Gravity is an important determinant of Oxygenation during One-Lung Ventilation

The role of gravity in the redistribution of pulmonary blood flow during one-lung ventilation (OLV) has recently been questioned. To address this controversial but clinically important issue we used an experimental approach that allowed us to differentiate the effects of gravity from the effects of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction on arterial oxygenation during OLV in patients scheduled for thoracic surger

BrowserAudit: Automated testing of browser security features

The security of the client side of a web application relies on browser features such as cookies, the same-origin policy and HTTPS. As the client side grows increasingly powerful and sophisticated, browser vendors have stepped up their offering of security mechanisms which can be leveraged to protect it. These are often introduced experimentally and informally and, as adoption increases, gradually become standardised (e.g., CSP, CORS and HSTS). Considering the diverse landscape of browser vendors, releases, and customised versions for mobile and embedded devices, there is a compelling need for a systematic assessment of browser security. We present BrowserAudit, a tool for testing that a deployed browser enforces the guarantees implied by the main standardised and experimental security mechanisms. It includes more than 400 fully-automated tests that exercise a broad range of security features, helping web users, application developers and security researchers to make an informed security assessment of a deployed browser. We validate BrowserAudit by discovering both fresh and known security-related bugs in major browsers. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s)

Use of specific Green's functions for solving direct problems involving a heterogeneous rigid frame porous medium slab solicited by acoustic waves

A domain integral method employing a specific Green's function (i.e., incorporating some features of the global problem of wave propagation in an inhomogeneous medium) is developed for solving direct and inverse scattering problems relative to slab-like macroscopically inhomogeneous porous obstacles. It is shown how to numerically solve such problems, involving both spatially-varying density and compressibility, by means of an iterative scheme initialized with a Born approximation. A numerical solution is obtained for a canonical problem involving a two-layer slab.Comment: submitted to Math.Meth.Appl.Sc

Inter- and intraspecific variation in mangrove carbon fraction and wood specific gravity in Gazi Bay, Kenya

The tropical mangrove ecosystem harbors great potential for carbon offsetting schemes because of their exceptionally high carbon sequestration potential. These cannot only generate an income for local communities by financially compensating for the non‐exploitation of protected or replanted stands, but also simultaneously reduce emissions due to forest degradation and deforestation, thereby helping to counteract the global threat on these forests. As carbon is directly monetized through offsetting carbon emissions, accurate species‐specific estimation of carbon content in trees is essential and reduces the propagation of errors generated by accounting uncertainties. Accordingly, this study assessed variation in both carbon fraction and wood specific gravity among and within the 10 mangrove species occurring in Gazi Bay, Kenya. Significant interspecific differences were found with values ranging from 45.8% (Avicennia marina) to 49.8% (Ceriops tagal) for carbon fraction and from 0.58 (Sonneratia alba) to 0.93 (Pemphis acidula) for wood specific gravity. The influence of environmental factors (soil salinity, stand density, and elevation a.s.l. as a proxy for multiple interrelated conditions) was investigated, but only elevation a.s.l. appeared to have a species‐specific though moderate influence only on carbon fraction. Significant differences in carbon fraction and wood specific gravity were found between stem, aerial roots, and branches of Rhizophora mucronata. In contrast, no significant differences in carbon fraction were found among different stem tissues of A. marina, C. tagal and R. mucronata, the Bay's most abundant species. These results provide insight in carbon content variation, confirming the importance of considering species‐specific or even site‐specific values of carbon fraction and wood specific gravity, thereby rendering future carbon accounting more accurate

Surface shape reconstruction from phaseless scattered acoustic data using a random forest algorithm

Recent studies have demonstrated that acoustic waves can be used to reconstruct the roughness profile of a rigid scattering surface. In particular, the use of multiple microphones placed above a rough surface as well as an analytical model based on the linearised Kirchhoff integral equations provides a sufficient base for the inversion algorithm to estimate surface geometrical properties. Prone to fail in the presence of high noise and measurement uncertainties, the analytical approach may not always be suitable in analysing measured scattered acoustic pressure. With the aim to improve the robustness of the surface reconstruction algorithms, here it is proposed to use a data-driven approach through the application of a random forest regression algorithm to reconstruct specific parameters of one-dimensional sinusoidal surfaces from airborne acoustic phase-removed pressure data. The data for the training set are synthetically generated through the application of the Kirchhoff integral in predicting scattered sound, and they are further verified with data produced from laboratory measurements. The surface parameters from the measurement sample were found to be recovered accurately for various receiver combinations and with a wide range of noise levels ranging from 0.1% to 30% of the average scattered acoustical pressure amplitude

Shapes, contact angles, and line tensions of droplets on cylinders

Using an interface displacement model we calculate the shapes of nanometer-size liquid droplets on homogeneous cylindrical surfaces. We determine effective contact angles and line tensions, the latter defined as excess free energies per unit length associated with the two contact lines at the ends of the droplet. The dependences of these quantities on the cylinder radius and on the volume of the droplets are analyzed.Comment: 26 pages, RevTeX, 10 Figure

Reconstruction of the frequency-wavenumber spectrum of water waves with an airborne acoustic Doppler array for non-contact river monitoring

