On the computation of zone and double zone diagrams

Classical objects in computational geometry are defined by explicit relations. Several years ago the pioneering works of T. Asano, J. Matousek and T. Tokuyama introduced "implicit computational geometry", in which the geometric objects are defined by implicit relations involving sets. An important member in this family is called "a zone diagram". The implicit nature of zone diagrams implies, as already observed in the original works, that their computation is a challenging task. In a continuous setting this task has been addressed (briefly) only by these authors in the Euclidean plane with point sites. We discuss the possibility to compute zone diagrams in a wide class of spaces and also shed new light on their computation in the original setting. The class of spaces, which is introduced here, includes, in particular, Euclidean spheres and finite dimensional strictly convex normed spaces. Sites of a general form are allowed and it is shown that a generalization of the iterative method suggested by Asano, Matousek and Tokuyama converges to a double zone diagram, another implicit geometric object whose existence is known in general. Occasionally a zone diagram can be obtained from this procedure. The actual (approximate) computation of the iterations is based on a simple algorithm which enables the approximate computation of Voronoi diagrams in a general setting. Our analysis also yields a few byproducts of independent interest, such as certain topological properties of Voronoi cells (e.g., that in the considered setting their boundaries cannot be "fat").Comment: Very slight improvements (mainly correction of a few typos); add DOI; Ref [51] points to a freely available computer application which implements the algorithms; to appear in Discrete & Computational Geometry (available online

Fertility, pregnancy and delivery in women after biventricular repair for double outlet right ventricle

Objectives: To investigate outcome of pregnancy and fertility in women with double outlet right ventricle (DORV). Methods: Using 2 congenital heart disease registries, 21 female patients with DORV (aged 18-39 years) were retrospectively identified. Detailed recordings of each patient and their completed (>20 weeks gestation) pregnancies were recorded. Results: Overall, 10 patients had 19 pregnancies, including 3 spontaneous miscarriages (16%). During the 16 live birth pregnancies, primarily (serious) noncardiac complications were observed, e.g. premature labor/delivery (n = 7 and n = 3, respectively), small for gestational age (n = 4), preeclampsia (n = 2) and recurrence of congenital heart disease (n = 2). Except for postpartum endocarditis and deterioration of subpulmonary obstruction, only mild cardiac complication pregnancies were recorded. Two women with children reported secondary female infertility. Several menstrual cycle disorders were reported: secondary amenorrhea (n = 4), primary amenorrhea (n = 3) and oligomenorrhea (n = 2). Conclusion: Successful pregnancy in women with DORV is possible. Primarily noncardiac complications were observed and only few (minor) cardiac complications. Infertility and menstrual cycle disorders appear to be more prevalent. Copyrigh

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

The pregnant woman with heart disease: management of pregnancy and delivery

Women with heart disease are at risk of cardiac complications during pregnancy and delivery. Risk assessment should be performed in these women, and the management of pregnancy and delivery should be planned accordingly. Depending on the risk, women should be cared for in specialised centres, regional centres or a combination of both. Multidisciplinary teams must be involved in the care of these women. Adequate organisation of care and communication between the team members is important to prevent complications

Memory development: implications for adults recalling childhood experiences in the courtroom

Adults frequently provide compelling, detailed accounts of early childhood experiences in the courtroom. Judges and jurors are asked to decide guilt or innocence based solely on these decades-old memories using 'common sense' notions about memory. However, these notions are not in agreement with findings from neuroscientific and behavioural studies of memory development. Without expert guidance, judges and jurors may have difficulty in properly adjudicating the weight of memory evidence in cases involving adult recollections of childhood experiences

Parasite fate and involvement of infected cells in the induction of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses to Toxoplasma gondii

During infection with the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii, the presentation of parasite-derived antigens to CD4+ and CD8+ T cells is essential for long-term resistance to this pathogen. Fundamental questions remain regarding the roles of phagocytosis and active invasion in the events that lead to the processing and presentation of parasite antigens. To understand the most proximal events in this process, an attenuated non-replicating strain of T. gondii (the cpsII strain) was combined with a cytometry-based approach to distinguish active invasion from phagocytic uptake. In vivo studies revealed that T. gondii disproportionately infected dendritic cells and macrophages, and that infected dendritic cells and macrophages displayed an activated phenotype characterized by enhanced levels of CD86 compared to cells that had phagocytosed the parasite, thus suggesting a role for these cells in priming naïve T cells. Indeed, dendritic cells were required for optimal CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, and the phagocytosis of heat-killed or invasion-blocked parasites was not sufficient to induce T cell responses. Rather, the selective transfer of cpsII-infected dendritic cells or macrophages (but not those that had phagocytosed the parasite) to naïve mice potently induced CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, and conferred protection against challenge with virulent T. gondii. Collectively, these results point toward a critical role for actively infected host cells in initiating T. gondii-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses

Advanced AODV approach for efficient detection and mitigation of wormhole attack in MANET

Wireless Communication is an inevitable part of Smart Home domain. A Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is defined as an arrangement of wireless mobile nodes which creates a temporary network for the communication. MANET suffers from both kinds of attacks, active and passive attacks at all the layers of the network model. The lacks of security measures of routing protocols allow attackers to intrude the network. Wormhole, the attack is generated by tunnels creation and it results in complete disruption of routing paths on MANET. The proposed security approach is to detect and mitigate wormhole attack. It is secured Ad hoc on demand distance vector (AODV) approach which efficiently finds wormhole attack present in a MANET and Digital signature is used to prevent it. This approach is based on a calculation of tunneling time taken by tunnel to analyze the behavior of wormhole. Afterward, it decides some static threshold value. Based upon this tunneling time and threshold value, it decides whether given node is wormhole node or trustworthy node. A digital signature and hash chain algorithm is applied to mitigate the wormhole node

Ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is not a single disease and can be subdivided into at least five different histological subtypes that have different identifiable risk factors, cells of origin, molecular compositions, clinical features and treatments. Ovarian cancer is a global problem, is typically diagnosed at a late stage and has no effective screening strategy. Standard treatments for newly diagnosed cancer consist of cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy. In recurrent cancer, chemotherapy, anti-angiogenic agents and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors are used, and immunological therapies are currently being tested. High-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most commonly diagnosed form of ovarian cancer and at diagnosis is typically very responsive to platinum-based chemotherapy. However, in addition to the other histologies, HGSCs frequently relapse and become increasingly resistant to chemotherapy. Consequently, understanding the mechanisms underlying platinum resistance and finding ways to overcome them are active areas of study in ovarian cancer. Substantial progress has been made in identifying genes that are associated with a high risk of ovarian cancer (such as BRCA1 and BRCA2), as well as a precursor lesion of HGSC called serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma, which holds promise for identifying individuals at high risk of developing the disease and for developing prevention strategies

Search for supersymmetry in events with four or more leptons in √s =13 TeV pp collisions with ATLAS

Results from a search for supersymmetry in events with four or more charged leptons (electrons, muons and taus) are presented. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to 36.1 fb −1 of proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider at s √ =13 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Four-lepton signal regions with up to two hadronically decaying taus are designed to target a range of supersymmetric scenarios that can be either enriched in or depleted of events involving the production and decay of a Z boson. Data yields are consistent with Standard Model expectations and results are used to set upper limits on the event yields from processes beyond the Standard Model. Exclusion limits are set at the 95% confidence level in simplified models of General Gauge Mediated supersymmetry, where higgsino masses are excluded up to 295 GeV. In R -parity-violating simplified models with decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle to charged leptons, lower limits of 1.46 TeV, 1.06 TeV, and 2.25 TeV are placed on wino, slepton and gluino masses, respectively

Measurements of integrated and differential cross sections for isolated photon pair production in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the production cross section for two isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV is presented. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb−1 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement considers photons with pseudorapidities satisfying |ηγ|40GeV and EγT,2>30 GeV for the two leading photons ordered in transverse energy produced in the interaction. The background due to hadronic jets and electrons is subtracted using data-driven techniques. The fiducial cross sections are corrected for detector effects and measured differentially as a function of six kinematic observables. The measured cross section integrated within the fiducial volume is 16.8 ± 0.8  pb . The data are compared to fixed-order QCD calculations at next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy as well as next-to-leading-order computations including resummation of initial-state gluon radiation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithm or matched to a parton shower, with relative uncertainties varying from 5% to 20%