Generalized backscattering and the Lax-Phillips transform

Using the free-space translation representation (modified Radon transform) of Lax and Phillips in odd dimensions, it is shown that the generalized backscattering transform (so outgoing angle $\omega =S\theta$ in terms of the incoming angle with $S$ orthogonal and \Id-S invertible) may be further restricted to give an entire, globally Fredholm, operator on appropriate Sobolev spaces of potentials with compact support. As a corollary we show that the modified backscattering map is a local isomorphism near elements of a generic set of potentials.Comment: Minor changes, typos corrected, references adde

Chronic dietary intake of enniatin B in broiler chickens has low impact on intestinal morphometry and hepatic histology, and shows limited transfer to liver tissue

The Fusarium mycotoxin enniatin B (ENN B) is a so-called emerging mycotoxin frequently contaminating poultry feed. To investigate the impact of chronic ENN B exposure on animal health, broiler chickens were fed either a diet naturally contaminated with ENN B (2352 mu g/kg) or a control diet (135 mu g/kg) for 2, 7, 14, or 21 days. ENN B concentrations were determined in plasma and liver using a validated ultra-high performance liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry UHPLC-MS/MS method. Liver was evaluated histologically, and the villus length and crypt depth of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were measured. Histopathology of the livers did not reveal major abnormalities. Feeding an ENN B-contaminated diet could possibly inhibit the proliferation of enterocytes in the duodenal crypts, but did not affect villus length, crypt depth, or villus length-crypt depth ratio of the jejunum and ileum. ENN B levels in plasma and liver were significantly higher in the ENN B-fed group and ranged between <25-264 pg/mL and <0.05-0.85 ng/g, respectively. ENN B carry-over rates from feed to liver tissue were 0.005-0.014% and 0.034-0.109% in the ENN B and control group, respectively. Carry-over rates were low and indicated a limited contribution of poultry tissue-derived products to the total dietary ENN B intake for humans. The above results support the opinion of the European Food Safety Authority stating that adverse health effects from ENN B in broiler chickens are unlikely

Biomarkers for monitoring intestinal health in poultry : present status and future perspectives

Intestinal health is determined by host (immunity, mucosal barrier), nutritional, microbial and environmental factors. Deficiencies in intestinal health are associated with shifts in the composition of the intestinal microbiome (dysbiosis), leakage of the mucosal barrier and/or inflammation. Since the ban on growth promoting antimicrobials in animal feed, these dysbiosis-related problems have become a major issue, especially in intensive animal farming. The economical and animal welfare consequences are considerable. Consequently, there is a need for continuous monitoring of the intestinal health status, particularly in intensively reared animals, where the intestinal function is often pushed to the limit. In the current review, the recent advances in the field of intestinal health biomarkers, both in human and veterinary medicine are discussed, trying to identify present and future markers of intestinal health in poultry. The most promising new biomarkers will be stable molecules ending up in the feces and litter that can be quantified, preferably using rapid and simple pen-side tests. It is unlikely, however, that a single biomarker will be sufficient to follow up all aspects of intestinal health. Combinations of multiple biomarkers and/or metabarcoding, metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, metaproteomic and metabolomic approaches will be the way to go in the future. Candidate biomarkers currently are being investigated by many research groups, but the validation will be a major challenge, due to the complexity of intestinal health in the field

Democracy, intermediation, and voting in Spain : Some new findings from in-depth and longitudinal data (vol. 2)

The findings reported in this monograph (in two parts, published as WP 351 and WP 352) are based upon a broad-based, multi-method analysis of Spanish politics and society, including five national surveys conducted over nearly three decades, and many in-depth qualitative interviews with a "panel" of respondents who had been interviewed six years earlier. With these rich data resources, we are able to address a number of important hypotheses. We find that lifelong patterns of active engagement with democratic politics are primarily the product of childhood and youngadult political socialization (including formal education and informal socialization within the family) in both the Franco regime and the new democratic political system. In contrast, support for democracy in Spain was acquired primarily through adult political learning, with prominent political elites and their respective parties playing the key roles. Using both cross-sectional survey data and qualitative interview data, we explore the various and complex ways that individuals receive information about politics through relevant political intermediaries. These same data resources enable us to explore between 1979 and 2004 both the processes through which voters acquire potentially stabilizing long-term attitudinal links to partisan politics (especially party identification and left-right loyalties), as well as those forces (especially socio-economic and cultural change, and strategic decisions made by political elites) that can lead to substantial transformations of parties and party systems. For technical reasons, this monograph appears in two parts. The first part (WP 351) deals with the origins of support for democracy, disaffection and political engagement, and political intermediation. The second part (WP 352) focuses on voting, partisanship and ideology, and on the factors explaining the vot

