A phenomenal basis for hybrid modelling

This work in progress extends the new mechanical philosophy from science to engineering. Engineering is the practice of organising the design and construction of artifices that satisfy needs in real-world contexts. This work shows how artifices can be described in terms of their mechanisms and composed through their observable phenomena. Typically, the engineering of real system requires descrip- tions in many different languages: software components will be described in code; sensors and actuators in terms of their physical and electronic characteristics; plant in terms of differ- ential equations, perhaps. Another aspect of this work, then, to construct a formal framework so that diverse description languages can be used to characterise sub-mechanisms. The work is situated in Problem Oriented Engineering, a design theoretic framework engineering defined by the first two authors

Cataract surgery in toxoplasmosis-associated panuveitis: a case report

Introduction: Cataract is one of the most frequent complications of uveitis. In the cases with toxoplasmosis, it is more common in the congenital form. Cataract surgery in the setting of uveitis is associated with a higher risk of postoperative complications and of reactivation of uveitis.Aim: Our aim is to present a clinical case of successful cataract surgery in toxoplasmosis-associated panuveitis.Case Report: A 74-year-old Caucasian man presented to our clinic with complaints of decreased vision in his left eye (OS). He had been treated for toxoplasmosis-associated panuveitis. The diagnosis was based on the clinical exam and ancillary serologic tests. On admission to the hospital, best-corrected visual acuity of OS (BCVA) was 0.4. He had posterior subcapsular cataract in OS. There were no signs of inflammation in the anterior and posterior segments. We did phacoemulsification with implantation of a foldable, hydrophobic acrylic intraocular lens. There were no intraoperative complications. Postoperatively, BCVA was 0.9. He was treated for 1.5 months with oral trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole 2 x 960 mg and frequent topical tobramycin/dexamethasone. We did not observe reactivation of the uveitis. Three years following surgery, he developed a secondary cataract.Conclusion: We demonstrated a case of successful surgical therapy of complicated cataract in toxoplasmosis-associated panuveitis. In the setting of postoperative therapy with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, reactivation of uveitis was not observed. The only late complication was secondary cataract.

The canine counts! Significance of a craniodental measure to describe sexual dimorphism in canids : Golden jackals (Canis aureus) and African wolves (Canis lupaster)

Sexual dimorphism is a widespread phenomenon among mammals, including carnivorans. While sexual dimorphism in golden jackals (Canis aureus) has been analysed in the past, in the related and apparently convergent canid, the African wolf (Canis lupaster), it is poorly studied and showed to be relatively small. Previously, sexual size dimorphism (SSD) research in these species was mostly based on skull and body measurements. In our study, we also included dental measurements, namely the diameter of the canine. We used 11 measured sections of 104 adult specimens, comprising 61 golden jackal and 43 African wolf skulls. Data analyses were carried out through logistic regression and conditional inference trees (CIT). To compare the results of SSD to other species, sexual dimorphism indices (SDI) were calculated. Golden jackals and African wolves show significant sexual size dimorphism, both in cranial and dental size. The logistic regression revealed that the mesiodistal diameter of the upper canine is most effective in discerning the sexes. The difference in the calculated SDI of the canine diameter between the sexes amounted to 8.71 in golden jackals and 14.11 in African wolves, respectively-with regional diversity. Thus, the canine diameter is an important measure to investigate SSD as well as an easy tool to apply in the field.Peer reviewe

Phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationships of populations of Meriones tristrami Thomas, 1892 (Rodentia: Gerbillinae) in Turkey as inferred from Cytochrome-b and RFLP analysis

The present study aimed to reveal the relationship between the genetic diversity of Tristram’s jird Meriones tristrami subpopulations by using cyt-b sequences, the amplified fragments of cyt-b produced by restriction endonuclease (RFLP; Msp I, Rsa I, Noc I and Hae III were used) and the distribution on the Anatolian Peninsula. Eighteen haplotypes were identified in the subpopulations of this species, with the highest nucleotide diversity in the Central Anatolia. The haplotype diversity was determined to be 0.970 among subpopulations. The fixation index (Fst) and the gene flow parameter (Nm) based on cyt-b sequences showed the effective gene flow between the western and south-eastern subpopulations. Both cyt-b sequences and RFLP analyses produced almost similar topology in the Bayesian and UPGMA trees, indicating a gene flow from subpopulations of the South-east to Central Anatolia and the Western Black Sea coast. The main factor for the genetic diversity is considered to be the intermittent distribution from west to east as a result of the great altitude of the Eastern Anatolian Plateau as well as the sea and lake system fragmenting the territory of Anatolia in the Pliocene – Pleistocene AgeThis study was financially supported by the Ankara University-BAP 09H4240003 and TBAG-107T32

Clinical application of impression cytology

Introduction: Impression cytology is an alternative to excisional biopsy minimally invasive method of histological examination of the ocular surface.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine changes in impression cytology samples of patients with ocular surface disease and to assess the diagnostic capabilities of the classical method introduced by Tseng et al. and standard histological techniques.Materials and Methods: Analysis of 31 patients (36 eyes) and 15 healthy controls (30 eyes) from the Department of Ophthalmology, Alexandrovska University Hospital was conducted.Results and Discussion: The pathology included mainly limbal stem cell deficiency in 77.42% (n=24) of the patients, 18 of whom had associated neurotrophic keratopathy. Optical coherence tomography demonstrated epithelial defects in 80.65% (n=25), stromal hyperreflectivity in all patients and specific changes. Samples processed using the classic method of Tseng et al., demonstrated hypercellularity and characteristic morphology of conjunctival and corneal cells. PAS+ cells in the corneal epithelium is a hallmark of conjunctivalization, which was present in 87.09% (n=27) of the patients. In some cases, the stratified squamous epithelium was keratinizing (keratinization). Inflammatory infiltration was found in 67.74% (n=21) of patients. However, due to hypercellularity the assessment of the reaction type was ambiguous. Standard histological samples demonstrated hypocellularity, stratified squamous non-keratinizing epithelium, and in 31.25% typical finds of regenerative processes were present. Cellular morphology in inflammatory reactions allowed defining the cells as lymphocytes or neutrophils.Conclusion: The method of choice for processing the samples should be tailored to the investigated pathology and an individualized approach to every patient is required in order to obtain optimal diagnostic and therapeutic results

Antitumor activity of Bulgarian herb Tribulus terrestris L. on human breast cancer cells

Medicinal plants have been intensively studied as a source of antitumor compounds. Due to the beneficial climate conditions Bulgarian herbs have high pharmacological potential. Currently, the antitumor effect of the Bulgarian medicinal plant Tribulus terrestris L. on human cancer cell lines is not studied. The main active compounds of the plant are the steroid saponins.The present study aims to analyze the effect on cell viability and apoptotic activity of total extract and saponin fraction of Bulgarian Tribulus terrestris L. on human breast cancer (MCF7) and normal (MCF10A) cell lines. Antitumor effect was established by МТТ cell viability assay and assessment of apoptotic potential was done through analysis of genomic integrity (DNA fragmentation assay) and analysis of morphological cell changes (Fluorescence microscopy). The results showed that total extract of the herb has a marked dose-dependent inhibitory effect on viability of MCF7 cells (half maximal inhibitory concentration is 15 μg/ml). Cell viability of MCF10A was moderately decreased without visible dose-dependent effect. The saponin fraction has increased inhibitory effect on breast cancer cells compared to total extract. Morphological changes and DNA fragmentation were observed as markers for early and late apoptosis predominantly in tumor cells after treatment. Apoptotic processes were intensified with the increase of treatment duration.The obtained results are the first showing selective antitumor activity of Bulgarian Tribulus terrestris L. on human cancer cells in vitro. Apoptotic processes are involved in the antitumor mechanisms induced by the herb. This results give directions for future investigations concerning detailed assessment of its pharmacological potential

Dark matter allowed scenarios for Yukawa-unified SO(10) SUSY GUTs

Simple supersymmetric grand unified models based on the gauge group SO(10) require --in addition to gauge and matter unification-- the unification of t-b-\tau Yukawa couplings. Yukawa unification, however, only occurs for very special values of the soft SUSY breaking parameters. We perform a search using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique to investigate model parameters and sparticle mass spectra which occur in Yukawa-unified SUSY models, where we also require the relic density of neutralino dark matter to saturate the WMAP-measured abundance. We find the spectrum is characterizd by three mass scales: first/second generation scalars in the multi-TeV range, third generation scalars in the TeV range, and gauginos in the \sim 100 GeV range. Most solutions give far too high a relic abundance of neutralino dark matter. The dark matter discrepancy can be rectified by 1. allowing for neutralino decay to axino plus photon, 2. imposing gaugino mass non-universality or 3. imposing generational non-universality. In addition, the MCMC approach finds 4. a compromise solution where scalar masses are not too heavy, and where neutralino annihilation occurs via the light Higgs h resonance. By imposing weak scale Higgs soft term boundary conditions, we are also able to generate 5. low \mu, m_A solutions with neutralino annihilation via a light A resonance, though these solutions seem to be excluded by CDF/D0 measurements of the B_s\to \mu^+\mu^- branching fraction. Based on the dual requirements of Yukawa coupling unification and dark matter relic density, we predict new physics signals at the LHC from pair production of 350--450 GeV gluinos. The events are characterized by very high b-jet multiplicity and a dilepton mass edge around mz2-mz1 \sim 50-75 GeV.Comment: 35 pages with 21 eps figure

Phenomenology of Neutrino Oscillations

This review is focused on neutrino mixing and neutrino oscillations in the light of the recent experimental developments. After discussing possible types of neutrino mixing for Dirac and Majorana neutrinos and considering in detail the phenomenology of neutrino oscillations in vacuum and matter, we review all existing evidence and indications in favour of neutrino oscillations that have been obtained in the atmospheric, solar and LSND experiments. We present the results of the analyses of the neutrino oscillation data in the framework of mixing of three and four massive neutrinos and investigate possibilities to test the different neutrino mass and mixing schemes obtained in this way. We also discuss briefly future neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 109 pages. Final version to be published in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, Volume 43. Typos correcte

POE-∆: a framework for change engineering

Many organizational problems are addressed through change and re-engineering of existing Information Systems rather than radical new design. In the face of up to 70% IT project failure, devising effective ways to tackle this type of change remains an open challenge. This work discusses the motivation, theoretical foundation, characteristics and evaluation of a novel framework - referred to as POE-∆ which is rooted in design and engineering and is aimed at providing systematic support for representing, structuring, and exploring change problems of socio-technical nature. We generalize an existing framework of greenfield design as problem solving for application to change problems, using a Design Science Research methodology. From a theoretical perspective, POE-∆ is a strict extension to its parent framework, allowing the seamless integration of greenfield and brownfield design to tackle change problems. Through several case studies, we evaluate the application of the framework to real-world change problems of varying criticality and complexity. The results show the benefits of POE-∆ when it comes to providing a holistic and systematic approach to change in socio-technical contexts. In particular, the following key aspects of the framework were highly regarded by participants: - its ability to guide complex and large-scale change in a systematic and structured way and to co-evolve tangled problems spanning multiple domains (technical, organizational, and individual). - POE-∆'s holistic view on change which allows it to capture, represent, structure, and explore change problems, their driving needs and the entire contexts, and to pinpoint where an intervention is necessary and what the ramifications of that intervention might be. - the POE-∆ process which oscillates between: (i) exploration activities by applying pre-defined transformations patterns to progress change problems and move them closer to a solution; and (ii) validation activities which allow stakeholders to assess and, if required, re-direct the change evolution in a timely manne

An engineering framework for dealing with change problems: theoretical underpinnings and initial evaluation

Organisational change problems are known to be ill-structured and complex. An open challenge remains: to be able to provide problem representations and systematic analysis techniques to address them. Extending a validated systematic general engineering methodology, the paper introduces and discusses the motivation, theoretical foundation and specific characteristics of a new framework, POE-Δ, which provides a systematic way to represent, structure and iteratively explore any change problem to unveil its context and to identify the organisational areas where intervention is needed. Properties inherited from the original engineering methodology include the tight integration of stakeholder communication and validation during the analysis activities and the management of problem solving risk (i.e., that we solve the wrong problem). The paper concludes with a report of initial findings from the application of the framework in a real-world case study in a large European engineering organisation that focuses on organisation-wide changes needed in response to changing legislation and regulation