186 research outputs found
Translating the Mishnah and the Conversion of the Jews. The Case of Isaac Abendana's student Theodor Dassow
La vita e l'opera dell'ebraista tedesco Theodor Dassow e il suo rapporto con il rabbino Isaac Abendana, suo maestro a Oxford
Probabilistic expert systems for forensic inference from genetic markers
We present a number of real and fictitious examples in illustration of a new approach to analysing complex cases of forensic identification inference. This is effected by careful restructuring of the relevant pedigrees as a Probabilistic Expert System. Existing software can then be used to perform the required inferential calculations. Specific complications which are readily handled by this approach include missing data on one or more relevant individuals, and genetic mutation. The method is particularly valuable for disputed paternity cases, but applies also to certain criminal cases
Partial purification of a high molecular weight hepatocyte growth stimulating factor from normal calf serum
Geographic changes in the Aegean Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum: Postulating biogeographic effects of sea-level rise on islands
In order to assess how the last sea level rise affected the Aegean archipelago, we quantified the magnitude and rate of geographic change for the Aegean islands during the last sea-level-rise episode (21 kyr BP-present) with a spatially explicit geophysical model. An island-specific Area-Distance-Change (ADC) typology was constructed, with higher ADC values representing a higher degree of change. The highest fragmentation rates of the Aegean archipelago occurred in tandem with the largest rates of sea-level-rise occurring between 17 kyr and 7 kyr ago. Sea-level rise resulted in an area loss for the Aegean archipelago of approximately 70%. Spatiotemporal differences in sea-level changes across the Aegean Sea and irregular bathymetry produced a variety of island surface-area loss responses, with area losses ranging from 20% to >90% per island. In addition, sea-level rise led to increased island isolation, increasing distances of islands to continents to >200% for some islands. We discuss how rates of area contractions and distance increases may have affected biotas, their evolutionary history and genetics. Five testable hypotheses are proposed to guide future research. We hypothesize that islands with higher ADC-values will exhibit higher degrees of community hyper-saturation, more local extinctions, larger genetic bottlenecks, higher genetic diversity within species pools, more endemics and shared species on continental fragments and higher z-values of the power-law species-area relationship. The developed typology and the quantified geographic response to sea-level rise of continental islands, as in the Aegean Sea, present an ideal research framework to test biogeographic and evolutionary hypotheses assessing the role of rates of area and distance change affecting biota
Fault analysis and improved design of JET in-vessel Mirnov coils
In vessel Mirnov coils are an essential diagnostic in present day tokamaks. Their use in ITER and future Fusion reactors presents some disadvantages linked to the high radiation environment. Furthermore large Electro Magnetic (EM) forces can be experienced by the coil, due to the pulsed operation of the tokamak device (Van Nieuwenhove and Vermeeren, 2003, Vayakis et al., 2011 [1,2]), and disruptions (Gerasimov et al., 2015 [3]). Since the operation with the ITER-like wall, JET has experienced severe faults in the high-bandwidth Ti wire coils. During 2016-17 new coils have been designed and installed. These can be replaced using remote handling, and they use Cu alloy wire. The presented work includes the failure analysis and modelling, motivating the design differences between old and new coils. The latter will provide valuable information on the long term effects of EM loads during disruptions, as well as chemical degradation processes that will be encountered for ITER High Frequency (HF) coils, which are characterized by the same materials
Eindrapportage: Invoering van het gebruik van Blackboard in het propedeuse-onderwijs van de faculteit de Psychologie en Pedagogiek
Duodenal lipid-induced symptom generation in gastroesophageal reflux disease: Role of apolipoprotein A-IV and cholecystokinin
Background Duodenal lipid intensifies the perception of esophageal acid perfusion. Recently, we showed that genes implicated in lipid absorption were upregulated in the duodenum of fasting gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) patients. This suggests that chylomicron production and secretion may be enhanced and, consequently, the release of apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV), a chylomicron-derived signaling protein. ApoA-IV may stimulate release of cholecystokinin (CCK), an activator of vagal afferents. This study evaluated putative involvement of abnormal apoA-IV and CCK responses to lipid in GERD.Methods Ten GERD patients and 10 healthy volunteers (HV) underwent duodenal perfusion with Intralipid 20%, 2 kcal min(-1) , for 60 min. Symptoms were scored, blood samples collected every 15 min during lipid perfusion and 15 min after discontinuation when duodenal biopsies were taken. Plasma and mucosal concentrations of apoA-IV and CCK and transcript levels of 21 genes implicated in lipid absorption, differentially expressed under fasting conditions, were quantified.Key results Heartburn (P = 0.003), abdominal discomfort (P = 0.037) and nausea (P = 0.008) only increased significantly during lipid infusion in GERD patients. Following lipid infusion mean mucosal apoA-IV concentration was lower in GERD patients compared with HV (P = 0.023), whereas plasma concentration tended to be elevated (P = 0.068). Mean mucosal CCK concentration was also lower in GERD patients (P = 0.009). Two genes, HIBADH and JTB, were upregulated in GERD patients (P = 0.008 and P = 0.038, respectively).Conclusions & inferences Our results suggest excessive duodenal lipid-induced release of apoA-IV and CCK in GERD. We postulate that the resulting heightened activation of duodenal vagal afferents may underlie central sensitization, thereby increasing the perception of reflux events.O. S. Van Boxel, J. J. M. Ter Linde, J. Oors, B. Otto, C. Feinle-Bisset, A. J. P. M. Smout & P. D. Siersem
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