2,455 research outputs found
NATION BRANDING IN THE IMAGINATION AGE:HOW TO BUILD IMAGE, IDENTITY, PAST AND FUTURE IN SINGAPORE AND SHARJAH
Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH
Temporal structure in spiking patterns of ganglion cells defines perceptual thresholds in rodents with subretinal prosthesis.
Subretinal prostheses are designed to restore sight in patients blinded by retinal degeneration using electrical stimulation of the inner retinal neurons. To relate retinal output to perception, we studied behavioral thresholds in blind rats with photovoltaic subretinal prostheses stimulated by full-field pulsed illumination at 20âHz, and measured retinal ganglion cell (RGC) responses to similar stimuli ex-vivo. Behaviorally, rats exhibited startling response to changes in brightness, with an average contrast threshold of 12%, which could not be explained by changes in the average RGC spiking rate. However, RGCs exhibited millisecond-scale variations in spike timing, even when the average rate did not change significantly. At 12% temporal contrast, changes in firing patterns of prosthetic response were as significant as with 2.3% contrast steps in visible light stimulation of healthy retinas. This suggests that millisecond-scale changes in spiking patterns define perceptual thresholds of prosthetic vision. Response to the last pulse in the stimulation burst lasted longer than the steady-state response during the burst. This may be interpreted as an excitatory OFF response to prosthetic stimulation, and can explain behavioral response to decrease in illumination. Contrast enhancement of images prior to delivery to subretinal prosthesis can partially compensate for reduced contrast sensitivity of prosthetic vision
On certain sums concerning the gcdâs and lcmâs of k positive integers
We use elementary arguments to prove results on the order of magnitude of certain sums
concerning the gcdâs and lcmâs of k positive integers, where k â„ 2 is fixed. We refine and
generalize an asymptotic formula of Bordell`es (2007), and extend certain related results
of Hilberdink and TÂŽoth (2016). We also formulate some conjectures and open problems
A Computational Tool for Pre-operative Breast Augmentation Planning in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
AbstractâBreast augmentation was the most commonly performed cosmetic surgery procedure in 2011 in the United States. Although aesthetically pleasing surgical results can only be achieved if the correct breast implant is selected from a large variety of different prosthesis sizes and shapes available on the market, surgeons still rely on visual assessment and other subjective approaches for operative planning because of lacking objective evaluation tools. In this paper we present the development of a software prototype for augmentation mammaplasty simulation solely based on 3D surface scans, from which patient-specific finite element models are generated in a semi-automatic process. The finite element model is used to pre-operatively simulate the expected breast shapes using physical soft tissue mechanics. Our approach uses a novel mechanism based on so-called displacement templates, which, for a specific implant shape and position, describe the respective internal body forces. Due to a highly efficient numerical solver we can provide immediate visual feedback of the simulation results, and thus the software prototype can be integrated smoothly into the medical workflow. The clinical value of the developed 3D computational tool for aesthetic breast augmentation surgery planning is demonstrated in patientspecific use cases
Bamberger Ehepaar-Panel
Obwohl die meisten jungen Menschen sich eine Familie wĂŒnschen, steigt die Zahl der Frauen, die zeitlebens kinderlos bleiben. Mit dafĂŒr verantwortlich ist, dass die Entscheidung fĂŒr oder gegen Kinder vor dem Hintergrund zunehmender Wahlmöglichkeiten getroffen wird. Kinderwunsch tritt heute in Konkurrenz zu anderen LebensentwĂŒrfen bzw. PrioritĂ€tensetzungen. Vor diesem Hintergrund befasst sich das Bamberger Ehepaar-Panel seit 14 Jahren mit der Familien- und Partnerschaftsentwicklung bei verheirateten Paaren. Die Umfrageergebnisse der nunmehr fĂŒnften Datenerhebungswelle mit 550 Paaren umfassen neben den zentralen Dimensionen wie Einstellungen, sozioökonomische Situation und Beziehungsentwicklung insbesondere die BerufsverlĂ€ufe von Frauen und MĂ€nnern sowie die Problematik des Wiedereinstiegs in den Beruf. Zudem werden zwei weitere inhaltliche Schwerpunkte gesetzt: die Entwicklung von Familien mit drei und mehr Kindern und ihre soziale Situation, sowie die Entstehung und Beurteilung von Kinderlosigkeit. Beide Bereiche werden ausfĂŒhrlich behandelt, um die Ursachen und Rahmenbedingungen bzw. Entscheidungen fĂŒr diese EntwicklungsverlĂ€ufe nachvollziehen zu können. Ferner werden die aktuellen LebensumstĂ€nde aller Paare eingehend untersucht. Somit liegen Verlaufsdaten ĂŒber die gesamte fertile Phase einer EheschlieĂungskohorte fĂŒr den Zeitraum von 1988 bis 2002 vor. Im Anhang finden sich einige Hinweise zum methodischen Aufbau der Untersuchung. (ICG2
