Despite the evidence from the literature of the benefits of collaboration, a collaborative practice model in the acute-care setting remains the exception rather than the dominant practice. The purpose of this study was to evaluate attitudes toward collaboration among nurses and physicians practicing in an acute care community hospital. The sample included 118 nurses and 53 physicians. Background variables of gender, age, education, experience, practice setting, cultural background, and time to interact were examined to determine if they influenced attitudes towards collaboration. The results indicated that both physicians and nurses expressed positive attitudes towards collaboration but that there was a significant difference on two of the underlying factors: shared education and physician authority. The study may serve as a baseline for future research, specifically focused on interventions to enhance collaboration.

An intact embryo‐maternal communication is critical for the establishment of a successful pregnancy. To date, a huge number of studies have been performed describing the complex process of embryo‐maternal signaling within the uterus. However, recent studies indicate that the early embryo communicates with the oviductal cells shortly after fertilizationand that this is important for the successful establishment of pregnancy. Only if the early embryo is capable to signal the mother within a precise timeframe and to garner a response, will the embryo be able to survive and reach the uterus. This review will give an overview of all the experimental designs which have investigated embryo‐maternal interaction in the oviduct. In addition to that, it will provide a comprehensive analysis of the findings to date elucidating the morphological and molecular changes in the oviduct which are induced by the presence of the early embryo highlighting how the tubal responses affect embryo development and survival.

Abstract-Autonomous vehicles seem to be a promising approach to both reducing traffic congestion and improving road safety. However, for such vehicles to coexist safely, they will need to coordinate their behaviour to ensure that they do not collide with each other. This coordination will typically be based on (wireless) communication between vehicles and will need to satisfy stringent real-time constraints. However, realtime message delivery cannot be guaranteed in dynamic wireless networks which means that existing coordination models that rely on continuous connectivity cannot be employed.In this paper, we present a novel coordination model for autonomous vehicles that does not require continuous real-time connectivity between participants in order to ensure that system safety constraints are not violated. This coordination model builds on a real-time communication model for wireless networks that provides feedback to entities about the state of communication.The coordination model uses this feedback to ensure that vehicles always satisfy safety constraints, by adapting their behaviour when communication is degraded. We show that this model can be used to coordinate vehicles crossing an unsignalised junction.

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Abstract

Excess testosterone levels affect up to 20% of the female population worldwide and are a key component in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome. However, little is known about how excess testosterone affects the function of the human fallopian tube-the site of gamete transport, fertilization, and early embryogenesis. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize alterations caused by long-term exposure to male testosterone levels. For this purpose, the Fallopian tubes of nine female-to-male transsexuals, who had been undergoing testosterone treatment for 1-3 years, were compared with the tubes of 19 cycling patients. In the ampulla, testosterone treatment resulted in extensive luminal accumulations of secretions and cell debris which caused ciliary clumping and luminal blockage. Additionally, the percentage of ciliated cells in the ampulla was significantly increased. Transsexual patients, who had had sexual intercourse before surgery, showed spermatozoa trapped in mucus. Finally, in the isthmus complete luminal collapse occurred. Our results imply that fertility in women with elevated levels of testosterone is altered by tubal luminal obstruction resulting in impaired gamete transport and survival.

Applications of inter-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication that make use of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) will often require reliable communication that provides guaranteed real-time message propagation. This paper describes an event-based middleware, called RT-STEAM. Unlike other event systems, RT-STEAM does not rely on a centralized event broker or look-up service while still supporting event channels providing hard real-time event delivery. RT-STEAM event filtering can be based on subject, content and/or proximity. To guarantee real-time communication, we exploit proximitybased event propagation to guarantee real-time constraints within the defined proximities only. The proximity within which realtime guarantees are available is adapted to maintain time bounds while allowing changes to membership and topology, typical of VANETs. This Space-Elastic Model of real-time communication is the first to directly address adaptation in the space domain to guarantee real-time constraints.

Abstract. Applications of inter-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside communication that make use of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) will often require reliable communication that provides guaranteed real-time message propagation. This paper describes an event-based middleware, called RT-STEAM, designed to meet these requirements. Unlike other event systems, RT-STEAM does not rely on a centralized event broker or look-up service while still supporting event channels providing hard real-time event delivery. RT-STEAM event filtering can be based on subject, content and/or proximity. Proximity filters define geographical areas within which events are delivered. To guarantee real-time communication, we exploit proximity-based event propagation to guarantee real-time constraints within the defined proximities only. The proximity within which real-time guarantees are available is adapted to maintain time bounds while allowing changes to membership and topology as is typical of VANETs. This Space-Elastic Model of real-time communication is the first to directly address adaptation in the space domain to guarantee realtime constraints.