Points of convergence: redefining the place of arrival in Johannesburg

M.Arch (Prof)The ideology of hospitality, symbolic of travel in a world filled with experiences is sought by us all. The notion of exploration as a result of our curiosity is deeply embedded in our makeup. A profound understanding of the world is one of our greatest endeavours as it is routed in the conception of cognitive thought. We are wired to settle in the most habitable parts of the planet and even then we feel the urge for discovery, we do this in the form of travel. From my own encounters as a young boy, nothing expresses this narrative better than the exhilaration and excitement I felt then I arrived in a new city. My experiences by their very nature were formulated from a multitude of sensory indulgences which were unfamiliar but most intriguing. Drawing comparison came naturally as the mind’s way of evaluating the surroundings and juxtaposing them with those of my home. This analogy was the core principle to interpreting foreign spaces and devising conclusive outlooks. During the time that one absorbs any foreign way of life, the hotel takes care of the traveler's basic needs and contributes significantly to the overall experience, lending to the enjoyment and relaxation of travel both of which are key components. The city itself encapsulates the principals of hospitality as it fundamentally offers the traveler, visitor and the local inhabitant, sustenance, safety, and shelter, essentials that are expected and in place from our early social development. These elements are the most basic necessities to sustain survival and are readily available in any city. In the past, cities were fortified against aggressors by defensive walls which enclosed the city and which apart from their utilitarian function, symbolized the status and sovereignty of the citizens and the grandeur of the city. The entrance to the city was through a befitting imposing gate which demarcated the place of arrival and entry and added to the city's standing. With the progression of time and the advent of rail travel, the city's railway station defined a place of arrival and was often among the grandest structures, designed to impress and declaring lavish opulence and wealth. This thesis investigates the possibilities of creating a place of arrival in Johannesburg both symbolically and factually. Our metropolis, known as the provincial capital of the Gauteng Province, has, due to its rapid expansion in its relatively short life, no recognizable place of arrival. The introduction of the Gautrain Station in the immediate vicinity of Park Station presented an opportunity to link the station to a hotel and creating a pedestrian throughway from the station that passes through the hotel and into the city. The passage way traverses an impressive square with features designed to create an ennobling introduction to the city. The design realizes all the criteria of arrival into the city. It combines the railway station which is the mode of travel, the squares form the introduction to the city, the symbolic entrance is the opening through the hotel building, the hotel structure acts as the city wall and the hotel is the traveler's destination offering all the comforts and sustenance. All this serves to create the right ambiance to encourage tourists to remain in the city rather than proceed elsewhere in the area. Johannesburg is unique and is irreplaceable, it has suffered abandonment and neglect but was once much loved and cherished, it is part of our identity, ours to regain and treasure and deserves a noteworthy place of arrival

122 Crack growth measurements on a composite specimen using fiber optic sensors

n/

Contemporary Perspectives in Pathophysiology of Facial Nerve Damage in Oto-Neurological and Skull Base Surgical Procedures: A Narrative Review

During the last decades, neuro-otological surgery has progressively reduced functional morbidity, including facial nerve damage. However, the occurrence of this sequela may significantly impact on patients’ quality of life. The aim of this narrative review is to provide an update on the patho-physiological and clinical issues related to facial nerve damage in oto-neurological and skull base surgery, in the light of a comprehensive therapeutic and rehabilitative approach to iatrogenic disfunctions. The narrative review is based on a search in the PubMed, Scopus, andWeb of Science databases. In this surgical setting, the onset of intraoperative facial nerve damage is related to various aspects, mainly concerning the anatomical relationship between tumor and nerve, the trajectory of the surgical corridor, and the boundaries of the resection margins. Mechanisms related to stretching, compression, devascularization, and heating may play a role in determining intraoperative facial nerve damage and provide the patho-physiological basis for possible nerve regeneration disorders. Most of the studies included in this review, dealing with the pathophysiology of surgical facial nerve injury, were preclinical. Future research should focus on the association between intraoperative trauma mechanisms and their clinical correlates in surgical practice. Further investigations should also be conducted to collect and record intraoperative data on nerve damage mechanisms, as well as the reports from neuro-monitoring systems

