An integrated system to remote monitor and control anaerobic wastewater treatment plants through the internet.

The TELEMAC project brings new methodologies from the Information and Science Technologies field to the world of water treatment. TELEMAC offers an advanced remote management system which adapts to most of the anaerobic wastewater treatment plants that do not benefit from a local expert in wastewater treatment. The TELEMAC system takes advantage of new sensors to better monitor the process dynamics and to run automatic controllers that stabilise the treatment plant, meet the depollution requirements and provide a biogas quality suitable for cogeneration. If the automatic system detects a failure which cannot be solved automatically or locally by a technician, then an expert from the TELEMAC Control Centre is contacted via the internet and manages the problem.     

Dielectric loaded HTS resonators as frequency standards andlow-phase noise oscillators

High-quality, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) thin-films exhibit very low losses at microwave frequencies and, as a result, allow very high Q resonators to be produced. The size of such resonators may be significantly reduced by loading with low-loss single crystal dielectric. The potential for HTS dielectric loaded resonators as practical frequency standards and reference elements for low-phase-noise oscillators is assessed, with emphasis on operation at 60 K, a temperature readily attainable with compact Stirling cycle coolers     

Distributed and Collaborative Visualization

Visualization is a powerful tool for analyzing data and presenting results in science, engineering and medicine. This paper reviews ways in which it can be used in distributed and/or collaborative environments. Distributed visualization addresses a number of resource allocation problems, including the location of processing close to data for the minimization of data traffic. The advent of the Grid Computing paradigm and the link to Web Services provides fresh challenges and opportunities for distributed visualization—including the close coupling of simulations and visualizations in a steering environment. Recent developments in collaboration have seen the growth of specialized facilities (such as Access Grid) which have supplemented traditional desktop video conferencing using the Internet and multicast communications. Collaboration allows multiple users—possibly at remote sites—to take part in the visualization process at levels which range from the viewing of images to the shared control of the visualization methods. In this review, we present a model framework for distributed and collaborative visualization and assess a selection of visualization systems and frameworks for their use in a distributed or collaborative environment. We also discuss some examples of enabling technology and review recent work from research projects in this field.     

Do personality problems improve during psychodynamic supportive–expressive psychotherapy? Secondary outcome results from a randomized controlled trial for psychiatric outpatients with personality disorders.

Studies involving patients with personality disorders (PDs) have not focused on improvement of core aspects of the PD. The authors examined changes in quality of object relations, interpersonal problems, psychological mindedness, and personality traits in a sample of 156 patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) PD diagnoses being randomized to either manualized or nonmanualized dynamic psychotherapy. Effect sizes adjusted for symptomatic change and reliable change indices were calculated. The authors found that both treatments were equally effective at reducing personality pathology. Only in neuroticism did the nonmanualized group do better during the follow-up period. The largest improvement was found in quality of object relations. For the remaining variables, only small and clinically insignificant magnitudes of change were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unique and common mechanisms of change across cognitive and dynamic psychotherapies.

The goal of this article was to examine theoretically important mechanisms of change in psychotherapy outcome across different types of treatment. Specifically, the role of gains in self-understanding, acquisition of compensatory skills, and improvements in views of the self were examined. A pooled study database collected at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Psychotherapy Research, which includes studies conducted from 1995 to 2002 evaluating the efficacy of cognitive and psychodynamic therapies for a variety of disorders, was used. Patient samples included major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, borderline personality disorder, and adolescent anxiety disorders. A common assessment battery of mechanism and outcome measures was given at treatment intake, termination, and 6-month follow-up for all 184 patients. Improvements in self-understanding, compensatory skills, and views of the self were all associated with symptom change across the diverse psychotherapies. Changes in self-understanding and compensatory skills across treatment were predictive of follow-up symptom course. Changes in self-understanding demonstrated specificity of change to dynamic psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring structure-activity relationships around the phosphomannose isomerase inhibitor AF14049 via combinatorial synthesis

Phosphomannose Isomerase (PMI) has been shown by genetic methods to be an essential enzyme in fungal cell wall biosynthesis. The PMI inhibitor AF14049 was discovered as an unanticipated side product from high-throughput library screening against the enzyme from C, albicans. Solid-phase synthetic methods were developed and a series of libraries and discrete analogs synthesized to explore SAR around AF14049.     

Confirmation of the INRiM and PTB Determinations of the Si Lattice Parameter

As metrology extends toward the nanoscale, a number of potential applications and new challenges arise. By combining photolithography with focused ion beam and/or electron beam methods, superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with loop dimensions down to 200 nm and superconducting bridge dimensions of the order 80 nm have been produced. These SQUIDs have a range of potential applications. As an illustration, we describe a method for characterizing the effective area and the magnetic penetration depth of a structured superconducting thin film in the extreme limit, where the superconducting penetration depth A is much greater than the film thickness and is comparable with the lateral dimensions of the device     

Relation of depression diagnoses to 2-year outcomes in cocaine-dependent patients in a randomized continuing care study.

This study examined the relation between depression diagnoses and outcomes in 132 cocaine-dependent patients who were randomized to relapse prevention (RP) or standard 12-step focused group continuing rare and followed for 2 years. Depressed patients attended more treatment sessions and had more cocaine-free urines during treatment than participants without depression, but they drank alcohol more frequently before treatment and during the 18-month posttreatment follow-up. Cocaine outcomes in depressed patients deteriorated to a greater degree after treatment than did cocaine outcomes in patients without depression, particularly in patients in RP who had a current depressive disorder at baseline. The best alcohol outcomes were obtained in nondepressed patients who received RIP. The results suggest that extended continuing care treatment may be warranted for cocaine-dependent patients with co-occurring depressive disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ARGOSI Classification Scheme for Graphics and Networking Applications

ARGOSI is a project concerned with the relationship between standards for graphics and networking, as rejected in its full title: Applications Related Graphics and OSI Standards Integration. It is a collaborative project between eleven European organizations and is funded under the Esprit-Il programme of the Commission of the European Community. In order to achieve integration of graphics and OSI standards and to meet the requirements of applications, it is necessary to understand the needs of applications to transfer graphical information and the networking services required to support this. A major part of the ARGOSI project has been to derive a classification framework for applications based on a set of metrics describing their use of graphics and networking. Once classified, a study is to be made to determine the set of graphics and OSI standards that will satisfy the requirements of each group of applications or to identify deficiencies or omissions in the set of current standards that prevent the requirements being met. The classification scheme is believed to be a major stepforward in the field.     

The quantum electrical triangle

The past 35 years have seen the development of an unexpected plethora of quantum electrical standards based on just two fundamental constants, e and h. First came a voltage standard based on the Josephson a.c. effect, in terms of which most maintained primary standards of voltage are defined. This was followed a decade later by the quantized Hall effect, based on the von Klitzing constant which allows the ohm to be maintained very precisely. It became clear 20 years ago that there is also a possible quantum current standard. This third standard has yet to play a full part in practical electrical metrology. However, recent developments suggest that there are many different possible manifestations in which such a current standard might be realized.The three quantum standards, taken together, define the quantum electrical triangle of standards which would allow the units to be realized in terms of different combinations of e and h. We summarize the very different physics behind the three standards, reviewing the present state of development in all three. Implications for the future are also considered, especially relating to ultra-low temperature, nanoscale and truly quantum mechanical versions of the standards.