790 research outputs found
Still waiting for the smoke to clear - lasers in the treatment of onychomycosis
No full textIn 2009, the first lasers indicated in the treatment of onychomycosis reached the shores of the United Kingdom with the aspirations of being a revolution in the treatment of this common, stubborn nail infection. It has now been five years since their arrival and we have witnessed the emergence of specialist nail clinics offering laser treatments to patients across the country. Despite the revolution on the high street, with large sums of money changing hands for both the purchase of these devices and for treatment, the flow of evidence assessing the lasers real effectiveness has been rather slower to follow. In this article the author discusses the current issues and evidence on lasers in onychomycosis, from a UK perspective
POLARIZATION BEHAVIOR OF I.R. DIFFRACTION GRATINGS
No full textAuthor Institution: Bausch and Lomb Inc.Interaction between incident electromagnetic radiation and the regular groove structure of a diffraction grating gives rise to polarization phenomena whenever the groove spacing is less than about 5 times the wave-length. Theory predicts the general behavior but fails to account for some of the details observed experimentally. For many problems in I.R. spectroscopy and T.R. lasers, it is important to be aware of what actually takes place. Special equipment for obtaining data on diffracted energy in both planes of polarization will be described and results typical of commonly used gratings will be compared with theory
Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy, autofocusing, z-axis calibration, image sensors, fluorescence lifetime imaging
No full textVibratory stimulation enhances thyroid epithelial cell function
No full textAbstractThe tissues of the body are routinely subjected to various forms of mechanical vibration, the frequency, amplitude, and duration of which can contribute both positively and negatively to human health. The vocal cords, which are in close proximity to the thyroid, may also supply the thyroid with important mechanical signals that modulate hormone production via mechanical vibrations from phonation. In order to explore the possibility that vibrational stimulation from vocalization can enhance thyroid epithelial cell function, FRTL-5 rat thyroid cells were subjected to either chemical stimulation with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), mechanical stimulation with physiological vibrations, or a combination of the two, all in a well-characterized, torsional rheometer-bioreactor. The FRTL-5 cells responded to mechanical stimulation with significantly (p<0.05) increased metabolic activity, significantly (p<0.05) increased ROS production, and increased gene expression of thyroglobulin and sodium-iodide symporter compared to un-stimulated controls, and showed an equivalent or greater response than TSH only stimulated cells. Furthermore, the combination of TSH and oscillatory motion produced a greater response than mechanical or chemical stimulation alone. Taken together, these results suggest that mechanical vibrations could provide stimulatory cues that help maintain thyroid function
Should Philosophers Begin to Employ New Methods If They Want to Become More Societally Relevant?
No full textGreen Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Values Technology and Innovatio
Werthaltigkeit der Technik
No full textTechnologie ist eng mit Werten verbunden. Gelegentlich gefährden Technologien bestimmte Werte, beispielsweise Gesundheit und Sicherheit, so wie es 2011 bei der Atomkatastrophe in Fukushima der Fall war. Aber Technologien können auch Werte unterstützen, wie beispielsweise das menschliche Wohlbefinden, die Demokratie oder den Schutz der Privatsphäre. Zunächst werden in diesem Kapitel, einigen üblichen Differenzierungen der Moralphilosophie zwischen verschiedenen Arten von Werten folgend, zwischen instrumentalen und terminalen Werten sowie zwischen intrinsischen und extrinsischen Werten unterschieden. Danach wird die These der Wertneutralität der Technologie besprochen und kritisiert. Anschließend werden kurz einige der wichtigsten internen und externen Werte im Zusammenhang mit Technik diskutiert.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog
Monitoring herd incidence of intramammary infection in lactating cows using repeated longitudinal somatic cell count measurements
No full textThe objective of the study was to evaluate the ability of an estimate of the herd intramammary infection (IMI) incidence rate computed using repeated somatic cell count (SCC) measurements (quarter- and composite-SCC; hereafter, the SCC-derived herd IMI incidence, SCCI)to predict the incidence rate computed using repeated quarter-milk bacteriological culture (hereafter, bacteriological culture incidence, BCI) during the lactating period. A cohort of 91 Canadian dairy herds was followed in 2007 and 2008. In each herd and at each of 4 sampling periods, a series of 3 to 7 quarter-milk samples was collected from a sample of 15 cows. Routine milk bacteriological culture was conducted to identify IMI, SCC was measured on the quarter-milk samples, and composite-SCC of the preceding and following dairy herd improvement (DHI) tests were obtained. Mastitis pathogens were grouped in 3 categories: major, minor, and any pathogens. For each herd and for each period, BCI was computed for each group of organisms. Similarly, SCCI were computed using quarter- and DHI composite-SCC and using a threshold of 200,000 cells/mL to define infected quarters or cows. A linear regression model taking into account the structure of the data was used to compare the SCCI to the BCI. A similar model was used to compare fluctuations (i.e., changes from one sampling period to the next) over time of the SCCI and BCI. Measures of correlation between observed and predicted rates were computed and limits of agreement plots sketched to better explore the predictive ability of the SCCI. The quarter-milk SCC measurements that could be obtained-for instance, using on-line milking system measurements-appeared to be particularly valuable. Quarter-SCCI showed a positive and significant association with the BCI. However, limits of agreement plots indicated important disagreement for the small proportion of observations with very high BCI. Quarter-level SCCI and BCI fluctuations were also significantly associated, and a substantial correlation (Spearman rho ranging from 0.54 to 0.58) could be seen between observed and predicted rates. Conversely, the predictive value of composite-DHI SCC for monitoring IMI incidence during the lactation seemed to be quite limited. Composite SCCI was strictly associated with major IMI BCI, showed a relatively low correlation with the observed rate (Spearman rho: 0.14), and was of little help for longitudinal monitoring of the IMI incidence
AI, Control and Unintended Consequences: The Need for Meta-Values
No full textDue to their self-learning and evolutionary character, AI (Artificial Intelligence) systems are more prone to unintended consequences and more difficult to control than traditional sociotechnical systems. To deal with this, machine ethicists have proposed to build moral (reasoning) capacities into AI systems by designing artificial moral agents. I argue that this may well lead to more, rather than less, unintended consequences and may decrease, rather than increase, human control over such systems. Instead, I suggest, we should bring AI systems under meaningful human control by formulating a number of meta-values for their evolution. Amongst others, this requires responsible experimentation with AI systems, which may neither guarantee full control nor the prevention of all undesirable consequences, but nevertheless ensures that AI systems, and their evolution, do not get out of control.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Ethics & Philosophy of Technolog
Towards an Active Predictive Relation by Reconceptualizing a Vacuum Robot: Research on the Transparency and Acceptance of the Predictive Behaviors
No full textWith the development of Artificial intelligence, the connected objects are extended with the predictive capabilities and the character of things can change to “things that predict”. If a connected device is able to embrace a predictive system that not only profiles for scripted behavior but could also use the knowledge co-created by all the other similar devices and their users that encounter similar situations, the predictions can be generated based on that. In this case, a new type of interplay between humans and things called “predictive relation” is created. However, before this future takes place, it is required to find out appropriate patterns to address challenges such as the transparency and users’ acceptance of predictive behaviors of connected products. The research in this article takes a vacuum robot as a reference product for the study. The research starts by collecting users’ daily practice with vacuum robots through 4-day diary booklets. And then the booklets serve as sensitizing tools to envision the possible predictive capabilities and lead the discussion on the acceptance and transparency of general predicting things. From the creative sessions we propose 1) design qualities for the acceptance of the predicting things, and 2) a model of generating predictive behavior that enhances the transparency. Eventually, we also propose the idea of “Designers as the facilitators of the human-robot collaboration”.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Human Information Communication Desig
- …
