Pathophysiology of Congenital Nephrotic Syndrome of the Finnish type

Congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type (NPHS1) is an autosomal recessive disease which is highly enriched in the Finnish population. It is caused by mutations in the NPHS1 gene encoding for nephrin, which is a major component of the glomerular filtration barrier in the kidney. Patients with NPHS1 have heavy proteinuria and nephrotic syndrome (NS) from birth and develop renal fibrosis in early childhood. Renal transplantation (TX) is the only curative treatment for NPHS1. These patients form the largest group of pediatric kidney transplant children in our country. The NPHS1 kidneys are removed in infancy and they serve as an excellent human material for studies of the pathophysiology of proteinuric kidney diseases. Sustained proteinuria is a major factor leading to end-stage renal failure and understanding this process is crucial for nephrology. In this study we investigated the glomerular and tubulointerstitial changes that occur in the NPHS1 kidneys during infancy as well as the expression of nephrin in non-renal tissues. We also studied the pathology and management of recurrent proteinuria in kidney grafts transplanted to NPHS1 children. Severe renal lesions evolved in patients with NPHS1 during the first months of life. Glomerular sclerosis developed through progressive mesangial sclerosis, and capillary obliteration was an early consequence of this process. Shrinkage of the glomerular tuft was common, whereas occlusion of tubular opening or protrusion of the glomerular tuft into subepithelial space or through the Bowman's capsule were not detected. Few inflammatory cells were detected in the mesangial area. The glomerular epithelial cells (podocytes) showed severe ultrastructural changes and hypertrophy. Podocyte proliferation and apoptosis were rare, but moderate amounts of podocytes were detached and ended up in the urine. The results showed that endocapillary lesions not extracapillary lesions, as generally believed were important for the sclerotic process in the NPHS1 glomeruli. In the tubulointerstitium, severe lesions developed in NPHS1 kidneys during infancy. Despite heavy proteinuria, tubular epithelial cells (TECs) did not show transition into myofibroblasts. The most abundant chemokines in NPHS1 tissue were neutrophil activating protein-2 (NAP-2), macrophage inhibiting factor (MIF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Interstitial inflammation and fibrosis were first detected in the paraglomerular areas and the most abundant inflammatory cells were monocytes/macrophages. Arteries and arterioles showed intimal hypertrophy, but the pericapillary microvasculature remained quite normal. However, excessive oxidative stress was evident in NPHS1 kidneys. The results indicated that TECs were relatively resistant to the heavy tubular protein load. Nephrin was at first thought to be podocyte specific, but some studies especially in experimental animals have suggested that nephrin might also be expressed in non-renal tissues such as pancreas and central nervous system. The knowledge of nephrin biology is important for the evaluation of nephrin related diseases. In our study, no significant amounts of nephrin protein or mRNA were detected in non-renal tissues of man and pig as studied by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. The phenotype analysis of NPHS1 children, who totally lack nephrin, revealed no marked impairment in the neurological, testicular, or pancreatic function speaking against the idea that nephrin would play an important functional role outside the kidney. The NPHS1 kidneys do not express nephrin and antibodies against this major glomerular filter protein have been observed in NPHS1 children after renal TX most likely as an immune reaction against a novel antigen. These antibodies have been associated with the development of recurrent NS in the kidney graft of NPHS1 patients. In our study, a third of the NPHS1 patients homozygous for Fin-Major mutation developed recurrent NS in the transplanted graft. Re-transplantations were performed to patients who lost their graft due to recurrent NS and heavy proteinuria immediately developed in all cases. While 73% of the patients had detectable serum anti-nephrin antibodies, the kidney biopsy findings were minimal. Introduction of plasma exchange (PE) to the treatment of recurrent nephroses increased the remission rate from 54% to 89%. If remission was achieved, recurrent NS did not significantly deteriorate the long term graft function. In conclusion, the results show that the lack of nephrin in podocyte slit diaphragm in NPHS1 kidneys induces progressive mesangial expansion and glomerular capillary obliteration and inflicts interstitial fibrosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress with surprisingly little involvement of the TECs in this process. Nephrin appears to have no clinical significance outside the kidney. Development of antibodies against nephrin seems to be a major cause of recurrent NS in kidney grafts of NPHS1 patients and combined use of PE and cyclophosphamide markedly improved remission rates.

Bat foraging strategies and pollination of Madhuca latifolia (Sapotaceae) in southern India

The sympatrically occurring Indian short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx and Indian flying fox Pteropus giganteus visit Madhuca latifolia (Sapotaceae), which offers fleshy corollas (approximate to 300 mg) to pollinating bats. The flowers are white, tiny and in dense fascicles The foraging activities of the two bat species were segregated in space and time. Cynopterus sphinx fed on resources at lower heights in the trees than P giganteus and its peak foraging activity occurred at 19 30 h, before that of P giganteus Foraging activities involved short searching flights followed by landing and removal of the corolla by mouth Cynopterus sphinx detached single corollas from fascicles and carried them to nearby feeding roosts, where it sucked the juice and spat out the Fibrous remains Pteropus giganteus landed on top of the trees and fed on the corollas in situ, its peak activity occurred at 20 30 11 This species glided and crawled between the branches and held the branches with claws and forearms when removing fleshy corollas with Its Mouth Both C sphinx and P giganteus consumed fleshy corollas with attached stamens and left the gynoecium intact Bagging experiments showed that fruit-set in bat-visited flowers was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than in self-pollinated flowers.

Determinants of institutional care at older ages in Finland

Väitöskirjassa selvitettiin ikäihmisten laitoshoitoon siirtymisen todennäköisyyttä ja sen taustoja kansainvälisesti ainutlaatuisen rekisteriaineiston avulla. Selvitettäviä asioita olivat eri sairauksien, sosioekonomisten tekijöiden, puolison olemassaolon ja leskeksi jäämisen yhteys laitoshoitoon siirtymiseen yli 65-vuotiailla suomalaisilla. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että dementia, Parkinsonin tauti, aivohalvaus, masennusoireet ja muut mielenterveysongelmat, lonkkamurtuma sekä diabetes lisäsivät ikäihmisten todennäköisyyttä siirtyä laitoshoitoon yli 50 prosentilla, kun muut sairaudet ja sosiodemografiset tekijät oli otettu huomioon. Korkeat tulot vähensivät laitoshoidon todennäköisyyttä, kun taas puutteellinen asuminen (ilman peseytymistiloja tai keskus- tai sähkölämmitystä) sekä erittäin puutteellinen asuminen (ilman lämmintä vettä, vesijohtoa, viemäriä tai vesivessaa) lisäsivät todennäkösyyttä, kun muut sosiodemografiset tekijät, sairaudet ja asuinalue oli huomioitu. Kerrostalon hissittömyys ei ollut yhteydessä laitoshoidon todennäköisyyteen. Todennäköisyys siirtyä laitoshoitoon oli jostain syystä korkeampaa niillä ikäihmisillä, jotka asuivat vuokralla ja matalampaa omakotitalossa asuvilla ja niillä, joilla oli auto. Puolison olemassaolo vähensi ja leskeksi jääminen lisäsi laitoshoidon todennäköisyyttä huomattavasti. Todennäköisyys oli erityisen suuri, yli kolminkertainen, kun puolison kuolemasta oli kulunut enintään kuukausi verrattuna niihin, joiden puoliso oli elossa. Todennäköisyys laski, kun puolison kuolemasta kului aikaa. Miesten ja naisten tulokset olivat samansuuntaisia. Korkeat tulot tai koulutus eivät suojanneet riskiltä joutua laitoshoitoon puolison kuoltua. Puolison kuolema näyttää lisäävän hoidon tarvetta, kun kotona ei ole enää puolisoa tukemassa ja huolehtimassa kodin askareista. Laitoshoidon tarve vähenee, jos ja kun lesket ajan kuluessa oppivat elämään yksin. Toisaalta tutkimustulokset saattavat viitata myös siihen, että kaikkein huonokuntoisimmat lesket, jotka eivät pärjää yksin asuessaan, siirtyvät laitoshoitoon hyvin nopeasti puolison kuoltua. Tutkimuksessa oli mukana yhteensä yli 280 000 yli 65-vuotiasta henkilöä, joiden pitkäaikaiseen laitoshoitoon siirtymistä seurattiin tammikuusta 1998 syyskuuhun 2003. Laitoshoidoksi määriteltiin terveyskeskuksissa, sairaaloissa ja vanhainkodeissa tai vastaavissa yksiköissä tapahtuva pitkäaikainen hoito, joka kesti yli 90 vuorokautta tai oli vahvistettu pitkäaikaishoidon päätöksellä. Tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto koottiin väestörekistereistä, sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon rekistereistä ja lääkerekistereistä.

Näkökulmia eurooppalaiseen sosiaalipolitiikkaan : malli, väestö, resurssit ja kommunikaatio

The study analyses European social policy as a political project that proceeds under the guidance of the European Commission. In the name of modernisation, the project aims to build a new idea for the welfare state. To understand the project, it is necessary to distance oneself from both the juridical competence of the European Union and the traditional national welfare state models. The question is about sharing problems, as well as solutions to them: it is the creation and sharing of common views, concepts and images that play a key role in European integration. Drawing on texts and speeches produced by the European Commission, the study throws light on the development of European social policy during the first years of the 2000s. The study "freeze-frames" the welfare debate having its starting points in the nation states in the name of the entity of Europe. The first article approaches the European social model as a story in itself, a preparatory, persuasive narrative that concerns the management of change. The article shows how the audience can be motivated to work towards a set target by using discursive elements in a persuasive manner: the function of a persuasive story is to convince the target audience of the appropriateness of the chosen direction and to shape their identity so that they are favourably disposed to the desired political targets. This is a kind of "intermediate state" where the story, despite its inner contradictions and inaccuracies, succeeds in appearing as an almost self-evident path towards a modern social policy that Europe is currently seen to be in need of. The second article outlines the European social model as a question of governance. Health as a sector of social policy is detached from the old political order, which was based on the welfare state, and is closely linked to economy. At the same time the population is primarily seen as an economic resource. The Commission is working towards a "Europe of Health" that grapples with the problem of governance with the help of the "healthisation" of society, healthy citizenship and health economics. The way the Commission speaks is guided by the Union's powerful interest to act as "Europe" in the field of welfare policy. At the same time, the traditional separateness of health policy is effaced in order to be able to make health policy reforms a part of the Union's wider modernisation targets. The third article then shows the European social policy as its own area of governance. The article uses an approach based on critical discourse analysis in examining the classification systems and presentation styles adopted by Commission communications, as well as the identities that they help build. In analysing the "new start" of the Lisbon strategy from the perspective of social policy, the article shows how the emphasis has shifted from the persuasive arguments for change with necessary common European targets in the early stages of the strategy towards the implementation of reforms: from a narrative to a vision and from a diagnosis to healing. The phase of global competition represents "the modern" with which European society with its culture and ways of life now has to be matched. The Lisbon strategy is a way to direct this societal change, thus building a modern European social policy. The fourth article describes how the Commission uses its communications policy to build practices and techniques of governance and how it persuades citizens to participate in the creation of a European project of change. This also requires a new kind of agency: agents for whom accountability and responsibilities mean integration into and commitment to European society. Accountability is shaped into a decisive factor in implementing the European Union's strategy of change. As such it will displace hierarchical confrontations and emphasise common action with a view to modernising Europe. However, the Union's discourse cannot be described as being a political language that would genuinely rouse and convince the audience at the level of everyday life. Keywords: European social policy, EU policy, European social model, European Commission, modernisation of welfare, welfare state, communications, discoursiveness.

