The Nature of Ultra Luminous X-ray Sources

We present spectroscopic observations of six optical counterparts of intermediate luminosity X-ray sources (ULXs) around nearby galaxies. The spectra of the six objects show the presence of broad emission features. The identification of these allow us to classify all of the objects as quasars at higher redshift than their assigned parent galaxy. This is one of the first and largest identifications of such objects using unambigous optical spectral features. These results, in conjuction with previous similar identifications of other sources, indicate that high redshift quasars represent an important fraction of catalogued ULX sources. We estimate the density of such sources and compare this with expectations for a population of randomly distributed background quasars.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Podoconiosis in Ethiopia. A pilot study to improve the management of Lymphedema.

Podoconiosis is a non-infectious cause of lymphedema, frequent in Africa. The aim of this study is to implement the management of lymphedema secondary to podoconiosis in a rural hospital in Southern Ethiopia. A call for donation of compression garments was made in Spain, to give any used and retired garment among lymphedema patients. The working plan was to train the staff in the lymphatic system, the causes of lymphedema, prevention strategies, skin care, intensive treatment and maintenance at long-term, Decongestive lymphatic treatment of the patients affected from podoconiosis and the adaptation of the donated garments for maintenance phase. Fifteen patients were treated with 10 sessions of Decongestive Lymphatic Therapy (DLT) consisting of Manual Lymphatic Drainage and multilayer bandages. The Percentage of Volume Reduction was 11.3% (95%CI: 8.8-13.9). Fifty percent of the patients showed an increase of the volume of lymphedema as they did not comply with the compression treatment. This pilot study has had good results in helping lymphedema management in Southern Ethiopia. The donation of used garments by chronic patients can be a feasible and effective step to improving the maintenance phase of patients with lymphedema in places with limited resources

Cross-Border Investment, Conflict of Laws, and the Privatization of Securities Law

The rapid acceleration of transnational investing is occurring in an environment in which emerging markets, and foreign interest in these markets, are exploding. The issues involved with cross-border investment, conflict of laws and the privatization of securities law are examined

Dual-Drive Directional Couplers for Programmable Integrated Photonics

A novel class of photonic integrated circuits employs large-scale integration of combined beam splitters and waveguides loaded with phase actuators to provide complex linear processing functionalities that can be reconfigured dynamically. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a thermally-actuated Dual-Drive Directional Coupler (DD-DC) design, integrated in a silicon nitride platform, functioning both as a standalone optical component providing arbitrary optical beam splitting and common phase as well as for its use in waveguide mesh arrangements. We analyze the experimental demonstration of the first integration of a triangular waveguide mesh arrangement, and the first DD-DC based arrangement along with an extended analysis of its performance and scalability