490 research outputs found
Terahertz spectroscopy: a powerful new tool for the chemical sciences?
No full textTerahertz spectroscopy is only now beginning to make its transition from initial development by physicists and engineers to broader use by chemists, materials scientists and biologists, thanks to the increasing availability of commercial terahertz spectrometers. With the unique insights that terahertz spectroscopy can provide into intermolecular bonding and crystalline matter, it could prove to be an invaluable addition to the chemist's analytical toolset. This tutorial review aims to give an introduction to terahertz spectroscopy, its techniques, equipment, current applications and potential for the chemical sciences to a broad readership
Crystallization of amorphous lactose at high humidity studied by terahertz time domain spectroscopy
No full textWe report the first use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to study the hydration and crystallization of an amorphous molecular solid at high humidity. Lactose in its amorphous and monohydrate forms exhibits different terahertz spectra due to the lack of long range order in the amorphous material. This difference allowed the transformation of amorphous lactose to its monohydrate form at high humidity to be studied in real time. Spectral fitting of frequency-domain data allowed kinetic data to be obtained and the crystallization was found to obey Avrami kinetics. Bulk changes during the crystallization could also be observed in the time-domain
Comparing apples and oranges? Investigating the consistency of CPU and memory profiler results across multiple java versions
No full textProfiling is an important tool in the software developer’s box, used to identify hot methods where most computational resources are used, to focus efforts at improving efficiency. Profilers are also important in the context of Genetic improvement (GI) of software. GI applies search-based optimisation to existing software with many examples of success in a variety of contexts. GI generates variants of the original program, testing each for functionality and properties such as run time or memory footprint, and profiling can be used to target the code variations to increase the search efficiency. We report on an experimental study comparing two profilers included with different versions of the Java Development Kit (JDK), HPROF (JDK 8) and Java Flight Recorder (JFR) (JDK 8, 9, and 17), within the GI toolbox Gin on six open-source applications, for both run time and memory use. We find that a core set of methods are labelled hot in most runs, with a long tail appearing rarely. We suggest five repeats enough to overcome this noise. Perhaps unsurprisingly, changing the profiler and JDK dramatically change the hot methods identified, so profiling must be rerun for new JDKs. We also show that using profiling for test case subset selection is unwise, often missing relevant members of the test suite. Similar general patterns are seen for memory profiling as for run time but the identified hot methods are often quite different
Self-archiving practice and the influence of publisher policies in the social sciences
No full textAuthors in different disciplines exhibit very different behaviours on the so-called ‘green’ road to open access, i.e. self-archiving. This study looks at the self-archiving behaviour of authors publishing in leading journals in six social science disciplines. It tests the hypothesis that authors are self-archiving according to the norms of their respective disciplines rather than following self-archiving policies of publishers, and that, as a result, they are self-archiving significant numbers of publisher PDF versions. It finds significant levels of
self-archiving, as well as significant self-archiving of
the publisher PDF version, in all the disciplines
investigated. Publishers’ self-archiving policies have
no influence on author self-archiving practice
Geospatial Data
No full textDigital data repository for Watkinson, I. M. and Hall, R., Impact of communal irrigation on the 2018 Palu earthquake-triggered landslidesNature Geoscience Manuscript NGS-2018-12-02760Submitted 21st December 2018; revised version submitted 11th June 2019; accepted 18th July 2019.Contents include vector files for ArcGIS (shapefiles).All files use the projected coordinate system UTM zone 50S, WGS1984.All shapefiles are also provided as KMZ files for use in Google Earth.Files are provided as-is and without guarantees in terms of accuracy, reliability or significance. We accept no liability for use of these files under any circumstances. See main manuscript, Methods section and supplementary materials for full description and uncertainties. Contents:*** Landslide displacement geospatial data ***---------------------------------------------- Observed_displacement_lines_MAIN.shp/kmz (main high-density object tracking lines)- Observed_displacement_points_START.shp/kmz (main high-density object tracking lines start points)- Observed_displacement_points_END.shp/kmz (main high-density object tracking lines end points)- Observed_displacement_lines_WIDER.shp/kmz (main high-density object tracking lines plus lower density lines in wider study area for PCA)*** Landslide features geospatial data ***----------------------------------------- Landslide_domains.shp/kmz- Landslide_faults_fractures.shp/kmz- Mottling.shp/kmz- Sand_blows.shp/kmz- Water_ponding.shp/kmz*** Irrigation/water geospatial data ***------------------------------------------------ Conveyance_canal.shp/kmz- Irrigation_nodes.shp/kmz- Other_channels.shp/kmz- Natural_rivers.shp/kmz*** Spreadsheets ***--------------------------- Observed_displacement_data.xlsx- RESULT_PCA_FULL and 1-10_formatted for publication.xls
Broad-scale analysis of morphological and climate impacts on coastal flood risk
No full textA system of hydrodynamic, morphodynamic and reliability models have been coupled to generate insights into the effects of climate change and coastal management practices on coastal erosion and flood risk over 50km of coastline and up to 100 years in the future. Offshore wave conditions were propagated inshore using TOMAWAC and the SCAPE soft cliff and platform erosion model was then used to predict recession of the soft coastal cliffs, the effects of cliff protection and sediment supplies to low-lying down-drift coasts. A reliability model, based upon joint probabilities of wave heights and water levels, has been used to estimate the probability of failure of the sea dikes on the low-lying coast, and a simple 2D inundation model and GIS have been used to estimate flood risk. Copyright ASCE 2006.</p
Biologically targeted probes for Zn2+: a diversity oriented modular “click-SNAr-click” approach
No full textWe describe a one-pot strategy for the high yielding, operationally simple synthesis of fluorescent probes for Zn2+ that bear biological targeting groups and exemplify the utility of our method through the preparation of a small library of sensors. Investigation of the fluorescence behaviour of our library revealed that although all behaved as expected in MeCN, under biologically relevant conditions in HEPES buffer, a plasma membrane targeting sensor displayed a dramatic switch on response to excess Zn2+ as a result of aggregation phenomena. Excitingly, in cellulo studies in mouse pancreatic islets demonstrated that this readily available sensor was indeed localised to the exterior of the plasma membrane and clearly responded to the Zn2+ co-released when the pancreatic beta cells were stimulated to release insulin. Conversely, sensors that target intracellular compartments were unaffected. These results demonstrate that this sensor has the potential to allow the real time study of insulin release from living cells and exemplifies the utility of our simple synthetic approac
Updating Gin's profiler for current Java
No full textGenetic improvement is a young and growing field. With much research still to be done, a number of tools to support the research community have emerged, with Gin being one such tool targeted at GI for Java. One core component of Gin is the profiler, which is used to identify ‘hot’ methods in target applications: methods where the CPU spends most time and so may offer the most fertile sections of code for improvements to run time. Gin’s profiler is HPROF, which was included with JDKs up to version 8. HPROF is no longer supported and so needs replaced if Gin is to support later versions of Java. Furthermore, little investigation has been made within the GI community comparing different profiling approaches. With this paper and its associated & accepted pull request, we replace Gin’s CPU profiler to allow Gin to be applied to current Java code.Output Status: Forthcomin
Breathing exercises for asthma: a randomised controlled trial
No full textBackground: The effect of breathing modification techniques on asthma symptoms and objective disease control is uncertain.Methods: A prospective, parallel group, single-blind, randomised controlled trial comparing breathing training with asthma education (to control for non-specific effects of clinician attention) was performed. Subjects with asthma with impaired health status managed in primary care were randomised to receive three sessions of either physiotherapist-supervised breathing training (n = 94) or asthma nurse-delivered asthma education (n = 89). The main outcome was Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ) score, with secondary outcomes including spirometry, bronchial hyper-responsiveness, exhaled nitric oxide, induced sputum eosinophil count and Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) and hyperventilation (Nijmegen) questionnaire scores.Results: One month after the intervention there were similar improvements in AQLQ scores from baseline in both groups but at 6 months there was a significant between-group difference favouring breathing training (0.38 units, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.68). At the 6-month assessment there were significant between-group differences favouring breathing training in HAD anxiety (1.1, 95% CI 0.2 to 1.9), HAD depression (0.8, 95% CI 0.1 to 1.4) and Nijmegen (3.2, 95% CI 1.0 to 5.4) scores, with trends to improved ACQ (0.2, 95% CI 0.0 to 0.4). No significant between-group differences were seen at 1 month. Breathing training was not associated with significant changes in airways physiology, inflammation or hyper-responsiveness.Conclusion: Breathing training resulted in improvements in asthma-specific health status and other patient-centred measures but not in asthma pathophysiology. Such exercises may help patients whose quality of life is impaired by asthma, but they are unlikely to reduce the need for anti-inflammatory medication
La cova d'en Passol i altres cavitats litorals situades entre cala sa Nau i cala Mitjana
No full text[cat] Presentam la topografia i la descripció de quatre cavitats del litoral de Felanitx. Aquestes formacions endocàrstiques es localitzen a la plataforma tabular postorogènica del Llevant. Tres són de la tipologia anomenada coves de la zona de mescla costanera i almenys les més grans estan relacionades genèticament entre sí. L'altra és una cavitat d'abrasió marina de tipus túnel, però amb la peculiaritat que una de les boques es va taponar per una antiga d’una, cosa que fa difícil destriar el seu origen. La cavitat més destacable del treball és la cova d'en Passol, amb 2176 m de recorregut. Presenta tres zones subaquàtiques que totalitzen un recorregut de 1579 m, separades per una gran sala terrestre, que és en realitat un col·lapse. Una d'aquestes zones, el sifó des Somnis adquireix un elevat interès per la gran abundancia i bellesa dels espeleotemes i pel volum de les sales. La fondària màxima sota l’aigua és de 25 m. Es poden observar diversos paleonivells freàtics pleistocènics enregistrats als espeleotemes de les galeries subaquàtiques. Aquests espeleotemes s'han trobat des de la cota -8 m fins a la cota -23.[eng] We present the description and surveys of four coastal caves within the municipality of Felanitx. These karstic caves are located in a tabular platform Laid down after the Llevant mountain system orogeny. Three of them have origins associated with the coastal ground water mixing zone. The fourth is apparently a marine abrasion cave in the form of a tunnel with the particularity of having one of its entrances block by fossil dune, making it difficult to determine its precise origins. The most notable cave in this paper is cave cova d'en Passol, with a total run of 2176 m. It has three subaquatic sections with a total run of 1579, these being separated by a large chamber, whose present day form is largely due to periodical roof-collapse. One of these subaquatic sections is great interest owing to its large abundance and beauty of its speleothems as well as the size of its chambers. The maximum (reach ed) dive-depth is 25 m. In the submerged galleries it is possible to observe speleothems indicating phreatic paleo-levels from the Pleistocene. These speleothems are at depths between minus 8 and 23 m
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