Cycles of construing in radicalization and deradicalization: a study of Salafist Muslims.

© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.This article explores radicalization and deradicalization by considering the experiences of six young Tunisian people who had become Salafist Muslims. Their responses to narrative interviews and repertory grid technique are considered from a personal construct perspective, revealing processes of construing and reconstruing, as well as relevant aspects of the structure and content of their construct systems. In two cases, their journeys involved not only radicalization but self-deradicalization, and their experiences are drawn on to consider implications for deradicalization.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Failure of non-vacuum steam sterilization processes for dental handpieces

Background: Dental handpieces are used in critical and semi-critical operative interventions. Although a number of dental professional bodies recommend that dental handpieces are sterilized between patient use there is a lack of clarity and understanding of the effectiveness of different steam sterilization processes. The internal mechanisms of dental handpieces contain narrow lumens (0·8-2·3mm) which can impede the removal of air and ingress of saturated steam required to achieve sterilization conditions. Aim: To identify the extent of sterilization failure in dental handpieces using a non-vacuum process. Methods: In-vitro and in-vivo investigations were conducted on commonly used UK benchtop steam sterilizers and three different types of dental handpieces. The sterilization process was monitored inside the lumens of dental handpieces using thermometric (TM) methods (dataloggers), chemical indicators (CI) and biological indicators (BI). Findings: All three methods of assessing achievement of sterility within dental handpieces that had been exposed to non-vacuum sterilization conditions demonstrated a significant number of failures (CI=8/3,024(fails/n tests); BI=15/3,024; TM=56/56) compared to vacuum sterilization conditions (CI=2/1,944; BI=0/1,944; TM=0/36). The dental handpiece most likely to fail sterilization in the non-vacuum process was the surgical handpiece. Non-vacuum sterilizers located in general dental practice had a higher rate of sterilization failure (CI=25/1,620; BI=32/1,620; TM=56/56) with no failures in vacuum process. Conclusion: Non-vacuum downward/gravity displacement, type-N steam sterilizers are an unreliable method for sterilization of dental handpieces in general dental practice. The handpiece most likely to fail sterilization is the type most frequently used for surgical interventions

Investigating steam penetration using thermometric methods in dental handpieces with narrow internal lumens during sterilizing processes with non-vacuum or vacuum processes

Background: Dental handpieces are required to be sterilized between patient use. Vacuum steam sterilization processes with fractionated pre/post-vacuum phases or unique cycles for specified medical devices, are required for hollow instruments with internal lumens to assure successful air removal. Entrapped air will compromise achievement of required sterilization conditions. Many countries and professional organisations still advocate non-vacuum sterilization processes for these devices. Aim: To investigate non-vacuum downward/gravity displacement, type-N steam sterilization of dental handpieces, using thermometric methods to measure time to achieve sterilization temperature at different handpiece locations. Methods: Measurements at different positions within air turbines were undertaken with thermocouples and dataloggers. Two examples of commonly used UK benchtop steam sterilizers were tested; a non-vacuum benchtop sterilizer (Little Sister 3, Eschmann, UK) and a vacuum benchtop sterilizer (Lisa, W&H, Austria). Each sterilizer cycle was completed with three handpieces and each cycle in triplicate. Findings: A total of 140 measurements inside dental handpiece lumens were recorded. We demonstrate that the non-vacuum process fails (time range 0-150 seconds) to reliably achieve sterilization temperatures within the time limit specified by the International standard (15 seconds equilibration time). The measurement point at the base of the handpiece failed in all test runs (n=9) to meet the standard. No failures were detected with the vacuum steam sterilization type B process with fractionated pre-vacuum and post-vacuum phases. Conclusion: Non-vacuum downward/gravity displacement, type-N steam sterilization processes are unreliable in achieving sterilization conditions inside dental handpieces and the base of the handpiece is the site most likely to fail

From vertex detectors to inner trackers with CMOS pixel sensors

The use of CMOS Pixel Sensors (CPS) for high resolution and low material vertex detectors has been validated with the 2014 and 2015 physics runs of the STAR-PXL detector at RHIC/BNL. This opens the door to the use of CPS for inner tracking devices, with 10-100 times larger sensitive area, which require therefore a sensor design privileging power saving, response uniformity and robustness. The 350 nm CMOS technology used for the STAR-PXL sensors was considered as too poorly suited to upcoming applications like the upgraded ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS), which requires sensors with one order of magnitude improvement on readout speed and improved radiation tolerance. This triggered the exploration of a deeper sub-micron CMOS technology, Tower-Jazz 180 nm, for the design of a CPS well adapted for the new ALICE-ITS running conditions. This paper reports the R&D results for the conception of a CPS well adapted for the ALICE-ITS.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, VCI 2016 conference proceeding

A Salmonella virulence factor activates the NOD1/NOD2 signaling pathway.

The invasion-associated type III secretion system (T3SS-1) of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) activates the transcription factor NF-κB in tissue culture cells and induces inflammatory responses in animal models through unknown mechanisms. Here we show that bacterial delivery or ectopic expression of SipA, a T3SS-1-translocated protein, led to the activation of the NOD1/NOD2 signaling pathway and consequent RIP2-mediated induction of NF-κB-dependent inflammatory responses. SipA-mediated activation of NOD1/NOD2 signaling was independent of bacterial invasion in vitro but required an intact T3SS-1. In the mouse colitis model, SipA triggered mucosal inflammation in wild-type mice but not in NOD1/NOD2-deficient mice. These findings implicate SipA-driven activation of the NOD1/NOD2 signaling pathway as a mechanism by which the T3SS-1 induces inflammatory responses in vitro and in vivo