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Comparative analysis of full arch implant impressions using photogrammetry vs conventional approaches
Get PDFIntroduction: For older patients’ full arch dental implant rehabilitation is a viable solution, eliminating the need for removable of dentures. The registration of implant positions relies on conventional impression materials, involving implant impression posts, open trays, and dental stone models. The restoration of full arch implant-supported prostheses is costly, time-intensive, and inaccurate. Inaccuracies compromise prosthesis passivity, potentially leading to crestal bone loss, and prosthesis or implant failures. This is relevant following full arch dental implant surgery, due to significantly reduced bone volume following vertical alveoloplasty, meaning further revision surgery may not be possible. Aims and objectives: This review compares the accuracy of conventional polyether or polyvinyl siloxane dental implant impressions with commercially available photogrammetry units. It also investigates potential differences in patient or clinician satisfaction. Materials and methods: Three major databases (DoSS, MEDLINE, and EMBASE) were searched through electronically and manually, retrieving articles up to June 6, 2023. MeSH terms and keywords with Boolean connectors were employed, supplemented by a grey literature exploration using Google Scholar. The identified studies underwent screening via abstracts, or full texts when necessary, and final data extraction followed. Results and discussion: Five articles meeting inclusion and exclusion criteria were retrieved, with two in vivo studies and three in vitro studies. These comprised three case-control trials, one controlled clinical trial, and one randomized controlled trial. Concerning the accuracy of photogrammetry, two studies highlighted comparable or superior accuracy compared to
conventional impressions. Two studies concluded that photogrammetry displayed lower accuracy than conventional impressions. One study found no clinically significant deviations between the two methods in terms of implant success or marginal bone loss but did note a significant improvement in patient and clinician outcomes. Conclusion: Photogrammetry impressions is a promising alternative to conventional impressions, showing improved patient and clinician satisfaction while exhibiting comparable or enhanced
accuracy
Writing Borders and Other Barriers in the Era of Climate Crisis: Communities of Engagement
No full textUnderstanding walls, borders, and barriers, not only as physical but also as ontological entities, the essays in this volume explore how they emerge and transform across different geo- and biopolitical contexts. Embarking from intersectional standpoints, and through ecocritical, postcolonial and decolonial lens, inter alia, the essays in this volume explore the power of nationalist ideas that promote borders and the ways through which activists and artists work to challenge, combat, or break them down, often using utopian ideas of post-nationalism or transnationalism. The significance of borders also becomes emphasized in relation to the climate crisis, since climate change also literally alters the physical geography of borders, undermining vulnerable communities worldwide as well as creating schisms between political and economic groups. The malleability of such borders, the threat to them from denier ideology and the vulnerability of those living in these liminal spaces are also key themes in this collection, similarly to the contestation of ideological as well as natural borders and other barriers. Intersectional explorations of these themes include but are not limited to perspectives that focus on race, gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality, which have gained new relevance in the international context of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo activism. Environmental Humanities perspectives are also core in this collection in terms of shedding light on the gathering catastrophe that these border strains presage
Semantic Priming by Task-Irrelevant Speech: Category-Level or Item-Level Processing?
Get PDFRecent studies show that task-irrelevant speech affects subsequent behaviour. For instance, category-exemplar production is primed if those exemplars were previously auditory distractors that accompanied the presentation of visual digits for serial recall (Röer et al., 2017). This study examines semantic organization as a boundary condition for the semantic priming effect. In a between-participants design, sequences of auditory distractors were either semantically organized (eight exemplars from one category) or random (one exemplar from each of eight categories). Semantic priming was measured by comparing production probability of previously encountered words against a matched unencountered set. Prior research indicates that an unexpected categorical change in task-irrelevant speech disrupts performance, suggesting processing of shared categorical membership enhances semantic priming (e.g., Vachon et al., 2020). Consistent with these findings, semantic priming was found when distractor words were semantically organized but was absent with randomly presented exemplars, offering insight into the semantic processing of background sound
Fortification or Biofortification: Complimentary strategies or duplication of effort?
Get PDFMicronutrient deficiencies continue to be a global concern, with the most common deficiencies being vitamin A, iron, zinc and B vitamins (folate and B12). Addressing this requires strategies that are scalable and equitable such that they reach all members of a population irrespective of socioeconomic status and geography. Fortification and biofortification offer potential large-scale solutions, however each have strengths and limitations depending on the context, particularly the cultural and political factors that may create barriers or opportunities for effectiveness. Planning how to target scarce resources for maximum impact requires an in-depth knowledge and understanding of local food systems and market dynamics, alongside strong government policy and legislative support. A food fortification programme was launched in Pakistan in 2016, supported by UK Aid and designed to address the high prevalence of vitamin A, iron and zinc deficiency, particularly in women and children. In the same year the first zinc biofortified variety of wheat, Zincol-2016, was released in Pakistan, supported and developed through the HarvestPlus programme in collaboration with the Pakistan National Agriculture Research Centre. This review explores the challenges faced by fortification and biofortification, initiated independently, (but around the same time) in Pakistan
Professional Support for Children Bereaved by Domestic Homicide in the UK
Get PDFPurpose
Children bereaved by domestic homicide face unique challenges that are likely to require professional interventions. In this study, the theoretical lens of candidacy, which considers the dynamic factors that affect service eligibility and access, is employed to evaluate current service provision in the United Kingdom.
Method
We conducted a mixed methods survey (n = 90) and semi-structured interviews (n = 7) of professionals working in the children and families sector. Thematic analysis was used to interpret qualitative data, while descriptive and parametric statistics were used for the analysis of quantitative data.
Results
Quantitative results showed that a majority of professionals reported that the current service provision is not meeting the specific needs of children bereaved by domestic homicide, and that professionals reported low levels of confidence in working with the topic, regardless of professional background. This article reports on two key themes identified in the qualitative data: unmet needs and the barriers to candidacy, and developing a more effective provision.
Conclusions
Using the theoretical lens of candidacy, this study identified factors which were found to limit children’s access to appropriate services, indicating the need for a specialist service which provides long-term input, support for caregivers, and access to peer-support
The RECOOP Over 50’s Peer-led Buddy Support Service for Older People in Prison: ‘radical help’ as ‘mutual aid’ in the Criminal Justice System?
Get PDFIn this think-piece and position paper we argue that the RECOOP peer-led Buddy support training and management service provides an example of best practice in working with older people in prison which also supports services working within the criminal justice system more generally. It does this by providing a template for ‘radical help’ across all criminal justice services, prefiguring a more democratic criminal justice system based on ‘mutual aid’ (Nicholson, 2019). ‘Radical help’ is about new ways of organising living and growing that have been developed by communities across the UK, with human connection at its heart. When people feel supported by strong human relationships change happens, and when we design new systems that make this sort of collaboration feel simple and easy, people want to join in (Cottam, 2018). In this article we argue that this is exactly what RECOOP Buddies do with older people in prison and that what they do in prison can provide a template for the ‘radical help’ of ‘mutual aid’ across the wider Criminal Justice System
Urban Metaverse Cyberspaces & Blockchain-Enabled Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Authentication With Immersive Devices
Get PDFEnsuring secure and reliable urban metaverse cyberspaces requires addressing two critical challenges, namely, cybersecurity and privacy protection. In the upcoming years, it is anticipated that cybercrime activities will be widespread in this ecosystem, which has trillions of dollars in economic value. This report explores a Blockchain-Facilitated Federated Security-Preserving Deep Learning (BF-FSPDL) authentication and verification method using immersive metaverse devices. Blockchain technology and Federated Learning (FL) are merged not only to eliminate the requirement of a trusted third party for the verification of the authenticity of transactions and immersive actions, but also, to avoid Single Point of Failure (SPoF) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) attacks by detecting the malicious nodes using the majority voting mechanism. The developed approaches in this research have been tested using Motion Capture Suits (MoCaps) in a co-simulation environment with the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The preliminary results prove the viability of employing the proposed approaches in realising the objectives presented in this report. The results suggest that the approaches can prevent impersonation, identity theft, and theft of credentials or avatars promptly before any transactions have been executed. The proposed system will be tested with a larger number of nodes involving the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism using several other metaverse immersive devices as future work
A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Productivity and Performance in Industry 5.0: A Built Environment Perspective
Get PDFThe construction industry in most countries is an early indicator of the nation’s economic health. When things are buoyant and the construction market is booming, it indicates the state of the viability of the country’s economic position. The model used in measuring productivity since WWII (e.g., labour productivity, GDP per capita, multifactor productivity) does not seem suitable for the emerging industry 5.0 (I5.0), considering the prevailing factors within the Built Environment (BE). These metrics are optimised over the years to provide detailed and comprehensive insights into productivity trends and drivers, which lacks necessary attributes to measure productivity and performance in the context of I5.0 and the emerging future world. This paper employs a Scientometric analysis to understand the prevailing factors within the identified body of knowledge of measuring productivity in the BE. This is fed into the Cobb-Douglas function to develop a conceptual framework that redefines productivity measurement for the emerging I5.0 within the BE context. Through these methods, we identify key criteria for measuring productivity holistically, considering the intertwined effects of technological innovation, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and circular economic (CE) principles on construction industry performance. Our findings underscore the limitations of conventional metrics when applied to I5.0, highlighting the need for new units of analysis to facilitate meaningful improvements. This research proposes an extended productivity measure matrix that aligns with sustainable development, human-centric systems, and resilience-building initiatives, offering a pathway for more effective monitoring and enhancing productivity in the built environment
Multi-spacecraft observations of the decay phase of solar energetic particle events
Get PDFontext. The parameters of solar energetic particle (SEP) event profiles such as the onset time and peak time have been researched extensively to obtain information on the acceleration and transport of SEPs. The corotation of particle-filled magnetic flux tubes with the Sun is generally thought to play a minor role in determining intensity profiles. However recent simulations have suggested that corotation affects the SEP decay phases and depends on the location of the observer with respect to the active region associated with the event.
Aims. We aim to determine whether signatures of corotation are present in observations of the decay phases of SEP events, and we study the dependence of the parameters of the decay phase on the properties of the flares and coronal mass ejections associated with the events.
Methods. We analysed multi-spacecraft observations of SEP intensity profiles from 11 events between 2020 and 2022 using data from Solar Orbiter, PSP, STEREO-A, and SOHO. We determined the decay-time constant, τ, in three energy channels; electrons ∼ 1 MeV, protons ∼ 25 MeV, and protons ∼ 60 MeV. We studied the dependence of τ on the longitudinal separation, Δϕ, between the source of the active region and the spacecraft magnetic footpoint on the Sun.
Results. Individual events show a tendency for the decay-time constant to decrease with increasing Δϕ. This agrees with test particle simulations. The magnitude of the event as measured through the intensity of the associated flare and SEP peak flux affects the measured τ values and likely is the cause of the observed large inter-event variability together with the varying solar wind and the conditions in the interplanetary magnetic field.
Conclusions. We conclude that corotation affects decay phase of an SEP event and should be included in future simulations and interpretations of these events
Evaluating the environmental sustainability of AI in radiology: a systematic review of current practice
Get PDFPurpose: Data- and energy-heavy artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly applied in radiology, often without consideration of potential environmental consequences. We aimed to assess current practice in evaluating environmental sustainability (ES) impacts of AI-enabled clinical pathways in radiology.
Methods: We searched MEDLINE and Embase on 5 November 2024 for clinical radiology studies that used AI to aid in radiological diagnosis or intervention and discussed ES impacts. We included peer-reviewed, English-language studies published from 2015 onwards. Our primary outcome was any quantitative reporting of ES impacts (including carbon emissions, energy/water/mineral usage, waste generation/disposal and impacts on material environments), and our secondary outcome was any within-text qualitative discussion of ES impacts. For quantitative outcomes we conducted synthesis without meta-analysis based on effect size, with our secondary outcome synthesised narratively. The study was pre-registered with PROSPERO: CRD42024601818.
Results: Of 4,365 citations screened, 16 met our inclusion criteria. 6 reported quantitative ES outcomes, and 13 included qualitative discussion of ES. When applied to the same tasks, algorithms designed to be ‘lightweight’ (meaning less computationally intensive) generated from 2.19 to 17.15 times less carbon emissions (median 7.81, 16 datapoints) and from 1.60 to 751.62 times less energy consumption (median 3.22, 16 datapoints) compared with state-of-the-art alternatives, while maintaining similar or improved clinical performance. No studies compared ES outcomes for an AI-enabled pathway versus standard of care, and 70% of studies reporting only on our secondary outcome included just one sentence on sustainability. All included studies were published within the past four years, with most (75%) from 2023/24.
Conclusion: Despite increasing concern about the climate impacts of AI, environmental outcomes are rarely measured within evaluations of AI-enabled clinical pathways in radiology. However, evidence suggests designing AI products with sustainability in mind can substantially reduce their carbon footprint. Environmental sustainability should be better integrated into AI evaluation and procurement to ensure costs and benefits for both climate and health are fully considered