String attractors and combinatorics on words

The notion of string attractor has recently been introduced in [Prezza, 2017] and studied in [Kempa and Prezza, 2018] to provide a unifying framework for known dictionary-based compressors. A string attractor for a word w = w[1]w[2] · · · w[n] is a subset Γ of the positions 1, . . ., n, such that all distinct factors of w have an occurrence crossing at least one of the elements of Γ. While finding the smallest string attractor for a word is a NP-complete problem, it has been proved in [Kempa and Prezza, 2018] that dictionary compressors can be interpreted as algorithms approximating the smallest string attractor for a given word. In this paper we explore the notion of string attractor from a combinatorial point of view, by focusing on several families of finite words. The results presented in the paper suggest that the notion of string attractor can be used to define new tools to investigate combinatorial properties of the words

La relazione che organizza il contesto sanitario: domanda dell’utenza e risposta dei servizi sanitari, nel territorio e nell’ospedale - The relationship which organizes the healthcare context: users’ demand and response of healthcare services, in the territory and the hospital

Our intent is to present citizens’ demand of health care services in Italy through a research structured in three studies. We used the Emotional Text Analysis (ETA) to lead the three s tudies: the first study regarded the citizens’expectations of the healthcare services, the second study regarded the point of view of the hospital personnel (medical doctors and nurses), the third regarded the point of view of the General Practitioners onthe health care services. These three studies are briefly presented. Data and outcome of an Assumed Similarity Test applied to all experimental subjects of the three studies in order to make a comparison among them, are also presented. The findings of the Emotional Text Analysis show that citizens, potential users of health services, center their requests on their individual subjectivity, and seek answers both to their suffering and to the feeling of alienation that characterizes the being sick feeling that makes them go to a medical doctor. For their part, general practitioners and hospital doctors immediately transform this subjective feeling in an objective medical diagnosis. Here a first gap emerges between patient’s demand and medical response, leavingthe possibility of an alliance on the diagnosis in order to jointly fight the disease. It has long been in place though a change that has expelled the patient also from sharing the diagnostic process, increasingly taken from self-centered dynamics within the healthcare system. This widens the gap between the request of the citizens and the response of the health services, that contributes to that conflictual growth to which defensive medicine gives a dysfunctional answer. The Assumed Similarity Test contributes to the interpretation of the health care dynamic identified in the Emotional Text Analysis; particularly in regard to the unfolding conflict, given by the hypothesis emerging from the data analysis, that a feeling of closeness for the hospital personnel goes along with an emotional stance of overpowering the othe

The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) is the fourth and final facility in the Great Observatories Program, joining Hubble Space Telescope (1990), the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (1991–2000), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (1999). Spitzer, with a sensitivity that is almost three orders of magnitude greater than that of any previous ground-based and space-based infrared observatory, is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the creation of the universe, the formation and evolution of primitive galaxies, the origin of stars and planets, and the chemical evolution of the universe. This review presents a brief overview of the scientific objectives and history of infrared astronomy. We discuss Spitzer's expected role in infrared astronomy for the new millennium. We describe pertinent details of the design, construction, launch, in-orbit checkout, and operations of the observatory and summarize some science highlights from the first two and a half years of Spitzer operations. More information about Spitzer can be found at http://spitzer.caltech.edu/

Effects of intra-VTA injection of neurotensin on local cerebral glucose utilization in the rat.

The [14C]2-deoxyglucose method was applied to measure the effects of the injection of neurotensin (7 microg) in the ventral tegmental area on local cerebral glucose utilization in the rat. Injection of neurotensin produced significant increases of glucose utilization in the shell of the nucleus accumbens and in the olfactory tubercle. These results indicate that stimulation of neurotensin receptors in the ventral tegmental area produces functional changes that are confined to the regions receiving mesolimbic projections within the rostral extended amygdaloid complex. These findings extend our understanding on the effects of neurotensin in the limbic system, with particular regard to reward pathways

Expression of Cellulosome Components and Type IV Pili within the Extracellular Proteome of Ruminococcus flavefaciens 007

Funding: The Rowett Institute receives funding from SG-RESAS (Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Science and Analysis Service). Visit of M.V. was supported by research grants from FEMS and Slovene human resources development and scholarship funds. Parts of this work were funded by grants from the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), Jerusalem, Israel – BSF Energy Research grant to E.A.B. and B.A.W. and Regular BSF Research grants to R.L. and B.A.W. – and by the Israel Science Foundation (grant nos 966/09 and 159/07 291/08). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dissociation rates of J/psi's with comoving mesons - thermal vs. nonequilibrium scenario

