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Denne masteroppgaven har som formål å besvare problemstillingen «Hva er betingelsene for fortetting i Oslo indre by vest gjennom konvertering av loft til bolig?», ved å belyse følgende 5 forskningsspørsmål: * Hvordan påvirker avstanden fra CBD Vest muligheten for konvertering av loft til bolig? * Hvordan påvirker kommunens fortettingsstrategi muligheten for utvikling av loft til bolig i Oslo indre by vest? * Hvilke faktorer må være til stede for at konvertering av loft til bolig gir nødvendig økonomisk avkastning? * Hvilke fordeler og ulemper har konvertering av loft til bolig? * Hva anser en eiendomsutvikler for å være de største utfordringene ved konvertering av loft til bolig? Masteroppgaven er utarbeidet som en utforskende casestudie, hvor fenomenet «konvertering av loft til bolig» og dets betingelser utforskes med fokus på fortetting, miljø og bærekraft. Byggesektoren produserer en stor del av verdens klimagassutslipp, og etablering av nybygg spesielt har en svært negativ effekt på klima og miljø. Uavhengig av dette så er det behov for flere boliger sentralt i Oslo. Studien har vist at det eksisterer et stort antall loft i Oslos sentrale soner, som er egnet for konvertering til bolig. I henhold til oppgaven kan konvertering av loft til bolig bidra til at det fortettes på en bærekraftig miljømessig måte, samtidig som eierseksjonssameier kan innhente kapital til rehabilitering, vedlikehold og oppgraderinger av bygårdene. Fordelene ved fortetting gjennom konvertering av loft til bolig er mange, men likevel er det å anse som en komplisert form for eiendomsutvikling. Som belyst i studien finnes det en rekke betingelser som må være til stede for at konvertering skal være økonomisk lønnsomt for eiendomsutviklere, samtidig som at den er givende for både samfunn, bygårder, eierseksjonssameier og beboere i Oslo indre by vest. Studien indikerer at både Oslo kommune og planmyndighetene stiller seg positive til utviklingen av eksisterende bygningsmasse i Oslo indre by vest, samtidig kommer det frem at planmyndighetene stiller strenge krav til utvikling av loft. Dette bidrar til at konvertering kan bli ressurskrevende, risikofylt og økonomisk kostbart for eiendomsutviklere. This master`s thesis aims to explore the question “What are the conditions for densification through conversion of lofts to housing in Oslo inner city west” by answering the following 5 research questions: * How does the distance from CBD West affect the possibility of conversion of lofts to housing? * How does the municipality’s densification strategy affect the possibility of conversion of lofts to housing? * Which factors must be present in conversion of lofts to housing, in order to provide necessary financial return? * What are the advantages and disadvantages of converting lofts into housing? * What does a property developer consider to be the biggest challenges when converting lofts into housing? The master`s thesis has been carried out as an exploratory case study, where the phenomenon of “conversion of loft to housing” and its conditions, are explored with focus on densification, environment and sustainability. The construction sector produces a large part of the world`s greenhouse gas emissions, and the establishment of new buildings has a specifically negative impact on the climate and environment. Regardless of this, there is a need for more housing in central areas in Oslo. The study has shown that there are many lofts in Oslo`s central zones, which are suitable for conversion to housing. According to the study, loft conversion can contribute to densification in a way that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. It can also contribute to that condominiums obtain capital, through the sale of loft areas, that can be used for rehabilitation, maintenance and upgrades of the apartment building. The advantages of densification through conversion of lofts to housing are many, but it can still be considered a complicated form of property development. As highlighted in the study there are many conditions that must be present if conversion shall be financially profitable for property developers, while at the same time being rewarding for both society, apartment building, condominiums and residents of inner city west. The study indicates that both Oslo municipality and the planning authorities are positive about development of and in existing buildings in Oslo inner city west. But at the same time, it appears that the planning authorities set strict requirements of the development of lofts. This entails that conversion of lofts to housing can become a resource-intensitive, risky and financially costly for property developers.

