Suzbijanje geografskog širenja zaraze: kuga u Italiji od 1347.-1851.

After the establishment of the first quarantine station in the Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik) in 1377, the states and principalities of Italy developed a sophisticated system of defensive quarantine in an attempt to protect themselves from the ravages of plague. Using largely unknown and unseen historical maps, this paper reconstructs the extent and operation of the system used. It is shown that a cordon sanitaire existed around the coast of Italy for several centuries, consisting of three elements: (i) an outer defensive ring of armed sailing boats in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, (ii) a middle coastal ring of forts and observation towers, and (iii) an inner defensive ring of land-based cavalry. The principles established, although not especially successful at the time against a disease of (then) unknown aetiology, are still used today in attempts to control the spread of infections of animal and human populations.Nakon uspostave prvoga lazareta u Dubrovačkoj Republici 1377., talijanske državice i kneževine razradile su sustav karantena kako bi se zaštitile od razarajućega djelovanja kuge. Oslanjajući se mahom na dosad nepoznate povijesne karte, u ovome se članku rekonstruira kako je i u kojem razmjeru djelovao sustav zaštite. Duž talijanske obale stoljećima je postojao sanitarni kordon, a sastojao se od tri dijela: (i) vanjski pojas sastavljen od naoružanih jedrenjaka na Sredozemnom i Jadranskome moru, (ii) srednji obrambeni pojas sastavljen od utvrda i promatračnica te (iii) unutarnji obrambeni pojas na kopnu sastavljen od konjice. Premda ovaj sustav svojevremeno i nije bio pretjerano uspješan u zaštiti od bolesti (tada) nepoznate etiologije, njegova se načela još uvijek rabe za sprječavanje širenja bolesti među ljudima i životinjama

Beyond academia – interrogating research impact in the Research Excellence Framework

Big changes to the way in which research funding is allocated to UK universities were brought about in the Research Excellence Framework (REF), overseen by the Higher Education Funding Council, England. Replacing the earlier Research Assessment Exercise, the purpose of the REF was to assess the quality and reach of research in UK universities – and allocate funding accordingly. For the first time, this included an assessment of research ‘impact’, accounting for 20% of the funding allocation. In this article we use a text mining technique to investigate the interpretations of impact put forward via impact case studies in the REF process. We find that institutions have developed a diverse interpretation of impact, ranging from commercial applications to public and cultural engagement activities. These interpretations of impact vary from discipline to discipline and between institutions, with more broad-based institutions depicting a greater variety of impacts. Comparing the interpretations with the score given by REF, we found no evidence of one particular interpretation being more highly rewarded than another. Importantly, we also found a positive correlation between impact score and [overall research] quality score, suggesting that impact is not being achieved at the expense of research excellence

Abrupt transition to heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity in England and Wales, 1947–1957, associated with a pronounced increase in the geographical rate of disease propagation

The abrupt transition to heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity in England and Wales, 1947–1957, was associated with a profound change in the spatial dynamics of the disease. Drawing on the complete record of poliomyelitis notifications in England and Wales, we use a robust method of spatial epidemiological analysis (swash-backwash model) to evaluate the geographical rate of disease propagation in successive poliomyelitis seasons, 1940–1964. Comparisons with earlier and later time periods show that the period of heightened poliomyelitis epidemicity corresponded with a sudden and pronounced increase in the spatial rate of disease propagation. This change was observed for both urban and rural areas and points to an abrupt enhancement in the propensity for the geographical spread of polioviruses. Competing theories of the epidemic emergence of poliomyelitis in England and Wales should be assessed in the light of this evidence

Language, Power and Public Engagement

In the early twenty-first century we have seen a shift in science communication from explaining science to the public to ‘engaging’ the public in discussions and debate. In this chapter, I will argue that moving to dialogue and public engagement has to be understood as a shift in power, not just in communication. Drawing on my recent research comparing the discourses and vocabulary within public and expert discussions of science and technology in the UK over the past ten years, I describe how key features of the public vocabulary work to undermine the power of public perspectives, making them appear non-rational, emotional, and easily influenced. At the same time rhetorical devices within the expert discussions have the effect of adding power to the scientific viewpoints and framing public discussions in a way that gives the public little choice but to support the scientific narrative of progress being presented to them

Measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules: methods and data analysis

We recently reported a new measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules [Nature 473, 493 (2011)]. Here, we give a more detailed description of the methods used to make this measurement, along with a fuller analysis of the data. We show how our methods isolate the electric dipole moment from imperfections in the experiment that might mimic it. We describe the systematic errors that we discovered, and the small corrections that we made to account for these. By making a set of additional measurements with greatly exaggerated experimental imperfections, we find upper bounds on possible uncorrected systematic errors which we use to determine the systematic uncertainty in the measurement. We also calculate the size of some systematic effects that have been important in previous electric dipole moment measurements, such as the motional magnetic field effect and the geometric phase, and show them to be negligibly small in the present experiment. Our result is consistent with an electric dipole moment of zero, so we provide upper bounds to its size at various confidence levels. Finally, we review the prospects for future improvements in the precision of the experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Multi Scale Ethics—Why We Need to Consider the Ethics of AI in Healthcare at Different Scales

Many researchers have documented how AI and data driven technologies have the potential to have profound effects on our lives—in ways that make these technologies stand out from those that went before. Around the world, we are seeing a significant growth in interest and investment in AI in healthcare. This has been coupled with rising concerns about the ethical implications of these technologies and an array of ethical guidelines for the use of AI and data in healthcare has arisen. Nevertheless, the question of if and how AI and data technologies can be ethical remains open to debate. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by considering the wide range of implications that have been attributed to these technologies and asking whether current ethical guidelines take these factors into account. In particular, the paper argues that while current ethics guidelines for AI in healthcare effectively account for the four key issues identified in the ethics literature (transparency; fairness; responsibility and privacy), they have largely neglected wider issues relating to the way in which these technologies shape institutional and social arrangements. This, I argue, has given current ethics guidelines a strong focus on evaluating the impact of these technologies on the individual, while not accounting for the powerful social shaping effects of these technologies. To address this, the paper proposes a Multiscale Ethics Framework, which aims to help technology developers and ethical evaluations to consider the wider implications of these technologies

Vacancy-assisted domain-growth in asymmetric binary alloys: a Monte Carlo study

A Monte Carlo simulation study of the vacancy-assisted domain-growth in asymmetric binary alloys is presented. The system is modeled using a three-state ABV Hamiltonian which includes an asymmetry term, not considered in previous works. Our simulated system is a stoichiometric two-dimensional binary alloy with a single vacancy which evolves according to the vacancy-atom exchange mechanism. We obtain that, compared to the symmetric case, the ordering process slows down dramatically. Concerning the asymptotic behavior it is algebraic and characterized by the Allen-Cahn growth exponent x=1/2. The late stages of the evolution are preceded by a transient regime strongly affected by both the temperature and the degree of asymmetry of the alloy. The results are discussed and compared to those obtained for the symmetric case.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Franck-Condon Factors and Radiative Lifetime of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} - X^{2}\Sigma^{+} Transition of Ytterbium Monoflouride, YbF

The fluorescence spectrum resulting from laser excitation of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} - X^{2}\Sigma^{+} (0,0) band of ytterbium monofluoride, YbF, has been recorded and analyzed to determine the Franck-Condon factors. The measured values are compared with those predicted from Rydberg-Klein-Rees (RKR) potential energy curves. From the fluorescence decay curve the radiative lifetime of the A^{2}\Pi_{1/2} state is measured to be 28\pm2 ns, and the corresponding transition dipole moment is 4.39\pm0.16 D. The implications for laser cooling YbF are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Space-time defects and teleparallelism

We consider the class of space-time defects investigated by Puntigam and Soleng. These defects describe space-time dislocations and disclinations (cosmic strings), and are in close correspondence to the actual defects that arise in crystals and metals. It is known that in such materials dislocations and disclinations require a small and large amount of energy, respectively, to be created. The present analysis is carried out in the context of the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity (TEGR). We evaluate the gravitational energy of these space-time defects in the framework of the TEGR and find that there is an analogy between defects in space-time and in continuum material systems: the total gravitational energy of space-time dislocations and disclinations (considered as idealized defects) is zero and infinit, respectively.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, to appear in the Class. Quantum Gravit