The modular structure of an ontology: Atomic decomposition

Extracting a subset of a given ontology that captures all the ontology’s knowledge about a specified set of terms is a well-understood task. This task can be based, for instance, on locality-based modules. However, a single module does not allow us to understand neither topicality, connectedness, structure, or superfluous parts of an ontology, nor agreement between actual and intended modeling. The strong logical properties of locality-based modules suggest that the family of all such modules of an ontology can support comprehension of the ontology as a whole. However, extracting that family is not feasible, since the number of localitybased modules of an ontology can be exponential w.r.t. its size. In this paper we report on a new approach that enables us to efficiently extract a polynomial representation of the family of all locality-based modules of an ontology. We also describe the fundamental algorithm to pursue this task, and report on experiments carried out and results obtained.

School of Naval Command and Staff: Nuclear Proliferation: The French Case

This paper represents a case study of the French effort in achieving a nuclear weapon capability as it pertains to the basic problem of nuclear proliferation

High-Definition Optical Coherence Tomography for the in vivo Detection of Demodex Mites

Background: Demodex mites are involved in different skin diseases and are commonly detected by skin scrape tests or superficial biopsies. A new high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) with high lateral and axial resolution in a horizontal (en-face) and vertical (slice) imaging mode might offer the possibility of noninvasive and fast in vivo examination of demodex mites. Methods: Twenty patients with demodex-related skin diseases and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were examined by HD-OCT. Mites per follicle and follicles per field of view were counted and compared to skin scrape tests. Results: HD-OCT images depicted mites in the en-face mode as bright round dots in groups of 3-5 mites per hair follicle. In the patients with demodex-related disease, a mean number of 3.4 mites per follicle were detected with a mean number of 2.9 infested follicles per area of view compared to a mean of 0.6 mites in 0.4 infested follicles in the controls. The skin scrape tests were negative in 21% of the patients. Conclusion: The innovative HD-OCT enables fast and noninvasive in vivo recognition of demodex mites and might become a useful tool in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of demodex-related skin diseases. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Hybrid Sensible/Thermochemical Solar Energy Storage Concepts Based on Porous Ceramic Structures and Redox Pair Oxides Chemistry

AbstractThe enthalpy effects of reversible chemical reactions can be exploited for the so-called thermochemical storage of solar energy. Oxides of multivalent metals in particular, capable of being reduced and oxidized under air atmosphere with significant heat effects are perfect candidates for air-operated Concentrated Solar Power plants since in this case air can be used as both the heat transfer fluid and the reactant (O2) and therefore can come to direct contact with the storage material (oxide).Based on the characteristics of the oxide redox pair Co3O4/CoO as a thermochemical heat storage medium and the advantages of porous ceramic structures like honeycombs and foams in heat exchange applications, the idea of employing such structures either coated with or entirely made of a redox material like Co3O4, as a hybrid sensible-thermochemical solar energy storage system in air-operated Concentrated Solar Power plants has been set forth and tested. At first, small-scale, redox-inert, cordierite foams and honeycombs were coated with Co3O4 and tested for cyclic reduction-oxidation operation via Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis. Such Co3O4-coated supports exhibited repeatable operation within the temperature range 800-1000oC for many cycles, employing all the redox material incorporated, even at very high redox oxide loading levels. To improve the volumetric heat storage capacity of such reactors, ceramic foams made entirely of Co3O4 were manufactured. Such foams exhibited satisfactory structural integrity and were comparatively tested vs. the “plain” Co3O4 powder and the Co3O4-coated, cordierite supports under the same cyclic redox conditions up to 15 consecutive cycles. The Co3O4-made porous foams were proved also capable of cyclic reduction–oxidation, exploiting the entire amount of Co3O4 used in their manufacture, maintaining simultaneously their structural integrity

Critical Kauffman networks under deterministic asynchronous update

We investigate the influence of a deterministic but non-synchronous update on Random Boolean Networks, with a focus on critical networks. Knowing that ``relevant components'' determine the number and length of attractors, we focus on such relevant components and calculate how the length and number of attractors on these components are modified by delays at one or more nodes. The main findings are that attractors decrease in number when there are more delays, and that periods may become very long when delays are not integer multiples of the basic update step.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to a journa