Trust Based Participant Driven Privacy Control in Participatory Sensing

Widespread use of sensors and multisensory personal devices generate a lot of personal information. Sharing this information with others could help in various ways. However, this information may be misused when shared with all. Sharing of information between trusted parties overcomes this problem. This paper describes a model to share information based on interactions and opinions to build trust among peers. It also considers institutional and other controls, which influence the behaviour of the peers. The trust and control build confidence. The computed confidence bespeaks whether to reveal information or not thereby increasing trusted cooperation among peers.Comment: 14 page

Acute appendicitis and retroperitoneal abscess: rare complications of sigmoid diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is a common cause of an acute surgical abdomen and computed tomography has become an essential part of work up particularly to identify complications that commonly include intraperitoneal perforation, abscess and fistula formation. We report the case of an 81-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with acute lower abdominal pain and was found to have sigmoid diverticulitis with the rare complications of a diverticular abscess that had formed a sinus tract and perforated into the retroperitoneum and secondary acute appendicitis. Initial management was with intravenous antibiotics, a Hartmann's procedure and appendicectomy. Subsequently the retroperitoneal collection was drained percutaneously. The case was further complicated by the patient's multiple co-morbidities and unfortunately the patient died 6 weeks after admission from sepsis. This case highlights the role of computed tomography in the pre- and post-operative period to identify complications which are often clinically occult and require early surgical and interventional radiology management to optimize outcomes

Imparting machine intelligence into direct ink write manufacturing

While digital manufacturing methods such as computer numerical control machining and additive manufacturing have enabled the creation of small lots of components with various complex shapes and materials. Understated, is the degree of individual process engineering and expertise required to tune material behavior, processing conditions to achieve expected properties. Current robotic manufacturing control frameworks lack the sensing and autonomy to effectively perceive and decide a course of action in response to these dynamic manufacturing environments. As a result, many commercial platforms limit user control over materials to ensure repeatability at the cost of agility. This paradigm fundamentally prevents the maturation of processes like direct ink write (DIW) additive manufacturing, which has been used to 3D print tissue scaffolds, ceramics, metals, magnets, and free-form structures.[1-5] In DIW additive manufacturing, both the materials behavior and desired structure are constantly changing, but the machine itself is rigid and never “learns” from past experiences. In general, only the user learns, thereby creating experienced “super users”. Using DIW as an example, we will present how materials and printed device development spurred the push to address the gap between robot and human experience by combining image classification, adaptive feedback, and analytical methods. A generalizable image classification method was developed to characterize the spanning behavior of a thixotropic fluid printed across 2- and 3-D gaps. The automated classification informed how to adapt the tool path and subsequently predict printing conditions for log-pile structures. By harvesting the relevant data and outcomes with user context, we seek to build an open knowledge community to enable more task-agnostic direct ink write manufacturing. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Isolated insulin-derived amyloidoma of the breast

Isolated amyloidomas derived from insulin are extremely rare, and there is only one reported case to date of insulin-derived amyloidoma in the breast.We present the case of a 36-year-old woman reporting a lump in the right breast. It was clinically assessed as a probable fibroadenoma but was removed surgically given the size of the lesion. On histological analysis, the lesion had features consistent with amyloid. Further investigations showed the amyloid to be derived from insulin. The lump was removed in its entirety, and the patient made a full recovery

Mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V selectively laser melted parts with body-centred-cubic lattices of varying cell size

Significant weight savings in parts can be made through the use of additive manufacture (AM), a process which enables the construction of more complex geometries, such as functionally graded lattices, than can be achieved conventionally. The existing framework describing the mechanical properties of lattices places strong emphasis on one property, the relative density of the repeating cells, but there are other properties to consider if lattices are to be used effectively. In this work, we explore the effects of cell size and number of cells, attempting to construct more complete models for the mechanical performance of lattices. This was achieved by examining the modulus and ultimate tensile strength of latticed tensile specimens with a range of unit cell sizes and fixed relative density. Understanding how these mechanical properties depend upon the lattice design variables is crucial for the development of design tools, such as finite element methods, that deliver the best performance from AM latticed parts. We observed significant reductions in modulus and strength with increasing cell size, and these reductions cannot be explained by increasing strut porosity as has previously been suggested. We obtained power law relationships for the mechanical properties of the latticed specimens as a function of cell size, which are similar in form to the existing laws for the relative density dependence. These can be used to predict the properties of latticed column structures comprised of body-centred-cubic (BCC) cells, and may also be adapted for other part geometries. In addition, we propose a novel way to analyse the tensile modulus data, which considers a relative lattice cell size rather than an absolute size. This may lead to more general models for the mechanical properties of lattice structures, applicable to parts of varying size

Stereodivergent Synthesis of Enantioenriched 4-Hydroxy-2- cyclopentenones

Protected 4-hydroxycyclopentenones (4-HCPs) constitute an important class of intermediates in chemical synthesis. A route to this class of compound has been developed. Key steps include Noyori reduction (which establishes the stereochemistry of the product), ring-closing metathesis, and simple functional group conversions to provide a set of substituted 4-HCPs in either enantiomeric form

Highly Water-Stable Zirconium Metal-Organic Framework UiO-66 Membranes Supported on Alumina Hollow Fibers for Desalination

