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Political scientists analyze the global rise of judicial appointment commissions as a response to judicialized politics. They argue that appointment processes have formalized to include more constituencies now affected by judicial decisions. This article presents evidence from Southern Africa confounding their expectations. In this region, formalization has social as well as political origins. Over the last two decades, the senior judiciary has suddenly become subject to the same demands for organizational accountability and descriptive representation that sociologists of other professions have been documenting for decades. Throughout the region, therefore, it has become increasingly difficult to defend opaque practices inherited from British (and South African) colonialism. Twenty years ago, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland/Eswatini all recruited most appellate judges from abroad through informal channels. In every country, this system has come under pressure from a variety of local sources. Yet those demanding reform have always been able to mobilize new international orthodoxies that require the judiciary to represent its society and make itself accountable to profane, external audiences. These new orthodoxies have acquired an unusual power in Southern Africa thanks to their embodiment in South Africa’s own post-apartheid transition, and long-standing moral imperatives to “localize” senior expatriate positions in postcolonial states.

The paper combines an autoethnographic approach with a literature review of general and discipline-specific research linked to the theme of cross-curricular citizenship education (“CE”) from the 1990s to the present. It identifies 20 reasons why cross-curricular CE struggles to take flight in secondary schools. These reasons are organized into four categories: structural, epistemological, attitudinal and pedagogical. While the focus is mainly upon citizenship education in England (and, to a lesser extent, in Australia), the paper suggests that the barriers identified exist in most nations.

This paper explores Health and Physical Education (HPE) students’ understanding of Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) and discusses some of the links that connect HPE, sport and CCE in Australia. A brief overview of CCE key features is provided. Second-and third-year HPE pre-service teachers at an Australian regional university were surveyed to gauge what the baseline of knowledge and understanding of CCE amongst beginning teachers might be. Shared learning opportunities between HPE and CCE are discussed in different parts of the paper in relation to fair play; ethical debates and dilemmas; community involvement; identity; and respect for inclusivity. Linking to the pre-service teacher responses, the paper provides suggestions for some practical ways in which Australian HPE educators might make connections between the CCE curriculum and inter-connected HPE learning contexts for Year 3 to Year 8 students, the years for which a Civics and Citizenship curriculum is specified in the Australian Curriculum.

Purpose During insertion of the cochlear implant electrode array, the tip of the array may fold back on itself and can cause serious complications to patients. This article presents a sensing system for cochlear implantation in a cochlear model. The electrode array fold-over behaviors can be detected by analyzing capacitive information from the array tip. Method Depending on the angle of the array tip against the cochlear inner wall when it enters the cochlear model, different insertion patterns of the electrode array could occur, including smooth insertion, buckling, and fold-over. The insertion force simulating the haptic feedback for surgeons and bipolar capacitance signals during the insertion progress were collected and compared. The Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) was applied to the collected capacitive signals to discriminate the fold-over pattern. Results Forty-six electrode array insertions were conducted and the deviation of the measured insertion force varies between a range of 20% and 30%. The capacitance values from electrode pair (1, 2) were recorded for analyzing. A threshold for the PCC is set to be 0.94 that can successfully discriminate the fold over insertions from the other two types of insertions, with a success rate of 97.83%. Conclusions Capacitive measurement is an effective method for the detection of faulty insertions and the maximization of the outcome of cochlear implantation. The proposed capacitive sensing system can be used in other tissue implants in vessels, spinal cord, or heart.

Coup leaders often purport to restore constitutional order. During Burkina Faso's 2014 ‘insurrection', however, Blaise Compaoré's opponents advanced detailed (international) legal arguments that significantly constrained their subsequent conduct. Theirs was to be a legal revolution. This article situates this stance within Burkina Faso's distinctive history of urban protest, whilst emphasising under-analysed international sources for the insurrection. ‘Insurgent’ lawyers, it argues, used international instruments to reinvigorate longstanding activist attempts to reconcile constitutional rights with a language of popular justice promoted by the revolutionary regime of Thomas Sankara (1983–7). After the insurrection, however, their emphasis on legality was used by Compaoré's supporters to expose the transitional authorities’ double-standards. Meanwhile, insurgent lawyers working for the transition had to work hard to reconcile (international) legal justifications for the insurrection with the expedient politics needed to defend the new dispensation.

