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Impedance pump is a simple valve-less pumping mechanism, where an elastic tube is joined to a more rigid tube, at both ends. By inducing a periodic asymmetrical compression on the elastic tube will produce a unidirectional flow within the system. This pumping concept offers a low energy, low noise alternative, which makes it an effective driving mechanism, especially for micro-fluidic systems. In addition, the wave-based mechanism through which pumping occurs infers many benefits in terms of simplicity of design and manufacturing. Adjustment of simple parameters such as the excitation frequencies or compression locations will reverse the direction of flow, providing a very versatile range of flow outputs. This paper describes the experimental analysis of such impedance-driven flow with emphasis on the dynamical study of the reverse flow in open-loop environment. In this study, tapered section with converging steps is introduced at both ends of the elastic tube to amplify the magnitude of reverse flow. Study conducted shows that the reverse peak flow is rather significant with estimate of 23% lower than the forward peak flow. The flow dynamics on the other hand has shown to exhibit different characteristics as per the forward peak flow. The flow characteristics is then studied and showed that the tapered sections altered the impedance within the system and hence induce a higher flow in the reverse direction.

Strategic documents are artifacts that can reveal evidence of an institution's teaching culture and, ideally, can influence how teaching is valued, rewarded, and resourced. This paper describes how an Institutional Teaching Culture framework based on six well-researched levers was applied to analyze strategic documents for indicators of teaching culture. Analyses conducted at five Canadian universities identified strengths and gaps within and across documents which, in turn, helped guide conversations about enhancing representations of institutional teaching culture. The authors share insights about our use of this analysis framework and offer recommendations to institutions invested in understanding and fostering robust teaching cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norina Gasteiger,1,2 Kate Loveys,1 Mikaela Law,1 Elizabeth Broadbent1 1Department of Psychological Medicine, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 2School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UKCorrespondence: Elizabeth BroadbentThe University of Auckland, Building 507, 28 Park Avenue, Grafton, Auckland, 1023, New ZealandTel +64 9 923 6756Email e.broadbent@auckland.ac.nzBackground and Aim: Loneliness is a common problem in older adults and contributes to poor health. This scoping review aimed to synthesize and report evidence on the effectiveness of interventions using social robots or computer agents to reduce loneliness in older adults and to explore intervention strategies.Methods: The review adhered to the Arksey and O’Malley process for conducting scoping reviews. The SCOPUS, PUBMED, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ACM Digital Library and IEEE Xplore databases were searched in November, 2020. A two-step selection process identified eligible research. Information was extracted from papers and entered into an Excel coding sheet and summarised. Quality assessments were conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.Results: Twenty-nine studies were included, of which most were of moderate to high quality. Eighteen were observational and 11 were experimental. Twenty-four used robots, four used computer agents and one study used both. The majority of results showed that robots or computer agents positively impacted at least one loneliness outcome measure. Some unintended negative consequences on social outcomes were reported, such as sadness when the robot was removed. Overall, the interventions helped to combat loneliness by acting as a direct companion (69%), a catalyst for social interaction (41%), facilitating remote communication with others (10%) and reminding users of upcoming social engagements (3%).Conclusion: Evidence to date suggests that robots can help combat loneliness in older adults, but there is insufficient research on computer agents. Common strategies for reducing loneliness include direct companionship and enabling social interactions. Future research could investigate other strategies used in human interventions (eg, addressing maladaptive social cognition and improving social skills), and the effects of design features on efficacy. It is recommended that more robust experimental and mixed methods research be conducted, using a combination of validated self-report, observational, and interview measures of loneliness.Keywords: robots, embodied conversational agents, computer agents, older adults, loneliness, review

Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) reflects a syndrome of endothelial injury characterised by microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia (nonimmune), thrombocytopenia, and often end-organ dysfunction. TMA disorders are well-recognised in kidney transplant recipients, often due to an underlying genetic predisposition related to complement dysregulation, or de novo due to infection, immunosuppression toxicity, or antibody-mediated rejection. In pregnancy, TMA disorders are most commonly due to severe pre-eclampsia or HELLP, but may also be due to thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) or complement-mediated (atypical) haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Complement dysregulation is being recognised as playing a role in the development of preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome in addition to aHUS. Due to overlapping clinical and laboratory features, diagnosis can be difficult and delays in treatment can be life-threatening for both mother and fetus. This report describes a 32 year-old female who had two successive wanted pregnancies. The