The effect of solidification rate on the structure of magnesium-aluminium eutectic grains

A magnesium-aluminium alloy of eutectic composition was solidified under two different cooling conditions, producing a low and a high growth rate of the eutectic solid-liquid interface. The high growth rate specimen contained smaller eutectic grains and cells, with a smaller interphase spacing compared with the low growth rate specimen. The high growth rate specimen also contained some primary Mg17Al12 dendrites, suggesting that the coupled zone is skewed towards the Mg phase with increased undercooling, A lamellar eutectic morphology was observed in the low growth rate specimen, while the morphology was fibrous in the high growth rate specimen.

Model-Predicted Performance of Second-Trimester Down Syndrome Screening With Sonographic Prenasal Thickness

Objective. The purpose of this study was to estimate the Down syndrome detection and false-positive rates for second-trimester sonographic prenasal thickness (PT) measurement alone and in combination with other markers. Methods. Multivariate log Gaussian modeling was performed using numerical integration. Parameters for the PT distribution, in multiples of the normal gestation-specific median (MoM), were derived from 105 Down syndrome and 1385 unaffected pregnancies scanned at 14 to 27 weeks. The data included a new series of 25 cases and 535 controls combined with 4 previously published series. The means were estimated by the median and the SDs by the 10th to 90th range divided by 2.563. Parameters for other markers were obtained from the literature. Results. A log Gaussian model fitted the distribution of PT values well in Down syndrome and unaffected pregnancies. The distribution parameters were as follows: Down syndrome, mean, 1.334 MoM; log(10) SD, 0.0772; unaffected pregnancies, 0.995 and 0.0752, respectively. The model-predicted detection rates for 1%, 3%, and 5% false-positive rates for PT alone were 35%, 51%, and 60%, respectively. The addition of PT to a 4 serum marker protocol increased detection by 14% to 18% compared with serum alone. The simultaneous sonographic measurement of PT and nasal bone length increased detection by 19% to 26%, and with a third sonographic marker, nuchal skin fold, performance was comparable with first-trimester protocols. Conclusions. Second-trimester screening with sonographic PT and serum markers is predicted to have a high detection rate, and further sonographic markers could perform comparably with first-trimester screening protocols.

Sensitisation to aeroallergens in Brazilian adolescents living at the periphery of large subtropical urban centres

Objectives: To evaluate the sensitization to aeroallergens determined by skin prick test (SPT) in Brazilian adolescents, and to correlate its positivity with the diagnosis of asthma and/or rhinitis based on the written questionnaire (WQ) of ISAAC phase III study. Patients and Methods: A total of 996 adolescents (387 boys) were selected by systematic samples. A standard allergen extracts panel (positive/negative control, D pteronyssinus [Dpt], P americana [Pal, B germanica [Bg], dog, cat, fungal and grass mix) was used and its positivity compared with positive responses to asthma, rhinitis or both. Results: Positive SPT to at least one allergen was observed in 466 adolescents (46.8 %), with sensitisation to Dpt in 79.1 %. Positivity to more than one allergen occurred in 232 students (49.8 %). The frequency of positive SPTs was significantly higher among adolescents with asthma (OR = 2.16), rhinitis (OR = 1.69), and asthma and rhinitis (OR = 2.03). Positive SPT to four or more allergens were higher among asthmatics (OR = 2.6) and among adolescents with asthma and rhinitis (OR = 3). Conclusions: A high sensitisation rate to aeroallergens was observed, significantly higher among those with asthma, rhinitis or a combination of both, especially in multiple sensitisations.

Biodegradation of high strength phenolic wastewater using SBR

This investigation demonstrates the capability of a bench-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to biodegrade an inhibitory substrate at a high loading rate. A SBR loading rate of 3.12 kg phenol.m(-3)d(-1) (2.1 g COD.g(-1) MLVSS d(-1)) with a COD removal efficiency of 97% at a SRT of 4 days and a HRT of 10 hours was achieved; this rate was not reached before. The SBR was operated at 4 hours cycle, including 3 hours react phase. The synthetic wastewater of 1300 mg/L phenol was the sole carbon source. Oxygen uptake rates (OUR) were monitored in-situ at various stages of the SBR. The oxygen mass transfer coefficient, K(L)a, of 12.6 h(-1) was derived from respirometry. Use of respirometry in SBR aided the tracking of the soluble substrate through OUR.

Design of a Multiband Full-Rate Ultra-Wideband Receiver in FPGA

MultiBand OFDM (MB-OFDM) UWB [1] is a short-range promising wireless technology for high data rate communications up to 480 Mbps. In this paper, we have designed and implemented in an Virtex-6 FPGA an MB-OFDM UWB receiver for the highest data rate of 480 Mbps. To test the system, we have also implemented an MB-OFDM transmitter and an AWGN generator in VHDL and determined the bit error rates at the receiver running in an FPGA.

Workload balancing in distributed virtual reality environments

Virtual Reality (VR) has grown to become state-of-theart technology in many business- and consumer oriented E-Commerce applications. One of the major design challenges of VR environments is the placement of the rendering process. The rendering process converts the abstract description of a scene as contained in an object database to an image. This process is usually done at the client side like in VRML [1] a technology that requires the client’s computational power for smooth rendering. The vision of VR is also strongly connected to the issue of Quality of Service (QoS) as the perceived realism is subject to an interactive frame rate ranging from 10 to 30 frames-per-second (fps), real-time feedback mechanisms and realistic image quality. These requirements overwhelm traditional home computers or even high sophisticated graphical workstations over their limits. Our work therefore introduces an approach for a distributed rendering architecture that gracefully balances the workload between the client and a clusterbased server. We believe that a distributed rendering approach as described in this paper has three major benefits: It reduces the clients workload, it decreases the network traffic and it allows to re-use already rendered scenes.

JSON on Mobile: is there an efficient parser?

The two largest causes for battery consumption on mobile devices are related with the display and network operations. Since most application need to share data and communicate with remote servers, communications should be as lightweight and efficient as possible. In network communication, serialization plays a central role as the process of converting an object into a stream of bytes. One of the most popular data-interchange format is JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). This paper presents a survey on JSON parsers in mobile scenarios. The aim of the survey is to find the most efficient JSON parser in mobile communications characterised by high transfer rate of small amounts of data. In the performance benchmark we compare the time required to read and write data with several popular JSON parser implementations such as Gson, Jackson, org.json and others. The results of this survey are important for others that need to select an efficient parser for mobile communication.

Rheo-NMR study of water-based cellulose liquid crystal system at high shear rates

Since long ago cellulosic lyotropic liquid crystals were thought as potential materials to produce fibers competitive with spidersilk or Kevlar, yet the processing of high modulus materials from cellulose-based precursors was hampered by their complex rheological behavior. In this work, by using the Rheo-NMR technique, which combines deuterium NMR with rheology, we investigate the high shear rate regimes that may be of interest to the industrial processing of these materials. Whereas the low shear rate regimes were already investigated by this technique in different works [1-4], the high shear rates range is still lacking a detailed study. This work focuses on the orientational order in the system both under shear and subsequent relaxation process arising after shear cessation through the analysis of deuterium spectra from the deuterated solvent water. At the analyzed shear rates the cholesteric order is suppressed and a flow-aligned nematic is observed which for the higher shear rates develops after certain time periodic perturbations that transiently annihilate the order in the system. During relaxation the flow aligned nematic starts losing order due to the onset of the cholesteric helices leading to a period of very low order where cholesteric helices with different orientations are forming from the aligned nematic, followed in the final stage by an increase in order at long relaxation times corresponding to the development of aligned cholesteric domains. This study sheds light on the complex rheological behavior of chiral nematic cellulose-based systems and opens ways to improve its processing. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Visualización estéreo

En este proyecto se muestran las posibilidades de la visión estéreo para la visualización en monitores tanto de objetos simples como de grandes escenarios, así como su aplicación en juegos o en otros ámbitos como el cine, la geología e incluso la medicina. Para el desarrollo se ha usado una tarjeta con soporte 3d como la Nvidia 7600GT y una pantalla con una tasa de frecuencia alta como una ACER 19 pulgadas a 100Hz. Los resultados sobre la visualización han sido extraídos de las opiniones de un grupo de 20 personas, de diversas profesiones, no relacionadas con los gráficos por ordenador.

Treatment of advanced soft-tissue sarcomas using a combined strategy of high-dose ifosfamide, high-dose doxorubicin and salvage therapies.

Having determined in a phase I study the maximum tolerated dose of high-dose ifosfamide combined with high-dose doxorubicin, we now report the long-term results of a phase II trial in advanced soft-tissue sarcomas. Forty-six patients with locally advanced or metastatic soft-tissue sarcomas were included, with age <60 years and all except one in good performance status (0 or 1). The chemotherapy treatment consisted of ifosfamide 10 g m(-2) (continuous infusion for 5 days), doxorubicin 30 mg m(-2) day(-1) x 3 (total dose 90 mg m(-2)), mesna and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. Cycles were repeated every 21 days. A median of 4 (1-6) cycles per patient was administered. Twenty-two patients responded to therapy, including three complete responders and 19 partial responders for an overall response rate of 48% (95% CI: 33-63%). The response rate was not different between localised and metastatic diseases or between histological types, but was higher in grade 3 tumours. Median overall survival was 19 months. Salvage therapies (surgery and/or radiotherapy) were performed in 43% of patients and found to be the most significant predictor for favourable survival (exploratory multivariate analysis). Haematological toxicity was severe, including grade > or =3 neutropenia in 59%, thrombopenia in 39% and anaemia in 27% of cycles. Three patients experienced grade 3 neurotoxicity and one patient died of septic shock. This high-dose regimen is toxic but nonetheless feasible in multicentre settings in non elderly patients with good performance status. A high response rate was obtained. Prolonged survival was mainly a function of salvage therapies.

Morphological comparison of axenic amastigogenesis of trypomastigotes and metacyclic forms of Trypanosoma cruzi

Amastigogenesis occurs first when metacyclic trypomastigotes from triatomine urine differentiate into amastigotes inside mammalian host cells and a secondary process when tissue-derived trypomastigotes invade new cells and differentiate newly to amastigotes. Using scanning electron microscopy, we compared the morphological patterns manifested by trypomastigotes and metacyclic forms of Trypanosoma cruzi during their axenic-transformation to amastigotes in acidic medium at 37°C. We show here that in culture MEMTAU medium, secondary and primary axenic amastigogenesis display different morphologies. As already described, we also observed a high differentiation rate of trypomastigotes into amastigotes. Conversely, the transformation rate of in vitro-induced-metacyclic trypomastigotes to amastigotes was significantly slower and displayed distinct patterns of transformation that seem environment-dependent. Morphological comparisons of extracelullar and intracellular amastigotes showed marked similarities, albeit some differences were also detected. SDS-PAGE analyses of protein and glycoprotein from primary and axenic extracelullar amastigotes showed similarities in glycopeptide profiles, but variations between their proteins demonstrated differences in their respective macromolecular constitutions. The data indicate that primary and axenic secondary amastigogenesis of T. cruzi may be the result of different developmental processes and suggest that the respective intracellular mechanisms driving amastigogenesis may not be the same.

Delayed referral and gram-negative organisms increase the conversion thoracotomy rate in patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for empyema

BACKGROUND: The role of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of pleural empyema was assessed in a consecutive series of 328 patients between 1992 and 2002. An analysis of the predicting factors for conversion thoracotomy in presumed stage II empyema was performed. METHODS: Empyema stage III with pleural thickening and signs of restriction on computer tomography imaging was treated by open decortication, whereas a thoracoscopic debridement was attempted in presumed stage II disease. Conversion thoracotomy was liberally used during thoracoscopy if stage III disease was found at surgery. Predictive factors for conversion thoracotomy were calculated in a multivariate analysis among several variables such as age, sex, time interval between onset of symptoms and surgery, involved microorganisms, and underlying cause of empyema. RESULTS: Of the 328 patients surgically treated for stage II and III empyema, 150 underwent primary open decortication for presumed stage III disease. One hundred seventy-eight patients with presumed stage II empyema underwent a video-assisted thoracoscopic approach. Of these 178 patients, thoracoscopic debridement was successful in 99 of 178 patients (56%), and conversion thoracotomy and open decortication was judged necessary in 79 of 178 patients (44%). The conversion thoracotomy rate was higher in parapneumonic empyema (55%) as compared with posttraumatic (32%) or postoperative (29%) empyema; however, delayed referral (p < 0.0001) and gram-negative microorganisms (p < 0.01) were the only significant predictors for conversion thoracotomy in a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Video-assisted thoracoscopic debridement offers an elegant, minimally invasive approach in a number of patients with presumed stage II empyema. However, to achieve a high success rate with the video-assisted thoracoscopic approach, early referral of the patients to surgery is required. Conversion thoracotomy should be liberally used in case of chronicity, especially after delayed referral (> 2 weeks) and in the presence of gram-negative organisms.

Trinocular System for 3D motion and Dense Stucture Estimation

The relief of the seafloor is an important source of data for many scientists. In this paper we present an optical system to deal with underwater 3D reconstruction. This system is formed by three cameras that take images synchronously in a constant frame rate scheme. We use the images taken by these cameras to compute dense 3D reconstructions. We use Bundle Adjustment to estimate the motion ofthe trinocular rig. Given the path followed by the system, we get a dense map of the observed scene by registering the different dense local reconstructions in a unique and bigger one

Cycle length of spermatogenesis in shrews (mammalia: soricidae) with high and low metabolic rates and different mating systems.

The aim of the present study was to establish and compare the durations of the seminiferous epithelium cycles of the common shrew Sorex araneus, which is characterized by a high metabolic rate and multiple paternity, and the greater white-toothed shrew Crocidura russula, which is characterized by a low metabolic rate and a monogamous mating system. Twelve S. araneus males and fifteen C. russula males were injected intraperitoneally with 5-bromodeoxyuridine, and the testes were collected. For cycle length determinations, we applied the classical method of estimation and linear regression as a new method. With regard to variance, and even with a relatively small sample size, the new method seems to be more precise. In addition, the regression method allows the inference of information for every animal tested, enabling comparisons of different factors with cycle lengths. Our results show that not only increased testis size leads to increased sperm production, but it also reduces the duration of spermatogenesis. The calculated cycle lengths were 8.35 days for S. araneus and 12.12 days for C. russula. The data obtained in the present study provide the basis for future investigations into the effects of metabolic rate and mating systems on the speed of spermatogenesis.

Detailed analysis and follow-up studies of a high-throughput screening for indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) inhibitors.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is a key regulator of immune responses and therefore an important therapeutic target for the treatment of diseases that involve pathological immune escape, such as cancer. Here, we describe a robust and sensitive high-throughput screen (HTS) for IDO1 inhibitors using the Prestwick Chemical Library of 1200 FDA-approved drugs and the Maybridge HitFinder Collection of 14,000 small molecules. Of the 60 hits selected for follow-up studies, 14 displayed IC50 values below 20 μM under the secondary assay conditions, and 4 showed an activity in cellular tests. In view of the high attrition rate we used both experimental and computational techniques to identify and to characterize compounds inhibiting IDO1 through unspecific inhibition mechanisms such as chemical reactivity, redox cycling, or aggregation. One specific IDO1 inhibitor scaffold, the imidazole antifungal agents, was chosen for rational structure-based lead optimization, which led to more soluble and smaller compounds with micromolar activity.