WorldWideScience

Sample records for adverse mixing conditions

  1. Adverse Housing Conditions and Early-Onset Delinquency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Dylan B; Newsome, Jamie; Lynch, Kellie R

    2017-09-01

    Housing constitutes an important health resource for children. Research has revealed that, when housing conditions are unfavorable, they can interfere with child health, academic performance, and cognition. Little to no research, however, has considered whether adverse housing conditions and early-onset delinquency are significantly associated with one another. This study explores the associations between structural and non-structural housing conditions and delinquent involvement during childhood. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) were employed in this study. Each adverse housing condition was significantly associated with early-onset delinquency. Even so, disarray and deterioration were only significantly linked to early delinquent involvement in the presence of health/safety hazards. The predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed to housing risks in the presence of health/safety hazards was nearly three times as large as the predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed only to disarray and/or deterioration, and nearly four times as large as the predicted probability of early-onset delinquency among children exposed to none of the adverse housing conditions. The findings suggest that minimizing housing-related health/safety hazards among at-risk subsets of the population may help to alleviate other important public health concerns-particularly early-onset delinquency. Addressing household health/safety hazards may represent a fruitful avenue for public health programs aimed at the prevention of early-onset delinquency. © Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

  2. Nurses' reporting of suspect adverse drug reactions: a mixed-methods study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessia De Angelis

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To assess nurses' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP towards spontaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs reporting. METHODS: The mixed-method study was conducted following a quanti-qualitative sequential approach: a survey (using a KAP questionnaire followed by a focus group was performed. RESULTS: In the quantitative findings, responders (570 hospital nurses declared that they were unaware of the pharmacovigilance system (58.1%, n = 331; where to find the reporting form (63.5%, n = 362; how fill it in (71.6%, n = 408; to whom and how to send it (65.8%, n = 375. Only 11.1% (n = 63 reported ADRs. The qualitative phase supported the quantitative findings and provided new information about other factors that condition ADR reporting: misinterpretation of the meaning of "reporting", unawareness of nurses' autonomy in ADR reporting and fear of consequences after ADR reporting. CONCLUSION: Nurses are not fully aware of their role in ADR reporting. We recommend educational interventions and management changes.

  3. Adverse Condition and Critical Event Prediction in Cranfield Multiphase Flow Facility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egedorf, Søren; Shaker, Hamid Reza

    2017-01-01

    , or even to the environment. To cope with these, adverse condition and critical event prediction plays an important role. Adverse Condition and Critical Event Prediction Toolbox (ACCEPT) is a tool which has been recently developed by NASA to allow for a timely prediction of an adverse event, with low false...... alarm and missed detection rates. While ACCEPT has shown to be an effective tool in some applications, its performance has not yet been evaluated on practical well-known benchmark examples. In this paper, ACCEPT is used for adverse condition and critical event prediction in a multiphase flow facility....... Cranfield multiphase flow facility is known to be an interesting benchmark which has been used to evaluate different methods from statistical process monitoring. In order to allow for the data from the flow facility to be used in ACCEPT, methods such as Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), PCA-and CVA...

  4. Adverse Weather Evokes Nostalgia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Tilburg, Wijnand A P; Sedikides, Constantine; Wildschut, Tim

    2018-03-01

    Four studies examined the link between adverse weather and the palliative role of nostalgia. We proposed and tested that (a) adverse weather evokes nostalgia (Hypothesis 1); (b) adverse weather causes distress, which predicts elevated nostalgia (Hypothesis 2); (c) preventing nostalgia exacerbates weather-induced distress (Hypothesis 3); and (d) weather-evoked nostalgia confers psychological benefits (Hypothesis 4). In Study 1, participants listened to recordings of wind, thunder, rain, and neutral sounds. Adverse weather evoked nostalgia. In Study 2, participants kept a 10-day diary recording weather conditions, distress, and nostalgia. We also obtained meteorological data. Adverse weather perceptions were positively correlated with distress, which predicted higher nostalgia. Also, adverse natural weather was associated with corresponding weather perceptions, which predicted elevated nostalgia. (Results were mixed for rain.) In Study 3, preventing nostalgia (via cognitive load) increased weather-evoked distress. In Study 4, weather-evoked nostalgia was positively associated with psychological benefits. The findings pioneer the relevance of nostalgia as source of comfort in adverse weather.

  5. Mixed-realism simulation of adverse event disclosure: an educational methodology and assessment instrument.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matos, Francisco M; Raemer, Daniel B

    2013-04-01

    Physicians have an ethical duty to disclose adverse events to patients or families. Various strategies have been reported for teaching disclosure, but no instruments have been shown to be reliable for assessing them.The aims of this study were to report a structured method for teaching adverse event disclosure using mixed-realism simulation, develop and begin to validate an instrument for assessing performance, and describe the disclosure practice of anesthesiology trainees. Forty-two anesthesiology trainees participated in a 2-part exercise with mixed-realism simulation. The first part took place using a mannequin patient in a simulated operating room where trainees became enmeshed in a clinical episode that led to an adverse event and the second part in a simulated postoperative care unit where the learner is asked to disclose to a standardized patient who systematically moves through epochs of grief response. Two raters scored subjects using an assessment instrument we developed that combines a 4-element behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) and a 5-stage objective rating scale. The performance scores for elements within the BARS and the 5-stage instrument showed excellent interrater reliability (Cohen's κ = 0.7), appropriate range (mean range for BARS, 4.20-4.47; mean range for 5-stage instrument, 3.73-4.46), and high internal consistency (P realism simulation that engages learners in an adverse event and allows them to practice disclosure to a structured range of patient responses. We have developed a reliable 2-part instrument with strong psychometric properties for assessing disclosure performance.

  6. Quality of whey powders stored under adverse conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whey protein concentrate powder (WPC) is exported by the U.S. and is included in emergency aid foods, but the bags sent overseas are usually stored without refrigeration and under elevated temperature and relative humidity (RH). The shelf life of WPC under adverse conditions must be known to preven...

  7. ACCEPT: Introduction of the Adverse Condition and Critical Event Prediction Toolbox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Rodney A.; Santanu, Das; Janakiraman, Vijay Manikandan; Hosein, Stefan

    2015-01-01

    The prediction of anomalies or adverse events is a challenging task, and there are a variety of methods which can be used to address the problem. In this paper, we introduce a generic framework developed in MATLAB (sup registered mark) called ACCEPT (Adverse Condition and Critical Event Prediction Toolbox). ACCEPT is an architectural framework designed to compare and contrast the performance of a variety of machine learning and early warning algorithms, and tests the capability of these algorithms to robustly predict the onset of adverse events in any time-series data generating systems or processes.

  8. Adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siegrist, J

    1996-01-01

    In addition to the person-environment fit model (J. R. French, R. D. Caplan, & R. V. Harrison, 1982) and the demand-control model (R. A. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990), a third theoretical concept is proposed to assess adverse health effects of stressful experience at work: the effort-reward imbalance model. The focus of this model is on reciprocity of exchange in occupational life where high-cost/low-gain conditions are considered particularly stressful. Variables measuring low reward in terms of low status control (e.g., lack of promotion prospects, job insecurity) in association with high extrinsic (e.g., work pressure) or intrinsic (personal coping pattern, e.g., high need for control) effort independently predict new cardiovascular events in a prospective study on blue-collar men. Furthermore, these variables partly explain prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, atherogenic lipids) in 2 independent studies. Studying adverse health effects of high-effort/low-reward conditions seems well justified, especially in view of recent developments of the labor market.

  9. Adverse psychosocial working conditions and risk of severe depressive symptoms. Do effects differ by occupational grade?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rugulies, Reiner; Aust, Birgit; Madsen, Ida E. H.; Burr, Hermann; Siegrist, Johannes; Bultmann, Ute

    Background: Depression is a major concern for public health. Both adverse working conditions and low socio-economic position are suspected to increase risk of depression. In a representative sample of the Danish workforce we investigated (i) whether adverse psychosocial working conditions, defined

  10. COST TU0702: Real-time monitoring, surveillance and control of road networks under adverse conditions

    OpenAIRE

    DO, Minh Tan

    2012-01-01

    Contribution au chapitre 1: Pavement surface conditions during adverse weather. Effects of adverse weather conditions on pavement surface conditions are assessed by measuring the effect of water and snow/ice on skid resistance. Skid resistance is defined as the contribution of the road surface to the tire/road friction. Water alters skid resistance by masking the top of the road surface. The tire tread pattern and the road macro/microtexture can help to evacuate the water film. However,...

  11. Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders: Evidence Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slack, Kelley J.; Williams, Thomas J.; Schneiderman, Jason S.; Whitmire, Alexandra M.; Picano, James J.; Leveton, Lauren B.; Schmidt, Lacey L.; Shea, Camille

    2016-01-01

    In April 2010, President Obama declared a space pioneering goal for the United States in general and NASA in particular. "Fifty years after the creation of NASA, our goal is no longer just a destination to reach. Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn and operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite." Thus NASA's Strategic Objective 1.1 emerged as "expand human presence into the solar system and to the surface of Mars to advance exploration, science, innovation, benefits to humanity, and international collaboration" (NASA 2015b). Any space flight, be it of long or short duration, occurs in an extreme environment that has unique stressors. Even with excellent selection methods, the potential for behavioral problems among space flight crews remain a threat to mission success. Assessment of factors that are related to behavioral health can help minimize the chances of distress and, thus, reduce the likelihood of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders arising within a crew. Similarly, countermeasures that focus on prevention and treatment can mitigate the cognitive or behavioral conditions that, should they arise, would impact mission success. Given the general consensus that longer duration, isolation, and confined missions have a greater risk for behavioral health ensuring crew behavioral health over the long term is essential. Risk, which within the context of this report is assessed with respect to behavioral health and performance, is addressed to deter development of cognitive and behavioral degradations or psychiatric conditions in space flight and analog populations, and to monitor, detect, and treat early risk factors, predictors and other contributing factors. Based on space flight and analog evidence, the average incidence rate of an adverse behavioral health event occurring during a space mission is relatively low for the

  12. Mixed problem with integral boundary condition for a high order mixed type partial differential equation

    OpenAIRE

    M. Denche; A. L. Marhoune

    2003-01-01

    In this paper, we study a mixed problem with integral boundary conditions for a high order partial differential equation of mixed type. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution. The proof is based on energy inequality, and on the density of the range of the operator generated by the considered problem.

  13. LEARNING TO BE BAD: ADVERSE SOCIAL CONDITIONS, SOCIAL SCHEMAS, AND CRIME

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Ronald L.; Burt, Callie Harbin

    2011-01-01

    In this paper we develop and test a new approach to explain the link between social factors and individual offending. We argue that seemingly disparate family, peer, and community conditions lead to crime because the lessons communicated by these events are similar and promote social schemas involving a hostile view of people and relationships, a preference for immediate rewards, and a cynical view of conventional norms. Further, we posit that these three schemas are interconnected and combine to form a criminogenic knowledge structure that gives rise to situational interpretations legitimating criminal behavior. Structural equation modeling with a sample of roughly 700 hundred African American teens provided strong support for the model. The findings indicated that persistent exposure to adverse conditions such as community crime, discrimination, harsh parenting, deviant peers and low neighborhood collective efficacy increased commitment to the three social schemas. The three schemas were highly intercorrelated and combined to form a latent construct that strongly predicted increases in crime. Further, in large measure the effect of the various adverse conditions on increases in crime was indirect through their impact on this latent construct. We discuss the extent to which the social schematic model presented in the paper might be used to integrate concepts and findings from several of the major theories of criminal behavior. PMID:21760641

  14. Efficiency of Sodium Polyacrylate to Improve Durability of Concrete under Adverse Curing Condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tanvir Manzur

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The conventional external curing process requires supply of large amount of water in addition to mixing water as well as strict quality control protocol. However, in a developing country like Bangladesh, many local contractors do not have awareness and required knowledge on importance of curing which often results in weaker concrete with durability issues. Moreover, at times it is difficult to maintain proper external curing process due to nonavailability of water and skilled laborer. Internal curing can be adopted under such scenario since this method is simple and less quality intensive. Usually, naturally occurring porous light weight aggregates (LWA are used as internal curing agent. However, naturally occurring LWA are not available in many countries like Bangladesh. Under these circumstances, Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP can be utilized as an alternative internal curing agent. In this study, sodium polyacrylate (SP as SAP has been used to produce internally cured concrete. Desorption isotherm of SP has been developed to investigate its effectiveness as internal curing agent. Test results showed that internally cured concrete with SP performed better in terms of both strength and durability as compared to control samples when subjected to adverse curing conditions where supply of additional water for external curing was absent.

  15. Causal Factors and Adverse Conditions of Aviation Accidents and Incidents Related to Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reveley, Mary S.; Briggs, Jeffrey L.; Evans, Joni K.; Sandifer, Carl E.; Jones, Sharon Monica

    2010-01-01

    The causal factors of accidents from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) database and incidents from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database associated with loss of control (LOC) were examined for four types of operations (i.e., Federal Aviation Regulation Part 121, Part 135 Scheduled, Part 135 Nonscheduled, and Part 91) for the years 1988 to 2004. In-flight LOC is a serious aviation problem. Well over half of the LOC accidents included at least one fatality (80 percent in Part 121), and roughly half of all aviation fatalities in the studied time period occurred in conjunction with LOC. An adverse events table was updated to provide focus to the technology validation strategy of the Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Project. The table contains three types of adverse conditions: failure, damage, and upset. Thirteen different adverse condition subtypes were gleaned from the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), the FAA Accident and Incident database, and the NTSB database. The severity and frequency of the damage conditions, initial test conditions, and milestones references are also provided.

  16. Assurance of Fault Management: Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitz, Rhonda

    2016-01-01

    Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of criticality within flight software, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance for NASA projects, especially as spaceflight systems continue to increase in complexity. Insight into specific characteristics of FM architectures seen embedded within safety- and mission-critical software systems analyzed by the NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Program has been enhanced with an FM Technical Reference (TR) suite. Benefits are aimed beyond the IVV community to those that seek ways to efficiently and effectively provide software assurance to reduce the FM risk posture of NASA and other space missions. The identification of particular FM architectures, visibility, and associated IVV techniques provides a TR suite that enables greater assurance that critical software systems will adequately protect against faults and respond to adverse conditions. The role FM has with regard to overall asset protection of flight software systems is being addressed with the development of an adverse condition (AC) database encompassing flight software vulnerabilities.Identification of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine how a system responds to these conditions are important aspects of hazard analysis and fault management. Understanding what ACs the mission may face, and ensuring they are prevented or addressed is the responsibility of the assurance team, which necessarily should have insight into ACs beyond those defined by the project itself. Research efforts sponsored by NASAs Office of Safety and Mission Assurance defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs, and allowing queries based on project, mission

  17. Mixed problem with nonlocal boundary conditions for a third-order partial differential equation of mixed type

    OpenAIRE

    Denche, M.; Marhoune, A. L.

    2001-01-01

    We study a mixed problem with integral boundary conditions for a third-order partial differential equation of mixed type. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the solution. The proof is based on two-sided a priori estimates and on the density of the range of the operator generated by the considered problem.

  18. Association of Adverse Childhood Experiences with Co-occurring Health Conditions in Early Childhood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bright, Melissa A; Thompson, Lindsay A

    2018-01-01

    To understand how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with co-occurring physical, mental and developmental problems during early childhood. A subsample of 19,957 children aged 2-5 years were selected from the 2011-2012 National Survey for Child Health. Outcomes included 18 health conditions organized in singular condition domains (physical, mental, and developmental), and combinations of condition domains (e.g., physical plus mental, mental plus developmental, etc.). Predictors included 8 ACEs (divorce of a parent, death of a parent, exposure to domestic violence, living with someone with a drug or alcohol abuse problem, household member with a mental illness, parent incarceration, neighborhood violence, discrimination). Multivariable logistic regression was performed controlling for demographic characteristics, having a personal doctor, health insurance coverage, and seeing a health care professional in the previous year. Experiencing 3 or more ACEs before the age of 5 years was associated with increased likelihood of nearly every co-occurring condition combination across 3 domains of health. Most notably, experiencing 3 or more ACEs was also associated with a 2-fold increase in likelihood of having ≥1 physical condition and ≥1 developmental condition, a 9-fold increase in likelihood of having ≥1 mental and ≥1 developmental condition, and a 7-fold increase in likelihood of having ≥1 physical, ≥1 mental, and ≥1 developmental condition. This study demonstrates that we can identify the health effects of adversity quite early in development and that management should include communication between both health care and early childhood education providers.

  19. Growth of microbial mixed cultures under anaerobic, alkaline conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wenk, M.

    1993-09-01

    Cement and concrete are the most important engineered barrier materials in a repository for low- and intermediate-level waste and thus represent the most significant component of the total disposal inventory. Based on the chemical composition of the concrete used in the repository and the groundwater fluxes in the modelled host rock, it is to be expected that the pH in the near vicinity of the repository could exceed a value of 10.5 for more than a million years. The groundwater in the repository environment also has a limited carbon concentration. Since microorganisms will be present in a repository and can even find suitable living conditions within the waste itself, investigations were carried out in order to establish the extent to which microbial activity is possible under the extreme conditions of the repository near-field. For the investigations, alkalophilic cultures were enriched from samples from alkaline habitats and from Valanginian Marl. Anaerobic bacteria with fermentative, sulfate-reducing and methanogenic metabolism were selected. The growth and activity of the mixed cultures were studied under alkaline conditions and the dependence on pH and carbon concentration determined. All the mixed cultures investigated are alkalophilic. The optimum growth range for the cultures is between pH 9.0 and pH 10.0. The activity limit for the fermentative mixed culture is at pH 12, for the sulfate-reducers at pH 11 and for the methanogens at pH 10.5. Given the limited supply of carbon, the mixed cultures can only grow under slightly alkaline conditions. Only the fermentative cultures are capable of surviving with limited carbon supply at pH 13. (author) 24 figs., 18 tabs., 101 refs

  20. Mixed Fluid Conditions: Capillary Phenomena

    KAUST Repository

    Santamarina, Carlos

    2017-07-06

    Mixed fluid phenomena in porous media have profound implications on soil-atmosphere interaction, energy geotechnology, environmental engineering and infrastructure design. Surface tension varies with pressure, temperature, solute concentration, and surfactant concentration; on the other hand, the contact angle responds to interfacial tensions, surface topography, invasion velocity, and chemical interactions. Interfaces are not isolated but interact through the fluid pressure and respond to external fields. Jumps, snap-offs and percolating wetting liquids along edges and crevices are ubiquitous in real, non-cylindrical porous networks. Pore- and macroscale instabilities together with pore structure variability-and-correlation favor fluid trapping and hinder recovery efficiency. The saturation-pressure characteristic curve is affected by the saturation-history, flow-rate, the mechanical response of the porous medium, and time-dependent reactive and diffusive processes; in addition, there are salient differences between unsaturation by internal gas nucleation and gas invasion. Capillary forces add to other skeletal forces in the porous medium and can generate open-mode discontinuities when the capillary entry pressure is high relative to the effective stress. Time emerges as an important variable in mixed-fluid conditions and common quasi-static analyses may fail to capture the system response.

  1. Some effects of adverse weather conditions on performance of airplane antiskid braking systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horne, W. B.; Mccarty, J. L.; Tanner, J. A.

    1976-01-01

    The performance of current antiskid braking systems operating under adverse weather conditions was analyzed in an effort to both identify the causes of locked-wheel skids which sometimes occur when the runway is slippery and to find possible solutions to this operational problem. This analysis was made possible by the quantitative test data provided by recently completed landing research programs using fully instrumented flight test airplanes and was further supported by tests performed at the Langley aircraft landing loads and traction facility. The antiskid system logic for brake control and for both touchdown and locked-wheel protection is described and its response behavior in adverse weather is discussed in detail with the aid of available data. The analysis indicates that the operational performance of the antiskid logic circuits is highly dependent upon wheel spin-up acceleration and can be adversely affected by certain pilot braking inputs when accelerations are low. Normal antiskid performance is assured if the tire-to-runway traction is sufficient to provide high wheel spin-up accelerations or if the system is provided a continuous, accurate ground speed reference. The design of antiskid systems is complicated by the necessity for tradeoffs between tire braking and cornering capabilities, both of which are necessary to provide safe operations in the presence of cross winds, particularly under slippery runway conditions.

  2. Speech perception under adverse conditions: Insights from behavioral, computational and neuroscience research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara eGuediche

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Adult speech perception reflects the long-term regularities of the native language, but it is also flexible such that it accommodates and adapts to adverse listening conditions and short-term deviations from native-language norms. The purpose of this review article is to examine how the broader neuroscience literature can inform and advance research efforts in understanding the neural basis of flexibility and adaptive plasticity in speech perception. In particular, we consider several domains of neuroscience research that offer insight into how perception can be adaptively tuned to short-term deviations while also maintaining without affecting the long-term learned regularities for mapping sensory input. We review several literatures to highlight the potential role of learning algorithms that rely on prediction error signals and discuss specific neural structures that are likely to contribute to such learning. Already, a few studies have alluded to a potential role of these mechanisms in adaptive plasticity in speech perception. Better understanding the application and limitations of these algorithms for the challenges of flexible speech perception under adverse conditions promises to inform theoretical models of speech.

  3. Continuous precipitation of mineral products: influence of mixing conditions on the co-precipitation of cerium-zirconium mixed oxides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Patrizio, Nicolas

    2015-01-01

    An automated experimental set-up with rapid mixers is used to study the influence of mixing conditions on the co-precipitation of cerium-zirconium mixed oxides. The intensity of mixing is controlled by the inlet flow rates of the reacting solutions. An engulfment model is used to estimate a mixing time from the measurement of a segregation index by the Villermaux-Dushman reaction system. Three geometries of Hartridge Roughton mixers are compared. Mixing performance is better when a separate mixing chamber upstream of a narrower outlet pipe is present. A better mixing decreases the maximal reducibility temperature of the material and increases the crystal strains of the particles calcined at 1100 C. This is probably due to a better homogenization of the particles content. The important incorporation of nitrates in the particle at the outlet of the mixers shows precipitation occurs while the mixing process is not finished. This experimental result was confirmed by numerical simulation and an estimation of sur-saturations during the mixing process. (author)

  4. Adverse psychosocial working conditions and poor quality of life among financial service employees in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Luiz Sergio; Barreto, Sandhi Maria

    2012-01-01

    Workers in the financial services sector are exposed to great stress at work. This study investigates whether exposure to adverse psychosocial work conditions is independently associated with poor health-related physical and mental quality of life among financial services workers. We studied a nationwide representative sample of 2,054 workers of a large Brazilian state bank in 2008. Adverse psychosocial work conditions were investigated by the Effort-reward imbalance (ERI) scale and the Job content questionnaire (JCQ). Health-related quality of life (HRQL) was assessed using the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-12). Poor mental and physical HRQL was defined by the lowest quartiles of the SF-12 final score distributions. Associations were investigated using multiple logistic regression analysis. In the multivariate analysis, exposures to low control and lack of social support at work (JCQ) were associated with poor HRQL in the physical domain. Increasing effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment (ERI), on the other hand, were associated with poor HRQL in the mental domain, with a significant statistical trend. Overcommitment was also associated with poor physical HRQL. The results suggest that exposure to adverse psychosocial work conditions has a negative impact on both domains of HRQL among financial service workers. They also indicate that ERI and DC models capture different aspects of job strain.

  5. Examining the effect of adverse geological conditions on jamming of a single shielded TBM in Uluabat tunnel using numerical modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohola Hasanpour

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Severe shield jamming events have been reported during excavation of Uluabat tunnel through adverse geological conditions, which resulted in several stoppages at advancing a single shielded tunnel boring machine (TBM. To study the jamming mechanism, three-dimensional (3D simulation of the machine and surrounding ground was implemented using the finite difference code FLAC3D. Numerical analyses were performed for three sections along the tunnel with a higher risk for entrapment due to the combination of overburden and geological conditions. The computational results including longitudinal displacement contours and ground pressure profiles around the shield allow a better understanding of ground behavior within the excavation. Furthermore, they allow realistically assessing the impact of adverse geological conditions on shield jamming. The calculated thrust forces, which are required to move the machine forward, are in good agreement with field observations and measurements. It also proves that the numerical analysis can effectively be used for evaluating the effect of adverse geological environment on TBM entrapments and can be applied to prediction of loads on the shield and pre-estimating of the required thrust force during excavation through adverse ground conditions.

  6. Factors that condition the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions among nurses: an integrative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Angelis, Alessia; Colaceci, Sofia; Giusti, Angela; Vellone, Ercole; Alvaro, Rosaria

    2016-03-01

    To describe and synthesise previous research on factors conditioning the spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions among nurses. Spontaneous reports of adverse drug reactions by health-care providers, are a main instrument for the continuous evaluation of the risk-benefit ratio of every drug. Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions by all health-care providers, in particular by nurses, is a major limitation to this system. An integrated review of the literature was conducted using MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus databases and Google Scholar. After evaluation for appropriateness related to inclusion/exclusion criteria, 16 studies were included in the final analysis and synthesis. Two factors emerged from the study: (1) intrinsic factors related to nurses' knowledge and attitudes; (2) extrinsic factors related to nurses' interaction with health-care organisations and to the relationship between nurses and physicians. Nurses' attitudes that hinder reporting include ignorance, insecurity, fear and lethargy. Nurses are not fully aware of their role in adverse drug reaction reporting. Nurses must acquire greater knowledge to implement specific skills into their daily clinical practice. To improve nurses' reporting of adverse drug reactions, it is necessary to develop management approaches that modify both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. A thermodynamic view of tracer plume evolution: Complete mixing condition evaluation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constain A.

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available One of most controversial issues of modern tracer theory is the “complete mixing condition” because of its importance in evolution of hazardous solutes in natural flows. This condition named also as “Mixing length” measures the distance from pouring point when tracer particles have spread uniformly on cross section of stream. The point is that until now there is no rational, complete and easy to use formula to calculate it. Rather, this condition is evaluated mostly by means of empirical relationships; among them Ruthven's is one of current usage. Also there are statistical methods that applied by software packages allow to characterize this condition. However a new focus on this issue is important, because is necessary to tie together, generality, easiness and accuracy. This paper puts on discussion a thermodynamics method to understand when a tracer is in this remarkable condition. Herein it is developed the conditions when this method may be applied. It is shown also how the resulting formula is convergent with Ruthven's equation. An experimental demonstration is presented.

  8. Research on ration selection of mixed absorbent solution for membrane air-conditioning system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Xiu-Wei; Zhang, Xiao-Song; Wang, Fang; Zhao, Xiao; Zhang, Zhuo

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • We derive models of the membrane air-conditioning system with mixed absorbents. • We make analysis on system COP, cost-effectiveness and economy. • The paper provides a new method for ideal absorbent selection. • The solutes concentration of 50% achieves the best cost-effectiveness and the economy. - Abstract: Absorption air-conditioning system is a good alternative to vapor compression system for developing low carbon society. To improve the performance of the traditional absorption system, the membrane air-conditioning system is configured and its COP can reach as high as 6. Mixed absorbents are potential for cost reduction of the membrane system while maintaining a high COP. On the purpose of finding ideal mixed absorbent groups, this paper makes analysis on COP, cost-effectiveness and economy of the membrane system with mixed LiBr–CaCl 2 absorbent solution. The models of the system have been developed for the analysis. The results show the COP is higher for the absorbent groups with lower concentration of the total solute and higher concentration ratio of LiBr. It also reveals when the total solutes concentration is about 50%, it achieves the best cost-effectiveness and the economy. The process of the analysis provides a useful method for mixed absorbents selection

  9. Effect of mixing rule boundary conditions on high pressure (liquid + liquid) equilibrium prediction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hsieh, Min-Kang; Lin, Shiang-Tai

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Prediction of LLE from the combined use of EOS and liquid model are examined. ► The mixing rule used affects the predicted pressure dependence of LLE. ► MHV1 mixing rule predicts decent LLE at low pressures. ► WS mixing rule predicts more accurate excess volume and LLE at high pressures. ► The hybrid of MHV1 and WS mixing rule gives overall the best predictions. - Abstract: We examine the prediction of high pressure (liquid + liquid) equilibrium (LLE) from the Peng–Robinson equation with three excess Gibbs free energy (G ex )-based mixing rules (MR): the first order modified Huron–Vidal (MHV1), the Wong–Sandler (WS), and a hybrid of these two (referred to as G ex B 2 ). These mixing rules differ by the boundary conditions used for determination of the temperature and composition dependence of parameters a and b in the PR EOS. The condition of matching the excess Gibbs free energy from the EOS at zero pressure to that from the G ex model, used in MHV1 and G ex B 2 MR, leads to a similar miscibility gap from PR EOS and the G ex model used. On the other hand, the condition of matching excess Helmholtz energy from the EOS at infinite pressure to that from the G ex model, used in the WS MR, shows remarkable deviations. The condition of quadratic composition dependence in the second virial coefficient (B 2 ), used in WS and G ex B 2 MR, allows for both positive and negative values in the molar excess volume. Depending on the mixture, either the increase or decrease of the miscibility gap with pressure can be observed when the WS or the G ex B 2 MR is used. The condition of linear combination of molecular sizes of each component used in the MHV1 MR, however, often leads to small, positive molar excess volumes. As a consequence, the predicted LLE from using the MHV1 MR are insensitive to pressure. Therefore, we find that the G ex B 2 mixing rule provides the best predictive power for the LLE over a wide range of temperature and pressure.

  10. Innovative Equipment and Production Method for Mixed Fodder in the Conditions of Agricultural Enterprises

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabiev, U. K.; Demchuk, E. V.; Myalo, V. V.; Soyunov, A. S.

    2017-07-01

    It is recommended to feed the cattle and poultry with grain fodder in the form of feed mixture balanced according to the content. Feeding of grain fodder in the form of stock feed is inefficient and economically unreasonable. The article is devoted to actual problem - the preparation of mixed fodder in the conditions of agricultural enterprises. Review and critical analyses of mixed fodder assemblies and aggregates are given. Structural and technical schemes of small-size mixed fodder aggregate with intensified attachments of vibrating and percussive action for preparation of bulk feed mixture in the conditions of agricultural enterprises were developed. The mixed fodder aggregate for its preparation in the places of direct consumption from own grain fodder production and purchased protein and vitamin supplements is also suggested. Mixed fodder aggregate allows to get prepared mixed fodder of high uniformity at low cost of energy and price of production that is becoming profitable for livestock breeding. Model line-up of suggested mixed fodder aggregate with different productivity both for small and big agricultural enterprises is considered.

  11. Adverse events in cardiac surgery, a mixed methods retrospective study in an Italian teaching hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bellandi, Tommaso; Tartaglia, Riccardo; Forni, Silvia; D'Arienzo, Sara; Tulli, Giorgio

    2017-08-01

    Adverse events (AEs) are a major concern in surgery, but the evidence in cardiac surgery is limited, especially on the contributory factors. According to the data of the National Outcomes Program, a unit was selected to conduct a mixed methods investigation into the incidence, type, and cause of AE, given its mortality rate that was double the national average on coronary artery bypass grafting, valve reparation, and replacement. A retrospective investigation on the performance of a cardiac surgery, combining the routinely collected data on process and outcome measures with a 2-stage structured review of 280 medical records performed by 3 expert clinicians, with the support of a methodologist. At least one risk had been verified in 137 of 280 cases (48.9%, 95% CI, 43.1-54.8). The total number of AE was 42, with an incidence of 15% (95% CI, 10.8-20.2) and a preventability of 80.9% (95% CI, 69.1-92.8). In 11.9% of AE, the consequence is death, disability in 40.5%, and extended hospital stay in 69% of the cases. Adverse events are associated with problems in care management at the ward (89/137, 64.9%, 95% CI, 56.9-72.9), followed by surgical complications (46/137, 33.6%, 95% CI, 25.7-41.5) and infection/sepsis (32/137, 23.4%, 95% CI, 16.3-30.4). An active error was made by the health care workers in 31 of 42 cases with AE, either during the decision making or during the execution of an action. A total of 36 AEs were due to deficiencies attributed to organizational factors and 31 were linked to poor teamwork. The mixed methods approach demonstrated how a deep understanding of AE and poor performance may emerge thanks to the combination of routinely available data and experts' evaluations. The main limitation of this study is its focus on the cardiac surgery rather than on the entire process of care. The evaluation could have been integrated with on-site observations and the analysis of reported incidents. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  12. Casimir energy in d-dimensional rectangular geometries, under mixed boundary conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, J.C. da; Placido, Hebe Q.; Santana, A.E.; M Neto, Arthur

    1997-01-01

    The Casimir energy and its temperature corrections are presented for the electromagnetic field confined in a d-dimensional hypercavity. The expressions are derived considering Dirichlet boundary conditions for each pair of hyperplanes defining a confined direction (the homogeneous case); or yet, by choosing different boundary conditions (Dirichlet or Neumann) at each hyperplane of the pair (the mixed case). (author)

  13. Coagulation of highly turbid suspensions using magnesium hydroxide: effects of slow mixing conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayoub, George M; BinAhmed, Sara W; Al-Hindi, Mahmoud; Azizi, Fouad

    2014-09-01

    Laboratory experiments were carried out to study the effects of slow mixing conditions on magnesium hydroxide floc size and strength and to determine the turbidity and total suspended solid (TSS) removal efficiencies during coagulation of highly turbid suspensions. A highly turbid kaolin clay suspension (1,213 ± 36 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)) was alkalized to pH 10.5 using a 5 M NaOH solution; liquid bittern (LB) equivalent to 536 mg/L of Mg(2+) was added as a coagulant, and the suspension was then subjected to previously optimized fast mixing conditions of 100 rpm and 60 s. Slow mixing speed (20, 30, 40, and 50 rpm) and time (10, 20, and 30 min) were then varied, while the temperature was maintained at 20.7 ± 1 °C. The standard practice for coagulation-flocculation jar test ASTM D2035-13 (2013) was followed in all experiments. Relative floc size was monitored using an optical measuring device, photometric dispersion analyzer (PDA 2000). Larger and more shear resistant flocs were obtained at 20 rpm for both 20- and 30-min slow mixing times; however, given the shorter duration for the former, the 20-min slow mixing time was considered to be more energy efficient. For slow mixing camp number (Gt) values in the range of 8,400-90,000, it was found that the mixing speed affected floc size and strength more than the time. Higher-turbidity removal efficiencies were achieved at 20 and 30 rpm, while TSS removal efficiency was higher for the 50-rpm slow mixing speed. Extended slow mixing time of 30 min yielded better turbidity and TSS removal efficiencies at the slower speeds.

  14. Assessment of the State of the Art of Flight Control Technologies as Applicable to Adverse Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reveley, Mary s.; Briggs, Jeffrey L.; Leone, Karen M.; Kurtoglu, Tolga; Withrow, Colleen A.

    2010-01-01

    Literature from academia, industry, and other Government agencies was surveyed to assess the state of the art in current Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) aircraft technologies. Over 100 papers from 25 conferences from the time period 2004 to 2009 were reviewed. An assessment of the general state of the art in adaptive flight control is summarized first, followed by an assessment of the state of the art as applicable to 13 identified adverse conditions. Specific areas addressed in the general assessment include flight control when compensating for damage or reduced performance, retrofit software upgrades to flight controllers, flight control through engine response, and finally test and validation of new adaptive controllers. The state-of-the-art assessment applicable to the adverse conditions include technologies not specifically related to flight control, but may serve as inputs to a future flight control algorithm. This study illustrates existing gaps and opportunities for additional research by the NASA IRAC Project

  15. Stress, Health Behavior, and Sleep as Mediators of the Association between Loneliness and Adverse Health Conditions among Older People

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Julie

    was significantly associated with poor self-rated health, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and migraine. In addition, high perceived stress, physical inactivity, problems with alcohol, and poor sleep demonstrated an indirect effect on the association between loneliness and adverse health conditions. The findings......Prior research has established an association between loneliness and a variety of negative health conditions among older people. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying the association. The Loneliness Model seeks to explain the mechanisms through which chronic loneliness might...... affect the development of adverse health conditions. The present study was designed to test the explanation proposed by the Loneliness Model. The sample consisted of 8.593 elderly ranging from 65 to 103 years participating in the 2013 Public Health Survey; “How are you?”. Results showed that loneliness...

  16. Dynamical Casimir effect on a cavity with mixed boundary conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves, Danilo T.; Farina, Carlos; Maia Neto, Paulo Americo

    2002-01-01

    The most well-known mechanical effect related to the quantum vacuum is the Casimir force between two mirrors at rest. A new effect appears when the mirrors are set to move. In this case, the vacuum field may exert a dissipative force, damping the motion. As a consequence of energy conservation, there will be creation of real particles. If the motion is non-relativistic and has a small amplitude, the dynamical Casimir force can be found via a perturbative method proposed by Ford and Vilenkin. Using their technique, the electromagnetic dynamical Casimir problem, considered when the oscillating cavity is formed by two parallel plates of the same nature (perfectly conducting or perfectly permeable), can be divided into two separated boundary condition problems, namely: one involving Dirichlet BC, related to the transverse electric polarization and the other involving a Neumann BC, related to the transverse magnetic mode. The case of conducting plates can be found in the literature. However, another interesting case, the mixed oscillating cavity where the plates are of different nature, namely, a perfectly conducting plate and a perfectly permeable one (Boyer plates), has not been studied yet. We show that,for this case, the transverse electric models will be related to mixed boundary conditions: Dirichlet-like BC at the conducting plate and Neumann-like BC at the permeable plate. Analogously, the magnetic modes are related to a Neumann BC at the conducting plate and to a Dirichlet BC at the permeable one. As a first step before attacking the three-dimensional electromagnetic problem with mixed BC, we present here a simpler model: a one-dimensional cavity, where a massless scalar field is submitted to mixed (Dirichlet-Neumann) BC. For simplicity, we consider a non-relativistic motion for the conducting wall (Dirichlet BC) and suppose that the perfectly permeable wall (Neumann BC) is at rest. From this model we can extract insights about the dynamical Casimir

  17. A Mixed-Signal Embedded Platform for Automotive Sensor Conditioning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emilio Volpi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available A mixed-signal embedded system called Intelligent Sensor InterFace (ISIF suited to fast identify, trim, and verify an architecture to interface a given sensor is presented. This system has been developed according to a platform-based design approach, a methodology that has proved to be efficient for building complex mixed-signal embedded systems with short time-to-market. Such platform consists in a wide set of optimized high-performance analog, digital, and software intellectual property (IP modules for various kinds of sensors. These IPs can be easily defined for fast prototyping of the interface circuit for the given sensor. Final ASIC implementation for the given sensor conditioning can be easily derived with reduced risk and short development time. Some case examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of this system.

  18. A Mixed-Signal Embedded Platform for Automotive Sensor Conditioning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giambastiani Adolfo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract A mixed-signal embedded system called Intelligent Sensor InterFace (ISIF suited to fast identify, trim, and verify an architecture to interface a given sensor is presented. This system has been developed according to a platform-based design approach, a methodology that has proved to be efficient for building complex mixed-signal embedded systems with short time-to-market. Such platform consists in a wide set of optimized high-performance analog, digital, and software intellectual property (IP modules for various kinds of sensors. These IPs can be easily defined for fast prototyping of the interface circuit for the given sensor. Final ASIC implementation for the given sensor conditioning can be easily derived with reduced risk and short development time. Some case examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of this system.

  19. Climate Change and Crop Exposure to Adverse Weather: Changes to Frost Risk and Grapevine Flowering Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosedale, Jonathan R; Wilson, Robert J; Maclean, Ilya M D

    2015-01-01

    The cultivation of grapevines in the UK and many other cool climate regions is expected to benefit from the higher growing season temperatures predicted under future climate scenarios. Yet the effects of climate change on the risk of adverse weather conditions or events at key stages of crop development are not always captured by aggregated measures of seasonal or yearly climates, or by downscaling techniques that assume climate variability will remain unchanged under future scenarios. Using fine resolution projections of future climate scenarios for south-west England and grapevine phenology models we explore how risks to cool-climate vineyard harvests vary under future climate conditions. Results indicate that the risk of adverse conditions during flowering declines under all future climate scenarios. In contrast, the risk of late spring frosts increases under many future climate projections due to advancement in the timing of budbreak. Estimates of frost risk, however, were highly sensitive to the choice of phenology model, and future frost exposure declined when budbreak was calculated using models that included a winter chill requirement for dormancy break. The lack of robust phenological models is a major source of uncertainty concerning the impacts of future climate change on the development of cool-climate viticulture in historically marginal climatic regions.

  20. Mixing Characteristics during Fuel Coolant Interaction under Reactor Submerged Conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, S. W.; Na, Y. S.; Hong, S. H.; Song, J. H.

    2014-01-01

    A molten material is injected into an interaction chamber by free gravitation fall. This type of fuel coolant interaction could happen to operating plants. However, the flooding of a reactor cavity is considered as SAM measures for new PWRs such as APR-1400 and AP1000 to assure the IVR of a core melt. In this case, a molten corium in a reactor is directly injected into water surrounding the reactor vessel without a free fall. KAERI has carried out fuel coolant interaction tests without a free fall using ZrO 2 and corium to simulate the reactor submerged conditions. There are four phases in a steam explosion. The first phase is a premixing phase. The premixing is described in the literature as follows: during penetration of melt into water, hydrodynamic instabilities, generated by the velocities and density differences as well as vapor production, induce fragmentation of the melt into particles; the particles fragment in turn into smaller particles until they reach a critical size such that the cohesive forces (surface tension) balance exactly the disruptive forces (inertial); and the molten core material temperature (>2500 K) is such that the mixing always occurs in the film boiling regime of the water: It is very important to qualify and quantify this phase because it gives the initial conditions for a steam explosion This paper mainly focuses on the observation of the premixing phase between a case with 1 m free fall and a case without a free fall to simulate submerged reactor condition. The premixing behavior between a 1m free fall case and reactor case submerged without a free fall is observed experimentally. The average velocity of the melt front passing through 1m water pool; - Case without a free fall: The average velocity of corium, 2.7m/s, is faster than ZrO 2 , 2.3m/s, in water. - Cases of with a 1 m free fall and without a free fall : The case without a free fall is about two times faster than a case with a 1 m free fall. Bubble characteristics; - Case

  1. 3-D simulations to investigate initial condition effects on the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor mixing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andrews, Malcolm J [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2008-01-01

    The effect of initial conditions on the growth rate of turbulent Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) mixing has been studied using carefully formulated numerical simulations. An integrated large-eddy simulation (ILES) that uses a finite-volume technique was employed to solve the three-dimensional incompressible Euler equations with numerical dissipation. The initial conditions were chosen to test the dependence of the RT growth parameters ({alpha}{sub b}, {alpha}{sub s}) on variations in (a) the spectral bandwidth, (b) the spectral shape, and (c) discrete banded spectra. Our findings support the notion that the overall growth of the RT mixing is strongly dependent on initial conditions. Variation in spectral shapes and bandwidths are found to have a complex effect of the late time development of the RT mixing layer, and raise the question of whether we can design RT transition and turbulence based on our choice of initial conditions. In addition, our results provide a useful database for the initialization and development of closures describing RT transition and turbulence.

  2. Experimental investigation of mixing of non-isothermal water streams at BWR operating conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergagio, Mattia, E-mail: bergagio@kth.se [AlbaNova University Center, Nuclear Reactor Technology Division, Department of Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, 106 91 Stockholm (Sweden); Anglart, Henryk, E-mail: henryk@kth.se [AlbaNova University Center, Nuclear Reactor Technology Division, Department of Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, 106 91 Stockholm (Sweden); Institute of Heat Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 21/25 Nowowiejska Street, 00-665 Warsaw (Poland)

    2017-06-15

    Highlights: • Temperatures are measured in the presence of mixing at BWR operating conditions. • The thermocouple support is moved along a pattern to extend the measurement region. • Uncertainty of 1.58 K for temperatures acquired at 1000 Hz. • Momenta of the hot streams and thermal stratification affect the data examined. • Unconventional spectral analysis is required to further study the data collected. - Abstract: In this experimental investigation, wall surface temperatures have been measured during mixing of three water streams in the annular gap between two coaxial stainless-steel tubes. The inner tube, with an outer diameter of 35 mm and a thickness of 5 mm, holds six K-type, ungrounded thermocouples with a diameter of 0.5 mm, which measured surface temperatures with a sampling rate of either 100 Hz or 1000 Hz. The tube was rotated from 0 to 360° and moved in a range of 387 mm in the axial direction to allow measurements of surface temperatures in the whole mixing region. The outer tube has an inner diameter of 80 mm and a thickness of 10 mm to withstand a water pressure of 9 MPa. A water stream at a temperature of either 333 K or 423 K and a Reynolds number between 1657 and 8410 rose vertically in the annular gap and mixed with two water streams at a temperature of 549 K and a Reynolds number between 3.56 × 10{sup 5} and 7.11 × 10{sup 5}. These two water streams entered the annulus radially on the same axial level, 180° apart. Water pressure was kept at 7.2 MPa. Temperature recordings were performed at five axial and eight azimuthal locations, for each set of boundary conditions. Each recording lasted 120 s to provide reliable data on the variance, intermittency and frequency of the surface temperature time series at hand. Thorough calculations indicate that the uncertainty in the measured temperature is of 1.58 K. The mixing region extends up to 0.2 m downward of the hot inlets. In most cases, measurements indicate non-uniform mixing in the

  3. Eigenvalue inequalities for the Laplacian with mixed boundary conditions

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Lotoreichik, Vladimir; Rohleder, J.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 263, č. 1 (2017), s. 491-508 ISSN 0022-0396 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-06818S Institutional support: RVO:61389005 Keywords : Laplace operator * mixed boundary conditions * eigenvalue inequality * polyhedral domain * Lipschitz domain Subject RIV: BE - Theoretical Physics OBOR OECD: Atomic, molecular and chemical physics (physics of atoms and molecules including collision, interaction with radiation, magnetic resonances, Mössbauer effect) Impact factor: 1.988, year: 2016

  4. Mixed and mixing layer depths in the ocean surface boundary layer under conditions of diurnal stratification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutherland, G.; Reverdin, G.; Marié, L.; Ward, B.

    2014-12-01

    A comparison between mixed (MLD) and mixing (XLD) layer depths is presented from the SubTRopical Atlantic Surface Salinity Experiment (STRASSE) cruise in the subtropical Atlantic. This study consists of 400 microstructure profiles during fairly calm and moderate conditions (2 background level. Two different thresholds for the background dissipation level are tested, 10-8 and 10-9 m2 s-3, and these are compared with the MLD as calculated using a density threshold. The larger background threshold agrees with the MLD during restratification but only extends to half the MLD during nighttime convection, while the lesser threshold agrees well during convection but is deeper by a factor of 2 during restratification. Observations suggest the use of a larger density threshold to determine the MLD in a buoyancy driven regime.

  5. Risk of Adverse Cognitive or Behavioral Conditions and Psychiatric Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slack, Kelley J.; Schneiderman, Jason S.; Leveton, Lauren B.; Whitmire, Alexandra M.; Picano, James J.

    2015-01-01

    The NASA commitment to human space flight includes continuing to fly astronauts on the ISS until it is decommissioned as well as possibly returning astronauts to the moon or having astronauts venture to an asteroid or Mars. As missions leave low Earth orbit and explore deeper space, BHP supports and conducts research to enable a risk posture that considers the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders “acceptable given mitigations,” for pre-, in, and post-flight.The Human System Risk Board (HSRB) determines the risk of various mission scenarios using a likelihood (per person per year) by consequences matrix examining those risks across two categories—long term health and operational (within mission). Colors from a stoplight signal are used by HSRB and quickly provide a means of assessing overall perceived risk for a particular mission scenario. Risk associated with the current six month missions on the ISS are classified as “accepted with monitoring” while planetary missions, such as a mission to Mars, are recognized to be a “red” risk that requires mitigation to ensure mission success.Currently, the HSRB deems that the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric outcomes requires mitigation for planetary missions owing to long duration isolation and radiation exposure (see Table 1). While limited research evidence exists from spaceflight, it is well known anecdotally that the shift from the two week shuttle missions to the six month ISS missions renders the psychological stressors of space as more salient over longer duration missions. Shuttle astronauts were expected just to tolerate any stressors that arose during their mission and were successful at doing so (Whitmire et al, 2013). While it is possible to deal with stressors such as social isolation and to live with incompatible crewmembers for two weeks on shuttle, “ignoring it” is much less likely to be a successful coping mechanism

  6. Boundary conditions for the use of personal ventilation over mixing ventilation in open plan offices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Steffen; Hviid, Christian Anker

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates the boundary conditions for choosing a combined Personal Ventilation (PV) and Mixing Ventilation (MV) over conventional mixing ventilation in an office with multiple workers. A simplified procedure for annual performance assessment of PV/MV systems in terms of air quality...

  7. Relationship between continuity of care and adverse outcomes varies by number of chronic conditions among older adults with diabetes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eva H. DuGoff

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Follow us on Twitter Co-Editors-in-Chief Martin Fortin Jane Gunn Stewart W. Mercer Susan Smith Marjan van den Akker Society for Academic Primary Care Journal Help USER You are logged in as... avalster My Profile Log Out JOURNAL CONTENT Search Search Scope Search Browse By Issue By Author By Title By Sections By Identify Types OPEN JOURNAL SYSTEMS FONT SIZE Make font size smallerMake font size defaultMake font size larger INFORMATION For Readers For Authors For Librarians ARTICLE TOOLS Print this article Indexing metadata How to cite item Supplementary files Finding References Email this article Email the author Post a Comment NOTIFICATIONS View (378 new Manage IRCMO NEWS ‘Addressing the global challenge of... Publications on multimorbidity... The CARE Plus study Prevalence of multimorbidity in the... Multimorbidity in adults from a... CURRENT ISSUE Atom logo RSS2 logo RSS1 logo HOSTED BY Part of the PKP Publishing Services Network HOME ABOUT USER HOME SEARCH CURRENT ARCHIVES ANNOUNCEMENTS PUBLISHER AUTHOR GUIDELINES SUBMISSIONS WHY PUBLISH WITH US? Home > Vol 6, No 2 (2016 >\tDuGoff Relationship between continuity of care and adverse outcomes varies by number of chronic conditions among older adults with diabetes Eva H. DuGoff, Karen Bandeen-Roche, Gerard F. Anderson Abstract Background: Continuity of care is a basic tenant of primary care practice. However, the evidence on the importance of continuity of care for older adults with complex conditions is mixed. Objective: To assess the relationship between measurement of continuity of care, number of chronic conditions, and health outcomes. Design: We analyzed data from a cohort of 1,600 US older adults with diabetes and ≥1 other chronic condition in a private Medicare health plan from July 2010 to December 2011. Multivariate regression models were used to examine the association of baseline continuity (the first 6 months and the composite outcome of any emergency room use or inpatient

  8. No association between anxiety and depression and adverse clinical outcome among patients with cardiovascular disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kornerup, Henriette; Zwisler, Ann-Dorthe Olsen; Prescott, Eva

    2011-01-01

    Anxiety and depression have been linked to adverse prognostic outcome in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) with mixed results. The timing of anxiety and depression measurement has received little attention so far.......Anxiety and depression have been linked to adverse prognostic outcome in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) with mixed results. The timing of anxiety and depression measurement has received little attention so far....

  9. A correlation for single phase turbulent mixing in square rod arrays under highly turbulent conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Hae Yong; Ha, Kwi Seok; Kwon, Young Min; Chang, Won Pyo; Lee, Yong Bum

    2006-01-01

    The existing experimental data related to the turbulent mixing factor in rod arrays is examined and a new definition of the turbulent mixing factor is introduced to take into account the turbulent mixing of fluids with various Prandtl numbers. The new definition of the mixing factor is based on the eddy diffusivity of energy. With this definition of the mixing factor, it was found that the geometrical parameter, δ ij /D h , correlates the turbulent mixing data better than S/d, which has been used frequently in existing correlations. Based on the experimental data for a highly turbulent condition in square rod arrays, a correlation describing turbulent mixing dependent on the parameter δ ij /D h has been developed. The correlation is insensitive to the Re number and it takes into account the effect of the turbulent Prandtl number. The proposed correlation predicts a reasonable mixing even at a lower S/d ratio

  10. Mixed Fluid Conditions: Capillary Phenomena

    KAUST Repository

    Santamarina, Carlos; Sun, Zhonghao

    2017-01-01

    Mixed fluid phenomena in porous media have profound implications on soil-atmosphere interaction, energy geotechnology, environmental engineering and infrastructure design. Surface tension varies with pressure, temperature, solute concentration

  11. The Formation of Teacher Work Teams under Adverse Conditions: Towards a More Realistic Scenario for Schools in Distress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mintrop, Rick; Charles, Jessica

    2017-01-01

    Group formation studies are rare in the literature on teacher professional learning communities (PLCs). But they are needed to render realistic scenarios and design interventions for practitioners who work in schools where teachers encounter distress and social adversity. Under these conditions, we may need approaches to PLC development that are…

  12. Mixing Acid Salts and Layered Double Hydroxides in Nanoscale under Solid Condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Hirokazu; Hayashi, Aki

    2014-07-30

    The immobilization of potassium sorbate, potassium aspartate and sorbic acid in layered double hydroxide under solid condition was examined. By simply mixing two solids, immobilization of sorbate and aspartate in the interlayer space of nitrate-type layered double hydroxide, so called intercalation reaction, was achieved, and the uptakes, that is, the amount of immobilized salts and the interlayer distances of intercalation compounds were almost the same as those obtained in aqueous solution. However, no intercalation was achieved for sorbic acid. Although intercalation of sorbate and aspartate into chloride-type layered double hydroxide was possible, the uptakes for these intercalation compounds were lower than those obtained using nitrate-type layered double hydroxide. The intercalation under solid condition could be achieved to the same extent as for ion-exchange reaction in aqueous solution, and the reactivity was similar to that observed in aqueous solution. This method will enable the encapsulation of acidic drug in layered double hydroxide as nano level simply by mixing both solids.

