16,004 research outputs found
Activity In Vitro of Clotrimazole against Canine Methicillin-Resistant and Susceptible Staphylococcus pseudintermedius
Emergence of multidrug-resistance in Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (SP) has increased interest in topical therapy as an alternative to systemic antibiotics in canine pyoderma. The antifungal imidazole, clotrimazole, is contained in numerous licensed canine ear preparations. Its in vitro activity against SP has not been evaluated, although previous studies have shown that the related imidazole, miconazole, has significant anti-staphylococcal efficacy. We therefore determined minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of clotrimazole amongst 50 SP isolates (25 methicillin-resistant [MR]SP and susceptible [MS]SP) collected from dogs in Germany during 2010–2011 using an agar dilution method (CLSI VET01-A4). MICs amongst MRSP and MSSP were comparable (MIC50 and MIC90 = 1mg/L for both groups, p = 0.317); overall, 49 isolates had MIC = 1 mg/L and one had MIC = 0.5 mg/L. The relatively low MICs obtained in this study are likely to be exceeded by topical therapy and thus further clinical evaluation of clotrimazole use in canine superficial pyoderma and otitis externa caused by MRSP and MSSP is now warranted
Productivity policy
In this Briefing Note, we first present internationally comparative evidence on the UK's productivity performance (Section 2) and some of the underlying "drivers" of productivity identified by the government (Section 3). We then provide an overview of productivity policy under both Labour governments since 1997, and discuss the recent direction of policy in this 2005 Election Briefing area (Section 4). Finally, we discuss the proposals of the three main parties in the area of productivity policy (Section 5)
Window Function for Non-Circular Beam CMB Anisotropy Experiment
We develop computationally rapid methods to compute the window function for a
cosmic microwave background anisotropy experiment with a non-circular beam
which scans over large angles on the sky. To concretely illustrate these
methods we compute the window function for the Python V experiment which scans
over large angles on the sky with an elliptical Gaussian beam.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure
Constraining Large Scale Structure Theories with the Cosmic Background Radiation
We review the relevant 10+ parameters associated with inflation and matter
content; the relation between LSS and primary and secondary CMB anisotropy
probes; COBE constraints on energy injection; current anisotropy band-powers
which strongly support the gravitational instability theory and suggest the
universe could not have reionized too early. We use Bayesian analysis methods
to determine what current CMB and CMB+LSS data imply for inflation-based
Gaussian fluctuations in tilted CDM, hCDM and oCDM model
sequences with age 11-15 Gyr, consisting of mixtures of baryons, cold (and
possibly hot) dark matter, vacuum energy, and curvature energy in open
cosmologies. For example, we find the slope of the initial spectrum is within
about 5% of the (preferred) scale invariant form when just the CMB data is
used, and for CDM when LSS data is combined with CMB; with both, a
nonzero value of is strongly preferred ( for a 13
Gyr sequence, similar to the value from SNIa). The CDM sequence prefers
, but is overall much less likely than the flat
sequence with CMB+LSS. We also review the rosy forecasts
of angular power spectra and parameter estimates from future balloon and
satellite experiments when foreground and systematic effects are ignored.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures, 2 tables, uses rspublic.sty To appear in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A, 1998.
"Discussion Meeting on Large Scale Structure in the Universe," Royal Society,
London, March 1998. Text and colour figures also available at
ftp://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/bond/roysoc9
Studying and Modeling the Connection between People's Preferences and Content Sharing
People regularly share items using online social media. However, people's
decisions around sharing---who shares what to whom and why---are not well
understood. We present a user study involving 87 pairs of Facebook users to
understand how people make their sharing decisions. We find that even when
sharing to a specific individual, people's own preference for an item
(individuation) dominates over the recipient's preferences (altruism). People's
open-ended responses about how they share, however, indicate that they do try
to personalize shares based on the recipient. To explain these contrasting
results, we propose a novel process model of sharing that takes into account
people's preferences and the salience of an item. We also present encouraging
results for a sharing prediction model that incorporates both the senders' and
the recipients' preferences. These results suggest improvements to both
algorithms that support sharing in social media and to information diffusion
models.Comment: CSCW 201
Constraints on scalar-tensor theories from observations
We study the dynamical description of scalar-tensor gravity by performing the
best-fit analysis for two cases of exponential and power-law form of the
potential and scalar field function coupled to the curvature. The models are
then tested against observational data. The results show that in both scenarios
the Universe undergoes an acceleration expansion period and the geometrical
equivalent of dark energy is associated with a time-dependent equation of
state.Comment: 16 pages, 32 figure
The Evolution of the Cosmic Microwave Background
We discuss the time dependence and future of the Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) in the context of the standard cosmological model, in which we are now
entering a state of endless accelerated expansion. The mean temperature will
simply decrease until it reaches the effective temperature of the de Sitter
vacuum, while the dipole will oscillate as the Sun orbits the Galaxy. However,
the higher CMB multipoles have a richer phenomenology. The CMB anisotropy power
spectrum will for the most part simply project to smaller scales, as the
comoving distance to last scattering increases, and we derive a scaling
relation that describes this behaviour. However, there will also be a dramatic
increase in the integrated Sachs-Wolfe contribution at low multipoles. We also
discuss the effects of tensor modes and optical depth due to Thomson
scattering. We introduce a correlation function relating the sky maps at two
times and the closely related power spectrum of the difference map. We compute
the evolution both analytically and numerically, and present simulated future
sky maps.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures; references added; one figure dropped and minor
changes to match published version. For high-resolution versions of figures
and animations, see http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/scott/future.htm
Revisit of cosmic age problem
We investigate the cosmic age problem associated with 9 extremely old
globular clusters in M31 galaxy and 1 very old high- quasar APM 08279 + 5255
at . These 9 globular clusters have not been used to study the cosmic
age problem in the previous literature. By evaluating the age of the universe
in the CDM model with the observational constraints from the SNIa, the
BAO, the CMB, and the independent measurements, we find that the
existence of 5 globular clusters and 1 high- quasar are in tension (over
2 confidence level) with the current cosmological observations. So if
the age estimates of these objects are correct, the cosmic age puzzle still
remains in the standard cosmology. Moreover, we extend our investigations to
the cases of the interacting dark energy models. It is found that although the
introduction of the interaction between dark sectors can give a larger cosmic
age, the interacting dark energy models still have difficulty to pass the
cosmic age test.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in PR
The Opportunities and Challenges of the Changing Public Services Landscape for the Third Sector in Scotland
A Way to Dynamically Overcome the Cosmological Constant Problem
The Cosmological Constant problem can be solved once we require that the full
standard Einstein Hilbert lagrangian, gravity plus matter, is multiplied by a
total derivative. We analyze such a picture writing the total derivative as the
covariant gradient of a new vector field (b_mu). The dynamics of this b_mu
field can play a key role in the explanation of the present cosmological
acceleration of the Universe.Comment: 5 page
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