Consulting (in Writing) to the Corporation: Principles and Pragmatics

Provenance information provides a useful basis to verify whether a particular application behavior has been adhered to. This is particularly useful to evaluate the basis for a particular outcome, as a result of a process, and to verify if the process involved in making the decision conforms to some pre-defined set of rules. This is significant in a healthcare scenario, where it is necessary to demonstrate that patient data has been processed in a particular way. Understanding how provenance information may be recorded, stored, and subsequently analyzed by a decision maker is therefore significant in a service oriented architecture, which involves the use of third party services over which the decision maker does not have control. The aggregation of data from multiple sources of patient information plays an important part in subsequent treatments that are proposed for a patient. A tool to navigate through and analyze such provenance information is proposed, based on the use of a portal framework that allows different views on provenance information to co-exist. The portal enables users to add custom portlets enabling application specific views that would facilitate particular decision making

Book Reviews

Book reviews of: Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century. By Tera W. Hunter. (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017. 404 pp. $29.95, cloth. ISBN: 9780674045712.) Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi. By Ellen B. Meacham. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018. Acknowledgements, source notes, bibliography, about the photographers, index, Pp. xi, 293.$28 cloth. ISBN 9781496817457.) Let the People See: The Story of Emmett Till. By Elliott J. Gorn. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Acknowledgements, source notes, bibliography, index, Pp. xi, 400. $27.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780199335122.) The Ordeal of the Reunion: A New History of Reconstruction. By Mark Wahlgren Summers. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014. 528 pp., 21 halftones, notes, bibl., index.$40.00 cloth. ISBN: 978-1-4696-1757-2.) Stepdaughters of History: Southern Women and the American Civil War. By Catherine Clinton. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2016. $48.00 hardback. ISBN: 978807164570.) Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, 1500- 1850. By Cameron B. Strang. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Acknowledgements, illustrations, index. Pp. vii, 357.$39.95 Cloth. ISBN: 9781469640471.) Vicksburg, Grant’s Campaign that Broke the Confederacy. By Donald L. Miller. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019. Notes, illustrations, index. Pp. 663. $35.00.

Effect of disorder on the spatial structure of damage in slowly compressed porous rocks

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Csontkor – a csontrendszeri érettség mérésének lehetősége EOS készülékkel = Bone age – alternatives for skeletal maturity assessment for the EOS scanner

Absztrakt: Bevezetés: Az EOS 2D/3D rendszerrel készült felvételeken nem ábrázolódik megfelelően a csontkor megállapítására leggyakrabban használt kéz és csukló. Célkitűzés: Kutatásunk célja, hogy alternatív csontkormérési lehetőségeket keressünk EOS-felvételeken való alkalmazásra. Módszer: 9 mérési módszer bevonásával pilotvizsgálatot végeztünk, amely alapján 5 módszert válogattunk be: nyaki csigolyát (Hassel–Farman), csípőlapátot (Risser ’plus’), térdet (O’Connor), sarokcsontot (Nicholson), csípőt (Oxford) értékelve. 114 egészséges, 2–21 éves eset EOS-felvételein intra- és interobszerver megbízhatósági vizsgálatot végeztünk, valamint Spearman-korrelációval összevetettük a csont- és kronológiai kort. Eredmények: A megbízhatósági vizsgálatok minden módszer esetében kiváló eredményt adtak (csoporton belüli korreláció >0,9), kivéve az O’Connor-módszert (0,865 – jó). A Nicholson- és a Hassel–Farman-módszer bizonyult a leggyorsabbnak (átlag: 17,5 mp és 33,4 mp), viszont a sarokcsontok 14%-a nem volt vizsgálható (a cervicalis esetén 1%). Minden módszer szignifikáns összefüggést mutatott a korral (korrelációs koefficiens >0,829). Az értékelésnél nehézséget jelentettek a nem ábrázolódó (12%) vagy egymásra vetülő (23%) csontrészek. Következtetés: Csontkor-megállapítás mind az 5 módszer alkalmazásával lehetséges, de kiemelkedett a nagy megbízhatósággal, gyorsan, közel az összes felvételen alkalmazható Hassel–Farman-módszer. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(16): 619–628. | Abstract: Introduction: Hand and wrist bone age assessment methods cannot be performed when using the recommended patient position within the EOS scanner. Aim: We aimed to assess alternative methods for use with the EOS. Method: After investigating 9 alternatives, five methods were selected – cervical vertebra (Hassel–Farman), iliac crest (Risser ‘plus’), hip (Oxford), knee (O’Connor), calcaneus (Nicholson) – and applied to EOS scans of 114, 2–21-year-old normal individuals. Intraclass correlation coefficient tests for reliability and Spearman correlation with calendar age were assessed. Results: Intra- and interobserver reliabilities were all excellent, except with the knee method (0.865 – ‘good’). Calcaneal and cervical methods were the fastest to apply (mean 17.5 s, 33.4 s per evaluation), however, calcanei were unassessable in 14% of scans (versus 1% of cervical). All methods correlated significantly with calendar age (r>0.829, p<0.05). Difficulties were principally absent (12%) or obscured (23%) landmarks. Conclusion: Bone age assessment is possible with all 5 methods, however, the Hassel–Farman method proved to be easily useable, fast and reliable. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(16): 619–628

