While software is becoming more complex everyday, the requirements on its behavior are not getting any easier to satisfy. An application should offer a certain quality of service, adapt to the current environmental conditions and withstand runtime variations that were simply unpredictable during the design phase. To tackle this complexity, control theory has been proposed as a technique for managi

This paper describes the involvement of end users in a project aimed to create a navigation aid for older persons who have memory decline, which affects navigation skills, and thus their independence. Interviews, focus groups with “stick man scenarios” and shorter usability tests seemed to work well. An extended test where the users themselves were expected to use the system independently was not

Stereo rendering for 3D displays and for virtual reality headsets provide several visual cues, including convergence angle and high- light disparity. The human visual system interprets these cues to estimate surface properties of the displayed environment. Naïve stereo rendering effectively doubles the computational burden of image synthesis, and thus it is desirable to reuse as many computa- tion

This chapter critically discusses the currently celebrated and seemingly successful trend of global leadership. We claim that part of the answer to why global leadership has become so successful lies in how it is framed and presented as an all-embracing and intuitively good discourse closely aligned with the traditional leader-centred view on leadership in general. While this makes the discourse o

Animals need awell-functioning immune systemto protect themselves againstpathogens. The immune system, however, is costlyand resource trade-offs withother demands exist. For migratory animals several (not mutually exclusive)hypotheses exist. First, migrants reduce immune function to be able to allocateresources to migration. Second, migrants boost immune function to cope withmore and/or novel path

Intestinal mononuclear phagocytes, comprising macrophages (MΦs) and dendritic cells (DCs), play important roles in the generation and the regulation of immune responses to intestinal antigens, and alterations in the development and/or the function of these cells are thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. In this review, we discuss the role of tumor necrosis factor

This paper identifies different university spin-off (USO) roles related to resource interaction among business parties. It does so by mapping how USOs become part of business networks in terms of their roles relative to other parties. The theoretical frame of reference focuses on roles and resource interaction based on an industrial network approach to business markets. The empirical research is b

For many years, splenectomy has been used to treat immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and this procedure benefits approximately two-thirds of the treated patients. Although splenectomy may raise platelet counts, antibody-coated platelets and cytotoxic T lymphocytes appear to persist or can change over time. To better understand how the spleen may affect anti-platelet immune responses, we used a murine

Platelets are megakaryocyte-derived cellular fragments, which lack a nucleus and are the smallest circulating cells and are classically known to have a major role in supporting hemostasis. Apart from this well-established role, it is now becoming evident that platelets are also capable of conveying other important functions, such as during infection and inflammation. This paper will outline these

In this issue of Blood, Hou et al show the involvement of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and identify a novel mechanism by which high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) promotes MDSC expansion and function and correlates with increased platelet counts.

Extracellular vesicles, specifically microparticles (MPs), are rapidly gaining attention for their capacity to act as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, or responsiveness to therapy in lung disease, in keeping with the concept of precision medicine. However, MP analysis by high-sensitivity flow cytometry (FCM) is complicated by a lack of accurate means for MP enumeration. To address this gap, we

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an autoimmune bleeding disorder with a complex pathogenesis, which includes both antibody- and T-cell-mediated effector mechanisms. Rituximab (an anti-human CD20 monoclonal antibody [mAb]) is one of the treatments for ITP and is known to deplete B cells but may also work by affecting the T-cell compartments. Here, we investigated the outcome of B-cell depletion (Bd

RATIONALE: Improved ventilation strategies have been the mainstay for reducing mortality in acute respiratory distress syndrome. Their unique clinical effectiveness is, however, unmatched by our understanding of the underlying mechanobiology, and their impact on alveolar dynamics and gas exchange remains largely speculative.OBJECTIVES: To assess changes in alveolar dynamics and associated effects

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a syndrome of respiratory distress triggered by blood transfusions and is the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality. TRALI has primarily been attributed to passive infusion of HLA and/or human neutrophil antigen antibodies present in transfused blood products, and predisposing factors such as inflammation are known to be important for TRALI

On March 25 and 26, 2015, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored a meeting on the State of the Science in Transfusion Medicine on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Maryland, which was attended by a diverse group of 330 registrants. The meeting's goal was to identify important research questions that could be answered in the next 5 to 10 years and which wo

Platelets are small cellular fragments with the primary physiological role of maintaining hemostasis. In addition to this well-described classical function, it is becoming increasingly clear that platelets have an intimate connection with infection and inflammation. This stems from several platelet characteristics, including their ability to bind infectious agents and secrete many immunomodulatory