185 research outputs found
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The Use of Poly(vinyl alcohol)-based Hydrogels in Biomedical Applications
Polymers have found increasing favor in biomedical applications due to the greater
control that researchers can exert over their properties. Researchers have focused on the
development of therapies using biologically compatible polymers due to their ability to
limit potentially harmful interactions with the body. This research has led to advances in
tissue engineering, controlled and targeted drug delivery, and other biomedical fields, with
the goal of improving both the effectiveness and accessibility of health care.
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels possess several chemical properties that make them
well suited for biomedical applications. These include inertness and stability,
biocompatibility, and pH-responsiveness. As a result, PVA based materials have been
studied for potential applications in areas of biomedicine such as targeted drug delivery,
tissue engineering, and wound healing.
This thesis examines the properties of PVA and seeks to understand how the chemical
and physical structure affects their properties. It then examines how these properties
enhance their utility in potential biomedical applications. Finally, it reviews the research
into development of PVA based materials for three different biomedical applications.Chemical Engineerin
Dynamir: optical manipulations using dynamic mirror brushes
Mirror surfaces are part of our everyday life. Among them, curved mirrors are used to enhance our perception of the physical space, e.g., convex mirrors are used to increase our field of view in the street, and concave mirrors are used to zoom in on parts our face in the bathroom. In this paper, we investigate the opportunities opened when these mirrors are made dynamic, so that their effects can be modulated to adapt to the environment or to a user's actions. We introduce the concept of dynamic mirror brushes that can be moved around a mirror surface. We describe how these brushes can be used for various optical manipulations of the physical space. We also present an implementation using a flexible mirror sheet and three scenarios that demonstrate some of the interaction opportunities
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Microcytosis and possible early iron deficiency in paediatric inpatients: a retrospective audit.
RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency anaemia is a common paediatric problem worldwide, with significant neurodevelopmental morbidity if left untreated. A decrease in the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) can be used as a surrogate marker for detecting early iron deficiency prior to definitive investigation and treatment. An audit cycle was therefore undertaken to evaluate and improve the identification, follow-up and treatment of abnormally low MCV results amongst the paediatric inpatients in an English district general hospital. METHODS: The audit cycle was performed retrospectively over two three-month periods (February to April 2006; September to November 2006), amongst patients aged between one month and 16 years that had full blood counts performed whilst admitted on the paediatric ward. Patients with at least one abnormally low MCV result were identified, and their notes reviewed. We looked for any underlying explanation for the result, adequate documentation of the result as abnormal, and instigation of follow-up or treatment. In-between the two audit periods, the results of the first audit period were presented to the medical staff and suggestions were made for improvements in documentation and follow-up of abnormal results. The z-test was used to test for equality of proportions between the two audit samples. RESULTS: Out of 701 inpatients across both audit periods that had full blood counts, 61 (8.7%) had a low MCV result. Only 15% of patients in each audit period had an identifiable explanation for their low MCV values. Amongst the remaining 85% with either potentially explicable or inexplicable results, there was a significant increase in documentation of results as abnormal from 25% to 91% of cases between the first and second audit periods (p = 0.00 using z-test). However, there was no accompanying increase in the proportion of patients who received follow-up or treatment for their abnormal results. CONCLUSION: Abnormal red cell indices that may indicate iron deficiency are frequently missed amongst paediatric inpatients. Medical staff education and the use of appropriate protocols or pathways could further improve detection and treatment rates in this setting
Sparkle: Hover Feedback with Touchable Electric Arcs
Many finger sensing input devices now support proximity input, enabling users to perform in-air gestures. While near-surface interactions increase the input vocabulary, they lack tactile feedback, making it hard for users to perform gestures or to know when the interaction takes place. Sparkle stimulates the fingertip with touchable electric arcs above a hover sensing device to give users in-air tactile or thermal feedback, sharper and more feelable than acoustic mid-air haptic devices. We present the design of a high voltage resonant transformer with a low-loss soft ferrite core and self-tuning driver circuit, with which we create electric arcs 6 mm in length, and combine this technology with infrared proximity sensing in two proof-of-concept devices with form factor and functionality similar to a button and a touchpad. We provide design guidelines for Sparkle devices and examples of stimuli in application scenarios, and report the results of a user study on the perceived sensations. Sparkle is the first step towards providing a new type of hover feedback, and it does not require users to wear tactile stimulators
Techniques, Tricks and Algorithms for Efficient GPU-Based Processing of Higher Order Hyperbolic PDEs
GPU computing is expected to play an integral part in all modern Exascale
supercomputers. It is also expected that higher order Godunov schemes will make
up about a significant fraction of the application mix on such supercomputers.
It is, therefore, very important to prepare the community of users of higher
order schemes for hyperbolic PDEs for this emerging opportunity. We focus on
three broad and high-impact areas where higher order Godunov schemes are used.
The first area is computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The second is
computational magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) which has an involution constraint
that has to be mimetically preserved. The third is computational
electrodynamics (CED) which has involution constraints and also extremely stiff
source terms. Together, these three diverse uses of higher order Godunov
methodology, cover many of the most important applications areas. In all three
cases, we show that the optimal use of algorithms, techniques and tricks, along
with the use of OpenACC, yields superlative speedups on GPUs! As a bonus, we
find a most remarkable and desirable result: some higher order schemes, with
their larger operations count per zone, show better speedup than lower order
schemes on GPUs. In other words, the GPU is an optimal stratagem for overcoming
the higher computational complexities of higher order schemes! Several avenues
for future improvement have also been identified. A scalability study is
presented for a real-world application using GPUs and comparable numbers of
high-end multicore CPUs. It is found that GPUs offer a substantial performance
benefit over comparable number of CPUs, especially when all the methods
designed in this paper are used.Comment: 73 pages, 17 figure
Chameleon Devices: Investigating More Secure and Discreet Mobile Interactions via Active Camouflaging
Many users value the ability to have quick and frequent sight of their mobiles when in public settings. However, in doing so, they expose themselves to potential risks, ranging from being targets of robbery to the more subtle social losses through being seen to be rude or inattentive to those around them. In nature, some animals can blend into their environments to avoid being eaten or to reduce their impact on the ecosystem around them. Taking inspiration from these evolved systems we investigate the notion of chameleon approaches for mobile interaction design. Our probes were motivated, inspired and refined through extended interactions with people drawn from contexts with differing ranges of security and privacy concerns. Through deployments on users’ own devices, our prototypes show the value of the concept. The encouraging results motivate further research in materials and form factors that can provide more effective automatic plain-sight hiding
JDLED: towards visio-tactile displays based on electrochemical locomotion of liquid-metal Janus droplets
An actuated shape-changing interface with fast response and small pixel size using a liquid material can provide real time tangible interaction with the digital world in physical space. To this end, we demonstrate an interface that displays userdefined patterns dynamically using liquid metal droplets as programmable micro robots on a flat surface. We built a prototype using an array of embedded electrodes and a switching circuit to control the jump of the droplets from electrode to electrode. The actuation and dynamics of the droplets under the finger provides mild tactile feedback to the user. Our demo is the first to show a planar visio-tactile display using liquid metal, and is a first step to make shape-changing physical ephemeral widgets on a tabletop interface
Spontaneous pneumothorax can be associated with TGFBR2 mutation.
TGFBR2 mutations that cause Loeys-Dietz Syndrome can present as pneumothorax. In vitro kinase assays can help confirm pathogenicity of novel variants.SJM is an MRC Senior Clinical FellowThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the European Respiratory Society via http://dx.doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00952-201
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