Interfacing Oz with the PCTE OMS

This paper details our experiment interfacing Oz with the Object Management System (OMS) of PCTE. Oz is a process-centered multi-user software development environment. PCTE is a specification which defines a language independent interface providing support mechanisms for software engineering environments (SEE) populated with CASE tools. Oz is, in theory, a SEE that can be built (or extended) using the services provided by PCTE. Oz historically has had a native OMS component whereas the PCTE OMS is an open data repository with an API for external software tools. Our experiment focused on changing Oz to use the PCTE OMS. This paper describes how several Oz components were changed in order to make the Oz server interface with the PCTE OMS. The resulting system of our experiment is an environment that has process control and integration services provided by Oz, data integration services provided by PCTE, and tool integration services provided by both. We discusses in depth the concurrency control problems that arise in such an environment and their solutions. The PCTE implementation used in our experiment is the Emeraude PCTE V 12.5.1 supplied by Transtar Software Incorporation

OzCare: A Workflow Automation System for Care Plans

An automated environment for implementing and monitoring care plans and practice guidelines is very important to the reduction of hospital costs and optimization of medical care. The goal of our research effort is to design a general system architecture that facilitates the implementation of (potentially) numerous care plans. Our approach is unique in that we apply the principles and technologies of Oz, a multi-user collaborative workflow system that has been used as a software engineering environment framework, to hospital care planning. We utilize not only the workflow modeling and execution facilities of Oz, but also its open-system architecture to interface it with the World Wide Web, the Medical Logic Module server, and other components of the clinical information system. Our initial proof-of-concept system, OzCare, is constructed on top of the existing Oz system. Through several experiments in which we used this system to implement some Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center care plans, we demonstrated that our system is capable and flexible for care plan automation

A German translation and validation of the sense of agency scale

Sense of agency refers to the experience of controlling one’s actions and through them events in the outside world. General agency beliefs can be measured with the Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS), which consists of the sense of positive agency subscale (i.e., feeling of being in control over one’s own body, mind, and environment) and the sense of negative agency subscale (i.e., feeling existentially helpless). The aim of the present study was to validate a German version of the SoAS. Using factor analyzes, we replicated the two-factor structure of the original version of the SoAS. Further, the German SoAS showed good model fits, good internal consistency, and moderate test–retest reliability. Construct validity was supported by significant low to moderate correlations of the German SoAS with other conceptually similar, but still distinct constructs such as general self-efficacy. Additionally, the German SoAS has an incremental value in explaining variance in the extent of subclinical symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder that goes beyond variance explained by constructs that are conceptually similar to sense of agency. Taken together, the results indicate that the German SoAS is a valid and suitable instrument to assess one’s general agency beliefs

Severe muscle trauma triggers heightened and prolonged local musculoskeletal inflammation and impairs adjacent tibia fracture healing

Objectives: Complicated fracture healing is often associated with the severity of surrounding muscle tissue trauma. Since inflammation is a primary determinant of musculoskeletal health and regeneration, it is plausible that delayed healing and non-unions are partly caused by compounding local inflammation in response to concomitant muscle trauma. Methods and results: To investigate this possibility, a Lewis rat open fracture model [tibia osteotomy with adjacent tibialis anterior (TA) muscle volumetric muscle loss (VML) injury] was interrogated. We observed that VML injury impaired tibia healing, as indicated by diminished mechanical strength and decreased mineralized bone within the fracture callus, as well as continued presence of cartilage instead of woven bone 28 days post-injury. The VML injured muscle presented innate and adaptive immune responses that were atypical of canonical muscle injury healing. Additionally, the VML injury resulted in a perturbation of the inflammatory phase of fracture healing, as indicated by elevations of CD3+ lymphocytes and CD68+ macrophages in the fracture callus at 3 and 14d post-injury, respectively. Conclusions: These data indicate that heightened and sustained innate and adaptive immune responses to traumatized muscle are associated with impaired fracture healing and may be targeted for the prevention of delayed and non-union following musculoskeletal trauma

Impairment of early fracture healing by skeletal muscle trauma is restored by FK506

BACKGROUND: Heightened local inflammation due to muscle trauma or disease is associated with impaired bone regeneration. METHODS: We hypothesized that FK506, an FDA approved immunomodulatory compound with neurotrophic and osteogenic effects, will rescue the early phase of fracture healing which is impaired by concomitant muscle trauma in male (~4 months old) Lewis rats. FK506 (1 mg/kg; i.p.) or saline was administered systemically for 14 days after an endogenously healing tibia osteotomy was created and fixed with an intermedullary pin, and the overlying tibialis anterior (TA) muscle was either left uninjured or incurred volumetric muscle loss injury (6 mm full thickness biopsy from middle third of the muscle). RESULTS: The salient observations of this study were that 1) concomitant TA muscle trauma impaired recovery of tibia mechanical properties 28 days post-injury, 2) FK506 administration rescued the recovery of tibia mechanical properties in the presence of concomitant TA muscle trauma but did not augment mechanical recovery of an isolated osteotomy (no muscle trauma), 3) T lymphocytes and macrophage presence within the traumatized musculature were heightened by trauma and attenuated by FK506 3 days post-injury, and 4) T lymphocyte but not macrophage presence within the fracture callus were attenuated by FK506 at 14 days post-injury. FK506 did not improve TA muscle isometric torque production CONCLUSION: Collectively, these findings support the administration of FK506 to ameliorate healing of fractures with severe muscle trauma comorbidity. The results suggest one potential mechanism of action is a reduction in local T lymphocytes within the injured musculoskeletal tissue, though other mechanisms to include direct osteogenic effects of FK506 require further investigation

