Classification of bianisotropic metasurfaces from reflectance and transmittance measurements

Upon using fundamental electromagnetic properties of metasurfaces we build a platform to classify reciprocal bianisotropic metasurfaces from typical experimental measurements and determine isotropic, anisotropic, bi-isotropic (chiral), and bianisotropic (so-called omega) properties. We provide experimental guidelines to identify each class by measuring macroscopic scattering parameters, i.e., reflection and transmission coefficients upon plane wave illumination with linear and/or circular polarization. We explicitly provide a recipe of what metasurface properties can and cannot be inferred by means of chosen polarization, reflection, and transmission properties. We also clarify common confusions in the classification of anisotropic versus chiral metasurfaces based on circular dichroism measurements presented in the recent literature.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Genetic Approaches To The Analysis of Body Colouration in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Body colouration in tilapia is an important trait affecting consumer preference. In the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), there are three colour variants which are normal (wild type), red and blond. In some countries, the red variant is important and reaches higher prices in the market. However, one major problem regarding red tilapia culture is their body colouration which is often associated with blotching (mainly black but also red) which is undesirable for the consumer. The overall aim of this work was to expand knowledge on various aspects of body colouration in Nile tilapia using genetic approaches. The results of this research are presented as four different manuscripts. The manuscripts (here referred as Papers) have either been published (Paper IV) or are to be submitted (Paper I, II and III) in relevant peer reviewed journals. Paper I and II investigated the inheritance of black blotching and other body colour components of the red body colour. Specifically, Paper I consisted of two preliminary trials (Trial 1 and 2), to look at the ontogeny of black blotching and body colour components over a period of six months. Trial 1 investigated the effect of tank background colour (light vs dark) on black blotching and other body colour components and was carried out using a fully inbred (all female) clonal red line. Trial 2 was carried out using mixed sex fish and was aimed to investigate the association of black blotching with the sex of the fish. The results from this study were used to guide the experiment described in Paper II. Sixteen red sires with various levels of black and red blotching were crossed to clonal females and the inheritance of blotching and other body colour components were investigated using parent-offspring regressions. The results showed no significant heritability for black blotching and body redness, but a significant correlation for body redness and black blotching was found in female offspring at one sampling point suggesting that attempts to increase body redness may increase black blotching, as had been hypothesized. Paper III was divided into two parts. The first objective was to map the blond locus onto the tilapia linkage map and the second was to investigate the interaction of the blond and red genes on black blotching using the blond-linked markers to distinguish different blond genotypes in heterozygous red fish (i.e. RrBlbl or Rrblbl). In the blond fish, the formation of melanin is almost blocked via much reduced melanophores and this feature may be able to help reducing the black blotching in red tilapia. Two intraspecific families (O. niloticus) and one interspecific family (O. aureus and O. niloticus) were used as mapping families and the blond locus was located in LG5. Four out of eight markers were successfully used to assess the interaction of blond on red blotched fish. The blond gene did not significantly reduce the area of blotching but did reduce the saturation (paler blotching) and enhanced the redness of body colour in the Rrblbl fish compared to the RrBlbl group. Finally, Paper IV aimed to find out the effect of male colouration on reproductive success in Nile tilapia. A choice of one wild type male and one red male was presented to red or wild type females and these fish were allowed to spawn under semi-natural spawning conditions. Eggs were collected from the female’s mouth after spawning and paternity was assessed using microsatellite genotyping and phenotype scoring. No significant departures from equal mating success were observed between the red and wild type males, however there was a significant difference between the red and wild type females in the frequency of secondary paternal contribution to egg batches. The results suggest that mating success of wild type and red tilapia is approximately equal. The results from this research help to broaden our knowledge and understanding on the aspects of body colouration in Nile tilapia and provide fundamental information for further research

Randomized controlled trial of postoperative exercise rehabilitation program after lumbar spine fusion: study protocol

Abstract Background Lumbar spine fusion (LSF) effectively decreases pain and disability in specific spinal disorders; however, the disability rate following surgery remains high. This, combined with the fact that in Western countries the number of LSF surgeries is increasing rapidly it is important to develop rehabilitation interventions that improve outcomes. Methods/design In the present RCT-study we aim to assess the effectiveness of a combined back-specific and aerobic exercise intervention for patients after LSF surgery. One hundred patients will be randomly allocated to a 12-month exercise intervention arm or a usual care arm. The exercise intervention will start three months after surgery and consist of six individual guidance sessions with a physiotherapist and a home-based exercise program. The primary outcome measures are low back pain, lower extremity pain, disability and quality of life. Secondary outcomes are back function and kinesiophobia. Exercise adherence will also be evaluated. The outcome measurements will be assessed at baseline (3 months postoperatively), at the end of the exercise intervention period (15 months postoperatively), and after a 1-year follow-up. Discussion The present RCT will evaluate the effectiveness of a long-term rehabilitation program after LSF. To our knowledge this will be the first study to evaluate a combination of strength training, control of the neutral lumbar spine position and aerobic training principles in rehabilitation after LSF. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00834015peerReviewe

Radiosensitivity in breast cancer assessed by the Comet and micronucleus assays

Spontaneous and radiation-induced genetic instability of peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from unselected breast cancer (BC) patients (n=50) was examined using the single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay and a modified G2 micronucleus (MN) test. Cells from apparently healthy donors (n=16) and from cancer patients (n=9) with an adverse early skin reaction to radiotherapy (RT) served as references. Nonirradiated cells from the three tested groups exhibited similar baseline levels of DNA fragmentation assessed by the Comet assay. Likewise, the Comet analysis of in vitro irradiated (5 Gy) cells did not reveal any significant differences among the three groups with respect to the initial and residual DNA fragmentation, as well as the DNA repair kinetics. The G2 MN test showed that cells from cancer patients with an adverse skin reaction to RT displayed increased frequencies of both spontaneous and radiation-induced MN compared to healthy control or the group of unselected BC patients. Two patients from the latter group developed an increased early skin reaction to RT, which was associated with an increased initial DNA fragmentation in vitro only in one of them. Cells from the other BC patient exhibited a striking slope in the dose–response curve detected by the G2 MN test. We also found that previous RT strongly increased both spontaneous and in vitro radiation-induced MN levels, and to a lesser extent, the radiation-induced DNA damage assessed by the Comet assay. These data suggest that clinical radiation may provoke genetic instability and/or induce persistent DNA damage in normal cells of cancer patients, thus leading to increased levels of MN induction and DNA fragmentation after irradiation in vitro. Therefore, care has to be taken when blood samples collected postradiotherapeutically are used to assess the radiosensitivity of cancer patients

The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC

High energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe standard model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the standard model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential