The LAUE project for broadband gamma-ray focusing lenses

We present the LAUE project devoted to develop an advanced technology for building a high focal length Laue lens for soft gamma--ray astronomy (80-600 keV). The final goal is to develop a focusing optics that can improve the current sensitivity in the above energy band by 2 orders of magnitude.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, presented at the SPIE conference on "Optics for EUV, X-ray, and Gamma-ray Astronomy". To be published in the Proceedings of SPIE, vol.8147, 201

Development status of a Laue lens project for gamma-ray astronomy

We report the status of the HAXTEL project, devoted to perform a design study and the development of a Laue lens prototype. After a summary of the major results of the design study, the approach adopted to develop a Demonstration Model of a Laue lens is discussed, the set up described, and some results presented.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 2007 SPIE Conference on Optics for EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Astronomy II

The establishment of a future NESP dredging research investment framework: NESP TWQ Hub Project 1.9

The purpose of this project was to conduct a facilitated workshop with key researchers and stakeholders to establish priorities for future research investment of the NESP Tropical Water Quality Hub (NESP TWQ) into dredging and disposal of dredged sediments in the GBR. A recent independent review of potential impacts of dredging on the biological values of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) identified a number of key knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to improve management of dredging1 activities. That review, together with the findings of the currently underway dredging science node of the Western Australian Marine Institution (WAMSI), informed the subsequent prioritisation of research topics to address the most important knowledge gaps

No measure for culture? Value in the new economy

This paper explores articulations of the value of investment in culture and the arts through a critical discourse analysis of policy documents, reports and academic commentary since 1997. It argues that in this period, discourses around the value of culture have moved from a focus on the direct economic contributions of the culture industries to their indirect economic benefits. These indirect benefits are discussed here under three main headings: creativity and innovation, employability, and social inclusion. These are in turn analysed in terms of three forms of capital: human, social and cultural. The paper concludes with an analysis of this discursive shift through the lens of autonomist Marxist concerns with the labour of social reproduction. It is our argument that, in contemporary policy discourses on culture and the arts, the government in the UK is increasingly concerned with the use of culture to form the social in the image of capital. As such, we must turn our attention beyond the walls of the factory in order to understand the contemporary capitalist production of value and resistance to it. </jats:p

Development status of the LAUE project

We present the status of LAUE, a project supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and devoted to develop Laue lenses with long focal length (up to 100 meters), for hard X--/soft gamma--ray astronomy (80-600 keV). Thanks to their focusing capability, the design goal is to improve the sensitivity of the current instrumention in the above energy band by 2 orders of magnitude, down to a few times $10^{-8}$ photons/(cm$^2$ s keV).Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, presented at the Space Telescopes and Instrumentation Symposium in Amsterdam, 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray Conference. Published in the Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 8443, id. 84430B-84430B-9 (2012

Proving Craig and Lyndon Interpolation Using Labelled Sequent Calculi

We have recently presented a general method of proving the fundamental logical properties of Craig and Lyndon Interpolation (IPs) by induction on derivations in a wide class of internal sequent calculi, including sequents, hypersequents, and nested sequents. Here we adapt the method to a more general external formalism of labelled sequents and provide sufficient criteria on the Kripke-frame characterization of a logic that guarantee the IPs. In particular, we show that classes of frames definable by quantifier-free Horn formulas correspond to logics with the IPs. These criteria capture the modal cube and the infinite family of transitive Geach logics

Effect of silver nanoparticles against Candida albicans and Candida glabrata biofilms

Objectives: Fungal infections in immunocompromised patients have been contributing to the increasing morbidity and mortality of these patients, especially associated to yeast resistance to antifungal therapy. The increase in antibiotic-resistant microorganisms has prompted interest in the use of silver as an antimicrobial agent. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of silver nanoparticles against Candida albicans and Candida glabrata biofilms. Methods: Spherical nano-silver (average diameter 5nm) particles were synthesized by silver nitrate reduction with sodium citrate. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests were performed for C. albicans (n=2) and C. glabrata (n=2) grown in suspension using the microbroth dilution method. Silver nanoparticles were applied on adhered cells (2 h) or biofilms (48 h) and after 24h biofilms were characterized by colony forming units (CFUs) enumeration and total biomass quantification (using crystal violet staining). Results: Interestingly, C. glabrata MIC values were higher (0.4 – 3.3 µg/mL) than C. albicans (0.4 – 1.6 µg/mL). Furthermore, the results obtained revealed that silver nanoparticles were more effective in reducing 24h biofilms' biomass when applied onto adhered cells (2h) than on pre-formed biofilms (48h), with the exception of C. glabrata clinical isolate, which in both cases had a reduction around 90%. Regarding cell viability, silver nanoparticles were highly effective on adhered C. glabrata (reduction of around 70%) and respective biofilms (reduction of around 50%). On C. albicans the effect was not so notorious but there was also a reduction on the number of biofilm viable cells. Conclusion: Silver nanoparticles have great potential to be an effective alternative to antifungal agents for future therapies in Candida infections