Complementary exams in blunt torso trauma. Perform only radiographs and fast: is it safe?

ABSTRACTObjective:to evaluate effectiveness of using chest X-ray (CXR), pelvis X-ray (RXP) and FAST (Focused Abdominal Sonography on Trauma) to exclude significant lesions of the body in blunt trauma.Methods:a prospective study involving 74 patients whom made the three tests (CXR, RXP and FAST) during the initial evaluation between October 2013 and February 2014. The results were compared to the tomography of the same patients or clinical outcome. If the patient did not have alterations on the CT scans or during the observation time, the initial workup was considered safe. All patients were evaluated at the Hospital João XXIII, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.Results:of the 74 patients studied the average age was 33 years, RTS: 6.98, ECG: 12. From 44 (59.45%) patients with exams (radiographs and FAST) unchanged, three had significant injuries (two splenic injuries and one liver injury) diagnosed by clinical monitoring. The remaining patients - 30 (40.55%) - had at least one alteration in conventional tests. Of these group 27 (90%) had significant injuries and three (10%) minor injuries. The sensitivity of all three tests for screening considerable lesions was 90% and the specificity was 93%. The negative predictive value was 93% and the positive predictive value 89%.Conclusion:this research showed that all the three exams - chest X-ray, pelvis and FAST - are safe to lead with the blunt trauma if well used and associated with clinical examination.

Acidic dissolution of iron oxides and regeneration of a ceramic filter medium

The dewatering of iron ore concentrates requires large capacity in addition to producing a cake with low moisture content. Such large processes are commonly energy intensive and means to lower the specific energy consumption are needed. Ceramic capillary action disc filters incorporate a novel filter medium enabling the harnessing of capillary action, which results in decreased energy consumption in comparison to traditional filtration technologies. As another benefit, the filter medium is mechanically and chemically more durable than, for example, filter cloths and can, thus, withstand harsh operating conditions and possible regeneration better than other types of filter media. In iron ore dewatering, the regeneration of the filter medium is done through a combination of several techniques: (1) backwashing, (2) ultrasonic cleaning, and (3) acid regeneration. Although it is commonly acknowledged that the filter medium is affected by slurry particles and extraneous compounds, published research, especially in the field of dewatering of mineral concentrates, is scarce. Whereas the regenerative effect of backwashing and ultrasound are more or less mechanical, regeneration with acids is based on chemistry. The chemistry behind the acid regeneration is, naturally, dissolution. The dissolution of iron oxide particles has been extensively studied over several decades but those studies may not necessarily be directly applicable in the regeneration of the filter medium which has undergone interactions with the slurry components. The aim of this thesis was to investigate if free particle dissolution indeed correlates with the regeneration of the filter medium. For this purpose, both free particle dissolution and dissolution of surface adhered particles were studied. The focus was on acidic dissolution of iron oxide particles and on the study of the ceramic filter medium used in the dewatering of iron ore concentrates. The free particle dissolution experiments show that the solubility of synthetic fine grained iron oxide particles in oxalic acid could be explained through linear models accounting for the effects of temperature and acid concentration, whereas the dissolution of a natural magnetite is not so easily explained by such models. In addition, the kinetic experiments performed both support and contradict the work of previous authors: the suitable kinetic model here supports previous research suggesting solid state reduction to be the reaction mechanism of hematite dissolution but the formation of a stable iron oxalate is not supported by the results of this research. Several other dissolution mechanisms have also been suggested for iron oxide dissolution in oxalic acid, indicating that the details of oxalate promoted reductive dissolution are not yet agreed and, in this respect, this research offers added value to the community. The results of the regeneration experiments with the ceramic filter media show that oxalic acid is highly effective in removing iron oxide particles from the surface of the filter medium. The dissolution of those particles did not, however, exhibit the expected behaviour, i.e. complete dissolution. The results of this thesis show that although the regeneration of the ceramic filter medium with acids incorporates the dissolution of slurry particles from the surface of the filter medium, the regeneration cannot be assessed purely based upon free particle dissolution. A steady state, dependent on temperature and on the acid concentration, was observed in the dissolution of particles from the surface even though the limit of solubility of free iron oxide particles had not been reached. Both the regeneration capacity and efficiency, with regards to the removal of iron oxide particles, was found to be temperature dependent, but was not affected by the acid concentration. This observation further suggests that the removal of the surface adhered particles does not follow the dissolution of free particles, which do exhibit a dependency on the acid concentration. In addition, changes in the permeability and in the pore structure of the filter medium were still observed after the bulk concentration of dissolved iron had reached a steady state. Consequently, the regeneration of the filter medium continued after the dissolution of particles from the surface had ceased. This observation suggests that internal changes take place at the final stages of regeneration. The regeneration process could, in theory, be divided into two, possibly overlapping, stages: (1) dissolution of surface-adhered particles, and (2) dissolution of extraneous compounds from within the pore structure. In addition to the fundamental knowledge generated during this thesis, tools to assess the effects of parameters on the regeneration of the ceramic filter medium are needed. It has become clear that the same tools used to estimate the dissolution of free particles cannot be used to estimate the regeneration of a filter medium unless only a robust characterisation of the order of regeneration efficiency is needed.

