Congress, Compacts, and Interstate Authorities

This paper summarises the authors’ own teaching experiences from two large MSc-level courses taught as part of several international Master programmes related to Sustainable Energy Engineering, organized by the Department of Energy Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.   Some important hinders and obstacles to effective learning are presented and discussed, addressing especially certain challenges for the students and their effect on student performance. Observations have been made throughout several years of increasing demand for energy- and sustainability-related knowledge by ever larger student groups. The growing number of international students and the fact that many students are aiming at expanding their abilities by specialising in energy engineering without having the necessary background, as well as the fact that many students following certain non-engineering programmes focusing on environmental or sustainability issues need nevertheless to study also purely engineering courses, brings many positive characteristics to the blended student team but also displays serious challenges to the practical optimisation of the learning activities, the intended learning outcomes, the speed of advancement in knowledge, and the general quality of education for such a diverse group of students. Possible improvements and augmentations of the learning activities with the goal of finding solutions to these challenges on both a programme level and course level are proposed and subjected to testing in recent student batches. The expected results in terms of improved student performance, and the plausible further extension of this work, are introduced and analysed.QC 20120308</p

On fixed points of self maps of the free ball

In this paper, we study the structure of the fixed point sets of noncommutative self maps of the free ball. We show that for such a map that fixes the origin the fixed point set on every level is the intersection of the ball with a linear subspace. We provide an application for the completely isometric isomorphism problem of multiplier algebras of noncommutative complete Pick spaces

The ANTARES Optical Beacon System

ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons, a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res.

Decreased Numbers of Blood Dendritic Cells and Defective Function of Regulatory T Cells in Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DC) and regulatory cells (Treg) play pivotal roles in controlling both normal and autoimmune adaptive immune responses. DC are the main antigen-presenting cells to T cells, and they also control Treg functions. In this study, we examined the frequency and phenotype of DC subsets, and the frequency and function of Treg from patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Blood samples from 19 untreated patients with AAV during flares and before any immunosuppressive treatment were analyzed, along with 15 AAV patients in remission and 18 age-matched healthy controls. DC and Treg numbers, and phenotypes were assessed by flow cytometry, and in vitro suppressive function of Treg was determined by co-culture assay. When compared to healthy volunteers, absolute numbers of conventional and plasmacytoid DC were decreased in AAV patients. During the acute phase this decrease was significantly more pronounced and was associated with an increased DC expression of CD62L. Absolute numbers of Treg (CD4(+)CD25(high)CD127(low/-) Tcells) were moderately decreased in patients. FOXP3 and CD39 were expressed at similar levels on Treg from patients as compared to controls. The suppressive function of Treg from AAV patients was dramatically decreased as compared to controls, and this defect was more pronounced during flares than remission. This Treg functional deficiency occurred in the absence of obvious Th17 deviation. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, these data show that AAV flares are associated with both a decrease number and altered phenotype of circulating DC and point to a role for Treg functional deficiency in the pathogenesis of AAV

First results of the Instrumentation Line for the deep-sea ANTARES neutrino telescope

In 2005, the ANTARES Collaboration deployed and operated at a depth of 2500 m a so-called Mini Instrumentation Line equipped with Optical Modules (MILOM) at the ANTARES site. The various data acquired during the continuous operation from April to December 2005 of the MILOM confirm the satisfactory performance of the Optical Modules, their front-end electronics and readout system. as well as the calibration devices of the detector. The in situ measurement of the Optical Module time response yields a resolution better than 0.5 ns. The performance of the acoustic positioning system, which enables the spatial reconstruction of the ANTARES detector with a precision of about 10 cm, is verified. These results demonstrate that with the full ANTARES neutrino telescope the design angular resolution of better than 0.3 degrees can be realistically achieved

Study of large hemispherical photomultiplier tubes for the ANTARES neutrino telescope

The ANTARES neutrino telescope, to be immersed depth in the Mediterranean Sea, will consist of a 3 dimensional matrix of 900 large area photomultiplier tubes housed in pressure resistant glass spheres. The selection of the optimal photomultiplier was a critical step for the project and required an intensive phase of tests and developments carried out in close collaboration with the main manufacturers worldwide. This paper provides an overview of the tests performed by the collaboration and describes in detail the features of the PMT chosen for ANTARES

The data acquisition system for the ANTARES neutrino telescope

The ANTARES neutrino telescope is being constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a large three-dimensional array of photo-multiplier tubes. The data acquisition system of the detector takes care of the digitisation of the photo-multiplier tube signals, data transport, data filtering, and data storage. The detector is operated using a control program interfaced with all elements. The design and the implementation of the data acquisition system are described.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Nucl. Instrum. Meth.

ANTARES: the first undersea neutrino telescope

The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the design, the construction and the installation of the telescope in the deep sea, offshore from Toulon in France. An illustration of the detector performance is given

Educating the Energy Engineers of Tomorrow : challenges of internationalisation and knowledge interchange

This paper summarises the authors’ own teaching experiences from two large MSc-level courses taught as part of several international Master programmes related to Sustainable Energy Engineering, organized by the Department of Energy Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden.   Some important hinders and obstacles to effective learning are presented and discussed, addressing especially certain challenges for the students and their effect on student performance. Observations have been made throughout several years of increasing demand for energy- and sustainability-related knowledge by ever larger student groups. The growing number of international students and the fact that many students are aiming at expanding their abilities by specialising in energy engineering without having the necessary background, as well as the fact that many students following certain non-engineering programmes focusing on environmental or sustainability issues need nevertheless to study also purely engineering courses, brings many positive characteristics to the blended student team but also displays serious challenges to the practical optimisation of the learning activities, the intended learning outcomes, the speed of advancement in knowledge, and the general quality of education for such a diverse group of students. Possible improvements and augmentations of the learning activities with the goal of finding solutions to these challenges on both a programme level and course level are proposed and subjected to testing in recent student batches. The expected results in terms of improved student performance, and the plausible further extension of this work, are introduced and analysed.QC 20120308</p

Analysis of Factors Affecting Content Management Solutions.

Mūsdienās daudzās organizācijās satura pieaugums notiek ļoti ātri. Taču daudzām organizācijām trūkst potenciāla un resursu savai attīstībai. Optimāla satura pārvaldība var būt resurss, kas var nodrošināt un vairot šo potenciālu. Tāpēc tiek veikti pētījumi, lai pārbaudītu dažādu faktoru ietekmi un atklātu noderīgu informāciju, kas sekmētu satura pārvaldību organizācijās. Satura pārvaldības risinājumu ieviešanu ietekmējošie faktori ir vairāki, piemēram, sarežģītība, izmaksas. Diemžēl šo faktoru ietekmes būtiskums Latvijā līdz šim nav pietiekami pētīts. Maģistra darbā veiktas ekspertu intervijas, to analīze, rezultātu interpretēšana un vispārināšana, pieņēmumu un hipotēžu izvirzīšana turpmākiem pētījumiem.Nowadays, in many organizations, content growth happens very fast. However, many organizations lack the potential and resources to their own develop. Optimal content management may be a resource that can provide and enhance this potential. Therefore, research is being carried out to test the impact of various factors and to discover useful information that would facilitate content management in organizations. There are several factors affecting the implementation of content management solutions, such as complexity, costs. Unfortunately, the significance of the influence of these factors in Latvia has not been sufficiently studied so far. The Master Thesis includes expert interviews, their analysis, interpretation and generalization of results, and assumptions and hypotheses for further research. Keywords: content management, content management solutions, content sharing, qualitative research metho