Reliable acetabular cup orientation with a new gravity-assisted guidance system.

Acetabular cup orientation is a key factor determining hip stability, and standard mechanical guides have shown little help in improving alignment. An in vitro study was carried out to compare the accuracy and precision of a new gravity-assisted guidance system with a standard mechanical guide. Three hundred ten cups were impacted by 5 surgeons, and the final cup orientation was measured. With the new guide, the average error in anteversion was 0.4 degrees , compared with 10.4 degrees with the standard guide and 0.3 degrees and -4.7 degrees , respectively, for abduction angles. The average time required for orienting the cups was similar for both guides. The accuracy and reproducibility obtained with the new guide were better (P < .0001). These good results would require a clinical validation.

Efficacité du counseling d'orientation: impacts de l'alliance de travail et du contexte psychosocial

La problématique centrale de cette thèse de doctorat est l'efficacité de l'accompagnement à l'orientation. Elle renvoie en particulier à la multiplicité des types d'interventions ainsi qu'aux tensions entre les finalités de l'orientation qui rendent improbable une mesure univoque et objective de l'efficacité des pratiques. Le «mythe » de l'efficacité trouve notamment sa source dans le persistent monopole du modèle de l'appariement qui a largement influencé le développement de la discipline. Le manuscrit est basé sur deux études empiriques. Premièrement, « voies professionnelles » est une étude longitudinale visant l'évaluation de l'efficacité d'un service de counseling d'orientation au travers de mesures intraindividuelles. Les résultats immédiats (pre-post) indiquent une forte diminution de l'indécision vocationnelle des consultants ainsi qu'une augmentation de leur bien-être. Les résultats longitudinaux sur un an indiquent une évolution positive des difficultés plus ancrées ainsi qu'un fort taux d'implémentation des projets professionnels. La qualité de l'alliance de travail démontre un impact positif sur l'efficacité de la démarche. Deuxièmement, l'étude « orientation et genre » a permis de mettre en évidence un effet d'interaction entre le sexe et le niveau scolaire d'élèves en fin de scolarité sur leurs profils d'intérêts professionnels. Ce résultat affecte en particulier les jeunes filles dans une filière à exigences élémentaires car ces deux identités psychosociales semblent restreindre doublement les options professionnelles envisageables. Les deux études ont permis de soulever cinq implications centrales : (1) La distinction entre les aspects cognitifs et émotionnels de l'indécision vocationnelle est importante. En particulier, la préparation au choix est un construit qui nécessite clarification ; (2) Les processus de transitions professionnelles ainsi que leur accompagnement doivent être considérés dans leur dimension temporelle ; (3) L'interconnexion des différentes sphères de vie est centrale dans les processus d'orientation et leur accompagnement ; (4) L'efficacité du conseil en orientation est affectée par la qualité des aspects relationnels ; (5) La complexité des pratiques et de leurs finalités confronte l'orientation à son rôle envers des identités psychosociales fragilisées. - The central issue of this doctoral thesis is the effectiveness of career counseling and guidance. In particular, this refers to the many types of career interventions as well as the tensions between their objectives. Those aspects make it unlikely to get an unambiguous and objective measure of the effectiveness of career practices. The "myth of efficiency" is particularly rooted in the persistent monopoly of person-environment fit models, which greatly influenced the development of the discipline. This manuscript is based on two empirical studies. First, "career paths" is a longitudinal study looking at the effectiveness of a career counseling service through intraindividual measures. Pre-post impacts showed a significant decrease in clients' vocational indecision as well as a moderate increase in their well-being. The one year-longitudinal results highlighted significant decreases in more constant decision-making difficulties with a high proportion of clients having implemented their professional projects. The quality of the working alliance had a positive impact on the effectiveness of the intervention. The second study, "vocational development and gender" highlighted an interaction effect between late schoolchildren's gender and school level on their professional interests profile. This result particularly affected girls at a low school level, because these psychosocial identities were a double restraint in restricting career options. The two studies raised five central implications: (1) The distinction between cognitive and emotional aspects of vocational indecision is important. In particular, readiness to make a choice is a construct that requires clarification; (2) career transitions processes as well as supporting these transitions, should be considered in their temporal dimension (3) the interconnection of different spheres of life is central to vocational development and career guidance and counseling; (4) the effectiveness of career counseling is affected by the quality of the relational aspects in the intervention; (5) and the complexity of career interventions and their objectives forces practitioners to consider their role and responsibilities towards clients with marginalized psychosocial identities.