The sources of complementary competitive advantages for systems’ manufacturers in the aircraft modernization market

Being a top of high technology industries, the aerospace represents one of the most complex fields of study. While the competitiveness of aircraft systems’ manufacturers attracts a significant number of researchers, some of the issues remain to be a blank spot. One of those is the after-sale modernization. The master thesis investigates how this concept is related to the theory of competitive advantages. Finding the routes in the framework of complex technological systems’ lifecycle, the key drivers of the aircraft modernization market are revealed. The competitive positioning of players is defined through multiple case studies in a form of several in-depth interviews. The key result of the research is the conclusion that modernization should be considered as an inherent component of strategy of any aircraft systems’ manufacturer, while the master thesis aims to support managerial decision making.

Estimation of aircraft aerodynamic derivatives using Extended Kalman Filter

Design of flight control laws, verification of performance predictions, and the implementation of flight simulations are tasks that require a mathematical model of the aircraft dynamics. The dynamical models are characterized by coefficients (aerodynamic derivatives) whose values must be determined from flight tests. This work outlines the use of the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) in obtaining the aerodynamic derivatives of an aircraft. The EKF shows several advantages over the more traditional least-square method (LS). Among these the most important are: there are no restrictions on linearity or in the form which the parameters appears in the mathematical model describing the system, and it is not required that these parameters be time invariant. The EKF uses the statistical properties of the process and the observation noise, to produce estimates based on the mean square error of the estimates themselves. Differently, the LS minimizes a cost function based on the plant output behavior. Results for the estimation of some longitudinal aerodynamic derivatives from simulated data are presented.

The use of filter paper plasticized with polyvinyl alcohol-glutaraldehyde in ELISA

F1-antigen purified from Yersinia pestis was covalently linked to 5-mm diameter filter paper discs plasticized with polyvinyl alcohol-glutaraldehyde. These discs were used both for ELISA and dot-ELISA for the detection of anti-F1 IgG in rabbits. The best conditions were achieved using 1.25 µg of F1 antigen/disc, 3% w/v skim milk in PBS as blocking agent, anti-IgG peroxidase conjugate diluted 12,000 times, and serum from rabbits immunized or not against Y. pestis, diluted 6,400 times. The absorbance values obtained from the comparative study between this procedure and conventional ELISA were not significantly different but the low cost of the reagents employed in ELISA using the filter paper discs plasticized with polyvinyl alcohol-glutaraldehyde makes this method economically attractive.

Kalman filter for computational market dynamics

Kalman filter is a recursive mathematical power tool that plays an increasingly vital role in innumerable fields of study. The filter has been put to service in a multitude of studies involving both time series modelling and financial time series modelling. Modelling time series data in Computational Market Dynamics (CMD) can be accomplished using the Jablonska-Capasso-Morale (JCM) model. Maximum likelihood approach has always been utilised to estimate the parameters of the JCM model. The purpose of this study is to discover if the Kalman filter can be effectively utilized in CMD. Ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), with 50 ensemble members, applied to US sugar prices spanning the period of January, 1960 to February, 2012 was employed for this work. The real data and Kalman filter trajectories showed no significant discrepancies, hence indicating satisfactory performance of the technique. Since only US sugar prices were utilized, it would be interesting to discover the nature of results if other data sets are employed.

Initialization of Continuous Nonlinear Models Using Extended Kalman Filter

The two main objectives of Bayesian inference are to estimate parameters and states. In this thesis, we are interested in how this can be done in the framework of state-space models when there is a complete or partial lack of knowledge of the initial state of a continuous nonlinear dynamical system. In literature, similar problems have been referred to as diffuse initialization problems. This is achieved first by extending the previously developed diffuse initialization Kalman filtering techniques for discrete systems to continuous systems. The second objective is to estimate parameters using MCMC methods with a likelihood function obtained from the diffuse filtering. These methods are tried on the data collected from the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Kikwit, DRC in order to estimate the parameters of the system.

Cardiac gene expression and systemic cytokine profile are complementary in a murine model of post-ischemic heart failure

After myocardial infarction (MI), activation of the immune system and inflammatory mechanisms, among others, can lead to ventricular remodeling and heart failure (HF). The interaction between these systemic alterations and corresponding changes in the heart has not been extensively examined in the setting of chronic ischemia. The main purpose of this study was to investigate alterations in cardiac gene and systemic cytokine profile in mice with post-ischemic HF. Plasma was tested for IgM and IgG anti-heart reactive repertoire and inflammatory cytokines. Heart samples were assayed for gene expression by analyzing hybridization to AECOM 32k mouse microarrays. Ischemic HF significantly increased the levels of total serum IgM (by 5.2-fold) and total IgG (by 3.6-fold) associated with a relatively high content of anti-heart specificity. A comparable increase was observed in the levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β (3.8X) and TNF-α (6.0X). IFN-γ was also increased by 3.1-fold in the MI group. However, IL-4 and IL-10 were not significantly different between the MI and sham-operated groups. Chemokines such as MCP-1 and IL-8 were 1.4- and 13-fold increased, respectively, in the plasma of infarcted mice. We identified 2079 well annotated unigenes that were significantly regulated by post-ischemic HF. Complement activation and immune response were among the most up-regulated processes. Interestingly, 21 of the 101 quantified unigenes involved in the inflammatory response were significantly up-regulated and none were down-regulated. These data indicate that post-ischemic heart remodeling is accompanied by immune-mediated mechanisms that act both systemically and locally.

Physicochemical and sensory changes in aged sugarcane spirit submitted to filtering with activated carbon filter

Sugarcane spirit is a drink considered as a national symbol of Brazil. It is produced by large producers and by about 30 thousand small and medium home-distilling producers dispersed throughout the country. The copper originating from the home-distillers can become a serious problem since at high concentrations in beverages it may cause serious human health problems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the activated carbon used in commercial filters on the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of aged sugarcane spirit. Analyses of copper, dry extract, alcoholic degree, higher alcohols, volatile acids, aldehydes, esters, furfural, and methanol were performed. The sensory evaluation was performed by seven selected trained judges, who analyzed the yellow color, woody aroma and flavor, and intensity of alcoholic aroma and flavor of the cane spirit before and after the filtration process. The sensory tests were carried out using a 9 cm non-structured intensity scale. A reduction was observed in all compounds analyzed physicochemically, except for the esters, which increased after filtration. This increase is probably due to the esterification of the alcohols and acids present. According to the sensory results obtained, a reduction was observed in the intensity of the yellow color, aroma, and wood flavor characteristics, the major characteristics of the aging process.

Characterization of the filter media used in the dual media filter

The removal of organics from copper electrolyte solutions after solvent extraction by dual media filtration is one of the most efficient ways to ensure the clean electrolyte flow into the electrowinning. The clean electrolyte will ensure the good quality cathode plate production. Dual media filtration uses two layers of filter media for filtration as anthracite and garnet respectively. The anthracite layer will help the coalescing of the entrained organic droplets which will then float to the top of the filter, and back to the solvent extraction process. The garnet layer will catch any solids left in the electrolyte traveling through the filter media. This thesis will concentrate on characterization of five different anthracites in order to find some differences using specific surface area analysis, particle size analysis, and morphology analysis. These results are compared to the pressure loss values obtained from lab column tests and bed expansion behavior. The goal of the thesis was to find out if there were any differences in the anthracite which would make the one perform better than the other. There were no big differences found on any aspect of the particle characterization, but some found differences should be further studied in order to confirm the meaning of the porosity, surface area, intensity mean and intensity SD (Standard Deviation) on anthracites and their use in dual media filtration. The thesis work analyzed anthracite samples the way that is not found on any public literature sources, and further studies on the issue would bring more knowledge to the electrolyte process.

Isolation and partial characterization of a complementary protein from the mycoparasite, Piptocephalis virginiana, which specifically binds to two glycoproteins b and c of the host cell surface

Presence of surface glycoprotein in Piptocephalis virginiana that recognizes the host glycoproteins band c, reported earlier from our laboratory, was detected by immunofluorescence microscopy. Germinated spores of P. virginiana treated with Mortierella pusilla cell wall protein extract, primary antibodies prepared against glycoproteins band c and FITC-goat anti-rabbit IgG conjugate showed fluorescence. This indicated that on the surfaces of the biotrophic mycoparasite P. virginiana , there might be a complementary molecule which recognizes the glycoproteins band c from M. pusilla. Immunobinding analysis identified a glycoprotein of Mr 100 kDa from the mycoparasite which binds with the host glycoproteins band c, separately as well as collectively. Purification of this glycoprotein was achieved by (i) 60% ammonium sulfate precipitation, (ii) followed by heat treatment, and (iii) Sephadex G-IOO gel filtration. The glycoprotein was isolated by preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis by cutting and elution. The purity of the protein ·was ascertained by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Positive reaction to periodic acid-Schiff reagent revealed the glycoprotein nature of this 100 kDa protein. Mannose was identified as a major sugar component of this glycoprotein by using a BoehringerMannheim Glycan Differentiation Kit. Electrophoretically purified glycoprotein was used to raIse polyclonal antibody in rabbit. The specificity of the antibody was determined by dot-immunobinding test and western-blot analysis. Immunofluorescence mIcroscopy revealed surface localization of the protein on the germ tube of Piptocephalis virginiana. Fluorescence was also observed at the surfaceJ of the germinated spores and hyphae of the host, M. pusilla after treatment with complementary protein from P. virginiana, primary antibody prepared against the complementary protein and FITC-goat anti-rabbit IgG conjugate.

Equienergetic self-complementary graphs

In this paper equienergetic self-complementary graphs on p vertices for every p = 4k; k ¸ 2 and p = 24t + 1; t ¸ 3 are constructed

Compact asymmetric coplanar waveguide filter

The design and implementation of a novel asymmetric coplanar waveguide (ACPW ) band rejection filter using defected ground structure ( DGS) is presented . The proposed ACPW DGS technology provides band gap characteristics with only one cell in the lateral ground plane . The equivalent circuit model of the proposed DGS unit section is described . Measurements of ACPW DGS showed good agreement with simulation and the proposed model

Microstrip band rejection filter using open loop resonator

Design of a compact microstrip band reject filter is proposed. The device consists of an Open Loop Rectangular Resonator (OLRR) coupled to a microstrip line. The transmission line has a U-bend which enhances the coupling with the OLRR element and reduces the size of the filter. The filter can be made tunable by mounting variable capacitance to the system. Simulated and experimental results are presented.