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Reason for Policy 1.1 The purpose of this Policy is to define the responsibilities for the acquisition, preservation and disposal of capital equipment. Part II Policy Content 2.1 Equipment includes computers, furniture, vehicles, laboratory and other equipment that wa

6sterreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft / Synthetisch hergestellte Nanomaterialien in Konsumprodukten und deren Verbleib am Ende ihrer Nutzungsphase

Seit geraumer Zeit finden k\ufcnstlich hergestellte und oberfl\ue4chenmodifizierte Nanomaterialien in diversen Alltagsprodukten Anwendung. F\ufcr die gegenst\ue4ndliche Materialflussanalyse wurden 6 Nanokonsumprodukte ausgew\ue4hlt, die am \uf6sterreichischen Markt erh\ue4ltlich sind und vorwiegend metallische Nanomaterialien enthalten (d. h.: Nano-SiO2, -TiO2, -Ag oder CdSe-Quantenpunkte). Ein Produktbeispiel enthielt Kohlenstoffnanor\uf6hrchen (kurz CNTs). F\ufcr die Materialflussanalysen mussten die Nanomaterial-Inputmengen auf Produktebene abgesch\ue4tzt werden. Anhand von Produktinformationen sowie wissenschaftlichen Publikationen wurden erste Hochrechnungen des \uf6sterreichweiten Verbrauchs durchgef\ufchrt. Beim Produktbeispiel \u201eTV-Ger\ue4te mit Quantenpunkt-Displays\u201c war die Datengrundlage so d\ufcrftig, dass keine Mengenabsch\ue4tzung m\uf6glich war. Dieses Szenario ist aber Beispiel daf\ufcr, dass bei vielen Produktkategorien mangelnde bis keine Produktinformationen vorliegen und f\ufcr diese daher derzeit keine quantitative Absch\ue4tzung des Verbleibs von Nanomaterialien in Abfallstr\uf6men m\uf6glich ist. Die ersten Mengenabsch\ue4tzungen zeigen, dass Nano-TiO2 bereits im Tonnenma fstab in Sonnencremen eingesetzt wird (in 6sterreich ca. 5,4 bis 40,8 t/a). Nano-SiO2 in Autoversiegelungen, Nano-Ag in Wandfarben oder Putzlappen sowie CNTs in Tennisschl\ue4gern werden hingegen eher im unteren einstelligen Kilogrammma fstab eingesetzt. Anhand der Materialflussanalysen l\ue4sst sich absch\ue4tzen, dass sich metallische/metalloxidische Nanomaterialien mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit im Zuge der Abfallbehandlung in Sekund\ue4rabf\ue4llen, wie Verbrennungsr\ufcckst\ue4nden, anreichern, welche wiederum gr\uf6 ftenteils deponiert werden. Kohlenstoffbasierte Nanomaterialien wie CNTs werden mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit w\ue4hrend der Abfallverbrennung vollst\ue4ndig oxidiert. Ihre Elimination kann aber nur dann gew\ue4hrleistet werden, wenn w\ue4hrend der Verbrennung eine entsprechend lange Verweildauer bei hohen Temperaturen sichergestellt ist. Die Unsicherheiten bzw. gro fen Schwankungsbreiten der hochgerechneten Nanomaterialfl\ufcsse verdeutlichen, dass es noch gro fe Wissens- und Informationsl\ufccken gibt und vor allem entsprechender Forschungsbedarf hinsichtlich des genauen Umweltverhaltens von Nanoprodukten \u2013 insbesondere \ufcber das Verhalten und potenzielle Freisetzungspfade in der Entsorgungsphase \u2013 besteht.For some time now, engineered and surface-modified nanomaterials have been used in various everyday products. For the material flow analyses presented in the following paper, six nano-based consumer products were selected that are available on the Austrian market and primarily contain metallic nanomaterials (nano-SiO2, -TiO2, -Ag or CdSe quantum dots); one sample product contained carbon nanotubes (CNTs). For the purpose of the material flow analyses, it was necessary to estimate the amounts of nanomaterial input at the product level. On the basis of available product information and academic publications, initial estimates of consumption in Austria were prepared. In the case of the sample product \u201ctelevisions with quantum dot displays,\u201d there was too little data available to do so. However, this scenario offers valuable proof of the fact that little to no product information is available for many product categories, making it impossible to quantitatively estimate the amount of nanomaterials in waste streams. The initial estimates show that tons of nano-TiO2 are already used in sun creams (ca. 5.4 to 40.8 t/year in Austria). In contrast, only several kilograms each of nano-SiO2 (in automotive paint sealants), nano-Ag (in indoor paints and washcloths), and CNTs (in tennis rackets) are used each year. Based on the material flow analyses it can be assumed that, in the course of waste treatment, metallic/metal oxide nanomaterials very likely enrich in secondary waste like combustion residues, which in turn predominantly end up in landfills. Carbon-based nanomaterials like CNTs are most likely completely oxidized in the course of incineration. However, their elimination can only be ensured if they are subjected to high temperatures for a sufficiently long time. The uncertainties/substantial variances in the projected nanomaterial flows clearly show that there are still considerable gaps in our knowledge and available information, and that research regarding the exact environmental fate of nano-products \u2013 especially into their behavior and potential emission pathways in the disposal phase \u2013 is urgently needed

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Heterogeneity in genetic admixture across different regions of Argentina

