Chemistry by Mobile Phone (or how to justify more time at the bar)

By combining automatic environment monitoring with Java smartphones a system has been produced for the real-time monitoring of experiments whilst away from the lab. Changes in the laboratory environment are encapsulated as simple XML messages, which are published using an MQTT compliant broker. Clients subscribe to the MQTT stream, and produce a user display. An MQTT client written for the Java MIDP platform, can be run on a smartphone with a GPRS Internet connection, freeing us from the constraints of the lab. We present an overview of the technologies used, and how these are helping chemists make the best use of their time

Proximal business intelligence on the semantic web

This is the post-print version of this article. The official version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer.Ubiquitous information systems (UBIS) extend current Information System thinking to explicitly differentiate technology between devices and software components with relation to people and process. Adapting business data and management information to support specific user actions in context is an ongoing topic of research. Approaches typically focus on providing mechanisms to improve specific information access and transcoding but not on how the information can be accessed in a mobile, dynamic and ad-hoc manner. Although web ontology has been used to facilitate the loading of data warehouses, less research has been carried out on ontology based mobile reporting. This paper explores how business data can be modeled and accessed using the web ontology language and then re-used to provide the invisibility of pervasive access; uncovering more effective architectural models for adaptive information system strategies of this type. This exploratory work is guided in part by a vision of business intelligence that is highly distributed, mobile and fluid, adapting to sensory understanding of the underlying environment in which it operates. A proof-of concept mobile and ambient data access architecture is developed in order to further test the viability of such an approach. The paper concludes with an ontology engineering framework for systems of this type – named UBIS-ONTO

Perspectives on the Role of Fospropofol in the Monitored Anesthesia Care Setting

Monitored anesthesia care (MAC) is a safe, effective, and appropriate form of anesthesia for many minor surgical procedures. The proliferation of outpatient procedures has heightened interest in MAC sedation agents. Among the most commonly used MAC sedation agents today are benzodiazepines, including midazolam, and propofol. Recently approved in the United States is fospropofol, a prodrug of propofol which hydrolyzes in the body by alkaline phosphatase to liberate propofol. Propofol liberated from fospropofol has unique pharmacological properties, but recently retracted pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) evaluations make it difficult to formulate clear conclusions with respect to fospropofol's PK/PD properties. In safety and efficacy clinical studies, fospropofol demonstrated dose-dependent sedation with good rates of success at doses of 6.5 mg/kg along with good levels of patient and physician acceptance. Fospropofol has been associated with less pain at injection site than propofol. The most commonly reported side effects with fospropofol are paresthesia and pruritus. Fospropofol is a promising new sedation agent that appears to be well suited for MAC sedation, but further studies are needed to better understand its PK/PD properties as well its appropriate clinical role in outpatient procedures

First light for avian embryos: eggshell thickness and pigmentation mediate variation in development and UV exposure in wild bird eggs

Article first published online: 29 JUL 20141. The avian embryo's development is influenced by both the amount and the wavelength of the light that passes through the eggshell. Commercial poultry breeders use light of specific wavelengths to accelerate embryonic growth, yet the effects of the variably patterned eggshells of wild bird species on light transmission and embryonic development remain largely unexplored. 2. Here, we provide the first comparative phylogenetic analysis of light transmission, through a diverse range of bird eggshells (74 British breeding species), in relation to the eggshell's thickness, permeability, pigment concentration and surface reflectance spectrum (colour). 3. The percentage of light transmitted through the eggshell was measured in the spectral range 250–700 nm. Our quantitative analyses confirm anecdotal reports that eggshells filter the light of the externally coloured shell. Specifically, we detected a positive relationship between surface eggshell reflectance (‘brightness’) and the percentage of light transmitted through the eggshell, and this relationship was strongest at wavelengths in the human-visible blue-green region of the spectra (c. 435 nm). 4. We show that less light passes through thicker eggshells with greater total pigment concentrations. By contrast, permeability (measured as water vapour conductance) did not covary significantly with light transmission. Eggs of closed-nesting species let more light pass through, compared with open nesters. 5. We postulate that greater light transmission is required to assist embryonic development under low light exposure. Importantly, this result provides an ecological explanation for the repeated evolution of immaculate, white- or pale-coloured eggshells in species nesting in enclosed spaces. 6. Finally, we detected correlative support for the solar radiation hypothesis, in that eggshells of bird species with a longer incubation period let significantly less of the potentially harmful, ultraviolet (UV) light pass through the eggshell. In summary, we demonstrate suites of avian eggshell properties, including eggshell structure and pigmentation, which are consistent with an evolutionary pressure to both enhance and protect embryonic development.Golo Maurer, Steven J. Portugal, Mark E. Hauber, Ivan Mikšík, Douglas G. D. Russell and Phillip Casse

