Note on Moufang-Noether currents

The derivative Noether currents generated by continuous Moufang tranformations are constructed and their equal-time commutators are found. The corresponding charge algebra turns out to be a birepresentation of the tangent Mal'ltsev algebra of an analytic Moufang loop.Comment: LaTeX2e, 6 pages, no figures, presented on "The XVth International Colloquium on Integrable Systems and Quantum Symmetries, Prague, 15-17 June, 2006

WIKINGER – Wiki Next Generation Enhanced Repositories

The regular indexing of text documents is based on the textual representation and does not evaluate the actual document content. In the semantic web approach, human-authored text documents are transformed into machine-readable content data which can be used to create semantic relations among documents. In this paper, we present on-going work in the WIKINGER project which aims to build a web-based system for semantic indexing of text documents by evaluating manual and semi-automatic annotations. A particular feature is the continuous refinement of the automatically generated semantic network by considering community feedback. The feasibility of the approach will be validated in a pilot application

Skin microbiome in atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis is a common inflammatory skin disease with a complex pathogenesis that includes imbalanced immune system signalling, impaired skin barrier and enhanced Staphylococcus aureus skin colonization. The skin bacterial communities are characterized by increasing abundance of S. aureus, leading to reduced diversity compared with the bacterial communities on healthy skin, and increasing disease severity. In contrast, fungal communities are richer and more diverse on the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis, although distribution of the most common species is similar in patients and controls. Filaggrin deficiency in atopic dermatitis skin might be related to the enhanced skin colonization by S. aureus. In addition, S. aureus expressing variant virulence factors have been shown to elicit atopic dermatitis-like phenotypes in mice, indicating that specific S. aureus strains can induce flare-ups. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent literature on the skin microbiome in atopic dermatitis

Automated Damage Index Estimation of Reinforced Concrete Columns for Post-Earthquake Evaluations

In emergency scenarios, immediate reconnaissance efforts are necessary. These efforts often take months to complete in full. While underway, building occupants are unable to return to their homes/businesses, and thus, the impact on the society of the disaster-stricken region is increased. In order to mitigate the impact, researchers have focused on creating a more efficient means of assessing the condition of buildings in the post-disaster state. In this paper, a machine vision-based methodology for real-time post-earthquake safety assessment is presented. A novel method of retrieving spalled properties on reinforced concrete (RC) columns in RC frame buildings using image data is presented. In this method, the spalled region is detected using a local entropy-based approach. Following this, the depth properties are retrieved using contextual information pertaining to the amount and type of reinforcement which is exposed. The method is validated using a dataset of damaged RC column images.This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers CMMI-1034845 and CMMI-0738417.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ASCE at http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.000120

Norge og NATO's kommandostruktur

Denne publikasjonen utgis som del av forskningsprogrammet Security and Defence in Northern Europe (SNE). SNE er et forskningsprogram ved IFS i perioden 2013‒2018 som utforsker muligheter og utfordringer for sikkerhets- og forsvarssamarbeid i Nord-Europa. SNE finansieres av Forsvarsdepartementet og gjennomføres i samarbeid med internasjonalepartnere. Programmet organiserer åpne seminarer og workshops med ekspertmiljøer, og publiserer forskningsbaserte studier, analyser og kommentarer.Hovedpunkter: • Norge har i sin tilnærming til NATOs kommandostruktur tradisjonelt lagt vekt på å binde sine allierte til forsvaret av Norge, og å sikre nasjonal kontroll over NATO-operasjoner i og rundt Norge. • Etter slutten av den kalde krigen har norske myndigheter måttet delvis oppgi, delvis justere hvordan målene konkret kan oppnås. Kjernen i den norske tilnærmingen er imidlertid den samme

Electrophysiological localization of brain regions involved in perceptual memory

Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded during perceptual discrimination and short-term memory, varying the interstimulus interval (1–10 s) in delayed spatial frequency discrimination. Accuracy of discrimination remained unimpaired across this time interval, but choice reaction times increased. A brain source localization (BESA) model showed that the activity of the parietal and right temporal sources increased with long retention intervals in a sequential activation pattern where a long-latency component of the parietal source specific to the memory condition was observed, the latency of which matched a memory-related increase in choice reaction times in the cognitive task. It is suggested that the temporal sources are involved in encoding and storage of visual information, and the parietal source is involved in memory retrieval