Intratumoral chemotherapy in an integumentary squamous cell carcinoma in a cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus)

An eight-year-old, female cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) was presented with anorexia, lethargy, a mass at the lower side of the wing and discoloration of the feathers. Physical examination showed an ulcerated nodular integumentary lesion of approximately 4 cm(3) ventromedial on the wing at the side of the propatagium and the humerus. Lateral and ventrodorsal radiographs revealed only hepatomegaly. After a stabilization period, surgical excision of the tumor was performed. Based on histopathological evaluation and bacterial culture of the surgically removed tissue, the lesion was typed as an integumentary squamous cell carcinoma with secondary bacterial infection (Corynebacterium sp). Four weeks postoperative, the tumor had recurred. Chemotherapeutic treatment was started with intratumoral carboplatin (1.5 mg/cm(3)) once a week. Because of further tumor growth after the second administration of carboplatin, resection of the mass was performed before the next infiltration. However, the bird died during anesthesia. Despite increase in tumor size, histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluations showed degeneration of the tumor with intercellular edema and vacuolization of the tumor cells, presumably resulting from carboplatin administration. More research is needed to investigate the efficacy and safety of the intratumoral administration of carboplatin as a treatment option in birds with integumentary squamous cell carcinoma

FPGA-based multi-view stereo system with flexible measurement setup

In recent years, stereoscopic image processing algorithms have gained importance for a variety of applications. To capture larger measurement volumes, multiple stereo systems are combined into a multi-view stereo (MVS) system. To reduce the amount of data and the data rate, calculation steps close to the sensors are outsourced to Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) as upstream computing units. The calculation steps include lens distortion correction, rectification and stereo matching. In this paper a FPGA-based MVS system with flexible camera arrangement and partly overlapping field of view is presented. The system consists of four FPGA-based passive stereoscopic systems (Xilinx Zynq-7000 7020 SoC, EV76C570 CMOS sensor) and a downstream processing unit (Zynq Ultrascale ZU9EG SoC). This synchronizes the sensor near processing modules and receives the disparity maps with corresponding left camera image via HDMI. The subsequent computing unit calculates a coherent 3D point cloud. Our developed FPGA-based 3D measurement system captures a large measurement volume at 24 fps by combining a multiple view with eight cameras (using Semi-Global Matching for an image size of 640 px × 460 px, up to 256 px disparity range and with aggregated costs over 4 directions). The capabilities and limitation of the system are shown by an application example with optical non-cooperative surface

Democracy, intermediation, and voting in Spain: some new findings from in-depth and logitudinal data (vol. 1)

The findings reported in this monograph (in two parts, published as WP 351 and WP 352) are based upon a broad-based, multi-method analysis of Spanish politics and society, including five national surveys conducted over nearly three decades, and many in-depth qualitative interviews with a "panel" of respondents who had been interviewed six years earlier. With these rich data resources, we are able to address a number of important hypotheses. We find that lifelong patterns of active engagement with democratic politics are primarily the product of childhood and youngadult political socialization (including formal education and informal socialization within the family) in both the Franco regime and the new democratic political system. In contrast, support for democracy in Spain was acquired primarily through adult political learning, with prominent political elites and their respective parties playing the key roles. Using both cross-sectional survey data and qualitative interview data, we explore the various and complex ways that individuals receive information about politics through relevant political intermediaries. These same data resources enable us to explore between 1979 and 2004 both the processes through which voters acquire potentially stabilizing long-term attitudinal links to partisan politics (especially party identification and left-right loyalties), as well as those forces (especially socio-economic and cultural change, and strategic decisions made by political elites) that can lead to substantial transformations of parties and party systems. For technical reasons, this monograph appears in two parts. The first part (WP 351) deals with the origins of support for democracy, disaffection and political engagement, and political intermediation. The second part (WP 352) focuses on voting, partisanship and ideology, and on the factors explaining the vote