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Climate tipping elements are large-scale subsystems of the Earth that may transgress critical thresholds (tipping points) under ongoing global warming, with substantial impacts on the biosphere and human societies. Frequently studied examples of such tipping elements include the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), permafrost, monsoon systems, and the Amazon rainforest. While recent scientific efforts have improved our knowledge about individual tipping elements, the interactions between them are less well understood. Also, the potential of individual tipping events to induce additional tipping elsewhere or stabilize other tipping elements is largely unknown. Here, we map out the current state of the literature on the interactions between climate tipping elements and review the influences between them. To do so, we gathered evidence from model simulations, observations, and conceptual understanding, as well as examples of paleoclimate reconstructions where multi-component or spatially propagating transitions were potentially at play. While uncertainties are large, we find indications that many of the interactions between tipping elements are destabilizing. Therefore, we conclude that tipping elements should not only be studied in isolation, but also more emphasis has to be put on potential interactions. This means that tipping cascades cannot be ruled out on centennial to millennial timescales at global warming levels between 1.5 and 2.0 ∘C or on shorter timescales if global warming surpassed 2.0 ∘C. At these higher levels of global warming, tipping cascades may then include fast tipping elements such as the AMOC or the Amazon rainforest. To address crucial knowledge gaps in tipping element interactions, we propose four strategies combining observation-based approaches, Earth system modeling expertise, computational advances, and expert knowledge.

The extensive use of HPC infrastructures and frameworks for running data-intensive applications has led to a growing interest in data partitioning techniques and strategies. In fact, application performance can be heavily affected by how data are partitioned, which in turn depends on the selected size for data blocks, i.e. the block size. Therefore, finding an effective partitioning, i.e. a suitable block size, is a key strategy to speed-up parallel data-intensive applications and increase scalability. This paper describes a methodology, namely BLEST-ML (BLock size ESTimation through Machine Learning), for block size estimation that relies on supervised machine learning techniques. The proposed methodology was evaluated by designing an implementation tailored to dislib, a distributed computing library highly focused on machine learning algorithms built on top of the PyCOMPSs framework. We assessed the effectiveness of the provided implementation through an extensive experimental evaluation considering different algorithms from dislib, datasets, and infrastructures, including the MareNostrum 4 supercomputer. The results we obtained show the ability of BLEST-ML to efficiently determine a suitable way to split a given dataset, thus providing a proof of its applicability to enable the efficient execution of data-parallel applications in high performance environments., This work has been partially supported by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program and the EuroHPC JU under contract 955558 (eFlows4HPC project) and by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (PCI2021‑121957 and CEX2021‑ 001148‑S) and by the Spanish Government (PID2019‑107255GB), and Generalitat de Catalunya (contract 2021‑SGR‑00412). We also acknowledge financial support from “National Centre for HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing”, CN00000013 ‑ CUP H23C22000360005, and from “FAIR ‑ Future Artificial Intelligence Research” project ‑ CUP H23C22000860006., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

The so-called learning styles are conceptualized as a set of cognitive elements, qualities, abilities, and skills that are related as guides in the student. The questionnaire (CHAEA) was used, which consisted of 80 questions, and was structured as follows: 20 items for each learning style, to a total of 41 second cycle students. In this way, the learning style preference proposed by Honey Alonso was obtained. From the results obtained, a preference table was taken into account as indicated by Alonso C. et al, 1999, a division was made between the positive answers for the total number of questions and a total was obtained. And in this way it was obtained that the active (14.14) and reflective (14.68) style is at a moderate level of preference; On the other hand, the theoretical (15.19) and pragmatic (15.26) are at a high preference level, concluding that medical students adopt the four learning styles so that their knowledge is perennial. A semi-structured interview was also carried out with the Teachers of the Faculty of Human Health (FSH) of the National University of Loja (UNL) where they explained that the pragmatic style is better suited to a medical student, because with practice it cements the knowledge is better but it does not exclude the other styles, but rather correlates them. On the other hand, all the information acquired was used to create a didactic scheme that helps identify learning styles., Los llamados estilos de aprendizaje son conceptualizados como un conjunto de elementos cognitivos, cualidades, habilidades, y destrezas que se relacionan como guías en el alumno. Se utilizo el cuestionario (CHAEA) el mismo que constaba de 80 preguntas, y que fue estructurado de la siguiente manera: 20 ítems por cada estilo de aprendizaje, a un total de 41 estudiantes de segundo ciclo. De esta forma se obtuvo la preferencia de estilo de aprendizaje que propone Honey Alonso. De los resultados obtenidos se tomó en cuenta una tabla de preferencia según lo indica Alonso C. et al, 1999, se realizó una división entre las respuestas positivas para el número total de las preguntas y se sacó un total. Y de esta forma se obtuvo que el estilo activo (14,14) y reflexivo (14,68) se encuentra en nivel de preferencia moderado; de otro modo el teórico (15,19) y pragmático (15,26) que se encuentran en un nivel de alta preferencia, concluyendo que los estudiantes de medicina adoptan los cuatro estilos de aprendizaje para que su conocimiento sea perenne. También se llevó a cabo una entrevista semiestructurada a los Maestros de la Facultad de la Salud Humana (FSH) de la Universidad Nacional de Loja (UNL) donde explica que el estilo pragmático se adapta mejor a un estudiante de medicina, porque con la práctica cimenta mejor los conocimientos pero que no excluye los otros estilos, si no que los correlaciona. Por otro lado, toda la información adquirida sirvió para realizar un esquema didáctico que ayuda a identificar los estilos de aprendizaje.

Organic contaminants are highly toxic and volatile and accumulate in fatty tissues. Due to their persistence and mobility, it is possible to find them practically anywhere on the planet, even where they have never been used. For this reason, monitoring and vigilance in water bodies are essential. We synthesized calcium titanate (CaTiO3) particles using the solid-state method in the present research. Several physicochemical techniques characterized the particles: energy dispersive spectroscopy (EED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (ERD), and electrochemical: cyclic voltammetry (CV), among others.; It was found via XRD and Raman that the crystalline structure is orthorhombic with space group Pbnm. The synthesized CaTiO3 particles have an average diameter of ≈ 2 µm. Furthermore, the value obtained for the energy gap (Eg) was 3.41 eV; it also presents a low energy step at a value of 2.66 eV, which may correspond to the mingap electronic states. The glassy carbon electrode modified with the CaTiO3 film showed a sensitivity for determining nitrobenzene (NB) in an aqueous solution. Therefore, it can be concluded that the development of CaTiO3 particles is a viable alternative to be used as a sensor of organic contaminants in water., Los contaminantes orgánicos son altamente tóxicos y volátiles se acumulan en los tejidos grasos; Debido a su persistencia y movilidad, es posible encontrarlas prácticamente en cualquier parte del planeta, incluso en lugares donde nunca han sido utilizadas. Por esta razón, el monitoreo y la vigilancia en los cuerpos de agua son fundamentales. En la presente investigación, se sintetizaron partículas de titanato de calcio (CaTiO3) utilizando el método de estado sólido. Las partículas se caracterizaron por diversas técnicas fisicoquímicas: difracción de rayos-X (DRX), espectroscopia Raman, microscopía electrónica de barrido (MEB), espectroscopia de dispersión de energía (EDE), espectroscopia de reflectancia difusa (ERD), y electroquímica: voltamperometría cíclica (VC), entre otras. Se encontró a través de DRX y Raman que la estructura cristalina es ortorrómbica con el grupo espacial Pbnm. Las partículas de CaTiO3 sintetizadas tienen un diámetro promedio de ≈ 2 µm; Además, el valor obtenido para la brecha de energía (Eg) fue de 3,41 eV; también presenta un paso de baja energía en un valor de 2.66 eV, que puede corresponder a los estados electrónicos mingap. El electrodo de carbón vítreo modificado con la película de CaTiO3 mostro una sensibilidad para la determinación de nitrobenceno (NB) en solución acuosa. Por lo tanto, se puede concluir que el desarrollo de partículas de CaTiO3 es una alternativa viable para ser utilizado como sensor de contaminantes orgánicos en agua.

Background: In the last decade the development of new PSMA-ligand based radiopharmaceuticals for the imaging and therapy of prostate cancer has been a highly active and important area of research. The most promising derivative in terms of interaction with the antigen and clinical properties has been found to be "PSMA-617", and its lutetium-177 radiolabelled version has recently been approved by EU and USA regulatory agencies for therapeutic purposes. For the above reasons, the development of new derivatives of PSMA-617 radiolabelled with fluorine-18 may still be of great interest. This paper proposes the comparison of two different PSMA-617 derivatives functionalized with NODA and RESCA chelators, respectively, radiolabelled via [18F]AlF2+ complexation. Results: The organic synthesis of two PSMA-617 derivatives and their radiolabelling via [18F]AlF2+ complexation resulted to proceed efficiently and successfully. Moreover, stability in solution and in plasma has been evaluated. The whole radiosynthesis procedure has been fully automated, and the final products have been obtained with radiochemical yield and purity potentially suitable for clinical studies. The biodistribution of the two derivatives was performed both in prostate cancer and glioma tumour models. Compared with the reference [18F]F-PSMA-1007 and [18F]F-PSMA-617-RESCA, [18F]F-PSMA-617-NODA derivative showed a higher uptake in both tumors, faster clearance in non-target organs, and lower uptake in salivary glands. Conclusion: PSMA-617 NODA and RESCA derivatives were radiolabelled successfully via [18F]AlF2+ chelation, the former being more stable in solution and human plasma. Moreover, preclinical biodistribution studies showed that [18F]F-PSMA-617-NODA might be of potential interest for clinical applications.

We present an empirical approach to identify the key factors affecting the execution performance of task-based workflows on a High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure composed of heterogeneous CPU-GPU clusters. Our results reveal that the execution performance in distributed GPU-accelerated task-based workflows highly depends on several interrelated factors regarding the task algorithm, dataset, resources, and system employed. In addition, our analysis identifies key correlations among these factors, presents novel observations, and offers guidelines toward designing an automated method to handle task-based workflows in modern, high-compute capacity, CPU-GPU engines., This work has been partially supported by DEDS (H2020-MSCAITN2020) with grant agreement No. 955895, the EU-HORIZON programme CREXDATA under GA.101092749, the EU-HORIZON programme FAIR-CORE4EOSC under GA.101057264, the EUHORIZON programme EXTREMEXP under GA.101093164, the Spanish Government projects PID2019-107255GB and PID2020117191RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033andMCIN/AEI/10.13039 /501100011033 (CEX2021-001148-S), and by the Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2021 SGR 00412, MPiEDist)., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

The landscape of higher education has been evolving, necessitating universities to forge symbiotic relationships with the industry to ensure mutual growth and development. In this line, marketing becomes crucial for universities to effectively engage with businesses, foster partnerships, and drive innovation. Therefore, we present a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the existing research landscape in this domain. By doing so, we seek to address pertinent questions regarding when, who, where, and what is currently known in the field, and considering the need for a holistic understanding by adopting an innovative mixed- method approach. Thus, combining a systematic mapping study (SMS) with a thorough categorisation and analysis of research themes, supported by VOSviewer software, the results provide an integrated analysis of the state of the art; notably, they illuminate that this field of knowledge is in its early stages and exhibits a fragmented research focus. This study presents an opportunity to contribute to the future development of knowledge in university to business marketing – both in theoretical and practical terms – to assist universities in effectively managing this challenge., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

El present treball de final de grau sorgeix d’un interès personal pel món del cinema i del teatre en contraposició, o més aviat en relació amb l’arquitectura. Aquest estudi explica com l’obra teatral ‘Macbeth’ de William Shakespeare, una obra literària que sempre m’ha generat gran curiositat, ja que sent un text del segle XVII continua essent de gran interès i innovació en l’àmbit escènic; i com, d’aquesta mateixa història se n’han fet diverses representacions en 3 formats diferents, teatre, òpera i cinema. Aquesta aventura de treball, parteix del dia que vaig veure la nova pel·lícula del cineasta nord-americà Joel Coen ‘The tragedy of Macbeth’, i vaig quedar impactada pel concepte cinematogràfic i el seu disseny de producció, ja que és una obra escenogràficament fascinant i poètica a la vegada que captura amb molta força visual la psicologia dels personatges. Llavors, vaig decidir que m’interessaria fer algun estudi comparatiu dels espais escènics de Macbeth, incloent-hi també la pel·lícula mencionada; per això, se’m va ocórrer la idea de comparar la mateixa obra en tres tipologies de format en la que existeix aquesta història, partint evidentment del text. Vaig tenir la sort que a principis d’aquest any s’estava fent una representació de Macbeth al Teatre Lliure dirigida per Pau Carrió, i que l’any passat s’havia fet una representació molt notòria de l’òpera de Macbeth de Giuseppe Verdi al Gran Teatre del Liceu.

The Dagstuhl Seminar 23352, titled “Integrating HPC, AI, and Workflows for Scientific Data Analysis,” held from August 27 to September 1, 2023, was a significant event focusing on the synergy between HighPerformance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and scientific workflow technologies. The seminar recognized that modern Big Data analysis in science rests on three pillars: workflow technologies for reproducibility and steering, AI and Machine Learning (ML) for versatile analysis, and HPC for handling large data sets. These elements, while crucial, have traditionally been researched separately, leading to gaps in their integration. The seminar aimed to bridge these gaps, acknowledging the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of these technologies. The event highlighted the complex interplay between HPC, workflows, and ML, noting how ML has increasingly been integrated into scientific workflows, thereby enhancing resource demands and bringing new requirements to HPC architectures, like support for GPUs and iterative computations. The seminar also addressed the challenges in adapting HPC for large-scale ML tasks, including in areas like deep learning, and the need for workflow systems to evolve to leverage ML in data analysis fully. Moreover, the seminar explored how ML could optimize scientific workflow systems and HPC operations, such as through improved scheduling and fault tolerance. A key focus was on identifying prestigious use cases of ML in HPC and understanding their unique, unmet requirements. The stochastic nature of ML and its impact on the reproducibility of data analysis on HPC systems was also a topic of discussion., Postprint (published version)

Aquest Treball de Fi de Grau estudia la relació entre la pràctica arquitectònica i els processos de disseny al llarg de la història, centrant-se específicament en els mètodes paramètrics. L'objectiu principal del treball és comprendre aquesta relació mitjançant l'anàlisi de casos d'estudi que s'han considerat rellevants. Per fer-ho, s'identifiquen tres etapes: l'Era Predigital, que comença al segle XX i es caracteritza per l'experimentació empírica; l'Era Digital, que sorgeix a la segona meitat del segle XX amb el desenvolupament de les eines computacionals; i la tercera etapa, definida per la introducció de la Intel·ligència Artificial (IA). Els casos d'estudi que s'han seleccionat ajuden a comprendre com les diferents eines de disseny han anat influenciant la pràctica arquitectònica al llarg d'aquestes etapes. Aquesta anàlisi cronològica ajudarà a entendre el nexe Arquitectura_Arquitectura Paramètrica_IA com una evolució en curs., Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado estudia la relación entre la práctica arquitectónica y los procesos de diseño a lo largo de la historia, enfocándose específicamente en los métodos paramétricos. El objetivo principal del trabajo es comprender esta relación mediante el análisis de casos de estudio que se han considerado relevantes. Para ello, se identifican tres etapas: la Era Predigital, que comienza en el siglo XX y se caracteriza por la experimentación empírica; la Era Digital, que surge en la segunda mitad del siglo XX con el desarrollo de las herramientas computacionales; y la tercera etapa, definida por la introducción de la Inteligencia Artificial (IA). Los casos de estudio que se han seleccionado ayudan a comprender como las distintas herramientas de diseño han ido influyendo en la práctica arquitectónica a lo largo de estas etapas. Este análisis cronológico ayudará a entender el nexo Arquitectura_Arquitectura Paramétrica_IA como una evolución en curso., This Bachelor’s Degree Thesis studies the relationship between architectural practice and design processes throughout history, focusing specifically on parametric methods. The main objective of the project is to understand this relationship through the analysis of case studies that have been considered relevant. For this purpose, three stages are identified: the Predigital Era, which begins in the 20th century and is characterized by empirical experimentation; the Digital Era, which emerges in the second half of the 20th century with the development of computational tools; and the third stage, defined by the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The selected case studies showcase how different design tools have influenced architectural practice across these stages. This chronological analysis aims to illustrate the ongoing evolution of the Architecture_Parametric Architecture_IA.

Practice Guidelines: 2024 European Society of Hypertension clinical practice guidelines for the management ofarterial hypertension. Endorsed by the European Federation of Internal Medicine (EFIM), European Renal Association (ERA), and International Society ofHypertension (ISH)

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) techniques has many advantages in the study of human performance in air traffic control (ATC). At present, these are non-intrusive techniques that allow large volumes of data to be recorded on a continuous basis using wireless equipment. To achieve the most with these techniques, it is essential to establish appropriate EEG parameters with a clear understanding of the process followed to obtain them and their practical application. This study explains, step by step, the approach adopted to obtain six EEG parameters: excitement, stress, boredom, relaxation, engagement, and attention. It then explains all the steps involved in analysing the relationship between these parameters and two other parameters that characterise the state of the air traffic control sector during the development of real-time simulations (RTS): taskload and number of simultaneous aircraft. For this case study, the results showed the highest relationships for the engagement and attention parameters. In general, the results confirmed the potential of using these EEG parameters.

This paper investigates the impact of trajectory predictor performance on the encounter probability generated by an adaptive conflict detection tool and examines the flexibility of the tool dependent on its adjustable thresholds, using historical radar track data. To achieve these objectives, two figures of merit were proposed: System Dynamic Range and System Tuning Envelope. To examine the conflict detection's performance variability under different uncertainty levels and predictor types, simple multi-horizon trajectory predictors trained with two machine learning techniques of different characteristics are assessed at various look-ahead times: extreme gradient boosting with a discrete nature and a multi-layer perceptron regressor with a continuous nature. The results highlight the interdependence between the performances of the trajectory predictor and the conflict detector, and the quantification of this relationship can be represented through a sigmoid function. In addition, the two proposed figures of merit are effective for selecting suitable operating points in an adaptive conflict detector, based on dynamic thresholds and the performance requirements necessary for the trajectory predictors to achieve the expected detection performance at different look-ahead time.

The infectious agents Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S. equi, the cause of strangles) and EHV-1 (a cause of mild cold-like symptoms, but also of abortion and neurological disease) occur frequently in horses in the Netherlands, as in most of the rest of the world. Research into the best control strategies for these diseases does not currently include (mathematical) models of transmission. This thesis contains several building blocks which will help apply such models to the control effort of these diseases. The basic reproduction number (R0) for S. equi was estimated from real-world outbreaks, and for EHV-1, we attempted to demonstrate an effect of herd vaccination on transmission potential of the virus, but were unable to show a significant effect. By comparing model outputs to real-world epidemiological data on S. equi, we were able to demonstrate that a long-held belief that one in four horses do not mount lasting immunity after strangles may be incorrect. We surveyed apparently healthy horses and ponies from throughout the Netherlands and found that around 1 in 26 of these were strangles carriers. Combining this information with 2022 competition records and disease surveillance reports, simulations showed that carriers and susceptible horses very frequently meet at competitions (hundreds of thousands of times per year), but that very few of these contacts lead to infection and disease in the susceptible horses. A questionnaire survey revealed that very few equine premises in the Netherlands implement effective bio-security measures, which is similar to reports from other countries. Approximately 4/5 of surveyed premises reported horses temporarily leaving the premises to participate in competitions or for training. Network analysis using sports and racing competition records revealed that the “social network” of sport horses and of racehorses are each highly connected. The Dutch sport horse network has five degrees of separation, meaning there is a connection

Diese Arbeit widmet sich der Grundlagenforschung zur Eignung eisenbasierter anorganischer Verbindungen als Katalysatoren für die oxidative Dehydrierung von Ethanol. Sie untersucht Eisen(III)molybdate und Eisen(III)wolframate als potenzielle Katalysatoren für die oxidative Dehydrierung von (Bio-)Ethanol, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf in situ-diffraktometrischen Analysen während der Reaktion liegt. Darüber hinaus wurde der Einfluss unterschiedlicher Synthesemethoden auf die katalytischen und chemischen Eigenschaften der Katalysatoren untersucht. Ein weiterer Fokus lag auf der Untersuchung der Rolle der Nebenphase MoO₃ in Fe₂(MoO₄)₃/MoO₃-Gemischen mit unterschiedlichen Mo-Verhältnissen (1,5:1 bis 3:1). Diese Arbeit liefert wertvolle Einblicke in die Verwendung von Fe-Mo- und Fe-W-Oxiden als Katalysatoren für die oxidative Dehydrierung von Ethanol.

