9,925 research outputs found
The thermal visualisation of latent fingermarks on metallic surfaces
Recent published research has lead to improved techniques for recovering latent fingermarks from metallic surfaces. The present study corroborates and extends some of the work carried out by Bond [1], [2] and [3], but an alternative mechanism is proposed for the thermal visualisation of fingermarks based on differential oxidation and the production of interference colours that improve contrast. Fingermarks treated at low temperature could be reheated to enhance recovery, but an upper temperature limit occurs beyond which the mark degrades. The mechanism of enhancement is discussed
London SynEx Demonstrator Site: Impact Assessment Report
The key ingredients of the SynEx-UCL software components are:
1. A comprehensive and federated electronic healthcare record that can be used to
reference or to store all of the necessary healthcare information acquired from a
diverse range of clinical databases and patient-held devices.
2. A directory service component to provide a core persons demographic database to
search for and authenticate staff users of the system and to anchor patient
identification and connection to their federated healthcare record.
3. A clinical record schema management tool (Object Dictionary Client) that enables
clinicians or engineers to define and export the data sets mapping to individual
feeder systems.
4. An expansible set of clinical management algorithms that provide prompts to the
patient or clinician to assist in the management of patient care.
CHIME has built up over a decade of experience within Europe on the requirements
and information models that are needed to underpin comprehensive multiprofessional
electronic healthcare records. The resulting architecture models have
influenced new European standards in this area, and CHIME has designed and built
prototype EHCR components based on these models. The demonstrator systems
described here utilise a directory service and object-oriented engineering approach,
and support the secure, mobile and distributed access to federated healthcare
records via web-based services.
The design and implementation of these software components has been founded on
a thorough analysis of the clinical, technical and ethico-legal requirements for
comprehensive EHCR systems, published through previous project deliverables and
in future planned papers.
The clinical demonstrator site described in this report has provided the solid basis
from which to establish "proof of concept" verification of the design approach, and a
valuable opportunity to install, test and evaluate the results of the component
engineering undertaken during the EC funded project. Inevitably, a number of
practical implementation and deployment obstacles have been overcome through
this journey, each of those having contributed to the time taken to deliver the
components but also to the richness of the end products.
UCL is fortunate that the Whittington Hospital, and the department of cardiovascular
medicine in particular, is committed to a long-term vision built around this work. That
vision, outlined within this report, is shared by the Camden and Islington Health
Authority and by many other purchaser and provider organisations in the area, and
by a number of industrial parties. They are collectively determined to support the
Demonstrator Site as an ongoing project well beyond the life of the EC SynEx
Project.
This report, although a final report as far as the EC project is concerned, is really a
description of the first phase in establishing a centre of healthcare excellence. New
EC Fifth Framework project funding has already been approved to enable new and
innovative technology solutions to be added to the work already established in north
London
Dimensional Reduction, Hard Thermal Loops and the Renormalization Group
We study the realization of dimensional reduction and the validity of the
hard thermal loop expansion for lambda phi^4 theory at finite temperature,
using an environmentally friendly finite-temperature renormalization group with
a fiducial temperature as flow parameter. The one-loop renormalization group
allows for a consistent description of the system at low and high temperatures,
and in particular of the phase transition. The main results are that
dimensional reduction applies, apart from a range of temperatures around the
phase transition, at high temperatures (compared to the zero temperature mass)
only for sufficiently small coupling constants, while the HTL expansion is
valid below (and rather far from) the phase transition, and, again, at high
temperatures only in the case of sufficiently small coupling constants. We
emphasize that close to the critical temperature, physics is completely
dominated by thermal fluctuations that are not resummed in the hard thermal
loop approach and where universal quantities are independent of the parameters
of the fundamental four-dimensional theory.Comment: 20 pages, 13 eps figures, uses epsfig and pstrick
Talent identification and recruitment in youth soccer: Recruiter’s perceptions of the key attributes for player recruitment
Using the modified Delphi method, we aimed to understand the attributes youth coaches and recruiters perceive as important when identifying skilled youth performance at the entry level of representative soccer in Australia (i.e., Under 13 years). Furthermore, we also aimed to describe the current methods youth coaches and recruiters use to assess and identify these attributes in youth players. Australian regional youth technical directors and coaches (n = 20) completed a three stage process, including an initial interview and two subsequent questionnaires, whereby attributes and qualities associated with talent identification were rated and justified according to the importance for youth player performance and talent identification. Results indicate a hierarchy of attributes recruiters perceive as important for Under 13 soccer performance, including technical (i.e., first touch, striking the ball, one-versus-one ability, and technical ability under pressure), tactical (i.e., decision-making ability) and psychological attributes (i.e., coachability and positive attitude). In addition, the findings indicated attributes and qualities not emphasised within the talent identification process including, physiological, anthropometrical, sociological and several psychological attributes. It is suggested talent recruiters apply a holistic multidisciplinary approach to talent identification, with the current findings potentially providing initial evidence to suggest recruiters do consider numerous attributes when selecting and identifying youth players
Lifetime Measurement of the 8s Level in Francium
We measure the lifetime of the 8s level on a magneto-optically trapped sample
of ^{210}Fr atoms with time-correlated single-photon counting. The 7P_{1/2}
state serves as the resonant intermediate level for two-photon excitation of
the 8s level completed with a 1300 nm laser. Analysis of the fluorescence decay
through the the 7P_{3/2} level gives 53.30 +- 0.44 ns for the 8s level
lifetime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Controlled functional expression of the bacteriocins pediocin PA-1 and bactofencin A in Escherichia coli
peer-reviewedThe bacteriocins bactofencin A (class IId) and pediocin PA-1 (class IIa) are encoded by operons with a similarly clustered gene organization including a structural peptide, an immunity protein, an ABC transporter and accessory bacteriocin transporter protein. Cloning of these operons in E. coli TunerTM (DE3) on a pETcoco-2 derived vector resulted in successful secretion of both bacteriocins. A corresponding approach, involving the construction of vectors containing different combinations of these genes, revealed that the structural and the transporter genes alone are sufficient to permit heterologous production and secretion in this host. Even though the accessory protein, usually associated with optimal disulfide bond formation, was not required for bacteriocin synthesis, its presence did result in greater pediocin PA-1 production. The simplicity of the system and the fact that the associated bacteriocins could be recovered from the extracellular medium provides an opportunity to facilitate protein engineering and the overproduction of biologically-active bacteriocins at industrial scale. Additionally, this system could enable the characterization of new bacteriocin operons where genetic tools are not available for the native producers
Low income farm households’ access to markets and household food security: The case of two economically distinct areas in rural Tanzania
More than 70 percent of Tanzanians live in rural areas and close to 90 percent of thempractice agriculture. Kishapu and Mvomero Districts are highly food insecure,nutritionally vulnerable, lack nutritional interventions and differ in rain patterns, farmingpractices and economic activities. This study sets out to examine how market accessinfluences the food security status of low-income farm households in rural Tanzania.Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected in 2014: quantitative datacomprised structured questionnaires in two phases of household surveys (before and afterharvest) and monthly market price surveys. Qualitative data comprised key informantinterviews and focus group discussion. Coding, cleaning and analysis of quantitative datawas done in SPSS while qualitative data was transcribed, coded and organised intothemes. Mvomero exhibited significantly better household incomes, food security andmarket accessibility than Kishapu. Binomial regression was performed on householdfood security determining variables which were categorised into food secure and foodinsecure, variables in the models explained more than 60 percent of variations in thedependent variables. Results indicated statistical significance in the pre-harvest seasonsuch that households close to the market, owning bicycles, in higher income quartilesand with smaller household size were less likely to be food insecure than theircounterparts. Post-harvest regressions showed no statistical significance except for theprevalence category of household food insecurity where market access did not have anystatistical significance but ownership of a bicycle and having more off-farm incomemeant households were less likely to be food insecure. Addressing rural food securityissues should consider the differences within the contexts of rural areas. Policies tosupport the improvement and diversification of farm and off-farm incomes, andincreasing farm output have important implications for low-income farm households.Such initiatives could include improvements in transport infrastructure and access tocredit, both of which would support market access, augment farm production andimprove off-farm income. However, such policies and strategies would be more robustwith more tests.Key words: Market Access, Food Security, Rural Tanzania, Food Economie
On the "renormalization" transformations induced by cycles of expansion and contraction in causal set cosmology
We study the ``renormalization group action'' induced by cycles of cosmic
expansion and contraction, within the context of a family of stochastic
dynamical laws for causal sets derived earlier. We find a line of fixed points
corresponding to the dynamics of transitive percolation, and we prove that
there exist no other fixed points and no cycles of length two or more. We also
identify an extensive ``basin of attraction'' of the fixed points but find that
it does not exhaust the full parameter space. Nevertheless, we conjecture that
every trajectory is drawn toward the fixed point set in a suitably weakened
sense.Comment: 22 pages, 1 firgure, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Growth and habitat requirements of juvenile flatfish at nursery grounds in Galway Bay, Ireland
Coastal zones are essential nursery habitats for most juvenile flatfish species. Fish stocks are highly dependent on suitable coastal habitat features for obtaining food, shelter, and rapid growth during the vulnerable juvenile life stage. Understanding the ecological habitat requirements for juvenile flatfish is important in determining their abundance and to reliably predict potential impacts of changing coastal ecosystems on fish stocks. The present study assesses the influence of habitat characteristics on the growth and abundance of juvenile dab and plaice in four nursery areas within Galway Bay, Ireland. Field sampling was carried out in summer 2008 using a beam trawl for the collection of flatfish and a van Veen grab for the collection of sediment. The distribution and abundance of the juvenile flatfish was assessed in relation to biotic (predator–prey abundance) and abiotic (sediment size, organic content, depth, temperature, and salinity) habitat features. The condition and growth of flatfish were compared in different nursery areas and a model of habitat requirements for juvenile plaice and dab was developed. Significant variability of the measured characteristics was observed between nursery areas and high-quality nursery areas for dab and plaice were identified. These results will act as the basis for mapping of essential flatfish habitats in Galway Bay
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