On the Unification of Process Semantics: Logical Semantics

We continue with the task of obtaining a unifying view of process semantics by considering in this case the logical characterization of the semantics. We start by considering the classic linear time-branching time spectrum developed by R.J. van Glabbeek. He provided a logical characterization of most of the semantics in his spectrum but, without following a unique pattern. In this paper, we present a uniform logical characterization of all the semantics in the enlarged spectrum. The common structure of the formulas that constitute all the corresponding logics gives us a much clearer picture of the spectrum, clarifying the relations between the different semantics, and allows us to develop generic proofs of some general properties of the semantics.Comment: In Proceedings SOS 2011, arXiv:1108.279

Quantitative determination of modal content and morphological properties of coal sulphides by digital image analysis as a tool to check their flotation behaviour

An efficient depression of coal sulphides in the flotation process means a healthier environment and may be essential for the sustainability of a coal operation. Nitric and ferric oxidative pre-treatment of coal pyrite have been tested to improve pyrite depression, and the results are compared with those from the process of raw, not pre-treated coal. The removal indexes point to nitric pre-treatment as the best, but depression is still low. The microscopic study of feed and products, coupled to Digital Image Analysis (DIA) in all the cases, provide important clues to understand the behaviour of pyrite, which can be related to quantitative parameters, such as the exposition ratio (ER), and to qualified interpretation of the textures. Pyrite shows in the first float an unexpected hydrophobic behaviour, which is due to its occurrence as framboids, or porous particles which may be intergrown with organic matter and behave as coal. In general, the flotation results can be predicted from the DIA-data, e.g. depression of liberated pyrite into the tailings, increased by oxidative pre-treatments by 300% (ferric) or by > 400% (nitric); or concentration of middlings with lower pyrite ER in the floats. DIA is an efficient tool to obtain some important quantitative informations which otherwise would be inaccessible (e.g. the morphological data on > 1,000,000 pyrite particles for this study), and its use should be enhanced to check ore processing

Preserving Liveness Guarantees from Synchronous Communication to Asynchronous Unstructured Low-Level Languages

In the implementation of abstract synchronous communication in asynchronous unstructured low-level languages, e.g. using shared variables, the preservation of safety and especially liveness properties is a hitherto open problem due to inherently different abstraction levels. Our approach to overcome this problem is threefold: First, we present our notion of handshake refinement with which we formally prove the correctness of the implementation relation of a handshake protocol. Second, we verify the soundness of our handshake refinement, i.e., all safety and liveness properties are preserved to the lower level. Third, we apply our handshake refinement to show the correctness of all implementations that realize the abstract synchronous communication with the handshake protocol. To this end, we employ an exemplary language with asynchronous shared variable communication. Our approach is scalable and closes the verification gap between different abstraction levels of communication

Genetic Diversity and Gene Flow in Nine-Banded Armadillo ('Dasypus Novemcinctus') Populations of Paraguay: Implications for Conservation and Management

Department of Integrative Biolog

Assessing the influence of the carbon source on the abatement of industrial N2O emissions coupled with the synthesis of added-value bioproducts

Producción CientíficaThe continuous abatement of a synthetic N2O emission from a nitric acid plant coupled with the simultaneously production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) copolymer and the coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in a bubble column reactor (BCR) was tested using methanol, glycerol and a mixture of sodium acetate-acetic acid (Ac-HAc) as a carbon and electron donor source. The BCRs were inoculated with Paracoccus denitrificans and supplied with the carbon/electron donor at a loading rate of 139 g C m− 3 d− 1. High N2O removal efficiencies (81–91%) were achieved, with glycerol supporting the highest abatement. The PHBV cell content ranged from 25 to 53%, with highest accumulation in the culture obtained with methanol and Ac-HAc. However, the greatest PHBV productivities were observed in the BCRs operated with glycerol and Ac-HAc (21.7 and 33.5 g PHBV m− 3 d− 1, respectively). Glycerol supply induced the highest molar ratio (23%) of the homopolymer 3-hydroxyvalerate in the composition of PHBV. In addition, the specific cell content of CoQ10 ranged from 0.4 to 1 mg g− 1. This work constitutes, to the best of our knowledge, the first study combining N2O abatement with the simultaneous production of multiple bioproducts, which pave the way to the development of greenhouse gas biorefineries for climate change mitigation.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project CTM2015-70442-R and Red NOVEDAR

