A Discussion of Thin Client Technology for Computer Labs

Computer literacy is not negotiable for any professional in an increasingly computerised environment. Educational institutions should be equipped to provide this new basic training for modern life. Accordingly, computer labs are an essential medium for education in almost any field. Computer labs are one of the most popular IT infrastructures for technical training in primary and secondary schools, universities and other educational institutions all over the world. Unfortunately, a computer lab is expensive, in terms of both initial purchase and annual maintenance costs, and especially when we want to run the latest software. Hence, research efforts addressing computer lab efficiency, performance or cost reduction would have a worldwide repercussion. In response to this concern, this paper presents a survey on thin client technology for computer labs in educational environments. Besides setting out the advantages and drawbacks of this technology, we aim to refute false prejudices against thin clients, identifying a set of educational scenarios where thin clients are a better choice and others requiring traditional solutions

Improved analytical method for chemical analysis of cast irons. Application to castings with chunky graphite

Chunky graphite is a particular form of graphite degeneracy that appears in the centre of large iron castings, with a well-defined transition from the outer unaffected area and the inner affected one. All previous works that looked for macrosegration to explain the phenomenon concluded that there are no significant composition differences between the inner and outer parts of such castings. This was challenged again because the analytical methods generally used for chemical analysis are not efficient for low-level elements. Accordingly, an ICP-MS procedure has been developed and validated to replace the usual ICP-OES method. Together with the usual methods for analysis of C, S and Si, this ICP-MS procedure has been applied to characterize chemical heterogeneities in a large block with chunky graphite in its centre, and to a standard part for comparison. It could be concluded that no macrosegregation has built up during the solidification process of the block investigated, i.e. that chunky graphite appearance is not related to any composition changes at the scale of the cast parts, in particular of elements known to affect graphite shape such as Ce, Mg, Sb, S,

A Connectionist account of Spanish determiner production

Copyright SpringerA Connectionist Network that models the production of simple phonologically coded Spanish Noun Phrases is described. The training data uses type/token frequencies taken directly from a Spanish child's linguistic environment. The training set increases in size in a manner which mirrors the increasing complexity of the real linguistic environment. The results show that the model can learn the task and generalise to unseen Noun Phrase combinations. Moreover the generalisation performance is of a similar nature to that of Spanish children

Influye la alimentación sobre el dimorfismo sexual en Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) de hábitats naturales?

Triatoma infestans es el principal vector del parásito que causa la enfermedadde Chagas en Sudamérica. Se sabe que T. infestans tiene diferentes patrones reproductivosy de desarrollo dependiendo de si se alimentan de aves o mamíferos. Utilizando la cabeza deinsectos adultos como estimador del desarrollo, se intenta determinar si existen diferenciasen el dimorfismo de tamaño sexual asociado con la disponibilidad del recurso alimenticioen T. infestans de hábitats naturales en la región de Llanos Riojanos (Argentina). El estadonutricional fue mayor en gallineros y, en ambos hábitats, fue mayor para las hembrasen relación con los machos. El tamaño centroide fue mayor en las hembras que en losmachos de gallineros, pero no en los especímenes de corrales de cabras. Los tamañoscentroide revelaron medianas más pequeñas en insectos de cabra en comparación con losprocedentes de gallineros. El dimorfismo sexual del tamaño se asocia con diferencias en elestado nutricional solo para triatominos de gallineros de habitats naturales. La conformaciónde las cabezas no se vio influenciada por el estado nutricional. Las diferenciasmorfofisiológicas encontradas en T. infestans ayudan a comprender aspectos delcomportamiento de la especie en diversos ambientes y sus implicaciones en la transmisiónvectorial de Trypanosoma cruzi.Triatoma infestans is the main vector of the parasite that causes the Chagas disease in South America. It is known that T. infestans has different reproductive and development patterns depending on whether they feed on birds or mammals. Using the head of adult insects as an estimator of the specimen development, we attempt to determine if there are any differences in the sexual size dimorphism associated with the availability of the food resource in T. infestans of natural habitats in the Llanos Riojanos region (Argentina). The nutritional status resulted higher in chicken coops and, in both habitats, it was higher for females in relation to males. The centroid size was larger in females than in males from chicken coops, but not in the specimens from goat corrals. Centroid sizes revealed smaller medians in goat insects in comparison to those coming from chicken coops. Sexual size dimorphism occurs associated with differences in the nutritional status only for triatomines from chicken coops in natural habitats. The heads shape was not influenced by the nutritional status. The sexual morphophysiological differences found in T. infestans help us understand aspects of the behavior of the species in diverse environments and its implications in the vectorial transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi.Fil: Hernández, María Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Amelotti, Ivana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Catala, Silvia Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Gorla, David Eladio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales; Argentin

Seasonal variations in antibiotic resistance gene transport in the Almendares River, Havana, Cuba

Numerous studies have quantified antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) in rivers and streams around the world, and significant relationships have been shown that relate different pollutant outputs and increased local ARG levels. However, most studies have not considered ambient flow conditions, which can vary dramatically especially in tropical countries. Here, ARG were quantified in water column and sediment samples during the dry- and wet-seasons to assess how seasonal and other factors influence ARG transport down the Almendares River (Havana, Cuba). Eight locations were sampled and stream flow estimated during both seasons; qPCR was used to quantify four tetracycline, two erythromycin, and three beta-lactam resistance genes. ARG concentrations were higher in wet-season versus dry-season samples, which combined with higher flows, indicated much greater ARG transport downstream during the wet-season. However, water column ARG levels were more spatially variable in the dry-season than the wet-season, with the proximity of waste outfalls strongly influencing local ARG levels. Results confirm that dry-season sampling provides a useful picture of the impact of individual waste inputs on local stream ARG levels, whereas the majority of ARGs in this tropical river were transported downstream during the wet-season, possibly due to re-entrainment of ARG from sediments

Hybrid GMR Sensor Detecting 950 pT/sqrt(Hz) at 1 Hz and Room Temperature.

Advances in the magnetic sensing technology have been driven by the increasing demand for the capability of measuring ultrasensitive magnetic fields. Among other emerging applications, the detection of magnetic fields in the picotesla range is crucial for biomedical applications. In this work Picosense reports a millimeter-scale, low-power hybrid magnetoresistive-piezoelectric magnetometer with subnanotesla sensitivity at low frequency. Through an innovative noise-cancelation mechanism, the 1/f noise in the MR sensors is surpassed by the mechanical modulation of the external magnetic fields in the high frequency regime. A modulation efficiency of 13% was obtained enabling a final device's sensitivity of ~950 pT/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz. This hybrid device proved to be capable of measuring biomagnetic signals generated in the heart in an unshielded environment. This result paves the way for the development of a portable, contactless, low-cost and low-power magnetocardiography device

Growing Markets through Business Training for Female Entrepreneurs: A Market-Level Randomized Experiment in Kenya

A common concern with efforts to directly help some small businesses to grow is that their growth comes at the expense of their unassisted competitors. We test this possibility using a two-stage randomized experiment in Kenya which randomizes business training at the market level, and then within markets to selected businesses. Three years after training, the treated businesses are selling more, earn higher profits, and their owners have higher well-being. There is no evidence of negative spillovers on the competing businesses, and the markets as a whole appear to have grown in terms of number of customers and sales volumes. This market growth appears to come from enhanced customer service and new product introduction, generating more customers and more sales from existing customers. As a result, business growth in underdeveloped markets is possible without taking sales away from non-treated businesses

Strictly small representations and a reduction theorem for the unitary dual

First published in Representation Theory in Vol 5, 2001. Published by the American Mathematical Society.To any irreducible unitary representation X of a real reductive Lie group we associate in a canonical way, a Levi subgroup Gsu and a representation of this subgroup. Assuming a conjecture of the authors on the infinitesimal character of X, we show that X is cohomologically induced from a unitary representation of the subgroup Gsu. This subgroup is in some cases smaller than the subgroup Gu that the authors attached to X in earlier work. In those cases this provides a further reduction to the classification problem