66 research outputs found
StatMechGlass: Python based software for composition–structure prediction in oxide glasses using statistical mechanics
Data-Mining of In-Situ TEM Experiments: Towards Understanding Nanoscale Fracture
The lifetime and performance of any engineering component, from nanoscale
sensors to macroscopic structures, are strongly influenced by fracture
processes. Fracture itself is a highly localized event; originating at the
atomic scale by bond breaking between individual atoms close to the crack tip.
These processes, however, interact with defects such as dislocations or grain
boundaries and influence phenomena on much larger length scales, ultimately
giving rise to macroscopic behavior and engineering-scale fracture properties.
This complex interplay is the fundamental reason why identifying the atomistic
structural and energetic processes occurring at a crack tip remains a
longstanding and still unsolved challenge.
We develop a new analysis approach for combining quantitative in-situ
observations of nanoscale deformation processes at a crack tip with
three-dimensional reconstruction of the dislocation structure and advanced
computational analysis to address plasticity and fracture initiation in a
ductile metal. Our combinatorial approach reveals details of dislocation
nucleation, their interaction process, and the local internal stress state, all
of which were previously inaccessible to experiments. This enables us to
describe fracture processes based on local crack driving forces on a
dislocation level with a high fidelity that paves the way towards a better
understanding and control of local failure processes in materials
Liquid Biopsy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. To date, the gold standard for the molecular analysis of a patient affected by NSCLC is the tissue biopsy. The discovery of activating mutations and rearrangements in specific genes has revolutionized the therapeutic approaches of lung cancer over the last years. For this reason, a strict \u201cmolecular follow-up\u201d is mandatory to evaluate patient\u2019s disease evolution. Indeed, liquid biopsy has raised as the \u201cnew ambrosia of researchers\u201d as it could help clinicians to identify both prognostic and predictive biomarkers in a more accessible way. Liquid biopsy analysis can be used in different moments starting from diagnosis to relapse, earning multiple clinical meanings, offering thus a noninvasive but valid method to detect actionable mutations. Although the implementation of both exosomes and CTCs in clinical practice is several steps back, new advances and discoveries make them, together with the ctDNA, a very promising tool. In the following chapter we will discuss the recent advances of liquid biopsy in NSCLC highlighting the possible clinical utility of CTCs, ctDNA and exosomes
Inventory of current EU paediatric vision and hearing screening programmes
Background: We examined the diversity in paediatric vision and hearing screening
programmes in Europe.
Methods: Themes relevant for comparison of screening programmes were derived from
literature and used to compile three questionnaires on vision, hearing and public-health
screening. Tests used, professions involved, age and frequency of testing seem to influence
sensitivity, specificity and costs most. Questionnaires were sent to ophthalmologists,
orthoptists, otolaryngologists and audiologists involved in paediatric screening in all EU fullmember,
candidate and associate states. Answers were cross-checked.
Results: Thirty-nine countries participated; 35 have a vision screening programme, 33 a
nation-wide neonatal hearing screening programme. Visual acuity (VA) is measured in 35
countries, in 71% more than once. First measurement of VA varies from three to seven years
of age, but is usually before the age of five. At age three and four picture charts, including Lea
Hyvarinen are used most, in children over four Tumbling-E and Snellen. As first hearing
screening test otoacoustic emission (OAE) is used most in healthy neonates, and auditory
brainstem response (ABR) in premature newborns. The majority of hearing testing
programmes are staged; children are referred after one to four abnormal tests. Vision
screening is performed mostly by paediatricians, ophthalmologists or nurses. Funding is
mostly by health insurance or state. Coverage was reported as >95% in half of countries, but
reporting was often not first-hand.
Conclusion: Largest differences were found in VA charts used (12), professions involved in
vision screening (10), number of hearing screening tests before referral (1-4) and funding
sources (8)
Computer mouse sensitivity - does it make a difference?:Comparing young and elderly computer users
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