In this study, continuous zirconium(IV)-based metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF) membranes were prepared. The pure-phase Zr-MOF (i.e., UiO-66) polycrystalline membranes were fabricated on alumina hollow fibers using an in situ solvothermal synthesis method. Single-gas permeation and ion rejection tests were carried out to confirm membrane integrity and functionality. The membrane exhibited excellent multivalent ion rejection (e.g., 86.3% for Ca2+, 98.0% for Mg2+, and 99.3% for Al3+) on the basis of size exclusion with moderate permeance (0.14 L m-2 h-1 bar-1) and good permeability (0.28 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 μm). Benefiting from the exceptional chemical stability of the UiO-66 material, no degradation of membrane performance was observed for various tests up to 170 h toward a wide range of saline solutions. The high separation performance combined with its outstanding water stability suggests the developed UiO-66 membrane as a promising candidate for water desalination

Exploring UK medical school differences: the MedDifs study of selection, teaching, student and F1 perceptions, postgraduate outcomes and fitness to practise

BACKGROUND: Medical schools differ, particularly in their teaching, but it is unclear whether such differences matter, although influential claims are often made. The Medical School Differences (MedDifs) study brings together a wide range of measures of UK medical schools, including postgraduate performance, fitness to practise issues, specialty choice, preparedness, satisfaction, teaching styles, entry criteria and institutional factors. METHOD: Aggregated data were collected for 50 measures across 29 UK medical schools. Data include institutional history (e.g. rate of production of hospital and GP specialists in the past), curricular influences (e.g. PBL schools, spend per student, staff-student ratio), selection measures (e.g. entry grades), teaching and assessment (e.g. traditional vs PBL, specialty teaching, self-regulated learning), student satisfaction, Foundation selection scores, Foundation satisfaction, postgraduate examination performance and fitness to practise (postgraduate progression, GMC sanctions). Six specialties (General Practice, Psychiatry, Anaesthetics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Internal Medicine, Surgery) were examined in more detail. RESULTS: Medical school differences are stable across time (median alpha = 0.835). The 50 measures were highly correlated, 395 (32.2%) of 1225 correlations being significant with p < 0.05, and 201 (16.4%) reached a Tukey-adjusted criterion of p < 0.0025. Problem-based learning (PBL) schools differ on many measures, including lower performance on postgraduate assessments. While these are in part explained by lower entry grades, a surprising finding is that schools such as PBL schools which reported greater student satisfaction with feedback also showed lower performance at postgraduate examinations. More medical school teaching of psychiatry, surgery and anaesthetics did not result in more specialist trainees. Schools that taught more general practice did have more graduates entering GP training, but those graduates performed less well in MRCGP examinations, the negative correlation resulting from numbers of GP trainees and exam outcomes being affected both by non-traditional teaching and by greater historical production of GPs. Postgraduate exam outcomes were also higher in schools with more self-regulated learning, but lower in larger medical schools. A path model for 29 measures found a complex causal nexus, most measures causing or being caused by other measures. Postgraduate exam performance was influenced by earlier attainment, at entry to Foundation and entry to medical school (the so-called academic backbone), and by self-regulated learning. Foundation measures of satisfaction, including preparedness, had no subsequent influence on outcomes. Fitness to practise issues were more frequent in schools producing more male graduates and more GPs. CONCLUSIONS: Medical schools differ in large numbers of ways that are causally interconnected. Differences between schools in postgraduate examination performance, training problems and GMC sanctions have important implications for the quality of patient care and patient safety

The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey: an analysis of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in 25 UK medical schools relating to timing, duration, teaching formats, teaching content, and problem-based learning

BACKGROUND: What subjects UK medical schools teach, what ways they teach subjects, and how much they teach those subjects is unclear. Whether teaching differences matter is a separate, important question. This study provides a detailed picture of timetabled undergraduate teaching activity at 25 UK medical schools, particularly in relation to problem-based learning (PBL). METHOD: The Analysis of Teaching of Medical Schools (AToMS) survey used detailed timetables provided by 25 schools with standard 5-year courses. Timetabled teaching events were coded in terms of course year, duration, teaching format, and teaching content. Ten schools used PBL. Teaching times from timetables were validated against two other studies that had assessed GP teaching and lecture, seminar, and tutorial times. RESULTS: A total of 47,258 timetabled teaching events in the academic year 2014/2015 were analysed, including SSCs (student-selected components) and elective studies. A typical UK medical student receives 3960 timetabled hours of teaching during their 5-year course. There was a clear difference between the initial 2 years which mostly contained basic medical science content and the later 3 years which mostly consisted of clinical teaching, although some clinical teaching occurs in the first 2 years. Medical schools differed in duration, format, and content of teaching. Two main factors underlay most of the variation between schools, Traditional vs PBL teaching and Structured vs Unstructured teaching. A curriculum map comparing medical schools was constructed using those factors. PBL schools differed on a number of measures, having more PBL teaching time, fewer lectures, more GP teaching, less surgery, less formal teaching of basic science, and more sessions with unspecified content. DISCUSSION: UK medical schools differ in both format and content of teaching. PBL and non-PBL schools clearly differ, albeit with substantial variation within groups, and overlap in the middle. The important question of whether differences in teaching matter in terms of outcomes is analysed in a companion study (MedDifs) which examines how teaching differences relate to university infrastructure, entry requirements, student perceptions, and outcomes in Foundation Programme and postgraduate training