Community detection and role identification in directed networks: understanding the Twitter network of the care.data debate

With the rise of social media as an important channel for the debate and discussion of public affairs, online social networks such as Twitter have become important platforms for public information and engagement by policy makers. To communicate effectively through Twitter, policy makers need to understand how influence and interest propagate within its network of users. In this chapter we use graph-theoretic methods to analyse the Twitter debate surrounding NHS Englands controversial care.data scheme. Directionality is a crucial feature of the Twitter social graph - information flows from the followed to the followers - but is often ignored in social network analyses; our methods are based on the behaviour of dynamic processes on the network and can be applied naturally to directed networks. We uncover robust communities of users and show that these communities reflect how information flows through the Twitter network. We are also able to classify users by their differing roles in directing the flow of information through the network. Our methods and results will be useful to policy makers who would like to use Twitter effectively as a communication medium

Art from Elsewhere II

Art from Elsewhere II Catalogue of exhibition held at Fine arts gallery University of Tasmania 31 August - 19 September, 1990 Featuring Rick Amor Terry Batt Jan Davis Patrick Henigan Karen Rhodes Wilma Tabacc

Generating Fire Dynamics Simulator geometrical input using an IFC-based building information model

Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is an advanced simulation tool used by fire engineers. The work described in this paper enables geometrical information to be transferred to the simulation tool using the IFC building information model. A parser tool has been developed to extract fire engineering related information from the IFC model and a web-based application has been created to generate FDS input files. Several test case geometries have been used to verify the current capability of the transfer process

Behaviour and evolution of quartzites in detrital accumulations

[Resumen] La presente nota trata de los caracteres y del proceso evolutivo que ofrecen las cuarcitas areniscosas en depósitos detríticos localizados en cuencas-vertientes fluviales y en acumulaciones playeras. La abundancia de este tipo de material en formaciones actuales y antiguas de los valles del Moucide, Xunco y Cabo, desde Cangas de Foz a San Cibrán (Norte de Lugo), ha permitido un estudio estadístico, en términos de actividad morfogenética y textura de los diferentes grupos dimensionales. Ofreciéndose, asimismo, un diagrama-resumen del comportamiento de este material en los diferentes tipos de depósitos.[Abstract] This paper deals with the characteristics and evolution process of quartzites (low Candena quartzites) from detrital deposits of fluvial basics and beach acumulations.The present and past sedimentary formations from Moucide, Xunco and Cobo basics (nord of Lugo, Spain) from Cangas de Foz to San Cibrián are plenty in this. Kind of deposits. That permit us, an statistical analysis-from the point of wiew of texture and morphogenesis, and the study of quartzite behaviour in different types of deposit

Is emamectin benzoate effective against the different stages of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae)?

peer-reviewedThis work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project AGL 2007-66130-C03-02 to P. Medina). F. Amor and P. Bengochea acknowledge the ministry of Education and Culture and the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) for the doctoral fellowships. Special thanks to Syngenta Agro S.A. for their support.The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), is a major polyphagous pest in greenhouses and open fields worldwide and also a main problem in sweet pepper greenhouses. The effectiveness of the pesticide emamectin benzoate was tested in the laboratory on different stages of S. exigua using different concentrations and uptake routes. After dipping young (48-h-old) S. exigua eggs in emamectin benzoate at 0.5, 1 and 1.5 mg/L a.i. the chemical did not exhibit any ovicidal activity. There was, however, progressive neonate mortality at all concentrations, culminating at 72 hours after hatching, when 100% of the larvae from the treated young eggs died. Second and fourth instar S. exigua larvae did not exhibit significant mortality when exposed to the inert surfaces which were treated. In contrast, ingesting a diet contaminated with 0.5 mg/L a.i. of emamectin benzoate caused 100% mortality in L2 and L4 larvae 24 and 72 hours after ingestion, respectively. The LC50 value of the compound against L4 larvae that fed on sprayed sweet pepper leaves for 24 hours was 0.81 mg/L a.i.. When adults were fed on a solution of 0.5 mg/L a.i., there was a reduction in the female and male lifespan of 29.3% and 55.3%, respectively. Fecundity was reduced by more than 99%. These data suggest that emamectin benzoate is not only a useful insecticide when ingested by beet armyworm larvae but it also has ovolarvicidal and adult activity.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovatio

Characterization of immune response to neurofilament light in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

PMCID: PMC3856490This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.PMCID: PMC385649

L'inhibition de l'entartrage par les eaux géothermales du sud tunisien. Étude sur site