Glueballs amass at RHIC and LHC Colliders! - The early quarkless 1st order phase transition at MeV - from pure Yang-Mills glue plasma to GlueBall-Hagedorn states
The early stage of high multiplicity pp, pA and AA collider is represented by
a nearly quarkless, hot, deconfined pure gluon plasma. According to pure
Yang-Mills Lattice Gauge Theory, this hot pure glue matter undergoes, at a high
temperature, MeV, a first order phase transition into a confined
Hagedorn-GlueBall fluid. These new scenario should be characterized by a
suppression of high photons and dileptons, baryon suppression and
enhanced strange meson production. We propose to observe this newly predicted
class of events at LHC and RHIC.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures
Three-dimensional cephalometric evaluation of maxillary growth following in utero repair of cleft lip and alveolar-like defects in the mid-gestational sheep model
Objective: To evaluate maxillary growth following in utero repair of surgically created cleft lip and alveolar (CLA)-like defects by means of three-dimensional (3D) computer tomographic (CT) cephalometric analysis in the mid-gestational sheep model. Methods: In 12 sheep fetuses a unilateral CLA-like defect was created in utero (untreated control group: 4 fetuses). Four different bone grafts were used for the alveolar defect closure. After euthanasia, CT scans of the skulls of the fetuses, 3D re-constructions, and a 3D-CT cephalometric analysis were performed. Results: The comparisons between the operated and nonoperated skull sides as well as of the maxillary asymmetry among the experimental groups revealed no statistically significant differences of the 12 variables used. Conclusions: None of the surgical approaches used for the in utero correction of CLA-like defects seem to affect significantly postsurgical maxillary growth; however, when bone graft healing takes place, a tendency for almost normal maxillary growth can be observed. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
Renal Recovery after the Implementation of an Electronic Alert and Biomarker-Guided Kidney-Protection Strategy following Major Surgery
Background:
The facilitation of early recovery of acute kidney injury (AKI) is an important step to improve outcome, particularly because of the limited therapeutic interventions currently available for AKI. The combination of an electronic alert and biomarker-guided kidney-protection strategy implemented in the routine care may have an impact on the incidence of early complete reversal of AKI after major non-cardiac surgery.
Methods:
We studied 294 patients in two cohorts before (n = 151) and after protocol implementation (n = 143). Data collection required 6 months for each cohort. The kidney-protection protocol included an electronic alert to detect patients who were eligible for urinary biomarker [TIMP2 Ă IGFBP7]-guided kidney-protection intervention. Intervention was stratified according to three levels of immediate AKI risk: low, moderate, and high. After intervention, postoperative changes in the glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were identified with a tracking software that included an alert for nephrology consultation if the eGFR had declined by >25% from the preoperative reference value. Primary outcome was early AKI recovery, i.e., the complete reversal of any AKI stage to absence of AKI within the first 7 postoperative days.
Results: Protocol implementation significantly increased the recovery of AKI (36/46, 78% compared to control 27/48, 56%, (p = 0.025)) and reduced the length of the ICU stay (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the overall incidence of all AKI and moderate and severe AKI in the first 7 postoperative days: 46/143 (32%) and 12/151 (8%) in the protocol implementation group compared to 48/151 (32%) and 18/151 (12%) in the historical control group. Patients with AKI reversal within the first 7 postoperative days had lower in-hospital mortality than patients without AKI reversal.
Conclusions:
Implementing a combined electronic alert and biomarker-guided kidney-protection strategy in routine care improved early recovery of AKI after major surgery
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
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