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Biocompatible dispersants for carbon nanomaterials
No full textCarbon nanomaterials (CNMs) are a fascinating class of materials that have gained considerable interest in recent years. Their favourable biocompatibility, combined with unique chemical and mechanical properties, has attracted scientists from various disciplines. A significant hurdle in their deployment in biomedical applications is their hydrophobicity in their pristine form. This review surveys and discusses existing non-covalent methods of functionalising CNMs with biocompatible dispersants to facilitate their incorporation into aqueous solutions. Different types of dispersants will be examined and compared as well as the factors affecting their efficiency. This work seeks to provide a compilation of the various methods employed in producing biocompatible CNM dispersions
Understanding personalised auditory-visual associations in multi-modal interactions
No full textCan we sharpen our auditory and visual senses and better understand the relationship between these modalities to benefit our interactions in human-computer interfaces? This research paper proposes a framework to understand auditory-visual associations and explore the impact of emotion, personality, age and gender in understanding information from both modalities. Studies into the areas of emotion and personality as well as their association with the auditory and visual senses have increased within the fields of psychology, neuroscience, affective computing and human-computer interaction (HCI). From a HCI perspective, advances in technologies and machine learning techniques provide a new way to understand people and to develop systems where computers work along side people to help develop efficient interactions and clearer perceptions of our environment. The proposed framework will be developed along side a personalised auditory-visual interface that can be used to provide intelligent interactions with users that can help them learn from efficient associations between their senses. This research can be used to create personalised auditory-visual-emotion-personality profiles that can be use in adaptive musical teaching platforms, as well as mental health and wellness applications for more personalised care programs
Planar body-mounted sensors for electromagnetic tracking
No full textElectromagnetic tracking is a safe, reliable, and cost-effective method to track medical instruments in image-guided surgical navigation. However, patient motion and magnetic field distortions heavily impact the accuracy of tracked position and orientation. The use of redundant magnetic sensors can help to map and mitigate for patient movements and magnetic field distortions within the tracking region. We propose a planar inductive sensor design, printed on PCB and embedded into medical patches. The main advantage is the high repeatability and the cost benefit of using mass PCB manufacturing processes. The article presents new operative formulas for electromagnetic tracking of planar coils on the centimetre scale. The full magnetic analytical model is based on the mutual inductance between coils which can be approximated as being composed by straight conductive filaments. The full model is used to perform accurate system simulations and to assess the accuracy of faster simplified magnetic models, which are necessary to achieve real-time tracking in medical applications
Temperature induced diameter variation of silicon nanowires via a liquid–solid phase transition in the Zn seed
No full textThe full text of this article will not be available in ULIR until the embargo expires on the 01/11/2022Herein, we demonstrate the ability of Zn to catalyze the growth of Si nanowires via reaction temperature determined, vapour–liquid–solid (VLS) or vapour–solid–solid (VSS) growth mechanisms. This is the first reported use of a type B catalyst to grow Si nanowires via the VSS mechanism to our knowledge whereby the highly faceted Zn seeds resulted in an increased NW diameter. This was used to induce diameter variations along the axial length of individual nanowires by transitioning between VLS and VSS growth
Comment on: Impact of serum uric acid on renal function after bariatric surgery: a retrospective study
No full textObesity is an independent risk factor for renal functional decline in people with chronic kidney disease and is highly prevalent among people with the leading cause of chronic kidney disease, diabetic kidney disease [1]. Intentional weight loss strategies hold promise as a means of arresting progressive renal functional decline in diabetic kidney disease [2]. Optimization of renal outcomes after metabolic surgery centers on blood pressure and glycemic control, as well as addressing proteinuria. The role of uric acid–lowering in this setting is controversial. Purines (adenine, guanine) from nucleic acids (RNA, DNA) are metabolized to xanthine and hypoxanthine, and subsequently converted to uric acid by xanthine oxidase [3]. Uric acid is a nitrogenous waste product, which is excreted via the urine. Epidemiologic studies highlight a relationship between hyperuricemia and renal functional decline, proteinuria, and cardiovascular disease [4]. Whether serum uric acid plays a causal role in chronic kidney disease progression or is simply a biomarker of kidney function remains a controversial question, which is currently being addressed by placebo-controlled, randomized controlled studies, such as the PERL study in which people with diabetic kidney disease and hyperuricemia are randomized to uric acid–lowering therapy or placebo [5]. The present study by Hung et al. [6] adds to the observational evidence implicating uric acid as a marker of adverse renal outcomes and, importantly, is the first study to examine this phenomenon in patients with and without baseline chronic kidney disease after metabolic surgery
Can Metabolic Surgery Be Used to Improve Access to and Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation?
No full textObesity is common in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) (1) and associated with a higher risk of kidney allograft complications (2); thus, BMIs 35 kg/m2 and 40 kg/m2 are generally considered relative and absolute contraindications to kidney transplantation (2). Metabolic surgery improves renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes (3) and diabetes is an important risk factor for renal functional decline after kidney transplantation, raising the possibility that metabolic surgery may improve graft survival and mortality in this setting (2). An understanding of the efficacy and safety of metabolic surgery in people with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and in kidney transplant recipients is required.Health Research BoardWellcome Trus
Analysis of sintered wicked heat pipes for space constrained multiple component cooling
No full textContemporary electronic cooling applications can feature
complex heat pipe configurations with multiple heat sources (MHS),
and one or more bends in various locations to meet physical
constraints. It is typically understood that implementing a bend or
adding MHS to a heat pipe that was tested for a straight single heat
source (SHS) heat pipe can degrade thermal performance. However,
the severity of combining the two phenomenon and the effects of
changing the location of a bend in a MHS heat pipe are unknown. In
this context, this study presents an experimental investigation of the
thermal performance of four configurations for 400 mm long, 6 mm
diameter; cylindrical copper sintered heat pipes, where small, heated
copper saddles are configured as evaporators: a pipe with a SHS; a
pipe with MHS; an MHS heat pipe with an increasing bend angle
from 0° – 90°; and an MHS heat pipe where the location of a 90° bend
is moved along the axis. The results demonstrate that a bent MHS
heat pipe does not act in a similar manner to a conventional SHS heat
pipe or a straight MHS heat pipe. It was found that the thermal
resistance increases by up to 65% when the configuration is changed
from SHS to MHS, and bend angle is found to increase the resistance
by a further 15-65%. For the MHS cases, bend location induces
resistance increases of ~5-18%. Furthermore, the optimum bend
location for the MHS case is found to be adjacent to the middle
evaporator (of five), for cases in which the heat load is evenly
distributed before and after the bend. The results suggest that the
combination of MHS, bend angle and bend location have unique
effects on the fluid transport mechanisms inside the heat pipe and,
thus, thermal performance changes between bend location
configurations. Therefore, it is concluded that a bent MHS heat pipe
configuration should not be designed on the basis of the thermal
characteristics for straight SHS heat pipes
Effect of storage, food processing and novel extraction technologies on onions flavonoid content: A review
No full textOnions play an important part in the daily diet for most populations around the world owing to their nutritional composition and their unique capacity to naturally flavor dishes. Onions contain quercetin and its derivatives - the predominant flavonoid in onions that exert a great contribution to the effective bioactive properties of onion, including its derived products. The present paper comprehensively reviewed flavonoids (with a specific focus on quercetin in onions): their chemical composition, distribution, bioactivities in onion, and impacting factors with a focus on how they can be affected by various post-harvest conditions (storage and food processing). In addition, research on the extraction of flavonoid compounds from onions using a number of novel technologies was also reviewed
The rise and fall of collective identity: Understanding antecedents and inhibitors of social identification in distributed teams
No full textThe diverse backgrounds of distributed team members can pose unique challenges during decision-making processes. Notable of these is the gradual emergence of social identities, where individuals seek to form new social groupings within the temporal context of a project. However, our understanding of social identity within distributed teams remains nascent. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and in-depth case study findings, we investigate the impact of social identity on decision-making in a distributed healthcare systems development team. Contrary to SIT, we see the dissolution of distinct social groupings and rise of individualism within the project. Based on our findings, we discover five inhibitors which can impede social identification in distributed teams: role ambiguity, absence of a collective vision, transfer of ownership, lack of shared history, and incompatible personalities. We extend SIT to include antecedents of collective identities (e.g. distinctiveness, prestige, salience of out-group), as well as inhibitors which foster individualism