Identification of Mycobacteria by Thin Layer Chromatographic Analysis of Mycolic Acids and Conventional Biochemical Method: Four Years of Experience

Mycolic acids analysis by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) has been employed by several laboratories worldwide as a method for fast identification of mycobacteria. This method was introduced in Brazil by our laboratory in 1992 as a routine identification technique. Up to the present, 861 strains isolated were identified by mycolic acids TLC and by standard biochemical tests; 61% out of these strains came as clinical samples, 4% isolated from frogs and 35% as environmental samples. Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains identified by classical methods were confirmed by their mycolic acids contents (I, III and IV). The method allowed earlier differentiation of M. avium complex - MAC (mycolic acids I, IV and VI) from M. simiae (acids I, II and IV), both with similar biochemical properties. The method also permitted to distinguish M. fortuitum (acids I and V) from M. chelonae (acids I and II) , and to detect mixed mycobacterial infections cases as M. tuberculosis with MAC and M. fortuitum with MAC. Concluding, four years experience shows that mycolic acids TLC is an easy, reliable, fast and inexpensive method, an important tool to put together conventional mycobacteria identification methods.

An approximate solution method for boundary layer flow of a power law fluid over a flat plate

The work in this paper deals with the development of momentum and thermal boundary layers when a power law fluid flows over a flat plate. At the plate we impose either constant temperature, constant flux or a Newton cooling condition. The problem is analysed using similarity solutions, integral momentum and energy equations and an approximation technique which is a form of the Heat Balance Integral Method. The fluid properties are assumed to be independent of temperature, hence the momentum equation uncouples from the thermal problem. We first derive the similarity equations for the velocity and present exact solutions for the case where the power law index n = 2. The similarity solutions are used to validate the new approximation method. This new technique is then applied to the thermal boundary layer, where a similarity solution can only be obtained for the case n = 1.

Forensic examination of ink by high-performance thin layer chromatography - The United States Secret Service Digital Ink Library

Forensic examinations of ink have been performed since the beginning of the 20th century. Since the 1960s, the International Ink Library, maintained by the United States Secret Service, has supported those analyses. Until 2009, the search and identification of inks were essentially performed manually. This paper describes the results of a project designed to improve ink samples' analytical and search processes. The project focused on the development of improved standardization procedures to ensure the best possible reproducibility between analyses run on different HPTLC plates. The successful implementation of this new calibration method enabled the development of mathematical algorithms and of a software package to complement the existing ink library.

Obtenció de capes primes d'alúmina mitjançant "Atomic Layer Deposition"

En aquest projecte s'ha estudiat la posada a punt d’un equip comercial ALD per a l’obtenció de capes primes d'alúmina a escala nanomètrica utilitzant vapor d’aigua i TMA com a precursors. Per tal de comprovar a bondat de les receptes experimentals aportades pel fabricant així com comprovar alguns aspectes de la teoria ALD s’han realitzat una sèrie de mostres variant els diferents paràmetres experimentals, principalment la temperatura de deposició, el nombre de cicles, la durada del cicle i el tipus de substrat. Per a la determinació dels gruixos nanomètrics de les capes i per tant dels ritmes de creixement s’ha utilitzat la el·lipsometria, una de les poques tècniques no destructives capaç de mesurar amb gran precisió gruixos de capes o interfases de pocs àngstroms o nanòmetres. En una primera etapa s'han utilitzat els valors experimentals donats pel fabricant del sistema ALD per determinar el ritme de creixement en funció de la temperatura de dipòsit i del numero de cicles, en ambdós casos sobre diversos substrats. S'ha demostrat que el ritme de creixement augmenta lleugerament en augmentar la temperatura de dipòsit, tot i que amb una variació petita, de l'ordre del 12% en variar 70ºC la temperatura de deposició. Així mateix s'ha demostrat la linealitat del gruix amb el número de cicles, tot i que no s’observa una proporcionalitat exacta. En una segona etapa s'han optimitzat els paràmetres experimentals, bàsicament els temps de purga entre pols i pols per tal de reduir considerablement les durades dels experiments realitzats a relativament baixes temperatures. En aquest cas s’ha comprovat que es mantenien els ritmes de creixement amb una diferencia del 3,6%, 4,8% i 5,5% en optimitzar el cicles en 6,65h, 8,31h, o 8,33h, respectivament. A més, per una d'aquestes condicions s’ha demostrat que es mantenia l’alta conformitat de les capes d’alúmina. A més, s'ha realitzat un estudi de l'homogeneïtat del gruix de les capes en tota la zona de dipòsit del reactor ALD. S’ha demostrat que la variació en gruix de les capes dipositades a 120ºC és com a màxim del 6,2% en una superfície de 110 cm2. Confirmant l’excepcional control de gruixos de la tècnica ALD.

La théorie décisionnelle appliquée à l'orientation: Le modèle PIC comme outil complémentaire

L'approche décisionnelle met l'accent sur la manière dont l'individu aborde et négocie les décisions à différents moments de son parcours. Le modèle PIC propose un outil qui permet d'accompagner le processus décisionnel systématiquement. Souvent les conseillers ont tendance à le suivre de manière intuitive. Cependant, un suivi structuré pourrait améliorer l'efficacité de leurs interventions.

ARCHITECTING USER-CENTRIC PRIVACY-AS-A-SET-OF-SERVICES: DIGITAL IDENTITY RELATED PRIVACY FRAMEWORK

AbstractDigitalization gives to the Internet the power by allowing several virtual representations of reality, including that of identity. We leave an increasingly digital footprint in cyberspace and this situation puts our identity at high risks. Privacy is a right and fundamental social value that could play a key role as a medium to secure digital identities. Identity functionality is increasingly delivered as sets of services, rather than monolithic applications. So, an identity layer in which identity and privacy management services are loosely coupled, publicly hosted and available to on-demand calls could be more realistic and an acceptable situation. Identity and privacy should be interoperable and distributed through the adoption of service-orientation and implementation based on open standards (technical interoperability). Ihe objective of this project is to provide a way to implement interoperable user-centric digital identity-related privacy to respond to the need of distributed nature of federated identity systems. It is recognized that technical initiatives, emerging standards and protocols are not enough to guarantee resolution for the concerns surrounding a multi-facets and complex issue of identity and privacy. For this reason they should be apprehended within a global perspective through an integrated and a multidisciplinary approach. The approach dictates that privacy law, policies, regulations and technologies are to be crafted together from the start, rather than attaching it to digital identity after the fact. Thus, we draw Digital Identity-Related Privacy (DigldeRP) requirements from global, domestic and business-specific privacy policies. The requirements take shape of business interoperability. We suggest a layered implementation framework (DigldeRP framework) in accordance to model-driven architecture (MDA) approach that would help organizations' security team to turn business interoperability into technical interoperability in the form of a set of services that could accommodate Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Privacy-as-a-set-of- services (PaaSS) system. DigldeRP Framework will serve as a basis for vital understanding between business management and technical managers on digital identity related privacy initiatives. The layered DigldeRP framework presents five practical layers as an ordered sequence as a basis of DigldeRP project roadmap, however, in practice, there is an iterative process to assure that each layer supports effectively and enforces requirements of the adjacent ones. Each layer is composed by a set of blocks, which determine a roadmap that security team could follow to successfully implement PaaSS. Several blocks' descriptions are based on OMG SoaML modeling language and BPMN processes description. We identified, designed and implemented seven services that form PaaSS and described their consumption. PaaSS Java QEE project), WSDL, and XSD codes are given and explained.

Reaction to novelty and spatial orientation in ALPHA1B(-/-) KO mice

Knockout mice lacking alphalb noradrenergic receptors were tested in behavioural experiments to test a possible effect of the absence of this receptor in reaction to novelty and spatial orientation. Reaction to novelty was tested in two experiments. In the first one the mice' latency to exit the first part of a two compartment set-up was measured. The knockout mice were faster to emerge then their littermate controls. Then they were tested in an open-field, in which new objects were added at the second trial. In the open-field without objects (first trial), the knockout mice showed a greater locomotor activity (path length). Then the same mice showed enhanced exploration of the newly introduced objects, relative to the control. The spatial orientation experiments were done on a homing board and in the water maze. The homing board did not yield a significant difference between the knock-out and the control mice. Both groups showed impaired results when the proximal (olfactory) and distal (visual) cues were disrupted by the rotation of the table. In the water maze however, the alphalb(-/-) mice were unable to solve the task (acquisition and retention), whereas the control mice showed a good acquisition and retention behaviour. The knockout mice' incapacity to learn to reach the submerged platform was not due to an incapacity to swim, as they were as good as their control littermates to reach the platform when it was visible.