  13. Mixing Acid Salts and Layered Double Hydroxides in Nanoscale under Solid Condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hirokazu Nakayama

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The immobilization of potassium sorbate, potassium aspartate and sorbic acid in layered double hydroxide under solid condition was examined. By simply mixing two solids, immobilization of sorbate and aspartate in the interlayer space of nitrate-type layered double hydroxide, so called intercalation reaction, was achieved, and the uptakes, that is, the amount of immobilized salts and the interlayer distances of intercalation compounds were almost the same as those obtained in aqueous solution. However, no intercalation was achieved for sorbic acid. Although intercalation of sorbate and aspartate into chloride-type layered double hydroxide was possible, the uptakes for these intercalation compounds were lower than those obtained using nitrate-type layered double hydroxide. The intercalation under solid condition could be achieved to the same extent as for ion-exchange reaction in aqueous solution, and the reactivity was similar to that observed in aqueous solution. This method will enable the encapsulation of acidic drug in layered double hydroxide as nano level simply by mixing both solids.

  14. Existence of Solutions of Abstract Nonlinear Mixed Functional Integrodifferential equation with nonlocal conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhakne Machindra B.

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we discuss the existence of mild and strong solutions of abstract nonlinear mixed functional integrodifferential equation with nonlocal condition by using Sadovskii’s fixed point theorem and theory of fractional power of operators.

  15. On the conditions of magma mixing and its bearing on andesite production in the crust.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laumonier, Mickael; Scaillet, Bruno; Pichavant, Michel; Champallier, Rémi; Andujar, Joan; Arbaret, Laurent

    2014-12-15

    Mixing between magmas is thought to affect a variety of processes, from the growth of continental crust to the triggering of volcanic eruptions, but its thermophysical viability remains unclear. Here, by using high-pressure mixing experiments and thermal calculations, we show that hybridization during single-intrusive events requires injection of high proportions of the replenishing magma during short periods, producing magmas with 55-58 wt% SiO2 when the mafic end-member is basaltic. High strain rates and gas-rich conditions may produce more felsic hybrids. The incremental growth of crustal reservoirs limits the production of hybrids to the waning stage of pluton assembly and to small portions of it. Large-scale mixing appears to be more efficient at lower crustal conditions, but requires higher proportions of mafic melt, producing more mafic hybrids than in shallow reservoirs. Altogether, our results show that hybrid arc magmas correspond to periods of enhanced magma production at depth.

  16. Effect of Mixing Condition on Rheological Behavior of Epoxy-Clay Nanocomposites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gholamhossein Sodeifian

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The effect of mixing on rheological behavior of 6% wt epoxy-clay nanocomposites was studied. The mixing processes were carried out by low shear mixer, homogenizer and ultrasonic and combination of different mixing techniques at medium and maximum power. All these methods led to intercalated structure. The XRD results showed that the ultrasonic has the best effect on dispersion while a low shear mixer has the least positive effect. Opposite to an ultrasonic mixing method, the homogenization process through maximum power does not change the dispersion state significantly. The best condition would be to use an ultrasonic mixer after a homogenizer, otherwise the reverse process may result in lower dispersion. Small amplitude oscillatory measurements were carried out on linear regime over 0.1-100 Hz. According to the fact that rheological responses are very sensitive to polymerparticle interactions and accessible surface area, the slope of storage modulus and shear thinning exponent of viscosity are proportional to the level of dispersion. This implies that more increases in intergallary height may lead to less terminal slope. The continuous relaxation profile and zero shear viscosity were generated by experimental data via computer software based on neural network approach. To check the validity of software, the experimental data were recovered with very low deviation using relaxation spectrum. The experimental observations showed that a solid-like behavior, as a result of better dispersion, can prevent the profile from falling especially at longertimes.

  17. THE APPLICABILITY OF EXISTING COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TO AUTOMATE FUZZY SYNTHESIS OF TRAFFIC LIGHT UAV IN ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. N. Lysenko

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The results of the analysis of the applicability of known application software systems for automated synthesis of fuzzy control traffic light UAV during its flight in adverse weather conditions. The solution is based on a previously formulated and put into consideration the principle of permissible limited a priori estimation of the uncertainty of aerodynamic characteristics of UAVs.

  18. Organophosphate pesticides exposure among farmworkers: pathways and risk of adverse health effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suratman, Suratman; Edwards, John William; Babina, Kateryna

    2015-01-01

    Organophosphate (OP) compounds are the most widely used pesticides with more than 100 OP compounds in use around the world. The high-intensity use of OP pesticides contributes to morbidity and mortality in farmworkers and their families through acute or chronic pesticides-related illnesses. Many factors contributing to adverse health effects have been investigated by researchers to determine pathways of OP-pesticide exposure among farmers in developed and developing countries. Factors like wind/agricultural pesticide drift, mixing and spraying pesticides, use of personal protective equipment (PPE), knowledge, perceptions, washing hands, taking a shower, wearing contaminated clothes, eating, drinking, smoking, and hot weather are common in both groups of countries. Factors including low socioeconomic status areas, workplace conditions, duration of exposure, pesticide safety training, frequency of applying pesticides, spraying against the wind, and reuse of pesticide containers for storage are specific contributors in developing countries, whereas housing conditions, social contextual factors, and mechanical equipment were specific pathways in developed countries. This paper compares existing research in environmental and behavioural exposure modifying factors and biological monitoring between developing and developed countries. The main objective of this review is to explore the current depth of understanding of exposure pathways and factors increasing the risk of exposure potentially leading to adverse health effects specific to each group of countries.

  19. Mapping differentiation under mixed culture conditions reveals a tunable continuum of T cell fates.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yaron E Antebi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Cell differentiation is typically directed by external signals that drive opposing regulatory pathways. Studying differentiation under polarizing conditions, with only one input signal provided, is limited in its ability to resolve the logic of interactions between opposing pathways. Dissection of this logic can be facilitated by mapping the system's response to mixtures of input signals, which are expected to occur in vivo, where cells are simultaneously exposed to various signals with potentially opposing effects. Here, we systematically map the response of naïve T cells to mixtures of signals driving differentiation into the Th1 and Th2 lineages. We characterize cell state at the single cell level by measuring levels of the two lineage-specific transcription factors (T-bet and GATA3 and two lineage characteristic cytokines (IFN-γ and IL-4 that are driven by these transcription regulators. We find a continuum of mixed phenotypes in which individual cells co-express the two lineage-specific master regulators at levels that gradually depend on levels of the two input signals. Using mathematical modeling we show that such tunable mixed phenotype arises if autoregulatory positive feedback loops in the gene network regulating this process are gradual and dominant over cross-pathway inhibition. We also find that expression of the lineage-specific cytokines follows two independent stochastic processes that are biased by expression levels of the master regulators. Thus, cytokine expression is highly heterogeneous under mixed conditions, with subpopulations of cells expressing only IFN-γ, only IL-4, both cytokines, or neither. The fraction of cells in each of these subpopulations changes gradually with input conditions, reproducing the continuous internal state at the cell population level. These results suggest a differentiation scheme in which cells reflect uncertainty through a continuously tuneable mixed phenotype combined with a biased

  20. Mixing process in the preparation of feed pellets at technological conditions rational parametres choice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. S. Shentsova

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The mixing of ingredients – the most important process step in the manufacture of fodder pellets. The technology involves using molasses (warmed to 30–40 °C as a binder. In its composition is administered a mixture of salts of trace elements (copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, cobalt carbonate, potassium iodide, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, vitamins, salt, magnesium oxide, feed limestone, mono calcium phosphate and lime. Research on the development of feed pellets were carried out in laboratory conditions using experimental equipment. Mixer-reactor created the conditions for heating and temperature control of mass be mixed due to the occurring chemical reaction between water contained in the molasses, and the presence of oxides of calcium and magnesium. The choice of rational parameters of the mixing process upon receipt of fodder pellets allows to provide the high quality product with minimal energy costs. The ranges of the input information factors selected with the aid of a central rotatable uniforms-planning allowed with 56 experiments in a third-multiple replication to obtain the regression equation adequately describing the mixing process. The main factors were: the content of molasses, %; the content of calcium oxide, %; frequency of rotation of the stirrer, rpm; the content of salt in the recipe, %; the temperature of blending, °C. Output factors – productivity, kg/h; energy consumption, kWh; homogeneity of mixing, %. In the result of experiments impact factors and mathematical model of the process that allows to define output parameters within chosen ranges of variation of input factors are obtained. Greatest influence – the content of molasses in the product, the lowest – content of salt in the recipe. Efficiency of mixing hard distributed components pertaining to the most important biologically active substances was evaluated. Content (% of entered of vitamins and minerals in the pellets did not differ

  1. Effects of Annealing Conditions on Mixed Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells and Their Thermal Stability Investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Haifeng; Zhang, Jincheng; Zhang, Chunfu; Chang, Jingjing; Lin, Zhenhua; Chen, Dazheng; Xi, He; Hao, Yue

    2017-07-21

    In this work, efficient mixed organic cation and mixed halide (MA 0.7 FA 0.3 Pb(I 0.9 Br 0.1 )₃) perovskite solar cells are demonstrated by optimizing annealing conditions. AFM, XRD and PL measurements show that there is a better perovskite film quality for the annealing condition at 100 °C for 30 min. The corresponding device exhibits an optimized PCE of 16.76% with V OC of 1.02 V, J SC of 21.55 mA/cm² and FF of 76.27%. More importantly, the mixed lead halide perovskite MA 0.7 FA 0.3 Pb(I 0.9 Br 0.1 )₃ can significantly increase the thermal stability of perovskite film. After being heated at 80 °C for 24 h, the PCE of the MA 0.7 FA 0.3 Pb(I 0.9 Br 0.1 )₃ device still remains at 70.00% of its initial value, which is much better than the control MAPbI₃ device, where only 46.50% of its initial value could be preserved. We also successfully fabricated high-performance flexible mixed lead halide perovskite solar cells based on PEN substrates.

  2. Necessary and sufficient condition for distillability with unit fidelity from finite copies of a mixed state: The most efficient purification protocol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Pingxing; Liang Linmei; Li Chengzu; Huang Mingqiu

    2002-01-01

    It is well known that any entangled mixed state in 2x2 systems can be purified via infinite copies of the mixed state. But, can one distill a pure maximally entangled state from finite copies of a mixed state in any bipartite system by local operation and classical communication? This is more meaningful in practical application. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for this distillability. This condition requires that there exist distillable subspaces. According to this condition, one can judge easily whether a mixed state is distillable or not. We also analyze some properties of distillable subspaces, and discuss the most efficient purification protocol. Finally, we discuss the distillable enanglement of a two-qubit system for the case of finite copies

  3. Mixed problems for linear symmetric hyperbolic systems with characteristic boundary conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Secchi, P.

    1994-01-01

    We consider the initial-boundary value problem for symmetric hyperbolic systems with characteristic boundary of constant multiplicity. In the linear case we give some results about the existence of regular solutions in suitable functions spaces which take in account the loss of regularity in the normal direction to the characteristic boundary. We also consider the equations of ideal magneto-hydrodynamics under perfectly conducting wall boundary conditions and give some results about the solvability of such mixed problem. (author). 16 refs

  4. CFD simulation for thermal mixing of a SMART flow mixing header assembly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Young In; Bae, Youngmin; Chung, Young Jong; Kim, Keung Koo

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermal mixing performance of a FMHA installed in SMART is investigated numerically. • Effects of operating condition and discharge hole configuration are examined. • FMHA performance satisfies the design requirements under various abnormal conditions. - Abstract: A flow mixing header assembly (FMHA) is installed in a system-integrated modular advanced reactor (SMART) to enhance the thermal mixing capability and create a uniform core flow distribution under both normal operation and accident conditions. In this study, the thermal mixing characteristics of the FMHA are investigated for various steam generator conditions using a commercial CFD code. Simulations include investigations for the effects of FMHA discharge flow rate differences, turbulence models, and steam generator conditions. The results of the analysis show that the FMHA works effectively for thermal mixing in various conditions and makes the temperature difference at the core inlet decrease noticeably. We verified that the mixing capability of the FMHA is excellent and satisfies the design requirement in all simulation cases tested here

  5. Modelling speech intelligibility in adverse conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Søren; Dau, Torsten

    2013-01-01

    Jørgensen and Dau (J Acoust Soc Am 130:1475-1487, 2011) proposed the speech-based envelope power spectrum model (sEPSM) in an attempt to overcome the limitations of the classical speech transmission index (STI) and speech intelligibility index (SII) in conditions with nonlinearly processed speech...... subjected to phase jitter, a condition in which the spectral structure of the intelligibility of speech signal is strongly affected, while the broadband temporal envelope is kept largely intact. In contrast, the effects of this distortion can be predicted -successfully by the spectro-temporal modulation...... suggest that the SNRenv might reflect a powerful decision metric, while some explicit across-frequency analysis seems crucial in some conditions. How such across-frequency analysis is "realized" in the auditory system remains unresolved....

  6. Adverse selection and supply-side factors in the enrollment in community-based health insurance in Northwest Ethiopia: A mixed methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atafu, Asmamaw; Kwon, Soonman

    2018-05-20

    Since 2010, the Ethiopian government introduced different measures to implement community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes to improve access to health service and reduce the catastrophic effect of health care costs. The aim of this study was to examine the determinants of enrollment in CBHI in Northwest Ethiopia. In this study, we utilized a mix of quantitative (multivariate logistic regression applied to population survey linked with health facility survey) and qualitative (focus group discussion and in-depth interview) methods to better understand the factors that affect CBHI enrollment. The study revealed important factors, such as household, informal association, and health facility, as barriers to CBHI enrollment. Age and educational status, self-rated health status, perceived quality of health services, knowledge, and information (awareness) about CBHI were among the characteristics of individual household head, affecting enrollment. Household size and participation in an informal association, such as local credit associations, were also positively associated with CBHI enrollment. Additionally, health facility factors like unavailability of laboratory tests were the main factor that hinders CBHI enrollment. This study showed a possibility of adverse selection in CBHI enrollment. Additionally, perceived quality of health services, knowledge, and information (awareness) are positively associated with CBHI enrollment. Therefore, policy interventions to mitigate adverse selection as well as provision of social marketing activities are crucial to increase enrollment in CBHI. Furthermore, policy interventions that enhance the capacity of health facilities and schemes to provide the promised services are necessary. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Anaerobic degradation of naphthalene by the mixed bacteria under nitrate reducing conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dou Junfeng; Liu Xiang; Ding Aizhong

    2009-01-01

    Mixed bacteria were enriched from soil samples contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The anaerobic degradation characteristics by the enriched bacteria with different initial naphthalene concentrations were investigated under nitrate reducing conditions. The results showed that the mixed bacteria could degrade nearly all the naphthalene over the incubations of 25 days when the initial naphthalene concentration was below 30 mg/L. The degradation rates of naphthalene increased with increasing initial concentrations. A high naphthalene concentration of 30 mg/L did not inhibit neither on the bacterial growth nor on the naphthalene degradation ability. The accumulation of nitrite was occurred during the reduction of nitrate, and a nitrite concentration of 50 mg/L had no inhibition effect on the degradation of naphthalene. The calculation of electron balances revealed that most of the naphthalene was oxidized whereas a small proportion was used for cell synthesis.

  8. Multi-condition optimization and experimental study of impeller blades in a mixed-flow pump

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Houlin Liu

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of design of experiment and numerical simulation, a reliable optimization method for blades of a mixed-flow pump is proposed with the maximum weighted average efficiency at multi-conditions as optimum objective. First, the performance of the model pump was measured and the test results were used to validate the simulation method. To improve the simulation accuracy, the check of the grid independence and the comparison of different turbulence models were done in detail. Then, the method of design of experiment for key geometrical parameters was used to obtain the optimization scheme. The maximum weighted average efficiency of pump at three operation conditions was chosen as optimum objective. The optimum solution was gotten and confirmed by the experiment. The results demonstrate that efficiency of the mixed-flow pump with optimized impeller increases by 3.9%, and the high-efficiency zone is increased from 0.021 to 0.040.

  9. Functions of Nitric Oxide (NO in Roots during Development and under Adverse Stress Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco J. Corpas

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The free radical molecule, nitric oxide (NO, is present in the principal organs of plants, where it plays an important role in a wide range of physiological functions. Root growth and development are highly regulated by both internal and external factors such as nutrient availability, hormones, pattern formation, cell polarity and cell cycle control. The presence of NO in roots has opened up new areas of research on the role of NO, including root architecture, nutrient acquisition, microorganism interactions and the response mechanisms to adverse environmental conditions, among others. Additionally, the exogenous application of NO throughout the roots has the potential to counteract specific damages caused by certain stresses. This review aims to provide an up-to-date perspective on NO functions in the roots of higher plants.

  10. One-against-all weighted dynamic time warping for language-independent and speaker-dependent speech recognition in adverse conditions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xianglilan Zhang

    Full Text Available Considering personal privacy and difficulty of obtaining training material for many seldom used English words and (often non-English names, language-independent (LI with lightweight speaker-dependent (SD automatic speech recognition (ASR is a promising option to solve the problem. The dynamic time warping (DTW algorithm is the state-of-the-art algorithm for small foot-print SD ASR applications with limited storage space and small vocabulary, such as voice dialing on mobile devices, menu-driven recognition, and voice control on vehicles and robotics. Even though we have successfully developed two fast and accurate DTW variations for clean speech data, speech recognition for adverse conditions is still a big challenge. In order to improve recognition accuracy in noisy environment and bad recording conditions such as too high or low volume, we introduce a novel one-against-all weighted DTW (OAWDTW. This method defines a one-against-all index (OAI for each time frame of training data and applies the OAIs to the core DTW process. Given two speech signals, OAWDTW tunes their final alignment score by using OAI in the DTW process. Our method achieves better accuracies than DTW and merge-weighted DTW (MWDTW, as 6.97% relative reduction of error rate (RRER compared with DTW and 15.91% RRER compared with MWDTW are observed in our extensive experiments on one representative SD dataset of four speakers' recordings. To the best of our knowledge, OAWDTW approach is the first weighted DTW specially designed for speech data in adverse conditions.

  11. Mixing Acid Salts and Layered Double Hydroxides in Nanoscale under Solid Condition

    OpenAIRE

    Nakayama, Hirokazu; Hayashi, Aki

    2014-01-01

    The immobilization of potassium sorbate, potassium aspartate and sorbic acid in layered double hydroxide under solid condition was examined. By simply mixing two solids, immobilization of sorbate and aspartate in the interlayer space of nitrate-type layered double hydroxide, so called intercalation reaction, was achieved, and the uptakes, that is, the amount of immobilized salts and the interlayer distances of intercalation compounds were almost the same as those obtained in aqueous solution...

  12. Impact of Flight Enthalpy, Fuel Simulant, and Chemical Reactions on the Mixing Characteristics of Several Injectors at Hypervelocity Flow Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drozda, Tomasz G.; Baurle, Robert A.; Drummond, J. Philip

    2016-01-01

    The high total temperatures or total enthalpies required to duplicate the high-speed flight conditions in ground experiments often place stringent requirements on the material selection and cooling needs for the test articles and intrusive flow diagnostic equipment. Furthermore, for internal flows, these conditions often complicate the use of nonintrusive diagnostics that need optical access to the test section and interior portions of the flowpath. Because of the technical challenges and increased costs associated with experimentation at high values of total enthalpy, an attempt is often made to reduce it. This is the case for the Enhanced Injection and Mixing Project (EIMP) currently underway in the Arc-Heated Scramjet Test Facility at the NASA Langley Research Center. The EIMP aims to investigate supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) fuel injection and mixing physics, improve the understanding of underlying physical processes, and develop enhancement strategies and functional relationships between mixing performance and losses relevant to flight Mach numbers greater than 8. The experiments will consider a "direct-connect" approach and utilize a Mach 6 nozzle to simulate the combustor entrance flow of a scramjet engine. However, while the value of the Mach number is matched to that expected at the combustor entrance in flight, the maximum value of the total enthalpy for these experiments is limited by the thermal-structural limits of the uncooled experimental hardware. Furthermore, the fuel simulant is helium, not hydrogen. The use of "cold" flows and non-reacting mixtures of fuel simulants for mixing experiments is not new and has been extensively utilized as a screening technique for scramjet fuel injectors. In this study, Reynolds-averaged simulations are utilized (RAS) to systematically verify the implicit assumptions used by the EIMP. This is accomplished by first performing RAS of mixing for two injector configurations at planned nominal experimental

  13. Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness Strengthens Assurance of Fault Management Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitz, Rhonda

    2017-01-01

    As spaceflight systems increase in complexity, Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of software criticality, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance. Adverse conditions (ACs) and specific vulnerabilities encountered by safety- and mission-critical software systems have been identified through efforts to reduce the risk posture of software-intensive NASA missions. Acknowledgement of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine software system resiliency are important aspects of hazard analysis and FM. A key component of assuring FM is an assessment of how well software addresses susceptibility to failure through consideration of ACs. Focus on significant risk predicted through experienced analysis conducted at the NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Program enables the scoping of effective assurance strategies with regard to overall asset protection of complex spaceflight as well as ground systems. Research efforts sponsored by NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domaincomponent, causal fault, and other key characteristics. Vulnerability in off-nominal situations, architectural design weaknesses, and unexpected or undesirable system behaviors in reaction to faults are curtailed with the awareness of ACs and risk-significant scenarios modeled for analysts through this database. Integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IVV enables interfacing with other tools and datasets, technical support, and accessibility across the Agency. This paper discusses the development of an improved workflow process utilizing this

  14. Selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride under oxygen-deficient conditions over V-P-O mixed oxides

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bosch, H.; Bruggink, A.A.; Ross, J.R.H.

    1987-01-01

    The selective oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride over V-P-O mixed oxides was studied under oxygen deficient conditions. The mixed oxides were prepared with P/V atomic ratios ranging from 0.7 to 1.0. Catalysts with P/V <1.0 did not show any selectivity to maleic anhydride formation, regardless

  15. A Second-Order Conditionally Linear Mixed Effects Model with Observed and Latent Variable Covariates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harring, Jeffrey R.; Kohli, Nidhi; Silverman, Rebecca D.; Speece, Deborah L.

    2012-01-01

    A conditionally linear mixed effects model is an appropriate framework for investigating nonlinear change in a continuous latent variable that is repeatedly measured over time. The efficacy of the model is that it allows parameters that enter the specified nonlinear time-response function to be stochastic, whereas those parameters that enter in a…

  16. Adverse weather conditions for European wheat production will become more frequent with climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trnka, Miroslav; Rötter, Reimund P.; Ruiz-Ramos, Margarita

    2014-01-01

    events that might significantly affect wheat yield in Europe. For this purpose we analysed changes in the frequency of the occurrence of 11 adverse weather events. Using climate scenarios based on the most recent ensemble of climate models and greenhouse gases emission estimates, we assessed...... crop failure across Europe. This study provides essential information for developing adaptation strategies.......Europe is the largest producer of wheat, the second most widely grown cereal crop after rice. The increased occurrence and magnitude of adverse and extreme agroclimatic events are considered a major threat for wheat production. We present an analysis that accounts for a range of adverse weather...

  17. Influence of convective conditions on three dimensional mixed convective hydromagnetic boundary layer flow of Casson nanofluid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rauf, A., E-mail: raufamar@ciitsahiwal.edu.pk [Department of Mathematics, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal 57000 (Pakistan); Siddiq, M.K. [Centre for Advanced Studies in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 63000 (Pakistan); Abbasi, F.M. [Department of Mathematics, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad 44000 (Pakistan); Meraj, M.A. [Department of Mathematics, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal 57000 (Pakistan); Ashraf, M. [Centre for Advanced Studies in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 63000 (Pakistan); Shehzad, S.A. [Department of Mathematics, Comsats Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal 57000 (Pakistan)

    2016-10-15

    The present work deals with the steady laminar three-dimensional mixed convective magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary layer flow of Casson nanofluid over a bidirectional stretching surface. A uniform magnetic field is applied normal to the flow direction. Similarity variables are implemented to convert the non-linear partial differential equations into ordinary ones. Convective boundary conditions are utilized at surface of the sheet. A numerical technique of Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg (RFK45) is used to obtain the results of velocity, temperature and concentration fields. The physical dimensionless parameters are discussed through tables and graphs. - Highlights: • Mixed convective boundary layer flow of Casson nanofluid is taken into account. • Impact of magnetic field is examined. • Convective heat and mass conditions are imposed. • Numerical solutions are presented and discussed.

  18. Biodegradation of phenols in a sandstone aquifer under aerobic conditions and mixed nitrate and iron reducing conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Broholm, Mette; Arvin, Erik

    2000-01-01

    in the groundwater. The potential for biodegradation of the phenols in the sandstone aquifer at the site has been investigated in laboratory microcosms under aerobic (oxygen amended) and mixed nitrate and iron reducing (nitrate enriched and unamended) anaerobic conditions, at a range of concentrations (low: similar...... to 5 mg 1(-1): high: similar to 60 mg 1(-1), and very high: similar to 600 mg 1(-1)) and in the presence of other organic coal-tar compounds (mono- and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (BTEXs and PAHs) and heterocyclic compounds (NSOs)) and ammonia liquor. Sandstone cores and groundwater for the microcosms...

  19. An Analytical Approach for Performance Enhancement of FSO Communication System Using Array of Receivers in Adverse Weather Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagpal, Shaina; Gupta, Amit

    2017-08-01

    Free Space Optics (FSO) link exploits the tremendous network capacity and is capable of offering wireless communications similar to communications through optical fibres. However, FSO link is extremely weather dependent and the major effect on FSO links is due to adverse weather conditions like fog and snow. In this paper, an FSO link is designed using an array of receivers. The disparity of the link for very high attenuation conditions due to fog and snow is analysed using aperture averaging technique. Further effect of aperture averaging technique is investigated by comparing the systems using aperture averaging technique with systems not using aperture averaging technique. The performance of proposed model of FSO link has been evaluated in terms of Q factor, bit error rate (BER) and eye diagram.

  20. Automatically varying the composition of a mixed refrigerant solution for single mixed refrigerant LNG (liquefied natural gas) process at changing working conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Xiongwen; Liu, Jinping; Cao, Le; Pang, Weiqiang

    2014-01-01

    The SMR (single mixed refrigerant) process is widely used in the small- and medium-scale liquefaction of NG (natural gas). Operating the MR (mixed-refrigerant) process outside of the design specifications is difficult but essential to save energy. Nevertheless, it is difficult to realize because the process needs to alter the working refrigerant composition. To address this challenge, this study investigated the performance diagnosis mechanism for SMR process. A control strategy was then proposed to control the changes in working refrigerant composition under different working conditions. This strategy separates the working refrigerant flow in the SMR process into three flows through two phase separators before it flows into the cold box. The first liquid flow is rich in the high-temperature component (isopentane). The second liquid flow is rich in the middle-temperature components (ethylene and propane), and the gas flow is rich in the low-temperature components (nitrogen and methane). By adjusting the flow rates, it is easy to decouple the control variables and automate the system. Finally, this approach was validated by process simulation and shown to be highly adaptive and exergy efficient in response to changing working conditions. - Highlights: • The performance diagnosis mechanism of SMR LNG process is studied. • A measure to automatically change the operation composition as per the working conditions is proposed for SMR process. • SMR process simulation is performed to verify the validity of the control solution. • The control solution notably improves the energy efficiency of SMR process at changing working condition

  1. Post-operative serious adverse events in a mixed surgical population

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, M S; Petersen, E E; Dahl, J B

    2016-01-01

    BACKGROUND: The number of surgical procedures is increasing, and knowledge of surgical risk factors, post-operative mortality and serious adverse events (SAE) is essential. The aim with our study was to determine the risk of a composite outcome of post-operative: death; myocardial infarction...... or gynaecological surgery was conducted retrieving data from The Danish Civil Registration System and the National Patient Register. Total observation time was from January 1, 2012 to June 6, 2013. RESULTS: A total7449 adult patients were included in the final analysis. The risk of the composite outcome during...... of 8.3% (7.8-9.0). The results are applicable in estimations of adequate sample sizes in future clinical trials investigating effects of interventions on SAEs....

  2. Variational multiscale enrichment method with mixed boundary conditions for elasto-viscoplastic problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shuhai; Oskay, Caglar

    2015-04-01

    This manuscript presents the formulation and implementation of the variational multiscale enrichment (VME) method for the analysis of elasto-viscoplastic problems. VME is a global-local approach that allows accurate fine scale representation at small subdomains, where important physical phenomena are likely to occur. The response within far-fields is idealized using a coarse scale representation. The fine scale representation not only approximates the coarse grid residual, but also accounts for the material heterogeneity. A one-parameter family of mixed boundary conditions that range from Dirichlet to Neumann is employed to study the effect of the choice of the boundary conditions at the fine scale on accuracy. The inelastic material behavior is modeled using Perzyna type viscoplasticity coupled with flow stress evolution idealized by the Johnson-Cook model. Numerical verifications are performed to assess the performance of the proposed approach against the direct finite element simulations. The results of verification studies demonstrate that VME with proper boundary conditions accurately model the inelastic response accounting for material heterogeneity.

  3. Unmet needs in young adults with a parent with a chronic condition: a mixed-method investigation and measure development study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholls, Wendy; Patterson, Pandora; McDonald, Fiona E J; Hulbert-Williams, Nicholas J

    2017-03-01

    Given the high number of young adults caring for a family member, and the potential for adverse psychosocial outcomes, there is a need for a screening tool, with clinical utility, to identify those most vulnerable to poor outcomes and to aid targeted interventions. (i) To determine whether current knowledge from cancer literature regarding young carers is generalisable to chronic conditions and, therefore, whether an existing screening tool could be adapted for this population. (ii) To develop a measure of unmet needs in this population and conduct initial psychometric analysis. This was mixed method; interviews in study one informed measure development in study two. Inclusion criteria were as follows: having a parent with a chronic condition and being aged 16-24 years. In study 1, an interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on interviews from seven young adults (age range 17-19 years). Study 2 explored factor structure, reliability and validity of the Offspring Chronic Illness Needs Inventory (OCINI). Participants were 73 females and 34 males (mean ages 18.22, SD = 1.16; 18.65, SD = 1.25). OCINI, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, and the Adult Carers Quality of Life Scale. Interviews communicated that the impact of their parent's condition went unacknowledged and resulted in psychosocial, support and informational needs. An exploratory principal axis analysis of the OCINI yielded five factors. Significant and positive correlations were found between unmet needs and stress, anxiety, and depression, and inversely with quality of life. The scale has applications in clinical settings where these young people, who are at risk of negative psychological outcomes, may be assessed and unmet needs targeted appropriately. © 2016 Nordic College of Caring Science.

  4. Admissions and Readmissions Related to Adverse Events, 2007-2014

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-12-01

    DRG is a classification system primarily used for billing purposes. It uses the principle and secondary diagnoses to assign clinical conditions to...This study assessed adverse events as they relate to readmissions in the Military Health System (MHS). Among 142,579 admissions with an adverse event...The following study retrospectively assessed admissions and readmissions for adverse events in the Military Health System (MHS) by quantifying

  5. Discrete maximum principle for Poisson equation with mixed boundary conditions solved by hp-FEM

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Vejchodský, Tomáš; Šolín, P.

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 1, č. 2 (2009), s. 201-214 ISSN 2070-0733 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA100760702; GA ČR(CZ) GA102/07/0496; GA ČR GA102/05/0629 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : discrete maximum principle * hp-FEM * Poisson equation * mixed boundary conditions Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics

  6. What causes IOR? Attention or perception? - manipulating cue and target luminance in either blocked or mixed condition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yuanyuan; Heinke, Dietmar

    2014-12-01

    Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the performance disadvantage when detecting a target presented at a previously cued location. The current paper contributes to the long-standing debate whether IOR is caused by attentional processing or perceptual processing. We present a series of four experiments which varied the cue luminance in mixed and blocked conditions. We hypothesised that if inhibition was initialized by an attentional process the size of IOR should not vary in the blocked condition as participants should be able to adapt to the level of cue luminance. However, if a perceptual process triggers inhibition both experimental manipulations should lead to varying levels of IOR. Indeed, we found evidence for the latter hypothesis. In addition, we also varied the target luminance in blocked and mixed condition. Both manipulations, cue luminance and target luminance, affected IOR in an additive fashion suggesting that the two stimuli affect human behaviour on different processing stages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Adverse environments and children's creativity development: transforming the notion of "success in adversity" in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Li; Tan, Mei; Liu, Zhengkui

    2015-01-01

    China has been undergoing great social change due to its new focus on urbanization and globalization. Such change has had a tremendous adverse impact on the living conditions of millions of young children, simultaneously generating new interest in children's creativity development. The intersection of these two issues has important implications for China's future as it brings together one of China's core cultural values-"success in adversity"-the importance of creativity, and very real social and economic needs. "Success in adversity" reflects the strongly held belief that individuals who suffer adverse environments can rise to excellence and success through persistence, effort, and creativity. In this article, we briefly explore the historical sources of this belief and how it is closely related to the Chinese conception of creativity. We then present some studies on the creativity of some of China's migrant children. Findings show that while migrant children as a group may not generally exhibit higher creativity than their urban peers as hypothesized, indications of resilience and creative potential suggest that the notion of success in adversity may contribute to the positive development of China's migrant children more substantially when it is informed by research and augmented by research-supported policy. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Hearing loss impacts neural alpha oscillations under adverse listening conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eline Borch Petersen

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Degradations in external, acoustic stimulation have long been suspected to increase the load on working memory. One neural signature of working memory load is enhanced power of alpha oscillations (6 ‒ 12 Hz. However, it is unknown to what extent common internal, auditory degradation, that is, hearing impairment, affects the neural mechanisms of working memory when audibility has been ensured via amplification. Using an adapted auditory Sternberg paradigm, we varied the orthogonal factors memory load and background noise level, while the electroencephalogram (EEG was recorded. In each trial, participants were presented with 2, 4, or 6 spoken digits embedded in one of three different levels of background noise. After a stimulus-free delay interval, participants indicated whether a probe digit had appeared in the sequence of digits. Participants were healthy older adults (62 – 86 years, with normal to moderately impaired hearing. Importantly, the background noise levels were individually adjusted and participants were wearing hearing aids to equalize audibility across participants. Irrespective of hearing loss, behavioral performance improved with lower memory load and also with lower levels of background noise. Interestingly, the alpha power in the stimulus-free delay interval was dependent on the interplay between task demands (memory load and noise level and hearing loss; while alpha power increased with hearing loss during low and intermediate levels of memory load and background noise, it dropped for participants with the relatively most severe hearing loss under the highest memory load and background noise level. These findings suggest that adaptive neural mechanisms for coping with adverse listening conditions break down for higher degrees of hearing loss, even when adequate hearing aid amplification is in place.

  9. Probiotics production and alternative encapsulation methodologies to improve their viabilities under adverse environmental conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coghetto, Chaline Caren; Brinques, Graziela Brusch; Ayub, Marco Antônio Záchia

    2016-12-01

    Probiotic products are dietary supplements containing live microorganisms producing beneficial health effects on the host by improving intestinal balance and nutrient absorption. Among probiotic microorganisms, those classified as lactic acid bacteria are of major importance to the food and feed industries. Probiotic cells can be produced using alternative carbon and nitrogen sources, such as agroindustrial residues, at the same time contributing to reduce process costs. On the other hand, the survival of probiotic cells in formulated food products, as well as in the host gut, is an essential nutritional aspect concerning health benefits. Therefore, several cell microencapsulation techniques have been investigated as a way to improve cell viability and survival under adverse environmental conditions, such as the gastrointestinal milieu of hosts. In this review, different aspects of probiotic cells and technologies of their related products are discussed, including formulation of culture media, and aspects of cell microencapsulation techniques required to improve their survival in the host.

  10. Accurate initial conditions in mixed Dark Matter--Baryon simulations

    CERN Document Server

    Valkenburg, Wessel

    2017-06-01

    We quantify the error in the results of mixed baryon--dark-matter hydrodynamic simulations, stemming from outdated approximations for the generation of initial conditions. The error at redshift 0 in contemporary large simulations, is of the order of few to ten percent in the power spectra of baryons and dark matter, and their combined total-matter power spectrum. After describing how to properly assign initial displacements and peculiar velocities to multiple species, we review several approximations: (1) {using the total-matter power spectrum to compute displacements and peculiar velocities of both fluids}, (2) scaling the linear redshift-zero power spectrum back to the initial power spectrum using the Newtonian growth factor ignoring homogeneous radiation, (3) using longitudinal-gauge velocities with synchronous-gauge densities, and (4) ignoring the phase-difference in the Fourier modes for the offset baryon grid, relative to the dark-matter grid. Three of these approximations do not take into account that ...

  11. Developing a Traffic Management Framework for Coastal Expressway Bridges under Adverse Weather Conditions: Case Study of Rain Day in Shenzhen, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chenming Jiang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Adverse weather can reduce visibility and road surface friction, lower vehicle maneuverability, and increase crash frequency and injury severity. The impacts of adverse weather and its interactions with drivers and roadway on the operation and management of expressway or expressway bridges have drawn the researchers’ and managers’ attention to develop traffic management frameworks to mitigate the negative influence. Considering the peculiar geographical location and meteorological conditions, the Guangshen Coast Expressway-Shenzhen Segment (GSCE-SS was selected as a case in this study to illustrate the proposed traffic management framework on rain days. Conditions categorized by rainfall intensity and traffic flow were the main precondition to make the management decisions. CORSIM simulator was used to develop the alternate routes choice schemes, providing reference for other systems in the proposed traffic management framework. Maps of (a entrance ramp control (ERC strategies; (b mainline control strategies; (c alternate routes choice; (d information release schemes, under scenarios of different volume and rainstorm warning grades (BLUE to RED, were drawn to present a reference or demonstration for managers of long-span expressway bridges not only in China, but even in the world.

  12. Predicting speech intelligibility in adverse conditions: evaluation of the speech-based envelope power spectrum model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Søren; Dau, Torsten

    2011-01-01

    conditions by comparing predictions to measured data from [Kjems et al. (2009). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 126 (3), 1415-1426] where speech is mixed with four different interferers, including speech-shaped noise, bottle noise, car noise, and cafe noise. The model accounts well for the differences in intelligibility......The speech-based envelope power spectrum model (sEPSM) [Jørgensen and Dau (2011). J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 130 (3), 1475–1487] estimates the envelope signal-to-noise ratio (SNRenv) of distorted speech and accurately describes the speech recognition thresholds (SRT) for normal-hearing listeners...... observed for the different interferers. None of the standardized models successfully describe these data....

  13. A mixed methods approach to developing and evaluating oncology trainee education around minimization of adverse events and improved patient quality and safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janssen, Anna; Shaw, Tim; Bradbury, Lauren; Moujaber, Tania; Nørrelykke, Anne Mette; Zerillo, Jessica A; LaCasce, Ann; Co, John Patrick T; Robinson, Tracy; Starr, Alison; Harnett, Paul

    2016-03-12

    Adverse events are a significant quality and safety issue in the hospital setting due to their direct impact on patients. Additionally, such events are often handled by junior doctors due to their direct involvement with patients. As such, it is important for health care organizations to prioritize education and training for junior doctors on identifying adverse events and handling them when they occur. The Cancer Cup Challenge is an educational program focuses on quality improvement and adverse event awareness targeting for junior oncology doctors across three international sites. A mixed methodology was used to develop and evaluate the program. The Qstream spaced learning platform was used to disseminate information to participants, as it has been demonstrated to impact on both knowledge and behavior. Eight short case based scenarios with expert feedback were developed by a multidisciplinary advisory committee containing representatives from the international sites. At the conclusion of the course impact on participant knowledge was evaluated using analysis of the metrics collected by the Qstream platform. Additionally, an online survey and semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate engagement and perceived value by participants. A total of 35 junior doctors registered to undertake the Qstream program, with 31 (88.57 %) successfully completing it. Analysis of the Qstream metrics revealed 76.57 % of cases were answered correctly on first attempt. The post-program survey received 17 responses, with 76.47 % indicating cases for the course were interesting and 82.35 % feeling cases were relevant. Finally, 14 participants consented to participate in semi-structured interviews about the program, with feedback towards the course being generally very positive. Our study demonstrates that an online game is well accepted by junior doctors as a method to increase their quality improvement awareness. Developing effective and sustainable training for doctors is

  14. Foliar photochemical processes and carbon metabolism under favourable and adverse winter conditions in a Mediterranean mixed forest, Catalonia (Spain)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sperlich, D.; Chang, C. T.; Peñuelas, J.; Gracia, C.; Sabaté, S.

    2014-10-01

    Evergreen trees in the Mediterranean region must cope with a wide range of environmental stresses from summer drought to winter cold. The mildness of Mediterranean winters can periodically lead to favourable environmental conditions above the threshold for a positive carbon balance, benefitting evergreen woody species more than deciduous ones. The comparatively lower solar energy input in winter decreases the foliar light saturation point. This leads to a higher susceptibility to photoinhibitory stress especially when chilly (Arbutus unedo L.). Therefore, we collected twigs from the field during a period of mild winter conditions and after a sudden cold period. After both periods, the state of the photosynthetic machinery was tested in the laboratory by estimating the foliar photosynthetic potential with CO2 response curves in parallel with chlorophyll fluorescence measurements. The studied evergreen tree species benefited strongly from mild winter conditions by exhibiting extraordinarily high photosynthetic potentials. A sudden period of frost, however, negatively affected the photosynthetic apparatus, leading to significant decreases in key physiological parameters such as the maximum carboxylation velocity (Vc, max), the maximum photosynthetic electron transport rate (Jmax), and the optimal fluorometric quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm). The responses of Vc, max and Jmax were highly species specific, with Q. ilex exhibiting the highest and P. halepensis the lowest reductions. In contrast, the optimal fluorometric quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) was significantly lower in A. unedo after the cold period. The leaf position played an important role in Q. ilex showing a stronger winter effect on sunlit leaves in comparison to shaded leaves. Our results generally agreed with the previous classifications of photoinhibition-tolerant (P. halepensis) and photoinhibition-avoiding (Q. ilex) species on the basis of their susceptibility to dynamic

  15. Sneutrino mixing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grossman, Y.

    1997-10-01

    In supersymmetric models with nonvanishing Majorana neutrino masses, the sneutrino and antisneutrino mix. The conditions under which this mixing is experimentally observable are studied, and mass-splitting of the sneutrino mass eigenstates and sneutrino oscillation phenomena are analyzed

  16. Regularization of moving boundaries in a Laplacian field by a mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary condition : exact results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B.J. Meulenbroek (Bernard); U. M. Ebert (Ute); L. Schäfer

    2005-01-01

    textabstractThe dynamics of ionization fronts that generate a conducting body, are in simplest approximation equivalent to viscous fingering without regularization. Going beyond this approximation, we suggest that ionization fronts can be modeled by a mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary condition. We

  17. Constitutive correlations for wire-wrapped subchannel analysis under forced and mixed convection conditions. Part 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, S.K.; Todreas, N.E.

    1984-08-01

    A simple subchannel analysis method based on the ENERGY series of codes, ENERGY-IV, has been established for predicting the temperature field in a single isolated wire-wrapped Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) subassembly under steady state forced and mixed convection conditions. The ENERGY-IV is a totally empirical code employed for fast running purposes and requires well calibrated lead length averaged input parameters to achieve satisfactory predictions. These input parameters were identified to be the inlet flow split parameters, the subchannel friction factors, the interchannel mixing parameters, the conduction shape factor, and the transverse velocity at the edge gap. Experiments were performed in a 37-pin wire-wrapped rod bundle with a geometry between that of a typical LMFBR fuel subassembly and blanket subassembly for filling the gap in the available data base for the input parameters. The isokinetic extraction method for measuring subchannel velocity, the pitot-static probe for measuring pressure drop, and the salt tracer injection method for estimating the interchannel mixing, were used in these experiments

  18. Early life adversity: Lasting consequences for emotional learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harm J. Krugers

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The early postnatal period is a highly sensitive time period for the developing brain, both in humans and rodents. During this time window, exposure to adverse experiences can lastingly impact cognitive and emotional development. In this review, we briefly discuss human and rodent studies investigating how exposure to adverse early life conditions – mainly related to quality of parental care - affects brain activity, brain structure, cognition and emotional responses later in life. We discuss the evidence that early life adversity hampers later hippocampal and prefrontal cortex functions, while increasing amygdala activity, and the sensitivity to stressors and emotional behavior later in life. Exposure to early life stress may thus on the one hand promote behavioral adaptation to potentially threatening conditions later in life –at the cost of contextual memory formation in less threatening situations- but may on the other hand also increase the sensitivity to develop stress-related and anxiety disorders in vulnerable individuals.

  19. Regularization of moving boundaries in a Laplacian field by a mixed dirichlet-neumann boundary condition: Exact results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Meulenbroek, B.; Ebert, U.; Schäfer, L.

    2005-01-01

    The dynamics of ionization fronts that generate a conducting body are in the simplest approximation equivalent to viscous fingering without regularization. Going beyond this approximation, we suggest that ionization fronts can be modeled by a mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary condition. We derive

  20. Rolling Friction Torque in Ball-Race Contacts Operating in Mixed Lubrication Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela Rodica D. Bălan

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Based on a theoretical model and an experimental methodology for defining the friction torque for lubricated conditions in a modified thrust ball bearing having only three balls, the authors experimentally investigated the influence of the lubricant parameter Λ on friction torque for mixed IVR (isoviscous rigid and EHL (elastohydrodynamic lubrication conditions. The experiments were conducted using ball diameters of 3 mm, 3.97 mm and 6.35 mm loaded at 0.125 N, 0.400 N and 0.633 N. Two oils of viscosity 0.08 Pa·s and 0.05 Pa·s were used and rotational speed was varied in the range 60–210 rpm to obtain a lubricant parameter Λ varying between 0.3 and 3.2. The experiments confirmed that the measured friction torque can be explained using hydrodynamic rolling force relationships respecting the transition from an IVR to an EHL lubrication regime.

  1. Mixed-handedness advantages in episodic memory obtained under conditions of intentional learning extend to incidental learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christman, Stephen D; Butler, Michael

    2011-10-01

    The existence of handedness differences in the retrieval of episodic memories is well-documented, but virtually all have been obtained under conditions of intentional learning. Two experiments are reported that extend the presence of such handedness differences to memory retrieval under conditions of incidental learning. Experiment 1 used Craik and Tulving's (1975) classic levels-of-processing paradigm and obtained handedness differences under incidental and intentional conditions of deep processing, but not under conditions of shallow incidental processing. Experiment 2 looked at incidental memory for distracter items from a recognition memory task and again found a mixed-handed advantage. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between interhemispheric interaction, levels of processing, and episodic memory retrieval. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Initial condition effects on large scale structure in numerical simulations of plane mixing layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMullan, W. A.; Garrett, S. J.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, Large Eddy Simulations are performed on the spatially developing plane turbulent mixing layer. The simulated mixing layers originate from initially laminar conditions. The focus of this research is on the effect of the nature of the imposed fluctuations on the large-scale spanwise and streamwise structures in the flow. Two simulations are performed; one with low-level three-dimensional inflow fluctuations obtained from pseudo-random numbers, the other with physically correlated fluctuations of the same magnitude obtained from an inflow generation technique. Where white-noise fluctuations provide the inflow disturbances, no spatially stationary streamwise vortex structure is observed, and the large-scale spanwise turbulent vortical structures grow continuously and linearly. These structures are observed to have a three-dimensional internal geometry with branches and dislocations. Where physically correlated provide the inflow disturbances a "streaky" streamwise structure that is spatially stationary is observed, with the large-scale turbulent vortical structures growing with the square-root of time. These large-scale structures are quasi-two-dimensional, on top of which the secondary structure rides. The simulation results are discussed in the context of the varying interpretations of mixing layer growth that have been postulated. Recommendations are made concerning the data required from experiments in order to produce accurate numerical simulation recreations of real flows.

  3. Against Mixed Epistemology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joe Milburn

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2015v19n2p183 We can call any reductive account of knowledge that appeals to both safety and ability conditions a mixed account of knowledge. Examples of mixed accounts of knowledge include Pritchard’s (2012 Anti-Luck Virtue Epistemology, Kelp’s (2013 Safe-Apt account of knowledge, and Turri’s (2011 Ample belief account of knowledge. Mixed accounts of knowledge are motivated by well-known counterexamples to pure safety and pure ability accounts of knowledge. It is thought that by combining both safety and ability conditions we can give an extensionally adequate reductive account of knowledge. In this paper I argue that the putative counterexamples to pure safety and pure ability accounts of knowledge fail to motivate mixed accounts of knowledge. In particular, I argue that if the putative counterexamples are problematic for safety accounts they are problematic for ability accounts and vice-versa. The reason for this, I argue, is that the safety condition and ability condition should be understood as alternative expressions of the same intuition — that knowledge must come from a reliable source.

  4. A study of different indicators of Maillard reaction with whey proteins and different carbohydrates under adverse storage conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva, Graciela E; Naranjo, Gabriela B; Malec, Laura S

    2017-01-15

    This study examined different indicators of each stage of Maillard reaction under adverse storage conditions in a system with whey proteins and lactose or glucose. The analysis of lysine loss by the o-phthaldialdehyde method can be considered a good indicator of the early stage, showing considerable differences in reactivity when systems with mono and disaccharides were analyzed. Capillary electrophoresis proved to be a sensitive method for evaluating the extent of glycosylation of the native proteins, providing valuable information when the loss of lysine was not significant. The estimation of the Amadori compound from the determination of total 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde would have correlate well with reactive lysine content if the advanced stages of the reaction had not been reached. For assessing the occurrence of the intermediate and final stages, the measurement of free 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfuraldehyde and color, proved not to be suitable for storage conditions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Effects of reclaimed asphalt pavement on indirect tensile strength test of foamed asphalt mix tested in dry condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katman, Herda Yati; Norhisham, Shuhairy; Ismail, Norlela; Ibrahim, Mohd Rasdan; Matori, Mohd Yazip

    2013-01-01

    Indirect tensile strength (ITS) test was conducted to analyse strength of the foamed asphalt mixes incorporating reclaimed asphalt pavement. Samples were tested for ITS after cured in the oven at 40°C for 72 hours. This testing condition known as dry condition or unconditioned. Laboratory results show that reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents insignificantly affect the ITS results. ITS results significantly affected by foamed bitumen contents.

  6. Dissolution of mixed oxide fuel as a function of fabrication variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lerch, R.E.

    1979-08-01

    Dissolution properties of mechanically blended mixed oxide fuel were very dependent on the six fuel fabrication variables studied. Fuel sintering temperature, source of PuO 2 and PuO 2 content of the fuel had major effects: (1) as the sintering temperature was increased from 1400 to 1700 0 C, pellet dissolution was more complete; (2) pellets made from burned metal derived PuO 2 were more completely dissolved than pellets made from calcined nitrate derived PuO 2 which in turn were more completely dissolved than pellets made from calcined nitrate derived PuO 2 ; (3) as the PuO 2 content decreased from 25 to 15 wt % PuO 2 , pellet dissolution was more complete. Preferential dissolution of uranium occurred in all the mechanically blended mixed oxide. Unirradiated mixed oxide fuel pellets made by the Sol Gel process were generally quite soluble in nitric acid. Unirradiated mixed oxide fuel pellets made by the coprecipitation process dissolved completely and rapidly in nitric acid. Fuel made by the coprecipitation process was more completely dissolved than fuel made by the Sol Gel process which, in turn, was more completely dissolved than fuel made by mechanically blending UO 2 and PuO 2 as shown below. Addition of uncomplexed fluoride to nitric acid during fuel dissolution generally rendered all fuel samples completely dissolvable. In boiling 12M nitric acid, 95 to 99% of the plutonium which was going to dissolve did so in the first hour. Irradiated mechanically blended mixed oxide fuel with known fuel fabrication conditions was also subjected to fuel dissolution tests. While irradiation was shown to increase completeness of plutonium dissolution, poor dissolubility due to adverse fabrication conditions (e.g., low sintering temperature) remained after irradiation

  7. Reactions to adverse incidents in the health services on Twitter: a mixed methods study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah Meaney

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Background: Participation in social networking is commonplace and social media is transforming both health and health related research. Of the various social media platforms, Twitter must be considered a platform for rapid and immediate communication. There has been considerable national and international media coverage reporting a number of adverse incidents in the Irish maternity services. The media coverage of these adverse incidents, most recently about a cluster of perinatal deaths, stimulated much public debate including debate online. Aim: Our study aimed to explore the Twitter status updates, and subsequent responses, relating to a number of perinatal deaths which occurred in a maternity unit with approximately 2,000 births per year. Method: As this study examined Twitter status updates in relation to reported perinatal death a mixed methods approach was adopted. Firstly, status updates in English were searched utilising the Twitter search function on its website. A search was undertaken on all public status updates from January 29th 2014 to March 31st 2014 relating to the perinatal deaths. Data were quantitatively analysed in order to assess the frequency of status updates, the demographic profiles of users and to ascertain the potential reach of the status updates. Secondly qualitative analysis was employed to generate themes from the content that twitter users shared publically. Results: From January 29th 2014 to March 31st 2014, 3,577 Twitter status updates from 1,276 profiles relating to the perinatal deaths were identified. Of these, 54.1% (n=1615 were tweets, 38.9% (n=1392 were retweets and 15.9% (n=570 were replies. Over one third of all updates (36.8%; n=1317 were from profiles which identified the user as either a media outlet or media personnel. One in 10 (11.8%; 424 status updates were by those who self-identified as a parent. Twitter was not utilised as a platform by any healthcare authority to release a statement in

  8. A Study on the Optimal Generation Mix Based on Portfolio Theory with Considering the Basic Condition for Power Supply

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Moritoshi; Zhou, Yicheng

    This paper presents a novel method to analyze the optimal generation mix based on portfolio theory with considering the basic condition for power supply, which means that electricity generation corresponds with load curve. The optimization of portfolio is integrated with the calculation of a capacity factor of each generation in order to satisfy the basic condition for power supply. Besides, each generation is considered to be an asset, and risks of the generation asset both in its operation period and construction period are considered. Environmental measures are evaluated through restriction of CO2 emissions, which are indicated by CO2 price. Numerical examples show the optimal generation mix according to risks such as the deviation of capacity factor of nuclear power or restriction of CO2 emissions, the possibility of introduction of clean coal technology (IGCC, CCS) or renewable energy, and so on. The results of this work will be possibly applied as setting the target of the generation mix for the future according to prospects of risks of each generation and restrictions of CO2 emissions.

  9. Mixing ratio sensor of alcohol mixed fuel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miyata, Shigeru; Matsubara, Yoshihiro

    1987-08-07

    In order to improve combustion efficiency of an internal combustion engine using gasoline-alcohol mixed fuel and to reduce harmful substance in its exhaust gas, it is necessary to control strictly the air-fuel ratio to be supplied and the ignition timing and change the condition of control depending upon the mixing ratio of the mixed fuel. In order to detect the mixing ratio of the mixed fuel, the above mixing ratio has so far been detected by casting a ray of light to the mixed fuel and utilizing a change of critical angle associated with the change of the composition of the fluid of the mixed fuel. However, in case when a light emitting diode is used for the light source above, two kinds of sensors are further needed. Concerning the two kinds of sensors above, this invention offers a mixing ratio sensor for the alcohol mixed fuel which can abolish a temperature sensor to detect the environmental temperature by making a single compensatory light receiving element deal with the compensation of the amount of light emission of the light emitting element due to the temperature change and the compensation of the critical angle caused by the temperature change. (6 figs)

  10. A Mixed-Signal Embedded Platform for Automotive Sensor Conditioning

    OpenAIRE

    Emilio Volpi; Luca Fanucci; Adolfo Giambastiani; Alessandro Rocchi; Francesco D'Ascoli; Marco Tonarelli; Massimiliano Melani; Corrado Marino

    2010-01-01

    Abstract A mixed-signal embedded system called Intelligent Sensor InterFace (ISIF) suited to fast identify, trim, and verify an architecture to interface a given sensor is presented. This system has been developed according to a platform-based design approach, a methodology that has proved to be efficient for building complex mixed-signal embedded systems with short time-to-market. Such platform consists in a wide set of optimized high-performance analog, digital, and software intellectual pr...

  11. Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to Psychotropic Drugs: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filipa Novais

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Psychotropic drugs are often implicated in cutaneous adverse drug reactions. While most of these reactions have a benign character, it is still important, however, to consider its role in the increasing stigma and treatment adherence. A small number of the cutaneous adverse drug reactions can develop into serious and potentially fatal conditions. Objectives: This article aims to review the most common cutaneous adverse drug reactions in patients taking psychotropic drugs. Methods: In this study, a search was carried out in the MEDLINE database for English language articles published , from 1999 to 2014, using as keywords: psychiatric, psychotropic, cutaneous, adverse reaction, antidepressive agents, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, mood stabilizers, anticonvulsant, dementia. Information available from the Portuguese regulatory and supervising agency (Infarmed was also included.Results: 121 articles were found with reference to cutaneous adverse drug reactions associated with psychotropic drugs. The drugs most frequently reported as associated with such adverse effects were anticonvulsants used as mood stabilizers, followed by the antipsychotics . The antidementia drugs were rarely associated with serious cutaneous adverse reactions. Discussion and Conclusion: Cutaneous drug adverse reactions are common in psychiatric clinical practice and typically are minor in severity. The most severe reactions are most often associated with the use of mood stabilizing medications. Some of these side effects can be solved with reduction or drug discontinuation. More severe cases should be referred to a specialist in dermatology.

  12. Aviation NOx-induced CH4 effect: Fixed mixing ratio boundary conditions versus flux boundary conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khodayari, Arezoo; Olsen, Seth C.; Wuebbles, Donald J.; Phoenix, Daniel B.

    2015-07-01

    Atmospheric chemistry-climate models are often used to calculate the effect of aviation NOx emissions on atmospheric ozone (O3) and methane (CH4). Due to the long (∼10 yr) atmospheric lifetime of methane, model simulations must be run for long time periods, typically for more than 40 simulation years, to reach steady-state if using CH4 emission fluxes. Because of the computational expense of such long runs, studies have traditionally used specified CH4 mixing ratio lower boundary conditions (BCs) and then applied a simple parameterization based on the change in CH4 lifetime between the control and NOx-perturbed simulations to estimate the change in CH4 concentration induced by NOx emissions. In this parameterization a feedback factor (typically a value of 1.4) is used to account for the feedback of CH4 concentrations on its lifetime. Modeling studies comparing simulations using CH4 surface fluxes and fixed mixing ratio BCs are used to examine the validity of this parameterization. The latest version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), with the CAM5 atmospheric model, was used for this study. Aviation NOx emissions for 2006 were obtained from the AEDT (Aviation Environmental Design Tool) global commercial aircraft emissions. Results show a 31.4 ppb change in CH4 concentration when estimated using the parameterization and a 1.4 feedback factor, and a 28.9 ppb change when the concentration was directly calculated in the CH4 flux simulations. The model calculated value for CH4 feedback on its own lifetime agrees well with the 1.4 feedback factor. Systematic comparisons between the separate runs indicated that the parameterization technique overestimates the CH4 concentration by 8.6%. Therefore, it is concluded that the estimation technique is good to within ∼10% and decreases the computational requirements in our simulations by nearly a factor of 8.

  13. Vaccine Adverse Events

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... for Biologics Evaluation & Research Vaccine Adverse Events Vaccine Adverse Events Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More sharing ... in the primary immunization series in infants Report Adverse Event Report a Vaccine Adverse Event Contact FDA ( ...

  14. Effect of adverse environmental conditions and protective clothing on temperature rise in a human body exposed to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Stephen M; McIntosh, Robert L; Iskra, Steve; Lajevardipour, Alireza; Wood, Andrew W

    2017-07-01

    This study considers the computationally determined thermal profile of a finely discretized, heterogeneous human body model, simulating a radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) worker wearing protective clothing subject to RF-EMF exposure, and subject to various environmental conditions including high ambient temperature and high humidity, with full thermoregulatory mechanisms in place. How the human body responds in various scenarios was investigated, and the information was used to consider safety limits in current international RF-EMF safety guidelines and standards. It was found that different environmental conditions had minimal impact on the magnitude of the thermal response due to RF-EMF exposure, and that the current safety factor of 10 applied in international RF-EMF safety guidelines and standards for RF-EMF workers is generally conservative, though it is only narrowly so when workers are subjected to the most adverse environmental conditions. Bioelectromagnetics. 38:356-363, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Influence of parental education, childhood adversities, and current living conditions on daily smoking in early adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kestilä, Laura; Koskinen, Seppo; Martelin, Tuija; Rahkonen, Ossi; Pensola, Tiina; Pirkola, Sami; Patja, Kristiina; Aromaa, Arpo

    2006-12-01

    To assess the association of parental education, childhood living conditions and adversities with daily smoking in early adulthood and to analyse the effect of the respondent's own education, main economic activity, and current family structure on these associations. The study is based on a representative two-stage cluster sample (N = 1894, participation rate 79%) of young adults aged 18-29, in 2000, in Finland. The outcome measure is daily smoking. Parental smoking and the respondent's own education had the strongest effects on daily smoking. If both parents of the respondent were smokers, then the respondent was most likely to be a smoker too (for men OR (odds ratio) = 3.01, for women OR = 2.41 after all adjustments). Young adults in the lowest educational category had a much higher risk of daily smoking than those in the highest category (OR = 5.88 for women, 4.48 for men). For women parental divorce (OR = 2.31) and current family structure also determined daily smoking. Parental education had a strong gradient in daily smoking and the effect appeared to be mediated largely by the respondent's own educational level. Childhood living conditions are strong determinants of daily smoking. Much of their influence seems to be mediated through current living conditions, which are also determined by childhood conditions. Determinants of smoking behaviour are developed throughout the life course. The findings stress the importance of the respondent's education and parental smoking as determinants of smoking behaviour. Our results support the notion that intervention on smoking initiation and cessation should be considered throughout the life course. Parental involvement in fostering non-smoking would be important.

  16. Psychiatric Adverse Effects of Dermatological Drugs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mine Özmen

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Dermatological drugs, mostly corticosteroids and isotretinoin, cause different psychiatric adverse effects. During steroid therapy, a wide range of psychiatric conditions, from minor clinical symptoms like insomnia and anxiety to serious psychiatric syndromes like psychosis and delirium might be seen. In medical literature, a causal connection is usually suggested between “isotretinoin”, which is used for treatment of acne vulgaris and depression and suicide attempts. However, there are no statistically significant double-blind randomized studies that support this connection. Clinicians must know patient’s psychiatric history before using any dermatological treatment known as causing psychiatric adverse effects, and psychiatric consultation should be established whenever necessary.

  17. Biodegradability of carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites under aerobic mixed culture conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phan, Duc C; Goodwin, David G; Frank, Benjamin P; Bouwer, Edward J; Fairbrother, D Howard

    2018-10-15

    The properties and commercial viability of biodegradable polymers can be significantly enhanced by the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The environmental impact and persistence of these carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposites (CNT/PNCs) after disposal will be strongly influenced by their microbial interactions, including their biodegradation rates. At the end of consumer use, CNT/PNCs will encounter diverse communities of microorganisms in landfills, surface waters, and wastewater treatment plants. To explore CNT/PNC biodegradation under realistic environmental conditions, the effect of multi-wall CNT (MWCNT) incorporation on the biodegradation of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) was investigated using a mixed culture of microorganisms from wastewater. Relative to unfilled PHA (0% w/w), the MWCNT loading (0.5-10% w/w) had no statistically significant effect on the rate of PHA matrix biodegradation. Independent of the MWCNT loading, the extent of CNT/PNC mass remaining closely corresponded to the initial mass of CNTs in the matrix suggesting a lack of CNT release. CNT/PNC biodegradation was complete in approximately 20 days and resulted in the formation of a compressed CNT mat that retained the shape of the initial CNT/PNC. This study suggests that although CNTs have been shown to be cytotoxic towards a range of different microorganisms, this does not necessarily impact the biodegradation of the surrounding polymer matrix in mixed culture, particularly in situations where the polymer type and/or microbial population favor rapid polymer biodegradation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Tightness and suitability evaluation of abandoned salt caverns served as hydrocarbon energies storage under adverse geological conditions (AGC)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei, Liu; Jie, Chen; Deyi, Jiang; Xilin, Shi; Yinping, Li; Daemen, J.J.K.; Chunhe, Yang

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Tightness conditions are set to assess use of old caverns for hydrocarbons storage. • Gas seepage and tightness around caverns are numerically simulated under AGC. • κ of interlayers act as a key factor to affect the tightness and use of salt cavern. • The threshold upper permeability of interlayers is proposed for storing oil and gas. • Three types of real application are introduced by using the tightness conditions. - Abstract: In China, the storage of hydrocarbon energies is extremely insufficient partially due to the lack of storage space, but on the other side the existence of a large number of abandoned salt caverns poses a serious threat to safety and geological environments. Some of these caverns, defined as abandoned caverns under adverse geological conditions (AGC), are expected to store hydrocarbon energies (natural gas or crude oil) to reduce the risk of potential disasters and simultaneously support the national strategic energy reserve of China. Herein, a series of investigations primarily related to the tightness and suitability of the caverns under AGC is performed. Laboratory measurements to determine the physical and mechanical properties as well as porosity and permeability of bedded salt cores from a near target cavern are implemented to determine the petro-mechanical properties and basic parameters for further study. The results show that the mechanical properties of the bedded rock salts are satisfactory for the stability of caverns. The interface between the salt and interlayers exhibits mechanical properties that are between those of rock salt and interlayers and in particular is not a weak zone. The silty mudstone interlayers have relatively high porosity and permeability, likely due to their low content of clay minerals and the presence of halite-filled cracks. The conditions for evaluating the tightness and suitability of a cavern for storing hydrocarbons are proposed, including “No tensile stress,”

  19. Combination of Deep Recurrent Neural Networks and Conditional Random Fields for Extracting Adverse Drug Reactions from User Reviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tutubalina, Elena; Nikolenko, Sergey

    2017-01-01

    Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are an essential part of the analysis of drug use, measuring drug use benefits, and making policy decisions. Traditional channels for identifying ADRs are reliable but very slow and only produce a small amount of data. Text reviews, either on specialized web sites or in general-purpose social networks, may lead to a data source of unprecedented size, but identifying ADRs in free-form text is a challenging natural language processing problem. In this work, we propose a novel model for this problem, uniting recurrent neural architectures and conditional random fields. We evaluate our model with a comprehensive experimental study, showing improvements over state-of-the-art methods of ADR extraction.

  20. Combination of Deep Recurrent Neural Networks and Conditional Random Fields for Extracting Adverse Drug Reactions from User Reviews

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Tutubalina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Adverse drug reactions (ADRs are an essential part of the analysis of drug use, measuring drug use benefits, and making policy decisions. Traditional channels for identifying ADRs are reliable but very slow and only produce a small amount of data. Text reviews, either on specialized web sites or in general-purpose social networks, may lead to a data source of unprecedented size, but identifying ADRs in free-form text is a challenging natural language processing problem. In this work, we propose a novel model for this problem, uniting recurrent neural architectures and conditional random fields. We evaluate our model with a comprehensive experimental study, showing improvements over state-of-the-art methods of ADR extraction.

  1. Mixed grazing systems of goats with cattle in tropical conditions: an alternative to improving animal production in the pasture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    d'Alexis, S; Periacarpin, F; Jackson, F; Boval, M

    2014-08-01

    Mixed grazing systems combining sheep and cattle have shown better growth performance for one or both species. This observation has been attributed to their complementary feeding behaviour and the reduced host infection by gastrointestinal nematodes. Less attention has been paid to mixed grazing systems combining goats and cattle. Here, continuously grazing goats mixed with cattle (M) were compared with control goats reared alone (C) under tropical conditions. The comparison was conducted with gastrointestinal nematode-infected (I) and non-infected (nI) goats. Thus, the four treatments were cattle with gastrointestinal nematode-infected goats (MI), gastrointestinal nematode-infected goats alone (CI), cattle with non-infected goats (MnI) and non-infected goats (CnI). Average daily gain (ADG, g/day) and grass production were measured for the four groups of animals (six goats and two heifers treated with MI or MnI) grazing for 3 months on 4 subplots. Monthly measurements were performed over 5-day periods. This pattern was replicated in space for a second set of four subplots and in time for six successive cohorts of animals (bands 1 to 6). The ADG of goats in mixed grazing conditions was higher than controls irrespective of the infection status (32.6 v. 18.4 g/day for MI v. CI; 44.2 v. 33.5 g/day for MnI v. CnI). Concomitantly, the average biomass was lower for mixed grazing animals compared with controls (174 v. 170 for MI and MnI; 235 v. 208 for CI and CnI, respectively), suggesting better use of the sward. For daily BW gain (g/kg DM), mixed grazing also yielded better results than the control (1.88 v. 0.52 g BW/kg DM per day for MI v. CI; 2.08 v. 1.47 g BW/kg DM per day for MnI and CnI). Mixed grazing of goats and heifers offers a promising alternative for increasing goat and overall animal production as well as improving the management of pastures.

  2. Constant system for by-channel thermal-hydraulic calculation of fuel assembly operational conditions in reactors with natural and mixed convection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogatyrev, I.L.; Bogoslovskaya, G.P.; Zhukov, A.V.; Sorokin, A.P.; Titov, P.A.

    1992-01-01

    System of constants for mass, impulse and energy conservation equations (drag, mixing, heat transfer coefficients, azimuthal unquality of temperature) is reported in region with small Re number for wide range of geometrical assembly parameters. This system can be used in subchannel calculations of assemblies with natural and mixed convection under conditions with loss of flow accident. The formulae are compared with experimental data. 30 refs.; 12 figs.; 1 tab

  3. Effect of Mixing Time and Storage Condition on Characterization of Heparinoid Admixtures with Corticosteroids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugiyama, Ikumi; Takahashi, Namiki; Sadzuka, Yasuyuki

    2016-01-01

    In dermatologic therapy, several external preparations formulated as ointments or creams are prescribed. And they are often admixture to improve patient compliance. In this study, we prepared admixtures of moisturizer with steroids and examined their usability and the amount of principal agent in formulations, particularly focusing on the moisturizer content. Four heparinoid semisolid formulations were selected: Hirudoid ® soft ointment 0.3% (Formulation A) and 3 generic agents [(Besoften ® oil-based cream 0.3% (Formulation B), Kuradoido ® ointment 0.3% (Formulation C), and Hepadaerm ointment 0.3% (Formulation D)], and Antebate ® ointment 0.05% (Formulation E) were used as steroids. Formulation A and B are water-in-oil emulsions, and Formulation C and D are oil-in-water emulsions. Admixtures looked like to be mixed uniformly by visual observation. In the examination of heparinoid amount, admixture A+E and B+E were mixed uniformly. On the other hand, admixture C+E was remarkable un-uniformly. It was speculated that the emulsification of formulation C was broken. The phenomenon was supported by the result of malleability. After 8 weeks storage, the heparinoid ratio in each formulation could be expressed as follows: Admixture B≥Admixture A>Admixture C=Admixture D. A suitable storage temperature was 4°C. The results of physicochemical data analysis reveal the formulations composed of water-in-oil cream, i.e., Formulation A and Formulation B, to be the optimal choices for mixing with steroid ointments. Mixing time and storage conditions may be optimized to solve pharmaceutical problems. Moreover, understanding the emulsion type and character of semisolid formulations can expand the range of formulation options.

  4. Power Based Phase-Locked Loop Under Adverse Conditions with Moving Average Filter for Single-Phase System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Menxi Xie

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available High performance synchronization methord is citical for grid connected power converter. For single-phase system, power based phase-locked loop(pPLL uses a multiplier as phase detector(PD. As single-phase grid voltage is distorted, the phase error information contains ac disturbances oscillating at integer multiples of fundamental frequency which lead to detection error. This paper presents a new scheme based on moving average filter(MAF applied in-loop of pPLL. The signal characteristic of phase error is dissussed in detail. A predictive rule is adopted to compensate the delay induced by MAF, thus achieving fast dynamic response. In the case of frequency deviate from nomimal, estimated frequency is fed back to adjust the filter window length of MAF and buffer size of predictive rule. Simulation and experimental results show that proposed PLL achieves good performance under adverse grid conditions.

  5. Cellulase production by Trichoderma harzianum in static and mixed solid-state fermentation reactors under nonaseptic conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deschamps, F.; Giuliano, C.; Asther, M.; Huet, M.C.; Roussos, S.

    1985-09-01

    Cellulase production from lignocellulosic materials was studied in solid-state cultivation by both static and mixed techniques under nonaseptic conditions. The effects of fermentation conditions, such as moisture content, pH, temperature, and aeration, on cellulase production by Trichoderma harzianum using a mixture of wheat straw (80%) and bran (20%) were investigated. With a moisture content of 74% and a pH of 5.8, 18 IU filter paper activity and 198 IU endoglucanase activity/g initial substrate content were obtained in 66 hours. The extension from static column cultivation to stirred tank reactor of 65 l capacity gave similar yields of cellulase.

  6. The impact of adverse child and adult experiences on recovery from serious mental illness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stumbo, Scott P; Yarborough, Bobbi Jo H; Paulson, Robert I; Green, Carla A

    2015-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare effects of adverse childhood experiences and adverse adult experiences on recovery from serious mental illnesses. As part of a mixed-methods study of recovery from serious mental illnesses, we interviewed and administered questionnaires to 177 members of a not-for-profit health plan over a 2-year period. Participants had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, affective psychosis, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder. Data for analyses came from standardized self-reported measures; outcomes included recovery, functioning, quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms. Adverse events in childhood and adulthood were evaluated as predictors. Child and adult exposures to adverse experiences were high, at 91% and 82%, respectively. Cumulative lifetime exposure to adverse experiences (childhood plus adult experiences) was 94%. In linear regression analyses, adverse adult experiences were more important predictors of outcomes than adverse childhood experiences. Adult experiences were associated with lower recovery scores, quality of life, mental and physical functioning and social functioning and greater psychiatric symptoms. Emotional neglect in adulthood was associated with lower recovery scores. Early and repeated exposure to adverse events was common in this sample of people with serious mental illnesses. Adverse adult experiences were stronger predictors of worse functioning and lower recovery levels than were childhood experiences. Focusing clinical attention on adult experiences of adverse or traumatic events may result in greater benefit than focusing on childhood experiences alone. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  7. Pediatric Emergency Department and Primary Care Provider Attitudes on Assessing Childhood Adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schilling, Samantha; Murray, Ashlee; Mollen, Cynthia J; Wedin, Tara; Fein, Joel A; Scribano, Philip V

    2017-07-03

    The purpose of this study was to understand pediatric emergency department (ED) and primary care (PC) health care provider attitudes and beliefs regarding the intersection between childhood adversities and health care. We conducted in-depth, semistructured interviews in 2 settings (ED and PC) within an urban health care system. Purposive sampling was used to balance the sample among 3 health care provider roles. Interview questions were based on a modified health beliefs model exploring the "readiness to act" among providers. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Interviews continued until theme saturation was reached. Saturation was achieved after 26 ED and 19 PC interviews. Emergency department/primary care providers were similar in their perception of patient susceptibility to childhood adversity. Childhood mental health problems were the most frequently referenced adverse outcome, followed by poor childhood physical health. Adult health outcomes because of childhood adversity were rarely mentioned. Many providers felt that knowing about childhood adversity in the medical setting was important because it relates to provision of tangible resources. There were mixed opinions about whether or not pediatric health care providers should be identifying childhood adversities at all. Although providers exhibited knowledge about childhood adversity, the perceived effect on health was only immediate and tangible. The effect of childhood adversity on lifelong health and the responsibility and potential accountability health systems have in addressing these important health determinants was not recognized by many respondents in our study. Addressing these provider perspectives will be a critical component of successful transformation toward more accountable health care delivery systems.

  8. Role of medium heterogeneity and viscosity contrast in miscible flow regimes and mixing zone growth: A computational pore-scale approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Afshari, Saied; Hejazi, S. Hossein; Kantzas, Apostolos

    2018-05-01

    Miscible displacement of fluids in porous media is often characterized by the scaling of the mixing zone length with displacement time. Depending on the viscosity contrast of fluids, the scaling law varies between the square root relationship, a sign for dispersive transport regime during stable displacement, and the linear relationship, which represents the viscous fingering regime during an unstable displacement. The presence of heterogeneities in a porous medium significantly affects the scaling behavior of the mixing length as it interacts with the viscosity contrast to control the mixing of fluids in the pore space. In this study, the dynamics of the flow and transport during both unit and adverse viscosity ratio miscible displacements are investigated in heterogeneous packings of circular grains using pore-scale numerical simulations. The pore-scale heterogeneity level is characterized by the variations of the grain diameter and velocity field. The growth of mixing length is employed to identify the nature of the miscible transport regime at different viscosity ratios and heterogeneity levels. It is shown that as the viscosity ratio increases to higher adverse values, the scaling law of mixing length gradually shifts from dispersive to fingering nature up to a certain viscosity ratio and remains almost the same afterwards. In heterogeneous media, the mixing length scaling law is observed to be generally governed by the variations of the velocity field rather than the grain size. Furthermore, the normalization of mixing length temporal plots with respect to the governing parameters of viscosity ratio, heterogeneity, medium length, and medium aspect ratio is performed. The results indicate that mixing length scales exponentially with log-viscosity ratio and grain size standard deviation while the impact of aspect ratio is insignificant. For stable flows, mixing length scales with the square root of medium length, whereas it changes linearly with length during

  9. Modeling Left-Turn Driving Behavior at Signalized Intersections with Mixed Traffic Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In many developing countries, mixed traffic is the most common type of urban transportation; traffic of this type faces many major problems in traffic engineering, such as conflicts, inefficiency, and security issues. This paper focuses on the traffic engineering concerns on the driving behavior of left-turning vehicles caused by different degrees of pedestrian violations. The traffic characteristics of left-turning vehicles and pedestrians in the affected region at a signalized intersection were analyzed and a cellular-automata-based “following-conflict” driving behavior model that mainly addresses four basic behavior modes was proposed to study the conflict and behavior mechanisms of left-turning vehicles by mathematic methodologies. Four basic driving behavior modes were reproduced in computer simulations, and a logit model of the behavior mode choice was also developed to analyze the relative share of each behavior mode. Finally, the microscopic characteristics of driving behaviors and the macroscopic parameters of traffic flow in the affected region were all determined. These data are important reference for geometry and capacity design for signalized intersections. The simulation results show that the proposed models are valid and can be used to represent the behavior of left-turning vehicles in the case of conflicts with illegally crossing pedestrians. These results will have potential applications on improving traffic safety and traffic capacity at signalized intersections with mixed traffic conditions.

  10. Large Eddy Simulation and the effect of the turbulent inlet conditions in the mixing Tee

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ndombo, Jean-Marc; Howard, Richard J.A.

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → LES of Tee junctions can easily reproduce the bulk flow. → The presence or absence of a turbulent inlet condition has an affect on the wall heat transfer. → The maximum heat transfer moves 1 cm and reduces by 10% when a turbulent inlet is used. - Abstract: Thermal fatigue in Pressurized Water Reactor plants has been found to be very acute in some hot/cold Tee junction mixing zones. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) can be used to capture the unsteadiness which is responsible for the large mechanical stresses associated with thermal fatigue. Here one LES subgrid model is studied, namely the Dynamic Smagorinsky model. This paper has two goals. The first is to demonstrate some results obtained using the EDF R and D Code Saturne applied to the Vattenfall Tee junction benchmark (version 2006) and the second is to look at the effect of including synthetic turbulence at the Tee junction pipe inlets. The last goal is the main topic of this paper. The Synthetic Eddy Method is used to create the turbulent inlet conditions and is applied to two kinds of grids. One contains six million cells and the other ten million. The addition of turbulence at the inlet does not seem to have much effect on the bulk flow and all computations are in good agreement with the experimental data. However, the inlet turbulence does have an effect on the near wall flow. All cases show that the wall temperature fluctuation and the wall temperature/velocity correlation are not the same when a turbulent inlet condition is used. Inclusion of the turbulent inlet condition moves the downstream location of the maximum temperature/velocity correlation by 1 cm and reduces its magnitude by 10%. This result is very important because the temperature/velocity correlation is closely related to the turbulent heat transfer in the flow, which is in turn responsible for the mechanical stresses on the structure. Finally we have studied in detail the influence of the turbulent inlet condition just

  11. Do Geriatric Conditions Increase Risk of Adverse Drug Reactions in Ambulatory Elders? Results From the VA GEM Drug Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanlon, Joseph T.; Sloane, Richard J.; Boscardin, W. John; Schmader, Kenneth E.

    2011-01-01

    Background. Many clinicians prescribe cautiously to older adults with common geriatric conditions for fear of causing adverse drug reactions (ADRs). However, little is known about the association between these conditions and risk of ADRs. Methods. Using data from the VA Geriatric Evaluation and Management Drug Study, we determined any, preventable, and serious ADRs in 808 elders for 12 months after hospital discharge using a validated process involving patient self-report and chart review adjudicated by two health care professionals. Eight common geriatric conditions (activities of daily living, dementia, incontinence, falls, difficulty ambulating, malnourishment, depression, and prolonged bed rest) were evaluated at study baseline through self-report and structured assessments. We used Poisson regression to model the relationship between these geriatric conditions and ADRs. Results. Participants had a mean of 2.9 ± 1.2 geriatric conditions. Over the 12-month follow-up period, 497 ADRs occurred in 269 participants, including 187 ADRs considered preventable and 127 considered severe. On multivariable analyses, participants with dependency in one or more activities of daily living were less likely to suffer ADRs than those who were fully independent (incidence rate ratio: 0.78, 95% confidence interval = 0.62–1.00). None of the other seven geriatric conditions assessed were associated with ADR risk. Results were similar for preventable and serious ADRs, although participants with a history of falls were more likely to develop serious ADRs (incidence rate ratio: 1.49, 95% confidence interval = 1.00–2.21). Conclusions. Many geriatric conditions were not associated with risk of ADRs. Although it is prudent to prescribe judiciously in patients with these conditions, excessive caution may not be warranted. PMID:21321003

  12. Energy losses in mixed matrix superconducting wires under fast pulsed conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wollan, J.J.

    1976-01-01

    Energy losses have been measured on a set of mixed matrix (CuNi, Cu, NbTi) superconducting wires at B's up to 1.5 x 10 7 G/s. The losses have been measured as a function of wire diameter, twist pitch, maximum applied field, and B. Both static and dynamic losses were measured for a field applied perpendicularly to the wire axis. The dynamic losses were measured by slowly applying an external field to a sample and then causing the field to decay exponentially in roughly 1 ms to 10 ms. Under low B (9 kG) and B (10 6 G/s) conditions the hysteretic loss dominated. At high B (21 kG) and B (1.5 x 10 7 G/s) the matrix losses became dominant. The systematic variation of the losses with the mentioned parameters will be presented and will be compared to theoretical predictions

  13. Hydrochemical evidence for mixing of river water and groundwater during high-flow conditions, lower Suwannee River basin, Florida, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crandall, C.A.; Katz, B.G.; Hirten, J.J.

    1999-01-01

    Karstic aquifers are highly susceptible to rapid infiltration of river water, particularly during periods of high flow. Following a period of sustained rainfall in the Suwannee River basin, Florida, USA, the stage of the Suwannee River rose from 3.0 to 5.88 m above mean sea level in April 1996 and discharge peaked at 360 m3/s. During these high-flow conditions, water from the Suwannee River migrated directly into the karstic Upper Floridan aquifer, the main source of water supply for the area. Changes in the chemical composition of groundwater were quantified using naturally occurring geochemical tracers and mass-balance modeling techniques. Mixing of river water with groundwater was indicated by a decrease in the concentrations of calcium, silica, and 222Rn; and by an increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC), tannic acid, and chloride, compared to low-flow conditions in water from a nearby monitoring well, Wingate Sink, and Little River Springs. The proportion (fraction) of river water in groundwater ranged from 0.13 to 0.65 at Wingate Sink and from 0.5 to 0.99 at well W-17258, based on binary mixing models using various tracers. The effectiveness of a natural tracer in quantifying mixing of river water and groundwater was related to differences in tracer concentration of the two end members and how conservatively the tracer reacted in the mixed water. Solutes with similar concentrations in the two end-member waters (Na, Mg, K, Cl, SO4, SiO2) were not as effective tracers for quantifying mixing of river water and groundwater as those with larger differences in end-member concentrations (Ca, tannic acid, DOC, 222Rn, HCO3). ?? Springer-Verlag.

  14. 76 FR 1170 - Draft Guidance for Industry on Postmarketing Adverse Event Reporting for Medical Products and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-07

    ... appropriate FDA organizational unit responsible for adverse event reporting compliance when these conditions... regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The draft guidance, when finalized, will represent the Agency's current thinking... appropriate FDA organizational unit responsible for adverse event reporting compliance when the conditions...

  15. Mixing-model Sensitivity to Initial Conditions in Hydrodynamic Predictions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bigelow, Josiah; Silva, Humberto; Truman, C. Randall; Vorobieff, Peter

    2017-11-01

    Amagat and Dalton mixing-models were studied to compare their thermodynamic prediction of shock states. Numerical simulations with the Sandia National Laboratories shock hydrodynamic code CTH modeled University of New Mexico (UNM) shock tube laboratory experiments shocking a 1:1 molar mixture of helium (He) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) . Five input parameters were varied for sensitivity analysis: driver section pressure, driver section density, test section pressure, test section density, and mixture ratio (mole fraction). We show via incremental Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) analysis that significant differences exist between Amagat and Dalton mixing-model predictions. The differences observed in predicted shock speeds, temperatures, and pressures grow more pronounced with higher shock speeds. Supported by NNSA Grant DE-0002913.

  16. CGBayesNets: conditional Gaussian Bayesian network learning and inference with mixed discrete and continuous data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGeachie, Michael J; Chang, Hsun-Hsien; Weiss, Scott T

    2014-06-01

    Bayesian Networks (BN) have been a popular predictive modeling formalism in bioinformatics, but their application in modern genomics has been slowed by an inability to cleanly handle domains with mixed discrete and continuous variables. Existing free BN software packages either discretize continuous variables, which can lead to information loss, or do not include inference routines, which makes prediction with the BN impossible. We present CGBayesNets, a BN package focused around prediction of a clinical phenotype from mixed discrete and continuous variables, which fills these gaps. CGBayesNets implements Bayesian likelihood and inference algorithms for the conditional Gaussian Bayesian network (CGBNs) formalism, one appropriate for predicting an outcome of interest from, e.g., multimodal genomic data. We provide four different network learning algorithms, each making a different tradeoff between computational cost and network likelihood. CGBayesNets provides a full suite of functions for model exploration and verification, including cross validation, bootstrapping, and AUC manipulation. We highlight several results obtained previously with CGBayesNets, including predictive models of wood properties from tree genomics, leukemia subtype classification from mixed genomic data, and robust prediction of intensive care unit mortality outcomes from metabolomic profiles. We also provide detailed example analysis on public metabolomic and gene expression datasets. CGBayesNets is implemented in MATLAB and available as MATLAB source code, under an Open Source license and anonymous download at http://www.cgbayesnets.com.

  17. Early life adversity and telomere length: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ridout, K K; Levandowski, M; Ridout, S J; Gantz, L; Goonan, K; Palermo, D; Price, L H; Tyrka, A R

    2018-04-01

    Early adversity, in the form of abuse, neglect, socioeconomic status and other adverse experiences, is associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes. To understand the biologic mechanisms underlying these associations, studies have evaluated the relationship between early adversity and telomere length, a marker of cellular senescence. Such results have varied in regard to the size and significance of this relationship. Using meta-analytic techniques, we aimed to clarify the relationship between early adversity and telomere length while exploring factors affecting the association, including adversity type, timing and study design. A comprehensive search in July 2016 of PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science identified 2462 studies. Multiple reviewers appraised studies for inclusion or exclusion using a priori criteria; 3.9% met inclusion criteria. Data were extracted into a structured form; the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale assessed study quality, validity and bias. Forty-one studies (N=30 773) met inclusion criteria. Early adversity and telomere length were significantly associated (Cohen's d effect size=-0.35; 95% CI, -0.46 to -0.24; P<0.0001). Sensitivity analyses revealed no outlier effects. Adversity type and timing significantly impacted the association with telomere length (P<0.0001 and P=0.0025, respectively). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses revealed that medication use, medical or psychiatric conditions, case-control vs longitudinal study design, methodological factors, age and smoking significantly affected the relationship. Comprehensive evaluations of adversity demonstrated more extensive telomere length changes. These results suggest that early adversity may have long-lasting physiological consequences contributing to disease risk and biological aging.

  18. Soil mixing of stratified contaminated sands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Tabba, A; Ayotamuno, M J; Martin, R J

    2000-02-01

    Validation of soil mixing for the treatment of contaminated ground is needed in a wide range of site conditions to widen the application of the technology and to understand the mechanisms involved. Since very limited work has been carried out in heterogeneous ground conditions, this paper investigates the effectiveness of soil mixing in stratified sands using laboratory-scale augers. This enabled a low cost investigation of factors such as grout type and form, auger design, installation procedure, mixing mode, curing period, thickness of soil layers and natural moisture content on the unconfined compressive strength, leachability and leachate pH of the soil-grout mixes. The results showed that the auger design plays a very important part in the mixing process in heterogeneous sands. The variability of the properties measured in the stratified soils and the measurable variations caused by the various factors considered, highlighted the importance of duplicating appropriate in situ conditions, the usefulness of laboratory-scale modelling of in situ conditions and the importance of modelling soil and contaminant heterogeneities at the treatability study stage.

  19. Performance Investigation of A Mix Wind Turbine Using A Clutch Mechanism At Low Wind Speed Condition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamanun, M. J.; Misaran, M. S.; Rahman, M.; Muzammil, W. K.

    2017-07-01

    Wind energy is one of the methods that generates energy from sustainable resources. This technology has gained prominence in this era because it produces no harmful product to the society. There is two fundamental type of wind turbine are generally used this day which is Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) and Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT). The VAWT technology is more preferable compare to HAWT because it gives better efficiency and cost effectiveness as a whole. However, VAWT is known to have distinct disadvantage compared to HAWT; self-start ability and efficiency at low wind speed condition. Different solution has been proposed to solve these issues which includes custom design blades, variable angle of attack mechanism and mix wind turbine. A new type of clutch device was successfully developed in UMS to be used in a mix Savonius-Darrieus wind turbine configuration. The clutch system which barely audible when in operation compared to a ratchet clutch system interconnects the Savonius and Darrieus rotor; allowing the turbine to self-start at low wind speed condition as opposed to a standalone Darrieus turbine. The Savonius height were varied at three different size in order to understand the effect of the Savonius rotor to the mix wind turbine performance. The experimental result shows that the fabricated Savonius rotor show that the height of the Savonius rotor affecting the RPM for the turbine. The swept area (SA), aspect ratio (AR) and tip speed ratio (TSR) also calculated in this paper. The highest RPM recorded in this study is 90 RPM for Savonius rotor 0.22-meter height at 2.75 m/s. The Savonius rotor 0.22-meter also give the highest TSR for each range of speed from 0.75 m/s, 1.75 m/s and 2.75 m/s where it gives 1.03 TSR, 0.76 TSR, and 0.55 TSR.

  20. Detoxification Treatments of Free Gossypol in Cottonseed Meal by Microbial Treatment of Mixed Cultures and Biochemical Evaluation on Rabbits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atia, A.I.; Abdel- Rahim, G.A.

    2009-01-01

    Detoxification of ti-ee gossypol (FG) in cottonseed meal (CSM) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger, as a mixed culture, was carried out in solid state fermentation (SSF). Experiments were adopted to optimize the fermentation conditions. Maximum detoxification efficiency (90.2%) occurred after 48 h of incubation at 30 degree C in a 250 ml conical flask containing 15 g of CSM supplemented with 1 % (w/w) (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 at the optimal conditions including the initial moisture content 55% (w/w) and inoculum level at 5% (v/w). The detoxification of FG was a growth-associated process, which was highly correlated with the dry matter weight loss. Moreover, high activities of hydrolytic enzymes were also produced in solid state fermentation, which enhanced the nutritive value of the detoxified cottonseed powder. A total number of 48 white New Zealand male rabbits were used to biologically examine the feeding of treated (detoxified) CSM without any adverse effects. Hematological and biochemical relevant parameters of white New Zealand male rabbits as affected by feeding treated meal were in the normal physiological range without no obvious change. No significant changes in liver and kidney functions of the rabbits weight gain, feed conversion and efficiency did not significantly change among experimental groups. The study showed that the feeding of the detoxified CSM by S. cerevisiae and A. niger as a mixed culture in this research without any adverse effects on rabbits

  1. Adverse effects of aromatherapy: a systematic review of case reports and case series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posadzki, Paul; Alotaibi, Amani; Ernst, Edzard

    2012-01-01

    This systematic review was aimed at critically evaluating the evidence regarding the adverse effects associated with aromatherapy. Five electronic databases were searched to identify all relevant case reports and case series. Forty two primary reports met our inclusion criteria. In total, 71 patients experienced adverse effects of aromatherapy. Adverse effects ranged from mild to severe and included one fatality. The most common adverse effect was dermatitis. Lavender, peppermint, tea tree oil and ylang-ylang were the most common essential oils responsible for adverse effects. Aromatherapy has the potential to cause adverse effects some of which are serious. Their frequency remains unknown. Lack of sufficiently convincing evidence regarding the effectiveness of aromatherapy combined with its potential to cause adverse effects questions the usefulness of this modality in any condition.

  2. Toxicity and mutagenicity of exhaust from compressed natural gas: Could this be a clean solution for megacities with mixed-traffic conditions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agarwal, Avinash K; Ateeq, Bushra; Gupta, Tarun; Singh, Akhilendra P; Pandey, Swaroop K; Sharma, Nikhil; Agarwal, Rashmi A; Gupta, Neeraj K; Sharma, Hemant; Jain, Ayush; Shukla, Pravesh C

    2018-04-20

    Despite intensive research carried out on particulates, correlation between engine-out particulate emissions and adverse health effects is not well understood yet. Particulate emissions hold enormous significance for mega-cities like Delhi that have immense traffic diversity. Entire public transportation system involving taxis, three-wheelers, and buses has been switched from conventional liquid fuels to compressed natural gas (CNG) in the Mega-city of Delhi. In this study, the particulate characterization was carried out on variety of engines including three diesel engines complying with Euro-II, Euro-III and Euro-IV emission norms, one Euro-II gasoline engine and one Euro-IV CNG engine. Physical, chemical and biological characterizations of particulates were performed to assess the particulate toxicity. The mutagenic potential of particulate samples was investigated at different concentrations using two different Salmonella strains, TA98 and TA100 in presence and absence of liver S9 metabolic enzyme fraction. Particulates emitted from diesel and gasoline engines showed higher mutagenicity, while those from CNG engine showed negligible mutagenicity compared to other test fuels and engine configurations. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) adsorbed onto CNG engine particulates were also relatively fewer compared to those from equivalent diesel and gasoline engines. Taken together, our findings indicate that CNG is comparatively safer fuel compared to diesel and gasoline and can offer a cleaner transport energy solution for mega-cities with mixed-traffic conditions, especially in developing countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Particle–Mixing Simulations Using DEM and Comparison of the Performance of Mixing Indices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Migyung

    2017-01-01

    Mixing of molecular grains having different characteristics is very important in many industries such as the food and pharmaceutical industries. With the development of computer simulations, it is common practice to find the optimal mixing conditions through a simulation before the actual mixing task to estimate the proper level of mixing. Accordingly, there has been an increasing need for a mixing index to measure the mix of particles in the simulation process. Mixing indices, which have been widely used so far, can largely be classified into two types: first is the statistical-based mixing index, which is prepared using the sampling method, and the second is the mixing index that is prepared using all the particles. In this paper, we calculated mixing indices in different ways for the data in the course of mixing the particles using the DEM simulation. Additionally, we compared the performance, advantages, and disadvantages of each mixing index. Therefore, I propose a standard that can be used to select an appropriate mixing index.

  4. Particle–Mixing Simulations Using DEM and Comparison of the Performance of Mixing Indices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cho, Migyung [Tongmyong Univ., Busan (Korea, Republic of)

    2017-02-15

    Mixing of molecular grains having different characteristics is very important in many industries such as the food and pharmaceutical industries. With the development of computer simulations, it is common practice to find the optimal mixing conditions through a simulation before the actual mixing task to estimate the proper level of mixing. Accordingly, there has been an increasing need for a mixing index to measure the mix of particles in the simulation process. Mixing indices, which have been widely used so far, can largely be classified into two types: first is the statistical-based mixing index, which is prepared using the sampling method, and the second is the mixing index that is prepared using all the particles. In this paper, we calculated mixing indices in different ways for the data in the course of mixing the particles using the DEM simulation. Additionally, we compared the performance, advantages, and disadvantages of each mixing index. Therefore, I propose a standard that can be used to select an appropriate mixing index.

  5. Modeling speech intelligibility in adverse conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dau, Torsten

    2012-01-01

    ) in conditions with nonlinearly processed speech. Instead of considering the reduction of the temporal modulation energy as the intelligibility metric, as assumed in the STI, the sEPSM applies the signal-to-noise ratio in the envelope domain (SNRenv). This metric was shown to be the key for predicting...... understanding speech when more than one person is talking, even when reduced audibility has been fully compensated for by a hearing aid. The reasons for these difficulties are not well understood. This presentation highlights recent concepts of the monaural and binaural signal processing strategies employed...... by the normal as well as impaired auditory system. Jørgensen and Dau [(2011). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 130, 1475-1487] proposed the speech-based envelope power spectrum model (sEPSM) in an attempt to overcome the limitations of the classical speech transmission index (STI) and speech intelligibility index (SII...

  6. Adverse outcomes of poor micronutrient status in childhood and adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viteri, Fernando E; Gonzalez, Horacio

    2002-05-01

    The adverse effects of micronutrient deficiencies and excesses in children up to reproductive age are presented. A summary of risks and adverse functional and health outcomes associated with deficient and excessive intakes and nutrition status of iron, iodine, zinc, vitamins A and D, folate, vitamin B12, and riboflavin is presented. Nutrient-nutrient interactions of micronutrients, age, gender, and other host and environmental conditions, such as pregnancy, genetic conditions, overall nutrition, force of infection, and social conditions are considered as covariates in trying to define causation and outcomes due to specific micronutrients. The outcomes analyzed focus on growth and development, mental and neuromotor performance, immunocompetence, physical working capacity, morbidity, and in the case of pregnancy, overall reproductive performance. The results presented include responses to specific and multiple "experimental" interventions. A brief analysis of possible public health programs is presented, with emphasis on prevention.

  7. Turbine transducer developed for adverse conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, D.R.; Edson, J.L.

    1982-01-01

    This paper reviews the latest developments that the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) has made on a turbine transducer used in measurement of two-phase flow. It is operated in a modular configuration with a drag transducer to provide mass flow data. Current configurations allow its use in single modules or in multiples to provide flow profile information. The turbine can also provide mass flow data when used with associated instrumentation such as a densitometer. The transducer, which is the product of long investigations and test series, is subject to high vibration loading and high temperatures as well as a borated liquid environment; flow conditions range from all liquid to all steam and from ambient temperatures to over 600 0 F at pressures up to 2200 psi. Graphite bearing and carbide shaft materials were selected to provide corrosion resistance along with mechanical integrity, and resistance to wear. The new turbine design has met all operational requirements in actual use and in extended lifetime tests

  8. Economic Conditions During Pregnancy and Adverse Birth Outcomes Among Singleton Live Births in the United States, 1990-2013.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margerison-Zilko, Claire E; Li, Yu; Luo, Zhehui

    2017-11-15

    We know little about the relationship between the macroeconomy and birth outcomes, in part due to the methodological challenge of distinguishing effects of economic conditions on fetal health from effects of economic conditions on selection into live birth. We examined associations between state-level unemployment rates in the first 2 trimesters of pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes, using natality data on singleton live births in the United States during 1990-2013. We used fixed-effect logistic regression models and accounted for selection by adjusting for state-level unemployment before conception and maternal characteristics associated with both selection and birth outcomes. We also tested whether associations between macroeconomic conditions and birth outcomes differed during and after (compared with before) the Great Recession (2007-2009). Each 1-percentage-point increase in the first-trimester unemployment rate was associated with a 5% increase in odds of preterm birth, while second-trimester unemployment was associated with a 3% decrease in preterm birth odds. During the Great Recession, however, first-trimester unemployment was associated with a 16% increase in odds of preterm birth. These findings increase our understanding of the effects of the Great Recession on health and add to growing literature suggesting that macro-level social and economic factors contribute to perinatal health. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Mixed convection in inclined lid driven cavity by Lattice Boltzmann Method and heat flux boundary condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Orazio, A; Karimipour, A; Nezhad, A H; Shirani, E

    2014-01-01

    Laminar mixed convective heat transfer in two-dimensional rectangular inclined driven cavity is studied numerically by means of a double population thermal Lattice Boltzmann method. Through the top moving lid the heat flux enters the cavity whereas it leaves the system through the bottom wall; side walls are adiabatic. The counter-slip internal energy density boundary condition, able to simulate an imposed non zero heat flux at the wall, is applied, in order to demonstrate that it can be effectively used to simulate heat transfer phenomena also in case of moving walls. Results are analyzed over a range of the Richardson numbers and tilting angles of the enclosure, encompassing the dominating forced convection, mixed convection, and dominating natural convection flow regimes. As expected, heat transfer rate increases as increases the inclination angle, but this effect is significant for higher Richardson numbers, when buoyancy forces dominate the problem; for horizontal cavity, average Nusselt number decreases with the increase of Richardson number because of the stratified field configuration

  10. An adverse early life environment can enhance stress resilience in adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santarelli, Sara; Zimmermann, Christoph; Kalideris, Georgia; Lesuis, Sylvie L; Arloth, Janine; Uribe, Andrés; Dournes, Carine; Balsevich, Georgia; Hartmann, Jakob; Masana, Mercè; Binder, Elisabeth B; Spengler, Dietmar; Schmidt, Mathias V

    2017-04-01

    Chronic stress is a major risk factor for depression. Interestingly, not all individuals develop psychopathology after chronic stress exposure. In contrast to the prevailing view that stress effects are cumulative and increase stress vulnerability throughout life, the match/mismatch hypothesis of psychiatric disorders. The match/mismatch hypothesis proposes that individuals who experience moderate levels of early life psychosocial stress can acquire resilience to renewed stress exposure later in life. Here, we have tested this hypothesis by comparing the developmental effects of 2 opposite early life conditions, when followed by 2 opposite adult environments. Male Balb/c mice were exposed to either adverse early life conditions (limited nesting and bedding material) or a supportive rearing environment (early handling). At adulthood, the animals of each group were either housed with an ovariectomized female (supportive environment) or underwent chronic social defeat stress (socially adverse environment) for 3 weeks. At the end of the adult manipulations, all of the animals were returned to standard housing conditions. Then, we compared the neuroendocrine, behavioral and molecular effects of the interaction between early and adult environment. Our study shows that early life adversity does not necessarily result in increased vulnerability to stress. Specific endophenotypes, like hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, anxiety-related behavior and glucocorticoid receptor expression levels in the hippocampus were not significantly altered when adversity is experienced during early life and in adulthood, and are mainly affected by either early life or adult life adversity alone. Overall our data support the notion that being raised in a stressful environment prepares the offspring to better cope with a challenging adult environment and emphasize the role of early life experiences in shaping adult responsiveness to stress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights

  11. Early life adversity influences stress response association with smoking relapse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    al'Absi, Mustafa; Lemieux, Andrine; Westra, Ruth; Allen, Sharon

    2017-11-01

    We examined the hypothesis that stress-related blunting of cortisol in smokers is particularly pronounced in those with a history of severe life adversity. The two aims of this study were first to examine hormonal, craving, and withdrawal symptoms during ad libitum smoking and after the first 24 h of abstinence in smokers who experienced high or low levels of adversity. Second, we sought to examine the relationship between adversity and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) hormones to predict relapse during the first month of a smoking cessation attempt. Hormonal and self-report measures were collected from 103 smokers (49 women) during ad libitum smoking and after the first 24 h of abstinence. HPA hormones were measured during baseline rest and in response to acute stress in both conditions. All smokers were interested in smoking cessation, and we prospectively used stress response measures to predict relapse during the first 4 weeks of the smoking cessation attempt. The results showed that high adversity was associated with higher distress and smoking withdrawal symptoms. High level of early life adversity was associated with elevated HPA activity, which was found in both salivary and plasma cortisol. Enhanced adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stress response was evident in high-adversity but not in low-adversity relapsers. This study demonstrated that early life adversity is associated with stress-related HPA responses. The study also demonstrated that, among smokers who experienced a high level of life adversity, heightened ACTH and cortisol responses were linked with increased risk for smoking relapse.

  12. Mixed models for data from thorough QT studies: part 2. One-step assessment of conditional QT prolongation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schall, Robert

    2011-01-01

    We investigate mixed analysis of covariance models for the 'one-step' assessment of conditional QT prolongation. Initially, we consider three different covariance structures for the data, where between-treatment covariance of repeated measures is modelled respectively through random effects, random coefficients, and through a combination of random effects and random coefficients. In all three of those models, an unstructured covariance pattern is used to model within-treatment covariance. In a fourth model, proposed earlier in the literature, between-treatment covariance is modelled through random coefficients but the residuals are assumed to be independent identically distributed (i.i.d.). Finally, we consider a mixed model with saturated covariance structure. We investigate the precision and robustness of those models by fitting them to a large group of real data sets from thorough QT studies. Our findings suggest: (i) Point estimates of treatment contrasts from all five models are similar. (ii) The random coefficients model with i.i.d. residuals is not robust; the model potentially leads to both under- and overestimation of standard errors of treatment contrasts and therefore cannot be recommended for the analysis of conditional QT prolongation. (iii) The combined random effects/random coefficients model does not always converge; in the cases where it converges, its precision is generally inferior to the other models considered. (iv) Both the random effects and the random coefficients model are robust. (v) The random effects, the random coefficients, and the saturated model have similar precision and all three models are suitable for the one-step assessment of conditional QT prolongation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. 77 FR 11134 - Guidance for Industry on Postmarketing Adverse Event Reporting for Medical Products and Dietary...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-24

    ... organizational unit responsible for adverse event reporting compliance when these conditions exist and when the...'s current thinking on postmarketing adverse event reporting for medical products and dietary...

  14. Smallpox vaccination and adverse reactions. Guidance for clinicians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cono, Joanne; Casey, Christine G; Bell, David M

    2003-02-21

    The guidance in this report is for evaluation and treatment of patients with complications from smallpox vaccination in the preoutbreak setting. Information is also included related to reporting adverse events and seeking specialized consultation and therapies for these events. The frequencies of smallpox vaccine-associated adverse events were identified in studies of the 1960s. Because of the unknown prevalence of risk factors among today's population, precise predictions of adverse reaction rates after smallpox vaccination are unavailable. The majority of adverse events are minor, but the less-frequent serious adverse reactions require immediate evaluation for diagnosis and treatment. Agents for treatment of certain vaccine-associated severe adverse reactions are vaccinia immune globulin (VIG), the first-line therapy, and cidofovir, the second-line therapy. These agents will be available under Investigational New Drug (IND) protocols from CDC and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Smallpox vaccination in the preoutbreak setting is contraindicated for persons who have the following conditions or have a close contact with the following conditions: 1) a history of atopic dermatitis (commonly referred to as eczema), irrespective of disease severity or activity; 2) active acute, chronic, or exfoliative skin conditions that disrupt the epidermis; 3) pregnant women or women who desire to become pregnant in the 28 days after vaccination; and 4) persons who are immunocompromised as a result of human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, autoimmune conditions, cancer, radiation treatment, immunosuppressive medications, or other immunodeficiencies. Additional contraindications that apply only to vaccination candidates but do not include their close contacts are persons with smallpox vaccine-component allergies, women who are breastfeeding, those taking topical ocular steroid medications, those with moderate-to-severe intercurrent illness, and

  15. Halophila stipulacea: survival under adverse conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, C. R., Jr.; Primack, A. G.; Wyllie-Echeverria, S.

    2016-02-01

    Halophila stipulacea is an invasive seagrass species originally native to the Indian Ocean. It invaded the Mediterranean Sea shortly after the opening of the Suez Canal, and has recently been found in the Caribbean. It has been suggested that it arrived in the Mediterranean attached to small pleasure craft, fishing craft, or small cargo vessels. This research examines the feasibility of these methods of transport and the possibility that arrived transported by ocean currents. To investigate potential transport vectors, we collected rooted samples of H. stipulacae from Brewers Bay on the island of Saint Thomas, USVI, and exposed them to conditions that would be experienced under each alternative method of transport. The health of the samples was monitored using a FLOURPEN FP 100 portable fluorometer. Rhizomes, and associated leaf pairs declined rapidly when exposed to air, submersed in freshwater, or kept damp in a towel soaked in seawater, but survived for more than 5 weeks when left floating in a bucket submersed in a seawater tank. Water temperature ranged between 27C and 30C during the experiment. This suggests that it might be possible for H. stipulacae to cross the Atlantic aided by currents.

  16. Adverse Intrauterine Environment and Cardiac miRNA Expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitchell C. Lock

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Placental insufficiency, high altitude pregnancies, maternal obesity/diabetes, maternal undernutrition and stress can result in a poor setting for growth of the developing fetus. These adverse intrauterine environments result in physiological changes to the developing heart that impact how the heart will function in postnatal life. The intrauterine environment plays a key role in the complex interplay between genes and the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate their expression. In this review we describe how an adverse intrauterine environment can influence the expression of miRNAs (a sub-set of non-coding RNAs and how these changes may impact heart development. Potential consequences of altered miRNA expression in the fetal heart include; Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF activation, dysregulation of angiogenesis, mitochondrial abnormalities and altered glucose and fatty acid transport/metabolism. It is important to understand how miRNAs are altered in these adverse environments to identify key pathways that can be targeted using miRNA mimics or inhibitors to condition an improved developmental response.

  17. The effect of adiabatic and conducting wall boundary conditions on LES of a thermal mixing tee

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howard, Richard J.A.; Pasutto, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    In this paper preliminary LES simulations are carried out of the FATHERINO mixing T junction experiment. In this experiment 80degC hot water enters a lateral steel pipe which has a diameter of D=0.054m, at a speed of 1.04m/s and meets 5degC cold water which enters a perpendicular steel pipe branch that also has a diameter D=0.054m but this time at a lower speed of 0.26m/s. The modelling of the steel pipe walls is tested by comparing adiabatic and 1D conducting wall boundary conditions. The numerical grid used contains approximately 440,000 hexahedral elements. The near wall refinement is not sufficient to resolve the near wall boundary layer (y + approx. = 32) and a standard logarithmic boundary condition is used. A method known as the synthetic eddy method is used to generate the turbulent flow at the pipe inlets. Three different LES models are used (Smagorinsky, dynamic Smagorinsky and wale) to resolve the subgrid turbulent motion beyond the wall grid. An additional test is carried out where no subgrid model is used with only the wall modelling being applied. The results show that the wale model generates much less resolved turbulence than the other cases and this model shows virtually no difference between the two methods of wall thermal modelling. The dynamic Smagorinsky model shows that, downstream of the mixing T, the lower wall remains at a lower temperature for longer when the adiabatic boundary condition is applied. The Smagorinsky model is found to produce the highest level of resolved temperature fluctuation. For this model the 1D thermal modelling approach increases the unsteadiness of both the velocity and temperature fields at the onset of the mixing and in the middle of the pipe downstream of the T junction. However near the lower wall the 1D thermal modelling approach tends to reduce the unsteadiness. The case with no subgrid modelling shows higher levels of turbulence kinetic energy but lower levels of temperature fluctuation than the cases with

  18. Cumulative Effects of Neighborhood Social Adversity and Personal Crime Victimization on Adolescent Psychotic Experiences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newbury, Joanne; Arseneault, Louise; Caspi, Avshalom; Moffitt, Terrie E; Odgers, Candice L; Fisher, Helen L

    2018-02-15

    Little is known about the impact of urbanicity, adverse neighborhood conditions and violent crime victimization on the emergence of adolescent psychotic experiences. Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative cohort of 2232 British twins who were interviewed about adolescent psychotic experiences at age 18. Urbanicity, neighborhood characteristics, and personal victimization by violent crime were measured during childhood and adolescence via geocoded census data, surveys of over 5000 immediate neighbors of the E-Risk participants, and interviews with participants themselves. Adolescents raised in urban vs rural neighborhoods were significantly more likely to have psychotic experiences (OR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.21-2.30, P = .002). This association remained significant after considering potential confounders including family socioeconomic status, family psychiatric history, and adolescent substance problems (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.01-2.03, P = .042), but became nonsignificant after considering adverse social conditions in urban neighborhoods such as low social cohesion and high neighborhood disorder (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.94-1.92, P = .102). The combined association of adverse neighborhood social conditions and personal crime victimization with adolescent psychotic experiences (adjusted OR = 4.86, 95% CI = 3.28-7.20, P < .001) was substantially greater than for either exposure alone, highlighting a potential interaction between neighborhood conditions and crime victimization (interaction contrast ratio = 1.81, 95% CI = -0.03 to 3.65) that was significant at the P = .054 level. Cumulative effects of adverse neighborhood social conditions and personal victimization by violent crime during upbringing partly explain why adolescents in urban settings are more likely to report psychotic experiences. Early intervention efforts for psychosis could be targeted towards victimized youth living in urban and socially

  19. Changes in working conditions and physical health functioning among midlife and ageing employees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mänty, Minna; Kouvonen, Anne; Lallukka, Tea; Lahti, Jouni; Lahelma, Eero; Rahkonen, Ossi

    2015-11-01

    The aim this study was to examine the effect of changes in physical and psychosocial working conditions on physical health functioning among ageing municipal employees. Follow-up survey data were collected from midlife employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland, at three time points: wave 1 (2000-2002), wave 2 (2007), and wave 3 (2012). Changes in physical and psychosocial working conditions were assessed between waves 1 and 2. Physical health functioning was measured by the physical component summary (PCS) of the Short-Form 36 questionnaire at each of the three waves. In total, 2784 respondents (83% women) who remained employed over the follow-up were available for the analyses. Linear mixed-effect models were used to assess the associations and adjust for key covariates (age, gender, obesity, chronic diseases, and health behaviors). Repeated and increased exposure to adverse physical working conditions was associated with greater decline in physical health functioning over time. In contrast, decrease in exposures reduced the decline. Of the psychosocial working conditions, changes in job demands had no effects on physical health functioning. However, decreased job control was associated with greater decline and repeated high or increased job control reduced the decline in physical health functioning over time. Adverse changes in physical working conditions and job control were associated with greater decline in physical health functioning over time, whereas favorable changes in these exposures reduced the decline. Preventing deterioration and promoting improvement of working conditions are likely to help maintain better physical health functioning among ageing employees.

  20. Serious adverse events with infliximab: analysis of spontaneously reported adverse events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Richard A; Gartlehner, Gerald; Powell, Gregory E; Sandler, Robert S

    2007-06-01

    Serious adverse events such as bowel obstruction, heart failure, infection, lymphoma, and neuropathy have been reported with infliximab. The aims of this study were to explore adverse event signals with infliximab by using a long period of post-marketing experience, stratifying by indication. The relative reporting of infliximab adverse events to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was assessed with the public release version of the adverse event reporting system (AERS) database from 1968 to third quarter 2005. On the basis of a systematic review of adverse events, Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) terms were mapped to predefined categories of adverse events, including death, heart failure, hepatitis, infection, infusion reaction, lymphoma, myelosuppression, neuropathy, and obstruction. Disproportionality analysis was used to calculate the empiric Bayes geometric mean (EBGM) and corresponding 90% confidence intervals (EB05, EB95) for adverse event categories. Infliximab was identified as the suspect medication in 18,220 reports in the FDA AERS database. We identified a signal for lymphoma (EB05 = 6.9), neuropathy (EB05 = 3.8), infection (EB05 = 2.9), and bowel obstruction (EB05 = 2.8). The signal for granulomatous infections was stronger than the signal for non-granulomatous infections (EB05 = 12.6 and 2.4, respectively). The signals for bowel obstruction and infusion reaction were specific to patients with IBD; this suggests potential confounding by indication, especially for bowel obstruction. In light of this additional evidence of risk of lymphoma, neuropathy, and granulomatous infections, clinicians should stress this risk in the shared decision-making process.

  1. Evolution of a Planar Wake in Adverse Pressure Gradient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driver, David M.; Mateer, George G.

    2016-01-01

    In the interest of improving the predictability of high-lift systems at maximum lift conditions, a series of fundamental experiments were conducted to study the effects of adverse pressure gradient on a wake flow. Mean and fluctuating velocities were measured with a two-component laser-Doppler velocimeter. Data were obtained for several cases of adverse pressure gradient, producing flows ranging from no reversed flow to massively reversed flow. While the turbulent Reynolds stresses increase with increasing size of the reversed flow region, the gradient of Reynolds stress does not. Computations using various turbulence models were unable to reproduce the reversed flow.

  2. HEPA Filter Performance under Adverse Conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parsons, Michael; Hogancamp, Kristina; Alderman, Steven; Waggoner, Charles

    2007-01-01

    This study involved challenging nuclear grade high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters under a variety of conditions that can arise in Department of Energy (DOE) applications such as: low or high RH, controlled and uncontrolled challenge, and filters with physically damaged media or seals (i.e., leaks). Reported findings correlate filter function as measured by traditional differential pressure techniques in comparison with simultaneous instrumental determination of up and down stream PM concentrations. Additionally, emission rates and failure signatures will be discussed for filters that have either failed or exceeded their usable lifetime. Significant findings from this effort include the use of thermocouples up and down stream of the filter housing to detect the presence of moisture. Also demonstrated in the moisture challenge series of tests is the effect of repeated wetting of the filter. This produces a phenomenon referred to as transient failure before the tensile strength of the media weakens to the point of physical failure. An evaluation of the effect of particle size distribution of the challenge aerosol on loading capacity of filters is also included. Results for soot and two size distributions of KCl are reported. Loading capacities for filters ranged from approximately 70 g of soot to nearly 900 g for the larger particle size distribution of KCl. (authors)

  3. Modeling the effect of adverse environmental conditions and clothing on temperature rise in a human body exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Stephen M; McIntosh, Robert L; Iskra, Steve; Wood, Andrew W

    2015-02-01

    This study considers the computationally determined thermal profile of a fully clothed, finely discretized, heterogeneous human body model, subject to the maximum allowable reference level for a 1-GHz radio frequency electromagnetic field for a worker, and also subject to adverse environmental conditions, including high humidity and high ambient temperature. An initial observation is that while electromagnetic fields at the occupational safety limit will contribute an additional thermal load to the tissues, and subsequently, cause an elevated temperature, the magnitude of this effect is far outweighed by that due to the conditions including the ambient temperature, relative humidity, and the type of clothing worn. It is envisaged that the computational modeling approach outlined in this paper will be suitably modified in future studies to evaluate the thermal response of a body at elevated metabolic rates, and for different body shapes and sizes including children and pregnant women.

  4. Coolant mixing in LMFBR rod bundles and outlet plenum mixing transients. Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Todreas, N.E.; Cheng, S.K.; Basehore, K.

    1984-08-01

    This project principally undertook the investigation of the thermal hydraulic performance of wire wrapped fuel bundles of LMFBR configuration. Results obtained included phenomenological models for friction factors, flow split and mixing characteristics; correlations for predicting these characteristics suitable for insertion in design codes; numerical codes for analyzing bundle behavior both of the lumped subchannel and distributed parameter categories and experimental techniques for pressure velocity, flow split, salt conductivity and temperature measurement in water cooled mockups of bundles and subchannels. Flow regimes investigated included laminar, transition and turbulent flow under forced convection and mixed convection conditions. Forced convections conditions were emphasized. Continuing efforts are underway at MIT to complete the investigation of the mixed convection regime initiated here. A number of investigations on outlet plenum behavior were also made. The reports of these investigations are identified

  5. Environmental adversities and psychotic symptoms: The impact of timing of trauma, abuse, and neglect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schalinski, Inga; Breinlinger, Susanne; Hirt, Vanessa; Teicher, Martin H; Odenwald, Michael; Rockstroh, Brigitte

    2017-11-13

    Trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) occur more often in mental illness, including psychosis, than in the general population. Individuals with psychosis (cases) report a higher number and severity (dose) of adversities than healthy controls. While a dose-dependent increase of adversities has been related to more severe psychopathology, the role of type and timing is still insufficiently understood on the exacerbation of positive and negative psychotic symptoms. Moreover, dissociative symptoms were examined as potential mediator between adversities and severity of psychotic symptoms. Exposure to adversities were assessed by interviews in n=180 cases and n=70 controls. In cases, symptom severities were obtained for psychotic symptoms and dissociation. Conditioned random forest regression determined the importance of type and timing of ACE for positive and negative symptom severity, and mediator analyses evaluated the role of dissociative symptoms in the relationship between adversities and psychotic symptoms. Cases experienced substantially more abuse and neglect than controls. Adversities were related in a dose-dependent manner to psychotic disorder. An array of adversities was associated with more severe positive symptoms, while the conditioned random forest regression depicted neglect at age 10 as the most important predictor. Dissociative symptoms mediated the small relation of trauma load in childhood and positive symptoms. The role of trauma and ACE on psychotic symptoms can be specified by neglect during frontocortical development in the exacerbation of positive symptoms. The mediating role of dissociation is restricted to the relation of childhood trauma and positive symptoms. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Developmental psychoneuroendocrine and psychoneuroimmune pathways from childhood adversity to disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhlman, Kate Ryan; Chiang, Jessica J; Horn, Sarah; Bower, Julienne E

    2017-09-01

    Childhood adversity has been repeatedly and robustly linked to physical and mental illness across the lifespan. Yet, the biological pathways through which this occurs remain unclear. Functioning of the inflammatory arm of the immune system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis are both hypothesized pathways through which childhood adversity leads to disease. This review provides a novel developmental framework for examining the role of adversity type and timing in inflammatory and HPA-axis functioning. In particular, we identify elements of childhood adversity that are salient to the developing organism: physical threat, disrupted caregiving, and unpredictable environmental conditions. We propose that existing, well-characterized animal models may be useful in differentiating the effects of these adversity elements and review both the animal and human literature that supports these ideas. To support these hypotheses, we also provide a detailed description of the development and structure of both the HPA-axis and the inflammatory arm of the immune system, as well as recent methodological advances in their measurement. Recommendations for future basic, developmental, translational, and clinical research are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. The association between adverse childhood experiences and adult traumatic brain injury/concussion: a scoping review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Zechen; Bayley, Mark T; Perrier, Laure; Dhir, Priya; Dépatie, Lana; Comper, Paul; Ruttan, Lesley; Lay, Christine; Munce, Sarah E P

    2018-01-12

    Adverse childhood experiences are significant risk factors for physical and mental illnesses in adulthood. Traumatic brain injury/concussion is a challenging condition where pre-injury factors may affect recovery. The association between childhood adversity and traumatic brain injury/concussion has not been previously reviewed. The research question addressed is: What is known from the existing literature about the association between adverse childhood experiences and traumatic brain injury/concussion in adults? All original studies of any type published in English since 2007 on adverse childhood experiences and traumatic brain injury/concussion outcomes were included. The literature search was conducted in multiple electronic databases. Arksey and O'Malley and Levac et al.'s scoping review frameworks were used. Two reviewers independently completed screening and data abstraction. The review yielded six observational studies. Included studies were limited to incarcerated or homeless samples, and individuals at high-risk of or with mental illnesses. Across studies, methods for childhood adversity and traumatic brain injury/concussion assessment were heterogeneous. A positive association between adverse childhood experiences and traumatic brain injury occurrence was identified. The review highlights the importance of screening and treatment of adverse childhood experiences. Future research should extend to the general population and implications on injury recovery. Implications for rehabilitation Exposure to adverse childhood experiences is associated with increased risk of traumatic brain injury. Specific types of adverse childhood experiences associated with risk of traumatic brain injury include childhood physical abuse, psychological abuse, household member incarceration, and household member drug abuse. Clinicians and researchers should inquire about adverse childhood experiences in all people with traumatic brain injury as pre-injury health conditions can

  8. Development of a Rational Design Space for Optimizing Mixing Conditions for Formation of Adhesive Mixtures for Dry-Powder Inhaler Formulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarkar, Saurabh; Minatovicz, Bruna; Thalberg, Kyrre; Chaudhuri, Bodhisattwa

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to develop guidance toward rational choice of blenders and processing conditions to make robust and high performing adhesive mixtures for dry-powder inhalers and to develop quantitative experimental approaches for optimizing the process. Mixing behavior of carrier (LH100) and AstraZeneca fine lactose in high-shear and low-shear double cone blenders was systematically investigated. Process variables impacting the mixing performance were evaluated for both blenders. The performance of the blenders with respect to the mixing time, press-on forces, static charging, and abrasion of carrier fines was monitored, and for some of the parameters, distinct differences could be detected. A comparison table is presented, which can be used as a guidance to enable rational choice of blender and process parameters based on the user requirements. Segregation of adhesive mixtures during hopper discharge was also investigated. Copyright © 2016 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Adverse Effects of Bisphosphonates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abrahamsen, Bo

    2010-01-01

    and are tolerated by the majority of patients, but serious adverse events have been recorded in some cases. Only the most common of adverse effects are robustly observable in clinical trials. In general, studies were not powered to detect effects that were lower in incidence than fractures. This review of adverse...

  10. Adverse effects of bisphosphonates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abrahamsen, Bo

    2010-01-01

    and are tolerated by the majority of patients, but serious adverse events have been recorded in some cases. Only the most common of adverse effects are robustly observable in clinical trials. In general, studies were not powered to detect effects that were lower in incidence than fractures. This review of adverse...

  11. Transformation of trinitrotoluene to triaminotoluene by mixed cultures incubated under methanogenic conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, P.; Chow, T.; Adrian, N.R.

    2000-04-01

    2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is an explosive widely used by the military. Although it is no longer manufactured in the US, large amounts of wastewater are generated annually from load, assembly, packing, and demilitarization operations. Granular-activated carbon adsorption is the standard technology for treating wastewater containing TNT and maintaining discharges within the limits established under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Studies evaluating biological treatment of pink water with an anaerobic fluidized-bed, granular-activated carbon bioreactor have been promising, but the fate of TNT is unknown. The authors investigated the anaerobic transformation of TNT by biofilm microorganisms obtained from a wastewater treatment plant receiving explosive manufacturing wastewater. The TNT was transformed to a mixture of 2-amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene; 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene; 2,4-diamino-6-nitrotoluene; and 2,6-diamino-4-nitrotoluene before culminating in the formation of triaminotoluene (TAT). Triaminotoluene was susceptible to further degradation under anaerobic conditions, but its fate was not determined. Methane formation was inhibited but resumed after the depletion of the diaminonitrotoluene isomers. These studies demonstrate near stoichiometric formation of TAT from TNT and the transformation of 2-amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene to 2,4-diamino-6-nitrotoluene and 2,6-diamino-4-nitrotoluene by a mixed culture incubated under methanogenic conditions. This evidence indicates TAT is also a likely end-product of TNT biodegradation in the anaerobic fluidized fed bioreactor.

  12. Correlation between system performance and bacterial composition under varied mixing intensity in thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.; Al-Sanioura, Dana N.; Saikaly, Pascal; El-Fadel, Mutasem

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the stability and efficiency of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste under various mixing velocities (50–160 rpm). The results showed that high velocities (120 and 160 rpm) were harmful to the digestion process with 18–30% reduction in methane generation and 1.8 to 3.8 times increase in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, compared to mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). Also, the removal rate of soluble COD dropped from 75 to 85% (at 50–80 rpm) to 20–59% (at 120–160 rpm). Similarly, interrupted mixing caused adverse impacts and led to near-failure conditions with excessive VFA accumulation (15.6 g l), negative removal rate of soluble COD and low methane generation (132 ml gVS). The best efficiency and stability were achieved under mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). In particular, the 50 rpm stirring speed resulted in the highest methane generation (573 ml gVS). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the digesters were dominated by one bacterial genus (Petrotoga; phylym Thermotogae) at all mixing velocities except at 0 rpm, where the community was dominated by one bacterial genus (Anaerobaculum; phylum Synergistetes). The Petrotoga genus seems to have played a major role in the degradation of organic matter.

  13. Correlation between system performance and bacterial composition under varied mixing intensity in thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2017-12-07

    This study examines the stability and efficiency of thermophilic anaerobic digesters treating food waste under various mixing velocities (50–160 rpm). The results showed that high velocities (120 and 160 rpm) were harmful to the digestion process with 18–30% reduction in methane generation and 1.8 to 3.8 times increase in volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentrations, compared to mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). Also, the removal rate of soluble COD dropped from 75 to 85% (at 50–80 rpm) to 20–59% (at 120–160 rpm). Similarly, interrupted mixing caused adverse impacts and led to near-failure conditions with excessive VFA accumulation (15.6 g l), negative removal rate of soluble COD and low methane generation (132 ml gVS). The best efficiency and stability were achieved under mild mixing (50 and 80 rpm). In particular, the 50 rpm stirring speed resulted in the highest methane generation (573 ml gVS). High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes revealed that the digesters were dominated by one bacterial genus (Petrotoga; phylym Thermotogae) at all mixing velocities except at 0 rpm, where the community was dominated by one bacterial genus (Anaerobaculum; phylum Synergistetes). The Petrotoga genus seems to have played a major role in the degradation of organic matter.

  14. Loneliness, eudaimonia, and the human conserved transcriptional response to adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Steven W; Levine, Morgan E; Arevalo, Jesusa M G; Ma, Jeffrey; Weir, David R; Crimmins, Eileen M

    2015-12-01

    Chronic social adversity activates a conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) marked by increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and decreased expression of antiviral- and antibody-related genes. Recent findings suggest that some psychological resilience factors may help buffer CTRA activation, but the relative impact of resilience and adversity factors remains poorly understood. Here we examined the relative strength of CTRA association for the two best-established psychological correlates of CTRA gene expression-the risk factor of perceived social isolation (loneliness) and the resilience factor of eudaimonic well-being (purpose and meaning in life). Peripheral blood samples and validated measures of loneliness and eudaimonic well-being were analyzed in 108 community-dwelling older adults participating in the longitudinal US Health and Retirement Study (56% female, mean age 73). Mixed effect linear model analyses quantified the strength of association between CTRA gene expression and measures of loneliness and eudaimonic well-being in separate and joint analyses. As in previous studies, separate analyses found CTRA gene expression to be up-regulated in association with loneliness and down-regulated in association with eudaimonic well-being. In joint analyses, effects of loneliness were completely abrogated whereas eudaimonic well-being continued to associate with CTRA down-regulation. Similar eudaimonia-dominant effects were observed for positive and negative affect, optimism and pessimism, and anxiety symptoms. All results were independent of demographic and behavioral health risk factors. Eudaimonic well-being may have the potential to compensate for the adverse impact of loneliness on CTRA gene expression. Findings suggest a novel approach to targeting the health risks associated with social isolation by promoting purpose and meaning in life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Modelling the adverse effects associated with ecstasy use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisk, John E; Murphy, Philip N; Montgomery, Catharine; Hadjiefthyvoulou, Florentia

    2011-04-01

    Ecstasy, the street name for 3,4-meththylenedioxymethamphetamine, has been associated with a range of psychiatric symptoms and impaired psychological health in both problem and recreational users. The purpose of the present paper is to determine how these impairments are related to the history of polydrug use, and the conditions under which individuals ingest ecstasy. Associations between the variables of interest were investigated utilizing negative binomial regression. Liverpool and Preston in the North West of England. A convenience sample of 159 recreational ecstasy/polydrug users (80 males, 79 females). The sample was composed primarily of undergraduates. The dependent variable was the number of reported ecstasy-related adverse effects. Independent variables included quantitative aspects of ecstasy and other drug use, and the various beliefs and behaviours associated with ecstasy use. The number of adverse effects was associated positively with life-time exposure to ecstasy and negatively with period of abstinence from the drug. Adverse effects were more common among those who consumed ecstasy and alcohol concurrently, but were unrelated to other aspects of polydrug use. They were unaffected by whether the user took precautions when using the drug, and only weakly related to prior beliefs concerning the effects of ecstasy. Greater life-time exposure to ecstasy and consuming the drug concurrently with alcohol increase the likelihood of experiencing adverse effects, including paranoia, poor general health, irritability, confusion and moodiness. Adverse effects decrease with the period of abstinence from the drug. © 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  16. Unambiguous discrimination of mixed quantum states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Chi; Feng Yuan; Ying Mingsheng

    2006-01-01

    The problem of unambiguous discrimination between mixed quantum states is addressed by isolating the part of each mixed state which has no contribution to discrimination and by employing the strategy of set discrimination of pure states. A necessary and sufficient condition of unambiguous mixed state discrimination is presented. An upper bound of the efficiency is also derived

  17. Cumulative Effects of Neighborhood Social Adversity and Personal Crime Victimization on Adolescent Psychotic Experiences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newbury, Joanne; Arseneault, Louise; Caspi, Avshalom; Moffitt, Terrie E; Odgers, Candice L

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Background: Little is known about the impact of urbanicity, adverse neighborhood conditions and violent crime victimization on the emergence of adolescent psychotic experiences. Methods: Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative cohort of 2232 British twins who were interviewed about adolescent psychotic experiences at age 18. Urbanicity, neighborhood characteristics, and personal victimization by violent crime were measured during childhood and adolescence via geocoded census data, surveys of over 5000 immediate neighbors of the E-Risk participants, and interviews with participants themselves. Results: Adolescents raised in urban vs rural neighborhoods were significantly more likely to have psychotic experiences (OR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.21–2.30, P = .002). This association remained significant after considering potential confounders including family socioeconomic status, family psychiatric history, and adolescent substance problems (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.01–2.03, P = .042), but became nonsignificant after considering adverse social conditions in urban neighborhoods such as low social cohesion and high neighborhood disorder (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.94–1.92, P = .102). The combined association of adverse neighborhood social conditions and personal crime victimization with adolescent psychotic experiences (adjusted OR = 4.86, 95% CI = 3.28–7.20, P crime victimization (interaction contrast ratio = 1.81, 95% CI = −0.03 to 3.65) that was significant at the P = .054 level. Conclusions: Cumulative effects of adverse neighborhood social conditions and personal victimization by violent crime during upbringing partly explain why adolescents in urban settings are more likely to report psychotic experiences. Early intervention efforts for psychosis could be targeted towards victimized youth living in urban and socially adverse neighborhoods. PMID:28535284

  18. Transient paralysis during acupuncture therapy: a case report of an adverse event.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beable, Anne

    2013-09-01

    A patient with apparently well-controlled epilepsy with a painful musculoskeletal condition was treated successfully with two sessions of acupuncture. However, 4 h after the first treatment and during the second, an adverse event involving impairment of consciousness occurred. The patient subsequently experienced an increased frequency of complex partial seizures resulting in the loss of his driving licence. A detailed retrospective review of the past medical history indicated that the patient probably had comorbidities in the form of rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder and dysfunctional somatosensory/vestibular processing. Acupuncture may have triggered the adverse event via shared neurosubstrates. This adverse event raises possible implications regarding safe clinical acupuncture practice.

  19. Mixed Waste Management Facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brummond, W.; Celeste, J.; Steenhoven, J.

    1993-08-01

    The DOE has developed a National Mixed Waste Strategic Plan which calls for the construction of 2 to 9 mixed waste treatment centers in the Complex in the near future. LLNL is working to establish an integrated mixed waste technology development and demonstration system facility, the Mixed Waste Management Facility (MWMF), to support the DOE National Mixed Waste Strategic Plan. The MWMF will develop, demonstrate, test, and evaluate incinerator-alternatives which will comply with regulations governing the treatment and disposal of organic mixed wastes. LLNL will provide the DOE with engineering data for design and operation of new technologies which can be implemented in their mixed waste treatment centers. MWMF will operate under real production plant conditions and process samples of real LLNL mixed waste. In addition to the destruction of organic mixed wastes, the development and demonstration will include waste feed preparation, material transport systems, aqueous treatment, off-gas treatment, and final forms, thus making it an integrated ''cradle to grave'' demonstration. Technologies from offsite as well as LLNL's will be tested and evaluated when they are ready for a pilot scale demonstration, according to the needs of the DOE

  20. Experimental characterization of initial conditions and spatio-temporal evolution of a small Atwood number Rayleigh-Taylor mixing layer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mueschke, N J; Andrews, M J; Schilling, O

    2005-09-26

    The initial multi-mode interfacial velocity and density perturbations present at the onset of a small Atwood number, incompressible, miscible, Rayleigh-Taylor instability-driven mixing layer have been quantified using a combination of experimental techniques. The streamwise interfacial and spanwise interfacial perturbations were measured using high-resolution thermocouples and planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), respectively. The initial multi-mode streamwise velocity perturbations at the two-fluid density interface were measured using particle-image velocimetry (PIV). It was found that the measured initial conditions describe an initially anisotropic state, in which the perturbations in the streamwise and spanwise directions are independent of one another. The evolution of various fluctuating velocity and density statistics, together with velocity and density variance spectra, were measured using PIV and high-resolution thermocouple data. The evolution of the velocity and density statistics is used to investigate the early-time evolution and the onset of strongly-nonlinear, transitional dynamics within the mixing layer. The early-time evolution of the density and vertical velocity variance spectra indicate that velocity fluctuations are the dominant mechanism driving the instability development. The implications of the present experimental measurements on the initialization of Reynolds-averaged turbulent transport and mixing models and of direct and large-eddy simulations of Rayleigh-Taylor instability-induced turbulence are discussed.

  1. Risk of Adverse Health Outcomes and Decrements in Performance Due to In-flight Medical Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Antonsen,Erik

    2017-01-01

    The drive to undertake long-duration space exploration missions at greater distances from Earth gives rise to many challenges concerning human performance under extreme conditions. At NASA, the Human Research Program (HRP) has been established to investigate the specific risks to astronaut health and performance presented by space exploration, in addition to developing necessary countermeasures and technology to reduce risk and facilitate safer, more productive missions in space (NASA Human Research Program 2009). The HRP is divided into five subsections, covering behavioral health, space radiation, habitability, and other areas of interest. Within this structure is the ExMC Element, whose research contributes to the overall development of new technologies to overcome the challenges of expanding human exploration and habitation of space. The risk statement provided by the HRP to the ExMC Element states: "Given that medical conditions/events will occur during human spaceflight missions, there is a possibility of adverse health outcomes and decrements in performance in mission and for long term health" (NASA Human Research Program 2016). Within this risk context, the Exploration Medical Capabilities (ExMC) Element is specifically concerned with establishing evidenced-based methods of monitoring and maintaining astronaut health. Essential to completing this task is the advancement in techniques that identify, prevent, and treat any health threats that may occur during space missions. The ultimate goal of the ExMC Element is to develop and demonstrate a pathway for medical system integration into vehicle and mission design to mitigate the risk of medical issues. Integral to this effort is inclusion of an evidence-based medical and data handling system appropriate for long-duration, exploration-class missions. This requires a clear Concept of Operations, quantitative risk metrics or other tools to address changing risk throughout a mission, and system scoping and system

  2. Fourier Multipliers on Anisotropic Mixed-Norm Spaces of Distributions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cleanthous, Galatia; Georgiadis, Athanasios; Nielsen, Morten

    2018-01-01

    A new general Hormander type condition involving anisotropies and mixed norms is introduced, and boundedness results for Fourier multi- pliers on anisotropic Besov and Triebel-Lizorkin spaces of distributions with mixed Lebesgue norms are obtained. As an application, the continuity of such operat......A new general Hormander type condition involving anisotropies and mixed norms is introduced, and boundedness results for Fourier multi- pliers on anisotropic Besov and Triebel-Lizorkin spaces of distributions with mixed Lebesgue norms are obtained. As an application, the continuity...

  3. Transition to turbulence and effect of initial conditions on three-dimensional compressible mixing in planar blast-wave-driven systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miles, A.R.; Blue, B.; Edwards, M.J.; Greenough, J.A.; Hansen, J.F.; Robey, H.F.; Drake, R.P.; Kuranz, C.; Leibrandt, D.R.

    2005-01-01

    Perturbations on an interface driven by a strong blast wave grow in time due to a combination of Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov, and decompression effects. In this paper, results from three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of such a system under drive conditions to be attainable on the National Ignition Facility [E. M. Campbell, Laser Part. Beams 9, 209 (1991)] are presented. Using the multiphysics, adaptive mesh refinement, higher order Godunov Eulerian hydrocode, Raptor [L. H. Howell and J. A. Greenough, J. Comput. Phys. 184, 53 (2003)], the late nonlinear instability evolution, including transition to turbulence, is considered for various multimode perturbation spectra. The 3D post-transition state differs from the 2D result, but the process of transition proceeds similarly in both 2D and 3D. The turbulent mixing transition results in a reduction in the growth rate of the mixing layer relative to its pretransition value and, in the case of the bubble front, relative to the 2D result. The post-transition spike front velocity is approximately the same in 2D and 3D. Implications for hydrodynamic mixing in core-collapse supernovae are discussed

  4. Disintegration of fluids under supercritical conditions from mixing layer studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okong'o, N.; Bellan, J.

    2003-01-01

    Databases of transitional states obtained from Direct Numerical simulations (DNS) of temporal, supercritical mixing layers for two species systems, O2/H2 and C7H16/N2, are analyzed to elucidate species-specific turbulence aspects and features of fluid disintegration.

  5. ADVANCED MIXING MODELS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, S; Dimenna, R; Tamburello, D

    2011-02-14

    The process of recovering and processing High Level Waste (HLW) the waste in storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) typically requires mixing the contents of the tank with one to four mixers (pumps) located within the tank. The typical criteria to establish a mixed condition in a tank are based on the number of pumps in operation and the time duration of operation. To ensure that a mixed condition is achieved, operating times are typically set conservatively long. This approach results in high operational costs because of the long mixing times and high maintenance and repair costs for the same reason. A significant reduction in both of these costs might be realized by reducing the required mixing time based on calculating a reliable indicator of mixing with a suitably validated computer code. The focus of the present work is to establish mixing criteria applicable to miscible fluids, with an ultimate goal of addressing waste processing in HLW tanks at SRS and quantifying the mixing time required to suspend sludge particles with the submersible jet pump. A single-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach was taken for the analysis of jet flow patterns with an emphasis on the velocity decay and the turbulent flow evolution for the farfield region from the pump. Literature results for a turbulent jet flow are reviewed, since the decay of the axial jet velocity and the evolution of the jet flow patterns are important phenomena affecting sludge suspension and mixing operations. The work described in this report suggests a basis for further development of the theory leading to the identified mixing indicators, with benchmark analyses demonstrating their consistency with widely accepted correlations. Although the indicators are somewhat generic in nature, they are applied to Savannah River Site (SRS) waste tanks to provide a better, physically based estimate of the required mixing time. Waste storage tanks at SRS contain settled sludge which varies in

  6. Periodontal disease, atherosclerosis, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and head-and-neck cancer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Han, Y.W.; Houcken, W.; Loos, B.G.; Schenkein, H.A.; Tezal, M.

    2014-01-01

    Interrelationships between periodontal infection and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and head-and-neck cancer have become increasingly appreciated in recent years. Periodontitis is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and, experimentally, with

  7. [Adverse effects of oxcarbazepine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Shu; Gong, Zhi-Cheng

    2015-04-01

    Oxcarbazepine is a new antiepileptic drug. The results of clinical trials suggest that oxcarbazepine is well tolerated and has less drug interactions. It is being used more and more widely in clinical practice, but its adverse effects should not be ignored. The most common adverse effects of oxcarbazepine are usually related to the central nervous system and digestive system, including fatigue, drowsiness, diplopia, dizziness, nausea and vomit. The common skin adverse reaction is rash. Long-term use of oxcarbazepine may also cause hyponatremia. This article reviews the literature from China and overseas about the adverse effets of oxcarbazepine over the last 10 years in order to find information about rational clinical use of oxcarbazepine.

  8. Numerical simulations of mixing conditions and aerosol dynamics in the CERN CLOUD chamber

    CERN Document Server

    Voigtländer, J; Rondo, L; Kürten, A; Stratmann, F

    2012-01-01

    To study the effect of galactic cosmic rays on aerosols and clouds, the Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) project was established. Experiments are carried out at a 26.1 m3 tank at CERN (Switzerland). In the experiments, the effect of ionizing radiation on H2SO4 particle formation and growth is investigated. To evaluate the experimental configuration, the experiment was simulated using a coupled multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) – particle model. In the model the coupled fields of gas/vapor species, temperature, flow velocity and particle properties were computed to investigate mixing state and mixing times of the CLOUD tank's contents. Simulation results show that a 1-fan configuration, as used in first experiments, may not be sufficient to ensure a homogeneously mixed chamber. To mix the tank properly, two fans and sufficiently high fan speeds are necessary. The 1/e response times for instantaneous changes of wall temperature and saturation ratio were found to be in the order of fe...

  9. A thick placenta: a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miwa, Ichiro; Sase, Masakatsu; Torii, Mayumi; Sanai, Hiromi; Nakamura, Yasuhiko; Ueda, Kazuyuki

    2014-01-01

    The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of an ultrasonographic measurement of placental thickness and the correlation of a thick placenta with adverse perinatal outcome. Placental thickness was measured in single gravidas, 16 to 40 weeks of gestation, between 2005 and 2009. Placentas were considered to be thick if their measured thickness were above the 95th percentile for gestational age. The incidence of thick placentas was 4.3% (138/3,183). Perinatal morbidity and neonatal conditions were worse in cases with thick placenta rather than without thick placenta. Ultrasonographic measurement of placental thickness is a simple method to estimate placental size. Thick placenta may be a useful predictor of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

  10. Implications of Upwells as Hydrodynamic Jets in a Pulse Jet Mixed System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pease, Leonard F. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Bamberger, Judith A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Minette, Michael J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

    2015-08-01

    This report evaluates the physics of the upwell flow in pulse jet mixed systems in the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Although the initial downward flow and radial flow from pulse jet mixers (PJMs) has been analyzed in some detail, the upwells have received considerably less attention despite having significant implications for vessel mixing. Do the upwells behave like jets? How do the upwells scale? When will the central upwell breakthrough? What proportion of the vessel is blended by the upwells themselves? Indeed, how the physics of the central upwell is affected by multiple PJMs (e.g., six in the proposed mixing vessels), non-Newtonian rheology, and significant multicomponent solids loadings remain unexplored. The central upwell must satisfy several criteria to be considered a free jet. First, it must travel for several diameters in a nearly constant direction. Second, its velocity must decay with the inverse of elevation. Third, it should have an approximately Gaussian profile. Fourth, the influence of surface or body forces must be negligible. A combination of historical data in a 12.75 ft test vessel, newly analyzed data from the 8 ft test vessel, and conservation of momentum arguments derived specifically for PJM operating conditions demonstrate that the central upwell satisfies these criteria where vigorous breakthrough is achieved. An essential feature of scaling from one vessel to the next is the requirement that the underlying physics does not change adversely. One may have confidence in scaling if (1) correlations and formulas capture the relevant physics; (2) the underlying physics does not change from the conditions under which it was developed to the conditions of interest; (3) all factors relevant to scaling have been incorporated, including flow, material, and geometric considerations; and (4) the uncertainty in the relationships is sufficiently narrow to meet required specifications. Although the central upwell

  11. Differences between Drug-Induced and Contrast Media-Induced Adverse Reactions Based on Spontaneously Reported Adverse Drug Reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryu, JiHyeon; Lee, HeeYoung; Suh, JinUk; Yang, MyungSuk; Kang, WonKu; Kim, EunYoung

    2015-01-01

    We analyzed differences between spontaneously reported drug-induced (not including contrast media) and contrast media-induced adverse reactions. Adverse drug reactions reported by an in-hospital pharmacovigilance center (St. Mary's teaching hospital, Daejeon, Korea) from 2010-2012 were classified as drug-induced or contrast media-induced. Clinical patterns, frequency, causality, severity, Schumock and Thornton's preventability, and type A/B reactions were recorded. The trends among causality tools measuring drug and contrast-induced adverse reactions were analyzed. Of 1,335 reports, 636 drug-induced and contrast media-induced adverse reactions were identified. The prevalence of spontaneously reported adverse drug reaction-related admissions revealed a suspected adverse drug reaction-reporting rate of 20.9/100,000 (inpatient, 0.021%) and 3.9/100,000 (outpatients, 0.004%). The most common adverse drug reaction-associated drug classes included nervous system agents and anti-infectives. Dermatological and gastrointestinal adverse drug reactions were most frequently and similarly reported between drug and contrast media-induced adverse reactions. Compared to contrast media-induced adverse reactions, drug-induced adverse reactions were milder, more likely to be preventable (9.8% vs. 1.1%, p contrast media-induced adverse reactions (56.6%, p = 0.066). Causality patterns differed between the two adverse reaction classes. The World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre causality evaluation and Naranjo algorithm results significantly differed from those of the Korean algorithm version II (p contrast media-induced adverse reactions. The World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre and Naranjo algorithm causality evaluation afforded similar results.

  12. Report of second FAO/IAEA research coordination meeting on in vitro techniques for selection of radiation-induced mutants adapted to adverse environmental conditions. Working material

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-07-01

    The meeting was attended by scientists from nine countries: Bangladesh, China P.R., Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Peru and United States of America. The participants in this Research Coordination Meeting are working on the improvement of potato, sweet potato, garlic, sugarcane, pineapple and alfalfa by combining in vitro techniques with induced mutagenesis to select for resistance to salinity, freezing, heat, drought, and water-logging depending upon adverse condition prevailing in their region. The participants reported results of their experiments on the radio-sensitivity tests on in vitro cultured plant material, such as micropropagated plants and organogenic or embryogenic callus cultures. In addition, reports on the modifications of culture media required to regenerate and multiply local varieties and to carry out in vitro selection for specific stress conditions were presented. Refs, figs, tabs.

  13. Report of second FAO/IAEA research coordination meeting on in vitro techniques for selection of radiation-induced mutants adapted to adverse environmental conditions. Working material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-07-01

    The meeting was attended by scientists from nine countries: Bangladesh, China P.R., Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Peru and United States of America. The participants in this Research Coordination Meeting are working on the improvement of potato, sweet potato, garlic, sugarcane, pineapple and alfalfa by combining in vitro techniques with induced mutagenesis to select for resistance to salinity, freezing, heat, drought, and water-logging depending upon adverse condition prevailing in their region. The participants reported results of their experiments on the radio-sensitivity tests on in vitro cultured plant material, such as micropropagated plants and organogenic or embryogenic callus cultures. In addition, reports on the modifications of culture media required to regenerate and multiply local varieties and to carry out in vitro selection for specific stress conditions were presented. Refs, figs, tabs

  14. Pulse Jet Mixing Tests With Noncohesive Solids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyer, Perry A.; Bamberger, Judith A.; Enderlin, Carl W.; Fort, James A.; Wells, Beric E.; Sundaram, S. K.; Scott, Paul A.; Minette, Michael J.; Smith, Gary L.; Burns, Carolyn A.; Greenwood, Margaret S.; Morgen, Gerald P.; Baer, Ellen BK; Snyder, Sandra F.; White, Michael; Piepel, Gregory F.; Amidan, Brett G.; Heredia-Langner, Alejandro; Bailey, Sharon A.; Bower, John C.; Denslow, Kayte M.; Eakin, David E.; Elmore, Monte R.; Gauglitz, Phillip A.; Guzman, Anthony D.; Hatchell, Brian K.; Hopkins, Derek F.; Hurley, David E.; Johnson, Michael D.; Kirihara, Leslie J.; Lawler, Bruce D.; Loveland, Jesse S.; Mullen, O Dennis; Pekour, Mikhail S.; Peters, Timothy J.; Robinson, Peter J.; Russcher, Michael S.; Sande, Susan; Santoso, Christian; Shoemaker, Steven V.; Silva, Steve M.; Smith, Devin E.; Su, Yin-Fong; Toth, James J.; Wiberg, John D.; Yu, Xiao-Ying; Zuljevic, Nino

    2009-05-11

    This report summarizes results from pulse jet mixing (PJM) tests with noncohesive solids in Newtonian liquid conducted during FY 2007 and 2008 to support the design of mixing systems for the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). Tests were conducted at three geometric scales using noncohesive simulants. The test data were used to independently develop mixing models that can be used to predict full-scale WTP vessel performance and to rate current WTP mixing system designs against two specific performance requirements. One requirement is to ensure that all solids have been disturbed during the mixing action, which is important to release gas from the solids. The second requirement is to maintain a suspended solids concentration below 20 weight percent at the pump inlet. The models predict the height to which solids will be lifted by the PJM action, and the minimum velocity needed to ensure all solids have been lifted from the floor. From the cloud height estimate we can calculate the concentration of solids at the pump inlet. The velocity needed to lift the solids is slightly more demanding than "disturbing" the solids, and is used as a surrogate for this metric. We applied the models to assess WTP mixing vessel performance with respect to the two perform¬ance requirements. Each mixing vessel was evaluated against these two criteria for two defined waste conditions. One of the wastes was defined by design limits and one was derived from Hanford waste characterization reports. The assessment predicts that three vessel types will satisfy the design criteria for all conditions evaluated. Seven vessel types will not satisfy the performance criteria used for any of the conditions evaluated. The remaining three vessel types provide varying assessments when the different particle characteristics are evaluated. The assessment predicts that three vessel types will satisfy the design criteria for all conditions evaluated. Seven vessel types will not satisfy

  15. Features of neutrino mixing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiu, S. H.; Kuo, T. K.

    2018-03-01

    The elements (squared) of the neutrino mixing matrix are found to satisfy, as functions of the induced mass, a set of differential equations. They show clearly the dominance of pole terms when the neutrino masses "cross." Using the known vacuum mixing parameters as initial conditions, it is found that these equations have very good approximate solutions, for all values of the induced mass. The results are applicable to long baseline experiments.

  16. Nanoscale study on water damage for different warm mix asphalt binders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kefei Liu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In order to analyze the water damage to different warm mix asphalt binders from the micro scale, five kinds of asphalt binders, 70#A base asphalt, sasobit warm mix asphalt, energy champion 120 °C (EC120 warm mix asphalt, aspha-min warm mix asphalt, sulfur-extended asphalt modifier (SEAM warm mix asphalt, under different conditions (dry/wet, original/aging are prepared for laboratory tests. The atomic force microscope (AFM is used to observe the surface properties and measure the adhesion force between the asphalt and the mineral aggregate. The obtained results show that under the dry condition aspha-min warm mix asphalt and SEAM warm mix asphalt show stronger adhesive ability with the mineral aggregate compared with other asphalt binders, but also have relatively large dispersion and fluctuation in the tested results; under the wet condition, aspha-min warm mix asphalt and SEAM warm mix asphalt show stronger water damage resistance ability. The EC120 warm mix asphalt and aspha-min warm mix asphalt are less sensitive to moist, and their corresponding adhesion force is less susceptible to the change of external moisture conditions, leading to a better ability to resist water erosion. The aging process significantly lowers the moisture erosion resistance ability, which further impairs the water damage resistance ability. The base asphalt is more sensitive to moisture and more vulnerable to water damage, no matter whether it is under original or aging conditions. The aging aspha-min warm mix asphalt has the least loss of adhesion force, the smallest dispersion of the tested adhesion force, the strongest water damage resistance ability, no matter it is dry or wet. Keywords: Road engineering, Warm mix asphalt, Moisture damage, Atomic force microscope, Microcosmic

  17. Mixed Emotions and Coping: The Benefits of Secondary Emotions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Braniecka, Anna; Trzebińska, Ewa; Dowgiert, Aneta; Wytykowska, Agata

    2014-01-01

    The existing empirical literature suggests that during difficult situations, the concurrent experience of positive and negative affects may be ideal for ensuring successful adaptation and well-being. However, different patterns of mixed emotions may have different adaptive consequences. The present research tested the proposition that experiencing a pattern of secondary mixed emotion (i.e., secondary emotion that embrace both positive and negative affects) more greatly promotes adaptive coping than experiencing two other patterns of mixed emotional experiences: simultaneous (i.e., two emotions of opposing affects taking place at the same time) and sequential (i.e., two emotions of opposing affects switching back and forth). Support for this hypothesis was obtained from two experiments (Studies 1 and 2) and a longitudinal survey (Study 3). The results revealed that secondary mixed emotions predominate over sequential and simultaneous mixed emotional experiences in promoting adaptive coping through fostering the motivational and informative functions of emotions; this is done by providing solution-oriented actions rather than avoidance, faster decisions regarding coping strategies (Study 1), easier access to self-knowledge, and better narrative organization (Study 2). Furthermore, individuals characterized as being prone to feeling secondary mixed emotions were more resilient to stress caused by transitions than those who were characterized as being prone to feeling opposing emotions separately (Study 3). Taken together, the preliminary results indicate that the pattern of secondary mixed emotion provides individuals with a higher capacity to handle adversity than the other two patterns of mixed emotional experience. PMID:25084461

  18. Childhood Adversity and Pain Sensitization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    You, Dokyoung Sophia; Meagher, Mary W

    Childhood adversity is a vulnerability factor for chronic pain. However, the underlying pain mechanisms influenced by childhood adversity remain unknown. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the impact of childhood adversity on dynamic pain sensitivity in young adults. After screening for childhood adverse events and health status, healthy individuals reporting low (below median; n = 75) or high levels of adversity (the top 5%; n = 51) were invited for pain testing. Both groups underwent heat pain threshold and temporal summation of second pain (TSSP) testing after reporting depressive symptoms. TSSP refers to a progressive increase in pain intensity with repetition of identical noxious stimuli and is attributed to central sensitization. Changes in pain ratings over time (slope) were computed for TSSP sensitization and decay of subsequent aftersensations. The high-adversity group showed greater TSSP sensitization (meanslope, 0.75; SDpositive slope, 1.78), and a trend toward a slower decay (meanslope, -11.9; SD, 3.4), whereas the low-adversity group showed minimal sensitization (meanslope, 0.07; SDnear-zero slope, 1.77), F(1,123) = 5.84, p = .017 and faster decay (meanslope, -13.1; SD, 3.4), F(1,123) = 3.79, p = .054. This group difference remained significant even after adjusting for adult depressive symptoms (p = .033). No group difference was found in heat pain threshold (p = .85). Lastly, the high-adversity group showed blunted cardiac and skin conductance responses. These findings suggest that enhancement of central sensitization may provide a mechanism underlying the pain hypersensitivity and chronicity linked to childhood adversity.

  19. Investigating goal conflict as a source of mixed emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berrios, Raul; Totterdell, Peter; Kellett, Stephen

    2015-01-01

    This research investigated whether (1) the experience of mixed emotions is a consequence of activating conflicting goals and (2) mixed emotions are distinct from emotional conflict. A preliminary experiment (Study 1, N = 35) showed that an elicited goal conflict predicted more mixed emotions than a condition where the same goals were not in conflict. The second experiment was based on naturally occurring goal activation (Study 2, N = 57). This illustrated that mixed emotions were experienced more following conflicting goals compared with a facilitating goals condition-on both a direct self-report measure of mixed emotions and a minimum index measure. The results also showed that mixed emotions were different to emotional conflict. Overall, goal conflict was found to be a source of mixed emotions, and it is feasible that such states have a role in resolving personal dilemmas.

  20. Initial conditions for turbulent mixing simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Kaman

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available In the context of the classical Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamical instability, we examine the much debated question of models for initial conditions and the possible influence of unrecorded long wave length contributions to the instability growth rate α.

  1. Possible adverse events in children treated by manual therapy: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Humphreys B Kim

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Pediatric manual therapy is controversial within the medical community particularly with respect to adverse events. Pediatric manual therapy (Ped MT is commonly used by a number of professions such as chiropractors, osteopaths and naturopaths for a variety of treatments in children. Ped MT interventions range from advice, light touch, massage, through to mobilisation and high velocity spinal manipulation. However, current evidence related to adverse events associated with Ped MT is not well understood. Objective To update the clinical research literature from the 2007 report by Vohra, Johnston, Cramer and Humphreys on possible adverse events in children treated by spinal manipulation. Methods A review of the clinical research literature from June 2004 until January 2010 as reported in MEDLINE, PubMed and PubMed Central for adverse events specifically related to the treatment of pediatric cases by manual therapy. Results Only three new clinical studies, one systematic review with meta-analysis and one evidence report were identified. Two clinical studies reported on chiropractic care and one on osteopathic spinal manipulation in children. The systematic review investigated all studies of adverse events and manual therapy and was not specific for pediatric patients. The evidence review focused on effectiveness of spinal manipulation in a variety of musculoskeletal conditions. No serious or catastrophic adverse events were reported in the clinical studies or systematic review. However for adults, it has been estimated that between 0.003% and 0.13% of manual therapy treatments may result in a serious adverse event. Although mild to moderate adverse events are common in adults, an accurate estimate from high quality pediatric studies is currently not available. Conclusions There is currently insufficient research evidence related to adverse events and manual therapy. However, clinical studies and systematic reviews from adult

  2. Cognitive predictors and age-based adverse impact among business executives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Rachael M; Dilchert, Stephan; Ones, Deniz S; Dages, Kelly D

    2015-09-01

    Age differences on measures of general mental ability and specific cognitive abilities were examined in 2 samples of job applicants to executive positions as well as a mix of executive/nonexecutive positions to determine which predictors might lead to age-based adverse impact in making selection and advancement decisions. Generalizability of the pattern of findings was also investigated in 2 samples from the general adult population. Age was negatively related to general mental ability, with older executives scoring lower than younger executives. For specific ability components, the direction and magnitude of age differences depended on the specific ability in question. Older executives scored higher on verbal ability, a measure most often associated with crystallized intelligence. This finding generalized across samples examined in this study. Also, consistent with findings that fluid abilities decline with age, older executives scored somewhat lower on figural reasoning than younger executives, and much lower on a letter series test of inductive reasoning. Other measures of inductive reasoning, such as Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, also showed similar age group mean differences across settings. Implications for employee selection and adverse impact on older job candidates are discussed. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Adverse effects of biologics: a network meta-analysis and Cochrane overview

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Singh, J. A.; Wells, G. A.; Christensen, Robin Daniel Kjersgaard

    2011-01-01

    Background Biologics are used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. While the efficacy of biologics has been established, there is uncertainty regarding the adverse effects of this treatment. Since serious risks such as tuberculosis (TB) reactivation, serious...

  4. Liquid metal degassing in electromagnetic mixing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pakhomov, A I; EHL' -FAVAKHRI, KAMAL' -ABD-RABU MOKHAMED [LENINGRADSKIJ POLITEKHNICHESKIJ INST. (USSR)

    1977-01-01

    Experimental results for laboratory and industrial conditions are presented showing the favourable effect of electromagnetic mixing on hot metal degassing process. It has been found that the intensity and duration of the mixing process increase with the degree of iron and steel degassing. Initiation of cavitation phenomena during hot metal electromagnetic mixing is intensified because of the presence of alien inclusions in the metal reducing the tensile strength of the liquid metal. This is the most substantial factor contributing to the gas content in the process of electromagnetic mixing.