Mouse models for hereditary spastic paraplegia uncover a role of PI4K2A in autophagic lysosome reformation

Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) denotes genetically heterogeneous disorders characterized by leg spasticity due to degeneration of corticospinal axons. SPG11 and SPG15 have a similar clinical course and together are the most prevalent autosomal recessive HSP entity. The respective proteins play a role for macroautophagy/autophagy and autophagic lysosome reformation (ALR). Here, we report that spg11 and zfyve26 KO mice developed motor impairments within the same course of time. This correlated with enhanced accumulation of autofluorescent material in neurons and progressive neuron loss. In agreement with defective ALR, tubulation events were diminished in starved KO mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and lysosomes decreased in neurons of KO brain sections. Confirming that both proteins act in the same molecular pathway, the pathologies were not aggravated upon simultaneous disruption of both. We further show that PI4K2A (phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type 2 alpha), which phosphorylates phosphatidylinositol to phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PtdIns4P), accumulated in autofluorescent deposits isolated from KO but not WT brains. Elevated PI4K2A abundance was already found at autolysosomes of neurons of presymptomatic KO mice. Immunolabelings further suggested higher levels of PtdIns4P at LAMP1-positive structures in starved KO MEFs. An increased association with LAMP1-positive structures was also observed for clathrin and DNM2/dynamin 2, which are important effectors of ALR recruited by phospholipids. Because PI4K2A overexpression impaired ALR, while its knockdown increased tubulation, we conclude that PI4K2A modulates phosphoinositide levels at autolysosomes and thus the recruitment of downstream effectors of ALR. Therefore, PI4K2A may play an important role in the pathogenesis of SPG11 and SPG15. Abbreviations: ALR: autophagic lysosome reformation; AP-5: adaptor protein complex 5; BFP: blue fluorescent protein; dKO: double knockout; EBSS: Earle’s balanced salt solution; FBA: foot base angle; GFP: green fluorescent protein; HSP: hereditary spastic paraplegia; KO: knockout; LAMP1: lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1; MAP1LC3B/LC3: microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 beta; MEF: mouse embryonic fibroblast; SQSTM1/p62: sequestosome 1; PI4K2A: phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type 2 alpha; PtdIns3P: phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate; PtdIns4P: phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate; RFP: red fluorescent protein; SPG: spastic paraplegia gene; TGN: trans-Golgi network; WT: wild typ

Infrastructure and cities ontologies

The creation and use of ontologies has become increasingly relevant for complex systems in recent years. This is because of the growing number of use of cases that rely on real-world integration of disparate systems, the need for semantic congruence across boundaries and the expectations of users for conceptual clarity within evolving domains or systems of interest. These needs are evident in most spheres of research involving complex systems, but they are particularly apparent in infrastructure and cities where traditionally siloed and sectoral approaches have dominated, undermining the potential for integration to solve societal challenges such as net zero, resilience to climate change, equity and affordability. This paper reports on findings of a literature review on infrastructure and city ontologies and puts forward some hypotheses inferred from the literature findings. The hypotheses are discussed with reference to the literature and provide avenues for further research on (a) belief systems that underpin non-top-level ontologies and the potential for interference from them, (b) the need for a small number of top-level ontologies and translation mechanisms between them and (c) clarity on the role of standards and information systems in the adaptability and quality of data sets using ontologies. A gap is also identified in the extent that ontologies can support more complex automated coupling and data transformation when dealing with different scales