Sireenit, floksit ja iirikset- Puu-Käpylän koristekasvit

Puu-Käpylä (“Wooden Käpylä”), a neighbourhood of Helsinki, is the earliest example of the Garden City Movement in Finland. The suburb of valuable wooden architecture was built between 1920 and 1925, with the aim to provide a healthy housing area for working-class families with many children. The houses were erected by a co-operative (Käpylän kansanasunnot, “People?s Dwellings”) and they are protected by the city plan since 1960?s. However, the historical value of the sheltered courtyards has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to survey the garden flora of Puu-Käpylä and to evaluate the authenticity of the courtyard gardens. The survey covered the area of one residential quarter (1.2 ha) with twelve 2-storey semi-detached timber houses arranged around a common yard, which was originally appointed for the tenants? vegetable gardens. The houses are still rented, and each flat is allowed a small lot of the courtyard for cultivation. A complete list was made of all perennial, ornamental plant taxa present in the quarter. Spring bulbs were missed due to the timing of the survey. Generally, the plants were recorded on species level, with the exception of common lilacs, shrub roses, irises and peonies that were thoroughly studied for cultivar identification. It was assumed that plants initially grown in the courtyard could be distinguished by studying Finnish garden magazines, books and nursery catalogues published in the 1920?s and by comparing the present vegetation to surviving documents from the quarter. The total number of ornamental plant taxa identified was 172, of which 17 were trees, 47 shrubs, 7 climbers and 101 herbaceous perennials. The results indicated that a major part of the shrubs, climbers and perennials presumably originated from the 1970?s or later, whereas ca. 70 % of the tree specimens were deemed as original. The survey disclosed a heritage variety of common lilac, resembling cultivar „Prince Notger?, a specific peony taxon, Paeonia humilis Retz., cultivated in Nordic countries since long ago, and a few historic iris varieties. Well-preserved design elements included front gardens on one side of the quarter, a maple alley on another side as well as trees at the garden gates. Old garden books and magazines did not shed much light on the Finnish garden flora commonly used in the period when Puu-Käpylä was built. However, they gave a valuable picture of contemporary planting design. Nursery catalogues offered insight into the assortment of ornamental plants traded in the 1920?s. Conclusions on the authenticity of the current flora were mainly drawn on the basis of old photographs and a vegetation survey map drawn in the 1970?s. This study revealed a need for standardization of syrvey methods applied when investigating garden floras. Uniform survey techniques would make the results comparable and enable a future compilation of data from e.g. historic gardens.

Paimen vailla hiippakuntaa : Kenttäpiispan viran synty ja vaikutus sotilaspapiston asemaan Suomen puolustusvoimissa ja kirkossa vuosina 1939 - 1944

The main purpose of this research is to shed light on the factors that gave rise to the office of Field Bishop in the years 1939-1944. How did military bishophood affect the status of the head of military pastoral care and military clergy during these years? The main sources of my research are the collections in the Finnish National Archives, and I use a historical-qualitative method. The position of the military clergy was debated within both the Church and the Defence Forces before 1939. At that stage, Church law did not yet recognize the office of the leading military priest, the Field Dean. There had been a motion in 1932 to introduce the office of a military bishop, but the bishops' synod blocked it. The concept of Field Bishop appeared for the first time in 1927 in a Finnish military document, which dealt with pastoral care in the Polish military. The Field Dean in Finland had regularly proposed improvements to the salary of the military clergy before the Winter War. After the Winter War, arguments were made for strengthening the position of the military clergy: these arguments were based on the increased respect shown towards this clergy, especially due to their role in the care of the fallen, which had become their task during the war. Younger members of the military clergy in particular supported the demands to improve their position within the Church and the army. The creation of a Field Bishop was perceived as strengthening the whole military clergy, as the Field Bishop was envisioned as a bishop within the Church and a general within the Defence Forces. During that time the Field Dean was still without any military rank. The idea of a Field Bishop was recommended to Mannerheim in June 1940, after which the Defence Forces lent their support to the cause. The status of the military clergy, in Church law, made it to the agenda of the Church council in January 1941, thanks largely to the younger priests' group influence and Mannerheim's leverage. The bishops opposed the notion of a Field Bishop mostly on theological grounds but were ready to concede that the position the Field Dean in Church law required further defining. The creation of the office of Field Bishop was blocked in the Church law committee report issued close to the beginning of the Continuation War. The onset of that war, however, changed the course of events, as the President of the Republic appointed Field Dean Johannes Björklund as Field Bishop. Speculation has abounded about Mannerheim's role in the appointment, but the truth of the matter is not clear. The title of Field Bishop was used to put pressure on the Church, and, at the same time, Mannerheim could remain detached from the matter. Later, in September 1941, the Church council approved the use of the Field Bishop title to denote the head of military pastoral care in Church law, and Field Bishops were assigned some of the duties formerly pertaining to bishops. Despite all expectations and hopes, the new office of Field Bishop did not affect the status of the military clergy within the Defence Forces, as no ranks were established for them, and their salary did not improve. However the office of the Field Bishop within Army HQ was transformed from a bureau into a department in the summer of 1942. At the beginning of the Continuation War, the Field Bishop was criticized by certain military and Church clergy for favouring Russian Orthodox Christians in Eastern Karelia. Björklund agreed in principle with most of the Lutheran clergy on the necessity of Lutheranizing East Karelia but had to take into account the realities at Army HQ. As well, at the same time the majority of the younger clergy were serving in the army, and there was a lack of parish priests on the home front. Bishop Lehtonen had actually expressed the wish that more priests could have been released from the front to serve in local parishes. In his notes Lehtonen accused Björklund of trying to achieve the position of Field Bishop by all possible means. However, research has revealed a varied group of people behind the creation of the office of Field Bishop, including in particular younger clergy and the Defence Forces.

Pietismin kuva - ikkuna yksityiseen hengellisyyteen : Johann Arndtin opetukset pietistisen embleemin perustana

The image of Pietism a window to personal spirituality. The teachings of Johann Arndt as the basis of Pietist emblems The Pietist effect on spiritual images has to be scrutinised as a continuum initiating from the teachings of Johann Arndt who created a protestant iconography that defended the status of pictures and images as the foundation of divine revelation. Pietist artworks reveal Arndtian part of secret, eternal world, and God. Even though modern scholars do not regarded him as a founding father of Pietism anymore, his works have been essential for the development of iconography, and the themes of the Pietist images are linked with his works. For Arndt, the starting point is in the affecting love for Christ who suffered for the humankind. The reading experience is personal and the words point directly at the reader and thus appear as evidence of the guilt of the reader as well as of the love of God. Arndt uses bounteous and descriptive language which has partially affected promoting and picturing of many themes. Like Arndt, Philipp Jakob Spener also emphasised the heart that believes. The Pietist movement was born to oppose detached faith and the lack of the Holy Ghost. Christians touched by the teachings of Arndt and Spener began to create images out of metaphors presented by Arndt. As those people were part of the intelligentsia, it was natural that the fashionable emblematics of the 17th century was moulded for the personal needs. For Arndt, the human heart is manifested as a symbol of soul, personal faith or unbelief as well as an allegory of the burning love for Jesus. Due to this fact, heart emblems were gradually widely used and linked with the love of Christ. In the Nordic countries, the introduction of emblems emanated from the gentry s connections to the Central Europe where emblems were exploited in order to decorate books, artefacts, interiors, and buildings as well as visual/literal trademarks of the intelligentsia. Emblematic paintings in the churches of the castles of Venngarn (1665) and Läckö (1668), owned by Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, are one of the most central interior paintings preserved in the Nordic countries, and they emphasise personal righteous life. Nonetheless, it was the books by Arndt and the Poet s Society in Nurnberg that bound the Swedish gentry and the scholars of the Pietist movement together. The Finnish gentry had no castles or castle churches so they supported county churches, both in building and in maintenance. As the churches were not private, their iconography could not be private either. Instead, people used Pietist symbols such as Agnus Dei, Cor ardens, an open book, beams, king David, frankincense, wood themes and Virtues. In the Pietist images made for public spaces, the attention is focused on pedagogical, metaphorical, and meaningful presentation as well as concealed statements.

Numeroiden harhaa vai toteutuksen työkaluja? -indikaattorien käyttö maatalouden ympäristöpoliittisessa suunnittelussa

This research focused on indicators with the aim of recognizing the main characters of this particular tool. The planning and use of Finnish sustainability indicators for natural resource management was examined as well as the experiences about the international sets of agri-environmental indicators were described. In both cases, the actual utilization of information was found to be quite minimal. Indicators have succeeded in bringing more of environmental information into the processes of decision making, but information has not been directly shifted into the actions of natural resource management. The concept of technical use of indicators was presented and considered as a possible explanation for the failures of information transfer and communication. Traditionally indicators have been used in order to recognize and describe the performance of certain system; to provide clear operative message for the actors. In policy planning, the situation is essentially different. We may lack both the jointly shared and accepted objectives of development as well the reliable and representative methods for measuring the issue under attention. Therefore, the technical orientation of using indicators may cause several problems at the policy forum. The study identified the risks of 1) reduced informative basis of decision-making, 2) narrowed approach of interpreting the data, 3) the focus on the issues that already are best documented and provides the most representative data series, and 4) the risks of losing the systemic viewpoints while focusing on measurable details of the system. Technical use of indicators may also result the excessive focus on information while being detached from the actions. With sustainability indicators, the major emphasis was indeed paid with producing information while the reality of agricultural practices was left mostly unaffected. Therefore, the essential process of social learning, where actions and producing of relevant information are alternating was neither realized. This study underlines the complexity of information transfer, mutual communication and the learning of new practices. Besides the information and measurable number people also need personal experiences and interesting stories, which make them to understand the meaning of information in their own lives. Particularly important this is for thechildren, who are studying for to be the future decision-makers of food system; in production as well as the in consumption of food. Numbers will be useful tools of management as soon there exists the awareness of the direction, where to strive for.