  5. Neutron radiography experiments for verification of soluble boron mixing and transport modeling under natural circulation conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morlang, M.M.; Feltus, M.A.

    1996-01-01

    The use of neutron radiography for visualization of fluid flow through flow visualization modules has been very successful. Current experiments at the Penn State Breazeale Reactor serve to verify the mixing and transport of soluble boron under natural flow conditions as would be experienced in a pressurized water reactor. Different flow geometries have been modeled including holes, slots, and baffles. Flow modules are constructed of aluminum box material 1 1/2 inches by 4 inches in varying lengths. An experimental flow system was built which pumps fluid to a head tank and natural circulation flow occurs from the head tank through the flow visualization module to be radio-graphed. The entire flow system is mounted on a portable assembly to allow placement of the flow visualization module in front of the neutron beam port. A neutron-transparent fluor-inert fluid is used to simulate water at different densities. Boron is modeled by gadolinium oxide powder as a tracer element, which is placed in a mixing assembly and injected into the system a remotely operated electric valve, once the reactor is at power. The entire sequence is recorded on real-time video. Still photographs are made frame-by-frame from the video tape. Computers are used to digitally enhance the video and still photographs. The data obtained from the enhancement will be used for verification of simple geometry predictions using the TRAC and RELAP thermal-hydraulic codes. A detailed model of a reactor vessel inlet plenum, downcomer region, flow distribution area and core inlet is being constructed to model the APGOO plenum. Successive radiography experiments of each section of the model under identical conditions will provide a complete vessel / core model for comparison with the thermal-hydraulic codes

  6. Neutron radiography experiments for verification of soluble boron mixing and transport modeling under natural circulation conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feltus, M.A.; Morlang, G.M.

    1996-01-01

    The use of neutron radiography for visualization of fluid flow through flow visualization modules has been very successful. Current experiments at the Penn State Breazeale Reactor serve to verify the mixing and transport of soluble boron under natural flow conditions as would be experienced in a pressurized water reactor. Different flow geometries have been modeled including holes, slots, and baffles. Flow modules are constructed of aluminum box material 1 1/2 inches by 4 inches in varying lengths. An experimental flow system was built which pumps fluid to a head tank and natural circulation flow occurs from the head tank through the flow visualization module to be radiographed. The entire flow system is mounted on a portable assembly to allow placement of the flow visualization module in front of the neutron beam port. A neutron-transparent fluorinert fluid is used to simulate water at different densities. Boron is modeled by gadolinium oxide powder as a tracer element, which is placed in a mixing assembly and injected into the system by remote operated electric valve, once the reactor is at power. The entire sequence is recorded on real-time video. Still photographs are made frame-by-frame from the video tape. Computers are used to digitally enhance the video and still photographs. The data obtained from the enhancement will be used for verification of simple geometry predictions using the TRAC and RELAP thermal-hydraulic codes. A detailed model of a reactor vessel inlet plenum, downcomer region, flow distribution area and core inlet is being constructed to model the AP600 plenum. Successive radiography experiments of each section of the model under identical conditions will provide a complete vessel/core model for comparison with the thermal-hydraulic codes

  7. The two sides of adversity: the effect of distant versus recent adversity on updating emotional content in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levens, Sara M; Armstrong, Laura Marie; Orejuela-Dávila, Ana I; Alverio, Tabitha

    2017-09-01

    Previous research suggests that adversity can have both adaptive and maladaptive effects, yet the emotional and working memory processes that contribute to more or less adaptive outcomes are unclear. The present study sought to investigate how updating emotional content differs in adolescents who have experienced past, recent, or no adversity. Participants who had experienced distant adversity (N = 53), no adversity (N = 58), or recent adversity only (N = 20) performed an emotion n-back task with emotional facial expressions. Results revealed that the distant adversity group exhibited significantly faster reaction times (RTs) than the no adversity and recent adversity only groups. In contrast, the recent adversity only group exhibited significantly slower RTs and more errors than the distant adversity and no adversity groups. These results suggest an emotion and executive control pathway by which both the benefits and negative effects of adversity may be conferred. Results also highlight the importance of time in assessing the impact of adversity.

  8. Bio-hydrogen production from waste fermentation. Mixing and static conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gomez, X.; Cuetos, M.J.; Prieto, J.I.; Moran, A. [Chemical Engineering Dept. IRENA, University of Leon, Avda. de Portugal 41, 24071 Leon (Spain)

    2009-04-15

    One of the main disadvantages of the dark fermentation process is the cost associated with the stages needed for obtaining H{sub 2} producing microorganisms. Using anaerobic microflora in fermentation systems directly is an alternative which is gaining special interest when considering the implementation of large-scale plants and the use of wastes as substrate material. The performance of two H{sub 2} producing microflora obtained from different anaerobic cultures was studied in this paper. Inoculum obtained from a waste sludge digester and from a laboratory digester treating slaughterhouse wastes were used to start up H{sub 2} fermentation systems. Inoculum acclimatized to slaughterhouse wastes gave better performance in terms of stability. However, due to the limited availability of this seed material, further work was performed to study the behaviour of the inoculum obtained from the municipal wastewater treatment plant. The process was evaluated under static and mixing conditions. It was found that application of a low organic loading rate favoured the performance of the fermentation systems, and that agitation of the reacting mass could alleviate unsteady performance. Specific H{sub 2} production obtained was in the range of 19-26 L/kg SV{sub fed} with maximum peak production of 38-67 L/kg SV{sub fed}. Although the performance of the systems was unsteady, recovery could be achieved by suspending the feeding process and controlling the pH in the range of 5.0-5.5. Testing the recovery capacity of the systems under temperature shocks resulted in total stoppage of H{sub 2} production. (author)

  9. Experiments and Numerical Simulation of Mixing under Supercritical Conditions (PREPRINT)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-08

    prescribed phase between them. The signals were then sent to two amplifiers (Krohn-Hite model 7500 and a Trek model PZD2000A), one for each piezo... NASA Ames/Stanford Univ., 1999. [61] C. Segal and SA Polikhov. Subcritical to supercritical mixing. Physics of Fluids, 20:052101, 2008. [62] L. Selle and

  10. OAE: The Ontology of Adverse Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Yongqun; Sarntivijai, Sirarat; Lin, Yu; Xiang, Zuoshuang; Guo, Abra; Zhang, Shelley; Jagannathan, Desikan; Toldo, Luca; Tao, Cui; Smith, Barry

    2014-01-01

    A medical intervention is a medical procedure or application intended to relieve or prevent illness or injury. Examples of medical interventions include vaccination and drug administration. After a medical intervention, adverse events (AEs) may occur which lie outside the intended consequences of the intervention. The representation and analysis of AEs are critical to the improvement of public health. The Ontology of Adverse Events (OAE), previously named Adverse Event Ontology (AEO), is a community-driven ontology developed to standardize and integrate data relating to AEs arising subsequent to medical interventions, as well as to support computer-assisted reasoning. OAE has over 3,000 terms with unique identifiers, including terms imported from existing ontologies and more than 1,800 OAE-specific terms. In OAE, the term 'adverse event' denotes a pathological bodily process in a patient that occurs after a medical intervention. Causal adverse events are defined by OAE as those events that are causal consequences of a medical intervention. OAE represents various adverse events based on patient anatomic regions and clinical outcomes, including symptoms, signs, and abnormal processes. OAE has been used in the analysis of several different sorts of vaccine and drug adverse event data. For example, using the data extracted from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), OAE was used to analyse vaccine adverse events associated with the administrations of different types of influenza vaccines. OAE has also been used to represent and classify the vaccine adverse events cited in package inserts of FDA-licensed human vaccines in the USA. OAE is a biomedical ontology that logically defines and classifies various adverse events occurring after medical interventions. OAE has successfully been applied in several adverse event studies. The OAE ontological framework provides a platform for systematic representation and analysis of adverse events and of the factors (e

  11. Mixing conditions in application of bentonite grouting to radioactive waste disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayakawa, Hiroaki; Ito, Hiroshi

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to understand the flow properties and permeability of bentonite grout with NaCl added, using laboratory tests, and to clarify the mixing conditions of bentonite as a material. Given that the required permeability of clay grout is 10 -9 (m/s), the combination of grout (W/B) becomes 6 or less. The viscosity of the grout was measured, and because the viscosity was higher than the thickest cement milk on dam grouting, it was found that grout with a W/B of less than 10 was difficult to inject into rock joints. We then added NaCl to grout with a W/B is 6, and its viscosity decreased as the amount of NaCl increased. A grout of viscosity able to be injected into rock joints was achieved by adding NaCl in a density higher than 'W:NaCl=40:1'. Next, the permeability of a bentonite suspension with NaCl was examined using the falling head permeability test. Testing the sample 'B:W:NaCl=20:20:1' for 10 days revealed that the initial permeability 10 -8 (m/s) decreased to 10 -10 - 10 -11 (m/s). These results showed that a suspension to inject into rock joints could be made by adding NaCl, and clarified that permeation of groundwater into the suspension causes a decline in permeability. (author)

  12. Effect of mixing method on the mixing degree during the preparation of triturations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Hitoshi; Yanagihara, Yoshitsugu; Sekiguchi, Hiroko; Komada, Fusao; Kawabata, Haruno; Ohtani, Michiteru; Saitoh, Yukiya; Kariya, Satoru; Suzuki, Hiroshi; Uchino, Katsuyoshi; Iga, Tatsuji

    2004-03-01

    By using lactose colored with erythrocin, we investigated the effects of mixing methods on mixing degree during the preparation of trituration with a mortar and pestle. The extent of powder dilution was set to 4 to 64 fold in the experiments. We compared the results obtained by using two methods: (1) one-step mixing of powders after addition of diluents and (2) gradual mixing of powders after addition of diluents. As diluents, we used crystallized lactose and powdered lactose for the preparation of trituration. In the preparation of 64-fold trituration, an excellent degree of mixing was obtained, with CV values of less than 6.08%, for both preparation methods and for the two kinds of diluents. The mixing of two kinds of powders whose distributions of particle sizes were similar resulted in much better degree of mixing, with CV values of less than 3.0%. However, the concentration of principal agents in 64-fold trituration was reduced by 20% due to the adsorption of dye to the apparatus. Under conditions in which a much higher dilution rate and/or much better degree of dilution was required, it must be necessary to dilute powders with considering their physicality and to determine the concentrations of principal agents after the mixing.

  13. Health surveillance under adverse ergonomics conditions--validity of a screening method adapted for the occupational health service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonker, Dirk; Gustafsson, Ewa; Rolander, Bo; Arvidsson, Inger; Nordander, Catarina

    2015-01-01

    A new health surveillance protocol for work-related upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders has been validated by comparing the results with a reference protocol. The studied protocol, Health Surveillance in Adverse Ergonomics Conditions (HECO), is a new version of the reference protocol modified for application in the Occupational Health Service (OHS). The HECO protocol contains both a screening part and a diagnosing part. Sixty-three employees were examined. The screening in HECO did not miss any diagnosis found when using the reference protocol, but in comparison to the reference protocol considerable time savings could be achieved. Fair to good agreement between the protocols was obtained for one or more diagnoses in neck/shoulders (86%, k = 0.62) and elbow/hands (84%, k = 0.49). Therefore, the results obtained using the HECO protocol can be compared with a reference material collected with the reference protocol, and thus provide information of the magnitude of disorders in an examined work group. Practitioner Summary: The HECO protocol is a relatively simple physical examination protocol for identification of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and upper extremities. The protocol is a reliable and cost-effective tool for the OHS to use for occupational health surveillance in order to detect workplaces at high risk for developing musculoskeletal disorders.

  14. Childhood adversity and insomnia in adolescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yan; Raffeld, Miriam R; Slopen, Natalie; Hale, Lauren; Dunn, Erin C

    2016-05-01

    The study aims to evaluate the association between exposure to childhood adversity and insomnia, with an emphasis on the role of adversity type, timing, and accumulation (i.e., the number of specific types of adversities the child reported being exposed to). Our analytic sample comprised 9582 adolescents from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative population-based sample. We examined the association between 18 different types of retrospectively reported adversities (capturing interpersonal violence, accidents and injuries, social network or witnessing events, and other adverse events) and risk of self-reported past-year insomnia. We also examined whether the age at first exposure to adversity was associated with the risk of insomnia, and whether exposure to a greater number of different types of adversities (ie, accumulation) conferred an elevated risk of insomnia. In addition, we performed a sensitivity analysis excluding adolescents with a past-year diagnosis of major depression, dysthymia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or generalized anxiety disorder. Almost one-third of adolescents reported insomnia, with a higher prevalence among girls and those from racial/ethnic minority groups. Adolescents exposed to at least one childhood adversity of any type (59.41%) were more likely than their nonexposed peers to experience insomnia (across adversities, prevalence ratios (PRs) ranged from 1.31 to 1.89). Risk of insomnia differed based on the age at first exposure to adversity as well as the type of adversity. Adolescents exposed to a greater number of different types of adversities had a higher risk of insomnia compared to those experiencing fewer adversities. These results were similar, by and large, to those obtained after excluding adolescents with at least one of the four past-year psychiatric disorders. Exposure to adversity confers an elevated risk of insomnia. This association varied by type

  15. Adverse effects on sexual development in rat offspring after low dose exposure to a mixture of endocrine disrupting pesticides

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hass, Ulla; Boberg, Julie; Christiansen, Sofie

    2012-01-01

    The present study investigated whether a mixture of low doses of five environmentally relevant endocrine disrupting pesticides, epoxiconazole, mancozeb, prochloraz, tebuconazole and procymidone, would cause adverse developmental toxicity effects in rats. In rat dams, a significant increase...... and cumulative intake, because of the potentially serious impact of mixed exposure on development and reproduction in humans....

  16. Childhood adversity and adult personality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosenman, Stephen; Rodgers, Bryan

    2006-05-01

    To explore how recalled childhood adversity affects trait measures of personality in three age cohorts of an Australian adult population and to examine the effects of particular adversities on adult personality traits. A total of 7485 randomly selected subjects in the age bands of 20-24, 40-44 and 60-64 years were interviewed at the outset of a longitudinal community study of psychological health in the Canberra region of Australia. In the initial interview, subjects answered 17 questions about domestic adversity and three questions on positive aspects of upbringing to age 16 years. Personality traits were measured by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Behavioural Activation and Inhibition Scales, Positive and Negative Affect Scales and a measure of dissocial behaviours. Higher levels of childhood adversity substantially increase the risk of high neuroticism (OR = 2.6) and negative affect (OR = 2.6), less for behavioural inhibition (OR = 1.7) and for dissocial behaviour (OR = 1.7). No significant effect is seen for extraversion, psychoticism or behavioural activation. Age and gender had little effect on the pattern of risk. Maternal depression has significant and substantial independent effects on measures of neuroticism and negative affect as well as most other measures of personality. Childhood domestic adversity has substantial associations with clinically important aspects of personality: neuroticism and negative affect. Only small effects are seen on behavioural inhibition and dissocial behaviour, and no significant effect on extraversion and behavioural activation. These unexpected findings contradict clinical belief. Maternal psychological ill-health is pre-eminent among adversities predicting later disadvantageous traits, even for those traits that had only the slightest association with childhood adversity. Consequences of childhood adversity prevail throughout the lifespan in men and women equally. The study underlines the importance of childhood domestic

  17. Mixed-Precision Spectral Deferred Correction: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grout, Ray W. S.

    2015-09-02

    Convergence of spectral deferred correction (SDC), where low-order time integration methods are used to construct higher-order methods through iterative refinement, can be accelerated in terms of computational effort by using mixed-precision methods. Using ideas from multi-level SDC (in turn based on FAS multigrid ideas), some of the SDC correction sweeps can use function values computed in reduced precision without adversely impacting the accuracy of the final solution. This is particularly beneficial for the performance of combustion solvers such as S3D [6] which require double precision accuracy but are performance limited by the cost of data motion.

  18. New airborne pathogen transport model for upper-room UVGI spaces conditioned by chilled ceiling and mixed displacement ventilation: Enhancing air quality and energy performance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanaan, Mohamad; Ghaddar, Nesreen; Ghali, Kamel; Araj, Georges

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • A model of bacteria transport is developed in CC/DV conditioned spaces with UVGI. • The model identifies buoyant, partially mixed, and fully mixed transport zones. • The predicted bacteria concentration agreed well with CFD results. • The higher the supply flow rate, the more restrictive is return air mixing ratio. • Upper-room UVGI results in higher return mixing and 33% in energy savings. - Abstract: The maximum allowable return air ratio in chilled ceiling (CC) and mixed displacement ventilation (DV) system for good air quality is regulated by acceptable levels of CO 2 concentration not to exceed 700 ppm and airborne bacterial count to satisfy World Health Organization (WHO) requirement for bacterial count not to exceed 500 CFU/m 3 . Since the CC/DV system relies on buoyancy effects for driving the contaminated air upwards, infectious particles will recirculate in the upper zone allowing effective utilization of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) to clean return air. The aim of this work is to develop a new airborne bacteria transport plume-multi-layer zonal model at low computational cost to predict bacteria concentration distribution in mixed CC/DV conditioned room without and with upper-room UVGI installed. The results of the simplified model were compared with layer-averaged concentration predictions of a detailed and experimentally-validated 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The comparison showed good agreement between bacteria transport model results and CFD predictions of room air bacteria concentration with maximum error of ±10.4 CFU/m 3 in exhaust air. The simplified model captured the vertical bacteria concentration distribution in room air as well as the locking effect of highest concentration happening at the stratification level. The developed bacteria transport model was used in a case study to determine the return air mixing ratio that minimizes energy consumption and maintains acceptable IAQ

  19. Adversity and Resilience Are Associated with Outcome after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Military Service Members.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reid, Matthew W; Cooper, Douglas B; Lu, Lisa H; Iverson, Grant L; Kennedy, Jan E

    2018-05-15

    The objective of this study was to assess the associations between resilience, adversity, post-concussion symptoms, and post-traumatic stress symptom reporting after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). We hypothesized that resilience would be associated with less symptom reporting, and adversity would be associated with greater symptom reporting. This was a cross-sectional study of retrospective data collected for an ongoing TBI repository. United States military service members who screened positive for mTBI during a primary care visit completed the Trauma History Screen (THS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). Data collected from February 2015 to August 2016 were used for the present study. Only participants with complete data for the above measures were included, yielding a sample size of 165 participants. Adversity (THS) and resilience (CD-RISC) scores were each correlated significantly with post-concussion (NSI) and traumatic stress (PCL-C) total and subscale scores in the hypothesized direction. Interactions between adversity and resilience were absent for all measures except the NSI sensory subscale. Four traumatic event types were significantly associated positively with most NSI and PCL-C total and subscale scores, but the age at which traumatic events were first experienced showed few and mixed significant associations. In conclusion, resilience and adversity were significantly associated with symptom endorsement after mTBI. Screening for cumulative adversity may identify individuals at greater risk of developing persistent post-concussion symptoms and/or PTSD, and interventions that increase resilience may reduce symptom severity.

  20. Plastometry for the Self-Compacting Concrete Mixes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapsa, V. Ā.; Krasnikovs, A.; Lusis, V.; Lukasenoks, A.

    2015-11-01

    Operative determination of consistence of self-compacting concrete mixes at plant or in construction conditions is an important problem in building practice. The Abram's cone, the Vebe's device, the U-box siphon, L-box or funnel tests are used in solving this problem. However, these field methods are targeted at determination of some indirect parameters of such very complicated paste-like material like concrete mix. They are not physical characteristics suitable for the rheological calculations of the coherence between the stress and strains, flow characteristics and the reaction of the concrete mix in different technological processes. A conical plastometer having higher precision and less sensitive to the inaccuracy of the tests in construction condition has been elaborated at the Concrete Mechanics Laboratory of RTU. In addition, a new method was elaborated for the calculation of plasticity limit τ0 taking into account the buoyancy force of the liquid or non-liquid concrete mix. In the present investigation rheological test of the concrete mix by use the plastometer and the method mentioned earlier was conducted for different self-compacting and not self-compacting concrete mixes.

  1. Probabilistic broadcasting of mixed states

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Lvjun; Li Lvzhou; Wu Lihua; Zou Xiangfu; Qiu Daowen

    2009-01-01

    It is well known that the non-broadcasting theorem proved by Barnum et al is a fundamental principle of quantum communication. As we are aware, optimal broadcasting (OB) is the only method to broadcast noncommuting mixed states approximately. In this paper, motivated by the probabilistic cloning of quantum states proposed by Duan and Guo, we propose a new way for broadcasting noncommuting mixed states-probabilistic broadcasting (PB), and we present a sufficient condition for PB of mixed states. To a certain extent, we generalize the probabilistic cloning theorem from pure states to mixed states, and in particular, we generalize the non-broadcasting theorem, since the case that commuting mixed states can be exactly broadcast can be thought of as a special instance of PB where the success ratio is 1. Moreover, we discuss probabilistic local broadcasting (PLB) of separable bipartite states

  2. ADVANCED MIXING MODELS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, S; Richard Dimenna, R; David Tamburello, D

    2008-01-01

    The process of recovering the waste in storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) typically requires mixing the contents of the tank with one to four dual-nozzle jet mixers located within the tank. The typical criteria to establish a mixed condition in a tank are based on the number of pumps in operation and the time duration of operation. To ensure that a mixed condition is achieved, operating times are set conservatively long. This approach results in high operational costs because of the long mixing times and high maintenance and repair costs for the same reason. A significant reduction in both of these costs might be realized by reducing the required mixing time based on calculating a reliable indicator of mixing with a suitably validated computer code. The work described in this report establishes the basis for further development of the theory leading to the identified mixing indicators, the benchmark analyses demonstrating their consistency with widely accepted correlations, and the application of those indicators to SRS waste tanks to provide a better, physically based estimate of the required mixing time. Waste storage tanks at SRS contain settled sludge which varies in height from zero to 10 ft. The sludge has been characterized and modeled as micron-sized solids, typically 1 to 5 microns, at weight fractions as high as 20 to 30 wt%, specific gravities to 1.4, and viscosities up to 64 cp during motion. The sludge is suspended and mixed through the use of submersible slurry jet pumps. To suspend settled sludge, water is added to the tank as a slurry medium and stirred with the jet pump. Although there is considerable technical literature on mixing and solid suspension in agitated tanks, very little literature has been published on jet mixing in a large-scale tank. If shorter mixing times can be shown to support Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) or other feed requirements, longer pump lifetimes can be achieved with associated operational cost and

  3. ADVANCED MIXING MODELS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, S; Richard Dimenna, R; David Tamburello, D

    2008-11-13

    The process of recovering the waste in storage tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS) typically requires mixing the contents of the tank with one to four dual-nozzle jet mixers located within the tank. The typical criteria to establish a mixed condition in a tank are based on the number of pumps in operation and the time duration of operation. To ensure that a mixed condition is achieved, operating times are set conservatively long. This approach results in high operational costs because of the long mixing times and high maintenance and repair costs for the same reason. A significant reduction in both of these costs might be realized by reducing the required mixing time based on calculating a reliable indicator of mixing with a suitably validated computer code. The work described in this report establishes the basis for further development of the theory leading to the identified mixing indicators, the benchmark analyses demonstrating their consistency with widely accepted correlations, and the application of those indicators to SRS waste tanks to provide a better, physically based estimate of the required mixing time. Waste storage tanks at SRS contain settled sludge which varies in height from zero to 10 ft. The sludge has been characterized and modeled as micron-sized solids, typically 1 to 5 microns, at weight fractions as high as 20 to 30 wt%, specific gravities to 1.4, and viscosities up to 64 cp during motion. The sludge is suspended and mixed through the use of submersible slurry jet pumps. To suspend settled sludge, water is added to the tank as a slurry medium and stirred with the jet pump. Although there is considerable technical literature on mixing and solid suspension in agitated tanks, very little literature has been published on jet mixing in a large-scale tank. If shorter mixing times can be shown to support Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) or other feed requirements, longer pump lifetimes can be achieved with associated operational cost and

  4. Report of adverse events related to treatments to Institute de Veille sanitaire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maingon, P.; Simmon-Tellier, S.

    2007-01-01

    The 'code de sante publique' imposes to all health professionals an obligation to declare serious and undesirable events following cares applied during treatment investigations or prevention actions. An experimentation has been installed under the responsibility of the Institut de Veille sanitaire further to the 9 August 2004 bill. It aims to define how to declare undesirable adverse events to test its feasibility, its efficiency and to identify the necessary conditions to widespread its modalities. The field of these experimentations concerns all health professionals, working in public hospital or in private practice. The definition of undesirable adverse events should be clarified. Different ways to declare these events will be discussed with S.F.R.O. (Societe francaise de radiotherapie oncologique) to improve the current management of incidents and adverse events. (authors)

  5. Reducibility of ceria-lanthana mixed oxides under temperature programmed hydrogen and inert gas flow conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernal, S.; Blanco, G.; Cifredo, G.; Perez-Omil, J.A.; Pintado, J.M.; Rodriguez-Izquierdo, J.M.

    1997-01-01

    The present paper deals with the preparation and characterization of La/Ce mixed oxides, with La molar contents of 20, 36 and 57%. We carry out the study of the structural, textural and redox properties of the mixed oxides, comparing our results with those for pure ceria. For this aim we use temperature programmed reduction (TPR), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), nitrogen physisorption at 77 K, X-ray diffraction and high resolution electron microscopy. The mixed oxides are more easy to reduce in a flow of hydrogen than ceria. Moreover, in an inert gas flow they release oxygen in higher amounts and at lower temperatures than pure CeO 2 . The textural stability of the mixed oxides is also improved by incorporation of lanthana. All these properties make the ceria-lanthana mixed oxides interesting alternative candidates to substitute ceria in three-way catalyst formulations. (orig.)

  6. Potential of an asymmetrical agitation in industrial mixing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuhiko Nishi

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Mixing is one of the most fundamental operations in chemical engineering. Stirred tanks are widely used in the manufacture of such materials as chemicals, paints, inks, electronics materials, ceramics, foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Suitable mixing is indispensable to the purpose achievement of a process. Eccentric mixing, in which an impeller installed at eccentric position in a vessel, is one of the traditional methods of promoting mixing. An asymmetrical flow which occurs in vessel is complicated, and it promotes mixing, distribution, and mass transfer. In this study, a new mixing method which eccentric mixing using a large type impeller which attracts attention in recent years is shown. The high performance of a large impeller can be combined with the advantages of an eccentric impeller by using the impeller at an eccentric position. The power consumption and mixing time for MAXBLEND, which is a type of large impeller, were investigated. The power consumption, P, and mixing time, θM, were measured under various eccentric conditions. The relation between the power number (Np and Reynolds number (Re and that between the dimensionless mixing time (nθM and Re were investigated. When eccentric mixing is used industrially, we should be concerned about the horizontal load to a agitating shaft. The large oscillating horizontal load causes serious problems, such as the falling off of the impeller or the breakage of the motor, mechanical seal or gearbox. It is, therefore, important to understand the relation between these values and the impeller rotational speed when designing the mixing equipment and determining the operating conditions. In this study, the torque and horizontal load were measured in eccentric mixing under various eccentric conditions. The averages of both, the torque and the horizontal load, and their standard deviations, corresponding to the amplitude of fluctuation, were shown.Doi: 10.12777/ijse.5.2.73-80 [How to cite this

  7. Adverse Events of Massage Therapy in Pain-Related Conditions: A Systematic Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping Yin

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Pain-related massage, important in traditional Eastern medicine, is increasingly used in the Western world. So the widening acceptance demands continual safety assessment. This review is an evaluation of the frequency and severity of adverse events (AEs reported mainly for pain-related massage between 2003 and 2013. Relevant all-languages reports in 6 databases were identified and assessed by two coauthors. During the 11-year period, 40 reports of 138 AEs were associated with massage. Author, year of publication, country of occurrence, participant related (age, sex or number of patients affected, the details of manual therapy, and clinician type were extracted. Disc herniation, soft tissue trauma, neurologic compromise, spinal cord injury, dissection of the vertebral arteries, and others were the main complications of massage. Spinal manipulation in massage has repeatedly been associated with serious AEs especially. Clearly, massage therapies are not totally devoid of risks. But the incidence of such events is low.

  8. Baseline glucose level is an individual trait that is negatively associated with lifespan and increases due to adverse environmental conditions during development and adulthood.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montoya, Bibiana; Briga, Michael; Jimeno, Blanca; Moonen, Sander; Verhulst, Simon

    2018-05-01

    High baseline glucose levels are associated with pathologies and shorter lifespan in humans, but little is known about causes and consequences of individual variation in glucose levels in other species. We tested to what extent baseline blood glucose level is a repeatable trait in adult zebra finches, and whether glucose levels were associated with age, manipulated environmental conditions during development (rearing brood size) and adulthood (foraging cost), and lifespan. We found that: (1) repeatability of glucose levels was 30%, both within and between years. (2) Having been reared in a large brood and living with higher foraging costs as adult were independently associated with higher glucose levels. Furthermore, the finding that baseline glucose was low when ambient temperature was high, and foraging costs were low, indicates that glucose is regulated at a lower level when energy turnover is low. (3) Survival probability decreased with increasing baseline glucose. We conclude that baseline glucose is an individual trait negatively associated with survival, and increases due to adverse environmental conditions during development (rearing brood size) and adulthood (foraging cost). Blood glucose may be, therefore, part of the physiological processes linking environmental conditions to lifespan.

  9. The association between cumulative adversity and mental health: considering dose and primary focus of adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keinan, Giora; Shrira, Amit; Shmotkin, Dov

    2012-09-01

    The study addressed the dose-response model in the association of cumulative adversity with mental health. Data of 1,725 participants aged 50+ were drawn from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe. Measures included an inventory of potentially traumatic events, distress (lifetime depression, depressive symptoms), and well-being (quality of life, optimism/hope). The maximal effect of cumulative trauma emerged in the contrast between 0-2 and 3+ events, where the higher number of events related to higher distress but also to higher well-being. While self-oriented adversity revealed no, or negative, association with well-being, other-oriented adversity revealed a positive association. The study suggests an experiential dose of cumulative adversity leading to a co-activation of distress and well-being. The source of this co-activation seems to be other-oriented adversity.

  10. Exploring the Intersections of Trauma, Structural Adversity, and Psychosis among a Primarily African-American Sample: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cherise Rosen

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Traumatic life events (TLEs have been associated with multiple psychiatric diagnoses, including anxiety disorders, major depression, PTSD, and psychosis. To advance our understanding of the complex interactions between forms of adversity as they manifest across the lifespan, psychosis, and symptom content, we undertook a mixed-methods investigation of TLEs and psychosis. Our research explored the association between cumulative exposures, type of TLE, and proximity to the traumatic event and psychosis; the association between TLEs and clinical symptomology including specific types of delusions and/or hallucinations; and how qualitative data further inform understanding of complex relationships and patterns of past trauma and symptoms as they unfold over time. There were a total of 97 participants in the quantitative study sample, 51 participants with present state psychosis and 46 non-clinical. There were a total of 34 qualitative study participants, all of whom were experiencing psychosis. The quantitative analysis showed that when comparing persons with psychosis to the non-clinical group, there were no group differences in the overall total score of TLEs. However, there was a significant difference in cumulative TLEs that “Happened,” demonstrating that as the number of TLEs increased, the likelihood of clinical psychosis also increased. We also found a correlation between lifetime cumulative TLEs that “Happened” and PANSS five-factor analysis: positive, excitement, depression, thought disorder, activation, and paranoia scores. The qualitative analysis further built on these finding by providing rich narratives regarding the timing of trauma-related onset, relationships between trauma and both trauma-related and religious–spiritual content, and trauma and hallucinatory modality. Analysis of participant narratives suggests the central role of localized cultural and sociopolitical influences on onset, phenomenology, and coping and

  11. A Note on the Identifiability of Generalized Linear Mixed Models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Labouriau, Rodrigo

    2014-01-01

    I present here a simple proof that, under general regularity conditions, the standard parametrization of generalized linear mixed model is identifiable. The proof is based on the assumptions of generalized linear mixed models on the first and second order moments and some general mild regularity...... conditions, and, therefore, is extensible to quasi-likelihood based generalized linear models. In particular, binomial and Poisson mixed models with dispersion parameter are identifiable when equipped with the standard parametrization...

  12. Mixing-Structure Relationship in Jet-Stirred Reactors

    KAUST Repository

    Ayass, Wassim W.; Nasir, Ehson Fawad; Farooq, Aamir; Sarathy, Mani

    2016-01-01

    of these geometrical parameters on mixing. The mixing was studied at ambient conditions using laser absorption spectroscopy to follow the exit concentration of a tracer gas, carbon dioxide, after a step change in its input flow. The results indicate that the use of a

  13. Optimal Control of Evolution Mixed Variational Inclusions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alduncin, Gonzalo, E-mail: alduncin@geofisica.unam.mx [Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Departamento de Recursos Naturales, Instituto de Geofísica (Mexico)

    2013-12-15

    Optimal control problems of primal and dual evolution mixed variational inclusions, in reflexive Banach spaces, are studied. The solvability analysis of the mixed state systems is established via duality principles. The optimality analysis is performed in terms of perturbation conjugate duality methods, and proximation penalty-duality algorithms to mixed optimality conditions are further presented. Applications to nonlinear diffusion constrained problems as well as quasistatic elastoviscoplastic bilateral contact problems exemplify the theory.

  14. Optimal Control of Evolution Mixed Variational Inclusions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alduncin, Gonzalo

    2013-01-01

    Optimal control problems of primal and dual evolution mixed variational inclusions, in reflexive Banach spaces, are studied. The solvability analysis of the mixed state systems is established via duality principles. The optimality analysis is performed in terms of perturbation conjugate duality methods, and proximation penalty-duality algorithms to mixed optimality conditions are further presented. Applications to nonlinear diffusion constrained problems as well as quasistatic elastoviscoplastic bilateral contact problems exemplify the theory

  15. Mixed alcohols production from syngas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevens, R.R.; Conway, M.M.

    1988-01-01

    A process is described for selectively producing mixed alcohols from synthesis gas comprising contacting a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide with a catalytic amount of a catalyst containing components of (1) a catalytically active metal of molybdenum or tungsten, in free or combined form; (2) a cocatalytic metal or cobalt or nickel in free or combined form; and (3) a Fischer-Tropsch promoter of an alkali or alkaline earth series metal, in free or combined form; the components combined by dry mixing, mixing as a wet paste, wet impregnation, and then sulfided, the catalyst excluding rhodium, ruthenium and copper, at a pressure of at least about 500 psig and under conditions sufficient to form the mixed alcohols in at least 20 percent CO/sub 2/ free carbon selectivity, the mixed alcohols containing a C/sub 1/ to C/sub 2-5/ alcohol weight ratio of less than about 1:1

  16. Generic evolution of mixing in heterogeneous media

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Dreuzy, J.; Carrera, J.; Dentz, M.; Le Borgne, T.

    2011-12-01

    Mixing in heterogeneous media results from the competition bewteen flow fluctuations and local scale diffusion. Flow fluctuations quickly create concentration contrasts and thus heterogeneity of the concentration field, which is slowly homogenized by local scale diffusion. Mixing first deviates from Gaussian mixing, which represents the potential mixing induced by spreading before approaching it. This deviation fundamentally expresses the evolution of the interaction between spreading and local scale diffusion. We characterize it by the ratio γ of the non-Gaussian to the Gaussian mixing states. We define the Gaussian mixing state as the integrated squared concentration of the Gaussian plume that has the same longitudinal dispersion as the real plume. The non-Gaussian mixing state is the difference between the overall mixing state defined as the integrated squared concentration and the Gaussian mixing state. The main advantage of this definition is to use the full knowledge previously acquired on dispersion for characterizing mixing even when the solute concentration field is highly non Gaussian. Using high precision numerical simulations, we show that γ quickly increases, peaks and slowly decreases. γ can be derived from two scales characterizing spreading and local mixing, at least for large flux-weighted solute injection conditions into classically log-normal Gaussian correlated permeability fields. The spreading scale is directly related to the longitudinal dispersion. The local mixing scale is the largest scale over which solute concentrations can be considered locally uniform. More generally, beyond the characteristics of its maximum, γ turns out to have a highly generic scaling form. Its fast increase and slow decrease depend neither on the heterogeneity level, nor on the ratio of diffusion to advection, nor on the injection conditions. They might even not depend on the particularities of the flow fields as the same generic features also prevail for

  17. LES of the adverse-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, M.; Pullin, D.I.; Harun, Z.; Marusic, I.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: • The adverse-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer at high Re is studied. • Wall-model LES works well for nonequilibrium turbulent boundary layer. • Relationship of skin-friction to Re and Clauser pressure parameter is explored. • Self-similarity is observed in the velocity statistics over a wide range of Re. -- Abstract: We describe large-eddy simulations (LES) of the flat-plate turbulent boundary layer in the presence of an adverse pressure gradient. The stretched-vortex subgrid-scale model is used in the domain of the flow coupled to a wall model that explicitly accounts for the presence of a finite pressure gradient. The LES are designed to match recent experiments conducted at the University of Melbourne wind tunnel where a plate section with zero pressure gradient is followed by section with constant adverse pressure gradient. First, LES are described at Reynolds numbers based on the local free-stream velocity and the local momentum thickness in the range 6560–13,900 chosen to match the experimental conditions. This is followed by a discussion of further LES at Reynolds numbers at approximately 10 times and 100 times these values, which are well out of range of present day direct numerical simulation and wall-resolved LES. For the lower Reynolds number runs, mean velocity profiles, one-point turbulent statistics of the velocity fluctuations, skin friction and the Clauser and acceleration parameters along the streamwise, adverse pressure-gradient domain are compared to the experimental measurements. For the full range of LES, the relationship of the skin-friction coefficient, in the form of the ratio of the local free-stream velocity to the local friction velocity, to both Reynolds number and the Clauser parameter is explored. At large Reynolds numbers, a region of collapse is found that is well described by a simple log-like empirical relationship over two orders of magnitude. This is expected to be useful for constant adverse

  18. Free Convection over a Permeable Horizontal Flat Plate Embedded in a Porous Medium with Radiation Effects and Mixed Thermal Boundary Conditions

    OpenAIRE

    Najiyah S. Khasi'ie; Roziena Khairuddin; Najihah Mohamed; Mohd Zuki Salleh; Roslinda Nazar; Ioan Pop

    2012-01-01

    Problem statement: In this study, the mathematical modeling of free convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal flat plate embedded in a porous medium under mixed thermal boundary conditions and radiation effects is considered. Approach: The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically using the shooting method. Results: Numerical solutions are obtained for the wall temperature, the heat transfer coefficient, as well as the velocity and temperature profiles. The ...

  19. Numerical investigation on thermal striping conditions for a tee junction of LMFBRE coolant pipes. 7. Effect of the 'Turbulence promoter' on the fluid mixing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Masa-aki; Muramatsu, Toshiharu

    2004-06-01

    It is important to evaluate thermal-striping phenomena, which is the thermal fatigue issue in the structure generated by the temperature fluctuation due to the fluid mixing. Especially, the high amplitude and the high number of repetitions of the temperature fluctuation are needed to take into consideration. Moreover, it is necessary to consider the comparatively low frequency components of fluid temperature fluctuation, since the influence to structure material is large. Therefore, it is required to know the generating mechanism and conditions of the high amplitude and the low frequency component of fluid temperature fluctuation. In Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, basic research on the promote system for fluid mixing is conducted, which system ('Turbulence promoter') is expected to reduce the large amplitude and low frequency components of fluid temperature fluctuation in T junction pipe. In this investigation, it is aimed to validate the effect and to generalize the mixing characteristics of 'Turbulence promoter' on the fluid mixing in T-junction pipe, and to contribute the knowledge to the rational design of LMFBR. In this report, numerical simulation for the existing experiment was conducted using a quasi-direct simulation code (DINUS-3). From the numerical simulation, the following results are obtained. (1) Numerical calculations could simulate well the flow patterns observed in the visualization experiment, in impinging jet case (Pattern-C) and deflecting jet cases (Pattern-B1 and Pattern-B). (2) By installing Turbulence promoter', cross-section area of main pipe after the mixing point is narrowed, and the fluid of main pipe is accelerated and flows along the slope of the promoter on the opposite side of branch pipe. this accelerated flow acts to prevent the collision of the branch pipe flow to the promoter. Therefore, the branch pipe flow conditions in deflecting jet category are extended. (3) At the throat of the main pipe, the flow was separated

  20. Severity of mental illness as a result of multiple childhood adversities: US National Epidemiologic Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curran, Emma; Adamson, Gary; Stringer, Maurice; Rosato, Michael; Leavey, Gerard

    2016-05-01

    To examine patterns of childhood adversity, their long-term consequences and the combined effect of different childhood adversity patterns as predictors of subsequent psychopathology. Secondary analysis of data from the US National Epidemiologic Survey on alcohol and related conditions. Using latent class analysis to identify childhood adversity profiles; and using multinomial logistic regression to validate and further explore these profiles with a range of associated demographic and household characteristics. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis substantiated initial latent class analysis findings by investigating a range of mental health diagnoses. Latent class analysis generated a three-class model of childhood adversity in which 60 % of participants were allocated to a low adversity class; 14 % to a global adversities class (reporting exposures for all the derived latent classes); and 26 % to a domestic emotional and physical abuse class (exposed to a range of childhood adversities). Confirmatory Factor analysis defined an internalising-externalising spectrum to represent lifetime reporting patterns of mental health disorders. Using logistic regression, both adversity groups showed specific gender and race/ethnicity differences, related family discord and increased psychopathology. We identified underlying patterns in the exposure to childhood adversity and associated mental health. These findings are informative in their description of the configuration of adversities, rather than focusing solely on the cumulative aspect of experience. Amelioration of longer-term negative consequences requires early identification of psychopathology risk factors that can inform protective and preventive interventions. This study highlights the utility of screening for childhood adversities when individuals present with symptoms of psychiatric disorders.

  1. Dynamics of sward condition and botanical composition in mixed pastures of marandugrass, forage peanut and tropical kudzu

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Mauricio Soares de Andrade

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available This study was carried out to evaluate the dynamics of sward condition and botanical composition of a mixed pasture of marandugrass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu, forage peanut (Arachis pintoi cv. Mandobi and tropical kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides, rotationally stocked at four daily forage allowance levels (6.6, 10.3, 14.3 and 17.9% of live weight. Sward condition was characterized in each stocking cycle by measuring pre- and post-grazing sward height, forage mass and percentage of bare ground. Botanical composition (grass, forage peanut, tropical kudzu and weeds was evaluated before each stocking period. Swards under smaller forage allowances presented lower height, forage mass and ground cover. This condition favored the growth of forage peanut, which constituted 21.1, 15.2, 8.4 and 3.8% of forage mass in the last quarter of the experimental period, from the lowest to the highest forage allowance, respectively. Tropical kudzu was sensitive to all forage allowance levels and its percentage in the botanical composition was strongly reduced along the experimental period, especially during the dry season (July to September. Forage peanut cv. Mandobi and marandugrass form a more balanced mixture when pre-grazing sward height is maintained shorter than 45 cm. Tropical kudzu is intolerant to intensive grazing management systems when associated to marandugrass.

  2. Adverse events associated with acupuncture: three multicentre randomized controlled trials of 1968 cases in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Ling; Zhang, Fu-wen; Li, Ying; Wu, Xi; Zheng, Hui; Cheng, Lin-hao; Liang, Fan-rong

    2011-03-24

    In order to evaluate the safety of acupuncture in China objectively, we investigated the adverse events associated with acupuncture based on three multicentre randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the safety of acupuncture, identifying the common types of acupuncture adverse events, and analysing the related risk factors for their occurrence. This observational study included patients who received acupuncture from three multicentre RCTs respectively for migraine, functional dyspepsia and Bell's palsy. The 1968 patients and their acupuncturists documented adverse events associated with acupuncture after treatment. We collected data about adverse events due to acupuncture treatment from their case report forms. We analysed the incidence and details of the adverse effects, and studied the risk factors for acupuncture adverse events with non-conditional logistic regression analysis. Among the 1968 patients, 74 patients (3.76%) suffered at least one adverse event throughout the treatment period. We did not observe the occurrence of serious adverse events. 73 patients with adverse events recovered within 2 weeks through effective treatment such as physiotherapy or self-treatment. A total of 3 patients withdrew because of adverse events. There were 9 types of adverse events related to acupuncture, including subcutaneous haematoma, bleeding, skin bruising and needle site pain. Subcutaneous haematoma and haemorrhage in the needling points were the most common adverse events. Age and gender were related to the occurrence of acupuncture adverse events. The older the patients were, the higher the risk of adverse events was. In addition, male patients had slightly higher risk of an adverse event than female patients. Acupuncture is a safe therapy with low risk of adverse events in clinical practice. The risk factors for adverse events (AEs) were related to the patients' gender and age and the local anatomical structure of the acupoints. AEs could be reduced and

  3. Adverse Childhood Experiences Are Linked to Age of Onset and Reading Recognition in Multiple Sclerosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael T. Shaw

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs exert a psychological and physiological toll that increases risk of chronic conditions, poorer social functioning, and cognitive impairment in adulthood.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between childhood adversity and clinical disease features in multiple sclerosis (MS.MethodsSixty-seven participants with MS completed the ACE assessment and neuropsychological assessments as part of a larger clinical trial of cognitive remediation.ResultsAdverse childhood experience scores, a measure of exposure to adverse events in childhood, significantly predicted age of MS onset (r = –0.30, p = 0.04. ACEs were also linked to reading recognition (a proxy for premorbid IQ (r = –0.25, p = 0.04. ACE scores were not related to age, current disability, or current level of cognitive impairment measured by the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT.ConclusionChildhood adversity may increase the likelihood of earlier age of onset and poorer estimated premorbid IQ in MS.

  4. Mixed waste, preparing for 1996

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duke, D.L.

    1995-01-01

    The Environmental Protection Agency has recently approved an extension to the enforcement policy for the storage of restricted mixed waste. Under this policy, EPA assigns a reduced enforcement priority to violations of the 40CFR268.50 prohibition on storage of restricted waste. Eligibility for the lower enforcement priority afforded by the policy is subject to specified conditions. The recent extension is for a two year period, and agency personnel have advised that it may be difficult to extend the enforcement policy again. This paper reviews anticipated changes in mixed waste treatment and disposal capabilities. Types of mixed waste that may be generated, or in storage, at commercial nuclear power plants are identified. This information is evaluated to determine if the two year extension in the storage enforcement policy will be adequate for the nuclear power industry to treat or dispose of the mixed waste inventories that are identified, and if not, where potential problem areas may reside. Recommendations are then made on mixed waste management strategies

  5. Fuel fabrication processes, design and experimental conditions for the joint US-Swiss mixed carbide test in FFTF (AC-3 test)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stratton, R.W.; Ledergerber, G.; Ingold, F.; Latimer, T.W.; Chidester, K.M.

    1993-01-01

    The preparation of mixed carbide fuel for a joint (US-Swiss) irradiation test in the US Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) is described, together with the experiment design and the irradiation conditions. Two fabrication routes were compared. The US produced 66 fuel pins containing pellet fuel via the powder-pellet (dry) route, and the Swiss group produced 25 sphere pac pins of mixed carbide using the internal gelation (wet) route. Both sets of fuel met all t the requirements of the specifications concerning soichiometry, chemical composition and structure. The pin designs were as similar as possible. The test operated successfully in the FFTF for 620 effective full power days until October 1988 and reached over 8% burn up with peak powers of around 80 kW/m. The conclusions were that the choice of sphere pac or pellet fuel for reactor application is dependent on preferred differences in fabrication (e.g. economics and environmental factors) and not on differences in irradiation behaviour. (orig.)

  6. Patient stratification and identification of adverse event correlations in the space of 1190 drug related adverse events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roitmann, Eva; Eriksson, Robert; Brunak, Søren

    2014-01-01

    New pharmacovigilance methods are needed as a consequence of the morbidity caused by drugs. We exploit fine-grained drug related adverse event information extracted by text mining from electronic medical records (EMRs) to stratify patients based on their adverse events and to determine adverse...

  7. Adulthood Personality Correlates of Childhood Adversity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles S. Carver

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Childhood adversity has been linked to internalizing and externalizing disorders and personality disorders in adulthood. This study extends that research by examining several personality measures as correlates of childhood adversity. Method: In a college sample self-reports were collected of childhood adversity, several scales relating to personality, and current depression symptoms as a control variable. The personality-related scales were reduced to four latent variables, which we termed Anger/Aggression, Extrinsic focus, Agreeableness, and Engagement. Results: Controlling for concurrent depressive symptoms and gender, higher levels of reported childhood adversity related to lower Agreeableness and to higher Anger/Aggression and Extrinsic focus. Conclusions: Findings suggest that early adversity is linked to personality variables relevant to the building of social connection.

  8. Parallel and non-parallel laminar mixed convection flow in an inclined tube: The effect of the boundary conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barletta, A.

    2008-01-01

    The necessary condition for the onset of parallel flow in the fully developed region of an inclined duct is applied to the case of a circular tube. Parallel flow in inclined ducts is an uncommon regime, since in most cases buoyancy tends to produce the onset of secondary flow. The present study shows how proper thermal boundary conditions may preserve parallel flow regime. Mixed convection flow is studied for a special non-axisymmetric thermal boundary condition that, with a proper choice of a switch parameter, may be compatible with parallel flow. More precisely, a circumferentially variable heat flux distribution is prescribed on the tube wall, expressed as a sinusoidal function of the azimuthal coordinate θ with period 2π. A π/2 rotation in the position of the maximum heat flux, achieved by setting the switch parameter, may allow or not the existence of parallel flow. Two cases are considered corresponding to parallel and non-parallel flow. In the first case, the governing balance equations allow a simple analytical solution. On the contrary, in the second case, the local balance equations are solved numerically by employing a finite element method

  9. Microbiological Quality of Mixed Vegetables Salad and Insuring its Safety by Irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammad, A.A.; Abu El-Nour, S.A.; Swailam, H.M.; Serag, M.S.; Mansour, F.A.

    2008-01-01

    Fifteen prepackaged mixed vegetables salad samples were collected from different local supermarkets. They were tested for their microbiological quality. TAPC of mix salad samples ranged from 2.5 x 10 5 to 7.0 x 10 7 cfu/g; LAB between 2.0 x 10 3 and 7.1 x 10 6 cfu/g; M and Y ranged from 1. 10 2 to 4.5 x 10 3 cfu/g. All tested mix salad samples contained coliform bacteria, E. coli and Ent. Faecalis. Staph. aureus was found in 12 (80%) samples, while A. hydrophila was found in all mix salad samples. L. monocytogenes was present in only two samples and Salmonella spp. was detected in only one sample. Mix salad samples were irradiated at 1, 2 and 3 kGy, and then stored at refrigeration temperature (4 degree C±1). Generally, all irradiation doses used reduced the initial TAPC, LAB and TM and Y and the reduction was proportional with irradiation dose. The optimum irradiation dose for irradiating mix salad was identified to be 3 kGy as no pathogens were detected in mix salad samples exposed to this irradiation dose. This irradiation dose had no adverse effect on physical and sensorial quality attributes of mix salad and extended its shelf-life to 15 days against only 7 days for unirradiated samples

  10. Modeling molecular mixing in a spatially inhomogeneous turbulent flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Daniel W.; Deb, Rajdeep

    2012-02-01

    Simulations of spatially inhomogeneous turbulent mixing in decaying grid turbulence with a joint velocity-concentration probability density function (PDF) method were conducted. The inert mixing scenario involves three streams with different compositions. The mixing model of Meyer ["A new particle interaction mixing model for turbulent dispersion and turbulent reactive flows," Phys. Fluids 22(3), 035103 (2010)], the interaction by exchange with the mean (IEM) model and its velocity-conditional variant, i.e., the IECM model, were applied. For reference, the direct numerical simulation data provided by Sawford and de Bruyn Kops ["Direct numerical simulation and lagrangian modeling of joint scalar statistics in ternary mixing," Phys. Fluids 20(9), 095106 (2008)] was used. It was found that velocity conditioning is essential to obtain accurate concentration PDF predictions. Moreover, the model of Meyer provides significantly better results compared to the IECM model at comparable computational expense.

  11. Adverse cutaneous reactions induced by TNF-alpha antagonist therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borrás-Blasco, Joaquín; Navarro-Ruiz, Andrés; Borrás, Consuelo; Casterá, Elvira

    2009-11-01

    To review adverse cutaneous drug reactions induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) antagonist therapy. A literature search was performed using PubMed (1996-March 2009), EMBASE, and selected MEDLINE Ovid bibliography searches. All language clinical trial data, case reports, letters, and review articles identified from the data sources were used. Since the introduction of TNF-alpha antagonist, the incidence of adverse cutaneous drug reactions has increased significantly. A wide range of different skin lesions might occur during TNF-alpha antagonist treatment. New onset or exacerbation of psoriasis has been reported in patients treated with TNF-alpha antagonists for a variety of rheumatologic conditions. TNF-alpha antagonist therapy has been associated with a lupus-like syndrome; most of these case reports occurred in patients receiving either etanercept or infliximab. Serious skin reactions such as erythema multiforme, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, and toxic epidermal necrolysis have been reported rarely with the use of TNF-alpha antagonists. As the use of TNF-alpha antagonists continues to increase, the diagnosis and management of cutaneous side effects will become an increasingly important challenge. In patients receiving TNF-alpha antagonist treatment, skin disease should be considered, and clinicians need to be aware of the adverse reactions of these drugs.

