21,968 research outputs found
Preliminary assessment of cognitive impairments in canine idiopathic epilepsy
In humans, epilepsy can induce or accelerate cognitive impairment (CI). There is emerging evidence of CI in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy (IE) from recent epidemiological studies. The aim of our study was to assess CI in dogs with IE using two tests of cognitive dysfunction designed for use in a clinical setting. Dogs with IE (n=17) were compared against controls (n=18) in their performance in two tasks; a spatial working memory task and a problem-solving task. In addition, owners completed the Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Rating (CCDR) scale for their dog. The groups did not differ statistically with respect to age and breed. Dogs with IE performed significantly worse than controls on the spatial working memory task (P=0.016), but not on the problem solving task (P=0.683). CCDR scores were significantly higher in the IE group (P=0.016); however, no dogs reach the recommended threshold score for CCD diagnosis. Our preliminary data suggest that dogs with IE exhibit impairments in a spatial working memory task. Further research is required to explore the effect of IE on other cognitive abilities in dogs with a larger sample, characterising the age of onset, nature and progression of any impairments and the impact of anti-epileptic drugs
Correlations of the IR Luminosity and Eddington Ratio with a Hard X-ray Selected Sample of AGN
We use the SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) sample of hard x-ray selected
active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a median redshift of 0.03 and the 2MASS J and
K band photometry to examine the correlation of hard x-ray emission to
Eddington ratio as well as the relationship of the J and K band nuclear
luminosity to the hard x-ray luminosity. The BAT sample is almost unbiased by
the effects of obscuration and thus offers the first large unbiased sample for
the examination of correlations between different wavelength bands. We find
that the near-IR nuclear J and K band luminosity is related to the BAT (14 -
195 keV) luminosity over a factor of in luminosity ()and thus is unlikely to be due to dust. We also find that the
Eddington ratio is proportional to the x-ray luminosity. This new result should
be a strong constraint on models of the formation of the broad band continuum.Comment: accepted to ApJ
Methods for independent determination of process inventory in nuclear facilities - fabrication plant
ADN: An Information-Centric Networking Architecture for the Internet of Things
Forwarding data by name has been assumed to be a necessary aspect of an
information-centric redesign of the current Internet architecture that makes
content access, dissemination, and storage more efficient. The Named Data
Networking (NDN) and Content-Centric Networking (CCNx) architectures are the
leading examples of such an approach. However, forwarding data by name incurs
storage and communication complexities that are orders of magnitude larger than
solutions based on forwarding data using addresses. Furthermore, the specific
algorithms used in NDN and CCNx have been shown to have a number of
limitations. The Addressable Data Networking (ADN) architecture is introduced
as an alternative to NDN and CCNx. ADN is particularly attractive for
large-scale deployments of the Internet of Things (IoT), because it requires
far less storage and processing in relaying nodes than NDN. ADN allows things
and data to be denoted by names, just like NDN and CCNx do. However, instead of
replacing the waist of the Internet with named-data forwarding, ADN uses an
address-based forwarding plane and introduces an information plane that
seamlessly maps names to addresses without the involvement of end-user
applications. Simulation results illustrate the order of magnitude savings in
complexity that can be attained with ADN compared to NDN.Comment: 10 page
Stability of spikes in the shadow Gierer-Meinhardt system with Robin boundary conditions
We consider the shadow system of the Gierer-Meinhardt system in a smooth bounded domain RN,At=2A−A+,x, t>0, ||t=−||+Ardx, t>0 with the Robin boundary condition +aAA=0, x, where aA>0, the reaction rates (p,q,r,s) satisfy 1<p<()+, q>0, r>0, s0, 1<<+, the diffusion constant is chosen such that 1, and the time relaxation constant is such that 0. We rigorously prove the following results on the stability of one-spike solutions: (i) If r=2 and 1<p<1+4/N or if r=p+1 and 1<p<, then for aA>1 and sufficiently small the interior spike is stable. (ii) For N=1 if r=2 and 1<p3 or if r=p+1 and 1<p<, then for 0<aA<1 the near-boundary spike is stable. (iii) For N=1 if 3<p<5 and r=2, then there exist a0(0,1) and µ0>1 such that for a(a0,1) and µ=2q/(s+1)(p−1)(1,µ0) the near-boundary spike solution is unstable. This instability is not present for the Neumann boundary condition but only arises for the Robin boundary condition. Furthermore, we show that the corresponding eigenvalue is of order O(1) as 0. ©2007 American Institute of Physic
Recommended from our members
Kinetics and mechanism of the interconversion of inverse bicontinuous cubic mesophases
This paper describes time-resolved x-ray diffraction data monitoring the transformation of one inverse bicontinuous cubic mesophase into another, in a hydrated lipid system. The first section of the paper describes a mechanism for the transformation that conserves the topology of the bilayer, based on the work of Charvolin and Sadoc, Fogden and Hyde, and Benedicto and O'Brien in this area. We show a pictorial representation of this mechanism, in terms of both the water channels and the lipid bilayer. The second section describes the experimental results obtained. The system under investigation was 2:1 lauric acid: dilauroylphosphatidylcholine at a hydration of 50% water by weight. A pressure-jump was used to induce a phase transition from the gyroid (Q(II)(G)) to the diamond (Q(II)(D)) bicontinuous cubic mesophase, which was monitored by time-resolved x-ray diffraction. The lattice parameter of both mesophases was found to decrease slightly throughout the transformation, but at the stage where the Q(II)(D) phase first appeared, the ratio of lattice parameters of the two phases was found to be approximately constant for all pressure-jump experiments. The value is consistent with a topology-preserving mechanism. However, the polydomain nature of our sample prevents us from confirming that the specific pathway is that described in the first section of the paper. Our data also reveal signals from two different intermediate structures, one of which we have identified as the inverse hexagonal (H-II) mesophase. We suggest that it plays a role in the transfer of water during the transformation. The rate of the phase transition was found to increase with both temperature and pressure-jump amplitude, and its time scale varied from the order of seconds to minutes, depending on the conditions employed
- …