Naresuan University Journal
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Complexity and universality in the long-range order of words
No full textAs is the case of many signals produced by complex systems, language presents a statistical structure that is balanced between order and disorder. Here we review and extend recent results from quantitative characterisations of the degree of order in linguistic sequences that give insights into two relevant aspects of language: the presence of statistical universals in word ordering, and the link between semantic information and the statistical linguistic structure. We first analyse a measure of relative entropy that assesses how much the ordering of words contributes to the overall statistical structure of language. This measure presents an almost constant value close to 3.5 bits/word across several linguistic families. Then, we show that a direct application of information theory leads to an entropy measure that can quantify and extract semantic structures from linguistic samples, even without prior knowledge of the underlying language
Pathways to Well-Being in Later Life: Socioeconomic and Health Determinants Across the Life Course of Australian Baby Boomers
No full textCommunicating Cardiovascular Disease Risk to People with Psoriasis: What Techniques do Practitioners Use?
No full textBACKGROUND: Psoriasis can be associated with unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, excess alcohol use and insufficient physical activity, consequently increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Health care practitioners are expected to discuss lifestyle risk factors with patients with a view to reducing health-related risk for patients. However, little is known about the techniques used to communicate information about risk to patients with psoriasis. PURPOSE: We aimed to examine how primary care practitioners communicate risk information when conducting CVD risk assessments. METHOD: Consultations (n = 44) between primary care practitioners (general practitioners and practice nurses) and patients with psoriasis across 10 practices were audio-recorded and analysed using content analysis. A coding frame was used to record specific techniques used by practitioners to communicate risk information. RESULTS: Most frequently used communication methods were verbal descriptors of risk factors accompanied by numerical data (n = 28) rather than verbal descriptors alone (n = 16). Practitioners did not use numerical risk communication methods alone. Where CVD risk factors were discussed with patients (n = 156 occasions across all consultations), interpretations of this information was provided to patients on 131 (84 %) occasions. However, specific advice about behaviour/risk modification was only given on 60 (38.5 %) out of a possible 156 occasions. CONCLUSIONS: Specific advice about how to change lifestyle behaviour to modify CVD risk factors was not always given by the practitioner, particularly when discussing behavioural risk factors. Developing a best practice for communicating complex health risk information would ensure that people with psoriasis are empowered to make lifestyle modifications to reduce CVD risk
Additive interfacial chiral interaction in multilayers for stabilization of small individual skyrmion at room temperature
No full textFacing the ever-growing demand for data storage will most probably require a new paradigm. Nanoscale magnetic skyrmions are anticipated to solve this issue as they are arguably the smallest spin textures in magnetic thin films in nature. We designed cobalt-based multilayered thin films in which the cobalt layer is sandwiched between two heavy metals and so provides additive interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interactions (DMIs), which reach a value close to 2 mJ m–2 in the case of the Ir|Co|Pt asymmetric multilayers. Using a magnetization-sensitive scanning X-ray transmission microscopy technique, we imaged small magnetic domains at very low fields in these multilayers. The study of their behaviour in a perpendicular magnetic field allows us to conclude that they are actually magnetic skyrmions stabilized by the large DMI. This discovery of stable sub-100 nm individual skyrmions at room temperature in a technologically relevant material opens the way for device applications in the near future
Think Tanks and the Pressures for Planning Reform in England
No full textThis article examines how advocacy think tanks have sought to influence the remaking of the English planning system. Pressure for planning reform has come particularly though not exclusively from the political right, which has sought to portray planning as a form of bureaucratic regulation, out of touch with the needs of modern, global economies and the needs of society. This research involved 27 interviewees, the majority of whom have worked in think tanks, whilst others worked in government or in advocacy and professional groups. We explore how despite years of critique and many reforms to the planning system, it is still portrayed as failing. Drawing on ideas around the experimental state, we seek to develop a better understanding of the dynamics behind the process of continuous calls for planning reform before turning to some of the implications for both planning and our understanding of how think tanks seek to influence policy
Like Father, Like Son?:Young Men's Responses to Domestic Violence between Parents
No full textWhy do some young people, especially some young men, respond to experiences of violence in childhood by reproducing the same behaviour in their own relationships? Are they necessarily behaving just like their fathers? Should their aggression be understood as a negative psychological effect arising out of exposure to domestic? What of some young men’s wishes to be different from the adult men who have abused their mothers? What of young men’s resilience to exposure to other men’s violence? This chapter begins by reviewing the literatures on the effects of domestic violence on children while explicating its limitations. It then examines the more qualitative literature that has highlighted young people’s resilience in the context of violence between parents, without necessarily recognising the gendered dimensions of this resilience. The chapter then attempts to deliver such an analysis through the use of case study derived from the ESRC funded ‘From Boys to Men Project’ (RES-062–23-2678). The chapter’s discussion points to the need to discern the meanings of particular incidents of violence and aggression in which young men are implicated, before assumptions are made about whether they too are ‘perpetrators’ just like their fathers
Chemical and Biological Characteristics of Lignin and Energy Efficiency of Acid and Alkali Delignified Bagasse / คุณสมบัติทางเคมีและชีวภาพของสารสกัด lignin และประสิทธิภาพทางพลังงานของกากอ้อยที่เหลือหลังจากการสกัดแยก lignin ด้วยกรดและด่าง
No full textบทคัดย่อผลผลิตพลอยได้หลักจากอุตสาหกรรมน้ำตาลได้แก่ กากอ้อย ซึ่งมีปริมาณมหาศาลในแต่ละปีและถูกนำมาใช้ประโยชน์หลักในการผลิตเชื้อเพลิงหมุนเวียนในกระบวนการผลิตน้ำตาล งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อสกัด lignin จากกากอ้อยด้วยกรดและด่าง จากนั้นศึกษาคุณสมบัติของสารสกัดที่ได้และประสิทธิภาพทางพลังงานของกากอ้อยที่เหลือเพื่อเป็นแนวทางในการนำไปใช้ประโยชน์และเพิ่มมูลค่าให้กับผลผลิตพลอยได้จากอุตสาหกรรมน้ำตาล เนื่องจาก lignin นับเป็น polymer ที่มีปริมาณมากเป็นอันดับสองรองจาก cellulose และมีโครงสร้างทางเคมีที่มีศักยภาพในการนำมาใช้ประโยชน์ที่หลากหลาย จากการศึกษาผลได้การสกัดรวมถึงคุณสมบัติของ lignin จากกากอ้อยที่อายุต่างกัน โครงสร้างทางเคมี (FTIR) และคุณสมบัติทางชีวภาพ (antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity) พบว่าผลได้การสกัดแตกต่างกันไปตามสภาวะการสกัด (1%NaOH และ formic acid: acetic acid: H2O, 30:55:15, v/v/v) สัดส่วนของ solid: liquid ratio (1:6 และ 1:12) อายุของกากอ้อย (หลังหีบ 1 วัน, 10-12 เดือน) รวมถึงการ pretreatment (±steam explosion) โดยกากอ้อยเก่าสามารถสกัด lignin ได้โดยไม่ผ่านการระเบิดด้วยไอน้ำและให้ผลได้สูงสุดเท่ากับ 26% ในขณะที่กากอ้อยใหม่จำเป็นต้องนำมาผ่านการระเบิดด้วยไอน้ำโดยได้ผลได้สูงสุด 22% ตัวทำละลายที่ให้ผลดีที่สุดคือ 1%NaOH อัตราส่วน 1:12 อย่างไรก็ตาม lignin จากกากอ้อยเก่ามีคุณสมบัติในการต้านอนุมูลอิสระต่ำกว่าในกากอ้อยใหม่เล็กน้อยซึ่งอาจเนื่องมาจากการเกิด oxidation ของ lignin บางส่วนในสภาวะการเก็บรักษากากอ้อยภายนอกอาคารของโรงงาน นอกจากนี้ยังพบว่าสารสกัด lignin ที่ความเข้มข้นต่ำสุดที่ 1250 µg/ml (MIC) สามารถยับยั้งการเจริญของเชื้อแบคทีเรียแกรมลบ (E. coli, S. typhimurium & V. cholera) ได้ดีกว่าแกรมบวก (S. aureus) นอกจากนี้กากอ้อยที่ผ่านการสกัดแล้วสามารถนำกลับมาใช้ผลิตไฟฟ้าต่อได้ โดยให้ค่าพลังงานความร้อนลดลงประมาณ 5-19% เมื่อเทียบกับกากอ้อยที่ยังไม่ผ่านการสกัด คำสำคัญ: lignin อุตสาหกรรมน้ำตาล สารต้านอนุมูลอิสระ การสกัด lignin ด้วยกรด การสกัด lignin ด้วยด่าง AbstractLarge amount of sugar industrial by products mainly bagasse is generated annually and mostly used to produce energy for sugar industry itself. The present work aims at extracting lignin from bagasse using acid and alkali delignification methods. The obtained lignin was characterized for its chemical and biological characteristics including the energy efficiency of delignified bagasse. Indeed, lignin becomes more attractive due to its second largest amount compared to cellulose. Moreover, its chemical structures indicate high potential to be developed for various applications. From extraction process, yield of extracted lignin was varied according to extracting media (1%NaOH and formic acid: acetic acid: H2O, 30:55:15, v/v/v), solid: liquid ratio (1:6 and 1:12), state of obtained bagasse (1 day and 12 day after juice extraction) and pretreatment process (steam explosion). Extraction of twelve month stored bagasse under alkali condition without pretreatment provided the highest yield of 22%. Meanwhile, pretreatment for new bagasse seems necessary in order to improve extraction efficiency when using 1%NaOH at 1:12 ratio. In addition, lignin obtained from twelve month bagasse provided poorer antioxidant activity assessed by DPPH compared to that from new bagasse. This could be due to partial oxidation of lignin under outdoor storage condition of bagasse. Concerning antimicrobial activity, all lignin obtained from all extraction conditions at the concentration of 1,250 µg/ml (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration; MIC) could inhibit microbial growth. The better inhibition was observed in gram negative bacteria (E. coli, S. typhimurium and V. cholera) than gram positive bacteria (S. aureus). In addition, delignified bagasse could be reutilized as an energy source with slight reduction of heat building capacity around 5 - 19% compared to normal bagasse. Keywords: Lignin, Sugar Industry, Antioxidant, Acid delignification, Alkali delignificatio
Shine on you crazy books: the Comprehensive Series in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences
No full textMeasurement of the centrality dependence of the charged-particle pseudorapidity distribution in proton–lead collisions at sNN−−−√=5.02sNN=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector
No full textThe centrality dependence of the mean charged-particle multiplicity as a function of pseudorapidity is measured in approximately 1 \upmu\upmu b−1−1 of proton–lead collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy of sNN−−−√=5.02sNN=5.02 TeVTeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.7 are reconstructed using the ATLAS pixel detector. The collision centrality is characterised by the total transverse energy measured in the Pb-going direction of the forward calorimeter. The charged-particle pseudorapidity distributions are found to vary strongly with centrality, with an increasing asymmetry between the proton-going and Pb-going directions as the collisions become more central. Three different estimations of the number of nucleons participating in the collision have been carried out using the Glauber model as well as two Glauber–Gribov inspired extensions to the Glauber model. Charged-particle multiplicities per participant pair are found to vary differently for these three models, highlighting the importance of including colour fluctuations in nucleon–nucleon collisions in the modelling of the initial state of collisions