This paper introduces a journal special issue devoted to an exploration of post-colonial history education with contributions from Ghana, Uganda, New Zealand, Canada, Botswana, Nigeria, Cyprus, Lebanon and London. It provides an overview of key issues, tensions and opportunities around decolonising the history curriculum. Relevant contexts such as the ‘History Wars’, subaltern studies, the conception of decolonising the mind and the possibilities of de-colonising pedagogies are explored. History education lenses around critical historical literacy, historical consciousness, multidimensional identities and multi-perspectivity are brought to bear upon the question of re-thinking forms of postcolonial history education. Specific political circumstances inform the nature of history education in every national jurisdiction; here the contemporary Black Lives Matter campaign, the fallout from the mismanagement of the fate of the ‘Windrush’ settlers in the UK and the recent focus of protestors globally upon colonial oppressors memorialised in statues frame the authors’ reflections. However, echoing the optimism of most of the special issue contributions, opportunities to build bridges between divided communities, open up more inclusive history curricula to student voices and nuance and complicate homogeneous national narratives are identified and recommended.

Ethnic diversity in Pakistan encompasses linguistic, religious, tribal, and regional differences. This article examines some of the narratives around ethnic diversity in upper secondary school textbooks, the challenges of providing inclusive opportunities for diverse groups within Pakistan faced by citizenship educators and learners’ perceptions of the representation of ethnic diversity. The article draws on Civics and Pakistan Studies textbooks, focus group interviews with sixteen students and semi-structured interviews with sixteen teachers from eight schools and colleges in Punjab, Pakistan. Both the textbooks and the interviews are analyzed through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Key messages about citizenship from Pakistani textbooks are brought into dialogue with data gathered from interviews with Pakistani teachers and students to illuminate contrasting perspectives on the representation of Pakistani ethnic diversity. Findings indicate that the textbooks used in schools represent a view of Pakistan as a homogeneous country united by its distinctive Islamic foundation and its national language. They also project an image of Pakistan attempting to offer an inclusive embrace to those of other languages and religions within the borders of the Pakistani nation. The article concludes with some reflections on the challenges of developing students’ civic knowledge and understanding about multidimensional identity in Pakistan, given the limited and idealized treatment of ethnic diversity in the analyzed texts.

Citizenship and political education has increasingly been identified as an important component in educating young people for democratic citizenship. The National Curriculum Framework for School Education in Nepal 2007, the Nepalese social studies school curriculum, and textbooks explicitly underline the promotion of a democratic system and culture along with the development of civic and citizenship skills among Nepalese citizens. This article reports on a qualitative analysis of selected civic awareness images in Nepalese social studies textbooks using a ‘visual grammar’ framework. The analysis reveals that the images attempt to promote a message of national unity and respect for diversity in the country. However, the low quality black and white images and textbooks have some adverse teaching and learning implications for teachers and students and tend towards idealized representations.

In this essay, as a group of teacher educators, we discuss our experience of “walking the walk” of teacher education transformation at a time of urgent change. We reflect upon our process of integrating three key priorities in our preservice teacher education courses: education for sustainability; trauma-informed practice; and Indigenizing curriculum. Specifically, we reflect on how these processes were adapted according to the needs of individual courses and units, while at the same time making space for our strengths and our “unlearnings” as academics, and for the ethical considerations that troubled us. In this essay, we explore walking the walk of change and integrating social, environmental, and cultural justice principles in our work together toward equipping and enabling new teachers to be themselves agents of change.

This paper draws upon a wider study deploying a ‘Contexts of Influence’ policy analysis framework applied to a developing nation—Nepal. The specific focus of the investigation was a policy into practice analysis of civics and citizenship educational curriculum goals. Themes around teaching and learning related to national identity, democracy, cultural diversity and global education were explored at the macro, meso and micro policy levels. The paper identifies some gaps and tensions in policy making in Nepal within and between the contexts of influence, text production and practice. The findings of this paper indicate that the relationships between the various contexts of influence in Nepal are not quite as dynamic as in some other studies that have applied the policy cycle model. There is an asymmetry of power with the policymakers in charge. The paper reflects upon how both textbooks and teaching practice might benefit from a greater sense of agency and empowerment in order to stimulate more creative and multi-perspectival classroom practice.

It is the voices of young people that will resonate in your head after you have put this book down. The voices from across the continent of Europe are inevitably diverse but often nuanced, hopeful, idealistic, and cosmopolitan. Professor Alistair Ross was awarded a Jean Monnet personal chair in Citizenship Education in Europe by the European Commission in 2009, and this text brings together a lifetime’s experience of wrestling with issues related to social and political identities in educational contexts. The book combines rigorous empirical qualitative research with sophisticated conceptual and sociological analysis.