Background/Objectives: Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause variable symptoms, which may be irreversible if not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. We aimed to develop a widely accepted expert consensus to guide the practice of diagnosing and treating B12 deficiency. Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the literature published in PubMed since January 2003. Data were used to design a two-round Delphi survey to study the level of consensus among 42 experts. Results: The panelists agreed on the need for educational and organizational changes in the current medical practices for diagnosing and treating B12 deficiency. Recognition of clinical symptoms should receive the highest priority in establishing the diagnosis. There is agreement that the serum B12 concentration is useful as a screening marker and methylmalonic acid or homocysteine can support the diagnosis. Patient lifestyle, disease history, and medications can provide clues to the cause of B12 deficiency. Regardless of the cause of the deficiency, initial treatment with parenteral B12 was regarded as the first choice for patients with acute and severe manifestations of B12 deficiency. The use of high-dose oral B12 at different frequencies may be considered for long-term treatment. Prophylactic B12 supplementation should be considered for specific high-risk groups. Conclusions: There is a consensus that clinical symptoms need to receive more attention in establishing the diagnosis of B12 deficiency. B12 laboratory markers can support the diagnosis. The severity of clinical symptoms, the causes of B12 deficiency, and the treatment goals govern decisions regarding the route and dose of B12 therapy.

Abstract: A knowledge of the complex phenomena that regulate T1 signal on Magnetic Resonance Imaging is essential in clinical practice for a more effective characterization of pathological processes. The authors review the physical basis of T1 Relaxation Time and the fundamental aspects of physics and chemistry that can influence this parameter. The main substances (water, fat, macromolecules, methemoglobin, melanin, Gadolinium, calcium) that influence T1 and the different MRI acquisition techniques that can be applied to enhance their presence in diagnostic images are then evaluated. An extensive case illustration of the different phenomena and techniques in the areas of CNS, abdomino-pelvic, and osteoarticular pathology is also proposed. Critical relevance statement: T1 relaxation time is strongly influenced by numerous factors related to tissue characteristics and the presence in the context of the lesions of some specific substances. An examination of these phenomena with extensive MRI exemplification is reported. Key Points: The purpose of the paper is to illustrate the chemical-physical basis of T1 Relaxation Time. MRI methods in accordance with the various clinical indications are listed. Several examples of clinical application in abdominopelvic and CNS pathology are reported. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.)

Background: Japanese Kawasaki disease (KD) risk scores cannot be adopted in non-Japanese patients. In North American populations a baseline coronary artery Z-score > 2 and the Son score are associated with coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) at 4 and 8 weeks from disease onset. In European populations, the Kawanet and Kawanet-echo scores are associated with intravenous immunoglobulin resistance. This study aims to evaluate the association between KD risk scores and baseline coronary artery Z-scores with CAAs at one, two, and six months in a European population. Methods: Historical cohort study of all the children diagnosed with KD in a tertiary care hospital in Milan, Italy, between 1st January 2015 and 31st May 2021. Univariate and multivariate (adjusting for age and corticosteroid therapy) logistic regression analyses were used to study the association between the risk scores, a baseline Z-score ≥ 2 and ≥ 2.5 with CAAs. Results: Eighty-nine patients were diagnosed with KD at our Centre, and 12 were excluded based on the exclusion criteria. We included 77 patients, 51 (66%) males, and 26 (34%) females, with a median age at presentation of 27 months (IQR 13–46). A baseline Z-score ≥ 2 was correlated with CAAs at one and two-month follow-ups (odds ratio (OR) 10, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2–72, and OR 18, CI 3-357) but not at six-month follow-up. The Son score showed an association with one and two-month follow-up CAAs (OR 3, CI 1.3-7, and OR 3, CI 1.3-8) but not with a six-month follow-up. Conclusions: Patients with a baseline Z-score ≥ 2 are at higher risk for CAAs in the long term. The Son score should be tested in larger European samples. Further studies should keep the observational periods longer than 8 weeks from KD onset.

[Italiano]: A causa dell'emergenza sanitaria della pandemia di covid 19, è aumentata la necessità di riflettere sulle varie situazioni che ci angosciano non solo come ricercatori e docenti, ma anche come umanità, in una prospettiva nazionale e internazionale. È nato così l'interesse di un gruppo di docenti dell'Università di Salerno e della Benemérita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla di riunire in questo libro varie voci delle scienze umane che riflettono su una nozione divenuta fondamentale: la resilienza, intesa come l'atteggiamento e l'attività che ci permette di sopravvivere e superare le avversità pur vivendo in condizioni di povertà, di catastrofi naturali, di violenza di genere, etnica, politica. Il libro contiene quindici saggi sulle forme di narrazione, sulle conseguenze socio- psicologiche, sulle possibili risposte individuali e collettive./[English]: Due to the health emergency of the covid 19 pandemic, the need to reflect on the various situations that afflict us not only as researchers and teachers, but also as humanity, from a national and international perspective, has increased. Thus, the interest of a group of teachers from the University of Salerno and the Benemérita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla arose to bring together in this book various voices from the humanities that reflect on a notion that has become fundamental: resilience, understood as the attitude and fundamental activity that allows us to survive and overcome adversity despite living in conditions of poverty, natural disasters, gender, ethnic, political violence. The book contains fifteen essays on forms of narration, socio-psychological consequences, individual and collective responses.

