A 'Human-in-the-Loop' Mobile Image Recognition Application for Rapid Scanning of Water Quality Test Results

This paper describes an interactive system for drinking water quality testing in small community supplies, particularly in the developing world. The system combines a lowcost field test (the Aquatest field kit), a mobile phone for data processing and communications, and a human operator who is able to react immediately to a test result. Once a water sample has been collected and incubated, the mobile phone camera is used to 'scan' the test and obtain the result, which is displayed to the user along with information about the health implications of the water quality. Initial prototypes, while not yet sufficiently robust for real-world use, demonstrate that the system is technically feasible. This opens up interesting possibilities for wider use of 'human-in-the-loop' sensor systems in environmental monitoring

The many positive impacts of participating in outreach activities on postgraduate students

Postgraduate students are excellent role models for school students, where their passion and energy play a vital role in engaging younger students and spreading enthusiasm and excitement about science. However, participating in outreach is not a one way activity for these postgraduate students. Through focus groups we show that the postgraduate students perceive that there are many benefits for themselves. These benefits are identified and discussed. This paper also contrasts the postgraduate with their undergraduate counterpart in terms of their contributions to engagement activities

Application of different measures of skeletal maturity in initiating weaning from a brace for scoliosis: two case reports

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Various measures of skeletal maturity are used to initiate weaning from a brace in patients suffering from idiopathic scoliosis, resulting in different outcomes. We present two cases with double major curves, treated with the Rigo System Cheneau brace, and weaned using different criteria.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Case 1 was a South African, Caucasian girl who was initially treated with a brace at 14.75 years and who began weaning at 16.25 years on the basis of the Greulich and Pyle Index. She was out of her brace in 6 months, at least 11 months before reaching skeletal maturity as shown by the Risser Sign. Case 2 was a South African, Caucasian girl, initially treated with a brace at 14.25 years and who began the weaning process at 17.67 years on the basis of skeletal maturity according to the Risser Sign and static height for a period of 6 months. She was out of the brace 12 months later. In Case 1, the thoracic Cobb angle progressed during weaning and scoliometer readings deteriorated. The iliac apophysis fused 11 months after the wrist. In Case 2, the therapeutic gains made during the period of bracing were maintained during weaning, that is the improvement in the lumbar Cobb angle was maintained until the brace was removed, and scoliometer readings improved. The iliac apophysis fused 8.5 months after the wrist.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In patients with idiopathic scoliosis, it would seem to be more appropriate to base the timing of weaning on the Risser Sign and static height measurements rather than on traditional methods such as the Greulich and Pyle Index.</p

Nitrogen processes in aquatic ecosystems

Executive summary Nature of the problem (science/management/policy) • Freshwater ecosystems play a key role in the European nitrogen (N) cycle, both as a reactive agent that transfers, stores and processes N loadings from the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems, and as a natural environment severely impacted by the increase of these loadings. Approaches • This chapter is a review of major processes and factors controlling N transport and transformations for running waters, standing waters, groundwaters and riparian wetlands. Key findings/state of knowledge • The major factor controlling N processes in freshwater ecosystems is the residence time of water, which varies widely both in space and in time, and which is sensitive to changes in climate, land use and management. • The effects of increased N loadings to European freshwaters include acidification in semi-natural environments, and eutrophication in more disturbed ecosystems, with associated loss of biodiversity in both cases. • An important part of the nitrogen transferred by surface waters is in the form of organic N, as dissolved organic N (DON) and particulate organic N (PON). This part is dominant in semi-natural catchments throughout Europe and remains a significant component of the total N load even in nitrate enriched rivers. • In eutrophicated standing freshwaters N can be a factor limiting or co-limiting biological production, and control of both N and phosphorus (P) loading is oft en needed in impacted areas, if ecological quality is to be restored. Major uncertainties/challenges • The importance of storage and denitrifi cation in aquifers is a major uncertainty in the global N cycle, and controls in part the response of catchments to land use or management changes. In some aquifers, the increase of N concentrations will continue for decades even if efficient mitigation measures are implemented now. • Nitrate retention by riparian wetlands has oft en been highlighted. However, their use for mitigation must be treated with caution, since their effectiveness is difficult to predict, and side effects include increased DON emissions to adjacent open waters, N2O emissions to the atmosphere, and loss of biodiversity. • In fact, the character and specific spatial origins of DON are not fully understood, and similarly the quantitative importance of indirect N2O emissions from freshwater ecosystems as a result of N leaching losses from agricultural soils is still poorly known at the regional scale. • These major uncertainties remain due to the lack of adequate monitoring (all forms of N at a relevant frequency), especially – but not only – in the southern and eastern EU countries. Recommendations (research/policy) • The great variability of transfer pathways, buffering capacity and sensitivity of the catchments and of the freshwater ecosystems calls for site specific mitigation measures rather than standard ones applied at regional to national scale. • The spatial and temporal variations of the N forms, the processes controlling the transport and transformation of N within freshwaters, require further investigation if the role of N in influencing freshwater ecosystem health is to be better understood, underpinning the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive for European freshwaters

Role of the Ubiquitin Proteasome System in Regulating Skin Pigmentation

Pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes is regulated by tyrosinase, the critical rate-limiting enzyme in melanin synthesis by melanocytes. Tyrosinase is degraded endogenously, at least in part, by the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS). Several types of inherited hypopigmentary diseases, such as oculocutaneous albinism and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, involve the aberrant processing and/or trafficking of tyrosinase and its subsequent degradation which can occur due to the quality-control machinery. Studies on carbohydrate modifications have revealed that tyrosinase in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is proteolyzed via ER-associated protein degradation and that tyrosinase degradation can also occur following its complete maturation in the Golgi. Among intrinsic factors that regulate the UPS, fatty acids have been shown to modulate tyrosinase degradation in contrasting manners through increased or decreased amounts of ubiquitinated tyrosinase that leads to its accelerated or decelerated degradation by proteasomes

Processing Information in Quantum Decision Theory

A survey is given summarizing the state of the art of describing information processing in Quantum Decision Theory, which has been recently advanced as a novel variant of decision making, based on the mathematical theory of separable Hilbert spaces. This mathematical structure captures the effect of superposition of composite prospects, including many incorporated intended actions. The theory characterizes entangled decision making, non-commutativity of subsequent decisions, and intention interference. The self-consistent procedure of decision making, in the frame of the quantum decision theory, takes into account both the available objective information as well as subjective contextual effects. This quantum approach avoids any paradox typical of classical decision theory. Conditional maximization of entropy, equivalent to the minimization of an information functional, makes it possible to connect the quantum and classical decision theories, showing that the latter is the limit of the former under vanishing interference terms.Comment: Review article, 49 pages, Latex fil

Efficacy of manipulation for non-specific neck pain of recent onset: design of a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Manipulation is a common treatment for non-specific neck pain. Neck manipulation, unlike gentler forms of manual therapy such as mobilisation, is associated with a small risk of serious neurovascular injury and can result in stroke or death. It is thought however, that neck manipulation provides better results than mobilisation where clinically indicated. There is long standing and vigorous debate both within and between the professions that use neck manipulation as well as the wider scientific community as to whether neck manipulation potentially does more harm than good. The primary aim of this study is to determine whether neck manipulation provides more rapid resolution of an episode of neck pain than mobilisation. METHODS/DESIGN: 182 participants with acute and sub-acute neck pain will be recruited from physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy practices in Sydney, Australia. Participants will be randomly allocated to treatment with either manipulation or mobilisation. Randomisation will occur after the treating practitioner decides that manipulation is an appropriate treatment for the individual participant. Both groups will receive at least 4 treatments over 2 weeks. The primary outcome is number of days taken to recover from the episode of neck pain. Cox regression will be used to compare survival curves for time to recovery for the manipulation and mobilisation treatment groups. DISCUSSION: This paper presents the rationale and design of a randomised controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of neck manipulation and neck mobilisation for acute and subacute neck pain

Superspreaders drive the largest outbreaks of hospital onset COVID-19 infections.

SARS-CoV-2 is notable both for its rapid spread, and for the heterogeneity of its patterns of transmission, with multiple published incidences of superspreading behaviour. Here, we applied a novel network reconstruction algorithm to infer patterns of viral transmission occurring between patients and health care workers (HCWs) in the largest clusters of COVID-19 infection identified during the first wave of the epidemic at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK. Based upon dates of individuals reporting symptoms, recorded individual locations, and viral genome sequence data, we show an uneven pattern of transmission between individuals, with patients being much more likely to be infected by other patients than by HCWs. Further, the data were consistent with a pattern of superspreading, whereby 21% of individuals caused 80% of transmission events. Our study provides a detailed retrospective analysis of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and sheds light on the need for intensive and pervasive infection control procedures

A plastid-localized glycogen synthase kinase 3 modulates stress tolerance and carbohydrate metabolism

Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) was originally identified as a regulator of glycogen synthesis in mammals. Like starch in plants, glycogen is a polymer of glucose, and serves as an energy and carbon store. Starch is the main carbohydrate store in plants. Regulation of starch metabolism, in particular in response to environmental cues, is of primary importance for carbon and energy flow in plants but is still obscure. Here, we provide evidence that MsK4, a novel Medicago sativa GSK-3-like kinase, connects stress signalling with carbon metabolism. MsK4 was found to be a plastid-localized protein kinase that is associated with starch granules. High-salt stress rapidly induced the in vivo kinase activity of MsK4. Metabolic profiling of MsK4 over-expressor lines revealed changes in sugar metabolism, including increased amounts of maltose, the main degradation product of starch in leaves. Plants over-expressing MsK4 showed improved tolerance to salt stress. Moreover, under high-salinity conditions, MsK4-over-expressing plants accumulated significantly more starch and showed modified carbohydrate content compared with wild-type plants. Overall, these data indicate that MsK4 is an important regulator that adjusts carbohydrate metabolism to environmental stress