This paper explores the perceptions and lived experiences of Nepalese educators and stakeholders in relation to the school curriculum and its influence upon student learning in a culturally and ethnically diverse classroom context. The study adopted a qualitative research design using face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to gather the perceptions of students, teachers, school principals and curriculum experts from three different schools representing distinct and diverse Nepalese settings. The findings identified that there are six main factors that affect curriculum delivery in Nepal: a centralised education system; social, economic and cultural diversity; political instability; curriculum content; the involvement of curriculum development stakeholders; and teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge and related attributes. These six factors all contribute to a significant influence on student learning.

Background: Bisphosphonates are analogues of pyrophosphate used to treat bone diseases, like osteoporosis and malignant bone diseases characterized by excessive bone resorption. It has been shown that bisphosphonates hinder bone resorption by interfering with osteoclast activity. Objectives: The present study is planed to investigated the extended effect of a single low dose of bisphosphonate on proliferative, osteogenic behaviour and if treatment with bisphosphonate leads to epigenetic changes in the human mesenchymal stem cells. Methods: We investigated the effects of a single low dose of two BPs [Alendronate (ALE) and Pamidronate (PAM)] on human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) behaviour and phenotype. hMSCs were plated at a density of 5 × 105 cells. After 24 hr the medium was changed with growth media containing bisphosphonate at both 100nM and 10nM and were incubated for 24 more h. Cells were then washed, trypsinized and sub-cultured another time with no added exposure to drug. The cell cultures were assayed for proliferation and osteogenic differentiation as well as for changes in DNA methylation. Results: Treating cells with a single low dose of either ALE or PAM (100nM and 10nM) brings about a permanent change in the proliferative and osteogenic behaviour of hMSCs even after passaging the cells. Conclusion: The augmentation of osteogenesis points to the usage of low dose bisphosphonates as an adjunct to implant placement.

The paper describes an experimental, mechanically simple, tactile sensing solution in the form of a sensing chair for discriminating human motion in a reaching task. This cost-efficient technical approach was employed for the assessment of selective arm movements in stroke survivors. The sensing system classifies trunk motion in a seated stroke survivor during a goal-directed task where there is direct correlation with the level of severity of arm movement. The system interprets motion mechanically from coupled sensory data transients using artificial neural networks and shows tolerance to patients’ sitting posture and performance variability. The accuracy of classification was typically greater than 94% across three categories when applied to a group of stroke survivors of wide-ranging motor abilities. The mechanical simplicity, versatility of approach for use in other classes of movement, and potential low cost of manufacturing provides opportunity to employ the system at clinics and homes for assessment and training.

This article explores contested possible meanings of the term ‘impact’ used in recent initial teacher education review body and accreditation documentation in Australia. It proposes a model of prog...

The article explores how educational policy, curricula, textbooks and teaching have translated thinking about Nepal’s relationship with the rest of the world into global education practice in Nepalese schools in contemporary classrooms. Drawing upon the framework of a policy cycle approach, the article addresses the following research questions: What are the key contemporary messages about global education in Nepal within the ‘macro’ context of policy influence? How is the theme of global education communicated through the content of Nepalese textbooks at the ‘meso’ context of policy text production? What are the perceptions of Nepalese social studies teachers with respect to teaching and learning about global education themes at the ‘micro’ context of practice? Qualitative content analysis of textbooks and documents was conducted, while thematic analysis of interview data was undertaken to understand policy objectives and recommendations related to global citizenship education in Nepal. The findings indicate that educational policies primarily aim to socialise and nurture responsible citizens, while textbooks and teaching processes mostly emphasise the acquisition of knowledge. Some recommendations are made as to how the curriculum, textbooks and pedagogical approaches might be adapted to better support Nepalese young people seeing themselves as global citizens.

Summary Introduction Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common, heritable and preventable cause of premature coronary artery disease, with significant potential for positive impact on public health and healthcare savings. New clinical practice recommendations are presented in an abridged guidance to assist practitioners in enhancing the care of all patients with FH. Main recommendations Core recommendations are made on the detection, diagnosis, assessment and management of adults, children and adolescents with FH. There is a key role for general practitioners (GPs) working in collaboration with specialists with expertise in lipidology. Advice is given on genetic and cholesterol testing and risk notification of biological relatives undergoing cascade testing for FH; all healthcare professionals should develop skills in genomic medicine. Management is under-pinned by the precepts of risk stratification, adherence to healthy lifestyles, treatment of non-cholesterol risk factors, and appropriate use of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol lowering therapies, including statins, ezetimibe and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors. Recommendations on service design are provided in the full guidance. Potential impact on care of FH These recommendations need to be utilised using judicious clinical judgement and shared decision making with patients and families. Models of care need to be adapted to both local and regional needs and resources. In Australia new government funded schemes for genetic testing and use of PCSK9 inhibitors, as well as the National Health Genomics Policy Framework, will enable adoption of these recommendations. A broad implementation science strategy is, however, required to ensure that the guidance translates into benefit for all families with FH.

One of the challenges faced by diverse democratic nation-states such as Pakistan is to provide opportunities for different groups to maintain aspects of the culture of their religion, region, or community while constructing a national political and educational narrative in which these groups are structurally included and to which they feel allegiance. Banks (2009) noted that: ‘schools and nations cannot marginalize the cultures of groups and expect them to feel structurally included within the nation and to develop a strong allegiance to it.’ More than this, excluded students, who official narratives present as the ‘other,’ might be attracted to alternative narratives that fuel their sense of being unrecognized, underappreciated, or even potentially violent outsiders. This is why sensitive approaches to cultural diversity matter; without such sensitivity, there may be unwitting support offered to extremist groups proffering more alluring narratives.

Rick Abel's classic Politics by Other Means (1995) used South Africa to argue for law's ‘potential nobility’, but it did so avoiding a heroic mode characteristic of much anti‐apartheid writing. Abel showed how law could, with strenuous exertion, be turned into a defensive shield for the oppressed. As a sword, however, it was ‘two‐edged’. It allowed the powerful to frustrate or overturn hard‐won symbolic victories. Recently, the heroic mode has returned to South Africa. The Constitutional Court, in particular, is lauded for having combated ‘state capture’ under deposed President Jacob Zuma. A closer examination of this period, however, does much to vindicate Abel's earlier scepticism about law's offensive value. The spectacular deployment of law to fight politicians’ crimes has exposed the judiciary to unexpected political threats. Meanwhile, civil society's efforts to entrust judges with administrative duties shirked by the government has inevitably entailed the sacrifice of some rule of law values.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a dominant and highly penetrant monogenic disorder present from birth that markedly elevates plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol concentration and, if untreated, leads to premature atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD). There are approximately 100,000 people with FH in Australia. However, an overwhelming majority of those affected remain undetected and inadequately treated, consistent with FH being a leading challenge for public health genomics. To further address the unmet need, we provide an updated guidance, presented as a series of systematically collated recommendations, on the care of patients and families with FH. These recommendations have been informed by an exponential growth in published works and new evidence over the last 5 years and are compatible with a contemporary global call to action on FH. Recommendations are given on the detection, diagnosis, assessment and management of FH in adults and children. Recommendations are also made on genetic testing and risk notification of biological relatives who should undergo cascade testing for FH. Guidance on management is based on the concepts of risk re-stratification, adherence to heart healthy lifestyles, treatment of non-cholesterol risk factors, and safe and appropriate use of LDL-cholesterol lowering therapies, including statins, ezetimibe, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibitors and lipoprotein apheresis. Broad recommendations are also provided for the organisation and development of health care services. Recommendations on best practice need to be underpinned by good clinical judgment and shared decision making with patients and families. Models of care for FH need to be adapted to local and regional health care needs and available resources. A comprehensive and realistic implementation strategy, informed by further research, including assessments of cost-benefit, will be required to ensure that this new guidance benefits all Australian families with or at risk of FH.

Rationalist models of judicial decision-making expect courts to defend their institutional integrity in politically sensitive cases. This article presents two African case studies of courts not doing so. They have elicited predictable backlash from executives and placed their institutions in avoidable danger. I argue that judges’ desire for esteem from emerging global judicial networks can explain this otherwise puzzling behaviour. These new networks become particularly salient in human rights cases. This conclusion partially supports Anne-Marie Slaughter’s controversial claims about the significance of ‘the global community of law’ but also identifies risks this poses for courts’ domestic authority. The argument is made with reference to two recent and well-known decisions by the High Court of Botswana and the Southern African Development Community Tribunal. The first case, Sesana (2006), dealt with the vexed question of indigenous rights in Africa. The second case, Campbell (2008), concerned the compensation of expropriated commercial farmers from Zimbabwe.