This work presents a novel method to reconstruct the frequency-wavenumber spectrum of water waves based on the complex acoustic Doppler spectra of scattered sound measured with an array of microphones. The reconstruction is based on a first-order small-roughness-amplitude expansion of the acoustic wave scattering equation, which is discretized and inverted by means of a singular value decomposition. An analogy of this approach to the first-order Bragg scattering problem is demonstrated by means of a stationary phase expansion. The approach enables the reconstruction of the dispersion relation of water waves when the ratio between roughness height and acoustic wavelength is less than 0.1, and when the surface wavelength is larger than 1/2 of the acoustic wavelength. The method is validated against synthetic data and data from laboratory and field experiments, to demonstrate its applicability to two-and three-dimensional complex patterns of water waves, and specifically to the surface deformations that arise naturally in a turbulent open-channel flow. Fitting the reconstructed data with the analytical dispersion relation enables the non-contact estimate of the underlying flow velocity for hydraulic conditions where the coexistence of different types of turbulence-forced and freely propagating water waves would limit the accuracy of standard non-contact Doppler velocimetry approaches, paving the way for robust and accurate non-contact river monitoring using acoustics

Safety and immunogenicity of a chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored Ebola vaccine in healthy adults: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-finding, phase 1/2a study.

BACKGROUND: The ongoing Ebola outbreak led to accelerated efforts to test vaccine candidates. On the basis of a request by WHO, we aimed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of the monovalent, recombinant, chimpanzee adenovirus type-3 vector-based Ebola Zaire vaccine (ChAd3-EBO-Z). METHODS: We did this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-finding, phase 1/2a trial at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland. Participants (aged 18-65 years) were randomly assigned (2:2:1), via two computer-generated randomisation lists for individuals potentially deployed in endemic areas and those not deployed, to receive a single intramuscular dose of high-dose vaccine (5 × 10(10) viral particles), low-dose vaccine (2·5 × 10(10) viral particles), or placebo. Deployed participants were allocated to only the vaccine groups. Group allocation was concealed from non-deployed participants, investigators, and outcome assessors. The safety evaluation was not masked for potentially deployed participants, who were therefore not included in the safety analysis for comparison between the vaccine doses and placebo, but were pooled with the non-deployed group to compare immunogenicity. The main objectives were safety and immunogenicity of ChAd3-EBO-Z. We did analysis by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02289027. FINDINGS: Between Oct 24, 2014, and June 22, 2015, we randomly assigned 120 participants, of whom 18 (15%) were potentially deployed and 102 (85%) were non-deployed, to receive high-dose vaccine (n=49), low-dose vaccine (n=51), or placebo (n=20). Participants were followed up for 6 months. No vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported. We recorded local adverse events in 30 (75%) of 40 participants in the high-dose group, 33 (79%) of 42 participants in the low-dose group, and five (25%) of 20 participants in the placebo group. Fatigue or malaise was the most common systemic adverse event, reported in 25 (62%) participants in the high-dose group, 25 (60%) participants in the low-dose group, and five (25%) participants in the placebo group, followed by headache, reported in 23 (57%), 25 (60%), and three (15%) participants, respectively. Fever occurred 24 h after injection in 12 (30%) participants in the high-dose group and 11 (26%) participants in the low-dose group versus one (5%) participant in the placebo group. Geometric mean concentrations of IgG antibodies against Ebola glycoprotein peaked on day 28 at 51 μg/mL (95% CI 41·1-63·3) in the high-dose group, 44·9 μg/mL (25·8-56·3) in the low-dose group, and 5·2 μg/mL (3·5-7·6) in the placebo group, with respective response rates of 96% (95% CI 85·7-99·5), 96% (86·5-99·5), and 5% (0·1-24·9). Geometric mean concentrations decreased by day 180 to 25·5 μg/mL (95% CI 20·6-31·5) in the high-dose group, 22·1 μg/mL (19·3-28·6) in the low-dose group, and 3·2 μg/mL (2·4-4·9) in the placebo group. 28 (57%) participants given high-dose vaccine and 31 (61%) participants given low-dose vaccine developed glycoprotein-specific CD4 cell responses, and 33 (67%) and 35 (69%), respectively, developed CD8 responses. INTERPRETATION: ChAd3-EBO-Z was safe and well tolerated, although mild to moderate systemic adverse events were common. A single dose was immunogenic in almost all vaccine recipients. Antibody responses were still significantly present at 6 months. There was no significant difference between doses for safety and immunogenicity outcomes. This acceptable safety profile provides a reliable basis to proceed with phase 2 and phase 3 efficacy trials in Africa. FUNDING: Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), through the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme

Expenditure Reform in Industrialised Countries: A Case Study Approach

This study examines reforms of public expenditure in industrialised countries over the past two decades. We distinguish ambitious and timid reformers and analyse in detail reform experiences in eight case studies of ambitious reform episodes. We find that ambitious reform countries reduce spending on transfers, subsidies and public consumption while largely sparing education spending. Such expenditure retrenchment is also typically part of a comprehensive reform package that includes improvements in fiscal institutions as well as structural and other macroeconomic reforms. The study finds that ambitious expenditure retrenchment and reform coincides with large improvements in fiscal and economic growth indicators

The Effects of Voluntary, Involuntary, and Forced Exercises on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Motor Function Recovery: A Rat Brain Ischemia Model

Author name used in this publication: Xiao-Xiang ZhengAuthor name used in this publication: Kai-Yu Tong2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalpublished_fina