Innovation is essential in today's corporate environment to maintain competitiveness, stimulate development, and satisfy changing consumer demands. To make the most of the possibilities of innovation, established systems must be managed effectively. The standard ISO 56002 provides recommendations for Innovation Management Systems to assist companies in their innovation endeavors. It offers a structure for developing, putting into execution, and enhancing innovation management practices. This standard looks at how leadership and innovation management interact. Leadership practices are brought into harmony with innovation by ISO 56002, which also empowers teams, encourages creativity, and offers guidance for creative development. The interconnected trio of leadership, innovation, and innovation management forms the backbone of modern companies, propelling progress and product evolution. Recognizing this importance and prioritizing innovation management is crucial, with effective leadership fostering an innovative environment. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between innovation management and leadership., Incoming

Developing and executing large-scale data analysis applications in parallel and distributed environments can be a complex and time-consuming task. Developers often find themselves diverted from their application logic to handle technical details about the underlying runtime and related issues. To simplify this process, ParSoDA, a Java library, has been proposed to facilitate the development of parallel data mining applications executed on HPC systems. It simplifies the process by providing built-in scalability mechanisms relying on the Hadoop and Spark frameworks. This paper presents ParSoDA-Py, the Python version of the ParSoDA library, which allows for further support of commonly used runtimes and libraries for big data analysis. After a complete library redesign, ParSoDA can be now easily integrated with other Python-based distributed runtimes for HPC systems, such as COMPSs and Apache Spark, and with the large ecosystem of Python-based data processing libraries. The paper discusses the adaptation process, which takes into consideration the new technical requirements, and evaluates both usability and scalability through some case study applications., This work has been partially funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework program and the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under Grant agreement No 955558 and by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (PCI2021-121957), project eFlows4HPC. It has also been supported by the Spanish Government (PID2019-107255GB) and by the Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya to the Research Group MPiEDist (2021 SGR 00412) We also acknowledge financial support from “National Centre for HPC, Big Data and Quantum Computing," CN00000013 - CUP H23C22000360005, and from “FAIR - Future Artificial Intelligence Research" Project - CUP H23C22000860006., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

Background: Increasing interest has centered on the psychotherapeutic working alliance as a means of understanding clinical change in digital mental health interventions in recent years. However, little is understood about how and to what extent a digital mental health program can have an impact on the working alliance and clinical outcomes in a blended (therapist plus digital program) cognitive behavioral therapy (bCBT) intervention for depression. Objective: This study aimed to test the difference in working alliance scores between bCBT and treatment as usual (TAU), examine the association between working alliance and depression severity scores in both arms, and test for an interaction between system usability and working alliance with regard to the association between working alliance and depression scores in bCBT at 3 -month assessments. Methods: We conducted a secondary data analysis of the E -COMPARED (European Comparative Effectiveness Research on Blended Depression Treatment versus Treatment -as -usual) trial, which compared bCBT with TAU across 9 European countries. Data were collected in primary care and specialized services between April 2015 and December 2017. Eligible participants aged 18 years or older and diagnosed with major depressive disorder were randomized to either bCBT (n=476) or TAU (n=467). bCBT consisted of 6-20 sessions of bCBT (involving face-to-face sessions with a therapist and an internet-based program). TAU consisted of usual care for depression. The main outcomes were scores of the working alliance (Working Alliance Inventory -Short Revised-Client [WAI-SR-C]) and depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire -9 [PHQ-9]) at 3 months after randomization. Other variables included system usability scores (System Usability Scale -Client [SUS -C]) at 3 months and baseline demographic information. Data from baseline and 3 -month assessments were analyzed using linear regression models that adjusted for a set of baseline variables. Result

Bladder cancer treatment via intravesical drug administration achieves reasonable survival rates but suffers from low therapeutic efficacy. To address the latter, self-propelled nanoparticles or nanobots have been proposed, taking advantage of their enhanced diffusion and mixing capabilities in urine when compared with conventional drugs or passive nanoparticles. However, the translational capabilities of nanobots in treating bladder cancer are underexplored. Here, we tested radiolabelled mesoporous silica-based urease-powered nanobots in an orthotopic mouse model of bladder cancer. In vivo and ex vivo results demonstrated enhanced nanobot accumulation at the tumour site, with an eightfold increase revealed by positron emission tomography in vivo. Label-free optical contrast based on polarization-dependent scattered light-sheet microscopy of cleared bladders confirmed tumour penetration by nanobots ex vivo. Treating tumour-bearing mice with intravesically administered radio-iodinated nanobots for radionuclide therapy resulted in a tumour size reduction of about 90%, positioning nanobots as efficient delivery nanosystems for bladder cancer therapy.

3D printing has been adopted into routine use for certain medical applications. Yet, more widespread usage has been hindered by, among other things, unclear legislation. Using legal doctrinal study and legal informatics, we analyzed relevant EU legislation and case law relating to four issues relevant to medical 3D printing (excluding bioprinting or pharma-coprinting): pre-market approval, post-market liability, intellectual property rights, and data protection. Several gaps and uncertainties in the current legislation and interpretations were identified. In particular, we regard the current EU regulatory framework to be quite limiting and inflexible, exemplifying a cautionary approach common in EU law. Recognizing the need to establish high safety standards in order to protect patients, we identify both legal uncertainties and overly restrictive legislation as key factors harmful to innovation. Hence, more adaptive legislation is called for to ensure continuous innovation efforts and enhanced patient outcomes.

Withdrawal periods are used to avoid animals being delivered to slaughter before the concentration of the antimicrobial has declined to values below the maximum residue limit (MRL). This paper characterises the withdrawal periods in force for oxytetracycline 100 mg/ml for intramuscular use in pigs. We investigated the variation in duration of the withdrawal period between 68 oxytetracycline products from 29 countries in- and outside the European Union. More specifically, we tested whether there is a regional difference, a difference between major and minor pig meat exporting countries, whether the product is long-acting or not, and whether year of market authorisation correlated with the withdrawal period. The results showed a large variation in duration of the withdrawal periods, ranging from 5 to 40 days. Variation was observed both between and within countries. Moreover, major exporting countries were associated with a longer withdrawal period than minor exporting countries (P = 0.00099). There were no regional differences, and the year of market authorisation had no impact, but long-acting products had a shorter withdrawal period than short-acting products (P = 0.048). The variation in withdrawal periods observed questions the utility of using compliance with the withdrawal period as a means of assessing whether the meat is safe for consumption. This is particularly relevant when a pig producer unintentionally delivers pigs for slaughter before the withdrawal period has expired and, aware of this, informs the abattoir. The findings call for further harmonisation in determining the withdrawal periods for all veterinary medicinal products (VMP). Until this happens, if animals are prematurely sent to slaughter, we suggest that the concentration of the VMP at the time of slaughter is calculated and compared with the MRL to determine meat safety., Withdrawal periods are used to avoid animals being delivered to slaughter before the concentration of the antimicrobial has declined to values below the maximum residue limit (MRL). This paper characterises the withdrawal periods in force for oxytetracycline 100 mg/ml for intramuscular use in pigs. We investigated the variation in duration of the withdrawal period between 68 oxytetracycline products from 29 countries in- and outside the European Union. More specifically, we tested whether there is a regional difference, a difference between major and minor pig meat exporting countries, whether the product is long-acting or not, and whether year of market authorisation correlated with the withdrawal period. The results showed a large variation in duration of the withdrawal periods, ranging from 5 to 40 days. Variation was observed both between and within countries. Moreover, major exporting countries were associated with a longer withdrawal period than minor exporting countries (P = 0.00099). There were no regional differences, and the year of market authorisation had no impact, but long-acting products had a shorter withdrawal period than short-acting products (P = 0.048). The variation in withdrawal periods observed questions the utility of using compliance with the withdrawal period as a means of assessing whether the meat is safe for consumption. This is particularly relevant when a pig producer unintentionally delivers pigs for slaughter before the withdrawal period has expired and, aware of this, informs the abattoir. The findings call for further harmonisation in determining the withdrawal periods for all veterinary medicinal products (VMP). Until this happens, if animals are prematurely sent to slaughter, we suggest that the concentration of the VMP at the time of slaughter is calculated and compared with the MRL to determine meat safety.

We explore the bound neutrons decay into invisible particles (e.g., $n\rightarrow 3 \nu$ or $nn \rightarrow 2 \nu$) in the JUNO liquid scintillator detector. The invisible decay includes two decay modes: $ n \rightarrow { inv} $ and $ nn \rightarrow { inv} $. The invisible decays of $s$-shell neutrons in $^{12}{\rm C}$ will leave a highly excited residual nucleus. Subsequently, some de-excitation modes of the excited residual nuclei can produce a time- and space-correlated triple coincidence signal in the JUNO detector. Based on a full Monte Carlo simulation informed with the latest available data, we estimate all backgrounds, including inverse beta decay events of the reactor antineutrino $\bar{\nu}_e$, natural radioactivity, cosmogenic isotopes and neutral current interactions of atmospheric neutrinos. Pulse shape discrimination and multivariate analysis techniques are employed to further suppress backgrounds. With two years of exposure, JUNO is expected to give an order of magnitude improvement compared to the current best limits. After 10 years of data taking, the JUNO expected sensitivities at a 90% confidence level are $\tau/B( n \rightarrow { inv} ) > 5.0 \times 10^{31} \, {\rm yr}$ and $\tau/B( nn \rightarrow { inv} ) > 1.4 \times 10^{32} \, {\rm yr}$., Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables

Introduction: Delayed discharge represents the difficulty in proceeding with discharge of patients who do not have any further benefit from prolonged stay. A quota of this problem is related to organizational issues. In the Lazio region in Italy, a macro service re-organization in on the way, with a network of hospital and territorial centers engaged in structuring in- and out- of hospital patient pathways, with a special focus on intermediate care structures. Purpose of this study is to quantify the burden of delayed discharge on a single hospital structure, in order to estimate costs and occurrence of potential resource misplacement. Material and methods: Observational Retrospective study conducted at the Santo Spirito Hospital in Rome, Italy. Observation period ranged from 1/09/2022, when the local database was instituted, to 1/03/2023 (6 months). Data from admissions records was anonymously collected. Data linkage with administrative local hospital database was performed in order to identify the date a discharge request was fired for each admission. Surgical discharges and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) discharges were excluded from this study. A Poisson hierarchical regression model was employed to investigate for the role of ward, Severity of Disease (SoD) and Risk of Mortality (RoM) on elongation of discharge time. Results: 1222 medical ward admissions were recorded in the timeframe. 16% of them were considered as subject to potentially elongated stay, and a mean Delay in discharge of 6.3 days (SD 7.9) was observed. Discussion and conclusions: Delayed discharge may cause a "bottleneck" in admissions and result in overcrowded Emergency Department, overall poor performance, and increase in overall costs. A consisted proportion of available beds can get inappropriately occupied, and this inflates both direct and indirect costs. Clinical conditions on admission are not a good predictor of delay in discharge, and the root causes of this phenomenon likely lie in organiz

The ALICE Grid is designed to perform a realtime comprehensive monitoring of both jobs and execution nodes in order to maintain a continuous and consistent status of the Grid infrastructure. An extensive database of historical data is available and is periodically analyzed to tune the workflows and data management to optimal performance levels. This data, when evaluated in real time, has the power to trigger decisions for efficient resource management of the currently running payloads, for example to enable the execution of a higher volume of work per unit of time. In this article, we consider scenarios in which, through constant interaction with the monitoring agents, a dynamic adaptation of the running workflows is performed. The target resources are memory and CPU with the objective of using them in their entirety and ensuring optimal utilization fairness between executing jobs. Grid resources are heterogeneous and of different generations, which means that some of them have better hardware characteristics than the minimum required to execute ALICE jobs. Our middleware, JAliEn, works on the basis of having at least 2 GB of RAM allocated per core (allowing up to 8 GB of virtual memory when including swap). Many of the worker nodes have higher memory per core ratios than these basic limits and in terms of available memory they therefore have free resources to accommodate extra jobs. The running jobs may have different behaviors and unequal resource usages depending on their nature. For example, analysis tasks are I/O bound while Monte-Carlo tasks are CPU intensive. Running additional jobs with complementary resource usage patterns on a worker node has a great potential to increase its total efficiency. This paper presents the methodology to exploit the different resource usage profiles by oversubscribing the worker nodes with extra jobs taking into account their CPU resource usage levels and memory capacity., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

Since the dawn of Quantum Computing (QC), theoretical developments like Shor’s algorithm proved the conceptual superiority of QC over traditional computing. However, such quantum supremacy claims are difficult to achieve in practice because of the techni-cal challenges of realizing noiseless qubits. In the near future, QC applications will need to rely on noisy quantum devices that offload part of their work to classical devices. One way to achieve this is by using Parameterized Quantum Circuits (PQCs) in optimization or even in machine learning tasks. The energy requirements of quantum algorithms have not yet been studied extensively. In this article we explore several optimization algorithms using both theoretical insights and numerical experiments to understand their impact on energy consumption. Specifically, we highlight why and how algorithms like Quantum Natural Gradient Descent, Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximations or Circuit Learning methods, are at least 2× to 4× more energy efficient than their classical counterparts; why Feedback-Based Quantum Optimization is energy-inefficient; and how techniques like Rosalin can improve the energy efficiency of other algorithms by a factor of ≥ 20×. Finally, we use the NchooseK high-level programming model to run optimization problems on both gate-based quantum computers and quantum annealers. Empirical data indicate that these optimization problems run faster, have better success rates, and consume less energy on quantum annealers than on their gate-based counterparts., Los Alamos National Laboratory, Grant/Award Number: 20210397ER; Laboratory Directed Research and Development; National Nuclear Security Administration of U.S. Department of Energy, Grant/Award Number: 89233218CNA000001, Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

