What is “inspiration porn” on social media and how does it effect [sic] deaf people and communities?

As a deaf person situated firmly in hearing culture, I face ableism and audism on a regular basis. I wanted to explore the ableist dynamics and desire to represent deafness and hearing devices in an audio centric way, and how this ultimately impacts all of society not just those who are deaf. This led to the topic of Inspiration Porn, which is the objectification of disabled people portrayed as ‘overcoming’ their disability and I wanted to look at this concept in the context of deaf Inspiration Porn on social media. The case study clips selected for textual analyses were both posted on Facebook and I use them as discussion points within the questionnaires and interviews. I used Grounded Theory to analyse the qualitative data collected on the lived experiences of Deaf, deaf and hearing participants. By combining all these data sets with a review of key historical events and contemporary views of deafness in the digital era, I was able to find the roots of many issues and why they have persisted. The result of this study was that the overall impact on society was profoundly negative and social media in this context does not improve how deafness is viewed. Recommended areas for further research are included to build upon this study with a view to include a wider diversity of deaf people or specific communities and how they interact with Inspiration Porn content

Optimization of the lay-out of a farm of wave energy converters in the North Sea: analysis of wave power resources, wake effects, production and cost

Wave energy holds a lot of possibilities, as oceans contain an infinite amount of energy. In the past many concepts for wave power conversion were invented and tested. A Wave Energy Converter (WEC) converts the kinetic and/or potential energy of waves into electricity. Thus far, none of the concepts for wave power conversion has reached a maturity that makes it economic exploitable due to several technological and non-technological barriers. As the rated power of a single WEC is rather small, several WECs need to be arranged in a geometric configuration or in a `farm'. WECs in a farm are partly absorbing and partly redistributing the incident wave power. The power produced by each individual WEC in the farm is affected by the presence of its neighbouring WECs. The current knowledge about the redistribution of energy inside and behind a farm of WECs is rather limited. Both the power production and cost of a farm are dependent on the lay-out of the farm. So far, most studies concentrate on the optimization of a single WEC, rather than optimizing a complete farm. To develop a commercial technology, the impact of arranging WECs in a farm has to be investigated as well. The optimization of the lay-out of a farm of WECs in the North Sea is the focus of this PhD research. The wave power resources and possible locations for the deployment of a farm of WECs in the North Sea are quantified in a first part of this PhD research. In this PhD work an optimal balance between power production and cost of a farm of WECs is aimed at. Therefore in a second part the wake effects behind a farm of WECs are studied in a time-dependent mild-slope wave propagation model MILDwave, developed at Ghent University. Finally the cost of a farm is discussed in a third part of this PhD work. Moreover an investment analysis of the deployment of a farm of WECs in the southern North Sea is presented

Optimization of Donor-Acceptor Substitution for Large Optical Non-linearities in Small Organic Molecules

The determination of the wavelength dependence of the complex third-order polarizability of organic molecules delivers information on the mechanisms of resonance enhancement and allows for comparison of the two-photon absorption cross sections on their peak to the off-resonant third-order polarizabilities. The experimental technique of degenerate four-wave mixing offers several advantages over other comparable techniques, including sensitivity, background-free signal, automatization, and information on excited state lifetimes. This work uses experimental data, computational chemistry, and analysis of the relevant terms in the sum-over-states quantum mechanics expression to analyze the significant contributions to the third-order polarizability, mechanisms of resonance enhancement, and comparison of the off resonant values, to peak resonant values. This information provides insight to the structure-property relationships for the third-order polarizability, allows for comparison to fundamental limits, and assessment of the potential for molecules to form solid state materials with a large third-order susceptibility.The use of donor-acceptor (D/A) substitution allows for the realization of small molecules with large third-order polarizabilities. However, in contrast to symmetric non-D/A oligomers that have third-order polarizabilities which scale by a power law as the molecule is made larger, D/A substituted molecules only scale up to a certain length, beyond which the molecule is over-extended and the third-order polarizability does not increase further. This work will analyze the scaling of non-D/A and D/A substituted molecules, determine the optimum length for D/A substituted molecules, and explain the physics of the saturation

Quantitative pretreatment VOI analysis of liver metastases 99mTc-MAA SPECT/CT and FDG PET/CT in relation with treatment response to SIRT