Clinical neuroscience and neurotechnology: An amazing symbiosis

In the last decades, clinical neuroscience found a novel ally in neurotechnologies, devices able to record and stimulate electrical activity in the nervous system. These technologies improved the ability to diagnose and treat neural disorders. Neurotechnologies are concurrently enabling a deeper understanding of healthy and pathological dynamics of the nervous system through stimulation and recordings during brain implants. On the other hand, clinical neurosciences are not only driving neuroengineering toward the most relevant clinical issues, but are also shaping the neurotechnologies thanks to clinical advancements. For instance, understanding the etiology of a disease informs the location of a therapeutic stimulation, but also the way stimulation patterns should be designed to be more effective/naturalistic. Here, we describe cases of fruitful integration such as Deep Brain Stimulation and cortical interfaces to highlight how this symbiosis between clinical neuroscience and neurotechnology is closer to a novel integrated framework than to a simple interdisciplinary interaction

Assisted code point positioning at sub-meter accuracy level with ionospheric corrections estimated in a local GNSS permanent network

It is well know that GNSS permanent networks for real-time positioning with stations spaced at few tens of kilometers in the average were mainly designed to generate and transmit products for RTK (or Network-RTK) positioning. In this context, RTK products are restricted to users equipped with geodetic-class receivers which are continuously linked to the network processing center through Internet plus mobile phone. This work is a first step toward using a local network of permanent GNSS stations to generate and make available products devoted to ionospheric delay correction that could remarkably improve positioning accuracy for C/A receiver users, without forcing them to keep a continuous link with the network. A simple experiment was carried out based on data from the RESNAP-GPS network (w3.uniroma1.it/resnap-gps), located in the Lazio Region (Central Italy) and managed by DITS-Area di Geodesia e Geomatica, University of Rome “Sapienza”. C/A raw observations were processed with Bernese 5.0 CODSPP module (single point positioning based on code measurements) using IGS precise ephemeris and clocks. Further, the RINEX files were corrected for the Differential Code Biases (DCBs) according to IGS recommendations. One position per epoch (every 30 s) was estimated from C/A code; the vertical coordinate errors showed a typical signature due to the ionospheric activity: higher errors for day-time (up to 5 m) and smaller ones for night-time (around 1.5 m). In order to improve the accuracy of the solution, ionospheric corrections were estimated using the La Plata Ionospheric Model, based on the dual-frequency observations from the RESNAP-GPS network. This procedure allowed to reduce horizontal and vertical errors within 0.5 m (CE95) and 1 m (LE95) respectively. Finally, the possibility to predict the ionospheric model for few hours was preliminary checked. Our approach shows the possibility of a novel use of the measurements collected by GNSS permanent networks designed for real-time positioning services, which can assist and remarkably improve the C/A code real-time positioning supplying off-line predicted ionospheric corrections, acting as a local Ground Based Augmentation System.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Region-dependent effects of flibanserin and buspirone on adenylyl cyclase activity in the human brain

The mode of action of antidepressant drugs may be related to mechanisms of receptor adaptation, involving overall the serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) receptor subtype. However, so far, the clinical effectiveness of selective compounds acting at this level has proved disappointing. This could be explained by the heterogeneity of 5-HT1A receptors within the central nervous system. In animals, two 5-HT1A agonists, flibanserin and buspirone, have shown different pharmacological properties, depending on the brain region. Since no evidence supports this observation in humans, this study sought to investigate whether these two drugs exert different effects on 5-HT1A receptor activation in three different human brain areas: the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and raphe nuclei. 5-HT1A-mediated inhibition of forskolin-stimulated adenylyl cyclase (AC) was taken as an index of 5-HT1A receptor activation. Flibanserin significantly reduced the activity of AC post-synaptically, i.e. in the prefrontal cortex [EC50 (mean +/- S.E.M.), 28 +/- 10.2 nM; Emax, 18 +/- 2.3%] and in the hippocampus (EC50, 3.5 +/- 3.1 nM; Emax, 20 +/- 4.0%), but had no effect in the raphe nuclei, i.e. at pre-synaptic level. Vice versa, buspirone was only slightly but significantly effective in the raphe (EC50, 3.0 +/- 2.8 nM; Emax, 12 +/- 1.9%). Agonist effects were sensitive to the 5-HT1A antagonists WAY-100135 and pindobind 5-HT1A in the cortex and raphe nuclei, whereas buspirone antagonized flibanserin in the hippocampus. These findings suggest a region-related action of flibanserin and buspirone on forskolin-stimulated AC activity in human brain