  12. Hospital deaths and adverse events in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavão Ana Luiza B

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Adverse events are considered a major international problem related to the performance of health systems. Evaluating the occurrence of adverse events involves, as any other outcome measure, determining the extent to which the observed differences can be attributed to the patient's risk factors or to variations in the treatment process, and this in turn highlights the importance of measuring differences in the severity of the cases. The current study aims to evaluate the association between deaths and adverse events, adjusted according to patient risk factors. Methods The study is based on a random sample of 1103 patient charts from hospitalizations in the year 2003 in 3 teaching hospitals in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The methodology involved a retrospective review of patient charts in two stages - screening phase and evaluation phase. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between hospital deaths and adverse events. Results The overall mortality rate was 8.5%, while the rate related to the occurrence of an adverse event was 2.9% (32/1103 and that related to preventable adverse events was 2.3% (25/1103. Among the 94 deaths analyzed, 34% were related to cases involving adverse events, and 26.6% of deaths occurred in cases whose adverse events were considered preventable. The models tested showed good discriminatory capacity. The unadjusted odds ratio (OR 11.43 and the odds ratio adjusted for patient risk factors (OR 8.23 between death and preventable adverse event were high. Conclusions Despite discussions in the literature regarding the limitations of evaluating preventable adverse events based on peer review, the results presented here emphasize that adverse events are not only prevalent, but are associated with serious harm and even death. These results also highlight the importance of risk adjustment and multivariate models in the study of adverse events.

  13. Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis C Odion

    Full Text Available There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in

  14. Examining historical and current mixed-severity fire regimes in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odion, Dennis C; Hanson, Chad T; Arsenault, André; Baker, William L; Dellasala, Dominick A; Hutto, Richard L; Klenner, Walt; Moritz, Max A; Sherriff, Rosemary L; Veblen, Thomas T; Williams, Mark A

    2014-01-01

    There is widespread concern that fire exclusion has led to an unprecedented threat of uncharacteristically severe fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex. Laws) and mixed-conifer forests of western North America. These extensive montane forests are considered to be adapted to a low/moderate-severity fire regime that maintained stands of relatively old trees. However, there is increasing recognition from landscape-scale assessments that, prior to any significant effects of fire exclusion, fires and forest structure were more variable in these forests. Biota in these forests are also dependent on the resources made available by higher-severity fire. A better understanding of historical fire regimes in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests of western North America is therefore needed to define reference conditions and help maintain characteristic ecological diversity of these systems. We compiled landscape-scale evidence of historical fire severity patterns in the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests from published literature sources and stand ages available from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program in the USA. The consensus from this evidence is that the traditional reference conditions of low-severity fire regimes are inaccurate for most forests of western North America. Instead, most forests appear to have been characterized by mixed-severity fire that included ecologically significant amounts of weather-driven, high-severity fire. Diverse forests in different stages of succession, with a high proportion in relatively young stages, occurred prior to fire exclusion. Over the past century, successional diversity created by fire decreased. Our findings suggest that ecological management goals that incorporate successional diversity created by fire may support characteristic biodiversity, whereas current attempts to "restore" forests to open, low-severity fire conditions may not align with historical reference conditions in most ponderosa

  15. Z' boson mixings with Z-γ and charge assignments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Ying; Wang Qing

    2009-01-01

    Based on the general description for Z'-Z-γ mixing as derived from the electroweak chiral Lagrangian, we characterize and classify the various new physics models involving the Z' boson that have appeared in the literature into five classes: 1. Models with minimal Z'-Z mass mixing; 2. Models with minimal Z'-Z kinetic mixing; 3. Models with general Z'-Z mixing; 4. Models with Z'-γ kinetic and Z'-Z mixing; and 5. Models with Stueckelberg-type mixing. The corresponding mixing matrices are explicitly evaluated for each of these classes. We constrain and classify the Z' boson charges with respect to quark-leptons by anomaly cancellation conditions.

  16. Adverse weather impacts on arable cropping systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gobin, Anne

    2016-04-01

    Damages due to extreme or adverse weather strongly depend on crop type, crop stage, soil conditions and management. The impact is largest during the sensitive periods of the farming calendar, and requires a modelling approach to capture the interactions between the crop, its environment and the occurrence of the meteorological event. The hypothesis is that extreme and adverse weather events can be quantified and subsequently incorporated in current crop models. Since crop development is driven by thermal time and photoperiod, a regional crop model was used to examine the likely frequency, magnitude and impacts of frost, drought, heat stress and waterlogging in relation to the cropping season and crop sensitive stages. Risk profiles and associated return levels were obtained by fitting generalized extreme value distributions to block maxima for air humidity, water balance and temperature variables. The risk profiles were subsequently confronted with yields and yield losses for the major arable crops in Belgium, notably winter wheat, winter barley, winter oilseed rape, sugar beet, potato and maize at the field (farm records) to regional scale (statistics). The average daily vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and reference evapotranspiration (ET0) during the growing season is significantly lower (p < 0.001) and has a higher variability before 1988 than after 1988. Distribution patterns of VPD and ET0 have relevant impacts on crop yields. The response to rising temperatures depends on the crop's capability to condition its microenvironment. Crops short of water close their stomata, lose their evaporative cooling potential and ultimately become susceptible to heat stress. Effects of heat stress therefore have to be combined with moisture availability such as the precipitation deficit or the soil water balance. Risks of combined heat and moisture deficit stress appear during the summer. These risks are subsequently related to crop damage. The methodology of defining

  17. Early childhood adversity potentiates the adverse association between prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposure and child IQ: The CHAMACOS cohort.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Lauren J; Gunier, Robert B; Harley, Kim; Kogut, Katherine; Bradman, Asa; Eskenazi, Brenda

    2016-09-01

    Previous studies have observed an adverse association between prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticide (OPs) and child cognition, but few studies consider the potential role of social stressors in modifying this relationship. We seek to explore the potential role of early social adversities in modifying the relationship between OPs and child IQ in an agricultural Mexican American population. Participants from the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas (CHAMACOS) study, a prospective longitudinal pre-birth cohort study, include 329 singleton infants and their mothers followed from pregnancy through age 7. Dialkyl phosphate metabolite concentrations (DAPs), a biomarker of organophosphate pesticide exposure, were measured in maternal urine collected twice during pregnancy and averaged. Child cognitive ability was assessed at 7 years using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition. Demographic characteristics and adversity information were collected during interviews and home visits at numerous time points from pregnancy until age 7. Among low-income Latina mothers and their children in the Salinas Valley, total adversity and specific domains of adversity including poor learning environment and adverse parent-child relationships were negatively associated with child cognition. Adverse associations between DAP concentrations and IQ were stronger in children experiencing greater adversity; these associations varied by child sex. For example, the association between prenatal OP exposure and Full-Scale IQ is potentiated among boys who experienced high adversity in the learning environment (β=-13.3; p-value child IQ differently among male and female children. These findings emphasize the need to consider plausible interactive pathways between social adversities and environmental exposures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Non-equilibrium surface conditions and microstructural changes following pulsed laser irradiation and ion beam mixing of Ni overlayers on sintered alpha-SiC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    More, K.L.; Davis, R.F.

    1986-01-01

    Pulsed laser irradiation and ion beam mixing of thin Ni overlayers on sintered alpha-SiC have been investigated as potential surface modification techniques for the enhancement of the mechanical properties of the SiC. Each of these surface processing methods are nonequilibrium techniques; materials interactions can be induced at the specimen surface which are not possible with conventional thermal techniques. As a result of the surface modification, the physical properties of the ceramic can be altered under the correct processing conditions. Following laser irradiation using a pulsed ruby or krypton fluoride (KrF) excimer laser, the fracture strength of the SiC was increased by approximately 50 percent and 20 percent, respectively. However, ion-beam mixing of Ni on SiC resulted in no change in fracture strength. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering techniques, have been used to characterize the extent of mixing between the Ni and SiC as a result of the surface modification and to determine the reason(s) for the observed changes in fracture strength. 19 references

  19. Mixed global anomalies and boundary conformal field theories

    OpenAIRE

    Numasawa, Tokiro; Yamaguchi, Satoshi

    2017-01-01

    We consider the relation of mixed global gauge gravitational anomalies and boundary conformal field theory in WZW models for simple Lie groups. The discrete symmetries of consideration are the centers of the simple Lie groups. These mixed anomalies prevent to gauge them i.e, take the orbifold by the center. The absence of anomalies impose conditions on the levels of WZW models. Next, we study the conformal boundary conditions for the original theories. We consider the existence of a conformal...

  20. Gender inequality, economic growth, and the intergenerational transmission of adverse health consequences at birth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qian, Mengcen; Chou, Shin-Yi; Deily, Mary E; Liu, Jin-Tan

    2018-03-01

    We estimate a gender differential in the intergenerational transmission of adverse birth outcomes. We link Taiwan birth certificates from 1978 to 2006 to create a sample of children born in the period 1999-2006 that includes information about their parents and their maternal grandmothers. We use maternal-sibling fixed effects to control for unobserved family-linked factors that may be correlated with birth outcomes across generations, and define adverse birth outcomes as small for gestational age. We find that when a mother is in the 5th percentile of birth weight for her gestational age, then her female children are 49-53% more likely to experience the same adverse birth outcome compared to other female children, while her male children are 27-32% more likely to experience this relative to other male children. We then investigate whether long-run improvements in local socio-economic conditions experienced by the child's family, as measured by intergenerational changes in town-level maternal education, affect the gender differential. We find no evidence that intergenerational improvements in socioeconomic conditions reduce the gender differential. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. The Relationship between Gender, Cumulative Adversities and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The Relationship between Gender, Cumulative Adversities and Mental Health of Employees in ... CAs were measured in three forms (family adversities (CAFam), personal adversities ... Age of employees ranged between 18-65 years.

  2. Future Directions in Childhood Adversity and Youth Psychopathology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, Katie A

    2016-01-01

    Despite long-standing interest in the influence of adverse early experiences on mental health, systematic scientific inquiry into childhood adversity and developmental outcomes has emerged only recently. Existing research has amply demonstrated that exposure to childhood adversity is associated with elevated risk for multiple forms of youth psychopathology. In contrast, knowledge of developmental mechanisms linking childhood adversity to the onset of psychopathology-and whether those mechanisms are general or specific to particular kinds of adversity-remains cursory. Greater understanding of these pathways and identification of protective factors that buffer children from developmental disruptions following exposure to adversity is essential to guide the development of interventions to prevent the onset of psychopathology following adverse childhood experiences. This article provides recommendations for future research in this area. In particular, use of a consistent definition of childhood adversity, integration of studies of typical development with those focused on childhood adversity, and identification of distinct dimensions of environmental experience that differentially influence development are required to uncover mechanisms that explain how childhood adversity is associated with numerous psychopathology outcomes (i.e., multifinality) and identify moderators that shape divergent trajectories following adverse childhood experiences. A transdiagnostic model that highlights disruptions in emotional processing and poor executive functioning as key mechanisms linking childhood adversity with multiple forms of psychopathology is presented as a starting point in this endeavour. Distinguishing between general and specific mechanisms linking childhood adversity with psychopathology is needed to generate empirically informed interventions to prevent the long-term consequences of adverse early environments on children's development.

  3. Biomarkers of adverse drug reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Daniel F; Pirmohamed, Munir

    2018-02-01

    Adverse drug reactions can be caused by a wide range of therapeutics. Adverse drug reactions affect many bodily organ systems and vary widely in severity. Milder adverse drug reactions often resolve quickly following withdrawal of the casual drug or sometimes after dose reduction. Some adverse drug reactions are severe and lead to significant organ/tissue injury which can be fatal. Adverse drug reactions also represent a financial burden to both healthcare providers and the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, a number of stakeholders would benefit from development of new, robust biomarkers for the prediction, diagnosis, and prognostication of adverse drug reactions. There has been significant recent progress in identifying predictive genomic biomarkers with the potential to be used in clinical settings to reduce the burden of adverse drug reactions. These have included biomarkers that can be used to alter drug dose (for example, Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) and azathioprine dose) and drug choice. The latter have in particular included human leukocyte antigen (HLA) biomarkers which identify susceptibility to immune-mediated injuries to major organs such as skin, liver, and bone marrow from a variety of drugs. This review covers both the current state of the art with regard to genomic adverse drug reaction biomarkers. We also review circulating biomarkers that have the potential to be used for both diagnosis and prognosis, and have the added advantage of providing mechanistic information. In the future, we will not be relying on single biomarkers (genomic/non-genomic), but on multiple biomarker panels, integrated through the application of different omics technologies, which will provide information on predisposition, early diagnosis, prognosis, and mechanisms. Impact statement • Genetic and circulating biomarkers present significant opportunities to personalize patient therapy to minimize the risk of adverse drug reactions. ADRs are a significant heath issue

  4. Comparison of mixing height parameterizations with profiles measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jaquier, A.; Stuebi, R.; Tercier, P. [Swiss Meteorological Inst., SMI - MeteoSwiss, Payerne (Switzerland)

    1997-10-01

    Different meteorological pre-processors for dispersion studies are available to derive the atmospheric boundary layer mixing height (MH). The analysis of their performances has been reviewed in the framework of the European COST Action 710. In this project, the computed mixing height values have been compared with data derived mostly from aero-logical sounding analysis and Sodar measurements. Since then, a new analysis of a low-tropospheric wind profiler (WP) data has been performed taking advantage of its high data sampling ({delta}t {approx} 30 sec.). The comparison between these recent results and aero-logical sounding, Sodar data, as well as to meteorological pre-processors calculations are reported for three periods of several days corresponding to different meteorological situations. In convective conditions, the pre-processors give reasonable level, the mixing height growing rate is in fair agreement with the measured one. In stable cloudy daytime conditions, the modeled mixing height does not correspond to any measured height. (LN)

  5. Health surveillance under adverse ergonomics conditions – validity of a screening method adapted for the occupational health service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonker, Dirk; Gustafsson, Ewa; Rolander, Bo; Arvidsson, Inger; Nordander, Catarina

    2015-01-01

    A new health surveillance protocol for work-related upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders has been validated by comparing the results with a reference protocol. The studied protocol, Health Surveillance in Adverse Ergonomics Conditions (HECO), is a new version of the reference protocol modified for application in the Occupational Health Service (OHS). The HECO protocol contains both a screening part and a diagnosing part. Sixty-three employees were examined. The screening in HECO did not miss any diagnosis found when using the reference protocol, but in comparison to the reference protocol considerable time savings could be achieved. Fair to good agreement between the protocols was obtained for one or more diagnoses in neck/shoulders (86%, k = 0.62) and elbow/hands (84%, k = 0.49). Therefore, the results obtained using the HECO protocol can be compared with a reference material collected with the reference protocol, and thus provide information of the magnitude of disorders in an examined work group. Practitioner Summary: The HECO protocol is a relatively simple physical examination protocol for identification of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck and upper extremities. The protocol is a reliable and cost-effective tool for the OHS to use for occupational health surveillance in order to detect workplaces at high risk for developing musculoskeletal disorders. PMID:25761380

  6. Adulthood personality correlates of childhood adversity

    OpenAIRE

    Carver, Charles S.; Johnson, Sheri L.; McCullough, Michael E.; Forster, Daniel E.; Joormann, Jutta

    2014-01-01

    Objective: Childhood adversity has been linked to internalizing and externalizing disorders and personality disorders in adulthood. This study extends that research by examining several personality measures as correlates of childhood adversity. Method: In a college sample self-reports were collected of childhood adversity, several scales relating to personality, and current depression symptoms as a control variable. The personality-related scales were reduced to four latent variables, whic...

  7. Investigation of bioresistant dry building mixes modified by carbon nanotubes

    OpenAIRE

    Korolev Evgeniy Valer'evich; Erofeev Vladimir Trofimovich; Suraeva Ekaterina Nikolaevna

    2015-01-01

    Dry construction mixes are today a product of high technologies. Depending on the purpose and requirements to the properties it is easy to produce dry construction mixes with different compositions and operating indicators in plant conditions using the necessary modifying additives. Cement, gypsum and other mineral binders are used in the construction mixes. Different types of cement are more heavily used in dry construction mixes. Such dry mixes are believed to be more effective materials co...

  8. Application of the Fokker-Planck molecular mixing model to turbulent scalar mixing using moment methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madadi-Kandjani, E.; Fox, R. O.; Passalacqua, A.

    2017-06-01

    An extended quadrature method of moments using the β kernel density function (β -EQMOM) is used to approximate solutions to the evolution equation for univariate and bivariate composition probability distribution functions (PDFs) of a passive scalar for binary and ternary mixing. The key element of interest is the molecular mixing term, which is described using the Fokker-Planck (FP) molecular mixing model. The direct numerical simulations (DNSs) of Eswaran and Pope ["Direct numerical simulations of the turbulent mixing of a passive scalar," Phys. Fluids 31, 506 (1988)] and the amplitude mapping closure (AMC) of Pope ["Mapping closures for turbulent mixing and reaction," Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 2, 255 (1991)] are taken as reference solutions to establish the accuracy of the FP model in the case of binary mixing. The DNSs of Juneja and Pope ["A DNS study of turbulent mixing of two passive scalars," Phys. Fluids 8, 2161 (1996)] are used to validate the results obtained for ternary mixing. Simulations are performed with both the conditional scalar dissipation rate (CSDR) proposed by Fox [Computational Methods for Turbulent Reacting Flows (Cambridge University Press, 2003)] and the CSDR from AMC, with the scalar dissipation rate provided as input and obtained from the DNS. Using scalar moments up to fourth order, the ability of the FP model to capture the evolution of the shape of the PDF, important in turbulent mixing problems, is demonstrated. Compared to the widely used assumed β -PDF model [S. S. Girimaji, "Assumed β-pdf model for turbulent mixing: Validation and extension to multiple scalar mixing," Combust. Sci. Technol. 78, 177 (1991)], the β -EQMOM solution to the FP model more accurately describes the initial mixing process with a relatively small increase in computational cost.

  9. Physicians' Psychosocial Work Conditions and Quality of Care: A Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Angerer

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Physician jobs are associated with adverse psychosocial work conditions. We summarize research on the relationship of physicians' psychosocial work conditions and quality of care. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE and PsycINFO. All studies were classified into three categories of care quality outcomes: Associations between physicians' psychosocial work conditions and (1 the physician-patient-relationship, or (2 the care process and outcomes, or (3 medical errors were examined. Results: 12 publications met the inclusion criteria. Most studies relied on observational cross-sectional and controlled intervention designs. All studies provide at least partial support for physicians’ psychosocial work conditions being related to quality of care. Conclusions: This review found preliminary evidence that detrimental physicians’ psychosocial work conditions adversely influence patient care quality. Future research needs to apply strong designs to disentangle the indirect and direct effects of adverse psychosocial work conditions on physicians as well as on quality of care.Keywords: psychosocial work conditions, physicians, quality of care, physician-patient-relationship, hospital, errors, review, work stress, clinicians

  10. A Mathematical Programming Approach to the Optimal Sustainable Product Mix for the Process Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noha M. Galal

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The increasing concerns about the environment and the depletion of natural resources are the main drivers for the growing interest in sustainability. Manufacturing operations are frequently considered to have an adverse effect on the environment. Hence, the sustainable operation of manufacturing facilities is a vital practice to ensure sustainability. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum product mix of a manufacturing facility to maximize its sustainability. A mixed integer non-linear programming model is developed to specify the product mix in order to maximize a proposed sustainability index (SI of a manufacturing facility. The sustainability index comprises the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainability in a weighted form using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP. The model results allow the identification of the prospective improvements of manufacturing sustainability.

  11. Italmontaggi builds expertise Conquering monsoons, adverse conditions Bangladesh pipelines

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1984-10-01

    Bangladesh natural gas pipeline projects have become a specialty for Italmontaggi Pte Ltd., Singapore-based gas pipeline contractor and engineering organization. The firm's latest project is a 35-mile, 24-in. gas pipeline, branching from the Bakhrabad-Chittagong main gas pipeline to the city gate station at Demra, near the capital city of Dacca. Gas is delivered to the Titas gas distribution system. The 35-mile turnkey project, valued at $25 million, included design, procurement, construction, and commissioning. A small pipeline was in existence from the Titas gas field to Dacca, but increased demand caused acute power shortages in the capital city's industrial areas. The new gas line will alleviate that problem. That project is a followup to Italmontaggi's successful completion of the major 108-mile, 24-in. main gas pipeline between the Bakhrabad gas fields, outside Dhaha, to the country's principal port and industrial center at Chittagong. Italmontaggi also installed 22 miles of ring main for the Chittagong gas distribution system. That included 12 miles of 24-in. and 10 miles of 16- and 20-in. to provide connections to industrial customers. Bangladesh lines difficult. The $45million contract for the Bakhrabad-toChittagong pipeline to Italmlontaggi, an autonomous offshoot of the Italian firm, resulted in a constant battle against hostile ground conditions, difficult access, and rapidly changing weather conditions. October-to- April is the dry season and Mayto-September is the wet season in this region. To keep the project moving, Italmontaggi developed two independent techniques for ground preparation during the wet season, and a pipelaying technique for the dry season. The new gas pipeline provides a major saving to the Bangladesh national economy as industries convert from oil to gas. Predicted savings are for more than $100 million in energy costs.

  12. Mixed-mode fracture of ceramics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Petrovic, J.J.

    1985-01-01

    The mixed-mode fracture behavior of ceramic materials is of importance for monolithic ceramics in order to predict the onset of fracture under generalized loading conditions and for ceramic composites to describe crack deflection toughening mechanisms. Experimental data on surface flaw mixed-mode fracture in various ceramics indicate that the flaw-plane normal stress at fracture decreases with increasing in-flaw-plane shear stress, although present data exhibit a fairly wide range in details of this sigma - tau relationship. Fracture from large cracks suggests that Mode II has a greater effect on Mode I fracture than Mode III. A comparison of surface flaw and large crack mixed-mode I-II fracture responses indicated that surface flaw behavior is influenced by shear resistance effects.

  13. Variability of the Mixed-Layer Height Over Mexico City

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Franco, J. L.; Stremme, W.; Bezanilla, A.; Ruiz-Angulo, A.; Grutter, M.

    2018-02-01

    The diurnal and seasonal variability of the mixed-layer height in urban areas has implications for ground-level air pollution and the meteorological conditions. Measurements of the backscatter of light pulses with a commercial lidar system were performed for a continuous period of almost six years between 2011 and 2016 in the southern part of Mexico City. The profiles were temporally and vertically smoothed, clouds were filtered out, and the mixed-layer height was determined with an ad hoc treatment of both the filtered and unfiltered profiles. The results are in agreement when compared with values of mixed-layer height reconstructed from, (i) radiosonde data, and (ii) surface and vertical column densities of a trace gas. The daily maxima of the mean mixed-layer height reach values > 3 km above ground level in the months of March-April, and are clearly lower (pollution episodes and the height of the mixed layer. The growth rate of the convective mixed-layer height has a seasonal behaviour, which is characterized together with the mixed-layer-height anomalies. A clear residual layer is evident from the backscattered signals recorded in days with specific atmospheric conditions, but also from the cloud-filtered mean diurnal profiles. The occasional presence of a residual layer results in an overestimation of the reported mixed-layer height during the night and early morning hours.

  14. Adulthood Personality Correlates of Childhood Adversity

    OpenAIRE

    Charles S. Carver; Charles S. Carver; Sheri L Johnson; Sheri L Johnson; Michael E McCullough; Daniel E Forster; Jutta eJoormann

    2014-01-01

    Objective: Childhood adversity has been linked to internalizing and externalizing disorders and personality disorders in adulthood. This study extends that research by examining several personality measures as correlates of childhood adversity. Method: In a college sample self-reports were collected of childhood adversity, several scales relating to personality, and current depression symptoms as a control variable. The personality-related scales were reduced to four latent variables, which w...

  15. An adverse drug event manager facilitates spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vinther, Siri; Klarskov, Pia; Borgeskov, Hanne

    2017-01-01

    INTRODUCTION: Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is used for continuous risk-benefit evaluation of marketed pharmaceutical products and for signal detection. The Adverse Drug Event Manager (ADEM) is a service offered to clinicians employed at hospitals in the Capital Region......%). The drugs most frequently reported were lisdexamphetamine (n = 40), rivaroxaban (n = 16) and warfarin (n = 15) (vaccines excluded). In 13 out of 484 reports, the ADR was associated with a fatal outcome. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate that an ADEM promotes and facilitates spontaneous ADR...

  16. Do prescription stimulants increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events?: A systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Westover Arthur N

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background There is increasing concern that prescription stimulants may be associated with adverse cardiovascular events such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. Public health concerns are amplified by increasing use of prescription stimulants among adults. Methods The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the evidence of an association between prescription stimulant use and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. PUBMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Google Scholar searches were conducted using key words related to these topics (MESH: ADHD; Adults; Amphetamine; Amphetamines; Arrhythmias, Cardiac; Cardiovascular Diseases; Cardiovascular System; Central Nervous Stimulants; Cerebrovascular; Cohort Studies; Case–control Studies; Death; Death, Sudden, Cardiac; Dextroamphetamine; Drug Toxicity; Methamphetamine; Methylphenidate; Myocardial Infarction; Stimulant; Stroke; Safety. Eligible studies were population-based studies of children, adolescents, or adults using prescription stimulant use as the independent variable and a hard cardiovascular outcome as the dependent variable. Results Ten population-based observational studies which evaluated prescription stimulant use with cardiovascular outcomes were reviewed. Six out of seven studies in children and adolescents did not show an association between stimulant use and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. In contrast, two out of three studies in adults found an association. Conclusions Findings of an association between prescription stimulant use and adverse cardiovascular outcomes are mixed. Studies of children and adolescents suggest that statistical power is limited in available study populations, and the absolute risk of an event is low. More suggestive of a safety signal, studies of adults found an increased risk for transient ischemic attack and sudden death/ventricular arrhythmia. Interpretation was limited due to differences in population, cardiovascular outcome

  17. Optimizing MFT dewatering by controlling polymer mixing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Demoz, A.; Munoz, V.; Mikula, R. [Natural Resources Canada, Devon, AB (Canada). CANMET Western Research Centre

    2010-07-01

    A method of controlling polymer mixing for the dewatering of mature fine tailings (MFT) was presented. The method was developed to accelerate water release from MFT and to recover more water for re-use. Dewatering rates are dependent upon hydrodynamic conditions as well as various physical mixing variables. The effect of mixing energy on the rate and amount of released water flocculated MFT was investigated using different impellers in order to determine the release water amount and capillary suction time. The mixing energy effect on the structure of the flocculated MFT was analyzed using rheology and stereo microscopy techniques. Batch mixing tests were conducted to determine dewatering characteristics. Flow was described using the Herschel-Bulkley model. Results of the study demonstrated a clear peak in the amount of water released with the mixing time. The effect was applicable to rim-ditch thin-lift, and dewatering by centrifugation. tabs., figs.

  18. Two Parameter Fracture Mechanics: Fatigue Crack Behavior under Mixed Mode Conditions

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Seitl, Stanislav; Knésl, Zdeněk

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 75, č. 3-4 (2008), s. 857-865 ISSN 0013-7944. [Crack Paths 2006. Parma, 14.09.2006-16.09.2006] R&D Projects: GA ČR GP101/04/P001 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20410507 Keywords : Constraint * Mixed-mode loading * Fatigue crack * Crack growth * Crack path Subject RIV: JL - Materials Fatigue, Friction Mechanics Impact factor: 1.713, year: 2008

  19. Automatically Recognizing Medication and Adverse Event Information From Food and Drug Administration's Adverse Event Reporting System Narratives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polepalli Ramesh, Balaji; Belknap, Steven M; Li, Zuofeng; Frid, Nadya; West, Dennis P; Yu, Hong

    2014-06-27

    The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) is a repository of spontaneously-reported adverse drug events (ADEs) for FDA-approved prescription drugs. FAERS reports include both structured reports and unstructured narratives. The narratives often include essential information for evaluation of the severity, causality, and description of ADEs that are not present in the structured data. The timely identification of unknown toxicities of prescription drugs is an important, unsolved problem. The objective of this study was to develop an annotated corpus of FAERS narratives and biomedical named entity tagger to automatically identify ADE related information in the FAERS narratives. We developed an annotation guideline and annotate medication information and adverse event related entities on 122 FAERS narratives comprising approximately 23,000 word tokens. A named entity tagger using supervised machine learning approaches was built for detecting medication information and adverse event entities using various categories of features. The annotated corpus had an agreement of over .9 Cohen's kappa for medication and adverse event entities. The best performing tagger achieves an overall performance of 0.73 F1 score for detection of medication, adverse event and other named entities. In this study, we developed an annotated corpus of FAERS narratives and machine learning based models for automatically extracting medication and adverse event information from the FAERS narratives. Our study is an important step towards enriching the FAERS data for postmarketing pharmacovigilance.

  20. Modified Taylor series method for solving nonlinear differential equations with mixed boundary conditions defined on finite intervals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vazquez-Leal, Hector; Benhammouda, Brahim; Filobello-Nino, Uriel Antonio; Sarmiento-Reyes, Arturo; Jimenez-Fernandez, Victor Manuel; Marin-Hernandez, Antonio; Herrera-May, Agustin Leobardo; Diaz-Sanchez, Alejandro; Huerta-Chua, Jesus

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we propose the application of a modified Taylor series method (MTSM) for the approximation of nonlinear problems described on finite intervals. The issue of Taylor series method with mixed boundary conditions is circumvented using shooting constants and extra derivatives of the problem. In order to show the benefits of this proposal, three different kinds of problems are solved: three-point boundary valued problem (BVP) of third-order with a hyperbolic sine nonlinearity, two-point BVP for a second-order nonlinear differential equation with an exponential nonlinearity, and a two-point BVP for a third-order nonlinear differential equation with a radical nonlinearity. The result shows that the MTSM method is capable to generate easily computable and highly accurate approximations for nonlinear equations. 34L30.

  1. On S-mixing entropy of quantum channels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukhamedov, Farrukh; Watanabe, Noboru

    2018-06-01

    In this paper, an S-mixing entropy of quantum channels is introduced as a generalization of Ohya's S-mixing entropy. We investigate several properties of the introduced entropy. Moreover, certain relations between the S-mixing entropy and the existing map and output entropies of quantum channels are investigated as well. These relations allowed us to find certain connections between separable states and the introduced entropy. Hence, there is a sufficient condition to detect entangled states. Moreover, several properties of the introduced entropy are investigated. Besides, entropies of qubit and phase-damping channels are calculated.

  2. Nonlinear Stability and Structure of Compressible Reacting Mixing Layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Day, M. J.; Mansour, N. N.; Reynolds, W. C.

    2000-01-01

    The parabolized stability equations (PSE) are used to investigate issues of nonlinear flow development and mixing in compressible reacting shear layers. Particular interest is placed on investigating the change in flow structure that occurs when compressibility and heat release are added to the flow. These conditions allow the 'outer' instability modes- one associated with each of the fast and slow streams-to dominate over the 'central', Kelvin-Helmholtz mode that unaccompanied in incompressible nonreacting mixing layers. Analysis of scalar probability density functions in flows with dominant outer modes demonstrates the ineffective, one-sided nature of mixing that accompany these flow structures. Colayer conditions, where two modes have equal growth rate and the mixing layer is formed by two sets of vortices, offer some opportunity for mixing enhancement. Their extent, however, is found to be limited in the mixing layer's parameter space. Extensive validation of the PSE technique also provides a unique perspective on central- mode vortex pairing, further supporting the view that pairing is primarily governed perspective sheds insight on how linear stability theory is able to provide such an accurate prediction of experimentally-observed, fully nonlinear flow phenomenon.

  3. Adulthood Stressors, History of Childhood Adversity, and Risk of Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Andrea L.; McLaughlin, Katie A.; Conron, Kerith J.; Koenen, Karestan C.

    2010-01-01

    Background Over half a million U.S. women and more than 100,000 men are treated for injuries from intimate partner violence (IPV) annually, making IPV perpetration a major public health problem. However, little is known about causes of perpetration across the life course. Purpose This paper examines the role of “stress sensitization,” whereby adult stressors increase risk for IPV perpetration most strongly in people with a history of childhood adversity. Methods The study investigated a possible interaction effect between adulthood stressors and childhood adversities in risk of IPV perpetration, specifically, whether the difference in risk of IPV perpetration associated with past-year stressors varied by history of exposure to childhood adversity. Analyses were conducted in 2010 using de-identified data from 34,653 U.S. adults from the 2004–2005 follow-up wave of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Results There was a significant stress sensitization effect. For men with high-level childhood adversity, past-year stressors were associated with an 8.8% increased risk of perpetrating compared to a 2.3% increased risk among men with low-level adversity. Women with high-level childhood adversity had a 14.3% increased risk compared with a 2.5% increased risk in the low-level adversity group. Conclusions Individuals with recent stressors and histories of childhood adversity are at particularly elevated risk of IPV perpetration; therefore, prevention efforts should target this population. Treatment programs for IPV perpetrators, which have not been effective in reducing risk of perpetrating, may benefit from further investigating the role of stress and stress reactivity in perpetration. PMID:21238860

  4. Mixed-Mode Crack Growth in Wood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Octavian POP

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available In timber elements the mixed mode dependsessentially of wood anatomy and load configuration.In these conditions, in order to evaluate the materialbehavior and the fracture process, it’s necessary toseparate the part of each mode. The mixed modeseparation allows evaluating the amplitude offracture mode. In the present paper, using a mixedmodecrack growth specimen made in Douglas fir,the mixed mode crack growth process is studythanks to marks tracking method. Using the markstracking method the characteristic displacementsassociated to opening and shear mode aremeasured. From the experimental measurements,the energy release rate associated to opening andshear modes is calculated into to account the crackadvancement during the test.

  5. Heat of mixing and morphological stability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nandapurkar, P.; Poirier, D. R.

    1988-01-01

    A mathematical model, which incorporates heat of mixing in the energy balance, has been developed to analyze the morphological stability of a planar solid-liquid interface during the directional solidification of a binary alloy. It is observed that the stability behavior is almost that predicted by the analysis of Mullins and Sekerka (1963) at low growth velocities, while deviations in the critical concentration of about 20-25 percent are observed under rapid solidification conditions for certain systems. The calculations indicate that a positive heat of mixing makes the planar interface more unstable, whereas a negative heat of mixing makes it more stable, in terms of the critical concentration.

  6. Preparation of uranium-plutonium mixed nitride pellets with high purity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arai, Yasuo; Shiozawa, Ken-ichi; Ohmichi, Toshihiko

    1992-01-01

    Uranium-plutonium mixed nitride pellets have been prepared in the gloveboxes with high purity Ar gas atmosphere. Carbothermic reduction of the oxides in N 2 -H 2 mixed gas stream was adopted for synthesizing mixed nitride. Sintering was carried out in various conditions and the effect on the pellet characteristics was investigated. (author)

  7. Evaluation of simultaneous nutrient and COD removal with polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulation using mixed microbial consortia under anoxic condition and their bioinformatics analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jena, Jyotsnarani; Kumar, Ravindra; Dixit, Anshuman; Pandey, Sony; Das, Trupti

    2015-01-01

    Simultaneous nitrate-N, phosphate and COD removal was evaluated from synthetic waste water using mixed microbial consortia in an anoxic environment under various initial carbon load (ICL) in a batch scale reactor system. Within 6 hours of incubation, enriched DNPAOs (Denitrifying Polyphosphate Accumulating Microorganisms) were able to remove maximum COD (87%) at 2 g/L of ICL whereas maximum nitrate-N (97%) and phosphate (87%) removal along with PHB accumulation (49 mg/L) was achieved at 8 g/L of ICL. Exhaustion of nitrate-N, beyond 6 hours of incubation, had a detrimental effect on COD and phosphate removal rate. Fresh supply of nitrate-N to the reaction medium, beyond 6 hours, helped revive the removal rates of both COD and phosphate. Therefore, it was apparent that in spite of a high carbon load, maximum COD and nutrient removal can be maintained, with adequate nitrate-N availability. Denitrifying condition in the medium was evident from an increasing pH trend. PHB accumulation by the mixed culture was directly proportional to ICL; however the time taken for accumulation at higher ICL was more. Unlike conventional EBPR, PHB depletion did not support phosphate accumulation in this case. The unique aspect of all the batch studies were PHB accumulation was observed along with phosphate uptake and nitrate reduction under anoxic conditions. Bioinformatics analysis followed by pyrosequencing of the mixed culture DNA from the seed sludge revealed the dominance of denitrifying population, such as Corynebacterium, Rhodocyclus and Paraccocus (Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria). Rarefaction curve indicated complete bacterial population and corresponding number of OTUs through sequence analysis. Chao1 and Shannon index (H') was used to study the diversity of sampling. "UCI95" and "LCI95" indicated 95% confidence level of upper and lower values of Chao1 for each distance. Values of Chao1 index supported the results of rarefaction curve.

  8. Evaluation of simultaneous nutrient and COD removal with polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB accumulation using mixed microbial consortia under anoxic condition and their bioinformatics analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyotsnarani Jena

    Full Text Available Simultaneous nitrate-N, phosphate and COD removal was evaluated from synthetic waste water using mixed microbial consortia in an anoxic environment under various initial carbon load (ICL in a batch scale reactor system. Within 6 hours of incubation, enriched DNPAOs (Denitrifying Polyphosphate Accumulating Microorganisms were able to remove maximum COD (87% at 2 g/L of ICL whereas maximum nitrate-N (97% and phosphate (87% removal along with PHB accumulation (49 mg/L was achieved at 8 g/L of ICL. Exhaustion of nitrate-N, beyond 6 hours of incubation, had a detrimental effect on COD and phosphate removal rate. Fresh supply of nitrate-N to the reaction medium, beyond 6 hours, helped revive the removal rates of both COD and phosphate. Therefore, it was apparent that in spite of a high carbon load, maximum COD and nutrient removal can be maintained, with adequate nitrate-N availability. Denitrifying condition in the medium was evident from an increasing pH trend. PHB accumulation by the mixed culture was directly proportional to ICL; however the time taken for accumulation at higher ICL was more. Unlike conventional EBPR, PHB depletion did not support phosphate accumulation in this case. The unique aspect of all the batch studies were PHB accumulation was observed along with phosphate uptake and nitrate reduction under anoxic conditions. Bioinformatics analysis followed by pyrosequencing of the mixed culture DNA from the seed sludge revealed the dominance of denitrifying population, such as Corynebacterium, Rhodocyclus and Paraccocus (Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Rarefaction curve indicated complete bacterial population and corresponding number of OTUs through sequence analysis. Chao1 and Shannon index (H' was used to study the diversity of sampling. "UCI95" and "LCI95" indicated 95% confidence level of upper and lower values of Chao1 for each distance. Values of Chao1 index supported the results of rarefaction curve.

  9. Experimental investigation of transverse mixing in porous media under helical flow conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ye, Yu; Chiogna, Gabriele; Cirpka, Olaf A.

    2016-01-01

    Plume dilution and transverse mixing can be considerably enhanced by helical flow occurring in three-dimensional heterogeneous anisotropic porous media. In this study, we perform tracer experiments in a fully three-dimensional flow-through chamber to investigate the effects of helical flow on plume...

  10. Categories of adverse health effects from indoor air pollution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weetman, D.F.; Munby, J.

    1994-01-01

    There is a lack of precision in the definition of health, which leads to confusion in the assessment of adverse effects arising from indoor air pollution. Adverse health effects range from annoyance to life-threatening conditions. Survey responses suggest that males and females differ in their perception of a healthy person, but both sexes envisage a male in terms of positive fitness, strength, energy and the possession of an athletic body, rather than how long one was likely to live. Psychological fitness was relatively unimportant in describing the health of others, but was rates as very important with respect to one's own health. Mortality statistics tend to obscure the proportion of the population who suffer chronic illness that is not life threatening. Although health is largely determined by genetic constitution, lifestyle and environmental factors, the morale of an individual is also important. A new classification of the adverse effects on health of indoor air pollution is proposed: this includes 'comfort' responses, such as sick building syndrome (category 1); acute chemical effects, the nature of which depends upon the specific intoxicant (category 2B), and perceived chronic grave risk, including cancer causation (category 3). The magnitude of risk in this latter category is imprecise, because its measurement involves the technique of quantitative risk assessment. (author) 1 fig., 2 tabs., 158 refs

  11. Agro-productive evaluation of varieties of sugarcane, resistant to adverse conditions for water deficit and their stability in several ecosystem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irenaldo Delgado

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The main breeding programs in the world have heeded sugarcane classification of test environments, so that the evaluation of genotypes across different environments is one of the most common practices for the recommendation of new cultivars to producers and as its stability. This study aimed to evaluate agroproductivamente varieties of sugar cane plantation plots cold, resistant to adverse conditions of water deficit and its stability in various environments. Under these new assumptions developed in this study Territorial Research Station of Sugarcane Villa Clara in the cold cycle, in a randomized complete block, the variables were percentage of pol in cane, tons of cane per hectare pol tons per hectare. The result was that the genotype C86-156 high agricultural yields and stable in all environments and high sugar content, so their harvest should be in the initial stage of harvest (December-January, and C89-147 which is the highest performance, but not stable environments. Identifies five test environments with specific genotypes, where November is characterized by C90-530 and C89-147, December by C86-56 January for C89-148, C86-156 by February and March by C85-102.

  12. Perceived Work Conditions and Turnover Intentions: The Mediating Role of Meaning of Work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnoux-Nicolas, Caroline; Sovet, Laurent; Lhotellier, Lin; Di Fabio, Annamaria; Bernaud, Jean-Luc

    2016-01-01

    Perceived working conditions lead to various negative outcomes for employee behaviors, including turnover intentions. Although potential mediators for these relationships were previously identified, the importance of meaning of work has not yet been investigated. This study examines the role of this psychological resource as a mediator for the relationships between perceived working conditions and turnover intentions in a sample of 336 French workers from different job contexts. Results show that adverse working conditions were positively and significantly associated with turnover intentions. Meaning of work is negatively related to both perceived working conditions and turnover intentions. Mediation analyses for meaning of work demonstrated indirect effects of several adverse working conditions on turnover intentions. The role of meaning of work as a psychological resource for employees facing adverse working conditions is discussed, especially regarding its implications for research and practice within organizational contexts. PMID:27242616

  13. Perceived Work Conditions and Turnover Intentions: The Mediating Role of Meaning of Work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnoux-Nicolas, Caroline; Sovet, Laurent; Lhotellier, Lin; Di Fabio, Annamaria; Bernaud, Jean-Luc

    2016-01-01

    Perceived working conditions lead to various negative outcomes for employee behaviors, including turnover intentions. Although potential mediators for these relationships were previously identified, the importance of meaning of work has not yet been investigated. This study examines the role of this psychological resource as a mediator for the relationships between perceived working conditions and turnover intentions in a sample of 336 French workers from different job contexts. Results show that adverse working conditions were positively and significantly associated with turnover intentions. Meaning of work is negatively related to both perceived working conditions and turnover intentions. Mediation analyses for meaning of work demonstrated indirect effects of several adverse working conditions on turnover intentions. The role of meaning of work as a psychological resource for employees facing adverse working conditions is discussed, especially regarding its implications for research and practice within organizational contexts.

  14. Radiotracer aided optimization of batch mixing of solids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolar, Z.I.; Bergh, W.J.B. van den; Scarlett, B.

    1989-01-01

    A method for the determination of mixing times has been developed and tested in a model Nauta mixer filled with sand. 128 I-labelled sand particles were used as radiotracer and the progress of mixing was monitored with two radiation detectors located externally. The variance of the radiation intensity decreases with time until a constant value is reached indicating an equilibrium mixture of tracer and sand. The time necessary to achieve this condition (mixing time) appears to be dependent on the rotational speed of the hopper as well as the screw of the mixer. Optimal mixing performance (shortest mixing time) corresponds to the maximal rotational speeds of both rotating parts of the mixer. (author)

  15. Red Sea Acropora hemprichii Bacterial Population Dynamics under Adverse Anthropogenic Conditions

    KAUST Repository

    Lizcano, Javier

    2012-08-01

    Reef-building corals are cornerstones of life in the oceans. Understanding their interactions with microorganisms and their surrounding physicochemical conditions is important to comprehend reef functioning and ultimately protect coral reef ecosystems. Corals associate with a complex and specific array of microorganisms that supposedly affect their physiology and therefore can significantly determine the condition of a coral ecosystem. As environmental conditions may shape bacterial diversity and ecology in the coral symbiosis, ecosystem changes might have unfavorable consequences for the holobiont, to date poorly understood. Here, we were studying microbial community changes in A. hemprichii as a consequence of simulated eutrophication and overfishing over a period of 16 weeks by using in situ caging and slow release fertilizer treatments in an undisturbed Red Sea reef (22.18ºN, 38.57ºW). We used 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to evaluate the individual and combined effects of overnutrification and fishing pressure, two of the most common local threats to coral reefs. With our data we hope to better understand bacterial population dynamics under anthropogenic influences and its role in coral resilience. Projecting further, this data will be useful to better predict the consequences of human activity on reef ecosystems.

  16. Early-life adversity facilitates acquisition of cocaine self-administration and induces persistent anhedonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica L. Bolton

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Early-life adversity increases the risk for emotional disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Anhedonia, thought to be a core feature of these disorders, is provoked by our naturalistic rodent model of childhood adversity (i.e., rearing pups for one week in cages with limited bedding and nesting, LBN. Drug use and addiction are highly comorbid with psychiatric disorders featuring anhedonia, yet effects of LBN on drug-seeking behavior and the reward and stress-related circuits that underlie it remain unknown. Here we examined the effects of LBN on cocaine intake and seeking, using a battery of behavioral tests measuring distinct aspects of cocaine reward, and for comparison, chocolate intake. We also examined activation of neurons within the pleasure/reward and stress circuits following cocaine in LBN and control rats. Early-life adversity reduced spontaneous intake of palatable chocolate, extending prior reports of sucrose and social-play anhedonia. In a within-session cocaine behavioral economic test, LBN rats self-administered lower dosages of cocaine under low-effort conditions, consistent with a reduced hedonic set-point for cocaine, and potentially anhedonia. In contrast, cocaine demand elasticity was not consistently affected, indicating no major changes in motivation to maintain preferred cocaine blood levels. These changes were selective, as LBN did not cause an overt anxiety-like phenotype, nor did it affect sensitivity to self-administered cocaine dose, responding for cocaine under extinction conditions, cocaine- or cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking, or locomotor response to acute cocaine. However, high Fos expression was seen after cocaine in both reward- and stress-related brain regions of LBN rats, including nucleus accumbens core, central amygdala, and lateral habenula. In contrast, hypothalamic orexin neuron activation after cocaine was significantly attenuated in LBN rats. Together, these findings demonstrate

  17. 7 CFR 1900.55 - Adverse action procedures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 12 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Adverse action procedures. 1900.55 Section 1900.55 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL HOUSING SERVICE, RURAL BUSINESS... REGULATIONS GENERAL Adverse Decisions and Administrative Appeals § 1900.55 Adverse action procedures. (a) If...

  18. Remote Ischemic Conditioning and Renal Protection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giannopoulos, Georgios; Vrachatis, Dimitrios A; Panagopoulou, Vasiliki; Vavuranakis, Manolis; Cleman, Michael W; Deftereos, Spyridon

    2017-07-01

    Over the course of the last 2 decades, the concept of remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) has attracted considerable research interest, because RIC, in most of its embodiments offers an inexpensive way of protecting tissues against ischemic damage inflicted by a number of medical conditions or procedures. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common side effect in the context of various medical procedures, and RIC has been suggested as a means of reducing its incidence. Outcomes regarding kidney function have been reported in numerous studies that evaluated the effects of RIC in a variety of settings (eg, cardiac surgery, interventions requiring intravenous administration of contrast media). Although several individual studies have implied a beneficial effect of RIC in preserving kidney function, 3 recently published randomized controlled trials evaluating more than 1000 patients each (Effect of Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in the Cardiac Surgery, Remote Ischaemic Preconditioning for Heart Surgery, and ERICCA) were negative. However, AKI or any other index of renal function was not a stand-alone primary end point in any of these trials. On the other hand, a range of meta-analyses (each including thousands of participants) have reported mixed results, with the most recent among them showing benefit from RIC, pinpointing at the same time a number of shortcomings in published studies, adversely affecting the quality of available data. The present review provides a critical appraisal of the current state of this field of research. It is the opinion of the authors of this review that there is a clear need for a common clinical trial framework for ischemic conditioning studies. If the current babel of definitions, procedures, outcomes, and goals persists, it is most likely that soon ischemic conditioning will be "yesterday's news" with no definitive conclusions having been reached in terms of its real clinical utility.

  19. Periodontal Disease: A Possible Risk-Factor for Adverse Pregnancy Outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parihar, Anuj Singh; Katoch, Vartika; Rajguru, Sneha A; Rajpoot, Nami; Singh, Pinojj; Wakhle, Sonal

    2015-07-01

    Bacterial invasion in subgingival sites especially of gram-negative organisms are initiators for periodontal diseases. The periodontal pathogens with persistent inflammation lead to destruction of periodontium. In recent years, periodontal diseases have been associated with a number of systemic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular-disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic respiratory diseases and adverse pregnancy outcomes including pre-term low-birth weight (PLBW) and pre-eclampsia. The factors like low socio-economic status, mother's age, race, multiple births, tobacco and drug-abuse may be found to increase risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. However, the same are less correlated with PLBW cases. Even the invasion of both aerobic and anerobic may lead to inflammation of gastrointestinal tract and vagina hence contributing to PLBW. The biological mechanism involved between PLBW and Maternal periodontitis is the translocation of chemical mediators of inflammation. Pre-eclampsia is one of the commonest cause of both maternal and fetal morbidity as it is characterized by hypertension and hyperprotenuria. Improving periodontal health before or during pregnancy may prevent or reduce the occurrences of these adverse pregnancy outcomes and, therefore, reduce the maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Hence, this article is an attempt to review the relationship between periodontal condition and altered pregnancy outcome.

  20. Case-Mix Variables and Predictors for Outcomes of Laparoscopic Hysterectomy: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driessen, Sara R C; Sandberg, Evelien M; la Chapelle, Claire F; Twijnstra, Andries R H; Rhemrev, Johann P T; Jansen, Frank Willem

    2016-01-01

    The assessment of surgical quality is complex, and an adequate case-mix correction is missing in currently applied quality indicators. The purpose of this study is to give an overview of all studies mentioning statistically significant associations between patient characteristics and surgical outcomes for laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH). Additionally, we identified a set of potential case-mix characteristics for LH. This systematic review was conducted according to the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. We searched PubMed and EMBASE from January 1, 2000 to August 1, 2015. All articles describing statistically significant associations between patient characteristics and adverse outcomes of LH for benign indications were included. Primary outcomes were blood loss, operative time, conversion, and complications. The methodologic quality of the included studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. The included articles were summed per predictor and surgical outcome. Three sets of case-mix characteristics were determined, stratified by different levels of evidence. Eighty-five of 1549 identified studies were considered eligible. Uterine weight and body mass index (BMI) were the most mentioned predictors (described, respectively, 83 and 45 times) in high quality studies. For longer operative time and higher blood loss, uterine weight ≥ 250 to 300 g and ≥500 g and BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) dominated as predictors. Previous operations, adhesions, and higher age were also considered as predictors for longer operative time. For complications and conversions, the patient characteristics varied widely, and uterine weight, BMI, previous operations, adhesions, and age predominated. Studies of high methodologic quality indicated uterine weight and BMI as relevant case-mix characteristics for all surgical outcomes. For future development of quality indicators of LH and to compare surgical outcomes adequately, a case-mix

  1. Martian Mixed Layer during Pathfinder Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez, G. M.; Valero, F.; Vazquez, L.

    2008-09-01

    neglects the effect of the radiation heating which is negligible under fair weather conditions on Earth. However, it is relevant under martian conditions due to the absorption of solar radiation by dust. Supported both by [11] and the low dust optical depth (≃ 0.3 for the PF summer), the con- vective heating of the mixed layer domiantes the radiation heating (around three times higher), al- lowing us to estimate these values via mixed layer similarity.

  2. Life Course Pathways of Adversities Linking Adolescent Socioeconomic Circumstances and Functional Somatic Symptoms in Mid-Adulthood: A Path Analysis Study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frida Jonsson

    Full Text Available While research examining the health impact of early socioeconomic conditions suggests that effects may exist independently of or jointly with adult socioeconomic position, studies exploring other potential pathways are few. Following a chain of risk life course model, this prospective study seeks to examine whether pathways of occupational class as well as material and social adversities across the life course link socioeconomic disadvantage in adolescent to functional somatic symptoms in mid-adulthood. Applying path analysis, a multiple mediator model was assessed using prospective data collected during 26 years through the Northern Swedish Cohort. The sample contained 987 individuals residing in the municipality of Luleå, Sweden, who participated in questionnaire surveys at age 16, 21, 30 and 42. Socioeconomic conditions (high/low in adolescence (age 16 were operationalized using the occupation of the parents, while occupational class in adulthood (manual/non-manual was measured using the participant's own occupation at age 21 and 30. The adversity measurements were constructed as separate age specific parcels at age 21 and 30. Social adversity included items pertaining to stressful life events that could potentially harm salient relationships, while material adversity was operationalized using items concerning unfavorable financial and material circumstances. Functional somatic symptoms at age 42 was a summary measure of self-reported physical symptoms, palpitation and sleeping difficulties that had occurred during the last 12 months. An association between socioeconomic conditions at age 16 and functional somatic symptoms at age 42 (r = 0.068 which was partially explained by people's own occupational class at age 21 and then material as well as social adversity at age 30 was revealed. Rather than proposing a direct and independent health effect of the socioeconomic conditions of the family, the present study suggests that growing up in an

  3. 40 CFR 350.21 - Adverse health effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 27 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Adverse health effects. 350.21 Section... § 350.21 Adverse health effects. The Governor or State emergency response commission shall identify the adverse health effects associated with each of the chemicals claimed as trade secret and shall make this...

  4. A Growth Curve Analysis of the Course of Dysthymic Disorder: The Effects of Chronic Stress and Moderation by Adverse Parent-Child Relationships and Family History

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dougherty, Lea R.; Klein, Daniel N.; Davila, Joanne

    2004-01-01

    Using mixed effects models, the authors examined the effects of chronic stress, adverse parent-child relationships, and family history on the 7.5-year course of dysthymic disorder. Participants included 97 outpatients with early-onset dysthymia who were assessed with semistructured interviews at baseline and 3 additional times at 30-month…

  5. Quark-lepton universality and large leptonic mixing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joshipura, Anjan S.; Smirnov, A.Yu.

    2006-01-01

    A unified description of fermionic mixing is proposed which assumes that in certain basis (i) a single complex unitary matrix V diagonalizes mass matrices of all fermions to the leading order (ii) the SU(5) relation M d =M l T exists between the mass matrices of the down quarks and the charged leptons, and (iii) M d - bar =M d . These assumptions automatically lead to different mixing patterns for quarks and leptons: Quarks remain unmixed to leading order (i.e. V CKM =1) while leptons have non-trivial mixing given by a symmetric unitary matrix V PMNS 0 =V T V. V depends on two physical mixing angles and for values of these angles ∼20 o -25 o it reproduces the observed mixing patterns rather well. We identify conditions under which the universal mixing V follows from the universal mass matrices of fermions. Relatively small perturbations to the leading order structure lead to the CKM mixing and corrections to V PMNS 0 . We find that if the correction matrix equals the CKM matrix, the resulting lepton mixing agrees well with data and predicts (V PMNS ) e3 >0.08

  6. Adverse event reports following yellow fever vaccination, 2007-13.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindsey, Nicole P; Rabe, Ingrid B; Miller, Elaine R; Fischer, Marc; Staples, J Erin

    2016-05-01

    Yellow fever (YF) vaccines have been available since the 1930s and are generally considered safe and effective. However, rare reports of serious adverse events (SAE) following vaccination have prompted the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to periodically expand the list of conditions considered contraindications and precautions to vaccination. We describe adverse events following YF vaccination reported to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) from 2007 through 2013 and calculate age- and sex-specific reporting rates of all SAE, anaphylaxis, YF vaccine-associated neurologic disease (YEL-AND) and YF vaccine-associated viscerotropic disease (YEL-AVD). There were 938 adverse events following YF vaccination reported to VAERS from 2007 through 2013. Of these, 84 (9%) were classified as SAEs for a rate of 3.8 per 100 000 doses distributed. Reporting rates of SAEs increased with increasing age with a rate of 6.5 per 100 000 in persons aged 60-69 years and 10.3 for ≥70 years. The reporting rate for anaphylaxis was 1.3 per 100 000 doses distributed and was highest in persons ≤18 years (2.7 per 100 000). Reporting rates of YEL-AND and YEL-AVD were 0.8 and 0.3 per 100 000 doses distributed, respectively; both rates increased with increasing age. These findings reinforce the generally acceptable safety profile of YF vaccine, but highlight the importance of continued physician and traveller education regarding the risks and benefits of YF vaccination, particularly for older travellers. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society of Travel Medicine, 2016. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the United States.

  7. Vitex agnus castus: a systematic review of adverse events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniele, Claudia; Thompson Coon, Joanna; Pittler, Max H; Ernst, Edzard

    2005-01-01

    Vitex agnus castus L. (VAC) [Verbenaceae] is a deciduous shrub that is native to Mediterranean Europe and Central Asia. Traditionally, VAC fruit extract has been used in the treatment of many female conditions, including menstrual disorders (amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea), premenstrual syndrome (PMS), corpus luteum insufficiency, hyperprolactinaemia, infertility, acne, menopause and disrupted lactation. The German Commission E has approved the use of VAC for irregularities of the menstrual cycle, premenstrual disturbances and mastodynia. Clinical reviews are available for the efficacy of VAC in PMS, cycle disorders, hyperprolactinaemia and mastalgia, but so far no systematic review has been published on adverse events or drug interactions associated with VAC. Therefore, this review was conducted to evaluate all the available human safety data of VAC monopreparations. Literature searches were conducted in six electronic databases, in references lists of all identified papers and in departmental files. Data from spontaneous reporting schemes of the WHO and national drug safety bodies were also included. Twelve manufacturers of VAC-containing preparations and five herbalist organisations were contacted for additional information. No language restrictions were imposed. Combination preparations including VAC or homeopathic preparations of VAC were excluded. Data extraction of key data from all articles reporting adverse events or interactions was performed independently by at least two reviewers, regardless of study design. Data from clinical trials, postmarketing surveillance studies, surveys, spontaneous reporting schemes, manufacturers and herbalist organisations indicate that the adverse events following VAC treatment are mild and reversible. The most frequent adverse events are nausea, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, menstrual disorders, acne, pruritus and erythematous rash. No drug interactions were reported. Use of VAC should be avoided during pregnancy or

  8. 20 CFR 655.207 - Adverse effect rates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Adverse effect rates. 655.207 Section 655.207... Agricultural Employment § 655.207 Adverse effect rates. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the adverse effect rates for all agricultural and logging employment shall be the prevailing wage rates in the...

  9. High-dose nifuratel for simple and mixed aerobic vaginitis: A single-center prospective open-label cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Qian; Li, Nan; Song, Shurong; Zhang, Aihua; Li, Ni; Duan, Ying

    2016-10-01

    The efficacy and safety of two nifuratel dosages for the treatment of aerobic vaginitis (AV) were compared. This was a prospective open-label cohort study of patients diagnosed and treated at the Tianjin Third Central Hospital between January 2012 and December 2013. The co-presence of bacterial vaginosis (BV), vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), or/and trichomonal vaginitis (TV; mixed AV) was determined. Patients were randomized to nifuratel-500 (500 mg nifuratel, intravaginal, 10 days) or nifuratel-250 (250 mg nifuratel, intravaginal, 10 days), and followed-up for three to seven days after treatment completion. Primary and secondary outcomes were recovery rate and adverse events, respectively. The study included 142 patients with AV. Age was not significantly different between the groups (n = 71 each), and disease distribution was identical: 29 (40.85%) simple AV and 42 (59.15%) mixed AV (AV + BV, 42.86 %; AV + VVC, 30.95%; AV + TV, 26.19%). In patients with simple AV, the recovery rate did not differ significantly between the nifuratel-500 (26/29, 89.66%) and nifuratel-250 (22/29, 75.86%) groups. In patients with mixed AV, recovery rates were significantly higher in the nifuratel-500 than in the nifuratel-250 group (AV + BV, 88.89% vs 50.00 %; AV + VVC, 76.92 % vs 30.77 %; AV + TV, 90.91 % vs 36.36%; all P < 0.05). Only one patient (nifuratel-500) reported an adverse event (mild anaphylactic reaction). Nifuratel 500 mg showed good clinical efficacy for the treatment of AV, particularly mixed AV, and is superior to the 250 mg dosage in the treatment of mixed AV. © 2016 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

  10. Comorbidity as a driver of adverse outcomes in people with chronic kidney disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tonelli, Marcello; Wiebe, Natasha; Guthrie, Bruce; James, Matthew T; Quan, Hude; Fortin, Martin; Klarenbach, Scott W; Sargious, Peter; Straus, Sharon; Lewanczuk, Richard; Ronksley, Paul E; Manns, Braden J; Hemmelgarn, Brenda R

    2015-10-01

    Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with poor outcomes, perhaps due to a high burden of comorbidity. Most studies of CKD populations focus on concordant comorbidities, which cause CKD (such as hypertension and diabetes) or often accompany CKD (such as heart failure or coronary disease). Less is known about the burden of mental health conditions and discordant conditions (those not concordant but still clinically relevant, like dementia or cancer). Here we did a retrospective population-based cohort study of 530,771 adults with CKD residing in Alberta, Canada between 2003 and 2011. Validated algorithms were applied to data from the provincial health ministry to assess the presence/absence of 29 chronic comorbidities. Linkage between comorbidity burden and adverse clinical outcomes (mortality, hospitalization or myocardial infarction) was examined over median follow-up of 48 months. Comorbidities were classified into three categories: concordant, mental health/chronic pain, and discordant. The median number of comorbidities was 1 (range 0-15) but a substantial proportion of participants had 3 and more, or 5 and more comorbidities (25 and 7%, respectively). Concordant comorbidities were associated with excess risk of hospitalization, but so were discordant comorbidities and mental health conditions. Thus, discordant comorbidities and mental health conditions as well as concordant comorbidities are important independent drivers of the adverse outcomes associated with CKD.

  11. Variability of the Mixed-Layer Height Over Mexico City

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Franco, J. L.; Stremme, W.; Bezanilla, A.; Ruiz-Angulo, A.; Grutter, M.

    2018-06-01

    The diurnal and seasonal variability of the mixed-layer height in urban areas has implications for ground-level air pollution and the meteorological conditions. Measurements of the backscatter of light pulses with a commercial lidar system were performed for a continuous period of almost six years between 2011 and 2016 in the southern part of Mexico City. The profiles were temporally and vertically smoothed, clouds were filtered out, and the mixed-layer height was determined with an ad hoc treatment of both the filtered and unfiltered profiles. The results are in agreement when compared with values of mixed-layer height reconstructed from, (i) radiosonde data, and (ii) surface and vertical column densities of a trace gas. The daily maxima of the mean mixed-layer height reach values > 3 km above ground level in the months of March-April, and are clearly lower (behaviour, which is characterized together with the mixed-layer-height anomalies. A clear residual layer is evident from the backscattered signals recorded in days with specific atmospheric conditions, but also from the cloud-filtered mean diurnal profiles. The occasional presence of a residual layer results in an overestimation of the reported mixed-layer height during the night and early morning hours.

  12. Cognition- and Dementia-Related Adverse Effects With Sacubitril-Valsartan: Analysis of the FDA Adverse Event Report System Database.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perlman, Amichai; Hirsh Raccah, Bruria; Matok, Ilan; Muszkat, Mordechai

    2018-05-07

    Because neprilysin is involved in the degradation of amyloid-beta, there is concern that the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor sacubitril-valsartan could increase the risk for dementia. We analyzed adverse event cases submitted to the Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Report System from July 2015 to March 2017. Cognition- and dementia-related adverse event cases were defined with the use of broad and narrow structured medical queries. During the period evaluated, 9,004 adverse event reports (out of a total of 2,249,479) involved the use of sacubitril-valsartan. Based on the broad definition, sacubitril-valsartan was associated with cognition- and dementia-related adverse events in 459 reports (5.1%), but this was lower than the proportion of these reports among other medications (6.6%, reporting odds ratio [ROR] 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-0.79). Restricting the comparison to cases with age >60 years and with the use of a comparator group with heart failure resulted in no association between sacubitril-valsartan and dementia-related adverse events, with the use of both the broad and the narrow definitions (ROR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76-1.02, and ROR 1.06, 95% CI 0.4-3.16, respectively). Sacubitril-valsartan is not associated with a disproportionately high rate of short-term dementia-related adverse effect reports. Long-term studies assessing cognitive outcomes are required to better establish the medication's cognition effects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Childhood adversity and midlife suicidal ideation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stansfeld, S A; Clark, C; Smuk, M; Power, C; Davidson, T; Rodgers, B

    2017-01-01

    Childhood adversity predicts adolescent suicidal ideation but there are few studies examining whether the risk of childhood adversity extends to suicidal ideation in midlife. We hypothesized that childhood adversity predicts midlife suicidal ideation and this is partially mediated by adolescent internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders and adult exposure to life events and interpersonal difficulties. At 45 years, 9377 women and men from the UK 1958 British Birth Cohort Study participated in a clinical survey. Childhood adversity was prospectively assessed at the ages of 7, 11 and 16 years. Suicidal ideation at midlife was assessed by the depressive ideas subscale of the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule. Internalizing and externalizing disorders were measured by the Rutter scales at 16 years. Life events, periods of unemployment, partnership separations and alcohol dependence were measured through adulthood. Illness in the household, paternal absence, institutional care, parental divorce and retrospective reports of parental physical and sexual abuse predicted suicidal ideation at 45 years. Three or more childhood adversities were associated with suicidal ideation at 45 years [odds ratio (OR) 4.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.67-6.94]. Psychological distress at 16 years partially mediated the associations of physical abuse (OR 3.41, 95% CI 2.29-5.75), sexual abuse (OR 4.99, 95% CI 2.90-11.16) with suicidal ideation. Adult life events partially mediated the association of parental divorce (OR 6.34, 95% CI -7.16 to 36.75) and physical (OR 9.59, 95% CI 4.97-27.88) and sexual abuse (OR 6.59, 95% CI 2.40-38.36) with suicidal ideation at 45 years. Adversity in childhood predicts suicidal ideation in midlife, partially mediated by adolescent internalizing and externalizing disorders, adult life events and interpersonal difficulties. Understanding the pathways from adversity to suicidal ideation can inform suicide prevention and the targeting of preventive

  14. Linear mixed models for longitudinal data

    CERN Document Server

    Molenberghs, Geert

    2000-01-01

    This paperback edition is a reprint of the 2000 edition. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of linear mixed models for continuous longitudinal data. Next to model formulation, this edition puts major emphasis on exploratory data analysis for all aspects of the model, such as the marginal model, subject-specific profiles, and residual covariance structure. Further, model diagnostics and missing data receive extensive treatment. Sensitivity analysis for incomplete data is given a prominent place. Several variations to the conventional linear mixed model are discussed (a heterogeity model, conditional linear mixed models). This book will be of interest to applied statisticians and biomedical researchers in industry, public health organizations, contract research organizations, and academia. The book is explanatory rather than mathematically rigorous. Most analyses were done with the MIXED procedure of the SAS software package, and many of its features are clearly elucidated. However, some other commerc...

  15. Experiments on scalar mixing and transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warhaft, Z.

    1993-01-01

    The author provides an overview of his recent work on passive (temperature) scalar mixing in both homogeneous and inhomogeneous turbulent flows. He shows that for homogeneous grid generated turbulence, in the presence of a linear temperature profile, the probability density function (pdf) of the temperature fluctuations has broad exponential tails, while the pdf of velocity is Gaussian. However, in the absence of a scalar gradient the pdf of temperature is Gaussian. This new result sheds insight into the fundamentals of turbulent mixing as well as to the nature of the velocity field. It is also shown that the spectrum of the temperature fluctuations has a scaling region that is consistent with Kolmogorov scaling although a similar scaling region is absent for the velocity field in this low Reynolds number flow. Finally, results concerning the mixing and dispersion of scalars in a jet are shown. Although initially the scalar mixing is strongly dependent on input conditions, the mixing is shown to be rapid and the correlation coefficient asymptotes to unity by x/D ∼ 20

  16. Experimental observations of thermal mixing characteristics in T-junction piping

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Mei-Shiue, E-mail: chenms@mx.nthu.edu.tw; Hsieh, Huai-En; Ferng, Yuh-Ming; Pei, Bau-Shi

    2014-09-15

    Highlights: • The effects of flow velocity ratio on thermal mixing phenomenon are the major parameters. • The flow velocity ratio (V{sub b}/V{sub m}) is greater than 13.6, reverse flow occurs. • The flow velocity ratio is greater than 13.7, a “good” mixing quality is achieved. - Abstract: The T-junction piping is frequently used in many industrial applications, including the nuclear plants. For a pressurized water reactor (PWR), the emergency core cooling systems (ECCS) inject cold water into the primary loops if a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) happens. Inappropriate mixing of the two streams with significant temperature different at a junction may cause strong thermal stresses to the downstream structures in the reactor vessel. The downstream structures may be damaged. This study is an experimental investigation into the thermal mixing effect occurring at a T-junction. A small-scale test facility was established to observe the mixing effect of flows with different temperature. Thermal mixing effect with different flow rates in the main and branch pipes are investigated by measuring the temperature distribution along the main pipe. In test condition I, we found that lower main pipe flow rate leads to better mixing effect with constant branch pipe flow rate. And in conditions II and III, higher injection flow velocity would enhance the turbulence effect which results in better thermal mixing. The results will be useful for applications with mixing fluids with different temperature.

  17. Adverse reactions associated with acetylcysteine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandilands, E A; Bateman, D N

    2009-02-01

    Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is one of the most common agents deliberately ingested in self-poisoning episodes and a leading cause of acute liver failure in the western world. Acetylcysteine is widely acknowledged as the antidote of choice for paracetamol poisoning, but its use is not without risk. Adverse reactions, often leading to treatment delay, are frequently associated with both intravenous and oral acetylcysteine and are a common source of concern among treating physicians. A systematic literature review investigating the incidence, clinical features, and mechanisms of adverse effects associated with acetylcysteine. A variety of adverse reactions to acetylcysteine have been described ranging from nausea to death, most of the latter due to incorrect dosing. The pattern of reactions differs with oral and intravenous dosing, but reported frequency is at least as high with oral as intravenous. The reactions to the intravenous preparation result in similar clinical features to true anaphylaxis, including rash, pruritus, angioedema, bronchospasm, and rarely hypotension, but are caused by nonimmunological mechanisms. The precise nature of this reaction remains unclear. Histamine now seems to be an important mediator of the response, and there is evidence of variability in patient susceptibility, with females, and those with a history of asthma or atopy are particularly susceptible. Quantity of paracetamol ingestion, measured through serum paracetamol concentration, is also important as higher paracetamol concentrations protect patients against anaphylactoid effects. Most anaphylactoid reactions occur at the start of acetylcysteine treatment when concentrations are highest. Acetylcysteine also affects clotting factor activity, and this affects the interpretation of minor disturbances in the International Normalized Ratio in the context of paracetamol overdose. This review discusses the incidence, clinical features, underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, and

  18. Multidisciplinary Treatments, Patient Characteristics, Context of Care, and Adverse Incidents in Older, Hospitalized Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leah L. Shever

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine factors that contribute to adverse incidents by creating a model that included patient characteristics, clinical conditions, nursing unit context of care variables, medical treatments, pharmaceutical treatments, and nursing treatments. Data were abstracted from electronic, administrative, and clinical data repositories. The sample included older adults hospitalized during a four-year period at one, academic medical facility in the Midwestern United States who were at risk for falling. Relational databases were built and a multistep, statistical model building analytic process was used. Total registered nurse (RN hours per patient day (HPPD and HPPDs dropping below the nursing unit average were significant explanatory variables for experiencing an adverse incident. The number of medical and pharmaceutical treatments that a patient received during hospitalization as well as many specific nursing treatments (e.g., restraint use, neurological monitoring were also contributors to experiencing an adverse incident.

  19. EDF - 2015 full-year results: all targets reached, Strong operating performance in adverse market conditions, 2018 ambition reiterated

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2016-01-01

    A key player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated electricity company, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. A global leader in low-carbon energies, the Group has developed a diversified generation mix based on nuclear power, hydropower, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 37.6 million customers, of which 27.8 million in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of Euro 75 billion in 2015, of which 47.2% outside of France. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock exchange. EDF achieved all its targets in 2015. The year was marked by strong operational performance, reflecting the significant efforts the teams made. With the end of the regulated Yellow and Green Tariffs, most clients turned to EDF. Nuclear output reached its highest level, since 2011 in France, and since 2005 in the United Kingdom. EDF is also continuing its significant development in renewable energy, with an additional 1 GW of net installed capacity. The transformation of EDF Group is essential in the unfavourable market conditions. EDF has embarked on this transformation, and is accelerating innovation to serve the energy transition

  20. Chaotic mixing by microswimmers moving on quasiperiodic orbits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jalali, Mir Abbas; Khoshnood, Atefeh; Alam, Mohammad-Reza

    2015-11-01

    Life on the Earth is strongly dependent upon mixing across a vast range of scales. For example, mixing distributes nutrients for microorganisms in aquatic environments, and balances the spatial energy distribution in the oceans and the atmosphere. From industrial point of view, mixing is essential in many microfluidic processes and lab-on-a-chip operations, polymer engineering, pharmaceutics, food engineering, petroleum engineering, and biotechnology. Efficient mixing, typically characterized by chaotic advection, is hard to achieve in low Reynolds number conditions because of the linear nature of the Stokes equation that governs the motion. We report the first demonstration of chaotic mixing induced by a microswimmer that strokes on quasiperiodic orbits with multi-loop turning paths. Our findings can be utilized to understand the interactions of microorganisms with their environments, and to design autonomous robotic mixers that can sweep and mix an entire volume of complex-geometry containers.

  1. Improved mixing and sampling systems for vitrification melter feeds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ebadian, M.A.

    1998-01-01

    This report summarizes the methods used and results obtained during the progress of the study of waste slurry mixing and sampling systems during fiscal year 1977 (FY97) at the Hemispheric Center for Environmental Technology (HCET) at Florida International University (FIU). The objective of this work is to determine optimal mixing configurations and operating conditions as well as improved sampling technology for defense waste processing facility (DWPF) waste melter feeds at US Department of Energy (DOE) sites. Most of the research on this project was performed experimentally by using a tank mixing configuration with different rotating impellers. The slurry simulants for the experiments were prepared in-house based on the properties of the DOE sites' typical waste slurries. A sampling system was designed to withdraw slurry from the mixing tank. To obtain insight into the waste mixing process, the slurry flow in the mixing tank was also simulated numerically by applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The major parameters investigated in both the experimental and numerical studies included power consumption of mixer, mixing time to reach slurry uniformity, slurry type, solids concentration, impeller type, impeller size, impeller rotating speed, sampling tube size, and sampling velocities. Application of the results to the DWPF melter feed preparation process will enhance and modify the technical base for designing slurry transportation equipment and pipeline systems. These results will also serve as an important reference for improving waste slurry mixing performance and melter operating conditions. These factors will contribute to an increase in the capability of the vitrification process and the quality of the waste glass

  2. Solution of a Problem Linear Plane Elasticity with Mixed Boundary Conditions by the Method of Boundary Integrals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nahed S. Hussein

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A numerical boundary integral scheme is proposed for the solution to the system of …eld equations of plane. The stresses are prescribed on one-half of the circle, while the displacements are given. The considered problem with mixed boundary conditions in the circle is replaced by two problems with homogeneous boundary conditions, one of each type, having a common solution. The equations are reduced to a system of boundary integral equations, which is then discretized in the usual way, and the problem at this stage is reduced to the solution to a rectangular linear system of algebraic equations. The unknowns in this system of equations are the boundary values of four harmonic functions which define the full elastic solution and the unknown boundary values of stresses or displacements on proper parts of the boundary. On the basis of the obtained results, it is inferred that a stress component has a singularity at each of the two separation points, thought to be of logarithmic type. The results are discussed and boundary plots are given. We have also calculated the unknown functions in the bulk directly from the given boundary conditions using the boundary collocation method. The obtained results in the bulk are discussed and three-dimensional plots are given. A tentative form for the singular solution is proposed and the corresponding singular stresses and displacements are plotted in the bulk. The form of the singular tangential stress is seen to be compatible with the boundary values obtained earlier. The efficiency of the used numerical schemes is discussed.

  3. Global Attractivity Results for Mixed-Monotone Mappings in Partially Ordered Complete Metric Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kalabušić S

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We prove fixed point theorems for mixed-monotone mappings in partially ordered complete metric spaces which satisfy a weaker contraction condition than the classical Banach contraction condition for all points that are related by given ordering. We also give a global attractivity result for all solutions of the difference equation , where satisfies mixed-monotone conditions with respect to the given ordering.

  4. Viscoelastic behaviour of cold recycled asphalt mixes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cizkova, Zuzana; Suda, Jan

    2017-09-01

    Behaviour of cold recycled mixes depends strongly on both the bituminous binder content (bituminous emulsion or foamed bitumen) and the hydraulic binder content (usually cement). In the case of cold recycled mixes rich in bitumen and with low hydraulic binder content, behaviour is close to the viscoelastic behaviour of traditional hot mix asphalt. With decreasing bituminous binder content together with increasing hydraulic binder content, mixes are characteristic with brittle behaviour, typical for concrete pavements or hydraulically bound layers. The behaviour of cold recycled mixes with low content of both types of binders is similar to behaviour of unbound materials. This paper is dedicated to analysing of the viscoelastic behaviour of the cold recycled mixes. Therefore, the tested mixes contained higher amount of the bituminous binder (both foamed bitumen and bituminous emulsion). The best way to characterize any viscoelastic material in a wide range of temperatures and frequencies is through the master curves. This paper includes interesting findings concerning the dependency of both parts of the complex modulus (elastic and viscous) on the testing frequency (which simulates the speed of heavy traffic passing) and on the testing temperature (which simulates the changing climate conditions a real pavement is subjected to).

  5. Primary Issues of Mixed Convection Heat Transfer Phenomena

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chae, Myeong-Seon; Chung, Bum-Jin [Kyung Hee University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    The computer code analyzing the system operating and transient behavior must distinguish flow conditions involved with convective heat transfer flow regimes. And the proper correlations must be supplied to those flow regimes. However the existing safety analysis codes are focused on the Light Water Reactor and they are skeptical to be applied to the GCRs (Gas Cooled Reactors). One of the technical issues raise by the development of the VHTR is the mixed convection, which occur when the driving forces of both forced and natural convection are of comparable magnitudes. It can be encountered as in channel of the stacked with fuel elements and a decay heat removal system and in VHTR. The mixed convection is not intermediate phenomena with natural convection and forced convection but independent complicated phenomena. Therefore, many researchers have been studied and some primary issues were propounded for phenomena mixed convection. This paper is to discuss some problems identified through reviewing the papers for mixed convection phenomena. And primary issues of mixed convection heat transfer were proposed respect to thermal hydraulic problems for VHTR. The VHTR thermal hydraulic study requires an indepth study of the mixed convection phenomena. In this study we reviewed the classical flow regime map of Metais and Eckert and derived further issues to be considered. The following issues were raised: (1) Buoyancy aided an opposed flows were not differentiated and plotted in a map. (2) Experimental results for UWT and UHF condition were also plotted in the same map without differentiation. (3) The buoyancy coefficient was not generalized for correlating with buoyancy coefficient. (4) The phenomenon analysis for laminarization and returbulization as buoyancy effects in turbulent mixed convection was not established. (5) The defining to transition in mixed convection regime was difficult.

  6. Kinetic Mixing of U(1)s in Heterotic Orbifolds

    CERN Document Server

    Goodsell, Mark; Ringwald, Andreas

    2012-01-01

    We study kinetic mixing between massless U(1) gauge symmetries in the bosonic formulation of heterotic orbifold compactifications. For non-prime Z_N factorisable orbifolds, we find a simple expression of the mixing in terms of the properties of the N=2 subsectors, which helps understand under what conditions mixing can occur. With this tool, we analyse Z_6-II heterotic orbifolds and find non-vanishing mixing even without including Wilson lines. We show that some semi-realistic models of the Mini-Landscape admit supersymmetric vacua with mixing between the hypercharge and an additional U(1), which can be broken at low energies. We finally discuss some phenomenologically appealing possibilities that hidden photons in heterotic orbifolds allow.

  7. Convective mixing in helium white dwarfs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vauclair, G.; Fontaine, G.

    1979-01-01

    The conditions under which convective mixing episodes take place between the helium envelopes and the underlying carbon layers in helium-rich white dwarfs are investigated. It is found that, for essentially any value of the initial helium content less than the maximum mass a helium convection zone can have, mixing does occur, and leads, in the vast majority of cases, to an almost pure carbon superficial composition. Mixing products that show only traces of carbon while retaining helium-dominated envelopes are possible only if the initial helium content is quite close to the maximum possible mass of the helium convection zone. In the presence of turbulence, this restriction could be relaxed, however, and the helium-rich lambda4670 stars may possibly be explained in this fashion

  8. Oral adverse events to radiotherapy in geriatric patients with head and neck cancer. INOR. 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garcia Heredia, Gilda L.; Miranda Tarrago, Josefa; Lence Anta, Juan; Chong Chu, Ivon

    2009-01-01

    For every million people newly diagnosed with cancer, up to 400,000 may have oral complications. The trend toward increasing age of the population and the need to keep patients in good oral health requires prior dental care in patients with cancer who are subjected to various treatments onco specific. We tried to show adverse reactions early and late treatment related radiation the existing oral health status in patients with head and neck cancer. We performed a prospective study of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer treated with radiation in the period from January to December 2008, at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology. 100 patients were examined. Adverse events were collected and their intensity, classified according to CTC version 3.1. 70 patients were initially evaluated as being deficient in the oral health status. Xerostomia and mucositis immediate adverse events were more frequent and intense, while the caries postradiation and consequential events were delayed with greater frequency. We found an association between oral health status and the occurrence of adverse events, which resulted in treatment interruptions. The persistent oral conditions determine the duration and intensity of adverse events mouth of Radiotherapy, which leads to treatment interruptions, with implications for therapeutic results. (Author)

  9. Cinnamon: A systematic review of adverse events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajimonfarednejad, Mahdie; Ostovar, Mohadeseh; Raee, Mohammad Javad; Hashempur, Mohammad Hashem; Mayer, Johannes Gottfried; Heydari, Mojtaba

    2018-04-05

    Cinnamon, from the genus Cinnamomum and Lauraceae family, has been used as a popular spice for thousands of years around the world. Many studies have shown therapeutic effects of cinnamon including its antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, antioxidant, antitumor, antihypertensive, antilipemic, antidiabetic, gastroprotective, and immunomodulatory effects. Due to popular use of cinnamon and several human reports on adverse events associated with short or long term use of cinnamon, we aimed to systematically review its human reports of adverse event. Databases including Medline, Scopus, Science Direct, Embase, PubMed Central and Google scholar were searched using the key words "cinnamon" or "cinnamomum" for clinical trials, case reports and case series. Also spontaneous reports about adverse effects of cinnamon were collected from five national and international spontaneous reporting schemes. Thirty eight clinical trials were found, five of them reported adverse events. Twenty case reports and seven case series, as well as, spontaneous reports including 160 adverse events were also included. The most frequent adverse events were gastrointestinal disorders and allergic reactions which were self-limiting in the majority of cases. The available data suggests that despite the safety of cinnamon use as a spice and/or flavoring agent, its use may be associated with significant adverse effects in medicinal uses with larger doses or longer duration of use and should be clinically monitored. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

  10. Infant titi monkey behavior in the open field test and the effect of early adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larke, Rebecca H; Toubiana, Alice; Lindsay, Katrina A; Mendoza, Sally P; Bales, Karen L

    2017-09-01

    The open field test is commonly used to measure anxiety-related behavior and exploration in rodents. Here, we used it as a standardized novel environment in which to evaluate the behavioral response of infant titi monkeys (Callicebus cupreus), to determine the effect of presence of individual family members, and to assess how adverse early experience alters infant behavior. Infants were tested in the open field for 5 days at ages 4 and 6 months in four successive 5 min trials on each day. A transport cage, which was situated on one side of the open field, was either empty (non-social control) or contained the father, mother, or sibling. Infant locomotor, vocalization, and exploratory behavior were quantified. Results indicated that age, sex, social condition, and early experience all had significant effects on infant behavior. Specifically, infants were generally more exploratory at 6 months and male infants were more exploratory than females. Infants distinguished between social and non-social conditions but made few behavioral distinctions between the attachment figure and other individuals. Infants which had adverse early life experience demonstrated greater emotional and physical independence, suggesting that early adversity led to resiliency in the novel environment. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. The Relationship Between Aerobic Activity Health Conditions and Medical Visits Among Men and Women Serving Aboard Navy Ships

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Hughes, Linda

    2002-01-01

    .... Contingency tables were computed for amount of self-reported aerobic activity and prevalence rate of adverse health conditions, number of adverse health conditions, number of medical visits, and gender...

  12. Dynamics of biofilm formation by Listeria monocytogenes on stainless steel under mono-species and mixed-culture simulated fish processing conditions and chemical disinfection challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papaioannou, Eleni; Giaouris, Efstathios D; Berillis, Panagiotis; Boziaris, Ioannis S

    2018-02-21

    The progressive ability of a six-strains L. monocytogenes cocktail to form biofilm on stainless steel (SS), under fish-processing simulated conditions, was investigated, together with the biocide tolerance of the developed sessile communities. To do this, the pathogenic bacteria were left to form biofilms on SS coupons incubated at 15°C, for up to 240h, in periodically renewable model fish juice substrate, prepared by aquatic extraction of sea bream flesh, under both mono-species and mixed-culture conditions. In the latter case, L. monocytogenes cells were left to produce biofilms together with either a five-strains cocktail of four Pseudomonas species (fragi, savastanoi, putida and fluorescens), or whole fish indigenous microflora. The biofilm populations of L. monocytogenes, Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacteriaceae, H 2 S producing and aerobic plate count (APC) bacteria, both before and after disinfection, were enumerated by selective agar plating, following their removal from surfaces through bead vortexing. Scanning electron microscopy was also applied to monitor biofilm formation dynamics and anti-biofilm biocidal actions. Results revealed the clear dominance of Pseudomonas spp. bacteria in all the mixed-culture sessile communities throughout the whole incubation period, with the in parallel sole presence of L. monocytogenes cells to further increase (ca. 10-fold) their sessile growth. With respect to L. monocytogenes and under mono-species conditions, its maximum biofilm population (ca. 6logCFU/cm 2 ) was reached at 192h of incubation, whereas when solely Pseudomonas spp. cells were also present, its biofilm formation was either slightly hindered or favored, depending on the incubation day. However, when all the fish indigenous microflora was present, biofilm formation by the pathogen was greatly hampered and never exceeded 3logCFU/cm 2 , while under the same conditions, APC biofilm counts had already surpassed 7logCFU/cm 2 by the end of the first 96h of

  13. Neighborhood Conditions and Psychosocial Outcomes Among Middle-Aged African Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tabet, Maya; Sanders, Erin A; Schootman, Mario; Chang, Jen Jen; Wolinsky, Fredric D; Malmstrom, Theodore K; Miller, Douglas K

    2017-04-01

    We examined associations between observed neighborhood conditions (good/adverse) and psychosocial outcomes (stress, depressive symptoms, resilience, and sense of control) among middle-aged and older African Americans. The sample included 455 middle-aged and older African Americans examined in Wave 10 of the African American Health (AAH) study. Linear regression was adjusted for attrition, self-selection into neighborhoods, and potential confounders, and stratified by the duration at current address (stress (standardized β = -0.18; P = .002) and depressive symptoms (standardized β = -0.12; P = .048). Among those who lived at their current address for stress (standardized β = 0.18; P = .305) or depressive symptoms (standardized β = 0.36; P = .080). Neighborhood conditions appear to have significant, complex associations with psychosocial factors among middle-aged and older African Americans. This holds important policy implications, especially since adverse neighborhood conditions may still result in adverse physical health outcomes in individuals with >5 years at current residence despite being associated with better psychosocial outcomes.

  14. Rutting based evaluation of asphalt mixes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khan, K.M.

    2012-01-01

    Pavement rutting is one of the most common and destructive pavement distresses being observed in flexible pavements, which is primarily due to a-x-le loads that exceed legal limit and high ambient temperatures, and also poor mix design is one of the cause of rutting. The drastic increase in traffic volume during last few decades has resulted in premature pavement fillers of almost the whole road structure in Pakistan. In this scenario it is the time to investigate this problem and propose appropriate solution. Physical properties of aggregates and bitumen were evaluated in the laboratory. Mechanical Properties of three mixes. i.e., Marshall, Super pave and Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) were evaluated by performing creep test. indirect tensile test and dynamic modulus in order to compare the performance of mixes under prevailing load and environmental conditions of Pakistan. The study revealed that Super pave mixes performed better than Marshall and SMA. (author)

  15. Role of childhood adversity in the development of medical co-morbidities associated with bipolar disorder

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Post, Robert M.; Altshuler, Lori L.; Leverich, Gabriele S.; Frye, Mark A.; Suppes, Trisha; McElroy, Susan L.; Keck, Paul E.; Nolen, Willem A.; Kupka, Ralph W.; Grunze, Heinz; Rowe, Mike

    Objective: A role for childhood adversity in the development of numerous medical conditions in adults has been described in the general population, but has not been examined in patients with bipolar disorder who have multiple medical comorbidities which contribute to their premature mortality.

  16. Numerical investigation of solid mixing in a fluidized bed coating process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenche, Venkatakrishna; Feng, Yuqing; Ying, Danyang; Solnordal, Chris; Lim, Seng; Witt, Peter J.

    2013-06-01

    Fluidized beds are widely used in many process industries including the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Despite being an intensive research area, there are no design rules or correlations that can be used to quantitatively predict the solid mixing in a specific system for a given set of operating conditions. This paper presents a numerical study of the gas and solid dynamics in a laboratory scale fluidized bed coating process used for food and pharmaceutical industries. An Eulerian-Eulerian model (EEM) with kinetic theory of granular flow is selected as the modeling technique, with the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package ANSYS/Fluent being the numerical platform. The flow structure is investigated in terms of the spatial distribution of gas and solid flow. The solid mixing has been evaluated under different operating conditions. It was found that the solid mixing rate in the horizontal direction is similar to that in the vertical direction under the current design and operating conditions. It takes about 5 s to achieve good mixing.

  17. Unsteady single-phase natural circulation flow mixing prediction using CATHARE three-dimensional capabilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salah, Anis Bousbia; Vlassenbroeck, Jacques [Bel V - Subsidiary of the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Contro, Brussels (Belize)

    2017-04-15

    Coolant mixing under natural circulation flow regime constitutes a key parameter that may play a role in the course of an accidental transient in a nuclear pressurized water reactor. This issue has motivated some experimental investigations carried out within the OECD/NEA PKL projects. The aim was to assess the coolant mixing phenomenon in the reactor pressure vessel downcomer and the core lower plenum under several asymmetric steady and unsteady flow conditions, and to provide experimental data for code validations. Former studies addressed the mixing phenomenon using, on the one hand, one-dimensional computational approaches with cross flows that are not fully validated under transient conditions and, on the other hand, expensive computational fluid dynamic tools that are not always justified for large-scale macroscopic phenomena. In the current framework, an unsteady coolant mixing experiment carried out in the Rossendorf coolant mixing test facility is simulated using the three-dimensional porous media capabilities of the thermal–hydraulic system CATHARE code. The current study allows highlighting the current capabilities of these codes and their suitability for reproducing the main phenomena occurring during asymmetric transient natural circulation mixing conditions.

  18. Formation of coherent structures in 3D laminar mixing flows

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Speetjens, M.F.M.; Clercx, H.J.H.

    2009-01-01

    Mixing under laminar flow conditions is key to a wide variety of industrial systems of size extending from microns to meters. Examples range from the traditional (and still very relevant) mixing of viscous fluids via compact processing equipment down to emerging micro-fluidics applications. Profound

  19. Rapid Learning of Adverse Medical Event Disclosure and Apology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raemer, Daniel B; Locke, Steven; Walzer, Toni Beth; Gardner, Roxane; Baer, Lee; Simon, Robert

    2016-09-01

    Despite published recommended best practices for full disclosure and apology to patients and families after adverse medical events, actual practice can be inadequate. The use of "cognitive aids" to help practitioners manage complex critical events has been successful in a variety of fields and healthcare. We wished to extend this concept to disclosure and apology events. The aim of this study was to test if a brief opportunity to review a best practice guideline for disclosure and apology would improve communication performance. Thirty pairs of experienced obstetricians and labor nurses participated in a 3-part exercise with mixed-realism simulation. The first part used a standardized actor patient to meet the obstetrical team. The second part used a high-fidelity simulation leading to an adverse medical event (retained sponge), and the third part used standardized actors, patient, and husband, who systematically move through stages of grief response. The participants were randomized into 2 groups, one was provided with a cognitive aid in the form of a best practice guideline for disclosure and apology and the other was only given time to plan. Four blinded raters working in pairs scored subjects on a 7-point scale using a previously developed assessment instrument modified for this study. Pooled ratings of the disclosure and apology discussion for the intervention group (n = 167, mean = 4.9, SD = 0.92) were higher than those from the control group (n = 167, mean = 4.3, SD = 1.21) (P apology conversation after reviewing a cognitive aid in the form of a best practice guideline than a control group that was only given time to prepare.

  20. Non-hemorrhage-related adverse effects of rivaroxaban

    OpenAIRE

    Christopoulou, Eliza C.; Filippatos, Theodosios D.; Elisaf, Moses S.

    2017-01-01

    The direct oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban is useful in various indications that include venous deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis/treatment after knee/hip replacement surgery and prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Its mechanism of action has been mostly associated with hemorrhage-related adverse effects; thus a number of non-hemorrhage-related adverse effects of the drug have received less attention or go unrecognized. These adverse effects mainly include li...

  1. 16 CFR 901.7 - Adverse determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 16 Commercial Practices 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Adverse determination. 901.7 Section 901.7... APPLICATION FOR EXEMPTION FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT § 901.7 Adverse determination. (a) If, after... of the information before it that it cannot make a favorable determination in connection with the...

  2. Flow Control Device Evaluation for an Internal Flow with an Adverse Pressure Gradient

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Luther N.; Gorton, Susan Althoff; Anders, Scott G.

    2002-01-01

    The effectiveness of several active and passive devices to control flow in an adverse pressure gradient with secondary flows present was evaluated in the 15 Inch Low Speed Tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. In this study, passive micro vortex generators, micro bumps, and piezoelectric synthetic jets were evaluated for their flow control characteristics using surface static pressures, flow visualization, and 3D Stereo Digital Particle Image Velocimetry. Data also were acquired for synthetic jet actuators in a zero flow environment. It was found that the micro vortex generator is very effective in controlling the flow environment for an adverse pressure gradient, even in the presence of secondary vortical flow. The mechanism by which the control is effected is a re-energization of the boundary layer through flow mixing. The piezoelectric synthetic jet actuators must have sufficient velocity output to produce strong longitudinal vortices if they are to be effective for flow control. The output of these devices in a laboratory or zero flow environment will be different than the output in a flow environment. In this investigation, the output was higher in the flow environment, but the stroke cycle in the flow did not indicate a positive inflow into the synthetic jet.

  3. Text-in-context: a method for extracting findings in mixed-methods mixed research synthesis studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandelowski, Margarete; Leeman, Jennifer; Knafl, Kathleen; Crandell, Jamie L

    2013-06-01

    Our purpose in this paper is to propose a new method for extracting findings from research reports included in mixed-methods mixed research synthesis studies. International initiatives in the domains of systematic review and evidence synthesis have been focused on broadening the conceptualization of evidence, increased methodological inclusiveness and the production of evidence syntheses that will be accessible to and usable by a wider range of consumers. Initiatives in the general mixed-methods research field have been focused on developing truly integrative approaches to data analysis and interpretation. The data extraction challenges described here were encountered, and the method proposed for addressing these challenges was developed, in the first year of the ongoing (2011-2016) study: Mixed-Methods Synthesis of Research on Childhood Chronic Conditions and Family. To preserve the text-in-context of findings in research reports, we describe a method whereby findings are transformed into portable statements that anchor results to relevant information about sample, source of information, time, comparative reference point, magnitude and significance and study-specific conceptions of phenomena. The data extraction method featured here was developed specifically to accommodate mixed-methods mixed research synthesis studies conducted in nursing and other health sciences, but reviewers might find it useful in other kinds of research synthesis studies. This data extraction method itself constitutes a type of integration to preserve the methodological context of findings when statements are read individually and in comparison to each other. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  4. Mitigating Aviation Communication and Satellite Orbit Operations Surprises from Adverse Space Weather

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobiska, W. Kent

    2008-01-01

    Adverse space weather affects operational activities in aviation and satellite systems. For example, large solar flares create highly variable enhanced neutral atmosphere and ionosphere electron density regions. These regions impact aviation communication frequencies as well as precision orbit determination. The natural space environment, with its dynamic space weather variability, is additionally changed by human activity. The increase in orbital debris in low Earth orbit (LEO), combined with lower atmosphere CO2 that rises into the lower thermosphere and causes increased cooling that results in increased debris lifetime, adds to the environmental hazards of navigating in near-Earth space. This is at a time when commercial space endeavors are posed to begin more missions to LEO during the rise of the solar activity cycle toward the next maximum (2012). For satellite and aviation operators, adverse space weather results in greater expenses for orbit management, more communication outages or aviation and ground-based high frequency radio used, and an inability to effectively plan missions or service customers with space-based communication, imagery, and data transferal during time-critical activities. Examples of some revenue-impacting conditions and solutions for mitigating adverse space weather are offered.

  5. Modeling of mixing in stirred bioreactors 4. mixing time for aerated bacteria, yeasts and fungus broths

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cascaval Dan

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The mixing time for bioreactors depends mainly on the rheoiogicai properties of the broths, the biomass concentration and morphology, mixing system characteristics and fermentation conditions. For quantifying the influence of these factors on the mixing efficiency for stirred bioreactors, aerated broths of bacteria (P. shermanii, yeasts (S. cerevisiae and fungi (P. chrysogenum, free mycelia and mycelial aggregates of different concentrations have been investigated using a laboratory bioreactor with a double turbine impeller. The experimental data indicated that the influence of the rotation speed, aeration rate and stirrer positions on the mixing intensity strongly differ from one system to another and must be correlated with the microorganism characteristics, namely: the biomass concentration and morphology. Moreover, compared with non-aerated broths, variations of the mixing time with the considered parameters are very different, due to the complex flow mechanism of gas-liquid dispersions. By means of the experimental data and using a multiregression analysis method some mathematical correlations for the mixing time of the general form: tm = a1*Cx2+a2*Cx+a3*IgVa+a4-N2+a5-N+a6/a7*L2+a8*L+a9 were established. The proposed equations offer good agreement with the experiments, the average deviation being ±6.7% - ±9.4 and are adequate for the flow regime Re < 25,000.

  6. Thermal and strength performance of reinforced self-compacting concrete slabs mixed with basalt and PVA fibers in high intensity fire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohd Jani Noraniza

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Fibers addition to concrete and the innovation of self-compacting concrete technology lead to the development of high-performance concrete. However, high intensity fire may adversely affect the performance of this type of concrete. A series of fire resistance test experiments to evaluate the performance of fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (FR-SCC slabs consisting of various mix of basalt and PVA fibers were carried out by subjecting the concrete slabs as an element of construction to high intensity Hydrocarbon fire heating condition. The fire testing condition was in accordance with the standard time-temperature fire curve for 120 minutes up to 1100°C heating temperature. The temperatures on the surface and within the concrete slabs were recorded and the performance of each type of FRSCC slabs were evaluated. The performance of Basalt FR-SCC was found to be more resistant to fire in comparison to PVA FRSCC. There residual compressive strength of core samples were tested and SEM analysis were carried out to determine the effect of high intensity fire on the basalt and PVA FR-SCC slabs.

  7. Tank 241-AZ-101 criticality assessment resulting from pump jet mixing: Sludge mixing simulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Onishi, Y.; Recknagle, K.

    1997-04-01

    Tank 241-AZ-101 (AZ-101) is one of 28 double-shell tanks located in the AZ farm in the Hanford Site`s 200 East Area. The tank contains a significant quantity of fissile materials, including an estimated 9.782 kg of plutonium. Before beginning jet pump mixing for mitigative purposes, the operations must be evaluated to demonstrate that they will be subcritical under both normal and credible abnormal conditions. The main objective of this study was to address a concern about whether two 300-hp pumps with four rotating 18.3-m/s (60-ft/s) jets can concentrate plutonium in their pump housings during mixer pump operation and cause a criticality. The three-dimensional simulation was performed with the time-varying TEMPEST code to determine how much the pump jet mixing of Tank AZ-101 will concentrate plutonium in the pump housing. The AZ-101 model predicted that the total amount of plutonium within the pump housing peaks at 75 g at 10 simulation seconds and decreases to less than 10 g at four minutes. The plutonium concentration in the entire pump housing peaks at 0.60 g/L at 10 simulation seconds and is reduced to below 0.1 g/L after four minutes. Since the minimum critical concentration of plutonium is 2.6 g/L, and the minimum critical plutonium mass under idealized plutonium-water conditions is 520 g, these predicted maximums in the pump housing are much lower than the minimum plutonium conditions needed to reach a criticality level. The initial plutonium maximum of 1.88 g/L still results in safety factor of 4.3 in the pump housing during the pump jet mixing operation.

  8. Tank 241-AZ-101 criticality assessment resulting from pump jet mixing: Sludge mixing simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Onishi, Y.; Recknagle, K.

    1997-04-01

    Tank 241-AZ-101 (AZ-101) is one of 28 double-shell tanks located in the AZ farm in the Hanford Site's 200 East Area. The tank contains a significant quantity of fissile materials, including an estimated 9.782 kg of plutonium. Before beginning jet pump mixing for mitigative purposes, the operations must be evaluated to demonstrate that they will be subcritical under both normal and credible abnormal conditions. The main objective of this study was to address a concern about whether two 300-hp pumps with four rotating 18.3-m/s (60-ft/s) jets can concentrate plutonium in their pump housings during mixer pump operation and cause a criticality. The three-dimensional simulation was performed with the time-varying TEMPEST code to determine how much the pump jet mixing of Tank AZ-101 will concentrate plutonium in the pump housing. The AZ-101 model predicted that the total amount of plutonium within the pump housing peaks at 75 g at 10 simulation seconds and decreases to less than 10 g at four minutes. The plutonium concentration in the entire pump housing peaks at 0.60 g/L at 10 simulation seconds and is reduced to below 0.1 g/L after four minutes. Since the minimum critical concentration of plutonium is 2.6 g/L, and the minimum critical plutonium mass under idealized plutonium-water conditions is 520 g, these predicted maximums in the pump housing are much lower than the minimum plutonium conditions needed to reach a criticality level. The initial plutonium maximum of 1.88 g/L still results in safety factor of 4.3 in the pump housing during the pump jet mixing operation

  9. Kinetic mixing of U(1)s in heterotic orbifolds

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goodsell, Mark [European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland); Ramos-Sanchez, Saul [UNAM, Mexico (Mexico). Dept. of Theoretical Physics; Ringwald, Andreas [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany)

    2011-10-15

    We study kinetic mixing between massless U(1) gauge symmetries in the bosonic formulation of heterotic orbifold compactifications. For non-prime Z{sub N} factorisable orbifolds, we find a simple expression of the mixing in terms of the properties of the N=2 subsectors, which helps understand under what conditions mixing can occur. With this tool, we analyse Z{sub 6}-II heterotic orbifolds and find non-vanishing mixing even without including Wilson lines. We show that some semi-realistic models of the Mini-Landscape admit supersymmetric vacua with mixing between the hypercharge and an additional U(1), which can be broken at low energies. We finally discuss some phenomenologically appealing possibilities that hidden photons in heterotic orbifolds allow. (orig.)

  10. Effect of shock interactions on mixing layer between co-flowing supersonic flows in a confined duct

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, S. M. V.; Asano, S.; Imani, I.; Saito, T.

    2018-03-01

    Experiments are conducted to observe the effect of shock interactions on a mixing layer generated between two supersonic streams of Mach number M _{1} = 1.76 and M _{2} = 1.36 in a confined duct. The development of this mixing layer within the duct is observed using high-speed schlieren and static pressure measurements. Two-dimensional, compressible Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved using the k-ω SST turbulence model in Fluent. Further, adverse pressure gradients are imposed by placing inserts of small ( boundary layer thickness) thickness on the walls of the test section. The unmatched pressures cause the mixing layer to bend and lead to the formation of shock structures that interact with the mixing layer. The mixing layer growth rate is found to increase after the shock interaction (nearly doubles). The strongest shock is observed when a wedge insert is placed in the M _{2} flow. This shock interacts with the mixing layer exciting flow modes that produce sinusoidal flapping structures which enhance the mixing layer growth rate to the maximum (by 1.75 times). Shock fluctuations are characterized, and it is observed that the maximum amplitude occurs when a wedge insert is placed in the M _{2} flow.

  11. Endocrine active agents: implications of adverse and non-adverse changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foster, Paul M D; McIntyre, Barry S

    2002-01-01

    The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently in the process of developing screening and testing methodologies for the assessment of agents that may possess endocrine-like activity--the so-called endocrine disruptors. Moreover, the EPA has signaled its intention of placing information arising from such studies on the worldwide web. This has created significant interest in how such information may be used in risk assessment and by policymakers and the public in the potential regulation or deselection of specific chemical agents. The construction of lists of endocrine disruptors, although fulfilling the requirements of some parties, is really of little use when the nature of the response, the dose level employed, and the lifestage of the test species used are not given. Thus, we have already seen positive in vitro information available on the interaction with a receptor being used as a key indicator when the results of large, high quality in vivo studies showing no adverse changes have been ignored. Clearly a number of in vitro systems are available to ascertain chemical interaction with specific (mainly steroid) hormone receptors including a number of reporter gene assays. These assays only provide indicators of potential problems and should not be, in isolation, indicators of toxicity. Likewise, short-term in vivo screens such as the uterotrophic and Hershberger studies are frequently conducted in castrated animals and thus indicate the potential for a pharmacological response in vivo rather than an adverse effect. A number of new end points have been added to standard rodent testing protocols in the belief of providing more sensitivity to detect endocrine related changes. These include the measurement of anogenital distance (AGD), developmental landmarks [vaginal opening (VO), preputial separation (PPS)], and in some studies the counting of nipples and areolae on males. AGD, VO, and PPS are all affected by the size of the pup in which they are measured

  12. Adversity and Resilience: A Synthesis of International Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noltemeyer, Amity L.; Bush, Kevin R.

    2013-01-01

    Children and adolescents worldwide experience a variety of adversities that have the potential to disrupt typical development. However, some of these individuals exhibit resilience, evidencing normal development in the face of adversity. Here we review research on these constructs of risk, adversity, and resilience; synthesize international…

  13. 15 CFR 971.602 - Significant adverse environmental effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... Environmental Effects § 971.602 Significant adverse environmental effects. (a) Determination of significant adverse environmental effects. The Administrator will determine the potential for or the occurrence of any significant adverse environmental effect or impact (for the purposes of sections 103(a)(2)(D), 105(a)(4), 106...

  14. Turbulent mixing in three-dimensional droplet arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zoby, M.R.G.; Navarro-Martinez, S.; Kronenburg, A.; Marquis, A.J.

    2011-01-01

    The atomisation, evaporation and subsequent mixing of fuel from a liquid spray determines the effectiveness of the combustion processes in gas turbines and internal combustion engines. In the present paper, three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) of the evaporation of methanol droplets in hot environments are presented. The gas phase mixing is assessed by examining the scalar dissipation and the mixture fraction probability density function (PDF). Novel multi-conditional models are proposed that use mixture fraction and structural parameters as the conditioning variables for the scalar dissipation which is found to be well predicted in terms of magnitude and distribution. The β-PDF description of the mixture fraction seems to capture well the global behaviour for a laminar environment and for time-averaged results in turbulent cases. A novel model for the mixture fraction PDF is also proposed based on the multi-conditional model for scalar dissipation and an accurate representation of the PDF is achieved.