Using quantitive VOI analysis, the percentage Tc-99m-MAA uptake and SUVmax and mean values of liver metastases obtained prior to SIRT were related to treatment response using both a lesion-based and clinical dichotomous approach. Based on the VOI % of Tc-99m-MAA activity, the estimated Y-90-microspheres activity/cc (MBq/cc) was calculated from the effective dose injected. Baseline VOI FDG PET SUVmean and max values and estimated MBq/cc values were related to treatment response using a lesion-based approach (% change in SUVmean >= 50%) and a clinical dichotomous approach. Fifteen treatment sessions were analyzed (13 patients). Using the lesion-based approach (12 treatment sessions) 40 lesions responded and 37 did not. SUVmax and mean values proved significantly different between non-responding and responding lesions; 18:6 (SD 10.8) versus 13.5 (SD 8.4) for SUVmax (p = 0.02) and 11.4 (SD 3.8) versus 6.3 (SD 4.5) for SUVmean (p = 0.002). Using the clinical dichotomous approach (15 treatment sessions / 11 responding), 91 lesions were analyzed; 57 responded. VOI volumes and estimated Y-90-loaded glass microspheres activity (MBq/cc) did not differ between responders and non responders; 24 cc (SD 27) versus 21 cc (SD 21 cc) (p = 0.4) and 1.95 MBq/cc (SD 1.1 MBq/cc) versus 1.90 MB/cc (SD 2.7 MBq/cc) (p = 0.92). On the contrary, SUVmax and mean values proved significantly different between responders and non-responders; 23.7 (SD 9.8) versus 9.4 (SD 3.8) for SUVmax (p = 0.0001) and 13.1 (SD 8.1) versus 4.9 (SD 1.4) for SUVmean. Conclusion: These findings suggest that in patients presenting with high baseline SUVmax and mean values, the administration of higher activities or alternatively, other potentially more useful treatment options might be considered

Waves in the North Sea: powering our future?

Ocean waves contain huge amounts of energy which almost haven’t been exploited up to now. Along the West European coastline the wave power resource is varying between 30 and 70kW/m crest length (Thorpe, 1999). These huge amounts of wave power increase the potential energy capture on the one hand but hamper installation on theother hand. Furthermore the survivability of conversion systems could be in danger in these severe wave conditions.The wave climate in the North Sea is less aggressive due to the sheltering effect of Great Britain. The wave power resource and potential areas for installation of a farm of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) in the North Sea will be discussed during the presentation.Wave energy is a renewable energy type that is becoming more and more important. Many conversion principles have been invented and are currently being developed, tested and improved. Research on power optimization, structural design, etc. is going on while interest of private investors is increasing.Although many concepts have been invented, only a limited number of systems have already been built in prototype size and have experienced real sea trials. Even fewer have reached a commercial stage. Among them is the Pelamis the converter which is probably most ahead of the others. This system, sometimes called ‘sea snake’ consists of four hinging cylinders that produce electricity via a hydraulic intermediate stage. The Portuguese consortium Enersis will shortly install three units of 750kW each in front of the Portuguese coast. Some other systems that have experienced sea trials - mostly at scaled size - are Wave Dragon, FO³, Wave Star, AquaBuOY, OPT Power Buoy, Pico power plant, Limpet device,… Some of these systems will be treated more in detail during the presentation

Optimal pattern of interacting wave power devices

The contribution of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) to the renewable energy supply is continuously rising. To produce a considerable amount of electricity, wave power devices or WECs need to be placed in a farm.In a farm WECs interact and the amount of produced electricity is affected to a certain extent, depending on the lay-out of the farm. In order to find the optimal lay-out WECs are studied in a numerical mild-slope type model, generally used for wave propagation in coastal applications. The existing model is adapted by simulating the energy extraction of a WEC through sponge layers.The adjusted model can be used to study the optimal lay-out and electricity production of a farm

Early biomarkers related to secondary primary cancer risk in radiotherapy treated prostate cancer patients: IMRT versus IMAT

AbstractPurposeTo investigate whether rotational techniques (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy – VMAT) are associated with a higher risk for secondary primary malignancies compared to step-and-shoot Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (ss-IMRT). To this end, radiation therapy (RT) induced DNA double-strand-breaks and the resulting chromosomal damage were assessed in peripheral blood T-lymphocytes of prostate cancer (PCa) patients applying γH2AX foci and G0 micronucleus (MN) assays.Methods and materialsThe study comprised 33PCa patients. A blood sample was taken before start of therapy and after the 1st and 3rd RT fraction to determine respectively the RT-induced γH2AX foci and MN. The equivalent total body dose (DETB) was calculated based on treatment planning data.ResultsA linear dose response was obtained for γH2AX foci yields versus DETB while MN showed a linear-quadratic dose response. Patients treated with large volume (LV) VMAT show a significantly higher level of induced γH2AX foci and MN compared to IMRT and small volume (SV) VMAT (p<0.01). Assuming a linear-quadratic relationship, a satisfactory correlation was found between both endpoints (R2 0.86).ConclusionsBiomarker responses were governed by dose and irradiated volume of normal tissues. No significant differences between IMRT and rotational therapy inherent to the technique itself were observed

Bottom slamming on heaving point absorber wave energy devices

Oscillating point absorber buoys may rise out of the water and be subjected to bottom slamming upon re-entering the water. Numerical simulations are performed to estimate the power absorption, the impact velocities and the corresponding slamming forces for various slamming constraints. Three buoy shapes are considered: a hemisphere and two conical shapes with deadrise angles of 30 and 45, with a waterline diameter of 5 m. The simulations indicate that the risk of rising out of the water is largely dependent on the buoy draft and sea state. Although associated with power losses, emergence occurrence probabilities can be significantly reduced by adapting the control parameters. The magnitude of the slamming load is severely influenced by the buoy shape. The ratio between the peak impact load on the hemisphere and that on the 45 cone is approximately 2, whereas the power absorption is only 4-8% higher for the 45° cone. This work illustrates the need to include slamming considerations aside from power absorption criteria in the buoy shape design process and the control strategy