Loose Connection Research Articles

Ceramic-on-Poly Femoral Head Fractures: What's Going On?

As outlined in our January 16, 2013, editorial , “The Case Report Redefined with JBJS Case Connector ,” one important role of JBJS Case Connector is to alert the orthopaedic community about a potentially problematic device or therapy. When two or more such cases with similar mechanisms appear, we will identify the procedure or implant as a “watchable” intervention. While this system is not statistically conclusive and may or may not be supported by other published case reports or registry data, the intention is to sharpen the focus of clinicians on the potential for similar problems and thereby enhance clinical outcomes and patient safety. The “Watch” designation may also encourage others to report related difficulties and enlist the orthopaedic community to either demonstrate that these are isolated, unrelated cases or sharpen the focus further on rigorously evaluating the intervention. Where appropriate, we may identify brand, model, or implant-lot specifics. In total hip arthroplasty (THA), a fractured ceramic head is a catastrophic but thankfully very rare event. Most case reports of ceramic head fractures involve ceramic-on-ceramic articulations, but this “Watch” describes three cases of femoral head fractures involving ceramic-on-polyethylene bearings. Moreover, the fractures occurred in association with little or no postsurgical trauma. Ceramic hip components are often chosen for younger patients in an effort to minimize long-term wear. On the downside, unlike metal, ceramic components can fracture. Ceramic femoral head fractures arise from four main factors: trauma; material or manufacturing defects; non-compatible, damaged, or contaminated femoral stem/head taper connections; or other suboptimal surgical techniques. The ceramics industry has a more-than-forty-year track record of continuous improvement in hip-component manufacturing. CeramTec, the main U.S. player in this arena, first introduced ceramic hip components in 1974; those first-generation femoral heads had a fracture rate of 0.026%. By 2003, when CeramTec introduced its fourth-generation BIOLOX …

Loose Connections and Liberal Theology: Blurring the Boundaries in Two Church‐Based Communities of Spiritual Practice

We used a mixed methods approach—including ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a survey—to study two innovative Christian contemplative worship services housed in a mainline Protestant congregation in a midwestern city. These services employed boundary‐blurring practices designed to attract the “de‐churched”—those who had been involved in a Christian congregation in the past but who had at some point disengaged from organized religion. Though attracting some formerly de‐churched participants, these services were far more successful in attracting several other constituencies united by their liberal theology and by a preference for loose connections. We argue that these worship services are best understood as thriving communities of sustained spiritual practice where contemplative rituals sacralize both theistic and extra‐theistic, Christian and non‐Christian, symbols and beliefs.

The High Efficiency of Photosystem I in the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Is Maintained after the Antenna Size Is Substantially Increased by the Association of Light-harvesting Complexes II

Photosystems (PS) I and II activities depend on their light-harvesting capacity and trapping efficiency, which vary in different environmental conditions. For optimal functioning, these activities need to be balanced. This is achieved by redistribution of excitation energy between the two photosystems via the association and disassociation of light-harvesting complexes (LHC) II, in a process known as state transitions. Here we study the effect of LHCII binding to PSI on its absorption properties and trapping efficiency by comparing time-resolved fluorescence kinetics of PSI-LHCI and PSI-LHCI-LHCII complexes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. PSI-LHCI-LHCII of C. reinhardtii is the largest PSI supercomplex isolated so far and contains seven Lhcbs, in addition to the PSI core and the nine Lhcas that compose PSI-LHCI, together binding ∼ 320 chlorophylls. The average decay time for PSI-LHCI-LHCII is ∼ 65 ps upon 400 nm excitation (15 ps slower than PSI-LHCI) and ∼ 78 ps upon 475 nm excitation (27 ps slower). The transfer of excitation energy from LHCII to PSI-LHCI occurs in ∼ 60 ps. This relatively slow transfer, as compared with that from LHCI to the PSI core, suggests loose connectivity between LHCII and PSI-LHCI. Despite the relatively slow transfer, the overall decay time of PSI-LHCI-LHCII remains fast enough to assure a 96% trapping efficiency, which is only 1.4% lower than that of PSI-LHCI, concomitant with an increase of the absorption cross section of 47%. This indicates that, at variance with PSII, the design of PSI allows for a large increase of its light-harvesting capacities.

Dynamics of deceptive interactions in social networks

In this paper, we examine the role of lies in human social relations by implementing some salient characteristics of deceptive interactions into an opinion formation model, so as to describe the dynamical behaviour of a social network more realistically. In this model, we take into account such basic properties of social networks as the dynamics of the intensity of interactions, the influence of public opinion and the fact that in every human interaction it might be convenient to deceive or withhold information depending on the instantaneous situation of each individual in the network. We find that lies shape the topology of social networks, especially the formation of tightly linked, small communities with loose connections between them. We also find that agents with a larger proportion of deceptive interactions are the ones that connect communities of different opinion, and, in this sense, they have substantial centrality in the network. We then discuss the consequences of these results for the social behaviour of humans and predict the changes that could arise due to a varying tolerance for lies in society.

Essential Measures

Race and ancestry are both popularly viewed in the United States as different but intertwined reflections on a person’s essentialized identity that answer the question of “who is what?” Despite this loose but well-understood connection between the two concepts and the availability of ancestry data on the U.S. census, researchers have rarely used the two sources of data in combination. In this article, drawing on theories of boundary formation, I compare these two forms of identification to explore the salience and social closure of racial boundaries. Specifically, I analyze race-reporting inconsistency and predict college completion at multiple levels of racial ancestry aggregation using Census data. The results suggest that, while much of the variation in these measures corresponds to popular “big race” conceptions of difference, considerable variation remains among individual ancestries.

Perfume as an interpretive key to the Song of Songs

Abstract The Song of Songs is a biblical text filled with the names of perfumes and, in terms of form, it is infused with ambiguity, vagueness and loose connections. The article suggests that perfume is an essential element in the biblical text. The image of perfume is not a mere diversion that is subordinate to a coherent plot, but is rather a means to undermine the plot and set the open and effervescent tone of the entire song. In the same spirit, the article does not attempt to offer a unified interpretation, but instead adapts to the expansive character of the ‘perfumed’ biblical text, inviting multiple readings. The present reading searches for the various appearances of the perfume motif in order to locate the mother figure. This marginal and almost hidden figure in the Song of Songs is related to the aspect of scent and is mysteriously juxtaposed with the figure of the lovers. The article claims that by sliding down the fragrant, yet obscure, path connecting the love between lovers to the love of a mother for her children, we discover that the mother proves to be the source of the bond between the lovers and a critical figure in the development of love.

DIII-D Neutral Beam Pole Shields Design Including Copper Plate with Removable Molybdenum Insert

The neutral beam copper pole shields currently in service at DIII-D have experienced localized melting and fatigue cracks in the grooves machined in the back of the copper plates. Higher power is now desired out of the neutral beams, requiring a pole shield upgrade to handle the elevated thermal load. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is responsible for the design and manufacturing of the pole shield upgrade.Since the heat flux on the pole shield is highly localized, the new design includes a molybdenum insert, positioned in the area of the maximum thermal loading, mounted in the copper plate, which is cooled by a single cooling channel. A ten segment design was implemented, with loose tongue and groove connections, to allow in situ assembly and maintenance.To validate the design, numerical simulations were performed using ANSYS workbench and consisted of two stages: 1. during the first stage unsteady fluid flow simulation was performed in conjunction with heat transfer analysis in the insert, copper plate, and water cooling system; 2. during the second stage, the temperature distribution was used to specify thermal strains, and perform transient structural analysis.

Mechanics of chain-link wire nets with loose connections

Chain-link wire nets are used for slope stabilization, natural hazard protection systems, mine and tunnel safety and many other important applications. In rockfall protection barriers the nets are designed to withstand dynamic, impulsive loadings. As they are composed of ultra-high strength steel wires with loose three-dimensional connections, the high resistance nets are very flexible and serve to efficiently distribute loads throughout the structure. Rockfall barrier design requires accurate numerical simulations. In this work, a Finite Element model of chain-link nets is developed. To treat the complex contact interactions among chain-link elements and rockfall barrier components we develop a computational scheme relying on a general contact algorithm. The non-linear force displacement response of the net obtained in tensile quasi-static laboratory tests is successfully reproduced by the numerical model. The model parameters are obtained by optimization techniques. The calibrated chain-link model with contact is shown to successfully simulate a full-scale test of a flexible rockfall protection barrier. The computational schemes allow us to accurately model the mechanical behaviour of chain-link wire nets with loose connections.

Bounding linear head reduction and visible interaction through skeletons

In this paper, we study the complexity of execution in higher-order programming languages. Our study has two facets: on the one hand we give an upper bound to the length of interactions between bounded P-visible strategies in Hyland-Ong game semantics. This result covers models of programming languages with access to computational effects like non-determinism, state or control operators, but its semantic formulation causes a loose connection to syntax. On the other hand we give a syntactic counterpart of our semantic study: a non-elementary upper bound to the length of the linear head reduction sequence (a low-level notion of reduction, close to the actual implementation of the reduction of higher-order programs by abstract machines) of simply-typed lambda-terms. In both cases our upper bounds are proved optimal by giving matching lower bounds. These two results, although different in scope, are proved using the same method: we introduce a simple reduction on finite trees of natural numbers, hereby called interaction skeletons. We study this reduction and give upper bounds to its complexity. We then apply this study by giving two simulation results: a semantic one measuring progress in game-theoretic interaction via interaction skeletons, and a syntactic one establishing a correspondence between linear head reduction of terms satisfying a locality condition called local scope and the reduction of interaction skeletons. This result is then generalized to arbitrary terms by a local scopization transformation.

An intelligent approach for cooling radiator fault diagnosis based on infrared thermal image processing technique

This research presents a new intelligent fault diagnosis and condition monitoring system for classification of different conditions of cooling radiator using infrared thermal images. The system was adopted to classify six types of cooling radiator faults; radiator tubes blockage, radiator fins blockage, loose connection between fins and tubes, radiator door failure, coolant leakage, and normal conditions. The proposed system consists of several distinct procedures including thermal image acquisition, image pre-processing, image processing, two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform (2D-DWT), feature extraction, feature selection using a genetic algorithm (GA), and finally classification by artificial neural networks (ANNs). The 2D-DWT is implemented to decompose the thermal images. Subsequently, statistical texture features are extracted from the original images and are decomposed into thermal images. The significant selected features are used to enhance the performance of the designed ANN classifier for the 6 types of cooling radiator conditions (output layer) in the next stage. For the tested system, the input layer consisted of 16 neurons based on the feature selection operation. The best performance of ANN was obtained with a 16-6-6 topology. The classification results demonstrated that this system can be employed satisfactorily as an intelligent condition monitoring and fault diagnosis for a class of cooling radiator.

A new method for re-allocation resource for Real-Time Service Oriented Architecture

Abstract. In recent years, Real-Time service oriented architecture has been highly considered. Such architecture is used in many business processes for loose connection services integration that is being utilized more by passing time. One of significant challenges of transferring service oriented aspects to Real-Time is to provide guarantee any kind of service performance before implementation time. In a way to guarantee its required resources for any service within requested time period. In this research, it recommended to a method for more utilization of resource free time and re-allocation of such time for services which have not gained all their required time.

Ignition Characteristics of Residential Series Arc Faults in 220-V HIV Wires

Unintentional arc faults due to damaged power line cords and loose connections can cause serious fires; thus, they are a safety hazard in residential areas. Therefore, arc fault circuit interrupters are being increasingly used in homes to protect against arcs that may cause fires. In this paper, we analyzed the ignition characteristics of series arcs on the basis of load current. Furthermore, we recommended suitable arc clearing times through characteristics analysis in the Korean residential electric environment. We determined the arc clearing time via the carbonized path arc clearing time test using an ultraviolet signal detecting system according to the test method of the UL 1699 standard. In the experiments, heat-resistant indoor PVC insulated (HIV) wires, which is a type of residential electrical wire, were used as the wire specimens.

A new species of Haliclona (Demospongiae: Haplosclerida: Chalinidae) from southeastern Brazil and the first record of Haliclona vansoesti fromthe Brazilian coast.

In this paper we describe two species of the cosmopolitan sponge genus Haliclona from Rio de Janeiro State, SE Brazil, one of which is new to science and the other a new record to Brazil. Haliclona (Rhizoniera) fugidia sp. nov. is brownish-pink, salmon or cream, thickly encrusting, without oscular tubes and tangential ectosomal reticulation. Choanosomal skeleton is a mostly unispicular ladder-like reticulation of oxeas, very organized near the sponge surface and denser and more disorganized in the interior of the sponge. Haliclona (Halichoclona) vansoesti de Weerdt et al., 1999 was originally described from the Caribbean. It has a very loose connection between ectosome and choanosome, a whitish translucent ectosome combined with a purplish choanosome, a cavernous structure and a friable or crispy consistency. The conspecificity of SE Brazilian and Caribbean populations of H. (Halich.) vansoesti was verified through phylogenetic analysis of small subunit 18S rRNA (18S) and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequences. A maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree constructed with 18S sequences indicates that specimens of H. (Halich.) vansoesti from Rio de Janeiro were phylogenetically closer to the same species from the Caribbean than to other species of Haliclona. Although not available for H. (Halich.) vansoesti from the Caribbean, COI sequences of our specimens were also quite distinct from those of other Haliclona species. Molecular identification based on DNA sequences is a useful complement to traditional morphology-based taxonomy, especially in highly plastic sponges such as Haliclona spp. and other haplosclerids.

Epistemic Contrastivism, Knowledge and Practical Reasoning

Epistemic contrastivism is the view that knowledge is a ternary relation between a person, a proposition and a set of contrast propositions. This view is in tension with widely shared accounts of practical reasoning: be it the claim that knowledge of the premises is necessary for acceptable practical reasoning based on them or sufficient for the acceptability of the use of the premises in practical reasoning, or be it the claim that there is a looser connection between knowledge and practical reasoning. Given plausible assumptions, epistemic contrastivism implies that we should cut all links between knowledge and practical reasoning. However, the denial of any such link requires additional and independent arguments; if such arguments are lacking, then all the worse for epistemic contrastivism.

Interfacial interaction of aggregate-cement paste in concrete

The chemical and physical interactions in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between three different types of coarse aggregates (limestone, granite and basalt) and cement paste were investigated. The results show that all the aggregates are chemically active. Significant amounts of Ca2+, K+, and Na+ are absorbed by all the aggregates from the cement solution, granite and basalt also absorb significant amounts of OH− and release significant amounts of Si4+ into cement solution. The XRD, EDXA and pore structure results of the ITZ also show that more clinkers participate in the cement hydration in the ITZ of granite and basalt, and more hydrates are generated, hence resulting in a denser ITZ structure with a lower content of macropores. Although the limestone has the least activity, the connection between it and cement paste is tight, due to its rough surface and higher water absorption. Whereas the granite with smooth surface and lower water absorption has a loose connection with cement paste, many pores and cracks are visible, which is very detrimental to the concrete durability.

Mathematical Modeling and Analysis of Dynamic Response of RTD using MATLAB

Reliability in extreme conditions of the RTDs have made them widely used in process industry for temperature measurement. They have good calibration and fast dynamic response time, as compare to other temperature sensor and these are important characteristic while selecting sensor. The number of problem that can affect the response time of RTDs: dynamic response time, failure in insulation, loose connection between extension lead, thinning of sensing wire, EMF effect, seeping of chemical from connection head into thermowell, and erroneous indication. The objective of this paper is to analysis and study of the time constant of different Resistance Temperature Detector (RTDs) used in process. The Resistance Temperature detector used in this experiment is Pt100 bare, Pt500 thermowell, Pt1000 sheath. There was three main purpose of this study. The first was to demonstrate dynamic behaviour of RTD. The second was, by means of time domain analysis to find out model of RTD using System Identification Toolbox. The third purpose was to understanding the different parameter that affect the dynamic response of RTD.

Data Collection with Probabilistic Guarantees in Opportunistic Wireless Networks

Sensors can be embedded in many mobile devices/objects such as smart phones, vehicles and animals to collect data from the surrounding environment. These mobile devices can communicate with each other by wireless techniques to form opportunistic wireless networks (OWNs). OWNs have volatile network topology and loose connectivity. Data collection from mobile devices is very challenging. This paper proposes a data collection protocol named DCPG with probabilistic guarantees in OWNs. DCPG consists of four parts: broadcasting sink's position periodically, electing collectors by partitioning a network into grids, direct transmission from general nodes to collectors, and directional transmission from collectors to the sink. The theoretical analysis shows that DCPG can adjust the parameters to guarantee that the average data collection ratio is greater than the user-specified data collection ratio. The simulation results show that DCPG outperforms the existing best protocol SMITE on the aspects of data collection ratio and communication overhead.

551 ルーズフランジ締結体へうず巻形ガスケットの適用検討

551 ルーズフランジ締結体へうず巻形ガスケットの適用検討

Hyperplasia of pericytes is one of the main characteristics of microvascular architecture in malignant glioma.

ObjectivesTo investigate the role of pericytes in constructing the malformed microvessels (MVs) and participating microvascular architecture heterogeneity of glioma.MethodsForty human glioma tissue samples (WHO grade II-IV) were included in present study. Observation of blood vessel patterns, quantitative analysis of endothelial cells (ECs)- and pericyte-labeled MVs and comparison between malignant grades based on single- or double-immunohistochemical staining. The MV number density (MVND), microvascular pericyte number density (MPND), and microvascular pericyte area density (MPAD) were calculated. The expression of PDGFβ was also scored after immunostaining.ResultsIn grade II glioma, most of tumor MVs were the thin-wall CD34+ vessels with near normal morphology. In addition to thin-wall CD34+ MVs, more thick-wall MVs were found in grade III glioma, which often showed α-SMA positive. Most of MVs in grade IV glioma were in the form of plexus, curled cell cords and glomeruloid microvascular proliferation while the α-SMA+ cells were the main components. The MVs usually showed disordered arrangement, loose connection and active cell proliferation as shown by Ki67 and α-SMA coexpression. With the increase of glioma grades, the α-SMA+ MVND, CD34+ MVND and MPND were significantly augmented although the increase of CD34+ MVND but not MPAD was statistically insignificant between grade III and IV. It was interesting that some vessel-like structures only consist of α-SMA+ cells, assuming the guiding role of pericytes in angiogenesis. The expression level of PDGFβ was upregulated and directly correlated with the MPND in different glioma grades.ConclusionHyperplasia of pericytes was one of the significant characteristics of malignant glioma and locally proliferated pericytes were the main constituent of MVs in high grade glioma. The pathological characteristics of pericytes could be used as indexes of malignant grades of glioma.

Correcting Loose Connections in Distribution Networks from Two Perspectives: Loss Reduction and Power Outage

This paper is a report on an attempt to study fixing loose connections in an actual distribution network in Iran (Qazvin Power Distribution Company) from two angles: reducing loss and minimizing the costs emanating from power outage. The results show that fixing loose connections will only be cost-effective if account is taken of both loss reduction and outage costs. This finding can be used in making appropriate policies on correcting loose connections. This work was fully funded by the Qazvin Electric Distribution Company under contract number 420.