Report No. 31: The Role of Social Protection as an Economic Stabiliser: Lessons from the Current Crisis

Report based on a study conducted for the European Parliament, Bonn 2010 (188 pages)

Oral Bone Grafting in a Rat Model and the Use of Scanning Electron Microscopy for Tissue Morphology Evaluation

Oral bone grafting is a procedure widely performed in current dentistry. Several biomaterials fit this purpose.  The aim of this study was to use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the ultrastructural  aspects of bone repair in a rat model, with periodontal tissues involved. Two groups (I and II) of 20 animals  each were operated on to create a surgical defect with a round carbide burr (3mm) on the right side  of their mandible, anterior to the mental foramen. Both groups were evenly divided with 5 animals each to  receive the application of either bifasic calcium phosphate bioceramic (B), lyophilized deproteinated  bovine bone (L), bifasic bioceramic associated with lyophilized deproteinated bovine bone (BL), or no biomaterial  (control or C). Group I was monitored for one week and group II for three weeks prior to euthanasia.  Hemi-mandibles were prepared for SEM analysis. Parameters such as exposure of incisive root surface,  width of the cross-section of filiform structures and presence of mineralized-like globuli (area) were evaluated.  The findings of this study suggested that surgical procedures for introduction or not of biomaterial  did not cause problems with normal feeding to the animals. Both of the biomaterials used promoted a periodontal  ligament involvement. Fibers (single filiform structures) could be detected in a range from 0.07 to  0.18μm of diameter, except for L that was larger – considered to be due to residual fibers of bovine origin.  C bundles (groups of fibers) showed larger width of cross-section than with the use of biomaterials.  Globuli areas (mineralization) were smaller to C than with the biomaterials use. B showed larger globuli  areas, suggesting slow incorporation. It was concluded that the use of these biomaterials favored maintenance  of tissue volume although slowing remodeling, and the combination (BL) presented the best performance.

A comparative study of different fatigue failure assessments of welded bridge details

Five different welded joints frequently used in steel bridges have been selected to investigate the accuracy and applicability of three fatigue assessment methods. The first method, also categorised as the global method, is the nominal stress method, while the more advanced methods are the hot spot and the effective notch stress methods. Solid element based finite element models for welded bridge details were created by following the modelling requirements of each fatigue assessment method. A statistical evaluation based on the results of the finite element analyses and the fatigue test data collected from the literature was performed to determine the mean and characteristic fatigue strength. In addition, the standard deviation for each data series was also determined to conclude how well each method describes the fatigue strength of each welded detail. A method with a lower standard deviation is regarded as more accurate. Moreover, the evaluated results from each method were compared with the recommended fatigue strength values in the Eurocode 3 (EN 1993-1-9:2005) and IIW codes. In the light of the test results in this study, it appears that the codes are in reasonable agreement with the test data, even though a few examples of the opposite occurred. The conclusion based on the revised results in this article indicates that the nominal stress method yields satisfactory results, despite its simplicity. When considering the effort involved in creating FE models for numerical analysis, it seems clear that the choice of the nominal method is fairly acceptable

Elaboration d'une structure de collecte des déchets organiques à l'aide de la théorie constructale

International audienceLa gestion des déchets présente des enjeux économiques et environnementaux majeurs pour nos sociétés, et notamment sur la question des transports. Ceux-ci peuvent ainsi représenter jusqu'à 70% des coûts financiers d'un système de gestion (Uson et al., 2013). Des études ont de plus montré que les systèmes en réseau possèdent une plus grande flexibilité face à la variabilité temporelle des flux de déchets (Rojo, 2009). La difficulté réside donc dans l'optimisation de la configuration spatiale de ces réseaux sur le territoire. La démarche proposée s'appuie sur la loi constructale, énonçant que les réseaux naturels (bronches pulmonaires, bassins versants) dotés d'un degré de liberté jugé suffisant, adoptent une forme qui minimise la résistance des flux qui les traversent (Bejan et Lorente, 2009). La loi constructale a été appliquée au cas de la collecte de déchets des particuliers vers un site de transbordement. Deux types de collecte ont été comparés: une collecte conventionnelle, avec une capacité des camions fixée, et une collecte "constructale", caractérisée par l'intervention en série de deux types de véhicules, de capacités différentes (degré de liberté). L'analyse a été réalisée sur le critère financier associé au transport des déchets. Les résultats ont montré que la collecte constructale devient, d'un point de vue opérationnel, économiquement plus performante qu'une collecte conventionnell

Fitting Artificial Neural Network Models to Animal Movement Data: Some Necessary Precautions, a Comment on Dalziel et

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]

Alqueva. Changing Ecologies of the Montado Landscape. Alentejo, Portugal

In the past decade Alqueva Dam brought a tremendous landscape change in all three sectors-environmental, social and economic. While the dam and reservoir was a project which was carefully executed, there are certain issues which need to be monitored/rectified as the reservoir goes into 5th straight year with full capacity. The Alentejo region is currently under threats from environmental stress (drought, climate change and habitat disturbances), social stress (with declining population in nearby villages) and is also struggling to attract people to this economically backward region in Portugal. This report presents analysis and recommendations proposed by Environmental Planning Students from UC Berkeley to create and revise holistic strategies that measure the effects of the dam and future proposals to improve human access and ecological values of Alentejo region.Portuguese Studies Program, UCBerkeley ; EDI

Towards a Harmonized Terminology: A Glossary for Biocide Susceptibility Testing

Disinfection is a key strategy to reduce the burden of infections. The contact of bacteria to biocides—the active substances of disinfectants—has been linked to bacterial adaptation and the development of antimicrobial resistance. Currently, there is no scientific consensus on whether the excessive use of biocides contributes to the emergence and spread of multidrug resistant bacteria. The comprehensive analysis of available data remains a challenge because neither uniform test procedures nor standardized interpretive criteria nor harmonized terms are available to describe altered bacterial susceptibility to biocides. In our review, we investigated the variety of criteria and the diversity of terms applied to interpret findings in original studies performing biocide susceptibility testing (BST) of field isolates. An additional analysis of reviews summarizing the knowledge of individual studies on altered biocide susceptibility provided insights into currently available broader concepts for data interpretation. Both approaches pointed out the urgent need for standardization. We, therefore, propose that the well-established and approved concepts for interpretation of antimicrobial susceptibility testing data should serve as a role model to evaluate biocide resistance mechanisms on a single cell level. Furthermore, we emphasize the adaptations necessary to acknowledge the specific needs for the evaluation of BST data. Our approach might help to increase scientific awareness and acceptance

On the Sum Secrecy Rate of Multi-User Holographic MIMO Networks

The emerging concept of extremely-large holographic multiple-input multiple-output (HMIMO), beneficial from compactly and densely packed cost-efficient radiating meta-atoms, has been demonstrated for enhanced degrees of freedom even in pure line-of-sight conditions, enabling tremendous multiplexing gain for the next-generation communication systems. Most of the reported works focus on energy and spectrum efficiency, path loss analyses, and channel modeling. The extension to secure communications remains unexplored. In this paper, we theoretically characterize the secrecy capacity of the HMIMO network with multiple legitimate users and one eavesdropper while taking into consideration artificial noise and max-min fairness. We formulate the power allocation (PA) problem and address it by following successive convex approximation and Taylor expansion. We further study the effect of fixed PA coefficients, imperfect channel state information, inter-element spacing, and the number of Eve's antennas on the sum secrecy rate. Simulation results show that significant performance gain with more than 100\% increment in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime for the two-user case is obtained by exploiting adaptive/flexible PA compared to the case with fixed PA coefficients.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, submitted to IEEE ICC 202

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and parental factors in school children aged nine to ten years in urban regions of Oman

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific parental risk factors that may contribute to the development of ADHD. Methods: The study was conducted in Oman among fourth-grade students (aged nine to 10 years). A standardized Arabic version of the National Initiative for Children’s Health Quality Vanderbilt Assessment Scale (Teachers questionnaire) was used to determine the presence of ADHD. Specific parental factors such as socioeconomic status, education and occupation were documented. Results: The prevalence rate of ADHD was 8.8%. Parental factors were significantly associated with increased risk of ADHD; including poor maternal education status, low familial socioeconomic status, and paternal occupation. Conclusions: This was the first study that examined familial and parental characteristics of children with ADHD as potential risk factors for the condition. Such psychosocial factors could be employed to further the development of more proficient preventative measures and remedial services