A finite element simulation of the mechanical static features for a modified short hip endoprosthesis was performed. The corkscrew-like femoral stem was modified introducing more turns of the thread. By such an approach it is expected that for some cases the mechanical fixation of the prosthesis to the bone will be improved or the use of the cement for bonding is not necessary. Our scenario was estimated for titanium and stainless steel, and both materials show good safety factors. Mechanical stress is expected to be distributed more uniform in the bone for the new design with more turns of thread.
The European Aerosol Research Lidar Network, EARLINET, was founded in 2000 as a research project for establishing a quantitative, comprehensive, and statistically significant database for the horizontal, vertical, and temporal distribution of aerosols on a continental scale. Since then EARLINET has continued to provide the most extensive collection of ground-based data for the aerosol vertical distribution over Europe. This paper gives an overview of the network's main developments since 2000 and introduces the dedicated EARLINET special issue, which reports on the present innovative and comprehensive technical solutions and scientific results related to the use of advanced lidar remote sensing techniques for the study of aerosol properties as developed within the network in the last 13 years. Since 2000, EARLINET has developed greatly in terms of number of stations and spatial distribution: from 17 stations in 10 countries in 2000 to 27 stations in 16 countries in 2013. EARLINET has developed greatly also in terms of technological advances with the spread of advanced multiwavelength Raman lidar stations in Europe. The developments for the quality assurance strategy, the optimization of instruments and data processing, and the dissemination of data have contributed to a significant improvement of the network towards a more sustainable observing system, with an increase in the observing capability and a reduction of operational costs. Consequently, EARLINET data have already been extensively used for many climatological studies, long-range transport events, Saharan dust outbreaks, plumes from volcanic eruptions, and for model evaluation and satellite data validation and integration. Future plans are aimed at continuous measurements and near-real-time data delivery in close cooperation with other ground-based networks, such as in the ACTRIS (Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network) www.actris.net, and with the modeling and satellite community, linking the research community with the operational world, with the aim of establishing of the atmospheric part of the European component of the integrated global observing system. ; The financial support for EARLINET by the European Union under grant RICA 025991 in the Sixth Framework Programme is gratefully acknowledged. Since 2011, EARLINET has been integrated into the ACTRIS Research Infrastructure project, supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (fp7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 262254. The financial support within the framework of the EU FP7 project WEZARD (Weather Hazards for Aeronautics), grant agreement no: 285050, is also acknowledged. The authors acknowledge the ESA financial support under the ESRIN contracts 21769/08/I-OL and 22202/09/I-EC and the ESTEC contracts 21487/08/NL/HE and 4000104106/11/NL/FF/fk.
Systematic measurements of dust concentration profiles at a continental scale were recently made possible by the development of synergistic retrieval algorithms using combined lidar and sun photometer data and the establishment of robust remote-sensing networks in the framework of Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network (ACTRIS)/European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). We present a methodology for using these capabilities as a tool for examining the performance of dust transport models. The methodology includes considerations for the selection of a suitable data set and appropriate metrics for the exploration of the results. The approach is demonstrated for four regional dust transport models (BSC-DREAM8b v2, NMMB/BSC-DUST, DREAMABOL, DREAM8-NMME-MACC) using dust observations performed at 10 ACTRIS/EARLINET stations. ; The financial support of the ACTRIS Research Infrastructure Project supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 262254 is gratefully acknowledged. This project has also received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 289923 – ITaRS. S. Basart and J. M. Baldasano acknowledge the CICYT project (CGL2010-19652 and CGL2013-46736) and Severo Ochoa (SEV- 2011-00067) programme of the Spanish Government. This program has received funding from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia through project III43007.
Systematic measurements of dust concentration profiles at a continental scale were recently made possible by the development of synergistic retrieval algorithms using combined lidar and sun photometer data and the establishment of robust remote-sensing networks in the framework of Aerosols, Clouds, and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network (ACTRIS)/European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). We present a methodology for using these capabilities as a tool for examining the performance of dust transport models. The methodology includes considerations for the selection of a suitable data set and appropriate metrics for the exploration of the results. The approach is demonstrated for four regional dust transport models (BSC-DREAM8b v2, NMMB/BSC-DUST, DREAMABOL, DREAM8-NMME-MACC) using dust observations performed at 10 ACTRIS/EARLINET stations. ; The financial support of the ACTRIS Research Infrastructure Project supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 262254 is gratefully acknowledged. This project has also received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 289923 – ITaRS. S. Basart and J. M. Baldasano acknowledge the CICYT project (CGL2010-19652 and CGL2013-46736) and Severo Ochoa (SEV- 2011-00067) programme of the Spanish Government. This program has received funding from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Serbia through project III43007.