Kirkkoon kuuluminen Helsingin osa-alueilla

In Helsinki's evangelical lutheran congregations, the share of the people being members of that church compared with all the people living in their specific geographical areas varies from 62,4 per cent in Paavali to 80,7 per cent in Munkkiniemi. The boundaries of the congregations are about to be redrawn to level the differences in the congregations. In this thesis, the reasons of the differences in Helsinki s districts were studied closer. The data consisted of statistical information gathered from the Population Information System of Finland. It included information by age groups about the population register keeper, marital status, native tongue, level of education and gender in the end of 2005. Additional data was gathered from Helsinki Region Statistics web service. It included information about the dwelling, level of income and main activities of the inhabitants in the districts. The main method was stepwise linear regression. Minor methods were crosstabulation and correlation matrixes. The result of the study was a statistical model that explains 72,2 per cent of the variation of the shares in the congregations. The dependent variable was the share of the people being members of evangelical lutheran church in the dirstricts. The independent variables were the share of the people having other than Finnish or Swedish as their native tongue, the share of rented apartments, the shares of apartments including four rooms and a kitchen, the share of detached houses in the districts and the shares of women and people with no income in the districts. The independent variables present in the model depict the amount of foreigners, dwellings, gender and the level of income of the population. The high share of foreigners, people with no income and rented apartments explain the low share of the people being members of evangelical lutheran church. On the contrary, the high share of the people being members of evangelical lutheran church in the district is explained by the large apartments, detached houses and amount of women living there.

Effect of hinged leaflets on vortex pair generation

We experimentally study the effect of having hinged leaflets at the jet exit on the formation of a two-dimensional counter-rotating vortex pair. A piston-cylinder mechanism is used to generate a starting jet from a high-aspect-ratio channel into a quiescent medium. For a rigid exit, with no leaflets at the channel exit, the measurements at a central plane show that the trailing jet in the present case is never detached from the vortex pair, and keeps feeding into the latter, unlike in the axisymmetric case. Passive flexibility is introduced in the form of rigid leaflets or flaps that are hinged at the exit of the channel, with the flaps initially parallel to the channel walls. The experimental arrangement closely approximates the limiting case of a free-to-rotate rigid flap with negligible structural stiffness, damping and flap inertia, as these limiting structural properties permit the largest flap openings. Using this arrangement, we start the flow and measure the flap kinematics and the vorticity fields for different flap lengths and piston velocity programs. The typical motion of the flaps involves a rapid opening and a subsequent more gradual return to its initial position, both of which occur when the piston is still moving. The initial opening of the flaps can be attributed to an excess pressure that develops in the channel when the flow starts, due to the acceleration that has to be imparted to the fluid slug between the flaps. In the case with flaps, two additional pairs of vortices are formed because of the motion of the flaps, leading to the ejection of a total of up to three vortex pairs from the hinged exit. The flaps' length (L-f) is found to significantly affect flap motions when plotted using the conventional time scale L/d, where L is the piston stroke and d is the channel width. However, with a newly defined time scale based on the flap length (L/L-f), we find a good collapse of all the measured flap motions irrespective of flap length and piston velocity for an impulsively started piston motion. The maximum opening angle in all these impulsive velocity program cases, irrespective of the flap length, is found to be close to 15 degrees. Even though the flap kinematics collapses well with L/L-f, there are differences in the distribution of the ejected vorticity even for the same L/L-f. Such a redistribution of vorticity can lead to important changes in the overall properties of the flow, and it gives us a better understanding of the importance of exit flexibility in such flows.