Objective: This study aims at investigating the functional performance of a novel prosthesis control scheme integrating an inductive tongue interface and myoelectric control. The tongue interface allowed direct selection of the desired grasp while myoelectric signals were used to open and close the robotic hand. Methods: The novel method was compared to a conventional sequential on/off myoelectric control scheme using functional tasks defined by Assistive Hand Assessment protocol. Ten able-bodied participants were fitted with the SmartHand on their left forearm. They used both the conventional myoelectric control and the Tongue and Myoelectric Hybrid interface (TMH) to accomplish two activities of daily living (i.e., preparing a sandwich and gift wrapping). Sessions were video recorded and the outcome measure was the completion time for the subtasks as well as the full tasks. Results: The sandwich task was completed significantly faster, with 19% decrease in the completion time, using the TMH when compared to the conventional sequential on/off myoelectric control scheme (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The results indicate that the TMH control scheme facilitates the active use of the prosthetic device by simplifying grasp selection, leading thereby to faster completion of challenging and relevant tasks involving bimanual activities.

Researchers have come up with many visual cues that can guide Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) users to out of view objects. The paper provides a classification of cues and tasks and visual model to describe and analyse cues to support their design.

Implant related infections are the most common cause of joint arthroplasty failure, requiring revision surgeries and a new implant, resulting in a cost of $8.6 billion annually. To address this problem, we created a class of coating technology that is applied in the operating room, in a procedure that takes less than 10 min, and can incorporate any desired antibiotic. Our coating technology uses an in situ coupling reaction of branched poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(allyl mercaptan) (PEG-PAM) polymers to generate an amphiphilic polymeric coating. We show in vivo efficacy in preventing implant infection in both post-arthroplasty infection and post-spinal surgery infection mouse models. Our technology displays efficacy with or without systemic antibiotics, the standard of care. Our coating technology is applied in a clinically relevant time frame, does not require modification of implant manufacturing process, and does not change the implant shelf life., Implant infection is the most common mode of joint replacement failure with serious complications. Here, the authors report on the in vivo application of a prophylactic coating technology that can incorporate a range of antibiotics and be applied in the operating room prior to implantation.

Extremity reconstruction surgery is increasingly performed rather than amputation for patients with large-segment pathologic bone loss. Debate persists as to the optimal void filler for this “limb salvage” surgery, whether metal or allograft bone. Clinicians focus on optimizing important functional gains for patients, and the risk of devastating implant infection has been thought to be similar regardless of implant material. Recent insights into infection pathophysiology are challenging this equipoise, however, with both basic science data suggesting a novel mechanism of infection of Staphylococcus aureus (the most common infecting agent) into the host lacunar–canaliculi network, and also clinical data revealing a higher rate of infection of allograft over metal. The current translational study was therefore developed to bridge the gap between these insights in a longitudinal murine model of infection of allograft bone and metal. Real-time Staphylococci infection characteristics were quantified in cortical bone vs metal, and both microarchitecture of host implant and presence of host immune response were assessed. An orders-of-magnitude higher bacterial burden was established in cortical allograft bone over both metal and cancellous bone. The establishment of immune-evading microabscesses was confirmed in both cortical allograft haversian canal and the submicron canaliculi network in an additional model of mouse femur bone infection. These study results reveal a mechanism by which Staphylococci evasion of host immunity is possible, contributing to elevated risks of infection in cortical bone. The presence of this local infection reservoir imparts massive clinical implications that may alter the current paradigm of osteomyelitis and bulk allograft infection treatment.

Steel lattice towers with suspended insulator strings are typically used to carry high-voltage overhead transmission lines. The installation of non-conductive power pylons made of glass fibre reinforced plastics enables a direct cable-pylon connection, as the composite structure acts as an unibody insulator. At the same time, wind-induced vibrations, such as the severe cable vibration phenomenon galloping, will consequently be directly transferred to the slender composite mast structure, potentially leading to extensive damage. The aim of the study is therefore to investigate the galloping behaviour of iced conductor lines with regard to different cable support conditions. Furthermore, additional damping in the composite power pylon structure is assumed to mitigate conductor line galloping and therefore reduce the risk of phase flash-overs between adjacent conductor lines. A numerical galloping simulation is carried out in order to evaluate the effect of a rigid cable-pylon connection with enhanced damping properties on the cable vibration amplitudes. A pylon-cable system, consisting of 3×300 m spans, is investigated. It was found that the support conditions of the conductor lines have a significant influence on the galloping mode, the vibration amplitudes and the orientation of the characteristic galloping ellipse. The addition of damping to the pylon decreases the vibration amplitudes slightly and leads to a re-orientation of the galloping ellipse.

Author(s): Hegde, Vishal; Park, Howard Y; Dworsky, Erik; Zoller, Stephen D; Xi, Weixian; Johansen, Daniel O; Loftin, Amanda H; Hamad, Christopher D; Segura, Tatiana; Bernthal, Nicholas M | Abstract: Study designA controlled, interventional animal study.ObjectiveSpinal implant infection (SII) is a devastating complication. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a novel implant coating that has both a passive antibiotic elution and an active-release mechanism triggered in the presence of bacteria, using an in vivo mouse model of SII.Summary of background dataCurrent methods to minimize the frequency of SII include local antibiotic therapy (vancomycin powder), betadine irrigation, silver nanoparticles, and passive release from antibiotic-loaded poly(methyl methacrylate) cement beads, all of which have notable weaknesses. A novel implant coating has been developed to address some of these limitations but has not been tested in the environment of a SII.MethodsA biodegradable coating using branched poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(propylene sulfide) (PEG-PPS) polymer was designed to deliver antibiotics. The in vivo performance of this coating was tested in the delivery of either vancomycin or tigecycline in a previously established mouse model of SII. Noninvasive bioluminescence imaging was used to quantify the bacterial burden, and implant sonication was used to determine bacterial colony-forming units (CFUs) from the implant and surrounding bone and soft tissue.ResultsThe PEG-PPS-vancomycin coating significantly lowered the infection burden from postoperative day 3 onwards (P l 0.05), whereas PEG-PPS-tigecycline only decreased the infection on postoperative day 5 to 10 (P l 0.05). CFUs were lower on PEG-PPS-vancomycin pins than PEG-PPS-tigecycline and PEG-PPS pins alone on both the implants (2.4 × 10, 8.5 × 10, and 1.0 × 10 CFUs, respectively) and surrounding bone and soft tissue (1.3 × 10, 4.8 × 10, and 5.4 × 10 CFUs, respectively) (P l 0.05).ConclusionThe biodegradable PEG-PPS coating demonstrates promise in decreasing bacterial burden and preventing SII. The vancomycin coating outperformed the tigecycline coating in this model compared to prior work in arthroplasty models, highlighting the uniqueness of the paraspinal infection microenvironment.Level of evidenceN/A.

Working with large quantities of digital images can often lead to prohibitive computational challenges due to their massive number of pixels and high dimensionality. The extraction of compressed vectorial representations from images is therefore a task of vital importance in the field of computer vision. In this paper, we propose a new architecture for extracting such features from images in an unsupervised manner, which is based on convolutional neural networks. The model is referred to as the Unsupervised Convolutional Siamese Network (UCSN), and is trained to embed a set of images in a vector space, such that local distance structure in the space of images is approximately preserved. We compare the UCSN to several classical methods by using the extracted features as input to a classification system. Our results indicate that the UCSN produces vectorial representations that are suitable for classification purposes.

Deep image clustering is a rapidly growing branch of machine learning and computer vision, in which deep neural networks are trained to discover groups within a set of images, in an unsupervised manner. Deep neural networks have proven to be immensely successful in several machine learning tasks, but the majority of these advances have been in supervised settings. The process of labeling data for supervised applications can be extremely time-consuming, or even completely infeasible in many domains. This has led researchers to shift their focus towards the deep clustering field. However, this field is still in its infancy, meaning that it includes several open research questions, regarding e.g. the design and optimization of the algorithms, the discovery of meaningful clusters, and the initialization of model parameters. In an attempt to address some of these open questions, a new algorithm for deep image clustering is developed in this thesis. The proposed Deep Tensor Kernel Clustering (DTKC) consists of a convolutional neural network (CNN), which is trained to reflect a common cluster structure at the output of all its intermediate layers. Encouraging a consistent cluster structure throughout the network has the potential to guide it towards meaningful clusters, even though these clusters might appear to be nonlinear in the input space. The cluster structure is enforced through the idea of companion objectives, where separate loss functions are attached to each of the layers in the network. These companion objectives are constructed based on a proposed generalization of the Cauchy-Schwarz (CS) divergence, from vectors to tensors of arbitrary rank. Generalizing the CS divergence to tensor-valued data is a crucial step, due to the tensorial nature of the intermediate representations in the CNN. Furthermore, an alternate initialization strategy based on self-supervised learning, is also employed. To the author's best knowledge, this is the first attempt at using this particular self-supervised learning approach to initialize a deep clustering algorithm. Several experiments are conducted to thoroughly assess the performance of the proposed DTKC model, with and without self-supervised pre-training. The results show that the models outperform, or perform comparable to, a wide range of benchmark algorithms from the literature.

