Weakly Enforced Boundary Conditions for the NURBS-Based Finite Cell Method

In this paper, we present a variationally consistent formulation for the weak enforcement of essential boundary conditions as an extension to the finite cell method, a fictitious domain method of higher order. The absence of boundary fitted elements in fictitious domain or immersed boundary methods significantly restricts a strong enforcement of essential boundary conditions to models where the boundary of the solution domain coincides with the embedding analysis domain. Penalty methods and Lagrange multiplier methods are adequate means to overcome this limitation but often suffer from various drawbacks with severe consequences for a stable and accurate solution of the governing system of equations. In this contribution, we follow the idea of NITSCHE [29] who developed a stable scheme for the solution of the Laplace problem taking weak boundary conditions into account. An extension to problems from linear elasticity shows an appropriate behavior with regard to numerical stability, accuracy and an adequate convergence behavior. NURBS are chosen as a high-order approximation basis to benefit from their smoothness and flexibility in the process of uniform model refinement

Metachromasia in the Hearts of Human Embryos and Fetuses

The matrix of certain mammalian tissues contains several types of sulfated and non-sulfated mucopolysaccharides (cf. Meyer, 1948) in addition to other carbohydrates (cf. GIegg et al, 1954), cement substance and fibrils. One of the non-sulfated mucopolysaccharides, i.e., hyaluronic acid, has been demonstrated in connective tissue, in teeth, in brain tissue, in the intervertebral discs, bovine vitreous humor, synovial fluid, the lung and other tissue. (Bairati et al, 1952; Bensley, 1950; Friedman, 1953; Holland, 1954; and others). The mucopolysccharides are depolymerized under certain conditions by specific enzymes; thus hyaluronic acid is depolymerizcd by the spreading factor (Duran-Reynals, 1928), the Eizytoplasma auflosende Substanz (Yamane, 1935), the sperm enzyme (Pincus and Enzmann, 1936). Chain and Duthie, 1940, have claim~d that all these substances are identical and have renamed them hyaluronidase

The Case for Reduction

Critical discourse hardly knows a more devastating charge against theories, technologies, or structures than that of being reductive. Yet, expansion and growth cannot fare any better today. This volume suspends anti-reductionist reflexes to focus on the experiences and practices of different kinds of reduction, their generative potentials, ethics, and politics. Can their violences be contained and their benefits transported to other contexts?Introduction | CHRISTOPH F. E. HOLZHEY and JAKOB SCHILLINGER | 1–12The Case and the Signifier: Generalization in Freud’s Rat Man | IRACEMA DULLEY | 13–37Haptic Reductions: A Sceptic’s Guide for Responding to the Touch of Crisis | RACHEL AUMILLER | 39–61Disalienation and Structuralism: Fanon with Lévi-Strauss | CHRISTOPHER CHAMBERLIN | 61–89Black Box Allegories of Gulf Futurism: The Irreducible Other of Computational Capital | ÖZGÜN EYLÜL İŞCEN | 91–115Lines that Reduce: Biography, Palms, Borders | SAM DOLBEAR | 117–33Post-anti-identitarianism: The Forms of Contemporary Gender and Sexuality | BEN NICHOLS | 135–53Nothing Beyond the Name: Towards an Eclipse of Listening in the Psychotherapeutic Enterprise | SARATH JAKKA | 155–73Reduction in Computer Music: Bodies, Temporalities, and Generative Computation | FEDERICA BUONGIORNO | 175–90Reduction in Time: Kinaesthetic and Traumatic Experiences of the Present in Literary Texts | ALBERICA BAZZONI | 191–212Seeking Home: Vignettes of Homes and Homing | AMINA ELHALAWANI | 213–26Law Is Other Wor(l)ds | XENIA CHIARAMONTE | 227–50EXCURSUSOn the List | SAM DOLBEAR, BEN NICHOLS, and CLAUDIA PEPPEL | 253–61White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy | BEN NICHOLS | 263–65Proust List Impulse | SAM DOLBEAR | 267–70A List of Fears: Eva Kot’átková’s Asylum | CLAUDIA PEPPEL | 271–76How to Bake X Cake: Notes on the Recipe | IRACEMA DULLEY | 277–79Walking Away, Walking in Circles, Writing Lists | RACHEL AUMILLER | 281–83The Case for Reduction, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Jakob Schillinger, Cultural Inquiry, 25 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022) <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-25

Introduction

Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Jakob Schillinger, ‘Introduction’, in The Case for Reduction, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Jakob Schillinger, Cultural Inquiry, 25 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 1-12 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-25_01

Acoustic observations of vertical and horizontal swimming velocities of a diel migrator

A strong sound scattering layer which underwent diel vertical migration was observed over 176 days using a bottom-mounted 600 kHz ADCP at a depth of approximately 285 m on the upper continental slope. Average observed descent times of the scatterers were within 12 minutes of sunrise and average ascent times were within 13 minutes of sunset. Average ascent speeds progressively increased away from the bed and approached 6 cm/s. Average descent speeds similarly reached a maximum of ∼6 cm/s. Horizontal velocities of the scatterers during vertical migration were found to be smaller than ambient velocities (by up to 3 cm/s), and it is inferred that the migrators were swimming horizontally against the flow. Horizontal velocities of the scatterers during time intervals when the layer was near the seafloor were found to be southwest (up to 3 cm/s), and onshelf (up to 1.7 cm/s) relative to the flow above the layer. Swimming velocities were independent of alongshelf flow direction, counter to the hypothesis that the scatterers sought to maintain their position by swimming against the flow

Obesity and the food environment: income and ethnicity differences among people with diabetes: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).

ObjectiveIt is unknown whether any association between neighborhood food environment and obesity varies according to individual income and/or race/ethnicity. The objectives of this study were to test whether there was an association between food environments and obesity among adults with diabetes and whether this relationship differed according to individual income or race/ethnicity.Research design and methodsSubjects (n = 16,057) were participants in the Diabetes Study of Northern California survey. Kernel density estimation was used to create a food environment score for each individual's residence address that reflected the mix of healthful and unhealthful food vendors nearby. Logistic regression models estimated the association between the modeled food environment and obesity, controlling for confounders, and testing for interactions between food environment and race/ethnicity and income.ResultsThe authors found that more healthful food environments were associated with lower obesity in the highest income groups (incomes 301-600% and &gt;600% of U.S. poverty line) among whites, Latinos, and Asians. The association was negative, but smaller and not statistically significant, among high-income blacks. On the contrary, a more healthful food environment was associated with higher obesity among participants in the lowest-income group (&lt;100% poverty threshold), which was statistically significant for black participants in this income category.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the availability of healthful food environments may have different health implications when financial resources are severely constrained

Reduction in Renal Function After Renal Arteriography and After Renal Artery Angioplasty

AbstractObjective: to investigate the incidence and risk factors for renal function deterioration after renal angiography and angioplasty or stenting.Methods: a retrospective study of 85 consecutive patients undergoing selective renal artery arteriography (n=53) or renal artery angioplasty % (PTRA) stenting (n=32) for renal artery stenosis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine independent predictors of deterioration of renal function, defined as an increase of serum creatinine by at least one third within 24h.Results: deterioration of renal function occurred in 13 patients (15%), [8/53 (15%) after angiography and 5/32 (16%) after PTRA/stenting]. Only pre-existing renal impairment (se-creatinine≥177μmol/l) (Odds ratio: 40; 95% confidence interval 1.2–72, p=0.02) and administered dosage of contrast agent (more than 225ml) (OR 67; 95% CI1 1.8–100, p=0.02) were independently associated with renal function deterioration.Conclusion: transient renal dysfunction after renal artery angiography or PTRA/stenting occurs in about 15% of patients, but persistent renal failure is uncommon. Pre-existing renal impairment and amount of contrast agent are independent risk factors. Endovascular treatment of renal artery stenosis is not associated with a higher risk of renal deterioration compared to selective renal angiography

Amnion cells engineering: A new perspective in fetal membrane healing after intrauterine surgery?

In this study we aimed to set up an in vitro culture of the rabbit amnion in order to support in vivo fetal membrane healing capacity following fetoscopy. Fetal membranes were collected from a mid- gestational rabbit, and cultured on collagen support material for 14 days. 34 rabbits at 22 - 23 days gestational age ( GA) underwent fetoscopy. The entry site was randomly allocated to 4 closure technique study groups: group I, human amnion membrane ( n = 23); group II, collagen foil ( n = 16); group III, collagen plug ( n = 19), and group IV, collagen plug with cultured amnion cells ( n = 19). In all groups membrane access sites were additionally sealed with fibrin sealant, and the myometrium was closed with sutures. Fetal survival, amnion membrane integrity, and the presence of amniotic fluid were evaluated at 30 days GA. Cultures showed good survival in the collagen support material. Increased cellularity, survival and proliferations were observed. The amnion at the access site resealed in 58 - 64% of cases in groups II - IV, but none of the tested techniques was significantly better than the other. Histological examination indirectly revealed the anatomic repair of the membranes, since no entrapment of the membranes could be demonstrated in the myometrial wound. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel