The war from both sides : how Dutch and German visitors experience an exhibit of Second World War stories

At the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, questions arise if contemporary audiences still find historical accounts relevant. Fundamental to understanding the relevance of stories from the war is assessing their emotional impact on leisure participants from various social groups. We used the social identity theory framework to assess differences in emotional reactions of Dutch and German visitors to stories of the Second World War presented at a Dutch museum exhibit. Emotional reactions were measured using physiological signals of heart rate and heart rate variability as well as self-report. Emotions experienced were mixed and often, but not always, different between Dutch and German participants. Patterns in the physiological and self-report data differed. Many of the significant differences were generally consistent with a collective guilt account of German social identity, but the findings as a whole were more complex than could be predicted by existing social identity accounts. Specifically, participants did not simply categorize themselves with either national or human identities of characters based on what their respective stories emphasized. We conclude that stories of the Second World War are still relevant, but touch on audiences’ nationalities in a complex way, beyond simple historical categories

Gas loading of graphene-quartz surface acoustic wave devices

Copyright © 2013 AIP PublishingGraphene was transferred to the propagation path of quartz surface acoustic wave devices and the attenuation due to gas loading of air and argon measured at 70 MHz and 210 MHz and compared to devices with no graphene. Under argon loading, there was no significant difference between the graphene and non-graphene device and the values of measured attenuation agree well with those calculated theoretically. Under air loading, at 210 MHz, there was a significant difference between the non-graphene and graphene devices, with the average value of attenuation obtained with the graphene devices being approximately twice that obtained from the bare quartz devices.Royal Societ

The Real (Social) Experience of Monetary Policy

This paper takes a socio-economic approach to considering money in relation to real experience, focusing on the real effects of monetary policy. While most of the economics literature focuses on interest-rate setting as the core tool of monetary policy, we focus here instead on signalling by the central bank as a mechanism for influencing expectations and behaviour in conditions of uncertainty. This involves addressing the social-conventional expectations among different groups (a mechanism for dealing with uncertainty) applied to their particular ways of framing the real and financial sectors. Actual credit conditions faced by borrowers in turn are the outcome of the conventional view among banks as a result of their framing and the influence of central bank signalling. These relations between central banks, banks and the non-bank public in turn normally rest on long-established relations of trust. We consider the real effects of monetary policy in circumstances where trust has broken down

SOFC chromite sintering and electrolyte/air-electrode interface reactions

Air sintering of chromites was investigated in La(Sr)CrO[sub 3], La(Ca)CrO[sub 3], and Y(Ca)CrO[sub 3]. Effects of alkaline earth dopant level and chromium enrichment/depletion on chromite sintered densities and microstructures are discussed. Ac impedance spectroscopy and dc polarization coupled with an unbonded interface cell were used to examine SOFC (solid oxide fuel cells) electrochemical reactions at solid-solid-gas interfaces, particularly for La[sub 1-x]Sr[sub x]MnO[sub 3]. 5 refs

Unilateral, trifocal, diaphyseal fracture of the radius with ipsilateral mid-shaft ulna fracture in an adult: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>To the best of our knowledge, a trifocal, diaphyseal fracture of the radius associated with ipsilateral mid-shaft fracture of the ulna in an adult has not been reported in the literature to date. The AO classification system does not include such a fracture configuration.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of trifocal, diaphyseal fracture of the radius with a mid-diaphyseal fracture of the ulna in a 53-year-old Caucasian, British, right-hand dominant woman involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle. The management of this rare fracture configuration is described and alternative treatment options discussed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We describe an unusual, complex fracture, which with prompt surgical treatment resulted in a rapid, full and satisfactory functional recovery for our patient.</p

Single versus dual antiplatelet therapy following peripheral arterial endovascular intervention for chronic limb threatening ischaemia:retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesAntiplatelet therapy following peripheral arterial endovascular intervention lacks high quality evidence to guide practice. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of three months of dual antiplatelet therapy on amputation-free survival following peripheral arterial endovascular intervention in patients with chronic limb threatening ischemia.MethodsA retrospective review of symptomatic patients undergoing primary peripheral arterial endovascular intervention over a seven-year period was performed. The primary outcome measure was amputation-free survival. A sample size calculation based on previous cohort studies suggested that 629 limbs would be required to show a difference between single and dual therapy. Kaplan-Meier estimates and multivariate logistic regression analysis of recorded baseline characteristics was performed to determine predictors of amputation-free survival. Dual antiplatelet therapy was routinely given for 3 months.Results754 limbs were treated with primary angioplasty and/or stenting over a 7-year period, 508 of these for chronic limb threatening ischemia. There was no difference in unadjusted amputation-free survival between patients with chronic limb threatening ischaemia taking single vs. dual antiplatelet therapy (69% vs. 74% respectively Log rank Chi2 = 0.1, p = .72). After adjusting for confounders, at 1 year there was also no significant difference in amputation-free survival between patients taking single vs. dual antiplatelet therapy [OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.5-1.2, p = .3]. There was no difference in rates of major bleeding between single and dual antiplatelet therapy.ConclusionsThere was no clear evidence of reduced amputation-free survival in patients with chronic limb threatening ischemia undergoing peripheral arterial endovascular intervention being treated with dual antiplatelet therapy for 3 months. This is at odds with other retrospective case series and highlights the limitations in basing clinical practice on such data. There is a need for an adequately powered, independent randomised trial to definitively answer the question

Identifying efficient solutions via simulation: myopic multi-objective budget allocation for the bi-objective case

Simulation optimisation offers great opportunities in the design and optimisation of complex systems. In the presence of multiple objectives, there is usually no single solution that performs best on all objectives. Instead, there are several Pareto-optimal (efficient) solutions with different trade-offs which cannot be improved in any objective without sacrificing performance in another objective. For the case where alternatives are evaluated on multiple stochastic criteria, and the performance of an alternative can only be estimated via simulation, we consider the problem of efficiently identifying the Pareto-optimal designs out of a (small) given set of alternatives. We present a simple myopic budget allocation algorithm for multi-objective problems and propose several variants for different settings. In particular, this myopic method only allocates one simulation sample to one alternative in each iteration. This paper shows how the algorithm works in bi-objective problems under different settings. Empirical tests show that our algorithm can significantly reduce the necessary simulation budget

Feasibility of tumour-focused adaptive radiotherapy for bladder cancer on the MR-linac.

Bladder tumour-focused magnetic resonance image-guided adaptive radiotherapy using a 1.5 Tesla MR-linac is feasible. A full online workflow adapting to anatomy at each fraction is achievable in approximately 30 min. Intra-fraction bladder filling did not compromise target coverage with the class solution employed

Advanced materials and electrochemical processes in high-temperature solid electrolytes

Fuel cells for the direct conversion of fossil fuels to electric energy necessitates the use of high-temperature solid electrodes. This study has included: (1) determination of electrical transport, thermal and electrical properties to illucidate the effects of microstructure, phase equilibria, oxygen partial pressure, additives, synthesis and fabrication on these properties; (2) investigation of synthesis and fabrication of advanced oxide materials, such as La{sub 0.9}Sn{sub 0.1}MnO{sub 3}; and (3) application of new analytical techniques using complex impedance coupled with conventional electrochemical methods to study the electrochemical processes and behavior of materials for solid oxide fuel cells and other high-temperature electrolyte electrochemical process. 15 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs. (BM