IntroductionAlthough a variety of agencies have attempted to evaluate the academic achievements of orthopaedic surgery academic centers, most use opaque criteria that are difficult to interpret and do not provide clear targets for improvement. This study leverages a weighted algorithm using objective measurements that has been linked to academic achievement to attempt to provide a comprehensive assessment of scholarly accomplishment for orthopaedic surgery academic centers.MethodsWe examined full-time faculty at 138 US orthopaedic surgery academic centers; part-time or volunteer faculty were excluded. Five metrics of academic achievement were assessed: National Institutes of Health funding (2013), number of publications, Hirschberg-index (ie, a metric of impact of publications), leadership positions held in orthopaedic surgery societies, and editorial board positions of top orthopaedic and subspecialty journals. Academic programs were given a score for every category, and the algorithm was used to calculate an overall score of academic achievement for each program.ResultsThe five most academically productive programs were Washington University in St. Louis, Hospital for Special Surgery, Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson University.ConclusionThis algorithm may provide faculty with an assessment tool that can establish benchmarks to help focus efforts toward increasing the academic productivity of their respective programs.

Author(s): Hegde, Vishal; Burke, Zachary DC; Park, Howard Y; Zoller, Stephen D; Johansen, Daniel; Kelley, Benjamin V; Levine, Ben; Motamedi, Kambiz; Federman, Noah C; Seeger, Leanne L; Nelson, Scott D; Bernthal, Nicholas M | Abstract: BACKGROUND:Although there is widespread acceptance of core needle biopsy (CNB) for diagnosing solid tumors, there is reluctance by some clinicians to use CNB for aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) as a result of concerns of safety (bleeding, nerve injury, fracture, readmission, or infection) and reliability, particularly to rule out malignant diagnoses like telangiectatic osteosarcoma. This is especially true when CNB tissue is sent from an outside hospital, where the technique used to obtain the tissue may be spurious. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES:(1) Is CNB effective (provided adequate information to indicate appropriate surgical treatment without further open biopsy) as an initial diagnostic test for ABC? (2) Is CNB accurate (pathology consistent with the subsequent definitive surgical pathologic diagnosis) in differentiating between benign lesions such as primary or secondary ABCs and malignant radiolucent lesions such as telangiectatic osteosarcoma? (3) What are the complications of CNB? (4) Is there any difference in the effectiveness or accuracy of CNB performed at outside institutions when compared with a referral center? METHODS:A retrospective study of our musculoskeletal tumor board pathology database (1990-2016) was performed using search criteria "aneurysmal bone cyst" or "telangiectatic osteosarcoma." Only patients undergoing a CNB who proceeded to definitive surgical resection with final pathology were included. Excluding outside CNBs, CNB was performed after presentation at a musculoskeletal tumor board as a result of atypical features on imaging or history concerning for malignancy. Outside CNB tissue was reviewed by our pathologists. If there was sufficient tissue for diagnosis, the patient proceeded to definitive surgery. If not, the patient underwent open biopsy. CNB diagnosis, open biopsy results, and open surgical resection pathology were reviewed. Complications, including bleeding, infection, nerve injury, readmission, or fracture, between the CNB and definitive open surgical procedure (mean 1.6 months) were documented. CNBs were considered "effective" if they yielded pathology considered sufficient to proceed with appropriate definitive surgery without additional open biopsy. CNBs were considered "accurate" if they were effective and yielded a pathologic diagnosis that matched the subsequent definitive surgical pathology. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of obtaining a malignant diagnosis using CNB were also calculated. RESULTS:A total of 81% (59 of 73) of CNBs were effective. Ninety-three percent (55 of 59) of CNBs were classified as accurate. Diagnostic CNBs had a sensitivity and specificity of 89% (eight of nine) and 100% (51 of 51), respectively. The PPV was 1.00 and the NPV was 0.82. There were no complications. With the numbers available, there was no difference in efficacy (90% [37 of 41 versus 14 of 15]; odds ratio, 0.97 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.41-2.27], p = 0.94) or accuracy (92% [34 of 37 versus 13 of 14]; odds ratio, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.08-9.16], p = 0.91) between CNBs performed in house and those referred from outside. CONCLUSIONS:These data suggest that CNBs are useful as an initial diagnostic test for ABC and telangiectatic osteosarcoma. Tissue from outside CNBs can be read reliably without repeat biopsy. If confirmed by other institutions, CNB may be considered a reasonable approach to the diagnosis of aggressive, radiolucent lesions of bone. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Level III, diagnostic study.

Background and Objective Cemented endoprosthetic reconstruction after resection of primary bone sarcomas has been a standard-of-care option for decades. With increased patient survival, the incidence of failed endoprostheses requiring revision surgery has increased. Revision of cemented endoprotheses by cementing into the existing cement mantle (CiC) is technically demanding. Methods This is a retrospective review of our endoprosthesis database of 512 consecutive cemented endoprosthetic reconstructions performed for oncologic diagnoses between 1980 and 2014. A total of 54 implants (mean patient age 32 years, range 13-81) were revised with a CiC technique. Outcomes evaluated were prosthesis survival, revision surgery categorized according to the Henderson Failure Mode Classification, complications, and functional scores. Results Fifteen-year Kaplan-Meier survival rate was 34% for initial revision and 39% for subsequent revision implants. Mean revised Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) Score was 27 at latest follow-up. Infection rate was 2%, 9%, and 13% for primary endoprostheses, initial revisions, and subsequent revisions, respectively. Limb salvage rate was 87%. Conclusions At long-term follow up, endoprostheses revised with the CiC technique showed consistent 15-year survival from initial (34%) to subsequent (39%) revision. Despite a relatively high failure rate, these results are encouraging and demonstrate that this is a conservative, repeatable technique.

BackgroundDespite recent advances, infection remains the most common etiology of arthroplasty failure. Recent work suggests that 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25D) deficiency correlates with the frequency of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). We endeavored to examine whether 25D3 deficiency leads to increased bacterial burden in vivo in an established mouse model of PJI and, if so, whether this effect can be reversed by preoperative 25D3 supplementation.MethodsMice (lys-EGFP) possessing fluorescent neutrophils were fed a vitamin D3-sufficient (n = 20) or deficient (n = 40) diet for 6 weeks. A group of 25D3-deficient mice (n = 20) were "rescued" with 1 intraperitoneal dose of 25D3 at 3 days before surgery. A stainless steel implant was inserted into the knee joint and the joint space was inoculated with bioluminescent Staphylococcus aureus (1 × 10 colony forming units [CFUs]). In vivo imaging was used to monitor bacterial burden and neutrophil infiltration. Blood was drawn to confirm 25D3 levels 3 days before surgery and on postoperative days (PODs) 0 and 14. Mice were killed at POD 21, and CFUs were quantified after culture. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) were assayed to look at neutrophil infiltration and activated tissue macrophage recruitment, respectively.ResultsSerum values confirmed 25D3 deficiency and repletion of the 25D3-rescued group. Bacterial bioluminescence and neutrophil fluorescence were significantly greater (p < 0.05) in the 25D3-deficient group. CFU counts from the joint tissue and implant were also significantly greater in this group (p < 0.05). Rescue treatment significantly decreased bacterial burden and neutrophil infiltration (p < 0.05). Compared with the 25D3-sufficient and 25D3-rescued groups, MPO activity was higher (p < 0.02) and NAG activity was lower (p < 0.03) in the 25D3-deficient group.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated in vivo in a mouse model of PJI that (1) 25D3 deficiency results in increased bacterial burden and neutrophil infiltration, and (2) this effect can be reversed with preoperative repletion of 25D3.Clinical relevanceConsidering that >65% of patients undergoing arthroplasty have insufficient or low levels of total 25D and that 25D levels can be replenished with ease using a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, oral 25D3 product, 25D deficiency may be an important modifiable risk factor in humans undergoing joint replacement.

