Thermal conductivity in the vortex state of the superconductor UPd_2Al_3

The magneto-thermal conductivity kappa is calculated for the vortex state of UPd_2Al_3 by assuming horizontal gap nodes. The Green's function method we employed takes into account the effects of supercurrent flow and Andreev scattering on the quasiparticles due to Abrikosov's vortex lattice order parameter. The calculated angular dependence of kappa_{yy} for field rotation theta_0 in the ac-plane depends strongly on field strength H, impurity scattering, anisotropy of the Fermi velocity, and temperature. For finite temperatures and the clean unitary scattering limit we get qualitative agreement with recent experiments for all four proposed gap functions having horizontal line nodes at ck_z = 0, pi/4, and pi/2.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures with several part

General practitioners' and nurses' experiences of using computerised decision support in screening for diabetic foot disease:implementing Scottish Clinical Information - Diabetes Care in routine clinical practice

<strong>Objective</strong> The Scottish Care Information - Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC) developed a computer- based information system to create a shared electronic record for use by all involved in the care of patients with diabetes mellitus. The objectives of this study were to understand primary care practitioners' views towards screening for diabetic foot disease and their experience of the SCI-DC system. <strong>Method</strong> We conducted an exploratory study using qualitativemethods. Semi-structured interviews were audiotape-recorded, transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Seven practice nurses and six general practitioners (GPs) with special responsibility for diabetes care inNHS Lothian participated. <strong>Results</strong> Primary care clinicians reported good systems in place to screen for diabetes-related complications and to refer their patients to specialist care. Foot ulceration was rarely observed; other diabetesrelated conditions were seen as a higher priority. Most had heard of the SCI-DC foot assessment tool, but its failure to integrate with other primary care information technology (IT) systems meant it was not used in these general practices. <strong>Conclusions</strong> Adoption of the SCI-DC foot assessment tool in primary care is not perceived as clinically necessary. Although information recorded by specialist services on SCI-DC is helpful, important structural barriers to its implementation mean the potential benefits associated with its use are unlikely to be realised; greater engagement with primary care priorities for diabetes management is needed to assist its successful implementation and adoption

Derivation of diagnostic models based on formalized process knowledge

© IFAC.Industrial systems are vulnerable to faults. Early and accurate detection and diagnosis in production systems can minimize down-time, increase the safety of the plant operation, and reduce manufacturing costs. Knowledge- and model-based approaches to automated fault detection and diagnosis have been demonstrated to be suitable for fault cause analysis within a broad range of industrial processes and research case studies. However, the implementation of these methods demands a complex and error-prone development phase, especially due to the extensive efforts required during the derivation of models and their respective validation. In an effort to reduce such modeling complexity, this paper presents a structured causal modeling approach to supporting the derivation of diagnostic models based on formalized process knowledge. The method described herein exploits the Formalized Process Description Guideline VDI/VDE 3682 to establish causal relations among key-process variables, develops an extension of the Signed Digraph model combined with the use of fuzzy set theory to allow more accurate causality descriptions, and proposes a representation of the resulting diagnostic model in CAEX/AutomationML targeting dynamic data access, portability, and seamless information exchange

Taken to the grave. An archaeozoological approach assessing the role of animals as crematory offerings in first millennium AD Britain.

The crematory funerary rites practiced by those living in parts of mainland Britain during the first millennium AD included burning complete or parts of animals on the pyre. This thesis highlights the potential for archaeozoological analysis of faunal pyre goods using assemblages from the first millennium AD as a dataset. Experimental study and the integration of current research from a number of disciplines is used to suggest that although pyrolysis and cremation practices fragment and distort burnt bone assemblages, careful analysis can reveal a wealth of data leading to the interpretation of various forms of pyre good. The results of the author¿s analysis of material from the sites of Brougham, Cumbria, St. Stephen¿s, Hertfordshire, Castleford, West Yorkshire and Heath Wood, Derbyshire are combined with data from other published cemeteries to suggest a series of chronological and regional continuities in the use of animals but with a distinct change at the start of the Early Medieval period. The results from Brougham are particularly significant as they alter preconceived views on the utilisation of animals in Romano-British funerary practice. Cremation burials in first millennium AD Britain are shown to include the burnt remains of predominantly domestic taxa with occasional wild species. The pyre goods are interpreted as representing food offerings, companions, amulets, gaming items and sacrifices. This thesis demonstrates that cremated animal bone should not be disregarded but rather valued as source of archaeozoological data, and a significant functional tool for interpreting past funerary behaviour and animal utilisation

Isomonodromic deformatiion with an irregular singularity and hyperelliptic curve

In this paper, we extend the result of Kitaev and Korotkin to the case where a monodromy-preserving deformation has an irregular singularity. For the monodromy-preserving deformation, we obtain the $\tau$-function whose deformation parameters are the positions of regular singularities and the parameter $t$ of an irregular singularity. Furthermore, the $\tau$-function is expressed by the hyperelliptic $\Theta$ function moving the argument \z and the period \B, where $t$ and the positions of regular singularities move $z$ and \B, respectively.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figure

Antimicrobial Producing Bacteria Isolated From Petroleum-Laced Hypersaline Soil

Given the alternative functions of “antibiotics” as communication molecules or participants in metabolism, it seems probable that production might be influenced by factors such as nutrient availability, interactions with neighboring microbes, and/or colony or community structure and maturity. With this in mind, the present study aimed to broaden the scope of the search for novel antibiotics by experimenting with the following parameters: source of bacterial isolation, growth and assay media, and culturing techniques. Bacteria for this study were isolated from two categories of soil (petroleum-contaminated or uncontaminated) to compare diversity and antimicrobial activity. Compared to the uncontaminated soil, isolates of the petroleum-contaminated soil were as diverse and antimicrobial activity was as frequent. Antimicrobial assays were done on three different types of agar, including the standard Mueller-Hinton and two types of medium typically used for fungal growth, Yeast Peptone Dextrose (YPD) and Yeast Mold (YM). Compared to results on Mueller-Hinton, much more antimicrobial activity was seen when using YPD and YM. Finally, spent media assays were performed with pure and mixed cultures to determine if exposure to a target pathogen affects the production of antimicrobial substances by soil isolates. Those bacteria with activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in perpendicular streak tests were grown as mixed cultures with P. aeruginosa. In the case of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Pseudomonas marginalis, discs impregnated with concentrated spent media from these mixed cultures resulted in significant dose-dependent inhibition of P. aeruginosa. The same assay using pure cultures showed no inhibition