The language of "impact" has been foregrounded in the recent lexicon of Australian initial teacher education (ITE). How teacher education programmes and supervising teachers identify and assess the impact of pre-service teachers’ work with learners across a professional placement is a pressing issue for ITE providers. This paper reports on qualitative analysis of the language of supervising teachers’ summative assessments of pre-service teachers’ final-year professional experience placements in relation to impact. Analysis of written comments that addressed the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Graduate Standards revealed that the language of impact is still emerging within the discourse of supervising teachers. This has professional learning implications for all ITE stakeholders.

OBJECTIVES: The etiology of the reduced marginal bone loss observed around platform-switched implant-abutment connections is not clear but could be related to the release of variable amounts of corrosion products. The present study evaluated the effect of different concentrations of metal ions released from different implant abutment couples on osteoblastic cell viability, apoptosis and expression of genes related to bone resorption. METHODS: Osteoblastic cells were exposed to five conditions of culture media prepared containing metal ions (titanium, aluminum, vanadium, cobalt, chromium and molybdenum) in different concentrations representing the amounts released from platform-matched and platform-switched implant-abutment couples as a result of an earlier accelerated corrosion experiment. Cell viability was evaluated over 21days using the Alamar Blue assay. Induction of apoptosis was measured after 24h of exposure using flow cytometry. Expression of interleukin-6, interleukin-8, cyclooxygenase-2, caspase-8, osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) by osteoblastic cells were analysed after exposure for 1, 3 and 21days using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay RESULTS: Metal ions in concentrations representing the platform-matched groups led to a reduction in cell viability (P

In Pakistan, the school subjects of Social Studies, Civics and Pakistan Studies are explicitly used to construct Pakistani national identity and young people’s sense of citizenship. This article draws upon interviews with 27 Pakistan Studies teachers from a town in the Punjab region of Pakistan. The interviews aimed to explore the teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices with respect to teaching about regional, national and global identity content within the area of Pakistan Studies. The research found that in seeking to reconcile conflicting binary policy discourses most of the teachers continued to subscribe to relatively traditional pedagogical practices constrained by an examination system that overwhelmingly assesses students’ knowledge of textbook content. Most of the teachers had more inclination towards developing students’ national identity based upon Sunni Islamic values rather than multi-layered identities, reflecting more localized cultural diversity or global outlooks and viewpoints.

Pakistan was set up as a relatively egalitarian and democratic state. However, the trend has been for successive governments to create a more theocratic/Islamic, less inclusive, and less democratic state especially during the Zia regime. This led to the dominance of a relatively narrow and exclusionary conception of Pakistani national identity—based on the aspirations of the dominant Sunni Punjabi ethnic group. This increased the difficulties of the remaining ethnic and religious groups, whose cultural diversity was less clearly recognised either politically, socially, or educationally—and indeed there was a distinct prejudice practised against them. In the early twenty first century, the Musharraf regime tried to make changes to this approach through policies based on enlightened moderation—a variant of liberal democracy. Against this background, this chapter presents the findings from a qualitative content analysis of some of the key education policy and secondary school curriculum documents produced during the Musharraf regime. The aim of this analysis was to understand how these policy documents addressed social justice and cultural diversity issues in Pakistan.

This paper describes a mechatronics approach that provides vascular surgeons with the perception of movement and tissue interaction in the vicinity of the tip of a catheter in endovascular procedures. The current system described is experimental and used in phantom units. It integrates 3D visualization generated from scan with real-time tactile sensing in the vicinity of the tip of the catheter to update on the nature of tissue interaction, the curvature and relative orientation of the catheter sleeve and guide wire. This approach offers superior perception by the clinician, in contrast with current application of catheters used in this application. By being well informed of conditions at the working environment of the catheter tip the clinician will be able to administer therapies with greater precision in the surgical task and within a reduced operating time. The approach will reduce risk for patients and significantly reduce risks for the clinician, who is currently exposed to high doses of ionizing radiation during the process of catheter guidance.

An innovative tactile approach to automatically detect mediums and underlying structures ahead on a cutting tool path has been implemented in surgery. In this paper a description of a mechatronic approach to surgery is described and shows the merits of the approach. This is supplemented by evidence of suitability of the method to a wider range of mediums and applications outside of surgical application.

Surface roughness on implant materials has been shown to be highly influential on the behavior of osteogenic cells. Four surface topographies were engineered on cobalt chromium molybdenum (CoCrMo) in order to examine this influence on human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). These treatments were smooth polished (SMO), acid etched (AE) using HCl 7.4% and H2 SO4 76% followed by HNO3 30%, sand blasted, and acid etched using either 50 μm Al2 O3 (SLA50) or 250 μm Al2 O3 grit (SLA250). Characterization of the surfaces included energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), contact angle, and surface roughness analysis. Human MSCs were cultured onto the four CoCrMo substrates and markers of cell attachment, retention, proliferation, cytotoxicity, and osteogenic differentiation were studied. Residual aluminum was observed on both SLA surfaces although this appeared to be more widely spread on SLA50, whilst SLA250 was shown to have the roughest topography with an Ra value greater than 1 μm. All substrates were shown to be largely non-cytotoxic although both SLA surfaces were shown to reduce cell attachment, whilst SLA50 also delayed cell proliferation. In contrast, SLA250 stimulated a good rate of proliferation resulting in the largest cell population by day 21. In addition, SLA250 stimulated enhanced cell retention, calcium deposition, and hydroxyapatite formation compared to SMO (p

Comparative lawyers have traditionally associated different forms of judicial organisation with different legal traditions. Civil law systems, on this view, have ‘career’ judiciaries. Judges enter ...

The current gold standard material for orthopedic applications is titanium (Ti), however, other materials such as cobalt-chromium-molybdenum (CoCrMo) are often preferred due to their wear resistance and mechanical strength. This study investigates if the bioactivity of CoCrMo can be enhanced by coating the surface with titanium oxide (TiO2 ) by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD), thereby replicating the surface oxide layer found on Ti. CoCrMo, TiO2 -coated CoCrMo (CCMT) and Ti substrates were used for this study. Cellular f-actin distribution was shown to be noticeably different between cells on CCMT and CoCrMo after 24 h in osteogenic culture, with cells on CCMT exhibiting greater spread with developed protrusions. Osteogenic differentiation was shown to be enhanced on CCMT compared to CoCrMo, with increased calcium ion content per cell (p

Ideational approaches to politics are frequently criticised for indeterminacy. In comparative constitutional politics, critics have alleged that the ‘human rights revolution’ cannot explain why bills of rights were adopted in different places and different times. Ideational scholars have not responded convincingly. Focusing on the famous South African case study, and drawing on theories of belief formation and legitimation in interpretive political science, this paper argues that new beliefs can be explained by historically specifiable dilemmas. It uses process-tracing to show how scholars have mistakenly assumed that key players in the post-apartheid transition only adopted beliefs in rights in order to rationalise interests.

Ultraviolet (UV) photofunctionalization has been shown to be highly effective at improving the osteoconductivity of titanium and TiO2 coated materials. We aimed to assess whether the bioactivity of TiO2 coated cobalt chromium molybdenum (CoCrMo) could be enhanced by UV photofunctionalization of the surface TiO2 layer. Using atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) a thin layer of anatase TiO2 was deposited onto smooth CoCrMo discs (referred to as CCMT). Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were cultured onto CCMT substrates which had been treated with UV light for 24 hours and identical substrates which had not undergone UV treatment. UV treated CCMT promoted a superior cell response in the form of enhancing markers of cell adhesion. This included stimulating the development of larger cells with increased levels of the adhesion protein vinculin and cytoskeletal protein f-actin (p < 0.05). In addition, MSCs were shown to have superior retention to UV treated CCMT after 3 and 24 hours (p < 0.05). Other cellular processes including proliferation, attachment, migration and differentiation were not affected by UV photofunctionalization. Despite this, the enhancement in cellular adhesion alone should result in an improvement in MSC retention to implant surfaces following surgery, and as a consequence, increase MSC resistance to dislodgement from external forces such as blood flow and micro motion.

Copyright © 2014 Tom Williamson et al. Robotic assistance in the context of lateral skull base surgery, particularly during cochlear implantation procedures, has been the subject of considerable research over the last decade. The use of robotics during these procedures has the potential to provide significant benefits to the patient by reducing invasiveness when gaining access to the cochlea, as well as reducing intracochlear trauma when performing a cochleostomy. Presented herein is preliminary work on the combination of two robotic systems for reducing invasiveness and trauma in cochlear implantation procedures. A robotic system for minimally invasive inner ear access was combined with a smart drilling tool for robust and safe cochleostomy; evaluation was completed on a single human cadaver specimen. Access to the middle ear was successfully achieved through the facial recess without damage to surrounding anatomical structures; cochleostomy was completed at the planned position with the endosteum remaining intact after drilling as confirmed by microscope evaluation.

The editors of this handbook have succeeded in assembling a genuine all-star cast of contributors. Most of the 32 brief chapters summarise decades of research by their author on the topic. For mast...