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella isolated pig carriers

Ninety-six Salmonella isolates from healthy carrier pigs were obtained from a survey in pig farms of Catalonia (Spain). Isolates were serotyped and examined for their antimicrobial susceptibility against a panel of 18 antimicrobial agents. Only isolates having different phenotypic and antimicrobial susceptibility characteristics were considered. With this restriction, we considered to have 62 different strains belonging to 17 serotypes. The most common serotype was Anatum (16.1 %) followed by Rissen (14.5 %), Typhimurium (11.3 %), Derby (9.7 %), Tilburg (8.1 %), Goldcoast (8.1 %) and Typhimurium variant 4,5,12:i:- (6.5 %). Others 10 serotypes were also isolated less than three times each. Antimicrobial susceptibility analysis showed that the highest level of resistance was against tetracycline (68.8 %). Sixty-two percent of the strains showed resistance to three or more antimicrobial agents and 46% were resistant to five or more drugs. The maximum number of compounds to which two strains were resistant was 10 (corresponding to a 4,5,12:i:- strain). None of the strains was resistant to colistin or ceftriaxone and 12 strains were susceptible to all antimicrobial agents tested

FOXP2 gene and language impairment in schizophrenia: association and epigenetic studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Schizophrenia is considered a language related human specific disease. Previous studies have reported evidence of positive selection for schizophrenia-associated genes specific to the human lineage. <it>FOXP2 </it>shows two important features as a convincing candidate gene for schizophrenia vulnerability: <it>FOXP2 </it>is the first gene related to a language disorder, and it has been subject to positive selection in the human lineage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-seven SNPs of <it>FOXP2 </it>were genotyped in a cohort of 293 patients with schizophrenia and 340 controls. We analyzed in particular the association with the poverty of speech and the intensity of auditory hallucinations. Potential expansion of three trinucleotide repeats of <it>FOXP2 </it>was also screened in a subsample. Methylation analysis of a CpG island, located in the first exon of the gene, was performed in post-mortem brain samples, as well as qRT-PCR analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant association was found between the SNP rs2253478 and the item Poverty of speech of the Manchester scale (p = 0.038 after Bonferroni correction). In patients, we detected higher degree of methylation in the left parahippocampus gyrus than in the right one.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>FOXP2 </it>might be involved in the language disorder in patients with schizophrenia. Epigenetic factors might be also implicated in the developing of this disorder.</p

Macroscopic and microscopic description of phase transition in cerium isotopes

The spherical-to-deformed phase transition in cerium isotopes recently suggested to occur between Ce146 and Ce148 has been examined in the framework of the macroscopic algebraic collective model and two microscopic approaches, namely Skyrme-Hartree-Fock + Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) calculations and the symmetry conserving configuration mixing method with Gogny energy density functionals applied also to the neighboring nuclei along the cerium isotopic chain. Possible spectral signatures of the phase transition are discussed in more details. The microscopic calculations predict octupole softness manifested by rather flat potential energy curves as a function of the octupole deformation parameter β3 for Ce146 and Ce148 and shape coexistence characterized by axially symmetric 0+ states, triaxial 2+ bands, and octupole deformation for the lowest 1- state

A simple device for multiplex ELISA made from melt-extruded plastic microcapillary film

We present a simple device for multiplex quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays (ELISA) made from a novel melt-extruded microcapillary film (MCF) containing a parallel array of 200µm capillaries along its length. To make ELISA devices different protein antigens or antibodies were immobilised inside individual microcapillaries within long reels of MCF extruded from fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). Short pieces of coated film were cut and interfaced with a pipette, allowing sequential uptake of samples and detection solutions into all capillaries from a reagent well. As well as being simple to produce, these FEP MCF devices have excellent light transmittance allowing direct optical interrogation of the capillaries for simple signal quantification. Proof of concept experiments demonstrate both quantitative and multiplex assays in FEP MCF devices using a standard direct ELISA procedure and read using a flatbed scanner. This new multiplex immunoassay platform should find applications ranging from lab detection to point-of-care and field diagnostics