Une nappe d'eaux fossiles à grande profondeur (800 à 2 700 mètres) a été mise en exploitation dans le Sud-Tunisien pour alimenter une usine d'osmose inverse située à Gabès ayant une production de 15 000 m3 /jour, afin de lutter contre la désertification par irrigation et d'assurer le chauffage de serres pour la production de primeurs. La grande dureté (TH de l'ordre de 100 à 140 °F) de ces eaux géothermales a pour conséquence le colmatage rapide des conduites de distribution : 40 à 50 tonnes de tartre par forage, constitué essentiellement de carbonate de calcium, précipitent chaque année. Ce tartre est constitué d'aragonite comme le montrent la microscopie électronique à balayage et la diffraction des rayons X. Une technique électrochimique, la chronoélectrogravimétrie, permet d'étudier l'inhibition de l'entartrage par des composés de la famille des phosphates inorganiques, des phosphonates organiques et des polycarboxylates. La concentration efficace de chacun de ces inhibiteurs agissant par effet de seuil a été déterminée : elle est de l'ordre de 1,1 à 1,5 mg.l-1 pour l'eau du forage de EL HAMMA. Un essai sur le site de EL MANSOURA a été effectué en privilégiant un inhibiteur produit industriellement dans le Sud-Tunisien, le triphosphate de sodium. A la concentration de 1 mg.l-1 il évite l'entartrage du système de refroidissement de type cascade - piscines et des conduites de distribution.Deep fossil waters are used in Southern Tunisia (Gabès, Kébili, Tozeur) for the Gabès reverse osmosis plant, which delivers a flow rate of 15 000 m3 /day for irrigation and for heating greenhouses used for the production of early fruits and vegetables. Drilling depths vary between 800 and 2 700 meters. Water emerges under a pressure of ca. 20 bars and has a temperature between 50 and 73 °C. Mean flow rate is 7 800 m3 /day.Intake water at the Gabès plant has a salinity of 3.3 g.l-1 ; after reverse osmosis the salinity is less than 0.1 g.l-1. Water used for irrigation has to be cooled. Geothermal waters are characterized by high concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sulphate and chloride. Bicarbonate anions are present at limited concentrations (approx. 2.10-3 mol.l-1) that are, however, sufficient for the formation of large quantities of scale - 40 to 50 tons per year for each drilling. At the outlet of the drill hole, pressure decreases strongly, liberating carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Water pH increases and the following equilibrium is displaced to the right, with scale precipitation : Ca2+ + 2HCO3-CO2 (g) + CaCO3(s) + H2OScale precipitation has two consequences :- the plugging of distribution pipes: a 85% reduction of the pipe has been observed, after four years, for an initial diameter of 15 cm; - water cooling installations such as cooling towers or pool systems are blocked by large quantities of scale, which have to be removed regularly. Scales have been analysed through inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy and thermogravimetry: calcium carbonate may represent, depending on the origin of the drilling water, 60 to 95% by weight of the solid. Iron oxides, silica, calcium phosphate and aluminum are present. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction show that calcium carbonate precipitates in the form of aragonite. This is due to two reasons: the temperature at the drilling outlet is greater than 60 °C and the high magnesium concentration favours aragonite formation. Scale inhibition is possible through the use of certain chemicals such as phosphates, organic phosphonates and polycarboxylates.Chronoelectrogravimetry was used as the experimental method to determine the inhibitor concentration able to suppress scale precipitation. Dissolved oxygen is electrochemically reduced on a gold electrode; hydroxide anions are produced in the vicinity of the electrode and calcium carbonate precipitates according to:4Ca2+ + 4HCO3- + O2 + 4e -> 4CaCO3(s) + 2H2OThe gold electrode is deposited on the quartz disk of a recording microbalance. The electrode is polarized at - 1 V/SCE with a three-electrode potentiostatic device and the weight of CaCO3 deposited is recorded versus time.Four inhibitors have been studied :- PERMATREAT 191, which is the sodium salt of aminotris(methylenephosphonic) acid N(CH2COONa)3; - a proprietary organic phosphonate with high resistance to chlorine oxidation (DEQUEST 6004) ; - phosphonobutanetricarboxylic acid (DEQUEST 7000, BAYHIBIT-AM) ; - a copolymer of acrylic acid and acrylamidopropanesulfonic acid (FERROPHOS 5248). Breakthrough effects are obtained in the case of EL HAMMA water for the following concentrations: PERMATREAT 191: 1.1 mg.l-1 ; DEQUEST 6004: 1.5 mg.l-1 ; DEQUEST 7000: 1.3 mg.l-1 ; FERROPHOS 5248: 1.4 mg.l-1. These concentrations are low and, as a consequence, these inhibitors can be used for antiscale action even with high water flow rates.A field experiment was carried out on the EL MANSOURA drilling where water is cooled in three pools (input water: 5 184 m3 /day, temperature: 60 °C). For economical reasons the chosen inhibitor was sodium triphosphate Na5 P3 O10, which is produced industrially in Southern Tunisia. By chronoelectrogravimetry it has been shown that, with EL MANSOURA water, a breakthrough effect is obtained with a sodium triphosphate concentration of 0.75 mg.l-1.A dosing pump was used to inject sodium triphosphate in such a way that the inhibitor concentration would be 1 mg.l-1 in one of three pools, the two others not being treated. After four months a scale deposit of 23 cm was obtained in the untreated pools and the pipe diameter was reduced by 39%. In the treated pool scale deposit was not observed and the pipe diameter remained unchanged. In the untreated basins, examination of scale with electron scanning microscopy revealed that it was aragonite; in the treated basin, the precipitate was amorphous and an X-ray diffraction pattern with no characteristic bands was obtained.Some algal development was observed in the pool due to phosphate addition but this development was not a nuisance after the four month period. However, it could be suppressed by the use of an organic phosphonate or polycarboxylate as scale inhibitor