The effect of femoral component rotation on the five-year outcome of cemented mobile bearing total knee arthroplasty.

PURPOSE: Performing total knee replacement, accurate alignment and neutral rotation of the femoral component are widely believed to be crucial for the ultimate success. Contrary to absolute bone referenced alignment, using a ligament balancing technique does not automatically rotate the femoral component parallel to the transepicondylar axis. In this context we established the hypothesis that rotational alignment of the femoral component parallel to the transepicondylar axis (0° ± 3°) results in better outcome than alignment outside of this range. METHODS: We analysed 204 primary cemented mobile bearing total knee replacements five years postoperatively. Femoral component rotation was measured on axial radiographs using the condylar twist angle (CTA). Knee society score, range of motion as well as subjective rating documented outcome. RESULTS: In 96 knees the femoral component rotation was within the range 0 ± 3° (neutral rotation group), and in 108 knees the five-year postoperative rotational alignment of the femoral component was outside of this range (outlier group). Postoperative CTA showed a mean of 2.8° (±3.4°) internal rotation (IR) with a range between 6° external rotation (ER) and 15° IR (CI 95). No difference with regard to subjective and objective outcome could be detected. CONCLUSION: The present work shows that there is a large given natural variability in optimal rotational orientation, in this study between 6° ER and 15° IR, with numerous co-factors determining correct positioning of the femoral component. Further studies substantiating pre- and postoperative determinants are required to complete the understanding of resulting biomechanics in primary TKA.

Relatedness influences signal reliability in evolving robots.

Communication is an indispensable component of animal societies, yet many open questions remain regarding the factors affecting the evolution and reliability of signalling systems. A potentially important factor is the level of genetic relatedness between signallers and receivers. To quantitatively explore the role of relatedness in the evolution of reliable signals, we conducted artificial evolution over 500 generations in a system of foraging robots that can emit and perceive light signals. By devising a quantitative measure of signal reliability, and comparing independently evolving populations differing in within-group relatedness, we show a strong positive correlation between relatedness and reliability. Unrelated robots produced unreliable signals, whereas highly related robots produced signals that reliably indicated the location of the food source and thereby increased performance. Comparisons across populations also revealed that the frequency for signal production-which is often used as a proxy of signal reliability in empirical studies on animal communication-is a poor predictor of signal reliability and, accordingly, is not consistently correlated with group performance. This has important implications for our understanding of signal evolution and the empirical tools that are used to investigate communication.

QuesTInSitu mobile: aplicació per a rutes de preguntes geolocalitzades

En plena era de la informació, les noves tecnologies s’han posat també al servei del’ensenyament. Per tal de proveir a l’estudiant dels mètodes més útils i eficients per donar suport al seu aprenentatge, han sorgit eines cada cop més acurades amb la intenció de proveird’una manera robusta tot allò que fins fa poc només es podia fer a les aules. Així va néixer el concepte d’e-learning.QuesTInSitu és una eina concebuda dins d’aquesta àrea que permet crear preguntesgeolocalitzades sobre mapes de GoogleMaps i organitzar-les com a rutes (qüestionaris), sobre el mapa que es desitgi del món. Aquest projecte ofereix la possibilitat de poder realitzar físicament l’activitat creada per QuesTInSitu mitjançant terminals mòbils amb connexió 3G i GPS. Per això, s’ha dissenyat un portal web adaptat, QuesTInSitu mobile, que permet realitzar les gimcanes geolocalitzades dissenyades prèviament. Malgrat aquest projecte està contingut enl’àrea del e-learning, ofereix un llarg ventall de possibilitats d’ús; publicitat o turisme en són alguns exemples.

Using robots to understand social behaviour.