The population of Argentina is the result of the intermixing between several groups, including Indigenous American, European and African populations. Despite the commonly held idea that the population of Argentina is of mostly European origin, multiple studies have shown that this process of admixture had an impact in the entire Argentine population. In the present study we characterized the distribution of Indigenous American, European and African ancestry among individuals from different regions of Argentina and evaluated the level of discrepancy between self-reported grandparental origin and genetic ancestry estimates. A set of 99 autosomal ancestry informative markers (AIMs) was genotyped in a sample of 441 Argentine individuals to estimate genetic ancestry. We used non-parametric tests to evaluate statistical significance. The average ancestry for the Argentine sample overall was 65% European (95%CI: 63-68%), 31% Indigenous American (28-33%) and 4% African (3-4%). We observed statistically significant differences in European ancestry across Argentine regions [Buenos Aires province (BA) 76%, 95%CI: 73-79%; Northeast (NEA) 54%, 95%CI: 49-58%; Northwest (NWA) 33%, 95%CI: 21-41%; South 54%, 95%CI: 49-59%; p<0.0001] as well as between the capital and immediate suburbs of Buenos Aires city compared to more distant suburbs [80% (95%CI: 75-86%) versus 68% (95%CI: 58-77%), p = 0.01]. European ancestry among individuals that declared all grandparents born in Europe was 91% (95%CI: 88-94%) compared to 54% (95%CI: 51-57%) among those with no European grandparents (p<0.001). Our results demonstrate the range of variation in genetic ancestry among Argentine individuals from different regions in the country, highlighting the importance of taking this variation into account in genetic association and admixture mapping studies in this population

The long-term and interannual variability of summer fresh water storage over the eastern Siberian shelf: Implication for climatic change

A time series of summer fresh water content anomalies (FWCA) over the Laptev and East Siberian sea shelves was constructed from historical hydrographic records for the period from 1920 to 2005. Results from a multiple regression between FCWA and various atmospheric and oceanic indices show that the fresh water content on the shelves is mainly controlled by atmospheric vorticity on quasi-decadal timescales. When the vorticity of the atmosphere on the shelves is antycyclonic, approximately 500 km3 of fresh water migrates from the eastern Siberian shelf to the Arctic Ocean through the northeastern Laptev Sea. When the vorticity of the atmosphere is cyclonic, this fresh water remains on the southern Laptev and East Siberian sea shelves. This FWCA represents approximately 35% of the total fresh water inflow provided by river discharge and local sea-ice melt, and is about ten times larger than the standard deviation of the Lena River summer long-term mean discharge. However, the large interannual and spatial variability in the fresh water content of the shelves, as well as the spatial coverage of the hydrographic data, makes it difficult to detect the long-term tendency of fresh water storage associated with climate change

The Perfect Binary One-Error-Correcting Codes of Length 15: Part I--Classification

A complete classification of the perfect binary one-error-correcting codes of length 15 as well as their extensions of length 16 is presented. There are 5983 such inequivalent perfect codes and 2165 extended perfect codes. Efficient generation of these codes relies on the recent classification of Steiner quadruple systems of order 16. Utilizing a result of Blackmore, the optimal binary one-error-correcting codes of length 14 and the (15, 1024, 4) codes are also classified; there are 38408 and 5983 such codes, respectively.Comment: 6 pages. v3: made the codes available in the source of this pape

Continual Lifelong Learning with Neural Networks: A Review

Humans and animals have the ability to continually acquire, fine-tune, and transfer knowledge and skills throughout their lifespan. This ability, referred to as lifelong learning, is mediated by a rich set of neurocognitive mechanisms that together contribute to the development and specialization of our sensorimotor skills as well as to long-term memory consolidation and retrieval. Consequently, lifelong learning capabilities are crucial for autonomous agents interacting in the real world and processing continuous streams of information. However, lifelong learning remains a long-standing challenge for machine learning and neural network models since the continual acquisition of incrementally available information from non-stationary data distributions generally leads to catastrophic forgetting or interference. This limitation represents a major drawback for state-of-the-art deep neural network models that typically learn representations from stationary batches of training data, thus without accounting for situations in which information becomes incrementally available over time. In this review, we critically summarize the main challenges linked to lifelong learning for artificial learning systems and compare existing neural network approaches that alleviate, to different extents, catastrophic forgetting. We discuss well-established and emerging research motivated by lifelong learning factors in biological systems such as structural plasticity, memory replay, curriculum and transfer learning, intrinsic motivation, and multisensory integration

Can sleep and resting behaviours be used as indicators of welfare in shelter dogs (Canis lupusfamiliaris)?

Previous research on humans and animals suggests that the analysis of sleep patterns may reliably inform us about welfare status, but little research of this kind has been carried out for non-human animals in an applied context. This study explored the use of sleep and resting behaviour as indicators of welfare by describing the activity patterns of dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) housed in rescue shelters, and comparing their sleep patterns to other behavioural and cognitive measures of welfare. Sleep and activity patterns were observed over five non-consecutive days in a population of 15 dogs. Subsequently, the characteristics of sleep and resting behaviour were described and the impact of activity on patterns of sleep and resting behaviour analysed. Shelter dogs slept for 2.8% of the day, 14.3% less than previously reported and experienced less sleep fragmentation at night (32 sleep bouts). There were no statistically significant relationships between behaviours exhibited during the day and sleep behaviour. A higher proportion of daytime resting behaviour was significantly associated with a positive judgement bias, less repetitive behaviour and increased time spent coded as ‘relaxed’ across days by shelter staff. These results suggest that, in the context of a busy shelter environment, the ability to rest more during the day could be a sign of improved welfare. Considering the non-linear relationship between sleep and welfare in humans, the relationship between sleep and behavioural indicators of welfare, including judgement bias, in shelter dogs may be more complex than this study could detect