Geologically constrained evolutionary geomechanical modelling of diapir and basin evolution: a case study from the Tarfaya basin, West African coast

We systematically incorporate burial history, sea floor geometry and tectonic loads from a sequential kinematic restoration model into a 2D evolutionary geomechanical model that simulates the formation of the Sandia salt diapir, Tarfaya basin, NW African Coast. We use a poro-elastoplastic description for the sediment behaviour and a viscoplastic description for the salt. Sedimentation is coupled with salt flow and regional shortening to determine the sediment porosity and strength and to capture the interaction between salt and sediments. We find that temporal and spatial variation in sedimentation rate is a key control on the kinematic evolution of the salt system. Incorporation of sedimentation rates from the kinematic restoration at a location east of Sandia leads to a final geomechanical model geometry very similar to that observed in seismic reflection data. We also find that changes in the variation of shortening rates can significantly affect the present-day stress state above salt. Overall, incorporating kinematic restoration data into evolutionary models provides insights into the key parameters that control the evolution of geologic systems. Furthermore, it enables more realistic evolutionary geomechanical models, which, in turn, provide insights into sediment stress and porosity

It Was Me: The Use of Sense of Agency Cues Differs Between Cultures

Sense of agency (SoA) is the sense of having control over one’s own actions and through them events in the outside world. SoA may be estimated by integrating different agency cues. In the present study, we examined whether the use of different agency cues – action-effect congruency, temporal relation between action and effect, and affective valence of effects – differs between Eastern (Mongolian) and Western (Austrian) cultures. In a learning phase, participants learned to associate different actions (keypresses) with positive and negative action effects (smileys). In a test phase, participants performed the same keypresses. After different intervals positive and negative action effects, which were either congruent or incongruent with the previously acquired action-effect associations, were presented. In each trial participants were asked to rate how likely the action effect was caused by themselves or by the computer (authorship ratings). In both groups authorship ratings were higher for congruent compared to incongruent action effects and for positive compared to negative action effects. This indicates that action-effect congruency and affective valence of action effects modulate SoA. Further, in both groups the difference between positive and negative effects was higher with congruent effects than incongruent effects. This overadditive effect of action-effect congruency and affective valence might indicate that an integration of different agency cues takes place. Decreasing authorship ratings with increasing interval were observed in Austrians but not in Mongolians. For Mongolians, the temporal chronology of events might be less important when inferring causality. Therefore, information regarding the temporal occurrence of the effect might not be used as an agency cue in Mongolians. In conclusion, some agency cues might be similarly used in different cultures, but the use of others might be culture-dependent

Tracing and trapping micro- and nanoplastics: untapped mitigation potential of aquatic plants?

Micro- and nanoplastics are emerging concerns due to their environmental ubiquity and currently largely unknown ecological impacts. Leveraging on a recently developed method using europium-doped polystyrene particles (PS-Eu), our present work aimed to accurately trace the uptake and transport of micro- and nanoplastics in aquatic plants and shed insights into the potential of different aquatic plants for trapping and removal of plastics from water environment. Seedlings of Vallisneria denseserrulata Makino (submerged plant), Iris tectorum Maxim (emergent plant), and Eichhornia crassipes Solms (floating plant) were exposed to 100 nm and 2 μm PS-Eu in freshwater (5 μg/mL) or sediments (5 μg/g) for 8 weeks. Fluorescence imaging clearly evidenced that PS-Eu mainly accumulated in the intercellular space and were transported from roots to leaves via the apoplastic path and vascular bundle. Mass spectrum analysis demonstrated that up to 6250 μg/g nanoplastics were trapped in aquatic plants (mainly in roots) with a bioconcentration factor of 306.5, depending on exposure routes and plant species. Owing to their excellent capture capability and high tolerance to plastic exposures, floating plants like E. crassipes are promising for immobilizing and removing fine plastics from the water environment.Environmental Biolog

Carbon stable isotope analysis of cereal remains as a way to reconstruct water availability: preliminary results

Reconstructing past water availability, both as rainfall and irrigation, is important to answer questions about the way society reacts to climate and its changes and the role of irrigation in the development of social complexity. Carbon stable isotope analysis of archaeobotanical remains is a potentially valuable method for reconstructing water availability. To further define the relationship between water availability and plant carbon isotope composition and to set up baseline values for the Southern Levant, grains of experimentally grown barley and sorghum were studied. The cereal crops were grown at three stations under five different irrigation regimes in Jordan. Results indicate that a positive but weak relationship exists between irrigation regime and total water input of barley grains, but no relationship was found for sorghum. The relationship for barley is site-specific and inter-annual variation was present at Deir ‘Alla, but not at Ramtha and Khirbet as-Samra