first pregnancy was terminated at 22 weeks gestation due to presumed severe preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction in the context of known chronic kidney failure due to reflux nephropathy. A living-related kidney transplant was performed to improve the chances of pregnancy resulting in a live birth. A subsequent pregnancy was complicated by progressive kidney impairment and hypertension at 22 weeks gestation. Kidney biopsy showed TMA, but the etiology was unclear. This report highlights the diagnostic dilemma of TMA in a pregnant kidney transplant recipient and a role for the anti-C5 terminal complement blockade monoclonal antibody eculizumab, in pregnancy-associated TMA, especially at a peri-viable gestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid sea‐level rise during the Early Holocene around the North Sea coastal lowlands provided conditions under which estuarine and coastal features, with no modern equivalents, could be created. Investigation of nearshore sediments within the Outer Humber Estuary, UK, has identified a tidal lagoonal system, created between c. 9000 and 7800 cal a bp. These sequences show the initial flooding of a carr woodland, prior to the establishment of more saline conditions as the tidal lagoonal system developed. Inter‐core comparisons, based on diatom and pollen analyses, suggest variations in the structure of a tidal lagoon setting, which probably lasted for only a brief period before being submerged by rising sea levels. The absence of an erosive contact in several of the sequences studied has permitted the creation of the oldest sea‐level index points for the Outer Humber Estuary, providing validation for the current glacial isostatic adjustment models for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been hypothesized that the variation of the critical currents in Nb/Al–AlO x /Nb junctions is due to, among other effects, the presence of grain boundaries in the system. Motivated by this, we examine the effect of grain boundaries on the critical current of a Josephson junction. We assume that the hopping amplitudes are dependent on the interatomic distance and derive a physically realistic model of distance-dependent hopping amplitudes. We find that the presence of a grain boundary and associated disorder is responsible for a very large drop in the critical current relative to a clean system. We also find that when a tunnel barrier is present, grain boundaries cause substantial variations in the critical currents due to the disordered hoppings near the tunnel barrier. We discuss the applicability of these results to Josephson junctions presently intended for use in superconducting electronics applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate theoretically the origins of observed variations in the critical currents of Nb/Al-AlO x /Nb Josephson junctions in terms of various types of disorder. We consider the following disorder sources: vacancies within the Al layer, thickness variations in the AlO x layer, and "pinholes" (i.e., point contacts) within the AlO x layer. The calculations are all performed by solving the microscopic Bogoliubov–de Gennes Hamiltonian self-consistently. It is found that a small concentration of vacancies within the Al layer is sufficient to suppress the critical current, while the presence of a small number of thick regions of the oxide layer induces a similar effect as well. The pinhole scenario is found to result in anomalous behavior that resembles neither that of a pure tunnel junction nor that of a superconductor–normal–superconductor junction but a regime that interpolates between these two limits. We comment on the degree to which each of the three scenarios describes the actual situation present in these junctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using detailed nevus anatomical site data from the Brisbane Twin Nevus Study (BTNS) we aimed to identify a proxy anatomical site that best captures total nevus count (TNC) and explore its correlation with melanoma risk. The medial arm is defined as the skin visible to the nurse when the participant stands facing forward with arms rotated so the palms also face forward. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Families of children with disabilities experience extra financial strains, and mothers are frequently unable to participate in paid work because of caregiving obligations. Methods: A mailed survey and follow-up phone calls were used to gather data about mother's health, workforce participation and barriers to inclusion in the workplace (n = 152). Verbatim reports of issues that hindered workforce participation were analysed qualitatively to derive themes. Maternal health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was measured using the Short Form Health Survey Version 2 (SF-36v2). Norm-based conversions were used to compare HRQoL between working and non-working mothers and to compare to population norms. Results: Eighty-two per cent of mothers in the sample wanted and needed to work for pay but indicated over 300 issues that prevent their work participation. Data analysis revealed 26 common issues which prevent work participation. These issues fit into three main categories: mother-related reasons (28%), child-related reasons (29%) and service limitations (43%). Mothers who worked (n = 83) reported significantly better HRQoL than mothers who did not work (n = 69) on five of the eight SF-36v2 dimensions and overall mental health. Conclusions: Compared to other working Australians, mothers in this study had higher education yet reported poorer health, lower family income and lower workforce participation. Respondents reported that service system limitations were the main barriers to participation in the paid workforce. Investigation of service changes such as increased respite care, availability of outside hours school care, improved professional competency and family-centred services is recommended in order to improve maternal participation in paid work.