Brownian bridges to submanifolds

We introduce and study Brownian bridges to submanifolds. Our method involves proving a general formula for the integral over a submanifold of the minimal heat kernel on a complete Riemannian manifold. We use the formula to derive lower bounds, an asymptotic relation and derivative estimates. We also see a connection to hypersurface local time. This work is motivated by the desire to extend the analysis of path and loop spaces to measures on paths which terminate on a submanifold

An Integrative Design Framework for New Service Development

Service innovation is focused on customer value creation. At its core, customer-centric service innovation in an increasingly digital world is technology-enabled, human-centered, and process-oriented. This requires a cross-disciplinary, holistic approach to new service design and development (NSD). This paper proposes a new service strategy-aligned integrative design framework for NSD. It correlates the underlying theories and principles of disparate but interrelated aspects of service design thinking: service strategy, concept, design, experience and architecture into a coherent framework for NSD, consistent with the service brand value. Application of the framework to NSD is envisioned to be iterative and holistic, accentuated on continuous organizational and customer learning. The preliminary framework's efficacy is illustrated using a simplified telecom case example. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Biotic and abiotic retention, recycling and remineralization of metals in the ocean

Trace metals shape both the biogeochemical functioning and biological structure of oceanic provinces. Trace metal biogeochemistry has primarily focused on modes of external supply of metals from aeolian, hydrothermal, sedimentary and other sources. However, metals also undergo internal transformations such as abiotic and biotic retention, recycling and remineralization. The role of these internal transformations in metal biogeochemical cycling is now coming into focus. First, the retention of metals by biota in the surface ocean for days, weeks or months depends on taxon-specific metal requirements of phytoplankton, and on their ultimate fate: that is, viral lysis, senescence, grazing and/or export to depth. Rapid recycling of metals in the surface ocean can extend seasonal productivity by maintaining higher levels of metal bioavailability compared to the influence of external metal input alone. As metal-containing organic particles are exported from the surface ocean, different metals exhibit distinct patterns of remineralization with depth. These patterns are mediated by a wide range of physicochemical and microbial processes such as the ability of particles to sorb metals, and are influenced by the mineral and organic characteristics of sinking particles. We conclude that internal metal transformations play an essential role in controlling metal bioavailability, phytoplankton distributions and the subsurface resupply of metals

Iron Biogeochemistry in the High Latitude North Atlantic Ocean

Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for marine microbial organisms, and low supply controls productivity in large parts of the world’s ocean. The high latitude North Atlantic is seasonally Fe limited, but Fe distributions and source strengths are poorly constrained. Surface ocean dissolved Fe (DFe) concentrations were low in the study region (<0.1 nM) in summer 2010, with significant perturbations during spring 2010 in the Iceland Basin as a result of an eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano (up to 2.5 nM DFe near Iceland) with biogeochemical consequences. Deep water concentrations in the vicinity of the Reykjanes Ridge system were influenced by pronounced sediment resuspension, with indications for additional inputs by hydrothermal vents, with subsequent lateral transport of Fe and manganese plumes of up to 250–300 km. Particulate Fe formed the dominant pool, as evidenced by 4–17 fold higher total dissolvable Fe compared with DFe concentrations, and a dynamic exchange between the fractions appeared to buffer deep water DFe. Here we show that Fe supply associated with deep winter mixing (up to 103 nmol m−2 d−1) was at least ca. 4–10 times higher than atmospheric deposition, diffusive fluxes at the base of the summer mixed layer, and horizontal surface ocean fluxes

Basin-scale transport of hydrothermal dissolved metals across the South Pacific Ocean

Hydrothermal venting along mid-ocean ridges exerts an important control on the chemical composition of sea water by serving as a major source or sink for a number of trace elements in the ocean(1-3). Of these, iron has received considerable attention because of its role as an essential and often limiting nutrient for primary production in regions of the ocean that are of critical importance for the global carbon cycle(4). It has been thought that most of the dissolved iron discharged by hydrothermal vents is lost from solution close to ridge-axis sources(2,5) and is thus of limited importance for ocean biogeochemistry(6). This long-standing view is challenged by recent studies which suggest that stabilization of hydrothermal dissolved iron may facilitate its longrange oceanic transport(7-10). Such transport has been subsequently inferred from spatially limited oceanographic observations(11-13). Here we report data from the US GEOTRACES Eastern Pacific Zonal Transect (EPZT) that demonstrate lateral transport of hydrothermal dissolved iron, manganese, and aluminium from the southern East Pacific Rise (SEPR) several thousand kilometres westward across the South Pacific Ocean. Dissolved iron exhibits nearly conservative (that is, no loss from solution during transport and mixing) behaviour in this hydrothermal plume, implying a greater longevity in the deep ocean than previously assumed(6,14). Based on our observations, we estimate a global hydrothermal dissolved iron input of three to four gigamoles per year to the ocean interior, which is more than fourfold higher than previous estimates(7,11,14). Complementary simulations with a global-scale ocean biogeochemical model suggest that the observed transport of hydrothermal dissolved iron requires some means of physicochemical stabilization and indicate that hydrothermally derived iron sustains a large fraction of Southern Ocean export productio

Epidemiology and interactions of Human Immunodeficiency Virus - 1 and Schistosoma mansoni in sub-Saharan Africa.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1/AIDS and Schistosoma mansoni are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa and co-infection occurs commonly. Since the early 1990s, it has been suggested that the two infections may interact and potentiate the effects of each other within co-infected human hosts. Indeed, S. mansoni infection has been suggested to be a risk factor for HIV transmission and progression in Africa. If so, it would follow that mass deworming could have beneficial effects on HIV-1 transmission dynamics. The epidemiology of HIV in African countries is changing, shifting from urban to rural areas where the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni is high and public health services are deficient. On the other side, the consequent pathogenesis of HIV-1/S. mansoni co-infection remains unknown. Here we give an account of the epidemiology of HIV-1 and S. mansoni, discuss co-infection and possible biological causal relationships between the two infections, and the potential impact of praziquantel treatment on HIV-1 viral loads, CD4+ counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratio. Our review of the available literature indicates that there is evidence to support the hypothesis that S. mansoni infections can influence the replication of the HIV-1, cell-to-cell transmission, as well as increase HIV progression as measured by reduced CD4+ T lymphocytes counts. If so, then deworming of HIV positive individuals living in endemic areas may impact on HIV-1 viral loads and CD4+ T lymphocyte counts.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

An approach to the cooperation for innovation in the service sector

This study examines how firms cooperate for innovation in the services sector. We tested the theoretical development using cluster analysis and ordinal logit regression analysis with firm-level data collected from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for the period 2011-2013. Overall, 2,622 service firms have been used. This research contributes as follows: firstly, the findings show that the greater degree of penetration into the innovation modes of the firms means that the intensity of the use of cooperative agreements as well as the diversity of cooperative partners increases. Secondly, the empirical evidence for the taxonomy of innovation development in the service sector provides firms with the ways how to innovate based on their strategic orientation

An overview of conservative treatment options for diabetic Charcot foot neuroarthropathy

Conservative management of Charcot foot neuroarthropathy remains efficacious for certain clinical scenarios. Treatment of the patient should take into account the stage of the Charcot neuroarthopathy, site(s) of involvement, presence or absence of ulceration, presence or absence of infection, overall medical status, and level of compliance. The authors present an overview of evidence-based non-operative treatment for diabetic Charcot neuroarthropathy with an emphasis on the most recent developments in therapy

Telemonitoring Devices and Systems: Current Status and Future Trends

In the future, the number of elderly and chronically ill will be quite large. Additionally, pathologies will in many cases be in comorbidity. Alongside this reality, the health care resources will be insufficient for the population, thus the current research for solutions that can be fully implemented in the future. There are available several telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases. Massive use of these devices will be essential to address the current and future lack of health system resources. Research on telemonitoring devices and systems for chronic diseases was con-ducted in academic and scientific databases. The technical specifications were collected in the manufacturers’ web page. The gathered data was analysed and compared in order to propose scenarios for the future trend of technical specifi-cations required in telemonitoring devices/system is performed. Telemonitoring for chronic diseases can bring great benefits to patient and health systems. Widening this practice will be a reality in the near future. This procedure will be fostered by the promotion and regulation of interoperability between de-vices/systems, as well as of front-end programs providing the link between health support systems. Interoperability issues are the main flaw of tedevicesring devices/systems on the market today.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio