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// 1. 인수 하나와 콜백 함수 하나를 취하는 함수를 인수로 받아서 프로미스를 반환하는 함수로 래핑해주는 범용 promisify 함수를 구현하자
// 제대로 구현했다면 다음처럼 사용할 수 있어야 한다.
import { readFile } from "fs";
const promisify = <T, A>( // A는 어차피 string일 것으로 생각했으나 'PathOrFileDescriptor' 라는 속성이 따로 있어서 제네릭 처리, T는 Buffer
callback: (path: A, cb: (error: Error | null, data: T | null) => void) => void // path, cb를 인수로 받는 콜백 함수(콜백이 2차로 들어간다)
): ((path: A) => Promise<T>) => {
// 경로를 받아와 프로미스를 반환하는 함수를 반환
return (path: A) =>
new Promise<T>((resolve, reject) => {
callback(path, (error, data) => {
if (error) return reject(error);
if (data === null) return reject(null); // data는 타이핑에 따라 null일 수도 있으니 분기 처리
resolve(data);
});
});
};
const readFilePromise = promisify(readFile); // 딱 보니 readfile을 콜백 함수로 넣어주고 새 프로미스 함수를 반환하는 구조
readFilePromise("./myfile.ts") // 반환된 함수에는 경로를 인수로 넣어줌
.then((result) => console.log("Success", result.toString())) // resolve의 결과 데이터도 받아옴
.catch((error) => console.error("error", error)); // reject의 결과도 받아옴
// 2. 237쪽의 '타입 안전 프로토콜'을 웹 워커 스레드에서 실행되는 나머지 절반을 구하자
// 3. 매핑된 타입(8.6.1)을 이용해 NodeJs의 child_process에 사용할 수 있는 타입 안전 메이지 전달 프로토콜을 구현하자
// 미안하지만 지금 필요없느 웹 워커 파트는 패-스
|
Debug Menu
Load Map
Edit Flags
Allows you to view and edit any and all event flags set by the game.
Add Dump
View Dumps
Pops up an error message about there being no dumps to view.
Invoke Con
Supposedly a tool to force NPCs to play their conversations and AI barks.
View Quotes
Play Music
Female JC
Ford Schick
"White House" Level
Airport VOIP Conversation
Answering Machine in Paul's Apartment
Renamed/Repurposed Objects
Cat Bites
PowerVR Support
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Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-24170167-20150825012947/@comment-24170167-20150825224155
Juliette suddenly wakes up and looks at the time.
Juliette: just in time for snack time...
She walks out.
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package br.com.zup.ot5.fase3.mercadolivre.compra_produto_parte_1;
public class ResolvedorTransacaoPaypal implements ResolvedorTransacao{
private static final String URL_AFTER_PAYMENT = "/retorno-paypal/%d";
@Override
public String resolva(Long idCompra) {
return String.format("paypal.com?buyerId=%s&redirectUrl=%s", idCompra, String.format(URL_AFTER_PAYMENT, idCompra));
}
}
|
Push-pull meter circuit for producing direct-current and alternating-current outputs proportional to applied alternating signal
A ril 22, 1969 R a RILEY 3,440,538
PUSHPULL METER CIRCUIT FOR PRODUCING DIRECT-CURRENT AND ALTERNATlNG-CURRENT OUTPUTS PROPORTIONAL TO APPLIED ALTERNATING SIGNAL Filed 001; 29, 1965 INPUT IINVENTOR RUSSELL B. RILEY BY QQW ATTORNEY United States Patent PUSH-PULL METER ZlRCUiT FOR PRODUCENG DIRECT-CURRENT AND ALTERNATHNG-(IUR- RENT GUTPUTS PROPURTIONAL T0 APPLHED ALTERNATENG SIGNAL Russell R. Riley, Palo Alto, Qa lii, assignor to Hewlett- Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Bot. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 505,686 int. Ci. GM 1/30; H03f 3/68 US. Cl. 324123 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A meter circuit includes a pair of complementary conductivity type transistors connected in a circuit which produces a DC. output, an A.C. output and a meter indication proportional to the amplitude of an applied signal.
This is accomplished in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the present invention by operating a pair of complementary conductivity transistors as emitter followers into a load including a storage element such as a coupling capacitor and by connecting a meter in the collector circuit of one of the transistors.
Referring to the drawing, which shows a schematic diagram of the circuit of the present invention, a pair of complementary conductivity type transistors 9, 11 are connected to operate as normally cut off emitter followers. Thus, no bias current flows in the circuit from supply terminal 13 through the emitter-collector paths of transistors 9, 11 and through meter 15 to ground in the absence of signal applied to input terminal 17.
Input signal at terminal 17 is amplified by stages 19, 21 and is applied in in-phase relationship to the base electrodes of the emitter follower transistors 9, 11. Diode 23 is forward biased to provide a fixed biasing signal between the base electrodes of transistors 9, 11. The feedback path including capacitor 24 connected between the common emitters of transistors 9, 11 and the emitter of stage 19 determines the overall gain from input 17 to A.C. output and may be designed as shown to provide unity overall gain. Positive half cycles of the amplified input signal cut off transistor 11 and render transistor 9 conductive. This causes current to flow through transistor 9 from supply terminal 13 and through the capacitor storage element 25 and resistor 27 to ground, thereby charging capacitor 25 and providing positive half cycles of signal at the A.C. output. Negative half cycles of the amplified input signal cut oif transistor 9 and render transistor 11 conductive. Charge from capacitor 25 thus flows through transistor 11 and meter 15 and through resistor 29 to provide a meter indication and a DC. output across resistor 29 which are related to the input signal amplitude. The resulting current through resistor 27 thus provides the negative half cycles of signal at the A.C. output.
"ice
Capacitor 31 averages the half cycle current ii ow through transistor 11. This capacitor charges up during conduction of transistor 11 and discharges through meter 15 and resistor 29 during alternate half cycles of input signal. The signals on the A.C. and DC. outputs and the indication on meter 15 are thus all related to the amplitude of the input signal applied to input terminal 17.
I claim:
1. A signal circuit comprising:
a pair of complementary conductivity type transistors,
each having base, collector and emitter electrodes; means direct-current connecting the emitter electrodes of said transistors to a common terminal;
means connected to the base electrodes of said transistors for applying signals thereto in in-phase relationship;
bias means for said transistors having a pair of terminals;
circuit means including a storage element connected between said common terminal and a terminal of said bias means;
indicating means connected between the collector electrode of one of said transistors and a terminal of said bias means; and
means connecting the collector electrode of the other of said transistors to another terminal of said bias means for supplying current to said transistors. 2. A circuit as in claim 1 wherein: said circuit means includes a first resistor and a first capacitor connected in series circuit between said common terminal and a terminal of said bias means;
said indicating means includes a meter and a second resistor connected in series circuit between the collector electrode of one of said transistors and a terminal of said bias means; and
a second capacitor is connected in shunt with the last named series circuit, whereby an A.C. output is derived across said first resistor and a DC. output is derived across said second resistor.
References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,844,7l9 7/1958 Rieke et al. 329109 2,955,257 10/1960 Lindsay 330-13 2,955,258 10/1960 Wheatley et al. 330-13 3,048,789 8/1962 Herzog 329107 3,079,565 2/1963 Oifner 324-123 XR 3,231,827 l/1966 Legler 330-13 3,337,862 8/1967 Croft et al 330-13 XR OTHER REFERENCES Electronic Design, Nov. 25, 1959, pages 25 and 26.
RUDOLPH V. ROLINEC, Primary Examiner.
E. F. KARLSEN, Assistant Examiner.
US. Cl. X.R. 330-13
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Fig. in. The principal type specimen, left posterior view ; after Pacht, pi. i, fig. i. Shows the anal structures, equal ray divisions and small ramules on every third or fourth Br. Loca tion of specimen unknown. Costijetsi,-bank of river Schelon.
Fig. 3. The type, anterior view ; after Fraipont. Ray divisions equal ; the figure erroneously represents a ramule on every brachial. University of Liege. 40. Larger specimen from same locality, left anterior view. Shows the arm structure in detail, with ramules from every second brachial ; and the sharply concave base with a few tapering columnals resting in it. Author's collection. 4b. Posterior view of same, showing anal structures. Upper Devonian. Senzielles, Belgium.
Fig. 7a. The principal type specimen, original of Rowley's Aristocrinus eoncavus; r. post, interradial view ; showing large iBr, smaller size of inner ramus, and ramules at intervals of about 3. Coll. Prof. R. R. Rowley. yb. Posterior view of same, showing arrangement of anal plates. . Jc. Basal view, showing broadly rounded cavity, with IBB hidden by columnals; axial canal radial.
with ramules less developed. Coll. Prof. R. R. Rowley. 9. Mature specimen with all anal plates intact; posterior view. Author's collection. Hamilton Gr. ; Middle Devonian. Calloway County, Missouri.
|
function init() {
checkList()
}
window.addEventListener("load", init)
function createElem(index) {
var parent = document.getElementsByTagName("ul");
var element = document.createElement("li");
element.innerHTML = index;
parent[0].appendChild(element);
}
function checkList() {
var element = document.getElementsByTagName("li");
if (element.length < 10) {
createElem(element.length)
}
checkList();
}
|
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
class FeedController extends Controller
{
/**
* Get a validator for an incoming registration request.
*
* @param array $data
* @return App\Feed
* */
//Creates a new Feed
public static function create(array $data)
{
return \App\Feed::create([
'title' => $data['title'],
'body' => $data['body'],
'image' => $data['image'],
'source' => $data['source'],
'publisher' => $data['publisher'],
]);
}
//Deletes a Feed matching the $id from the database
public static function remove($id){
$feed = \App\Feed::find($id);
$feed->delete();
}
//Edits the Feed matching the $id values
public static function edit($id, array $data){
$feed = \App\Feed::find($id);
$feed->title = $data['title'] ;
$feed->body = $data['body'] ;
$feed->image = $data['image'] ;
$feed->source = $data['image'] ;
$feed->publisher = $data['publisher'] ;
$feed->save();
}
//Checks if a Feed with the title matching $title exists
public static function checkIfExist($title){
$feed = \App\Feed::where('title', $title);
if($feed->count() == 0){
return false;
}
return true;
}
}
|
//==================================================================================================
/*!
@file
@copyright 2016 NumScale SAS
@copyright 2016 J.T. Lapreste
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
(See accompanying file LICENSE.md or copy at http://boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
*/
//==================================================================================================
#ifndef BOOST_SIMD_FUNCTION_DIVIDES_INCLUDED
#define BOOST_SIMD_FUNCTION_DIVIDES_INCLUDED
#if defined(DOXYGEN_ONLY)
namespace boost { namespace simd
{
/*!
@ingroup group-operator
Function object implementing divides capabilities
Perform the quotient of two parameters of the same type.
@par Semantic
For any value @c a and @c b of type @c T,
@code
T r = divides(a,b);
@endcode
returns the quotient of @c a by @c b
**/
const boost::dispatch::functor<tag::divides_> divides = {};
} }
#endif
#include <boost/simd/function/scalar/divides.hpp>
#include <boost/simd/function/scalar/divides.hpp>
#include <boost/simd/function/simd/divides.hpp>
#endif
|
User blog comment:Berlynn.the.pyrokinetic/Sophie + Biana/@comment-38861504-20190506204955
So good!
Was it just me who thought of Cinna from the hunger games, when gold eyeliner was mentioned?
|
Before the Second Division,
December 5, 1939
No. 42769.
Protest 992756-G of Strauss-Eckardt Co. (New York).
Opinion by
Kincheloe, J.
-It was stipulated that the merchandise consists of serpentines the same as those the subject of Abstract 40644. The claim at 30-percent under paragraph 1413 .was therefore sustained.
|
/****************************************************************************
*Copyright (c) 2018 yswenli All Rights Reserved.
*CLR版本： 4.0.30319.42000
*机器名称：WENLI-PC
*公司名称：yswenli
*命名空间：SAEA.Commom
*文件名： SyncHelper
*版本号： v5.0.0.1
*唯一标识：31743e53-5af7-48fb-b248-e1b3504b9c68
*当前的用户域：WENLI-PC
*创建人： yswenli
*电子邮箱：[email protected]
*创建时间：2018/5/17 17:26:35
*描述：
*
*=====================================================================
*修改标记
*修改时间：2018/5/17 17:26:35
*修改人： yswenli
*版本号： v5.0.0.1
*描述：
*
*****************************************************************************/
using System;
using System.Collections.Concurrent;
using System.Threading;
namespace SAEA.Common
{
/// <summary>
/// 方法、事件同步
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
public class SyncHelper<T>
{
ConcurrentDictionary<string, SyncInfo<T>> _cmdDic = new ConcurrentDictionary<string, SyncInfo<T>>();
string _key;
/// <summary>
/// 设置等待点
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sNo"></param>
/// <param name="callBack"></param>
/// <param name="millisecondsTimeout"></param>
public bool Wait(Action work, Action<T> callBack, int millisecondsTimeout = 180 * 1000)
{
var result = false;
_key = Guid.NewGuid().ToString("N");
var si = new SyncInfo<T>() { Action = callBack };
_cmdDic.TryAdd(_key, si);
work?.Invoke();
if (millisecondsTimeout > 0)
result = si.AutoResetEvent.WaitOne(millisecondsTimeout);
else
result = si.AutoResetEvent.WaitOne();
si.AutoResetEvent.Close();
return result;
}
/// <summary>
/// 通知取消等待
/// </summary>
/// <param name="t"></param>
public bool Set( T t)
{
if (_cmdDic.TryRemove(_key, out SyncInfo<T> si))
{
si.Action.Invoke(t);
si.AutoResetEvent.Set();
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
internal class SyncInfo<T>
{
public AutoResetEvent AutoResetEvent { get; set; } = new AutoResetEvent(false);
public Action<T> Action { get; set; }
}
}
|
//
// Copyright (C) DataStax Inc.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.
//
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Net;
namespace Cassandra
{
/// <summary>
/// Handles the parsing of the read timeout and read failure errors
/// </summary>
internal class OutputReadTimeout : OutputError
{
private int _blockFor;
private ConsistencyLevel _consistency;
private bool _dataPresent;
private int _received;
private int _failures;
private readonly bool _isFailure;
private IDictionary<IPAddress, int> _reasons;
internal OutputReadTimeout(bool isFailure)
{
_isFailure = isFailure;
}
protected override void Load(FrameReader reader)
{
_consistency = (ConsistencyLevel) reader.ReadInt16();
_received = reader.ReadInt32();
_blockFor = reader.ReadInt32();
if (_isFailure)
{
_failures = reader.ReadInt32();
if (reader.Serializer.ProtocolVersion.SupportsFailureReasons())
{
_reasons = GetReasonsDictionary(reader, _failures);
}
}
_dataPresent = reader.ReadByte() != 0;
}
/// <summary>
///
/// </summary>
internal static IDictionary<IPAddress, int> GetReasonsDictionary(FrameReader reader, int length)
{
var reasons = new Dictionary<IPAddress, int>(length);
for (var i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
var buffer = new byte[reader.ReadByte()];
reader.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
reasons[new IPAddress(buffer)] = reader.ReadUInt16();
}
return new ReadOnlyDictionary<IPAddress, int>(reasons);
}
public override DriverException CreateException()
{
if (_isFailure)
{
if (_reasons != null)
{
// The message in this protocol provided a full map with the reasons of the failures.
return new ReadFailureException(_consistency, _received, _blockFor, _dataPresent, _reasons);
}
return new ReadFailureException(_consistency, _received, _blockFor, _dataPresent, _failures);
}
return new ReadTimeoutException(_consistency, _received, _blockFor, _dataPresent);
}
}
}
|
Next Article in Journal
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Next Article in Special Issue
Effect of Lumbar Spine Mobility and Postural Alignment on Menstrual Pain in Young Women
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Relationships between Recent Suicidal Ideation and Recent, State, Trait and Musical Anhedonias in Depression
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Review
Physiotherapy Management in Endometriosis
by
Małgorzata Wójcik
1,*,
Renata Szczepaniak
2 and
Katarzyna Placek
3
1
Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Physical Culture in Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poznan University of Physical Education, 61-871 Poznan, Poland
2
Pabianice Medical Center, Department of Physiotherapy, WSB University, 41-300 Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland
3
Clinic and Department of Obstetrics, Women’s Diseases and Oncological Gynecology, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University, University Hospital No. 2 Jana Biziela in Bydgoszcz, 85-067 Bydgoszcz, Poland
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(23), 16148; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316148
Submission received: 8 November 2022 / Revised: 25 November 2022 / Accepted: 30 November 2022 / Published: 2 December 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Physiotherapy and Osteopathy in Gynecology and Obstetrics)
Abstract
:
Endometriosis is a disease whose underlying cause is the growth of the endometrium outside the uterine cavity. The disease is characterised by unpleasant pain in the pelvic region, irrespective of the phase of the woman’s cycle. Physiotherapy in its various forms can be an excellent complement to the gynaecological treatment of endometriosis, by virtue of reducing inflammation, alleviating pain and thus significantly improving women’s quality of life. Physiotherapy in endometriosis should include kinesiotherapy, manual therapy including visceral therapy, physical therapy, spa treatment including balneotherapy, and hydrotherapy. The aim of this study is to present the use of physiotherapy as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of endometriosis. A review of the available literature in the Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar databases was performed without being limited by the time frame of available publications on the forms of physiotherapy used in the treatment of endometriosis.
1. Introduction
Endometriosis describes the presence of endometrial tissue outside the natural site in which it occurs. It can take the form of small foci in the peritoneal cavity, ovaries, abdominal organs or bladder. The foci can also be located in scars from perineal incisions or Caesarean sections and grow into the muscular wall of the uterus (adenomyosis). The whole process is subject to cyclical hormonal changes, therefore in the first phase of the cycle the foci enlarge then undergo ischemic transformation during the menstrual period. The inability to expel the cells triggers an inflammatory response in the organism, in this area, and in the formation of adhesions. In addition to severe pain, endometriosis is also a risk factor for neoplasia, including endometrial or clear cell carcinoma that arise more commonly within endometriotic lesions [1].
Certain factors may increase the risk of endometriosis. These include: a family history, particularly among first-degree relatives (which conveys a 6–7-fold higher risk of endometriosis) [2], prematurity [3], low birth weight and abnormal uterine bleeding during the neonatal period [4], formula feeding of newborns [3], reduced growth during childhood [5], childhood abuse [6], painful menarche affecting social life; pain-related school absences, unsatisfactory response to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) [7], migraines [8], low body mass index, pigmented skin lesions, freckles [9], infertility [10], cyclic pain that increases during menstruation [11], pain during menstruation from digestive or urological systems, diaphragm, lungs, or sciatica [12], fatigue syndrome: pain, insomnia, depression, and stress at work [13], obstetric history: miscarriages, adverse pregnancy outcomes [14,15], pelvic surgery for endometriosis or other gynaecological indications [16,17], and autoimmune diseases [18].
Women experience pain related to endometriosis, depending on the location, during intercourse, defecation or micturition. During menstruation, this pain may be exacerbated, which is associated with hormonal changes [19].
Pharmacological treatment includes hormonal therapy and analgesic treatment. Hormonal drugs lead to suppression of ovarian function and atrophy of the ectopic endometrial foci. The most commonly used hormonal preparations include danazol, gonadoliberin analogues, progestogens, oestrogen-progesterone preparations, levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device, gestrinone, aromatase inhibitors, and selective progesterone receptor modulators [20].
Non-medical endometriosis treatments include antioxidants [21], Chinese herbal medicines [22,23], acupuncture [24], reflexology, homeopathy, psychotherapy, exercise and sports and nerve blocks such as a superior hypogastric plexus block [25].
The aim of this study is to present the use of physiotherapy as an adjunct therapy in the treatment of endometriosis. In this article, the authors would like to draw attention to the fact that physiotherapy in its various forms can be a good complementary treatment for women suffering from endometriosis. It can reduce pain and thus improve their quality of life. For this reason, the authors decided to conduct a literature review on this topic.
2. Methods
A review of the available literature in the Medline, PubMed and Google Scholar databases was carried out without being limited by the time frame of available publications on forms of physiotherapy used in the treatment of endometriosis. The search was guided by the following MeSH dictionary entries related to physical medicine: endometriosis, gynaecology, physiotherapy, balneology, kinesiotherapy, massage, scar, physical activity, visceral therapy, myofascial trigger points, and lymphatic oedema.
3. Physiotherapy in Endometriosis
Physiotherapy in endometriosis focuses on different areas of work with patients: pre-operative physiotherapy, post-operative physiotherapy, scar therapy, and physiotherapy concentrating on pelvic floor work (urogynaecological physiotherapy). Physiotherapy for patients with endometriosis mainly focuses on kinesiotherapy, physical therapy and balneology, as well as the use of manual therapy targeting the lumbo-pelvic area, and visceral therapy. Physical activity undertaken by women with endometriosis, learning self-therapy and self-relaxation are also very important.
Kinesiotherapy will be based on working with the musculoskeletal system of the reproductive organs and using massage, which will include the pelvic area [26,27]. The use of physiotherapy in women with endometriosis has a conservative and complementary effect on the gynaecological, pharmacological and surgical treatment process. Treatment with physical methods can be an effective alternative to other forms of treatment. Physiotherapy for patients with endometriosis is a complex therapy and should have a systemic effect [28].
The therapy should take place both in the physiotherapist’s office and be augmented by spa treatment.
During the course of spa treatment, mainly natural methods are used: balneotherapy, hydrotherapy and climatotherapy. The most commonly used balneological treatments are therapeutic brine baths, sulphide and hydrogen sulphide baths, and gas and water carbonic acid baths [29]. Radon water baths are also used in spa physical therapy, depending on the availability of these waters in the spa [29,30].
Crenotherapy, a drinking treatment with therapeutic waters, is successfully used as an adjunct to systemic balneological treatment. Mud treatments are not used in women with endometriosis due to the presence of oestrogens in its composition.
Treatments with medicinal waters are used in the form of baths, irrigations and crenotherapy [31,32]. Brine baths are the most commonly used; due to their strong stimulus, local effects are obtained: improvement in microcirculation in the skin and subcutaneous tissue and stimulation of nerve endings of the autonomic system; serial performance reduces the stimulation of the autonomic sympathetic system and accelerates cell metabolism [33]. Brine baths involve the total or partial immersion of the body in water, in which sodium chloride, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iodine, bromine and other elements have been dissolved. Bathing can take place in a pool or bathtub with a water temperature of between 34° and 40° Celsius, and a brine concentration of 3–5%, respectively. During the first treatment, the patient remains in the water for 10 min, and each subsequent bath is prolonged by two or three minutes. In the series, 10–12 treatments are carried out every one or two days. A standard treatment lasts 15–20 min. While bathing, it is recommended to move the upper and lower limbs around in the water. The classic bath can be replaced by gymnastics in the water. After coming out of the water, patients should neither rinse their body nor towel themselves off. Instead, they should allow their skin to dry, as this will leave their skin coated with a layer of salt called ‘a salt mantle. The recommended rest after bathing should last at least half an hour. Brine baths have many healing properties. The chloride and sodium ions contained in the water have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the nervous system. By acting on the sensory receptors, these ions lead to a decrease in nervous excitability and an improvement in the regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Consequently, they also support the function of the internal organs. The increase in body temperature after bathing leads to an improvement in peripheral circulation, tissue oxygenation, increased diuresis and accelerated metabolism. Muscle relaxation occurs due to the exposure of the body to hydrostatic pressure. Brine baths are contraindicated in ovarian insufficiency, developmental disorders of the ovaries and pregnancy [34].
The kinds of physical therapy used in women with endometriosis are mainly light therapy, laser therapy, electrotherapy and magnetotherapy [35,36,37,38,39,40] (Table 1). Physical therapy treatments complement the comprehensive therapy of endometriosis treatment.
In the field of phototherapy, infrared, red, ultraviolet and visible rays are used. Their main action is to accelerate the absorption of exudates, and to improve blood circulation and regeneration after surgery [41]. The use of laser biostimulation aims to accelerate tissue healing and regeneration, improve microcirculation in the wound area, and accelerate the growth of fibroblasts, collagen or nerve fibres. Using low-energy laser radiation, an analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect is also achieved [42]. The use of laser therapy in the treatment of endometriosis is also based on the use of far-infrared Low-Level Laser (Light) Therapy (LLLT). These treatments have the effect of deeply regenerating and restoring tissue function. Studies show that deep infrared action is capable of increasing the proliferation and functional (functional) cellular capacity of the endometrium [41,42,43]. The effect of laser irradiation at the cellular level manifests itself as: increased production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), increased activity of membrane enzymes, increased synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), and accelerated electrolyte exchange between the cell and its environment. At the tissue level, there is an acceleration of blood and lymph circulation, a decrease in intracapillary pressure, an increase in the excitability threshold of nerve endings and stimulation of the immune system [44,45,46].
The application of an electromagnetic field generates endogenous heat, i.e., internal overheating of the tissues. The treatment is performed on the lower abdominal area. The method by which the treatment is carried out, the duration and number of treatments in a series are individually adapted to the patient’s condition and the severity of the symptoms. It is used in the treatment of chronic conditions, where deep overheating and hyperaemia are indicated, and therefore should not be used in women of childbearing age. In this group of patients, it is advisable to use a pulse wave, as a similar effect is obtained with almost complete elimination of the heat factor [47].
The physiotherapeutic management of patients with endometriosis also includes electrotherapy, which has an analgesic and hyperemic effect. Medium- and low-frequency currents are used [36,37]. Both interference currents and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) have the effect of reducing pain in the pelvic area.
Kinesiotherapy for patients with endometriosis is an important part of the treatment and involves the selection of an appropriate exercise programme with individually selected loads. Appropriately selected exercises in the post-operative period and during the treatment of inflammation have a significant effect on the patients’ recovery and functioning. Kinesiotherapy is also suitable for patients whose health status rules out surgical treatment.
Physiotherapy is also provided in the recovery room. Immobilisation after surgery can contribute to circulatory disorders and peripheral venous blood retention and increase the risk of thromboembolic and respiratory complications [48,49]. It is important that the standard of physiotherapy management is for the patient to adopt an upright position as soon as possible, and to gradually become mobile, initially at the bedside and then within the patient’s room. The point at which the patient may stand upright and at which physiotherapy may be initiated in patients having undergone gynaecological surgery is established according to medical indications and also the individual condition of the patient, her age, existing additional conditions or possible complications following surgery.
If surgery is planned then, prior to surgery, the patient is taught general conditioning exercises to prevent possible post-operative complications. Rehabilitation begins with breathing exercises and then lower limb exercises are introduced: foot ankle circles, alternating dorsal and sole flexion of the foot. In order to facilitate the outflow of blood and lymph towards the heart, it is advisable to perform these exercises in such a way that the limb being exercised is slightly raised above body level.
An important element in women undergoing surgery is introducing physioprophylaxis and anticoagulant treatment as soon as possible. Compression therapy is one of the methods used to reduce venous stasis. It is applied along the entire length of the lower limb, with the greatest compression applied in the toe area and with a gradual reduction in compression towards the proximal limb [50]. During bandaging, the limb should be elevated above body level. Thoracic track breathing exercises are also used. Prior to surgery, it is also important to educate patients on the ability to cough up effectively and expectoration, with particular attention to stabilising the post-operative wound [50].
Regardless of the type of operation, it is important to treat the scar as swiftly as possible in order to reduce the risk of scarring and to provide careful instruction on scar management at home. A post-operative wound is generally tended with an intradermal suture, which can remain in place until absorption or, in the case of a non-absorbable suture, it is removed on the fifth post-operative day. Once the scab has fallen off, scar therapy can begin. Ointments containing substances that reduce the inflammatory reaction and compounds with a lytic effect are most often used as support. Manual techniques and selected massage techniques can be used to mobilize the scar [51,52]. This treatment can be started when the sutures have been removed and the wound is healed. First, stroking and rubbing techniques are used, which we also teach patients to perform at home on their own. The whole scar should be worked on by successive circular movements in place, changing their direction in a cyclic manner. When the scar is already soft and does not hurt, it is advisable to activate the deep adhesions by separating these adhesions from the subcutaneous tissue, rubbing them by first making circular movements and then movements in opposite directions. When performing massage techniques, the patient can use ointments and gels recommended by doctors to lubricate scars, which in turn will benefit the regeneration process and enhance the physiotherapeutic effect [51,52].
In the case of laparoscopic surgery, special attention should be paid to activating the abdominal muscles as little as possible, while at the same time not forgetting to adopt a vertical position and further rehabilitation management [53].
If there are no medical contraindications, physiotherapy is started on the first postoperative day. In the case of a laparotomy, the patient changes positions from lying on her back to lying on her side and vice versa, with her lower limbs bent at the hip and knee joints (and thus her abdominal muscles relaxed) by performing a rotation of her entire torso. Once a sitting position is reached, upright positioning is introduced.
It is also important to make patients aware of the importance of exercise and physical activity at every stage of endometriosis treatment. The symptoms associated with endometriosis stem from a local inflammatory reaction in the peritoneum caused by ecotopic endometrial tissue.
Regular exercise has been shown to have a protective effect against diseases that include inflammatory processes, as regular exercise involves a systemic increase in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant cytokines and a decrease in oestrogen levels in endometrial cells [54]. Systematic physical exercise stimulates the effect of reducing the menstrual blood flow, regulating both ovarian function and oestrogen levels. Regular amateur physical activity can decrease oestrogen levels and reduce the bioavailability of this hormone [55,56]. A significant reduction in the risk of developing endometrial cysts has been observed in patients doing high-intensity exercise at MET 6 levels [57,58]. Patients should be taught that healthy habits are not only a matter of physical activity, but also mental health and education, which facilitate a healthy lifestyle. The most common forms of activity are yoga, jogging and exercise [59].
Physiotherapy as a complementary treatment for women with symptomatic endometriosis has significant benefits in reducing pain, and although there are no conclusive study findings, many women indicate this type of therapy as being effective.
Physiotherapeutic work in women with endometriosis can be complemented successfully by physiotherapeutic interventions, including manual techniques [60] (Table 2), which can be effective in relieving pain occurring in the pelvic area.
Pelvic organ pain is often perceived as somatic pain, due to innervation from the same level, which is associated with peripheral sensitization [61,62,63,64,65,66].
Visceral manual techniques, proposed by Jean-Pierre Barral [67], deserve special attention for manual work. Visceral manual therapy encompasses the three-dimensional dynamics of body biomechanics: musculoskeletal structure, musculo-fascial structure, connective tissue and organs, and reflex activity in the central and peripheral nervous system, as well as the circulation and drainage of fluid systems in the human body [67]. The aim of manual peritoneal therapy for dysfunction in the female reproductive system is to promote movement, articulation and improvements in tissue rhythm, which is a physiological phenomenon and a fundamental aspect of life. Treatment of dysfunction in the reproductive system involves assessing the abdominal and pelvic cavity. In order for this cavity to be able to maintain physiological movement, the organs must move in relation to each other and also in relation to the membranes that surround them. There are three pathomechanisms that interfere with the sliding movement between the organs and the surrounding musculo-fascial structures and which can lead to pain and other dysfunctions. These are referred to as pain, changes in local tissue dynamics and central sensitization [63]. The general management of reproductive system dysfunction involves restoring postural balance, breathing, pelvic activity and balancing the pressures between the different diaphragms in the body. It is also important to pay attention to muscle tone in the pelvis and thoracolumbar fascia, centralisation of the hip joint, sacroiliac region and the symphysis pubis [68]. Therefore, visceral manual therapy should begin with a postural analysis, as mobility abnormalities in the lumbar spine, hip joints and symphysis pubis are key contributors to muscle-fascial tension dissonance [69,70,71]. Assessment of the spine is also important, particularly in the thoracic region at the level of the 12th vertebra and the lumbar region at the level of the 1st lumbar vertebra and at the lumbosacral transition and the sacroiliac joint. Restrictions due to sympathetic innervation at the thoracolumbar spine can lead to vasodilation in the small pelvis. Blood pressure is lowered, and oxygen and nutrient supply is significantly impaired [66].
Uterine palpation allows the presence of adhesions, the shape, mobility and position of the uterus to be determined. The physiological state of the uterus can be comprehensively assessed when there is no strong resistance or pain in the lower abdomen. The uterus should be flexible to some extent. A strong response to pressure may signal adhesions. A complete lack of resistance may indicate uterine retroversion [41,43]. Uterine relaxation techniques are useful in the treatment of reduced uterine mobility. Additionally, these techniques aid uterine vascular drainage [67,70].
Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) can occur in the vagina, urethra or rectum; these are small, palpable, hypersensitive nodules that can either be active or latent [72,73]. Transvaginal techniques can be used to deactivate such trigger points.
Patients with endometriosis report that the disease affects all aspects of a woman’s physical and psychological health, hence it is important that support is multifaceted.
Contraindications for physiotherapy in patients with endometriosis include malignant tumours of the reproductive organs prior to 12 months after completion of surgical therapy, radiotherapy or chemotherapy excluding hormonal therapy, acute inflammation within the reproductive organs, acute bacterial infections, fungal infections established large myomas qualifying for surgical treatment unexplained bleeding from the reproductive tract, and pregnancy.
Physiotherapy is safe and effective and can make a significant difference to the symptoms associated with pelvic dysfunction and therefore to women’s quality of life.
4. Limitations
Despite the positive impact of physiotherapy resulting from its practical use in women with endometriosis, there is a lack of scientific publications of a research nature, with large study groups and with a well-described methodology for using the different forms of physiotherapy. Certainly, confirmation of practice through science would make it possible to indicate which form of physiotherapy may be most effective in the treatment of endometriosis.
5. Conclusions
The use of physiotherapy and its forms as an adjunctive treatment for endometriosis requires scientific research to test the efficacy of physiotherapy and determine which form will be the best to improve women’s biopsychophysical condition. Due to the small number of publications, it seems that the use of physiotherapy in the treatment of endometriosis is underestimated and underpublicised.
This review provides information that the following are effective treatments to reduce pain and improve quality of life for women with endometriosis: pulsed high-intensity laser therapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), pulsed electromagnetic fields and manual physiotherapy.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; methodology, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; resources, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; writing—original draft preparation, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; writing—review and editing, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; visualization, M.W., R.S. and K.P.; supervision, M.W., R.S. and K.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Table 1. Form of physiotherapy applied, e.g., laser therapy, TENS, electromagnetic fields.
Table 1. Form of physiotherapy applied, e.g., laser therapy, TENS, electromagnetic fields.
StudyTreatmentsMaterials and MethodsClinical Benefits
Thabet et al., 2020 [35]Pulsed high-intensity laser therapy three times per week for 8 weeks. A wavelength of 1064 nm, a fluency level of 510–1780 mJ/cm2, a brief duration of 120–150 ls, a low frequency of 10–30 Hz, 0.1 percent duty cycle, a probe diameter of 0.5 cm, and a spot size of 0.2 cmThe sample included 40 women aged between 24 and 32 years with endometriosis of a mild or a moderate degree. They were randomly assigned to two groups, group 1 of 20 women received pulsed high-intensity laser therapy three times per week for 8 weeks, as well as the usual regimen of hormonal treatment given to endometriosis patients, and group 2 of 20 women received sham laser treatment three times per week for 8 weeks and the usual regimen of hormonal treatment. For all patients, pain, the degree of endometriosis, and quality of life were measured using present pain intensity and pain relief scales, laparoscopy, and the Endometriosis Health Profile (EHP-5) before treatment began and at the end of the 8 weeks.In comparison to the sham laser treatment, pulsed high-intensity laser therapy produced a significantly different result in women with endometriosis. Pulsed high-intensity laser therapy is an effective method of pain alleviation, reducing adhesions, and improving the quality of life in women with endometriosis.
Mira et al., 2020 [36]Applied TENS and hormonal therapy for 8 weeks in the S3–S4 region, 30 min sessionIncluded a hundred and one participants with DIE in electrotherapy (n = 53) (hormonal treatment + electrotherapy) or control group (n = 48) (only hormonal treatment) for 8 weeks of follow-up. The primary measurement was chronic pelvic pain (CPP) using a visual analogue scale (VAS) and deep dyspareunia. The secondary outcomes were the quality of life measured using the endometriosis health profile (EHP-30) and sexual function using the female sexual function index (FSFI).Alleviation of CPP was observed only in the electrotherapy group. In terms of profound dyspareunia, an improvement was observed for both groups. Considering the secondary outcomes, a higher post-treatment total score for EHP-30 was observed in both groups. With regard to sexual function, a statistically significant improvement in the FSFI score was observed in the electrotherapy group, with an increase in scores in the domains of lube and pain.
Mira et al., 2015 [37]Applied TENS for 8 weeks in the S3–S4 region for both groups, 30 min session22 women with deep endometriosis diagnosed in the culdesac and intestinal loop who sustained pelvic pain and/or deep dyspareunia, despite continuous clinical medication. Participants received intervention and were randomized into two groups: Group 1: acupuncture-like TENS (Dualpex 9611) (n = 11) and Group 2: self-applied TENS (Tanyx1) (n = 11). All women had been undergoing hormone therapy with continuous progestin alone or combined oral contraceptives for at least three months, reporting pelvic pain and/or deep dyspareunia persistence, associated or not with other pain complaints (dysmenorrhea, dyschezia and dysuria).Both resources (acupuncture-like TENS and self-applied TENS) demonstrated effectiveness as a complementary treatment of pelvic pain and deep dyspareunia, improving quality of life in women with deep endometriosis regardless of the device used for treatment.
Jorgsen et al., 1994 [40]Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Fields one time per week for one month, 15–20 min.Short exposures of affected areas to the application of a magnetic induction device producing short, sharp, magnetic-field pulses of a minimal amplitude to initiate the electrochemical phenomenon of electroporation within a 25 cm2 focal area.Of the 17 patients presenting with a total of 20 episodes of pelvic pain, of which 11 episodes were acute, seven chronic and two acute as well as chronic, 16 patients representing 18 episodes (90%) experienced clear relief, while two patients represented two episodes reported incomplete pain relief.
Table 2. Application of non-invasive site-specific manual physiotherapy techniques.
Table 2. Application of non-invasive site-specific manual physiotherapy techniques.
StudyTreatmentsMaterials and MethodsClinical Benefits
Wurn et al., 2011 [60] To assess the efficacy of a non-invasive, site-specific manual physiotherapeutic technique in ameliorating dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea, commonly associated with endometriosis, by performing a retrospective and prospective analysis, respectively.For Study I (Retrospective analysis of the effect on dyspareunia in women with endometriosis) 14 female patients surgically diagnosed with endometriosis (out of 23 previous participants of a previously conducted Sexual Function Study) (13) were enrolled. A total of 18 female subjects were enrolled for Study II (Prospective analysis of the effect on dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea in women with endometriosis). Human female subjects, all surgically diagnosed with endometriosis, were enrolled in each of the studies after informed consent. Each subject underwent 20 h of site-specific manual physical therapy (Wurn Technique) designed to address adhesions and restrictions in soft tissue mobility in the abdomen and the pelvic floor. A post-test was completed 6 weeks after treatment.Site-specific manual physiotherapy might offer a non-pharmacologic and non-surgical alternative in the treatment of dyspareunia and dysmenorrhea in endometriosis patients. Evaluation incorporated an outcome prediction based on the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) for analysing the effect on dyspareunia and sexual function (n = 14) and quantitative differences in ratings of average pain during menstrual cycle and intercourse based on the Mankoski Pain Scale for analysing the effect on dysmenorrhea and dyspareunia (n = 18), respectively. Data were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (two-sided)
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Wójcik, M.; Szczepaniak, R.; Placek, K. Physiotherapy Management in Endometriosis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 16148. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316148
AMA Style
Wójcik M, Szczepaniak R, Placek K. Physiotherapy Management in Endometriosis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(23):16148. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316148
Chicago/Turabian Style
Wójcik, Małgorzata, Renata Szczepaniak, and Katarzyna Placek. 2022. "Physiotherapy Management in Endometriosis" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 23: 16148. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192316148
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Suppose that X is an analytic subvariety of a Stein manifold M and that varphi is a plurisubharmonic (psh) function on X which is dominated by a continuous psh exhaustion function u of M. Given any number c > 1, we show that varphi admits a psh extension to M which is dominated by cu on M. We use this result to prove that any omega-psh function on a subvariety of the complex projective space is the restriction of a global omega-psh function, where omega is the Fubini-Study Kahler form.
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Mono / ASP / lighttpd/ Linux: relative path not working
Could not find file "~/pages/footer.htm". is the error im getting
the actual code segment is...
Response.WriteFile("~/pages/footer.htm");
I just installed lighttpd and set it up to run our asp app through mono about an hour ago on my ubuntu vm
and yes the footer.htm file exists in the location /pages/footer.htm (where / is the root dir /var/www)
You can't use ~ in a path string because shell expansion rules don't get applied (same with c/c++).
Is this just a configuration issue? The pages I'm working on are directly taken from a working production server and I'm just setting them up on my local development machine. The tildes in the paths work fine in the production environment
also, the production server is a windows machine and the ~ works fine on it
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Flexible pipe coupling
ABSTRACT
A flexible pipe coupling wherein the median section of an elastic hose constitutes a bellows and the conical outer sections of the hose taper outwardly from the respective ends of the bellows and have inwardly extending annular collars remote from the bellows. The outer sections have internal sockets for sealing rings which extend into annular grooves machined into the outer end faces of connecting rings serving to secure the outer sections to the flanges of two spaced-apart pipes. When the connecting rings are bolted to the respective flanges, the collars are deformed between the respective connecting rings and flanges, and the sealing rings penetrate into the adjacent grooves and impart to the corresponding outer sections an S-shaped cross-sectional outline. The hose is reinforced by an insert consisting of several layers of steel cords and being embedded into the elastic material of the hose so that it extends into the collars, into the remaining portions of the outer sections as well as into the bellows. The insert is made from a web of metallic filaments which is profiled, coiled and severed to yield blanks conforming in shape to that of the hose. A blank is thereupon placed between inner and outer shells consisting of elastomeric material and the shells are bonded to each other under the action of heat and pressure to form the hose with the blank embedded therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improvements in pipe couplings or fittings, and more particularly to improvements in flexible pipe couplings.
A flexible pipe coupling comprises a flexible tubular member (hereinafter called hose for short) and means for securing the ends of the hose to the respective ends (e.g., flanges) of two metallic, plastic or like pipes. It is already known to utilize in a flexible pipe coupling a hose which has an outwardly bulging median section and two outer sections. The hose consists of rubber or elastomeric synthetic plastic material. The means for connecting the outer sections to pipes comprises rings through which the outer sections extend, which have grooves for portions of the outer sections, and which can be fastened to the respective pipes. The median section of the hose compensates for eventual variations in the distance between the pipes as well as for eventual lateral displacements of the pipes relative to each other. The outer sections must sealingly engage the connecting rings as well as the pipes.
Flexible pipe couplings of the just outlined character exhibit many important advantages. However, they are not sufficiently reliable when the pressure of fluid in the pipes is relatively high or very high. Moreover, such conventional flexible pipe couplings cannot stand excessive temperatures and/or pronounced fluctuations of temperatures, either within or outside of the pipe line in which the coupling is mounted. It has been found that, when the pressure in the interior of the flexible coupling rises, the end sections of the hose are likely to become disengaged from the connecting rings and/or from the flanges of the respective pipes so that the pressurized fluid escapes into the surrounding atmosphere.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a flexible pipe coupling which can withstand high and extremely high fluid pressures without any leakage of fluid into and/or from their hoses.
Another object of the invention is to provide a flexible pipe coupling which insures a satisfactory sealing action even if the temperature of fluid in the interior and/or outside of the hose fluctuates within a wide range, and even if substantial fluctuations of temperature take place simultaneously with a very pronounced rise of fluid pressure in the hose.
A further object of the invention is to provide novel and improved means for sealingly securing the end sections of the hose in a flexible pipe coupling to the respective pipe ends.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a simple, compact and versatile flexible pipe coupling which can be used in pipe lines for transport of a wide variety of fluids, which can stand the corrosive action of fluids inside or outside of the hose, which can be assembled or dismantled with little loss in time, and which can be used as a superior substitute for presently known flexible couplings in existing pipe lines.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved hose for use in the above outlined flexible pipe coupling, to provide the hose with novel and improved reinforcing means, and to provide a novel and improved method of reinforcing the hose.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method of making reinforcing inserts for elastic hoses of flexible pipe couplings.
One feature of the invention resides in the provision of a flexible coupling for use between spaced apart flanges or analogous end portions of metallic, plastic of other types of pipes. The coupling comprises an elastic hose having a median section which constitutes a bellows and two preferably conical hollow outer sections flanking the bellows and tapering outwardly from the respective ends of the bellows. Each outer section has an inwardly extending annular collar which is remote from the respective end of the bellows, and each outer section is further provided with an annular internal socket at the radially outermost end of the respective collar. The coupling further comprises metallic or plastic sealing rings which are inserted into the sockets of the outer sections and means for sealingly securing the outer sections to the end portions of the respective pipes. The securing means comprises substantially ring-shaped connecting members having central apertures for the respective outer sections, end faces adjacent to the end portions of the respective pipes, and annular grooves in the respective end faces; such grooves are preferably closely adjacent to and surround the respective apertures. Each connecting member further comprises an annular bead which is disposed between the respective groove and aperture. The securing means further comprises bolts and nuts or other suitable fastener means for affixing the connecting members to the end portions of the respective pipes whereby the sealing rings penetrate into the adjacent grooves and the collars are deformed so as to bear against the end faces of the respective connecting members as well as against the end portions of the respective pipes. Those portions of the surfaces of connecting members which bound the respective grooves are preferably configurated to conform to the cross-sectional outlines of portions of the respective sealing rings.
Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a method of making a reinforcing blank for incorporation into the elastic material of the aforementioned hose. The method comprises the steps of deforming an elongated web of reinforcing material (e.g., metallic filaments which form two layers with the filaments of one layer extending substantially at right angles to the filaments of the other layer and with all filaments inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction of the web) so that the marginal portions of the thus deformed web conform to the outlines of the outer sections of a hose and the median portion of the deformed web conforms to the outline of the bellows, coiling the thus profiled web and separating therefrom a length whose configuration conforms to that of the hose, and embedding the just mentioned length of the web into the elastic material of the hose. The severed length of the web may consist of several (e.g., two) overlapping convolutions.
The embedding step may comprise placing the severed length between inner and outer tubular shells consisting of rubber or elastomeric synthetic plastic material, and bonding the shells to each other to thereby convert the shells into a hose with the severed length of profiled and coiled web embedded in the material of the hose.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved pipe coupling itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional features and advantages thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of certain specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary schematic partly elevational and partly central longitudinal sectional view of a flexible pipe coupling which embodies one form of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary axial sectional view of a modified connecting ring which can be used in the improved flexible coupling;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of a sealing ring which can be used in a flexible coupling utilizing connecting rings of the type shown in FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a reinforcing insert for the hose of the improved flexible coupling.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The flexible coupling of FIG. 1 is utilized to establish a leakproof connection between two pipes 14 (only one shown) having end portions or flanges 12 provided with annuli of openings 12a. The coupling comprises an elongated hose 1 consisting of rubber or elastomeric synthetic plastic material and including an outwardly bulging hollow concavo-convex median section or bellows 4 and two hollow conical outer sections 6 each having an inwardly extending end portion or collar 8. The bellows 4 may be made longer and may include two or more outwardly bulging portions alternating with inwardly bulging portions. The outer sections 6 taper outwardly in directions away from the respective ends of the bellows 4 and their collars 2 may be disposed in planes which are normal to the axis X--X of the coupling or taper inwardly in directions away from the respective ends of the bellows. The entire hose 1 is preferably reinforced by an insert 2 which may be of the type shown in FIG. 4. In accordance with a presently preferred embodiment, the insert 2 consists of one or more layers of steel cords, wires or analogous metallic filaments forming interlaced or overlapping helices. As shown in FIG. 4, the insert 2 may comprise a median portion 2a which conforms to the shape of and is embedded in the bellows 4, two annular constrictions 2c which flank the median portion 2a, and two conical outer portions 2d which are embedded in the material of the respective outer sections 6 and have inwardly extending annular end portions 2b in the respective collars 8. As a rule, the insert 2 will be shaped prior to incorporation into the material of the hose 1 so that its configuration will match or closely resemble that which the hose assumes prior to being placed into sealing engagement with the flanges 12.
The means for sealingly securing the conical outer portions 6 of the hose 1 to the respective flanges 12 comprises two connecting rings 3 each having a set of openings 3a in register with the openings 12a of the adjacent flange, a central aperture 3A through which a portion of the hose 1 extends, and an annular groove 10 in that end face (3B) which faces the outer end face 13 of the respective flange 12. The connecting rings 3 can be affixed to the adjacent flanges 12 by bolts and nuts 15, screws or analogous fasteners portions of which extend through the registering openings 3a, 12a. The grooves 10 are separated from the respective apertures 3A by annular beads 9 which are preferably rounded at the outer end faces 3B as well as at the inner end faces 3D of the respective connecting rings 3. The surfaces which bound the grooves 10 include concave portions 10a which extend along arcs of approximately 90 degrees and substantially cylindrical portions 10b which constitute the external surfaces of the respective beads 9.
Each outer section 6 of the hose 1 defines an internal socket or seat 6A for a metallic or plastic sealing ring 7 having a circular cross-sectional outline. The sockets 6A are adjacent to the inner sides of the radially outermost parts of the collars 8. The curvature of surface portions 10a bounding the radially outermost parts of the grooves 10 is similar to the curvature of the cross-sectional outlines of sealing rings 7. Thus, when the flexible coupling is assembled, the centers of curvature of cross-sectional outlines of surface portions 10a are located in or close to the planes which are normal to the axes of and halve the respective sealing rings 7.
As shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 1, the diameters of sealing rings 7, the diameters of beads 9 and the diameters of grooves 10 are selected with a view to insure that the outer sections 6 of the hose 1 undergo more pronounced compressive and deforming action in the spaces between the sealing rings 7 and beads 9. This contributes significantly to prevention of leakage of fluid from the interior of the pipe line including the pipes 14 and the flexible coupling and/or penetration of fluid into the pipe line.
The surface surrounding the groove 10 and the bead 9 of a connecting ring 3 has a substantially S-shaped outline. Also, when an outer section 6 is properly clamped between a ring 3 and a flange 12, it has a substantially S-shaped cross-sectional configuration. This is shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 1.
When the flexible coupling of FIG. 1 is to be assembled, the outer sections 6 of the hose 1 are deformed and slipped through the apertures 3A of the respective connecting rings 3. The collars 8 are thereupon flexed outwardly to allow for insertion of sealing rings 7 into the respective sockets 6A, and the rings 3 are thereupon secured to the adjacent flanges 12 so that the outer sides of the collars 8 bear against and sealingly engage the outer end faces 13 of the respective flanges 12. The rings 7 are forced to enter the respective grooves 10, together with portions of the outer sections 6, whereby such outer sections sealingly engage the surface portions 10a, 10b and undergo maximum deformation between the rings 7 and the respective beads 9. If the rings 3 are properly affixed to the respective flanges 12, i.e., if the outer end faces 3B of the rings 3 are moved sufficiently close to the outer end faces 12 of the adjacent flanges, the sealing action which is established between the outer sections 6 and the end faces 13 as well as between the outer sections 6 and the connecting rings 3 suffices to insure that the coupling will not leak even at elevated pressures of fluid in and/or around the hose 1 and even if such elevated pressures develop simultaneously with a pronounced increase of temperature of fluid within and/or without the coup ing. As a matter of fact, as the pressure in the interior of the hose 1 increases, the force with which the collars 8 of the outer sections 6 are urged against the end faces 13 of the respective flanges 12 also increases so that the sealing action improves. In other words, the maximum sealing action is determined primarily by the magnitude of forces which the hose 1 can stand without undergoing partial or complete destruction.
It is clear that the rings 3 of FIG. 1 constitute but one form of connecting means which can be used to establish sealing engagement with the flanges 12 or analogous end portions of pipes which are to be sealingly coupled to each other. For example, the outermost portions of rings 3 may be provided with sleeves (not shown) whose internal threads can be moved into mesh with external threads at the peripheries of the flanges 12. Also, each ring 3 may be assembled of two or more arcuate portions. Still further, the flanges 12 may include internally threaded sleeves which can mesh with external threads at the peripheries of the rings 3. All that counts is to insure that the connecting members can be detachably secured to the respective flanges 12 and that they can subject the respective outer sections 6 to deforming stresses which suffice to guarantee a leakproof engagement of such outer sections with the flanges and with the connecting members even if the pressure and/or temperature of fluid or fluids inside or outside of the coupling fluctuates within a wide range.
FIG. 2 shows a portion of a modified connecting ring 3' having openings 3a', a central aperture 3A', an annular groove 10' in that end face (3B') which faces toward the adjacent flange (not shown in FIG. 2), and an annular bead 9' which is disposed between the groove 10' and the aperture 3A'. The surface portions 10a of the rings 3 shown in FIG. 1 are replaced by concave surface portions 10a' having several convex annular facets 10d alternating with annular recesses 10c. The surface portion 10b' has two or more annular convex facets 10e and at least one annular recess 10f, i.e., one recess 10f between each pair of neighboring facets 10e.
A sealing ring 7' which can be used in a flexible coupling employing connecting rings 3' of the type shown in FIG. 2 is illustrated in FIG. 3. This sealing ring has several circumferentially extending convex facets 7b alternating with annular recesses or notches 7a. When the sealing ring 7' enters a groove 10' (with a portion of an outer section 6 between the sealing ring and the surface portions 10a', 10b'), the notches 7a register with the facets 10d, 10e and the facets 7b register with the recesses 10c, 10f. The utilization of rings 3' and 7' further enhances the sealing action of the improved flexible coupling.
The sealing ring 7' can be replaced with a sealing ring of polygonal cross-sectional outline and/or the convex facets 10d, 10e of the ring 3' can be replaced by flat facets. A sealing ring of polygonal cross-sectional outline can be used with the connecting rings 3 or 3', and connecting rings having flat facets can be used with sealing rings 7, 7' or those having a polygonal cross-sectional outline. If the sealing rings have a polygonal cross-sectional outline, the meeting edges of their facets are preferably rounded or chamfered. It is also possible to use sealing rings having an elliptical cross-sectional outline. The exact configuration of the sealing rings will depend, at least to a certain extent, on the nature of the material of hose 1, the dimensions of grooves 10 or 10' and beads 9 or 9', and certain other factors.
In certain embodiments of the improved flexible coupling, the connecting rings can be simplified by replacing the specially designed surface portions 10b or 10b' with conical surface portions whose contour corresponds to that of the adjacent portions of outer sections 6. Thus, and referring to FIG. 2, the rather complex bead 9' can be replaced with a much simpler bead having a wedge-shaped cross-sectional outline (the conical peripheral surface of such simplified bead is indicated by a phantom line 10b").
The insert 2 of FIG. 4 can be produced as follows: One can start with an elongated web having a width which exceeds the axial length of the insert 2 and preferably consisting of interlaced steel wires or cords 2A which are arranged in criss-cross fashion so that they make oblique angles with the longitudinal direction of the web. The web is thereupon caused to pass through a gap between suitable profiling rolls or analogous profiling implements which convert the marginal portions of the web into the portions 2b, 2d, which form the annular constrictions 2c, and which shape the concavo-convex median portion 2a. If desired, the web can be coated (at one or both sides) with one or more layers of non-vulcanized rubber or like material. The number of layers, the diameters of cords 2A, and the density of the web will depend on the desired strength of the hose 1. As a rule, the web will have at least two layers of cords disposed at right angles to each other so as to form substantially rectangular interstices.
The profiled web can be coiled to form a bundle consisting of overlapping convolutions in a manner similar to that of coiling photographic film on the core of a supply reel or takeup reel. The thus coiled material is then severed to yield unit lengths or blanks each of which preferably comprises two or more concentric convolutions. The insert 2 of FIG. 4 has two complete convolutions. The thus obtained blanks are thereupon coated with a suitable adhesive (preferably from inside as well as from without) and each blank is placed between two annular shells consisting of rubber or other suitable elastomeric material. The outer side of the inner shell and the inner side of the outer shell is also coated with an adhesive. The two shells are thereupon bonded to each other and to the blank under the action of heat and pressure (preferably in a manner known from the art of vulcanizing tires for automotive vehicles) to be thereby converted into a finished hose 1 which is ready to be assembled with rings 3 and 7 and sealingly connected to the flanges 12 of two pipes 14. The blank is simultaneously converted into an insert 2 which is preferably fully embedded in the elastomeric material. If desired, the profiled web can be converted into blanks while being inserted between the aforementioned shells.
If the hose of the improved flexible coupling does not have to stand substantial thermal stresses and/or fluid pressures, inserts of the type shown in FIG. 4 can be replaced with other types of inserts, for example, with inserts consisting of textile material which is embedded in the elastomeric material. It is preferred to utilize textile material which consists of synthetic plastic filaments. Furthermore, and if the flexible coupling is to be used in pipe lines which convey fluids at low pressure and/or wherein the temperature outside and/or in the interior of the coupling fluctuates very little or not at all (and the temperature is not high), the improved coupling can utilize a hose which does not have any reinforcing inserts. The omission of inserts significantly reduces the manufacturing cost of the hoses. Even in the absence of reinforcing inserts, the improved flexible coupling is superior to conventional couplings because the sealing action between the outer sections of the hose and the flanges of the respective pipes is much more satisfactory.
In assembling the hose 1 with the rings 3 and 7 or 3' and 7', the outer sections 6 are preferably slipped through the central apertures of the rings 3 and 3' and the sealing rings 7 or 7' are preferably inserted into the respective sockets 6A prior to complete setting of elastomeric material, especially if the finished hose is relatively stiff so that the insertion of outer sections into the connecting rings and/or the insertion of sealing rings into the sockets would necessitate the exertion of substantial forces.
It has been found that the improved insert contributes significantly to the resistance which the hose can offer to elevated fluid pressures. Such resistance is further enhanced by the novel connections between the outer sections 6 and the respective pipes 14. The just mentioned connections prevent leakage of fluid at pressures which cannot be withstood, at least not for long periods of time, by heretofore known flexible couplings. Experiments with the improved coupling have shown that a hose having an inner diameter of 50 millimeters and being reinforced with steel cords can stand internal bursting pressures in the range of 200 bar or more. Also, the sealing action between the outer sections 6 and the pipes remained intact at extremely high temperatures.
The improved flexible coupling is susceptible of many additional modifications without departing from the spirit of the invention. The exact design of the coupling will depend on its intended use, on the temperatures and/or pressures which the hose must withstand in actual use, on the nature (e.g., corrosive effect) of fluids which are conveyed through and/or which surround the hose, and on certain other factors. The designer has practically unlimited freedom in the selection of elastomeric material for a hose which does not contain any reinforcing inserts and/or a reinforced hose, in the selection of strength, type and flexibility of the insert, and/or in the selection of connecting members which secure the outer sections to the respective pipes. As mentioned above, the median section of the hose (and hence the median portion of the insert, if any) may comprise several outwardly bulging portions alternating with inwardly bulging portions. Also, the exact configuration of sealing rings (such as 7 and 7') will depend on the strength of elastomeric material, on the desired sealing action, on the configuration of surfaces which bound the beads and/or grooves of the respective connecting members, and other factors. Still further, the inclination or conicity of outer sections 6 and/or their collars 8 will depend on a number of variables, such as the configuration of surfaces bounding the grooves and/or beads of the connecting members. It is also within the purview of the invention to coat the hose with internal and/or external layers or films of a material which is highly resistant to temperatures, which can stand extensive mechanical stresses (such as frictional engagement with solid bodies) and/or which is highly resistant to the corrosive influence of acids or other chemicals in the fluid passing through the pipe line or in the surrounding area.
Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features which fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of my contribution to the art and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims.
What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims:
1. A flexible coupling for interconnecting two axially spaced-apart pipe ends, said coupling comprising an axially tubular elastic hose having a median section forming a bellows, two outer sections axially flanking said bellows and flaring outwardly therefrom in unmounted condition of said hose, and two collars axially flanking said outer sections and tapering inwardly therefrom in unmounted condition of said hose, said collars each forming with the respective outer section a radially inwardly opening seat; a support ring in each of said seats; two annular connecting members each having an end face turned axially away from said bellows and engaging a respective outer section, each end face having an annular axially opening groove axially align able with the respective support ring; and fastening means for securing each of said connecting members to a respective pipe end face bearing axially on the respective outer section, the respective pipe end bearing axially on the respective collar, and the respective support ring at least partially received with a portion of the respective outer section in the respective groove.
2. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting members have surfaces bounding said grooves and each of said surfaces has a portion whose curvature conforms substantially to the curvature of the cross-sectional outline of the respective ring.
3. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said connecting members has an aperture for the respective outer section and said grooves surround and are closely adjacent to the respective apertures.
4. A coupling as defined in claim 1, further comprising at least one reinforcing insert in said hose.
5. A coupling as defined in claim 4, wherein said insert has portions in each section of said hose.
6. A coupling as defined in claim 4, wherein said insert has portions embedded in the collars of said outer sections.
7. A coupling as defined in claim 4, wherein said insert consists of metallic filaments.
8. A coupling as defined in claim 7, wherein said filaments are steel cords.
9. A coupling as defined in claim 7, wherein said filaments form several overlapping layers including a first and a second layer, the filaments of said first layer being substantially normal to the filaments of said second layer.
10. A coupling as defined in claim 4, wherein said insert constitutes a prefabricated blank which conforms to the shape of and is embedded in the material of said hose.
11. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said connecting members has an aperture for the respective outer section and an annular bead intermediate the aperture and the respective groove.
12. A coupling as defined in claim 11, wherein said outer sections include substantially S-shaped portions overlying the respective beads and surrounding the respective rings.
13. A coupling as defined in claim 11, wherein each of said connecting members has a surface bounding the respective groove and bead, each of said surfaces having a substantially concave annular portion bounding the respective groove and having an outline conforming to appoximately one-fourth of the cross-sectional outline of the respective ring, and a substantially cylindrical portion constituting the peripheral surface of the respective bead.
14. A coupling as defined in claim 11, wherein the inner diameters of said rings and the outer diameters of said beads are such that said outer sections are subjected to a pronounced deforming action intermediate the respective rings and beads.
15. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said rings has a substantially circular cross-sectional outline.
16. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said rings has a polygonal cross-sectional outline.
17. A coupling as defined in claim 16, wherein said one ring has a plurality of annular facets and rounded annular portions between neighboring facets.
18. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of said rings has a plurality of convex annular facets and annular notches alternating with said facets.
19. A coupling as defined in claim 1, wherein said connecting members have apertures for the respective outer sections and annular beads intermediate said apertures and the respective grooves, each of said connecting members further having a surface bounding the respective groove and the respective bead, each of said surfaces having a first portion bounding the respective groove and a second portion surrounding the respective bead, each of said first and second portions having a plurality of convex annular facets and annular recesses alternating with said facets.
20. A coupling as defined in claim 1, further comprising a reinforcing insert embedded in said hose, said insert having at least one profiled convolution conforming to the outline of said hose.
21. The coupling defined in claim 1, wherein said outer sections and said collars are substantially frustoconical in unmounted condition of said hose and extend generally radially in mounted condition of said hose.
22. The coupling defined in claim 1, wherein said grooves and rings are of substantially the same diameter.
|
const SetDefaultStyles = require("./SetDefaults").SetDefaultStyles;
describe("[Default Styles Suite]", () => {
const _defaultStyles = {paddingX: "0px", paddingY: "30px",marginX: "30px",marginY: "auto",height: "auto",width: '80vw',borderColor: "salmon",borderWidth: "10px",borderType: "solid",textTransform: "uppercase",titleColor: "salmon",subtitleColor: "#505050",subtitleLetterSpacing: "1px",transforms: {"translateY":"-50%"},transitions: {"background":"2"}, hoverBackground: "#f0f0f0"}
test("Expect styles not to be false", () => {
let styles = SetDefaultStyles({}, _defaultStyles);
expect(styles).not.toBeFalsy()
});
test("Expect the script to return false if the params aren't set correctly", () => {
expect(SetDefaultStyles({}, {})).toBeFalsy()
});
test("Expect string values of style to be equal to the object", () => {
let styles = SetDefaultStyles({
paddingX: '20px',
paddingY: '20px'
}, _defaultStyles);
expect(styles.toString()).toBe({ paddingX: '20px',paddingY: '20px',textTransform: 'uppercase',subtitleColor: '#505050',subtitleLetterSpacing: '1px',titleColor: 'salmon',marginY: 'auto',marginX: '30px',height: 'auto',width: '80vw',borderColor: 'salmon',hoverBackground: '#f0f0f0',transforms: { translateY: '-50%' },transitions: { background: '2' } }.toString());
});
})
|
Determining orbital occupation through MO shape (Biorthogonalized molecular orbital)
Can it be determined whether a biorthogonalized molecular orbitals is singly occupied just from its shape?
You can see the picture below, describing biorthogonalized molecular orbitals' shapes of $\ce{FeO}$ (Red is Oxygen and the other is Iron) by using Gaussian software (UAFPD functional with 6-311+G(2d,p) basis, quartet spin).
According to the reference of the image$^{1}$:
With this representation, it is clear that the molecule has five singly occupied orbitals consisting of four alpha unpaired electrons localized on the iron atom...
Unfortunately, I have no idea to figure out whether one orbital is singly occupied or not from the picture.
James B. Foresman_ Aeleen Frisch - Exploring Chemistry with Electronic Structure Methods (2015) page 55
그냥 모양이 비슷한 오비탈을 하나씩 알파스핀이랑 베타스핀에서 찾으면 되지 않을까요?
What's the reference for the image
Thank you for your comment, the reference is James B. Foresman_ Aeleen Frisch - Exploring Chemistry with Electronic Structure Methods (2015) page 55.
답변 정말 감사합니다. 지금 평행하게 정렬된 알파랑 베타 오비탈이 같은 에너지 레벨입니다.(숫자는 달라도) 물론 가우시안 프로그램에서 전자의 occupancy를 알 수 있긴 한데 오비탈 모양으로 이게 n개의 unpaired 전자가 어느 원자에 속하는지 알 수 있는 게 궁금했습니다.
@SeungHwanKim While there isn't a rule about non-English comments on SE sites unlike for questions/answers, you would likely get more feedback if using English comments.
@Tyberius Thank you for your feedback. I will remind your advice. Have a great day!!
They aren't determining the occupation from the shape of the orbital. The orbitals are computed with an unrestricted scheme, meaning $\alpha$ and $\beta$ spin electron are not required to pair up in the same spatial orbital. In other words, all orbitals in this case are either singly occupied or empty.
The five simply comes from the fact that the HOMO and HOMO-n orbitals will be occupied and the LUMO and LUMO+n orbitals will be unoccupied.
|
/* eslint-env mocha */
/* eslint-disable no-unused-expressions */
'use strict';
const { expect, should } = require('chai');
const schemaHelper = require('../src/schema');
function indicatorDefaultValue(field, ind) {
const schema = schemaHelper[`field_${field}`]
if (schema.type == "array") {
return schema.items.properties[`indicator${ind}`].defaultValue
} else {
return schema.properties[`indicator${ind}`].defaultValue
}
}
function regularCases() {
let specialTags = indicators1.map(case_ => case_[0]).concat(indicators2.map(case_ => case_[0]));
specialTags = wipCases.concat(specialTags)
const allTags = Object.getOwnPropertyNames(schemaHelper).filter(tag => tag.startsWith("field_") && tag > "field_009").map(tag => tag.replace("field_", ""))
return allTags.filter(tag => !specialTags.includes(tag));
}
const indicators1 = [
["024", "8"],
["080_work", "0"],
["080_register", "0"],
["210_work", "1"],
["210_register", "1"],
["245", "1"],
["246", "3"],
["700", "0"],
["710_register", "2"],
["710_work", "2"],
["711_register", "0"],
["711_work", "0"],
["730", "0"],
["740", "0"],
["760_register", "0"],
["760_work", "0"],
["762_register", "0"],
["762_work", "0"],
["765_register", "0"],
["765_work", "0"],
["767_register", "0"],
["767_work", "0"],
["770_register", "0"],
["770_work", "0"],
["772_register", "0"],
["772_work", "0"],
["773", "0"],
["774", "0"],
["775_register", "0"],
["775_work", "0"],
["776_register", "0"],
["776_work", "0"],
["777_register", "0"],
["777_work", "0"],
["780_register", "0"],
["780_work", "0"],
["785_register", "0"],
["785_work", "0"],
["786", "0"],
["787_register", "0"],
["787_work", "0"],
["856", "4"],
];
const indicators2 = [
["246", "3"],
["264", "1"],
["648", "0"],
["650", "4"],
["780_register", "0"],
["780_work", "0"],
["785_register", "0"],
["785_work", "0"],
["856", "0"],
];
// These fields are not properly defined in the schema yet
const wipCases = [
"841", "842", "843", "844", "845", "853", "854", "855", "863", "864", "865", "866", "867", "868", "876", "877", "878", "880"
]
describe('Default indicators values', () => {
indicators1.forEach(([field, expected]) => {
it(`Special field ${field} indicator 1 is ${expected}`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 1)).to.equal(expected);
});
})
indicators2.forEach(([field, expected]) => {
it(`Special field ${field} indicator 2 is ${expected}`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 2)).to.equal(expected);
});
})
regularCases().forEach((field) => {
it(`Regular field ${field} indicator 1 is empty`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 1)).to.equal("\\");
});
})
regularCases().forEach((field) => {
it(`Regular field ${field} indicator 2 is empty`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 2)).to.equal("\\");
});
})
wipCases.forEach((field) => {
it(`WIP field ${field} indicator 1 is undefined`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 1)).to.be.undefined;
});
})
wipCases.forEach((field) => {
it(`WIP field ${field} indicator 2 is undefined`, () => {
expect(indicatorDefaultValue(field, 2)).to.be.undefined;
});
})
});
|
using PlaywrightSharp;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Xunit;
namespace PlaywrightExample
{
public class SimpleExamples
{
[Fact]
public async Task NavigateToPage()
{
using var pw = await Playwright.CreateAsync();
await using var browser = await pw.Chromium.LaunchAsync(headless: false);
var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();
await page.GoToAsync("http://the-internet.herokuapp.com/");
Assert.True(await page.IsVisibleAsync("css=h1[class='heading']"));
}
[Fact]
public async Task ClickScenario()
{
using var pw = await Playwright.CreateAsync();
await using var browser = await pw.Chromium.LaunchAsync(headless: false);
var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();
await page.GoToAsync("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/tinymce");
await page.ClickAsync("//span[text() = 'Format']");
await page.ClickAsync("//div[text() = 'Formats']");
await page.ClickAsync("//div[text() = 'Headings']");
await page.ClickAsync("//h1[text() = 'Heading 1']");
Assert.Equal("Heading 1", await page.GetTextContentAsync("span[class='tox-tbtn__select-label']"));
}
}
}
|
Wikibooks:Requests for permissions/MaintenanceBot
(Bot)
I would like to use MaintenanceBot to clean up import issues in Principles of Microeconomics. Immediate needs are internal and external link cleanup, file / image additions from the original source, and perhaps page navigation. As there are 80 or so pages to edit, it may be easier if these changes can be ignored in the Recent Changes log. See Global contributions for the stability of MaintenanceBot. It is only run supervised, never autonomously. -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 15:09, 3 September 2017 (UTC)
* Based on v:Special:Contributions/MaintenanceBot. JackPotte (discuss • contribs) 16:07, 3 September 2017 (UTC)
* I'm with this. Perhaps worth remarking (in an abundance of caution) that en.wb doesn't remove local interwikis once they're on wikidata; we're happy to have the information in both places. --Pi zero (discuss • contribs) 19:42, 3 September 2017 (UTC)
* - Bot has done good work on en.wikiversity. --Atcovi (Talk - Contribs) 11:50, 14 November 2017 (UTC)
* per Atcovi. Green Giant (discuss • contribs) 10:18, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
* . Do you still want this actioned? if so, can you confirm you've noted Pi zero's comment re. removal of interwikis? Thanks QuiteUnusual (discuss • contribs) 15:24, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
* Yes, I would still like to be able to use MaintenanceBot for importing and cleanup of OER books that faculty at my institution want to use in their courses. I have noted Pi zero's comment regarding the removal of interwiki links. At this point I'm not likely to use MaintenanceBot on pages other than those that I or the bot create, unless requested by the Wikibooks community. But if you do need some cleanup work, please let me know. Thanks! -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 15:57, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
|
<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers\Admin;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Http\Requests;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Validator;
use Session;
use App\KaedahTanam;
class KaedahTanamController extends Controller
{
public function daftar() {
$kaedahs = KaedahTanam::orderBy('name', 'asc')->get();
$total = KaedahTanam::count();
return view('admin.kaedah_tanam.index', compact('kaedahs', 'total'));
}
// public function postDaftar(Request $request) {
// $validation = Validator::make($request->all(), [
// 'name' => 'required',
// 'code' => 'required'
// ]);
// if($validation->fails()) {
// Session::flash('error', 'Gagal. Kaedah Tanam gagal didaftarkan.');
// return redirect()->back();
// }
// $kaedah = new KaedahTanam;
// $kaedah->name = $request->name;
// $kaedah->code = $request->code;
// if($kaedah->save())
// Session::flash('success', 'Berjaya. Kaedah Tanam berjaya didaftarkan.');
// return redirect()->back();
// }
// public function deleteKaedah($id) {
// $kaedah = KaedahTanam::find($id);
// if($kaedah->delete()) {
// Session::flash('success', 'Berjaya. Kaedah Tanam ' . $kaedah->name . ' berjaya dihapus.');
// }
// return redirect()->back();
// }
}
|
Remove version: Microsoft.Edge.Dev version 124.0.2478.10
[Automated] It returns code over 400 in all urls
Microsoft Reviewers: Open in CodeFlow
For moderators or/and anyone else
[!Caution]
As a result of several personal problems I've had over the last few months + my final exams coming up very soon, I'm currently unable to look at my GitHub notifications every day and maintain my executions correctly.
If you detect a certain problem on a certain pul request:
Either you can close the pull request directly without mentioning me.
Or you can send me a message on X (Twitter): @Exorcism0666
Thank you for your understanding, and I'm sorry if some pull requests can't be approved due to the situation I'm in.
This account is automated by Github Actions and the source code was created by CoolPlayLin. If you have any questions about any pull request, don't hesitate to ping Exorcism0666.
[!warning]
With the new version of Komac, numerous Pull Requests may contain bugs or unwanted elements. If such issues arise, please tag russellbanks so that these bugs can be addressed in future updates.
[!important]
Please carefully review these Pull Request before merging. If it is a Pull Request for removing incorrect content and the URLs are issue, free upon manual checking, please close this Pull Request directly. (It is best to inform Exorcism0666 of the closure.)
良い一日をお過ごしください！
URL: https://msedge.sf.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/471ee1d1-4ef0-4b5d-bca9-af23023a00dd/MicrosoftEdgeDevEnterpriseX86.msi
Response Error: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
(Automated message - build 912)
|
Mesh becomes extremely wrinkled around the hips and shoulders
I have been trying to fully model, rig, and animate my own character with Blender. So far, it's been going great. However, I have come across an issue that has impeded my progress. Whenever I lift up a leg or arm, it looks okay until I put on a multiresolution modifier. My mesh becomes extremely wrinkled, and looks terrible. My gut tells me that it's in my weight paint, although after repeated weight paint combinations, it has resulted in no solution. Any help is appreciated!
Upload your modifier stack. Make sure the multires modifier is after the armature modifier.
Could you upload your .blend file on http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ to be able to help you?
Moving the multires modifier below the armature modifier solved the issue. :)
|
Usage in the README is outdated
Hey! Thanks for creating this plugin. I tried to follow the instructions in the README:
const provider = ethers.provider;
let [wallet] = getWallets(provider);
But these don't work anymore as of<EMAIL_ADDRESS>and<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Related: https://github.com/EthWorks/Waffle/issues/270
I think I figured it out, as per @pcowgill work on chicago-ethereum/quadratic-funding:
https://github.com/chicago-ethereum/quadratic-funding/blob/master/contract-project/test/cemToken.ts
One ought to now use waffle's provider instead of ethers':
import { deployContract } from "ethereum-waffle";
import { waffle } from "@nomiclabs/buidler";
...
const provider = waffle.provider;
let [wallet] = getWallets(provider);
let greeter = (await deployContract(alice, GreeterArtifact)) as Greeter;
Thanks for the input! Everything is updated now.
|
Laser and plasma etch wafer dicing using water-soluble die attach film
ABSTRACT
Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, are described. A method includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is disposed on a water-soluble die attach film. The mask covers and protects the integrated circuits. The mask is patterned with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask with gaps. The patterning exposes regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is then etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to form singulated integrated circuits. The water-soluble die attach film is then patterned with an aqueous solution.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/161,045, filed Jun. 15, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,507,363, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND
1) Field
Embodiments of the present invention pertain to the field of semiconductor processing and, in particular, to methods of dicingsemiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integratedcircuits thereon.
2) Description of Related Art
In semiconductor wafer processing, integrated circuits are formed on a wafer (also referred to as a substrate) composed of silicon or other semiconductor material. In general, layers of various materials whichare either semiconducting, conducting or insulating are utilized to form the integrated circuits. These materials are doped, deposited and etched using various well-known processes to form integrated circuits. Each wafer is processed to form a large number of individual regions containing integrated circuits known as dice.
Following the integrated circuit formation process, the wafer is “diced”to separate the individual die from one another for packaging or for use in an unpackaged form within larger circuits. The two main techniques that are used for wafer dicing are scribing and sawing. With scribing, a diamond tipped scribe is moved across the wafer surface along pre-formed scribe lines. These scribe lines extend along the spaces between the dice. These spaces are commonly referred to as “streets.” The diamond scribe forms shallow scratches in the wafer surface along the streets.Upon the application of pressure, such as with a roller, the wafer separates along the scribe lines. The breaks in the wafer follow the crystal lattice structure of the wafer substrate. Scribing can be used for wafers that are about 10 mils (thousandths of an inch) or less in thickness. For thicker wafers, sawing is presently the preferred method for dicing.
With sawing, a diamond tipped saw rotating at high revolutions per minute contacts the wafer surface and saws the wafer along the streets.The wafer is mounted on a supporting member such as an adhesive film stretched across a film frame and the saw is repeatedly applied to both the vertical and horizontal streets. One problem with either scribing orsawing is that chips and gouges can form along the severed edges of the dice. In addition, cracks can form and propagate from the edges of the dice into the substrate and render the integrated circuit inoperative.Chipping and cracking are particularly a problem with scribing because only one side of a square or rectangular die can be scribed in the <110>direction of the crystalline structure. Consequently, cleaving of theother side of the die results in a jagged separation line. Because of chipping and cracking, additional spacing is required between the dice on the wafer to prevent damage to the integrated circuits, e.g., the chips and cracks are maintained at a distance from the actual integratedcircuits. As a result of the spacing requirements, not as many dice canbe formed on a standard sized wafer and wafer real estate that could otherwise be used for circuitry is wasted. The use of a saw exacerbatesthe waste of real estate on a semiconductor wafer. The blade of the saw is approximate 15 microns thick. As such, to insure that cracking andother damage surrounding the cut made by the saw does not harm theintegrated circuits, three to five hundred microns often must separate the circuitry of each of the dice. Furthermore, after cutting, each die requires substantial cleaning to remove particles and other contaminants that result from the sawing process.
Plasma dicing has also been used, but may have limitations as well. Forexample, one limitation hampering implementation of plasma dicing may be cost. A standard lithography operation for patterning resist may render implementation cost prohibitive. Another limitation possibly hamperingimplementation of plasma dicing is that plasma processing of commonly encountered metals (e.g., copper) in dicing along streets can create production issues or throughput limits.
SUMMARY
Embodiments of the present invention include methods of dicingsemiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integratedcircuits thereon.
In an embodiment, a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is disposed on a water-soluble die attach film. The mask covers and protects theintegrated circuits. The mask is then patterned with a laser scribingprocess to provide a patterned mask with gaps, exposing regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is then etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to formsingulated integrated circuits. The water-soluble die attach film is then patterned with an aqueous solution.
In another embodiment, a system for dicing a semiconductor wafer includes a factory interface. A laser scribe apparatus is coupled withthe factory interface and includes a laser. A plasma etch chamber is also coupled with the factory interface. A wet/dry station is also coupled with the factory interface. The wet/dry station is configured to pattern a water-soluble die attach film.
In another embodiment, a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits includes forming a mask above a silicon substrate. The silicon substrate is disposed on a water-soluble dieattach film. The mask covers and protects integrated circuits disposed on the silicon substrate. The integrated circuits are composed of a layer of silicon dioxide disposed above a layer of low K material and a layer of copper. The mask, the layer of silicon dioxide, the layer of low K material, and the layer of copper are patterned with a laserscribing process to expose regions of the silicon substrate between theintegrated circuits. The silicon substrate is then etched through the gaps to form singulated integrated circuits. The water-soluble dieattach film is then patterned with an aqueous solution.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a Flowchart representing operations in a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A illustrates a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits during performing of a method of dicing the semiconductor wafer, corresponding to operation 102of the Flowchart of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2B illustrates a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits during performing of a method of dicing the semiconductor wafer, corresponding to operation 104of the Flowchart of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2C illustrates a cross-sectional view of a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits during performing of a method of dicing the semiconductor wafer, corresponding to operations106 and 108 of the Flowchart of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a stack of materials that may be used in a street region of a semiconductor wafer or substrate, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate cross-sectional views of various operations in a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a tool layout for laser and plasmadicing of wafers or substrates, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits thereon, are described. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth, such as water-soluble die attach films for laser scribing and plasma etchingsingulation processes, in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known aspects,such as integrated circuit fabrication, are not described in detail inorder to not unnecessarily obscure embodiments of the present invention.Furthermore, it is to be understood that the various embodiments shown in the Figures are illustrative representations and are not necessarily drawn to scale.
A hybrid wafer or substrate dicing process involving an initial laser scribe and subsequent plasma etch may be implemented for diesingulation. The laser scribe process may be used to cleanly remove am ask, organic and inorganic dielectric layers, and device layers. The laser etch process may then be terminated upon exposure of, or partial etch of, the wafer or substrate. The plasma etch portion of the dicingprocess may then be employed to etch through the bulk of the wafer or substrate, such as through bulk single crystalline silicon, to yield die or chip singulation or dicing. A suitable die attach film for use withthe laser scribe and plasma etch process may be a water-soluble dieattach film which can be etched or partially dissolved with an aqueous solution.
As part of a singulation process, the to-be-diced device wafer may be mounted on a carrier tape or a carrier wafer. A die attach film (DAF) is typically applied between the carrier wafer (or tape) and the device wafer to hold the device wafer during dicing. After completion of thedicing process, the die attach film may also be singulated. Singulatingthe die attach film, while still attached to the device wafer, may be performed in order to enable removal of singulated dies for subsequent packaging and assembly processes. The singulation of the die attach film is typically performed via laser cutting in which the laser cuts are required to stop at the die attach film/carrier taper interface.
Throughput and dice contamination may be two issues with laser cutting adie attach film. For example, one possible disadvantage of using a laser to cut the die attach film is the low throughput. In a laser cutting dieattach film process, debris from the die attach film may splash ontosidewall and top surface of dice. The die attach film may alsocarbonize. Subsequent cleaning processes may be needed to remove suchcontaminations in order to achieve desired yield. Much effort has been made to remove a cleaning step post die attach film laser cutting with little to no success. Furthermore, cleaning of the die attach film onthe back side of each die can pose its own set of issues. For example,during laser cutting of a die attach film, the singulated dice are subjected to further exposure of laser radiation which potentially delivers thermal damage or debris to the dice. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a water-soluble die attach film is used in a singulation process and is patterned with an aqueous solution,instead of with a laser.
FIG. 1 is a Flowchart 100 representing operations in a method of dicinga semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 2A-2Cillustrate cross-sectional views of a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits during performing of a method of dicingthe semiconductor wafer, corresponding to operations of Flowchart 100,in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to operation 102 of Flowchart 100, and corresponding FIG. 2A,a mask 202 is formed above a semiconductor wafer or substrate 204. The wafer or substrate 204 is disposed on a water-soluble die attach film214. The mask 202 covers and protects integrated circuits 206 formed onthe surface of semiconductor wafer 204. The mask 202 also covers intervening streets 207 formed between each of the integrated circuits206.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, forming themask 202 includes forming a layer such as, but not limited to, a photo-resist layer or an I-line patterning layer. For example, a polymer layer such as a photo-resist layer may be composed of a material otherwise suitable for use in a lithographic process. In one embodiment,the photo-resist layer is composed of a positive photo-resist material such as, but not limited to, a 248 nanometer (nm) resist, a 193 nm resist, a 157 nm resist, an extreme ultra-violet (EUV) resist, or aphenolic resin matrix with a diazonaphthoquinone sensitizer. In another embodiment, the photo-resist layer is composed of a negative photo-resist material such as, but not limited to, poly-cis-isoprene and poly-vinyl-cinnamate.
In an embodiment, semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 is composed of a material suitable to withstand a fabrication process and upon which semiconductor processing layers may suitably be disposed. For example,in one embodiment, semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 is composed of a group IV-based material such as, but not limited to, crystalline silicon, germanium or silicon/germanium. In a specific embodiment,providing semiconductor wafer 204 includes providing a monocrystalline silicon substrate. In a particular embodiment, the monocrystalline silicon substrate is doped with impurity atoms. In another embodiment,semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 is composed of a III-V material such as, e.g., a III-V material substrate used in the fabrication of light emitting diodes (LEDs).
In an embodiment, semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 has disposed thereon or therein, as a portion of the integrated circuits 206, an array of semiconductor devices. Examples of such semiconductor devices include, but are not limited to, memory devices or complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors fabricated in a silicon substrate and encased in a dielectric layer. A plurality of metal interconnects may be formed above the devices or transistors, and in surrounding dielectric layers, and may be used to electrically couple the devices or transistors to form the integrated circuits 206.Conductive bumps and/or passivation layers may be formed above the interconnects layers. Materials making up the streets 207 may be similarto or the same as those materials used to form the integrated circuits206. For example, streets 207 may be composed of layers of dielectric materials, semiconductor materials, and metallization. In one embodiment, one or more of the streets 207 includes test devices similarto the actual devices of the integrated circuits 206.
Referring to operation 104 of Flowchart 100, and corresponding FIG. 2B,the mask 202 is patterned with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask 208 with gaps 210, exposing regions of the semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 between the integrated circuits 206. As such, the laser scribing process is used to remove the material of the streets 207originally formed between the integrated circuits 206. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, patterning the mask 202with the laser scribing process includes forming trenches 212 partially into the regions of the semiconductor wafer 204 between the integratedcircuits 206, as depicted in FIG. 2B.
In an embodiment, patterning the mask 202 with the laser scribingprocess includes using a laser having a pulse width in the femtosecondrange. Specifically, a laser with a wavelength in the visible spectrum or the ultra-violet (UV) or infra-red (IR) ranges (the three totaling a broadband optical spectrum) may be used to provide a femtosecond-based laser, i.e., a laser with a pulse width on the order of the femtosecond(10⁻¹⁵ seconds). In one embodiment, ablation is not, or is essentially not, wavelength dependent and is thus suitable for complex films such as films of the mask 202, the streets 207 and, possibly, a portion of the semiconductor wafer or substrate 204.
Laser parameters selection, such as pulse width, may be critical to developing a successful laser scribing and dicing process that minimizes chipping, microcracks and delamination in order to achieve clean laser scribe cuts. The cleaner the laser scribe cut, the smoother an etch process that may be performed for ultimate die singulation. In semiconductor device wafers, many functional layers of different material types (e.g., conductors, insulators, semiconductors) andthicknesses are typically disposed thereon. Such materials may include,but are not limited to, organic materials such as polymers, metals, or inorganic dielectrics such as silicon dioxide and silicon nitride.
A street between individual integrated circuits disposed on a wafer or substrate may include the similar or same layers as the integratedcircuits themselves. For example, FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a stack of materials that may be used in a street region of a semiconductor wafer or substrate, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention.
Referring to FIG. 3, a street region 300 includes the top portion 302 ofa silicon substrate, a first silicon dioxide layer 304, a first etch stop layer 306, a first low K dielectric layer 308 (e.g., having a dielectric constant of less than the dielectric constant of 4.0 for silicon dioxide), a second etch stop layer 310, a second low K dielectric layer 312, a third etch stop layer 314, an undoped silica glass (USG) layer 316, a second silicon dioxide layer 318, and a layer of photo-resist 320, with relative thicknesses depicted. Coppermetallization 322 is disposed between the first and third etch stop layers 306 and 314 and through the second etch stop layer 310. In a specific embodiment, the first, second and third etch stop layers 306,310 and 314 are composed of silicon nitride, while low K dielectric layers 308 and 312 are composed of a carbon-doped silicon oxide material.
Under conventional laser irradiation (such as nanosecond-based orpicosecond-based laser irradiation), the materials of street 300 maybe have quite differently in terms of optical absorption and ablation mechanisms. For example, dielectrics layers such as silicon dioxide, is essentially transparent to all commercially available laser wavelengths under normal conditions. By contrast, metals, organics (e.g., low K materials) and silicon can couple photons very easily, particularly in response to nanosecond-based or picosecond-based laser irradiation. Inan embodiment, however, a femtosecond-based laser process is used to pattern a layer of silicon dioxide, a layer of low K material, and a layer of copper by ablating the layer of silicon dioxide prior toablating the layer of low K material and the layer of copper. In a specific embodiment, pulses of approximately less than or equal to 400femtoseconds are used in a femtosecond-based laser irradiation process to remove a mask, a street, and a portion of a silicon substrate.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, suitablefemtosecond-based laser processes are characterized by a high peak intensity (irradiance) that usually leads to nonlinear interactions in various materials. In one such embodiment, the femtosecond laser sources have a pulse width approximately in the range of 10 femtoseconds to 500femtoseconds, although preferably in the range of 100 femtoseconds to400 femtoseconds. In one embodiment, the femtosecond laser sources havea wavelength approximately in the range of 1570 nanometers to 200nanometers, although preferably in the range of 540 nanometers to 250nanometers. In one embodiment, the laser and corresponding optical system provide a focal spot at the work surface approximately in the range of 3 microns to 15 microns, though preferably approximately in the range of 5 microns to 10 microns.
The spacial beam profile at the work surface may be a single mode(Gaussian) or have a shaped top-hat profile. In an embodiment, the laser source has a pulse repetition rate approximately in the range of 200 kHz to 10 MHz, although preferably approximately in the range of 500 kHz to5 MHz. In an embodiment, the laser source delivers pulse energy at the work surface approximately in the range of 0.5 uJ to 100 uJ, although preferably approximately in the range of 1 uJ to 5 uJ. In an embodiment,the laser scribing process runs along a work piece surface at a speed approximately in the range of 500 mm/sec to 5 m/sec, although preferably approximately in the range of 600 mm/sec to 2 m/sec.
The scribing process may be run in single pass only, or in multiple passes, but, in an embodiment, preferably 1-2 passes. In one embodiment,the scribing depth in the work piece is approximately in the range of 5microns to 50 microns deep, preferably approximately in the range of 10microns to 20 microns deep. The laser may be applied either in a train of single pulses at a given pulse repetition rate or a train of pulse bursts. In an embodiment, the kerf width of the laser beam generated is approximately in the range of 2 microns to 15 microns, although in silicon wafer scribing/dicing preferably approximately in the range of 6microns to 10 microns, measured at the device/silicon interface.
Laser parameters may be selected with benefits and advantages such as providing sufficiently high laser intensity to achieve ionization of inorganic dielectrics (e.g., silicon dioxide) and to minimizedelamination and chipping caused by underlayer damage prior to direct ablation of inorganic dielectrics. Also, parameters may be selected toprovide meaningful process throughput for industrial applications with precisely controlled ablation width (e.g., kerf width) and depth. As described above, a femtosecond-based laser is far more suitable to providing such advantages, as compared with picosecond-based andnanosecond-based laser ablation processes. However, even in the spectrum of femtosecond-based laser ablation, certain wavelengths may provide better performance than others. For example, in one embodiment, afemtosecond-based laser process having a wavelength closer to or in the UV range provides a cleaner ablation process than a femtosecond-based laser process having a wavelength closer to or in the IR range. In a specific such embodiment, a femtosecond-based laser process suitable for semiconductor wafer or substrate scribing is based on a laser having a wavelength of approximately less than or equal to 540 nanometers. In a particular such embodiment, pulses of approximately less than or equal to 400 femtoseconds of the laser having the wavelength of approximately less than or equal to 540 nanometers are used. However, in an alternative embodiment, dual laser wavelengths (e.g., a combination ofan IR laser and a UV laser) are used.
Referring to operation 106 of Flowchart 100, and corresponding FIG. 2C,the semiconductor wafer 204 is etched through the gaps 210 in the patterned mask 208 to form singulated integrated circuits 206. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, etching the semiconductor wafer 204 includes etching the trenches 212 formed withthe laser scribing process to ultimately etch entirely through semiconductor wafer 204, as depicted in FIG. 2C.
In an embodiment, etching the semiconductor wafer 204 includes using a plasma etching process. In one embodiment, a through-silicon via type etch process is used. For example, in a specific embodiment, the etch rate of the material of semiconductor wafer 204 is greater than 25microns per minute. An ultra-high-density plasma source may be used forthe plasma etching portion of the die singulation process. An example ofa process chamber suitable to perform such a plasma etch process is the Applied Centura® Silvia™ Etch system available from Applied Materials of Sunnyvale, Calif., USA. The Applied Centura® Silvia™ Etch system combines the capacitive and inductive RF coupling, which gives much more independent control of the ion density and ion energy than was possible with the capacitive coupling only, even with the improvements provided by magnetic enhancement. This combination enables effective decouplingof the ion density from ion energy, so as to achieve relatively high density plasmas without the high, potentially damaging, DC bias levels,even at very low pressures. This results in an exceptionally wide process window. However, any plasma etch chamber capable of etching silicon may be used. In an exemplary embodiment, a deep silicon etch is used to etch a single crystalline silicon substrate or wafer 204 at an etch rate greater than approximately 40% of conventional silicon etch rates while maintaining essentially precise profile control and virtually scallop-free sidewalls. In a specific embodiment, a through-silicon via type etch process is used. The etch process is basedon a plasma generated from a reactive gas, which generally is afluorine-based gas such as SF₆, C₄F₈, CHF₃, XeF₂, or any other reactantgas capable of etching silicon at a relatively fast etch rate.
Referring to operation 108 of Flowchart 100, and again to corresponding FIG. 2C, the water-soluble die attach film 214 is patterned to provided ie attach film portions 216 on each of the singulated integratedcircuits 206. In one embodiment, water-soluble die attach film 214 is patterned by wet etching in an aqueous solution. In an embodiment, thewater-soluble die attach film 214 is patterned in sequence following the laser scribe and plasma etch portions of the singulation process, as depicted in FIG. 2C. In an embodiment, the patterned mask 208 is removed after the laser scribe and plasma etch portions of the singulationprocess, as is also depicted in FIG. 2C. The patterned mask 208 may be removed prior to, during, or following patterning of the water-soluble die attach film 214, as described in more detail below in association with FIGS. 4A-4F.
Accordingly, referring again to Flowchart 100 and FIGS. 2A-2C, waferdicing may be preformed by initial laser ablation through a mask,through wafer streets (including metallization), and partially into a silicon substrate. The laser pulse width may be selected in thefemtosecond range. Die singulation may then be completed by subsequent through-silicon deep plasma etching. Furthermore, dissolution of exposed portions of the water-soluble die attach film is performed to providesingulated integrated circuits, each having a portion of a die attachfilm thereon. Furthermore, the mask layer may be removed during or following the above process. A specific example of a materials stack ford icing is described below in association with FIGS. 4A-4F, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 4A, a materials stack for hybrid laser ablation and plasma etch dicing includes a mask 402, a device layer 404, and a substrate 406. The mask 402, device layer 404, and substrate 406 are disposed above a water-soluble die attach film 408 which is affixed to a backing tape 410. In an embodiment, the mask 402 is a photo-resist layer such as the photo-resist layers described above in association with mask202. The device layer 404 includes an inorganic dielectric layer (suchas silicon dioxide) disposed above one or more metal layers (such as copper layers) and one or more low K dielectric layers (such as carbon-doped oxide layers). The device layer 404 may also include streets arranged between integrated circuits, the streets including thesame or similar layers to the integrated circuits. In an embodiment, the substrate 406 is a bulk single-crystalline silicon substrate.
In an embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408 is a die attachfilm that is readily dissolvable in an aqueous media. For example, inone embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408 is composed of a material that is soluble in one or more of an alkaline solution, an acidic solution, or in deionized water. The water-soluble die attachfilm 408 may be suitable for bonding a thinned or thin wafer or substrate to the backing tape 410. In one embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408 has a thickness approximately in the range of 5-60microns. In a specific embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408has a thickness of approximately 20 microns.
In an embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408 maintains its water solubility upon a heating process, such as heating approximately in the range of 50-160 degrees Celsius. For example, in one embodiment,the water-soluble die attach film 408 is soluble in aqueous solutions following exposure to chamber conditions used in a laser and plasma etchsingulation process. In one embodiment, the water-soluble die attachfilm 408 is composed of a material such as, but not limited to,polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylic acid, dextran, polymethacrylic acid,polyethylene imine, or polyethylene oxide. In a specific embodiment, thewater-soluble die attach film 408 has an etch rate in an aqueous solution approximately in the range of 1-15 microns per minute and, more particularly, approximately 1.3 microns per minute. In another specific embodiment, the water-soluble die attach film 408 is formed above the device layer 404 by a spin-on technique.
In an embodiment, the bulk single-crystalline silicon substrate 406 isthinned from the backside prior to being affixed to the water-soluble die attach film 408. In one such embodiment, the thinning is performed after forming or disposing the mask 402 above the device layer 404.However, in another such embodiment, the thinning is performed before forming or disposing the mask 402 above the device layer 404. The thinning may be performed by a backside grind process. In one embodiment, the bulk single-crystalline silicon substrate 406 is thinnedto a thickness approximately in the range of 50-100 microns. It is important to note that, in an embodiment, the thinning is performed prior to a laser ablation and plasma etch dicing process. In an embodiment, the device layer 404 has a thickness approximately in the range of 2-3 microns.
Referring to FIG. 4B, the mask 402, the device layer 404 and a portion of the substrate 406 are patterned with a laser scribing process 412 to form trenches 414 in the substrate 406. In an embodiment, the laserscribing process 412 is a femtosecond-based laser scribing process 412.In an embodiment, the mask 402 is cut through by the laser scribingprocess 412 and functions to carry debris generated by the laserscribing process 412.
Referring to FIG. 4C, a through-silicon deep plasma etch process 416 is used to extend the trench 414 down to the die attach film 408, exposing the top portion of the water-soluble die attach film 408 and singulatingthe silicon substrate 406. The device layer 404 is protected by the mask402 during the through-silicon deep plasma etch process 416.
Referring to FIG. 4D, the singulation process may further includepatterning the water-soluble die attach film 408. In an embodiment, thewater-soluble die attach film 408 is patterned by at least partial dissolution in an aqueous media. For example, in one embodiment, thewater-soluble die attach film 408 is at least partially dissolved in a solution such as, but not limited to, an alkaline solution, an acidic solution, or deionized water. The patterning exposing the top portion ofthe backing tape 410 and singulates the water-soluble die attach film408 to provide die attach film portions 418.
Thus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a water soluble die attach film is applied to a device wafer for singulation.The water soluble die attach film is applied onto the carrier taper or carrier wafer. After the laser scribing and subsequent silicon etch processes, the dies are singulated while portions of the die attach film along the wafer streets are exposed. The singulated device wafer is then, in one embodiment, dipped into or sprayed with a water-based solution to pattern the die attach film along the wafer streets.
The patterning of the water-soluble die attach film may include completely dissolving the exposed portions of the water-soluble dieattach film through its entire thickness, while the majority of the dieattach film underneath the singulated dice remains. In a specific embodiment, the open or exposed regions of the die attach film are approximately in the range of 10-60 microns wide and the die attach film is only approximately in the range of 5-50 microns thick. Meanwhile, the die size is approximately in the range of 7 millimeters×7 millimeters or larger. Thus, in an embodiment, a majority of the die attach film underneath each die is retained. For example, FIG. 4E illustrates anidealized result where the portions 418 of the water-soluble die attachfilm retained after patterning are flush with the edges of the individualized die 406. In another example, FIG. 4F illustrates a resultant aqueous solution patterning where the portions 418 of thewater-soluble die attach film retained after patterning slightlyundercut the edges of the individualized die 406.
Further embodiments may include subsequently removing the singulatedportions of substrate 406 (e.g., as individual integrated circuits) fromthe backing tape 410. In one embodiment, the portions 418 singulated dieattach film 408 are retained on the back sides of the singulatedportions of substrate 406. In an embodiment, the singulated integratedcircuits are removed from the backing tape 410 for packaging. In one such embodiment, the portions 418 of die attach film 408 are retained onthe backside of each integrated circuit and included in the final packaging. However, in another embodiment, the portions 418 of dieattach film 408 are removed during or subsequent to the singulationprocess, e.g., by extended aqueous solution treatment.
Further embodiments may include the removal of remaining portions of themask 402. Mask 402 may be removed prior to, during, or subsequent to thepatterning of water-soluble die attach film 408. In an embodiment, themask 402 is also composed of a water-soluble material, and mask 402 is removed during the patterning of water-soluble die attach film 408.
Referring again to FIGS. 2A-2C, the plurality of integrated circuits 206may be separated by streets 207 having a width of approximately 10microns or smaller. The use of a femtosecond-based laser scribingapproach, at least in part due to the tight profile control of the laser, may enable such compaction in a layout of integrated circuits. Itis to be understood, however, that it may not always be desirable to reduce the street width to less than 10 microns even if otherwise enabled by a femtosecond-based laser scribing process. For example, some applications may require a street width of at least 40 microns in orderto fabricate dummy or test devices in the streets separating theintegrated circuits. In an embodiment, the plurality of integratedcircuits 206 may be arranged on semiconductor wafer or substrate 204 ina non-restricted or freeform layout.
A single process tool may be configured to perform many or all of the operations in a hybrid laser ablation and plasma etch singulationprocess including the use of a water-soluble die attach film. Forexample, FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a tool layout for laser and plasma dicing of wafers or substrates, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 5, a process tool 500 includes a factory interface 502(FI) having a plurality of load locks 504 coupled therewith. A cluster tool 506 is coupled with the factory interface 502. The cluster tool 506includes a plasma etch chamber 508. A laser scribe apparatus 510 is also coupled to the factory interface 502. The overall footprint of the process tool 500 may be, in one embodiment, approximately 3500millimeters (3.5 meters) by approximately 3800 millimeters (3.8 meters),as depicted in FIG. 5.
In an embodiment, the laser scribe apparatus 510 houses a laser. In one such embodiment, the laser is a femtosecond-based laser. The laser is suitable for performing a laser ablation portion of a hybrid laser and etch singulation process including the use of a mask, such as the laserabalation processes described above. In one embodiment, a moveable stage is also included in laser scribe apparatus 500, the moveable stage configured for moving a wafer or substrate (or a carrier thereof)relative to the laser. In a specific embodiment, the laser is also moveable. The overall footprint of the laser scribe apparatus 1210 maybe, in one embodiment, approximately 2240 millimeters by approximately1270 millimeters, as depicted in FIG. 5.
In an embodiment, the plasma etch chamber 508 is configured for etching a wafer or substrate through the gaps in a patterned mask to singulate a plurality of integrated circuits. In one such embodiment, the plasma etch chamber 508 is configured to perform a deep silicon etch process.In a specific embodiment, the plasma etch chamber 508 is an AppliedCentura® Silvia™ Etch system, available from Applied Materials of Sunnyvale, Calif., USA. The plasma etch chamber 508 may be specifically designed for a deep silicon etch used to create singulate integratedcircuits housed on or in single crystalline silicon substrates or wafers. In an embodiment, a high-density plasma source is included inthe plasma etch chamber 508 to facilitate high silicon etch rates. In an embodiment, more than one plasma etch chamber is included in the cluster tool 506 portion of process tool 500 to enable high manufacturing throughput of the singulation or dicing process.
The factory interface 502 may be a suitable atmospheric port to interface between an outside manufacturing facility with laser scribe apparatus 510 and cluster tool 506. The factory interface 502 may include robots with arms or blades for transferring wafers (or carriers thereof) from storage units (such as front opening unified pods) into either cluster tool 506 or laser scribe apparatus 510, or both.
Cluster tool 506 may include other chambers suitable for performing functions in a method of singulation. For example, in one embodiment, inplace of an additional etch chamber, a deposition chamber 512 is included. The deposition chamber 512 may be configured for mask deposition on or above a device layer of a wafer or substrate prior to laser scribing of the wafer or substrate. In one such embodiment, the deposition chamber 512 is suitable for depositing a photo-resist layer.
In an embodiment, a wet/dry station 514 is included for patterning or removing altogether a water-soluble die attach film. The wet/dry station may also be suitable for cleaning residues and fragments, or for removing a mask, subsequent to a laser scribe and plasma etchsingulation process of a substrate or wafer. In an embodiment, a metrology station is also included as a component of process tool 500.
Embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a computer program product, or software, that may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program acomputer system (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to embodiments of the present invention. In one embodiment,the computer system is coupled with process tool 1200 described in association with FIG. 5. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable bya machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a machine-readable (e.g.,computer-readable) medium includes a machine (e.g., a computer) readable storage medium (e.g., read only memory (“ROM”), random access memory(“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flashmemory devices, etc.), a machine (e.g., computer) readable transmission medium (electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., infrared signals, digital signals, etc.)), etc.
FIG. 6 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exemplary form of a computer system 600 within which a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein, may be executed. In alternative embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines in a Local Area Network (LAN), an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise)that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines (e.g., computers) that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein.
The exemplary computer system 600 includes a processor 602, a main memory 604 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) or Rambus DRAM(RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 606 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a secondary memory 618 (e.g., a data storage device), which communicate with each other via a bus 630.
Processor 602 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the processor 602 may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced instruction set computing(RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processor 602 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP), network processor, or the like. Processor 602 is configured to execute the processing logic 626for performing the operations described herein.
The computer system 600 may further include a network interface device608. The computer system 600 also may include a video display unit 610(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode display(LED), or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 612(e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 614 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device 616 (e.g., a speaker).
The secondary memory 618 may include a machine-accessible storage medium(or more specifically a computer-readable storage medium) 631 on whichis stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., software 622)embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The software 622 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604 and/or within the processor 602during execution thereof by the computer system 600, the main memory 604and the processor 602 also constituting machine-readable storage media.The software 622 may further be transmitted or received over a network620 via the network interface device 608.
While the machine-accessible storage medium 631 is shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable storage medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media(e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated cache sand servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“machine-readable storage medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. The term“machine-readable storage medium” shall accordingly be taken to include,but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a machine-accessible storage medium has instructions stored thereon which cause a data processing system to perform a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits. The method includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is disposed on a water-soluble die attach film. Themask covers and protects the integrated circuits. The mask is then patterned with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask with gaps. Regions of the semiconductor wafer are exposed between theintegrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is then etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to form singulated integrated circuits. The water-soluble die attach film is then patterned with an aqueous solution.
Thus, methods of dicing semiconductor wafers, each wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits, have been disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method includes dicing a semiconductor wafer having a plurality of integrated circuits includes forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The semiconductor wafer is disposed on a die attach film. The mask covers and protects theintegrated circuits. The method also includes patterning the mask with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask with gaps, exposing regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits. The method also includes etching the semiconductor wafer through the gaps inthe patterned mask to form singulated integrated circuits. The method also includes patterning the water-soluble die attach film with an aqueous solution. In one embodiment, patterning the water-soluble dieattach film with the aqueous solution includes singulating thewater-soluble die attach film at an etch rate approximately in the range of 1-15 microns per minute. In one embodiment, forming the mask above the semiconductor wafer includes forming a water-soluble mask, andpatterning the water-soluble die attach film with the aqueous solution further includes removing the water-soluble mask.
What is claimed is:
1. A method of dicing a semiconductor wafer comprising a plurality of integrated circuits, the method comprising:forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer disposed on a water-soluble die attach film, the mask covering and protecting the integratedcircuits; patterning the mask with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask with gaps, exposing regions of the semiconductor wafer between the integrated circuits; etching the semiconductor wafer throughthe gaps in the patterned mask to form singulated integrated circuits;patterning the water-soluble die attach film; and removing a portion ofthe water-soluble die attach film with an aqueous solution.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble dieattach film with the aqueous solution comprises etching thewater-soluble die attach film at an etch rate approximately in the range of 1-15 microns per minute.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the mask above the semiconductor wafer disposed on the water-soluble dieattach film comprises forming the mask above the semiconductor wafer disposed on a film comprising a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylic acid, dextran,polymethacrylic acid, polyethylene imine, and polyethylene oxide.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the thickness of the film is approximately inthe range of 5-60 microns.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble die attach film with the aqueous solution comprises using a solution selected from the group consisting of an alkaline solution, an acidic solution, and deionized water.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein forming the mask above the semiconductor wafer comprises forming a water-soluble mask, and wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble die attach film with the aqueous solution further comprises removing the water-soluble mask.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein patterning the mask with the laser scribing process comprises patterning with a femtosecond-based laser scribing process,and wherein etching the semiconductor wafer through the gaps in the patterned mask comprises using a high density plasma etching process. 8.A method of dicing a semiconductor wafer comprising a plurality of integrated circuits, the method comprising: forming a mask above a silicon substrate disposed on a water-soluble die attach film, the mask covering and protecting integrated circuits disposed on the silicon substrate, the integrated circuits comprising a layer of silicon dioxide disposed above a layer of low K material and a layer of copper;patterning the mask, the layer of silicon dioxide, the layer of low K material, and the layer of copper with a laser scribing process to expose regions of the silicon substrate between the integrated circuits;etching the silicon substrate through the exposed regions to formsingulated integrated circuits; patterning the water-soluble die attachfilm; and removing a portion of the water-soluble die attach film with an aqueous solution.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble die attach film with the aqueous solution comprises etching the water-soluble die attach film at an etch rate approximately in the range of 1-15 microns per minute.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein forming the mask above the silicon substrate disposed on the water-soluble die attach film comprises forming the mask above the silicon substrate disposed on a film comprising a material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylic acid,dextran, polymethacrylic acid, polyethylene imine, and polyethylene oxide.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the thickness of the film is approximately in the range of 5-60 microns.
12. The method of claim 8,wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble die attach film withthe aqueous solution comprises using a solution selected from the group consisting of an alkaline solution, an acidic solution, and deionizedwater.
13. The method of claim 8, wherein forming the mask above the silicon substrate comprises forming a water-soluble mask, and wherein removing the portion of the water-soluble die attach film with the aqueous solution further comprises removing the water-soluble mask. 14.The method of claim 8, wherein patterning the mask, the layer of silicon dioxide, the layer of low K material, and the layer of copper with the laser scribing process comprises patterning with a femtosecond-based laser scribing process, and wherein etching the silicon substrate through the exposed regions comprises using a high density plasma etching process.
15. The method of claim 8, wherein patterning the mask,the layer of silicon dioxide, the layer of low K material, and the layer of copper with the laser scribing process comprises ablating the mask prior to ablating the layer of silicon dioxide, and ablating the layer of silicon dioxide prior to ablating the layer of low K material and the layer of copper.
|
[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 71 (Wednesday, June 7, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H3427]
THE JOURNAL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair has examined the Journal of the
last day's proceedings and announces to the House his approval thereof.
Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.
____________________
|
Using google account for authentication other than App Engine
Is it possible to use Google Accounts for authentication in your application if you not use App Engine? Is this service is only for those applications which run in GAE?
Thanks.
Yes it is possible to use Google accounts for authentication:
OpenID API Documentation
Stackoverflow is a good example.
You can use OpenID provided by Google to sign in.
This was in my mind too. But I was thinking if there is another way. Thanks for reply.
You can also download the chromium os source and compile pam_google.
You're looking for OAuth, and more precisely 3-legged OAuth.
Google supports the OAuth protocol for authorizing web applications accessing their users' Google services.
Your app will need to be registered with Google, but the process is relatively painless.
Have fun :)
J
OAuth is not an authentication protocol, it is an authorization delegation protocol.
|
from flask import Flask
from flask import Response
# from crawlers.th_stock import fetch_symbols, fetch_nvdr
# from utils import date_utils
# from storages import firestore
# from tasks import *
# from triggers import *
from triggers import trigger_bp
app = Flask(__name__)
app.register_blueprint(trigger_bp)
@app.route('/', methods=['GET'])
def home():
return Response('Welcome to Wealth AI', status=200)
# @app.route('/fetch/stock/nvdr/', methods=['GET'])
# def fetch_stock_nvdr():
# last_week, today = date_utils.last_week_pair()
# stock_nvdr_data = fetch_nvdr(from_date=last_week, to_date=today)
# firestore.save(
# collection_name='th_stock_nvdr',
# data=stock_nvdr_data,
# id_function=lambda x: '{}-{}'.format(x['symbol'], x['date'].strftime('%Y-%m-%d')))
# return Response('Saved {} records'.format(len(stock_nvdr_data)), status=200)
if __name__ == '__main__':
app.run(host='127.0.0.1', port=8080, debug=True)
|
18 May (production)
* 2000 - Storm Warning was recorded at The Moat Studios.
* 2013 - The commissioning of series 8 was formally announced on the Doctor Who website.
|
Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 48 Part 1.djvu/636
610 Cha rac ter , etc., of bonds . Validity of signa- tures, etc. Interest rate, etc. Bonds deemed mu- nicipal obligations. Use of funds restrict- ed. Sale limitations. Contracts with Uni- ted States for bond sale, etc . Ante, p. 200. 73d C ONGRESS. SESS. II. CH. 162. APRIL 25, 1934. or special elections in said municipality, and said bonds shall be issued for any or all of the purposes herein authorized only upon condit ion tha t not less th an a ma jority of the votes cast a t such elec- tion in said city shall be in favor of the issuance of said bonds for such purpose. SEC. 3. Such bonds shall be coupon in form, may bear such date or dates, may be in such denom ination or de moninations I-, may matur e in such amounts and at such time or times, not exceeding thirty years from the date thereof, may be payable in such medium of pay- ment and at such place or places, may be sold at eit her public or private sale, may be redeem able, with or without premi um, or non- redeemable, may carry such registration privileges as to either prin- cipal and interest, principal only, or both, as shall be prescribed by the common council of said city of Juneau at the time such bonds are authorized to be issued. The bonds shall bear the signatures of the mayor and clerk of the city of Juneau, and shall have impressed thereon the official seal of said city. In case any of the officers whose signatures or countersignatures appear on the bonds shall cease to be such officers before delivery of such bonds, such signatures or countersignatures shall nevertheless be valid and sufficient for all purposes the same as if they had remained in office until such deliv- ery. Said bonds shall bear interest at a rate to be fixed by the com- mon council of the said city of Juneau, not to exceed 6 per centum per annum, payable semiannually, and the bonds shall be sold at not less than the principal amount thereof plus accrued interest. SEc. 4. The bonds herein authorized to be issued shall be general obligations of said city of Juneau, payable as to both interest and principal from ad valorem taxes which shall be levied upon all the taxa ble prop erty wit hin the corp orat e li mits of said cit y of Jun eau in an amount sufficient to pay the interest on and principal of such bonds as and when the same become due and payable. SEc. 5. No part of the funds arising from the sale of said bonds shall be used for any purpose or purposes other than those specified in this Act. Said bonds shall be sold only when and in such amounts as the common council of the city of Juneau shall direct, and the proceeds thereof shall be disbursed for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned and under the orders and directions of said common council from time to time as the same may be required for said purposes. SEc. 6. The city of Juneau is hereby authorized to enter into con- tracts with the United States of America or any agency or instru- mentality thereof, under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act and Acts amendatory thereof and Acts supplemental thereto, and revisions thereof, and the regulations made in pursuance thereof, and under any further Acts of the Congress of the United States to encourage public works, for the sale of bonds issued in accordance with provisions of this Act or for the acceptance of a grant of money to aid said town in financing any public works herein authorized ; or to enter into contracts with any person or corpora- tion, public or private, for the sale of such bonds ; and such con- tracts may contain such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by and between the common council of said city of Juneau and the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality thereof or any such pu rchaser. Approved, April 25, 1934. iSo in original.
|
Add from_receiver method to FormulaEngine
CI failing
updated and rebased onto v0.22.x. Only tests are still missing.
|
User blog:OtakuCrazy'99/Mirai Shoujo; Morning Musume 12th Gen. Auditions
Here's Who's Auditioning:
Name: Cuca
Nickname: Kuuka
Birthday: April 28, 2002 (Age 11)
Birthplace: Kagawa, Japan
Favorite food: Cheese, natto, fried egg, chocolate, sweets
Specialty: Dancing
Looks up to: Takahasi Ai, Morning Musume
Okay, here's who's next:
Name: Nikaido Aya
Nickname: Ayarin, Ayachan
Birthday: May 11, 1996 (age 17)
Birthplace: Kagoshima, Japan
Bloodtype: A
Looks up to: Nikaido Takashi, Tanaka Reina, Fukumura Mizuki, Ikuta Erina
Good luck, Aya-san!:P
Here's another girl of which rumors speculate might be auditioning:
Name: Yamaga Kanae
Nickname: Sanchan
Birthdate: May 15, 1995 (age 18)
Birthplace: Tochigi, Japan
Blood Type: O
Specialty: Cartwheels
Looks up to: Mano Erina, Nishino Kana
* Hello! Project Groups:
* Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (2011-2012)
Who I Want to Get Into Morning Musume:
Alright, here's who I want to get into Morning Musume sometime from the Hello! Pro Kenshuusei:
Name: Hamaura Ayano
Nickname: Hamachan
Birthdate: April 26, 2000 (age 13)
Blood Type: A
Height 147 cm
Birthplace: Saitama, Japan
Likes: School festivals
Speciality: Cooking Hamburgers, flexible
Looks up to: Risako Sugaya, Mari Yaguchi, Ai Takahashi, Mizuki Fukumura, Momoko Tsugunaga
* Hello! Project groups:
* Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (2011-)
Up next is...:
Name: Reina Ichioka
Nickname: Icchan, Icchii
Birthdate: Feburary 25, 1999 (age 14)
Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan
Favorite food: Mozuku
Favorite Color: Light Blue
Favorite Hello! Project Song: Chou HAPPY SONG
Looks up to: Reina Tanaka Last, but not least, is:
* Hello! Project Groups:
* Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (2012-)
Name: Makino Maria
Nickname: Maria
Birthday: February 2, 2001 (age 12)
Birthplace: Aichi, Japan
Bloodtype: A
Favorite Sport: Baseball
Favorite Color: Pink
Least favorite food: Squid
Looks up to: Reina Tanaka, Saymi Mischishige
Favorite Hello! Project song: Ren'ai Revolution 21 Thanks for reading!
* Hello! Project groups:
* Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (2012-)
~Maemaechan
|
package com.incarcloud.concurrent;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
/**
* 限制最大并发数的异步排队任务。
* 目的是保护相关联的部分不至于过载，软件系统往往存在最在容量/性能限制，如果
* 超过限制，性能往往会急剧下降。
*/
public class LimitedAsyncTask extends LimitedTask{
/**
* 构造器
*/
public LimitedAsyncTask(){
super();
}
/**
* 构造器
* @param execSrv 外部传入的线程池
*/
public LimitedAsyncTask(ExecutorService execSrv){
super(execSrv);
}
/**
* 提交异步任务
* @param task 异步任务
*/
public void submit(AsyncTask task){
AsyncTaskTracking tracking = new AsyncTaskTracking(task, this::finishTask);
queueTask(tracking);
}
}
|
User blog comment:Ids5621/Where do I post my resignation letter?/@comment-1429966-20110606010134
Have a good life, Ids. Take care of yourself.
|
Add orchestration step for velum /etc/hosts, bsc#1062728
On slow environments, velum can be created with empty /etc/hosts file
even with highstate orchestration step. We would like exclusively take care
about updating /etc/hosts on velum as last step in orchestration.
It was tested and works fine!
I don't quite understand why we need this. Isn't /etc/hosts going to be updated when doing a a highstate on the admin? If that is the case, this looks to me like we are hiding a bigger problem...
This will extend the docker cp hack to cover all ip address changes. As we had before, during the orchestration we were copying it only once, but the update-etc-hosts orchestration while updating all the cluster with the new IP's (if some changed), was not going to keep the /etc/hosts inside the container up to date. All of this is a giant hack we should fix in a different way, but while the hack is in place let's try to keep everything as much as in sync as possible.
This will extend the docker cp hack to cover all ip address changes. As we had before, during the orchestration we were copying it only once, but the update-etc-hosts orchestration while updating all the cluster with the new IP's (if some changed), was not going to keep the /etc/hosts inside the container up to date. All of this is a giant hack we should fix in a different way, but while the hack is in place let's try to keep everything as much as in sync as possible.
"but the update-etc-hosts orchestration while updating all the cluster with the new IP's (if some changed), was not going to keep the /etc/hosts inside the container up to date" I don't understand why we will not keep that up-to-date. In the orch/update-etc-hosts.sls orchestration, this will trigger the docker cp (performed here) on any IP change. And in the regular orch/kubernetes/sls orchestration, the docker cp will be started from here. So I still don't understand why we must re-trigger the docker cp...
@inercia is right. We should not need this PR at all...
@mjura do you have a specific way to reproduce the problem this PR is fixing?
@inercia @mjura Might the problem be with the onchanges? That it is only executed if changes are detected? And some issue with this around the fact that the etc-hosts orchestration is called several times? https://github.com/kubic-project/salt/blob/master/salt/etc-hosts/init.sls#L29
Okay so the issue is that we are restarting the Velum container, I missed the elephant on the room.
Ok, let's move fix to https://github.com/kubic-project/salt/pull/282
|
OK K.O.! Let's Break the Internet
It was released on August 19, 2033.
Summary
Characters
* Scooby-Doo - Scooby-Doo, Shaggy Rogers, TBA
* Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends - Bloo, Mac, TBA
* Sonic The Hedgehog - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy
* Ben 10 - Ben, TBA
* Trick Moon - Trickshot, Pocket, Prince, Mage, Grotto, Buffer, Tarot
* Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - Roger Rabbit, Eddie Valiant
* Peanuts - Charlie Brown, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Snoopy
* Original characters - TBA
Guest stars
* TBA
Songs
* Strange, yet Fascinating
Transcript
OK K.O.! Let's Break the Internet/Transcript
Trailer Transcripts
OK K.O.! Let's Break the Internet/Trailer transcripts
Gallery
OK K.O.! Let's Break the Internet/Gallery
Home Media
The film was released on digital, DVD, Blu-Ray and Blu-Ray 3D on November 11, 2033.
The film was released on Checker on April 28, 2034.
Trivia
* TBA
|
package es.rczone.tutoriales.gmaps.kml;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Iterator;
public class NavigationDataSet {
private ArrayList<Placemark> placemarks = new ArrayList<Placemark>();
private Placemark currentPlacemark;
private Placemark routePlacemark;
public String toString() {
String s = "";
for (Iterator<Placemark> iter = placemarks.iterator(); iter.hasNext();) {
Placemark p = (Placemark) iter.next();
s += p.getTitle() + "\n" + p.getDescription() + "\n\n";
}
return s;
}
public void addCurrentPlacemark() {
placemarks.add(currentPlacemark);
}
public ArrayList<Placemark> getPlacemarks() {
return placemarks;
}
public void setPlacemarks(ArrayList<Placemark> placemarks) {
this.placemarks = placemarks;
}
public Placemark getCurrentPlacemark() {
return currentPlacemark;
}
public void setCurrentPlacemark(Placemark currentPlacemark) {
this.currentPlacemark = currentPlacemark;
}
public Placemark getRoutePlacemark() {
return routePlacemark;
}
public void setRoutePlacemark(Placemark routePlacemark) {
this.routePlacemark = routePlacemark;
}
}
|
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
/**********************************************************************************/
// визуальный эффект нанесения урона юниту
// временно окрашивает текстуру в красный цвет
//
/**********************************************************************************/
public class DamageEffect : TimeLimmitedEffect
{
public Color StartColor;
public Color EndColor;
protected Color m_colorDiff;
protected SpriteRenderer m_spriteRenderer = null;
public DamageEffect()
{
// устанавливаем временное ограничение для эффекта урона
SetTimeLimit(0.5f);
StartColor = Color.red;
EndColor = Color.white;
m_colorDiff = EndColor - StartColor;
Type = EFFECT_TYPE.DAMAGE;
}
/**********************************************************************************/
// устанавливаем DamageEffect для работы с кислотым уроном эффектом
//
/**********************************************************************************/
public void SetAcidType()
{
StartColor = Color.green;
m_colorDiff = EndColor - StartColor;
Type = EFFECT_TYPE.DAMAGE_ACID;
}
/**********************************************************************************/
// get - set
// получем SpriteRenderer объекта
//
/**********************************************************************************/
public override GameObject ObjectUnderEffect
{
get
{
return base.ObjectUnderEffect;
}
set
{
base.ObjectUnderEffect = value;
m_spriteRenderer = value.GetComponent<SpriteRenderer>();
// запоминаем оригинальную окраску юнита, к которой будем возвращаться
EndColor = m_spriteRenderer.color;
if (m_spriteRenderer == null)
{
Debug.LogError("m_spriteRenderer is null");
}
}
}
/**********************************************************************************/
// функция отключения эффекта
//
/**********************************************************************************/
public override void Deactivate()
{
m_spriteRenderer.color = EndColor;
base.Deactivate();
}
/**********************************************************************************/
// функция временного эффекта
// окрашиваем юнита
//
/**********************************************************************************/
protected override void TimeEffect()
{
float timePart = (m_timeLimitation - m_currentTimer) / m_timeLimitation;
m_spriteRenderer.color = StartColor + timePart * m_colorDiff;
}
}
|
Talk:Boss/@comment-32413852-20161006184154/@comment-26044743-20161007144052
He's nearby, I can smell the fuel guzzling from his engines.
|
iframe-seamless: various link fixes
restore link to spec that actually contained a reference to this attribute (changed in 719ee06c3)
add link to the removal from the W3C version of the HTML5 spec
include status for Firefox bug
add Edge UserVoice official response (updated 2017-04-04)
Thanks!
|
Does every polynomial diophantine equation have solutions modulo p?
Obviously, this is not exactly true; what I am really asking is whether any diophantine polynomial equation with integer coefficients (let's call them DPEICs) who's solution does not admit contradictory results (eg, x=x+1) has a solution modulo a prime number, and more generally, whether a system of n DPEICs in n variables has a solution (again assuming non-contradictory equations).
More succinctly, if a system of PEICs has a solution in the complex numbers, does it have an integer solution modulo p?
Modulo what $p$?
Have you looked for this problem in a number theory textbook? Every number theory textbook I have ever seen addresses this question.
This is probably more sophisticated than you want, but using Hasse-Weil and some work, you should be able to do this for $p\gg 0$.
For $p$ fixed, there is no reason to expect any solutions.
@Donu. This doesn't work even in dimension zero, unless you assume absolute irreducibility, in which case it does.
I'm reading the question as follows: Suppose that $f_1,\ldots,f_n$ are polynomials in $n$ variables with integer coefficients, and that the $f_i$ have a common complex zero. Must there be some $n$-tuple of integers $\bar{x}$ such that the greatest common divisor of the numbers $f_i(\bar{x})$ is greater than 1? Ironbeard, do you accept this formulation?
Felipe, OK, I admit I hadn't put a lot of thought into it. Back to refereeing.
@SJR: That formulation in the affirmative is a consequence of the "easier" Chebotarev part of my answer below, allowing the $f_j$'s to be in any number of variables (unrelated to the number of $f_j$'s), for whatever it's worth.
We should use this question as a canonical example of how people manage to answer interesting questions (with pretty amazing answers, even!) in trying to guess what the question really meant to ask ;-)
I assume that you're asking if there exists such a solution in $\mathbf{F}_p$ for infinitely many $p$, or for all sufficiently large $p$ under some condition (since for the single equation $x^2 + 1 = 0$ you can't hope for all large $p$ in general).
This can be solved using the Chebotarev Density Theorem and some estimates of Deligne from Weil II (as a modern replacement for the uniform Lang-Weil estimates for "equi-characteristic families", which I think is what Voloch and Arapura have in mind). The details below may look long, but ultimately the basic ideas are simple and the arguments are entirely standard in the subject.
Let's rephrase the question more intrinsically. Let $A$ be a finitely generated $\mathbf{Z}$-algebra admitting a ring map $f:A \rightarrow \mathbf{C}$. That encodes your initial hypotheses (in a more general form), upon writing $A$ as a quotient of a polynomial ring over $\mathbf{Z}$ modulo some (finitely generated) ideal. By the Nullstellensatz over $\mathbf{C}$, the existence of $f$ just says that $A_{\mathbf{C}} := A \otimes_{\mathbf{Z}} \mathbf{C}$ is nonzero, and that in turn is equivalent to $A_{\mathbf{Q}}$ being nonzero. Your question seems to be whether for infinitely many $p$ or perhaps all sufficiently large $p$ there is a ring homomorphism $A \rightarrow \mathbf{F}_p$.
In terms of the finite type affine $\mathbf{Z}$-scheme $X = {\rm{Spec}}(A)$, you're asking if non-emptiness of the generic fiber $X_{\eta}$ over $\mathbf{Q}$ forces the fiber $X_p := X \bmod p$ to have an $\mathbf{F}_p$-rational point for infinitely many $p$ or (under some hypothesis on $X_{\eta}$) all sufficiently large $p$. More generally, for any finite type $\mathbf{Z}$-scheme $X$ with non-empty generic fiber $X_{\eta}$ over $\mathbf{Q}$, $X_p$ has an $\mathbf{F}_p$-rational point for infinitely many $p$, and even for all sufficiently large $p$ provided that $X_{\eta}$ is geometrically irreducible over $\mathbf{Q}$ (equivalently, the $\mathbf{C}$-fiber $X_{\mathbf{C}}$ is irreducible, or more concretely $X_{\mathbf{Q}}$ is irreducible and $\mathbf{Q}$ is algebraically closed in the function field of $(X_{\mathbf{Q}})_{\rm{red}}$).
The existence of an $\mathbf{F}_p$-point for infinitely many $p$ is a straightforward consequence of the Chebotarev Density Theorem, as follows. Choose a closed point $x \in X_{\eta}$, so its residue field $K$ is a number field. By general "spreading out" principles (ultimately just denominator-chasing in the affine case), the map $x:{\rm{Spec}}(K) \rightarrow X_{\eta}$ between respective $\mathbf{Q}$-fibers of the finite type schemes ${\rm{Spec}}(O_K)$ and $X$ over ${\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z})$ "spreads out" to a map ${\rm{Spec}}(O_K[1/N]) \rightarrow X_{\mathbf{Z}[1/N]}$ over $\mathbf{Z}[1/N]$ for a suitable dense open ${\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z}[1/N]) \subset {\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z})$. Thus, to make an $\mathbf{F}_p$-point of $X_p$ for $p \nmid N$ it suffices to do the same for ${\rm{Spec}}(O_K[1/N])$, which is to say that we seek a prime ideal $\mathfrak{p}$ of $O_K$ over $p \nmid N$ at which the residual degree over $\mathbf{F}_p$ is 1. For example, it suffices to find infinitely many rational primes $p > N$ that are totally split in $K$, and the Chebotarev Density Theorem applied to the Galois closure of $K$ over $\mathbf{Q}$ provides a healthy supply of such $p$.
The deeper case is to show that $X_p(\mathbf{F}_p)$ is non-empty for all large $p$ when $X_{\eta}$ is geometrically irreducible. Note that such a hypothesis rules out cases like $X = {\rm{Spec}}(O_K)$ for a number field $K \ne \mathbf{Q}$, for which we know that the desired assertion is false. As Arapura and Voloch observe, the key input is the so-called Lang-Weil estimate. To make this precise (since Lang and Weil did not use the framework of "families" across varying characteristics, as their work pre-dated the advent of schemes), we need some kind of "uniformity" in our understanding of $\#X(\mathbf{F}_p)$ as $p$ varies; this is sort of "orthogonal" to the more traditional question Weil would have asked concerning the behavior of $\#X_p(\mathbf{F}_{p^n})$ as $n$ grows with $p$ fixed.
No doubt Lang and Weil would have been able to adapt their method for "equi-characteristic families" so it applies to the "family" $f:X \rightarrow {\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z})$ across varying residue characteristics, but nowadays it seems that the most efficient and elegant way to proceed is to apply Deligne's Weil II estimates, as follows. Let $d$ be the dimension of $X_{\eta}$. By general "spreading out" principles, the fibers of $f$ over some dense open ${\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z}[1/M])$ are all of dimension $d$.
Fix a prime $\ell$ and work over $\mathbf{Z}[1/\ell M]$ now. By the general principles in etale cohomology, the higher direct images with proper supports $R^if_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})$ are constructible $\mathbf{Q}_{\ell}$-sheaves on the etale site of ${\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z}[1/\ell M])$ which vanish for $i > 2d$, and by choose a sufficiently divisible nonzero $N$ divisible by $\ell M$ we can arrange that each $R^i f_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})$ has lisse restriction over $S = {\rm{Spec}}(\mathbf{Z}[1/N])$, say with rank $r_i$. In particular, $r_{2d} = 1$ due to the geometric irreducibility of the generic fiber, and more specifically by excision and Poincare duality we know from the geometric irreducibility (and the lisse condition over $S$) that $R^{2d} f_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell}) = \mathbf{Q}_{\ell}(-d)$
as etale sheaves over $S$. Moreover, for $p \nmid N$,
the Grothendieck-Lefschetz trace formula gives
$$\#X(\mathbf{F}_p) = \sum_{i=0}^{2d} (-1)^i {\rm{Tr}}(\phi_p| R^i f_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})_{\overline{\mathbf{F}}_p})$$
where $\phi_p$ denotes "geometric Frobenius" on the mod-$p$ geometric stalk of
$R^i f_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})$.
In Galois-theoretic terms, this is saying
$$\#X(\mathbf{F}_p) = \sum_{i=0}^{2d} (-1)^i {\rm{Tr}}({\rm{Frob}}_p^{-1}|{\rm{H}}^i_c(X_{\overline{\mathbf{Q}}}, \mathbf{Q}_{\ell}))$$
using the natural action of ${\rm{Gal}}(\overline{\mathbf{Q}}/\mathbf{Q})$ on
these cohomologies of the geometric generic fiber (which are all unramified away from $N$)
with ${\rm{Frob}}_p$ an "arithmetic Frobenius" at $p$.
The term for $i = 2d$ is the action of ${\rm{Frob}}_p^{-1}$ on $\mathbf{Q}_{\ell}(-d)$, which is $p^d$.
Now for the big input: Deligne's Weil II ensures that the $\phi_p$-action on the $i$th compactly supported $\ell$-adic cohomology of the geometric mod-$p$ fiber has all eigenvalues (inside $\overline{\mathbf{Q}}_{\ell}$) inside the subfield $\overline{\mathbf{Q}} \subset \overline{\mathbf{Q}}_{\ell}$ and every archimedean absolute value of each of these is bounded above by $p^{i/2}$. Hence, by computing such traces as a sum of eigenvalues inside this subfield $\overline{\mathbf{Q}}$ and fixing an embedding of $\overline{\mathbf{Q}}$ into $\mathbf{C}$ (to make sense of absolute values of all of these eigenvalues at the same time) we get the estimate
$$\#X(\mathbf{F}_p) \ge p^d -\sum_{i=0}^{2d-1} r_i p^{i/2}$$
where $r_i$ is the dimension of ${\rm{H}}^i_c(X_{\overline{\mathbf{Q}}},\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})$
(i.e., the constant rank of the lisse $R^i f_{!}(\mathbf{Q}_{\ell})$ over $S$).
This final estimate illuminates the crux of the "uniformity" as we vary $p$: the controlling factors are the ranks $r_i$ of the fibral cohomologies, the "glue" for varying $p$ being that the $i$th compactly supported $\ell$-adic cohomologies of the geometric mod-$p$ fibers that are relevant to the Lefschetz trace formula have a common dimension $r_i$ as we vary across the primes $p \nmid N$ (precisely because these cohomologies are the stalks of a single lisse $\ell$-adic sheaf on $S$). It also illuminates the significance of the geometric irreducibility hypothesis via controlling the form of the "main term" $p^d$.
(If we hadn't imposed geometric irreducibility of the generic fiber then the contribution from top-degree cohomology would have been an Artin representation controlled by the algebraic closure of $\mathbf{Q}$ in the residue fields at the generic points of $X_{\eta}$, and in this way the Chebotarev Density Theorem would intervene to account for counterexamples in the absence of the geometric irreducibility hypothesis.)
Anyway, the right side is $p^d$ minus a polynomial in $\sqrt{p}$ of degree at most $2d-1$, so it is $p^d - O(p^{d-1/2})$ as $p$ grows ("Lang-Weil"!), and hence is nonzero for $p$ sufficiently large (depending just on the $d$ and the ranks $r_i$ of the cohomologies of the geometric generic fiber).
This is a great answer! (What I had in mind was a lot more naive.)
The equation $X^2-c=0$ with $c$ nonzero has a solution mod $p$ for only half the primes $p$. However, if the equations define an absolutely irreducible variety, then there will be a solution for all sufficiently large $p$ (by Lang-Weil).
Specifically, for an (absolutely irreducible) algebraic variety $V$ in $P^{n}$
of dimension $r$ and degree $d$ over a field $k$ with $q$ elements, Lang and
Weil (1954) prove that $| N-q^{r}| =(d-1)(d-2)q^{r-1/2}+Aq^{r-1}$ where $N$
is the number of points and $A=A(n,d,r)$ is a constant
depending only on $n,d,r$. When you start with a variety over $\mathbb{Q}{}$,
the $n,d,r$ are fixed, and so this clearly shows that $V$ will have points modulo
$p$ for all sufficiently large $p$.
Nothing more modern is needed, and certainly not Weil II.
Are you assuming $V$ is a hypersurface? (If not, I am surprised that an invariant as coarse as the degree is sufficient.) Are you assuming $V$ is closed in the projective space? (I am surprised that one could have such a universal bound with the indicated limited dependencies on $A$ without requiring $V$ to be closed.) I tried to indicate in my answer that there's no doubt that the method of Lang--Weil, suitably formulated, can be applied to the problem. The thing I like about the Weil II viewpoint is that it illuminates what is happening in the error term.
No, there is no need to assume that V is a hypersurface. Yes, the Lang-Weil result is surprisingly strong, and it only uses the Weil conjecture for curves (proved by Weil) --- see their paper.
Dear anon: OK, and $V$ doesn't need to be closed in the projective space? (I suppose "degree" might mean "degree of the closure" in that case, but it seems surprising that the kind of bound you mention would hold without something to prevent removing closed subsets from $V$.)
My recollection is that they worked with projective varieties, but removing a lower dimensional subvariety is not going to change much. I suggest you look at their article --- it is quite short and readable.
@anon: I agree that a lower-dimensional excision won't change things much (in some sense), but the uniform bound you wrote seems like it might need to be reformulated to be insensitive to such excision. (And it might also be sensitive to whether the part excised is geometrically irreducible or not.) This is why I am surprised that one could have such a strong kind of uniform bound even for an "open" quasi-projective variety (which is the sort of thing I was considering in my answer). Maybe the constants depend on the "family" in that generality (as via Weil II)? I'll look at the old paper.
Fermat's theorem that $a^p\equiv a\pmod p$ for any inegers $a,p$ with $p$ prime
allows us to conclude that the equation $X^p-X+1=0$ for any prime number $p$ does not have any solution modulo that prime number $p$..
In general, as polynomial functions and polynomials are two different animals for finite fields we have many non-constant polynomials that are constant as functions.
Actually a friend of mine used to joke that $\mathbf{Z}/2$ is an algebraically closed field:
any non-constant polynomial function over $\mathbf{Z}/2$ should assume more than one value hence it has a zero!
I believe the OP is asking about a version of Hilbert nullstellensatz, see for example these nice notes of D'Andrea.
Link in the post seems to be dead. Here is a version saved in the Wayback Machine. A new url seems to be http://www.ub.edu/arcades/atlanta.pdf (Wayback Machine.)
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is there a level-blob-store ?
is there a level-blob-store that allows using any level instance as a blob-store? i know that's very much not the goal of blob-store (big blobs instead of small values) but sometimes useful if you already have the data there and just want to read it with same interface
I started one yesterday https://github.com/diasdavid/level-blob-store(will release when it complete, hopefully not later than today), since I didn't find any at the list: https://github.com/maxogden/abstract-blob-store#some-modules-that-use-this
I wrote this a while back before abstract-blob-store was a thing but it actually shares the same interface, https://github.com/mafintosh/level-blobs
ohh by 3 minutes xD https://github.com/diasdavid/level-blob-store
@diasdavid I dont wanna discourage use of a level blob store module, but it would be worth mentioning two things in your readme:
LevelDB doesn't support streaming file writes, so values must fit in memory.
In Google LevelDB compaction is notoriously inefficient in heavy write scenarios, so writing large quantities of data will likely result in lots of CPU thrashing.
Thank you, @maxogden :) I'll add that to the README, it was one of the things I found, but fortunately for our scenario, levelDB will be most to store DHT records and we are in fact moving out of levelDB for that too, it is just to be able to support legacy repos.
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BTR-152
The BTR-152 is a six-wheeled Soviet armored personnel carrier (APC) built on the chassis and drive train of a ZIS-151 utility truck. It entered service with a number of Warsaw Pact member states beginning in 1950, and formed the mainstay of Soviet motor rifle battalions until the advent of the amphibious BTR-60 series during the 1960s. BTR stands for bronetransportyor (бронетранспортёр, БТР).
BTR-152s were available in several marks, and were manufactured in large numbers for the Soviet military and export. Late production models utilized automotive components from the more reliable ZIL-157 truck. Three primary variants of the BTR-152 appeared between 1950 and 1959: the base armored personnel carrier with a single pintle-mounted 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun, an unarmed command vehicle with a higher roofline, and an anti-aircraft variant armed with a ZPU-2 mount. BTR-152s could carry a single infantry squad each, or specialist weapons teams along with their mortars and anti-tank equipment. In Soviet service, a number were also deployed as artillery tractors.
Development
During World War II, Red Army tacticians favored combined arms offensives, which emphasized the deployment of light infantry in concert with tanks. However, the Soviet infantrymen lacked the armored protection and rapid mobility of the tanks, and remained comparatively vulnerable to enemy fire.
By the end of the war, the initial Soviet tactic of tank desant, in which the infantry rode into battle atop the tanks they were supporting, had been superseded by the introduction of M3 Half-tracks and M3 White armored cars. These were widely used for troop transport, giving rise to a new doctrine in which armored vehicles capable of keeping pace with tanks brought infantry to an engagement. The infantrymen would then disembark and enter combat on foot.
Wartime experiences demonstrated that the Red Army had an urgent postwar requirement for more wheeled armored vehicles, and the general staff specified a new reconnaissance vehicle and armored personnel carrier (APC). The APC had to be capable of transporting at least eight troops. A new design bureau at the Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ) was set up to study potential concepts accordingly; their final prototype, the Izdeliye 141 (BTR-40), was accepted into service but was regarded as too small to be used in an APC role. Meanwhile, specifications for another APC had been issued, capable of seating 15 to 20 additional passengers and armed with a single heavy machine gun. Existing M3 half-tracks and captured German Sd.Kfz. 251s were studied as potential references for the upcoming design.
Concept work on the new APC began at the Zavod imeni Stalina (ZIS) factory in Moscow, overseen by Soviet engineer Boris Mikhailovich Fitterman, at roughly the same time the Izdeliye 141 was being developed by GAZ. Prototypes were built with automotive components from the ZIS-151 production line; however, the APC chassis incorporated a more powerful engine and a shorter wheelbase than its utility truck counterpart. Design work was carried out by a team of five ZIS employees: Fitterman, K. M. Androsov, A. P. Petrenko, V. F. Rodionov and P. P. Chernyaev. The final prototype was trialed by the Soviet Armed Forces in December 1949 and accepted into service as the BTR-152. Serial production of the BTR-152 under the manufacturer's code ZIS-152 commenced around mid 1950, making it the first mass-produced Soviet APC. Despite being designed around the same time, the BTR-40 did not enter serial production until the end of the year.
The BTR-152 was used by the Soviet military as a command and communications vehicle, fire support vehicle, artillery tractor, and general transporter. Being open-topped, the BTR-152's crew was vulnerable to indirect fire. In later years, the vehicle was not ideal for the prospect of a major conventional war in Europe either, as it lacked amphibious capability or NBC countermeasures. However, these early BTRs remained effective as a low-cost option that allowed the Soviets to rapidly motorize their existing infantry divisions. A program in the late 1950s looked at ways to replace the BTR-152 with a more sophisticated APC utilizing a purpose-designed, amphibious chassis. As the BTR-152's six-wheeled configuration was deemed insufficient to reduce ground pressure on the tires and produce optimal cross-country performance, Soviet engineers embarked on an eight-wheeled APC program, which resulted in the BTR-60.
Approximately 8,600 BTR-152s of all variants were manufactured in the Soviet Union, with some unlicensed copies being produced in the People's Republic of China as the Type 56. Soviet BTR-152s were produced between 1950 and 1959, being supplemented by the BTR-60 from 1960 onwards. As they became increasingly obsolescent, many were shipped to Soviet client states in Africa and the Middle East; the largest quantity of second-hand BTR-152s were accepted by Arab nations such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Small quantities were also converted to armored ambulances and combat engineering vehicles for the Soviet Army; these remained in service as late as the 1980s.
Service
BTR-152s first saw combat during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, when they were deployed by the 12th Motorized Brigade of the Soviet Internal Troops to crush Hungary's fledgling uprising. The BTRs were deployed in Budapest and other settlements, as well as on the Hungarian border with Austria. A number were damaged or destroyed by insurgents armed with molotov cocktails, which were pitched into the open troop compartments without apparent difficulty. Since they were wheeled, some BTR-152s were also immobilized when their rubber tires caught fire, and had to be abandoned by their crews.
Egypt was one of the first major export customers for the BTR-152 outside Eastern Europe; in 1954, it ordered 200 from the Soviet Union, and between 1961 and 1966 it received another 600 in second-hand condition, possibly as military aid. Syria likewise received at least 200 BTR-152s in 1966, and another 300 three years later. These were deployed against the Israel Defense Forces during the Six-Day War. In Syrian service, they were utilized as makeshift infantry fighting vehicles rather than APCs; infantrymen remained on board and used the BTR-152 as a firing platform rather than disembark and fight on foot. Nevertheless, failure to coordinate combined arms maneuvers often left the Syrian motorized infantry separated from their supporting tank formations and vulnerable to Israeli heavy armor. Israel captured over 1,000 BTR-152s from Arab armies during the Six-Day War and the subsequent Yom Kippur War.
BTR-152s were deployed by the National Liberation Front of Chad (FROLINAT) during the First Chadian Civil War, and were instrumental in a motorized assault on Salal in April 1978. The BTRs were knocked out by Panhard AML-90 armored cars of the French Foreign Legion. Libyan mechanized battalions also deployed BTR-152s in Chad during the Chadian-Libyan conflict, often in concert with tank companies or EE-9 Cascavels. Several were destroyed after taking direct hits from AML-90 cannon fire or SS.11 anti-tank missiles.
BTR-152s formed the mainstay of mechanized units on both sides during the Ogaden War. The Somali National Army ordered enough BTR-152s from the Soviet Union in the late 1960s to equip nine new mechanized battalions. About half of Somalia's BTR-152s appear to have been lost in the Ogaden conflict. Soviet weapons deliveries to Ethiopia accelerated after the outbreak of war, and starting in March 1977 included 40 BTR-152s appropriated from the Soviet Army's reserve stocks. These vehicles were mostly BTR-152Vs but also included the BTR-152A anti-aircraft variant.
The Soviet Union donated at least six BTR-152s to Mozambique shortly after that country's independence in the mid-1970s. Mozambican BTR-152s were deployed against Rhodesian Security Forces conducting cross-border raids, as well as in search and destroy operations mounted near Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) strongholds. It is likely that all Mozambique's BTR-152s were eliminated by land mines or Rhodesian air strikes; they were not in service long before being superseded by the BTR-60. A second shipment of BTR-152s was delivered to the People's Forces of Liberation of Mozambique (FPLM) in 1983, but it remains unclear whether these were deployed in front-line service.
During the Lebanese Civil War, both Lebanese militias and Syrian Army used BTR-152s.
Description
The BTR-152 is a modified truck chassis with an armored hull and an open-topped troop compartment. The sides and rear of the troop compartment are vertical, with corners sloping inwards to deflect shell fragments. There are firing ports on each side of the troop compartment and two rear doors for rapid debarking. Infantrymen can fire their individual weapons from the relative protection of the vehicle, and exit through these doors or by jumping over the sides. The crew consists of a driver and a single passenger, who operates the radios.
Two types of seating arrangements were available: the first consists of wooden benches on either side of the troop compartment facing inwards; the second consisted of three rows of seats facing forward. Both the driver and the radio operator seated to his right are provided with individual windscreens and, when in combat, these are covered by twin armored shutters with integral vision blocks. Crew members exit the vehicle through side doors, the tops of which are hinged and fold down for observation purposes.
The BTR-152's armor plate is fabricated of welded steel and ranges from 4 mm to 13.5 mm in thickness. This protects the crew and passengers from small arms fire, shell fragments, grenades, and anti-personnel mines, but is ineffective against larger shell fragments or even heavy machine gun fire. Late production hulls may have been manufactured from steel plate with a thickness of up to 15 mm. The vehicle is sometimes fitted with a winch that has a maximum capacity of 5 tonnes and a 70m cable. Depending on the variant, BTR-152s can tow field artillery, transport 1.9 tonnes of cargo, or carry a half platoon of infantry.
Most Soviet BTR-152s were powered by a six-cylinder ZIL-123 in-line water-cooled petrol engine developing 110 hp at 2,900 rpm. Those based on the chassis and components of the ZIL-157 utility truck utilized a slightly different ZIL-137K engine. There are several engine louvers on the front of the hull to prevent overheating; these could be safely closed for short intervals during combat, as long as the driver reduced speed and avoided overtaxing the vehicle. A BTR-152's gearbox comprised five forward gears and one reverse gear with a two-speed transfer box. Fifth gear had an overdrive. The suspension consisted of conventional leaf springs with hydraulic shock absorbers.
In the late 1950s, a little over 200 BTR-152s were produced with enclosed hulls, as opposed to the traditionally open-topped design; these were designated BTR-152K and BTR-152K1. They were also known unofficially as "BTR-152 Model D" or "BTR-152 M1961" by some Warsaw Pact armies. The enclosed hull reduced situational awareness but allowed for the installation of central heating and an NBC overpressure system. Two hatches opening to the right were installed on the new roofline.
The BTR-152 was originally armed with a single pintle-mounted 7.62mm SG-43 Goryunov (SGMB) medium machine gun, fed by 1,250 rounds of stored on-board ammunition. This was mounted behind the driving position. Additional 7.62mm general-purpose machine guns could be mounted on either side of the hull top as needed. The SGMB machine gun could traverse 45 degrees and elevate between -6 and +24 degrees. Some of the BTRs were fitted with single 12.7mm DShK or 14.5mm KPV heavy machine guns in place of the SGMB. Vehicles designated BTR-152A were ground support vehicles with limited air defense capability. BTR-152As carried twin KPVs in a ZPU-2 anti-aircraft mount. Variations included an Egyptian model with a Czechoslovak M53 Quad mounting for four DShKs, which were normally towed on a two-wheeled trailer, and some modified by the Palestine Liberation Organization to accept 23mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns.
Because the original BTR-152 utilized the chassis and engine of the ZIS-151, it shared that truck's maintenance problems and poor cross-country mobility. Later variants, using ZIL-157 components, had more power and larger, single tires that reduced the vehicle's shortcomings but did not eliminate them. Serviceability and reliability remained low.
Soviet Union
* BTR-152 (1950) – Basic APC based on ZIS-151 truck, many of which would later be covered and converted for other uses, such as ambulances, radio stations, and engineer vehicles. The basic BTR-152 has no winch, an open top, and no tire pressure control lines.
* BTR-152A (1951) – BTR-152 converted into a SPAAG armed with a double (ZPTU-2) or quadruple (ZPTU-4) KPVT 14.5 mm antiaircraft heavy machine guns (2400 rounds) in a turret manually operated by a single soldier. The entire vehicle crew consisted of eight soldiers in the variant equipped with ZPTU-2 and five soldiers in the variant equipped with ZPTU-4. The turret is placed inside the troop compartment and can be manually operated by a single soldier. It can make a full turn and its guns can elevate between -5 and +80 degrees.
* BTR-152 converted into a minelayer equipped with racks for anti-tank mines.
* BTR-152B (1952) – Artillery command version with a front-mounted winch and external tires pressure regulation system.
* BTR-152C – Communication variant based on BTR-152.
* BTR-152V (1955) – Variant based on ZIL-157 truck with external tires pressure regulation system, a front-mounted winch and night vision devices for the driver.
* BTR-152D (1955) – Armament as BTR-152A, but based on BTR-152V.
* BTR-152I – BTR-152V version for artillery command vehicle.
* BTR-152S – Command and communication post vehicle for infantry commanders. It has a significantly higher full cover roof and additional radios and antennas.
* BTR-152V1 (1957) – Received night vision equipment, winch, open top and improved external tires pressure regulation system.
* BTR-152K (1959) – Received an armored roof with three big hatches on top of it, two of which opened to the right over the troop compartment, an internal tires pressure regulation system and a filtering/ventilating system. The weight of the vehicle has increased, the crew went down from 2+18 to 2+13.
* BTR-152K converted into an armored ambulance.
* BTR-152E – Armament as BTR-152A, but based on BTR-152V1.
* BTR-152U – Command vehicle based on BTR-152V1 equipped with external tires pressure regulation system. This command vehicle has a significantly higher full cover roof and additional radios and antennas. It has equipment for staff operations. This vehicle normally tows a trailer carrying additional equipment.
* BTR-152U equipped with internal tire pressure regulation system.
* BTR-152U with fully armored roof and internal tire pressure regulation system.
* BTR-152V2 – BTR-152V version without winch. It has the internal tire pressure regulation system.
* BTR-152D based on BTR-152V2.
* BTR-152B1 (1958) – Artillery command version with a front-mounted winch, internal tire pressure regulation system and ТВН-2 night vision device for the driver.
* BTR-152V3 – BTR-152V with winch on the front, open top, infrared driving lights, and internal tire pressure regulation system.
* BTR-E152V (1957) – Experimental version; the second pair of wheels was moved toward the center of the vehicle in order to improve off-road performance.
People's Republic of China
* Type 56 – Chinese version of BTR-152.
Egypt
* BTR-152 converted by Egyptians into a SPAAG armed with Czechoslovak KLAD (Egyptian designation is M58) quadruple DShK 1938/46 12.7 mm anti-aircraft heavy machine guns mounted in the troop compartment. It was withdrawn from service in middle of the 1980s.
East Germany
* SPW-152 – East German version of BTR-152.
* SPW-152 converted into an armored ambulance.
* SPW-152U – East German command version of BTR-152.
Israel
* BTR-152 captured from Syrians or Egyptians and modified to fulfil the Israeli Army needs.
* BTR-152 TCM-20 – Israeli air defense vehicle based on ex-Syrian or ex-Egyptian BTR-152. It is armed with twin 20 mm cannon in a TCM-20 powered mount.
Lebanon
* BTR-152 modified by Lebanese militias. It was fitted with a 23mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun placed inside the troop compartment. It was used in fire support and anti-aircraft roles.
* BTR-152 modified by the South Lebanese Army. It was fitted with a crane inside a cut down troop compartment. One surviving example is at Yad la-Shiryon Museum in Latrun.
Poland
* BTR-152 converted to serve as a mobile command post. It has additional radios.
* BTR-152 converted into an engineering vehicle.
* BTR-152 converted into an armored artillery tractor.
Vietnam
* Unknown name for upgraded version carried out by the Vietnam's Institute of Military Vehicle Technology in 2011. The upgraded version uses a diesel engine with a new gearbox, new driving system with hydraulic transmission, additional armored hood, improved suspension and electricity, lights, optics and other modifications. The upgraded BTR-152 is claimed to have higher speed, lower fuel consumption and is easier to use.
* Armored medevac variant unveiled in October 2018.
Current
* − 200 BTR-152, BTR-60, BTR-70, and BTR-80 as of 2024
* − 200 BTR-152 and BTR-60 as of 2024
* 🇨🇫 − 4 as of 2024
* 🇨🇩 Congo − 20 as of 2024
* 🇨🇺 − 500 BTR-152, BTR-50, and BTR-60 as of 2024
* − 10 as of 2024
* 🇪🇷 − 25 BTR-152 and BTR-60 as of 2024
* − 6 as of 2024
* 🇬🇼: 20 Type 56 as of 2024
* 🇱🇦 − 20 as of 2024
* 🇲🇿 − 100 as of 2024
* 🇳🇮 − 41 in service and 61 in storage as of 2024
* 🇰🇵 − Unknown number in service as of 2024
* 🇸🇩 − Unknown number in service as of 2024
* 🇸🇾 − Unknown number in service as of 2024
* 🇹🇿 − 10 BTR-40 and BTR-152 as of 2024
* − 1,100 BTR-152, BTR-40, and BTR-60 as of 2024
Former
* 🇦🇲 − 10 in 2011
* 🇨🇳 − Type 56
* 🇨🇾 − 32
* 🇪🇪 − 5
* 🇮🇶 Iraq
* 🇮🇱 − 34 in service in 2011, captured from Egypt and Syria
* 🇱🇾 Libya
* undefined
* North Yemen
* South Yemen
* 🇾🇪 − 60 in 2011
* − Small number
* − 16
* 🇮🇶 Iraq
* 🇮🇱 − 34 in service in 2011, captured from Egypt and Syria
* 🇱🇾 Libya
* undefined
* North Yemen
* South Yemen
* 🇾🇪 − 60 in 2011
* − Small number
* − 16
* South Yemen
* 🇾🇪 − 60 in 2011
* − Small number
* − 16
* South Yemen
* 🇾🇪 − 60 in 2011
* − Small number
* − 16
* 🇾🇪 − 60 in 2011
* − Small number
* − 16
* − 16
Former non-state operators
* Flag of Mourabitoun.svg Al-Mourabitoun: 5; inherited from the PLO
* FROLINAT
* Guardians of the Cedars (GoC): handed over by Israel or Syria
* Kataeb Regulatory Forces (KRF): handed over by Israel and Syria
* Forces Libanaises Flag.svg Lebanese Forces: inherited from the KRF and the Tigers Militia
* Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): handed over by the Soviet Union and Syria
* Flag of the Progressive Socialist Party.svg Progressive Socialist Party/People's Liberation Army (Druze PLA): handed over by Syria
* South Lebanon Army (SLA): handed over by Israel
* Flag of South West Africa People's Organisation.svg SWAPO/People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN): 6; handed over by the Soviet Union and Angola
* Ahrar flag.gif Tigers Militia: handed over by Israel and Syria
* Flag of ZANU-PF.svg Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA): unknown number of vehicles handed over by Mozambique.
* Zimbabwe African People's Union flag.svg Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA): 15; handed over by the Soviet Union.
* Wolfgang Engels: 1, stolen to escape East Germany
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All right. Why don't we get started? Hello, everybody. I'm Jonathan Zittrain and I'm so pleased to be welcoming all of you to our session today where we will hear from the participants in the 2020-2021 Birkman Klein Center Assembly Project fellowships. This marks, I think, the fifth year that we've done the assembly program. The idea was to bring participants together from academia, industry, government, civil society, and across all sorts of disciplines to work on problems arising from technology that touch the public interest and that are really hard and that might call upon multiple sectors or parties or types of thinking to make progress on. And they're every bit as pressing as they are difficult. And the original theory behind the program encouraged by our colleague Jordy Weinstock was that if you had just the right amount of a little bit of structure but not too much and managed to yank people out of their day to day wherever they might be working in a day job or occupation and kind of put people in a new configuration and load them into a particle accelerator, figuratively speaking, and try to inspire some collisions that good particles might result. And that has borne out over the five years of this program where we've touched on in different theme years issues of privacy and security, ethics and governance of artificial intelligence. And we've also recently disinformation on online platforms to be sure not that we've solved all this stuff, but it's just been fascinating to see people who consider themselves already somewhat expert or steeped in one of these sets of problems or the relevant fields and try to address them, and to see folks of that sort, encountering some of the people and projects that have coalesced through this program and say oh, I'm thinking of a new way of looking at that stuff. For each of these over the course of the five years we've had more than 75 fellows, and out of that together, there's been, I think just under 20 projects and every year one or two of those projects has continued beyond the life of the program, whether proof of concept or beyond, trying to continue addressing the problem that they originally identified. And I think a number of people as you'll hear from them today, have said that the program can change their own professional trajectories and ideals about what they might want to work on. But this pandemic here, instead of picking an entirely new topic and starting sort of from ground zero. We invited five teams who were continuing elements of work they've done in earlier iterations of the fellowship to come back for further support we matched them with on the Harvard campus created kind of a new sort of all star cohort among everybody were able to facilitate some small grants and offer some opportunities to share their work for feedback with other relevant players some of whom might be able to help implement some of the ideas they've had. So, today, we'll be hearing from those five projects. And before we do that. I just want to first give a huge thanks. Not only, as I already mentioned to Jordy wine stock who kind of had the initial vision for this program. Today, the best Hillary Ross, David O'Brien and Sarah Newman, who have really helped pull all this together and create just that right amount of structure and inspiration and creativity to get things really cooking. Over the course of this project and this initiative. I'm also extremely grateful to the advisors, both in past years and most recently in this year to include on these projects Cade Crockford, Mary Gray, James Mickens and Margo seltzer, who have each spent their time. offering honest thoughts and suggestions on what you're about to see tonight. So so grateful you could be here and that will be. This is by way of warning recording this for posterity. And I think now back to you Hillary again with thanks to introduce our five teams. I think there's probably a banner already up. Oh yes that's the thing the project fellows there's the five things you'll hear about today. And then I think it was probably already up there. The opportunity to put in questions in the q&a tool, and then at the very end of each of the five presentations will have time for possibly advancing some of those questions to the teams. So thank you all and thanks to our assembly fellows. I'm just so pleased at how much you've really brought it this year, and at the work you're doing on questions that really matter. Hillary over to you. Thanks. Thank you so much Jonathan. And so I'm Hillary I'm a senior program manager at Berkman kind for the assembly program. I'm really thrilled to be introducing these five projects that are working to improve the state of disinformation and privacy, and the governance of AI technologies. As Jonathan said all of these projects started during assembly fellowships over the last five years they've been working on their own and then they've rejoined this year to dig deeper and further some piece of their project. And so tonight they'll be sharing about their work broadly and about what they've done over the last few months. So before we jump in, just a huge thank you to our staff team as Jonathan said to Jonathan himself to the fellows are advisors and the assembly alumni community with a particular shout out to tonight Jail and Michaela Lee for their peer advising with project teams this spring. As Jonathan said, the flow of tonight's event over the next hour these five teams will be sharing about their work with brief intros in between for me, then we'll shift after their presentations to Q&A in the same order that they're presenting up top. And that Q&A will be moderated by Jonathan will be collecting questions as we go so please please share your questions through the Q&A tool as you have them and I will remind you to do that as we go also. So with that, I'm excited to get going, and to introduce the AI blind spot project, a blind spot came together during assembly 2019, working on the ethics and governance of AI. The team is Anya Calderon, Hon Chu, Dan Tabor and Jeff Wen, and we asked each project team you might have seen the promotion for this event to create a riddle for their project and theirs is, we all have it. So make a blur. If we don't spot it, harms will occur. So I'll hand it over to Dan from here to un-pangle that. Thank you. I'm excited to kick us off by presenting AI blind spot, which is a tool for advancing equity in AI systems. I'm presenting this, you can go to the next slide. I'm presenting this on behalf of Anya Jeff and Hong. The four of us have been working on AI blind spot for the past two years with the mission of dissolving barriers between those who build AI systems and those who don't, particularly those who advocate for particularly civil society actors who advocate for more equitable AI systems. You go to the next slide. I'll go by introducing the AI blind spot framework and what it represents. And then I'll discuss how we take an art-based storytelling approach to change the narrative around how these AI systems are used. And then dive deeper into a specific case study of tenant screening algorithms and show how we're using AI blind spot to improve how these algorithms are utilized. You can go to the next slide. This is AI blind spot framework. From the very beginning, the framework was designed to mirror the steps that a data scientist would typically go through when they're designing a model or AI system. There are four stages to the framework of planning, building, deploying and monitoring a system. And these represent a typical data science workflow. And through each stage we identify over sites where unconscious biases can give rise to structural inequalities. You go to the next slide. There are two, as I said, it's two dissolved barriers between those who build systems and those who don't. And in an effort to do this, we always strive to create accessible content. Two years ago we designed a deck of cards, which you've used in interactive workshops and different conferences, just MozFest. And the latest iteration of AI blind spot is that QQI, you see the right way of actually call out. We go to the next slide. Al is a childlike being with a human body and a gear for a head. And Al represents the idea that just like children are reflection of the values of the people and environment around them, AI reflects the values and priorities of those who create them. We don't believe that AI and technology are inherently bad, but when they're implemented, they often represent the values and systems of those who create them. And as a result, they often reflect the structural inequalities that exist in our society. You go to the next slide. This encourages people to ask the question, what kind of AI are we raising? If you go to the next slide. In the past few months we've transformed the original AI blind spot icons into these illustrated scenarios. And these illustrations represent how the blind spots would play out if AI were a person. We plan to create animated versions of these illustrations, which you could use in social media and educational campaigns. And we're already using them in interactive workshops, including one that Hong is doing in two days at Stanford as part of their tech and racial equity conference. If you go to the next slide, the workshop worksheet you see here is an example of an activity participants will do where they identify what is Al, what type of AI system it could be law enforcement or candidate screening or robot assisted surgery or anything at all. And then identify who are the stakeholders who are designing Al, who's harming being harmed by Al and what types of values and systems is Al reinforcing. And then most importantly, how can you change that story? How can you create a more equitable version of Al? And I'll give an example of that by going into tenant screening. If you go to the next slide. Just to give some background, tenant screening algorithms are a billion dollar industry. 90% of landlords say to use some type of algorithm to screen potential tenants. And these algorithms are almost entirely unregulated. They use, they take access to data from people's credit scores and employment history and criminal history, but really virtually anything they want because they're unregulated. And many critics have argued that these algorithms disproportionately harm black and Latino communities. So one thing we're trying to do is, excuse me, is to, excuse me, let me rewind a bit. Not only does this deny an individual housing, but it can create a feedback loop where because an individual has now been denied they have that on their record. And it can also which affects their likelihood of getting housing in the future. It can also affect their likelihood of getting employment because the lack of housing and this feedback loop can persist for generations, particularly as the federal eviction moratorium is lifted. So to go to the next slide. This goes back to the worksheet that we did I showed a second ago. This is an example of what participants work through in the workshop, where they identify the stakeholders who are influencing Alice design. Not just those who use the algorithms but other organizations like consumer data industry association and related companies like those who do background checks and identify communities who are harmed and what values and systems are being reinforced throughout, such as society's history of housing discrimination, and then how you can change that narrative. One thing a lot of companies communities are trying to change narrative but one thing we often hear is the community struggle where they don't really know how these algorithms work so they don't know what changes to call for. So another thing we're doing is designing a case study in which we walk through each blind spot and show how it manifests itself in the form of tenants green algorithms and what changes you can call for. I'll show you a couple examples the next two slides. If you go to the next one. Success criteria refers to the idea that an AI systems metrics for success, determine whether it's a specific metrics determines whether it's successful or not. But when you try to optimize for one thing you're often going to give rise to harm because you're ignoring other priorities. Just like in the case of Al, you know you can evaluate whether the hose is successful based on whether he can water a plant, but then you're ignoring the fact that he's not putting out a burning building. In the case of tenant screening algorithms, if you go to the next slide. These algorithms are likely rewarded for minimizing false positives. This means that you want to make sure companies want to make sure that when they recommend a tenant, it really is a quality tenant. But that means you're making a statement that you're willing to make a mistake and potentially screen out those who actually are qualified. And in doing so, when you make that mistake, you're most likely to mislabel those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds who really are qualified, yet are being denied housing. So a specific solution in this case is to not just require some type of audit which is very vague and really could look like anything, but specifically require an audit that requires companies to measure whether false negatives are being equally distributed across communities. If you go to the next slide, another blind spot is explainability. And this represents the idea that algorithms are complex maze of decisions, and it's very difficult to understand why the decisions are made, even to those who design them the algorithms are often a complete black box. But the people who didn't design these algorithms have a responsibility to be able to justify decisions that are made, particularly high stake decisions that affect individuals well being including their access to housing. If you go to the next slide, applicants who are denied housing currently don't have any way of knowing why they were denied, except for knowing that their credit report was involved. So they have no mechanism to understand the reason, unless they can't really contest decisions that are made. And this is a problem, particularly because these algorithms are vulnerable to inaccurate data that can lead to false recommendations. So a solution here is to give people the right to understand why recommendations are made so that they can correct any inaccuracies and contesting decisions. So that's another solution that we're working, I give you two examples working through all 11 black spots and looking at what they look like in the case of tenant screening and what solutions we can recommend. And we're doing this in collaboration with the National Fair Housing Alliance. If you go to the next slide, tenant screen is just one example but you can visit our website to where you can access our workshop materials if you're interested in designing your own workshop for different areas or connecting with us to potentially do a case study on a different area. We purposely designed a blind spot to be very to be able to adapt it to any type of AI system and quickly running out of time but I want to go to the last slide just to quickly acknowledge. And also to as our collaborators they're designed justice studio have been great collaborators in creating this newest version of Al. Also Kate Crawford our advisor who's given us excellent guidance through assembly, as well as Vincent Lee to want to petty and Serena Oduro who participated in user testing as part of this latest version. Last slide is thank you. Thank you so much Dan and thank you to the AI blind spot team. It's really great to hear about your work with civil society organizations and broadly. So now I'm really pleased to introduce the clean insights project which came together during the first year of assembly in 2017 working on privacy and security. The next riddle is what takes what you need, but nothing more to give the knowledge you want without gathering a horde and Nathan Freda Freda sleeves the project and I'll turn it over to him to share more. Excellent. Next slide please. And next. So we're going through. Today on our agenda we'll be talking through the problem of analytics. A lot of you might know, think of analytics and the context of the thing you'd put into your website, but in fact sort of measurement of data and signals is everywhere. And then we'll talk about how we've tackled a more private solution. What we're doing working with developers and designers today around consent user experience and then how we've moved the project forward through assembly. Next. So at assembly 2017 I came into this cohort as a independent open source privacy preserving kind of focus developer it's the work I do with my team of guardian project. And on my team where people from Apple and Google and Square and you know people that love data, but they listened to my struggle and the things that I was uniquely challenged with next. In our team project, we have been working for over 10 years on building privacy preserving software. We work with projects like tour and signal and building crypto databases and messaging apps in human rights and humanitarian context. But we don't add analytics we don't measure our apps because there was nothing that we trusted and this is a big struggle that we had at the time and still do today. Next. You might have heard recently in the news about audacity or if any of you are bloggers or podcasters use this software. Well they were acquired and they're kind of in the same boat that we are guardian project they have this great open source community and support but they don't know how many users they have and what features are need to be improved or where people are struggling. So their new owner after they got acquired just dumped in Google analytics and Yandex Metrica and proceeded to piss everyone off. You might have also heard in the news about Apple and Facebook and others fighting around the new moves that Apple has made around locking down app tracking. And really what we've seen there is that most analytics and kind of things around usability are tied up with advertising identifiers and everything's kind of a big mess if you actually just want to responsibly learn how to help your users and improve their experience. It's very hard to find the right toolkit to do that. Next. This expands all the way to smart cities and contact tracing and health systems and traffic and everything in our lives that's being connected and instrumented. So this is really an existential problem in our lives where everything is constantly monitoring us and the way that these are things are being implemented is often very privacy invasive. Next. So on top of all this is that the consent experience for the user is confusing and hard to understand and there's full of bias and blind spots as you'll hear about today and that consent and all of this data can often be weaponized and turned back on to users in unexpected ways. So a big issue there. Next. So next please. So we have from the 2017 cohort I've been shepherding this project along and expanding and building a new team around this who's been working for the last year and it's been an amazing process so we built a team that has a wide variety of skills. Next. And we held a really fun symposium last year online, but brought together a number of different interested developers and designers and data scientists to think through how to what people should know about data, how they should use it what developers need and started building from there. Next. We also did a number of interviews and reports with open source tool teams who need this code like we do across kind of internet freedom and human rights spaces and published a report on that. Next. Fundamentally the idea of clean insights is that yes data is amazing. But if you just hold on to all the data becomes a toxic asset and there's a lot of liability there. What we want to do is separate out the true knowledge and retain privacy and then that's the actual valuable thing that you're looking for. Next. So we have a number of ways we approach this. We talk about this on our website and a number of places but our focus really is just like take what you need. Next. So we have a way we have toolkits to allow developers of any sort of thing to plug into our toolkits for enabling this. Next. Again a lot to think about here but we have kind of a different process than if your developer who uses tools today where you just sort of activate and forget it there's actually some thinking and planning to do at the forefront but it leaves you much better off in the end. Next. So this tool is available today at clean insights.org and on GitLab. So we've actually shipped a lot of working code and specs and we're really proud that this is starting to be adopted and implemented. Next. This is kind of what it looks like. The interesting thing is that you define kind of these aggregation periods and the start and end dates and these windows of measurement. So we have the idea of consent built in and how you can get it from the user much like you might request a permission for us use the camera on a phone. And then we have the idea of measuring events and measuring views and we have ways that those get aggregated and averaged on the device itself before it ever leaves and goes to a server. Next. So videos and more and things that you can learn about on our website including me and others talking about how to tackle this and a great new blog post on our consent UX which I'll talk about in a second. Next. So consent, we had to rethink this too. And as you going back to the audacity example. The other thing they really failed on it is they just threw up a big dialogue box with a huge paragraph of text about all the things they're going to measure forever. And they thought that was good enough and it's not good enough. So we really have some new thinking around how to engage your community, talk about the benefits for them, show them the value of what's being measured and what it's going to look like and allow them to, you know, measure it and participate in different ways in different times and so really thinking about again how you collaborate and co design and co measure with your community is important. Next. And I'm so excited we have one of the coolest open source decentralized app stores probably the only one. And I'm excited is now implementing this and here's a super privacy centric app store that's, you know, trying to rival the lockdown systems of Google and Apple. And so they didn't again have any sort of tracking or analytics and measurement we work with them to find a way across decentralized app stores a way to measure and understand where their users can be better served and everyone's happy about it. Next. So we had some new outcomes. Next. We wanted to add more computational privacy support. So like new techniques beyond kind of the framework we have now and so we're trying to figure out which one. Next. And we decided with the support of our mentor, Margaret Seltzer that we should add all of them really that we should basically add all sorts of filters around measuring events and batch measurement filtering, and then plug all sorts of things in together with researchers to figure out exactly what is useful and then bring that to market to our developers. So we're really excited that we found a way to sort of not lock ourselves into one system and to find new ways to collaborate moving forward. Next. And adoption awareness is obviously important next. We also realized we needed better back end integration across different infrastructure. So that's really important that we're not locked into our own proprietary close back in and so we're really excited that say with a civic deployment of this, we could integrate into something like Tableau or pull into our systems. So next. Lastly, we have a lot of value that we can offer out of the gate to developers, more events and symposiums happening in the future. And finally, next. We're so excited to have our own merch. I drink a lot of coffee to give myself insights and tea, and we're actually going to have our own coffee and tea that you'll get for free if you come and participate in any of our events, or try to implement clean insights if you'd love to hear for you and stand by for that great benefit. So that's all. And yeah, you can reach me at lots of places and find us at clean insights.org. Thank you. Thanks, Nathan. I can't wait to get my bag of coffee. Great presentation. It's great to hear about your progress and implementation of clean insights. For our third presentation, I'm thrilled to introduce the cloak and pixel project which definitely turned into a riddle as what hides you so you can be seen. So our next item is comprised of three members fresh and green, Tom Miano and Danny Pedraza. They originally came together in 2018 working on the ethics and governance of AI and evolved out of an earlier 2018 project called equalize. Before I hand it over to them just a reminder to share your questions, questions, thoughts, comments through the Q&A tool so Jonathan can post them to the teams after their presentations. And with that, over to you team cloak and pixel over to Tom. Thanks, Larry. We're we're cloak of pixel brand new name brand new identity and very loud yellow slides. Next one please. In 2001 subset of the equalize team came back to build on the momentum that we had established and continued iterating on the prototype that we had launched in in 2018 and adversarial attack on facial recognition. In the course of the semester, we began to consider additional aspects of the larger problem space of face detection and recognition models. Some other folks had also been working on on the problem and so we felt it was time to look at the problem to a more broadly representative perspective and so we wanted to develop additional interventions to advocate for responsible use of FDR and highlight the risks while others are continuing to deploy the technology. And so defining risks in this space makes them more transparent so that ordinary people are aware of these issues and can make better decisions that's really the goal of cloak and pixel. Next and over to Tom. In the world today, everywhere there are more and more cameras collecting data. With that there's growing automation and machine learning built on top of this data. This data can reveal highly accurate and detail information about the individuals captured, while simultaneously being fundamentally flawed and susceptible to failure. The problem because the level of surveillance going on is often opaque to ordinary people, and they have very little control or say in it. Additionally, the information collected is often not in their interest. Finally, both the positive and negative applications impact and impacts of the surveillance affects different communities disproportionately. Well documented though notably clandestine example of this is clear view AI. Since 2017 clear view has amassed over 3 billion photos of individuals by scraping social media sites without the consent of those sites, or the users who posted those photos. Among multiple issues with this is that us law enforcement agencies are using clear views tools without consistent guidelines, regulation or policy defining appropriate use, and without clearly defined quality assurance practices. Next. And so as Tom alluded this technology affects people disproportionately and I wanted to highlight an example here. Robert Julian board check Williams, his case may be the first known account of an American being wrongfully arrested based on flawed match from face recognition this was published in by the by the New York Times. So it may have been a surprise to Mr Williams that he was being arrested since he did not commit the crime, but it is no surprise as we have witnessed this continued debate in the systems used to surveil communities and to identify people for prosecution face social recognition has been used by police forces for more than two decades and recent studies by MIT and IST and others have found that this technology, while works relatively well on a subset of the population does not work well on demographics that haven't been included in the data sets notably people of color and females. And so in part because of this lack of diversity, the images used to develop these databases are lacking lacking signal and that really was the genesis for our project in in 2018 equalize next slide please. We took equalize established in 2018, the year Tom Gretchen and I met and push forward with an additional group of folks a larger group was built as a prototype to fight pervasive surveillance at the time. There was no published work on adversarial attacks to print from from facial recognition. And so we wanted to give something to the to the public we built the functioning prototype to court face detection, and to really invigorate the missing discussion around the power imbalance that the social platforms have over their over their users. The tool was successful in reducing the detection. The largest vision API is available. The example shown here on the slide is equalize confounding Google cloud, reducing the detection rate quite significantly. What also came about was that we want to highlight the levels of consent that users could could express. And so really wanted to look at what was possible in terms of the control of the data the discussion and debate what was desirable and who should who should control it. Next slide please. And although we took a technological approach, the cloak of pixel iteration now it's found that the solution isn't just isn't just technology. That's how there burns from the open rights group often says in presentations. If you add digital on top of a thing that is broken, you will have a broken digital thing that deploying and implementing technology of face detection and recognition has gotten a whole lot easier and will only continue to do so. However, the understanding of its social impact once this technology is available in the world has gotten much harder. And so to that next slide and I hand over to Gretchen. So we thought, not only about the harms of face detection face recognition but the potential harms of overreliance on tools like the one that we help pioneer. So if you start with the harm of face recognition, and then imagine a user using an adversarial tech tool to protect themselves. What happens when that tool fails. So we looked at an example where the face recognition was working, not not working like the example. Danny brought up, and a federally protected witness was found after using an adversarial tag tool that failed and posting their image on social media. So through that example, you can see that really it was the overreliance that was a problem and we looked at three areas of the law to see how does society expect tool makers to interact with and communicate with users to design and manufacture tools like chainsaws. If you look at product liability. There's a lot about failure to warn consumer protection about unfair deceptive acts of practices in commerce negligence is part of common law about the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. All of these come together and say, tell your users about the risk of failure and tell them especially about the kinds of failures that they could not predict. The adversarial attack tool should be expected to fail tomorrow or the next day, even if they work on every single system today. Because those systems are constantly changing, they're getting more data, the whole architecture might change. So we presented a poster paper at ICLR machine learning conference. And then next slide. How can we position the work that we did this semester how do we position the work that we did with our teammates in 2018 in a larger area and there's three main themes that I see one is thinking about the societal impact of cheap easy access to face detection recognition models, which even just in the last few years, barriers to use have plummeted. The levers of control and points of intervention. So public communication user choice and tools platform companies as partners for user protection, developing adversarial attacks and other technical research and engineering and taking inspiration from and influencing the law. And then the third is, it's not just face detection and face recognition. So the whole question of control of information data and how it can be analyzed and how it is analyzed and who should have that control and then back up to number one, and to the sort of what is the impact and what are the levers of control. Next slide. Thank you very much. Wonderful. Thank you quick and pixel team, excited to see your work thrive and evolve. For our fourth presentation, I'm so happy to introduce team data nutrition project which came together during assembly 2018 working on the ethics and governance of AI. The team has expanded since then and now includes Kasia Shmolinsky, Sarah Newman, Matt Taylor, Josh Joseph, Kemi Thomas and just your coffee. And they're going to speak to the riddle. What is something you can't eat that can still be nutritious. And before they go on I just a reminder that you can share your questions through the Q&A tool, and we will pose them to the teams after this round of presentations, and I will hand it over to the team to kick things off. Hey folks, can you hear me okay. Yes, we're good. Awesome. Hi my name is Kasia Shmolinsky I'm the lead for the data nutrition project which we also called DNP. We're super excited to walk you through what we've been working on. Next slide please. So we're a team that is actually constantly changing and growing I just want to make sure that even though not everyone is speaking today that you get to see the faces of our lovely team, as I will be representing their work along with a few others. Our mission as a team is to empower data scientists and policymakers with practical tools that improve AI outcomes. And we do this by building things and also talking to folks. We try to be as inclusive and equitable as we can. We really try to, you know, walk the talk because we think that's really important. Next slide please. So today just to tell you a bit about what we're going to talk about. I'm going to give an overview of our approach and also our impact, and then going to hand it over to Matt who will walk through some of the improvements we've made on the tool that we call a label. And then Neumann will close us out with some of the outreach work that we've been doing and a few exciting announcements. Next slide please. So the problem that we are trying to address here. Actually, I love the way that Cloak and Pixel put it they said if you add digital on top of a thing that is broken you will have a broken digital thing with like a giant like smiley face. And this is basically what the slide is saying. You know the problem that we're trying to address here is that artificial intelligence systems that are built on bad data will have bad outcomes. And what I mean by bad is that if you have data that is historically biased or has some issues in completion issues, composition issues, then the model that you build on top of that data is going to recommend, you know, have recommendations that actually exhibit the same issues. So one example I'll just pull out from this slide these are really recent media examples there's a lot out there on the right hand side Amazon created a hiring tool it used historical hiring data and historically, you know women and people of color were not hired as frequently as men. You know, regardless of whether or not they were qualified. And so when Amazon created this tool on that data. They immediately started to say the same things as was in the historical data which means that it was discriminating against various groups including women. And the other examples on the slide are telling some of the same kinds of stories. So these are these have real harms and a lot of these models are already out there making decisions and that's kind of when the problems are identified. So we go to the next slide. The opportunity that we saw as a team, when we were first in assembly, which is a few years ago now was actually to try to identify the bias before the model is even trained. So currently like I said you go all the way through to the end you deploy the model and only then do you notice there's something wrong with it. That's problem that's problematic for two major reasons right the first is that there might already be people who have been harmed. And the second is that it's really expensive to go back and try to retrain that model. And so we said well hey maybe there's something that we can do at the point at which someone grabs a data set to interrogate the quality of that data set. You go to the next slide. The analogy that we ended up using was a nutritional label for data sets in the same way that I can kind of pick up a can of Coca Cola and I can look at what's in it and see if it's healthy for me to consume. We wanted to do the same thing for models and data set so before a data scientist decides to use a data set, can can they actually look at what's inside the data set through a nutritional label and decide whether it's healthy for their model. And so in 2018 we launched a prototype and a paper. And in 2021, while we're in this in this fellowship actually we ended up launching the newest version of the label which focuses a lot more on the use cases so the intended use of the data set, is less on kind of a generic solution for everything. So in this example here on the right hand side this is a melanoma classification challenge data set. This is a data set that we worked on with a partner out of Memorial Sloan Kettering. And we said basically what are you trying to use this data set to do, and you know that the most highly the use case that's mostly used for this data set is to identify melanoma from images. So we pulled that use case right out and said, you know, is this data set about humans is this data set has it undergone ethical review quality review, and what are the kinds of harms that could come out of this what are known issues and mitigation strategies. So that's the most recent version of the label to go to the next slide. Just want to point out that we've been seeing the impact of our approach methodology and standard we're really excited about this. I won't say too much about this. But basically we've been having a lot of conversations with large tech giants, a few of them are here but also other organizations nonprofits governments in some cases. Our methodology has been used by RAI which is their responsible AI Institute in their responsible AI certification so we're kind of part of the data standard. And we're also as a standard becoming cited in places like NeurIPS which is a conference, where they say if you're going to submit a paper and it is based on a data set then you should think about documenting that data set with a data set nutrition label so really excited to see how our work is getting out there. I'm going to I'm going to hand it over at this point to Matt who's going to walk through the work that we've done during assembly on the label itself. So yeah so during assembly and we've mostly focused our label improvement work in two domains. One is getting feedback on the current version of the label. And another is work trying to build an ingestion engine so think kind of like TurboTax but for getting information about data sets to try and automate some parts of the label creation process, not the whole thing but just some parts. So when it comes to label feedback workshops basically we've been wanting we did a lot of changes like Kasha mentioned from the 2018 version of the label, and we wanted to get feedback on the qualitative direction that the label was going so thanks to assembly we were able to get a lot of focus group set up. And we're still sifting through a lot of the feedback but some big takeaways we have so far are that it's really important to prioritize information that helps people build trust when they're trying to find out about a data set and whether to use it. Also, while the qualitative information is super helpful to bring in to the conversation, having some views into the data associated with that qualitative information could be really helpful. On the ingestion engine side we've been prototyping what questions to ask to help surface some information to add to the label as a starting point since most of our work building labels right now has been working directly with data set owners and data set creators. And we've also been doing some research into how to build the technical infrastructure to make an ingestion engine and I'm going to pass it over to Kemi to briefly talk about the technical infrastructure research that she's been doing. Thank you Matt. During my research, I wanted to make sure that we use the best tools for the ingestion engine and ensure that it will provide the best options such as maintainability, scalability and empirical storage data for the architecture you want to build. And I also wanted to alleviate a lot of the unnecessary constraints that some tools frameworks and other technologies contribute to the way we want to develop our code. So through the influence of AI globals form and their architecture and personal research I was able to conclude and choose a mixture of Ford facing and imminent technology. And the next steps now is to just use these technologies together to build our ideal architecture. Now we can go to Newman to talk about the exciting progress in the children's book and podcast. Great thanks Kemi and thanks everybody on the DNP team not all of us are represented here but just also a shout out to Jess and Josh who are equally part of the team. And what the last thing we're going to share today is our educational work so alongside the label work we're doing and the research and the feedback workshops, we've been all along really invested in public education about these issues. We've hosted AI de-mystification workshops, we're thinking about public messaging, not dissimilar to the way that in addition to having food nutrition labels on food, you also want to educate the public about the consumption of food and the risks associated with the consumption of certain kinds of foods. So, as we have a number of creatives in our group we've always had this kind of creative bent to our work as well. And so we have a podcast in the works and there's more information coming on that I'm not going to share too much today. But you will be hearing about that soon and you can get announcements if you sign up on our website for email updates which are extremely infrequent there about once a year. And then the other thing we're working on is a children's book it's called I'm not a tomato. And these are some sketches. They're not final at all from the book that's in the works and it's a story about a red round thing. That rolls down a magical mountain and about the adventures and exchanges that it has along the way. The story is inspired by how both humans and machines learn and really underscores the importance of diversity in training data. So we're going to be announcing the launch of that book soon I would say this summer, early summer and you would like to get a notification when that is live and announced. There's a form here for you to fill out and we'll just send you an email blast when that is up. And lastly and probably most importantly, we want to thank our advisor Mary Gray for her support, all along the way, as well as other advisors that have been helpful to us including Jay Z, and James make ends, and then huge thanks and props to the assembly team primarily Hillary and sends out sends a way for all the terrific work they've done to make this possible in a pandemic. Thank you. I'm really exciting to see your work and excited to read more about the children's book and share with the children in my life. So, we have reached our fifth and final presentation from team dis info decks, which came together last year during assembly 2020 working on this information. This team came together during the pandemic and has continued working throughout the pandemic so just big shout out to them for for building something in the midst of a difficult situation. And the team is Clem Wolf, Rona Turan, Jenny fan, Neil Unger later, Ashley Tolbert and Goulson Harmon, and they are going to answer their riddle, where do you go to answer what you don't want to know. And before I hand it over to them just a quick note that after this will shift to q amp a for all the project teams in the order that teams presented so last or not last chance but chance to share questions before we jump into q amp a and then you can keep keep sharing questions as we go. But, but get your questions and now so thank you so much and over to you team dis info decks. Thanks so much Hillary and thanks for the shout out about organizing a project in the middle of a pandemic it was certainly interesting. And, as Hillary mentioned we came together last year and with a lot of different backgrounds so we're from journalism communications technology, and policy and design, and, and although it's just me presenting today it really has been a massive team effort since last February so shout out to that. And so the question that we came together to address as a group was how do we help people working in the disinformation space to better access and analyze all of the publicly available information about disinformation so that they're fully informed and that they can best address the problem. And this is what we've created it's called dis info decks and it's a database of publicly available information about disinformation campaigns. And it currently includes disclosures that are issued by major online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Google and Reddit. It also has third party reports that come with those, which are from graphic idea for lab and Stanford Internet Observatory. And it's really designed for anyone in the disinformation space people researching influence operations tracking disinformation networks across platforms and generally exploring broader trends. So just just to go back really quickly I just want to talk about why we created the database because I think it's kind of important so we initially as I said said to help journalists that are covered disinformation and there are these two major problems that we saw. The first is it's a really new space in journalism so you're talking about newsrooms pivoting to cover a space that's rapidly evolving involves new skills, new verification methods, new vocabulary. The first was that there's a lot of information out there for journalists to navigate so you've got academic papers media reports platform releases civil society groups, and the information we found was quite disorganized it's hard to know where to go where to start. So we decided to focus on that aspect of the problem, putting everything into one place and sort of navigate the disorder about the information disorder. So just just really quickly what what do we mean by disinformation. It's how we would define it as disinformation is a kind of falsehood that's fabricated or distributed deliberately, presumably with the with the purpose to do harm and I suppose in real life things are a little bit messier. No one has a truth detector no one can map out all the things that should or should not be in a comprehensive database about disinformation. So we realized we needed to find a place to start and a small place to start. And we decided to start then with the actions taken by platforms and those working with them. So this obviously is not the whole story, but we feel it's a reliable data set as in the platforms may not tell the whole story but whatever they do publish is, you know, measured by lawyers, it's reliable. And even then though, having found this data set we found that it was actually a little bit messy and hard to navigate. So here's what you need to know about platform disclosures in one minute. And so Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, they all release information periodically about what actions they take about disinformation campaigns or influence operations or information operations that might call them. And these are typically actions based on behavioral signs they've noticed so they might call it an authentic behavior deceptive practices. And the definitions vary across the platforms. And so do the frequency of communication so some are more frequent than others in their disclosures. And also the formats and the lens vastly differ across platforms so things don't emerge in the same way. And then sometimes these operations are attributed to a country or to a government or a specific entity. And sometimes there are very clear targets this you know this targeted, you know, the US for example and then sometimes not sometimes that information is not established. And so that's the platform disclosures. So then, beyond that, there are a small group of open source investigators and currently we include graphical DFR and Stanford that have access to the information. Before these these are released and what they do is they write up their own reports where they might give you more context and show what they were able to establish in addition to the platform. So that's what we currently index and our first challenge was mapping out all of the data in a way that made sense for readers make sense of all that, and to quickly navigate and compare it. So, just kind of dig into the weeds a little bit more on this. There's also kind of an understanding the relationship between the different disclosures and knowing where to find them so this is this is one example there's a Twitter disclosure in April 2nd 2020. It tells you about a specific network of accounts that was removed by Twitter violating their platform manipulation policy, which you may be interested in as someone who tracks this field or wants to understand the strategies behind these influence operations. What you may not know just by looking at it is that it's related to a campaign that Facebook removed at about the same time related to an Egyptian pure firm. And here by related we mean that it's there's at least a strong suspicion that we're talking about the same network. And you may not also be aware that it's related to a prior action taken by Twitter, by which we mean it's likely that this prior action that was taken in December 2019 was from the same network, or the same entity. And here's one more action from Twitter as well that may as well be related, and this time getting back to September 2019. So, how does this all tie together well one piece of good news is that there's another report that hopefully does this and that's from Stanford. Also from April 2020 that outlines how all of these actions are related. So the database does is it sort of brings us all together so you can immediately make those connections between them. And you, and I suppose just more quickly analyze the information. Next slide. So here are our goals, and we wanted to find reliable public information, we wanted to help create connections between different operations, we wanted to make it easy to merge this with other data sets if you're a researcher and you want to do that. And, and also just fundamentally answer some basic common questions, for example, how many operations involve country X, or show me all the information about operation one. So when we started the fellowship this year, we had a very basic website online, and we quickly realized that it needed some major upgrades. And this is what we've been focused on for the last few months. And so there are two views that you're seeing here the card view and the table view, and which are now available at this info desk or if you want to go to the next slide. So the entry in the database opens up to a detailed network card, which has all the general information such as which platform was affected which countries were involved as well as all of the related disclosures produced by social media platforms and the third party investigators. And you can also copy links to specific networks which you could not do before this fellowship. Also, we worked a lot on and shed it to Jenny for fantastic work on this and filtering so, you know, by country of origin, you can filter by name of company by date of disclosure by entity or individuals involved, and, or by policy violation as well. Next slide. Yeah, so our latest database improvements really helped clean up previous data and allow for filtering of named entities, target origin countries policy violations which were previously quite quite difficult to navigate. And so we hope this, this paves the way for the work visualizing the data that's kind of our next goal and, and also just sort of making the database and website a little bit more accessible. The next slide there. So our next steps. We're updating the website. We're doing some user testing and some more user testing. We're also hoping to reach out to the community so more, you know, journalists who work in the space researchers and people who work in policy, anyone sort of related to that so if that's you or if it's someone you know please send them our way or visit the database and let us know what you think. And we're also working on a few researchers are working with the data at the moment so we're going to hopefully showcase that. And, and we're going to do some more outreach to the platforms and open source investigators to say how we can better collaborate. And then finally something that we, we've been talking about for a while, and if we were to add new sources what would the new sources be and we don't have an answer to that question yet. Just want to run to the next slide there. Yeah, so that's it. To end, we would love to hear from users as I said, we're still ironing out the King's on the website, but that being said, if this is useful to your work or if you want to use it and get in touch or just get in touch please just send us an email. And I also want to mention that we're an official partner of Carnegie who've been incredibly supportive and insightful and they've really helped us to get where we are. And who we're going to continue collaborating with and then also just a massive thanks to Berkman again for inviting us back it has truly helps to get to a place that we just wouldn't have been otherwise. And thanks to Jim Mickens as well for his incredible guidance. And yeah, thank you. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Rona. And thank you to all the teams and I'm going to pass back to Jonathan to moderate our Q&A. Thank you, Hillary. It might well be apocryphal in which case it should probably be into Synfo decks but Mark Twain is reputed to have said that everybody's always talking about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it. And I'm just so struck with each of these incredibly tight incredibly detailed. And I basically say this as a compliment even though these days maybe it isn't erudite presentations that kind of grapple with very real problems on a, you know, down in the weeds rather than just with grand pronouncements which of course also have their place. Just so exciting to see what you've been cooking up collectively and to contemplate what might be able to happen next so just a huge thanks for the seriousness the detail orientation, and the commitment to building a world that we don't have yet. There's 20 that, you know, 25 years into the build out of this digital space. There's still so much up for grabs, and both in a positive way and more often portrayed and understood in a negative or invasive way and what to, what to do about it. So we have a little bit of time to just visit with each of the project groups again with a question. And for our friends from blind spot. AI, I guess this is kind of a two parter, which is, first, do you aspire to kind of more of a product or a service and by that I mean, is it. Can you drop off these kinds of really helpful, tangible ways that somebody who is about to implement or build an ML system, and expose people and their data to it, can actually stop for a moment and have a very constant way of kind of walking through it, or is it more like a good housekeeping seal or certification or some kind of thing where a company can say to the world hey hey this independent group. We've used their tool and they've given some form of blessing, however powerful or dangerous that might be. I'm curious what you're thinking about on that, and the second part only loosely related more of the educational function is from Amelie Sophie Vavrovsky, and she was curious about blind spots workshops with civil society organizations and you know what kind of ground you get into tech policy questions, such as how to regulate AI more generally, and how you balance technical complexity with accessibility in your workshops. I know Dan if you want to start with that. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I can maybe start with the first part I think, certainly when we were getting started we had ideas about some sort of certification. Yeah, potentially a product we would create that would certify companies saying that they had passed you know, a blind spot assessment. But I think in the course of working over the last two years we really found that it resonated more with civil society organizations that were in a position, like I said of wanting to advocate for changes, but really needing some specific recommendations that they could be advocating for. And I think that that was really a greater need right now. So I think that's, we've sort of pivoted in that direction sort of away from, you know, maybe certifying companies whom it just wasn't quite resonating with the same degree who may need something something different something more like a product to certify them into providing a service for civil society organizations, but it could ultimately turn into a product benefiting that audience as well. I think developing a product of a blind spot is I think maybe a stage we haven't gotten to yet but potentially when we're invited to do back to do assembly a third time maybe we could do that. I don't know what to take to move a car off the slot today, but that actually perfectly tease up Amelie Sophie's question about alright what would I expect to find at a workshop like this. I don't know if Hong is able to jump on because he's actually leading the workshop that is being done at Stanford in two days so he's more directly involved with it. Is he able to join. I can't speak to that. So, on Thursday we're running a workshop that's kind of a beta version of this one called product in the sense that the workshop has a script has a presentation has a participate a worksheet for participants to fill out. And if it does work out well, a plan is to, you know, it's already open source but our plan is to train the trainers to have as many people be able to run this workshop on their own for other folks, and kind of get out of the way and have a community take ownership and evolve this workshop so that's the idea of spreading into as many people as possible. And regarding the complexity versus kind of the accuracy of the content. I believe the blind spots are pretty technically accurate and robust because we have Jeff, and Dan, data scientists who help, you know, come up with these blind spot spots and explain them so we believe it's very, you know, very clear but also very based on the technology in the science. We're happy to get any help if anyone can help us. Great. Thank you both and I don't know if there's a way to once again kind of blast into the chat room. If somebody wants to reach out to you all it might have been briefly in the slides. Certainly feel free to do that. But thank you both and thanks to the whole team for this effort. Let's move on to clean insights. For which so many interesting things at once I love how Nathan you just like dropped as a parenthetical the f droid store it's like yes it's a decentralized safer marketplace which people wouldn't normally take those two things together and that was a parenthetical in the larger presentation, although one that jumped out to me given the current epic battle between epic and Google on the antitrust implications of Google's app store. And I actually bring it up now because that's a great example of when people talk about remedies for problems that exist or what it would look like to build some guardrails when amazingly there are none and so many of these areas, something in the store is an answer to the question of well is there any other way to safely have third parties offer apps for your phone and you're producing that answer and similarly for clean insights you're producing a kind of set of tools meant to make it not much easier to undertake the complex work when you're not really getting paid to do it as a company of worrying about your subscribers or your consumers privacy, even as you're trying to make the most that you can that's the insights part of the data that you're impacting so my question here is two fold first. Do you think that there could be once you have demonstrated the utility of these tools. I don't know if they include differential privacy that was a question that mod of Sharma had to like briefly speak to that, but by demonstrating these tools. I think that it offers a roadmap to regulators to then insist upon the use of something like that, since they exist and it shows that you can, or is that kind of too specific, I don't know if you know the Europeans. The years really regulated cookies cookies specifically in browsers and was that kind of a wise move to get that much in the weeds or is that way too specific for regulatory perspective and I don't know, of course the team may have different views on that but I'm curious if you have any thoughts on that and second is that yes no screen that Apple in its fight with Facebook and others has now offered up in iOS to say hey do you really want to be sharing your info would you like to request not to be tracked. Is that screen, something that you think Apple should be revising that if a company were willing to do the sorts of limitations that clean insights would have them place on how they collect and use the data. Would there be some reward in a differently configured screen from the likes of IOS, so that you wouldn't have as many people opting out and apparently the statistics say a ton of people are maybe unsurprisingly opting out when presented with that screen. So, that's what I was curious what you all thought. What we have around a kind of consent engagement process is definitely not this, you know, binary, one time opt in. I think that's going to fail and the numbers are proving that it's failing and. In fact, what that was the same depending on your, sorry, hoping people would do, but it's wildly succeeding in the right kind of way. I think what's confusing about that it is someone could actually implement clean insights today in an IOS app and not be prompted with that because that's specifically around an advertising tracking identifier usage. So Facebook is being a bit disingenuous in that on that front, but we, it also is going back to fdroid fdroid actually is pioneered the idea of tracking code being an anti feature if you go into the fdroid for an app it'll say these are the anti features anti features that this app contains, and they've worked with exit exodus privacy saying how much tar they have exactly they just right in in your face and so the fact that that also we've we've said well. Now that you're implementing clean insights how do we talk about this if you're you've kind of we've crossed the threshold for you. So I think there's definitely a lot to think about there with that and we're awarding kind of a more nuanced approach and on the front of regulation, as well as differential privacy. Today, a lot of what we see with differential privacy are is implemented. And there's still cases where maybe you know it's done in the right way that's got to you know it's epidemiological studies, and that's how you have to implement it. But there's so many cases where no that you know the people are trained to handle that there's so much liability there isn't you know as we've seen time and time again these databases get you know infiltrated exfiltrated. So I think we are hoping to show that you know you can still achieve the outcomes you want and needing to understand if your product is succeeding with a much more constrained way of measuring. And we just need to make it as easy as Google Analytics, you know, so that's been our approach so I mean, I think regulation, yeah, should be part of it, though I think there's you know for trained professionals that have a reason to gather all the data. I know they're open differential privacy project at Harvard for instance is operating at that stage and they have a really solid approach so it's got to be granular and in the weeds. That's where we're at. And finally just working off of a question be Covello just put in which was like this is so cool how do we help raise awareness etc. I'm certainly curious your answer to bees question along with it. What's the receptivity been so far are you seen as a friend or as a buzz stomper by companies that are working with a lot of data. And companies don't really want or need all the, like everything that something like Google Analytics provides you know they just want a few things there's a few things they need to understand. So they get they we present we talked to them, they're impressed with like how broad we thought about it from the way we aggregate and average and consent stage. And then they're like cool this sounds great it's it's a little bit like, you know, HTTPS or TLS in the early days was, yes, of course, but it'll, that's too hard on our servers we don't have the budget to, you know, x crazy. And then it just happens and so I think, you know, we're not seen as a foe I think in some ways we alleviate this anxiety the liability. They're worried about and they can reduce the what is seen as increasing these surveillance of Google and Yandex and others so we're definitely like, Oh yeah, that's awesome it totally makes sense. And then when they look at their budget, they're still struggling a little so we're, we're trying to do as much as we can, especially in the civic and humanitarian tech pro bono and I think it'll just take more time to get folks to adopt us like a good old HTTPS and end to end encryption so we'll be on that train and hopefully we'll we'll come come right along with it. Wonderful thanks so much if there's more, you're thinking people might do to amplify or assist please put it into the big chat room and look out for the coffee so we'll get a tweet storm going and drink our coffee. Yeah, it's coming. Terrific. So I referred to cloak and pixel, and that team. And it's funny I part of my reaction to this extraordinary project and approach is a point that Nathan was just ending on which was, there was a time when the web web connections were all unencrypted because it was just seen as two owners for servers to pull off encrypting every connection even Google at one time said it would just be too hard to do that and regular Google search. When you interacted with Google.com for web search was not encrypted and then at some point thanks to the good work of people it wasn't the weather. Everything did get encrypted it's I think we're at like 90 some percent and a random sampling of web links which interestingly mooted the big legal debate in large part about deep packet inspection since there's a lot less you can inspect when the packets are encrypted. And that makes me think about we're still living in a world that is like unencrypted web search or unencrypted website transfers with respect to releasing our photos online that if at any point any photo of you has a label attached to it with your name. Then any future photo of you whether or not on the web at the time just a brand new photo extracted from surveillance camera or from anywhere else like a picture of you walking down the street or attending a protest can now be associated with your identity and that's of course the point you all were making with clear view AI and I guess then the question back to you would be how automatic would you like this kind of invisible masking through adversarial attacks used in a productive way here how automatic would you like it to be would you like. A standard camera on an iPhone or an Android phone to automatically apply a little bit of this adversarial fuzzing so that wherever the photo goes next. It'll be a lot harder to match it up back to you through these new facial recognitions ditto for when you post a photo on Facebook and Twitter just as it strips out location data that might normally be captured and embedded. Should they be doing this kind of fuzzing, and is your answer affected by the point that Gretchen was making towards the end of the presentation that this is kind of cat and mouse that broken shield paper is pointing out that it's, you know, you can't really lean too hard on this technique, because you never know if there's a way to crack it later so curious how you all are thinking about a retail use of this versus a wholesale use. Well, I'll definitely let Danny and Gretchen throw in their thoughts here too but I think my first reaction would be to say, I take it as even a step back from what you were just proposing. You have to be automatic in the sense that that policy and the perspective of technology companies and anyone building products like this is user privacy first where you have to before you can even begin to collect that type of data, you have to get informed about the data you sent from the user. Right now we sort of live in a world where it's like, I don't like the idea that we would even have to use an adversarial attack to try and proactively prevent third parties from using machine learning or other processing on the data I'd rather nothing be none of that data be collected and that individuals have to provide that that data to someone who wants it in the first place. So that's a very, I think that is an extreme position not extreme in the sense that it's necessarily unreasonable but extreme in the sense that it's very far from where we're at right now so to get closer to where we're at I do believe that I'd like to see it implemented at the platform level level so for example, you know with Facebook and and clear view as we had talked about harvesting their data I'd like to see Facebook try and devise more more clever ways of protecting that data, perhaps by I mean, you know, there's information that you can only access by logging in and there's information that is only available if you manually make a public yourself. And that's how a lot of platforms have I think Campbell that sort of thing. But I think by and large, ordinary people don't really expect other people to come and just collect their information. And I think what people also don't expect is for that to be done in mass and the impacts of when you begin to collect things in mass, how you can actually figure out things about people that even you may not have even told people where you were, or who you were but by being able to create a social network which is what Facebook has done, but for third parties to be able to create a sort of network from information like Facebook and other sites on online being able to draw this, this picture about individuals that they haven't offered themselves knowingly. That's where I take issue with it. I would just, I'd like to see more done on the platform level. Outside of something like a tool like equalize, or some of the other tools where the user has to manually do something themselves. Danny or Gretchen, do you have anything you want to say to that. Yeah, so I think absolutely I would like to see this sort of security measure, much more automated, I think individual consent and the burden on individuals to opt into any kind of security measure that they want, especially when they have to go further into like a really simple opt-in but I think the presumption should be that users don't buy posting something on social media, for instance, they didn't mean by that that they wanted every possible use by everyone in the world to be fine. And we have a lot of precedents for that in intellectual property licensing, you don't have to give it all away, and no one assumes that you gave it all away by allowing one use by allowing a limited license. The fact that adversarial attacks won't always work is no reason to say that they shouldn't be one of the layers of security that we use, because you could say this about any cybersecurity issue like cybersecurity is a huge problem. Like, we see major problems in the news, like, in the last few days we've seen some major problems in the news, and it's, you know, exponentially exploding but we don't say well just because whatever you're thinking about using now is probably going to fail if not for you for somebody else we don't say well don't try. Yeah the existence of locks doesn't, locksmiths doesn't mean you shouldn't use locks or a mask might not be 100% effective but you still might want to wear one. Yeah well if it's going to be like locking your door you know well it'll make you know make them attack the other guy instead. So this and you know we had some other methods that Tom implemented this semester, the steganography where there's an encoded that you can't see it a human user won't see it, but it would be easy to uncode or a watermark. So there's various kinds of signals, which are then engineering solutions, which if you combine them with either public opinion pressure or law, then there could, and then combine that with an automated things will be done, you know with these marks in less otherwise. Yes. And, you know, and society doesn't want you to which is not necessarily the same. You know process these things. If they have these marks and they will have these marks unless someone specifically said they wanted to give you permission. No, it's just genius to offer a technical proof of concept so that it gets out of a stale dichotomy that says look either people are sharing their photos or they're withholding them if they share them this is just part of the cost of it. And this is a way of saying no you could share some but not all. And if somebody wants to really go to lengths to get around it it's showing how much they're trying to override the desire of the person, reducing the photo. You should probably move on to the next project Danny I don't know if there's anything you wanted to just throw in at the very end or. No, I just just, you know, saying that the engagement and the conversation aspect of it is also like really an important part of all of our projects I think because like all of these issues are things that we should all as citizens be talking about, sort of like civic duty if you will. And that's that's that's the only point I was going to make. No, and nicely connects to a point that Laura cast made in the q amp a about how to educate technologists and consumers about equity and privacy at scale, and to do it as much by showing, rather than just telling, maybe as a part of that puzzle. Great to mention that function the project is serving and really all of the projects. Terrific well onward then to the data nutrition project, for which it also feels like such a reminder back to Nathan's observation about the web pre encryption that the idea that the state of best practices for even big companies, using machine non data sets is not to have any labels on the stuff of enduring quality, including if they get the data set from some public source or from somebody else it's really like Christmas fruit cakes getting passed around. Without even an original tin indicating what's in them and the idea that like that's the state of the art in 2021 is just mind blowing. So it certainly shows just how much of a role this project could play. And I guess this is kind of pivoting off of Joseph Ben Simon's question, wondering how hungry companies are for this kind of thing do they see it as a hassle. It's good enough for government and corporate work. It's really hard to label stuff don't let's just keep going as we go. Or are they open to it, and should regulators be open to saying, you're going to be mucking about with big data sets like this and making recommendations or decisions for you or your customers. Based on them. Maybe you need some basic labeling some curious, again, a kind of similar question how how should this fit into the ecosystem. I can, I can start and I'd love to hear what others in the team think because we've all had conversations with different folks. It's a great question. I think it's also changed over time. Our conversations I think we're more aspirational at the beginning and I feel like there is now a greater appetite for cult self regulation, or just like internal standards, especially in large organizations where you have many people who are touching the same data sets and maybe the same models, because people are quite frankly worried about risk and liability. And so one way to kind of want them to be. I think so, I would like them to be. Yeah, as someone who's also a practitioner in industry I think that that's a good idea. And I think that having something like a label is actually a nice, a nice tooling solution that doesn't require huge regulation from outside to say you have to do it in this particular way, but maybe allows folks to show that they're making. You know, they're trying to provide something along those lines. And so I think that it's definitely a moving, a moving industry and a moving ecosystem but I'm definitely seeing at least from the conversations that we've been having increased appetite for something and that's also why we're not so tied to the DNP label as a standard specifically but also as a methodology, or even just as a conversation to say you might want to, you know, track different things on your data sets internally, and on your models internally, but really you should do something. And that's kind of I mean you're right there's just like nothing so even just saying you should do something seems to be a good move in the right direction. And others on the team have, have heard as well because we've all had different conversations. Can you guys want to jump in. I agree with Kasia on that. I think that, as long as there's an awareness and a demand from the consumer. It should be available for big tech companies, because their main priority is profit and if the demand is for what we do, which is the data labels, then I think that it would help a lot. But we also live in an era where we're kind of blind to the data and information and a lot of before going into this team I wasn't even fully aware of all the practices, unfair practices that were being implemented in these companies and I think that a lot of the consumers aren't aware as well. And it takes a lot of research and actually just being in that industry and and following them to actually know that. So I guess the bigger question is like how do we create that awareness, so that the average consumer is also concerned. Yeah, it connects right back to Laurie's question around education, either so they can somewhat self protect or even more important what you're suggesting is be aware enough to pressure the companies and the those who regulate them to create some idea of like hey maybe we should be doing some of the basic stuff that would respect the gravity of the kinds of technology that we're building. Any other thoughts before we move on. I would just add that in, I think we have a mean there's some very well intentioned people at some at the big tech companies of course, and they also because of their business models have sort of mixed incentives not the individuals but the companies themselves mixed incentives. So I think we have this multi pronged approach in terms of raising public awareness and having public demand, also doing broader education including to to those who are working in the spaces. I'll just, oh sorry. Yeah, no real fast. And I'll just add that you know companies also are in monoliths and pressure can be both external and public as well as internal because a lot of people we talked to our data scientists so maybe. I don't know what say like the executives of a company might want but a lot of the data scientists we talked to really do want this kind of stuff. Yes. Thank you all very much. I've been informed that there's nobody barging into this zoom room for the next scheduled use. So we'll be able to so long as people have the time to take the five more minutes to make sure we check in with this info decks before we adjourn. So, speaking of that over to this info decks, and I think a similar curiosity about how much you have found you're just trying to make the best hey you can out of what the companies already share in their disclosure reports, versus trying to encourage them to say a little more say a little bit more consistently, and try to create a true public good cooperating rather than competing in this area, around what they're seeing and when and trying to do it in a way that the public can see just sort of whatever Council of Elders there might be that Twitter and Facebook get together to compare notes at the security level to be doing in a way that everybody can look into and I'm just curious, your sense of the willingness and appetite of the companies to look at something like this info decks and say where have you been all our lives this is great we're in will do more. I can kick off there. And so I suppose yeah that's definitely something we've been thinking about a lot. And as we said it's a really evolving space so the frequency with which these disclosures come out very widely. And as I said as well we're also looking at contacting the platforms ourselves are working more directly with them so for us really it's been sort of trying to build something on the fly in an area that's constantly evolving. And the platforms themselves are constantly evolving their own disclosing practices as well. And to your point as well about the clean, you know the data and the fact that they all call it different things, you know might be similar but they all call it different things that was a big challenge and something that Jenny helped us out quite a lot with was trying to streamline the data in a way that we compare it. But in a way that didn't distort the underlying data so I suppose just just to answer that it's definitely something I think the platforms are still working through and it's something that we're so working through as well we're trying to be flexible in terms of our database and how we enter data and hopefully at one stage we'll be able to get to a point where the data can be submitted to us that's a hope and aspiration for us, but right now it's it's currently very manual. Yeah, it's a really complicated problem. David O'Brien was remarking on how hard this sort of thing was five years ago and I'm not sure if it's gotten easier or harder since then probably vectors in both directions Jenny. Oh, sorry, yeah, wasn't just commenting on that but I think, especially the idea of like the concept of a network is something that hasn't been really familiar, like even from last year we were thinking about this from a disclosure or report perspective and this year we really shifted gears to describe more of like a network of activity and that's something that I think even the platforms are still kind of getting to and it's something it's one of our limitations from being able to extract broader ideas like cross platform for example. So I think the industry will have to kind of co-evolve with our project as it goes on. Got it. I might see you've appeared I don't know if you want to say something real quick. Oh no was just. It was a mistake. Absolutely. Other than that I have a wonderful job in this space so I can speak here. Thank you. Thank you all. Well, I, I think many of us were struck by the Heather Burns observation if you added digital to a thing that is broken you have a digital broken thing. Of course it's faster and cheaper. It kind of gets to an observation to that was just made that it may be that I think this is Newman who was observing this that this isn't just a matter of official corporate policies that we can try to get the companies to subscribe to inform or a certain person that would require all the companies to meet a certain baseline level but the role of kind of bottom up work and people within the companies who are building things that are digital and that may have started out broken and how much they are to see as within the scope of what they're doing whether or not they've been asked to buy the their bosses to shine a path towards hey I didn't just make it digital I kind of either fixed it or made the flaws more apparent that we're already there. There is a way of respecting the uses to which this will be put and the people's lives that will be touched by it and thinking about the ways in which there's there's becoming to be more awareness among tech workers of the power that they may have role in which that they might play is a way of seeing a latent professionalization of computer science data science modeling that the lawyers and the doctors have too long thought that may they may be only had a quarter on to see these kinds of bottom up solutions be offered and contemplated at all levels of those who might be able to make use of them is extremely gratifying and inspiring. So I just want to thank you all both this team but more generally everybody from the cohort this year for not being tomatoes for saying we're people this is technology that's affecting people and seeing that there are problems and being ready to work on them and shine a path forward for the rest of us so thank you again for all the work that you've done this year. Thanks again to our staff and advisors for augmenting it and I really expect that this will just be a way station on the path towards improvement of our digital world and a model for how we might assess and improve our digital world alongside all of the other models we have to try to put some guardrails and even a direction change on some of this stuff. So thank you all again Hillary why don't I turn it over to you in case there's any logistics I have forgotten but thank you all for a terrific session and for all the work that's gone behind it really amazing. Yeah just echoing you Jonathan thank you so much thanks everyone for joining us and this is recorded so I will live on the event page on site so if you want to share it with anyone or watch it again through the slides again it will be there as a resource and thank you so much and have a good evening or good afternoon morning wherever you are.
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Canada Census Mortality Schedules (FamilySearch Historical Records)Edit This Page
From FamilySearch Wiki
Revision as of 19:37, 25 January 2013 by Jbuckner (Talk | contribs)
This article describes a collection of historical records available at FamilySearch.org.
Contents
Title in the Language of the Record
Canada, dénombrement des morts
Record Description
The official enumeration date for this census was April 2, 1871; however, the ages given in the census were to be the ages at their next birthday.
The schedules consist of large preprinted forms filled in by the census enumerators. The forms are printed in French.
Following the Constitution Act, 1867, census taking became a federal mandate. The first census was set for 1871 and every ten years thereafter. Therefore, the first national Canadian census was conducted in 1871.
Enumeration was by census district, except for Prince Edward Island, which was enumerated by lot number. Census districts were voting districts, not counties, although most have the same names as counties. For the most part, census districts were synonymous with cities and counties, and sub districts were synonymous with towns, townships, and city wards. Villages, small towns, and parishes were generally enumerated as part of the township in which they were located. Census district and county boundaries were not always the same.
Mortality schedules are a national level file of death registers. Using the death information, you can search for obituaries, mortuary records, cemeteries, and probate records, all of which may provide additional genealogical information. Mortality schedules also list ages and birthplaces for a time period when births were not always reported. Use this information to look for other records that may provide information about the individual, parents, and siblings.
Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.
Canada Department of Agriculture. Canada Mortality Census Schedules. Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
Record Content
Key genealogical facts found in the Mortality Schedules usually contain the following information:
• Name of Deceased
• Age of Deceased
• Born in the last 12 months
• Religion
• Place of Birth
• Month of death
• Cause of death
• Marital status
• Profession or Occupation
How to Use the Record
To search this collection, it is helpful to know the following information:
• Approximate year of death
• Place where your ancestor last resided
• Place of birth
Searching the Mortality Schedules
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.
Using the Information
Using the death information, you can search for obituaries, mortuary records, cemeteries, and probate records, all of which may provide additional genealogical information.
When you have found your ancestor, the following will aid you in your research:
• Use the place of birth to help you find a birth record
• Use the age on the record to calculate an approximate year of birth
Unable to Find Information?
If you haven't found information, consider the following tips to help further your research:
• Your ancestor might have lived in a different place from where you were looking for the death.
• Your ancestor may have used a nickname or a different surname, or the registrar spelled the name wrong. See Name Variations in Canadian Indexes and Records.
• Your ancestor might have lived at a slightly different time from the years you were looking.
• Not every death was registered.
For more information on how to use the record, go to Canada Census and Canada Vital Records.
General Information About These Records
Be aware there may be inaccuracies such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.
Mortality schedules also list ages and birthplaces for a time period when births were not always reported. Use this information to look for other records that may provide information about the individual, parents, and siblings.
Related Websites
Related Wiki Articles
Contributions to This Article
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Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.
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Thread:DonaldoC1997/@comment-24839525-20180313113842/@comment-24839525-20180313143441
For the main IDk why but Jason Bateman or Hugh Jackman. The other can play the second in command
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package io.subutai.common.security.crypto.ssl;
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
import org.mockito.runners.MockitoJUnitRunner;
import io.subutai.common.security.crypto.ssl.NaiveTrustManager;
@RunWith( MockitoJUnitRunner.class )
public class NaiveTrustManagerTest
{
private NaiveTrustManager naiveTrustManager;
private X509Certificate[] certificates;
@Before
public void setUp() throws Exception
{
naiveTrustManager = new NaiveTrustManager();
}
@Test
public void testCheckClientTrusted() throws Exception
{
naiveTrustManager.checkClientTrusted( certificates, "authType" );
}
@Test
public void testCheckServerTrusted() throws Exception
{
naiveTrustManager.checkServerTrusted( certificates, "authtype" );
}
@Test
public void testGetAcceptedIssuers() throws Exception
{
naiveTrustManager.getAcceptedIssuers();
}
}
|
Vascular blood sampling catheter
ABSTRACT
A liquid sampling catheter contains a lumen filled by a sampling cannula with a hollow lumen and either a closed or open distal tip. Attached to the proximal end of the device is a modular blood storage component. The sampling stick slides through the patient's skin or through a seal and in-dwelling lumen on a corresponding sampling hub to sample blood from a patient. This embodiment establishes a simple, standardized, and quick procedure for sampling small amounts of bodily liquids such as blood for a variety of analyte tests.
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/722,160, filed 3 Nov. 2012.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH
Not Applicable
SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to liquid sampling catheters such as vascular catheters, specifically in their use to sample volumes of patient liquids, including blood, in clinical settings.
2. Background of the Art
The embodiments described herein relate generally to medical devices. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a blood sampling device and associated method via a vascular access device. Blood sampling is a common medical procedure involving the withdrawal of at least a drop of blood from a patient. Hospitals, medical clinics, emergency rooms, and health care providers commonly sample liquid from patients either by lancet finger stick or heel stick devices, venipuncture, or central IV lines. Once collected, blood samples are analyzed via a variety of chemistry tests.
Blood samples are commonly taken to determine the physiological and biochemical state of a patient, and are either analyzed in a laboratory, a distance away from a patient, or at the point of care, near the location of the patient. Clinicians then use this analysis to determine the disease state of a patient, mineral concentrations, organ function, and clinical treatment effectiveness. One example of a common blood test is a point of care blood glucose test, where blood is extracted via a lancet finger stick, and mechanically transferred onto a testing strip to determine blood glucose values. In other tests, clinicians draw a vial of blood from a venous or arterial source, and then that sample is analyzed in a central laboratory for tens to hundreds of biochemical tests including gas electrolyte levels, protein analysis, and cholesterol quantification, among others.
