Live delivery of neurosurgical operating theater experience in virtual reality

A system for assisting in microneurosurgical training and for delivering interactive mixed reality surgical experience live was developed and experimented in hospital premises. An interactive experience from the neurosurgical operating theater was presented together with associated medical content on virtual reality eyewear of remote users. Details of the stereoscopic 360‐degree capture, surgery imaging equipment, signal delivery, and display systems are presented, and the presence experience and the visual quality questionnaire results are discussed. The users reported positive scores on the questionnaire on topics related to the user experience achieved in the trial.     

A life-cycle approach to automation information management in the process industries

This paper presents an overview of the problems and possible solutions for automation information management and utilization in the process industries. The process plant life-cycle model is introduced and the cost structure of process automation investments is reviewed in this context. The general trends in process industry and developments in automation technologies are described and their effects are discussed. The advances in engineering CAD systems and their usability in solving the information management needs over the lifetime of process plants is assessed. This paper also presents one application of advanced engineering CAD system for automation information management in an oil refinery.     

The transformative effect of top management governance choices on project team identity and relationship with the organization — An agency and stewardship approach

This study focuses on the relationship and identity changes within and between a project team and its organization following top management intervention in the context of a large international construction project. The study follows the project-as-practice orientation, examining the actions and behaviors of the project team through participant ethnography in the “praxis” of the project site over its entire duration. The longitudinal case allows the examination of the way the transition process established a new governance culture undermining the initial trust-based one and changed it from a virtual absence of mechanisms toward far more potent mechanisms of control, monitoring, and punishment. Simultaneously, the initial stewardship relationships and collectivist identity of the project team shifted toward agency relationships and individualistic identity. The triggers for the transformation process were identified as CEO succession, project failure, top management intervention driven changes in governance mechanisms, and perception of organizational betrayal of the project team.     

Indoor exposure to particulate matter and the incidence of acute lower respiratory infections among children: A birth cohort study in urban Bangladesh

Approximately half of all children under two years of age in Bangladesh suffer from an acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) each year. Exposure to indoor biomass smoke has been consistently associated with an increased risk of ALRI in young children. Our aim was to estimate the effect of indoor exposure to particulate matter (PM_2.5) on the incidence of ALRI among children in a low‐income, urban community in Bangladesh. We followed 257 children through two years of age to determine their frequency of ALRI and measured the PM_2.5 concentrations in their sleeping space. Poisson regression was used to estimate the association between ALRI and the number of hours per day that PM_2.5 concentrations exceeded 100 μg/m³, adjusting for known confounders. Each hour that PM_2.5 concentrations exceeded 100 μg/m³ was associated with a 7% increase in incidence of ALRI among children aged 0–11 months (adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.07, 95% CI 1.01–1.14), but not in children 12–23 months old (adjusted IRR 1.00, 95% CI 0.92–1.09). Results from this study suggest that reducing indoor PM_2.5 exposure could decrease the frequency of ALRI among infants, the children at highest risk of death from these infections.     

Systemic administration of atipamezole, a selective antagonist of alpha-2 adrenoceptors, facilitates behavioural activity but does not influence short-term or long-term memory in trimethyltin-intoxicated and control rats

The present study used trimethyltin (TMT)-intoxicated rats as a model for the behavioural syndrome seen after neuronal damage to the limbic system. Behavioural assessments indicated increased locomotor activity and reduced number of groomings in an open-arena task in TMT-intoxicated (6.6 mg/kg as a free base) rats, as has been found previously. A novel finding was the severe deficit in swimming to a visible platform in the water maze task, with reduced swimming speed at the beginning of the training period. During the reacquisition phase of a radial arm maze task, TMT-intoxicated rats made more short-term and long-term memory errors, and their behavioural activity was increased in comparison with controls. The administration of atipamezole (300 micrograms/kg), a selective antagonist of alpha 2-adrenoceptors, enhanced locomotor activity compared to saline-treated rats, but these effects did not differ between the TMT group and their controls. Atipamezole did not enhance short-term or long-term memory in either TMT or control groups. Taken together, the present data indicate that TMT intoxication is a model for global dementia rather than for a specific loss of relational memory. Previous studies on the neurochemical effects of TMT and the alleviation or prevention of neurotoxicity of TMT are reviewed.     

Alteration of product specificity of Aeropyrum pernix farnesylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (Fgs) by directed evolution

Directed evolution of the C25 farnesylgeranyl diphosphate synthase of Aeropyrum pernix (Fgs) was carried out by error-prone PCR with an in vivo color complementation screen utilizing carotenoid biosynthetic pathway enzymes. Screening yielded 12 evolved clones with C20 geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase activity which were isolated and characterized in order to understand better the chain elongation mechanism of this enzyme. Analysis of these mutants revealed three different mechanisms of product chain length specificity. Two mutants (A64T and A64V) have a single mutation at the 8th amino acid upstream of a conserved first aspartate-rich motif (FARM), which is involved in the mechanism for chain elongation reaction of all prenyl diphosphate synthases. One mutant (A135T) carries a single mutation at the 7th amino acid upstream of another conserved region (141GQ142), which was recently found to be another important region controlling chain elongation of a type III C20 geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase and Escherichia coli C15 farnesyl diphosphate synthase. Finally, one mutant carrying four mutations (V84I, H88R, I177 M and M191V) is of interest. Molecular modeling, site-directed mutagenesis and in vitro assays of this mutant suggest that product chain-length distribution can be also controlled by a structural change provoked by a cooperative interaction of amino acids.     

Changes of the pH value of impregnated wood during exposure to wood-rotting fungi

and Schizophyllum commune). The third species was the brown-rot fungi Antrodia vaillantii, using three different strains of this species. Antrodia vaillantii substantially decreased the pH-value of impregnated and unimpregnated wood before any mass loss appeared. On the other hand, the white-rot fungus T. versicolor and S. commune caused a slight increase of the pH of impregnated and unimpregnated wood. It is suggested that a decrease of pH of wood may indicate early stages of decay by brown rot fungi.     

Remote Didactic Laboratory “G. Savastano,” The Italian Experience for E-Learning at the Technical Universities in the Field of Electrical and Electronic Measurements: Overview on Didactic Experiments

The Remote Didactic Laboratory Laboratorio Didattico Remoto - LA.DI.RE. ldquoG. Savastanordquo is the e-learning measurement laboratory supported by the Italian Ministry of Education and University. It involves about 20 Italian universities and provides students of electric and electronic measurement courses with access to remote measurement laboratories delivering different didactic activities related to measurement experiments. In order to demonstrate the versatility for didactic use, the overview of some experiments is given. The didactic experiments summarized in this paper concern measurement characterization of instruments and communication systems, measurement devices for remote laboratories, basic electrical measurements, magnetic measurements, electromagnetic-interference measurements, and signal processing for measurement applications.