We study J/psi dissociation processes in hadronic environments. The validity of a thermal meson gas ansatz is tested by confronting it with an alternative, nonequilibrium scenario. Heavy ion collisions are simulated in the framework of the microscopic transport model UrQMD, taking into account the production of charmonium states through hard parton-parton interactions and subsequent rescattering with hadrons. The thermal gas and microscopic transport scenarios are shown to be very dissimilar. Estimates of J/psi survival probabilities based on thermal models of comover interactions in heavy ion collisions are therefore not reliable.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Freshwater prawn research at SEAFDEC/AQD

The Philippines lags behind Thailand and Indonesia as far as research and commercial production of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium sp., are concerned. Although studies on Macrobrachium sp. (or ulang as it is locally known), started at the Binangonan Freshwater Station of SEAFDEC/AQD in the mid-1980’s, research efforts were discontinued soon thereafter because of a) inadequate technical skills; b) problems with larval rearing and the domestication of wild stocks; and among others, c) the Macrobrachium sp. being considered in the Philippines as a low priority species in contrast to commercially important freshwater commodities like tilapia and milkfish. This was two decades ago and in retrospect, had researches continued, the freshwater prawn in the Philippines could have been successfully domesticated and current problems concerning limited aquaculture production of genetically depauperate non-indigenous stocks could have been resolved. With the renewed interest in the culture of alternative species like the freshwater prawn, researchers at the Binangonan Freshwater Station started to conduct some studies on the refinement of breeding, larval rearing and culture of Macrobrachium rosenbergii in late 2003. These studies are briefly described here

Personality characteristics and its effect on performance in the race BMX

The aim of this study was to describe personality characteristics of top athletes – 10 elite bicross (BMX) racers (18+ years), both men and women. For our research we used SPARO test – monitoring of basal psychical autoregulation of personality, which was evaluated with t-test. Particular segments were compared with population and with top athletes of different sports. BMX racers had significantly higher (p < 0.05) intensity of autostimulation, airiness (-5.92±2.54), searching for emotional experiences (3.4 ±2.35) and higher willingness to risk (6,54±2,37). Simultaneously it confirmed higher anxiety (3.35±3,2.1), need of independence (3,73±2.00) and dominant need of experiential attitude (-2,55±2,38). Results show characteristics of BMX racers, which correspond with characteristic of this cycling discipline, and also show personality attributes which are important for success in this sport.This research was funded within the specific research project "The concentration of attention as one of the prerequisites for successful performance in cycling" “c. MUNIA/A/0829/2012 ID 23564”

Do commencing nursing and paramedicine students differ in interprofessional learning and practice attitudes: evaluating course, socio-demographic and individual personality effects

Background Interprofessional education (IPE) requires health students to learn with, from and about each other in order to develop a modern workforce with client-centred care at its core. Despite the client centred focus of IPE, training programs often utilize standard approaches across student cohorts without consideration of discipline, sociodemographic and personality variability that attract students to different health disciplines. Knowing the students who engage in IPE to tailor training may prove as beneficial as knowing the client to delivered individualized client centred care in interprofessional practice (IPP). This research investigates whether students commencing undergraduate nursing and paramedicine degrees ener training with existing demographic and personality differences and, if these are associated with different attitudes towards health care teams and interprofessional education. Method This online study recruited 160 nursing and 50 paramedicine students in their first week of their undergraduate course. Students completed questionnaires regarding their background, personality (General Perceived Self Esteem Scale, International Mini Markers) and the attitudes towards health care teams scale (ATHCTS) and interprofessional education perception scale (IEPS). Results Results show that commencing nursing and paramedicine students are demographically different on education, gender, speaking a language other than English at home (LOTE) and their own experience with healthcare. The results further demonstrate that LOTE, discipline being studied and personality factors play a role in perceptions regarding interprofessional training whilst discipline being studied impacted on attitudes towards health care teams in the workforce. Conclusion These results highlight a number of existing personal and psychological differences between individuals who choose to train in these selected professions. This suggests a need for tertiary education IPE programs to move towards tailoring their education to value this student diversity in the same client centred manner that students are asked to develop clinically