Accessing phonon polaritons in hyperbolic crystals by ARPES

Recently studied hyperbolic materials host unique phonon-polariton (PP) modes. The ultra-short wavelengths of these modes, which can be much smaller than those of conventional exciton-polaritons, are of high interest for extreme sub-diffraction nanophotonics schemes. Polar hyperbolic materials such as hexagonal boron nitride can be used to realize strong long-range coupling between PP modes and extraneous charge degrees of freedom. The latter, in turn, can be used to control and probe PP modes. Of special interest is coupling between PP modes and plasmons in an adjacent graphene sheet, which opens the door to accessing PP modes by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). A rich structure in the graphene ARPES spectrum due to PP modes is predicted, providing a new probe of PP modes and their coupling to graphene plasmons

On the Weighted Top-Difference Distance: Axioms, Aggregation, and Approximation

We study a family of distance functions on rankings that allow for asymmetric treatments of alternatives and consider the distinct relevance of the top and bottom positions for ordered lists. We provide a full axiomatic characterization of our distance. In doing so, we retrieve new characterizations of existing axioms and show how to effectively weaken them for our purposes. This analysis highlights the generality of our distance as it embeds many (semi)metrics previously proposed in the literature. Subsequently, we show that, notwithstanding its level of generality, our distance is still readily applicable. We apply it to preference aggregation, studying the features of the associated median voting rule. It is shown how the derived preference function satisfies many desirable features in the context of voting rules, ranging from fairness to majority and Pareto-related properties. We show how to compute consensus rankings exactly, and provide generalized Diaconis-Graham inequalities that can be leveraged to obtain approximation algorithms. Finally, we propose some truncation ideas for our distances inspired by Lu and Boutilier (2010). These can be leveraged to devise a Polynomial-Time-Approximation Scheme for the corresponding rank aggregation problem.Comment: 64 page

Free electron laser-driven ultrafast rearrangement of the electronic structure in Ti

High-energy density extreme ultraviolet radiation delivered by the FERMI seeded free-electron laser has been used to create an exotic nonequilibrium state of matter in a titanium sample characterized by a highly excited electron subsystem at temperatures in excess of 10 eV and a cold solid-density ion lattice. The obtained transient state has been investigated through ultrafast absorption spectroscopy across the Ti M2,3-edge revealing a drastic rearrangement of the sample electronic structure around the Fermi level occurring on a time scale of about 100 fs

NeuronUnityIntegration2. 0. A Unity Based Application for Motion Capture and Gesture Recognition

NeuronUnityIntgration2.0 (demo video is avilable at http://tiny.cc/u1lz6y) is a plugin for Unity which provides gesture recognition functionalities through the Perception Neuron motion capture suit. The system offers a recording mode, which guides the user through the collection of a dataset of gestures, and a recognition mode, capable of detecting the recorded actions in real time. Gestures are recognized by training Support Vector Machines directly within our plugin. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our application through an experimental evaluation on a newly collected dataset. Furthermore, external applications can exploit NeuronUnityIntgration2.0's recognition capabilities thanks to a set of exposed API

Active Aging: Social Entrepreneuring in Local Communities of Five European Countries

Building on the active aging framework, the aim of this study, carried out between 2016 and 2018, is to analyze concrete experiences of older individuals acting as key players of social change in six local communities of five European countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, England, France, Spain). The 19 seniors involved in the study, according to social contexts, individual past experiences, knowledge, and motivations, acted as senior social entrepreneurs, trying to build a pathway towards social solutions for unmet social problems they detected in local communities. Data were collected via templates and questionnaires and analyzed using the thematic analysis. The results highlighted that the 16 local initiatives created by seniors concerned social problems such as food waste, social isolation, multicultural integration, etc. The social solutions implemented by seniors seemed to have the potential to produce social value and, to different degrees, encouraging results and impact. Since this “social experiment” provided evidence that senior social entrepreneuring could be a driver to solve societal problems, policy makers should sustain the spread of both social entrepreneurial mindset and practices at the European level, for catalyzing the active potential of older people for the benefit of European local communities

Partnering to develop resilience in health professionals and faculty through mindfulness-based education

Given the pressures that exist in our health care system, health care professionals often are under significant stress to provide both quality clinical care to patients and quality teaching to their learners. We present an innovative program to develop faculty and health professional  skills in reflective practice and resilience, which strengthen participants' ability to act as effective clinicians, educators, role models, and leaders. The basis of the curriculum  rests in the neuroscience of mindfulness  and its applications. This program was enabled through a unique partnership between acute care hospitals (Hamilton Health Sciences and St Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton), Family Health Teams (McMaster Family Health Team and Hamilton Family Health Team) and the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences Program for Faculty Development (PFD), with additional funding support in 2013 from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOH-LTC). Data from 2013 course participants (validated measurement  tools and qualitative feedback) was analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of this initiative. This poster outlines the journey of this work and a summary of the data gathered to inform further education.

Depth profiling of melting and metallization in Si(111) and Si(001) surfaces

International audienc

Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in ulcerative colitis treatment: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Background & Aims: Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) has been recommended as a therapeutic tool for ulcerative colitis (UC) treatment. However, to date, no meta-analysis has been performed on this topic. Methods. We performed a literature search on PubMed, MEDLINE, Science Direct and EMBASE. We evaluated success rates for induction of remission, relapse rates and side effects, expressed as Intention-To-Treat. Odd ratios (OR), pooled OR and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated, based on the Mantel-Haenszel method. Heterogeneity was assessed by using the χ2 and I2 statistics and, if present, a random-effects model was adopted. Results. We selected six eligible trials, with 719 patients, 390 assigned to the study group and 329 to the control group. EcN induced remission in 61.6% of cases, while in the control group (mesalazine) the remission was achieved in 69.5% of cases, with a mean difference of 7.9%. The pooled OR was 0.92 (95% CI 0.15-9.66, p=0.93). A single study showed a better performance of EcN than the placebo. A relapse of the disease occurred in 36.8% in the EcN group and in 36.1% in the control group (mesalazine), with a mean difference of 0.8%, OR=1.07, with a 95% CI of 0.70-1.64 (p=0.74). Side effects were comparable (OR=1.44, 95% CI 0.80-2.59, p=0.22). Conclusions. EcN is equivalent to mesalazine in preventing disease relapse, thus confirming current guideline recommendations. EcN seems to be as effective as controls in inducing remission and therefore, its use cannot be recommended as in one study the comparison was performed against placebo. Further studies may be helpful for this subject

Negocios e inversiones entre la campaña y la ciudad: los pulperos en las cercanías de Buenos Aires (primera mitad del siglo XIX)

En los últimos años, distintas investigaciones han comenzado a indagar sobre los negocios de los pequeños y medianos comerciantes rurales y sus relaciones con la producción agraria. Sin embargo, el perfil de los mercaderes minoristas del hinterland porteño, sus funciones a nivel local y su inserción en las redes regionales que vinculaban la campaña con el puerto ciudad ofrecen aún muchas facetas a explorar. Por ello, interesadas en la dinámica del comercio al menudeo indagaremos sobre las características de los negocios de los pequeños y medianos mercaderes que operaban en la campaña cercana a Buenos Aires. Poniendo en perspectiva historiográfica los datos relevados sobre los pulperos y comerciantes de las jurisdicciones aledañas a la ciudad, nos detendremos en sus características socioocupacionales y demográficas, en sus patrimonios y estrategias de inversión mercantil/productivas así como también en sus modos de participación en los nuevos espacios de poder local.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació