283 research outputs found
The FCC's Network Neutrality Ruling in the Comcast Case: Towards a Consensus with Europe?
In August 2008, the FCC found that Comcast's restrictions on peer-to-peer upload transmissions were unreasonably discriminatory, arbitrarily targeted a particular application, and deprived consumers of their rights to run Internet applications and use services of their choice. The Comcast ruling represents a significant change in the FCC's direction: given the FCC's past decisions that broadband Internet access services do not fall within the "common carrier" category, it is notable that the agency has now imposed nondiscrimination requirements on these services. This Article shows that the rationales articulated in the FCC's Comcast order, stressing both (i) concerns about protecting competition and (ii) concerns about protecting consumers from disruption of their ability to communicate freely and privately, are rooted in centuries of Anglo-American law defining he obligations of "common carriers." The FCC appears to be moving away from its traditional emphasis on the competition policy concerns, which justify asymmetrical regulation of dominant providers for the sake of enabling competition, and toward an emphasis on the consumer protection issues, which justify symmetrical regulation of all service providers regardless whether they have market power. These developments in the U.S. echo the discussion now going on in Europe in the context of the package of proposals on a new common regulatory framework for telecommunications, released by the European Commission on Nov. 13, 2007, and which is now being debated by the European Parliament and Council. On both sides of the Atlantic, a trend is emerging to permit network discrimination only if the discrimination is narrowly tailored to achieve legitimate objectives.network neutrality, discrimination, common carrier, network management, Comcast, European Directives.
Guardian Knight or Hands Off: The European Response to Network Neutrality. Legal considerations on the electronic communications reform
Network neutrality refers to a policy principle regarding access for online content and service providers to broadband infrastructures. It implies a general and ex ante obligation of non-discrimination for network operators when granting access to providers of online services, with the aim of excluding practices such as blocking access to non-affiliated content, degrading the quality of transmission, imposing unreasonable restrictions or prioritising affiliated content. Whether such obligation should be "cast in the Stone Tables" of the law was first fiercely debated in the United States, and the issue is now gaining increased attention in other parts of the world, including the European Union, where the regulatory framework for electronic communications is currently under review. This article examines whether existing rules already provide the relevant authorities with the necessary tools to take action against broadband providers illegitimately discriminating or blocking content of those who are not prepared to pay a "toll" for the use of higher speed networks or better quality services. It focuses in particular on the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, including the reform proposals published by the European Commission on November 13th (type should be like 24th below) 2007 and the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 24th September 2008.network neutrality, regulation, electronic communications, reform proposals.
Evolution of Nanoporosity in Dealloying
Dealloying is a common corrosion process during which an alloy is "parted" by
the selective dissolution of the electrochemically more active elements. This
process results in the formation of a nanoporous sponge composed almost
entirely of the more noble alloy constituents . Even though this morphology
evolution problem has attracted considerable attention, the physics responsible
for porosity evolution have remained a mystery . Here we show by experiment,
lattice computer simulation, and a continuum model, that nanoporosity is due to
an intrinsic dynamical pattern formation process - pores form because the more
noble atoms are chemically driven to aggregate into two-dimensional clusters
via a spinodal decomposition process at the solid-electrolyte interface. At the
same time, the surface area continuously increases due to etching. Together,
these processes evolve a characteristic length scale predicted by our continuum
model. The applications potential of nanoporous metals is enormous. For
instance, the high surface area of nanoporous gold made by dealloying Ag-Au can
be chemically tailored, making it suitable for sensor applications,
particularly in biomaterials contexts.Comment: 13 pages, PDF, incl. 4 figures. avi movies of simulations available
at http://www.deas.harvard.edu/matsci/downdata/downdata.htm
Augmenter of liver regeneration enhances the success rate of fetal pancreas transplantation in rodents
Background. Treatment of fetal pancreas (FP) isografts with insulin- like growth factor-I greatly improves the rate of conversion to euglycemia in diabetic rats. Complete knowledge of other factors that may facilitate the engraftment and function of FP in vivo is still embryonic. Augmenter of liver regeneration (ALR) is a newly described polypeptide growth factor found in weanling rat livers. ALR has trophic effects on regenerating liver. We studied the effects of in situ administration of this agent on FP isografts in rats. Methods. Streptozotocin-diabetic Lewis rats (blood glucose >300 mg/dl) received 16 FP isografts transplanted intramuscularly. ALR was delivered from day 1 through day 14, in doses of 40 or 400 ng/kg/d. Animals were followed for 3 months with serial weights and blood glucose monitoring. These animals were compared with those treated with vehicle alone. Results. Of the group treated with ALR at 40 ng/kg/day for 14 days, 89% (eight of nine) were euglycemic (P=0.0003). Of the group treated with ALR at 400 ng/kg/day for 14 days, 88% (seven of eight) were euglycemic (P=0.0007). Of the group treated with vehicle alone, none of the six were euglycemic. Euglycemia is defined here as glucose<200 mg/dl for 3 days. Pathology of the intramuscular transplant site showed patches of islet tissue embedded in fat. These patches demonstrated insulin immunoreactivity. Conclusions. Diabetes was reversed in a significantly greater proportion of FP + ALR-treated recipients than those animals treated with vehicle alone. Local delivery of growth factors my be used as an adjunct to FP transplantation to improve the rate of success. This in situ model may be useful to further evaluate other soluble factors
Comparative effectiveness of torasemide versus furosemide in symptomatic therapy in heart failure patients: Preliminary results from the randomized TORNADO trial
Background: Recent reports suggest that torasemide might be more beneficial than furosemide inpatients with symptomatic heart failure (HF). The aim was to compare the effects of torasemide andfurosemide on clinical outcomes in HF patients.Methods: This study pilot consisted of data from the ongoing multicenter, randomized, unblindedendpoint phase IV TORNADO (NCT01942109) study. HF patients in New York Heart Association(NYHA) II–IV class with a stable dose of furosemide were randomized to treatment with equipotentialdose of torasemide (4:1) or continuation of unchanged dose of furosemide. On enrollment andcontrol visit (3 months after enrollment) clinical examination, 6-minute walk test (6MWT) andassessment of fluid retention by ZOE Fluid Status Monitor were performed. The primary endpoint wasa composite of improvement of NYHA class, improvement of at least 50 m during 6MWT and decreasein fluid retention of at least 0.5 W after 3-months follow-up.Results: The study group included 40 patients (median age 66 years; 77.5% male). During follow-up7 patients were hospitalized for HF worsening (3 in torasemide and 4 in furosemide-treated patients).The primary endpoint reached 15 (94%) and 14 (58%) patients on torasemide and furosemide, respectively(p = 0.03).Conclusions: In HF patients treated with torasemide fluid overload and symptoms improved more thanin the furosemide group. This positive effect occurred already within 3-month observation
The implications of ionospheric disturbances for precise GNSS positioning in Greenland
Ionospheric irregularities impair Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals and, in turn, affect the performance of GNSS positioning. Such effects are especially evident at low and high latitudes, which are currently gaining the attention of research and industry sectors. This study evaluates the impact of ionospheric irregularities on GNSS positioning in Greenland. We assess the performance of positioning methods that meet the demands of a wide range of users. In particular, we address the needs of the users of mass-market single-frequency receivers and those who require a solution of high precision provided by geodetic dual-frequency receivers. We take advantage of the datasets collected during three ionospheric storms: the St. Patrick’s Day storm of March 17, 2015, the storm on June 22, 2015, and another on August 25–26, 2018. We discover a significant impact of the ionospheric disturbances on the ambiguity resolution performance and the accuracy of the float solution in Real Time Kinematics (RTK) positioning. Next, assessing the single-frequency ionosphere-free Precise Point Positioning (PPP), we demonstrate that the model is generally unaffected by ionospheric disturbances. Hence, the model is predestined for the application by the users of single-frequency receivers in the areas of frequent ionospheric disturbances. Finally, based on the observation analyses, we reveal that phase signals on the L2 frequency band are more prone to cycle slips induced by ionospheric irregularities than those transmitted on the L1. Such signal properties explain a noticeable decline in the dual-frequency RTK performance during the ionospherically disturbed period and merely no effect for the single-frequency ionosphere-free PPP model.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Suppression of phase transitions and glass phase signatures in mixed cation halide perovskites
Cation engineering provides a route to control the structure and properties of hybrid halide perovskites, which has resulted in the highest performance solar cells based on mixtures of Cs, methylammonium, and formamidinium. Here, we present a multi-technique experimental and theoretical study of structural phase transitions, structural phases and dipolar dynamics in the mixed methylammonium/dimethylammonium MA1-xDMAxPbBr3 hybrid perovskites (0 ≤ x ≤ 1). Our results demonstrate a significant suppression of the structural phase transitions, enhanced disorder and stabilization of the cubic phase even for a small amount of dimethylammonium cations. As the dimethylammonium concentration approaches the solubility limit in MAPbBr3, we observe the disappearance of the structural phase transitions and indications of a glassy dipolar phase. We also reveal a significant tunability of the dielectric permittivity upon mixing of the molecular cations that arises from frustrated electric dipoles
The effect of insulin and sulodexide (Vessel Due F) on diabetic foot syndrome. Pilot study in elderly patients
Celem pracy była ocena skuteczności stosowania insuliny wraz z sulodeksydem (mieszanina
80% pochodnych heparyny i 20% siarczanu dermatanu) w leczeniu owrzodzeń stóp oraz
określenie ich wpływu na mikrokrążenie skórne i neuropatię cukrzycową. Chorzy
z zaawansowaną neuropatią cukrzycową i owrzodzeniem stopy losowo przydzielono
do grupy leczonej insuliną (I) z sulodeksydem (S) (n = 12) lub do grupy kontrolnej
leczonej insuliną z placebo (P) (n = 6) przez 10 tygodni. Za pomocą metody dopplerowskiego
lasera oceniano skórny przepływ krwi w stopach (LDF, laser doppler flow)
w spoczynku oraz po 30- i 60-sekundowym niedokrwieniu. Ocenie poddano również
przewodnictwo nerwowe
na podstawie czuciowych i ruchowych potencjałów wywołanych. U chorych na cukrzycę
skórny przepływ po niedokrwieniu był 2,5 raza krótszy w kończynie z owrzodzeniem niż w stopie zdrowej. Obserwowano
znamienny wzrost przepływów skórnych po 30-
i 60-sekundowym niedokrwieniu po zakończeniu terapii
(grupa IS, owrzodzenie stopy, LDF - 60 s; od
99,1 ± 14,3 do 218,6 ± 28,6 PU, p < 0,001, grupa
od 110,5 ± 13,0 do 164,8 ± 15,4 PU, p < 0,05). Czas
przekrwienia reaktywnego uległ wydłużeniu w grupie
IS (IS: od 30,3 ± 2,9 do 43,9 ± 2,2 s, p < 0,001; IP:
od 28,7 ± 3,0 do 33,3 ± 3,3 s, NS). W grupie IS 92%
owrzodzeń stóp uległo zagojeniu w ciągu 46,4 dnia,
natomiast w grupie IP 83% w ciągu 63,0 dnia. Badania
przewodnictwa nerwowego nie wykazały różnic
nasilenia neuropatii w obrębie grup i pomiędzy
grupami. W stopach z owrzodzeniami sulodeksyd i
insulina poprawiają przepływ skórny w odpowiedzi
na niedokrwienie, nie wpływając na przewodnictwo
nerwowe. Kliniczne efekty działania sulodeksydu, sumując
się z działaniami insuliny, mogą istotnie skracać
czas niezbędny do całkowitego wyleczenia
owrzodzenia. Ostateczne potwierdzenie przedstawionych
wstępnych wyników wymaga dalszych badań
klinicznych.To assess the efficacy of insulin plus sulodexide
(a mixture of 80% heparin-like substances and 20%
dermatan sulphate) on diabetic ulcers, and its influence
on foot skin microcirculation and diabetic neuropathy.
Two groups of diabetic patients, suffering
from severe neuropathy and ulceration, were randomly
assigned to insulin (I) plus sulodexide (S)
(n = 12) or insulin plus placebo (P) (n = 6) therapy,
for 10 weeks. Laser Doppler assessment of foot skin
flow (LDF), at rest and 30 or 60 s after arterial occlusion,
and nerve conduction tests (sensorial evoked
and motoric conduction potentials) have been evaluated
in both groups. Postischaemic flow was 2.5
times shorter in ulcerated vs. non-ulcerated feet in
diabetic patients. A significant increase in flows after
30 and 60 s ischaemia was detected in both groups
at the end of therapy (IS group, ulcerated foot, LDF
= 60 s: from 99.1 ± 14.3 to 218.6 ± 28.6 PU, P <
0.001. IP group = from 110.5 ± 13.0 to 164.8 ± 15.4
PU, P < 0.05). The length of reactive hyperaemia was
higher in IS vs. IP group (IS: from 30.3 ± 2.9 to 43.9
± 2.2 s, P < 0.001; IP: from 28.7 ± 3.0 to 33.3 ± 3.3 s,
ns). Ninety-two percent of ulcers heals in a mean time
of 46.4 days (IS group) vs. 83% and 63.0 days, respectively,
in IP group. Nerve conduction studies have
not demonstrated within- and between-group differences.
Sulodexide and insulin improve the postischaemic
skin flow in ulcerated feet, without affecting
nerve conduction tests. The effect of sulodexide results
additive to insulin; it is clinically relevant, in the
view of the possibility of reducing the time needed
to completely heal ulcers. The ultimate validation of
these preliminary results requires extensive trials
Distribution of plantar pressure in healthy controls and patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes
WSTĘP. Celem pracy jest ocena rozkładu podeszwowych nacisków w grupie osób zdrowych i chorych na cukrzycę typu 1 i 2 przy obecności lub braku neuropatii ruchowo-czuciowej. Opisane badania stanowią wstęp do opracowania pierwszego polskiego obuwia profilaktycznego, uwzględniającego odciążenie miejsc wysokiego ryzyka owrzodzenia na stopie.
MATERIAŁ I METODY. Przebadano grupę 215 zdrowych osób, 56 osób chorych na cukrzycę typu 1, 61 chorych na cukrzycę typu 2. Badano zaawansowanie przewlekłych powikłań cukrzycy, szczególnie neuropatii, którą oceniano na podstawie skali NDS, NSS i przewodnictwa nerwowego. Pomiar nacisku [N/cm2] wykonano za pomocą systemu Emed-SF V2.1.
WYNIKI BADAŃ. Wśród osób zdrowych stwierdzono największe naciski pod 2 (38,8 N/cm2) i 3 głową (33,4 N/cm2) kości śródstopia. Podobne wyniki uzyskano w populacji osób chorych na cukrzycę typu 1. U chorych na cukrzycę typu 2 ciśnienie pod 2 (45,5 N/cm2), 3 (39,6 N/cm2), 4 (31,8 N/cm2) głową kości śródstopia było statystycznie istotnie wyższe w porównaniu z populacją zdrowych osób. Podobnie wysokie ciśnienie stwierdzono pod 3 i 4 głową kości śródstopia w cukrzycy typu 2 powikłanej neuropatią.
WNIOSKI.
1. Miejscami największego nacisku u osób zdrowych są: paluch, pięta, 2 i 3 głowa kości śródstopia.
2. U chorych na cukrzycę typu 2 naciski na 2, 3, 4 i 5 głowie kości śródstopia są istotnie statystycznie większe niż u osób zdrowych i chorych na cukrzycę typu 1.
3. U chorych na cukrzycę typu 2 powikłaną neuropatią ruchową i czuciową najwyższe naciski występują na 3 i 4 głowie kości śródstopia i różnią się one istotnie statystycznie od grupy osób zdrowych.
4. Szczególnych zabiegów prewencyjnych w postaci odciążenia główek kości śródstopia wymagają chorzy na cukrzycę typu 2, zwłaszcza powikłaną neuropatią ruchowo-czuciową.OBJECTIVE. To investigate the distribution of plantar
pressures in healthy subjects and in patients with
type 1 and 2 diabetes with or without sensorimotor
neuropathy (SMN). The paper opens a series of studies
aiming at the construction of the first Polish
prophylactic footwear, which would offload the sites
at high risk of plantar foot ulceration.
MATERIAL AND METHODS. We studied 215 healthy
subjects, 56 patients with type 1 diabetes, and 61
patients with type 2 diabetes. Chronic complications of diabetes were evaluated, especially neuropathy
based upon NDS score, NSS score and neural conduction.
We used the Emed-SF V2.1 system to measure
plantar pressures [N/cm2].
RESULTS. Among the healthy individuals the highest
pressures were observed below the second and the
third metatarsal head (38,8 N/cm2 and 33,4 N/cm2,
respectively). Similar results were found in the group
of type 1 diabetes patients. However, the patients
with type 2 diabetes mellitus had statistically significant
higher pressures below the second, the third,
and the fourth metatarsal head when compared with
non-diabetic controls (45,5 N/cm2, 39,6 N/cm2,
31,8 N/cm2, respectively). Similar results below the
third and fourth metatarsal head were observed in
the group of type 2 diabetes patients complicated
by diabetic neuropathy.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. The highest pressures in healthy subjects were
identified under great toe, the second and
third metatarsal head.
2. Patients with type 2 diabetes have significantly
higher pressures under the second through
fifth metatarsal heads as compared with
healthy subjects and type 1 diabetics.
3. In patients with type 2 diabetes complicated
by SMN the highest pressures are found under
the third and fourth metatarsal head, being significantly
different from healthy subjects.
4. Special preventive procedures i.e. offloading
metatarsal heads are necessary in patients
with type 2 diabetes, especially those with
concomitant SMN
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