Syllables as processing units in handwriting production.

This research focused on the syllable as a processing unit in handwriting. Participants wrote, in uppercase letters, words that had been visually presented. The interletter intervals provide information on the timing of motor production. In Experiment 1, French participants wrote words that shared the initial letters but had different syllable boundaries. In Experiment 2, French- and Spanish-speaking participants wrote cognates and pseudowords with a letter sequence that was always intrasyllabic in French and intersyllabic in Spanish. In Experiment 3, French-Spanish bilinguals wrote the cognates and pseudowords with the same type of sequences. In the 3 experiments, the critical interletter intervals were longer between syllables than within syllables, indicating that word syllable structure constrains motor production both in French and Spanish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrodeposition of nickel on vitreous carbon: Influence of potential on deposit morphology

The initial stages of the deposition of nickel on vitreous carbon from aqueous NiCl₂ (10^–2M adjusted to 1 M in chloride) has been studied using voltammetric and potentiostatic methods. The morphology of the deposits was observed by scanning electron and optical microscopy. A discussion of the relation between the deposition mechanism and the morphology is presented.     

Identifying the criterion spontaneously minimized during the take-off phase of a sub-maximal long jump through optimal synthesis

Optimal synthesis of human movement or the prediction of the kinematics of a new movement require not only that the multi-body system be modeled but also that a performance criterion is specified. For sub-maximal movements the selection of a suitable performance criterion, able to generate realistic dynamic behavior is difficult. A two-dimensional simulation model of the take-off phase of a sub-maximal long jump was developed to study the effect of criterion choice on the realism of simulated movements. A parametric optimization technique was employed to obtain solutions to the constrained equations of motion. Seven different criteria were evaluated, by comparing simulated movements with an actual performance, to identify the criterion which most closely approximated that spontaneously minimized by the athlete. Synthesis of the take-off phase of a sub-maximal long jump was found to be sensitive to the chosen criterion, with a criterion based on minimizing joint intersegmental forces found to perform well.     

Interplay between Humoral and CLA+ T Cell Response against Candida albicans in Psoriasis

Candida albicans (CA) infections have been associated with psoriasis onset or disease flares. However, the integrated immune response against this fungus is still poorly characterized in psoriasis. We studied specific immunoglobulins in plasma and the CA response in cocultures of circulating memory CD45RA⁻ cutaneous lymphocyte antigen (CLA)^+/− T cell with autologous epidermal cells from plaque and guttate psoriasis patients (cohort 1, n = 52), and also healthy individuals (n = 17). A complete proteomic profile was also evaluated in plaque psoriasis patients (cohort 2, n = 114) regarding their anti-CA IgA levels. Increased anti-CA IgA and IgG levels are present in the plasma from plaque but not guttate psoriasis compared to healthy controls. CA cellular response is confined to CLA⁺ T cells and is primarily Th17. The levels of anti-CA IgA are directly associated with CLA⁺ Th17 response in plaque psoriasis. Proteomic analysis revealed distinct profiles in psoriasis patients with high anti-CA IgA. C-C motif chemokine ligand 18, chitinase-3-like protein 1 and azurocidin were significantly elevated in the plasma from plaque psoriasis patients with high anti-CA levels and severe disease. Our results indicate a mechanism by which Candida albicans exposure can trigger a clinically relevant IL-17 response in psoriasis. Assessing anti-CA IgA levels may be useful in order to evaluate chronic psoriasis patients.     

Using OGRO and CertiVeR to improve OCSP validation for Grids

Authentication and authorization in many distributed systems rely on the use of cryptographic credentials that in most of the cases have a defined lifetime. This feature mandates the use of mechanisms able to determine whether a particular credential can be trusted at a given moment. This process is commonly named validation. Among available validation mechanisms, the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) stands out due to its ability to carry near real time certificate status information. Despite its importance for security, OCSP faces considerable challenges in the computational Grid (i.e. Proxy Certificate’s validation) that are being studied at the Global Grid Forum’s CA Operations Work Group (CAOPS-WG). As members of this group, we have implemented an OCSP validation infrastructure for the Globus Toolkit 4, composed of the CertiVeR Validation Service and our Open GRid Ocsp (OGRO) client library, which introduced the Grid Validation Policy. This paper summarizes our experiences on that work and the results obtained up to now. Furthermore we introduce the prevalidation concept, a mechanism analogous to the Authorization Push-Model, capable of improving OCSP validation performance in Grids. This paper also reports the results obtained with OGRO’s prevalidation rules for Grid Services as a proof of concept.