Cytokine profiles in patients with lower limb ischaemia

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A VLT spectroscopic survey of RX J0152.7-1357, a forming cluster of galaxies at z=0.837

We present the results of an extensive spectroscopic survey of RX J0152.7-1357, one of the most massive distant clusters of galaxies known. Multi-object spectroscopy, carried out with FORS1 and FORS2 on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), has allowed us to measure more than 200 redshifts in the cluster field and to confirm 102 galaxies as cluster members. The mean redshift of the cluster is $z=0.837 \pm 0.001$ and we estimate the velocity dispersion of the overall cluster galaxy distribution to be $\sim 1600 \mathrm{km \ s^{-1}}$. The distribution of cluster members is clearly irregular, with two main clumps that follow the X-ray cluster emission mapped by Chandra. A third clump of galaxies to the east of the central structure and at the cluster redshift has also been identified. The two main clumps have velocity dispersions of$\sim919$and$\sim737 \mathrm{km s^{-1}}$respectively, and the peculiar velocity of the two clumps suggests that they will merge into a single more massive cluster. A segregation in the star formation activity of the member galaxies is observed. All star forming galaxies are located outside the high-density peaks, which are populated only by passive galaxies. A population of red galaxies (belonging to the cluster red sequence) with clear post-starburst spectral features and [OII] ($\lambda$3727) emission lines is observed in the outskirts of the cluster. Two AGNs, which were previously confused with the diffuse X-ray emission from the intracluster medium in ROSAT and BeppoSAX observations, are found to be cluster members.Comment: 16 pages. 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Tables 4 and 5 available in printed version. Corrected typos and missing reference

A Spitzer-Selected Galaxy Cluster at z=1.62

We report the discovery of a galaxy cluster at z=1.62 located in the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey XMM-LSS field. This structure was selected solely as an overdensity of galaxies with red Spitzer/IRAC colors, satisfying [3.6]-[4.5] > -0.1 AB mag. Photometric redshifts derived from Subaru XMM Deep Survey (BViz-bands), UKIRT Infrared Deep Survey-Ultra-Deep Survey (UKIDSS-UDS, JK-bands), and from the Spitzer Public UDS survey (3.6-8.0 micron) show that this cluster corresponds to a surface density of galaxies at z ~ 1.6 that is more than 20 sigma above the mean at this redshift. We obtained optical spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the cluster region using IMACS on the Magellan telescope. We measured redshifts for seven galaxies in the range z=1.62-1.63 within 2.8 arcmin (<1.4 Mpc) of the astrometric center of the cluster. A posteriori analysis of the XMM data in this field reveal a weak (4 sigma) detection in the [0.5-2 keV] band compatible with the expected thermal emission from such a cluster. The color-magnitude diagram of the galaxies in this cluster shows a prominent red-sequence, dominated by a population of red galaxies with (z-J) > 1.7 mag. The photometric redshift probability distributions for the red galaxies are strongly peaked at z=1.62, coincident with the spectroscopically confirmed galaxies. The rest-frame (U-B) color and scatter of galaxies on the red-sequence are consistent with a mean luminosity-weighted age of 1.2 +/- 0.1 Gyr, yielding a formation redshift z_f = 2.35 +/- 0.10, and corresponding to the last significant star-formation period in these galaxies.Comment: ApJ, in press, 11 pages, 7 figures (some in color). Updated with the slightly modified ApJ-accepted version