A major challenge in studying social behaviour stems from the need to disentangle the behaviour of each individual from the resulting collective. One way to overcome this problem is to construct a model of the behaviour of an individual, and observe whether combining many such individuals leads to the predicted outcome. This can be achieved by using robots. In this review we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach for studies of social behaviour. We find that robots-whether studied in groups of simulated or physical robots, or used to infiltrate and manipulate groups of living organisms-have important advantages over conventional individual-based models and have contributed greatly to the study of social behaviour. In particular, robots have increased our understanding of self-organization and the evolution of cooperative behaviour and communication. However, the resulting findings have not had the desired impact on the biological community. We suggest reasons for why this may be the case, and how the benefits of using robots can be maximized in future research on social behaviour.

Instrument for assessing the quality of mobile emergency pre-hospital care: content validation

OBJECTIVES To validate an instrument to assess quality of mobile emergency pre-hospital care. METHOD A methodological study where 20 professionals gave their opinions on the items of the proposed instrument. The analysis was performed using Kappa test (K) and Content Validity Index (CVI), considering K> 0.80 and CVI ≥ 0.80. RESULTS Three items were excluded from the instrument: Professional Compensation; Job Satisfaction and Services Performed. Items that obtained adequate K and CVI indexes and remained in the instrument were: ambulance conservation status; physical structure; comfort in the ambulance; availability of material resources; user/staff safety; continuous learning; safety demonstrated by the team; access; welcoming; humanization; response time; costumer privacy; guidelines on care; relationship between professionals and costumers; opportunity for costumers to make complaints and multiprofessional conjunction/actuation. CONCLUSION The instrument to assess quality of care has been validated and may contribute to the evaluation of pre-hospital care in mobile emergency services.

Convention de Londres du 21 mai 1833, suivie de la convention conclue, à Mayence, le 31 mars 1831, relativement à la navigation du Rhin

[Traité. 1833-05-21. Londres (français)]

Mobile termination and mobile penetration

In this paper, we study how access pricing affects network competition when subscription demand is elastic and each network uses non-linear prices and can applytermination-based price discrimination. In the case of a fixed per minute terminationcharge, we find that a reduction of the termination charge below cost has two opposing effects: it softens competition but helps to internalize network externalities. Theformer reduces mobile penetration while the latter boosts it. We find that firms always prefer termination charge below cost for either motive while the regulator preferstermination below cost only when this boosts penetration.Next, we consider the retail benchmarking approach (Jeon and Hurkens, 2008)that determines termination charges as a function of retail prices and show that thisapproach allows the regulator to increase penetration without distorting call volumes.

Sondage pilote concernant la fréquentation d'une unité mobile de mammographie

En matière de dépistage du cancer du sein, il a été proposé de compléter les moyens techniques actuellement disponibles des praticiens du canton de Vaud par ceux d'une unité mobile de mammographie. Avant de se lancer dans cette aventure, il paraît raisonnable d'estimer le volume et la nature de la demande pour ce nouveau service. La participation des femmes vaudoises peut être évaluée par une enquête de population. Pour préparer cette enquête, un sondage téléphonique pilote a été effectué, permettant d'en estimer la faisabilité, le coût et le rendement.

Density and distribution of nests of Mycetophylax simplex (Emery) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in areas with mobile dunes on the northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Studies on lower attines are scarce, especially on nesting and foraging ecology and behavior. This study aimed to contribute to the knowledge of an Attini in dunes ecosystems through the description of density and spatial distribution of Mycetophylax simplex (Emery, 1887) nests in a strip of mobile dunes in the Praia Grande beach, Torres, northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The density and spatial distribution of nests were estimated in four plots of 2,500 m² each, in which were found 20, 209, 284 and 324 nests, with average densities of 0.01 nests/m², 0.09, 0.11 and 0.13 nests/m², respectively. The nests were found near to the vegetation and showed clumped distribution. The density and distribution pattern of the nests seem to be related to the availability of nesting places and foraging resources.

L'art de naviguer : contenant toutes les reigles, secrets, & enseignemens necessaires à la bonne navigation ([Reprod.]) / de M. Pierre de Medina ; traduict de Castillan en François, avec augmentation & illustration de plusieurs figures et annotations par Nicolas de Nicolai,...

Collection : French books before 1601 ; 69.4