El objetivo del presente proyecto es el de determinar las actuaciones necesarias a nivel de instalaciones eléctricas para realizar la sustitución de los cuadros eléctricos del edificio de oficinas centrales de TMB (Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona), incluyendo la sustitución del actual Grupo Electrógeno, así como definir una nueva infraestructura de distribución de SAI (Sistema de Alimentación Inenterrumpida). A lo largo de los años los cuadros han ido sufriendo modificaciones, se han ido añadiendo consumos y manipulando las protecciones que lo conforman, este hecho ha ocasionado que en algunos de estos aparatos actualmente no se cumpla la selectividad y que otros hayan quedado obsoletos y/o saturados, hallando incluso en algunos casos diferentes fuentes de suministro alimentando al mismo cuadro sin estar correctamente separadas e identificadas. Este proyecto incluye: • La sustitución de los cuadros eléctricos existentes por otros de características y prestaciones que cumplan con la normativa actual. • La separación de los suministros de acuerdo con las necesidades actuales en: consumo “Normal”, consumo “Conmutado” y consumo “SAI”. • La sustitución de la LGA (Línea General de Alimentación) ubicada en el CT (Centro de Transformación) y la línea que da suministro al CGBT (Cuadro General de baja Tensión). • La sustitución de las líneas troncales que derivan hacia los cuadros de planta. • La sustitución del grupo electrógeno por otro de características iguales en cuanto a potencia y autonomía, además de la adecuación de la sala técnica donde se ubicará con tal de cumplir con la normativa vigente., L'objectiu del present projecte és el de determinar les actuacions necessàries a nivell d'instal·lacions elèctriques per realitzar la substitució dels quadres elèctrics de l'edifici d'oficines centrals de TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona), incloent la substitució de l'actual Grup Electrogen, així com definir una nova infraestructura de distribució de SAI. Al llarg dels anys els quadres han anat patint modificacions, s'han anat afegint consums i manipulant les proteccions que el conformen, aquest fet ha ocasionat que en alguns d'aquests aparells actualment no es compleixi la selectivitat i que d'altres hagin quedat obsolets i/o saturats, trobant fins i tot en alguns casos diferents fonts de subministrament alimentant el mateix quadre sense estar correctament separades. Aquest projecte inclou: • La substitució dels quadres elèctrics existents per altres de característiques i prestacions que compleixin amb la normativa actual. • La separació dels subministraments d'acord amb les necessitats actuals en: consum "Normal", consum "Commutat" i consum "SAI". • La substitució de la LGA (Línia General d'Alimentació) ubicada al CT (Centre de Transformació) i la línia que dona subministrament al QGBT (Quadre General de baixa Tensió). • La substitució de les línies troncals que deriven cap als quadres de planta. • La substitució del grup electrogen per un altre de característiques iguals en quant a potència i autonomia, a més de l'adequació de la sala tècnica on s' ubicarà per tal de complir amb la normativa vigent., The aim of this project is to determine the necessary actions at the electrical installation level to replace the electrical panels of the central office building of TMB (Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona), including the replacement of the current generator group, as well as to define a new infrastructure for UPS distribution. Over the years, the panels have undergone modifications, additional loads have been added, and the protective devices have been manipulated. This has caused some of these devices to currently not meet selectivity requirements, and others have become obsolete and/or overloaded. In some cases, different power sources are even found supplying the same panel without being correctly separated. This project includes: • The replacement of existing electrical panels with others that meet current regulations in terms of characteristics and performance. • The separation of supplies according to current needs: "Normal" consumption, "Switched" consumption, and "UPS" consumption. • The replacement of the GPL (General Power Line) located in the TS (Transformation Station) and the line that supplies the GLVP (General Low Voltage Panel). • The replacement of the main lines that lead to floor panels. • The replacement of the generator group with one of equal power and autonomy, as well as the adaptation of the technical room where it will be located in order to comply with current regulations.

For LHC Run3 the ALICE experiment software stack has been completely refactored, incorporating support for multicore job execution. Whereas in both LHC Run 1 and 2 the Grid jobs were single-process and made use of a single CPU core, the new multicore jobs spawn multiple processes and threads within the payload. Some of these multicore jobs deploy a high amount of shortlived processes, in the order of more than a dozen per second. The overhead of starting so many processes impacts the overall CPU utilization of the payloads, in particular its System component. Furthermore, the short-lived processes were not correctly accounted for by the monitoring system of the experiment. This paper presents the developed new methodology for supervising the payload execution. We also present a black box analysis of the new multicore experiment software framework tracing the used resources and system function calls issued by MonteCarlo simulation jobs. Multiple sources of overhead in the lifecycle of processes and threads have thus been identified. This paper describes how the source of each was traced and what solutions were implemented to address them. These improvements have impacted the resource consumption and the overall turnaround time of these payloads with a notable 35% reduction in execution time for a reference production job. We also introduce how this methodology will be used to further improve the efficiency of our experiment software and what other optimization venues are currently under research., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

After large-magnitude earthquakes, a crucial task for impact assessment is to rapidly and accurately estimate the ground shaking in the affected region. To satisfy real-time constraints, intensity measures are traditionally evaluated with empirical Ground Motion Models that can drastically limit the accuracy of the estimated values. As an alternative, here we present Machine Learning strategies trained on physics-based simulations that require similar evaluation times. We trained and validated the proposed Machine Learning-based Estimator for ground shaking maps with one of the largest existing datasets (<100M simulated seismograms) from CyberShake developed by the Southern California Earthquake Center covering the Los Angeles basin. For a well-tailored synthetic database, our predictions outperform empirical Ground Motion Models provided that the events considered are compatible with the training data. Using the proposed strategy we show significant error reductions not only for synthetic, but also for five real historical earthquakes, relative to empirical Ground Motion Models., This work has been funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Framework program and the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 955558 and by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR(PCI2021-121957), project eFlows4HPC. This research has been supported by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) as well as Spain, Italy, Iceland, Germany, Norway, France, Finland, and Croatia under grant agreement no. 101093038, (ChEESE-CoE). The authors acknowledge the Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC) at the University of Southern California for providing computing resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this publication. URL: https://carc.usc.edu. This research used resources of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility supported under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725, and the National Center for Supercomputer Applications under the Blue Waters Sustained-Petascale Computing Project. SCEC is funded by USGS Cooperative Agreement G17AC00047 and NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR1600087., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (published version)

It is widely known that ports are important infrastructures for the economic development, serving as pivotal entry points for commerce and having, significant strategic importance for countries. The Brazilian maritime sector comprises 35 public ports and 174 Private Use Terminals, and exist a pressing requirement for their modernization and adaptation, especially in view of the increasing size of post-Panamax ships. Out of these 209 ports, just a few have channel depths conducive for accommodating ships with drafts exceeding 15 meters. This highlights the imperative for upgrades to meet the evolving demands of the maritime industry. The objective of this study is to analyze the environmental performance of ports deemed suitable for the development to facilitate the reception and operation of post-Panamax ships. Consequently, emphasis was placed on ports located along the coastal region or major rivers. As a result, as part of this research a selection of 38 ports were scrutinized. The analysis of the selected ports was carried out through the Índice de Desempenho Ambiental (IDA), the most notorious environmental performance indicator used by the Brazilian Government to evaluate the environmental performance of ports, comprising 38 indicators into 4 categories: economic-operational, socio-cultural, physical-chemical and biological-ecological. The results confirm that there are some indicators that are very positive such as the existence of environmental licensing or the provision of qualified environmental professionals. However, there are some indicators with a low performance that should be addressed such as the implementation of emergency response plans and the provision of onshore power supply., Peer Reviewed

Body fluids can potentially indicate the presence of non-small cancer cells. Studying these fluids is an emerging field that could be crucial for cancer detection and monitoring treatment effectiveness. Meanwhile, the examination of fluids on a microscopic level is part of the field of microfluidics. This study focuses on the development of a total analysis system that consists of various interconnected structures that are designed to mix, classify, concentrate, and isolate particles in fluids that mimic the behavior of cancer and normal cells. Using the COMSOL Multiphysics software, the device's performance was optimized to use a pressure input of 35 kPa for water or serum and 29.4 kPa for a mixture of liquid and serum samples, which are the optimal pressure inputs. The numerical models were validated by experiments using two types of polystyrene particles, with diameters of 5 and 20 mu m. Moreover, the developed system was applied to monitor the behavior of red blood cells. The microfluidic chip is capable of addressing several challenges through visual detections, including mixing tests of two fluids with similar densities, proper particle size classification using Dean flow fractionation, and single-step recovery of large, labeled particles. Finally, the collected particles were examined using an environmental scanning electron microscope to determine their size, and the results demonstrated that successful size separation was achieved, with particles around 20 mu m completely separated from the smaller ones.

Temperature is one of the key sources of abiotic variation that affects all communities. Mounting evidence of climate warming makes it doubly important that we understand how perturbations to organisms' typical thermal environment influence population dynamics. My research examines the effects of temperature at individual and population levels on the cowpea seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. Through the integration of mathematical theory and manipulative experiments, my research seeks to address this key gap in our knowledge. First, I characterized the temperature response of fitness and the fundamental thermal niche (FTN) of C. maculatus. I quantified the thermal reaction norms of birth, maturation, and mortality. Through measurements of genetic variation in reaction norms I determined which components of the FTN facilitate vs. constrain its evolution. I found that maturation rate exhibits the least amount of genetic variation, suggesting that it might be a limiting factor in the evolution of the FTN. Using the FTN, I predicted temperature suitability under various climate scenarios. I found that C. maculatus would extend its range with warming climate. Next, I studied the effects of temperature and competition in adult C. maculatus. I quantified the temperature response of competition on the per capita birth and growth rates. I found that both rates decline with increase in adult density and that competition exhibits a left-skewed response to temperature. This indicates that the responses of C. maculatus populations will differ at low versus high temperature extremes, leaving populations prone to stochastic extinctions.Finally, I studied the effects of temperature and competition on juvenile C. maculatus. I quantified the temperature responses of maturation and juvenile mortality rates as a function of larvae present in host seeds. I found that maturation rate remains constant while juvenile mortality has a positive association with larval density. Furthermore

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) provides bilingual education and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. Mandatory evaluation of these programs involved the following: data from the Student Master File (information on each student's grade level, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status); data from the LEP student master file (information on students' LEP status, home language, and program service dates); programmatic and professional staff development details; Emergency Immigrant Program expenditure data; prior-year information on LEP students from Office of Program Evaluation reports; test scores; and participant responses. Achievement of former LEP students surpassed that of all AISD students on percentages passing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. Their attendance rates and grade point averages were similar to those seen districtwide. Potential retention rates and discipline rates were lower than districtwide rates. Achievement of current LEP students was generally below state and national norms. Participants reported that staff development was appropriate and useful. The number of LEP students attending AISD increased in recent years. Three appendixes contain text of the Texas Administrative Code; data on alternative language program/bilingual/ESL staff development; and a comparison of LEP students served versus LEP refusals. (Contains 19 figures and 36 tables.) (SM)

In compliance with Texas state law, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) provides two programs to serve students identified as limited English proficient (LEP): bilingual education and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL). ESL is both a component of bilingual English and a stand-alone program. In 1997-98, AISD enrolled 10,538 LEP students, 92 percent of whom were Spanish speakers. Three groups of exited LEP students have been observed since 1994-95. Compared to students districtwide, the most recently exited group was recommended for retention less often, earned higher grade point averages, had lower school leaver rates, and had higher attendance rates. Former LEP students in the latest exit group in middle and junior high had lower discipline rates than students districtwide. Similar positive findings were apparent in many areas for students in the two earlier exit groups. Students still receiving LEP services had lower achievement test scores than students districtwide, including lower results on a Spanish language instrument. The success of the Bilingual and ESL programs in mitigating school leaver rates at the secondary level suggests that continued program service beyond the elementary level has a positive effect in assisting students. Appendixes contain text from the applicable state legislation, a list of staff development programs, and summaries of professional development activities. (Contains 14 figures and 35 tables.) (SLD)

In compliance with Texas state law, the Austin Independent School District (AISD) provides two programs to serve students identified as limited English proficient (LEP): Bilingual Education (BE) with dual language instruction and English as Second Language (ESL) intensive English instruction. ESL is both a component of BE and a stand-alone program. The program in which a student participates depends on a number of student characteristics. In 1996-97, the AISD enrolled 11,500 LEP students, 92% of whom were Spanish speakers, and 3% of whom spoke Vietnamese. In 1992-93, LEP students were 10% of the district's enrollment; in 1996-97, they represented 15.2%. Compared to students district-wide, exited LEP students were retained less often, earned higher grade point averages, and had higher school leaver rates. The achievement of former LEP students generally surpasses AISD averages on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. However, the achievement of LEP students in the programs is generally below that of state and national comparisons, and the achievement of AISD LEP students is generally lower than that of LEP students statewide. These facts reinforce evaluation recommendations for additional support for BE and ESL programs and continued staff development. Because students who complete BE and ESL programs are usually more successful in school than LEP students who do not participate, efforts should be made to serve the 14% of LEP students whose parents refuse program services. Appendixes give the text of the pertinent state law, a list of program staff development efforts, and evaluation reports for the individual schools involved. (Contains 38 tables, 3 figures, and 3 references.) (SLD)