An all-solid state laser system for the laser ion source RILIS and in-source laser spectroscopy of astatine at ISOLDE,CERN

This doctoral thesis describes the extension of the resonance ionization laser ion source RILIS at CERN/ISOLDE by the addition of an all-solid state tunable titanium:sapphire (Ti:Sa) laser system to complement the well-established system of dye lasers. Synchronous operation of the so called Dual RILIS system of Ti:Sa and dye lasers was investigated and the potential for increased ion beam intensity, reliability, and reduced setup time has been demonstrated. In-source resonance ionization spectroscopy was performed at ISOLDE/CERN and at ISAC/TRIUMF radioactive ion beam facilities to develop an efficient and selective three-colour ionization scheme for the purely radioactive element astatine. A LabVIEW based monitoring, control and measurement system was conceived which enabled, in conjunction with Dual RILIS operation, the spectroscopy of high lying Rydberg states, from which the ionization potential of the astatine atom was determined for the first time experimentally.

Migrazione concorrente di macchine virtuali su piattaforme open source

Questa tesi si pone l’obiettivo di effettuare un’analisi aggiornata sulla recente evoluzione del Cloud Computing e dei nuovi modelli architetturali a sostegno della continua crescita di richiesta di risorse di computazione, di storage e di rete all'interno dei data center, per poi dedicarsi ad una fase sperimentale di migrazioni live singole e concorrenti di macchine virtuali, studiandone le prestazioni a livello di risorse applicative e di rete all’interno della piattaforma open source di virtualizzazione QEMU-KVM, oggi alla base di sistemi cloud-based come Openstack. Nel primo capitolo, viene effettuato uno studio dello stato dell’arte del Cloud Computing, dei suoi attuali limiti e delle prospettive offerte da un modello di Cloud Federation nel futuro immediato. Nel secondo capitolo vengono discusse nel dettaglio le tecniche di live migration, di recente riferimento per la comunità scientifica internazionale e le possibili ottimizzazioni in scenari inter e intra data center, con l’intento di definire la base teorica per lo studio approfondito dell’implementazione effettiva del processo di migrazione su piattaforma QEMU-KVM, che viene affrontato nel terzo capitolo. In particolare, in quest’ultimo sono descritti i principi architetturali e di funzionamento dell'hypervisor e viene definito il modello di progettazione e l’algoritmo alla base del processo di migrazione. Nel quarto capitolo, infine, si presenta il lavoro svolto, le scelte configurative e progettuali per la creazione di un ambiente di testbed adatto allo studio di sessioni di live migration concorrenti e vengono discussi i risultati delle misure di performance e del comportamento del sistema, tramite le sperimentazioni effettuate.

A multidisciplinary approach to the functional and esthetic rehabilitation of amelogenesis imperfecta and open bite deformity: a case report

The treatment of amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) with an anterior open bite (AOB) is a challenge for the clinician and often requires a multidisciplinary team of specialists. Most often, patients suffering from these conditions are young and a good functional and esthetic long-term result must be aspired. This clinical report illustrates the orthodontic, maxillofacial, restorative, and prosthodontic rehabilitation of a 20-year-old woman with a hypoplastic form of AI and an AOB malocclusion, having received treatment for the last 6 years. It included adhesive resin composite restorations, orthodontical and maxillofacial surgery with a one-piece Le Fort I osteotomy, and a genioplasty. Subsequent prosthodontic therapy consisted of 28 all-ceramic crowns whereby a solid interdigitation, a canine guidance, and consistent and regular contacts between tooth crowns could be achieved to assure a good functional and esthetic oral situation. The tooth preparation techniques guaranteed minimally invasive treatment. The patient was affected very positively. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This article describes an interdisciplinary approach to the successful treatment of a patient with a hypoplastic form of amelogenesis imperfecta over a period of 6 years. It starts with a discussion of the conservative steps taken during adolescence and concludes with the final prosthetic rehabilitation with all-ceramic crowns after reaching adulthood.

Percutaneous and Open Retrograde Endovascular Stenting of Symptomatic High-Grade Innominate Artery Stenosis: Technique and Follow-Up

Angioplasty and stenting of the IA have been reported with high technical and clinical success rates, low complication rates and good mid-term patency rates. Different antegrade or retrograde endovascular catheter-based approaches and combinations with surgical exposure of the CCA are used. The purpose of this study was to determine safety, efficacy and mid-term clinical and radiological outcome of the stent-assisted treatment of atherosclerotic stenotic disease of the IA with special focus on the different technical approaches.

Early molecular and cytogenetic response is predictive for long-term progression-free and overall survival in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)

In the face of competing first-line treatment options for CML, early prediction of prognosis on imatinib is desirable to assure favorable survival or otherwise consider the use of a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). A total of 1303 newly diagnosed imatinib-treated patients (pts) were investigated to correlate molecular and cytogenetic response at 3 and 6 months with progression-free and overall survival (PFS, OS). The persistence of BCR-ABL transcript levels >10% according to the international scale (BCR-ABL(IS)) at 3 months separated a high-risk group (28% of pts; 5-year OS: 87%) from a group with >1-10% BCR-ABL(IS) (41% of pts; 5-year OS: 94%; P=0.012) and from a group with 1% BCR-ABL(IS) (31% of pts; 5-year OS: 97%; P=0.004). Cytogenetics identified high-risk pts by >35% Philadelphia chromosome-positive metaphases (Ph+, 27% of pts; 5-year OS: 87%) compared with 35% Ph+ (73% of pts; 5-year OS: 95%; P=0.036). At 6 months, >1% BCR-ABL(IS) (37% of pts; 5-year OS: 89%) was associated with inferior survival compared with 1% (63% of pts; 5-year OS: 97%; P<0.001) and correspondingly >0% Ph+ (34% of pts; 5-year OS: 91%) compared with 0% Ph+ (66% of pts; 5-year OS: 97%; P=0.015). Treatment optimization is recommended for pts missing these landmarks.

Determination of free and total valproic acid in human plasma by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

A new approach for the determination of free and total valproic acid in small samples of 140 μL human plasma based on capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection is proposed. A dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction technique was employed in order to remove biological matrices prior to instrumental analysis. The free valproic acid was determined by isolating free valproic acid from protein-bound valproic acid by ultrafiltration under centrifugation of 100 μL sample. The filtrate was acidified to turn valproic acid into its protonated neutral form and then extracted. The determination of total valproic acid was carried out by acidifying 40 μL untreated plasma to release the protein-bound valproic acid prior to extraction. A solution consisting of 10 mM histidine, 10 mM 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid and 10 μM hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide of pH 6.5 was used as background electrolyte for the electrophoretic separation. The method showed good linearity in the range of 0.4-300 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9996. The limit of detection was 0.08 μg/mL, and the reproducibility of the peak area was excellent (RSD=0.7-3.5%, n=3, for the concentration range from 1 to 150 μg/mL). The results for the free and total valproic acid concentration in human plasma were found to be comparable to those obtained with a standard immunoassay. The corresponding correlation coefficients were 0.9847 for free and 0.9521 for total valproic acid.

Intraperitoneal mesh implantation for fascial dehiscence and open abdomen

Postoperative fascial dehiscence and open abdomen are severe postoperative complications and are associated with surgical site infections, fistula, and hernia formation at long-term follow-up. This study was designed to investigate whether intraperitoneal implantation of a composite prosthetic mesh is feasible and safe.

Package Patterns for Visual Architecture Recovery

Recovering the architecture is the first step towards reengineering a software system. Many reverse engineering tools use top-down exploration as a way of providing a visual and interactive process for architecture recovery. During the exploration process, the user navigates through various views on the system by choosing from several exploration operations. Although some sequences of these operations lead to views which, from the architectural point of view, are mode relevant than others, current tools do not provide a way of predicting which exploration paths are worth taking and which are not. In this article we propose a set of package patterns which are used for augmenting the exploration process with in formation about the worthiness of the various exploration paths. The patterns are defined based on the internal package structure and on the relationships between the package and the other packages in the system. To validate our approach, we verify the relevance of the proposed patterns for real-world systems by analyzing their frequency of occurrence in six open-source software projects.