Implementing air-based thermally activated building systems in retrofitted tertiary buildings – Towards the proof of concept

Here we document the design method of an air-based thermally activated building system (TABS) suited for the retrofitting of tertiary buildings, for cooling purposes mainly. The first phase of this work provides a general design and checks its consistency with the specifications of tertiary buildings by means of basic energy balances. Second, a numerical model of both the TABS and the room is developed under a finite element method multi-physics environment to better estimate the transient heat transfer for the proposed retrofitting solution. This results in the specifications for building at 1:1 scale prototype whose construction is documented.

Defects and Safety of NiTi Root Canal Instruments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aim: To review the reported defect and fracture rates of various NiTi instrumentation systems and identify factors that may influence the chance of NiTi file separation clinically.Data Sources: PubMed, EMBASE, and SCOPUS with controlled vocabulary and keywords in various combinations to identify articles that reported on the defects and/or fracture of NiTi instrument used clinically (Jan 1980 till Aug 2021), with additional search manually by going through the list of references of the initially screened articles. Those satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were entered into the analysis.Study Eligibility Criteria, Participants, and Interventions: All studies from the said databases reporting on NiTi root canal instruments that were deformed or separated during normal clinical use.Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Studies with data available and suitable for meta-analysis were grouped according to the general design of the NiTi instruments for comparison. Safety quotient value was calculated based on the rate of instrument distortion and fracture.Results: Various instrument designs exhibited different incidences of distortion and fracture, hence a different “safety quotient” (ratio of the amount of deformed instruments to that of fractures in use). Heat-treated files showed the highest safety quotient value. All brands of NiTi file demonstrated a statistically significantly lower incidence of fracture, if treated as disposable instruments after clinical use in a patient.Limitations: Inclusion of articles written in English only, and grouping of file systems into general design types in the analysis.Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings: NiTi endodontic files should be scrutinized for defects before being used in the root canal. Disposing the NiTi instruments after clinical use in a patient (so-called “single use”) is recommended for minimizing fracture clinically. Certain instrument designs tend to show discernible deformation before they should fracture in the next use.

Usability Enhancement of SMS Interface for Illiterate Users

This article analyzes several User Interface (UI) designs and puts forward some more general design principles for interfaces designed for low-literate users. The results of this study highlight the importance of text-free interfaces compared to text-based interfaces for the illiterate and low-literate population. The study developed a Short Message Service (SMS) interface consisting of many design elements, including graphical icons, voice, and text reduction. The participants were more satisfied with the designed SMS interface as compared to the traditional text-based interface of SMS. We believe that if the user interface is appropriately designed, users will not need formal literacy, computer skills, or any external help to operate the application. It has been shown that an interface with minimal or no text but one or more graphics, audio, and digital components is helpful for users with low literacy rates.

Recent Advances in ROS-Sensitive Nano-Formulations for Atherosclerosis Applications

Over the past decade, ROS-sensitive formulations have been widely used in atherosclerosis applications such as ROS scavenging, drug delivery, gene delivery, and imaging. The intensified interest in ROS-sensitive formulations is attributed to their unique self-adaptive properties, involving the main molecular mechanisms of solubility switch and degradation under the pathological ROS differences in atherosclerosis. This review outlines the advances in the use of ROS-sensitive formulations in atherosclerosis applications during the past decade, especially highlighting the general design requirements in relation to biomedical functional performance.