Baryon Content of Massive Galaxy Clusters (0.57 < z < 1.33)

We study the stellar, Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) and intracluster medium (ICM) masses of 14 South Pole Telescope (SPT) selected galaxy clusters with median redshift $z=0.9$ and median mass $M_{500}=6\times10^{14}M_{\odot}$. We estimate stellar masses for each cluster and BCG using six photometric bands spanning the range from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared observed with the VLT, HST and Spitzer. The ICM masses are derived from Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray observations, and the virial masses are derived from the SPT Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect signature. At $z=0.9$ the BCG mass $M_{\star}^{\textrm{BCG}}$ constitutes $0.12\pm0.01$% of the halo mass for a $6\times10^{14}M_{\odot}$ cluster, and this fraction falls as $M_{500}^{-0.58\pm0.07}$. The cluster stellar mass function has a characteristic mass $M_{0}=10^{11.0\pm0.1}M_{\odot}$, and the number of galaxies per unit mass in clusters is larger than in the field by a factor $1.65\pm0.2$. Both results are consistent with measurements on group scales and at lower redshift. We combine our SPT sample with previously published samples at low redshift that we correct to a common initial mass function and for systematic differences in virial masses. We then explore mass and redshift trends in the stellar fraction (fstar), the ICM fraction (fICM), the cold baryon fraction (fc) and the baryon fraction (fb). At a pivot mass of $6\times10^{14}M_{\odot}$ and redshift $z=0.9$, the characteristic values are fstar=$1.1\pm0.1$%, fICM=$9.6\pm0.5$%, fc=$10.4\pm1.2$% and fb=$10.7\pm0.6$%. These fractions all vary with cluster mass at high significance, indicating that higher mass clusters have lower fstar and fc and higher fICM and fb. When accounting for a 15% systematic virial mass uncertainty, there is no statistically significant redshift trend at fixed mass in these baryon fractions. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

VLT and ACS observations of RDCS J1252.9-2927: dynamical structure and galaxy populations in a massive cluster at z=1.237

We present results from an extensive spectroscopic survey, carried out with VLT FORS, and from an extensive multiwavelength imaging data set from the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys and ground based facilities, of the cluster of galaxies RDCS J1252.9-2927. We have spectroscopically confirmed 38 cluster members in the redshift range 1.22 < z < 1.25. A cluster median redshift of z=1.237 and a rest-frame velocity dispersion of 747^{+74}_{-84} km/s are obtained. Using the 38 confirmed redshifts, we were able to resolve, for the first time at z > 1, kinematic structure. The velocity distribution, which is not Gaussian at the 95% confidence level, is consistent with two groups that are also responsible for the projected east-west elongation of the cluster. The groups are composed of 26 and 12 galaxies with velocity dispersions of 486^{+47}_{-85} km/s and 426^{+57}_{-105} km/s, respectively. The elongation is also seen in the intracluster gas and the dark matter distribution. This leads us to conclude that RDCS J1252.9-2927 has not yet reached a final virial state. We extend the analysis of the color-magnitude diagram of spectroscopic members to more than 1 Mpc from the cluster center. The scatter and slope of non-[OII]-emitting cluster members in the near-IR red sequence is similar to that seen in clusters at lower redshift. Furthermore, most of the galaxies with luminosities greater than ~ K_s*+1.5 do not show any [OII], indicating that these more luminous, redder galaxies have stopped forming stars earlier than the fainter, bluer galaxies. Our observations provide detailed dynamical and spectrophotometric information on galaxies in this exceptional high-redshift cluster, delivering an in-depth view of structure formation at this epoch only 5 Gyr after the Big Bang.Comment: 29 pages. 16 figures. ApJ accepted. Tables 2,3 and 5, figure 1 and the full figure 5 will be available in the paper and electronic editions from ApJ. v2: minor corrections to the abstract and text to match the Journal's versio