Hyperharmonic analysis for the study of high-order information-theoretic signals

Network representations often cannot fully account for the structural richness of complex systems spanning multiple levels of organisation. Recently proposed high-order information-theoretic signals are well-suited to capture synergistic phenomena that transcend pairwise interactions; however, the exponential-growth of their cardinality severely hinders their applicability. In this work, we combine methods from harmonic analysis and combinatorial topology to construct efficient representations of high-order information-theoretic signals. The core of our method is the diagonalisation of a discrete version of the Laplace–de Rham operator, that geometrically encodes structural properties of the system. We capitalise on these ideas by developing a complete workflow for the construction of hyperharmonic representations of high-order signals, which is applicable to a wide range of scenarios

Effects of cyanobacterial extracellular products and gibberellic acid on salinity tolerance in Oryza sativa L

Salt stress is one of the most serious factors limiting the productivity of rice, the staple diet in many countries. Gibberellic acid has been reported to reduce NaCl-induced growth inhibition in some plants including rice. Most paddy soils have a natural population of Cyanobacteria, prokaryotic photosynthethic microorganisms, which synthesize and liberate plant growth regulators such as gibberellins that could exert a natural beneficial effect on salt stressed rice plants. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of the cyanobacterium Scytonema hofmanni extracellular products on the growth of rice seedlings inhibited by NaCl and to compare it with the effect of the gibberellic acid in the same stress condition. Growth (length and weight of the seedlings) and biochemical parameters (5-aminolevulinate dehydratase activity, total free porphyrin and pigments content) were evaluated. Salt exposure negatively affected all parameters measured, with the exception of chlorophyll. Chlrorophyll concentrations nearly doubled upon exposure to high salt. Gibberellic acid counteracted the effect of salt on the length and dry weight of the shoot, and on carotenoid and chlorophyll b contents. Extracellular products nullified the salt effect on shoot dry weight and carotenoid content; partially counteracted the effect on shoot length (from 54% to 38% decrease), root dry weight (from 59% to 41% decrease) and total free porphyrin (from 31 to 13% decrease); reduced by 35% the salt increase of chlorophyll a; had no effect on root length and chlorophyll b. Gibberellic acid and extracellular products increased 5-aminolevulinate dehydratase activity over the control without salt. When coincident with high salinity, exposure to either EP or GA(3), resulted in a reversal of shoot-related responses to salt stress. We propose that Scytonema hofmanni extracellular products may counteract altered hormone homeostasis of rice seedlings under salt stress by producing gibberellin-like plant growth regulators

A novel strategy to incorporate coconut oil in dairy matrices

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Synchronization of delayed fluctuating complex networks

In this communication we present some of our recent results on the synchronization properties of directed delay-coupled networks of a small-world type, whose topology changes with time. Our simulations of a network of non-linear elements show that a random change of topology enhances the stability of a synchronized state, depending on the interplay between different time-scales in the dynamics. The results are analytically explained in the linear limit, where the dynamics is expressed in terms of an effective connectivity matrix. In the limit of fast network fluctuations, this effective connectivity is given by the arithmetic mean of the temporal adjacency matrices. When the coupling topology changes slowly, the effective adjacency matrix is given by the geometric mean. The transition between both regimes is numerically studied for linear network elements

Long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the risk of myocardial infarction in the general population

BACKGROUND: Recent data indicate that chronic use of coxibs leads to an increased occurrence of thrombotic cardiovascular events. This raises the question as to whether traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (tNSAIDs) might also produce similar hazards. Our aim has been to evaluate the association between the chronic use of tNSAIDs and the risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in patients. METHODS: We performed a nested case-control analysis with 4,975 cases of acute MI and 20,000 controls, frequency matched to cases by age, sex, and calendar year. RESULTS: Overall, current use of tNSAID was not associated with an increased risk of MI (RR:1.07;95%CI: 0.95–1.21). However, we found that the relative risk (RR) of MI for durations of tNSAID treatment of >1 year was 1.21 (95% CI, 1.00–1.48). The corresponding RR was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.06–1.70) for non-fatal MI. The effect was independent from dose. The small risk associated with long-term use of tNSAIDs was observed among patients not taking low-dose aspirin (RR: 1.29; 95% CI, 1.01–1.65). The effect of long-term use for individual tNSAIDs ranged from a RR of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.47–1.62) with naproxen to 1.38 (95% CI, 1.00–1.90) with diclofenac. CONCLUSION: This study adds support to the hypothesis that chronic treatment with some tNSAIDs is associated with a small increased risk of non-fatal MI. Our data are consistent with a substantial variability in cardiovascular risks between individual tNSAIDs

Linking forest cover, soil erosion and mire hydrology to late-Holocene human activity and climate in NW Spain

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Forest clearance is one of the main drivers of soil erosion and hydrological changes in mires, although climate may also play a significant role. Because of the wide range of factors involved, understanding these complex links requires long-term multi-proxy approaches and research on the best proxies to focus. A peat core from NW Spain (Cruz do Bocelo mire), spanning the last ~3000 years, has been studied at high resolution by physical (density and loss on ignition (LOI)), geochemical (elemental composition) and palynological (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) analyses. Proxies related to mineral matter fluxes from the catchment (lithogenic tracers, Glomus and Entorrhiza), rainfall (Bromine), mire hydrology (HdV-18), human pressure (Cerealia-type, nitrophilous taxa and coprophilous fungi) and forest cover (mesophilous tree taxa) were the most useful to reconstruct the evolution of the mire and its catchment. Forest clearance for farming was one of the main drivers of environmental change from at least the local Iron Age (~2685 cal. yr BP) onwards. The most intense phase of deforestation occurred during Roman and Germanic times and the late Middle Ages. During these phases, the entire catchment was affected, resulting in enhanced soil erosion and severe hydrological modifications of the mire. Climate, especially rainfall, may have also accelerated these processes during wetter periods. However, it is noteworthy that the hydrology of the mire seems to have been insensitive to rainfall variations when mesophilous forest dominated. Abrupt changes were only detected once intense forest clearance commenced during the Iron Age/Roman transition (~2190 cal. yr BP) phase, which represented a tipping point in catchment's ability to buffer impacts. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of studying ecosystems' long-term trajectories and catchment-wide processes when implementing mire habitat protection measures.This work was funded by the projects CGL2010-20672 (Plan Nacional I+D+i, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and 10PXIB200182PR (General Directorate of I+D, Xunta de Galicia). N Silva-Sánchez and L López-Merino are currently supported by a FPU predoctoral scholarship (AP2010-3264) funded by the Spanish Government and a MINT postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Brunel Institute for the Environment, respectively

Simulation of impulse response for indoor visible light communications using 3D CAD models

n this article, a tool for simulating the channel impulse response for indoor visible light communications using 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models is presented. The simulation tool is based on a previous Monte Carlo ray-tracing algorithm for indoor infrared channel estimation, but including wavelength response evaluation. The 3D scene, or the simulation environment, can be defined using any CAD software in which the user specifies, in addition to the setting geometry, the reflection characteristics of the surface materials as well as the structures of the emitters and receivers involved in the simulation. Also, in an effort to improve the computational efficiency, two optimizations are proposed. The first one consists of dividing the setting into cubic regions of equal size, which offers a calculation improvement of approximately 50% compared to not dividing the 3D scene into sub-regions. The second one involves the parallelization of the simulation algorithm, which provides a computational speed-up proportional to the number of processors used

Implementation of "wiki" philosophy to the update of teaching material in the area of pharmacy and pharmaceutical technology

La Directiva 2005/36/CE del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, relativa al reconocimiento decualificaciones profesionales, en su artículo 44, referente a la formación del farmacéutico, y la OrdenCIN/2137/2008, por la que se establecen los requisitos para la verificación de los títulos universitariosoficiales que habiliten para el ejercicio de esta profesión, recogen conocimientos y competencias quedeben contemplarse en su formación académica. Muchos de ellos están directamente relacionadoscon los fármacos y con los medicamentos y, por tanto, estrechamente vinculados con el Área deConocimiento de “Farmacia y Tecnología Farmacéutica”.Como profesores de esta Área desde hace muchos años, hemos apreciado la dificultad existente en lapreparación del material docente. Este hecho es debido a diversas razones. Entre ellas destacan: a)limitación de las fuentes documentales existentes sobre las propiedades físico-químicas ybiofarmacéuticas de muchos principios activos; b) escasez de textos concernientes a la fabricaciónconcreta de medicamentos; c) irrupción continua en el mercado de nuevos medicamentos, que implicaque muchos textos se queden desfasados; d) dispersión de los contenidos.Para intentar soslayar esta problemática, se han venido realizando diversas actividades docentes. Unade ellas, objeto de la presente comunicación, fue implantada en el curso 2009-10, para los alumnos de5º curso y se seguirá incluyendo en la programación docente para el próximo 2010-11. Está basada enel concepto “wiki”. Consiste en la elaboración, por parte de alumnos y profesores, de un espaciocomún, convenientemente organizado, donde todos aportan información para elaborar una granenciclopedia virtual sobre el medicamento.Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and Council on the recognition of professionalqualifications, section 44, concerning the formation of pharmacists, and the Order CIN/2137/2008,laying down the requirements for verification of official university degrees that prepare students towork in this profession, gather knowledge and skills to be covered in their education. Many of themare directly related to drugs and medicines and, therefore, closely linked to the Knowledge Area"Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology”.As teachers of this area for many years, we have appreciated the difficulty in preparing the teachingmaterial. This is due to various reasons. These include: a) limitation of existing documentary sourceson the physico-chemical and biopharmaceutical characteristics of many active ingredients. b) ashortage of texts concerning the specific manufacture of medicaments. c) continuous irruption in themarket for new drugs and dosage forms, which means that many texts become outdated. d)information dispersion.To circumvent this problem, various educational activities have being conducted. One of this, objectof the present communication, was introduced in 2009-10 for students in the 5th grade and still be included in the course program for the next 2010-11. It is based on the concept of "wiki". It consistsof establishing, by students and teachers, a common area, conveniently organized in which all provideinformation to develop a virtual encyclopedia of medicaments

Análisis e influencia de los sistemas de referencia en la cinemática del hombro

The shoulder is one of the most complex systems in the human body. To know how its work is essential to understand the biomechanics of the body. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of Local Coordinate Systems in the kinematic analysis of GlenoHumeral joint. The motion tracking was performed using passive sensors attached to pins. Trabecular pins were placed on the shoulder and scapula. The data processing was performed using the free open software pyFormex. The joint displacements were determined by two different variants of Coordinate Systems, being detected a difference from 2 to12 degrees