A life dedicated to pharmacy

The Synapse meets Mary Ann Sant Fournier presently President of the Malta Chamber of Pharmacists, and visiting Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, UOM.peer-reviewe

Gas generation and wind power: A review of unlikely allies in the United Kingdom and Ireland

No single solution currently exists to achieve the utopian desire of zero fossil fuel electricity generation. Until such time, it is evident that the energy mix will contain a large variation in stochastic and intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind power. The increasing prominence of wind power in pursuit of legally binding European energy targets enables policy makers and conventional generating companies to plan for the unique challenges such a natural resource presents. This drive for wind has been highly beneficial in terms of security of energy supply and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, it has created an unusual ally in natural gas. This paper outlines the suitability and challenges faced by gas generating units in their utilisation as key assets for renewable energy integration and the transition to a low carbon future. The Single Electricity Market of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and the British Electricity Transmission Trading Agreement Market are the backdrop to this analysis. Both of these energy markets have a reliance on gas generation matching the proliferation of wind power. The unlikely and mostly ignored relationship between natural gas generation and wind power due to policy decisions and market forces is the necessity of gas to act as a bridging fuel. This review finds gas generation to be crucially important to the continued growth of renewable energy. Additionally, it is suggested that power market design should adequately reward the flexibility required to securely operate a power system with high penetrations of renewable energy, which in most cases is provided by gas generation

Signal Flow Graph

n potential Input layer Output layer x x 2 x 1 y w 1 y x = x w p p v v synapse j j Block-diagram representation c. v = w 1 x 1 + + w p x p = w x ; y = '(v) Figure 2--2: Three basic graphical representations of a single p-input (p-synapse) neuron A.P.Paplinski 2--2 NNets --- L. 2 March 10, 1999 A neuron consists of p synapses arranged either along a dendrite which aggregates the synaptic activities, or in a layer of branches which link input nodes with a summing node. The pre-synaptic activities are represented by a p-element column vector of input

Report on Solar Pool Heating Quantitative Survey

This report details the results of a quantitative research study undertaken to better understand the marketplace for solar pool-heating systems from the perspective of residential pool owners

Transmission of Single Photon Signals Through a Binary

At very low light levels the sensitivity of the visual system is determined by the efficiency with which single photons are captured, and the resulting signal transmitted from the rod photoreceptors through the retinal circuitry to the ganglion cells and on to the brain. Although the tiny electrical signals due to single photons have been observed in rod photoreceptors, little is known about how these signals are preserved during subsequent transmission to the optic nerve. We find that the synaptic currents elicited by single photons in mouse rod bipolar cells have a peak amplitude of 5-- 6 pA, and that about 20 rod photoreceptors converge upon each rod bipolar cell. The data indicates that the first synapse, between rod photoreceptors and rod bipolar cells, signals a binary event: the detection, or not, of a photon or photons in the connected rod photoreceptors. We present a simple model that demonstrates how a threshold nonlinearity during synaptic transfer allows transmission of the single photon signal, while rejecting the convergent neural noise from the 20 other rod photoreceptors feeding into this first synapse

Le détecteur de fautes: parcours 1 (Amélioration du français, 1/10)

Le détecteur de fautes parcours 1 et parcours 2 vous propose de prendre le rôle d'un archéologue pour partir à la recherche de fautes de français dans un texte court. Initialement ce parcours guidé a été conçu dans le but d’offrir un outil de correction du français écrit aux enseignants de français québecois ainsi qu'aux enseignants d'autres disciplines. Ce parcours a pour but d'améliorer leur capacité à repérer les fautes dans les textes, les orienter vers les ressources appropriées, aider les enseignants à classifier les fautes avec un code simple et renforcer les acquis en français écrit par des rétroactions appropriées.  Le détecteur de fautes s'adresse ainsi aux élèves et aux enseignants pour qu'ils puissent améliorer leur français écrit, ainsi que leur capacité à réviser et à corriger des textes. Dans le parcours 1, chaque erreur relevée correspond à une seule catégorie d'erreur (orthographe ou grammaire ou syntaxe, ...)

Treatments for intracranial hypertension in acute brain-injured patients: grading, timing, and association with outcome. Data from the SYNAPSE-ICU study

Purpose: Uncertainties remain about the safety and efficacy of therapies for managing intracranial hypertension in acute brain injured (ABI) patients. This study aims to describe the therapeutical approaches used in ABI, with/without intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, among different pathologies and across different countries, and their association with six months mortality and neurological outcome. Methods: A preplanned subanalysis of the SYNAPSE-ICU study, a multicentre, prospective, international, observational cohort study, describing the ICP treatment, graded according to Therapy Intensity Level (TIL) scale, in patients with ABI during the first week of intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Results: 2320 patients were included in the analysis. The median age was 55 (I-III quartiles = 39-69) years, and 800 (34.5%) were female. During the first week from ICU admission, no-basic TIL was used in 382 (16.5%) patients, mild-moderate in 1643 (70.8%), and extreme in 295 cases (eTIL, 12.7%). Patients who received eTIL were younger (median age 49 (I-III quartiles = 35-62) vs 56 (40-69) years, p < 0.001), with less cardiovascular pre-injury comorbidities (859 (44%) vs 90 (31.4%), p < 0.001), with more episodes of neuroworsening (160 (56.1%) vs 653 (33.3%), p < 0.001), and were more frequently monitored with an ICP device (221 (74.9%) vs 1037 (51.2%), p < 0.001). Considerable variability in the frequency of use and type of eTIL adopted was observed between centres and countries. At six months, patients who received no-basic TIL had an increased risk of mortality (Hazard ratio, HR = 1.612, 95% Confidence Interval, CI = 1.243-2.091, p < 0.001) compared to patients who received eTIL. No difference was observed when comparing mild-moderate TIL with eTIL (HR = 1.017, 95% CI = 0.823-1.257, p = 0.873). No significant association between the use of TIL and neurological outcome was observed. Conclusions: During the first week of ICU admission, therapies to control high ICP are frequently used, especially mild-moderate TIL. In selected patients, the use of aggressive strategies can have a beneficial effect on six months mortality but not on neurological outcome