Large scale motions in superclusters: their imprint in the CMB

We identify high density regions of supercluster size in high resolution N-body simulations of a representative volume of three Cold Dark Matter Universes. By assuming that (1) the density and peculiar velocities of baryons trace those of the dark matter, and (2) the temperature of plasma is proportional to the velocity dispersion of the dark matter particles in regions where the crossing times is smaller than the supercluster free-fall time, we investigate how thermal motions of electrons in the intra-cluster medium and peculiar velocity of clusters can affect the secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that the thermal effect dominates the kinematic effect and that the largest thermal decrements are associated with the most massive clusters in superclusters. Thus, searching for the presence of two or more close large CMB decrements represents a viable strategy for identifying superclusters at cosmological distances. Moreover, maps of the kinematic effect in superclusters are characterized by neighboring large peaks of opposite signs. These peaks can be as high as ~ 10 microK at the arcminute angular resolution. Simultaneous pointed observations of superclusters in the millimeter and submillimeter bands with upcoming sensitive CMB experiments can separate between the thermal and kinematic effect contributions and constrain the evolution of the velocity field in large overdense regions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letters, in press; revised version according to referee's comment

Early Aspects at ICSE 2007: Workshop on Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design

The “Early Aspects @ ICSE’07” is the 11th workshop in the series of Early Aspects workshops [1] which focuses on aspect identification during the requirements engineering and architecture derivation activities. The specific aim of the present workshop is twofold: (a) to initiate creation of an Early Aspects application demonstration and comparisons benchmark; and (b) to solicit submission of new research

Hydrophobicity properties of graphite and reduced graphene oxide of the polysulfone (PSf) mixed matrix membrane

Hydrophobicity properties of graphite and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (from exfoliated graphite/rGO) towards PSf polymer membrane characteristic and properties at different additives weight concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt. %) were investigated. Both PSF/graphite and PSf/rGO membranes were characterized in term of hydrophobicity, surface bonding, surface roughness and porosity. FTIR peaks revealed that membrane with graphite and reduced graphene oxide nearly diminished their O-H bonding which was opposite to the graphene oxide peak that shows a strong O-H bonding as increased exfoliated times. These results were in line with the contact angle results that showed strong hydrophobicity of graphite and reduced graphene oxide membranes as increased these additives concentration. The effect of strong hydrophobicity in these membranes also has resulted in smoother surface roughness compared to pristine PSf membrane. Further investigation of the performance of water flux also proved that both above membranes have strong hydrophobic effect, with the lowest pure water flux rate (L/m2h) was given by PSf/rGO 3% membrane at 19.2437 L/m2h

Characterization study of industrial waste glass as starting material in development of bioactive materials

In present study, an industrial waste glass was characterized and the potential to assess as starting material in development of bioactive materials was investigated. A waste glass collected from the two different glass industry was grounded to fine powder. The sampleswere characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), pycnometer and inductively couple plasma (ICP). The XRF result indicates both waste glass (WG1 and WG2) are the glass made based SLS glass composition and the density values were in the range of commercial SLS glass. Results from ICP showed both waste glass has contains of heavy metal trace elements that exceeds the allowable concentration level as per standard ASTM F1538-03. Obviously from this study, these twotypes of waste glass were not suitable for use as starting material as no compromise against the toxic elements are allowed for use in the human body.Keywords: waste glass; soda lime silica glass; biomaterials

Quantum Nonlocal Boxes Exhibit Stronger Distillability

The hypothetical nonlocal box (\textsf{NLB}) proposed by Popescu and Rohrlich allows two spatially separated parties, Alice and Bob, to exhibit stronger than quantum correlations. If the generated correlations are weak, they can sometimes be distilled into a stronger correlation by repeated applications of the \textsf{NLB}. Motivated by the limited distillability of \textsf{NLB}s, we initiate here a study of the distillation of correlations for nonlocal boxes that output quantum states rather than classical bits (\textsf{qNLB}s). We propose a new protocol for distillation and show that it asymptotically distills a class of correlated quantum nonlocal boxes to the value $1/2 (3\sqrt{3}+1) \approx 3.098076$, whereas in contrast, the optimal non-adaptive parity protocol for classical nonlocal boxes asymptotically distills only to the value 3.0. We show that our protocol is an optimal non-adaptive protocol for 1, 2 and 3 \textsf{qNLB} copies by constructing a matching dual solution for the associated primal semidefinite program (SDP). We conclude that \textsf{qNLB}s are a stronger resource for nonlocality than \textsf{NLB}s. The main premise that develops from this conclusion is that the \textsf{NLB} model is not the strongest resource to investigate the fundamental principles that limit quantum nonlocality. As such, our work provides strong motivation to reconsider the status quo of the principles that are known to limit nonlocal correlations under the framework of \textsf{qNLB}s rather than \textsf{NLB}s.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

Changing professional behaviours: mixed methods study utilising psychological theories to evaluate an educational programme for UK medical doctors

BACKGROUND: The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) has been proposed as a useful framework to investigate professional behaviour, however, was not yet applied to the evaluation of an educational intervention. This study will address this gap by utilising the TPB to evaluate the effectiveness of an education programme delivered by the professional regulator for UK doctors in enhancing three professional behaviours: raising concerns, engaging in reflective practice, and use of regulator confidentiality guidance. METHODS: This is a comprehensive mixed methods study combining qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (quasi-experiment) data. Intervention participants were asked to complete a survey measuring the variables in the TPB (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, and intention) for the three professional behaviours before, immediately post, and 3-months later following the education programme. Ninety-four doctors completed the survey pre/post intervention and 38 at all three times. One hundred and eleven doctors from the same hospital trust who did not take part in the intervention completed the survey at two time points and formed the control group. Forty-two interviews were conducted with intervention participants. RESULTS: The quantitative study revealed that the educational intervention significantly improved attitudes (raising concerns, using confidentiality guidance), subjective norms (raising concerns, reflective practice, using confidentiality guidance), perceived control (raising concerns, using confidentiality guidance), and intentions (using confidentiality guidance) (Group and Time interaction; Fs ≥ 3.996, ps ≤ .047, ηp2 ≥ .020). Non-UK graduate doctors' subjective norms towards raising concerns and confidentiality guidance increased significantly after the intervention (Fs ≤ 6.602, ps ≥ .011, ηp2 = .032 F = 6.602, p = .011, ηp2 = .032), but not UK graduates (p > .05). Interviews revealed that doctors had positive views about professional behaviours but also mentioned numerous barriers to actually engage in more complex, context dependent behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that an educational intervention was successful in improving the TPB variables of three professional behaviours. It also revealed that teaching professionalism does not happen in isolation and, therefore, personal and contextual factors are crucial to consider. To change complex professional behaviours, barriers at all levels i.e., personal, organisational and system, should be addressed

Pemikiran Pendidikan Islam Ibn Sahnûn: Analisis Kritis Kurikulum Pengajaran Di Institusi Pendidikan Dasar Islam

: Ibn Sahnûn\u27s Islamic Educational Thought: Critical Analysis of Teaching Curriculum in the Institution of Islamic Elementary Education. This paper aims to reveal the relevance of Ibn Sahnûn thought on teaching curriculum of Islamic primary education to the practice of the current teaching curriculum in Islamic primary education institutions. Based on descriptive, content, and critical analysis to form a reflective thought, the results of present study showed that the teaching curriculum of Islamic elementary education of Ibn Sahnûn still relevant to the practice of it nowadays, especially from (1) the principles of it composition aspects, the principle of tawâzun (equilibrium) between the materials of the hereafter with worldly ones or (intellectual with the spiritual aspect), the theoretical material with practical, and the principle of relevance, the suitability of the teaching curriculum to the needs of the community, and (2) the primary basis on which the teaching curriculum is developed, which is the basis of religion and social issues

Gold Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications in Drug Delivery

This review is focused essentially on the synthesis and applications of gold nanoparticles in the field of medicine and targeted drug delivery. Nanotechnology has become one of the most interesting and advanced areas of research in this field. Among nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles demonstrate special advantages in this field due to their unique properties, small size and high surface area-to-volume ratio. These particles have been widely used in various biomedical applications and drug delivery systems due to their inert nature, stability, high dispersity, non-cytotoxicity and biocompatibility.Keywords: Biosynthesis, Gold nanoparticles, Biomedical applications, Targeted drug delivery,Nanotechnology