Non-local signatures of the chiral magnetic effect in Dirac semimetal Bi0.97_{0.97}Sb0.03_{0.03}

The field of topological materials science has recently been focussing on three-dimensional Dirac semimetals, which exhibit robust Dirac phases in the bulk. However, the absence of characteristic surface states in accidental Dirac semimetals (DSM) makes it difficult to experimentally verify claims about the topological nature using commonly used surface-sensitive techniques. The chiral magnetic effect (CME), which originates from the Weyl nodes, causes an $\textbf{E}\cdot\textbf{B}$-dependent chiral charge polarization, which manifests itself as negative magnetoresistance. We exploit the extended lifetime of the chirally polarized charge and study the CME through both local and non-local measurements in Hall bar structures fabricated from single crystalline flakes of the DSM Bi$_{0.97}$Sb$_{0.03}$. From the non-local measurement results we find a chiral charge relaxation time which is over one order of magnitude larger than the Drude transport lifetime, underlining the topological nature of Bi$_{0.97}$Sb$_{0.03}$.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures + 7 pages of supplemental materia

The use of birefringence for predicting the stiffness of injection moulded polycarbonate discs

Polycarbonate discs were injection molded with different sets of molding conditions. The parameters studied were the flow rate, melt- and mold-temperature. The discs were subjected to three point support flexural tests. Those tests are specially intended for injection molded discs because of their inherent non-flatness. The through-thickness molecular orientation was assessed by birefringence measurements along and across the flow direction using the wedge method. This method is ideal to measure the birefringence of materials that are difficult to cut with a microtome. The through-thickness stiffness of the discs was calculated from the measured birefringence distributions. A composite model of the disc was used in the Algor finite element method (FEW package to simulate the flexural tests

The Netherlands: political developments and data in 2019

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

1992: Het grote meedenk jaar?!

In de BB van januari 1992 roept B.I.L.-voorzitter Jurgen Mink de leden op "gezamenlijk onze weg te kiezen en zo met de B.I.L. een nieuwe, andere toekomst in te gaan". Mink hoopt dat 1992 het "grote meedenk jaar'' gaat worden. Aangezien wij tot "meedenken" altijd bereid zijn, deze bijdrage

PDT in the Thoracic Cavity: Spectroscopic Methods and Fluence Modeling for Treatment Planning

PDT for the thoracic cavity provides a promising cancer treatment modality, but improvements in treatment planning, particularly in PDT dosimetry, can be made to improve uniformity of light delivery. When a cavity of arbitrary geometry is illuminated, the fluence increases due to multiple-scattered photons, referred to as the Integrating Sphere Effect (ISE). Current pleural PDT treatment protocol at the University of Pennsylvania monitors light fluence (hereafter simply fluence, measured in W/cm2) via seven isotropic detectors sutured at different locations in thoracic cavity of a patient. This protocol monitors light at discrete locations, but does not provide a measurement of fluence for the thoracic cavity as a whole. Current calculation of light fluence includes direct light only and thus does not account for the unique optical properties of each tissue type present, which in turn affects the accuracy of the calculated light distribution in the surrounding tissue and, in turn, the overall cell death and treatment efficacy. Treatment planning for pleural PDT can be improved, in part, by considering the contribution of scattered light, which is affected by the two factors of geometry and in vivo optical properties. We expanded the work by Willem Star in regards to the ISE in a spherical cavity. A series of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were run for semi-infinite planar, spherical, and ellipsoidal geometries for a range of optical properties. The results of these simulations are compared to theory and numerical solutions for fluence in the cavity and at the cavity-medium boundary. The development via MC simulations offers a general method of calculating the required light fluence specialized to each patient, based on the treatment surface area. The scattered fluence calculation is dependent on in vivo optical properties (μa and μs\u27) of the tissues treated. Diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy methods are used to determine the optical properties and oxygenation (reflectance measurements) and drug concentration (fluorescence measurements) of different tissues in vivo, before and after treatment, in patients enrolled the Phase I HPPH study ongoing at the University of Pennsylvania. This work aims to provide the building blocks essential to pleural PDT treatment planning by more accurately calculating the required fluence using a model that accounts for the effects of treatment geometry and optical properties measured in vivo

The ethics of uncertainty for data subjects

Modern health data practices come with many practical uncertainties. In this paper, I argue that data subjects’ trust in the institutions and organizations that control their data, and their ability to know their own moral obligations in relation to their data, are undermined by significant uncertainties regarding the what, how, and who of mass data collection and analysis. I conclude by considering how proposals for managing situations of high uncertainty might be applied to this problem. These emphasize increasing organizational flexibility, knowledge, and capacity, and reducing hazard

Effects of Ambulant Myofeedback Training and Ergonomic Counselling in Female Computer Workers with Work-Related Neck-Shoulder Complaints: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To investigate the effects of ambulant myofeedback training including ergonomic counselling (Mfb) and ergonomic counselling alone (EC), on work-related neck-shoulder pain and disability. Methods: Seventy-nine female computer workers reporting neck-shoulder complaints were randomly assigned to Mfb or EC and received four weeks of intervention. Pain intensity in neck, shoulders, and upper back, and pain disability, were measured at baseline, immediately after intervention, and at three and six months follow-up. Results: Pain intensity and disability had significantly decreased immediately after four weeks Mfb or EC, and the effects remained at follow up. No differences were observed between the Mfb and EC group for outcome and subjects in both intervention groups showed comparable chances for improvement in pain intensity and disability. Conclusions: Pain intensity and disability significantly reduced after both interventions and this effect remained at follow-up. No differences were observed between the two intervention groups

Gestational age at birth and body size from infancy through adolescence: An individual participant data meta-analysis on 253,810 singletons in 16 birth cohort studies

Background Preterm birth is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality and is associated with adverse developmental and long-term health outcomes, including several cardiometabolic risk factors and outcomes. However, evidence about the association of preterm birth with later body size derives mainly from studies using birth weight as a proxy of prematurity rather than an actual length of gestation. We investigated the association of gestational age (GA) at birth with body size from infancy through adolescence. Methods and findings We conducted a two-stage individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis using data from 253,810 mother-child dyads from 16 general population-based cohort studies in Europe (Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, United Kingdom), North America (Canada), and Australasia (Australia) to estimate the association of GA with body mass index (BMI) and overweight (including obesity) adjusted for the following maternal characteristics as potential confounders: education, height, prepregnancy BMI, ethnic background, parity, smoking during pregnancy, age at child's birth, gestational diabetes and hypertension, and preeclampsia. Pregnancy and birth cohort studies from the LifeCycle and the EUCAN-Connect projects were invited and were eligible for inclusion if they had information on GA and minimum one measurement of BMI between infancy and adolescence. Using a federated analytical tool (DataSHIELD), we fitted linear and logistic regression models in each cohort separately with a complete-case approach and combined the regression estimates and standard errors through random-effects study-level meta-analysis providing an overall effect estimate at early infancy (>0.0 to 0.5 years), late infancy (>0.5 to 2.0 years), early childhood (>2.0 to 5.0 years), mid-childhood (>5.0 to 9.0 years), late childhood (>9.0 to 14.0 years), and adolescence (>14.0 to 19.0 years). GA was positively associated with BMI in the first decade of life, with the greatest increase in mean BMI z-score during early infancy (0.02, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.00; 0.05, p < 0.05) per week of increase in GA, while in adolescence, preterm individuals reached similar levels of BMI (0.00, 95% CI: -0.01; 0.01, p 0.9) as term counterparts. The association between GA and overweight revealed a similar pattern of association with an increase in odds ratio (OR) of overweight from late infancy through mid-childhood (OR 1.01 to 1.02) per week increase in GA. By adolescence, however, GA was slightly negatively associated with the risk of overweight (OR 0.98 [95% CI: 0.97; 1.00], p 0.1) per week of increase in GA. Although based on only four cohorts (n = 32,089) that reached the age of adolescence, data suggest that individuals born very preterm may be at increased odds of overweight (OR 1.46 [95% CI: 1.03; 2.08], p < 0.05) compared with term counterparts. Findings were consistent across cohorts and sensitivity analyses despite considerable heterogeneity in cohort characteristics. However, residual confounding may be a limitation in this study, while findings may be less generalisable to settings in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusions This study based on data from infancy through adolescence from 16 cohort studies found that GA may be important for body size in infancy, but the strength of association attenuates consistently with age. By adolescence, preterm individuals have on average a similar mean BMI to peers born at term.This collaborative project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 733206 LifeCycle, Grand Recipient VWVJ; Grant Agreement No. 824989 EUCAN-Connect, Grand Recipient AMNA). Please, see S1 Appendix for list of cohort-specific funding/support. DAL is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00011/6) and British Heart Foundation (CH/F/20/90003 and AA/18/7/34219). RCW is supported by UKRI Innovation Fellowship with Health Data Research UK [MR/S003959/1]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript