conditions. Patients also highlighted some of the barriers and facilitators for study participation and for compliance with oral health maintenance. The patients, in the control arm, presented their views regarding the acceptable length of waiting time for the intervention. Conclusion: The associations between periodontal and systemic health are increasingly recognized by the literature. Our study provided an insight into RA patients’ experiences and perceptions about oral health. It also highlighted some of the barriers and facilitators for participating in a periodontal interventional study for this group. We hope that our findings will support the design of larger interventional periodontal studies in patients with RA. The complex challenges faced by the burden of RA and the associated multimorbidities in this patient group might highlight opportunities to improve access to oral health services in this patient population. Knowledge Transfer Statement: This article provided insights into the experiences and perceptions of rheumatoid arthritis patients about their oral health to improve patient participation in a definitive clinical trial