Increasing the Creativity of ENGINO Toy Sets and Generating Automatic Building Instructions

During the First Study Group with Industry which was held in Limassol, Cyprus, the ENGINO⃝R TOY SYSTEM introduced two challenging problems. The first is to get bounds on the number of possible models/toys which can be constructed using a given package of building blocks. And the second is to generate automatically the assembly instructions for a given toy. In this report we summarize our insights and provide preliminary results for the two challenges

The upper cervical spine tumor pathology c1-c2: Therapeutic attitude

Surgical treatment of upper cervical spine tumors, whether they are vertebral, epidural, subdural or intramedullary, raises technical and decisional difficulties regarding the approach of the region as well as in maintaining its stability.The authors performed a retrospective study on C1, C2 spinal tumor pathology, managed surgically in the Spinal Surgery Department of Bagdasar Arseni Clinical Hospital, between January 2007 and December 2011.We included in the study 44 patients, operated for C1, C2 cervical spine tumors, 23 men and 21 women with ages between 13 and 71 years. The pathology included 24 C1-C2 vertebral tumors, 11 subdural tumors, 2 epidural tumors and 7 intramedullary tumors.Presenting symptoms were cervical pain, occipital neuralgia, medullary compression syndrome, and/or cranio-spinal junction instability.The purpose of surgery was to establish a histopathologic diagnosis and to decompress the neural elements by attempting a total tumor removal as well as to stabilize the cranio - cervical junction in order to improve the patient's quality of life. The approach was chosen based on tumor location, prognosis and the need for fixation. For 6 patients an anterior approach was used, for 31 pacients we used a posterior approach and 7 patients required a combined anterior and posterior approach.Neurological improvement was observed in 17 patients, with a mean increase of 8 points on ASIA scale, 7 patients worsened immediately postoperatively with a mean decrease of 10 points on ASIA scale, (2 patients died), and 20 patients without neurological deficits preoperatively remained unchanged. In all cases where the craniospinal junction instability was the cause of occipito-cervical pain we noted the disappearence of pain after surgery.The development of new surgical techniques and fixation systems paved the way to a successful treatment for these difficult tumors, some of them considered inoperable in the past

Tackling transition:the value of peer mentoring

This paper is aimed at those interested in the promotion of student retention in higher education; particularly those with an interest in peer mentoring as a means of student support. It critically discusses the results of an exploratory study analysing the perceptions of peer mentors and mentees within five universities in the United Kingdom. The aim of the study was to analyse how student peer mentoring can aid transition into university by focusing specifically on how senior students can support their junior counterparts in their first year at university. The paper discusses the results of a survey which was completed by 329 student peer mentors and mentees. Focusing on the benefits and outcomes of participation in Mentoring Programmes, the survey was distinctive in that it asked mentors and mentees similar questions. From a theoretical perspective, the paper contributes to debates about peer support in higher education showing that participation in such programmes can have positive outcomes from both social and pedagogic perspectives. Practically speaking, the results have important implications for Higher Education Institutions as the research highlights the importance of putting into place formally structured Peer Mentoring Programmes which facilitate student support at a time when new students are most at risk of ‘dropping out’