An attention-based deep learning approach for the classification of subjective cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment using resting-state EEG

Objective. This study aims to design and implement the first deep learning (DL) model to classify subjects in the prodromic states of Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) signals.Approach. EEG recordings of 17 healthy controls (HCs), 56 subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and 45 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects were acquired at resting state. After preprocessing, we selected sections corresponding to eyes-closed condition. Five different datasets were created by extracting delta, theta, alpha, beta and delta-to-theta frequency bands using bandpass filters. To classify SCDvsMCI and HCvsSCDvsMCI, we propose a framework based on the transformer architecture, which uses multi-head attention to focus on the most relevant parts of the input signals. We trained and validated the model on each dataset with a leave-one-subject-out cross-validation approach, splitting the signals into 10 s epochs. Subjects were assigned to the same class as the majority of their epochs. Classification performances of the transformer were assessed for both epochs and subjects and compared with other DL models.Main results. Results showed that the delta dataset allowed our model to achieve the best performances for the discrimination of SCD and MCI, reaching an Area Under the ROC Curve (AUC) of 0.807, while the highest results for the HCvsSCDvsMCI classification were obtained on alpha and theta with a micro-AUC higher than 0.74.Significance. We demonstrated that DL approaches can support the adoption of non-invasive and economic techniques as EEG to stratify patients in the clinical population at risk for AD. This result was achieved since the attention mechanism was able to learn temporal dependencies of the signal, focusing on the most discriminative patterns, achieving state-of-the-art results by using a deep model of reduced complexity. Our results were consistent with clinical evidence that changes in brain activity are progressive when considering early stages of AD

Academic Research In Technology Innovation Management And Related Thematic Areas In Brazil

This paper presents a profile of a Brazilian academic research group in areas related to the management of technology innovation. Keywords searches have been chosen to generate a database composed of information about research groups, projects that are funded by Brazilian Federal Government and scientific journals. Data analysis allowed the following conclusions: 1. Most research groups have been established in the 2000s, when innovation Policies have been settled in Brazil; 2. Most of the research is located in regions which have better science and technology infrastructure; 3. There is low interaction between researchers and public/private companies; 4. Federal Agencies tend to support projects related to innovation policy instruments (technology parks, local production systems, technology transfer centers in universities and research institutes). © Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Facultad de Economía y Negocios.8SPL.ISS.3271284Andrade, E.I.G., Pesquisa e produção científica em economia da saúde no Brasil (2007) Revista de Administração Pública, 41 (2), pp. 211-235(2011) Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa do Brasil-Busca textual de grupos certificados na base atual do Diretório, , http://dgp.cnpq.br/buscaoperacional/, CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO (CNPq), Web, [07/02/2011](2011) Séries Históricas-Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa no Brasil, , http://dgp.cnpq.br/censos/series_historicas/index_basicas.htm, CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO (CNPq), Web, [08/02/2011](2011) Manual do Pesquisador-Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa no Brasil, , http://dgp.cnpq.br/censos/series_historicas/index_basicas.htm, CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO (CNPq), Web, [08/02/2011](2011) Lista Completa de Periódicos (página da internet), , http://qualis.capes.gov.br/webqualis/ConsultaListaCompletaPeriodicos.faces, COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR (CAPES)., Web, [30/06/2011]Fargenberg, B., Verspagen, B., Innovation studies: The emerging structure of a new scientific field (2009) Research Policy, 38 (2), pp. 218-233Fernandes, A.M., Estudos de ciência e tecnologia no Brasil: Um balanço crítico (1996) Cadernos de Ciência & Tecnologia, 13 (1), pp. 43-56Franco, M.A.S., Pedagogia da Pesquisa-Ação (2005) Educação e Pesquisa, 31 (3), pp. 483-502Freitas, C.M., Quem é quem na saúde ambiental brasileira? Identificação e caracterização de grupos de pesquisas e organizações da sociedade civil (2009) Ciência e Saúde Coletiva, 14 (6), pp. 2071-2082Guimarães, R., Lourenço, R., Cosac, S., A pesquisa em epidemiologia no Brasil (2001) Revista de Saúde Pública, 35 (4), pp. 321-340(2010) Fundos Setoriais: Relatório de Gestão 2007-2009, , http://www.mct.gov.br/upd_blob/0211/211799.pdf, MINISTÉRIO DA CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA (MCT), MCT. Web, [21/06/2011]Melo, L.C.P., Uma nova geração de políticas de ciência, tecnologia e inovação (2010) Parcerias Estratégicas, 15 (31), pp. 175-180Prado, S.D., Sayd, J.D., A pesquisa sobre envelhecimento humano no Brasil: Grupos e linhas de pesquisa (2004) Ciência e Saúde Coletiva, 9 (1), pp. 57-67Prado, S.D., A pesquisa sobre segurança alimentar e nutricional no Brasil de 2000 a 2005: Tendências e desafios (2010) Ciência e Saúde Coletiva, 15 (1), pp. 7-18Quadros, R., Aprendendo a inovar: Padrões de gestão da inovação tecnológica em empresas brasileiras (2008) VIII Conferência Nacional da ANPEI, p. 30Rapini, M.S., Interação universidade-empresa no Brasil: Evidências do Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa do CNPq (2007) Estudos Econômicos, 37 (1), pp. 211-233Rapini, M.S., O Diretório dos Grupos de Pesquisa do CNPq e a interação universidade-empresa no Brasil: Uma proposta metodológica de investigação (2007) Revista de Economia Contemporânea, 11 (1), pp. 99-117(2011), http://sigcti.mct.gov.br/fundos/rel/ctl/ctl.php?act=demanda.buscar_form, SISTEMA INTEGRADO DE GESTÃO DE CIÊNCIA, TECNOLOGIA E INOVAÇÃO (SIGCTI) (MCT)., Web, [12/05/2011]Tidd, J., Bessant, J., Pavitt, K., (2005) Managing innovation: Integrating technological, market and organizational change, , Wiley, LondonZawislak, P.A., Gestão da inovação tecnológica e competitividade industrial: Uma proposta para o caso brasileiro (1994) Organizações & Sociedade, 2 (3), pp. 35-6

Salivary psoriasin (S100A7) correlates with diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide in a large cohort of systemic sclerosis patients

Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by progressive fibrosis of the skin and the internal organs. In a previous work we suggested a correlation between levels of salivary psoriasin (S100A7) and pulmonary involvement in SSc patients. The goals of this study are to determine the distribution characteristics of psoriasin in whole saliva (WS) of SSc and healthy donor populations and define its predictive value on diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO), along with others clinical parameters. Methods: Salivary level of psoriasin was determined by ELISA kit in 134 SSc patients, 63 Raynaud syndrome patients, 40 patients affected by other connective diseases (non-case) and 74 healthy control subjects. Results: A significant increase of salivary psoriasin was observed in SSc patients when compared with other healthy and pathological controls. Moreover, we confirmed the efficacy of salivary psoriasin to correlate with DLCO in a large cohort of SSc patients. Conclusions: Overall our results suggest a rapid, non invasive and low costing method which can help clinicians in the evaluation of SSc pulmonary involvement

Antitumor Agents. 2. Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationships, and Biological Evaluation of Substituted 5H-Pyridophenoxazin-5-ones with Potent Antiproliferative Activity

New antiproliferative compounds, 5H-pyrido[3,2-a]phenoxazin-5-ones (1-10), 5H-benzophenoxazin- 5-one (11), 5H-pyrido[2,3-a]phenoxazin-5-one (12), 5H-pyrido[3,4-a]phenoxazin-5-one (13), and 5H-pyrido[4,3-a]phenoxazin-5-one (14), were synthesized and evaluated against representative human neoplastic cell lines. The excellent cytotoxic activity of these polycyclic phenoxazinones, structurally related to the actinomycin chromophore, is discussed in terms of structural changes made to rings A and D (Chart 1). Electron-withdrawing or electron-donating substituents were introduced at different positions of ring A to probe the electronic and positional effects of the substitution. A nitro group in R2 or in R1 increases the cytotoxic activity, whereas electron-donating methyl groups in any position lead to 10- to 100-fold decreasing of the activity. The low antiproliferative activity of benzophenoxazinone 11 and pyridophenoxazinones 13 and 14 confirms the crucial role of pyridine nitrogen in the W position of ring D in DNA binding. The unexpected high activity exhibited by 12, which has the nitrogen in the X position, could be ascribed to a different mechanism of action, which needs further investigation