Dynamical sources in information theory: Fundamental intervals and word prefixes

A quite general model of source that comes from dynamical systems theory is introduced. Within this model, some basic problems of algorithmic information theory contexts are analysed. The main tool is a new object, the generalized Ruelle operator, which can be viewed as a “generating” operator for fundamental intervals (associated to information sharing common prefixes). Its dominant spectral objects are linked with important parameters of the source, such as the entropy, and play a central rôle in all the results.     

Erratum to “Dynamical Sources in Information Theory: Fundamental Intervals and Word Prefixes”

In [V] the third author studied statistical properties of words generated by dynamical sources by using generalized Ruelle operators. This erratum aims to show that a supplementary condition should be added in Definition 2.1 of dynamical sources. This supplementary condition (called (d4) below) is closely related to the so-called Bounded Distortion Property and should be used at two different stages of the paper: first in the definition of the generalized operator G_s, second in the proof of Proposition 2 that deals with the Positivity Theorem of Krasnoselskii. We also prove that this condition is actually necessary and provide an example of a source which does not satisfy condition (d4) and for which G_s is not well-defined.     

Compositional characteristics and aromatic profile of date palm seeds from seven varieties grown in Tunisia

This paper reports a discrimination study based on the physico‐chemical characteristics, fatty acids and profile of volatile compounds of the seeds from seven date palm varieties (Phoenix dactylifera L.) grown in Tunisia. Date seeds contained 10.49–14.76% moisture; 6.28–11.2% fat (on a dry weight basis); 2.67–12.85% protein; 0.91–6.06% reducing sugar; 0.61–2.98% sucrose and 0.97–1.17% ash. Gas liquid chromatography revealed that the oil fraction of the date palm seeds contained eighteen fatty acids, with oleic acid (30.77–42.50%) and lauric acid (18.51–27.48%) as the main unsaturated and saturated ones. Volatile profile showed differences among varieties. In total, forty‐five compounds were identified, mainly alcohols, aldehydes and unsaturated hydrocarbons ones. This study provides evidence that the seeds of date may be a potential source of valuable nutrients with interesting functionality.     

Analysis of gain and noise performance of bidirectionally pumped Pr3+-doped fluoride fibre amplifier configurations with unbalanced pumping

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical study of the performance of asymmetric bidirectionally pumped and reflective-type amplifier configurations in the unsaturated and saturated regions. The dependences of the optimum relative backward pump power on the fibre parameters and on the amplifier's working conditions for each configuration are analysed. This study has been made in the framework of the European Project COST 241: Characterization of Active Fibres for the Photonic Network.     

Structural,Micromechanical and Tribological Characterization of Zn–Ni Coatings: Effect of Sulfate Bath Composition

Zn and Zn–Ni alloy coatings were electrodeposited on mild steel from sulfate-based bath containing Sn as additive. The effect of Ni content on the microstructure, morphology, microhardness and the tribological behavior of these coatings were studied and discussed. Adding Sn in the sulfate bath had a significant effect on the surface morphology, particularly on the Zn–8 wt% Ni coatings. By increasing the Ni concentration from 8 to 14 wt%, the X-ray patterns showed that the phase structure of Zn–Ni alloy coatings was changed from η-phase Ni₃Zn₂₂ to γ-phase Ni₅Zn₂₁. The plastic deformation and delamination were found to be wear mechanisms for the investigated coatings. While the Zn–14 wt% Ni alloys had the best wear resistance, Zn films had the most severe wear volume loss and the highest friction coefficient.