Numerical simulations of bubble formation from submerged needles under non-uniform direct current electric field

In several chemical and space industries, small bubbles are desired for efficient interaction between the liquid and gas phases. In the present study, we show that non-uniform electric field with appropriate electrode configurations can reduce the volume of the bubbles forming at submerged needles by up to three orders of magnitude. We show that localized high electric stresses at the base of the bubbles result in slipping of the contact line on the inner surface of the needle and subsequent bubble formation occurs with contact line inside the needle. We also show that for bubble formation in the presence of highly non-uniform electric field, due to high detachment frequency, the bubbles go through multiple coalescences and thus increase the apparent volume of the detached bubbles. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Nonlinear control of an air-breathing engine including its validation with vehicle guidance

An implementable nonlinear control design approach is presented for a supersonic air-breathing ramjet engine. The primary objective is to ensure that the thrust generated by the engine tracks the commanded thrust without violating the operational constraints. An important constraint is to manage the shock wave location in the intake so that it neither gets detached nor gets too much inside the intake. Both the objectives are achieved by regulating the fuel flow to the combustion chamber and by varying the throat area of the nozzle simultaneously. The design approach accounts for the nonlinear cross-coupling effects and nullifies those. Also, an extended Kalman filter has been used to filter out the sensor and process noises as well as to make the states available for feedback. Furthermore, independent control design has been carried out for the actuators. To test the performance of the engine for a realistic flight trajectory, a representative trajectory is generated through a trajectory optimization process, which is augmented with a newly-developed finite-time state dependent Riccati equation technique for nullifying the perturbations online. Satisfactory overall performance has been obtained during both climb and cruise phases. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Numerical-simulation of low supersonic-flow around a sphere

The controlled equations defined in a physical plane are changed into those in a computational plane with coordinate transformations suitable for different Mach number M(infinity). The computational area is limited in the body surface and in the vicinities of detached shock wave and sonic line. Thus the area can be greatly cut down when the shock wave moves away from the body surface as M(infinity) --> 1. Highly accurate, total variation diminishing (TVD) finite-difference schemes are used to calculate the low supersonic flowfield around a sphere. The stand-off distance, location of sonic line, etc. are well comparable with experimental data. The long pending problem concerning a flow passing a sphere at 1.3 greater-than-or-equal-to M(infinity) > 1 has been settled, and some new results on M(infinity) = 1.05 have been presented.

Stimulation discomfort comparison of asynchronous and synchronous methods with multi-field electrodes

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) is a technique that consists on applying electrical current pulses to artificially activate motor nerve fibers and produce muscle contractions to achieve functional movements. The main applications of FES are within the rehabilitation field, in which this technique is used to aid recovery or to restore lost motor functions. People that benefit of FES are usually patients with neurological disorders which result in motor dysfunctions; most common patients include stroke and spinal cord injury (SCI). Neuroprosthesis are devices that have their basis in FES technique, and their aim is to bridge interrupted or damaged neural paths between the brain and upper or lower limbs. One of the aims of neuroprosthesis is to artificially generate muscle contractions that produce functional movements, and therefore, assist impaired people by making them able to perform activities of daily living (ADL). FES applies current pulses and stimulates nerve fibers by means of electrodes, which can be either implanted or surface electrodes. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages. Implanted electrodes need open surgery to place them next to the nerve root, so these electrodes carry many disadvantages that are produced by the use of invasive techniques. In return, as the electrodes are attached to the nerve, they make it easier to achieve selective functional movements. On the contrary, surface electrodes are not invasive and are easily attached or detached on the skin. Main disadvantages of surface electrodes are the difficulty of selectively stimulating nerve fibers and uncomfortable feeling perceived by users due to sensory nerves located in the skin. Electrical stimulation surface electrode technology has improved significantly through the years and recently, multi-field electrodes have been suggested. This multi-field or matrix electrode approach brings many advantages to FES; among them it is the possibility of easily applying different stimulation methods and techniques. The main goal of this thesis is therefore, to test two stimulation methods, which are asynchronous and synchronous stimulation, in the upper limb with multi-field electrodes. To this end, a purpose-built wrist torque measuring system and a graphic user interface were developed to measure wrist torque produced with each of the methods and to efficiently carry out the experiments. Then, both methods were tested on 15 healthy subjects and sensitivity results were analyzed for different cases. Results show that there are significant differences between methods regarding sensation in some cases, which can affect effectiveness or success of FES.

[R_SanMillan_Yuso] Documentación geométrica del refectorio mayor del Monasterio de Yuso

[ES] Se trata de una estancia de 35 x 9 metros de planta que se organiza con un banco corrido en tres de sus lados con un respaldo a modo de friso y una serie de mesas de madera, cuenta además con varias ventanas y tres lámparas que aportan la iluminación, una puerta de acceso destacada en madera con cancel, púlpito para la lectura y varios cuadros.