Giant entropy change at the co-occurrence of structural and magnetic transitions in the Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga Heusler alloy

In this paper we report the existence of a giant magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a intermetallic compound non-containing rare-earth. This effect is associated with the concomitant occurrence of a structural and a magnetic transition. The result has been compared with that obtained in a parent compound in which magnetic and structural transition occur separately.Comment: PDF file from MS-Word 2000 document, 13 pages (text) plus 6 figures; corrected typo

SHACL Satisfiability and Containment

The Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) is a recent W3C recommendation language for validating RDF data. Specifically, SHACL documents are collections of constraints that enforce particular shapes on an RDF graph. Previous work on the topic has provided theoretical and practical results for the validation problem, but did not consider the standard decision problems of satisfiability and containment, which are crucial for verifying the feasibility of the constraints and important for design and optimization purposes. In this paper, we undertake a thorough study of the different features of SHACL by providing a translation to a new first-order language, called, that precisely captures the semantics of SHACL w.r.t. satisfiability and containment. We study the interaction of SHACL features in this logic and provide the detailed map of decidability and complexity results of the aforementioned decision problems for different SHACL sublanguages. Notably, we prove that both problems are undecidable for the full language, but we present decidable combinations of interesting features

Transmission of Information in Active Networks

Shannon's Capacity Theorem is the main concept behind the Theory of Communication. It says that if the amount of information contained in a signal is smaller than the channel capacity of a physical media of communication, it can be transmitted with arbitrarily small probability of error. This theorem is usually applicable to ideal channels of communication in which the information to be transmitted does not alter the passive characteristics of the channel that basically tries to reproduce the source of information. For an {\it active channel}, a network formed by elements that are dynamical systems (such as neurons, chaotic or periodic oscillators), it is unclear if such theorem is applicable, once an active channel can adapt to the input of a signal, altering its capacity. To shed light into this matter, we show, among other results, how to calculate the information capacity of an active channel of communication. Then, we show that the {\it channel capacity} depends on whether the active channel is self-excitable or not and that, contrary to a current belief, desynchronization can provide an environment in which large amounts of information can be transmitted in a channel that is self-excitable. An interesting case of a self-excitable active channel is a network of electrically connected Hindmarsh-Rose chaotic neurons.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. submitted for publication. to appear in Phys. Rev.

Topical application of chlorhexidine gel with brush-on technique in the tailored treatment of plaque induced gingivitis

Aim: This study aimed to assess the action of a chlorhexidine-based brush-on gel application in the treatment of plaque-related gingivitis. Methods: The enrollment involved consecutive patients diagnosed with plaque-induced gingivitis. Each participant's full mouth plaque score and gingival index were recorded at the first appointment (t0) and at follow ups after 1 week (t1), 2 weeks (t2) and 3 weeks (t4). All patients were randomly sorted into two groups: A study group, who was given instruction to brush their gums daily with a chlorhexidine gel, and a control group who received a placebo gel. The two groups' data at baseline were compared using a chi-square test, while the t-Student and Mann-Whitney tests were employed to analyze the index's trends, both separately and compared. Results: In total, 30 patients were enrolled, 15 referring to the study group and 15 to the control group. The study group had an 87% decrease in their plaque score and an 84% decrease in their gingival index (p < 0.05). The control group displayed a reduction in plaque score and gingival index of 74% and 84%, respectively (p < 0.05). The plaque score decreased statistically more significantly in the study group than in the control group. Conclusion: Topical employment of a chlorhexidine-containing brush-on gel appears to be a useful home tool in the treatment of plaque-induced gingivitis, associated with professional debridement

Ancient Documents Denoising and Decomposition Using Aujol and Chambolle Algorithm

With the improvement of printing technology since the 15th century, there is a huge amount of printed documents published and distributed. These documents are degraded by the time and require to be preprocessed before being submitted to image indexing strategy, in order to enhance the quality of images. This paper proposes a new pre-processing that permits to denoise these documents, by using a Aujol and Chambolle algorithm. Aujol and Chambolle algorithm allows to extract meaningful components from image. In this case, we can extract shapes, textures and noise. Some examples of specific processings applied on each layer are illustrated in this paper

In vitro measurement of platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blockade by abciximab: interindividual variation and increased platelet secretion

Inhibition of soluble fibrinogen binding to activated platelets represents the target of pharmacologic approach with antagonists of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) complex. In this study we assessed the effects of abciximab, a recombinant chimeric Fab fraction of the antibody against GPIIb/IIIa, on several markers of platelet activation

Inverse magnetocaloric effect in ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Sn alloys

The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in paramagnetic materials has been widely used for attaining very low temperatures by applying a magnetic field isothermally and removing it adiabatically. The effect can be exploited also for room temperature refrigeration by using recently discovered giant MCE materials. In this letter, we report on an inverse situation in Ni-Mn-Sn alloys, whereby applying a magnetic field adiabatically, rather than removing it, causes the sample to cool. This has been known to occur in some intermetallic compounds, for which a moderate entropy increase can be induced when a field is applied, thus giving rise to an inverse magnetocaloric effect. However, the entropy change found for some ferromagnetic Ni-Mn-Sn alloys is just as large as that reported for giant MCE materials, but with opposite sign. The giant inverse MCE has its origin in a martensitic phase transformation that modifies the magnetic exchange interactions due to the change in the lattice parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Nature Materials (online published, 15 May 2005

Bleeding from gastrointestinal angioectasias is not related to bleeding disorders - a case control study

n/aOriginal Publication:Charlotte M Hoog, Olle Brostrom, Tomas Lindahl, Andreas Hillarp, Gerd Larfars and Urban Sjoqvist, Bleeding from gastrointestinal angioectasias is not related to bleeding disorders - a case control study, 2010, BMC GASTROENTEROLOGY, (10), 113.http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-230X-10-113Licensee: BioMed Centralhttp://www.biomedcentral.com

Possible Race and Gender Divergence in Association of Genetic Variations with Plasma von Willebrand Factor: A Study of ARIC and 1000 Genome Cohorts

The synthesis, secretion and clearance of von Willebrand factor (VWF) are regulated by genetic variations in coding and promoter regions of the VWF gene. We have previously identified 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), primarily in introns that are associated with VWF antigen levels in subjects of European descent. In this study, we conducted race by gender analyses to compare the association of VWF SNPs with VWF antigen among 10,434 healthy Americans of European (EA) or African (AA) descent from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Among 75 SNPs analyzed, 13 and 10 SNPs were associated with VWF antigen levels in EA male and EA female subjects, respectively. However, only one SNP (RS1063857) was significantly associated with VWF antigen in AA females and none was in AA males. Haplotype analysis of the ARIC samples and studying racial diversities in the VWF gene from the 1000 genomes database suggest a greater degree of variations in the VWF gene in AA subjects as compared to EA subjects. Together, these data suggest potential race and gender divergence in regulating VWF expression by genetic variations