Author(s): Hegde, Vishal; Johansen, Daniel; Park, Howard Y; Zoller, Stephen D; Hamad, Christopher; Bernthal, Nicholas M | Abstract: BackgroundThe Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) is the leading specialty-specific nongovernmental organization providing orthopaedic funding in the United States. As extramural research funding has become increasingly difficult to acquire, one mission of the OREF is to support investigators to generate data needed to secure larger extramural funding from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The objectives of this study were to evaluate the rate of translating OREF faculty-level grants into subsequent NIH funding and to determine if there are identifiable factors that increase the rate of converting an OREF grant into NIH funding.MethodsThis is a retrospective review of OREF grants awarded to full-time faculty orthopaedic surgeons between 1994 and 2014. Grants were analyzed on the basis of award type and were categorized as basic science, clinical, or epidemiological. Sex, individual scholarly productivity, and publication experience were evaluated. All awardees were assessed for subsequent NIH funding using the NIH RePORTER web site.ResultsOne hundred and twenty-six faculty-level OREF grants were awarded to 121 individuals. Twenty-seven OREF grant awardees (22%) received NIH funding at a mean of 6.3 years after OREF funding. Nineteen (46%) of 41 Career Development Grant winners later received NIH funding compared with 10 (12%) of 85 other award winners. OREF grants for basic science projects were awarded more often (58%) and were more than 4 times as likely to result in NIH funding than non-basic science projects (odds ratio, 4.70 [95% confidence interval, 1.66 to 13.33]; p = 0.0036). Faculty who later received NIH funding had higher scholarly productivity and publication experience (p l 0.05).ConclusionsThe OREF grant awardee conversion rate of 22% and, particularly, the 46% for Career Development Grant winners compares favorably with the overall NIH funding success rate (18% in 2014). Faculty-level OREF grants appear to achieve their purpose of identifying and supporting researchers who aim to secure subsequent federal funding.Clinical relevanceThe goal of this study is to examine how successful faculty who have obtained OREF grants have been in securing NIH funding later in their careers. Although subsequent accrual of NIH funding is not the only goal of OREF funding, it can be used as an important benchmark to assess the development of orthopaedic clinician-scientists.

Background Management of spine implant infections (SII) are challenging. Explantation of infected spinal hardware can destabilize the spine, but retention can lead to cord compromise and biofilm formation, complicating management. While vancomycin monotherapy is commonly used, in vitro studies have shown reduced efficacy against biofilm compared to combination therapy with rifampin. Using an established in vivo mouse model of SII, we aim to evaluate whether combination therapy has increased efficacy compared to both vancomycin alone and infected controls. Methods An L-shaped, Kirschner-wire was transfixed into the L4 spinous process of 12-week-old C57BL/6 mice, and inoculated with bioluminescent Staphylococcus aureus. Mice were randomized into a vancomycin group, a combination group with vancomycin plus rifampin, or a control group receiving saline. Treatment began on post-operative day (POD) 7 and continued through POD 14. In vivo imaging was performed to monitor bioluminescence for 35 days. Colony-forming units (CFUs) were cultured on POD 35. Results Bioluminescence peaked around POD 7 for all groups. The combination group had a 10-fold decrease in signal by POD 10. The vancomycin and control groups reached similar levels on POD 17 and 21, respectively. On POD 25 the combination group dropped below baseline, but rebounded to the same level as the other groups, demonstrating a biofilm-associated infection by POD 35. Quantification of CFUs on POD 35 confirmed an ongoing infection in all three groups. Conclusions Although both therapies were initially effective, they were not able to eliminate implant biofilm bacteria, resulting in a rebound infection after antibiotic cessation. This model shows, for the first time, why histologic-based, static assessments of antimicrobials can be misleading, and the importance of longitudinal tracking of infection. Future studies can use this model to test combinations of antibiotic therapies to see if they are more effective in eliminating biofilm prior to human trials.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using an inductive tongue control system (ITCS) for controlling robotic/prosthetic hands and arms.METHODS: This work presents a novel dual modal control scheme for multi-grasp robotic hands combining standard EMG with the ITCS. The performance of the ITCS control scheme was evaluated in a comparative study. Ten healthy subjects used both the ITCS control scheme and a conventional EMG control scheme to complete grasping exercises with the IH1 Azzurra robotic hand implementing five grasps. Time to activate a desired function or grasp was used as the performance metric.RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found when comparing the performance of the two control schemes. On average, the ITCS control scheme was 1.15 seconds faster than the EMG control scheme, corresponding to a 35.4 % reduction in the activation time. The largest difference was for grasp 5 with a mean AT reduction of 45.3 % (2.38 s).CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that using the ITCS control scheme could allow for faster activation of specific grasps or functions compared with a conventional EMG control scheme.SIGNIFICANCE: For transhumeral and especially bilateral amputees, the ITCS control scheme could have a significant impact on the prosthesis control. In addition, the ITCS would provide bilateral amputees with the additional advantage of environmental and computer control for which the ITCS was originally developed.