Despite rapid advancements in both laboratory analysis and point of care testing, current methods of blood sampling have remained relatively unchanged. Each of these methods presents their own unique challenges and issues. Lancets sample capillary blood, which has a higher margin of error in metabolic measurements. These devices also cause discomfort as patients are continually pricked. Venipuncture, the most common method of sampling, when done frequently can cause significant trauma to the venous system and impede the integrity of a patient's veins. Additionally, venipuncture is a manual, labor-intensive process creating significant labor costs by requiring specially trained venipuncture teams within hospitals. It also presents a much higher level of discomfort than lancets. Central line sampling is a more complicated procedure with multiple steps and can be prone to error. Using the same site for infusion and sampling causes an increased chance of sample contamination. Drawing blood from central lines is also known to increase the risk of central line-associated blood stream infections. These blood sampling processes are labor and time intensive, and require multiple devices throughout the sampling process. Furthermore, these methods have many clinical and practical problems associated with their use. Accordingly, there is a need for more efficient and accurate blood sampling devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,366,685 (Dev gon) describes systems and methods for phlebotomy through a peripheral IV catheter. An actuator is used to advance and retract a sampling cannula that engages a peripheral intravenous line.
US Patent Application (abandoned) Pub. No.: US 2002/0120215 A1, describes a BLOOD COLLECTION SET WITH RETRACTABLE NEEDLE (Crawford) that provides a retractable sheath over a needle sampler, the sheath having horizontal stabilizing wings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention provides a medical blood sampling device and related method for sampling of blood from the vascular system of the patient. An embodiment of the present invention provides a medical blood sampling device and related method that, among other things, facilitates quick, simple, and standardized sampling of the blood sources considered most clinically acceptable. This innovation improves the accuracy, patient comfort, and convenience associated with blood draws.
The ability to sample blood accurately and noninvasively is imperative in conserving blood and yielding more accurate analyte test results, which leads to improvements in patient outcomes and comfort. The device herein established will provide a standardized and simple means to obtain these blood samples. This will improve patient comfort and potentially their overall clinical outcome.
This technology is provided by structures and/or methods that may implement the sampling of liquids from within a patient with at least steps of:
- - a) inserting a sampling device into a region of a patient, the sampling device comprising a delivery catheter and within a lumen of the delivery catheter is a sampling cannula having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter sheath(s); - b) moving the delivery catheter towards a target area within the patient (which may contain a distal volume of material from which a sample is to be taken) causes the delivery catheter to press against the patient or sampling hub thereby causing the sheath(s) of the delivery catheter to retract as the delivery catheter advances forward which exposes the sampling cannula to the target area within the patient - c) allowing liquid within the target area within the patient into the sampling cannula; and - d) withdrawing the liquid from the sampling cannula to create a liquid sample.
A general description of the sampling device could include a delivery catheter and within a lumen of the delivery catheter is a sampling cannula having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension. The delivery catheter could also enter the target area through a sampling hub (especially as described herein) or directly through the patient's skin.
A sampling hub directs a medical device towards a target area. The hub may have some of: a hub body; a lumen passing between openings at the front end (distal end) or bottom of the hub and the rear end (proximal end), the lumen allowing for passage of an elongate element through the entire lumen; in one optional structural embodiment, the bottom of the hub body may be flat (or any convenient configuration, including conformable, curved, friction-providing surface, absorbent surface, moisture-penetrable surface, antimicrobial surface, breathable surface, etc.); the top of hub body preferably is sloped downwardly although it may be level or even slope upwardly or curve; the lumen is preferably sloped downwardly to enable guidance of the elongate body towards the target area, although horizontal alignment is exemplified herein; and an area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end configured to receive a support for the elongate element, the support for the elongate element having a diameter in the support larger than a diameter of the elongate element.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes. These drawings only depict typical embodiments of the invention and are not intended to be considered the only possible embodiments or to limit the scope of the invention.
FIG. 1 shows the operation of the device on a patient according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the complete device according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the device components deconstructed according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of the in-dwelling catheter assembly according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5A shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a split septum according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5B shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a duckbill valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5C shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a dome bis cupid valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5D shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a dome tricuspid valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5E shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a dome quadricuspid valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5F shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a duckbill-donut combination valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5G shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a duckbill-split septum combination valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5H shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a double split-septum combination valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5I shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling hub lumen as a hydrophobic coated lumen according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5J shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a single side valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5K shows a side view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a double side valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5L shows a perspective view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a vertical clip valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5M shows a cross section view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a vertical clip valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5N shows a perspective view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a vertical clip closed off valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5O shows a perspective view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a horizontal clip valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5P shows a perspective view of the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as an expanded spring cap valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 5Q shows the distal valve of the sampling hub lumen as a compressed spring cap valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6A shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with smooth through holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6B shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with a smooth side hole according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6C shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with rectangular through holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6D shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with a rectangular side hole according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6E shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with vertical slit holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6F shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with circular holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6G shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with circular through holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6H shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with micro holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6I shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with smooth through holes and tip hole according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6J shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with multiple tip holes according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6K shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with a needle tip according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6L shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with a non-coring needle tip according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6M shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with inward folding valve according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6N shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with the inward folding valve in position 1 according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6O shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with side view of two inward folding valves in position 1 according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6P shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with proximal folding valve in position 1 according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6Q shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with proximal folding valve in position 2 according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 6R shows a side view of the distal tip of the sampling cannula with two proximal folding valves in position 2 according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 7A shows side views of the sampling module for smaller volumes of blood collection according to representative embodiments.
FIG. 7B shows side views of the sampling module for larger volumes of blood collection according to representative embodiments.
FIG. 7C shows a perspective view for a sampling module containing a built-in blood chemistry test according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 8 shows a block diagram for the overall sampling method.
FIG. 9A shows a perspective view of a second alternative design to ease insertion of the sampling stick according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 9B shows another perspective view of a second alternative design to ease insertion of the sampling stick according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 10 shows a block diagram for a second alternative design.
FIG. 11A shows a perspective view of a third alternative design of a blood sampling catheter according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 11B shows another perspective view of a third alternative design of a blood sampling catheter according to a representative embodiment.
FIG. 12 shows a block diagram for a third alternative design.
FIG. 13A shows the delivery catheter with sampling hub during operation in position 1.
FIG. 13B shows the delivery catheter with sampling hub during operation in position 2.
FIG. 13C shows the delivery catheter with sampling hub during operation in position 3.
FIG. 14A shows the delivery catheter entering an environment through a barrier during operation in position 1.
FIG. 14B shows the delivery catheter entering an environment through a barrier during operation in position 2.
FIG. 14C shows the delivery catheter entering an environment through a barrier during operation in position 3.
FIG. 15A shows a metal probe going through sampling hub during operation during operation in position 1.
FIG. 15B shows a metal probe going through sampling hub during operation during operation in position 2.
FIG. 15C shows a metal probe going through sampling hub during operation during operation in position 3.
FIG. 16A shows a preferred embodiment of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 16B shows a syringe embodiment of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 16C shows a cross section of a syringe embodiment during operation in position 1.
FIG. 16D shows a cross section of a syringe embodiment during operation in position 2.
FIG. 16E shows a cross section of a syringe embodiment during operation in position 3.
FIG. 17 shows an exploded view of the outside of delivery catheter and its components.
FIG. 18A shows a cross section of a delivery catheter in position 1.
FIG. 18B shows a cross section of a delivery catheter in position 2.
FIG. 18C shows a cross section of a delivery catheter in position 3.
FIG. 19A shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a luer lock.
FIG. 19B shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a luer slip.
FIG. 19C shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a vacutainer collection device.
FIG. 19D shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a reverse syringe.
FIG. 19E shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a reverse syringe with back opening.
FIG. 19F shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a reverse syringe with back slit.
FIG. 19G shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a reverse syringe with push finger slide cover.
FIG. 19H shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a pipette bulb style device.
FIG. 19I shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter liquid collection method featuring a capillary action style device.
FIG. 20 shows the delivery catheter with a chemistry test incorporated into the proximal end of the device.
FIG. 21A shows a cross section view of a preferred embodiment of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 21B shows a perspective view of the delivery catheter with air vents.
FIG. 21C shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the delivery catheter with two sheaths.
FIG. 21D shows a perspective view an embodiment of the sampling cannula without a sheath.
FIG. 21E shows a cross section view of embodiment of the delivery catheter with a protective cover over the distal end.
FIG. 21F shows a perspective view an embodiment with a sterile barrier cover on the distal end of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 21G shows a cross section view of an embodiment featuring an internal spring within the delivery catheter.
FIG. 21H shows a cross section of an embodiment featuring a guide wire within the delivery catheter.
FIG. 22 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub.
FIG. 23 shows a cross section of an embodiment of the sampling hub.
FIG. 24 shows a perspective exploded view of an embodiment of the sampling hub.
FIG. 25A shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with a probe or cannula being inserted through it during operation in position 1.
FIG. 25B shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with a probe or cannula being inserted through it during operation in position 2.
FIG. 25C shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with a probe or cannula being inserted through it during operation in position 3.
FIG. 26. shows a close up cross section view of the sampling up lumen in position 3.
FIG. 27A shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen.
FIG. 27B shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen with a non-expanded elastomeric lumen.
FIG. 27C. shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen with an expanded elastomeric lumen.
FIG. 27D shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen with a non-expanded braided lumen.
FIG. 27E shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen with an expanded braided lumen.
FIG. 27F shows an embodiment of the sampling hub lumen with a non-expanded flat lumen.
FIG. 28 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with support wings.
FIG. 29 shows a cross section view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with support wings and bottom catheter exit point.
FIG. 30 shows a cross section view of a cross section view of the sampling hub with wings and distal catheter exit point.
FIG. 31 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub.
FIG. 32 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with a shortened distal end.
FIG. 33 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with extended support wings and a clear viewing panel on the distal end.
FIG. 34 shows a perspective disassembled view of a two part sampling hub embodiment.
FIG. 35 shows a perspective assembled view of a two part sampling hub.
FIG. 36 shows an embodiment of the bottom of a winged sampling hub embodiment.
FIG. 37 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the sampling hub with a distal through hole.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
There are at least two unified aspects of the present technology, a method and the device unique to the implementation of that method. The method may be practiced by the described device. A sampling device, such as a solids, tissue or liquid sampling device, such as a blood sampling device or an arterial or intravenous blood sampling device useful within the practice of the present technology would include at least a delivery catheter. Within a lumen of the delivery catheter is a sampling cannula having a longitudinal axis. The delivery catheter is moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter sheath(s). The sampling device, by way of example, may provide two extreme relative positions of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula (and intermediate functional positions may also be available). A first extreme position might be where the delivery catheter shields at least the majority (or all, including the majority or all number of ports or the majority or all areas of entry into ports) of sampling ports in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and a second extreme position wherein the delivery catheter sheath(s) has moved rearwardly and exposed to the adjacent environment the majority of sampling ports in the sampling cannula. The sampling ports may be present along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula (and one or more may be forward at the tip of the sampling cannula) and at least some of the ports may be perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula. In the first extreme position, at least 50% of the sampling ports are shielded from the adjacent environment and in the second extreme position, at least a greater number of the sampling ports are exposed to the adjacent environment. The sampling cannula may support a sampling hub that surrounds the front end or distal end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port or split septum physically insulating the external environment from the adjacent environment, the sampling hub physically insulating the intake ports in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment. As noted, the two extreme relative positions of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula may be available, a first extreme position where the delivery catheter shields at least the majority of sampling ports in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and a second extreme position wherein the delivery catheter sheath(s) has moved rearwardly and exposed to the adjacent environment the majority of sampling ports in the sampling cannula, and wherein movement of the delivery catheter from the first extreme position to the second extreme position causes the sampling hub to cover the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and expose at least some of the intake ports in the sampling cannula to the adjacent environment. The sampling cannula may have or create a volume therein to hold liquid samples, and there would be a port at a proximal end of the volume to allow controlled passage of liquid within the volume to be withdrawn into a modular sampling component. Otherwise, the entire sampling cannula would be physically removed from the sampling device and transported for analysis of the liquid sample after removal. It is also possible for the sampling cannula to be a solid probe or collection tool. In these embodiments the probe may be used to deliver an electric shock or sensor to a region. A solid collection tool may also be used to collect a solid sample (i.e., biopsy) from the target area. The sensor and some other tools would require electrical leads to the tool from a power source and/or a communication link to a processor or other signal receiver. The sampling device may include a construction wherein a proximal support element is present to resist forward and rearward movement of the sampling cannula relative to the forward and rearward movement of the delivery catheter after the delivery catheter has been positioned against a sampling hub or body of a patient. Such a proximal support element may be a locking or blocking edge or element, a biasing spring or lever, or other physical restraint. In some embodiments, the delivery catheter may enter the body of the patient. Upon withdrawal of the delivery catheter and retention of a forward position by the sampling cannula, a chamber is formed at a proximal end of the sampling cannula and reduced pressure or other extraction methods are applied within a volume of the sampling cannula to draw liquid samples from the adjacent environment into the volume through the port(s) exposed to the adjacent environment which includes the target area.
A method of sampling liquids from within a patient using the described device could include steps of:
- - a) inserting a sampling cannula into a target area of a patient, by means of a delivery catheter and within a lumen of the delivery catheter is a sampling cannula having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter sheath(s); - b) moving the delivery catheter towards a target area within the patient causes the delivery catheter to press against the patient or sampling hub thereby causing the sheath(s) of the delivery catheter to retract as it advances forward which exposes the sampling cannula to the target area within the patient; - c) allowing liquid within the target area of the patient into the sampling cannula; and - d) withdrawing the liquid from the sampling cannula to create a liquid sample.
The method may be practiced by the sampling device being inserted through the skin into the patient, the sampling device being positioned at a forward location within the patient, the delivery catheter sheath(s) being withdrawn from the forward location, and the sampling cannula advancing to or towards the forward location. A support element within the sampling device supports a proximal end of the sampling cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula. In the method, the sampling cannula may have at least one liquid inflow port (or multiple ports) along its longitudinal axis and movement of the delivery catheter sheath away from the distal volume increases exposure of at least one delivery port (or the multiple ports) to liquid within the target area of the patient. In another embodiment of a method, the sampling cannula supports a sampling hub that surrounds a front end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port physically insulating the sampling cannula from liquid at the forward position within the patient, and the sampling hub is withdrawn over the sampling cannula before the liquid is withdrawn. The withdrawal of the delivery catheter may be simultaneously or independent of the withdrawal of the sampling hub to expose the sampling cannula to liquid within the patient.
One aspect of the present technology includes a guiding and directing system for lumen-containing medical devices such as catheters, syringes or samplers. The directing system can be used to introduce or remove samples, especially liquid samples from a patient. The patient may be any animal, including humans. The guide, referred to herein as a hub, can perform numerous functions. One primary function is to provide a stable platform through which the medical device can be directed and then withdrawn. The hub is positioned on a surface of the patient, the medical device introduced through a lumen in the hub, a procedure performed, and the medical device and hub withdrawn, together, or the medical device first and later the hub. The hub may be used in multiple procedures, either left in place (typically adhesively secured by tape or gel or dissolving stitch or other temporary securing element) or removed, sterilized and later replaced. The hub may be composed of plastic, elastomeric, metal, composite materials, ceramics, cellulosic materials and/or combinations of these materials. The surface of the patient is an exterior portion of the patient outside of a volume from which liquid is to be sampled, which may be in the vicinity of a vessel (vein or artery) or near any cavity, swelling, mass, liquid volume and the like from which a sample is desired to be taken.
A general description for a sampling hub for directing a medical device towards a target area according to the present invention follows. The hub may have at least some of:
- - a) a lumen passing between openings at, near or toward the front end (distal end) or bottom of the hub and the rear end (proximal end), the lumen allowing for passage of an elongate element through the entire lumen, to the target area away from the near end, towards the middle of the hub, past the middle of the hub, or at or near the front of the hub; - b) the bottom of the hub body comprises a flat, near flat, concave or less preferred a convex surface; - c) the top of hub body preferably is sloped downwardly so as to provide a thicker hub body at the rear end where the elongate body would enter the lumen, although a relatively horizontal path can be provided, with the medical device tilting or curving down into the patient. A thinner hub body may be present at the front end of the hub body where the elongate element would exit the lumen, although a less preferred embodiment would have a relatively uniformed thickness in the hub from the rear to the front (although some extending elements, such as grips, clips or stabilizing wings may be present extending from the hub body); - d) the lumen is, as previously indicated, preferably sloped downwardly to enable guidance of the elongate body towards the target area; and - e) an area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end configured to receive a support for the elongate element, the support for the elongate element having a diameter in the support larger than a diameter of the elongate element.
In another variation on the underlying generic design of the hub, the lumen has a distal end that extends out of the hub and is configured to allow that distal end of the lumen to penetrate skin of the patient. The external component of the distal end of the lumen may be sufficiently small and rigid to be able to penetrate skin without need of the strength or sharpness of the elongate element. The external component may also be soft enough to reside inside the target area for an extended period of time. In this embodiment, the sampling hub will be paired with an insertion needle to aid in the introduction of the external component into the target area. The external component of the lumen may be made of the same or different materials than the other components of the hub.
The hub may be constructed in a number of different design formats that are within the scope of the present generic invention. For example, the simplest way in which the hub can be manufactured is as a single, integral sampling hub (in a single molding step, or with individual sections separately molded then permanently secured together). However, one optional construction within the scope of this invention is to have (at least) two separate segments of the hub which can be integrated during use. One example of this multi-subcomponent hub would be to have a sturdy lumen element, the distal end of that lumen being capable of manual insertion into the patient. The distal end may also be soft enough to reside inside the target area for an extended period of time. In this embodiment, the distal end will be paired with an insertion needle to aid in the introduction of the distal end into the target area. The proximal end of that lumen could be configured to couple with a larger and more substantive hub body. The two subcomponents could be secured together after the lumen had been inserted into the patient. The second hub body component adds substance and stability to the lumen and helps stabilize its insertion.
The bottom of the sampling hub is preferably wider than the top of the sampling hub to provide some stability when positioned against the patient. The bottom of the hub preferably extends outwardly from the hub body to provide at least one and preferably two stabilizing panels or wings. The wings may be flexible in order to allow them to fold upwardly against the hub during its placement on or insertion into the patient and to allow them to fold downwardly to contour to the patient to hold the hub in place. If the flat bottoms (or other bottom configurations) are more flexible, they will themselves conform better to the patient while still applying some pressure to the patient. The greater flexibility will allow single size sampling hub to have utility with a wider range of dimensions on patients. As patients vary in size, this is a desirable feature. The composition of the sampling hub will vary upon selection of its desired physical properties, and its intended durability, whether to be disposable or reusable. Material compositions may be polymers (thermoplastic or thermoset polymers), filled polymers, reinforced polymers, ceramics, composites, metals, rigid paper, reinforced paper, polymer embedded paper, wood and combinations thereof. In one preferred embodiment, the hub is configured where the front end of the hub has a viewing area through which a front end of the elongate element (e.g., the medical device) may be seen during forward movement though the hub. In the embodiments of the device where the distal lumen penetrates the patient's skin and the sampling hub is paired with an insertion needle, this viewing area may also be used to view this point of insertion, observation of the entry area or site for other effects such as trauma or infection or adverse patient reactions (e.g., allergic reactions).
The hub is particularly useful in combination with the above described sampling device wherein the elongate element is carried by a sheath and/or delivery catheter slide able over the elongate element nestled within the hub, with the elongate element extended into the lumen, and the sheath stabilized within the area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end (proximal end) of the hub configured to receive a support for the elongate element. When the sheath/delivery catheter butts against the inner part of the area surrounding the opening of the lumen, the sheath withdraws from over the elongate body or introducing element by forces transmitted against the sheath, but not transmitted to the elongate element.
In one construction, the rear end of the sampling hub may have a flat or relatively flat surface and the area surrounding the opening of the lumen is geometric to receive the medical device, as with a square, rectangular, round, oval, or other geometric recess in the flat surface. The hub may be used in a method for collecting a sample from a target area comprising positioning a front end of a hub sampling device adjacent to or within the target area, the hub sampling device being the device and system described above. In the method, the elongate element (sampling device) may be a collection element or probe and the target area comprises a live patient. The sampling tool enters the live patient through the sampling hub at the target area and a forward tip of the tool extends into the live patient. In some embodiments, the front end of the sampling hub has a viewing area where the front end of the elongate element may be seen and an operator may view the front end of the forward tip of the tool as it penetrates the skin of the patient or progresses towards a target area (if it is not actually seen at the target area). Additionally, this viewing area can be used to inspect the site where the sampling hub lumen penetrates the patient skin to determine if there is any inflammation or harm to the patient. The elongate element may be carried by a sheath slide able over the elongate element, the sheath is nestled within the sampling hub, with the elongate element extended into the lumen, and the sheath is stabilized within the area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end configured to receive a support for the elongate element. As noted above in the method, nestling of the sheath within the sampling hub causes the elongate element to slide within the sheath and extend forward out of the sheath.
The lumen may be constructed to provide preliminary protection to the elongate element from the target area. The tip of the lumen may have a protective, at least partially (if not completely) closed, cover or valve, or series of valves. This valve or valves may also be used to prevent backflow of liquid from the target area into lumen. The valve(s) is naturally in a closed position. The lumen may have a valve(s) thereon, the valve(s) being configured to be opened when an element proceeds through the lumen to exert internal force against the valve(s). Force against the interior of the valve(s) opens moveable elements in the valve(s). These may be flanges, flaps, semicircle, spherical sections, or other segments of the valve(s) that can separate to provide an opening when the elongate element is pressed through the interior of the lumen to provide opening force against the valve(s). While the valve is opened, the newly created opening is completely filled by the elongate element preventing any fluid from entering the lumen of the hub. The open valve(s) may have natural elasticity or elastic memory in the materials to allow or cause the open valve(s) to close when the elongate element is retracted backwards past the valve(s). If there is no natural elasticity or internal forces that would close the valve(s) once the elongate element is retracted, retraction of the lumen may cause friction forces across the open valve(s) that are exerted by the withdrawal (as through tissue) to close the open valve(s).
In the following description of the figures, like or repeated numbers represent like or repeated elements, even when the same numbers are used in different figures. The following is a number-element key to a review of the figures.
ELEMENT NUMBERS
- 1000—Delivery Catheter - 1050—Retractable Parts of the Delivery Catheter - 1100—Collection mechanism - 1110—Luer lock - 1112—Luer Slip - 1120—Vacutainer version - 1122—Rubber covering of sampling cannula end - 1124—Vacutainer Chamber - 1130—Reverse syringe - 1132—Rubber cover of delivery catheter proximal part - 1133—Rubber cover hole - 1134—Cover/Reverse Plunger - 1135—Large Cover - 1136—Empty Space where blood is collected - 1137—Reverse plunger with probe attached - 1138—Cover Ridge - 1139—Finger Tab to slide up Cover - 1140—Reverse syringe container access - 1142—Door - 1144—Slot - 1150—Pipette bulb - 1152—Capillary Action - 1160—Incorporated chemistry - 1200—Delivery Catheter Proximal Part - 1201—Large Delivery Catheter Proximal Part - 1202—Distal end of delivery catheter proximal part - 1210—Internal chamber where delivery catheter retracts - 1212—Proximal end of internal chamber - 1220—Ridge between click mechanisms - 1230—Proximal end of the proximal part - 1232—Rubber cover holder - 1240—Spring - 1250—Side Port Embodiment - 1252—Side Access Port - 1300—Delivery catheter proximal sheath - 1310—Internal chamber where delivery catheter retracts - 1312—Proximal end of internal chamber of the proximal sheath - 1320—Clicking mechanisms - 1322—Proximal click - 1324—Distal click - 1326—Ridge between clicks - 1330—Proximal end of proximal sheath - 1340—Distal end of proximal sheath - 1400—Delivery catheter distal sheath - 1402—Proximal end of distal sheath - 1410—Distal end of the distal sheath - 1412—Opening at the distal end of the distal sheath - 1414—Internal chamber for sampling cannula - 1420—Clicking mechanisms - 1422—Proximal click - 1424—Distal click - 1430—Venting slots - 1440—Cap - 1450—Protective Barrier - 1460—Guide wire - 1462—Distal End of Guide Wire - 1464—Proximal End of Guide Wire - 1500—Sampling cannula - 1510—Proximal end of the sampling cannula - 1512—Vacutainer needle - 1520—Distal end of the sampling cannula - 1530—Rounded tip - 1532—Opening in rounded tip - 1534—Multiple openings in rounded tip - 1540—Sampling Cannula Hole - 1541—Through holes - 1542—Side holes - 1550—Valve on the Side of the Sampling Cannula - 1552—Valve folds inwards - 1554—Proximal end of the valve folds downwards - 1560—Pointed needle tip - 1562—Non-coring needle tip - 1600—Syringe Embodiment of Delivery Catheter - 1610—Syringe Plunger - 1612—Proximal End of Syringe Plunger - 1614—Rubber Cover Holder Syringe Plunger - 1616—Cannula Base Holder - 1617—Small Plunger Embodiment - 1618—Large Plunger Embodiment - 1620—Rubber Stopper for Syringe Plunger - 1630—Plunger Housing - 1631—Blood Collection Chamber - 1632—Cannula base chamber - 1633—Cannula chamber - 1634—Air holes to vent air in collection chamber - 1635—Ridge to prevent further insertion - 1636—Air venting path - 1637—Distal End of Plunger Housing - 1640—Syringe Embodiment Sampling Cannula - 1642—Cannula Base - 1644—Proximal end of sampling cannula - 1646—Distal end of sampling cannula - 1650—Cover for Syringe Embodiment - 1652—Cover Cavity - 1700—Probe - 1710—Probe proximal end - 1720—Probe distal end - 2200—Sampling Hub - 2202—Internal chamber for sampling hub lumen - 2204—Proximal end chamber for sampling hub lumen - 2206—Distal end chamber for sampling hub lumen - 2208—Internal probe alignment chamber - 2210—Internal chamber for sampling hub proximal valve - 2212—Bottom of sampling hub body - 2214—Proximal end - 2216—Distal end - 2240—Traditional sampling hub shape - 2242—Distal end sampling hub - 2244—Primary finger ridge - 2246—Secondary finger ridge - 2248—Proximal finger depression - 2250—Central finger depression - 2252—Distal finger depression - 2260—Sampling Hub Securement Device - 2262—Wings - 2264—Bottom of wings - 2270—Sampling Hub Visualization - 2272—Clear panels - 2274—Visualization through hole window - 2280—Two part Catheter - 2282—Proximal sampling hub addition - 2284—Distal sampling hub insertion component - 2285—Proximal end of the distal sampling hub insertion component - 2286—Two part locking knob - 2288—Distal half alignment ledge - 2290—Proximal half alignment ledge receiver - 2290—Generic IV Catheter - 2400—Sampling Hub Proximal Valve - 2410—Split septum - 2412—Slit - 3000—Sampling Hub Lumen - 3010—Lumen proximal end - 3020—Lumen distal end - 3030—Lumen interior cavity - 3032—Open distal end - 3034—Closed distal end - 3040—Braid - 3060—Elastomeric strip - 3070—Hydrophobic - 3080—Flat lumen - 3100—Sampling Hub Lumen Distal Valve - 3110—Nitinol clip—horizontal and vertical - 3112—Vertical nitinol clip - 3116—Horizontal nitinol clip - 3118—Horizontal nitinol clip arm - 3120—Duckbill - 3122—Valve Slit - 3130—Dome - 3140—duckbill/donut/septum - 3142—Duckbill - 3144—Donut - 3146—Donut probe hole - 3148—Distal septum - 3152—Proximal septum - 3160—Expandable tip - 3162—Cap - 3164—Spring - 3170—Side flap - 3172—Single flap - 3172—Double flap - 4000—Exterior environment barrier
A general description of the hub technology enabled herein includes a sampling hub for directing a medical device towards a target area, the hub with:
- - a) a hub body having at least a front end, a rear end, a top, and a bottom configured to be facing downwards in respect to the target area; - b) a lumen passing between openings at the front end or bottom and the rear end, the lumen allowing for passage of an elongate element through the entire lumen; - c) the rear of the hub body configured to allow the elongate body to enter the lumen, and the hub body at the front end or bottom of the hub body configured to allow the elongate element to exit the lumen - d) the lumen enables guidance of the elongate element towards the target area.
The distal end of the lumen may extend out of the hub, penetrate the patient's skin, and reside within or adjacent to the target area. The distal end of the lumen may have a valve or series of valves configured to prevent any material from the external environment to enter the lumen. The lumen may collapse to a closed position when the elongate element is not in the lumen, and thus prevents any material from the external environment to enter the distal end of the lumen. The lumen may be internally coated with a hydrophobic or hydrophilic material to prevent any material from the external environment from entering the distal end of the lumen. The distal valve(s) may be mechanically opened by the presence of the elongate element and returned to the closed position either by the removal of the elongate element or by an elastic memory of the valve.
The rear of the sampling hub may contain a barrier between the external environment and the sampling hub lumen. The barrier between the external environment and the sampling hub may contain a force-openable construction where the elongate element can pass through. By the term “force-openable construction” is meant a barrier having a closed (protective) and open position. To change from the closed position to the open position (where the sampler is exposed for use), a force must be applied to the barrier. The force may be applied from within the sampling hub lumen or from outside of the sampling hub lumen. If the barrier is a two-hinge, three-hinge or four-hinge closure, a force, such as that created by pushing the sampler forward, or pushing a parallel, internal post, a push-wire or the like forward against an inside surface of the hinge. Similarly, for an external force, a pull-wire may pass along the outside of the sampling hub lumen, along a surface parallel to the lumen, and extending to a tip where the distal ends of the hinged barrier meet. By pulling on the pull-wire, force is transmitted that will lift the hinges.
The hub may contain wings to provide stability to the hub when on the contact surface. The area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end of the hub may be configured, structured, designed or shaped to receive a support for the elongate element, the support for the elongate element having a diameter larger than a diameter of the elongate element. The hub may be in two parts. The lumen may be contained within a the smaller part of the hub and the smaller part fits and then locks into a larger part of the hub to hold the smaller part of the hub in place. The internal lumen may have an angle shift to allow the lumen to exit the front or bottom of the hub at an angle more parallel to the surface of the target area than the angle where the elongate element was introduced into the internal lumen. The bottom surface may have an adhesive material to adhere the hub to the surface of the patient. The front end of the hub may have a viewing area through which a front end of the elongate element and/or the distal portion of the lumen may be seen.
The hub may have a rear end of a flat surface and the area surrounding the opening of the lumen is a geometric recess in the flat surface.
A method for collecting a sample from a target area according to the present technology may include steps of positioning a front end of a hub sampling device inside of or adjacent to the target area, the hub sampling device comprising:
- - a) a hub body having at least a front end, a rear end, a top, and a bottom configured to be facing downwards in respect to the target area; - b) a lumen passing between openings at the front end or bottom and the rear end, the lumen allowing for passage of an elongate element through the entire lumen; - c) the rear of the hub body configured to allow the elongate body to enter the lumen, and the hub body at the front end or bottom of the hub body configured to allow the elongate element to exit the lumen - d) the lumen enables guidance of the elongate element towards the target area.
The area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end may be configured to receive a support for the elongate element, the support for the elongate element having a diameter larger than a diameter of the elongate element; the elongate element comprising a sampling tool; and the method further including passing the elongate element through the lumen and into the target area.
The method may have the elongate element as a collection element and the target area could In element of the elongate body enters the live patient through the sampling hub at the target area and a forward tip of the elongate body extends into the live patient. The method may use the front end of the hub with a viewing area through which the point where the lumen or elongate element penetrates the patient's skin may be seen while the hub is in place and during operation of the sampling method. The elongate element may be carried by a sheath slide able over the elongate element, the sheath is nestled within the hub, with the elongate element extended into the lumen, and the sheath is stabilized within the area surrounding the opening of the lumen at the rear end configured to receive a support for the elongate element. Nestling of the sheath within the hub causes the elongate element to slide within the sheath and extend forward out of the sheath. The distal end of the hub lumen may contain a valve or series of valves to prevent material from entering the lumen and the elongate element opens the valve to access the target area and the valve closes when the elongate element is withdrawn.
FIG. 1 describes an embodiment of the device. An aspect of an embodiment of the present invention is a sampling hub with an in-dwelling lumen 3000 secured in a plastic catheter hub 2200. The external hub 2200 also includes a sealed insertion port 2400 to prevent bacterial contamination of the in-dwelling catheter lumen 3000. A second component of an embodiment is a delivery catheter which fits through the sealed insertion port 2400 and slides within the larger hollow in-dwelling lumen 3000 during operation. The hollow lumen of this delivery catheter 1000 houses a sampling cannula 1500 which holds the blood to be sampled. In certain embodiments, the sampling stick is secured to a modular sampling component 1200 that can draw blood for a variety of applications and using a variety of mechanisms. In other certain embodiments, the sampling stick can act as a probe to prevent backflow of blood into the catheter lumen 3000 in between sampling periods.
An embodiment of the assembly of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 2, a perspective view of the complete device and FIG. 3, an exploded perspective view of the device. The catheter has a hollow in-dwelling lumen 3000, which resides inside the patient's vein for the duration of the sampling period. The catheter is assembled with the plastic hub 2200, which holds the in-dwelling lumen 3000 in place and provides a stabilization point for the nurse using the ridged finger grip 2244. A sealed insertion port 2400 is assembled to the proximal edge of the plastic catheter hub 2200, and minimizes bacterial contamination of the catheter lumen 3000. The sampling cannula 1500, another hollow tube, is inserted through the sealed insertion port 2400 and through the lumen 3000 to sample blood from the distal end. The sampling cannula 1500 is combined with a modular sampling device 1200 which can draw up and store blood through the sampling cannula to be used for a variety of blood analyte tests. FIG. 4 shows a cross-section of the embodiment described in FIG. 3. In this figure the distal tip of the sampling cannula 1520 is partially inserted in the lumen of the sampling hub 3000.
The distal valve 3100 on the inner lumen 3000 of the sampling hub 2200 has many possible embodiments. FIG. 5A details an open lumen 3032 housing a split septum 3148 with a slit 3122 on the distal end 3020 of the lumen. FIG. 5B shows a duckbill valve 3120. FIG. 5C-5E show possible embodiments of a dome valve 3120. FIG. 5F houses an additional donut valve 3144 with an opening 3146 that expands around the sampling cannula 1500 as it is inserted. FIG. 5G introduces a series of valves and has a duckbill valve 3120 at the distal end of the lumen 3020 and a split septum 3148 which is proximal to the duckbill valve 3120. FIG. 5H shows a second proximal split septum 3152. FIG. 5I shows a hydrophobic coating 3070 on the lumen to act as a flow control valve. FIG. 5J-5K have a closed lumen tip 3034 and side valve(s) 3172 that opens to allow liquid to flow into the lumen 3000. FIG. 5L-5N show different embodiments of using a nitinol clip 3112 in the longitudinal direction to seal the distal end of the lumen 3020. FIG. 5O shows an alternative use of a horizontal nitinol clip 3116 having arms 3118 which hold the distal end of the lumen 3020 closed. FIG. 5P-5Q shows a spring 3164 and a cap 3162 which can be pushed open by the sampling cannula 1500.
Referring now to FIG. 6A-6R, which show various embodiments of the distal end of the sampling cannula 1520. FIG. 6A-6H are different embodiments of the sampling cannula 1500 with a rounded distal tip 1530. These embodiments have side through holes 1541 and holes that are only on one side 1542. FIG. 6I has an opening 1532 on the distal tip. FIG. 6J shows multiple openings 1534 on the distal tip. FIG. 6K has a sharp needle tip 1560 and FIG. 6L has a non-coring needle tip 1562. FIG. 6M-6R show two different types of valves. FIG. 6M-6O show an inward folding side valve 1552 that can be located on either one or both sides of the sampling cannula 1500. FIG. 6P-6R shows a side valve where the proximal end folds inward 1554.
Referring now to FIGS. 7A-7C, three sampling modules (delivery catheters) 1000 embodiments are represented. FIG. 7A demonstrates the sampling cannula lumen and sampling cannula distal end 1520 are common for all three embodiments. The sampling module 1000 is the varying feature in each figure. The first embodiment: small sampling module is the smallest of the three embodiments and is composed of two components. The first embodiments: small sampling barrel 1134 fits over the first embodiments: small sampling plunger 1200 and creates a vacuum suction when pulled that draws blood into the sampling cannula lumen 1500. The second embodiment: large sampling module is the largest of the three embodiments and is composed of two components. The second embodiments: large sampling barrel 1135 fits over the second embodiments: large sampling plunger 1201 and creates a vacuum suction when pulled that draws blood into the sampling cannula lumen 1500. This larger size allows for greater volumes of blood to be collected for various testing purposes. The third embodiment: blood chemistry test sampling module 1160 contains a testing area on the proximal end of the third embodiment: blood chemistry test sampling barrel 1200 and is composed of two components. The third embodiments: blood chemistry test sampling barrel 1200 fits over the third embodiments: blood chemistry test sampling plunger 1134 and creates a vacuum suction when pulled that draws blood into the sampling cannula lumen 1500. The proximal testing unit is composed of a modular assay strip 1160 and a modular connection to assay reader 1160 which represent a connection port of the third embodiment: blood chemistry test sampling barrel to a chemistry test device.
FIG. 8 represents a block diagram demonstrating the component's embodiments and their uses. The sampling cannula lumen 1500 is connected to the sampling module 1100. This combined overall component is used in conjunction with the sampling hub 2200 and its connected components. The sealed insertion port 2410 is joined to the proximal end of the sampling hub 2114. The lumen 3000 is located on the distal end of the sampling hub 2216 to create the overall sampling hub component of the device. Within the sampling cannula 1500, the sampling module 1000 is connected at its distal end to the sampling stick lumen 1520, which is inserted through the sealed insertion port 2400 and through the sampling hub 2200 until its distal end 1520 passes through the catheter lumen 3000 and the distal tip of the in-dwelling lumen 3020.
Referring now to FIGS. 9A and 9B, a perspective view of a second alternative design to ease insertion of the sampling cannula, FIG. 9A is an alternative embodiment of the assembly of the sampling stick with cover. This embodiment incorporates a delivery catheter 1000 that covers the sampling cannula 1500 prior to insertion. The cross-sectional view in FIG. 9B shows the sampling module plunger for covered version 1200, which has a sampling stick cover storage area 1210. This provides an area for when the sampling stick sheath 1400 is forced backwards by the interior of the catheter hub 2200. The sampling cannula sheath 1400 will have enough resistance to continue to sheath the sampling cannula for covered version 1500 as the sampling stick sheath 1400 moves through the sealed insertion port 2400. The interior of the sampling hub 2200 will provide the necessary force to retract the sampling cannula sheath 1400 into the sampling cannula cover storage area 1210, exposing the tip of the sampling cannula 1500 and allowing movement through the in-dwelling lumen 3000. Upon removal of the sampling cannula 1500 from the sampling hub 2200, the resistance holding the sampling cannula sheath 1400 will diminish and return the sampling cannula sheath 1400 back to its covered position, protecting the sampling stick 1500.
Referring now to FIG. 10, a block diagram for the second alternative design, this representative embodiment incorporates a sealed sampling stick sheath 1400 that surrounds the sampling cannula 1500 to ease insertion through the sealed insertion port 2400. During the sampling procedure, both the sampling cannula 1500 and sampling cannula sheath 1400 are inserted through the sealed insertion port 2400 and into the sampling hub 2200. Upon further insertion, the sampling hub 2200 comes in contact with and unsheathes the sampling cannula cover 1400. Further, the sampling stick 1500 enters the sampling hub lumen 3000 without resistance from the sampling hub insertion port 2400. The connected modular blood collector 1100 applies force on the sampling cannula 1500 during this action. Upon full insertion of the sampling cannula 1500, the sampling cannula sheath 1400 is fully retracted into the modular blood collector 1100.
Referring now to FIGS. 11A and B, a perspective and cross-sectional view of a third alternative design of a blood sampling catheter, FIGS. 11A-B represent an alternative embodiment of the design that eliminates air inside a generic IV catheter 2290. The probe 1700 is a solid component that remains inserted through the center of the catheter 2290 at all times. Only when a sample is being drawn and the probe 1700 is deployed will the interior of the generic IV catheter 2290 become vacant. The distal end of the probe stick 1720 inserts into the generic IV catheter 2290 and provides support and a side sealed insertion port 1252 for sampling blood. The probe 1700 is connected to the base of the probe plunger 1137 so that when deployed, the probe 1700 will pull out of the generic IV catheter 2290 and leave a clear pathway through the in-dwelling catheter lumen 3000 and into the probe 1700 for sampling. The probe plunger 1137 is designed to pull the probe 1700 back just far enough to allow blood to reach the side access port 1252. Upon collection of blood, the probe plunger 1137 and probe 1700 will be repositioned inside the generic IV catheter 2290, removing any blood or debris from the interior cavities.
Referring now to FIG. 12, block diagram for the third alternative design, this probe sampling system is installed into a generic IV catheter 2290 during the sampling period. When installing this probe sampling system, the probe body 1200 is inserted into and attached to the generic IV catheter 2290. When the probe sampling system is not being used to sample blood, the solid probe 1700 is fully inserted into the generic IV catheter 2290 and past its lumen tip. During sampling, the probe cover 1137 is deployed/pulled back, therefore pulling back the probe 1700 back through the lumen and body of the generic IV catheter 2290 and into the probe body 1200. During this action, negative pressure created by the solid probe 1700 draws blood from the vascular system through the generic IV catheter 2290 and into the probe body 1200. In order to withdraw blood from the system, a sample collector 1100 is inserted into a side access port 1252, which is connected to the internal lumen of the probe body 1200. Following withdrawal of blood from the probe body 1200 by the sampling collector 1100, the probe cover 1137 is returned to its un deployed forward position, thereby pushing the connected probe 1700 through the body and lumen of the generic IV catheter 2290. During this action, the solid probe 1700 expels all blood from the probe sampling system.
FIG. 13A is a side view of a delivery catheter 1000 according to the present technology in a position (Position 1) outside of the sampling hub 2200 and adjacent to the sampling hub proximal valve 2400. The delivery catheter 1000 is comprised of a proximal part 1200 and a distal sheath 1400. The proximal part 1200 houses an inner chamber 1210 with a proximal end 1212 where the distal sheath 1400 can retract into. The distal sheath 1400 has both a distal 1410 and a proximal 1402 end. This distal sheath contains an internal chamber 1414 that a sampling cannula 1500 fits through. The sampling cannula 1500 has a lumen with a distal 1520 and a proximal 1510 end. The sampling cannula 1500 has a side hole(s) 1540 to allow fluid to access its lumen. The proximal end of the sampling cannula 1510 and delivery catheter 1212 connect to a collection mechanism 1100 where fluid can be stored. The sampling hub has a lumen 3000. The distal end of the lumen 3020 is also shown.
FIG. 13B is a side view of a delivery catheter 1000 according to the present technology in a position (Position 2) half way inserted into the sampling hub 2200. This figure is a general outline of the sampling hub 2200 with the deliver catheter 1000 halfway inserted. The distal sheath of the delivery catheter 1400 is penetrating the sampling hub proximal port 2400. When the distal sheath 1400 penetrates the catheter proximal valve 2400 it begins to retract into the proximal part chamber 1210. The sampling cannula 1500 continues forward into the sampling hub body 2200 and lumen 3000.
FIG. 13C is a side view of the delivery catheter 1000 according to the present technology in a position (Position 3) wherein the distal sheath of the delivery catheter 1400 penetrates the catheter proximal port 2400 and the cannula 1500 is entirely through the sampling hub lumen 3000. This figure is a general outline of the sampling hub 2200 with the delivery catheter 1000 and the sampling cannula 1500 fully inserted.
FIG. 14A is general figure showing the delivery catheter 1000 with an environmental barrier 4000 in position 1.
FIG. 14B is general figure showing delivery catheter 1000 with an environmental barrier 4000 in position 2.
FIG. 14C is general figure showing delivery catheter 1000 with an environmental barrier 4000 in position 3.
FIG. 15A is general figure showing sampling hub 2200 with a distal valve 3100 and probe 1700 in position 1. The probe has both a distal end 1720 and proximal 1710 end. This figure also shows the distal end 2216 and proximal 2214 ends of the sampling hub 2200 and the distal end 3020 and proximal 3010 end of the sampling hub lumen 3000.
FIG. 15B is general figure showing sampling hub 2200 with a distal valve 3100 and probe 1700 in position 2.
FIG. 15C is general figure showing sampling hub 2200 with a distal valve 3100 and probe 1700 in position 3 with the distal end of the probe 1720 past the distal valve 3100 and the distal end of the sampling hub lumen 3020.
FIG. 16A is a perspective view of the outside of the delivery catheter. A luer lock 1110 is opposite the distal end 1410 of the distal sheath 1400.
FIG. 16B is an alternative syringe-like embodiment of delivery catheter 1000 within the broadest scope of the present technology. The syringe plunger 1610 and plunger housing 1630 telescope forward to progress the cannula through the distal end of the chamber 1633. The figure also depicts the proximal end of the plunger 1612 and the distal end of the housing 1637. The housing 1630 contains an air vent path 1636 to let air out as the plunger 1610 is depressed. The housing also has a ridge 1635 to prevent to housing 1630 from begin further inserted into another environment.
FIG. 16C is a cross section of the syringe embodiment of FIG. 16B (in nominal Position 1) where the proximal end of the sampling cannula 1644 is attached to the plunger 1610 by the cannula base 1642 fitting inside the holder 1616 on the plunger. The distal end of the cannula 1646 is also shown. The plunger is covered by a rubber seal 1620 to maintain the vacuum seal. The plunger is also ridged 1614 at the end so the rubber cover 1620 remains attached to it. The housing 1630 has an internal chamber for the plunger 1631. The housing contains air holes 1634 to allow air to flow out of the internal chamber 1631. The housing also has an internal chamber 1632 designed to fit the cannula base 1642.
FIG. 16D is a cross section of the syringe embodiment wherein a plunger 1610 is fully depressed and the sampling cannula and its cannula base 1642 are fixed into position.
FIG. 16E is a cross section of the syringe embodiment of FIG. 16B wherein a plunger 1610 is pulled back to withdraw blood into the syringe container 1631. The sampling cannula 1640 and its base 1642 stay fixed in position.
FIG. 17 is an exploded perspective view of the outside of a sampling cannula 1500 within the generic scope of the present technology. The rounded tip of the sampling cannula 1530 would protrude through the opening at the end of the distal sheath 1412 when the distal sheath 1400 is retracted. The distal sheath 1400 contains ridges 1422 and 1424 that interact with the ridges 1220 of the proximal part 1200 to create some resistance to the distal sheath retraction. This force ensures the distal sheath penetrates an environmental barrier before it retracts into the proximal part 1200.
FIGS. 18A, 18B and 18C show more detailed cross-sectioned views of FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C, in nominal positions 1, 2 and 3, respectively, with the elements described in the keys herein, and the relative position of elements shown with respect to the Title positions of the Figures.
FIGS. 19A-H shows a range of side views of various (but not exclusive) embodiments of the delivery catheter 1000 designs with various functional characteristics. This is a perspective view of all the parts that make up the preferred embodiment of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 19A shows a Luer lock connector 1110.
FIG. 19B shows a Luer Slip connector 1112
FIG. 19C shows a proximal end of the cannula 1510 as a sharp needle covered by a rubber housing 1122. This embodiment houses a traditional collection tube chamber housing 1120 and an internal space 1124 to receive a collection tube.
FIG. 19D shows a reverse syringe configuration of a delivery catheter 1000 concept within the generic scope of the present technology. The proximal part 1200 has a proximal ridged end 1232 configured to hold a rubber cover 1132. This rubber cover maintains the vacuum as the cover 1134 is pulled back. The vacuum causes blood to flow through the hole in the rubber cover 1133 and into the inner chamber where liquid can be held 1136. The cover has a distal ridge 1138 to prevent it from being completely removed from covering the proximal part 1200.
FIG. 19E shows a reverse syringe configuration of a delivery catheter 1000 within the generic scope of the present technology with a door 1142 on the back through which access to a liquid sample can be made.
FIG. 19F shows a reverse syringe configuration of a delivery catheter 1000 within the generic scope of the present technology with a slot 1144 on the back for sample access. An object could be inserted through the slot 1144 and a vacuum will still be maintained.
FIG. 19G shows a reverse syringe configuration of a delivery catheter 1000 within the generic scope of the present technology with a finger slide 1139 which can be used to push up the cover 1134.
FIG. 19H shows a delivery catheter with a pipette bulb 1150.
FIG. 19I shows an air permeable membrane 1152 on the proximal end of the delivery catheter. When the sampling cannula is inserted into the distal region of the patient, capillary action will cause the cannula to fill with liquid.
FIG. 20 shows a delivery catheter 1000 embodiment incorporating a specialized chemistry test component 1160 directly into the proximal end of the blood collection mechanism 1136. Any type of analyte, pH responsive, fluorescing, dye reactive, chemically reactive, resistance responsive (e.g., with electrodes not shown extending out), and other chemical testing systems and modalities known within the art may be used.
FIG. 21A shows a cross section of the preferred embodiment of the distal sheath of the delivery catheter 1400.
FIG. 21B shows an embodiment of the distal sheath of the delivery catheter 1400 with air vents 1430 on side to allow air to escape from the internal chamber of the proximal part.
FIG. 21C shows an embodiment of the delivery catheter 1000 with a middle sheath 1300 and a distal sheath 1400. In this construction the middle sheath contains both a distal ridge 1326 and two proximal ridges 1324 and 1322 with the more distal ridge 1324 being slightly larger. The middle sheath has an internal chamber 1310 to hold the distal sheath. The proximal end of the internal chamber 1312 and the sheath itself 1330 is closed to prevent the distal sheath 1400 from entering the internal chamber of the proximal part 1210.
FIG. 21D has a shortened proximal part 1200 and no retracting sheath.
FIG. 21E shows a cap 1440 that covers the distal sheath 1400. The cap 1440 is removed prior to operation.
FIG. 21F shows an embodiment of the distal sheath 1400 with a barrier 1450 that covers the distal opening in the distal sheath 1400. This barrier 1450 is penetrated by the sampling cannula during the operation of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 21G shows an embodiment of a three part delivery catheter with an internal spring 1240. This spring is compressed during operation and ensures the middle 1300 and distal 1400 sheaths re-extend over the sampling cannula 1500 after use.
FIG. 21H shows an embodiment of a three part delivery catheter with an internal guide wire 1460. The distal end of the wire 1462 connects to the proximal end of the distal sheath 1402. The proximal end of the wire 1464 can be manipulated to re-extend or retract the parts of the delivery catheter.
FIG. 22 shows an embodiment of the sampling hub 2200 with a finger grip 2244 and a distal grove 2252 to hold the part. The sampling hub lumen 3000 extends past the distal part of the sampling hub 2216. The sampling hub 2200 has a secondary finger depression 2248 for improved grip. The proximal end of the sampling hub 2214 contains a valve that creates a barrier between the outside environment and the inside of the sampling hub. In this embodiment the valve is a split septum 2410 with a slit 2412 that allows it to be opened upon interaction with an external object.
FIG. 23 shows a cross section of the sampling hub 2200. The sampling hub has a proximal 2214 and a distal 2216 end. The distal end of the lumen 3020 contains a valve 3100 which prevents backflow of liquid. The sampling hub also contains an alignment chamber 2208 to ensure a foreign body inserted through the septum slit 2412 can be aligned to pass through the lumen 3000. The sampling hub 2200 also has an additional finger depression 2250 for maximal grip.
FIG. 24 is an exploded view of the sampling hub 2200. The distal valve 3100 is depicted here as a separate part, but could be directly incorporated into the lumen 3000.
FIGS. 25A, 25B and 25C show more detailed views of FIGS. 15A, 15B, and 15C, in nominal positions 1, 2 and 3, respectively, with the elements described in the keys herein, and the relative position of elements shown with respect to the Title positions of the Figures.
FIG. 26 shows a close up of the distal portion of the sampling hub lumen 3000 when the system is in position 3. The distal end of the probe 1720 is extended past the distal end of the lumen 3020 and through the distal lumen valve, which is shown here as a split septum 3148.
FIG. 27A shows the sampling hub lumen 3000 with an opening in the distal end 3032.
FIG. 27B shows the sampling hub lumen 3000 with an elastomeric strip 3060 throughout the longitudinal side of the lumen. The elastomeric strip can be expanded which increases the inner diameter of the sampling hub lumen 3000.
FIG. 27C shows the elastomeric strip 3060 expanded and an increased lumen diameter.
FIG. 27D shows a braid 3040 throughout the sampling hub lumen 3000.
FIG. 27E shows a shortened lumen 3000 with an increased diameter. In this figure the braid 3040 is expanded which causes the change in geometry.
FIG. 27F shows a flat lumen 3080. The distal 3020 and proximal 3010 ends of this lumen contains a slit 3122.
FIG. 28 shows a sampling hub 2200 with support wings 2262 incorporated for added support. The geometry of the catheter body is such as to prevent mistaking the described sampling hub with other catheter embodiments currently on the market. An internal chamber 2202 can house a lumen with its proximal end 2204 against the internal probe alignment chamber 2208. These elements are accessed through an internal chamber for a proximal valve 2210 which creates a barrier with the external environment. In the preferred embodiment this barrier may be a split septum. There is a downward slope from the proximal catheter end 2214 to the distal catheter end 2216.
FIG. 29 shows a cross-section of the sampling hub 2200. The distal end of the lumen chamber 2206 exits the sampling hub at its bottom. This figure clearly displays the downward guidance slope of the internal chamber 2202 from the internal probe alignment chamber 2208 to the distal end chamber for catheter lumen 2206.
FIG. 30 shows a cross-section of the sampling hub 2200. The distal end of the lumen chamber 2206 exits the sampling hub at its distal end. This figure clearly displays the downward guidance slope of the internal chamber 2202 from the internal probe alignment chamber 2208 to the distal end chamber for catheter lumen 2206.
FIG. 31 shows a perspective view of another sampling hub embodiment. Surface curvature in the sampling cannula is shown.
FIG. 32 shows a perspective view of another sampling hub embodiment with a shortened distal end 2216.
FIG. 33 shows a perspective view of another sampling hub embodiment with extended support wings and clear viewing panels 2272 so that the positioning of the sampling cannula 1500 or other device through the sampling hub 2200 can be viewed. The clear viewing panels 2272 can also be used to view where the sampling hub lumen 3000 penetrates a distal environment.
FIG. 34 is an exploded view of a two part sampling hub embodiment. The distal part 2284 houses the entire lumen chamber with the chamber's distal end 2204 at the proximal end of the distal part 2285. The distal part contains a ledge 2288 for alignment within the proximal sampling hub part 2282 and a locking knob 2286 so it is held in place after insertion. The proximal sampling hub part 2282 is configured to receive the distal sampling hub part alignment ledge 2288 within its internal alignment chamber 2290.
FIG. 35 is a perspective view of a two part sampling hub embodiment. The distal sampling hub part 2284 is shown within the proximal sampling hub component 2282.
FIG. 36 is a view of the bottom segment of a sampling hub embodiment. The flat wing bottoms 2264, flat bottom of the sampling hub 2212, and the distal end of the lumen chamber 2206 are shown. The flat bottoms 2264 and 2212 would lie against the surface into which the liquid sampler (not shown) is positioned, as lying flat against the surface of a patient. The flat bottoms 2264 and 2212 may be independently rigid or flexible. When flat and rigid, the flat surfaces may apply pressure against the patient and underlying tissue to have the skin conform to the flat surface and have the chamber for the catheter lumen 2206 in a secure alignment on the skin and in alignment with the desired target area for retrieving liquid through the lumen (not shown).
FIG. 37 is a perspective view of a sampling hub embodiment with distal visualization window 2274. The window may be a transparent or translucent layer or merely an opening, without substance therein.
It should be appreciated that various sizes, dimensions, contours, rigidity, shapes, flexibility and materials of any of the components or portions of components in the various embodiments discussed throughout may be varied and utilized as desired or required. Similarly, locations and alignments of the various components may vary as desired or required.
It should be appreciated that any of the components or modules referred to with regards to any of the present invention embodiments discussed herein, may be integrally or separately formed with one another. Further, redundant functions or structures of the components or modules may be implemented.
It should be appreciated that the device and related components discussed herein may take on all shapes along the entire continual geometric spectrum of manipulation of x, y and z planes to provide and meet the anatomical and structural demands and operational requirements. Moreover, locations and alignments of the various components may vary as desired or required.
An embodiment of the present invention provides a medical blood sampling catheter device that provides a simple, fast, and painless procedure for periodic access to small amounts of an accurate blood source. Unlike other blood sampling devices, certain embodiments of this device minimize the quantity of high quality blood drawn, and can optimize this quantity for a variety of analyte sampling tests.
A liquid sampling device within the scope of the present technology may include a delivery catheter and a sampling cannula, wherein the sampling cannula is located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and has a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter. The sampling device may have two extreme relative positions of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula are available, a first extreme position where the delivery catheter shields at least the majority of sampling port(s) in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and a second extreme position wherein the delivery catheter has moved rearwardly and exposes the majority of sampling port(s) in the sampling cannula to an adjacent environment.
Sampling ports may be present along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and at least some of the ports are substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula. The sampling device may have sampling ports are present along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and at least some of the ports are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and in the first extreme position, at least some of the sampling ports are shielded from the adjacent environment and in the second extreme position, at least one or more of the sampling ports are exposed to the adjacent environment.
The sampling cannula may support a catheter hub that surrounds a front end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port physically insulating intake ports in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment. The sampling device may have two extreme relative positions of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula are available, a first extreme position where the delivery catheter shields at least the majority of sampling ports in the sampling cannula from exposure to an adjacent environment along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and a second extreme position wherein the delivery catheter has moved rearwardly and exposed to the adjacent environment the majority of sampling ports in the sampling cannula, and wherein movement of the delivery catheter from the first extreme position to the second extreme position causes the catheter hub to cover the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and expose at least some of the intake ports in the sampling cannula to the adjacent environment.
The sampling cannula may have a volume therein to hold liquid samples, and there is a port at a proximal end of the volume to allow controlled passage of liquid within the volume to be withdrawn into a modular sampling component.
The sampling device may have the sampling cannula relative to the forward and rearward movement of the delivery catheter after the delivery catheter has been positioned within a body of a patient, the sampling cannula comprises a volume therein to hold tissue samples, and there is a port at a proximal end of the volume to allow controlled retention of solid within the volume to be withdrawn into a modular sampling component. The sampling device may have a proximal support element is present to resist forward and rearward movement of the sampling cannula within the delivery catheter. Upon withdrawal of the delivery catheter and retention of a forward position by the sampling cannula, a chamber may be formed at a proximal end of the sampling cannula and reduced pressure or other extraction methods is applied within a volume of the sampling cannula to draw liquid samples from the adjacent environment into the volume through the ports exposed to the adjacent environment.
A method of sampling liquids from within a patient may have steps of:
- - a) inserting a sampling device into a region of a patient, the sampling device comprising a delivery catheter and sampling cannula located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter; - b) moving the delivery catheter towards a target volume of the patient causing a retraction of the delivery catheter, thereby exposing the sampling cannula to the target volume of the patient; - c) allowing liquid within the target volume of the patient into the sampling cannula; and - d) withdrawing the liquid from the sampling cannula to create a liquid sample.
The sampling cannula may be inserted through the skin or other barrier into a target area within the patient, the sampling cannula is positioned at a forward location within the patient, the delivery catheter is withdrawn from the forward location and the sampling cannula remains at the forward location.
A support element within the sampling device may support a proximal end of the sampling cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula.
The sampling cannula may have at least one liquid inflow port along its longitudinal axis and movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the at least one delivery port to liquid within the target area of the patient.
In the method there may be multiple liquid inflow ports along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula and movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the multiple delivery ports to liquid within the target area of the patient and then liquid is drawn into the sampling cannula through the multiple delivery ports.
In method, the sampling cannula may support a sampling hub that surrounds a front end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port physically insulating the sampling cannula from liquid in the target area within the patient, and the sampling hub covers the sampling cannula before the liquid is withdrawn. In this type of method, the retraction of the delivery catheter may simultaneously cause the sampling hub to cover the sampling cannula and upon full insertion exposes the sampling cannula to liquid within the target area of the patient.
Although specific materials, dimensions and designs have been provided to enable practice of the present technology, this specific disclosure is to be understood as support for the generic concepts recited herein and are not intended to limit the generic scope of the claims. Variations, equivalents and alternatives to the specifics will be understood by those skilled in the art in this light.
The invention claimed is:
1. A method of sampling liquids from within a patient comprising: a) inserting a sampling device into a region within a patient, the sampling device comprising a delivery catheter and sampling cannula located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter; b) moving the sampling cannula towards a target volume of the patient causing a retraction of the delivery catheter relative to the sampling cannula, thereby exposing the sampling cannula to the target volume of the patient; and c) allowing liquid within the target volume of the patient into the sampling cannula; wherein inserting the sampling device comprises (i) transitioning a proximal valve of a sampling hub from a closed state to an open state by inserting a distal end of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula at least partially through the proximal valve and (ii) inserting the sampling cannula through a distal valve and distal end of the sampling hub while the distal end of the delivery catheter remains proximal to the distal valve; wherein inserting the sampling device further comprises positioning the sampling cannula and the delivery catheter to be entirely proximal to the sampling hub while the sampling cannula is located within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sampling cannula is inserted into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the sampling cannula remains at the forward location.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein a support element within the sampling device supports a proximal end of the sampling cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the sampling cannula comprises multiple inflow ports along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula, movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the multiple inflow ports to liquid within the target area of the patient, and liquid is drawn into the sampling cannula through the multiple inflow ports.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein the retraction of the delivery catheter simultaneously causes the sampling hub to cover the sampling cannula and upon full insertion exposes the sampling cannula to liquid within the target area of the patient.
6. The method of claim 2 wherein the sampling cannula has at least one inflow port along its longitudinal axis and movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the at least one inflow port to liquid within the target area of the patient.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein the sampling cannula supports the sampling hub that surrounds a front end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port physically insulating the sampling cannula from liquid in the target area within the patient, and the sampling hub covers the sampling cannula before the liquid is withdrawn.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the sampling cannula is inserted through the sampling hub into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the sampling cannula remains at the forward location.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising inserting a distal end of the sampling cannula through a distal valve of the hub.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the distal valve is positioned at the region within the patient.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein the distal valve is a distal septum.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein moving the delivery catheter further comprises advancing the delivery catheter through a proximal chamber of the hub, distal to the proximal valve, until the distal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of a distal chamber of the hub.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising advancing the distal end of the sampling cannula until a proximal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of an outer sheath.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the outer sheath houses the delivery catheter and is connected to the sampling cannula.
15. The method of claim 1 further comprising, withdrawing the sampling cannula proximally into the delivery catheter while the delivery catheter is held by the proximal valve until the sampling cannula is within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the proximal valve is positioned outside the patient.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the proximal valve is a proximal septum.
18. The method of claim 1 wherein the sampling hub contains a coating of a hydrophobic or hydrophilic material.
19. A method comprising: a) inserting a probe device into a region within a patient, the probe device comprising a delivery catheter and a cannula located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter; b) moving the cannula towards a target volume of the patient causing a retraction of the delivery catheter relative to the cannula, thereby exposing the cannula to the target volume of the patient; and c) placing the target volume of the patient in fluid communication with a lumen of the cannula; wherein inserting the probe device comprises (i) transitioning a proximal valve of a hub from a closed state to an open state by inserting a distal end of the delivery catheter and the cannula at least partially through the proximal valve and (ii) inserting the cannula through a distal valve and a distal end of the hub while the distal end of the delivery catheter remains proximal to the distal valve; wherein inserting the probe device further comprises positioning the cannula and the delivery catheter to be entirely proximal to the hub while the cannula is located within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
20. The method of claim 19 further comprising: delivering, with the cannula, a therapy to the target volume.
21. The method of claim 20 wherein the therapy is an electric shock.
22. The method of claim 19 wherein the probe device further comprises a syringe having a plunger.
23. The method of claim 19 further comprising: allowing liquid within the target volume of the patient into the cannula.
24. The method of claim 19 wherein the distal valve is positioned at the region within the patient.
25. The method of claim 19 wherein the distal valve is a distal septum.
26. The method of claim 19 wherein the cannula is inserted into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the cannula remains at the forward location.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein a support element within the probe device supports a proximal end of the cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the cannula.
28. The method of claim 19 wherein moving the delivery catheter further comprises advancing the delivery catheter through a proximal chamber of the hub, distal to the proximal valve, until the distal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of a distal chamber of the hub.
29. The method of claim 19 further comprising, withdrawing the cannula proximally into the delivery catheter while the delivery catheter is held by the proximal valve until the cannula is within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
30. The method of claim 19 wherein the hub contains a coating of a hydrophobic or hydrophilic material.
31. A method of sampling liquids from within a patient comprising: a) inserting a sampling device into a region within a patient, the sampling device comprising a delivery catheter and sampling cannula located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter; b) moving the sampling cannula towards a target volume of the patient causing a retraction of the delivery catheter relative to the sampling cannula, thereby exposing the sampling cannula to the target volume of the patient; and c) allowing liquid within the target volume of the patient into the sampling cannula; wherein inserting the sampling device comprises (i) transitioning a proximal valve of a sampling hub from a closed state to an open state by inserting a distal end of the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula at least partially through the proximal valve and (ii) inserting the sampling cannula through a distal valve and distal end of the sampling hub while the distal end of the delivery catheter remains proximal to the distal valve; wherein the sampling device further comprises an outer body with the delivery catheter being located within a body chamber of the outer body, the sampling cannula being secured to the outer body, the delivery catheter being moveable over the sampling cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter, and the sampling cannula having a length that is shorter than a combined length of the outer body and the delivery catheter.
32. The method of claim 31 wherein the sampling cannula is inserted into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the sampling cannula remains at the forward location.
33. The method of claim 31 wherein the sampling cannula is inserted through the sampling hub into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the sampling cannula remains at the forward location.
34. The method of claim 33 wherein a support element within the sampling device supports a proximal end of the sampling cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the sampling cannula.
35. The method of claim 33 wherein the sampling cannula has at least one inflow port along its longitudinal axis and movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the at least one inflow port to liquid within the target area of the patient.
36. The method of claim 35 wherein the sampling cannula comprises multiple inflow ports along the longitudinal axis of the sampling cannula, movement of the delivery catheter away from the target area increases exposure of the multiple inflow ports to liquid within the target area of the patient, and liquid is drawn into the sampling cannula through the multiple inflow ports.
37. The method of claim 33 wherein the sampling cannula supports the sampling hub that surrounds a front end of the sampling cannula, the sampling hub providing a sealed insertion port physically insulating the sampling cannula from liquid in the target area within the patient, and the sampling hub covers the sampling cannula before the liquid is withdrawn.
38. The method of claim 37 wherein the retraction of the delivery catheter simultaneously causes the sampling hub to cover the sampling cannula and upon full insertion exposes the sampling cannula to liquid within the target area of the patient.
39. The method of claim 31 further comprising inserting a distal end of the sampling cannula through a distal valve of the hub.
40. The method of claim 39 wherein the distal valve is positioned at the region within the patient.
41. The method of claim 39 wherein the distal valve is a distal septum.
42. The method of claim 31 wherein moving the delivery catheter further comprises advancing the delivery catheter through a proximal chamber of the hub, distal to the proximal valve, until the distal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of a distal chamber of the hub.
43. The method of claim 31 further comprising advancing the distal end of the sampling cannula until a proximal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of an outer sheath.
44. The method of claim 43 wherein the outer sheath houses the delivery catheter and is connected to the sampling cannula.
45. The method of claim 31 further comprising, withdrawing the sampling cannula proximally into the delivery catheter while the delivery catheter is held by the proximal valve until the sampling cannula is within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
46. The method of claim 31 wherein the proximal valve is positioned outside the patient.
47. The method of claim 31 wherein the proximal valve is a proximal septum.
48. The method of claim 31 wherein the sampling hub contains a coating of a hydrophobic or hydrophilic material.
49. A method comprising: a) inserting a probe device into a region within a patient, the probe device comprising a delivery catheter and a cannula located within a lumen of the delivery catheter and having a longitudinal axis, the delivery catheter being moveable over the cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter; b) moving the cannula towards a target volume of the patient causing a retraction of the delivery catheter relative to the cannula, thereby exposing the cannula to the target volume of the patient; and c) placing the target volume of the patient in fluid communication with a lumen of the cannula; wherein inserting the probe device comprises (i) transitioning a proximal valve of a hub from a closed state to an open state by inserting a distal end of the delivery catheter and the cannula at least partially through the proximal valve and (ii) inserting the cannula through a distal valve and a distal end of the hub while the distal end of the delivery catheter remains proximal to the distal valve; wherein the probe device further comprises an outer body with the delivery catheter being located within a body chamber of the outer body, the cannula being secured to the outer body, the delivery catheter being moveable over the cannula by retraction or extension of the delivery catheter, and the cannula having a length that is shorter than a combined length of the outer body and the delivery catheter.
50. The method of claim 49 further comprising: delivering, with the cannula, a therapy to the target volume.
51. The method of claim 50 wherein the therapy is an electric shock.
52. The method of claim 49 wherein the probe device further comprises a syringe having a plunger.
53. The method of claim 49 further comprising: allowing liquid within the target volume of the patient into the cannula.
54. The method of claim 49 wherein the distal valve is positioned at the region within the patient.
55. The method of claim 49 wherein the distal valve is a distal septum.
56. The method of claim 49 wherein the cannula is inserted into a target area at a forward location within the patient, and the delivery catheter is withdrawn while the cannula remains at the forward location.
57. The method of claim 56 wherein a support element within the probe device supports a proximal end of the cannula so as to resist withdrawal from the forward location by any friction between the delivery catheter and the cannula.
58. The method of claim 49 wherein moving the delivery catheter further comprises advancing the delivery catheter through a proximal chamber of the hub, distal to the proximal valve, until the distal end of the delivery catheter abuts a proximal end of a distal chamber of the hub.
59. The method of claim 49 further comprising, withdrawing the cannula proximally into the delivery catheter while the delivery catheter is held by the proximal valve until the cannula is within the lumen of the delivery catheter.
60. The method of claim 49 wherein the hub contains a coating of a hydrophobic or hydrophilic material.
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How to define an S3 generic with the same name as a primitive function?
I have a class myclass in an R package for which I would like to define a method as.raw, so of the same name as the primitive function as.raw(). If constructor, generic and method are defined as follows...
new_obj <- function(n) structure(n, class = "myclass") # constructor
as.raw <- function(obj) UseMethod("as.raw") # generic
as.raw.myclass <- function(obj) obj + 1 # method (dummy example here)
... then R CMD check leads to:
Warning: declared S3 method 'as.raw.myclass' not found
See section ‘Generic functions and methods’ in the ‘Writing R
Extensions’ manual.
If the generic is as_raw instead of as.raw, then there's no problem, so I assume this comes from the fact that the primitive function as.raw already exists. Is it possible to 'overload' as.raw by defining it as a generic (or would one necessarily need to use a different name?)?
Update: NAMESPACE contains
export("as.raw") # export the generic
S3method("as.raw", "myclass") # export the method
This seems somewhat related, but dimnames there is a generic and so there is a solution (just don't define your own generic), whereas above it is unclear (to me) what the solution is.
Possible duplicate of this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/59056308/make-a-existing-function-generic or https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42986174/cant-fix-warning-when-redefining-log-as-a-generic. You'll need to shadow the base function since it's not generic.
Thanks, that's interesting. I tried both versions, first setGeneric("as.raw"), then defining as.raw.default <- function(x) base::as.raw(x) as suggested in the link you posted. I still get the same warning. Could it be that R gets confused about the the two dots in as.raw.myclass and thus doesn't find the method?
Are you exporting these function? What does your NAMESPACE file look like? The two dots shouldn't matter.
I updated the post to show what NAMESPACE contains.
If I also export the default method via S3method("as.raw", "default") as in the second link you posted, I obtain the warning twice, once for as.raw.myclass and once for as.raw.default.
OK. This does appear to be weirder than I thought. The method seems to work for as.name and as.roman for example, but not for as.raw or as.call which is interesting because the latter are both primitive functions.
... I'm glad you seem to be able to reproduce this.
The problem here appears to be that as.raw is a primitive function (is.primitive(as.raw)). From the ?setGeneric help page, it says
A number of the basic R functions are specially implemented as primitive functions, to be evaluated directly in the underlying C code rather than by evaluating an R language definition. Most have implicit generics (see implicitGeneric), and become generic as soon as methods (including group methods) are defined on them.
And according to the ?InternalMethods help page, as.raw is one of these primitive generics. So in this case, you just need to export the S3method. And you want to make sure your function signature matches the signature of the existing primitive function.
So if I have the following R code
new_obj <- function(n) structure(n, class = "myclass")
as.raw.myclass <- function(x) x + 1
and a NAMESPACE file of
S3method(as.raw,myclass)
export(new_obj)
Then this passes the package checks for me (on R 4.0.2). And I can run the code with
as.raw(new_obj(4))
# [1] 5
# attr(,"class")
# [1] "myclass"
So in this particular case, you need to leave the as.raw <- function(obj) UseMethod("as.raw") part out.
... and I had tried that but missed that then the argument of the method has to match the one of as.raw, so x instead of obj. Thanks, it now works.
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Your account has been disabled, contact admin if you have any problem.
i try to re install with fresh database on peatio and barong and i get this error
Hi @endofthepain
Have you confirmed your email at barong?
Also please put here versions which you use for peatio & barong.
on barong i generate account use bundle exec rake db:seed
@endofthepain I think this issue is related to Barong. Could you please show account state at Barong? You will be disabled at Peatio unless the state on Barong equals to active.
ping @gfedorenko
@endofthepain We resolved this issue yesterday. Could you please get edge Barong version?
@endofthepain https://github.com/rubykube/barong/pull/279
@endofthepain @yivo
PR still wasn't merged.
https://github.com/rubykube/barong/pull/279
@endofthepain We have just merged 279 at barong. You can try master. If problem still occurs please reopen the issue. Thanks.
cc @gfedorenko
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide \[[@B1],[@B2]\]. Thermal ablation, predominantly radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA), has shown excellent therapeutic efficacy in HCC and is a commonly used therapy following surgery and embolotherapy (transarterial chemoembolization/transarterial embolization, TACE/TAE) \[[@B3]\]. Several studies have shown that RFA can achieve complete necrosis in most lesions smaller than 3 cm in diameter \[[@B6],[@B7]\]. However, for lesions larger than 3 cm in diameter, especially for those over 5 cm, complete necrosis cannot be obtained in a minority of patients, even if the procedure is repeated. Clinical studies have reported that residual viable tumor cells have been identified in up to 20% of clinical cases following ablation \[[@B8],[@B9]\].
Several studies have shown that TACE in combination with RFA increases the size of the ablation zone as compared with RFA treatment alone, and the efficacy has been demonstrated in the treatment of small and medium-sized HCC \[[@B10]\]. The mechanisms underlying the potential advantage of combined therapies remain unclear. One competitive theory is that hyperthermia during thermal ablation may increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to cytotoxicity from chemotherapeutic agents, such as doxorubicin \[[@B14],[@B15]\]. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been sufficiently investigated, and further studies are needed.
It is well known that during thermal ablation, the temperature inside the ablation zone decreases from the center to the margin, where the temperature is sublethal and residual viable tumor cells often exist, which potential cause tumor relapse \[[@B16],[@B17]\]. In our previous study, we reported that chronic hypoxia, an important characteristic following TACE, triggers chemoresistance to doxorubicin in HepG2 cells \[[@B18]\]. In the present study, we used *in vitro* methods to investigate whether sublethal hyperthermia, which is usually encountered in the periablation zone during thermal ablation, promotes the sensitivity of hypoxic HepG2 cells to cytotoxicity from doxorubicin.
Materials and methods {#sec2}
Cell culture {#sec2-1}
Human liver cancer-derived HepG2 cells were purchased from the China Center for Type Culture Collection (Wuhan University, Hubei, China) and were authenticated by short tandem repeat (STR) profiling according to the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) guidelines. Cells were grown in a monolayer in tissue culture flasks (Corning, NY, U.S.A.) in RPMI-1640 medium (Thermo Fisher, MA, U.S.A.) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (Thermo Fisher, MA, U.S.A.), 1% sodium pyruvate (Caisson Labs, UT, U.S.A.), 1% nonessential amino acids (Thermo Fisher, MA, U.S.A.), and 1 μM gentamicin (Thermo Fisher, MA, U.S.A.) at 37°C in a humidified incubator with 5% carbon dioxide. Cells in logarithmic growth phase were used.
The chronic hypoxia condition was achieved as described previously \[[@B18]\]. Briefly, cells were subjected repeatedly to hypoxia (1% O~2~, 5% CO~2~, 94% N~2~) for 4 h daily for seven consecutive days. The following treatments and assays were performed under normoxic conditions.
Heat treatments {#sec2-2}
Confluent cells in six-well culture plates containing 2 ml of medium per well were heated for 15 or 30 min at 42°C in temperature-controlled precision water baths (± 0.1°C) (Haake D8, Fisher Scientific, Montreal, QC). Cells were then cultured in fresh medium at 37°C in the presence (1 μM, working concentration) or absence of doxorubicin for various lengths of time until the following assays were performed (3 h for intracellular uptake of doxorubicin; 24 h for apoptosis, cell cycle, reactive oxygen species, and total antioxidant capacity assays; 2 h for mitochondrial membrane potential) (Supplementary Figure S1).
Intracellular uptake of doxorubicin {#sec2-3}
After heating as described above, cells were then incubated in fresh medium without doxorubicin for 3 h. Intracellular doxorubicin was then measured by fluorescence intensity using a flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, CA, U.S.A.) at 488 nm. Data were analyzed using FlowJo X software.
Clonogenic survival assay {#sec2-4}
A cell clonogenic survival assay was performed as previously described \[[@B19]\]. In brief, 200 chronic hypoxic HepG2 cells were seeded per well in six-well plates containing 2 ml of complete medium. After 4 h of incubation at 37°C, cells were heated as described previously, followed by incubation with or without doxorubicin for 24 h. Cells were then washed with PBS and allowed to grow for 7 days in complete medium at 37°C and 5% of CO~2~. The visible colonies were fixed with methanol/acetic acid/water (1:1:8 v/v/v) and stained with Giemsa 5% (v/v) in Sorensen phosphate buffer (pH 6.8). The colonies were counted, and the cell survival fraction was determined relative to the untreated control.
Cell cycle analysis {#sec2-5}
Cell cycle analysis was performed according to the manufacturer's manual. In brief, cells were fixed in 70% ice-cold ethanol and stored at -20°C overnight. After washing with PBS, cells were incubated with 300 μl PBS, 125 μl RNase, and 25 μl PI (1 mg/ml) for 30 min at 37°C. A FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Bioscience, Heidelberg, Germany) was used to record 10,000 ungated events for each sample at an excitation of 535 nm. Analysis of the events was performed using Modfit 3.2 software.
An apoptosis assay was performed using a FITC Annexin V/Dead Cell Apoptosis Kit (Invitrogen), according to the manufacturer's manual. In brief, cells were harvested and washed twice with cold PBS. The cells were then resuspended in 100 μl of 1× Annexin V Binding Buffer, supplemented with 5 μl of Annexin V-FITC and 1 μl of propidium iodide, and incubated on ice in the dark for 15 min. Thereafter, 400 μl of 1× Annexin V Binding Buffer was added to the sample, and the stained cells were immediately analyzed by a flow cytometer (BD Biosciences). Data were analyzed using FlowJo X software. Annexin V^+^/PI^−^ cells were considered apoptotic and were analyzed as a percentage of the entire cell population.
Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) {#sec2-7}
MMP was detected using the tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester (TMRM) MMP assay kit, according to the manufacturer's manual. Cells were labeled with 10 nmol/l tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester (TMRM) in serum-free MEM medium for 20 min at 37°C. Samples were analyzed by flow cytometry. Data were analyzed using FlowJo X software.
Measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) {#sec2-8}
Cellular ROS levels, specifically hydrogen peroxide levels, were detected using an ROS assay kit, according the manufacturer's manual. Briefly, cells were incubated with DCFH-DA at a final concentration of 25 μM at 37°C for 30 min. To measure ROS generation, a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Bioscience, Heidelberg, Germany) was used to detect the fluorescence intensity of dichlorofluorescein (DCF) at 535 nm. For each analysis, 10,000 events were recorded.
Total antioxidant capacity assay {#sec2-9}
The cellular total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was quantified using a TAC assay kit (Biovision, Mountain View, CA), according to the manufacturer's instructions. The concentration of the TAC was calculated from the standard curves, and the value was expressed as nmol/ng protein.
Statistical analysis {#sec2-10}
All of the experiments were repeated independently three times. The mean ± SD of the three experiments are presented. Data were subjected to Shapiro--Wilk test of normality. Data with normal distribution were analyzed by a one-way ANOVA plus a multiple comparison test (Fisher's protected least significant difference test, PLSD), and those with abnormal distribution were analyzed via a Kruskal--Wallis test. *P*-values \< 0.05 were regarded as significant for all of the statistical analyses.
Enhanced cytotoxicity of doxorubicin following sublethal hyperthermia {#sec3-1}
To evaluate the long-term effects of sublethal hyperthermia alone on chronically hypoxic liver cancer cells, hypoxic HepG2 cells were cultured in a water bath at 42°C for 15 and 30 min, and cell survival was measured using a clonogenic survival assay. The results demonstrated that the cell survival significantly decreased in cells treated with sublethal hyperthermia at 42°C for 15 min as compared with those at 37°C (74.92% ± 5.31% vs. 100% ± 3.26%, *P*\<0.05). Cell survival was decreased in the cells treated with heat for 30 min as compared with those for 15 min, but the difference was not significant. For cells co-treated with hyperthermia and doxorubicin, cell survival was significantly lower than that in the cells treated with hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone. However, the difference in the cell survival fraction between cells exposed to hyperthermia for 15 and 30 min in combination with doxorubicin was not significant ([Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}A).
::: {#F1 .fig}
###### Clonogenic cell survival assay and intracellular uptake of doxorubicin
(**A**) Treatment with sublethal hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone significantly influenced the cell survival (\**P*\<0.05 vs. control). Co-treatment of sublethal hyperthermia and doxorubicin synergically inhibited cell survival (\#*P*\<0.05 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone). The difference in cell survival between cells exposed to hyperthermia (alone or in combination with doxorubicin) for 15 and 30 min was not significant (*ns*, not significant). (**B**) The percentage of doxorubicin-positive cells increased significantly following sublethal hyperthermia treatment (\*\**P*\<0.01 vs. control). The difference of doxorubicin-positive cells between cells exposed to hyperthermia for 15 and 30 min was insignificant.
Numerous studies have shown that hyperthermia enhances the intracellular uptake of doxorubicin in different types of tumor cells \[[@B20],[@B21]\]. In the present study, we measured doxorubicin-positive cells using a flow cytometer. The results showed that sublethal hyperthermia significantly enhanced the intracellular uptake of doxorubicin in HepG2 cells precultured under chronically hypoxic conditions (36.17% ± 6.29% for 15 min and 40.33% ± 8.27% for 30 min vs. 21.47% ± 4.82%, *P*\<0.01). However, there was no significant difference between doxorubicin-positive cells exposed to hyperthermia for 15 or 30 min ([Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}B).
Cell cycle analysis {#sec3-2}
To determine whether the inhibition of cell viability induced by hyperthermia combined with doxorubicin was attributed to cell cycle arrest, we performed cell cycle assays using flow cytometer. The results showed that treatment with sublethal hyperthermia for 15 min or doxorubicin alone had a slight influence on the cell cycle, with the G2/M population increasing from 13% ± 2.11% (control) to 14.56% ± 0.9% (hyperthermia) and 17.07% ± 3.94% (doxorubicin), but the differences were not significant. Hyperthermia in combination with doxorubicin slightly enhanced the G2/M cell cycle arrest to 17.63% ± 4.23%, but the difference was also not significant ([Figure 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). Moreover, as compared with 15 min of heat exposure, treatment with hyperthermia for 30 min in combination with doxorubicin did not result in additional cell cycle alterations (data not shown). These results suggested that the cell growth inhibition induced by hyperthermia combined with doxorubicin in chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells cannot be attributed to cell cycle arrest.
::: {#F2 .fig}
###### Cell cycle analysis
(**A**) Treatment with sublethal hyperthermia for 15 min, doxorubicin alone, or their combination slightly influenced the cell cycle; however, the differences of cell population in various phases between groups are insignificant. (**B--E**) Representative cell cycle analysis experiment for each group.
Hyperthermia combined with doxorubicin induced apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway {#sec3-3}
We then investigated whether cell death triggered by the combined treatment of hyperthermia and doxorubicin in hypoxic HepG2 cells was due to apoptosis using Annexin V/PI. Our results showed that exposure of chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells to hyperthermia for 15 min followed by doxorubicin for 24 h led to a significantly higher number of apoptotic cells (45.49% ± 4.54%) as compared with hyperthermia (28.5% ± 3.12%, *P*\<0.01) or doxorubicin (27.44% ± 2.25%, *P*\<0.01) alone ([Figure 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). However, there was not a significantly higher number of apoptotic cells in the cells treated with hyperthermia for 30 min as compared with those treated for 15 min.
::: {#F3 .fig}
###### Apoptosis analysis
(**A**) Treatment with sublethal hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone produced a significant increase in the apoptosis of cells (\*\**P*\<0.01 vs. control). Co-treatment of sublethal hyperthermia and doxorubicin significantly increased the apoptosis of cells as compared with sublethal hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone (\#\#*P*\<0.01 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone). (**B--G**) Representative apoptosis analysis experiment for each group.
Since increased mitochondrial permeability is an early hallmark of apoptotic cell death, we evaluated MMP to further confirm apoptosis. The results showed that treatment with hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone resulted in a marked increase in the number of cells with decreased MMP. Moreover, co-treatment of hyperthermia and doxorubicin led to a greater number of cells with alternations in MMP. Similarly, exposure of cells to hyperthermia for a relatively long time (30 min) did not result in significant MMP alterations as compared to cells exposed for a relatively short time (15 min) ([Figure 4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}).
::: {#F4 .fig}
###### Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) analysis
(**A**) Treatment with sublethal hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone significantly increased the percentage of cells with decreased MMP (\*\**P*\<0.01 vs. control). Co-treatment of hyperthermia and doxorubicin led to a greater number of cells with alternations in MMP (\#*P*\<0.05 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone). (**B--G**) Representative MMP analysis experiment for each group.
Role of ROS generation and redox equilibrium {#sec3-4}
Since ROS generation is an important early event associated with mitochondrial membrane injury and apoptosis, we then measured ROS levels in cells treated with hyperthermia and doxorubicin. After exposing chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells to hyperthermia for 15 and 30 min, ROS levels increased significantly as compared to control. However, the difference between cells exposed to hyperthermia for 15 and 30 min was not statistically significant. Cells treated with a combination of hyperthermia and doxorubicin had much higher ROS levels than those treated with hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}A). We also measured the TAC levels in cells treated with hyperthermia. The results showed a slight increase in the TAC level in cells exposed to hyperthermia for 15 min. However, a higher TAC level was measured in cells treated with hyperthermia for 30 min as compared with cells treated for 15 min ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}B).
::: {#F5 .fig}
###### The redox equivalents were changed by heat and doxorubicin
(**A**) ROS increased significantly in cells treated with hyperthermia, doxorubicin, or both (\**P*\<0.05 vs. control; \#*P*\<0.05 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone). (**B**) Treatment with hyperthermia for a longer period of time resulted in a higher level of TAC as compared with the shorter time period (\**P*\<0.05 vs. control). Doxorubicin did not produce additional effects on the TAC. (**C--H**) Representative ROS analysis experiment for each group.
We then used N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, to investigate the role of ROS in apoptosis. The results showed that the levels of apoptosis decreased significantly, which was accompanied by a decrease disrupted MMP population, in cells treated with a combination of hyperthermia and doxorubicin and NAC. We further used z-VAD-fmk, a pan caspase inhibitor, to investigate whether caspase-dependent mechanism involved in apoptosis. The results showed that z-VAD-fmk produced a slight influence on cell apoptosis and MMP ([Figure 6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}). These results demonstrated that hyperthermia-induced apoptosis in chronic hypoxic HepG2 cells was ROS-dependent and caspase-independent.
::: {#F6 .fig}
###### The influence of NAC and z-VAD-fmk on sublethal hyperthermia induced apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential dysfunction
(**A**) Cellular apoptosis decreased after blocking ROS with NAC, while z-VAD-fmk produced a slight influence on cell apoptosis. (**B**) The population of cells with disrupted MMP decreased significantly after treated with NAC; similarly, the population of cells with disrupted MMP decreased slightly following z-VAD-fmk pretreatment (\*\**P*\<0.01 vs*.* control; \#*P*\<0.05 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone; \#\#*P*\<0.01 vs. cells treated with doxorubicin alone).
Treatment of liver cancer patients with transarterial chemoembolization can lead to a tumor microenvironment characterized by chronic hypoxia. This may in turn trigger a more aggressive phenotype in the residual cancer cells \[[@B22]\]. We have previously reported that chronic hypoxia up-regulates the gene expression of NRF2/ABCB1 and PARP-1 in HepG2 cells. The NRF2/ABCB1-mediated efflux effect may lead to decreased intracellular uptake of doxorubicin, which results in chemoresistance in hypoxic liver cancer cells. In addition, PARP-1-mediated dampening of DNA damage may also play an important role in doxorubicin resistance in chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells \[[@B18]\].
In the present study, sublethal hyperthermia combined with doxorubicin exerted a synergistic anticancer effect *in vitro* in chronic hypoxic liver cancer cells. Our results also showed that doxorubicin-positive cells increased significantly in cells pretreated with heat at 42°C. These results are consistent with results reported in the literature where hyperthermia ranging from 41 to 47°C altered cell membrane permeability and in turn allowed uptake of chemotherapeutic agents \[[@B21],[@B27],[@B28]\]. However, this effect has not been observed in all procedures where hyperthermia was combined with chemotherapy \[[@B29]\]. There was no significant difference in the inhibition of cell survival in cells pretreated with heat for 30 or 15 min. Additionally, the difference in doxorubicin-positive cells between these two groups was not statistically significant. These results indicated that the synergistic effect of co-treatment may be partially explained by hyperthermia-mediated intracellular uptake of doxorubicin.
Both hyperthermia and doxorubicin have been shown to cause cell cycle arrest in a broad range of cancer cells. Cell cycle analysis in the present study showed that hyperthermia or doxorubicin alone or a combination of both had a slight, direct effect on cell cycle distribution in chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells. This finding is inconsistent with those reported by Fatfat et al. and Lim et al., where both hyperthermia and doxorubicin dramatically affected the cell cycle distribution *in vitro* in liver cancer cells \[[@B30],[@B31]\]. This inconsistency may be explained by the dose of hyperthermia or doxorubicin applied in the present study, which differed from what was reported previously \[[@B32],[@B33]\]. In addition, the same dose of inducer may have a different effect on cells in various states.
Many studies have shown that the biological effect of hyperthermia is correlated with chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen, also known as ROS \[[@B34],[@B35]\]. In the present study, our results showed that both hyperthermia and doxorubicin induced the generation of ROS, resulting in a decrease in MMP and apoptosis. These results suggested that inhibition of ROS reversed hyperthermia- and doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. However, exposure of cells to sublethal hyperthermia for a relatively long time (30 min) did not result in a higher ROS level. This suggested that the generation of ROS following sublethal hyperthermia was not time-dependent. Interestingly, our results also showed that the 30-min exposure of cells to hyperthermia led to a higher TAC level as compared with cells exposed for 15 min. A high TAC may aid tumor cells in maintaining a high-redox equilibrium for survival under heat stress, thus triggering thermo-tolerance in cancer cells \[[@B36],[@B37]\]. These results hint that a longer time period of thermal ablation may theoretically lead to increased necrosis in the lethal hyperthermia zone. Alternatively, it may also lead to thermo-tolerance in the sublethal hyperthermia zone through redox equilibrium. Thus, further studies are needed to investigate the potential dual effects of sublethal hyperthermia during thermal ablation. Chen et al. reported that downstream effectors of NRF2, ABCC1, contribute directly to acquired resistance and survival in several types of tumor cells through the mediation of redox equilibrium \[[@B38]\]. Jeon et al. investigated gene expression profiles of modulated electro-hyperthermia (modulated electro-hyperthermia) mEHT-treated HepG2 cells \[[@B39]\]. These results demonstrated that mEHT inhibited HCC cell growth through a subset of molecular changes. Whether sublethal hyperthermia produces similar effects on global gene expression profiles, which in turn influences redox equilibrium and results in apoptosis in chronic hypoxic liver cancer cells, needs further investigation.
There are a couple of limitations to this study. First, the conditions of hyperthermia used in the present study may not fully mimic the actual status of the periablation zone during thermal ablation, where a gradual decrease in temperature often occurs. Second, our results showed that sublethal hyperthermia induced high levels of TAC, which may trigger thermal tolerance in hypoxic liver cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism remains to be determined. Thus, further studies are needed to investigate the effects of a wider range of sublethal thermal heating doses on more hepatic cancer cell lines and animal models, as well as the detailed underlying molecular mechanisms.
In summary, this study showed that sublethal hyperthermia enhanced doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity in chronically hypoxic HepG2 cells through an increased intracellular uptake of doxorubicin, generation of ROS, and mitochondrial membrane injury. In addition, a relatively long exposure time to sublethal hyperthermia induced a high TAC, which may trigger thermo-tolerance in chronically hypoxic liver cancer cells. These findings suggest a new strategy for improving efficacy and overcoming potential thermo-tolerance in tumor cells in the periablation zone during thermal ablation in HCC patients.
###### Supplementary Figure S1
Click here for additional data file.
Data Availability {#sec5}
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Competing Interests {#sec6}
The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China \[grant numbers 81301301, 81601579, and 81801810\]. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
CRediT Author Contribution {#sec8}
**Qi Wang:** Funding acquisition, Investigation, Writing---original draft, Writing---review and editing. **Hui Zhang:** Data curation, Investigation, Writing---review and editing. **Qian-qian Ren:** Formal analysis, Writing---review and editing. **Tian-he Ye:** Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing---review and editing. **Yi-ming Liu:** Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Writing---review and editing. **Chuan-sheng Zheng:** Formal analysis, Supervision, Writing---review and editing. **Guo-feng Zhou:** Investigation, Methodology, Writing---original draft, Writing---review and editing.
: hepatocellular carcinoma
: modulated electro-hyperthermia
: mitochondrial membrane potential
: microwave ablation
: N-acetyl cysteine
: radiofrequency ablation
: reactive oxygen species
: total antioxidant capacity
: transarterial chemoembolization
: transarterial embolization
These authors contributed equally to this work.
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User talk:Storm Serenity
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Using ``Tate's algorithm,'' we identify loci in the moduli of F-theory
compactifications corresponding to enhanced gauge symmetry. We apply this to
test the proposed F-theory/heterotic dualities in six dimensions. We recover
the perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements of the heterotic side and the
physics of small $SO(32)$ instantons, and discover new mixed
perturbative/non-perturbative gauge symmetry enhancements. Upon further
toroidal compactification to 4 dimensions, we derive the chain of Calabi-Yau
threefolds dual to various Coulomb branches of heterotic strings.
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Note that only one surface of each of the positive electrode 304 and the negative electrode 307 used for the coin-type storage battery 300 is provided with an active material layer.
For the positive electrode can 301 and the negative electrode can 302, a metal having a corrosion-resistant property to an electrolytic solution, such as nickel, aluminum, or titanium, an alloy of such a metal, or an alloy of such a metal and another metal (e.g., stainless steel or the like) can be used. Alternatively, the positive electrode can 301 and the negative electrode can 302 are preferably covered by nickel, aluminum, or the like in order to prevent corrosion due to the electrolytic solution. The positive electrode can 301 and the negative electrode can 302 are electrically connected to the positive electrode 304 and the negative electrode 307, respectively.
The negative electrode 307, the positive electrode 304, and the separator 310 are immersed in the electrolytic solution. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 17B, the positive electrode 304, the separator 310, the negative electrode 307, and the negative electrode can 302 are stacked in this order with the positive electrode can 301 positioned at the bottom, and the positive electrode can 301 and the negative electrode can 302 are subjected to pressure bonding with the gasket 303 interposed therebetween. In such a manner, the coin-type storage battery 300 can be manufactured.
<Cylindrical Storage Battery>
Next, an example of a cylindrical storage battery will be described as an example of a power storage device with reference to FIGS. 18A and 18B. As illustrated in FIG. 18A, a cylindrical storage battery 600 includes a positive electrode cap (battery cap) 601 on the top surface and a battery can (outer can) 602 on the side surface and bottom surface. The positive electrode cap 601 and the battery can 602 are insulated from each other by a gasket (insulating gasket) 610.
FIG. 18B is a diagram schematically illustrating a cross section of the cylindrical storage battery. Inside the battery can 602 having a hollow cylindrical shape, a storage battery element in which a strip-like positive electrode 604 and a strip-like negative electrode 606 are wound with a stripe-like separator 605 interposed therebetween is provided. Although not illustrated, the storage battery element is wound around a center pin. One end of the battery can 602 is close and the other end thereof is open. For the battery can 602, a metal having a corrosion-resistant property to an electrolytic solution, such as nickel, aluminum, or titanium, an alloy of such a metal, or an alloy of such a metal and another metal (e.g., stainless steel or the like) can be used. Alternatively, the battery can 602 is preferably covered by nickel, aluminum, or the like in order to prevent corrosion due to the electrolytic solution. Inside the battery can 602, the battery element in which the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the separator are wound is provided between a pair of insulating plates 608 and 609 which face each other. Furthermore, a nonaqueous electrolytic solution (not illustrated) is injected inside the battery can 602 provided with the storage battery element. As the nonaqueous electrolytic solution, a nonaqueous electrolytic solution that is similar to those of the coin-type storage battery can be used.
The description of the positive electrode 503 can be referred to for the positive electrode 604. The description of the negative electrode 506 can be referred to for the negative electrode 606. The description of the method for fabricating a negative electrode that is described in Embodiment 1 can be referred to for the negative electrode 606. Since the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the cylindrical storage battery are wound, active materials are preferably formed on both sides of the current collectors. A positive electrode terminal (positive electrode current collecting lead) 603 is connected to the positive electrode 604, and a negative electrode terminal (negative electrode current collecting lead) 607 is connected to the negative electrode 606. Both the positive electrode terminal 603 and the negative electrode terminal 607 can be formed using a metal material such as aluminum. The positive electrode terminal 603 and the negative electrode terminal 607 are resistance-welded to a safety valve mechanism 612 and the bottom of the battery can 602, respectively. The safety valve mechanism 612 is electrically connected to the positive electrode cap 601 through a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) element 611. The safety valve mechanism 612 cuts off electrical connection between the positive electrode cap 601 and the positive electrode 604 when the internal pressure of the storage battery exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The PTC element 611, which serves as a thermally sensitive resistor whose resistance increases as temperature rises, limits the amount of current by increasing the resistance, in order to prevent abnormal heat generation. Note that barium titanate (BaTiO₃)-based semiconductor ceramic can be used for the PTC element.
In the case where an electrode is wound as in the cylindrical storage battery illustrated in FIGS. 18A and 18B, a great stress is caused at the time of winding the electrode. In addition, an outward stress from an axis of winding is applied to the electrode all the time in the case where a wound body of the electrode is provided in a housing. However, the active material can be prevented from being cleaved even when such a great stress is applied to the electrode.
Note that in this embodiment, the coin-type storage battery, the cylindrical storage battery, and the thin storage battery are given as examples of the storage battery; however, any of storage batteries with a variety of shapes, such as a sealed storage battery and a square-type storage battery, can be used. Furthermore, a structure in which a plurality of positive electrodes, a plurality of negative electrodes, and a plurality of separators are stacked or wound may be employed. For example, FIGS. 19A to 19C to FIGS. 23A and 23B illustrate examples of other storage batteries.
<Structural Example of Thin Storage Battery>
FIGS. 19A to 19C and FIGS. 20A to 20C illustrate structural examples of thin storage batteries. A wound body 993 illustrated in FIG. 19A includes a negative electrode 994, a positive electrode 995, and a separator 996.
The wound body 993 is obtained by winding a sheet of a stack in which the negative electrode 994 overlaps with the positive electrode 995 with the separator 996 therebetween. The wound body 993 is covered by a rectangular sealed container or the like; thus, a rectangular storage battery is fabricated.
Note that the number of stacks each including the negative electrode 994, the positive electrode 995, and the separator 996 is determined as appropriate depending on capacity and element volume which are required. The negative electrode 994 is connected to a negative electrode current collector (not illustrated) via one of a lead electrode 997 and a lead electrode 998. The positive electrode 995 is connected to a positive electrode current collector (not illustrated) via the other of the lead electrode 997 and the lead electrode 998.
In a storage battery 990 illustrated in FIGS. 19B and 19C, the wound body 993 is packed in a space formed by bonding a film 981 and a film 982 having a depressed portion that serve as exterior bodies by thermo compression bonding or the like. The wound body 993 includes the lead electrode 997 and the lead electrode 998, and is soaked in an electrolytic solution inside a space surrounded by the film 981 and the film 982 having a depressed portion.
For the film 981 and the film 982 having a depressed portion, a metal material such as aluminum or a resin material can be used, for example. With the use of a resin material for the film 981 and the film 982 having a depressed portion, the film 981 and the film. 982 having a depressed portion can be changed in their forms when external force is applied; thus, a flexible storage battery can be fabricated.
Although FIGS. 19B and 19C illustrate an example where a space is formed by two films, the wound body 993 may be placed in a space formed by bending one film.
Furthermore, in fabricating a flexible power storage device, a resin material or the like can be used for an exterior body and a sealed container of the power storage device. In that case, a resin material or the like is used for the exterior body and the sealed container. Note that in the case where a resin material is used for the exterior body and the sealed container, a conductive material is used for a portion connected to the outside.
For example, FIGS. 20B and 20C illustrate another example of a flexible thin storage battery. The wound body 993 illustrated in FIG. 20A is the same as that illustrated in FIG. 19A, and the detailed description thereof is omitted.
In the storage battery 990 illustrated in FIGS. 20B and 20C, the wound body 993 is packed in an exterior body 991. The wound body 993 includes the lead electrode 997 and the lead electrode 998, and is soaked in an electrolytic solution inside a space surrounded by the exterior body 991 and an exterior body 992. For example, a metal material such as aluminum or a resin material can be used for the exterior bodies 991 and 992. With the use of a resin material for the exterior bodies 991 and 992, the exterior bodies 991 and 992 can be changed in their forms when external force is applied; thus, a flexible thin storage battery can be fabricated.
When the electrode including the active material of one embodiment of the present invention is used in the flexible thin storage battery, the active material can be prevented from being cleaved even if a stress caused by repeated bending of the thin storage battery is applied to the electrode.
When the active material in which at least part of the cleavage plane is covered with graphene is used for an electrode as described above, a decrease in the voltage and discharge capacity of a battery can be prevented. Accordingly, the cycle performance of the storage battery can be improved.
<Structural Example of Power Storage System>
Structural examples of power storage systems will be described with reference to FIGS. 21A and 21B to FIGS. 23A and 23B. Here, a power storage system refers to, for example, a device including a power storage device.
FIGS. 21A and 21B are external views of a power storage system. The power storage system includes a circuit board 900 and a storage battery 913. A label 910 is attached to the storage battery 913. As shown in FIG. 21B, the power storage system further includes a terminal 951, a terminal 952, an antenna 914, and an antenna 915.
The circuit board 900 includes terminals 911 and a circuit 912. The terminals 911 are connected to the terminals 951 and 952, the antennas 914 and 915, and the circuit 912. Note that a plurality of terminals 911 serving as a control signal input terminal, a power supply terminal, and the like may be provided.
The circuit 912 may be provided on the rear surface of the circuit board 900. The shape of each of the antennas 914 and 915 is not limited to a coil shape and may be a linear shape or a plate shape. Further, a planar antenna, an aperture antenna, a traveling-wave antenna, an EH antenna, a magnetic-field antenna, or a dielectric antenna may be used. Alternatively, the antenna 914 or the antenna 915 may be a flat-plate conductor. The flat-plate conductor can serve as one of conductors for electric field coupling. That is, the antenna 914 or the antenna 915 can serve as one of two conductors of a capacitor. Thus, electric power can be transmitted and received not only by an electromagnetic field or a magnetic field but also by an electric field.
The line width of the antenna 914 is preferably larger than that of the antenna 915. This makes it possible to increase the amount of electric power received by the antenna 914.
The power storage system includes a layer 916 between the storage battery 913 and the antennas 914 and 915. The layer 916 may have a function of blocking an electromagnetic field by the storage battery 913. As the layer 916, for example, a magnetic body can be used.
Note that the structure of the power storage system is not limited to that shown in FIGS. 21A and 21B.
For example, as shown in FIGS. 22A1 and 22A2, two opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 in FIGS. 21A and 21B may be provided with respective antennas. FIG. 22A1 is an external view showing one side of the opposite surfaces, and FIG. 22A2 is an external view showing the other side of the opposite surfaces. For portions similar to those in FIGS. 21A and 21B, the description of the power storage system illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B can be referred to as appropriate.
As illustrated in FIG. 22A1, the antenna 914 is provided on one of the opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 with the layer 916 interposed therebetween, and as illustrated in FIG. 22A2, the antenna 915 is provided on the other of the opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 with a layer 917 interposed therebetween. The layer 917 may have a function of preventing an adverse effect on an electromagnetic field by the storage battery 913. As the layer 917, for example, a magnetic body can be used.
With the above structure, both of the antennas 914 and 915 can be increased in size.
Alternatively, as illustrated in FIGS. 22B1 and 22B2, two opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 in FIGS. 21A and 21B may be provided with different types of antennas. FIG. 22B1 is an external view showing one side of the opposite surfaces, and FIG. 22B2 is an external view showing the other side of the opposite surfaces. For portions similar to those in FIGS. 21A and 21B, the description of the power storage system illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B can be referred to as appropriate.
As illustrated in FIG. 22B1, the antenna 914 is provided on one of the opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 with the layer 916 interposed therebetween, and as illustrated in FIG. 22B2, an antenna 918 is provided on the other of the opposite surfaces of the storage battery 913 with the layer 917 interposed therebetween. The antenna 918 has a function of communicating data with an external device, for example. An antenna with a shape that can be applied to the antennas 914 and 915, for example, can be used as the antenna 918. As a system for communication using the antenna 918 between the power storage system and another device, a response method that can be used between the power storage system and another device, such as NFC, can be employed.
Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 23A, the storage battery 913 in FIGS. 21A and 21B may be provided with a display device 920. The display device 920 is electrically connected to the terminal 911 via a terminal 919. It is possible that the label 910 is not provided in a portion where the display device 920 is provided. For portions similar to those in FIGS. 21A and 21B, the description of the power storage system illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B can be referred to as appropriate.
The display device 920 can display, for example, an image showing whether charge is being carried out, an image showing the amount of stored power, or the like. As the display device 920, electronic paper, a liquid crystal display device, an electroluminescent (EL) display device, or the like can be used. For example, the use of electronic paper can reduce power consumption of the display device 920.
Alternatively, as illustrated in FIG. 23B, the storage battery 913 illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B may be provided with a sensor 921. The sensor 921 is electrically connected to the terminal 911 via a terminal 922. For portions similar to those in FIGS. 21A and 21B, the description of the power storage system illustrated in FIGS. 21A and 21B can be referred to as appropriate.
As the sensor 921, a sensor that has a function of measuring, for example, force, displacement, position, speed, acceleration, angular velocity, rotational frequency, distance, light, liquid, magnetism, temperature, chemical substance, sound, time, hardness, electric field, electric current, voltage, electric power, radiation, flow rate, humidity, gradient, oscillation, odor, or infrared rays can be used. With the sensor 921, for example, data on an environment (e.g., temperature) where the power storage system is placed can be determined and stored in a memory inside the circuit 912.
The electrode of one embodiment of the present invention is used in the storage battery and the power storage system that are described in this embodiment. The capacity of the storage battery and the power storage system can thus be high. Furthermore, energy density can be high. Moreover, reliability can be high, and life can be long.
This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with any of the other embodiments.
Embodiment 3
In this embodiment, an example of an electronic device including a flexible storage battery will be described.
FIGS. 24A to 24G illustrate examples of electronic devices including the flexible storage batteries described in Embodiment 2. Examples of electronic devices each including a flexible storage battery include television devices (also referred to as televisions or television receivers), monitors of computers or the like, cameras such as digital cameras and digital video cameras, digital photo frames, mobile phones (also referred to as mobile phones or mobile phone devices), portable game machines, portable information terminals, audio reproducing devices, and large game machines such as pachinko machines.
In addition, a flexible storage battery can be incorporated along a curved inside/outside wall surface of a house or a building or a curved interior/exterior surface of a car.
FIG. 24A illustrates an example of a mobile phone. A mobile phone 7400 is provided with a display portion 7402 incorporated in a housing 7401, an operation button 7403, an external connection port 7404, a speaker 7405, a microphone 7406, and the like. Note that the mobile phone 7400 includes a power storage device 7407.
FIG. 24B illustrates the mobile phone 7400 that is bent. When the whole mobile phone 7400 is bent by the external force, the power storage device 7407 included in the mobile phone 7400 is also bent. FIG. 24C illustrates the bent power storage device 7407. The power storage device 7407 is a thin storage battery. The power storage device 7407 is fixed in a state of being bent. Note that the power storage device 7407 includes a lead electrode 7408 electrically connected to a current collector 7409.
FIG. 24D illustrates an example of a bangle display device. A portable display device 7100 includes a housing 7101, a display portion 7102, an operation button 7103, and a power storage device 7104. FIG. 24E illustrates the bent power storage device 7104. When the display device is worn on a user's arm while the power storage device 7104 is bent, the housing changes its form and the curvature of a part or the whole of the power storage device 7104 is changed. Note that the radius of curvature of a curve at a point refers to the radius of the circular arc that best approximates the curve at that point. The reciprocal of the radius of curvature is curvature. Specifically, a part or the whole of the housing or the main surface of the power storage device 7104 is changed in the range of radius of curvature from 40 mm to 150 mm inclusive. When the radius of curvature at the main surface of the power storage device 7104 is greater than or equal to 40 mm and less than or equal to 150 mm, the reliability can be kept high.
FIG. 24F illustrates an example of a watch-type portable information terminal. A portable information terminal 7200 includes a housing 7201, a display portion 7202, a band 7203, a buckle 7204, an operation button 7205, an input output terminal 7206, and the like.
The portable information terminal 7200 is capable of executing a variety of applications such as mobile phone calls, e-mailing, viewing and editing texts, music reproduction, Internet communication, and a computer game.
The display surface of the display portion 7202 is curved, and images can be displayed on the curved display surface. In addition, the display portion 7202 includes a touch sensor, and operation can be performed by touching the screen with a finger, a stylus, or the like. For example, by touching an icon 7207 displayed on the display portion 7202, application can be started.
With the operation button 7205, a variety of functions such as time setting, power on/off, on/off of wireless communication, setting and cancellation of a silent mode, and setting and cancellation of a power saving mode can be performed. For example, the functions of the operation button 7205 can be set freely by setting the operation system incorporated in the portable information terminal 7200.
The portable information terminal 7200 can employ near field communication that is a communication method based on an existing communication standard. In that case, for example, mutual communication between the portable information terminal 7200 and a headset capable of wireless communication can be performed, and thus hands-free calling is possible.
Moreover, the portable information terminal 7200 includes the input output terminal 7206, and data can be directly transmitted to and received from another information terminal via a connector. In addition, charging via the input output terminal 7206 is possible. Note that the charging operation may be performed by wireless power feeding without using the input output terminal 7206.
The display portion 7202 of the portable information terminal 7200 is provided with a power storage device including the electrode of one embodiment of the present invention. For example, the power storage device 7104 illustrated in FIG. 24E that is in the state of being curved can be provided in the housing 7201. Alternatively, the power storage device 7104 illustrated in FIG. 24E can be provided in the band 7203 such that it can be curved.
A portable information terminal 7200 preferably includes a sensor. As the sensor, for example a human body sensor such as a fingerprint sensor, a pulse sensor, or a temperature sensor, a touch sensor, a pressure sensitive sensor, an acceleration sensor, or the like is preferably mounted.
FIG. 24G illustrates an example of an armband display device. A display device 7300 includes a display portion 7304 and the power storage device of one embodiment of the present invention. The display device 7300 can include a touch sensor in the display portion 7304 and can serve as a portable information terminal.
The display surface of the display portion 7304 is bent, and images can be displayed on the bent display surface. A display state of the display device 7300 can be changed by, for example, near field communication, which is a communication method based on an existing communication standard.
The display device 7300 includes an input output terminal, and data can be directly transmitted to and received from another information terminal via a connector. In addition, charging via the input output terminal is possible. Note that the charging operation may be performed by wireless power feeding without using the input output terminal.
This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with any of the other embodiments.
Embodiment 4
In this embodiment, examples of electronic devices that can include power storage devices will be described.
FIGS. 25A and 25B illustrate an example of a tablet terminal that can be folded in half A tablet terminal 9600 illustrated in FIGS. 25A and 25B includes a housing 9630 a, a housing 9630 b, a movable portion 9640 connecting the housings 9630 a and 9630 b, a display portion 9631 including a display portion 9631 a and a display portion 9631 b, a display mode changing switch 9626, a power switch 9627, a power saving mode changing switch 9625, a fastener 9629, and an operation switch 9628. FIG. 25A illustrates the tablet terminal 9600 that is opened, and FIG. 25B illustrates the tablet terminal 9600 that is closed.
The tablet terminal 9600 includes a power storage unit 9635 inside the housings 9630 a and 9630 b. The power storage unit 9635 is provided across the housings 9630 a and 9630 b, passing through the movable portion 9640.
Part of the display portion 9631 a can be a touch panel region 9632 a, and data can be input by touching operation keys 9638 that are displayed. Note that FIG. 25A shows, as an example, that half of the area of the display portion 9631 a has only a display function and the other half of the area has a touch panel function. However, the structure of the display portion 9631 a is not limited to this, and all the area of the display portion 9631 a may have a touch panel function. For example, all the area of the display portion 9631 a can display a keyboard and serve as a touch panel while the display portion 9631 b can be used as a display screen.
As in the display portion 9631 a, part of the display portion 9631 b can be a touch panel region 9632 b. When a keyboard display switching button 9639 displayed on the touch panel is touched with a finger, a stylus, or the like, a keyboard can be displayed on the display portion 9631 b.
Touch input can be performed in the touch panel region 9632 a and the touch panel region 9632 b at the same time.
The display mode changing switch 9626 allows switching between a landscape mode and a portrait mode, color display and black-and-white display, and the like. The power saving mode changing switch 9625 can control display luminance in accordance with the amount of external light in use of the tablet terminal 9600, which is measured with an optical sensor incorporated in the tablet terminal 9600. In addition to the optical sensor, other detecting devices such as sensors for determining inclination, such as a gyroscope or an acceleration sensor, may be incorporated in the tablet terminal.
Although the display portion 9631 a and the display portion 9631 b have the same area in FIG. 25A, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this example. The display portion 9631 a and the display portion 9631 b may have different areas or different display quality. For example, one of the display portions 9631 a and 9631 b may display higher definition images than the other.
The tablet terminal is closed in FIG. 25B. The tablet terminal includes the housing 9630, a solar cell 9633, and a charge and discharge control circuit 9634 including a DCDC converter 9636. The power storage unit of one embodiment of the present invention is used as the power storage unit 9635.
The tablet terminal 9600 can be folded such that the housings 9630 a and 9630 b overlap with each other when not in use. Thus, the display portions 9631 a and 9631 b can be protected, which increases the durability of the tablet terminal 9600. In addition, the power storage unit 9635 of one embodiment of the present invention has flexibility and can be repeatedly bent without a significant decrease in charge and discharge capacity. Thus, a highly reliable tablet terminal can be provided.
The tablet terminal illustrated in FIGS. 25A and 25B can also have a function of displaying various kinds of data (e.g., a still image, a moving image, and a text image), a function of displaying a calendar, a date, or the time on the display portion, a touch-input function of operating or editing data displayed on the display portion by touch input, a function of controlling processing by various kinds of software (programs), and the like.
The solar cell 9633, which is attached on the surface of the tablet terminal, supplies electric power to a touch panel, a display portion, an image signal processing portion, and the like. Note that the solar cell 9633 can be provided on one or both surfaces of the housing 9630 and the power storage unit 9635 can be charged efficiently. The use of a lithium-ion storage battery as the power storage unit 9635 brings an advantage such as reduction in size.
The structure and operation of the charge and discharge control circuit 9634 illustrated in FIG. 25B will be described with reference to a block diagram in FIG. 25C. The solar cell 9633, the power storage unit 9635, the DCDC converter 9636, a converter 9637, switches SW1 to SW3, and the display portion 9631 are illustrated in FIG. 25C, and the power storage unit 9635, the DCDC converter 9636, the converter 9637, and the switches SW1 to SW3 correspond to the charge and discharge control circuit 9634 in FIG. 25B.
First, an example of operation when electric power is generated by the solar cell 9633 using external light will be described. The voltage of electric power generated by the solar cell is raised or lowered by the DCDC converter 9636 to a voltage for charging the power storage unit 9635. When the display portion 9631 is operated with the electric power from the solar cell 9633, the switch SW1 is turned on and the voltage of the electric power is raised or lowered by the converter 9637 to a voltage needed for operating the display portion 9631. When display on the display portion 9631 is not performed, the switch SW1 is turned off and the switch SW2 is turned on, so that the power storage unit 9635 can be charged.
Note that the solar cell 9633 is described as an example of a power generation means; however, one embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this example. The power storage unit 9635 may be charged using another power generation means such as a piezoelectric element or a thermoelectric conversion element (Peltier element). For example, the power storage unit 9635 may be charged with a non-contact power transmission module capable of performing charging by transmitting and receiving electric power wirelessly (without contact), or any of the other charge means used in combination.
FIG. 26 illustrates other examples of electronic devices. In FIG. 26, a display device 8000 is an example of an electronic device including a power storage device 8004 of one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the display device 8000 corresponds to a display device for TV broadcast reception and includes a housing 8001, a display portion 8002, speaker portions 8003, and the power storage device 8004. The power storage device 8004 of one embodiment of the present invention is provided in the housing 8001. The display device 8000 can receive electric power from a commercial power supply. Alternatively, the display device 8000 can use electric power stored in the power storage device 8004. Thus, the display device 8000 can be operated with the use of the power storage device 8004 of one embodiment of the present invention as an uninterruptible power supply even when electric power cannot be supplied from a commercial power supply due to power failure or the like.
A semiconductor display device such as a liquid crystal display device, a light-emitting device in which a light-emitting element such as an organic EL element is provided in each pixel, an electrophoresis display device, a digital micromirror device (DMD), a plasma display panel (PDP), or a field emission display (FED) can be used for the display portion 8002.
Note that the display device includes, in its category, all of information display devices for personal computers, advertisement displays, and the like besides TV broadcast reception.
In FIG. 26, an installation lighting device 8100 is an example of an electronic device including a power storage device 8103 of one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the lighting device 8100 includes a housing 8101, a light source 8102, and the power storage device 8103. Although FIG. 26 illustrates the case where the power storage device 8103 is provided in a ceiling 8104 on which the housing 8101 and the light source 8102 are installed, the power storage device 8103 may be provided in the housing 8101. The lighting device 8100 can receive electric power from a commercial power supply. Alternatively, the lighting device 8100 can use electric power stored in the power storage device 8103. Thus, the lighting device 8100 can be operated with the use of power storage device 8103 of one embodiment of the present invention as an uninterruptible power supply even when electric power cannot be supplied from a commercial power supply due to power failure or the like.
Note that although the installation lighting device 8100 provided in the ceiling 8104 is illustrated in FIG. 26 as an example, the power storage device of one embodiment of the present invention can be used in an installation lighting device provided in, for example, a wall 8105, a floor 8106, a window 8107, or the like other than the ceiling 8104. Alternatively, the power storage device of one embodiment of the present invention can be used in a tabletop lighting device or the like.
As the light source 8102, an artificial light source which emits light artificially by using electric power can be used. Specifically, an incandescent lamp, a discharge lamp such as a fluorescent lamp, and light-emitting elements such as an LED and an organic EL element are given as examples of the artificial light source.
In FIG. 26, an air conditioner including an indoor unit 8200 and an outdoor unit 8204 is an example of an electronic device including a power storage device 8203 of one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the indoor unit 8200 includes a housing 8201, an air outlet 8202, and the power storage device 8203. Although FIG. 26 illustrates the case where the power storage device 8203 is provided in the indoor unit 8200, the power storage device 8203 may be provided in the outdoor unit 8204. Alternatively, the power storage devices 8203 may be provided in both the indoor unit 8200 and the outdoor unit 8204. The air conditioner can receive electric power from a commercial power supply. Alternatively, the air conditioner can use electric power stored in the power storage device 8203. Particularly in the case where the power storage devices 8203 are provided in both the indoor unit 8200 and the outdoor unit 8204, the air conditioner can be operated with the use of the power storage device 8203 of one embodiment of the present invention as an uninterruptible power supply even when electric power cannot be supplied from a commercial power supply due to power failure or the like.
Note that although the split-type air conditioner including the indoor unit and the outdoor unit is illustrated in FIG. 26 as an example, the power storage device of one embodiment of the present invention can be used in an air conditioner in which the functions of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit are integrated in one housing.
In FIG. 26, an electric refrigerator-freezer 8300 is an example of an electronic device including a power storage device 8304 of one embodiment of the present invention. Specifically, the electric refrigerator-freezer 8300 includes a housing 8301, a door for a refrigerator 8302, a door for a freezer 8303, and the power storage device 8304. The power storage device 8304 is provided in the housing 8301 in FIG. 26. The electric refrigerator-freezer 8300 can receive electric power from a commercial power supply. Alternatively, the electric refrigerator-freezer 8300 can use electric power stored in the power storage device 8304. Thus, the electric refrigerator-freezer 8300 can be operated with the use of the power storage device 8304 of one embodiment of the present invention as an uninterruptible power supply even when electric power cannot be supplied from a commercial power supply due to power failure or the like.
Note that among the electronic devices described above, a high-frequency heating apparatus such as a microwave oven and an electronic device such as an electric rice cooker require high power in a short time. The tripping of a breaker of a commercial power supply in use of an electronic device can be prevented by using the power storage device of one embodiment of the present invention as an auxiliary power supply for supplying electric power which cannot be supplied enough by a commercial power supply.
In addition, in a time period when electronic devices are not used, particularly when the proportion of the amount of electric power which is actually used to the total amount of electric power which can be supplied from a commercial power supply source (such a proportion referred to as a usage rate of electric power) is low, electric power can be stored in the power storage device, whereby the usage rate of electric power can be reduced in a time period when the electronic devices are used. For example, in the case of the electric refrigerator-freezer 8300, electric power can be stored in the power storage device 8304 in night time when the temperature is low and the door for a refrigerator 8302 and the door for a freezer 8303 are not often opened or closed. On the other hand, in daytime when the temperature is high and the door for a refrigerator 8302 and the door for a freezer 8303 are frequently opened and closed, the power storage device 8304 is used as an auxiliary power supply; thus, the usage rate of electric power in daytime can be reduced.
This embodiment can be implemented in combination with any of the other embodiments as appropriate.
Embodiment 5
In this embodiment, examples of vehicles using power storage devices will be described.
The use of power storage devices in vehicles enables production of next-generation clean energy vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), electric vehicles (EVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHE Vs).
FIGS. 27A and 27B each illustrate an example of a vehicle using one embodiment of the present invention. An automobile 8400 illustrated in FIG. 27A is an electric vehicle that runs on the power of an electric motor. Alternatively, the automobile 8400 is a hybrid electric vehicle capable of driving appropriately using either an electric motor or an engine. One embodiment of the present invention can provide a high-mileage vehicle. The automobile 8400 includes the power storage device. The power storage device is used not only for driving the electric motor 8406, but also for supplying electric power to a light-emitting device such as a headlight 8401 or a room light (not illustrated).
The power storage device can also supply electric power to a display device of a speedometer, a tachometer, or the like included in the automobile 8400. Furthermore, the power storage device can supply electric power to a semiconductor device included in the automobile 8400, such as a navigation system.
FIG. 27B illustrates an automobile 8500 including the power storage device. The automobile 8500 can be charged when the power storage device is supplied with electric power through external charging equipment by a plug-in system, a contactless power feeding system, or the like. In FIG. 27B, a power storage device 8024 included in the automobile 8500 is charged with the use of a ground-based charging apparatus 8021 through a cable 8022. In charging, a given method such as CHA deMO (registered trademark) or Combined Charging System may be employed as a charging method, the standard of a connector, or the like as appropriate. The ground-based charging apparatus 8021 may be a charging station provided in a commerce facility or a power source in a house. For example, with the use of a plug-in technique, the power storage device 8024 included in the automobile 8500 can be charged by being supplied with electric power from outside. The charging can be performed by converting AC electric power into DC electric power through a converter such as an AC-DC converter.
Furthermore, although not illustrated, the vehicle may include a power receiving device so that it can be charged by being supplied with electric power from an above-ground power transmitting device in a contactless manner. In the case of the contactless power feeding system, by fitting a power transmitting device in a road or an exterior wall, charging can be performed not only when the electric vehicle is stopped but also when driven. In addition, the contactless power feeding system may be utilized to perform transmission and reception of electric power between vehicles. Furthermore, a solar cell may be provided in the exterior of the automobile to charge the power storage device when the automobile stops or moves. To supply electric power in such a contactless manner, an electromagnetic induction method or a magnetic resonance method can be used.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the power storage device can have improved cycle characteristics and reliability. Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the power storage device itself can be made more compact and lightweight as a result of improved characteristics of the power storage device. The compact and lightweight power storage device contributes to a reduction in the weight of a vehicle, and thus increases the driving distance. Furthermore, the power storage device included in the vehicle can be used as a power source for supplying electric power to products other than the vehicle. In such a case, the use of a commercial power source can be avoided at peak time of electric power demand.
This embodiment can be implemented in appropriate combination with any of the other embodiments.
EXAMPLE
In this example, the negative electrode of one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 3.
Slurry used to be applied to form the electrode was formed according to Steps S101 to S105 in FIG. 3.
In Step S101 in FIG. 3, a p-type silicon wafer with a plane orientation (100) was ground to form silicon particles used as the negative electrode active materials 121. Conditions for grinding in ball mill treatment are as follows: putting 4 g of silicon powder, balls with a diameter of 3 mm, and acetone in a container; 400 rpm; and 5 hours. Furthermore, a sieve with a hole diameter of 75 μm was used.
In Step S102 in FIG. 3, the surfaces of the silicon particles were oxidized to form silicon oxide films. Heat treatment was performed at 900° C. in an air atmosphere for 1.5 hours.
FIG. 28 is a cross-sectional SEM image of the silicon particles formed in Step S102 in the above-described manner. The cross-sectional SEM image of FIG. 28 shows that the silicon oxide films 126 are formed on the surfaces of the silicon particles. The silicon particles with a small diameter were subjected to heat treatment to be entirely the silicon oxide films 126.
In Step S103 in FIG. 3, graphene compounds and a binder were added to the silicon particles formed in Step S102. Here, graphene oxide flakes were used as the graphene compounds. The silicon particles, graphene oxide flakes, a precursor of polyimide were mixed at a weight ratio of 60:20:20 (weight %). Specifically, 1.0 g of silicon particles, 0.33 g of graphene oxide flakes, 2.4 g of a precursor of polyimide were mixed. Note that 13.7% of the precursor of polyimide was imidized through a heating step to be polyimide. That is, the weight of the precursor imidized to be polyimide was 0.33 g (2.4 g×0.137).
The mixing was performed as follows. A mixed solution containing graphene oxide flakes, a precursor of polyimide, and 6.0 ml of NMP (dispersion medium) was formed. A proper amount of the mixed solution (here, 0.6 ml) was mixed with the silicon particles, and kneading and volatilizing the dispersion medium were performed. The mixing, kneading, and volatilizing of the dispersion medium were repeated a plurality of times until the mixed solution did not remain. Note that the kneading was performed for 40 minutes, and the dispersion medium was volatilized at 110° C. for 10 hours.
In Step S104, the silicon oxide films formed on the surfaces of the silicon particles were removed by etching treatment. The etching treatment was performed using a mixed solution containing 7.13% ammonium hydrogen fluoride (NH₄HF₂) and 15.4% ammonium fluoride (NH₄F) (product name: LAL500, produced by Stella Chem ifa Corporation). The mixed solution was dripped to the silicon particles, they were left for 5 minutes, and washing with pure water was performed more than once. Note that vacuum drying in Step S104 was performed at 110° C. for 10 hours. Heat treatment was performed in a vacuum furnace at 400° C. for 1 hour. By the heat treatment, the graphene oxide flakes added in Step S103 was thermally reduced to be graphene flakes and the precursor of polyimide was imidized to be polyimide.
FIG. 29 is a cross-sectional SEM image of the mixture formed in Step S104 in the above-described manner. The cross-sectional SEM image of FIG. 29 shows that the silicon particles, which serve as the negative electrode active materials 121, the spaces 124 provided on the periphery of the silicon particles are surrounded by the mixture of graphene flakes 127 and polyimide 128 and the space 125 is surrounded by the graphene flakes 127 and the polyimide 128 in a region without the silicon particles. Here, the graphene flake 127 has a thickness of approximately 100 nm and thus is presumed to be a plurality of reduced graphene oxide layers.
In Step S105, a precursor of polyimide and the mixture formed in Step S104 were mixed to form slurry. The mixture and the precursor of polyimide were mixed at a ratio of 85:15 (weight %). Specifically, 0.256 g of the mixture, 0.3504 g of the precursor of polyimide were mixed, 1.21 g of NMP (dispersion medium) was added to the resulting mixture, and kneading was performed for 40 minutes.
According to Steps S106 to S108 in FIG. 3, the slurry was applied to a negative electrode current collector, the dispersion medium was volatilized, and heat treatment was performed, so that a negative electrode was formed.
In Step S106, the slurry was applied to the negative electrode current collector and the dispersion medium was volatilized. As the negative electrode current collector, copper with a thickness of 18 μm was used. As the applying method, a blade method was employed. Note that the blade having a gap of 100 μm with respect to a surface of the current collector was used. Note that the volatilization of the dispersion medium was performed with a circulation dryer at 80° C. for 2 hours.
In Step S107, heat treatment was performed in a vacuum furnace at 400° C. for 1 hour.
FIG. 30 shows the cycle performance of a lithium-ion storage battery using the negative electrode formed in the above manner. A half cell was formed and the cycle performance thereof was measured. For the measurement of the cycle performance of the half cell, metal lithium was used as a positive electrode. A coin-type half cell CR2032 (diameter: 20 mm, height: 3.2 mm) was formed as the half cell. The charge and discharge rate is 1 C.
An electrolytic solution was formed by dissolving lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆) at a concentration of 1 mol/L in a mixed solution in which ethylene carbonate (EC) and diethyl carbonate (DEC) were mixed at a volume ratio of 3:7. As a separator, polypropylene was used.
In FIG. 30, the vertical axis represents capacity (mAh/g) and the horizontal axis represents the number of cycles. In this measurement, charge and discharge were performed 200 cycles. The solid curve is a charge curve, and the dotted curve is a discharge curve.
Reference Example 1
In a negative electrode active material layer in a negative electrode of this reference example, silicon particles formed by grinding a silicon wafer were used as negative electrode active materials, but spaces provided on the periphery of the silicon particles in one embodiment of the present invention were not provided.
The negative electrode active materials in the negative electrode of the reference example were formed through the steps except Steps S102 and S104 in FIG. 3 described in the above example. Specifically, the negative electrode active materials were formed through the steps except Step S102, in which heat treatment is performed on silicon particles so that silicon oxide films are formed on the surfaces of the silicon particles, and Step S104, in which the silicon oxide films are removed.
FIG. 31 shows the cycle performance of the lithium-ion storage battery using the negative electrode formed in the above manner. A half cell was formed and the cycle performance thereof was measured. For the measurement of the cycle performance of the half cell, metal lithium was used as a positive electrode. A coin-type half cell CR2032 (diameter: 20 mm, height: 3.2 mm) was formed as the half cell. The charge and discharge rate is 1 C.
An electrolytic solution was formed by dissolving lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆) at a concentration of 1 mol/L in a mixed solution in which ethylene carbonate (EC) and diethyl carbonate (DEC) were mixed at a volume ratio of 3:7. As a separator, polypropylene was used.
In FIG. 31, the vertical axis represents capacity (mAh/g) and the horizontal axis represents the number of cycles. In this measurement, charge and discharge were performed 39 cycles. The solid curve is a charge curve, and the dotted curve is a discharge curve.
Concerning the cycle performance of the negative electrode of the reference example, when the cycle number exceeds 10, the capacity rapidly decreases, and before the cycle number reaches 20, the capacity is not able to hold, as shown in FIG. 31. The reason for the rapid decrease in capacity in this reference example is as follows: stress due to an increase and a decrease in the volume of the silicon particles accompanying charge and discharge cycles reduces a region in which the negative electrode current collector and the silicon particle are in contact with each other and a region in which the active materials are in contact with each other, so that a conductive path in the negative electrode is lost, resulting in deterioration of the battery characteristics.
In contrast, concerning the cycle performance of the negative electrode formed according to one embodiment of the present invention, the capacity gently decreases as the cycle number increases, but the capacity holds even when the cycle number reaches 200, as shown in FIG. 30. This is because the spaces on the periphery of the silicon particles or the spaces distributed in the negative electrode active material layer relieved stress due to repeated increases and decreases in the volume of the silicon particles. This maintained a conductive path in the negative electrode, preventing a decrease in capacity accompanying charge and discharge cycles.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application serial no, 2015-142050 filed with Japan Patent Office on Jul. 16, 2015, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
What is claimed is:
1. A power storage device comprising: a negative electrode, the negative electrode comprising a current collector; and an active material layer, wherein the active material layer comprises: active material particles, a graphene compound; and a binder, and wherein a plurality of spaces is present between one of the active material particles and the graphene compound.
2. A power storage device comprising: a negative electrode, the negative electrode comprising a current collector; and an active material layer, wherein the active material layer comprises: active material particles, a graphene compound; and a binder, and wherein a space is present between one of the active material particles and the graphene compound.
3. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound is in contact with a plurality of the active material particles.
4. The power storage device according to claim 2, wherein the graphene compound is in contact with a plurality of the active material particles.
5. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound surrounds another one of the active material particles.
6. The power storage device according to claim 2, wherein the graphene compound surrounds another one of the active material particles.
7. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein plurality of spaces is 3 or more.
8. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound extends in a first direction, and wherein the graphene compound extends in a second direction intersecting the first direction.
9. The power storage device according to claim 2, wherein the graphene compound extends in a first direction, and wherein the graphene compound extends in a second direction intersecting the first direction.
10. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound is in contact with a first side surface of another one of the active material particles, and wherein the graphene compound is in contact with a second side surface of the other one of the active material particles.
11. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound includes 2 or more and 100 or less reduced graphene oxide layers, wherein a distance between the reduced graphene oxide layers is greater than or equal to 0.335 nm and less than or equal to 0.7 nm, wherein the active material particles comprise silicon, and wherein a contact area of the graphene compound with a first space is larger than a contact area of the graphene compound with a first active material particle.
12. The power storage device according to claim 1, wherein the graphene compound includes 2 or more and 100 or less reduced graphene oxide layers, wherein a distance between the reduced graphene oxide layers is greater than or equal to 0.335 nm and less than or equal to 0.7 nm, wherein the active material particles comprise silicon, wherein a contact area of the graphene compound with a first space is larger than a contact area of the graphene compound with a first active material particle, and wherein an average diameter of the active material particles is greater than or equal to 0.5 μm and less than or equal to 1.5 μm.
13. A method for manufacturing a negative electrode, the method comprising the steps of: forming silicon particles; mixing a graphene compound, a binder, and the silicon particles; performing an etching treatment; and forming a slurry, wherein spaces are formed by the etching treatment.
14. A method for manufacturing a negative electrode, the method comprising the steps of: forming silicon particles; performing a heat treatment on the silicon particles to form silicon oxide films on surfaces of the silicon particles; mixing a graphene compound, a binder, and the silicon particles; performing an etching treatment; and forming a slurry, wherein the silicon oxide film on the surfaces of the silicon particles is removed by the etching treatment, and wherein a region of the silicon oxide film removed by the etching treatment forms a space.
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Determinants of Fixed Asset Investment in the Polish Farms
: The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting the level of investment activity of agricultural producers in Poland. Detailed studies included 4309 farms that kept accounts within the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) accounting system in the years 2010–2018. The study uses Person’s linear correlation method, the multiple correlation method, and regression analysis. For the regression analysis, both static and dynamic models were applied. The level of expenditure on agricultural investment varied in the surveyed households and showed an upward trend during the years 2010–2018. Studies have shown that the investment activity of Polish farms largely depends on the possibility of raising funds from European Union programs dedicated, inter alia, to the development of agricultural holdings. The regression analysis demonstrated that the principal factors affecting the level of agricultural investment include: the amount of long-term liabilities, the family income of the farm, and the amount of investment subsidies. Preferential loans are an important parameter in a dynamic investment model. This study suggests that agricultural policy factors should be taken into account to ensure the appropriate development of Polish farms.
Introduction
In a market economy and in the agricultural sector, the functioning of enterprises is associated with the continuous improvement of competitiveness, as well as the improvement of production efficiency. Meeting the requirements, which is an implication of the ongoing changes, requires taking actions that ensure the development of firms in the long term. These actions are based on investments in fixed assets. Equipping farms with production assets has a significant impact on their economic situation, and the structure of production assets determines their production capacity. It is also important to adapt farm equipment to the current directions of production.
The rationale for enlarging the resources of machinery and equipment is the existence of potentially cost-effective options to increase production and reduce costs by choosing more capital-intensive production methods [1]. Investments form an integral part of the process of both simple and extended reproduction, and they ensure the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in the practice of agricultural holdings.
According to J. Mikolajczyk, investment is needed to reproduce and develop production capacity and improve the profitability and competitiveness of Polish agriculture [2]. Productive investment decides the development opportunities of farms. It indicates the expansion of fixed asset inventory or an increase in its quality, which contribute to the growth of the farm's potential in the future. Improving technical working materials, as well as the introduction of modern machinery and equipment in agricultural production, results in increased productivity in both crop and livestock production. With the spread of the sustainable paradigm in agriculture, the nature of investments will change, from those 2 of 13 aimed strictly at increasing productivity to pro-environmental investments, which at the same time will also translate into an increase in the farm efficiency (e.g., investments in biogas plants or renewable energy).
Investment projects are mainly substitutes for human labor. This is due to changes in the cost factors of production, among which the labor costs are the most dynamic [3]. This has consequences for the economy and organization of farms, consisting of the preference for labor-saving, but also capital-intensive techniques and technologies [4]. The increasing use of capital-intensive technologies contributes to the growth of agricultural production by promoting the substitution of both land and labor inputs with capital. According to K. Zielinski, limited demand for raw materials of agricultural origin should lead to the lower employment of both labor and land resources [5]. This is stressed in the official publications of the EU administration. Investments in buildings, machinery, and equipment, are considered to be the main factors of productivity growth and therefore are effective substitutes for labor [6].
Investments in infrastructure are often seen as a solution to the problems of unemployment and depopulation of rural areas, and are also considered as a way of stimulating the economic situation [7]. In contrast, no investment activities may lead to divestment processes that involve the reduction of production resources or the restriction of the number (or range) of operations [8].
Agricultural investment should be also considered in a broader sense, pertaining to the whole sector. According to A. Kowalski, the objectives of the investment measures that are implemented in agricultural holdings should be in line with the adopted directions of structural changes in agriculture [9]. They involve, among others, the provision of adequate size and structure of food production, the improvement of living and working conditions of rural population, and environmental protection. The last of these issues matters with regard to the growing importance of sustainable agriculture. This concept strongly accentuates the model of agricultural production that is goal-oriented in terms of both production and the implementation of environmental and social objectives.
Management of investment activities on farms is associated with incurring greater or lesser financial expenses. The selection of appropriate sources of financing the investment is the key element influencing the investment cost, and thus its profitability in the long term. The basic source of financing investments in the agricultural sector is self-financing [10]. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector has little capacity to accumulate capital [11], so there is a need for external support for investment activities. Poland's accession to the EU has resulted in increased investment activity in farms. This is mainly due to the necessity to adapt them to EU requirements in the fields of production hygiene, environmental protection, animal welfare, and food safety. For the implementation of investments in this area, agricultural producers have received financial support from EU funds under various programs [12]. Subsidies from the funds allocated to the common agricultural policy of the European Union and the growing demand for Polish agri-food products in the single European market are the main reasons for the change in farmers' approach to investment.
Given the importance of investment in agricultural holdings and agriculture in general, the aim of the study is to determine the factors differentiating the level of investment activity of agricultural producers in Poland. This research investigates the hypothesis that of the many factors affecting the level of farm investment, the most important one is the availability of loans, particularly those granted on preferential terms for farmers.
Factors Influencing Farmers' Investment Decisions-Literature Review
The reference books describe many models taking into account the investment behavior of business entities, from those preceding neo-classical models (e.g., the accelerator model or the cash flow model) to modern concepts incorporating irreversibility and uncertainty (real options).
In the accelerator model, one of the main factors influencing investment is consumption. The first economist who drew attention to the importance of consumer demand in the creation of investment demand was T. N. Carver [13]. However, it was mainly J. M. Clark who popularized the model [14] and introduced "the principle of acceleration" to economics. This principle holds that relatively small changes in demand for consumer goods cause major changes in the level of investment. Hence, what matters for the dynamics of investment is the situation in the economy and the real disposable income of households, which determines consumer demand, whereas the measure of changes in consumer demand, which is important for agriculture (including the dynamics of investment in the sector), are changes in the consumption of food and other groceries.
According to the of cash flow theory, the level of investment depends primarily on cash flows, i.e., the possibility of financing investment from the investor's own resources [15,16]. Enterprises that have high financial constraints are characterized by greater sensitivity of investment to cash flows. The neoclassical theory of investment formulated by Jorgenson assumes that investment decisions depend on the cost of capital [17]. Additional capital units are bought to the point at which the marginal benefit of capital is equal to the marginal cost of capital, which is the price of the rent. In contrast to the accelerator model, the Jorgenson model assumes that investment is a function of the rental price of capital. In line with the information asymmetry theory, J. Stiglitz and A. Weiss found that the price of credit is not necessarily at the market equilibrium level, which is usually determined by the law of supply and demand under perfect information conditions [18]. Financial markets are characterized by imperfect information, which leads to credit rationing (this restricts the availability of credit), and this leads in turn to a reduction in investment activity. B. Greenwald, J. Stiglitz, and A. Weiss found that in the conditions of credit rationing, it is the availability of capital and not its cost that is of major importance for investment decisions [19]. In turn, the 'real options' method involves changing the method of assessing the effectiveness of investment. It suggests to look at the investment project not as a string of time-ordered cash flows, but as a set of real options. This approach allows the assessment of tangible investments through the prism of their flexibility and the value that they carry in themselves [20]. Various theories or models of investment behavior generally relate to one or more determinants, and they are therefore most commonly considered as complementing one another.
Basically, the investment decisions made by farmers result from the impact of both exogenous and endogenous factors. The exogenous factors may include factors related to the demand for the given products, the expected and current level of prices for agricultural products, supply conditions and in particular the level of incurred costs, the availability of production factors and their prices, the current economic conditions and those anticipated by farmers, systemic (financial, economic, institutional) solutions; economic, fiscal, monetary, and especially agricultural policy; the inflation rate and interest rates on the capital acquisition cost, the degree of openness of the economy to international connections, regulations, requirements on environmental protection, and others [21][22][23].
Endogenous factors result from the productive potential of agriculture (land, labor, and capital resources), the degree of fixed asset depreciation, the level of modernity of production techniques, the level of knowledge of farm managers and their age, the economic and financial situation of holdings, and, in particular, the level of generated agricultural income [21,[24][25][26]. Both external and internal factors have an impact on farmers' decisions to implement or abandon projects.
Among the determinants of farmers' investment behavior identified in the literature on the subject, the following should be mentioned: the phase of the business cycle (boom/bust in agriculture) [22,27]; -factors related to the macroeconomic and political environment [28]; -features of investment projects (including start time, duration, source of financing); -characteristics of commodity markets as well as factor markets (e.g., credit market); -features of a family farm [29,30]; -the attitude of the agricultural producer. The scale of an investment activity thus depends on many determinants related to the undertaking and its socio-economic environment. E. Ostrowska conducted an analysis of these factors in terms of macroeconomics and microeconomics [31]. The first group included: economic situation and state policy, technological development, and geographic and socio-demographic conditions. The mesoeconomic factors included the situation in the sector and the competitive environment of the undertaking. The microeconomic determinants involved the type of manufacturing and marketing factors, as well as capital (financial) resources and human resources.
According to A. Woś, the driving force behind investment is the projected income earned from the realized investments [32]. It is the farm's income that determines the level of investment, which is turned into new technologies, thereby providing multiplication of income, and this in turn gives rise to new investments. The importance of agricultural income as a driving force for the development and expansion of agricultural holdings was also indicated in the studies of D. Kusz, S. Gędek, and M. Ruda [33]. In turn, G. Thijssen pointed out that agricultural investments are very sensitive to changes in prices, costs of capital, and production technology [23]. The pricing policy is therefore a useful tool for influencing the investment behavior of farmers. This is due to the fact that changes in these factors affect the level of agricultural income. Due to various theories regarding the factors that determine investments in farms, this research was conducted in this area.
Materials and Methods
The study was based on both secondary research using previous literature, and on the data collected in the framework of the Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network. This system includes representative samples of farms producing 93.03% of the standard output (SO) of all classified holdings in Poland. The minimum threshold for the Farm Accountancy Data Network field of observation is an SO of 4000 euros, which means that there are developmental units that will affect the shape of Polish agriculture in the future. Hence, the resulting conclusions can be generalized.
Detailed datasets included 4308 holdings that consistently kept accounts within the Farm Accountancy Data Network in the years 2010-2018. Due to changes in the value of investment goods over time, the level of investment in the surveyed households was discounted by the price deflator of investment goods in individual holdings published by the Central Statistical Office in Poland.
To identify the determinants of the level of investment, this study uses Person's linear correlation method, the multiple correlation method, and a regression analysis. The Pearson's linear correlation coefficient is a symmetric measure, i.e., it measures the strength of dependency of the characteristic y on the characteristic x and vice versa, of the characteristic x on y (hence r XY = r YX ) [34]. It is expressed by Formula (1). the regression relative to the characteristics x 1 , x 2 , . . . , x n [35]. The multiple correlation coefficient is calculated according to the Formula (2). where: det (R)-determinant of the matrix of Pearson's linear correlation coefficients; -det (R yy )-determinant of sub matrixes resulting from plotting the y-th row and y-th column from matrix R.
The study also used multiple regression analysis. Two regression models were applied that use investments at two different levels: static, in order to determine the factors that differentiate the level of investment outlays in agricultural holdings, -dynamic, in order to determine the impact of given factors that impacted changes in the amount of investment outlays in farms over the analyzed period.
To estimate the models, a backward stepwise regression approach was used. Firstly, the study evaluated the significance of individual parameters of the model and its goodness of fit. In static and dynamic terms, the value of investment outlays in a farm (y), which includes the value of purchased and manufactured fixed assets, was adopted as the variable explained for the models. As a response variable in the static and dynamic models, the study adopted the value of investment in a farm, which includes the value of purchased and manufactured fixed assets. Then, based on the previous literature review, a set of factors was distinguished that could significantly affect the value of investment outlay. Out of many variables, the study took into account only those variables that have a substantial impact on the investment outlays. The endogenous factors that were considered in the analysis, most often included: the potential of a business entity, expressed in land [3], labor, and capital resources [36,37] or in its economic strength, and also other production factors such as, for example, technical equipment of holdings [38]. -the financial situation and the level of income [39,40], which determine the possibilities for internal and external financing [15,16].
Investment decisions of farmers are also affected by a number of exogenous factors. These include, among others, the accessibility of funds from the Common Agricultural Policy after Polish accession to the European Union [41,42], the supply of preferential loans, and commercial interest rates [43]. The variables used in this study are measured at the farm level and are taken from the Farm Accountancy Data Network.
To implement the model and identify the factors differentiating the level of investment in the surveyed holdings, the authors adopted the following set of variables: x 5 -total debt ratio [total liabilities/assets]; x 6 -share of costs in production value; x 7 -profitability ratio [income/production value]; x 8 -value of investment subsidies; x 9 -long-term liabilities; x 10 -income from a family farm; x 11 -return on fixed assets (income/value of fixed assets); x 12 -utilized agricultural area; x 13 -value of farm assets (fixed assets).
This research selected only those variables whose impact on the level of investment outlays can be substantively justified. The selected variables were also characterized by a sufficiently large range of variability. Then Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated between the explanatory variables to eliminate variables that were correlated with each other.
For the construction of regression models, the "backward" stepwise elimination method was used, which means that variables for which the F-Snedecor test value is lower than the threshold value were removed from the model in subsequent steps. The procedure was repeated until the best model describing the dependent variable was obtained. Student's t-statistics were used to evaluate the significance of the model parameters. The econometric models were estimated using both MS Excel and Statistica software.
Results
The research covered 4308 farms that throughout the period of the study (2010-2018) kept accounting under the FADN. As a result of structural changes, macroeconomic factors, and investments made, the characteristics of farms were being transformed. The general characteristics of the surveyed entities in the base year, i.e., 2010, are presented in Table 1. The farms were divided into three quartile groups.
The average economic size of the researched farms was 46.4 thousand euros SO (Standard Output). The share of plant and animal production in the total production value was similar and amounted on average to 43.7%. The average farm in the research generated income at the level of PLN 49.3 thousand, while the share of subsidies to operating activities in income was 37% (Table 1). The most significant item in the structure of agricultural investment after 2010 was machinery and equipment, which accounted for 25-35% (depending on the year) of the total value of investment outlays ( Table 2). These investments related mainly to fixed assets used the crop production. Such investments are characterized by greater flexibility, and a high degree of reversibility in relation to investment in buildings and structures. Hence, there is a lower risk of loss due to bad investment decisions. Their value is strongly correlated with the value of purchased The most significant item in the structure of agricultural investment after 2010 was machinery and equipment, which accounted for 25-35% (depending on the year) of the total value of investment outlays ( Table 2). These investments related mainly to fixed assets used the crop production. Such investments are characterized by greater flexibility, and a high degree of reversibility in relation to investment in buildings and structures. Hence, there is a lower risk of loss due to bad investment decisions. Their value is strongly correlated with the value of purchased tractors, which forced the adjustment of the rest of the machine park equipment in terms of increasing tractive force. Purchases of agricultural machines were facilitated by aid programs implemented in the framework of the European Union funding. Within the framework of Rural Development Program measures "Modernization of agricultural hold- In order to determine what household features are related to the value of investment, the authors carried out a statistical analysis, which consisted of examining the significance of individual parameters with respect to the response variable that is the value of the investment outlays (y). Pearson's linear correlation coefficients and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the relationship between the variables. The analysis of factors affecting the investment variation in holdings revealed what parameters affect agricultural investments and with what force. It also allowed the determination of which holdings invest more than others and what parameters they have. The correlation coefficients between the explanatory variables and the investment outlays (y), and between each of the variables, are presented in Table 3. The highest level of correlation with the response variable (investment outlays) was given by: long-term liabilities (80%), the value of fixed assets (80%), and the income from the family farm (69%). The analysis also showed fairly significant levels of correlation of income (76%) and the long-term liabilities (73%) with the value of household assets. These results indicate a relatively high level of interdependence between these factors.
On the basis of the assessment of the significance levels of each of the parameters, using both a multiple regression analysis and a backward stepwise regression method, and having removed the interdependent (multicollinear) variables from the analysis, the following model was estimated: y = 35.5 × x 8 + 2.56 × x 9 + 1.96 × x 10 -11,499 (t = 34.5, p = 0.00) (t = 66.5, p = 0.00) (t = 30.6, p = 0.00) R 2 = 77.7%, multiple R = 88.1%, standard error = 330,379, p = 0.00 The regression model shows that the factors that significantly influenced the level of investment in the surveyed holdings were: the long-term liabilities, the income from the family farm and the obtained subsidies for investment. The estimated model explained about 78% of the sample variation. The resulting parameters were found to be statistically significant, as indicated by the value of the Student's t statistics, because the p value was lower than the adopted significance level (α = 0.05). A high value of the multiple correlation coefficient (88%) confirms a significant effect of all these factors on the volume of investment. Taking into account the fact that investing in agricultural holdings is a complex process that is distributed over time, another econometric model was built for the years 2010-2018. The response variable and the explanatory parameters were measured as the arithmetic means in the considered time period.
The level of investment in global terms was, however, as the research indicates, quite varied in different years. The dynamics of these changes may have been largely affected by macro scale determinants, which are dependent on the farmer to a lesser extent. The first group may include, e.g., the amount of financial assistance for investment or the economic situation of the agricultural markets.
To determine the effect of individual factors on the level of investment during the studied period by using the dynamic approach, the authors used multiple regression analysis. As in the earlier statistical model, the model was estimated with the use of backward stepwise regression. Beside the model construction, the authors also assessed the significance of individual parameters and the model fitting (Table 4). Source: own study based on Farm Accountancy Data Network data.
The set of variables which might have affected the changes in the investment outlays in the years 2010-2018, the correlation coefficients between the explanatory variables, and the response variable (y), measured by the value of investment outlays, are shown in Table 5. The estimation resulted in a model where the response variable was the value of investment outlays and the explanatory variable was the value of preferential loans: y = 2.4 × z 4 + 5233.8 (t = 8.1, p = 0.00) R 2 = 90.4%, multiple R = 95.1%, standard error = 3207.13, p = 0.00 Based on the values specified in dynamic terms, the constructed model explains 90% of the volatility of investment outlays in the examined period. A high value of the multiple correlation coefficient (0.95) points to an important influence of preferential loans on agricultural investment in a given year. The estimated model parameter (preferential loans) was statistically significant, as indicated by Student's t-test, because the p-value was lower than the accepted level of significance (α = 0.05). However, due to a small number of observations (9 years), the presented estimation model should be interpreted with caution, as the volatility of explanatory factors in the following years could significantly affect the shape of the model. The developed model can be interpreted in such a way that an increase in the level of preferential loans in the given year by PLN 1 contributed to an increase in investment outlays in agricultural holdings by PLN 2.4.
On the basis of these results, it can therefore be concluded that increasing lending by means of preferential loans, and supporting investment activities through subsidies of interest were the most appropriate ways to create the conditions for the growth of investment in the agricultural sector. This is all the more significant as the importance of preferential lending is clearly emphasized by agricultural producers. The study conducted by the Food Economy Bank in 2011 on a group of 758 agricultural producers who had benefited from preferential loans shows that the vast majority of them (77%) would not use a commercial loan to finance investments in the absence of a preferential loan. As many as 97% of respondents attributed this to the higher cost of such a loan. Given the scale of negative responses, it can be concluded that a reduction of support in the form of subsidies for agricultural loans would adversely affect the level of investments in agriculture in the country.
The multiple regression analysis showed no statistical relationship between changes in agricultural income and the level of agricultural investment in the years 2010-2018, both in terms of their actual level in the given year and with a back-shift by one year (n − 1). The level of preferential loans (important parameter) in the surveyed households was also dependent on the amount of agricultural income, which has a significant impact on the creditworthiness of agricultural producers. The correlation coefficient between the amount of income without subsidies and preferential loans value was 0.76, which indicates a strong correlation between the examined characteristics. On the one hand, the parameter of preferential loans, as opposed to income, takes into account the aspect of farmers' willingness to take risk, which may be caused by non-economic factors, such as, e.g., the age of the farmer and the related problems of succession, education, health, etc. Therefore, it can be stated that not every farmer who is ready to take a credit will receive it for profitability reasons. On the other hand, not every farmer who could receive such a credit will apply for it for the reasons stated above.
Conclusions
The conducted research does not exhaust the problem of investments in farms, but on its basis, several conclusions can be drawn. In the surveyed households, the level of expenditure on agricultural investment was varied and showed an upward trend in the years 2010-2018. Dynamics of changes in individual years, however, was different due to the developing economic situation in agriculture, and due to changes in access to funds raised for investment. The increase in investment outlays in the years 2017-2018 resulted from the increase of funds allocated for the purchase of agricultural land. Throughout the examined period, the structure of agricultural investment was dominated by machinery and technical equipment, which accounted for 25-35% of the total value of investment outlays. This related mainly to fixed assets used for crop production.
The investment decisions made by farmers are a function of various factors related to the undertaking and its socio-economic environment. They are related to the anticipated benefits at the microeconomic or macroeconomic scales, which result from non-market functions of agriculture. The investment activity of Polish holdings hugely depends on the possibility of raising funds from European Union programs, dedicated, inter alia, to the development of agricultural holdings.
The regression model demonstrated that the principal factors that affect the level of agricultural investment include: the amount of long-term liabilities, the family farm income, and the amount of investment subsidies. In turn, an important parameter in the dynamic investment model proved to be the amount of preferential loans. On this basis, it can be concluded that the research hypothesis formulated in the paper has been positively verified.
The findings of this research suggest that the loans availability, especially of preferential loans, has the largest impact on the level of farm investment. Although the level of agricultural income is significantly related to the amount of preferential loans received, it did not prove to be a significant factor for the volatility of investment in Poland post-2010. Compared to income, preferential loans take into account a wider range of stimuli that influence the amount of investment outlays. These determine, among others, the agricultural producers' willingness to take risks, and they may be related to non-economic factors such as the age of a farmer and problems of succession, education, or health. Appropriate agricultural policy in respect to these factors will enable further development of investment holdings that will be also in line with sustainable development principles. Funding: This paper was funded by The International University of Logistics and Transport in Wroclaw.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement:
The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
|
EITHER of these Ferns, in its normal form, can he regarded as ornamental; and as they have yielded no varieties which can aspire to such distinction, we mention them as briefly as possible. The Adderstongue is well named, the whole plant consisting merely of a single frond with two divisions, the main one of which is barren, and shaped very like a small plantain leaf (see Fig. 24), from the lower part of which springs a fertile, contracted spike, not unlike an adder’s tongue (whence the name), but resembling equally the plantain seed-spike in its early stage; this, on closer scrutiny, will be found to consist of two rows of closely-set, roundish capsules, containing the spores. The plant grows in myriads in some grass lands, but owing to its small size and insignificant appearance may be easily overlooked. The Moonwort is a shade more ambitious in its pretensions to beauty. Like the other, its fronds are solitary, but composed of two portions, barren and fertile. The barren ones, however, are once divided into rounded or moon-shaped pinnae — whence the name — while the fertile spikes are twice divided, each pinna bearing some eight to ten pinnules, composed of clustered spore- capsules only. Habitat, pasture land, like the other.
|
C program ending early
The following program I have written immediately stops after the user enters '1' and does not complete the function kilometer_miles. What have I done wrong?
#include <stdio.h>
void kilometer_mile() {
char inputChar;
double kilometers = 0.0;
double miles = 0.0;
printf("To convert from Kilometers to Miles enter 'K'\n"
"To convert from Miles to Kilometers enter 'M'\n");
scanf("%c", &inputChar);
if(inputChar == 'K') {
printf("Enter kilometers: ");
scanf("%c", &inputChar);
miles = kilometers/1.609;
printf("%lf kilometers is equal to %lf miles", kilometers, miles);
} else if(inputChar == 'M') {
printf("Enter miles: ");
scanf("%c", &inputChar);
kilometers = miles/1.609;
printf("%lf miles is equal to %lf kilometers", miles, kilometers);
}
}
int main() {
int inputValue = 0;
printf("Type 1 to convert from Kilometers to Miles\n"
"Type 2 to convert from Meters to Feet\n"
"Type 3 to convert from Centimetre to Inch\n"
"Type 4 to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit\n"
"Type 5 to quit the program\n");
scanf("%d", &inputValue);
if(inputValue == 1) {
kilometer_mile();
}
return 0;
}
Have you tried adding some debug? if (inputValue == 1) {...}else{printf("inputValue is :%d\n", inputValue);}
The newline left in the inpt buffer in scanf("%d", &inputValue); (in main) is read by scanf("%c", &inputChar); in the function, and so fails your tests, and the function ends without doing anything.
I suggest in scanf("%c", &inputChar); add a space so it is scanf(" %c", &inputChar); which will clean off that waiting newline. Aside: you don't enter any kilometres or miles but copy-pasted the char input!
Among other things, you never assign values to kilometers or miles after they're initialized. The scanf calls that should be reading those values are instead reading values for inputChar.
The problem is you are not reading the '\n' that is also issued when the user presses enter on the first scanf function; so in your kilometer_mile function you are actually reading '\n' on your char which is not in either of the ifs given
|
Board Thread:FN@F Roleplay/@comment-26434802-20141224045021/@comment-24243183-20150109210510
Gamer Guy: I have night vision!! (turns on night vision)
Gwen: HOWD YOU DO THAT
Gamer Guy: Once I swallowed a flashlight
|
**6. Measurement setup and results**
16 UKoLoS
The signal is coupled to the collector load transmission lines of the Colpitts oscillator using a transformer with a center tap. The center tap is connected to the pulsed current source of the
**Figure 15.** 63.8 GHz Colpitts voltage controlled oscillator schematic. *Z*<sup>1</sup> to *Z*<sup>5</sup> denote transmission lines
The simulation of the whole system was not possible. This is due to the fact that the system works in three frequency ranges, which differ by the order of magnitudes: The 5.8 GHz input signal, the 63.8 GHz output signal and the SILO pulse repetition frequency (10 − 100 MHz). Combined with the unknown modeling of switched injection-locking in the EDA software made it more viable to design each component (harmonics generator, VCO, pulse generator)
separately. 16 shows the layout of the SILO circuit with its sub-components.
oscillator.
**Figure 16.** Layout of 63.8 GHz SILO
### **6.1. Verification of sampling theory**
In order to verify the theoretical predictions concerning the switched injection locked harmonic sampling approach according to section 3.3, a demonstrator based on lumped planar components was built (see Fig. 18 and 19). It consists of a 480 MHz, 0 dBm signal source, a 10 MHz DAC modulated phase shifter, a single biased bipolar transistor frequency multiplier, a band pass filter (200 MHz @ 5.8 GHz) and the 5.8 GHz switched injection locked oscillator, which is turned on and off by the digital baseband synchronously to DAC modulation. Fig. 20 depicts the spectrum at the SILO's output. It features the typical sinc shaped peak comb in pulsed mode, which is aligned to and follows the injection frequency of 5.76 GHz when changed. When tuning the oscillators natural frequency (which is according to Fig. (20) different from the injection frequency) using a varactor diode, the sinc shape of the spectrum moves on the frequency axis while the peak positions do not change. These results prove most of the main claims of the generalized sampling theory according to (5) [4].
**Figure 18.** Implementation of communication and radar signal generator [4]
18 UKoLoS 360 Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems <sup>19</sup>
**6.2. Synthesis of communication signals**
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
inphase component (I)
time in us
quadrature component (Q)
<sup>0</sup> 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 <sup>1</sup> 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 <sup>2</sup> −0.3
component, right: IQ diagram [4]
*! "*
**6.3. Synthesis of radar signals**
time in us
−0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
−0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3
sufficient.
*-*
SILO [3]
amplitude in V
amplitude in V
The synthesis of time domain communication signals was demonstrated using an 8 PSK modulation with cyclic transmission of all symbol values and maximum symbol rate, i.e. one symbol per pulse. The output signal of the demonstrator (Fig. 18, 19) was mixed to baseband using a quadrature mixer and displayed using an oscilloscope. Its waveform (Fig. 21) clearly shows the phase states and their repeatability in the IQ diagram. These results prove for the first time that it is feasible to generate UWB signals with more complex phase modulation
Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 361
−0.3 −0.2 −0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
quadrature amplitude in V
**Figure 21.** Generator output with 8 PSK modulation mixed to DC; left: inphase and quadrature
*-*
**Figure 22.** Measurement setup (on-waver) for the synthesis of radar signals using an integrated circuit
According to sections 3.5 and 4.3, the same simple hardware implementation used for communication signal synthesis (Fig. (18), (19)) can be employed to generate pulsed frequency modulated radar signals by repeatedly transmitting a limited list of phase samples. For a pulse rate of 10 MHz and a ramp slope of 20 MHz/*μs*, only 50 phase samples (one per pulse) are
> - - *-*
*-*
-
-
! " #
−0.4 −0.3 −0.2 −0.1 <sup>0</sup> 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 −0.4
inphase amplitude in V
*-*
time domain waveform in IQ plane
than BPSK while at the same time keeping complexity and power consumption low.
**Figure 19.** Hardware components for the 6 GHz transmitter system demonstrator (using lumped planar components SILO implementation)
**Figure 20.** Spectrum of SILO based demonstrator with CW modulation; large peak: oscillator permanently on, comb: pulsed oscillator, background: comb zoomed out to show envelope, span 1.5 GHz [4]
360 Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems <sup>19</sup> Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 361
### **6.2. Synthesis of communication signals**
18 UKoLoS
**Figure 19.** Hardware components for the 6 GHz transmitter system demonstrator (using lumped planar
5.2 5.4 5.6 5.8 6 6.2 6.4
frequency in GHz
pulsed CW
5.76 5.78 5.8 5.82 5.84
frequency in GHz
**Figure 20.** Spectrum of SILO based demonstrator with CW modulation; large peak: oscillator permanently on, comb: pulsed oscillator, background: comb zoomed out to show envelope, span 1.5
components SILO implementation)
power in dBm
−80
−80
−60
−40
power in dBm
GHz [4]
−20
0
−70
−60
−50
−40
The synthesis of time domain communication signals was demonstrated using an 8 PSK modulation with cyclic transmission of all symbol values and maximum symbol rate, i.e. one symbol per pulse. The output signal of the demonstrator (Fig. 18, 19) was mixed to baseband using a quadrature mixer and displayed using an oscilloscope. Its waveform (Fig. 21) clearly shows the phase states and their repeatability in the IQ diagram. These results prove for the first time that it is feasible to generate UWB signals with more complex phase modulation than BPSK while at the same time keeping complexity and power consumption low.
**Figure 21.** Generator output with 8 PSK modulation mixed to DC; left: inphase and quadrature component, right: IQ diagram [4]
### **6.3. Synthesis of radar signals**
According to sections 3.5 and 4.3, the same simple hardware implementation used for communication signal synthesis (Fig. (18), (19)) can be employed to generate pulsed frequency modulated radar signals by repeatedly transmitting a limited list of phase samples. For a pulse rate of 10 MHz and a ramp slope of 20 MHz/*μs*, only 50 phase samples (one per pulse) are sufficient.
**Figure 22.** Measurement setup (on-waver) for the synthesis of radar signals using an integrated circuit SILO [3]
**Figure 23.** Beat spectrum (6-8 GHz SILO chip) of measured radar signal after mixing with linear sweep and before low pass filtering [3]
1.009 1.01 1.011 1.012 1.013 1.014 1.015 1.016
frequency in Hz
For verification, this approach was realized both using the previously employed lumped components SILO (6 GHz, 600 MHz bandwidth) and the first large bandwidth integrated circuit implementations (7 GHz, >2 GHz bandwidth) in order to demonstrate the resolution benefit for ranging. The setup for both experiments is depicted in Fig. 22; the generated and delayed signal is acquired using an oscilloscope and evaluated on a PC using a numerical computation software where it is mixed with a linear FMCW signal and analyzed in frequency
Fig. 23 and 24 show the resulting beat frequency spectrum for the integrated circuit implementation using 1 ns pulses and 10 MHz pulse repetition rate. It corresponds to equation (10) except the small peaks that result from imperfections in the oscillator design leading to a
Comparing the results of the lumped and integrated circuit implementations (see Fig. 25), the benefit of much higher bandwidths regarding resolution becomes obvious. If the oscillator's spectral bandwidth is too small in relation to the sweep bandwidth, the beat frequency peak is broadened because of additional windowing through the narrowband SILO spectrum. Therefore, the oscillator bandwidth / pulse width should be adjusted to the desired sweep
The manufactured circuit is depicted in Fig.26. It measures 710 × 1455 *μ*m². For reasons of nonavailability of differential equipment, all measurements were done single-ended with the
Fig. 27 shows the output power over the tuning range. The 10 dB decrease of output power compared to the previously published [8] VCO is attributed to the different VCO output buffer
slight turn-on pulse self-locking effect. Future designs are expected to fix this issue.
bandwidth in order to maximize spectral efficiency [3].
unused output terminated to ground with a 50 Ω resistor.
**Figure 25.** Comparison of 6-8 GHz chip (2 GHz bandwidth) with lumped implementation (wider
FMCW beat spectrum (downsweep)
Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 363
5ns pulse 7.5ns pulse 10ns pulse
5ns pulse, 1m extra cable 7.5ns pulse, 1m extra cable 10ns pulse, 1m extra cable
−50
pulses, smaller bandwidth) [3]
**6.4. VCO with switch IC**
and the insertion loss of the switch.
domain (FFT).
−40
−30
−20
relative power in dB
−10
0
10
x 10<sup>7</sup>
**Figure 24.** Zoomed beat spectrum (6-8 GHz SILO chip), comparison of two waveforms with different transmission delays [3]
**Figure 25.** Comparison of 6-8 GHz chip (2 GHz bandwidth) with lumped implementation (wider pulses, smaller bandwidth) [3]
For verification, this approach was realized both using the previously employed lumped components SILO (6 GHz, 600 MHz bandwidth) and the first large bandwidth integrated circuit implementations (7 GHz, >2 GHz bandwidth) in order to demonstrate the resolution benefit for ranging. The setup for both experiments is depicted in Fig. 22; the generated and delayed signal is acquired using an oscilloscope and evaluated on a PC using a numerical computation software where it is mixed with a linear FMCW signal and analyzed in frequency domain (FFT).
Fig. 23 and 24 show the resulting beat frequency spectrum for the integrated circuit implementation using 1 ns pulses and 10 MHz pulse repetition rate. It corresponds to equation (10) except the small peaks that result from imperfections in the oscillator design leading to a slight turn-on pulse self-locking effect. Future designs are expected to fix this issue.
Comparing the results of the lumped and integrated circuit implementations (see Fig. 25), the benefit of much higher bandwidths regarding resolution becomes obvious. If the oscillator's spectral bandwidth is too small in relation to the sweep bandwidth, the beat frequency peak is broadened because of additional windowing through the narrowband SILO spectrum. Therefore, the oscillator bandwidth / pulse width should be adjusted to the desired sweep bandwidth in order to maximize spectral efficiency [3].
## **6.4. VCO with switch IC**
20 UKoLoS
FMCW beat spectrum (upsweep)
0 2 4 6 8 10
frequency in Hz
FMCW beat spectrum (upsweep)
1ns pulse
1ns pulse, 1m extra cable
1.89 1.9 1.91 1.92 1.93 1.94 1.95 1.96 1.97
frequency in Hz
**Figure 24.** Zoomed beat spectrum (6-8 GHz SILO chip), comparison of two waveforms with different
**Figure 23.** Beat spectrum (6-8 GHz SILO chip) of measured radar signal after mixing with linear sweep
−30
−50
transmission delays [3]
−40
−30
−20
relative power in dB
−10
0
10
and before low pass filtering [3]
−25
−20
−15
−10
relative power in dB
−5
0
5
10
x 107
x 106
1ns pulse
The manufactured circuit is depicted in Fig.26. It measures 710 × 1455 *μ*m². For reasons of nonavailability of differential equipment, all measurements were done single-ended with the unused output terminated to ground with a 50 Ω resistor.
Fig. 27 shows the output power over the tuning range. The 10 dB decrease of output power compared to the previously published [8] VCO is attributed to the different VCO output buffer and the insertion loss of the switch.
22 UKoLoS 364 Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems <sup>23</sup>
**Figure 26.** VCO with switch circuit IC photograph
**Figure 28.** Measured phase noise of VCO with switch circuit
**Figure 29.** Manufactured 7 GHz SILO IC
measurement probes.
digital baseband and analog RF circuits. Fig. 29 shows a chip photograph with connected
Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 365
The 10 dB-bandwidth stretches from 5to 8 GHz. A single pulse is shown in Fig. 31. A single
Fig. 30 shows the output power spectrum of the manufactured SILO.
cycle of oscillator start up, oscillation and decay has a duration of 1.5 ns.
**Figure 27.** Measured output power of 1st, 2nd and 3rd harmonic of VCO with switch
The phase noise performance of the VCO with switch has deteriorated significantly from the previous [8] stand-alone VCO. This is mainly attributed to the new buffer structure which performed worse than anticipated.
### **6.5. 7 GHz SILO IC**
The IHP Technologies SGB25V 250 nm SiGe:C BiCMOS process was chosen for manufacturing. It provides a cheap and flexible platform including one or two thick top metal layers consisting of aluminum. The advantage of using a BiCMOS process for a transmitter circuit is the possibility to build a system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that integrates 364 Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems <sup>23</sup> Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 365
**Figure 28.** Measured phase noise of VCO with switch circuit
22 UKoLoS
**Figure 26.** VCO with switch circuit IC photograph
performed worse than anticipated.
**6.5. 7 GHz SILO IC**
**Figure 27.** Measured output power of 1st, 2nd and 3rd harmonic of VCO with switch
The phase noise performance of the VCO with switch has deteriorated significantly from the previous [8] stand-alone VCO. This is mainly attributed to the new buffer structure which
The IHP Technologies SGB25V 250 nm SiGe:C BiCMOS process was chosen for manufacturing. It provides a cheap and flexible platform including one or two thick top metal layers consisting of aluminum. The advantage of using a BiCMOS process for a transmitter circuit is the possibility to build a system-on-a-chip (SoC) solution that integrates
**Figure 29.** Manufactured 7 GHz SILO IC
digital baseband and analog RF circuits. Fig. 29 shows a chip photograph with connected measurement probes.
Fig. 30 shows the output power spectrum of the manufactured SILO.
The 10 dB-bandwidth stretches from 5to 8 GHz. A single pulse is shown in Fig. 31. A single cycle of oscillator start up, oscillation and decay has a duration of 1.5 ns.
be refined for an even better performance and higher integration level. Last but not least,
Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 367
This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG - priority program SPP1202, grant VO 1453/3-2) within the project "Components and concepts for low-power
[1] Barrett, T. W. [2000]. History of UltraWideBand (UWB) Radar & Communications:
[2] Carlowitz, C., Esswein, A., Weigel, R. & Vossiek, M. [2012a]. A low power Pulse Frequency Modulated UWB radar transmitter concept based on switched injection locked harmonic sampling, *Microwave Conference (GeMiC), 2012 The 7th German*, pp. 1
[3] Carlowitz, C., Esswein, A., Weigel, R. & Vossiek, M. [2012b]. Synthesis of Pulsed Frequency Modulated Ultra Wideband Radar Signals Based on Stepped Phase Shifting,
[4] Carlowitz, C. & Vossiek, M. [2012]. Synthesis of Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Signals Based on Regenerative Sampling, *IEEE International Microwave Symposium 2012*. [5] Chandrakasan, A., Lee, F., Wentzloff, D., Sze, V., Ginsburg, B., Mercier, P., Daly, D. & Blazquez, R. [2009]. Low-Power Impulse UWB Architectures and Circuits, *Proceedings of*
[6] Deparis, N., Loyez, C., Rolland, N. & Rolland, P.-A. [2008]. UWB in Millimeter Wave Band With Pulsed ILO, *Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs, IEEE Transactions on*
[7] Deparis, N., Siligarisy, A., Vincent, P. & Rolland, N. [2009]. A 2 pJ/bit pulsed ILO UWB transmitter at 60 GHz in 65-nm CMOS-SOI, *Ultra-Wideband, 2009. ICUWB 2009. IEEE*
[8] Esswein, A., Dehm-Andone, G., Weigel, R., Aleksieieva, A. & Vossiek, M. [2010]. A low phase-noise SiGe Colpitts VCO with wide tuning range for UWB applications, *Wireless*
[9] Grass, E., Siaud, I., Glisic, S., Ehrig, M., Sun, Y., Lehmann, J., Hamon, M., Ulmer-Moll, A., Pagani, P., Kraemer, R. & Scheytt, C. [2008]. Asymmetric dual-band UWB / 60 GHz demonstrator, *Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, 2008. PIMRC 2008. IEEE*
[10] Hancock, T. & Rebeiz, G. [2005]. Design and Analysis of a 70-ps SiGe Differential RF Switch, *Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on* 53(7): 2403 – 2410.
mm-wave pulsed angle modulated ultra wideband communication and ranging".
*Institute for Electronics Engineering, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany*
*Institute of Microwaves and Photonics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany*
*IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband (ICUWB)* .
*Technology Conference (EuWIT), 2010 European*, pp. 229 –232.
hardware concepts for receiver technology are being developed.
**Acknowledgement**
**Author details**
**8. References**
–4.
Alexander Esswein and Robert Weigel
Christian Carlowitz and Martin Vossiek
Pioneers and Innovators.
*the IEEE* 97(2): 332–352.
*International Conference on*, pp. 113 –117.
*19th International Symposium on*, pp. 1 –6.
55(4): 339 –343.
**Figure 30.** Measured output spectrum of 7 GHz SILO IC
**Figure 31.** Transient output of 7 GHz SILO IC
### **7. Future work**
Since this project is still ongoing, future work will cover further aspects that enhance theory and hardware implementation. Regarding pulsed angle modulated signals, more complex modulation schemes will be developed in conjunction with a more comprehensive study of error sources and their compensation. Furthermore, the first designs of the SILO circuit will 366 Ultra-Wideband Radio Technologies for Communications, Localization and Sensor Applications Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems <sup>25</sup> Concepts and Components for Pulsed Angle Modulated Ultra Wideband Communication and Radar Systems 367
> be refined for an even better performance and higher integration level. Last but not least, hardware concepts for receiver technology are being developed.
|
Annual Report of the State Botanist. 71
"Pileus brown, convex, smooth, hygrophanous, often shaded into ochre at margin, veil delicate, silk-like, encir cling and covering the marginal extremities of the lamellee but forming no ring on the stem, flesh white, turning umber when cut; lamellae adnexed or nearly free, close, forked, umber; stems ctespitose, regular, hollow, silky, white, two to three inches long; spores brown, .00016 x .0002 inch."
Coprinus virgineus n. sp. Maryland Plate 160
"Pileus ovate, campanulate or cylindrical, pale ochre, the margin thin, torn, floccose ; lamellae narrow, close, forked, at first white, turning dark but never black, adnexed ; stem three and a half inches long, stout, somewhat stuffed, atten uated where it meets the pileus, flattened, floccose; spores black.
Plate 86
"This plant was plentiful in July, 1877, and uniformly slen der, as represented in plate 84. In 1878 it was also plentiful but large, as shown in plate 85. * * This plant is edible and makes an agreeable dish in the culinary department. I tried it stewed in beef gravy which it greatly improved in flavor. When eaten raw it is pleasant lo the taste. Both the flesh and the milk turn brown upon exposure to the air."
|
#include "Application.h"
#include "Worker.h"
#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
namespace LovelyGUI
{
Worker::Worker(Object* parent) :
Object(parent)
{
}
Worker::~Worker()
{
SDL_Log("Worker::~Worker(%p)", this);
Application::removeWorker(this);
}
void Worker::update()
{
}
bool Worker::deal(const Event& event)
{
return false;
}
}; // namespace LovelyGUI
|
Takuto Ando
Takuto Ando is the main character for the Chouseishin series Chousei Kantai Sazer-X.
Personality
He is portrayed by Ryosuke Takahashi.
Lio-Sazer
|
Error when record is added to table programmatically vba access
I am trying to add a record to a table on MouseUp(), but it gives me the following error:
https://imagebin.ca/v/3ZDGpjhINaCs
I am unsure as to why. Here is the code:
Private Sub btnSignup_MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
TempVars!newMember = Me.MemberID.Value
DoCmd.RunSQL "INSERT INTO Signup VALUES (TempVars!newMember, TempVars!currentStaffMember)"
End Sub
Here is the line that the debugger stops on:
https://imagebin.ca/v/3ZDHvAvBfM7b
Signup Table:
https://imagebin.ca/v/3ZDL9vo20UQL
What does the Signup table look like? You're probably not populating all the required fields.
There seems to be a key on the first column. Make sure you're not trying to insert duplicate values. As a test, insert a mock value that doesn't exist anywhere and see if you still get the error.
Please provide the error also. Note that the preferred way of sharing images on StackOverflow is the built-in imgur in the question form, not imagebin, since imgur will keep the images online as long as the question is.
|
import * as React from "react";
import { StyledComponentProps } from "@material-ui/core/styles";
export { StyledComponentProps };
export namespace PropTypes {
type Alignment = "inherit" | "left" | "center" | "right" | "justify";
type Color = "inherit" | "primary" | "secondary" | "default";
type Margin = "none" | "dense" | "normal";
}
export type Omit<T, K extends keyof any> = T extends any ? Pick<T, Exclude<keyof T, K>> : never;
export type StandardProps<C, ClassKey extends string, Removals extends keyof C = never> = Omit<C, "classes" | Removals> &
StyledComponentProps<ClassKey> & {
className?: string;
style?: React.CSSProperties;
};
export { default as CuiButton } from "./CuiButton";
|
XML DOM ERROR when executing Python program in perl
I have a program written in Perl, and I want to execute this program in MATLAB. In this program I am calling an XML file, but on execution, I am getting XML: DOM error as Error using perl (line 80) System error: Can't locate XML/DOM.pm in @INC, etc. How can I get out of this error?
Program is executing in Perl very well...
Added code for error, fixed spelling, and removed extra text
Matlab brings it's own perl installation located at fullfile(matlabroot, 'sys\perl\win32\bin\'). Probably here the additional resources are missing. Navigate to this folder and install the requirements using ppm
YES I GOT, But how i can instal XML:DOM in MATLAB Kindly help me... perl program is calling XML file, so error is coming.
You can change the version of PERL that MATLAB uses by pointing it to a different location, where the new executable exists.
You can edit PERL.M and have MATLAB use a newer version of the PERL executable that you wish.
If your open perl.m by typing "edit perl.m", around line 65 your will see the following:
perlCmd = fullfile(matlabroot, 'sys\perl\win32\bin\');
Comment this code and add your new path as the perlCmd variable.
|
THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 18
margin of the hypostomal triangles, anteriorly adjoining submentuni, poste riorly adjoining the presternites ; occiput directed obliquely downwards and forwards. Mouthparts hypognathous ; labrum and clypeus present; antenna small, situated at the anterior corner of frons, separated from basal skin of mandible by a narrow chitinous bridge ; maxillary palp three-jointed, no definite palpiger ; submentum and mentum the conspicuous parts of the ventral side of head ; maxillary articulating area simple, neither chitinized nor subdivided into two or more separate lobes ; stipes labialis with well developed ligula, labial palpigers, and palpi ; hypopharyngeal chitinizations not developed. Tentorial bridge broad ; hypopharyngeal bracon present. Body curved, wrinkled, fleshy, whitish. Legs developed ; with several joints ; last joint clawlike ; no real claws ; prehypopleurum and posthypopleurum indicated but not chitinized. Prothorax with small presternites fused into a narrow, transverse band ; no separate prebasisternum ; no sternellum ; poststernellum well developed ; meso thorax and metathorax with well developed epipleural median lobe closely connected with the alar area ; spiracle-bearing preepipleurum not reaching the presternum ; no definite sternellum ; mesothorax with and metathorax without poststernellum. Abdominal segments ten ; prescutal area large, protuberant ; dorsal parts of scutum and scutellum not developed into ampullatory lobes ; epipleurum bulged ; parasternum anteriorly limited by a straight line ; ninth abdominal segment without cerci or any chitinizations. Spiracles annuliform ; mesothoracic spiracle apparently prothoracic, the preepipleurum of mesothorax being pushed forwards ; metathoracic spiracle rudimentary ; eight abdominal spiracles.
GENERIC CHARACTERS.
In the family Anobiidae (Ptinidae), the genus Lasioderma, belonging to the group Ptinini, is characterized as follows: Head rounded, not deeply sunk Into prothorax ; epistoma strong, rigid, with median region only slightly concave, and lateral regions subrectangular, projecting, not divided by any depressions; labrum subrectangular, with straight anterior margin and rounded corners ; clypeus somewhat broader, subrectangular ; one ocellus ; antenna two-jointed, with large terminal sensory papilla ; mandible with bidentate apex and convex, irregularly serrated cutting edge ; no molar part or prostheca ; maxillary lacinia single, broad, flat, semiovate, spinose, extending from .distal end of stipes ; at its base arising from the boundary region between hypopharynx and stipes maxillaris a freely projecting, somewhat shorter, four times narrower, lanceolate, spinose structure; stipes labialis broad and short; mentum some what large, transversely subrectangular, separated from the still broader, trapezoidal submentum by a straight, rather faint line; maxillary articulating lobe small ; gula very narrow. Legs five-jointed ; tarsal joint distinct, falci form, clawlike. Prothorax with tergum outlined like a dumbell, the alar areas being lobate, much larger than the upper tergal part ; no chitinous linear im pression between alar area and the upper tergal part. Mesothorax and meta thorax both with sharply defined prescutum ; scuto-scutellar parts fused. The first seven abdominal segments with a large prescutum, a narrow scutal fold, and a large scutellum ; the tergal parts of the last three abdominal segments not divided ; tergal folds dorsally and laterally granulated, but without trans verse series of stout, backwardly curved spinules ; tenth abdominal segment well developed, with two large, cushion-like pads on each side of a linear, vertical, anal fissure. Last spiracle no larger than the preceding abdominal spiracles.
|
Board Thread:Suggestions/@comment-33220515-20171106021216/@comment-32104265-20171107091612
no thx AA 12 or another auto shotgun are feel uncomfortable in r2da
i would like some another good and cool feature not weapon anymore
|
update readme with zip-packs command
Status
Ready
Related Issues
fixes: demisto/etc#33527
Description
Making the zip-packs command public and update the documentation.
@ShahafBenYakir merged the documentation and make it public in the sdk
|
using DIGNDB.App.SmitteStop.Domain.Db;
using DIGNDB.App.SmitteStop.Domain.Dto;
using DIGNDB.App.SmitteStop.Domain.Enums;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace DIGNDB.App.SmitteStop.Testing.Mocks
{
public class TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder
{
private TemporaryExposureKey _prototype;
private IList<Country> _visitedCountries = new List<Country>(0);
public static class Default
{
public static byte[] KeyData = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 };
public static int DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms = 4;
public static ReportType ReportType = ReportType.SELF_REPORT;
public static long RollingPeriod = 144;
public static long RollingStartNumberDaysAgo = 1;
public static RiskLevel TransmissionRiskLevel = RiskLevel.RISK_LEVEL_MEDIUM_HIGH;
}
private static long CurrentUnixTimestampOffsetByDays(long numberOfDays)
{
var creationDate = DateTime.Now.AddDays(numberOfDays);
return ConvertDateToUnixTime(creationDate);
}
private static long ConvertDateToUnixTime(DateTime date)
{
var epoch = DateTime.UnixEpoch;
return Convert.ToInt64((date - epoch).TotalSeconds);
}
public static TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder CreateDefault(Country origin)
{
var yesterday = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(-1);
var rollingStartNumber = CurrentUnixTimestampOffsetByDays(-Default.RollingStartNumberDaysAgo);
var defaultPrototype = new TemporaryExposureKey()
{
KeyData = Default.KeyData,
CreatedOn = yesterday,
DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms = Default.DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms,
Origin = origin,
ReportType = Default.ReportType,
KeySource = Domain.Enums.KeySource.SmitteStopApiVersion2,
RollingPeriod = Default.RollingPeriod,
RollingStartNumber = rollingStartNumber,
TransmissionRiskLevel = Default.TransmissionRiskLevel,
VisitedCountries = new List<TemporaryExposureKeyCountry>(),
SharingConsentGiven = true
};
return new TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder(defaultPrototype);
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder Copy()
{
return new TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder(Build()); ;
}
private TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder(TemporaryExposureKey prototype)
{
_prototype = prototype;
}
public IList<TemporaryExposureKey> Build(IList<string> keyData)
{
return keyData.Select(keyDataStr => Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(keyDataStr))
.Select(keyData => Build(keyData))
.ToList();
}
public IList<TemporaryExposureKey> Build(IList<byte[]> keyData)
{
return keyData.Select(keyData => Build(keyData))
.ToList();
}
public TemporaryExposureKey Build()
{
return Build(_prototype.KeyData);
}
public TemporaryExposureKey Build(byte[] keyData)
{
var key = new TemporaryExposureKey()
{
CreatedOn = _prototype.CreatedOn,
KeyData = (byte[])keyData.Clone(),
KeySource = _prototype.KeySource,
Origin = _prototype.Origin,
ReportType = _prototype.ReportType,
RollingPeriod = _prototype.RollingPeriod,
RollingStartNumber = _prototype.RollingStartNumber,
TransmissionRiskLevel = _prototype.TransmissionRiskLevel,
DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms = _prototype.DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms,
SharingConsentGiven = _prototype.SharingConsentGiven
};
var allVisitedCountries = _prototype.VisitedCountries.Select(i => i.Country).ToList();
allVisitedCountries.AddRange(_visitedCountries);
key.VisitedCountries = allVisitedCountries.Select(country =>
{
return new TemporaryExposureKeyCountry() { Country = country, TemporaryExposureKey = key };
}).ToList();
return key;
}
#region setters
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetCreatedOn(DateTime date)
{
_prototype.CreatedOn = date;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetKeyData(byte[] keyData)
{
_prototype.KeyData = keyData;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetKeySource(KeySource keySource)
{
_prototype.KeySource = keySource;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetOrigin(Country origin)
{
_prototype.Origin = origin;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetVisitedCountries(IEnumerable<Country> countries)
{
_prototype.VisitedCountries = new List<TemporaryExposureKeyCountry>();
_visitedCountries = new List<Country>(countries);
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetReportType(ReportType reportType)
{
_prototype.ReportType = reportType;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetRollingPeriod(long rollingPeriod)
{
_prototype.RollingPeriod = rollingPeriod;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetRollingStartNumber(long rollingStartNumber)
{
_prototype.RollingStartNumber = rollingStartNumber;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetRollingStartNumber(DateTime rollingStartNumber)
{
_prototype.RollingStartNumber = ConvertDateToUnixTime(rollingStartNumber);
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetTransmissionRiskLevel(RiskLevel transmissionRiskLevel)
{
_prototype.TransmissionRiskLevel = transmissionRiskLevel;
return this;
}
public TestTemporaryExposureKeyBuilder SetDaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms(int? daysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms)
{
_prototype.DaysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms = daysSinceOnsetOfSymptoms;
return this;
}
#endregion
}
}
|
Thread:Melim05/@comment-32769624-20200720184011
If you need help getting started, check out our help pages or contact me or another admin here.
Enjoy your time at !
|
package utils
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
"regexp"
"strings"
"github.com/kdisneur/changelog/pkg/git"
)
var remoteHTTPSExtractor = regexp.MustCompile("https://([^/]+)/(.*)")
var remoteGitExtractor = regexp.MustCompile("git@([^:]+):(.*)")
func FindRemoteFromURLs(remoteURLs []string) (*git.Remote, error) {
if len(remoteURLs) == 0 {
return nil, errors.New("no remote available")
}
remoteURL := remoteURLs[0]
for _, newRemoteURL := range remoteURLs {
if remoteURL != newRemoteURL {
return nil, fmt.Errorf("found multiple remotes: %s, %s", remoteURL, newRemoteURL)
}
}
return remoteFromURL(remoteURL)
}
func remoteFromURL(url string) (*git.Remote, error) {
if strings.HasPrefix(url, "https://") {
return remoteFromHTTPSURL(url)
} else if strings.HasPrefix(url, "git@") {
return remoteFromGitURL(url)
}
return nil, fmt.Errorf("unrecognized Git protocol for %s", url)
}
func remoteFromHTTPSURL(url string) (*git.Remote, error) {
matches := remoteHTTPSExtractor.FindStringSubmatch(url)
if len(matches) == 3 {
return &git.Remote{Type: git.HTTPS, Host: matches[1], RepositoryName: matches[2]}, nil
}
return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't parse HTTPS remote: %s", url)
}
func remoteFromGitURL(url string) (*git.Remote, error) {
matches := remoteGitExtractor.FindStringSubmatch(url)
if len(matches) == 3 {
return &git.Remote{Type: git.GIT, Host: matches[1], RepositoryName: matches[2]}, nil
}
return nil, fmt.Errorf("can't parse Git remote: %s", url)
}
|
<?php
require_once('config.php');
$classname_filename = str_replace('test', 'inc', basename(__FILE__));
require_once($project_classes_dir . '/' . $classname_filename);
class FileInfoTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase {
public function __construct() {
global $project_root_dir;
$_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] = dirname($project_root_dir);
$test_filename = dirname(__FILE__) . '/test_file.txt';
if (is_file($test_filename)) {
unlink($test_filename);
}
file_put_contents($test_filename, 'Test data.');
$this->fileinfo = new FileInfo($test_filename);
unlink($test_filename);
}
public function testTime() {
$this->assertTrue($this->fileinfo->ctime > 1384254284 && $this->fileinfo->ctime < 1484254284);
$this->assertTrue($this->fileinfo->mtime > 1384254284 && $this->fileinfo->mtime < 1484254284);
$this->assertTrue($this->fileinfo->mtime >= $this->fileinfo->ctime);
}
public function testGetInfoByName() {
$this->fileinfo->ctime = 0;
$this->fileinfo->mtime = 0;
$correct_result = "./pat/tests/test_file.txt;10;0;0;1000;33204;93a5e159;64353b9c;56dd8a439abf97fda051f88f09f00d65;caa0bdc08266c1ef51d49bba17cef09b";
$this->assertEquals((string)$this->fileinfo, $correct_result);
}
public function testXML() {
$this->fileinfo->ctime = 0;
$this->fileinfo->mtime = 0;
$dom = new DOMDocument("1.0", "utf-8");
$dom->formatOutput = true;
$files_node = $dom->createElement("files");
$node = $this->fileinfo->getXMLNode();
$files_node->appendChild($dom->importNode($node, true));
$dom->appendChild($files_node);
$this->assertEquals($dom->saveXML(), file_get_contents('test_cases/FileInfo.xml'));
}
}
?>
|
No such file or directory when using ubuntu python subprocess popen
So I am running this code to run a python file called FileWriterServer.py, the fullpath in ubuntu after dragging and dropping the file is fullpath
import subprocess
import time, threading
import datetime
fullpath = "/home/andersson/Experiment1/public/EkiIn/FileWriterServer.py"
def startServer():
print("Starting FileWriterServer.py on 8001 at",datetime.datetime.now())
proc = subprocess.Popen("python3 "+fullpath,shell=False)
threading.Timer(30,stoppServer,[proc]).start()
startServer()
What exactly are you asking for / about?
how can I make the system Popen command find and run the FileWriterServer.py file
changed one row to
proc = subprocess.Popen(["python3",fullpath],shell=False)
Now it works!
|
Method and apparatus for reducing false ringback detection
ABSTRACT
In a communication device, a decoded audio signal is evaluated by a detection function (112). Two portions of the decoded audio signal spectrum are evaluated, a ringback band (206), and the remaining band(s). The signal strength in the ringback band is measured against a preselected ringback energy threshold level and the non-ringback signal strength is measured against a voice energy threshold level. Only if the ringback energy is above the ringback energy threshold level and the non-ringback band energy is below the voice energy threshold level will a ringback filter be applied to the audio signal.
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates in general to digital telephony, and more particularly to digital telephones receiving encoded signals that may comprise ringback tones as well as voice data.
BACKGROUND
In digital communication systems it is common to encode voice data to reduce the bandwidth needed to effectively transmit the voice signal. A great many encoding schemes have been developed and are well known in the art. However, in processing digital telephony signals, a problem has arisen with regard to the detection of ringback signals.
Ringback signals are sent to a calling party so that a tone or tones can be played over the audio output device, typically the earpiece, to indicate to the caller that the called telephone is ringing. To produce a clean ringback signal prior to playing the ringback signal a ringback filter function may be employed. The ringback filter is a simple bandpass filter that passes the ringback tone or tones and rejects the harmonics and sub-harmonics of the ringback signal. To determine when a ringback signal is being received, a detection function may be used. The detection function examines the ringback band. The best prior art ringback detection is performed by using a linear predictive coding (LPC) filter that models the anticipated ringback signal and looks for a match in the received audio signal. If the output of the LPC filter indicates that there is sufficient correspondence to the ringback model in the ringback band, the ringback filter is applied to the signal prior to playing the signal over the audio transducer.
However, in spite of the complexity and sophistication of a LPC filter based detection scheme, false ringback detection still occurs. This happens when received voice data contains discrete frequency components in the ringback band that are similar enough to a ringback signal to fool the LPC filter detection, resulting in the ringback filter being applied to the voice data, causing an undesired distortion of the voice signal. A user may perceive this distortion as an indication of interference, or simply a poor quality product. Therefore there is a need to reduce false ringback detection.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a portion of communications device for processing telephony signals in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of a detection means for deciding if a ringback tone is present, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 3 shows a flow chart diagram of a method of reducing false ringback detection in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward.
The present invention reduces false ringback detection by not only evaluating the ringback band, but by also analyzing the spectrum of the received audio signal outside the ringback band. Instead of applying the ringback filter when there is sufficient activity in the ringback band, the present invention further examines the activity outside the ringback band to see if it is sufficiently low to indicate a lack of received voice information.
When both conditions are met, it is inferred that a ringback tone is being received, thus reducing the occurrences of false ringback detection. By examining both the ringback band and the non-ringback band, simpler filters may be employed, and the ringback filter may be re-used.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown therein a block diagram of a portion 100 of a communication device for processing telephony signals in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Specifically, the portion shown is a portion for receiving and processing a digital audio signal. A digital signal is received from a channel, such as a wired network connection 102 or a wireless air interface 104. Typically the signal will be a radio frequency (RF) signal modulated according to any of the known digital modulations schemes. A receiver 106 receives the signal and demodulates it to obtain data. Typically the data is encoded, and where the data is voice data, a common encoding scheme is vector sum excited linear prediction (VSELP), as used in half-rate global system for mobile communication (GSM) telephony. The receiver is preferably coupled to a decoder 108 by a bus 110. The decoder performs decoding of the data received from the receiver, as is commonly practiced in the art. The decoder may be a hardware device, but in the preferred embodiment the decoder function is performed by software executed by a digital signal processor 111, such as a model no. DSP56300 manufactured and sold by Motorola, Inc., as is well known in the art. In the preferred embodiment the decoder performs VSELP decoding. The output of the decoder, or the results of the decoder software function, are passed to a ringback detection block 112.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that, while the lines shown interconnecting the various blocks shown could represent a physical bus, in the preferred embodiment they merely represent signal flow. In using digital signal processing techniques to perform the various signal processing functions and steps described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that passing data from one block to another may be performed, for example, by storing a result in a memory of a DSP, then calling the appropriate software function to operate on the data to achieve a new output.
The detection block 112 is responsible for deciding if the data being received is ringback data. To accomplish this the detection block performs two functions. First, the signal energy in the ringback band is evaluated. The ringback band is the band of the audio frequency spectrum in which ringback tones fall. In the U.S., ringback comprises two tones, one at 440 Hz and another at 480 Hz, thus the ringback band is generally from just below 440 Hz to just above 480 Hz. In the prior art the evaluation of the ringback band is the only test typically performed for ringback detection, and it is preferably done with a sophisticated LPC filter. However, in the present invention, the detection block also evaluates the signal outside of the ringback band, i.e. the non-ringback band. Both tests can be achieved by, for example, performing a discrete fourier transform of a data sample, and comparing the magnitude of the frequency components in the relevant spectral segments against expected levels for ringback signals. In the portion of the signal spectrum outside of the ringback band, the non-ringback band(s), a lack of energy will be found while receiving ringback tones, since, by definition, the called party has not answered and cannot be sending voice information. Thus, the present invention requires that not only must there be sufficient activity in the ringback band, there must also be a lack of activity outside the ringback band before the received signal is judged to ringback tones.
A switch block 114 is used to represent this decision. If either there is a lack of sufficient signal strength (energy) in the ringback band, or if there is sufficient signal strength outside of the ringback band, the decoded audio signal outputted from the decoder 108 is passed directly to an audio processor 116 for playing to a user. However, if there is sufficient signal strength in the ringback band, and a lack of signal strength outside the ringback band, then a ringback filter 118 is applied to the decoded audio data before passing it to the audio processor. The audio processor comprises prior art audio circuitry for converting the decoded audio digital information to an analog signal which is applied to an audio transducer, such as the speaker of a telephone earpiece.
FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the detection block 112. Referring now to FIG. 2, the decoded audio signal is fed to the detection block, as represented by line 200. In a hardware embodiment line 200 would represent a bus, and in a software embodiment the line 200 could represent the data being passed to different software functions. As mentioned, the detection block performs a typical detection step of evaluating the signal strength in the ringback band, as represented by a bandpass filter 202. A detail of the bandpass filter function is shown in graph 204, where discrete frequency components are graphed vs. signal strength or energy. The discrete frequency components outside of the ringback band 206 are rejected, and the discrete frequency components in the ringback band are passed. The signal strength in the ringback band is compared to a preselected ringback energy threshold level 208. The same data evaluated by the bandpass function is also evaluated by a bandstop function 210, where discrete frequency components in the ringback band are rejected or attenuated. A detail of the bandstop filter function is shown in graph 212. The discrete frequency components outside the ringback band are compared to a preselected voice energy threshold level 214.
The results of the comparisons performed in the bandpass block 202 and bandstop block 210 are evaluated logically by the equivalent of an AND function 216. The results of which are shown in a table 217. There are four possible results, three of which are shown to illustrate the novel operation of the invention. The first scenario 218 occurs when sufficient ringback energy present. That is, the signal strength in the ringback band exceeds the preselected ringback energy threshold level, as determined by the bandpass function 202. The second condition of the first scenario 218 is that, as determined by the bandstop function 210, the non-ringback energy, the energy outside the ringback band, exceeds the preselected voice energy threshold level 214, indicating that voice is present. In a prior art ringback detection scheme, the first scenario 218 would convict the received audio signal as a ringback tone or tones because of the signal content in the ringback band. However, according to the invention, no ringback filtering is applied because the signal content outside the ringback band indicates the presence of voice information, thus, applying the ringback filter would result in a distorted voice signal as in the prior art devices.
The second scenario 220 occurs when the bandpass function indicates a lack of ringback energy and the bandstop function indicates the presence of voice information, resulting in no ringback filtering being applied to the decoded audio signal. The third scenario 222 occurs when the bandpass function determines that sufficient ringback energy is present and the bandstop function determines that the non-ringback energy, the energy outside the ringback band, is sufficiently low. In this case, then ringback filtering will be applied to the decoded audio signal. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a fourth scenario can and will occur, where neither the ringback band or the non-ringback band contains significant signal energy, and both in the present invention and the prior art no ringback filtering is applied in such a case.
In the preferred embodiment the bandpass and bandstop functions are implemented by digital filtering techniques, and either infinite impulse response or finite impulse response techniques will perform adequately. The energy of the two filters is computed by using any of the conventional DSP energy computation techniques, such as, for example, a sum of squares algorithm. The energy estimate is then compared to the corresponding threshold level. The threshold levels are determined experimentally for the particular application. In general, the threshold level is selected so that the ringback energy threshold level corresponds to the energy of a received ringback signal, and the voice energy threshold corresponds to an energy level sufficient to indicate the presence of voice activity.
Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown therein a flow chart diagram 300 for performing a method of reducing false ringback detection in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The first step to be performed is to receive a signal 302, and it is contemplated that the received signal is digital and furthermore, an encoded digital signal. Accordingly, the next step to be performed is decoding 304 the received encoded signal to provide a decoded audio signal. More specifically, the decoded audio signal is a non-encoded digital signal comprising audio information, and may include ringback tone information, voice information, or both. By this it is meant that the digital information comprises no compression or error correcting codes. An example of a decoded audio signal would be a typical telephony pulse code modulation (PCM) signal. The next step is evaluating 306 the ringback and non-ringback content of the decoded audio signal. As indicated in FIG. 2, this is essentially a two step process, and the two steps may be performed in any order, or at the same time. The evaluating step includes determining if ringback energy is present 308. This step corresponds to the operation of the bandpass function 202, and may comprise comparing the energy level to a preselected ringback energy threshold level. The evaluating step further includes determining the degree of non-ringback energy 310, by, for example, comparing the non-ringback energy to a preselected voice energy threshold level. If either of the result of these evaluations indicate that voice information is present, even if there is energy in the ringback band, the decoded audio signal is not filtered, and passed 312 to the audio processor where the step of playing 314 the decoded audio signal is performed. However, if the evaluating steps indicate that ringback energy is present, and there is a lack of voice energy outside the ringback band, then the step of applying 316 a ringback filter is performed, providing a ringback filtered audio signal, which is passed to the audio processor where it is played.
Thus, the present invention solves the problem of the false ringback detection by establishing a two part test in evaluating a received signal to determine if a ringback tone or tones has been received. In order for the ringback filter to be applied to the received audio signal, both the ringback energy must be sufficiently high and the non-ringback energy must be sufficiently low. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the means for performing these evaluations is a digital signal processor (DSP) operated in accordance with the principles disclosed hereinabove. In general, the functional blocks of the decoder 108, detection 112, switch 114, and ringback filter 118 could be implemented in either a hardware embodiment or a software embodiment. However, given the flexibility of software implementations, it is preferred that these functions be performed by software executed in a DSP. A significant benefit is derived from performing ringback detection in accordance with the present invention. Rather than using a complex LPC filter to a ringback band-only detection in accordance with the prior art, by using the dual evaluation presently disclosed, a simple, standard bandpass filter may be used to evaluate the ringback band. In fact, rather than having both an LPC filter for evaluating the ringback band and a ringback filter, as in the prior art, the ringback filter may be employed twice in the present invention; once to evaluate the ringback band, and again if the dual evaluation indicates the reception of a ringback signal. Thus, the present invention simplifies the complexity of filtering necessary to perform the ringback detection and ringback filtering.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not so limited.
Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
What is claimed is:
1. A method for reducing false ringback detection in a communication device, comprising:receiving an encoded audio signal; decoding the encoded audio signal to provided a decoded audio signal; determining a ringback energy level in a ringback band of the decoded audio signal; determining a non-ringback energy level in the decoded audio signal out of the ringback band of the decoded audio signal; applying a ringback filter to the decoded audio signal only when the energy in the ringback band is above a preselected ringback energy threshold level and the energy out of the ringback band is below a preselected voice energy threshold level.
2. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined by claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving a VSELP encoded audio signal.
3. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined by claim 1, further comprising playing the decoded audio signal after performing the step of applying a ringback filter.
4. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined by claim 1, wherein the determining the ringback energy level comprises applying a bandpass filter to the decoded audio signal, the bandpass filter for passing at least one ringback tone.
5. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined by claim 1, wherein the determining the non-ringback energy level comprises applying a bandstop filter to the decoded audio signal, the bandstop filter for rejecting any ringback tones.
6. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined by claim 1, wherein the applying the ringback filter comprises applying a bandpass filter to the decoded audio signal, the bandpass filter for passing at least one ringback tone.
7. A method for reducing false ringback detection in a received encoded audio signal, the method comprising the steps of:decoding the encoded audio signal to provide a decoded audio signal having an energy level; comparing the energy level of the decoded audio signal in a ringback band with a preselected ringback energy threshold level; comparing the energy level of the decoded audio signal out of the ringback band with a preselected non-ringback energy threshold level; applying a ringback filter to the decoded audio signal only if the energy level of the decoded audio signal in the ringback band is above the preselected ringback energy threshold level and the energy level of the decoded audio signal out of the ringback band is below the preselected non-ringback energy threshold level, the step of applying a ringback filter providing a ringback signal; and playing the ringback signal over an audio transducer.
8. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of decoding comprises decoding according to a VSELP code scheme.
9. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of comparing the energy level of the decoded signal in the ringback band comprises applying a bandpass filter to the decoded audio signal.
10. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of comparing the energy level of the decoded signal out of the ringback band comprises applying a bandstop filter to the decoded audio signal.
11. A method for reducing false ringback detection as defined in claim 7, wherein the step of applying a ringback filter comprises applying a bandpass filter such that at least one ringback tone is passed and harmonics of the at least one ringback tone are rejected.
12. A communication device for providing telephone service and reducing false ringback detection, comprising:a receiver for receiving an encoded audio signal; a decoder for decoding the encoded audio signal to provide a decoded audio signal; detection means for detecting a ringback energy in a ringback band of the decoded audio signal and a non-ringback energy out of the ringback band; and a ringback filter for passing the ringback band of the decoded audio signal only when the ringback energy is above a preselected ringback energy threshold level and the non-ringback energy is below a preselected non-ringback energy level threshold.
13. A communication device as defined in claim 12, wherein the decoder is a VSELP decoder.
14. A communication device as defined in claim 12, wherein the decoder is a digital signal processor comprising instruction code for performing a decoding algorithm.
15. A communication device as defined in claim 12, wherein the detection means is a digital signal processor comprising instruction code for performing an energy level determination algorithm.
16. A communication device as defined in claim 12, wherein the ringback filter is a digital filter.
17. A communication device as defined in claim 16, wherein the digital filter is performed by a digital signal processor.
|
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
namespace CustomRouting.Web
{
public static class CustomRoutingMiddleware
{
private static RouteManager _routeManager = new RouteManager();
private static EndpointActivator _endpointActivator = new EndpointActivator();
public static RouteManager UseCustomRouting(this IApplicationBuilder app)
{
// Add TryProcess() to request pipeline
app.Use(async (context, next) =>
{
await TryProcess(context);
});
return _routeManager;
}
public static async Task TryProcess(HttpContext context)
{
try
{
// get endpoint method
var endpointMethod = _routeManager.Resolve(context.Request.Method, context.Request.Path);
// read request body
string requestBody = await new StreamReader(context.Request.Body, Encoding.UTF8).ReadToEndAsync();
// activate the endpoint
var response = await _endpointActivator.ActivateAsync(endpointMethod, requestBody);
// serialize the response
var serializedResponse = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(response, Formatting.Indented);
// return response to client
await context.Response.WriteAsync(serializedResponse);
}
catch (Exception error)
{
context.Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError;
await context.Response.WriteAsync(error.Message);
}
}
}
}
|
John Wymer (footballer)
John Wymer (25 January 1933 – 15 June 2005) was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
|
Talk:Neuroglycopenia
note
My main observation of this article concurs entirely with the tag - it does not cite any references. In fact, it does not even cite any other websites. Many claims are made in this article, but it would be good if we could have at least some references, even if just other websites, for at least some of them. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:14, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
* Usually I ignore this kind of thing, but it's always pissed me off. Once upon a time (like back in 2003-2005), many medical topics had no articles, many words in articles no linked definitions or explanations, and almost no articles had references. When articles were written, others were needed just to explain concepts and terms. This was called CONTENT-- and CONTENT, not the references, is the core of an encyclopedia. As WP has improved, because the CONTENT of many of the articles has improved, people have begun to ask for references. References enhance an article, no question, but if there were no content to start with, there would be no need for references, would there? So every time I see a blindingly stupid complaint like this, I imagine some idler lounging on a sidewalk watching people build a building and saying "ya know, it might be nice to have some glass in those windows...". What a contribution! So why don't you either write some content or contribute some references, and stop fantasizing that leaving notes like this makes any article here perceptibly better? We got WAYYYY too many people here who think suggesting what someone else should do is a positive contribution. There. Got it out of my system, at least for now. I know I feel better. —Preceding unsigned comment added by <IP_ADDRESS> (talk) 01:09, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
I think that the article is better now, as people have worked hard to leave references. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 20:22, 9 May 2012 (UTC)
Just one thing though - the article appears to lack a conclusion. Does any one know how we can round it off neatly? 21:15, 16 May 2012 (UTC)ACEOREVIVED (talk) 21:16, 16 May 2012 (UTC)
Neuroglycopaenic and Adrenergic Confusion
This article confuses hypoglycaemic (referring to all symptoms caused by hypoglycaemia and the symptoms caused by the bodes counter-actions) and neuroglycopaenic which purely indicates the mental symptoms directly caused by low blood glucose creating the energy deprivation. These may result from the 'hypoglycaemia' reference. The William's textbook of Endocrinolgy would be a better source here. --<IP_ADDRESS> (talk) 14:20, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
|
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered the most common worldwide health issue affecting almost 1 in 11 adults. The prevalence of this disease for all-aged groups worldwide was 2.8% in year 2000 and is estimated to reach 4.4% by 2030 ([@B1]). The global mortality for DM was reported to be approximately 2.9 million and to account for 5.2% of all deaths by 2000 ([@B2]). The International Diabetes Federation reported that type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) caused five million deaths in the age of 20--79 years in 2015 ([@B3]). Interestingly, 90%--95% of the DM cases are patients with T2DM ([@B4], [@B5]).
The reported oral health complications related to T2DM are periodontal diseases, salivary dysfunction, dental caries, odontogenic abscesses, tooth loss, soft tissue lesions of the tongue and mucosa, candidiasis, and taste ([@B6], [@B7]). Almusawi et al. investigated the potential risk factors of dental caries in patients with T2DM. Dental caries risk could be related to the fasting glucose blood, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and salivary glucose ([@B8]). However, there is sparse evidence to support a potential association between T2DM and dental caries ([@B9], [@B10]). As a consequence, DM and related oral complications with a sequela of events, i.e., xerostomia, periodontal diseases with exposed root surfaces, form a vicious cycle resulting in compromised wellbeing and quality of life for patients with T2DM.
Holistic patient care is based on early detection of dental diseases, and preservation of hard and soft tissues ([@B11]--[@B15]). Early caries detection monitors progression of dental carious lesions, which contributes to formulating personalized management plans and preventing further carious lesion activity. In addition, tailored patient care approaches aim to control the caries progression rather than simple removal of carious lesions and restoration ("drilling and filling") ([@B12]).
In this respect, implementation of personalized care strategies in clinical practice would manage oral complications of patients with T2DM and prevent tooth loss. However, there is lack of standard operating procedures for the management of dental caries in patients with T2DM. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to systematically assess the available clinical evidence for the management of dental caries using minimally invasive (MI) strategies in patients with T2DM.
Materials and methods {#s2}
Study registration {#s2a}
The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO database (Registration ID CRD42020197507). This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Cochrane handbook guidelines for systematic review of interventions ([@B16]). The study methodology followed the four-phase diagram of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) ([@B17]).
Search, eligibility criteria, and study selection {#s2b}
The search strategy used three concepts: first concept included any words related to dental caries while the second concept involved T2DM. Finally, the third concept incorporated either topical applications with patient education or conventional treatment "drilling and filling".
The Participants, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Study Design (PICOS) ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}) was used to formulate an effective search strategy by defining the selected criteria based on participants, interventions, comparisons, and outcomes. Participants were adults (\>18 years of age) of any ethnic group who were diagnosed with T2DM. The interventions included patient education and oral hygiene education, using toothpaste containing different concentrations of fluoride alone or with the addition of remineralizing or antibacterial agents, fluoridated mouth rinse, silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution, fluoride gel, dental varnish containing fluoride/CPP-ACP, chlorhexidine, ozone, polyol, and probiotics. The ultimate outcome was the arrestment/reversal of dental caries. The study design included quantitative, randomized controlled clinical trials, nonrandomized controlled trial (RCT), cross-sectional, prospective, and retrospective studies. Furthermore, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, review articles, observational studies, case reports, expert opinions, and laboratory-based studies were excluded. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify potentially relevant studies by exploring a range of electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE *via* Ovid, EMBASE, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science Core Collection, and Lilacs). Additionally, Google Scholar search for references were undertaken to identify any other relevant published work. The search was carried out without applying any time limits or language restrictions until May 2020. The full search strategy is described in [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}.
::: {#T1 .table-wrap}
PICOS research question development.
Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
--------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
*P*---Participant Participants ≥ 18 with DM type 2 and dental caries Participants with DM type 1\
Participants \< 18 years old
I---Intervention Management of dental caries using topical applications with patient education and oral hygiene education, different concentration fluoride toothpaste alone or with the addition of remineralizing or antibacterial composition, fluoridated mouth rinse, silver diamine fluoride (SDF), fluoride gel, fluoride varnish or CPP-ACP, chlorhexidine, ozone, polyol, and probiotics
C---Comparison Conventional treatment "drilling and filling"
O---Outcome Arrest/reversal of dental caries Mean numbers of dental carious lesions that have been arrest/reversal
Proportion of dental carious lesions that have been arrest/reversal
No symptoms of pain or discomfort
Restorations Survival of restorations
S---Study design Quantitative studies, randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs), non-RCTs, cross-sectional studies, *p*rospective studies, and retrospective studies Systematic reviews and meta-analysis, review articles, observational studies, case reports, expert opinions, laboratory study, laboratory-based, *in vitro* studies, animal studies, and studies using extracted permanent teeth
DM, diabetes mellitus.
::: {#T2 .table-wrap}
Full search strategy in database.
\#1 "dental caries" OR "carious lesion" OR "caries lesion" OR "enamel caries" OR "root caries" OR "coronal caries" OR "cariogenesis" OR "carious dentine" OR "carious teeth" OR "dental caries susceptibility" OR "dental decay" OR "tooth caries" OR "tooth decay" OR "proximal caries" OR "interproximal caries" OR "occlusal caries" OR "initial caries lesion" OR "primary caries" OR "secondary caries" OR "recurrent caries" OR "residual caries" OR "hidden caries" OR "rampant caries" OR "dental caries"\[MeSH\] OR "root caries"\[MeSH\]
\#2 "diabetes mellitus, type 2"\[MeSH\] OR "diabetes mellitus type 2" OR "type 2 diabetes mellitus" OR "diabetes mellitus"\[MeSH\] OR "diabetes mellitus" OR "diabetes"
\#3 "oral hygiene education" OR "fluoridate" OR "fluoridation"\[MeSH\] OR "fluoridation" OR "fluorides"\[MeSH\] OR "fluorides" OR "fluoride" OR "topical fluoride" OR "topical fluorides" OR "fluorides, topical"\[MeSH\] OR "toothpastes"\[MeSH\] OR "toothpastes" OR "toothpaste" OR "dentifrices"\[ Pharmacological Action\] OR "dentifrices"\[MeSH\] OR "dentifrices" OR "dentifrice" OR "cariostatic agents" OR "cariostatic agents"\[MeSH\] OR "cariostatic agents"\[Pharmacological Action\] OR "mouthwashes"\[MeSH\] OR "mouthwashes" OR "silver diamine fluoride" OR "silver diamine fluoride"\[Supplementary Concept\] OR "silver diammine fluoride" OR "SDF" OR "gel" OR "dental varnish" OR "casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate" OR "CPP-ACP" OR "chlorhexidine"\[MeSH\] OR "chlorhexidine" OR "chlorhexidin" OR "ozone"\[MeSH\] OR "ozone" OR "polyol"\[Supplementary Concept\] OR "polyol" OR "polyoles" OR "polyols" OR "sugar alcohols" OR "sugar alcohols"\[MeSH\] OR "probiotics"\[MeSH\] OR "probiotics" OR "probiotic" OR "lasers"\[MeSH\] OR "lasers" OR "laser" OR "lesion exposure" OR "infiltrate" OR "infiltrated" OR "infiltrates" OR "infiltration" OR "infiltrations" OR "atraumatic restorative treatment" OR "atraumatic" OR "restoration" OR "restorations" OR "restorable" OR "restorated" OR "restorative" OR "restoratives" OR "restore" OR "restored" OR "restores" OR "restoring" OR "minimally invasive dentistry" OR "MID" OR "MI" OR "minimally invasive" OR "minimally invasive surgical procedures"\[MeSH\] OR "plaque control" OR "varnish" OR "varnished" OR "varnishing" OR "varnishes" OR "paint"\[MeSH\] OR "paint" OR "sealant" OR "sealants" OR "triclosan"\[MeSH\] OR "triclosan" OR "essential oils" OR "thyme" OR "thymus plant"\[MeSH\] OR "thymus plant" OR "thymus" OR "remineralisation" OR "remineralise" OR "remineralised" OR "remineralising" OR "remineralization" OR "remineralize" OR "remineralized" OR "remineralizing" OR "demineralisation" OR "demineralise" OR "demineralised" OR "demineralising" OR "demineralization" OR "demineralizations" OR "demineralize" OR "demineralized" OR "demineralizes" OR "demineralizing" OR drill, fill OR "conventional treatment"
\#4 Search \#1 AND \#2 AND \#3.
Boolean operators ("OR" and "AND") were used to join search terms.
Data collection {#s2c}
Duplicate articles were removed using the EndNote X9 software (Clarivate Analytics, Philadelphia, Pa, United States) ([@B18]). The screening and data extraction processes were performed with the Covidence web-based software (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)[^1^](#FN0001){ref-type="fn"}. Based on the selection criteria through PICOS strategy, titles and abstracts were examined independently by two examiners (HC and AB), and any disagreements were resolved according to a predefined strategy, using consensus and arbitration as appropriate. The second stage consisted of reading the full texts and assessing the potential studies thoroughly. Studies not meeting the inclusion criteria were removed. If a disagreement could not be resolved, then a third investigator (RH) was approached to reach the consensus. The references cited in the included studies were also checked.
Risk of individual bias of the studies {#s2d}
Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias according to the Cochrane library guidelines ([@B19]), and any disagreement was resolved with the third reviewer (RH). Five domains were identified for risk of bias: selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, incomplete data, and reporting bias. Subsequently, each domain judgment was marked for each study as low risk of bias, high risk of bias, or unclear.
Syntheses of results {#s2e}
Data homogeneity was assessed according to the management of dental caries in patients with T2DM. The significant level was set at 0.05, using JMP®, Version 14.2 (SAS Institute, United States). The variables related to study design, location, duration, dropout rate, sample size, age of participants, gender, dental caries diagnostic criteria, evaluation methods, intervention methods used, outcome measure, and results were recorded.
The search methodology has been reported according to the PRISMA Statement and presented in [Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}. A total of 909 studies were initially identified in all searched database. 147 studies were then excluded as duplicates. The titles and abstract were examined according to inclusion criteria, and 625 articles were subsequently excluded leaving 137 studies for further review. Search strategy used in PubMed (MEDLINE) (*n* = 75), EMBASE (*n* = 123), Ovid (MEDLINE) (*n* = 15), Web of Science (*n* = 217), Scopus (*n* = 479), Cochrane Library (*n* = 0), and Lilacs (*n* = 0) were identified.
::: {#F1 .fig}
PRISMA flow diagram.
Following the assessment of these studies, 135 studies were then excluded, and the reason is that 41 studies presented non-T2DM participants. These studies recruited healthy participants (*n* = 4), patients requiring orthodontic treatments (*n* = 1), nursing home residents (*n* = 2), patients with renal disease (*n* = 1), institutionalized elderly people (*n* = 2), diabetes type 1 participants (*n* = 3), patients with odontogenic infections (*n* = 1), participants with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (*n* = 1), head-and-neck cancer patients (*n* = 9), Sjogren\'s syndrome (*n* = 5), oral cancer (*n* = 1), xerostomia patients (*n* = 7), participants with lower-arch intra-oral appliances (*n* = 1), hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients (*n* = 1), independently living older adults (*n* = 1), and finally patients with metabolic syndrome (*n* = 1).
Four studies failed to specify the type of diabetes, while background information of participants was missing in seven studies. In addition, the reported outcomes in two studies were not related to dental caries.
Finally, 23 studies were excluded due to different study designs. Three studies were systematic reviews while 8 of 23 were laboratory-based studies. There were 44 studies with noninterventional designs. These were cross-sectional (*n* = 33), case--control (*n* = 6), survey (*n* = 1), and observational (*n* = 4) studies. There was one unpublished data while the authors from two studies failed to reply to the request for more information with regard to methodology.
A total of only two studies fulfilled the criteria specified in this systematic review. The key characteristics of included studies are shown in [Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"}. Both studies that evaluated dental caries using the MI approach in patients with T2DM were randomized controlled trials. One study was based on Korea recruited participants from university hospital ([@B20]), while the other study was conducted with the participants from the Local Health Unit in Italy ([@B6]). These two studies examined the changes in dental caries status for patients with T2DM. The sample size varied from 75 to 134 participants and the period of these studies was 6 months with follow-up rates between 93.75% and 100%, respectively ([Table 4](#T4){ref-type="table"}).
::: {#T3 .table-wrap}
Reported key characteristics of included studies.
Authors Methods Participants Study groups Outcome measures
------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------
Lee et al. (2009) **Location:** Department of internal medicine, Yeungnam University hospital, Daegu City\ ***N* =** 75 Type-2 diabetes (28 F and 47 M)\ **Intervention group:** Intensive oral hygiene care program once a month for 6 months (*n* = 40)\ Dental caries status
**Follow-up:** 6 months\ **Age:** \< 45 (*n* = 20)\ **Control group:** Intensive oral hygiene care program at baseline and after 6 months only (*n* = 35)
**Funding source:** University grants\ 45--54 (*n* = 21)\
**Study design:** Randomized controlled trial 55--64 (*n* = 25)\
\>65 (*n* = 9)
Montaldo et al. (2010) **Location:** Local health unit "Napoli 1", Italy\ ***N* =** 134 type 2 diabetes (78 F and 56 M)\ **Intervention group:** Immunologically active salivary substitutes with toothpaste, mouthwash, and a moistening gel (*n* = 67)\ Dental caries status
**Follow-up:** 6 months\ **Age:** 47.9 ± 2.9 years **Control group:** No intervention (*n* = 67)
**Funding source:** Not reported\
**Study design:** Randomized controlled trial
::: {#T4 .table-wrap}
Comparison of included studies.
Study Evaluation methods Results Dropout rate
------------------------ -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------
Lee et al. (2009) Clinical assessments and radiographs **Baseline values (mean ± SD) for intervention and control groups, respectively**\ 6.25%
DT index (1.28 ± 2.90; 1.60 ± 0.91) (*p *= 0.51),\
DMFT index (6.98 ± 5.20; 8.77 ± 3.99) (*p* = 0.10),\
Plaque index (7.38 ± 4.05; 11.14 ± 3.72) (*p* \< 0.0001),\
Dental calculus index (9.75 ± 3.10; 9.34 ± 2.48) (*p* = 0.53),\
Bleeding index (1.95 ± 0.75; 2.11 ± 0.54) (*p *= 0.10),\
PHP index (3.25 ± 0.94; 4.01 ± 0.70) (*p* = 0.0002),\
HbA1c (7.9% ± 1.9%; 7.5% ± 1.2%) (*p* = 0.32)\
**Values at 6 months (mean ± SD) for intervention and control groups, respectively**\
DT index (1.33 ± 2.89; 1.57 ± 0.92) (*p *= 0.10),\
DMFT index (7.18 ± 5.22; 8.86 ± 4.04) (*p* = 0.40),\
Plaque index (1.83 ± 0.90; 9.83 ± 4.05) (*p* \< 0.0001),\
Dental calculus index (1.35 ± 0.74; 8.06 ± 2.83) (*p* \< 0.0001),\
Bleeding index (0.32 ± 0.33; 1.92 ± 0.68) (*p* \< 0.0001),\
PHP index (1.46 ± 0.45; 3.96 ± 0.85) (*p* \< 0.0001)
Montaldo et al. (2010) Clinical assessments **Values for intervention group at baseline and after 6 months**\ 35.3%
Patients with carious or restored teeth ≤ 2 \[32 (48%) to 33 (49%)\] (*p *\> 0.01),\
Patients with carious or filled teeth ≥ 3 \[28 (42%) to 29 (43%)\] (*p *\> 0.01),\
Dental Plaque index (2.3 ± 0.73 to 1.6 ± 0.56) (*p *\< 0.01),\
Positive yeast counts \[40 (60%) to 25 (37%)\] (*p *\< 0.01)\
**Values for control group at baseline and after 6 months**\
Patients with carious or restored teeth ≤ 2 \[33 (49%) to 34 (51%)\] (*p *\> 0.01),\
Patients with carious or filled teeth ≥ 3 \[26 (39%) to 28 (42%)\] (*p *\> 0.01),\
Dental Plaque index (2.1 ± 0.74 to 2.2 ± 0.71) (*p* \> 0.01),\
Positive yeast count \[38 (57%) to 41 (61%)\] (*p* \> 0.01)
SD, standard deviation; DT, Decayed Teeth; DMFT, Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth; PHP, Patient Hygiene Performance; Hb1Ac, hemoglobin A1c.
Lee et al. carried out oral health education that included instructions on toothbrushing and the use of oral health aids (interproximal brushes and/or dental floss) from a trained dental hygienist in addition to educational brochures. The hygienist then performed supragingival debridement under the supervision of a trained dentist. All these procedures (oral examination, full-mouth radiograph, oral health education, and supragingival debridement) were repeated on a monthly basis for the intervention group. However, the control group had all these procedures at baseline and after six months only ([@B20]). The study concluded that plaque, dental calculus, bleeding, and Patient Hygiene Performance (PHP) indices reduced when compared to baseline values in both groups. However, there were significant differences in plaque, dental calculus, bleeding, and PHP indices (*p *\< 0.001) between the intervention and control groups after 6 months. The number of Decayed Teeth (DT) index showed a decrease in the number of dental caries for a period of 6 months in the control group. Interestingly, this index increased in the intervention group (*p *\> 0.05). The Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) indices were increased in both groups after 6 months. However, the DMFT index failed to show any significant differences between the intervention and control groups (*p *\> 0.05). The mean level of HbA1c was 7.9 ± 1.9 and 7.5 ± 1.2 in the intervention and control groups, respectively, at the baseline (*p *\> 0.05). It should be noted that this study only provided HbA1c status for both groups at baseline ([@B20]).
Montaldo et al. applied immunologically active salivary substitutes including lactoperoxidase, lysozyme, glucose oxidase, and lactoferrin with oral hygiene instructions (including the use of toothpaste, mouthwash, and moisturizing gel) to assess the participants with T2DM either having dental caries or restorations and compared to the control group (no intervention) ([@B6]). In this 6-month study, there was 1% increase in the intervention group for patients with ≥3 carious or restored teeth when compared to the control group with 3% increase (*p *\> 0.01). The percentage of number of carious or restored teeth ≤2 increased 1% in interventional group, while the increase was 2% in the control group (*p *\> 0.01). In addition, mean differences in dental plaque index for the intervention group was 0.7 (*p *\< 0.01); however, this difference for the control group was 0.1 (*p *\> 0.01). There were no statistical differences in dental caries and tooth loss between the intervention and control groups (*p *\> 0.01). In addition, microbiological analysis showed that the salivary substitutes significantly decreased the yeast counts (*Candida albicans*, *Candida tropicalis*, and *Candida* and *Aspergillus* species) in the intervention group (*p* \< 0.01); however, the yeast counts increased in the control group (*p *\> 0.01) ([@B6]).
The Inter-Examiner Agreement was also observed with two studies ([Table 5](#T5){ref-type="table"}). There was an unclear risk of selection bias as the participants were randomly allocated to two groups according to the order of presentation at the outpatient clinics; however, there were no details in the randomization process ([@B20]). The recruitment and randomization processes were also vague in the study conducted by Montaldo et al. Therefore, the risk of selection bias was considered to be unclear ([@B6]).
::: {#T5 .table-wrap}
Risk of bias in the included studies.
Lee et al. (2009) Montaldo et al. (2010)
-------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------------------
Selection bias (sequence generation, allocation concealment) ? ?
Performance bias (blinding of participants) H L
Detection bias (blinding of outcome assessment) H L
Incomplete data H L
Reporting bias (selective reporting) L L
? Unknown risk of bias; H, high risk of bias; L, low risk of bias.
Montaldo et al. had the same clinicians to carry out the dental examination at baseline and after 6 months. The clinicians were blinded to the intervention and control groups. Therefore, the performance and detection biases were considered to be low ([@B6]). Lee et al. required the clinicians to be blinded *prior* to all clinical assessments at baseline only; however, there was no clearly defined blinding process. Therefore, this might affect the clinicians to conduct clinical examinations and oral health education for interventional and control groups. The performance and detection biases are likely to be high in this study ([@B20]).
Regarding the incomplete data, there was low risk in two studies. Lee et al. lost five participants who were in the control group (80 patients were included in each group at the baseline) after 6 months. There were no detailed reasons such as time points for the lost participants in the study. The risk bias for incomplete data is likely to be high ([@B20]). There were no dropouts after 6 months in the study by Montaldo et al. The bias of incomplete data is considered to be low ([@B6]).
Overall, the risk of reporting bias in two studies is likely to be low since the measured outcomes were fully reported.
In this systematic review, the clinical outcome was defined as arrest/reversal of dental caries. In the included studies, the primary outcome was periodontal health ([@B20]) with dental caries ([@B6]) in patients with T2DM. These authors evaluated dental caries status following the employment of oral health education and different minimally invasive interventions. This is the first systematic review to identify the necessity of oral health education and minimally invasive strategies for the management of dental caries in patients with T2DM.
T2DM is one of the risk factors for hyposalivation and this might be related to the structural changes caused by diabetes mellitus in the salivary glands, changes consisting of acinar atrophy, and adipose infiltration. In addition, the quality of saliva might also be affected due to the oral complications caused by diabetes. Therefore, early detection and management of dental caries in diabetes patients would provide retention of their teeth and improve quality of life. In this respect, topical applications with patient education aim to minimize invasive interventions such as "drilling and filling," which is not the preferred treatment modality by many patients ([@B21]). In this systematic review, topical applications with patient education included oral hygiene instructions and immunologically active salivary substitutes. These management strategies can reduce the progression of dental caries to a certain extent.
Both studies in this systematic review used oral hygiene instructions, which were previously proven to be effective in improving oral health. Nyvad and Fejerskov reported that active root carious lesions can be reversed to inactive status with oral hygiene instructions alone (toothbrushing with fluoridated toothpaste) for a period of 18 months. Therefore, oral hygiene education could be considered as part of patient education and would be beneficial for the management of dental caries in T2DM ([@B22]).
As a separate note, Montaldo et al. ([@B6]) reported that the reduction in saliva would result in the compromised host-defense mechanism in the mouth due to the possible reduction or lack of salivary proteins and enzymes. Interestingly, the authors also noted that the use of salivary substitutes including lactoperoxidase, lysozyme, glucose oxidase, and lactoferrin could reduce plaque accumulation and indirectly eliminate the risk of gingival inflammation and mucosal infections. In their study, a total of 90 patients out of 134 had gingivitis (67%) and 78 patients out of 134 (58%) had positive yeast counts (*Candida albicans*). Following the use of salivary substitutes, positive yeast counts decreased from 60% to 37%. However, the findings of this study ([@B6]) failed to distinguish the effectiveness of immunologically active salivary substitutes and oral hygiene instructions in the reversal/arrest of dental caries for patients with T2DM. The effect of immunologically active salivary substitutes and/or oral health education for the management of dental caries in patients with T2DM requires further exploration.
High levels of salivary glucose can increase the candidal adherence to buccal epithelial cells. Salivary glucose forms chemically reversible glycosylation products with proteins in the oral tissues during hyperglycemic episodes in T2DM patients. This results in the accumulation of advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs). These AGEs would increase the number of receptors for *Candida* species in oral mucosa. In this respect, *Candida* species colonize on teeth and oral mucosa membranes since glucose is a source of nutrient for these microorganisms and ultimately would suppress the killing capacity of neutrophils. Salivary immunoglobulin A and free secretory component are capable of inhibiting the adherence of *Candida* species to the epithelial cells. Therefore, the immunologically active saliva substitutes in T2DM patients could be an effective way to reduce salivary glucose concentration ([@B23]) and ultimately reduce the incidence of oral infections and dental caries. However, more evidence is required.
Lee et al. ([@B20]) reported an increase in DMFT indices for both groups following the intensive oral hygiene program with educational leaflets from a trained dental hygienist for a period of 6 months. Interestingly, the DT index showed the reduction in dental caries for the control group when the participants had oral hygiene education only twice during the study. However, the interventional group had increase in the DT index for a period of 6 months despite having the oral hygiene instructions on a monthly basis. In addition, the HbA1c levels in the intervention group were worse when compared to those in the control group, which might affect the impact of oral hygiene care in these participants. Yonekura et al. reported that DT was higher in patients with poorly controlled T2DM ([@B24]). With this respect, Al Amri et al. indicated that the level of HbA1c was reduced by the implementation of oral hygiene instructions for a period of 2 years. Therefore, it should be noted that education on plaque control might have a potential impact to influence the glycemic control ([@B25], [@B26]). However, patients with T2DM and unstable HbA1c might have more glucose in saliva and could experience dry mouth ([@B27]). These conditions then contribute to the increase in biofilm on teeth, which leads to dental caries ([@B28]). The level of metabolic control in T2DM could, therefore, affect the management of dental caries ([@B23]).
The dental plaque index is used to measure the oral hygiene status ([@B29]). Removal of dental plaque is considered a strategy to control dental caries due to the presence of a community of microorganisms that are dominated by acidogenic and antitolerating species within the biofilm ([@B30]). In this respect, Von der Fehr et al. reported that high sugar exposure related to the lack of plaque control caused carious lesions during a 23-day period ([@B31]). Interestingly, Holmen et al. also concluded that mechanical plaque removal or interruption of biofilm without the use of fluoride could be capable of arresting early enamel caries ([@B32]). However, this study was carried out with only four premolars. In addition, dental biofilm removal by toothbrushing with sufficient fluoridated toothpastes on a daily basis contributed to arresting the progression of dental caries in noncavitated and cavitated dentine lesions. However, even after performing dental plaque removal, the residual biofilms and microorganisms could be retained in the surface irregularities and areas such as approximal surfaces and fissures. Therefore, this is unlikely to prevent the development of dental caries.
The DMFT index is one of the most commonly used indices in epidemiologic surveys of dental caries. This index quantifies the dental health status based on the sum of number of decayed, missing due to caries, and filled teeth in the permanent teeth. However, the DMFT index fails to distinguish between decayed, missing, and filled teeth due to an equal weight to the decayed and restored teeth ([@B33]). The percentage of carious or restored teeth also failed to distinguish carious and restored teeth in the included study ([@B6]). In addition, this system is unable to report noncavitated enamel carious lesions ([@B34]). Many authors have proposed different methods to evaluate dental caries, such as the Nyvad criteria ([@B35]) and International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) ([@B36]). These methods have been validated to present reproducibility and correlation in dental caries assessment ([@B37]).
One possible limitation in this systematic review is that none of the reviewed publications had comparable figures that would allow for an additional analysis directly to compare their results. The included studies reported completely different measurements such as the DT, missing teeth (MT), filled teeth (FT), DMFT, calculus, plaque, and bleeding indices. In this respect, these values were at different scales. Lee et al. reported the DMFT index to indicate the status of dental caries. However, Montaldo et al. indicated the number of patients with carious/filled and missing teeth in percentages. In addition, Lee et al. presented the mean and standard deviation (SD) for the plaque index, while Montaldo et al. reported the mean of plaque index without specified SD or standard error (SE) ([@B6]).
The evidence obtained from this systematic review emphasizes the need for further well-designed, randomized, and controlled clinical trials evaluating the effect of different strategies for management of dental caries in patients with T2DM for a period of at least 2 years.
In conclusion, the current randomized controlled clinical trials demonstrated the following: (i)Regular extensive oral health education using interdental cleaning aids, mouthwash, and moistening gel can help in dental caries management and prevention.(ii)Saliva substitutes including lactoperoxidase, lysozyme, glucose oxidase, and lactoferrin could control oral inflammation and contribute to the management of dental caries in patients with T2DM.In the future, more randomized controlled clinical trials including prevention and management strategies are required to carry out dental caries treatment in patients with T2DM.
The Covidence web-based software (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) for allowing us to access more than 500 studies (free of charge).
Data availability statement {#s6}
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
Author contributions {#s7}
HC: conceived of the study, conceptualized study protocol, contributed to data collection, analyzed data, data interpretation, and wrote first manuscript draft. RH: contributed to study protocol, contributed to data interpretation, and edited manuscript. AB: contributed to study protocol, organized data collection, analyzed data, data interpretation, and edited manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Conflict of interest {#s8}
Publisher\'s note {#s9}
[^1]: **Edited by:** Georgios N. Belibasakis, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Sweden
[^2]: **Reviewed by:** Balgis Gaffar, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia Susan M Bissett, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
[^3]: **Specialty Section:** This article was submitted to Oral Health Promotion, a section of the journal Frontiers in Oral Health
|
Portal confuses values that are equal but of different types
I was able to reproduce the problem I reported in this slack discussion using plain clojure types.
(tap> {:a [[1]]})
(tap> {:a ['(1)]})
Here one object contains a vector [1] and another contains a list (1). However, the portal shows both as vectors.
If I clear it and tap them in the opposite order, both will be shown as lists:
This time I wasn't able to observe diferrent values by accessing portal selection, but tap-list clearly shows two different types:
@#'portal.runtime/tap-list ; => #<Atom@aeae4fd: ({:a [(1)]} {:a [[1]]})>
When types are important this becomes extremely confusing since you're used to trust what you see in portal.
Thanks for the bug report, should be fixed in 0.55.0.
Thanks for the bug report, should be fixed in 0.55.0.
Awesome, thanks a lot for a quick fix!
Unfortunately I just found that this didn't address my original problem.
So if I'm reading the fix correctly, it takes hashcode and meta into account but it doesn't take type into account. I'm pretty sure adding type to the hash would address my problem. As a workaround I could also force my custom objects to generate a hashcode that's different from the one that regular Clojure collections produce.
In general, I think we should expect key clashes when storing data in a cache. So when two or more different objects share the same key, we should still be able to distinguish them in the cache.
Thoughts?
Redefining hashcode function didn't work. hash function in Clojure ignores different values as can be seen here:
; Here is what I see after tapping two of my objects:
(map #(-> % :metrics first hash) @@#'portal.runtime/tap-list)
(-724974908 -724974908) ; identical values here
(map #(-> % :metrics first type) @@#'portal.runtime/tap-list)
(clojure.lang.PersistentArrayMap cash.Metric) ; different types here
(map #(-> % :metrics first .hashCode) @@#'portal.runtime/tap-list)
(1655286045<PHONE_NUMBER>) ; different values here
With the example provided above:
(tap> {:a [[1]]})
(tap> {:a ['(1)]})
I get:
The inner list / vector types are now correctly sent to the client.
Is there another example you are trying out?
The solution involves adding the additional hash-like number computed by:
(defn- hash+ [x]
(cond
(map? x)
(reduce-kv
(fn [out k v]
(+ out (hash+ k) (hash+ v)))
(+ 1 (if (sorted? x) 1 0) (hash+ (meta x)))
x)
(coll? x)
(reduce
(fn [out v]
(+ out (hash+ v)))
(+ (cond
(list? x) 3
(set? x) (if (sorted? x) 4 5)
(vector? x) 6
:else 7)
(hash+ (meta x)))
x)
:else
(cond-> (hash x)
(can-meta? x)
(+ (hash+ (meta x))))))
Which assigns different values to different shapes based on various Clojure type predicates. This will easily produce collisions which is why the value is still part of the cache key.
here are the current tests.
|
With no explanation, label text_A→text_B with either "not-entailed" or "entailed".
text_A: The agreements came Saturday on the first day of Chinese President Hu Jintao 's three-day visit to Saudi Arabia .
text_B: President is a geographical/political entity
not-entailed.
|
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using System.IO.Ports;
using System.Threading;
public class TrafficLight : MonoBehaviour
{
// PUT here your port name
public static SerialPort sp = new SerialPort("/dev/tty.usbmodemxxxxxx", 9600);
// Start is called before the first frame update
void Start()
{
OpenConnection();
}
// Update is called once per frame
void Update()
{
}
public void OpenConnection()
{
if (sp!=null)
{
if(sp.IsOpen)
{
sp.Close();
print("Closing port, because it's already open");
}
else
{
sp.Open();
sp.ReadTimeout = 100;
print("port open");
}
}
else
{
if(sp.IsOpen)
{
print("port is already open");
}
else{
print("port == null");
}
}
}
void OnApplicationQuit()
{
sp.Close();
}
public static void sendYellow(){
sp.Write("y");
}
public static void sendGreen(){
sp.Write("g");
}
public static void sendRed(){
sp.Write("r");
}
}
|
Non-binary gender
* both man and woman (bigender, trigender, pangender);
* neither man nor woman (nongendered, genderless, agender);
* moving between genders (genderfluid);
* third gender or other-gendered; includes those who do not place a name to their gender;
Gender pronouns
Gender neutrality
Out genderqueer people
Discrimination
|
Rescue stretcher with securement straps
ABSTRACT
A stretcher including a flexible base panel sized to support a person lying thereon during a rescue or extrication operation. The base panel includes a header end and an opposite footer end, and further includes a head-supporting region and a body-supporting region. The head-supporting region is sized to support the head and shoulders of the person and the body-supporting region is sized to support a human torso. The stretcher further includes a securement strap extending from the head-supporting region along one side of the base panel and crossing over to the body-supporting region at the other side of the base panel. The securement strap extends diagonally across the shoulder and torso of the person to arrest the shoulder and limit sliding movement of the person toward the header end of the panel.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 29/430,096,filed Aug. 21, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
The field of the disclosure relates generally to rescue stretchers with straps for securing an injured person to the rescue stretcher during emergency extrication and transport.
BACKGROUND
Transporting an incapacitated or injured person to a hospital or other treatment facility is often an essential part of providing proper medical care. An ambulance, helicopter, or other similar vehicle is well-known for such transport. However, in some instances, such as whenthe injured person is in a forested area, on an embankment, or on a battlefield, transport vehicles may have difficulty accessing the location of the injured person. In such cases, the injured person is typically first transported from the injury site to the ambulance and thereafter taken to the hospital or other treatment facility.Lightweight and easily deployable stretchers, litters, and other similar devices are known for facilitating such casualty movement. To help prevent further injury, these devices generally include restraints or straps to immobilize the injured person during transport.
The present inventor has recognized some disadvantages with such lightweight stretchers. For instance, during use of the stretcher, the straps typically extend transversely across the stretcher and are tightly cinched to restrain the person on the stretcher. One disadvantage of this configuration is that the injured person is primarily restrained via the compressive force of the tightened straps,which may complicate or exacerbate existing injuries. In addition, while transverse straps may help prevent the injured person from rolling off the sides of the rescue stretcher, such straps are not particularly well-suited for preventing the person from sliding toward the top or bottom ends of the stretcher. Preventing this movement is a great concern during air-lift rescue operations or transport on slopedterrains where gravitational forces pull the injured person and may cause sliding off the top or bottom ends of the stretcher.
Accordingly, the present inventor has recognized a need for an improved rescue stretcher with securement straps to arrest movement along thetop, bottom, and sides of stretcher while minimizing the compressiveforces exerted on the injured person. Additional aspects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rescue stretcher in a tensioned and operative configuration according to one embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the rescue stretcher of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the rescue stretcher of FIG. 1 in a flat and relaxed configuration.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to the drawings, this section describes particular embodiments and their detailed construction and operation. Throughout the specification, reference to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or“some embodiments” means that a particular described feature, structure,or characteristic may be included in at least one embodiment. Thus appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” or“in some embodiments” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore,the described features, structures, and characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In view of the disclosure herein, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details or with other methods, components, materials, or the like. In some instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or not described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the embodiments.
FIGS. 1-3 illustrate various detailed views of a rescue stretcher 100that may be used to support and safely extract an injured person 50 froma hazardous environment. Rescue stretcher 100 includes an elongated,flexible base panel 105 panel having a plurality of eyelets 155, 160spaced along left and right edges 130, 135, respectively. Base panel 105further includes a plurality of eyelets 165, 170 spaced along header and footer ends 110, 115, respectively. In addition, rescue stretcher 100includes securement straps 175, 180, 205, 210 each threaded through someof the eyelets 155, 160, 165, 170 and spaced apart from another in any desired configuration (for example, as shown in FIG. 1).
In one example configuration, a number of straps 175 extend transverselyacross the base panel 105. When straps 175 are tightened, base panel 105rolls inwardly to at least partially cradle person 50 and help prevent person 50 from rolling off the base panel 105 (e.g., such as via left and right edges 130, 135). Similarly, straps 205, 210, when tightened,pull a portion of footer end 115 inwardly to support the feet of person50 and limit movement of the person 50 toward the footer end 115 of rescue stretcher 100. Finally, shoulder strap 180 extends across a shoulder and a chest of the injured person 50 from a head-supportingregion 145 to a central body-supporting region 140 of base panel 105.Shoulder strap 180 arrests the shoulder and helps prevent injured person50 from slipping or moving toward header end 110 of base panel 105.
The following describes further detailed aspects of this and other embodiments of rescue stretcher 100. In the following description of the figures and any example embodiments, reference may be made to using the rescue stretcher disclosed herein to support and transport injured person. It should be understood that any such references merely refer toone prospective use for such a rescue stretcher and should not be considered as limiting. Other uses for such rescue stretcher with the characteristics and features described herein are possible, including uses to transport captured animals/game, or transporting equipment,firewood, ammunition, or other heavy loads (including both military and civilian uses). Still other uses not specifically described herein maybe possible.
In addition, the following disclosure may include references to an injured person's body parts and/or particular regions of the body. It should be understood that any such discussion is meant to facilitate description and establish a frame of reference relating to a typical injured person with all limbs and body parts intact. Accordingly, any such references are for convenience only and should not be considered as limiting.
With reference to FIGS. 1-3, rescue stretcher 100 includes an elongated base panel 105 formed of a lightweight and flexible material with strength and durability characteristics suitable for supporting the weight of an injured person 50 during transport. In one embodiment, base panel 105 comprises a single sheet of lightweight plastic material, suchas medium-density polyethylene or a synthetic thermoplastic resin,selected for durability, strength, flexibility and resistance to damage(such as from cutting, scarring, denting, breaking, and deforming) toprovide a suitable rescue stretcher 100 for carrying injured people.
Base panel 105 includes a header end 110 and a footer end 115 opposite header end 110. Base panel 105 further includes opposite front and back surfaces 120, 125 and opposite left and right peripheral sides 130, 135.To establish a frame of reference, front surface 120 refers to a surface of base panel 105 that receives injured person 50 during use of rescuestretcher 100. Back surface 125 refers to the opposite surface of the base panel 105 that may contact the ground, such as during a dragging operation.
With particular reference to FIG. 3, front surface 120 of base panel 105is divided into three main regions: a body-supporting region 140, ahead-supporting region 145, and a foot-supporting region 150.Head-supporting region 145 is bounded by left and right sides 130, 135of base panel 105 and is located between body-supporting region 140 and header end 110. Similarly, foot-supporting region 150 is bounded by left and right sides 130, 135 of base panel 105 and is located between body-supporting region 140 and footer end 110. Body-supporting region140 is bounded by left and right sides 130, 135 and spans between head-supporting region 145 and foot-supporting region 150 on base panel105.
In general terms, the head-supporting region 145 is sized to support the head, neck, shoulders, and an upper portion of the body transected by aline extending between the axilla (i.e., underarm or armpit) of the injured person 50. Foot-supporting region 150 is sized to support the feet of the injured person 50 and a portion of the lower leg up to aboutthe ankle. Body-supporting region 140 supports the remaining portion ofthe body, that is, the portion that extends generally from the chest region (e.g., below the axilla) to the ankles.
Overall, base panel 105 may have suitable dimensions for receiving and comfortably supporting injured person 50. For instance, in one example embodiment, base panel 105 may have a length (as measured from header end 110 to footer end 115) ranging from between 72 to 84 inches and a width (as measured from left side 130 to right side 135) ranging from between 18 to 30 inches. In addition, head and foot-supporting regions145, 150 may each range in length from between 12 to 24 inches, with body-supporting region 140 ranging in length from between 48 to 60inches to accommodate the injured person 50. Base panel 105 may range in thickness from between 1/16 inches to about ¼ inches. It should be understood that the particular dimensions described illustrate one example embodiment and that any suitable dimensions may be used. For instance, the length and width dimensions may be smaller rescuestretchers targeted primarily for use with children.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, in some embodiments, base panel 105 may not have a uniform width throughout, but may include one or more tapered sections. For instance, in one embodiment, left and right sides 130, 135of base panel 105 may taper inwardly toward header end 110 and toward footer end 115. In some embodiments, the left and right sides 130, 135may uniformly and gradually taper toward header end 110 to define a generally trapezoidal-shaped head-supporting region 145. In such embodiments, base panel 105 is narrower at header end 110 as compared to body-supporting region 140. In such a configuration, rescue stretcher100 receives and supports the head of injured person 50 withoutobstructing the sides of the head of injured person 50 when rescuestretcher 100 is in an operative condition (for example, as illustrated in FIG. 2). Preferably, the width of the stretcher at the footer end 115is such that it becomes an anatomical leg split when the straps (e.g.,straps 175, 205, 210) are tightened around the legs.
Similarly, left and right sides 130, 135 may gradually taper or curveinwardly toward foot-supporting region 150. Preferably, the left and right sides 130, 135 curve inwardly toward footer end 115 to help promote rolling of foot-supporting region 150 when the rescue stretcher100 is in use. Further details relating to the rolling feature of foot-supporting region 150 are described below.
With particular reference to FIG. 3, base panel 105 further includes a plurality of eyelets or apertures 155, 160, 165, 170 that may drilled,cut, punched, or otherwise formed using any suitable techniques. In some embodiments, some or all of eyelets 155, 160, 165, 170 may be reinforced using conventional metal grommets (which may also be referred to aseyelets) to reduce the risk of tearing portions of base panel 105.
Eyelets 155, 160 may each be spaced inwardly between two to four inches from right and left edges 135, 130, respectively. In addition, eyelets165, 170 may each be spaced inwardly between two to four inches from header and footer ends 110, 115, respectively. In one embodiment,eyelets 155 on right side 135 and eyelets 160 on left side 130 are arranged in a mirrored configuration such that eyelets 155 horizontally align with eyelets 160 to create number of eyelet pairs (for example,eyelet 155 a and eyelet 160 a comprise an eyelet pair). Similarly,eyelets 165 in header region 145 and eyelets 170 in footer region 150may be arranged in a mirrored configuration along left and right sides130, 135 of base panel 105. In some embodiments, eyelet 160 b (shown along left side 130 of base panel 105 in FIG. 3) may or may not include a paired eyelet on right side 135 depending on a particular arrangement of shoulder strap 180 as discussed in further detail below.
With particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, rescue stretcher 100 further includes a plurality of securement straps 175 stretching transverselyacross base panel 105 and over person 50 for securing person 50 in rescue stretcher 100 when in use. Each securement strap 175 may be threaded through one of the eyelet pairs (e.g. 155 a, 160 a) to secure injured person 50 along various regions of the body, such as the chest,mid-section, thighs, and lower legs of person 50.
In addition, rescue stretcher 100 includes an elongate shoulder strap180 extending from right side 135 of head-supporting region 145 and crossing over a shoulder and sternum of injured person 50 to attach along left side 130 of body-supporting region 140. Shoulder strap 180may include mating first and second buckle parts 185, 190 of a two-piece buckle 195 for securing person 50 on rescue stretcher 100. Shoulder strap 180 may also include an adjustment section 200 for snugglycinching shoulder strap 180 to accommodate people of different size and bulk on rescue stretcher 100, and/or to permit a desired degree ofadjustability for tightly securing an injured person 50 to rescuestretcher 100 as may be necessary. In such a crossover arrangement,shoulder strap 180 arrests the shoulder of injured person 50 to inhibitor prevent substantial sliding movement of injured person 50 toward header end 110 during an extraction operation.
With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, in some embodiments, rescue stretcher100 may include a pair of foot straps 205, 210 extending from foot-supporting region 150 and connecting to eyelets on body-supportingregion 140. In one configuration, foot strap 205 may be threaded througheyelet 170 a along right side 135 of foot-supporting region 150 and extend across foot-supporting region 150 to eyelet 160 c on left side135 of body-supporting region 140. Similarly, foot strap 210 may be threaded through eyelet 170 b along left side 130 of foot-supportingregion 150 and extend across foot-supporting region 150 to eyelet 155 bon right side 135 of body-supporting region 140. In such embodiments,foot straps 205, 210 are arranged in a crossover pattern over foot-supporting region 150. When tightly cinched, the foot straps 205,210 urge footer end 150 to roll inwardly toward body-supporting region140 of base panel 105 to support the feet of the injured person 50 and resist sliding movement of injured person 50 toward footer end 115.
In other embodiments, rescue stretcher 100 may include a second shoulder strap (not shown) stretching across the injured person 50 from the leftside 130 of head-supporting region 145 and crossing over shoulder strap180 to connect to a right side 135 of body-supporting region 140 toprovide additional resistance against sliding movement of injured person50. In addition, it should be understood that although four transversesecurement straps 175, one shoulder strap 180, and two foot straps 205,210 are specifically illustrated and described, rescue stretcher 100 may include a greater or fewer number of the securement straps in other embodiments.
Preferably, straps 175, 180, 205, 210 are each made of a continuouselongate strip of fabric, such as woven nylon webbing, although other materials may also be suitable. In other embodiments, straps 175, 180,205, 210 may not be continuous and may instead comprise combined segments of material. In addition, various buckle types may be used fortwo-piece buckle 195, such as a three-way buckle, double bar buckle,swivel bar buckle, or others. In addition, first buckle part 185 and second buckle part 190 may each be constructed from the same or different materials such as metal or plastic.
In some embodiments, rescue stretcher 100 may further include loop handles 215 threaded through one or more eyelets 155, 160 along left and right sides 130, 135 of base panel 105. Loop handles 215 are preferably formed from reinforced webbing similar to straps 175, 180, 205, 210, but may be formed from other suitable material, and are generally sized to accommodate an adult human hand.
Preferably, loop handles 215 are separated into distinct handle pairs(for example, 215 a and 215 b comprise one handle pair) located on opposite sides of base panel 105. Each loop handle pair (e.g. 215 a, 215b) is spaced apart from any other loop handle pair to provide adequate spacing to allow for people to carry rescue stretcher 100 during an extraction operation. Some embodiments may include more or fewer loop handles arranged in a different configuration as described herein. Forexample, one embodiment may include additional loop handles located along header and footer ends 110, 115 to allow rescue personnel to position themselves at the head and/or the foot of person 50 to carry person 50 through narrow doors or other passages.
In some embodiments, a drag strap 220 may threaded through a pair ofapertures 165 located along header end 110. The drag strap 220 extends beyond the header end 110 of rescue stretcher 100 and may have a loopedhandle to provide a grasping point for rescue personnel. In some embodiments, drag strap 220 may be made of reinforced webbing or other suitable material with sufficient tensile strength for carrying out a dragging extraction operation of an adult person 50.
In other embodiments, rescue stretcher 100 may include multiple drag straps for facilitating dragging by more than one rescuer or allowing asingle rescuer to pull the person 50 with both hands. For example,instead of a looped drag strap 220, rescue stretcher 100 may include two individual straps without a looped handle, where one strap is laterallyspaced apart from the other strap and each is threaded through an individual eyelet (e.g. eyelet 165) on header end 110. Other arrangements not specifically described herein may be possible.
With particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the following description relates to an example operation of the rescue stretcher 100. In one operation, the rescue stretcher 100 is carried to a position where person 50 is located and laid flat on the ground with the back surface125 contacting the ground. The person 50 is positioned on front surface120 of the rescue stretcher 100, with the head, neck, and shoulders resting on head-supporting region 145, the feet supported on foot-supporting region 150, and the remainder of the body supported by body-supporting region 140. Once properly positioned, person 50 is restrained on rescue stretcher 100 using securement straps 175, 180,205, 210. Straps 175 are stretched transversely across person 50,secured with two-piece buckle 195, and cinched as necessary. When straps175 are cinched, left and right edges 130, 135 of base panel 105 may roll inwardly toward one another so that base panel 105 cradles and better supports person 50. Thereafter, shoulder strap 180 may be stretched across the shoulder and sternum of person 50 from head-supporting region 145 along one of the left or right sides 130, 135and connected via buckle 195 at body-supporting region 140 along theother of the left or right sides 130, 135. When shoulder strap 180 iscinched, base panel 105 may further roll inwardly near the shoulders of person 50 to support person 50. Finally, foot straps 210, 215 are stretched across foot-supporting region 150 in a crossover pattern to secure the feet. When straps 210, 215 are cinched, foot-supportingregion 150 rolls upward and inwardly toward person 50 to provide a supporting surface for the feet.
In the described configuration, transverse straps 175 support person 50and primarily resist movement toward the left and right sides 130, 135of base panel 105. In addition, shoulder strap 180 arrests the shoulder and resists sliding movement toward header end 110, while foot straps210, 215 support the feet and resist movement toward the footer end 115.Once the person 50 is secured on rescue stretcher 100, rescue personnel can carry person 50 using the plurality of loop handles 215 or pull person 50 using drag strap 220 as necessary.
In some operations, person 50 may be extracted using a combination of dragging and/or carrying techniques. For example, person 50 may be carried over some obstacles that are harder to maneuver around and dragged through narrow areas or in situations where only one rescuer is available. In yet other operations, the drag strap 220 and/or the plurality of loop handles 215 may be attached to a winch or other similar device to drag or hoist the person 50 to safety, such as by helicopter. In still other operations, a harness or other restraint (not shown) may be threaded through some or all of the apertures on the rescue stretcher to support air-lifting rescues. Other operations not specifically mentioned herein may also be possible.
It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. The scope ofthe present invention should, therefore, be determined only by thefollowing claims.
1. A stretcher comprising: an elongate, flexible panel sized to completely underlay a person laying thereon, the panel including a header end and an opposite footer end, a left side and an opposite rightside, the panel further including a body-supporting region and ahead-supporting region, wherein the body-supporting region spans betweenthe header and footer ends of the panel and is sized to support the person, wherein the head-supporting region spans between the header endof the panel and the body-supporting region and is sized to support a shoulder and a head of the person, and wherein the body-supportingregion is wider than a torso of the person and a substantial portion ofthe head-supporting region; a first securement strap extending from oneof the left or right sides of the panel and across to the other of the left or right sides of the panel to secure the person against the panel when the stretcher is in operative use, a second securement strap having a first segment extending from the head-supporting region along one ofthe left or right sides of the panel and a second segment extending fromthe body-supporting region along the other of the left or right sides ofthe panel, wherein the second securement strap extends diagonally across the panel from the head-supporting region and beyond the firstsecurement strap to attach to the body-supporting region of the panel ata different location than the first securement strap such that, when thestretcher is in use, the second securement strap extends across the shoulder and the torso of the person to arrest the shoulder and limit sliding movement of the person toward the header end of the panel. 2.The stretcher of claim 1, further comprising: a margin extending around a periphery of the panel and inwardly from the header and footer ends and from the left and right sides of the panel; and a plurality of openings formed along the margin and including a first opening at the head-supporting region along one of the left or right sides of panel anda second opening at the body-supporting region along the other of the left or right sides of the panel, wherein the first segment of the second securement strap is threaded through the first opening at the head-supporting region and the second segment of the second securementstrap is threaded through the second opening at the body-supportingregion of the panel.
3. The stretcher of claim 2, wherein the secondsecurement strap further includes a two-piece buckle having mating first and second buckle parts, and wherein the first buckle part extends fromthe first segment of the second securement strap and the second buckle part extends from the second segment of the second securement strap. 4.The stretcher of claim 1, further comprising: a foot-supporting region spanning from the footer end of the panel to the body-supporting region and sized to support feet of the person; and a first and second foot strap, wherein the first foot strap extends from one of the left or right sides of the panel and the second foot strap extends from theother of the left or right sides of the panel, and wherein each of thefirst and second foot straps extends over the foot-supporting region andis secured along the footer end of the panel such that the first and second foot straps urge the footer end to roll upwardly and inwardlytoward the person to support the feet and limit sliding movement of the person toward the footer end of the panel.
5. The stretcher of claim 4,further comprising: a first and second opening formed along the footer end of the panel and laterally spaced apart from each other, wherein thefirst foot strap is threaded through the first opening and the second foot strap is threaded through the second opening, the first and second foot straps extending over the foot-supporting region in a crossover pattern.
6. The stretcher of claim 1, further comprising: a margin extending around a periphery of the panel and inwardly from the header and footer ends and the left and right sides of the panel; a first opening formed along the margin on the left side of the panel and a second opening formed along the margin on the right side of the panel,the first and second openings laterally spaced apart and arranged collin early, wherein the first securement strap is threaded through thefirst and second openings, the first securement strap spanningtransversely across the panel to secure the person against the panel when the stretcher is in operative use.
7. (canceled)
8. The stretcherof claim 6, further comprising: a third opening formed along the margin on the left side of the panel and a fourth opening formed along the margin on the right side of the panel, the third and fourth openingslaterally spaced apart and arranged collin early; and a third securementstrap threaded through the third and fourth openings, the thirdsecurement strap spanning transversely across the panel to secure the person against the panel, wherein, when the stretcher is in operative use, each of the first securement strap, second securement strap, andthe third securement strap urge the left and right sides of the panel to roll inwardly toward the person.
9. The stretcher of claim 1, wherein the panel is narrower at the header end than at the body-supportingregion, and wherein the left and right sides of the panel taperoutwardly from the header end of the panel toward the body-supportingregion of the panel.
10. The stretcher of claim 9, wherein the panel is narrower at the footer end than at the body-supporting region, and wherein the left and right sides of the panel taper outwardly from the footer end of the panel toward the body-supporting region of the panel.11. The stretcher of claim 10, wherein the width of the panel at the body-supporting region is larger than the width of the panel at each ofthe head-supporting region and the foot-supporting region.
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[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2085]
RECOGNIZING AARON PAUL GOTZON FOR ACHIEVING THE RANK OF EAGLE SCOUT
______
HON. SAM GRAVES
of missouri
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Mr. GRAVES. Madam Speaker, I proudly pause to recognize Aaron Paul
Gotzon, a very special young man who has exemplified the finest
qualities of citizenship and leadership by taking an active part in the
Boy Scouts of America, Troop 260, and in earning the most prestigious
award of Eagle Scout.
Aaron has been very active with his troop, participating in many
Scout activities. Over the many years Aaron has been involved with
Scouting, he has not only earned numerous merit badges, but also the
respect of his family, peers, and community.
Madam Speaker, I proudly ask you to join me in commending Aaron Paul
Gotzon for his accomplishments with the Boy Scouts of America and for
his efforts put forth in achieving the highest distinction of Eagle
Scout.
____________________
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Leetcode 102: Binary tree level-order traversal in Swift
102. Binary Tree Level Order Traversal
Given a binary tree, return the level order traversal of its nodes' values. (ie, from left to right, level by level).
For example:
Given binary tree [3,9,20,null,null,15,7],
3
/ \
9 20
/ \
15 7
return its level order traversal as:
[
[3],
[9,20],
[15,7]
]
This is my solution in Swift:
func levelOrder(_ root: TreeNode?) -> [[Int]] {
guard let root = root else{
return []
}
let nodes = recursiveVisit(root)
let capacity = nodes.reduce([Int]()) {
if $0.contains($1.0) == false {
return $0 + [$1.0]
}
return $0
}.count
return nodes.reduce([[Int]](repeating: [], count: capacity), {
var tmp = $0
tmp[$1.0].append($1.1)
return tmp
})
}
func recursiveVisit(_ node: TreeNode?) -> [(Int, Int)]{
// [(Int, Int)]
// depth, node.val
guard let node = node else{
return []
}
var nodes = [(Int, Int)]()
nodes.append((0, node.val))
let lhs = recursiveVisit(node.left).map {
return ($0.0 + 1, $0.1)
}
let rhs = recursiveVisit(node.right).map {
return ($0.0 + 1, $0.1)
}
nodes.append(contentsOf: lhs)
nodes.append(contentsOf: rhs)
return nodes
}
The solution is very intuitive: collect the nodes' value and depth, then reduce to the answer.
It is not as well designed as the Java Solution, though.
My question is mainly on the Swift syntax. Is there any other way to do it more lean? Combine the two reduce() calls to one, for example?
Simplifying your code
Let's start here:
let capacity = nodes.reduce([Int]()) {
if $0.contains($1.0) == false {
return $0 + [$1.0]
}
return $0
}.count
The test
if $0.contains($1.0) == false
is shorter (and – in my opinion – better) written as
if !$0.contains($1.0)
Each invocation of the closure creates a new array. In such cases it is more efficient to use reduce(into:) with a closure that updates the array:
let capacity = nodes.reduce(into: [Int]()) {
if !$0.contains($1.0) {
$0.append($1.0)
}
}.count
But what this code actually does is to determine the number of distinct levels in the nodes array. That is simpler and more efficiently done with a set:
let capacity = Set(nodes.map { $0.0 }).count
Here
return nodes.reduce([[Int]](repeating: [], count: capacity), {
var tmp = $0
tmp[$1.0].append($1.1)
return tmp
})
a new nested array is created with each invocation of the closure. Again, this can be improved with reduce(into:), so that the first function becomes
func levelOrder(_ root: TreeNode?) -> [[Int]] {
guard let root = root else {
return []
}
let nodes = recursiveVisit(root)
let capacity = Set(nodes.map { $0.0 }).count
return nodes.reduce(into: [[Int]](repeating: [], count: capacity), {
$0[$1.0].append($1.1)
})
}
I have only minor suggestions for the second function:
var nodes = [(Int, Int)]()
nodes.append((0, node.val))
can be combined to
var nodes = [(0, node.val)]
The results of the recursive calls can be appended to the nodes array directly:
nodes += recursiveVisit(node.left).map {
return ($0.0 + 1, $0.1)
}
nodes += recursiveVisit(node.right).map {
return ($0.0 + 1, $0.1)
}
And if you use tuple labels then the code becomes better readable (and almost self-documenting):
func recursiveVisit(_ node: TreeNode?) -> [(level: Int, value: Int)] {
guard let node = node else {
return []
}
var nodes = [(level: 0, value: node.val)]
nodes += recursiveVisit(node.left).map {
return (level: $0.level + 1, value: $0.value)
}
nodes += recursiveVisit(node.right).map {
return (level: $0.level + 1, value: $0.value)
}
return nodes
}
This can be used in the first function as well. As an alternative, define a custom struct with “level” and “label” members.
Alternative #1 – A nested function
It is not necessary to create an array of (level, value) tuples first. You can add a value to the sublist on the current level, or append a new level while traversing the tree recursively. With a nested function you don't even have to pass the array around:
func levelOrder(_ root: TreeNode?) -> [[Int]] {
var levels: [[Int]] = []
func recursiveVisit(_ node: TreeNode?, level: Int) {
guard let node = node else {
return
}
if level < levels.count {
levels[level].append(node.val)
} else {
levels.append([node.val])
}
recursiveVisit(node.left, level: level + 1)
recursiveVisit(node.right, level: level + 1)
}
recursiveVisit(root, level: 0)
return levels
}
Alternative #2 – Iteration instead of recursion
The referenced Java solution solves the task with iteration, and a list containing all nodes on the current level. Of course that can be done in Swift as well. Here is an example of a quite compact implementation:
func levelOrder(_ root: TreeNode?) -> [[Int]] {
guard let root = root else {
return []
}
var wrapList: [[Int]] = []
var queue = [root] // First level
while !queue.isEmpty {
// All values of nodes on the current level:
wrapList.append(queue.map { $0.val })
// Replace queue by list of all nodes on the next level:
queue = queue.flatMap { [$0.left, $0.right ] }.compactMap { $0 }
}
return wrapList
}
"And if you use tuple labels then the code becomes better readable (and almost self-documenting)" great plus to this - before it was just unreadable for me, with very labels very clear to understand. also the map should not use the short hand parameters to understand it better as a reader
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# Code Listing #1
import hashlib
import requests
def get_url_data(url):
""" Return data for a URL """
# Return data while saving the data in a file
# which is a hash of the URL
data = requests.get(url).content
# Save it in a filename
filename = hashlib.md5(url).hexdigest()
open(filename, 'w').write(data)
return data
import os
def get_url_data_stub(url):
""" Stub function replacing get_url_data """
# No actual web request is made, instead
# the file is opened and data returned
filename = hashlib.md5(url).hexdigest()
if os.path.isfile(filename):
return open(filename).read()
def get_url_data(url):
""" Return data for a URL """
# First check for cached file - if so return its
# contents. Note that we are not checking for
# age of the file - so content may be stale.
filename = hashlib.md5(url).hexdigest()
if os.path.isfile(filename):
return open(filename).read()
# First time - so fetch the URL and write to the
# file. In subsequent calls, the file contents will
# be returned.
data = requests.get(url).content
open(filename, 'w').write(data)
return data
|
When you see this grand new blend you will just instinctively think of Persian rugs and the Arabian Nights! A symphony in muted violets, bronze and copper, its gor geous colors might aptly bedeck a prince of the storied Middle-East. The very large flowers lack nothing in either form, sub stance or width of petal that goes into making of a perfect Iris. Stems are strong and sturdy, the branching well placed. Height is about 36-38 inches. Parentage is Oriental Glory x (Argus Pheasant x Gar den Glory). From the garden of D. P. Wickersham, in Urbana, Ohio, which em braces one of the most comprehensive Iris collections in this country. Shown on page three.
A very large, deep mulberry flower, near the color of El mohr but a bit more "rosy." The beard is not heavy but is quite reddish, more so than the picture shows. Ruffled and waved, with very broad standards and falls. Stalks are tall and stiff, the branching very good. This was a "stunner" here last year. Seedling No. 56-15.
A large, broad petaled, soft uniform rose self. Area be low the beard is paler, almost white, in center. Haft mark ings are not conspicuous, but give a rosy tan flush near the center of the flower. Beard is pale tangerine — not red. Photo is a good likeness but the beard hardly deep enough. Very tall — 36-40 inches. Seedling No. 55-07B.
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Traumatic injury is one of the leading causes of worldwide mortality ([@B1]). Femur fracture accompanied by hemorrhage is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates ([@B2]). Notably, hemorrhagic shock (HS) is characterized by marked early inflammatory response and concomitant activation of immune cells, leading to organ damage and significant mortality ([@B3]). Femur fracture in particular can induce remote organ complications, especially in the lungs ([@B4]). Lung and remote lung injury (RLI), a common complication after surgical procedures post-trauma, have also been shown in the combinatory model of femur fracture accompanied by hemorrhage (THFx) in mice ([@B5], [@B6]). Many inflammatory pathways and mediators including cytokines and other damage-associated molecular patterns were found to be important triggers for the development of lung injury. Studies have shown that proinflammatory cytokines, among the systemically distributed interleukins (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, were associated with the activation of caspase-3, leading to pulmonary apoptosis and alveolar--capillary barrier dysfunction with the subsequent development of lung injury after trauma ([@B5]).
Wnt signaling with its main mediator protein β-catenin is essential in a variety of biological responses, including bone formation and remodeling, organ development and repair, as well as embryogenesis and carcinogenesis ([@B7], [@B8]). The hallmark of the canonical Wnt pathway is to control the β-catenin dynamics and, thus, the activation of β-catenin-mediated transcriptional activity. The cytoplasmic level of β-catenin is tightly regulated *via* its phosphorylation by the "destruction complex", consisting of the tumor suppressor adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), the scaffold protein AXIN, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)3β, and casein kinase (CK)1α ([@B7], [@B9]). CKI and GSK3β initiate the phosphorylation of β-catenin, allowing the beta-transducin repeat-containing protein to promote ubiquitination and, thus, the degradation of β-catenin ([@B9]). A Wnt member protein (e.g., WNT3A) binding to its receptor inhibits the destruction complex activities, leading to stabilization and accumulation of the cytoplasmic β-catenin, eventually allowing its translocation into the nucleus ([@B7], [@B9], [@B10]). In the absence of a Wnt stimulus, the majority of β-catenin is located at the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane in complexes with E-cadherin and α-catenin, preventing β-catenin from degradation ([@B9], [@B10]). β-catenin--E-cadherin-based maintenance and stabilization of adherens junctions promote cell-to-cell adhesion ([@B10]). Tumor necrosis factor, alpha-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3, also known as A20) is indispensable for regulating vascular E-cadherin expression in adherens junctions to maintain and repair damaged endothelial functions after pulmonary vascular injury by lipopolysaccharide ([@B11]). Interestingly, there is also an evidence of A20 presumed involvement to Wnt signaling *via* the receptor interacting protein kinase (RIPK)4, which is a positive modulator of the Wnt pathway ([@B12]). Over the past decades, significant progress has been made in therapeutics targeting the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in bone regeneration settings, focusing on agents that neutralize or inhibit the negative regulators of Wnt signaling, such as sclerostin, among others ([@B13]).
Approximately one-third of trauma-related deaths are accompanied by a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC), and up to 50% of hospital admissions after trauma involve alcohol/ethanol intoxication (EI) ([@B14], [@B15]). Studies have shown the beneficial effects of an acute EI in experimental trauma *via* reduced systemic and local inflammation, while current data indicate that EI might lead to a higher susceptibility to infections (e.g., sepsis and pneumonia) ([@B3], [@B16]). The overall impact of an acute EI on the trauma/hemorrhage-induced Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and subsequent lung barrier breakdown as well as organ damage is unknown. Interestingly, a previous study has shown that alcohol exposure had a negative impact on fracture-associated Wnt signaling required for normal bone fracture repair. Here, the phosphorylation of β-catenin was promoted, targeting the protein for degradation and reducing total β-catenin in the fracture callus ([@B17]).
Based on this background, the goal of this study was to investigate the following: (1) the role of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway in the trauma-induced lung injury, and (2) the effects of an acute EI on the lung inflammation and barrier breakdown after THFx. We hypothesize that an acute EI would alleviate the uncontrolled inflammatory response and lung barrier breakdown after trauma by suppressing the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Materials and Methods {#s2}
Animal Husbandry {#s2_1}
This study was authorized by the local institutional animal care and research advisory committee and permitted by the local government of Lower Saxony, Germany (approval number: 33.12-42502-04-17/2491). Male C57BL/6J mice (17--26 weeks, Janvier Labs, Le Genest-Saint-Isle, France) were used for the experiments and were handled only by persons who had a certificate of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations. The animals were kept under standardized conditions in the Central Animal Laboratory of the Hannover Medical School and housed in individual cages with an area of 530 cm^2^ (type IIL cage). Standard softwood granules (Altromin GmbH, Lage, Germany) for laboratory animals were used as litter material. Once per week, the cages, bedding, and the drinking water bottles were changed.
Group Allocation {#s2_2}
Animals were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Mice were gavaged with either sodium chloride (NaCl, ctrl) or ethanol (EtOH) as described in the experimental model. Animals in sham groups (sham ctrl: *n* = 7; sham EtOH: *n* = 7) received an external fixator and catheterization of the femoral artery, but no osteotomy or blood loss was induced. Mice in trauma groups (THFx ctrl: *n* = 7, THFx EtOH: *n* = 7) received the external fixator followed by osteotomy of the femur and HS was induced and maintained by blood withdrawal *via* the catheterized femoral artery.
Experimental Model {#s2_3}
Depending on group assignment, mice received an intragastric gavage of either 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl, ctrl, 12.66 µl/g body weight) or 35% ethanol (EtOH, \>99.5% ethanol diluted in 0.9% sodium chloride, 12.66 µl/g body weight resulting in a 3.5 g EtOH/kg body weight) *via* a rigid blunt cannula 2 h before surgery. An alcohol concentration of 35% was selected to simulate acute EI prior to subsequent procedures. In previous studies, such acute EI generated fatty changes in the liver that confirmed the induced EI ([@B18]). In total, the animals received two gavages. In the first gavage, 50% of the total volume (NaCl or EtOH) was administered. After 15 min, the remaining volume was administered *via* the second gavage. The animals were observed for activity, general health condition, posture, signs of pain, and lameness. To achieve a high blood alcohol level in the mice, surgery was started 2 h after gavage. We measured the alcohol concentration in the blood in the Clinical Chemistry Department of the MHH in six mice. They had an alcohol concentration 1.54‰ at 2 h after intoxication. This time point was chosen according to a previous study ([@B19]).
All surgical procedures were performed under deep inhalation anesthesia using isoflurane (Baxter Deutschland GmbH, Unterschleißheim, Germany) as described before ([@B20], [@B21]). Interdigital reflexes were proofed regularly and the surgery began when this reflex was negative. During the surgical procedure, mice were warmed using heating pads. An intraoperative analgesia with 5 mg/kg body weight carprofen (Rimadyl^®^, Zoetis Deutschland GmbH, Berlin, Germany) and 1 mg/kg body weight butorphanol (Torbugesic^®^, Zoetis Deutschland GmbH, Berlin, Germany) was injected subcutaneously. Local anesthesia with prilocaine hydrochloride was applied into the sites of the operation. For postoperative analgesia, 200 mg/kg body weight metamizole was added to the drinking water. After the surgery, the animals were kept warm and under red light until full awakening and housed individually in cages to avoid aggressive behavior between male mice and littermates reopening the surgical wound. Postoperative controls of the animals were conducted regularly, and the general health status of the animals as well as activity and possible lameness were controlled.
All surgical procedures were conducted as described before ([@B20], [@B21]). The placement of an external fixator (MouseExFix simple L 100%, RISystem, Davos, Switzerland) to the right femoral bone was performed in the sham and trauma group. In brief, the fixator was implanted according to the manufactuter's manual and afterwards a diaphyseal osteotomy was performed centrally between the two middle pins using a wire saw with a diameter of 0.44 mm (Gigli wire saw, RISystem). Sham animals (sham ctrl; sham EtOH) only received the external fixator, but no osteotomy was performed. Animals in the trauma groups (THFx ctrl; THFx EtOH) underwent a subsequent pressure-controlled HS. Briefly, a catheter was installed into the femoral artery and blood was collected until a mean arterial blood pressure with a target value of 35 ± 5 mmHg was reached. The shock state of hypovolemia was maintained for 90 min in total. After 90 min, four times the amount of the withdrawn blood (maximum 2.4 ml) was reperfused with body-warm Ringer's solution over a period of 30 min and the catheter was removed after reinfusion. In the sham animals, only catheterization was performed, but no blood loss was induced. Wounds were closed by suturing with Prolene 6-0 (Ethicon, Cincinnati, USA) and the animals were allowed to move freely immediately after the experimental procedure.
Harvesting Procedures {#s2_4}
Twenty-four hours after surgery, the animals were sacrificed. Mice were anesthetized with 75 mg/kg body weight ketamine and 1 mg/kg body weight medetomidine *via* intraperitoneal injection. After confirming a negative interdigital and tail pinch reflexes, the sacrifice was initiated. The heart was punctured with a heparinized sharp 25-gauge syringe (BD, Franklin Lakes, USA) and followed by cardiac exsanguination for blood collection. Then, mice were killed by cervical dislocation. Abdominal cavity was opened and the incision was extended over the chest wall until the trachea was visible. The trachea was first punctured with a 25-gauge needle (BD, Franklin Lakes, USA) and then a 19-gauge syringe (BD, Franklin Lakes, USA) containing 1.1 ml of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was inserted. Lungs were flushed with 1.1 ml of PBS, followed by collection of at least 800 µl of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). The BALF was centrifuged at 1,164 × *g* for 5 min at 4°C and the cell-free supernatant was frozen at −80°C for subsequent analyses. The hole in the trachea was closed with a blunt clamp, and perfusion of the entire animal with 20 ml of PBS *via* a 21-gauge blunt syringe (BD, Franklin Lakes, USA) through the heart (apex) began. The left lung was ligated, removed, snap frozen using liquid nitrogen, and stored at −80°C for later analyses. Mice were subsequently perfused with 10 ml of 4% buffered Zn-Formalin (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA) *via* the heart with a 21-gauge syringe (BD, Franklin Lakes, USA). The right liver lobe and right lung were removed for overnight fixation and further histo(morpho)logical analyses.
Examination of EtOH-Induced Hepatic Fat Accumulation {#s2_5}
The evaluation of the fatty vacuoles (oil red O staining) in the liver after 24 h post-trauma confirms an acute EI, which was established and proofed in previous studies ([@B3]). Hepatic sections (3 µm) were fixed with 10% buffered Zn-formalin. Lipids were stained for 50--60 min with an oil red O working solution (0.35 g oil red O dissolved in 25 ml of 100% methanol mixed with 10 ml of 1 M NaOH) and counterstained with hematoxylin (5 g/L) for 10 min. The images were captured by using the Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 microscope (40× objective, Zeiss, Göttingen, Germany).
Examination of Lung Injury {#s2_6}
Specimens were fixated in 4% buffered Zn-formalin overnight and embedded in paraffin. For subsequent staining with hematoxylin-eosin (HE), sectioning of 3-µm samples was performed. Lung sections were deparaffinized, rehydrated, and stained with hemalum solution according to Mayer (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) for 10 min. After blue annealing in rinsing water (10 min), the tissue was counterstained with eosin (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) for 3 min. This was followed by differentiation, dehydration using an ascending alcohol series, and xylene-based mounting medium (Mountex, Medite Medical GmbH, Burgdorf, Germany). An independent examiner determined the histological tissue damage of HE-stained sections of the various experimental groups in a blinded manner. To quantify the histopathological lung injury, sections of lungs were examined for desquamation, dystelectasis/atelectasis, emphysema, congestion, interstitial thickness/infiltration with inflammatory cells, and bronchial exudate by an independent examiner. The orientation for scoring is provided by Matute-Bello et al. ([@B22]). The findings from the sham ctrl group were used for normalization as 100%.
Quantification of Protein Expression Levels in BALF {#s2_7}
To assess the extent of lung damage and loss of pulmonary barrier integrity, levels of proinflammatory mediators in the BALF were determined. Lungs of the anesthetized mice were subjected to BAL, and the BALF was processed as described above. Supernatants were stored at −80°C for later analyses of the protein concentration of CXCL1, IL-1β, and IFN-gamma using mouse-specific ELISA kits (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. ELISA was performed using the Infinite M200 microplate reader (Tecan, Männedorf, Switzerland).
Ribonucleic Acid Isolation and Reverse Transcription-Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis {#s2_8}
The tissue was homogenized using the Precellys 24 Homogenizer (Bertin Technologies, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France) according to the manufacturer's instructions. RNA was then isolated from the homogenate using the RNeasy assay (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) following the manufacturer's protocol. To remove residual DNA, the RNase-free DNase kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) was used. The quantity and quality of RNA were determined using the Spark M10 Microplate Reader with the Tecan's NanoQuant Plate (Tecan, Männedorf, Switzerland). The iScript™ cDNA Synthesis Kit (BioRad, Hercules, USA) was used according to the manufacturer's instructions for cDNA synthesis. Gene expressions of *Cxcl1* (qMnuCED0047655), *Il-1β* (qMnuCED0045755), *Tnf* (qMnuCED0004141), tnfrsf10b (qMnuCED0046132), *Muc5ac* (qMnuCED0061472), *Wnt3a* (qMnuCID0005162), and *Sost* (qMnuCED0045167) were quantified by using a specific primer for mouse and *Gapdh* (qMnuCED0027467, all PrimePCR SYBR Green Assay, BioRad, Hercules, USA) as housekeeping gene (control). The total volume of the PCR reaction was 25 µl with SYBR green qPCR Master Mix (BioRad) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The PCR reaction was performed on a C1000 Touch Thermal Cycler with the CFX96 Touch Real-Time PCR Detection System (BioRad, Hercules, USA) and consists of an initial denaturation step at 95°C for 10 min, followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 15 s, and annealing/extension at 60°C for 60 s. The relative gene expression of each target gene normalized to *GAPDH* was calculated by using the 2^−ΔΔCT^ method \[comparative threshold-cycle (CT) method\].
Immunohistology Staining of CXCL1, Neutrophile Elastase, and Active Caspase-3 {#s2_9}
Lung tissue sections (3 µm) were deparaffinized using Roti Histol (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) and rehydrated using a descending alcohol series. Heat-induced epitope retrieval (HIER) was performed by using R-Universal epitope recovery buffer (Aptum, Kassel, Germany) in the 2100-Retriever (Prestige Medical, Blackburn, England) for 60 min at 121°C. Blocking of endogenous peroxidase was performed *via* hydrogen peroxide (Peroxidase UltraVision Block, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA) for 20 min. Primary antibodies for CXCL1 (abcam, USA, rabbit anti-mouse, 1:300), neutrophil elastase (Bioss, USA, rabbit anti-mouse, 1:200), and active caspase-3 \[Cell Signaling Technology, USA, anti-cleaved caspase-3 (Asp175), \#9661, rabbit anti-mouse\] were diluted as suggested by the manufacturer in Antibody Dilution Buffer (Dako Cytomation) and incubated for 1 h at room temperature. Subsequently, the secondary antibody conjugated with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) \[Histofine Simple Stain Mouse MAX PO (R), Nichirei Biosciences Inc.\] was applied for 30 min at room temperature and 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazol (AEC, DCS Innovative Diagnostik-Systeme, Hamburg) was used to detect specific binding. Slides were counterstained with hematoxylin (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) and mounted (Medite Medical GmbH, Burgdorf, Germany). Imaging was performed using the Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 microscope (40× objective, Zeiss, Göttingen, Germany). The evaluation was done *via* ImageJ software. For CXCL1, mean intensity values were measured for all groups, whereas for neutrophil elastase and active caspase-3, positive-counted cells were measured in 25 high-power fields (HPF) at 400× magnification.
Immunofluorescent Staining of A20, β-Catenin, E-Cadherin, RIPK4, and CD4 T Cells {#s2_10}
Paraffin-embedded lung tissue sections (3 µm) were deparaffinized with Roti Histol (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany) (2× 5 min) and rehydrated with a descending alcohol series. HIER was performed using R-Universal Epitope Recovery Buffer (Aptum, Kassel, Germany) for 10 min at 90°C in a preheated water bath. Slides were then cooled to room temperature in distilled water for 30 min and washed in distilled water (3× 5 min) and DPBS (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) (1× 5 min). Permeabilization was performed with 0.1% Tween 20 (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) in DPBS (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) for 10 min at RT followed by washing in DPBS (1× 5 min and 2× 3 min) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). Permeabilization was followed by blocking the slides with BSA (1%, Merck, Darmstadt, Germany) in PBST (PBS with 0.1% Tween 20) for 30 min at RT in a humidified incubation chamber. After blocking, slides were washed again in distilled water (1× 5 min) and DPBS (1× 5 min and 2× 3 min) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). Lung sections were incubated with primary antibodies against A20 (abcam, USA, rabbit anti-mouse, 1:500, cat. ab92324), β-catenin (antibodies-online GmbH, Aachen, Germany, rabbit anti-mouse, 1:500, cat. ABIN2855042), CD4 (BD, rat anti-mouse, 1:50, cat. 550278), E-cadherin (Purified mouse anti-E-cadherin, BD Biosciences, 1:500, 610182), and RIPK4 \[Santa Cruz, USA, mouse anti-mouse, RIP4 Antibody (E-7) Alexa Fluor^®^ 647, 1:200, cat. sc-377368 AF647\] overnight at 4°C in a humidified incubation chamber, which were diluted in blocking buffer (1% BSA in PBST) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Incubation of primary antibodies was followed by washing according to the washing steps after blocking. The next steps were performed in the dark. The secondary antibodies (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA Alexa Fluor^®^ 488, donkey anti-rabbit, Alexa Fluor 568 donkey anti-Mouse IgG, and goat anti-rat Alexa Fluor^®^ 647, 1:1,000) were diluted in blocking buffer according to the manufacturer's instructions and applied to the A20 and β-catenin slides, where it was stained for 60 min at RT in a humidified incubation chamber. This was followed by another wash in DPBS (3× 5 min) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). RIPK4 primary antibody was conjugated with Alexa Fluor^®^ 647 (Molecular Probes, Inc., Oregon, USA). Tissue slides were counterstained with DAPI (Cambrex Bioscience, USA, 1:10,000) for 10 min with subsequent washing in DPBS (4× 5 min) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) and mounted using Gold Antifade Mountant (Invitrogen™-ProLong™). The slides were sealed with nail polish after mounting. Imaging was performed using the Zeiss Axio Observer Z1 microscope (40× objective, Zeiss, Göttingen, Germany). Pictures at 400× magnification were evaluated with the FIJI (ImageJ) software. Mean intensity values were measured, and means were calculated for each group. Colocalization analysis of β-catenin--E-cadherin complexes was performed on fluorescent sections using ZEN Pro-software 3.2. The images for analysis were obtained using a ZEISS Axio Observer fluorescent microscope and the Zeiss digital camera ZEISS Axiocam (705 mono) with ×63 objective. Each analyzed image was individually evaluated for validation of the pattern of the staining used before processing. The images were opened in the ZEN Pro colocalization module, and the region of interest (ROI) for colocalization was defined by allowing fluorescence channels to concentrate on the relevant parts of the image. A colocalized channel was created; and channel statistics were calculated.
Statistical Analysis {#s2_11}
Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 6 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA). Based on the histogram and Shapiro--Wilk test, the non-parametric Kruskal--Wallis test, which does not assume a normal distribution of the residuals, followed by Dunn's *post hoc* test for the correction of multiple comparisons was applied. Results were expressed as mean and standard error of the mean. A *p*-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
Impact of Acute EI on Lung Damage After THFx {#s3_1}
Animals received a gavage of either NaCl or EtOH 2 h before the procedures as shown in [**Figure 1A**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}. Mice receiving EtOH showed a clear accumulation of fatty vacuoles in liver 24 h after the procedure compared to animals receiving sodium chloride, confirming successfully induced acute EI as displayed in [**Figure 1B**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}.
::: {#f1 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on lung damage after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS). **(A)** Experimental design is shown. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (NaCl, ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Trauma groups underwent Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation (R) with Ringer's solution (TH) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. MABP: mean arterial blood pressure. **(B)** Representative oil red O staining of fatty vacuoles in hepatic tissue of mice undergoing sham procedure. Fatty vacuoles are colored red (black arrow). **(C)** Representative lung sections upon hematoxylin/eosin (HE) staining of the sham ctrl, sham EtOH, THFx ctrl, and THFx EtOH groups are shown. **(D)** Representative lung sections upon the staining of activated caspase-3 in the sham ctrl, sham EtOH, THFx ctrl, and THFx EtOH groups are shown. Exemplary caspase-3-positively stained cells are marked with red arrows. **(E)** Quantification of caspase 3-positively stained cells per high-power field (HPF) is shown. **(F)** RT-qPCR with homogenized lung tissue was performed. Relative gene expression of Muc5ac normalized to Gapdh in lung tissue was calculated by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(G)** Quantification of the histopathological lung injury. The findings from the sham ctrl group were used for normalization as 100%. **(E, F)** Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
Lung organ damage caused by systemic inflammation following THFx was measured by assessing the relative lung injury and compared to the sham ctrl. The histomorphological differences between the groups in the lung after HE staining are demonstrated in [**Figure 1C**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}. A significantly increased histopathological lung injury, e.g., thickening of the alveolar walls/loss of alveolar space, is found in the THFx ctrl group vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figures 1C, G**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). THFx EtOH exerts a significantly lower relative lung injury vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05).
The association of the proinflammatory changes with apoptosis induction is shown in [**Figure 1D**](#f1){ref-type="fig"} as representative staining of active caspase-3 (red arrows). Quantification of cells that are positive for active caspase-3 as a direct indicator of apoptosis indicates significantly increased apoptosis in the THFx ctrl group vs. all groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 1E**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). However, acute EI in the THFx significantly decreased caspase-3-positive cells vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05).
Furthermore, the gene expression of *Muc5ac* coding for its lung protective protein in homogenized lung tissue was investigated ([@B23]). Both sham groups had significantly higher relative gene expression compared to THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 1F**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). THFx EtOH does not significantly differ from the sham groups. There was a tendency to upregulate *Muc5ac* gene expression in the THFx EtOH group vs. THFx ctrl ([**Figure 1F**](#f1){ref-type="fig"}).
Impact of Acute EI on CXCL1 Expression and Neutrophilic Infiltration After THFx {#s3_2}
Both protein and gene expression of CXCL1 in homogenized lung tissue and CXCL1 protein concentration in the BALF were assessed.
Representative immunostaining of CXCL1 is shown in [**Figure 2A**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}, and the mean intensity values are demonstrated in [**Figure 2B**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}. Comparison of the mean intensity values between the four groups showed the same pattern as observed regarding the protein expression of CXCL1 in the lungs and CXCL concentration in the BALF. The marked local remote proinflammatory response to trauma is confirmed by the significantly increased CXCL1 expression in the lung in THFx ctrl vs. sham ctrl and also sham EtOH (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figures 2A, B**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). CXCL1 expression in the THFx EtOH group is significantly reduced vs. the THFx ctrl group (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2B**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}).
::: {#f2 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on Cxcl1 gene and CXCL1 protein expression and neutrophilic infiltration after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS). The animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals in trauma groups underwent an Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation with Ringer's solution (THFx) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. **(A)** Representative lung sections upon the staining of CXCL1 in the sham ctrl, sham EtOH, THFx ctrl, and THFx EtOH groups are shown. **(B)** Quantification of CXCL1-positively stained cells per high-power field (HPF) is shown. **(C)** Quantification of CXCL1 protein concentration in lung tissue homogenates using mouse-specific ELISA kits is shown. **(D)** Quantification of CXCL1 protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is represented. Briefly, to obtain BAL, *via* trachea, lungs were flushed with 1.1 ml of phosphate buffered saline and then 800 µl was withdrawn for the determination of total protein concentration. **(E)** RT-qPCR with homogenized lung tissue for Cxcl1 gene expression analyses is depicted. The relative gene expression of Cxcl1 normalized to Gapdh was calculated by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(F)** Representative immune histological staining of neutrophil elastase (NE) as a marker of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs) in lung sections is represented. Red arrows indicate NE-positively stained cells. **(G)** Quantification of NE-positively stained cells per high-power field (HPF) is shown. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
Protein expression of CXCL1 in lung tissue is significantly increased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2C**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). Trauma animals undergoing EI have significantly decreased protein expression vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2C**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}).
CXCL1 protein expression in the BALF was significantly increased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2D**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}), comparable to results that were observed for CXCL1 protein concentration in the lung tissue homogenates. In THFx EtOH, CXCL1 protein expression is significantly lower vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2D**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}).
Relative gene expression of *Cxcl1* does not significantly differ between sham ctrl and sham EtOH ([**Figure 2E**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). Significantly higher relative gene expression of *Cxcl1* in THFx ctrl vs. both sham groups is observed (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2E**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). However, there is a trend to decreased relative gene expression in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl (*p* = 0.073, [**Figure 2E**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}).
As CXCL1 plays an important role in attracting neutrophils, we investigated neutrophil recruitment to the lungs ([@B24]). Neutrophil infiltration of lung tissue was assessed by immunohistology staining ([**Figure 2F**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}) and quantified by counting the positively stained cells ([**Figure 2G**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). Neutrophil infiltration is significantly increased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05). Compared to THFx ctrl, in THFx EtOH, a significantly reduced neutrophil infiltration is shown (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2G**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). In sham EtOH, a significantly lower neutrophil invasion vs. sham ctrl is observed (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 2G**](#f2){ref-type="fig"}).
Impact of Acute EI on IL-1β and TNF as Well as Tnfrs10b After THFx {#s3_3}
Similar to CXCL1, we investigated Il-1β gene expression and IL-1β protein expression in homogenized lung tissue as well as protein concentration in the BALF. The relative gene expression of Il-1β was significantly higher in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3A**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). Il-1β gene expression is significantly reduced in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3A**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}).
::: {#f3 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on IL-1β and TNF as well as Tnfrs10b after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS, THFx respectively). The animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals in trauma groups underwent an Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation with Ringer's solution (THFx) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. **(A)** RT-qPCR of homogenized lung tissue has been performed. The relative gene expression of Il-1β normalized to Gapdh was calculated by using the 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(B)** Quantification of IL-1β protein concentration in total lung tissue protein homogenates using mouse-specific ELISA kits is shown. **(C)** Quantification of IL-1β protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) is represented. Briefly, to obtain BALF, *via* trachea, lungs were flushed with 1.1 ml of phosphate buffered saline and then 800 µl was withdrawn for the determination of total protein concentration and IL-1β levels. **(D)** The relative gene expression of Tnf normalized to Gapdh after RT-qPCR was calculated by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(E)** Quantification of TNF protein concentration in total lung tissue protein homogenates using mouse-specific ELISA kits is shown. **(F)** The relative gene expression of Tnfrs10b normalized to Gapdh was assessed *via* RT-qPCR and calculated by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
IL-1β concentration in the lung tissue protein homogenates was significantly increased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3B**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). IL-1β concentration was significantly reduced in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3B**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). There are no differences between the sham groups.
IL-1β concentration in the BALF was significantly enhanced in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3C**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). In THFx EtOH, IL-1β levels were significantly reduced vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05). Sham animals did not differ significantly.
There was a significantly higher relative gene expression of Tnf in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3D**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). Tnf gene expression was significantly decreased in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3D**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). However, Tnf gene expression in THFx ETOH was significantly increased vs. sham EtOH (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3D**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}).
Compared with the significant differences that are observed regarding the *Tnf* gene expression, only a tendency regarding the TNF protein expression in lung tissue among the respective groups was observed ([**Figure 3E**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). Between all groups, the highest protein expression was shown in THFx ctrl.
The relative gene expression of *Tnfrsf10b* did not differ between both sham groups ([**Figure 3F**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). In THFx ctrl, a significantly increased relative *Tnfrsf10b* gene expression vs. all other groups was detected (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3F**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). A significantly decreased relative gene expression of Tnfrsf10b in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl was shown (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 3F**](#f3){ref-type="fig"}).
Impact of Acute EI on Wnt Signaling, β-Catenin--E-Cadherin Co-Expression, and A20 After THFx {#s3_4}
The relative gene expression of *Sost* was examined. The THFx ctrl group had a significantly reduced *Sost* gene expression vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4A**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). In THFx EtOH, a significantly increased *Sost* gene expression vs. THFx ctrl was detected (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4A**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). Sham groups did not differ significantly.
::: {#f4 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on Wnt signaling and A20 after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS, THFx respectively). The animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals in trauma groups underwent an Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation with Ringer's solution (THFx) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. Wnt3a and its inhibitor sclerostin (Sost) were determined. **(A)** RT-qPCR of homogenized lung tissue was performed. The relative gene expression of Sost, an Wnt inhibitor, normalized to Gapdh was calculated by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(B)** RT-qPCR of Wnt3a is shown after Wnt3a relative gene expression normalization to Gapdh by using the comparative threshold-cycle 2^−ΔΔCT^ method. **(C)** Representative immunofluorescent staining of A20 in green (green arrows, Alexa Fluor 488) and receptor interacting protein kinase 4 in red (RIPK4, red arrows, Alexa Fluor 647) are represented. **(D)** Quantification of A20-positively stained cells per high-power field (HPF) is shown. **(E)** Quantification of RIPK-4 positively stained cells per HPF is shown. **(F)** Immunofluorescence staining of the β-catenin as the key mediator of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in lung sections of mice was performed, and quantification of the positively stained area per HPF is depicted. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
Among all groups, the highest and most significant increase in relative *Wnt3a* gene expression in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups was detected (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4B**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). Relative *Wnt3a* gene expression was significantly reduced in THFx EtOH vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4B**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}).
The protein expression of A20 was investigated *via* quantification of the mean intensity values in IF. Representative pictures are demonstrated in [**Figure 4C**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}. A20 expression was significantly reduced in THFx ctrl vs. both sham groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4D**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). A20 expression in THFx EtOH did not statistically differ from sham ctrl. However, A20 was significantly reduced in THFx EtOH vs. sham EtOH (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4D**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). Sham EtOH showed a significantly higher A20 expression vs. the sham ctrl group (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4D**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). This increase upon EI was also observed after THFx; however, this tendency was not significant vs. THFx ctrl ([**Figure 4D**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}).
We also examined the association of A20 to RIPK4 in lung tissue by IF, which is representatively shown in [**Figure 4C**](#f4){ref-type="fig"} and quantified in [**Figure 4E**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}. RIPK4 expression in lung tissue showed a significant increase in sham EtOH vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4E**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). No significant differences among the other groups were found. RIPK4 expression increased in THFx EtOH compared with THFx ctrl; however, this tendency was not significant ([**Figure 4E**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}).
In IF, the expression and distribution of β-catenin protein was determined and compared to the mean intensity values among the groups. The β-catenin levels were significantly enhanced in sham EtOH vs. sham ctrl and against both trauma groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4F**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). The expression levels of β-catenin were significantly decreased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4F**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). EI prior to trauma significantly increased the β-catenin levels vs. THFx ctrl (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4F**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). In both trauma groups, the β-catenin expression was significantly reduced compared to the corresponding control groups, respectively (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 4F**](#f4){ref-type="fig"}).
Stratifying the localization of the β-catenin and E-cadherin expression ([**Figure 5A**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}) has shown that the colocalization of β-catenin--E-cadherin complexes was significantly higher in THFx vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5B**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}). However, expression of β-catenin was significantly increased in all groups vs. the THFx ctrl group, both membranous (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5C**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}) and cytosolic expression (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5D**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}). Membranous E-cadherin expression was significantly enhanced in both EtOH groups vs. the corresponding ctrl groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5E**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}), while THFx showed significantly less E-cadherin presence at the membrane vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5E**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}). The significantly reduced E-cadherin presence in THFx vs. all other groups is also observed in the cytosol (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 5F**](#f5){ref-type="fig"}).
::: {#f5 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on the β-catenin--E-cadherin co-expression after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS, THFx respectively). The animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals in trauma groups underwent an Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation with Ringer's solution (THFx) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. Expression of β-catenin and E-cadherin as well as their co-localization were determined. **(A)** Representative immunofluorescent staining of β-catenin in green (green arrows, Alexa Fluor 488) and E-cadherin in red (Alexa Fluor 568), and overlay (orange arrows) are represented. **(B)** Quantification of the β-catenin--E-cadherin co-expression at junctions is shown. **(C)** Quantification of β-catenin expression at the membrane, **(D)** β-catenin expression in the cytosol, **(E)** E-cadherin at the membrane, and **(F)** E-cadherin in the cytosol in lung sections of mice is depicted. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
Impact of Acute EI on CD4 T Cell Infiltration After THFx {#s3_5}
Representative immunostaining of CD4 is shown in [**Figure 6A**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}, and the quantification of counted CD4-positive cells is shown in [**Figure 6B**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}. The marked local proinflammatory response to trauma is confirmed by the significantly increased CD4 T cell infiltration in the lung in THFx ctrl vs. sham ctrl and also sham EtOH (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figures 6A, B**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}). Infiltration with CD4-positive cells in the THFx EtOH group is also significantly increased vs. sham ctrl as well as vs. sham EtOH (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figures 6A, B**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}).
::: {#f6 .fig}
Impact of acute ethanol intoxication (EI) on CD4 T-cell infiltration after femoral fracture (Fx) and hemorrhagic shock (HS, THFx respectively). The animals received an intragastric gavage of either sodium chloride (ctrl, *n* = 14) or ethanol (EtOH, *n* = 14) to simulate an acute intoxication with alcohol. Two hours before the initiation of experiments, the animals in trauma groups underwent an Fx (*via* osteotomy after the placement of an external fixator) and a pressure-controlled HS with subsequent resuscitation with Ringer's solution (THFx) *via* catheterized femoral artery (*n* = 14). Sham groups underwent catheterization and received an external fixator, but THFx was not induced (*n* = 14). Twenty-four hours after the end of the experiment, mice were euthanized, and sampling was performed. **(A)** Immunofluorescence staining of CD4 in red (red arrows, Alexa Fluor 647) in lung sections of mice was performed, and **(B)** quantification of the positively stained cells per HPF is depicted. **(C)** Quantification of interferon (IFN)-gamma protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is represented. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean; *n* = 7 in all groups, \**p* \< 0.05 between indicated groups.
IFN-gamma protein expression in the BALF was significantly increased in THFx ctrl vs. all other groups (*p* \< 0.05, [**Figure 6C**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}), comparable to results that were observed for CXCL1 gene and protein expression.
The proposed, presumed mechanism of action is demonstrated in [**Figure 7**](#f7){ref-type="fig"}.
::: {#f7 .fig}
A simplified, graphical depiction of the regulation mechanism of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling by the acute ethanol intoxication (EI) **(A)** and with the major trauma injury **(B)**. **(A)** Suspected mechanism of the EI influence over the activity of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin. According to our findings, we observed that acute alcohol intake leads to the elevated levels of Sost gene expression, whose product, sclerostin, acts as a natural competitor inhibitor for Wnt receptors. Additionally, we noticed increased expression levels of both receptor-interacting protein kinase 4 (RIPK4) and A20 protein in the same EI setting. Interestingly, it was reported before that RIPK4 appears to be a positive regulator of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling, while A20 protein seems to be the natural inhibitor of RIPK4 activity and presumably regulates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling through this kinase ([@B12]). In our findings, the upregulated levels appear to be contradictory to these results; however, both levels of A20 and RIPK4 seem to compensate each other, and thus, one may suspect an interaction between those, which cancels the RIPK4-upregulating activity, as the Wnt/β-catenin-driven trauma-induced inflammation is suppressed compared to the ctrl group. However, further investigation is required, especially on the field of the base protein expression and gene transcription and the involvement of the alcohol as a potential regulator of A20--RIPK4 interplay. **(B)** Trauma-based breakdown of the lung barrier through the positive regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in the presence of alcohol. The major trauma injury affects the internal sclerostin and wnt3a ligand competition of the Fzd and LRP-5/6 receptor by favoring the expression of the latter, thus stimulating the destruction complex disruption and β-catenin release to the cytosol. In addition, β-catenin appears to dissociate from E-cadherin-based AJ (adherens junction) complexes, thus disrupting the cell--cell interactions of epithelial cells. At the same time, the expression levels of A20 and RIPK4 seem to decrease; however, it is unknown if this downregulation influences the withdrawal of the destruction complex from the cytosol or maybe it is a time-dependent interaction that requires kinetics-based observations, so that the fold change in time of both molecules during the transition between off and on states can be followed. APC: adenomatous polyposis coli, AXIN: the axis inhibition protein scaffold protein, βTrCP: the beta-transducin repeat containing protein, CKI: casein kinase, Fzd: frizzled protein, GSK3β: glycogen synthase kinase 3β, LRP 5/6: low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5/6.
In this work, we aimed to analyze the basic mechanisms of lung barrier disruption and organ damage after THFx with and without EI. Acute alcohol abuse resulting in EI has been implicated as a major risk factor not only for traumatic injury itself but also for post-traumatic immune regulation and recovery. The results thus far have been equivocal. This is of particular importance, as it is estimated that up to 50% of trauma patients present acutely intoxicated ([@B25], [@B26]). Thus, there is a significant need for understanding the influence of acute EI on the inflammatory response and lung injury after trauma. In particular, this study examined the involvement of the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway after trauma.
Our results demonstrate that THFx triggered lung injury in mice, which developed from an uncontrolled inflammatory response, e.g., increased expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, CXCL1, and lung infiltration with PMNL, as well as apoptosis, which promotes lung injury. The current investigation explored whether the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which plays a key role in repair mechanisms and cell-to-cell adhesion, will contribute to the breakdown of the lung barrier after trauma ([@B27], [@B28]). Our findings demonstrate THFx-induced activation of the canonical Wnt *via* inhibition of the destruction complex, since expression of *Wnt3a* increased and that of *Sost* decreased, altogether leading to the stabilization and accumulation of the cytoplasmic β-catenin levels, allowing its translocation into the nucleus. Furthermore, reduced levels of β-catenin, which ultimately lead to the absence of β-catenin in the E-cadherin--β-catenin complexes at the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane, suggest loss of cell-to-cell adherence and lung barrier breakdown after THFx. In this study, we found that acute EI alleviated the uncontrolled inflammatory response and lung barrier breakdown *via* the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Prior studies have shown that severe trauma causes damage to trauma-remote organs such as lungs or liver, mainly by an uncontrolled systemic and local proinflammatory response ([@B4]--[@B6]). Zhang et al. found increased inflammation and lung damage as also shown by the LIS after hip fracture in rats ([@B29]). These results are in line with our findings. We have shown that reduction of the lung-protective *Muc5ac* ([@B23]) is associated with enhanced lung injury after THFx. It is well known that mediators of inflammation correlate with the magnitude of the injury and subsequent organ failure in trauma ([@B30]). Zhang et al. found increased circulating levels of TNF-α and IL-1β 24 h after traumatic fracture and surgery ([@B29]), while Xu et al. also demonstrated increased IL-1β levels in the BALF after HS in mice ([@B31]). Here, we demonstrate that lung injury is associated with significantly increased local TNF-α and IL-1β in lungs after THFx. Furthermore, we found THFx-induced *Cxcl1* gene as well as CXCL1 protein expression in the lungs and BALF. As CXCL1 is an important neutrophil chemoattractant ([@B32]), the observed increase in PMNL lung infiltration after THFx was expected. These observations are supported by other experimental trauma studies, showing increased CXCL1 and infiltration of inflammatory cells into lungs after experimental multiple trauma models/polytrauma ([@B6], [@B33]). An uncontrolled inflammatory response with excessive cytokine production and leukocyte recruitment can lead to cellular apoptosis/necrosis, tissue damage, hemodynamic changes, and organ failure ([@B34]--[@B36]). However, the cell counts of neutrophils in the BALF have not been performed. Given the excessive inflammatory mediator release and lung injury after THFx, apoptosis in which caspase activation plays a central role was analyzed. In agreement with Zhang et al., who assessed increased levels of active caspase-3 in lung tissue 24 h after traumatic fracture induction ([@B29]), we found markedly increased caspase-3 activation after THFx, indicating lung barrier disruption.
Given the fact that increased apoptosis is associated with increased lung barrier disruption and pulmonary permeability ([@B5]), and furthermore, Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a key role in repair mechanisms and cell-to-cell adhesion ([@B27], [@B28]), we examined this pathway. It is well known that Wnt (e.g., WNT3A) binding to its receptor inhibits the destruction complex, leading to accumulation of the cytoplasmic β-catenin, allowing its translocation into the nucleus ([@B7], [@B9], [@B10]). Furthermore, in the absence of Wnt stimulus, the majority of β-catenin is located at the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane in adherens junction-stabilizing complexes with E-cadherin and α-catenin, preventing β-catenin from degradation ([@B9], [@B10]). Activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway leads to the release of β-catenin from complexes with E-cadherin ([@B7], [@B9], [@B37]), and thereby might contribute to the breakdown of the lung barrier. β-catenin signaling is tightly regulated in the early phases of fracture healing, and alterations to β-catenin signaling can play a disparate role in fracture healing ([@B38]). Although the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in fracture healing, its role in remote organ damage after trauma is still largely unknown. Sawant et al. demonstrated caspase-3 activity, microvascular permeability, and an active canonical Wnt signaling pathway in rat lung microvascular endothelial cells after HS ([@B37]). Furthermore, specific inhibition of β-catenin phosphorylation and, thus, inhibition of the trauma-induced Wnt/β-catenin signaling protected from caspase-3 enzyme activity and against microvascular hyperpermeability following HS ([@B37]). In the current study, THFx-induced expression of *Wnt3a*, a major trigger for the active canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway ([@B37]), and THFx-reduced expression sclerostin, an inhibitor of the Wnt signaling pathway ([@B13]), demonstrate that THFx also induces the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Therefore, we hypothesize that enhanced canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways and loss of β-catenin from the membranous complexes as confirmed by the IF cause lung barrier breakdown and lung injury after THFx.
In this study, we focused on acute EI to elaborate its effects on the lung inflammation and barrier breakdown after THFx. Therefore, no unambiguous conclusions can be drawn regarding subacute or chronic EI. The current data regarding the impact of an acute EI on the inflammatory response and organ damage after trauma are conflicting ([@B3], [@B18], [@B39], [@B40]). In this study, we found that EI reduced lung damage after THFx. In agreement with our previous findings in experimental traumatic brain injury ([@B18]), we found that acute EI decreased the proinflammatory mediators that were released and activated after THFx. EI-reduced expression of *Tnf* and *Il-1β* after THFx in this study is supported by Xu et al. demonstrating reduced expressions of *Tnf-α* and *Il-1β* in the lungs in a combined model of traumatic brain injury model with acute EI ([@B18]). Similar results were confirmed in the liver as well, under the influence of an acute EI after HS in rats ([@B3]). In contrast to the anti-inflammatory effects of an acute EI, Hu et al. showed in their rat model of HS that an acute EI increased circulatory TNF-α levels and histopathological damage of the lung ([@B39]). The reports must be carefully interpreted since, e.g., Hu et al. administered EtOH intravenously ([@B39]), which is a physiologically absolutely different approach. Regarding the TNF-α levels in the serum, which we did not assess here, it is already well-reported that alcohol can induce the TNF-α release from the liver macrophages, the Kupffer cells, due to the LPS-driven NF-κB signaling pathway ([@B41]). Additionally, ethanol sensitizes the TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) to the TNF, strengthening the inflammatory response and the recruitment of leukocytes ([@B42]), and thus contributing to local hepatic inflammation, as well as systemic inflammation. This could be a prevalent factor contributing to the circulating TNF-α levels; however it is worth mentioning that the macrophages' general capability to express TNF-α is relatively low according to the gene/protein expression data from the Human Protein Atlas (ID: ENSG00000232810-TNF). Moreover, soluble TNF-α cytokine lifespan is rather short ([@B43]), which always brings difficulties as we have also observed in our study measuring the total circulating level of this cytokine and reflecting its importance more as a local mediator/attractant. Regarding the lung tissue response and production of TNF-α, ethanol brings mixed conclusions regarding its influence on cytokine production, impairing the LPS-driven TNF-α release and contributing to the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines ([@B44]). We have observed this trend in our studies involving the sera derived from traumatic patients and co-incubated with human immortalized epithelial lung cells prior to the exposure to ethanol, which concluded in decreased activation of the NF-κB pathway and the desensitization of neutrophils ([@B45]). It is difficult to clearly affirm or denounce the elevated levels of circulating TNF-α coming from the Kupffer cells' activation in the liver due to alcohol activity, while facing the difficulties described above; however, it is certain that the TNF-α gene expression levels change locally in the lung along the applied conditions. On the other hand, regarding the TNF-α levels, the disintegrin and metalloprotease 17, known also as ADAM-17 or TACE, is an enzyme capable of proteolytic cleavage of the TNF-α precursor protein, a membrane-anchored pro-protein, thus releasing the outer domain (known as ectodomain) into the mature, soluble TNF-α cytokine in the process known as "shedding" ([@B46]). This strongly indicates the role of ADAM-17 and other potentially "shedding" proteins in the regulation of expression levels of the final extracellular concentration of active TNF-α cytokine, as the target gene expression levels do not indicate the final levels of protein after translation, especially with secondary post-translational regulators such as ADAM-17, required for the maturation step of the protein. In our experimental setting, it is obviously a relevant factor for consideration, as it was shown by DeBerge et al. that the inhibition of ADAM-17 yields a decreased ratio of TNF-α processing in the animal model of lung injury and thus decreased levels of active cytokine and attenuated severity of lung injury and increased survival of mice ([@B47]). Moreover, what is especially relevant in our study is the observation that acute ethanol exposure is capable of regulating the expression of ADAM17 and thus downregulating the maturation of soluble TNF-α and its release ([@B48], [@B49]). However, downregulation of ADAM17 by ethanol does not exclude the negative influence of ethanol on the TNF-α gene expression, which appears to be the prevalent mechanism of action. Further comparisons were used to experimentally validate our present study. Acute EI reduced THFx-induced CXCL1 as well as PMNL presence in the lungs after THFx, which supports our previous reports obtained from the liver analyses upon an acute EI in HS ([@B3]). However, Sears et al. demonstrated an enhanced inflammatory response concomitant with increased leukocyte infiltration in lungs 24 h after acute EI and bilateral femur fracture in rats ([@B40]). These paradoxical observations might be explained in part by the differences in basic methodology. In contrast to our THFx (osteotomy) model with intragastric EtOH application, Sears et al. applied a blunt guillotine to induce femur fractures and injected EtOH intraperitoneally. In our scenario, acute EI significantly reduced uncontrolled lung inflammatory response and apoptosis after THFx. Acute EI had a marked impact on the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by reducing THFx-induced *Wnt3a*, increasing sclerostin levels, and increasing β-catenin as demonstrated by the IF. Further studies are necessary to determine if increased sclerostin inhibits the active Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, ultimately increasing β-catenin in membranous complexes, and thus promoting the stability of adherens junctions after THFx as postulated here. To the best of our knowledge, there are no currently published studies that examine the influence of an acute EI on Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in the context of lung barrier breakdown after THFx. However, Dogget and Breslin investigated the impact of an acute EI on microvascular leakage in rats and found an increase in mesenteric microcirculation permeability caused by disrupted VE-cadherin organization at junctions ([@B50]). While our data indicate lung barrier stabilization, alcohol-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction was proposed by Dogget and Breslin ([@B50]). The ubiquitin-binding protein A20 was indispensable for regulating vascular E-cadherin expression in adherens junctions to maintain and repair damaged endothelial functions after pulmonary vascular injury by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ([@B11]). According to Nakamura et al., it is presumed that A20 interacts with a proximal signaling protein RIPK4 of the Wnt signaling pathway through its natural affinity towards RIPK family proteins, and the regulation of Wnt signaling by A20 occurs *via* RIPK4, which interestingly enough acts by itself as a positive regulator of Wnt/β-catenin canonical signaling through its kinase activity of the Dsh protein ([@B12]). It is known that A20 negatively regulates the transcription factor of the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), i.e., through interacting with RIPK proteins, and it was shown that A20 is capable of suppressing the activation of the NF-κB in the experimental setting of the murine traumatic bone injury model, challenged with LPS as a stimulus ([@B51]). However, the data on A20 and its modulatory involvement in trauma with/without EI are still missing to a large extent. What we have observed in our study is presumably a potential correlation between those two factors, as both A20 and RIPK4 levels seem to change in a similar manner simultaneously, which may or may not imply a potential complexing interaction or molecular connection, which could be in line with the observations considering the role of A20 in interacting with RIPK proteins. We noticed that increased levels of both A20 and RIPK4 are connected to suppressed activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, while its downregulation by trauma injury only seems to induce the further release of β-catenin. This initial observation is thus contradictory to the data from Nakamura et al., as diminished levels of RIPK4 negatively impact the Wnt/β-catenin signaling, as it prohibits sequestration of the destruction complex ([@B12]). This may underline the role of A20 as a negative inhibitor of RIPK4, and it is A20 that is one of the targets of EI and trauma stimulation. We illustrate the potential interaction in [**Figure 7**](#f7){ref-type="fig"}; however, it is clearly too early to draw any significant conclusions based only on those data. This aspect requires more insight and deep experimental investigations, especially on the protein--protein interaction plane with huge emphasis on studying the expression patterns.
Here, we show that acute EI prior to THFx downregulated the THFx-induced increase in Wnt3a gene expression, which correlated with an increased β-catenin expression in the lung. Thus, we hypothesize that the data indicate an inhibitory effect of acute EI on Wnt signaling in the lung after trauma. It appears that this effect either is organ-specific or depends on the type of alcohol intoxication (acute vs. chronic EI). Considering the effects of chronic alcohol abuse on Wnt signaling in, e.g., liver, there are several studies that report an opposite and, thus, enhancing impact of alcohol on Wnt signaling. The consequence of such impact is often enhanced development or progression of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), which can ultimately lead to hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma ([@B52]--[@B54]). Mercer et al. examined the effects of chronic alcohol abuse (16 weeks) on the development of diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatic tumors in a mouse model ([@B52]). In tumor-free liver tissue from EtOH+DEN-treated mice, they found significantly increased β-catenin expression in the membrane and cytosol, and enhanced accumulation in the nucleus. Moreover, induction of alcohol-induced liver disease in rats resulted in increased expression of cytosolic and nuclear β-catenin, phosphorylated GSK3β, and significantly increased gene expression of Wnt2, Wnt7a, and β-catenin target genes ([@B52]). The consequence of increased Wnt signaling was a significantly increased incidence of liver tumors in the EtOH+DEN group compared to the controls ([@B52]). Similar effects were observed by Warner et al., who investigated the role of specific dietary fatty acids (n3-PUFA) in Wnt signaling and the development of ALD in mice ([@B53]). Wild type (WT) and fat-1 transgenic mice underwent chronic EI (6 weeks) with a single final LPS challenge. Chronic EI resulted in increased gene expression of Wnt5a and Wnt4 and significantly reduced gene expression of the negative feedback regulator of Wnt signaling Axin2 in WT mice compared with control animals without long-term alcohol consumption ([@B53]). The reported data contrast with our observed effects of acute EI on Wnt signaling in the lung, although it should be noted that our work involved acute EI and not long-term alcohol abuse, and that the influence of trauma was not examined in the above-mentioned studies. Additionally, it should be noted that studies on the influence of alcohol on Wnt signaling in the liver are inconclusive. Several studies exist that describe an inhibitory influence of chronic alcohol abuse on Wnt signaling. Huang et al. investigated the influence of pharmacological activation of Wnt signaling on ALD development and progression in a rat model ([@B54]). Rats were subjected to 8 weeks of alcohol consumption. The impact of a 3-week treatment with Wnt agonists in parallel to chronic EI was additionally investigated. They found decreased cytosolic and nuclear β-catenin expression in the liver of animals with chronic alcohol abuse compared with controls ([@B54]). Pharmacological activation of the Wnt signaling pathway resulted in decreased ALD progression ([@B54]). Similar effects were demonstrated in the work of Xu et al. who examined the crosstalk of chronic alcohol abuse and both the insulin/IGF and Wnt pathways on liver regeneration. After 8 weeks of alcohol administration, rat liver tissue showed decreased gene expression of Wnt1, Wnt7a, and Fzd3 compared to control animals without alcohol administration ([@B55]). These data also suggest inhibition of Wnt signaling by chronic alcohol abuse.
Despite the fact that the data suggest the Wnt signaling pathway being involved in the observed changes, there are definitely other involved mechanisms of the widely spoken multicellular impact of ethanol, independent of Wnt signaling, as ethanol influence is exceptionally broad and affects a magnitude of several dependent and independent physiological aspects ([@B56]--[@B58]), with many of them already settled down in our scientific interests ([@B59], [@B60]). In the study of Samuelson et al., the authors have shown an interesting result derived from an experimental model of the recolonization of microbiota from the alcohol-fed mice donors, followed up by the evaluation of lung inflammation severity and intestinal integrity upon *Klebsiella pneumoniae* infection ([@B61]). The study underlines the role of alcohol-induced dysbiosis in the pathogenesis of inflammation and the importance of gastrointestinal tract homeostatic microbiota in supporting the host defense capabilities, showing increased susceptibility to pneumonia severity in the alcohol-affected microbiota ([@B61]). The nature of *K. pneumoniae* infection is a key factor here, considering that as an opportunistic, Gram-negative bacteria species, *K. pneumoniae* releases LPS (endotoxin) to its environment, which leads to the activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), and thus transduction of proinflammatory transcription factors and the recruitment of inflammatory cells in the end ([@B62]). Moreover, there are lines of evidences that the LPS induction of TLR4 can activate the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway ([@B63]), which further strengthens the significance of this pathway in ethanol-mediated mechanism of action. In regard to the work of Samuelson et al. once more, we had investigated the influence of alcohol on the integrity of intestinal barrier and observed in samples derived from the healthy volunteers after acute alcohol consumption early increased levels of circulating fatty acid binding protein (FABP-I), which acts as a biomarker for intestinal damage ([@B64]). This only further underlines the role and mechanisms of malfunctioning microbiota homeostasis in contributing to the pathogenesis of inflammation. Additionally, in this study, we observed the decreased levels of proinflammatory cytokines from trauma alcohol-fed mice, which stands in opposite to the data from severely affected and overgrown microbiota due to binge-on-chronic alcohol intake, where the proinflammatory cytokine levels were increased due to alcohol dysbiosis, further showing its effect on the enhanced inflammation ([@B61]). As indicated in [**Figure 6**](#f6){ref-type="fig"}, the infiltration with other inflammatory cells such as CD4-positive T cells with the trauma-induced interferon-gamma also increases, and its decrease upon acute EI after trauma underlines the importance of other immune cells and pathways in the alcohol-modulated inflammation. In summary, there are definitely other mechanisms of ethanol action, where it displays its nature from both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory capabilities, especially interplaying with traumatic injury and alcohol consumption. In this study, our focus was to investigate the DAMP-induced activation of immune response; however we are absolutely aware of the PAMP and gut--liver axis importance in the pathomechanism of damage, and we consider GI tract integrity as an important inflammatory benefactor during traumatic injury.
In our work, we observed that animals with acute EI before THFx exerted less lung injury. In contrast to the acute EI we studied, chronic EI is known to have adverse effects on the lung barrier. When alcohol consumption shifts from moderate or binge drinking to chronic alcohol consumption, increased permeability of the cellular lung barrier has been observed in numerous studies. Fan et al. found a significantly increased permeability of the alveolar epithelial barrier caused by increased disruption of tight junctions upon chronic EI ([@B65]). A mechanistic study by Otis et al. on the development of ARDS in prior chronic EI showed increased permeability of the alveolar epithelia with enhanced incidence of pulmonary edema in mice ([@B66]). In contrast to the effects of acute EI as observed also in the present study, Smith et al. identified chronic EI as a risk factor for the development of ARDS in sepsis ([@B67]). The observed effects of chronic alcohol consumption on the lung barrier not only have been demonstrated *in vivo* but also have been part of human studies. Burnham et al. examined pulmonary permeability in subjects with chronic EI showing that even in the absence of symptoms, individuals with a history of chronic EI had increased baseline lung permeability compared with controls, which could prime for a severe course of ARDS in the setting of sepsis ([@B68]). The negative effects of chronic EI in the context of ARDS have also been described by Berkowitz et al., demonstrating that patients with chronic EI also had a threefold increased risk of developing pulmonary edema ([@B69]). In general, it remains important to understand the mechanistically different effects of acute versus chronic EI, yet in regard to the public health context, alcohol consumption is one of the leading causes of accidents and, according to several clinical studies, the percentage of alcoholized polytrauma patients is over 25% ([@B70]). Alcohol consumption leads to increased financial, time, and personnel burden, requiring additional routine and specific laboratory controls, with clinical imaging mostly of the head due to the reduced vigilance, difficult anamnesis, and compliance of the patients admitted to hospitals ([@B71]).
The present study has its limitations. Most notably, we only used young male mice in our experiments. Thus, the conclusions can only be drawn for a younger patient cohort. Further research will be required to determine if the differences in age or gender correlate to the observed results. Additionally, some of the variability in the dataset may be caused by the sample size of mice. While the clinical scenario implies first fracture and then its stabilization, in this experimental model, an external fixator is provided first, and then the osteotomy. Femur fracture is frequently accompanied by hemorrhage, which underlines the importance of this model; however, the impact of isolated fracture on remote organ injury cannot be assessed by this model. To ensure comparability, we performed a controlled HS, which would not occur in a real trauma situation of uncontrolled bleeding. During the experiment, the animals were not ventilated using intubation, which might also influence the dataset. Interindividual differences regarding the absorption rate of EtOH may have an impact on the BAC; thus, intravenous administration of EtOH might improve the inter-group comparisons, as it was done in other studies ([@B39]). However, the intravenous EtOH application does not mimic real-life conditions, and reproducing the findings in the future using an alcohol feeding model, which may prove to have different exposure parameters due to the definition of "acute", should be considered in translational models of EI. No conclusions can be drawn regarding the influence of subacute or chronic EI from this dataset. Also, in our work, we assessed the CXCL1 gene expression and protein expression in lung and BALF, and based on known data, and because of this, a subsequent increase in neutrophil invasion into lung tissue after THFx is observed. Together with known data, our results clearly indicate a CXCL1-mediated recruitment of neutrophils to lungs after trauma; however, in future studies, neutrophil counts in the BALF should be analyzed. Finally, the results of all the analyses are at a single time point in the complex process of THFx. Having multiple post-trauma time points would have allowed for a temporal analysis of EI-induced effects and mechanisms.
In summary, the current work adds novel information about the effects of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in trauma-induced uncontrolled local inflammatory response and lung injury. An acute EI alleviates the uncontrolled inflammatory response and lung barrier breakdown after trauma by suppressing the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Future studies should explore the association between acute EI and other upstream and downstream factors involved in Wnt/β-catenin signal transduction after trauma to provide interventional targets.
Data Availability Statement {#s5}
The data can be obtained upon a reasonable request from the corresponding author.
Ethics Statement {#s6}
This study was authorized by the local institutional animal care and research advisory committee and permitted by the local government of Lower Saxony, Germany (approval number: 33.12-42502-04-17/2491).
Author Contributions {#s7}
Conceptualization: CN and BR. Methodology: LN, BX, KB, YZ, and KK. Validation: AJN, LN, and BR. Formal analysis: LN and BR. Investigation: LN, BX, KB, SG, and AJN. Resources: CN and BR. Data curation: LN, BX, YZ, and BR. Writing---original draft preparation: LN, AJN, and BR. Writing---review and editing: KB, YZ, PJ, and CN. Visualization: BR. Supervision: CN, AJN, and BR. Funding acquisition: CN and BR. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
This research was funded by the German Research Foundation DFG with grant numbers DFG RE 3304/9-1, NE 1932/1-3, and 361210922/RTG 2408.
Conflict of Interest {#s9}
Publisher's Note {#s10}
[^1]: Edited by: Derrick Richard Samuelson, University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States
[^2]: Reviewed by: Todd A. Wyatt, University of Nebraska Medical Center, United States; Martin Ronis, Louisiana State University, United States
[^3]: †These authors have contributed equally to this work
[^4]: This article was submitted to Nutritional Immunology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Immunology
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Uncaught Error EPIPE & Osascript Makes Hyper Lagging on Ubuntu
Hyperline keep getting Uncaught Error like this below, and makes Hyper Lagging
events.js
Uncaught Error: spawn osascript ENOENT
at exports._errnoException (util.js:1024)
at Process.ChildProcess._handle.onexit (internal/child_process.js:192)
at onErrorNT (internal/child_process.js:374)
at _combinedTickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:138)
at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:180)
Uncaught Error: write EPIPE
at exports._errnoException (util.js:1024)
at WriteWrap.afterWrite [as oncomplete] (net.js:851)
Same issue on Windows 10 :(
any news about it?
problem still exists :(
I keep on getting this on :
marcin@hp:~$ uname -a
Linux hp 5.11.0-27-generic #29~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Aug 11 15:58:17 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
marcin@hp:~$ lsb_release --all
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
Release: 20.04
Codename: focal
marcin@hp:~$
this might be helpfull:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27688804/how-do-i-debug-error-spawn-enoent-on-node-js
Close issues, because osascript is only in MacOS, that's why there's no Linux distribution has osascript either backported into Linux distribution.
@malwareslayer - is there a solution/workaround for that ?
Shouldn't then this osascript check/use only on Macs?
The issue still exists on Linux...
moreover I do confirm it's also exist on Windows:
it seems the only env where it doesn't is Mac ...
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Research article | Open | Open Peer Review | Published:
Can personal qualities of medical students predict in-course examination success and professional behaviour? An exploratory prospective cohort study
Abstract
Background
Over two-thirds of UK medical schools are augmenting their selection procedures for medical students by using the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT), which employs tests of cognitive and non-cognitive personal qualities, but clear evidence of the tests’ predictive validity is lacking. This study explores whether academic performance and professional behaviours that are important in a health professional context can be predicted by these measures, when taken before or very early in the medical course.
Methods
This prospective cohort study follows the progress of the entire student cohort who entered Hull York Medical School in September 2007, having taken the UKCAT cognitive tests in 2006 and the non-cognitive tests a year later. This paper reports on the students’ first and second academic years of study. The main outcome measures were regular, repeated tutor assessment of individual students’ interpersonal skills and professional behaviour, and annual examination performance in the three domains of recall and application of knowledge, evaluation of data, and communication and practical clinical skills. The relationships between non-cognitive test scores, cognitive test scores, tutor assessments and examination results were explored using the Pearson product–moment correlations for each group of data; the data for students obtaining the top and bottom 20% of the summative examination results were compared using Analysis of Variance.
Results
Personal qualities measured by non-cognitive tests showed a number of statistically significant relationships with ratings of behaviour made by tutors, with performance in each year’s objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), and with themed written summative examination marks in each year. Cognitive ability scores were also significantly related to each year’s examination results, but seldom to professional behaviours. The top 20% of examination achievers could be differentiated from the bottom 20% on both non-cognitive and cognitive measures.
Conclusions
This study shows numerous significant relationships between both cognitive and non-cognitive test scores, academic examination scores and indicators of professional behaviours in medical students. This suggests that measurement of non-cognitive personal qualities in applicants to medical school could make a useful contribution to selection and admission decisions. Further research is required in larger representative groups, and with more refined predictor measures and behavioural assessment methods, to establish beyond doubt the incremental validity of such measures over conventional cognitive assessments.
Background
In recent decades it has been generally recognised that, in addition to academic ability, doctors’ professional competence depends on a range of desirable personal qualities (for example [1]). These have been recently summarised [2] as teamwork and professional skills, duty and responsibility, professionalism and values, communication and interpersonal skills, and trustworthiness and ethical behaviour. It is also now recognised that medical schools have a duty to society to select as students those individuals most likely to graduate as doctors with such attributes [3].
To achieve this, some universities have been investigating the use of tests of cognitive and non-cognitive personal qualities to augment their selection procedures for medical students. In the UK 26 of the 32 medical schools have been exploring the use of the United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) [4]. The use of such tests is controversial and clear evidence of their predictive validity continues to be lacking [57] because studies combining the administration of these tests with observational measures of student behaviour (or professional behaviour after graduation) have not been carried out. In addition the literature lacks reports of whether the non-cognitive characteristics desired in a good doctor have any bearing on students’ examination results, particularly in performance-based exams. Our aim was therefore to establish whether any of a range of tests of cognitive abilities and non-cognitive personal qualities [811] that have been developed for medical student selection can predict professionally appropriate behaviours in medical students, in addition to their normal examination results.
At Hull York Medical School (HYMS), students’ marks from their annual summative theme-based examinations can be broadly attributed to one of three domains: recall and application of knowledge, evaluation of data, and communication and practical skills, the latter including ratings from objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs). HYMS tutors undertake regular formative assessments of students’ professional behaviours, understanding and performance from the first year of the course onwards, in order to get closer to the ideal of a comprehensive assessment. Using a set of rating scales, these assessments record behaviours acknowledged as important by medical educators. This includes behaviours reflecting conscientiousness (such as punctuality and appropriate dress), interactions with tutors and fellow students, involvement in the group learning experience, and appropriate clinical behaviours. The tutor ratings provide a novel, but appropriate, set of outcome variables against which to examine the predictive validity of selection tests.
The range of information available from the HYMS assessments thus allowed exploration of whether the UKCAT cognitive and pilot non-cognitive tests of personal qualities can predict either examination performance or the surrogate measures of professional behaviours as observed by the tutors.
Methods
This paper reports the first two academic years’ progress of the 146 students who, in September 2007, commenced year 1 of the five-year medical course at Hull York Medical School (HYMS). All were invited to participate in the study, which had ethics approval from HYMS’ Medical Education Ethics Committee (study ref 0701). Data were collected from the following measures. Figure 1 shows when each set of measurements was undertaken.
1. 1.
The UKCAT test, which all students were required to have taken in 2006 before applying to medical school, provided four cognitive skills subtest scores: verbal reasoning (VR), numerical reasoning (NR), abstract reasoning (AR) and decision analysis (DA) [4]. HYMS did not preselect students on the basis of any minimum or specified range of UKCAT performance. UKCAT results were available for 131 students; all but two of the remaining students had applied a year earlier, before the UKCAT was introduced.
2. 2.
The non-cognitive personal qualities assessments were three paper-based tests delivered under examination conditions at the University of Hull and the University of York in October 2007. The tests, which have also been part of the UKCAT since 2007, were:
a) The Interpersonal Traits Questionnaire (ITQ), which measures narcissism, aloofness, confidence (in dealing with people) and empathy and produces a summary score for INVOLVEMENT (versus detachment) in which confidence and empathy are positive, narcissism and aloofness negative [8, 11].
1. b)
The Interpersonal Values Questionnaire (IVQ), which measures the extent to which the respondent favours individual freedoms (versus societal rules) as a basis for making moral decisions [9, 11].
2. c)
The Self-Appraisal Inventory (SAI) [11], which measures the domains of (mental) RESILIENCE (comprising scales measuring anxiety, moodiness, neuroticism and irrational thinking) and SELF-CONTROL (versus risk taking tendency) using the scales of restraint, conscientiousness, permissiveness and anti-social tendencies. SAI also contains a Lie scale.
3. 3.
Tutor assessment (TA) data are collected routinely about all students, from each problem-based learning (PBL) tutor. Groups of 8 students meet with the same tutor twice a week for a 1.5 h problem-based learning (PBL) tutorial throughout year 1, and again (in different groups with different tutors) throughout year 2. These tutors, all clinicians, are also the personal mentor for their students, and consider each individual’s assessment data in formative one-to-one interviews between tutor and student. These data comprised:
a. Assessment of a set of specified behavioural items, adapted from the Peer assessment of professional behaviours form created by Gary Butler, University of Wollongong, and used with permission. The items were suggested by the requirements for medical school curricula [3], taking into consideration the ability of tutors to observe student behaviour. The assessments were undertaken by their PBL tutor for each student once in year 1 (in May 2008) and twice in year 2 (January and May 2009). The assessment form was being developed over this period; it was piloted in May 2008, revised in January 2009 and finalised in May 2009, so there was slight variation in the items on each occasion, with the tutors assessing 17 behaviours in May 2008 and May 2009, but only 14 behaviours in January 2009. See Additional file 1 for an example of each form. The final three items (18 to 20) on the May 2009 form are excluded from the analysis because these items relate to a different context (clinical placements) and were assessed by other tutors whom the students met irregularly.
1. b.
In addition, as part of this research, the PBL tutors were asked to make an overall assessment of each student in May each year, by rating them as either ‘problematic’, ‘average’ or ‘particularly promising’.
1. 4.
The marks from end of academic year summative examinations, held in June 2008 and June 2009, which are allocated to one of three HYMS themes: Theme A (Life sciences and Clinical sciences), Theme B (Clinical techniques and skills and Person-centred care) and Theme C (Evidence-based decision-making, Population health and medicine and Managing resources for quality and efficiency). Theme A tests largely knowledge recall, with some interpretation. Theme B tests interpersonal understanding and communication and practical skills by a written paper (30% of marks) and an OSCE (70%). The OSCE included equal numbers of five minute stations covering practical skills and communication skills; for a detailed list of the stations, see Additional file 2. Theme C tests not only knowledge, but also analytic and numerical evaluation skills.
Tutor assessments and examination data were available for the whole cohort of 146 students. 143 agreed to take part in the non-cognitive study but only 137 completed all three non-cognitive tests, of whom 122 had also completed the UKCAT cognitive tests (see Additional file 3).
The data were entered into SPSS for analysis and screened for abnormal distributions. As this was an exploratory rather than a hypothesis driven study, structured methods such as regression analysis and adjustment of significance levels for repeated comparisons were eschewed in favour of describing basic relationships between variables, and the effects of collinearity were not taken into account. The boundary provided by statistical significance was taken as a guide to which relationships are reported as important.
Pearson product–moment correlations were computed within and between the groups of measures given above, and significant results (p < .05, 2-tailed test) tabulated. Although only four rating categories (Unsatisfactory, Borderline, Satisfactory and Excellent) were available to tutors, these scales were assumed to approximate interval measurements and to be suitable for parametric statistical tests. Correlations involving variables with some missing data were automatically adjusted on a case-by-case basis. To assess relationships with high and low medical school performance, scores on non-cognitive tests, tutor assessment (TA) items, overall tutor rating and OSCEs were compared for students obtaining the top and bottom 20% of the summative examination results, using one-way Analysis of Variance to produce an F value.
Results
This study reports students’ progress up to the end of year 2, including performance in the year 1 and year 2 summative examinations. Figure 2 summarises the relationships explored. The significant results (p < .05, 2-tailed test) among the Pearson product–moment correlations for each group of data are shown in the following tables, along with significant F values obtained by comparing students obtaining the top and bottom 20% of the summative examination results using Analysis of Variance. In the interests of clarity, variables with non-significant results (personality and tutor ratings) are omitted and revealed as blank cells in the tables.
Structure of the tutor assessment scales
The structure of the tutor assessment scales was analysed for each session using reliability analysis. The internal consistency of the scales was high in all cases, the Cronbach alpha coefficients being 0.91 for May 2008 (17 items), 0.87 for January 2009 (14 items), and 0.90 for May 2009 (20 items), indicating that there was a strong tendency for the tutors to give similar ratings to individual students for all items in the scales.
Prediction of tutor assessments by non-cognitive tests
The significant relationships found between non-cognitive characteristics and tutor assessments in year 1 and year 2 are shown in Additional file 4: Table S1 and Additional file 5: Table S2 respectively.
From the SAI test, high neuroticism (p < .05), moodiness (p < .05), irrational thinking (p < .05 to p < .001), and low conscientiousness (p < .05) predicted lower ratings by tutors for some individuals’ behaviours in year 1. These traits combine into the SAI factor RESILIENCE, which itself predicts some positive behaviours of individuals in the first year PBL groups (p < .05). In year 2, the SAI factor SELF-CONTROL (incorporating + restraint,-permissiveness, -antisocial behaviour) (p < .05 to p < .001) and conscientiousness (p < .05 to p < .01) predict some positive behaviours of individuals, while the individual traits permissiveness and anti-social behaviour both correlate negatively (p < .05) with some year 2 behaviours.
All of the individual measures of the ITQ (empathy, confidence, narcissism and aloofness) correlate with some tutor assessed behaviours of individuals in year 1 and in year 2 (p < .05 to p <0.001) and, in general, the correlations are in the direction that is expected intuitively, for example narcissism and aloofness are negatively correlated with positive behaviours. The combined ITQ factor INVOLVEMENT (empathy, confidence, low narcissism, low aloofness) correlates positively with the overall tutor assessment in year 1 (p <0.05) but not in year 2. In year 2 only, social responsibility (IVQ test) predicts appropriate self-management (rather than group-orientated) behaviours (p < .05 to p < .01).
Prediction of examination results by tutor assessments
The tutor assessments focus on a range of desirable professional behaviours. Many, but not all, items predict aspects of examination performance in both year 1 and year 2, as shown in Additional file 6: Table S3 and Additional file 7: Table S4. For both years, those tutor assessment items that related to the students’ participation in the functioning of the group (for example, contribution of work to the group, and contribution to the positive atmosphere in the group) best predicted overall examination performance (including OSCE skills), and best predicted the differences between the best and worst performing students in their examinations (top 20% vs bottom 20% of marks range). Somewhat surprisingly, there are more significant relationships with Theme A scores (recall of scientific knowledge) than with Theme B (clinical techniques and skills, including OSCEs).
Prediction of examination outcomes by non-cognitive subtest scores
The non-cognitive traits that predicted examination outcomes are shown in Additional file 8: Table S5. Greater narcissism and aloofness (from ITQ), and irrational thinking (from SAI), predicted poorer overall examination scores (p < .05), and poorer performance in Theme A, Theme B overall and communication skills OSCEs. Conscientiousness (from SAI), confidence (from ITQ) and the INVOLVEMENT factor score all predicted better performance in the practical skills OSCEs (p <0.05 to p <0.001). Narcissism (p <0.05), aloofness (p < .001) and the INVOLVEMENT factor score (p < .05) each differentiated between the best and the worst performing students in the year 1 examinations. Non-cognitive test scores did not predict examination performance in Theme C.
Prediction of tutor assessments by UKCAT cognitive test scores
UKCAT cognitive tests scores did not predict many of the behaviours subsequently rated by tutors, as shown in Additional file 9: Table S6. In year 1, no behavioural items in the year 1 tutor assessments (May 2008) correlated with the overall UKCAT cognitive ability test score, and only one (negative) correlation was found with a single subtest score. Although the year 2 tutors undertook assessments twice, only eight significant correlations between the behavioural measures and cognitive test scores were found. The abstract reasoning test score predicted four behaviours in the May 2009 assessment by tutors. The UKCAT cognitive test overall score correlated with only one rated behaviour from the May 2009 tutor assessment and no behaviour from the May 2008 and January 2009 tutor assessments.
Prediction of examination outcomes by UKCAT cognitive test scores
The UKCAT cognitive test overall score and the decision analysis subtest score were significant predictors for both year 1 and year 2 overall exam scores (p < .001), and performance in Theme A (which tests knowledge acquisition) (p < .05 to p < .01), as shown in Additional file 10: Table S7. Both were also strong predictors in each year of the best versus worst examination performers. Performance in Theme C (which requires acquired knowledge and the application of numerical and analytical skills) was the result best predicted each year by both the overall cognitive ability score (p < .001) and by each subtest score. Cognitive test scores did not predict performance in the communication skills components of the clinical examinations (OSCEs) in either year; physical examination skills correlated positively only with decision analysis and only in year 1. Overall performance in theme B (patient centred-care, communication and interpersonal understanding) was predicted, but only in year 2, by three of the four cognitive test scores.
Reliability of tutor assessments
Additional file 11: Table S8 shows the re-test reliabilities of those behaviours assessed at least twice, by different tutors (year 1 tutor: May 2008; year 2 tutor: January 2009, May 2009). The reliabilities of the overall tutor ratings are high (p < .001), as are the reliabilities of the items that relate to group characteristics, such as integrates into group, demonstrates appropriate attitudes, takes responsibility for group learning, contributes work for the group, and willing to learn from others (p < .01 to p < .001).
Discussion
This study rests on the co-incidence of three fortunate sets of circumstances. First, it was possible to follow an entire medical school entry cohort of students, the majority of whom had taken the UKCAT cognitive tests but the scores had not been used in the students’ selection (so there was no restriction of range within the study population) and then for research purposes these students took the same non-cognitive tests that were included within the subsequent years’ UKCAT. Secondly, the tutor assessments provide perhaps the closest approximation to all-round evaluation of individual professional performance during the early years of a medical course. Thirdly, the HYMS theme-based examination system requires allocation of examination marks into the three separate themes that depend mainly on scientific knowledge (Theme A), on clinical information gathering and inter-personal skills (Theme B) and on application of statistical and analytical skills to acquired knowledge (Theme C), thus allowing different aspects of students’ performance to be distinguished.
Principal findings
This study has found numerous significant relationships between students’ prior cognitive and non-cognitive test measures (all of which became components of the UKCAT), subsequent tutor assessments of individual and group-related behaviours, and academic and clinical examination results undertaken over the first two years of a medical school course.
The individual predictive ability of any of the measures (of cognitive skills, non-cognitive traits and of behaviour) appears weak, the majority of the statistically significant correlations being in the range 0.16 to 0.24 and only a few exceeded 0.30 (accounting for only 9% of the variance). However, in the field of organisational psychology it is well recognised that even quite weak correlations are useful predictors of workplace outcomes, especially if the ratio of applicants to selectees is large [12], as with applications to medical school. Such measures may therefore usefully predict medical student performance and later professional conduct. This position is supported by a recent meta-analysis of the predictive value of ability and personality test scores, which concluded that such scores are more successful in predicting educational, work and life outcomes than is often admitted by critics; in particular “In medical education, personality characteristics gain importance for later academic performance when applied practice (such as performance in practicums and clerkships) increasingly plays a part” [13].
A further possible criticism of the findings is that there are relatively few significant relationships, as revealed by the number of blank cells in Additional file 4: Table S1 and Additional file 5: Table S2 particularly. However, of the 380 possible relationships that could have been included in these tables (19 personality scales by 20 tutor ratings), 51 (or 13.4%) were significant at the 5% level or better; this becomes 18.2% of 280, if only the 14 personality scales actually appearing in the tables are considered. When compared with the chance proportion of 5% it is clear that the overall pattern of results is better than chance. Additional analyses were conducted to adduce further evidence for the significance of the overall pattern, including multiple regression to calculate the proportion of common variance shared by the personality scales and the tutor ratings, and application of a recently published resampling technique [14] for calculating the probability of relationships between personality and behaviour. However, neither provided stronger support than the simple number of correlations, so the details are not presented here.
In summary, although the statistically significant coefficients in the matrices could all be chance findings this seems unlikely because all of the significant results (and most of the non-significant ones, which are not shown) are in the direction that the particular personality traits and cognitive skills would be expected to affect the behavioural and examination outcomes.
The findings in more detail
Overall, it appears that the non-cognitive tests do predict normally unrecorded aspects of medical students’ performance. Greater narcissism, aloofness and irrational thinking predicted lower tutor ratings for group-related behaviours, and poorer overall examination performance including in the most knowledge-based Theme A, as well as in Theme B (person-centred care), though not in Theme C. Good teamwork skills therefore appear to be an important student attribute. The finding that RESILIENCE predicted good group functioning in year 1, while conscientiousness and SELF-CONTROL predict this in year 2, may reflect students’ increasing ease and familiarity with medical school. The early years of the HYMS course involves not only problem-based learning sessions but also a structured weekly programme of lectures, laboratory-based practical classes and tutored clinical experience, so the importance of group functioning to the examination outcomes cannot be explained by exclusive reliance on problem-based group learning.
While the UKCAT cognitive tests scores did not predict many of the behaviours subsequently rated by tutors, they did predict both year 1 and year 2 overall examination scores, and performance in Theme A and Theme C. Notably, but not unexpectedly, cognitive test scores did not predict performance in the communication skills or physical examination components of the clinical examinations (OSCEs) in either year, although they did predict overall Theme B scores at the end of year 2. This may reflect increasing emphasis in year 2 on clinical reasoning skills within this theme.
Problems with predicting traditional medical school results
Prediction of any outcome depends on selection and accurate measurement of both predictor (be that a cognitive skill or a personality trait) and an appropriate outcome (for example, academic marks, skills, or professional behaviours). In order to examine whether any of the cognitive and pilot non-cognitive components of the UKCAT are valid predictors it is necessary to have appropriate measures of the behaviours that the tests are expected to predict. Paradoxically, in-course examinations do not usually assess outcomes that are related to the qualities that non-cognitive selection tests are designed to measure. In general, medical schools have concentrated on traditional examinations (in part so that licensing requirements can be fulfilled unambiguously) that test recall of factual material and reasoning, which depends on memory and cognitive skills. Non-cognitive skills, such as communication and doctor-patient relationships, are often tested informally within medical training, and the results recorded in pass/fail format, usually with only a small number of failures (as with many academic medical examinations). Thus a problem for statistical comparisons of traditional medical school results is that pass/fail clinical outcomes are categorical and typically severely skewed while the predictor test results are normally distributed on a continuous scale. The present study benefits from finer gradation in both selection tests and the outcomes measured, and from better matching between predictor and criterion variables.
Other studies
Cognitive tests would be expected to predict success in examinations of knowledge recall. This has been shown in one recent study [15] about medical students, but not in others [57]. No reported studies have been found that tested the hypothesis that non-cognitive characteristics desired in a good doctor have any bearing on students’ examination performance, although a Conscientiousness Index [16] has been proposed as a measure of medical students' professionalism based on a variety of routinely made behavioural observations that can be recorded in a systematic and reliable way. The present study is the first to demonstrate that measurement of a range of different personal qualities can predict different aspects of medical students’ performance. The broad range of suitable measures of non-cognitive skills and professional behaviours used here provides possible tools for future research.
Relevance of this study: implications for clinicians and policymakers
All health professionals require good communication skills and the ability to work effectively as part of a team. Doctors have additional roles, not only in education and in research but also, principally, as decision-makers and leaders of teams working in situations of clinical complexity and uncertainty. All doctors therefore should be committed to reflective practice, monitoring their own contribution and working continually to improve their own and their team’s performance [17]. Selection tests need to encompass more than purely cognitive skills, and test for the other abilities that underpin the whole range of the doctor’s professional tasks.
In the present study, non-cognitive tests were found to predict behaviours likely to be important when working as a doctor, such as functioning well with others in groups, acknowledging weaknesses and accepting feedback (which underpins the ability to learn and change through experience), and identified other traits, such as narcissism, aloofness and irrational thinking, that are likely to diminish a doctor’s ability to fulfil these roles. Improvement in the predictive power of such non-cognitive tests depends not only on finding better tests, but on devising and using better measures of critical behaviours in medical school and professional practice.
Unanswered questions and future research
The findings raise three further questions with implications for medical education. First, in the selection of future medical students, should the predictive ability of cognitive and non-cognitive qualities be explored more fully, particularly in relation to the difficult judgments and high level of inter-personal skills required of a doctor? Secondly, should medical schools be making use of more standardised and repeated behavioural observations undertaken by tutors throughout the students’ training, in addition to current measures of clinical competence (such as mini-clinical evaluation exercise [18]) used in formative and summative assessments of medical students? Thirdly, are medical schools failing to assess all the appropriate outcomes from their courses by continuing to rely too heavily on formal examinations based mainly on recall of acquired knowledge and some reasoning? The latter approach has produced many doctors who are intellectually and academically prepared for their careers, but personal failings, such as poor communication skills, lack of empathy and concern for patients, motivation, and mental health issues, tend to impinge on their work effectiveness. Such failings are typically detected too late, when brought to light by examination failure or the need for disciplinary action. If it is accepted that doctors require more than just academic knowledge and technical skills then it makes sense to look for additional qualities at the outset and select those applicants who already have these qualities or seem capable of developing them.
Conclusions
The findings of this study as a whole reveal a pattern of relationships between cognitive and non-cognitive factors and medical school performance consistent with intuitive and theoretical expectations. Our study suggests that measurement of non-cognitive personal qualities in applicants could improve the selection of medical students, especially in regard to performance in the inter-personal skills and professional behaviours needed by doctors. However, further research is needed into the best non-cognitive measures for the prediction of various target skills and behaviours, and into the degree to which such measures can improve on the predictive validity of existing cognitive selection measures. If such research confirms which personal qualities are most important, then it may indeed be possible to succeed in the aim of producing doctors that meet better the expectations of twenty-first century patients.
Authors’ information
JA was Associate Dean for Admissions at Hull York Medical School from 2003 to 2011, and has a continuing research interest in methods for selecting medical students.
MB is a senior lecturer and researcher in the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle, Australia with particular interests in the areas of personality, psychometrics, moral orientation.
JMcK is Associate Dean for Assessment and Senior Lecturer in Medical Education at Hull York Medical School. She is a cognitive psychologist whose research includes applying cognitive science principles to educational areas such as educational technology, organisational redesign, the role of discussion in learning, graphical representations for reasoning in and across disciplines, and effectiveness of assessments.
DM is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and a member of the PQA research group. His main interests are in the areas of personality, psychometrics and selection test construction.
DP is Conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He has been a university teacher of, and researcher in, physiology and medical education since 1972. He has developed a professional interest in the area of medical student selection with the aim of establishing fair principles and appropriate procedures for selecting students for health professional courses. Since 1997 he has worked with Miles Bore and Don Munro to develop and evaluate the Personal Qualities Assessment (http://www.pqa.net.au) as an instrument for this strategic aim.
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Pre-publication history
1. The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/12/69/prepub
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Acknowledgements
The interest and support of members of the UKCAT board of management is gratefully acknowledged, in particular Dr Sandra Nicholson and Dr Jon Dowell. The costs of publication of this article have been covered by a grant from the UKCAT consortium generously arranged by its Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Greatrix.
Author information
Correspondence to Jean McKendree.
Additional information
Competing interests
JA was an unpaid member of the UKCAT executive board from 2005 to 2010. JA and JMcK jointly received £2000 from The University of Newcastle Research Associates Ltd (TUNRA), now known as Newcastle Innovation Ltd., on behalf of HYMS to pay for the costs of running of the tests and data entry.
MB, DM and DP have support from The University of Newcastle Research Associates (TUNRA), now known as Newcastle Innovation Ltd., for the submitted work, and have in the last three years had commercial relationships with Pearson VUE, a contractor for UKCAT.
The authors’ spouses, partners, or children have no financial relationships that may be relevant to the submitted work.
Authors’ contributions
JA and DP had the initial idea. JA and JMcK enrolled and tracked the cohort, administered the non-cognitive questionnaires and collated the HYMS exam performance data. JMcK developed the tutor rating questionnaires. DP, MB and DM have developed and extensively tested the non-cognitive questionnaires over 14 years. DM performed the statistical analyses. JA and DP wrote the initial draft of the paper with subsequent contributions from all authors. All authors had full access to all of the data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors amended and approved the article for submission.
Electronic supplementary material
Additional file 1: Examples of Tutor assessment forms. (i)Tutor assessment form, May 2008. (ii)Tutor assessment form, January 2009. (iii)Tutor assessment form, May 2009. (PDF 262 KB)
Additional file 2: List of content of OSCE stations.(PDF 54 KB)
Additional file 3: Follow-up of HYMS prospective cohort.(PDF 36 KB)
Additional file 4: Table S1. Non-cognitive tests versus year 1 tutor assessment. (PDF 21 KB)
Additional file 5: Table S2. Non-cognitive tests versus year 2 tutor assessments. (PDF 87 KB)
Additional file 6: Table S3. Year 1 tutor assessment versus years 1 & 2 examination results. (PDF 76 KB)
Additional file 7: Table S4. Year 2 tutor assessment (Jan and May) versus year 2 examination results. (PDF 76 KB)
Additional file 8: Table S5. Non-cognitive tests versus year 1 & 2 examination performance. (PDF 71 KB)
Additional file 9: Table S6. UKCAT cognitive tests versus tutor assessment. (PDF 101 KB)
Additional file 10: Table S7. UKCAT cognitive tests versus year 1 and year 2 examination performance. (PDF 64 KB)
Additional file 11: Table S8. Retest reliabilities of tutor ratings. (PDF 55 KB)
Authors’ original submitted files for images
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Authors’ original file for figure 2
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About this article
Keywords
• Medical Student
• Professional Behaviour
• Examination Performance
• Subtest Score
• Cognitive Test Score
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## Package Overview
This module provides an annotation-based [Azure Functions](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/functions/) extension implementation for Ballerina.
- For information on the operations, which you can perform with this module, see [API Docs](https://docs.central.ballerina.io/ballerinax/azure-functions/).
- For more information on the deployment, see the [Azure Functions Deployment Guide](https://ballerina.io/swan-lake/learn/user-guide/deployment/azure-functions/).
- For examples on the usage of the operations, see the [Azure Functions Deployment Example](https://ballerina.io/swan-lake/learn/by-example/azure-functions-deployment.html).
### Azure Setup
* An Azure "Function App" needs to be created in a given resource group with the following requirements
- Runtime stack - "Java 17"
- Hosting operating system - "Windows" (This is the default and Linux is not supported in Azure for custom handlers at the moment)
## Supported Triggers and bindings:
- Http - Trigger and Output Binding
- Queue - Trigger and Output Binding
- Blob - Trigger, Input and Output Binding
- Twilio - Output Binding
- CosmosDB - Trigger, Input and Output Binding
- Timer - Trigger
### Report Issues
To report bugs, request new features, start new discussions, view project boards, etc., go to the [Ballerina Azure Functions repository](https://github.com/ballerina-platform/module-ballerinax-azure.functions).
### Useful Links
- Discuss code changes of the Ballerina project in [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
- Chat live with us via our [Discord server](https://discord.gg/ballerinalang).
- Post all technical questions on Stack Overflow with the [#ballerina](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ballerina) tag.
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#importing statements
import mysql.connector as mc
import pandas as pd
pd.set_option('display.max_columns',50) #For too many columns
pd.set_option('expand_frame_repr',False) #For columns in singel row
import subprocess as s
#Fuctions
#Function 1(Viewing details)
def preview_function():
s.call('cls',shell=True)
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
customer = pd.DataFrame(customer_data,columns = ['SNo','Name','Mobile_No','Adress','Email','Account_No','PIN','Amount'])
print("Customer details :-")
print(customer)
#Function 2(Adding new data)
def signin_function():
s.call('cls',shell=True)
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
list1 = []
list2 = []
for i in range(len(customer_data)):
list1.append(int(customer_data[i][5]))
list2.append(int(customer_data[i][6]))
SNo = len(customer_data)+1
Name = input("Enter customer name: ")
Mobile_No = input("Enter customer mobile number: ")
Adress = input("Enter customer adress: ")
Email = input("Enter customer email: ")
Account_No = str(int(customer_data[-1][5])+1)
PIN = input("Choose your PIN: ")
Amount = int(input("Enter amount for depositing: "))
string1 = "insert into customer values({},'{}','{}','{}','{}','{}','{}',{})".format(SNo,Name,Mobile_No,Adress,Email,Account_No,PIN,Amount)
cursor.execute(string1)
obj.commit()
#Function 3(Executing old data)
def login_function():
s.call('cls',shell=True)
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
list1 = []
list2 = []
list3 = []
for i in range(len(customer_data)):
list1.append(int(customer_data[i][5]))
list2.append(int(customer_data[i][6]))
list3.append(int(customer_data[i][7]))
Account_No = int(input("Enter Account_No: "))
if Account_No in list1:
var2 = list1.index(Account_No)
PIN = int(input("Enter PIN: "))
if str(list2[var2])==str(PIN):
s.call('cls',shell=True)
print("1. Deposit money.\n2. Withdraw money.\n3. Main account balance.\n")
choice2 = int(input("Enter your choice: "))
var3 = list3[var2]
s.call('cls',shell=True)
if choice2 == 1:
print('\n')
var4 = int(input("Enter depositing amount: "))
cursor.execute("update customer set Amount = {} where Account_No = {}".format(var3+var4,str(Account_No)))
obj.commit()
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
list3 = []
for i in range(len(customer_data)):
list3.append(int(customer_data[i][7]))
var3 = list3[var2]
print("Your account balance is",var3)
elif choice2 == 2:
var4 = int(input("Enter withdrawing amount: "))
cursor.execute("update customer set Amount = {} where Account_No = {}".format(var3-var4,str(Account_No)))
obj.commit()
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
list3 = []
for i in range(len(customer_data)):
list3.append(int(customer_data[i][7]))
var3 = list3[var2]
print("Your account balance is",var3)
elif choice2 == 3:
cursor.execute("select * from customer")
customer_data = cursor.fetchall()
list3 = []
for i in range(len(customer_data)):
list3.append(int(customer_data[i][7]))
var3 = list3[var2]
print("Your account balance is",var3)
else:
print("Check your choice.")
else:
print("Incorrect PIN")
else:
print("Incorrect Account_No.")
#Compiled function
def main_function():
s.call('cls',shell=True)
print("Welcome to Banking System")
choice1 = 1
while choice1 != 0:
print('\nX-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X-----X')
print("1. Customer details.\n2. New customer.\n3. Existing Customer.")
print("0. Quit\n")
choice1 = int(input("Enter your choice: "))
if choice1 == 1:
s.call('cls',shell=True)
preview_function()
elif choice1 == 2:
s.call('cls',shell=True)
signin_function()
elif choice1 == 3:
s.call('cls',shell=True)
login_function()
elif choice1 == 0:
exit()
else:
print("Check your choice.")
#python-mysql connection and starting of program
try:
mysql_password = input("Enter password of your mysql: ")
try:
obj = mc.connect(host = "localhost",
user = "root",
passwd = mysql_password,
database = "banking")
cursor = obj.cursor()
main_function()
except:
obj = mc.connect(host = "localhost",
user = "root",
passwd = mysql_password,
database = "mysql")
cursor = obj.cursor()
cursor.execute("create database banking;")
cursor.execute("use banking;")
cursor.execute("create table customer (SNo int, Name varchar(40), Mobile_No varchar(15), Adress varchar(60), Email varchar(40), Account_No varchar(20), PIN varchar(20), Amount int(10));")
cursor.execute("insert into customer values(1,'Rahul','8441918277','F-201,Kanakpura Nagar','[email protected];','30201200001','0912',10000)")
cursor.execute("insert into customer values(2,'Aman','9929507402','C-212,Shyam Nagar Sodala','[email protected];','30201200002','1234',5000)")
obj.commit()
main_function()
except:
s.call('cls',shell=True)
print("Something went wrong!")
|
chairman grossklaus then proposed to concentrate on the issue of possible dosage limits so as to afford some temporary "protection" to consumers, but found that a divided assembly could not make up its mind.
Write the above sentence using proper case.
Chairman Grossklaus then proposed to concentrate on the issue of possible dosage limits so as to afford some temporary "protection" to consumers, but found that a divided assembly could not make up its mind.
|
Battle Commendation
Description
Like most quest items, Battle Commendations cannot be sold to merchants, and cannot be salvaged.
Quests that give Battle Commendations
* Primary Training
* Secondary Training
* Quality Steel
* Missing Shipment
* Armored Transport
* Need More Stuff
* Identity Theft
* Battle Preparations
* Voices in the Night
* Corsair Invasion
* Rising Suns
* Quarry Quandry
* Queen of the Quarry
* A Ghostly Request
* more to be added....
Collectors
Conversion to cash
|
Blackstorm
Overview
Description
Traverse the gaps, but don't touch the dreaded slingshot surfaces.
Help Text
REMEMBER: Blackplate may throw your marble away.
Try not to ouch these surfaces.
Trivia
* The 1.4u0 version of Blackstorm is twice as long as the original.
* It's easy to get stuck inside the white wall where the Pentagon sits.
Errors
* The help text should say "touch these surfaces", not "ouch these surfaces".
* There are geometry errors on the square rings.
|
of calcium.
For the volumetric determination of bismuth no method has hitherto been proposed. To supply the desideratum which thus exists in analysis, viz. a neat, expeditious, and accurate method for the determination of bismuth, I began a series of experi ments, and in the present communication I have to describe a method which I find to yield satisfactory results. It is based upon the fact that chromic acid, when in liquid contact with bismuth, combines in constant proportions to form an insoluble compound, definite in composition, which is produced under all circumstances. The value of this reaction as the basis for a volumetric mode of analysis, depends upon the characteristic colour of chromic acid aud its compounds. I shall proceed to describe, in the first place, the results of some experiments on the nature of the reactions upon which the method is based ; secondly, notice the estimation of bismuth by weight ; thirdly, its deter mination by volume ; and lastly, adduce the combining ratio of chromic acid and oxide of bismuth. The agent I propose to employ, bichromate of potash, has hitherto never been suggested for that purpose.
Chromate of potash, KO, CrO^, precipitates, on addition to so lutions of most metals, chromates corresponding to the formula MO, CrO^, Bichromate of potash, KO, 2Cr03, combines by double affinity with metaUic oxides, as in the case of simple chromate of potash ; the former giving rise to bichromate compounds of the formula M0,2Cr03, which are, without exception, soluble in water.
A peculiar combination of bichromate of potash takes place on its addition to salts of bismuth, viz. the formation of a simple chromate of bismuth, BiO^ CrO'*, in which each equivalent of chromic acid is united with one equivalent of oxide of bismuth. I found upon inquiry, that the phsenomena of the two equivalents of chromic acid contained in that of bichromate of potash, combining separately with single equivalents of other bodies, took place among the metals with lead and bismuth, and among the alka line earths with baryta only. I invariably found that acid solu tions of other bodies remained perfectly clear upon the addition of bichromate of potash. By means of this agent, therefore, bismuth, lead, and baryta may be separated singly, or together, from all other bodies when in solution. I also Ibund that while chromate of baryta is soluble in dilute nitric acid, the chromates of lead and bismuth are comparatively insoluble. The solubility of chromate of bismuth in water, acetic acid, nitric acid, and caustic potash, I determined quantitatively. I immersed a quau-
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