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[Display omitted] The advent of sUAS (small unmanned aerial systems – or surveying drones) technology has made comprehensive thermographic analyses of the built environment feasible. Advantages over traditional thermal survey techniques include a significant increase in ease of three-dimensional (3D) navigation around large structures as well as the ability to perform data-rich measurements. 3D building envelope thermographic models represent the building surface temperatures and can be created using structure-from-motion photogrammetry techniques with the collected high-overlap sUAS thermographic images. This paper introduces an end-to-end workflow for measuring radiative heat loss from building envelopes. This includes the setup and process required for quickly creating accurate 3D thermographic models and their analysis with software developed for this purpose. Three analytical models for building envelope radiative heat loss are applied and tested for viability through controlled experiments. The workflow is then demonstrated by evaluating the thermal radiation losses of two buildings on the campuses of the University of North Georgia. Our findings suggest the workflow can quickly provide good radiative heat loss measurements and may be a valuable addition to more comprehensive thermal analysis techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Preliminary study has been made of black human hair, carbon concentration of some 53%, a model in examining the potential of hair of the human head in retrospective and emergency biodosimetry applications, also offering effective atomic number near to that of water. The hair samples were exposed to $$^{60}$$ 60 Co gamma rays, delivering doses from 0 to 200 Gy. Structural alterations were observed, use being made of Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Most prominent among the features observed in the first-order Raman spectra are the D and G peaks, appearing at 1370 $${{\pm }} 18\,{\hbox {cm}}^{-1}$$ ± 18 cm - 1 and 1589 $${{\pm }} 11\,{\hbox {cm}}^{-1}$$ ± 11 cm - 1 respectively, the intensity ratio $${{{I}}}_{{{D}}}{{/}}{{{I}}}_{{{G}}}$$ I D / I G indicating dose-dependent defects generation and annealing of structural alterations. The wavelengths of the PL absorption and emission peaks are found to be centred at $$592.3 \pm 12.5$$ 592.3 ± 12.5 nm and $$1077.4 \pm 7.3$$ 1077.4 ± 7.3 nm, respectively. The hair samples mean band gap energy ( $${{{E}}}_{{{g}}}$$ E g ) post-irradiation was found to be $$2.10 \pm 0.04$$ 2.10 ± 0.04 eV, of the order of a semiconductor and approximately two times the $${{{E}}}_{{{g}}}$$ E g of other carbon-rich materials reported via the same methodology.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy were used to generate far-infrared and low-frequency spectral measurements of monomeric lysozyme and lysozyme fibrils. The formation of lysozyme fibrils was verified by the Thioflavin T assay and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was evident in the FT-IR spectra that between 150 and 350 cm−1the two spectra diverge, with the lysozyme fibrils showing higher absorbance intensity than the monomeric form. The broad absorption phenomenon is likely due to light scattered from the fibrillar architecture of lysozyme fibrils as supported by simulation of Rayleigh light scattering. The lack of discrete phonon-like peaks suggest that far-infrared spectroscopy cannot detect vibrational modes between the highly ordered hydrogen-bonded beta-pleated sheets of the lysozyme subunit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of the study: Intestinal transplantation (IT) is a life-saving procedure for carefully selected patients with intestinal failure. We evaluated patients who had undergone simultaneous intestinal and kidney transplantation (SIKT) to determine whether UK guidelines for inclusion of a renal allograft (dialysis dependent or estimated glomerular filtration rate ((eGFR)) < 45 ml/min/1.73 m2) are justified. Methods: A single centre analysis was undertaken of adults undergoing IT at the Cambridge Transplant Centre between December 2007 and January 2016. A prospectively maintained database was used to identify SIKT recipients and determine outcomes. Results: Over this period, 63 intestinal transplants were performed. Seven (11.1%) recipients received a SIKT. Five were pre-dialysis (median eGFR 29 ml/min/1.73 m2, range 16–36 ml/min/1.73 m2). One recipient was on dialysis, and one needed bilateral nephrectomy at transplant. There were no primary kidney allograft failures and at three months, the median eGFR (55 ml/min/1.73 m2 range 39–124) was similar to recipients of IT alone (median eGFR 56 ml/min/1.73 m2 range 17–143 ml/min/1.73 m2). Two recipients required dialysis due to sepsis related kidney injury and died from multi-organ failure (20 and 63 months). Two died with a functioning renal transplant (10 and 15 months). The remaining three patients are alive at follow up (12–96 months) with an eGFR of 20–45 ml/min/1.73 m2. Conclusion: Patients with significant renal impairment (eGFR

Objective To examine quality of life (QoL) and other patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in kidney transplant recipients and those awaiting transplantation.Design Longitudinal cohort questionnaire surveys and qualitative semi-structured interviews using thematic analysis with a pragmatic approach.Setting Completion of generic and disease-specific PROMs at two time points, and telephone interviews with participants UK-wide.Participants 101 incident deceased-donor (DD) and 94 incident living-donor (LD) kidney transplant recipients, together with 165 patients on the waiting list (WL) from 18 UK centres recruited to the Access to Transplantation and Transplant Outcome Measures (ATTOM) programme completed PROMs at recruitment (November 2011 to March 2013) and 1 year follow-up. Forty-one of the 165 patients on the WL received a DD transplant and 26 received a LD transplant during the study period, completing PROMs initially as patients on the WL, and again 1 year post-transplant. A subsample of 10 LD and 10 DD recipients participated in qualitative semi-structured interviews.Results LD recipients were younger, had more educational qualifications and more often received a transplant before dialysis. Controlling for these and other factors, cross-sectional analyses at 12 months post-transplant suggested better QoL, renal-dependent QoL and treatment satisfaction for LD than DD recipients. Patients on the WL reported worse outcomes compared with both transplant groups. However, longitudinal analyses (controlling for pre-transplant differences) showed that LD and DD recipients reported similarly improved health status and renal-dependent QoL (p

Forming part of a study of radiological risk arising from use of radioactive consumer products, investigation is made of pendants containing naturally occurring radioactive material. Based on use of gamma-ray spectrometry and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, the study investigates commercially available 'scalar energy pendants'. The doses from these have been simulated using MIRD5 mathematical phantoms, evaluation being made of dose conversion factors (DCFs) and organ dose. Metallic pendants code MP15 were found to contain the greatest activity, at 7043 ± 471 Bq from 232Th, while glass pendants code GP11 were presented the greatest 238U and 40K activity, at 1001 ± 172 and 687 ± 130 Bq respectively. MP15 pendants offered the greatest percentage concentrations of Th, Ce, U and Zr, with means of 25.6 ± 0.06, 5.6 ± 0.005, 1.03 ± 0.04 and 28.5 ± 0.08 respectively, giving rise to an effective dose of 2.8 mSv for a nominal wearing period of 2000 h. Accordingly, these products can give rise to annual doses in excess of the public limit of 1 mSv.