Nonassociative strict deformation quantization of C*-algebras and nonassociative torus bundles

In this paper, we initiate the study of nonassociative strict deformation quantization of C*-algebras with a torus action. We shall also present a definition of nonassociative principal torus bundles, and give a classification of these as nonassociative strict deformation quantization of ordinary principal torus bundles. We then relate this to T-duality of principal torus bundles with $H$-flux. We also show that the Octonions fit nicely into our theory.Comment: 15 pages, latex2e, exposition improved, to appear in LM

Cross-Talk between Staphylococcus aureus and Other Staphylococcal Species via the agr Quorum Sensing System

Staphylococci are associated with both humans and animals. While most are non-pathogenic colonizers, Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing severe infections. S. aureus virulence is controlled by the agr quorum sensing system responding to secreted auto-inducing peptides (AIPs) sensed by AgrC, a two component histidine kinase. agr loci are found also in other staphylococcal species and for Staphylococcus epidermidis, the encoded AIP represses expression of agr regulated virulence genes in S. aureus. In this study we aimed to better understand the interaction between staphylococci and S. aureus, and show that this interaction may eventually lead to the identification of new anti-virulence candidates to target S. aureus infections. Here we show that culture supernatants of 37 out of 52 staphylococcal isolates representing 17 different species inhibit S. aureus agr. The dog pathogen, Staphylococcus schleiferi, expressed the most potent inhibitory activity and was active against all four agr classes found in S. aureus. By employing a S. aureus strain encoding a constitutively active AIP receptor we show that the activity is mediated via agr. Subsequent cloning and heterologous expression of the S. schleiferi AIP in S. aureus demonstrated that this molecule was likely responsible for the inhibitory activity, and further proof was provided when pure synthetic S. schleiferi AIP was able to completely abolish agr induction of an S. aureus reporter strain. To assess impact on S. aureus virulence, we co-inoculated S. aureus and S. schleiferi in vivo in the Galleria mellonella wax moth larva, and found that expression of key S. aureus virulence factors was abrogated. Our data show that the S. aureus agr locus is highly responsive to other staphylococcal species suggesting that agr is an inter-species communication system. Based on these results we speculate that interactions between S. aureus and other colonizing staphylococci will significantly influence the ability of S. aureus to cause infection, and we propose that other staphylococci are potential sources of compounds that can be applied as anti-virulence therapy for combating S. aureus infections

The Efficacy of Renal Replacement Therapy for Rewarming of Patients in Severe Accidental Hypothermia-Systematic Review of the Literature.

Renal replacement therapy (RRT) can be used to rewarm patients in deep hypothermia. However, there is still no clear evidence for the effectiveness of RRT in this group of patients. This systematic review aims to summarize the rewarming rates during RRT in patients in severe hypothermia, below or equal to 32 °C. This systematic review was registered in the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (identifier CRD42021232821). We searched Embase, Medline, and Cochrane databases using the keywords hypothermia, renal replacement therapy, hemodialysis, hemofiltration, hemodiafiltration, and their abbreviations. The search included only articles in English with no time limit, up until 30 June 2021. From the 795 revised articles, 18 studies including 21 patients, were selected for the final assessment and data extraction. The mean rate of rewarming calculated for all studies combined was 1.9 °C/h (95% CI 1.5-2.3) and did not differ between continuous (2.0 °C/h; 95% CI 0.9-3.0) and intermittent (1.9 °C/h; 95% CI 1.5-2.3) methods (p > 0.9). Based on the reviewed literature, it is currently not possible to provide high-quality recommendations for RRT use in specific groups of patients in accidental hypothermia. While RRT appears to be a viable rewarming strategy, the choice of rewarming method should always be determined by the specific clinical circumstances, the available resources, and the current resuscitation guidelines