This paper presents a novel control scheme for new advanced hand prostheses implementing multiple pinches and grasps. The control signals for the hand are determined by myoelectric signals from the arm and volitionally generated signals by tongue through an inductive interface with a mouth piece. The feasibility tests have been performed on an able-bodied subject who controller a virtual reality hand. Results suggest that this hybrid control scheme works well, it is intuitive and the subject learned fast to use it, and what is most important provides many more control channel to advanced hand prostheses. This research is being continued in healthy subjects with the intention to translate the results to patients.

Small-angle neutron scattering was used to examine the effects of molecular crowding on an intrinsically disordered protein, the N protein of bacteriophage λ, in the presence of high concentrations of a small globular protein, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The N protein was labeled with deuterium, and the D2O concentration of the solvent was adjusted to eliminate the scattering contrast between the solvent and unlabeled BPTI, leaving only the scattering signal from the unfolded protein. The scattering profile observed in the absence of BPTI closely matched that predicted for an ensemble of random conformations. With BPTI added to a concentration of 65 mg/mL, there was a clear change in the scattering profile representing an increase in the mass fractal dimension of the unfolded protein, from 1.7 to 1.9, as expected if crowding favors more compact conformations. The crowding protein also inhibited aggregation of the unfolded protein. At 130 mg/mL BPTI, however, the fractal dimension was not significantly different from that measured at the lower concentration, contrary to the predictions of models that treat the unfolded conformations as convex particles. These results are reminiscent of the behavior of polymers in concentrated melts, suggesting that these synthetic mixtures may provide useful insights into the properties of unfolded proteins under crowding conditions.

A novel control scheme implementing an Inductive Tongue Control System and allowing for partial or full control of robotic and prosthetic arms and hands has been developed.

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was used to characterize the bacteriophage λ N protein, a 107 residue intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) that functions as a transcriptional antitermination factor. The SAXS data were used to estimate both the average radius of gyration and the fractal dimension, a measure of the protein's internal scaling properties, under a variety of solution conditions. In the absence of denaturants, the radius of gyration was 38 ± 3.5 Å and the fractal dimension was 1.76 ± 0.05, slightly larger than the value predicted for a well-solvated polymer with excluded volume (1.7). Neither the radius of gyration nor the fractal dimension changed significantly on the addition of urea, further indicating that the protein is extensively unfolded and well solvated in the absence of denaturant. The addition of NaCl or D(2) O was found to promote aggregation, but did not appear to affect the properties of the monomeric form. The experimental SAXS profiles were also compared with those predicted by a computational model for a random-coil polypeptide, with an adjustable solvation energy term. The experimental data were well fit to the model with the solvation energy close to zero. These results indicate that the λ N protein is among the more expanded members of the broad class of IDPs, most likely because of its high content of charged residues and a large net charge (+15 at neutral pH). The expanded nature of the conformational ensemble may play a role in facilitating the interactions of the protein with other components of the dynamic transcriptional complex.

This paper presents a novel control scheme for new advanced hand prostheses implementing multiple grasps and pinches. The control scheme implements myoelectric signals combined with signals generated through an inductive interface with a mouth piece. A pilot study using three healthy able-bodied subjects was performed to compare the new control scheme to a standard prosthesis control scheme based solely on myoelectric signals. Comparisons were made on the time used to activate a specific grasp or pinch pattern.