206 research outputs found
Peropyrrhicia massaiae De Bormans 1881
No full textPeropyrrhicia massaiae (De Bormans, 1881) http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:8518 Figure 22 Measurements. See Table 3. Distribution. Endemic to Ethiopia. Remarks. According to Ragge (1980) P. scotti Uvarov, 1934 is synonymous with P. massaiae. De Bormans (1881) described the male of P. massaiae from Let Marefià (Ethiopia), a locality near Ankober, 140 km NE of Addis Ababa, ca. 2600 m altitude, while the type of P. s c ot t i was collected between Addis Ababa and Jem-Jem, ca. 2400 m, ca. 175 km SW of Let Marefià. According to De Bormans (1881) the male is characterized by "supra-genital plate wide, cylindrical, longer than cerci, up-curved, with darkened and cut apex. Subgenital plate green, wide, with nearly square base, serrated apex and triangularly excised from apical angles into two lobes, closed to apex, semicircularly up-curved, before the apex provided by a small internal obtuse tooth, with cylindrical base, and compressed by a tooth, as in gen. Pyrrhicia Stål " (translated from Latin). The type of P. massaiae (originally preserved in alcohol at the MSNG) was lost; two spine-like lateral processes depart from the tenth abdominal tergite of P. scotti and P. cooperi, not mentioned in the description of P. massaiae (Uvarov 1934, pers. obs.). However, Ragge (1980) interpreted the sentence of De Bormans (1881) "apicem versus dente parvo interno, obtuso instructos" as the small internal tubercles that occur on the posterior processes of the subgenital plate in P. s c ot t i, but not in P. cooperi, and proposed the synonymy above reported. However, we consider P. scotti 's characters to be sufficiently different to separate it from massaiae. None of the specimens examined by us fit the description of De Bormans (1881).Published as part of Felix, Rob P. W. H. & Massa, Bruno, 2016, Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia, pp. 1-59 in Zootaxa 4189 (1) on pages 25-27, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4189.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/16563
Peropyrrhicia antinorii De Bormans 1881
No full textPeropyrrhicia antinorii (De Bormans, 1881) http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid: Orthoptera.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:8526 Figures 12, 18–22 Material examined. ETHIOPIA: Shewa, Holeta (2400 m), 21.X.1973, (1Ƌ, 1♀) (BMPC). Distribution. Endemic to Ethiopia. Taxonomy. De Bormans (1881) described the species based on a female, collected in the Shewa province, with the following characters: Subgenital plate short, wide, rectangular, hind margin widely and deeply triangularly excised, in the middle just raised (translated from Latin). The type specimen, originally preserved in alcohol at the MSNG, has been lost during World War II. We assume Ragge (1980) misinterpreted the species description of P. antinorii. He examined a series of females of which the subgenital plate had broadly divergent lobes, as depicted in Figure 67 in Ragge (1980). He considered the species description of P. antinorii by De Bormans (1881) (see above) to fit to the shape of the subgenital plate of these females. Ragge’s females were collected at the same location as the holotype of P. cooperi, described by Uvarov (1934) based on three males from Jem-Jem Forest, ca. 65 km W of Addis Ababa. This is probably the reason he considered P. cooperi as a synonym of P. antinorii. We examined a male and a female specimen of a Peropyrrhicia collected at Holeta, ca. 30 km W of Addis Ababa. The male fits to the type description of P. cooperi, with some differences. However, the subgenital plate of the female is very different than that of the females studied by Ragge to be P. antinorii, collected at Mt. Damota and depicted in Figure 67 in Ragge (1980). The lateral margins of our female specimen from Holeta are divergent instead of convergent. We interpret De Bormans’ (1881) species description differently than Ragge did, and assume that it perfectly fits to the shape of the subgenital plate of our female specimen from Holeta, in difference to that of the Mt. Damota specimen. This means the male from Holeta is the first known male specimen of P. antinorii. It would mean furthermore, that the female specimen collected at Mt. Damota, and the one used for the drawing of Ragge, do not belong to P. antinorii, but probably to P. cooperi, since those females were collected at the same site as the male holotype of P. cooperi. This also means that P. cooperi indeed is a valid species. Characters of the species. Description of the male: Pronotum saddle-shaped, tegmina longer than pronotum, not exceeding the 3rd abdominal tergite, their apical external angle very slightly less than 90°, rounded (Figure 12). Fore femora may have a single small black spine on each sub-apical ventral margin, mid femora unarmed, hind femora with 4–5 outer and 3–4 inner black spines on ventral margins. First and 2nd antennal segment black below, others blackish with yellow rings at the base. Appendage of 10th tergite widened towards the apex, which is more or less straight with acute lateral angles; one stout spine is present underneath each margin of the appendage base. At the base of the appendage, before the spine there is the 9th tergite, as one stout inflated extrusion (considered by Uvarov 1934 as supra-anal plate), that ends with two ovoid apices below the above-mentioned spine. The base of the subgenital plate is concave (Figures 18–21). Female. Same characters as the male, with the following differences. Pronotum not saddle-shaped, tegmina very reduced, lateral and not overlapped, just reaching the 2nd tergite, their apical external angle about 45°, rounded (Figure 12). The ovipositor of this species, together with that of P. cooperi, P. s c ot t i and P. m a cu l a t a, is more gently upcurved (Figure 22), compared to other Ethiopian species treated here. It has small fine denticles at both upper and lower apices. Subgenital plate with a wide base, converging apically and ending with a wide concavity. At the center of the plate a longitudinal keel is evident (Figure 22). Measurements. See Table 3. Distribution. According to Ragge (1980) the distribution of this species extends from Shewa province down to the region of Lake Abaya in the extreme north of Sidamo province, but he included also P. cooperi. Thus, actually P. antinorii is known only from the Shewa province.Published as part of Felix, Rob P. W. H. & Massa, Bruno, 2016, Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia, pp. 1-59 in Zootaxa 4189 (1) on pages 14-17, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4189.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/16563
17th annual activity report of the Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health Protection at Work 1992. COM (93) 201 final, 13 May 1993
No full textPerformance and Complexity Co-evaluation of the Advanced Video Coding Standard for Cost-Effective Multimedia Communications
No full text The advanced video codec (AVC) standard, recently defined by a joint video team (JVT) of ITU-T and ISO/IEC, is introduced in this paper together with its performance and complexity co-evaluation. While the basic framework is similar to the motion-compensated hybrid scheme of previous video coding standards, additional tools improve the compression efficiency at the expense of an increased implementation cost. As a first step to bridge the gap between the algorithmic design of a complex multimedia system and its cost-effective realization, a high-level co-evaluation approach is proposed and applied to a real-life AVC design. An exhaustive analysis of the codec compression efficiency versus complexity (memory and computational costs) project space is carried out at the early algorithmic design phase. If all new coding features are used, the improved AVC compression efficiency (up to 50% compared to current video coding technology) comes with a complexity increase of a factor 2 for the decoder and larger than one order of magnitude for the encoder. This represents a challenge for resource-constrained multimedia systems such as wireless devices or high-volume consumer electronics. The analysis also highlights important properties of the AVC framework allowing for complexity reduction at the high system level: when combining the new coding features, the implementation complexity accumulates, while the global compression efficiency saturates. Thus, a proper use of the AVC tools maintains the same performance as the most complex configuration while considerably reducing complexity. The reported results provide inputs to assist the profile definition in the standard, highlight the AVC bottlenecks, and select optimal trade-offs between algorithmic performance and complexity.</p
(18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT for staging intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer patients before radical prostatectomy: a pilot study
No full textBACKGROUND: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) using radiotracers that bind to the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is mainly used in biochemical recurring prostate cancer. The aim of our study was to assess the usefulness of (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT for local and nodal staging in patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer (PCa) prior to radical prostatectomy, as compared to conventional imaging techniques. METHODS: We enrolled a total of 10 patients with intermediate- and high-risk PCa diagnosed by multiparametric-MRI followed by systematic and targeted biopsies, eligible for radical prostatectomy with extended lymph node dissection. Clinical team was blind to the results of the pre-surgery (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT at times of clinical decision and surgery. One month post-surgery, 18F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT was repeated and the results of both scans were unblinded. A third (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT could be acquired at a later time point depending on PSA progression. RESULTS: All pre-surgery (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT was positive in the prostatic region, while MRI was negative in the prostate in one patient. We also detected positive pelvic lymph nodes in two patients (one high-risk, one intermediate-risk PCa) on pre-surgery and post-surgery (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT. No positive pelvic lymph nodes were reported on pre-surgical CT and MRI. (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT detected bladder involvement in one patient and seminal vesicles involvement in two patients; this malignant extension was undetected by the conventional imaging techniques. SUVmax in prostate lesions had an average value of 11.51 (range 6.90–21.49). SUVmean in prostate lesions had an average value of 7.59 (range 5.26–14.02). CONCLUSION: This pilot study indicates that pre-surgery (18)F-JK-PSMA-7 PET/CT provides valuable information in intermediate- and high-risk PCa, for surgery planning with curative intent
Fully printed, stretchable and wearable bioimpedance sensor on textiles for tomography
No full textElectrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive, real-time, continuous imaging technique that has multiple applications in health care. EIT is a realizable technique for radiation-free medical imaging ranging from real-time monitoring of bone fracture repair to lung functioning. This work explores the prospect of printing a wearable bioimpedance sensor on textiles for EIT imaging. Screen printing and stencil printing were applied to fabricate the sensor on the textile substrate and the imaging was carried out with the worn sensor on the human body. The first part of this work focuses on developing a flexible textile sensor in the form of a bracelet to obtain cross-sectional images of the forearm that unravel bone features like shape, size and position. However, body parts such as the thorax have added complexities due to their constantly varying perimeter and uneven shape. It is a significant prerequisite for the wearable sensors to apply to dynamic body parts where irregular shape and continuous volume variations occur. The second part of the paper therefore addresses the fabrication and testing of a stretchable textile-based sensor to address such instances of body dynamicity. The proposed stretchable sensor, worn on the thorax, demonstrates the feasibility of imaging such an uneven and dynamic body part. Although the EIT images are inherently attributed to low resolution, this work shows the prospect of wearable imaging applications in health monitoring. Apart from demonstrating the printed sensor for EIT imaging, this paper shows the image rendering quality dependency over the frequency of the signal and the number of electrodes. This work could initiate further research on wearable EIT based health monitoring devices for real-life scenarios.This work is funded by the BIOMAT project which is carried out under Interreg V-A grensregio Vlaanderen - Nederland and is supported by the European Union and The European Regional Development Fund and with financial support of province of Limburg - Belgium. The authors would like to thank Professor Jan D'Haen from Hasselt University for providing SEM images.Deferme, W (corresponding author), Hasselt Univ, Inst Mat Res IMO IMOMEC 1, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium ; IMEC VZW, Div IMOMEC, Wetenschapspk 1, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium.
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Modelonderzoek slibscherm Botlekhaven: Krachtsbepaling bevestigingskoorden drijvers
No full textIn de havenmond van de Rotterdamse Botlekhaven is bij wijze van proef een slibscherm geplaatst om aanslibbing van het havenbekken tegen te gaan. De schade aan het slibscherm en de drijvers, die het omhoog houden, was enorm ten gevolge van het passeren van diep stekende schepen. In opdracht van de projectgroep 'slibscherm' ,(een onderdeel van de commissie Minimalisering van de Kosten van het Onderhoudsbaggerwerk (MKO) ), van het Ingenieursbureau Havenwerken, Gemeentewerken Rotterdam is modelonderzoek gedaan in het Laboratorium voor Vloeistofmechanica, Afdeling der Civiele Techniek, TH Delft. Dit modelonderzoek is gericht op het meten van de optredende krachten in de bevestigingskoorden van de drijvers, bij een scheepsschroefpassage over het slibscherm. De krachten blijken van zeer korte duur te zijn, namelijk 5 tot 50 ms; De gemiddelde grootte is 100 kN en er komen maxima voor tot 600 kN, voor de zwaarst getroffen drijver. Deze waarden treden op bij een vaarsn~lheid van 0,6 m/s, een toerental van 50 omw/min en een schroefashoogte ten opzichte van de bodem van 6 m (prototypewaarden). In het model is de scheepsromp geheel buiten beschouwing gelaten. De voornaamste parameters, die gevarieerd zijn, zijn de schroefashoogte ten opzichte van de bodem en het toerental van de schroef. Daarnaast zijn nog gevoeligheidsonderzoeken gedaan van verschillende modelonderdelen zoals de elastische vervormbaarheid van de drijvers en de rek van de bevestigingskoorden van de drijvers.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience
Selective targeting of NOTCH-1 for therapeutic purposes in xenograft models of T-acute lymphoblastic leukemia
No full textT-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an heterogeneous disease, characterized by several genetic alterations and polymorphic clinical features both in children and adults. The Notch pathway, an evolutionary conserved pathway involved in many biological processes including T cell differentiation, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of this disease. Notably, about 50-55% of T-ALL samples show increased Notch1 activity, due to mutations in NOTCH1 or FBW7 genes. Among T-ALL patients, only 70-80% of children and 40% of adults reach long-term remission, therefore new therapeutic approaches are required. Here, we investigated the biologic and therapeutic effects of a human Notch1-specific neutralizing antibody in xenograft models of pediatric T-ALL, obtained from patients with different clinical features and NOTCH1/FBW7 mutational status. We demonstrated that anti-Notch1 treatment greatly delayed engraftment of T-ALL cells bearing NOTCH1/FBW7 mutations, including samples derived from relapsed and clinically difficult-to-treat patients. In these xenografts we observed increased levels of apoptosis, decreased proliferation of leukemic cells and a marked inhibitory effects on Notch transcriptional profile. Moreover, modulation of T-ALL cells metabolism was detected following anti-Notch1 therapy. Serial transplantation experiments suggested that anti-Notch1 therapy could compromise leukemia initiating cell functions and a preliminary experiment showed that resistance may arise in a regimen of continuous administration of anti-Notch1 mAb. Finally, we demonstrated that combination of anti-Notch1 and dexamethasone – a leading drug in T-ALL treatment - could further improve therapeutic effect.
Altogether these results indicate that NOTCH1/FBW7 mutations identify suitable candidates for Notch targeted therapy and highlight the potential of Notch target genes and CD7 expression as candidate predictive markers of response to anti-Notch1 therapy
Thaking things further in the SPM journey: Creating the new journey into Strategic Portfolio Managment and successful implementation through new tool design for useability
No full textOrganisations have a lot of trouble with managing their portfolio.The portfolio is the set of projects the company is currently running. The consultancy Jigseye provides tools for that purpose called Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM). They created tools to support organisations in creating that overview and the next step to manage it as a process. Currently, the SPM tools implemented by Jigseye work in practice. They notice that orgnizations still face challenges reaching successful SPM execution. Jigseye wants to improve and extend this set of tools. The goal of my project is to gain an understanding of the SPM tools and design for the new tools with orientation on useability and ease of use. In the research phase, I did extensive user research analysing the SPM tool resulting in user needs for functionality accessibility and the new purpose of creating strategic awareness. Leading to the following vision; the vision is laid out in the form of a journey, leading to new opportunities. This will increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of the SPM tools. Resulting in the New SPM Identity model and New SPM App design with Mobile version; with these tools, designing for a new way of working in the SPM journey leading to new service opportunities for Jigseye.This thesis research is conducted during Covid-19 circumstances 2020-2021 in the Netherlands. The user research covers a unique approach to doing user research during covid-19, personal learnings and a brief study on the influence of covid-19 on SPM and business. Due to company sensitive information, some documentation is left out of this report.Strategic Product Desig
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