  15. Adverse events associated with pediatric exposures to dextromethorphan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Ian M; Reynolds, Kate M; Kauffman, Ralph E; Banner, William; Bond, G Randall; Palmer, Robert B; Burnham, Randy I; Green, Jody L

    2017-01-01

    Dextromethorphan is the most common over-the-counter (OTC) antitussive medication. We sought to characterize adverse events associated with dextromethorphan in children dextromethorphan with ≥1 adverse event from multiple U.S. sources (National Poison Data System, FDA Adverse Event Reporting System, manufacturer safety reports, news/media, medical literature) reported between 2008 and 2014. An expert panel determined the relationship between exposure and adverse events, estimated dose ingested, intent of exposure, and identified contributing factors to exposure. 1716 cases contained ≥1 adverse event deemed at least potentially related to dextromethorphan; 1417 were single product exposures. 773/1417 (55%) involved only one single-ingredient dextromethorphan product (dextromethorphan-only). Among dextromethorphan-only cases, 3% followed ingestion of a therapeutic dose; 78% followed an overdose. 69% involved unsupervised self-administration and 60% occurred in children dextromethorphan-only ingestion. Adverse events were predominantly associated with overdose, most commonly affecting the central nervous and autonomic systems.

  16. Snowmelt Timing as a Determinant of Lake Inflow Mixing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, D. C.; Forrest, A. L.; Sahoo, G. B.; Hook, S. J.; Schladow, S. G.

    2018-02-01

    Snowmelt is a significant source of carbon, nutrient, and sediment loads to many mountain lakes. The mixing conditions of snowmelt inflows, which are heavily dependent on the interplay between snowmelt and lake thermal regime, dictate the fate of these loads within lakes and their ultimate impact on lake ecosystems. We use five decades of data from Lake Tahoe, a 600 year residence-time lake where snowmelt has little influence on lake temperature, to characterize the snowmelt mixing response to a range of climate conditions. Using stream discharge and lake profile data (1968-2017), we find that the proportion of annual snowmelt entering the lake prior to the onset of stratification increases as annual snowpack decreases, ranging from about 50% in heavy-snow years to close to 90% in warm, dry years. Accordingly, in 8 recent years (2010-2017) where hourly inflow buoyancy and discharge could be quantified, we find that decreased snowpack similarly increases the proportion of annual snowmelt entering the lake at weak to positive buoyancy. These responses are due to the stronger effect of winter precipitation conditions on streamflow timing and temperature than on lake stratification, and point toward increased nearshore and near-surface mixing of inflows in low-snowpack years. The response of inflow mixing conditions to snowpack is apparent when isolating temperature effects on snowpack. Snowpack levels are decreasing due to warming temperatures during winter precipitation. Thus, our findings suggest that climate change may lead to increased deposition of inflow loads in the ecologically dynamic littoral zone of high-residence time, snowmelt-fed lakes.

  17. Fluid Sampling under Adverse Conditions Echantillonnage des fluides en conditions difficiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Williams J. M.

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Valid samples are essential to the proper description of reservoir fluids; if the samples are not representative, all measurements on them will be invalid. This paper discusses the principal challenges facing fluid sampling including gas condensate reservoirs, compositional gradients, water content of hydrocarbon fluids, asphaltene deposition, wax formation, oil base mud contamination, and reactive components. It also reports the major technological advances recently made in this field. It reviews developments in sampling techniques such as MDT-type tools, new DST sampling tools, coiled tubing sampling, and isokinetic techniques, and it highlights common limitations. The value of making proper use of existing technology is emphasized, both with traditional techniques and new developments, with reference to correct well conditioning, interpretation of field data, and especially to optimum handling of samples. The paper emphasizes the need for better exchange of sampling knowledge between organizations, and highlights the lack of up-to-date industry standards with respect to fluid sampling. A solution is proposed in the form of a joint industry project to identify and document best practices. Des échantillons valables sont essentiels pour bien caractériser les fluides de gisements. Si les échantillons ne sont pas représentatifs, toutes les mesures ultérieures seront entachées d'erreurs. Cet article discute les principaux défis en matière d'échantillonnage, en particulier les réservoirs de gaz à condensats, les gradients compositionnels, la teneur en eau des fluides hydrocarbonés, les dépôts d'asphaltènes, les dépôts de paraffines, la contamination par les boues à base d'huile, et les constituants réactifs. Il relate également les principaux progrès technologiques récemment réalisés dans ce domaine et passe en revue les développements des techniques d'échantillonnage telles que les outils de type MDT, les nouveaux outils d

  18. Ketamine for Pain Management-Side Effects & Potential Adverse Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Cheryl A; Ivester, Julius R

    2017-12-01

    An old anesthetic agent, ketamine is finding new use in lower doses for analgesic purposes. There are concerns stemming from its potential side effects-specifically psychomimetic effects. These side effects are directly related to dose amount. The doses used for analgesic purposes are much lower than those used for anesthesia purposes. A literature review was performed to ascertain potential side effects and/or adverse events when using ketamine for analgesia purposes. The search included CINAHL, PubMed, and Ovid using the search terms "ketamine," "ketamine infusion," "pain," "adverse events," "practice guideline," and "randomized controlled trial." Searches were limited to full-text, peer-reviewed articles and systematic reviews. Initially 1,068 articles were retrieved. The search was then narrowed by using the Boolean connector AND with various search term combinations. After adjusting for duplication, article titles and abstracts were reviewed, leaving 25 articles for an in-depth analysis. Specific exclusion criteria were then applied. The literature supports the use of ketamine for analgesic purposes, and ketamine offers a nonopioid option for the management of some pain conditions. Because ketamine is still classified as an anesthetic agent, health care institutions should develop their own set of policies and protocols for the administration of ketamine. By using forethought and understanding of the properties of ketamine, appropriate care may be planned to mitigate potential side effects and adverse events so that patients are appropriately cared for and their pain effectively managed. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Pain Management Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. CDC Wonder Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) online database on CDC WONDER provides counts and percentages of adverse event case reports after vaccination,...

  20. Design Analysis of the Mixed Mode Bending Sandwich Specimen

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Quispitupa, Amilcar; Berggreen, Christian; Carlsson, Leif A.

    2010-01-01

    A design analysis of the mixed mode bending (MMB) sandwich specimen for face–core interface fracture characterization is presented. An analysis of the competing failure modes in the foam cored sandwich specimens is performed in order to achieve face–core debond fracture prior to other failure modes...... for the chosen geometries and mixed mode loading conditions....

  1. Biofilm extracellular DNA enhances mixed species biofilms of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pammi, Mohan; Liang, Rong; Hicks, John; Mistretta, Toni-Ann; Versalovic, James

    2013-11-14

    Polymicrobial infections are responsible for significant mortality and morbidity in adults and children. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans are the most frequent combination of organisms isolated from polymicrobial infections. Vascular indwelling catheters are sites for mixed species biofilm formation and pose a significant risk for polymicrobial infections. We hypothesized that enhancement of biofilms in a mixed species environment increases patient mortality and morbidity. Mixed species biofilms of S. epidermidis and C. albicans were evaluated in vitro and in a subcutaneous catheter infection model in vivo. Mixed species biofilms were enhanced compared to single species biofilms of either S. epidermidis or C. albicans. A mixed species environment increased catheter infection and increased dissemination of S. epidermidis in mice. Microarrays were used to explore differential gene expression of S. epidermidis in the mixed species biofilms. In mixed species biofilms, compared to single species S. epidermidis biofilms, 2.7% of S. epidermidis genes were upregulated and 6% were down regulated. Staphylococcal autolysis repressors lrgA and lrgB were down regulated 36-fold and 27-fold respectively. The role of biofilm extracellular DNA was investigated by quantitation and by evaluating the effects of DNAse in a concentration and time dependent manner. S. epidermidis specific eDNA was increased in mixed species biofilms and further confirmed by degradation with DNAse. Mixed-species biofilms are enhanced and associated with increased S. epidermidis-specific eDNA in vitro and greater systemic dissemination of S. epidermidis in vivo. Down regulation of the lrg operon, a repressor of autolysis, associated with increased eDNA suggests a possible role for bacterial autolysis in mixed species biofilms. Enhancement and systemic dissemination of S. epidermidis may explain adverse outcomes after clinical polymicrobial infections of S. epidermidis and C. albicans.

  2. Biofilm extracellular DNA enhances mixed species biofilms of Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Polymicrobial infections are responsible for significant mortality and morbidity in adults and children. Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans are the most frequent combination of organisms isolated from polymicrobial infections. Vascular indwelling catheters are sites for mixed species biofilm formation and pose a significant risk for polymicrobial infections. We hypothesized that enhancement of biofilms in a mixed species environment increases patient mortality and morbidity. Results Mixed species biofilms of S. epidermidis and C. albicans were evaluated in vitro and in a subcutaneous catheter infection model in vivo. Mixed species biofilms were enhanced compared to single species biofilms of either S. epidermidis or C. albicans. A mixed species environment increased catheter infection and increased dissemination of S. epidermidis in mice. Microarrays were used to explore differential gene expression of S. epidermidis in the mixed species biofilms. In mixed species biofilms, compared to single species S. epidermidis biofilms, 2.7% of S. epidermidis genes were upregulated and 6% were down regulated. Staphylococcal autolysis repressors lrgA and lrgB were down regulated 36-fold and 27-fold respectively. The role of biofilm extracellular DNA was investigated by quantitation and by evaluating the effects of DNAse in a concentration and time dependent manner. S. epidermidis specific eDNA was increased in mixed species biofilms and further confirmed by degradation with DNAse. Conclusions Mixed-species biofilms are enhanced and associated with increased S. epidermidis-specific eDNA in vitro and greater systemic dissemination of S. epidermidis in vivo. Down regulation of the lrg operon, a repressor of autolysis, associated with increased eDNA suggests a possible role for bacterial autolysis in mixed species biofilms. Enhancement and systemic dissemination of S. epidermidis may explain adverse outcomes after clinical polymicrobial infections of S

  3. Expert panel evaluation of health information technology effects on adverse events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abramson, Erika L; Kern, Lisa M; Brenner, Samantha; Hufstader, Meghan; Patel, Vaishali; Kaushal, Rainu

    2014-08-01

    Adverse events (AEs) among hospitalized patients occur frequently and result in significant sequelae. Federal policy is incentivizing health information technology (HIT) use, although research demonstrating safety benefits from HIT is mixed. Our objective was to evaluate the potential effects of HIT on reducing 21 different inpatient AEs. Identifying AEs most likely to be reduced by HIT can inform the design of future studies evaluating its effectiveness. We conducted a modified Delphi panel of national experts in HIT and safety. We conducted a focused literature review to inform the experts. Using a novel framework, experts rated each AE as 'definitely reduced by health IT,' 'possibly reduced by health IT' and 'not likely to be reduced by health IT'. From our panel discussion, experts identified six AEs as 'definitely reduced by health IT': (1) adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with digoxin; (2) ADE associated with IV heparin; (3) ADE associated with hypoglycaemic agents; (4) ADE associated with low molecular weight heparin and factor Xa inhibitor; (5) contrast nephropathy associated with catheter angiography; and (6) ADE hospital-acquired antibiotic-associated Clostridium difficile. Understanding the effects of HIT on patient outcomes will be essential to ensuring that the significant federal investment results in anticipated improvements. This study serves as an important early step in helping with the design of future work evaluating level of HIT infrastructure and rates of inpatient AEs. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  4. Tolerance of Anadenanthera peregrina to Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus grandis essential oil as condition for mixed plantation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neimar de Freitas Duarte

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available With the purpose of selecting the species of woody Caatinga for mixed plantations with Eucalyptus spp., the allelophatic effects of E. camaldulensis and E. grandis essential oil were studied on the growth activities of Anadenanthera peregrina. The plants were closed in glass chambers in the presence of volatile oil of E. camaldulensis or E. grandis at the concentration of 13 nl.cm-3. The number of leaves, height and diameter at soil lever were compared before, immediately after and after 30 days. Chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids and dry mass were evaluated after the treatment application. There was no inhibitory effect of E. camaldulensis and E. grandis oils on A. peregrina. E. camaldulensis, which was more adapted to semi-arid conditions, was planted in mixture stands with two native legume species, inoculated with Rhizobium and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. E. camaldulensis did not inhibit native species growth after two years of cultivation.

  5. Thermal mixing characteritics during a postulated PTS event

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, Jae Won; Bang, Young Seok; Seul, Kwang Won; Kim, Hho Jung

    1998-01-01

    The present study aims to investigate the characteristics of thermal fluid mixing during a postulated loss of coolant accident (LOCA) under two-phase flow condition using RELAP5 code. The RELAP5 code has been widely used in estimating global system thermal-hydraulic behaviors. However, the RELAP5 is not fully verified for the prediction of thermal mixing phenomena due to its limitation to the multi-dimensional behavior. Therefore, supplementary analysis is required, which can address the performance and limitation of the current RELAP5 code in predicting the thermal mixing. Another objective of this study is to compare the applicable empirical correlation (Theofanous') and the calculation of simple mixing code (REMIX) with one predicted by RELAP5. By those comparisons the capability on PTS thermal mixing of the current RELAP5 can be evaluated. In this study, thermal mixing behavior is analyzed for the task of the international comparative assessment study on PTS (PTS-ICAS) which was proposed by OECD-NEA. Through some preliminary calculations using RELAP5, the boundary conditions relevant to the problem constraints are appropriately specified with some artificial assumptions. As a calculation results, system pressure, downcomer water level, wall heat transfer coefficient, etc., are predicted as suitable for given problem constraints. From the predicted thermal hydraulic behavior, it is shown that the thermal stratification begins to start around 200 seconds after high pressure safety injection. At 400 seconds, the maximum difference in azimuthal temperature distribution at the downcomer due to thermal mixing is predicted about 150 K. Based on the comparison of the current RELAP5 prediction with the Theofanous' correlation and the REMIX calculation, it is found that thermal stratification characteristics predicted by RELAP5 is agreed in qualitative manner to the empirical correlation

  6. BIOCHEMICAL MECHANISMS OF MIXED EFFECT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION AND LOW POSITIVE TEMPERATURE ON ANIMALS’ ORGANISM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Litovchenko O.L.

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available At present, biochemical mechanisms of mixed effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR and cold on the body are not adequately studied, so this problem is urgent for modern medicine. Purpose of study. Establishing pathognomonic criteria and biochemical mechanisms of adverse effect of EMR on the organism of laboratory animals in conditions of cold stress. Materials and methods. The laboratory subacute experiment was carried out on mature white male rats of WAG line, weighing 190-220 g for 1 month. The animals were divided into 4 groups of 10 animals in each group. The first group was subjected to the isolated action of electromagnetic radiation (frequency 70 kHz, tension 600 V/m at a comfortable air temperature of 25 ± 2 ° C. The second group was subjected to the mixed action of EMR and low temperature 4 ± 2°C. The third group served as a control with regard to the first group, and the fourth group - with regard to the second, at air temperature of 25 ± 2°C. Expositions were carried out 5 times a week (for 4:00 every day. To identify changes in biochemical parameters studied during the experiments, blood sampling was performed at the stages of 5, 15, 30 days and urine sampling – at the stages of 15, 30 days in dynamics. Blood serum was used as biomaterial. It was determined the content of malondialdehyde (MDA, conjugated diene, content of SH-groups, superoxide dismutase, ceruloplasmin, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL, triglycerides, atherogenic index was determined, the level of urea, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, content of chlorides, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, total protein, glucose, and catalase activity. Renal function was studied by the content of creatinine, cholinesterase, urea, uric acid, chlorides, potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus and glucose in urine. Results and discussion. The findings showed that the isolated action of EMR only led to a

  7. Statin-associated muscular and renal adverse events: data mining of the public version of the FDA adverse event reporting system.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Toshiyuki Sakaeda

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Adverse event reports (AERs submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA were reviewed to assess the muscular and renal adverse events induced by the administration of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins and to attempt to determine the rank-order of the association. METHODS: After a revision of arbitrary drug names and the deletion of duplicated submissions, AERs involving pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, or rosuvastatin were analyzed. Authorized pharmacovigilance tools were used for quantitative detection of signals, i.e., drug-associated adverse events, including the proportional reporting ratio, the reporting odds ratio, the information component given by a Bayesian confidence propagation neural network, and the empirical Bayes geometric mean. Myalgia, rhabdomyolysis and an increase in creatine phosphokinase level were focused on as the muscular adverse events, and acute renal failure, non-acute renal failure, and an increase in blood creatinine level as the renal adverse events. RESULTS: Based on 1,644,220 AERs from 2004 to 2009, signals were detected for 4 statins with respect to myalgia, rhabdomyolysis, and an increase in creatine phosphokinase level, but these signals were stronger for rosuvastatin than pravastatin and atorvastatin. Signals were also detected for acute renal failure, though in the case of atorvastatin, the association was marginal, and furthermore, a signal was not detected for non-acute renal failure or for an increase in blood creatinine level. CONCLUSIONS: Data mining of the FDA's adverse event reporting system, AERS, is useful for examining statin-associated muscular and renal adverse events. The data strongly suggest the necessity of well-organized clinical studies with respect to statin-associated adverse events.

  8. Statin-associated muscular and renal adverse events: data mining of the public version of the FDA adverse event reporting system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakaeda, Toshiyuki; Kadoyama, Kaori; Okuno, Yasushi

    2011-01-01

    Adverse event reports (AERs) submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were reviewed to assess the muscular and renal adverse events induced by the administration of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) and to attempt to determine the rank-order of the association. After a revision of arbitrary drug names and the deletion of duplicated submissions, AERs involving pravastatin, simvastatin, atorvastatin, or rosuvastatin were analyzed. Authorized pharmacovigilance tools were used for quantitative detection of signals, i.e., drug-associated adverse events, including the proportional reporting ratio, the reporting odds ratio, the information component given by a Bayesian confidence propagation neural network, and the empirical Bayes geometric mean. Myalgia, rhabdomyolysis and an increase in creatine phosphokinase level were focused on as the muscular adverse events, and acute renal failure, non-acute renal failure, and an increase in blood creatinine level as the renal adverse events. Based on 1,644,220 AERs from 2004 to 2009, signals were detected for 4 statins with respect to myalgia, rhabdomyolysis, and an increase in creatine phosphokinase level, but these signals were stronger for rosuvastatin than pravastatin and atorvastatin. Signals were also detected for acute renal failure, though in the case of atorvastatin, the association was marginal, and furthermore, a signal was not detected for non-acute renal failure or for an increase in blood creatinine level. Data mining of the FDA's adverse event reporting system, AERS, is useful for examining statin-associated muscular and renal adverse events. The data strongly suggest the necessity of well-organized clinical studies with respect to statin-associated adverse events.

  9. Estimating the numerical diapycnal mixing in an eddy-permitting ocean model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Megann, Alex

    2018-01-01

    Constant-depth (or "z-coordinate") ocean models such as MOM4 and NEMO have become the de facto workhorse in climate applications, having attained a mature stage in their development and are well understood. A generic shortcoming of this model type, however, is a tendency for the advection scheme to produce unphysical numerical diapycnal mixing, which in some cases may exceed the explicitly parameterised mixing based on observed physical processes, and this is likely to have effects on the long-timescale evolution of the simulated climate system. Despite this, few quantitative estimates have been made of the typical magnitude of the effective diapycnal diffusivity due to numerical mixing in these models. GO5.0 is a recent ocean model configuration developed jointly by the UK Met Office and the National Oceanography Centre. It forms the ocean component of the GC2 climate model, and is closely related to the ocean component of the UKESM1 Earth System Model, the UK's contribution to the CMIP6 model intercomparison. GO5.0 uses version 3.4 of the NEMO model, on the ORCA025 global tripolar grid. An approach to quantifying the numerical diapycnal mixing in this model, based on the isopycnal watermass analysis of Lee et al. (2002), is described, and the estimates thereby obtained of the effective diapycnal diffusivity in GO5.0 are compared with the values of the explicit diffusivity used by the model. It is shown that the effective mixing in this model configuration is up to an order of magnitude higher than the explicit mixing in much of the ocean interior, implying that mixing in the model below the mixed layer is largely dominated by numerical mixing. This is likely to have adverse consequences for the representation of heat uptake in climate models intended for decadal climate projections, and in particular is highly relevant to the interpretation of the CMIP6 class of climate models, many of which use constant-depth ocean models at ¼° resolution

  10. Adverse effects to transfusion with red donor blood cells are frequent

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pommergaard, Hans-Christian; Nørgaard, Astrid; Burcharth, Jakob

    2014-01-01

    Adverse effects to transfusion with red donor blood cells are potentially life-threatening. Due to screening, transmission of infectious diseases has decreased; however, the risk is still present. Various immune reactions are common including simple allergic reactions as well as devastating...... conditions such as transfusion-related acute lung injury and circulatory overload in patients with heart disease. Knowledge of the clinical signs of transfusion-related complications is important for clinicians in order to provide the best possible treatment....

  11. Adverse health effects of non-medical cannabis use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Wayne; Degenhardt, Louisa

    2009-10-17

    For over two decades, cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, has been the most widely used illicit drug by young people in high-income countries, and has recently become popular on a global scale. Epidemiological research during the past 10 years suggests that regular use of cannabis during adolescence and into adulthood can have adverse effects. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory studies have established an association between cannabis use and adverse outcomes. We focus on adverse health effects of greatest potential public health interest-that is, those that are most likely to occur and to affect a large number of cannabis users. The most probable adverse effects include a dependence syndrome, increased risk of motor vehicle crashes, impaired respiratory function, cardiovascular disease, and adverse effects of regular use on adolescent psychosocial development and mental health.

  12. Effects of patient safety auditing in hospital care: results of a mixed-method evaluation (part 1).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanskamp-Sebregts, Mirelle; Zegers, Marieke; Westert, Gert P; Boeijen, Wilma; Teerenstra, Steven; van Gurp, Petra J; Wollersheim, Hub

    2018-06-15

    To evaluate the effectiveness of internal auditing in hospital care focussed on improving patient safety. A before-and-after mixed-method evaluation study was carried out in eight departments of a university medical center in the Netherlands. Internal auditing and feedback focussed on improving patient safety. The effect of internal auditing was assessed 15 months after the audit, using linear mixed models, on the patient, professional, team and departmental levels. The measurement methods were patient record review on adverse events (AEs), surveys regarding patient experiences, safety culture and team climate, analysis of administrative hospital data (standardized mortality rate, SMR) and safety walk rounds (SWRs) to observe frontline care processes on safety. The AE rate decreased from 36.1% to 31.3% and the preventable AE rate from 5.5% to 3.6%; however, the differences before and after auditing were not statistically significant. The patient-reported experience measures regarding patient safety improved slightly over time (P audit. The SWRs showed that medication safety and information security were improved (P auditing was associated with improved patient experiences and observed safety on wards. No effects were found on adverse outcomes, safety culture and team climate 15 months after the internal audit.

  13. Pengaruh Negative Framing dan Adverse Selection terhadap Eskalasi Komitmen

    OpenAIRE

    Arimawan, Muhammad Sandi; Sukirno, Sukirno

    2014-01-01

    Penelitian ini dilakukan bertujuan untuk mengetahui: (1) Pengaruh negative framing terhadap eskalasi komitmen, (2) Pengaruh adverse selection terhadap eskalasi komitmen, (3) Pengaruh negative framing dan adverse selection secara bersama-sama terhadap eskalasi komitmen, (4) Pengaruh negative framing terhadap eskalasi komitmen dimoderasi locus of control, (5) Pengaruh adverse selection terhadap eskalasi komitmen dimoderasi locus of control, (6) Pengaruh negative framing dan adverse selection se...

  14. Mesotherapy-induced panniculitis treated with dapsone: case report and review of reported adverse effects of mesotherapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Jennifer; Rao, Babar

    2006-01-01

    Mesotherapy is a procedure involving the injection of substances into the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. Used in Europe for decades in the treatment of various medical conditions and cosmetic fat dissolution, the technique only recently became widely available in the United States. Mesotherapy has been surrounded by controversy pertaining to efficacy and has been associated with localized complications, including allergic reactions, necrosis, and infections. Panniculitis is a rare adverse reaction to mesotherapy that may result from injection pressure, local trauma, or the type of injected substances. Treatment options for complications are limited. We report a case of mesotherapy-induced panniculitis successfully treated with dapsone. This case illustrates one of the potential adverse effects of mesotherapy and suggests that dapsone may be effective in the treatment of panniculitis resulting from such injections. Reported adverse effects associated with mesotherapy are also reviewed.

  15. Computer modeling of jet mixing in INEL waste tanks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, P.A.

    1994-01-01

    The objective of this study is to examine the feasibility of using submerged jet mixing pumps to mobilize and suspend settled sludge materials in INEL High Level Radioactive Waste Tanks. Scenarios include removing the heel (a shallow liquid and sludge layer remaining after tank emptying processes) and mobilizing and suspending solids in full or partially full tanks. The approach used was to (1) briefly review jet mixing theory, (2) review erosion literature in order to identify and estimate important sludge characterization parameters (3) perform computer modeling of submerged liquid mixing jets in INEL tank geometries, (4) develop analytical models from which pump operating conditions and mixing times can be estimated, and (5) analyze model results to determine overall feasibility of using jet mixing pumps and make design recommendations

  16. Efficacy of bi-component cocrystals and simple binary eutectics screening using heat of mixing estimated under super cooled conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cysewski, Piotr

    2016-07-01

    The values of excess heat characterizing sets of 493 simple binary eutectic mixtures and 965 cocrystals were estimated under super cooled liquid condition. The application of a confusion matrix as a predictive analytical tool was applied for distinguishing between the two subsets. Among seven considered levels of computations the BP-TZVPD-FINE approach was found to be the most precise in terms of the lowest percentage of misclassified positive cases. Also much less computationally demanding AM1 and PM7 semiempirical quantum chemistry methods are likewise worth considering for estimation of the heat of mixing values. Despite intrinsic limitations of the approach of modeling miscibility in the solid state, based on components affinities in liquids under super cooled conditions, it is possible to define adequate criterions for classification of coformers pairs as simple binary eutectics or cocrystals. The predicted precision has been found as 12.8% what is quite accepted, bearing in mind simplicity of the approach. However, tuning theoretical screening to such precision implies the exclusion of many positive cases and this wastage exceeds 31% of cocrystals classified as false negatives. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. MATTER MIXING IN ASPHERICAL CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE: A SEARCH FOR POSSIBLE CONDITIONS FOR CONVEYING 56Ni INTO HIGH VELOCITY REGIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ono, Masaomi; Nagataki, Shigehiro; Ito, Hirotaka; Lee, Shiu-Hang; Mao, Jirong; Tolstov, Alexey; Hashimoto, Masa-aki

    2013-01-01

    We perform two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations of matter mixing in aspherical core-collapse supernova explosions of a 16.3 M ☉ star with a compact hydrogen envelope. Observations of SN 1987A have provided evidence that 56 Ni synthesized by explosive nucleosynthesis is mixed into fast moving matter (∼>3500 km s –1 ) in the exploding star. In order to clarify the key conditions for reproducing such high velocity of 56 Ni, we revisit matter mixing in aspherical core-collapse supernova explosions. Explosions are initiated artificially by injecting thermal and kinetic energies around the interface between the iron core and the silicon-rich layer. Perturbations of 5% or 30% amplitude in the radial velocities are introduced at several points in time. We find that no high velocity 56 Ni can be obtained if we consider bipolar explosions with perturbations (5% amplitude) of pre-supernova origins. If large perturbations (30% amplitude) are introduced or exist due to some unknown mechanism in a later phase just before the shock wave reaches the hydrogen envelope, 56 Ni with a velocity of 3000 km s –1 can be obtained. Aspherical explosions that are asymmetric across the equatorial plane with clumpy structures in the initial shock waves are investigated. We find that the clump sizes affect the penetration of 56 Ni. Finally, we report that an aspherical explosion model that is asymmetric across the equatorial plane with multiple perturbations of pre-supernova origins can cause the penetration of 56 Ni clumps into fast moving matter of 3000 km s –1 . We show that both aspherical explosions with clumpy structures and perturbations of pre-supernova origins may be necessary to reproduce the observed high velocity of 56 Ni. To confirm this, more robust three-dimensional simulations are required

  18. Adverse event reporting in cancer clinical trial publications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sivendran, Shanthi; Latif, Asma; McBride, Russell B; Stensland, Kristian D; Wisnivesky, Juan; Haines, Lindsay; Oh, William K; Galsky, Matthew D

    2014-01-10

    Reporting adverse events is a critical element of a clinical trial publication. In 2003, the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) group generated recommendations regarding the appropriate reporting of adverse events. The degree to which these recommendations are followed in oncology publications has not been comprehensively evaluated. A review of citations from PubMed, Medline, and Embase published between Jan 1, 2009 and December 31, 2011, identified eligible randomized, controlled phase III trials in metastatic solid malignancies. Publications were assessed for 14 adverse event-reporting elements derived from the CONSORT harms extension statement; a completeness score (range, 0 to 14) was calculated by adding the number of elements reported. Linear regression analysis identified which publication characteristics associated with reporting completeness. A total of 175 publications, with data for 96,125 patients, were included in the analysis. The median completeness score was eight (range, three to 12). Most publications (96%) reported only adverse events occurring above a threshold rate or severity, 37% did not specify the criteria used to select which adverse events were reported, and 88% grouped together adverse events of varying severity. Regression analysis revealed that trials without a stated funding source and with an earlier year of publication had significantly lower completeness scores. Reporting of adverse events in oncology publications of randomized trials is suboptimal and characterized by substantial selectivity and heterogeneity. The development of oncology-specific standards for adverse event reporting should be established to ensure consistency and provide critical information required for medical decision-making.

  19. Consequenses of childhood adversity on health concerns in adulthood

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Consequenses of childhood adversity on health concerns in adulthood. ... childhood adversity have similar levels of depression, acute and chronic health. ... to explain the pathways linking childhood adversity to physical health in adulthood.

  20. Mixing in thermally stratified nonlinear spin-up with uniform boundary fluxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baghdasarian, Meline; Pacheco-Vega, Arturo; Pacheco, J. Rafael; Verzicco, Roberto

    2014-01-01

    Studies of stratified spin-up experiments in enclosed cylinders have reported the presence of small pockets of well-mixed fluids but quantitative measurements of the mixedness of the fluid has been lacking. Previous numerical simulations have not addressed these measurements. Here we present numerical simulations that explain how the combined effect of spin-up and thermal boundary conditions enhances or hinders mixing of a fluid in a cylinder. The energy of the system is characterized by splitting the potential energy into diabatic and adiabatic components, and measurements of efficiency of mixing are based on both, the ratio of dissipation of available potential energy to forcing and variance of temperature. The numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations for the problem with different sets of thermal boundary conditions at the horizontal walls helped shed some light on the physical mechanisms of mixing, for which a clear explanation was absent

  1. Mixing in thermally stratified nonlinear spin-up with uniform boundary fluxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baghdasarian, Meline; Pacheco-Vega, Arturo [Department of Mechanical Engineering, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90032 (United States); Pacheco, J. Rafael, E-mail: rpacheco@asu.edu [SAP Americas Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 (United States); School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (United States); Environmental Fluid Dynamics Laboratories, Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences, The University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana 46556 (United States); Verzicco, Roberto [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Universita di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133, Roma (Italy); PoF, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede (Netherlands)

    2014-09-15

    Studies of stratified spin-up experiments in enclosed cylinders have reported the presence of small pockets of well-mixed fluids but quantitative measurements of the mixedness of the fluid has been lacking. Previous numerical simulations have not addressed these measurements. Here we present numerical simulations that explain how the combined effect of spin-up and thermal boundary conditions enhances or hinders mixing of a fluid in a cylinder. The energy of the system is characterized by splitting the potential energy into diabatic and adiabatic components, and measurements of efficiency of mixing are based on both, the ratio of dissipation of available potential energy to forcing and variance of temperature. The numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations for the problem with different sets of thermal boundary conditions at the horizontal walls helped shed some light on the physical mechanisms of mixing, for which a clear explanation was absent.

  2. The Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC): INP measurements at conditions relevant for mixed-phase clouds at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lacher, Larissa; Lohmann, Ulrike; Boose, Yvonne; Zipori, Assaf; Herrmann, Erik; Bukowiecki, Nicolas; Steinbacher, Martin; Kanji, Zamin A.

    2017-12-01

    In this work we describe the Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC) as a new instrument to measure ambient ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentrations for conditions relevant to mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory verification and validation experiments confirm the accuracy of the thermodynamic conditions of temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) in HINC with uncertainties in T of ±0.4 K and in RH with respect to water (RHw) of ±1.5 %, which translates into an uncertainty in RH with respect to ice (RHi) of ±3.0 % at T > 235 K. For further validation of HINC as a field instrument, two measurement campaigns were conducted in winters 2015 and 2016 at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (JFJ; Switzerland, 3580 m a. s. l. ) to sample ambient INPs. During winters 2015 and 2016 the site encountered free-tropospheric conditions 92 and 79 % of the time, respectively. We measured INP concentrations at 242 K at water-subsaturated conditions (RHw = 94 %), relevant for the formation of ice clouds, and in the water-supersaturated regime (RHw = 104 %) to represent ice formation occurring under mixed-phase cloud conditions. In winters 2015 and 2016 the median INP concentrations at RHw = 94 % was below the minimum detectable concentration. At RHw = 104 %, INP concentrations were an order of magnitude higher, with median concentrations in winter 2015 of 2.8 per standard liter (std L-1; normalized to standard T of 273 K and pressure, p, of 1013 hPa) and 4.7 std L-1 in winter 2016. The measurements are in agreement with previous winter measurements obtained with the Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber (PINC) of 2.2 std L-1 at the same location. During winter 2015, two events caused the INP concentrations at RHw = 104 % to significantly increase above the campaign average. First, an increase to 72.1 std L-1 was measured during an event influenced by marine air, arriving at the JFJ from the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. The contribution from anthropogenic or other

  3. Is the efficacy of antidepressants in panic disorder mediated by adverse events? A mediational analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irene Bighelli

    Full Text Available It has been hypothesised that the perception of adverse events in placebo-controlled antidepressant clinical trials may induce patients to conclude that they have been randomized to the active arm of the trial, leading to the breaking of blind. This may enhance the expectancies for improvement and the therapeutic response. The main objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that the efficacy of antidepressants in panic disorder is mediated by the perception of adverse events. The present analysis is based on a systematic review of published and unpublished randomised trials comparing antidepressants with placebo for panic disorder. The Baron and Kenny approach was applied to investigate the mediational role of adverse events in the relationship between antidepressants treatment and efficacy. Fourteen placebo-controlled antidepressants trials were included in the analysis. We found that: (a antidepressants treatment was significantly associated with better treatment response (ß = 0.127, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.21, p = 0.003; (b antidepressants treatment was not associated with adverse events (ß = 0.094, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.24, p = 0.221; (c adverse events were negatively associated with treatment response (ß = 0.035, 95% CI -0.06 to -0.05, p = 0.022. Finally, after adjustment for adverse events, the relationship between antidepressants treatment and treatment response remained statistically significant (ß = 0.122, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.23, p = 0.039. These findings do not support the hypothesis that the perception of adverse events in placebo-controlled antidepressant clinical trials may lead to the breaking of blind and to an artificial inflation of the efficacy measures. Based on these results, we argue that the moderate therapeutic effect of antidepressants in individuals with panic disorder is not an artefact, therefore reflecting a genuine effect that doctors can expect to replicate under real-world conditions.

  4. Renormalization in general theories with inter-generation mixing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kniehl, Bernd A.; Sirlin, Alberto

    2011-11-01

    We derive general and explicit expressions for the unrenormalized and renormalized dressed propagators of fermions in parity-nonconserving theories with inter-generation mixing. The mass eigenvalues, the corresponding mass counterterms, and the effect of inter-generation mixing on their determination are discussed. Invoking the Aoki-Hioki-Kawabe-Konuma-Muta renormalization conditions and employing a number of very useful relations from Matrix Algebra, we show explicitly that the renormalized dressed propagators satisfy important physical properties. (orig.)

  5. Experimental and numerical investigation of the coolant mixing during fast deboration transients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoehne, T.; Rohde, U.; Weiss, F.P.

    1999-01-01

    For the analysis of boron dilution transients and main steam line break scenarios the modeling of the coolant mixing inside the reactor vessel is important, because the reactivity insertion strongly depends on boron acid concentration or the coolant temperature distribution. Calculations for steady state flow conditions for the VVER-440 were performed with a CFD code (CFX-4). The comparison with experimental data and an analytical mixing model which is implemented in the neutron-kinetic code DYN3D showed a good agreement for near-nominal conditions. First experiments at the Rossendorf Mixing Test Facility ROCOM were performed simulating the start-up of the first main coolant pump. The reference reactor for the geometrically 1:5 scaled Plexiglas model is the German Konvoi type PWR. After demonstrating the capability of the CFD code to simulate these complicated flow transients, calculations were performed for the start-up of the first pump in a VVER-440 type reactor. These calculations are a first step of understanding the coolant mixing in the RPV of a VVER-440 type reactor under transient conditions. The results of the calculation show a very complex flow in the downcomer. A high downcomer of VVER-440 and the existence of the lower control rod chamber support coolant mixing is concluded. (author)

  6. Toward topology-based characterization of small-scale mixing in compressible turbulence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suman, Sawan; Girimaji, Sharath

    2011-11-01

    Turbulent mixing rate at small scales of motion (molecular mixing) is governed by the steepness of the scalar-gradient field which in turn is dependent upon the prevailing velocity gradients. Thus motivated, we propose a velocity-gradient topology-based approach for characterizing small-scale mixing in compressible turbulence. We define a mixing efficiency metric that is dependent upon the topology of the solenoidal and dilatational deformation rates of a fluid element. The mixing characteristics of solenoidal and dilatational velocity fluctuations are clearly delineated. We validate this new approach by employing mixing data from direct numerical simulations (DNS) of compressible decaying turbulence with passive scalar. For each velocity-gradient topology, we compare the mixing efficiency predicted by the topology-based model with the corresponding conditional scalar variance obtained from DNS. The new mixing metric accurately distinguishes good and poor mixing topologies and indeed reasonably captures the numerical values. The results clearly demonstrate the viability of the proposed approach for characterizing and predicting mixing in compressible flows.

  7. Turbulent mixing and removal of ozone within an Amazon rainforest canopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, L. S.; Gerken, T.; Ruiz-Plancarte, J.; Wei, D.; Fuentes, J. D.; Katul, G. G.; Dias, N. L.; Acevedo, O. C.; Chamecki, M.

    2017-03-01

    Simultaneous profiles of turbulence statistics and mean ozone mixing ratio are used to establish a relation between eddy diffusivity and ozone mixing within the Amazon forest. A one-dimensional diffusion model is proposed and used to infer mixing time scales from the eddy diffusivity profiles. Data and model results indicate that during daytime conditions, the upper (lower) half of the canopy is well (partially) mixed most of the time and that most of the vertical extent of the forest can be mixed in less than an hour. During nighttime, most of the canopy is predominantly poorly mixed, except for periods with bursts of intermittent turbulence. Even though turbulence is faster than chemistry during daytime, both processes have comparable time scales in the lower canopy layers during nighttime conditions. Nonchemical loss time scales (associated with stomatal uptake and dry deposition) for the entire forest are comparable to turbulent mixing time scale in the lower canopy during the day and in the entire canopy during the night, indicating a tight coupling between turbulent transport and dry deposition and stomatal uptake processes. Because of the significant time of day and height variability of the turbulent mixing time scale inside the canopy, it is important to take it into account when studying chemical and biophysical processes happening in the forest environment. The method proposed here to estimate turbulent mixing time scales is a reliable alternative to currently used models, especially for situations in which the vertical distribution of the time scale is relevant.

  8. Do efficiency scores depend on input mix?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Asmild, Mette; Hougaard, Jens Leth; Kronborg, Dorte

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis (KW) rank test in order to evaluate whether the distribution of efficiency scores resulting from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is independent of the input (or output) mix of the observations. Since the DEA frontier...... is estimated, many standard assumptions for evaluating the KW test statistic are violated. Therefore, we propose to explore its statistical properties by the use of simulation studies. The simulations are performed conditional on the observed input mixes. The method, unlike existing approaches...... the assumption of mix independence is rejected the implication is that it, for example, is impossible to determine whether machine intensive project are more or less efficient than labor intensive projects....

  9. Testing effects in mixed- versus pure-list designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowland, Christopher A; Littrell-Baez, Megan K; Sensenig, Amanda E; DeLosh, Edward L

    2014-08-01

    In the present study, we investigated the role of list composition in the testing effect. Across three experiments, participants learned items through study and initial testing or study and restudy. List composition was manipulated, such that tested and restudied items appeared either intermixed in the same lists (mixed lists) or in separate lists (pure lists). In Experiment 1, half of the participants received mixed lists and half received pure lists. In Experiment 2, all participants were given both mixed and pure lists. Experiment 3 followed Erlebacher's (Psychological Bulletin, 84, 212-219, 1977) method, such that mixed lists, pure tested lists, and pure restudied lists were given to independent groups. Across all three experiments, the final recall results revealed significant testing effects for both mixed and pure lists, with no reliable difference in the magnitude of the testing advantage across list designs. This finding suggests that the testing effect is not subject to a key boundary condition-list design-that impacts other memory phenomena, including the generation effect.

  10. Does the thermal spike affect low energy ion-induced interfacial mixing?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Suele, P.; Menyhard, M.; Nordlund, K.

    2003-01-01

    Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to obtain the three-dimensional distribution of interfacial mixing and cascade defects in Ti/Pt multilayer system due to single 1 keV Ar + impact at grazing angle of incidence. The Ti/Pt system was chosen because of its relatively high heat of mixing in the binary alloy and therefore a suitable candidate for testing the effect of heat of mixing on ion-beam mixing. However, the calculated mixing profile is not sensitive to the heat of mixing. Therefore the thermal spike model of mixing is not fully supported under these irradiation conditions. Instead we found that the majority of mixing occurs after the thermal spike during the relaxation process. These conclusions are supported by liquid, vacancy as well as adatom analysis. The interfacial mixing is in various aspects anomalous in this system: the time evolution of mixing is leading to a phase delay for Ti mixing, and Pt exhibits an unexpected double peaked mixing evolution. The reasons to these effects are discussed

  11. Multiple Estimation Architecture in Discrete-Time Adaptive Mixing Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Baldi

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Adaptive mixing control (AMC is a recently developed control scheme for uncertain plants, where the control action coming from a bank of precomputed controller is mixed based on the parameter estimates generated by an on-line parameter estimator. Even if the stability of the control scheme, also in the presence of modeling errors and disturbances, has been shown analytically, its transient performance might be sensitive to the initial conditions of the parameter estimator. In particular, for some initial conditions, transient oscillations may not be acceptable in practical applications. In order to account for such a possible phenomenon and to improve the learning capability of the adaptive scheme, in this paper a new mixing architecture is developed, involving the use of parallel parameter estimators, or multi-estimators, each one working on a small subset of the uncertainty set. A supervisory logic, using performance signals based on the past and present estimation error, selects the parameter estimate to determine the mixing of the controllers. The stability and robustness properties of the resulting approach, referred to as multi-estimator adaptive mixing control (Multi-AMC, are analytically established. Besides, extensive simulations demonstrate that the scheme improves the transient performance of the original AMC with a single estimator. The control scheme and the analysis are carried out in a discrete-time framework, for easier implementation of the method in digital control.

  12. Mixed Boundary Value Problem on Hypersurfaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. DuDuchava

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the mixed Dirichlet-Neumann boundary value problems for the anisotropic Laplace-Beltrami equation divC(A∇Cφ=f on a smooth hypersurface C with the boundary Γ=∂C in Rn. A(x is an n×n bounded measurable positive definite matrix function. The boundary is decomposed into two nonintersecting connected parts Γ=ΓD∪ΓN and on ΓD the Dirichlet boundary conditions are prescribed, while on ΓN the Neumann conditions. The unique solvability of the mixed BVP is proved, based upon the Green formulae and Lax-Milgram Lemma. Further, the existence of the fundamental solution to divS(A∇S is proved, which is interpreted as the invertibility of this operator in the setting Hp,#s(S→Hp,#s-2(S, where Hp,#s(S is a subspace of the Bessel potential space and consists of functions with mean value zero.

  13. Mixing processes in high-level waste tanks. 1998 annual progress report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peterson, P.F.

    1998-01-01

    Flammable gases can be generated in DOE high-level waste tanks, including radiolytic hydrogen, and during cesium precipitation from salt solutions, benzene. Under normal operating conditions the potential for deflagration or detonation from these gases is precluded by purging and ventilation systems, which remove the flammable gases and maintain a well-mixed condition in the tanks. Upon failure of the ventilation system, due to seismic or other events, however, it has proven more difficult to make strong arguments for well-mixed conditions, due to the potential for density-induced stratification which can potentially sequester fuel or oxidizer at concentrations significantly higher than average. This has complicated the task of defining the safety basis for tank operation. Waste-tank mixing processes have considerable overlap with similar large-enclosure mixing processes that occur in enclosure fires and nuclear reactor containments. Significant differences also exist, so that modeling techniques that have been developed previously can not be directly applied to waste tanks. In particular, mixing of air introduced through tank roof penetrations by buoyancy and pressure driven exchange flows, mixed convection induced by an injected high-velocity purge jet interacting with buoyancy driven flow, and onset and breakdown of stable stratification under the influence of an injected jet have not been adequately studied but are important in assessing the potential for accumulation of high-concentration pockets of fuel and oxygen. Treating these phenomena requires a combination of experiments and the development of new, more general computational models than those that have been developed for enclosure fires. U.C. Berkeley is now completing the second year of its three-year project that started in September, 1996. Excellent progress has been made in several important areas related to waste-tank ventilation and mixing processes.'

  14. Off-diagonal generalization of the mixed-state geometric phase

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Filipp, Stefan; Sjoeqvist, Erik

    2003-01-01

    The concept of off-diagonal geometric phases for mixed quantal states in unitary evolution is developed. We show that these phases arise from three basic ideas: (1) fulfillment of quantum parallel transport of a complete basis, (2) a concept of mixed-state orthogonality adapted to unitary evolution, and (3) a normalization condition. We provide a method for computing the off-diagonal mixed-state phases to any order for unitarities that divide the parallel transported basis of Hilbert space into two parts: one part where each basis vector undergoes cyclic evolution and one part where all basis vectors are permuted among each other. We also demonstrate a purification based experimental procedure for the two lowest-order mixed-state phases and consider a physical scenario for a full characterization of the qubit mixed-state geometric phases in terms of polarization-entangled photon pairs. An alternative second order off-diagonal mixed-state geometric phase, which can be tested in single-particle experiments, is proposed

  15. Etanercept An Overview of Dermatologic Adverse Events

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lecluse, Lidian L. A.; Dowlatshahi, Emmilia A.; Limpens, C. E. Jacqueline M.; de Rie, Menno A.; Bos, Jan D.; Spuls, Phyllis I.

    2011-01-01

    Objectives: To provide a comprehensive overview of dermatologic adverse events of etanercept described in the literature (including all study types, case reports, and surveys) and to present information on the occurrence, severity, treatment, and course of these adverse events. Data Sources: MEDLINE

  16. Effect of initial conditions and Mach number on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in ICF like conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, Pooja; She, Dan; Lim, Hyunkyung; Glimm, James

    2015-11-01

    The qualitative and quantitative effect of initial conditions (linear and non-linear) and high Mach number (1.3 and 1.45) is studied on the turbulent mixing induced by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in idealized ICF conditions. The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability seeds Rayleigh-taylor instabilities in ICF experiments and is one of the factors that contributes to reduced performance of ICF experiments. Its also found in collapsing cores of stars and supersonic combustion. We use the Stony Brook University code, FronTier, which is verified via a code comparison study against the AMR multiphysics code FLASH, and validated against vertical shock tube experiments done by the LANL Extreme Fluids Team. These simulations are designed as a step towards simulating more realistic ICF conditions and quantifying the detrimental effects of mixing on the yield.

  17. Influences of working conditions on the performance of sign ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Findings showed that poor working conditions such as delay in promotion and salary payment and unattractive office accommodation have significant adverse influence on working performance of both teachers and interpreters. Teachers significantly felt the disturbing influence of poor working conditions on their job ...

  18. Transformation kinetics of mixed polymeric substrates under ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    bglucosidase and a-mannosidase were abundantly secreted in the growth medium. This research is the first report on mixed polymeric substrate biodegradation under sewer condition by A. niger, and could be considered as an open window on ...

  19. The Mixed Phase of Charged AdS Black Holes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Piyabut Burikham

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the mixed phase of charged AdS black hole and radiation when the total energy is fixed below the threshold to produce a stable charged black hole branch. The coexistence conditions for the charged AdS black hole and radiation are derived for the generic case when radiation particles carry charge. The phase diagram of the mixed phase is demonstrated for both fixed potential and charge ensemble. In the dual gauge picture, they correspond to the mixed phase of quark-gluon plasma (QGP and hadron gas in the fixed chemical potential and density ensemble, respectively. In the nuclei and heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies, the mixed phase of exotic QGP and hadron gas could be produced. The mixed phase will condense and evaporate into the hadron gas as the fireball expands.

  20. Meson spectroscopy, quark mixing and quantum chromodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Filippov, A.T.

    1979-01-01

    A semiphenomenological theory of mass spectrum for mesons, consisting of a quark-antiquark pair, is presented. Relativistic kinematical effects of the quark mass differences, the SU(3)-symmetry breaking in slopes of the Regge trajectories and in radially excited states are taken into account. The OZI-rule breaking is taken into account by means of the mixing matrix for the quark wave functions, whose form is suggested by the quantum chromodynamics. A simple extrapolation of expression, given by the quantum chromodynamics from the ''asymptotic freedom'' region to the ''infrared slavery'' region is proposed to describe the dependence of the mixing parameters on the meson masses. To calculate masses and mixing angles for pseudoscalar mesons a condition is proposed that the pion mass is minimal. In this situation the eta-meson mass is near the maximal value. The predictions of the theory for masses and mixing angles of the mesons are in good agreement with the experiment

  1. Mixed-mode elastic-plastic fracture of 2024-T351 aluminium alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakata, Masaru; Aoki, Shigeru; Kishimoto, Kikuo; Chikugo, Hiroshi; Takizawa, Masakazu.

    1985-01-01

    In order to evaluate accurately the strength and structural soundness of the structures made of high toughness materials, it is necessary to clarify the fracture behavior under the loading condition of mixed mode such as oblique cracks as well as the elasto-plastic fracture behavior of the materials in the case of single opening displacement type mode. About the fracture condition in the state of mixed mode, various theories based on the linear fracture mechanics have been proposed. In this study, the elasto-plastic fracture toughness test of mixed mode was carried out by using an aluminum alloy as the subject, and the behavior of dulling and development of cracks was observed with a scanning electron microscope. Moreover, the state of deformation of the test pieces was analyzed by elasto-plastic finite element method, thus the parameters controlling the elasto-plastic fracture of mixed mode were examined. In the range of this study, the limiting stretch zone width in the case of loading of mixed mode was 12 μm similarly to the case of single mode. Also in the case of mixed mode, there was distinct difference between the inclination of a dulling straight line and an R-curve, and the limit value of J intergral was determined by their intersection. (Kako, I.)

  2. Energy mix and employment effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wodopia, F.J.

    2005-01-01

    ''Energy Mix and Employment Effects'' is a subject not to be reduced to the so-called ''job argument''. It also involves the question whether it will be possible to achieve consensus again about the composition of a balanced sustainable energy mix. This term must not be interpreted in a static sense; after all, the framework conditions of energy policy are changing. However, this must not render energy policy unsteady. This requirement should be imposed on economic policy in general, i.e. political interventions, it they are really unavoidable, must be predictable on a long term. This contribution also examines the meaning of the term ''energy mix.'' Aspects of the debate about the climate, especially potential factors influencing the climate, are discussed against the backdrop of scientific validity. Other key points covered are the description and analysis of the energy policy framework. One major aspect under study are all kinds of ''subsidies'' of energy resources and the consequences to the whole economy arising from these financial support mechanisms. The findings are projected onto the employment effects. Finally, the question is raised how to design an energy mix sustainable for the future, and how to achieve it politically and in society. (orig.)

  3. Free text adversity statements as part of a contextualised admissions process: a qualitative analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, Lysa E; Anderson, Stephanie Ann; Dowell, Johnathan S

    2018-04-02

    Medical schools globally are encouraged to widen access and participation for students from less privileged backgrounds. Many strategies have been implemented to address this inequality, but much still needs to be done to ensure fair access for all. In the literature, adverse circumstances include financial issues, poor educational experience and lack of professional-status parents. In order to take account of adverse circumstances faced by applicants, The University of Dundee School of Medicine offers applicants the opportunity to report circumstances which may have resulted in disadvantage. Applicants do this by completing a free text statement, known as an 'adversity statement', in addition to the other application information. This study analysed adversity statements submitted by applicants during two admissions cycles. Analysis of content and theme was done to identify the information applicants wished to be taken into consideration, and what range of adverse circumstances individuals reported. This study used a qualitative approach with thematic analysis to categorise the adversity statements. The data was initially analysed to create a coding framework which was then applied to the whole data set. Each coded segment was then analysed for heterogeneity and homogeneity, segments merged into generated themes, or to create sub-themes. The data set comprised a total of 384 adversity statements. These showed a wide range of detail involving family, personal health, education and living circumstances. Some circumstances, such as geographical location, have been identified and explored in previous research, while others, such as long term health conditions, have had less attention in the literature. The degree of impact, the length of statement and degree of detail, demonstrated wide variation between submissions. This study adds to the debate on best practice in contextual admissions and raises awareness of the range of circumstances and impact applicants wish to

  4. Aircraft and ground vehicle friction measurements obtained under winter runway conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yager, Thomas J.

    1989-01-01

    Tests with specially instrumented NASA B-737 and B-727 aircraft together with several different ground friction measuring devices have been conducted for a variety of runway surface types and wetness conditions. This effort is part of the Joint FAA/NASA Aircraft/Ground Vehicle Runway Friction Program aimed at obtaining a better understanding of aircraft ground handling performance under adverse weather conditions, and defining relationships between aircraft and ground vehicle tire friction measurements. Aircraft braking performance on dry, wet, snow-, and ice-covered runway conditions is discussed together with ground vehicle friction data obtained under similar runway conditions. For the wet, compacted snow- and ice-covered runway conditions, the relationship between ground vehicles and aircraft friction data is identified. The influence of major test parameters on friction measurements such as speed, test tire characteristics, and surface contaminant-type are discussed. The test results indicate that use of properly maintained and calibrated ground vehicles for monitoring runway friction conditions should be encouraged particularly under adverse weather conditions.

  5. Phase II Study of Autologous Monocyte-Derived mRNA Electroporated Dendritic Cells (TriMixDC-MEL) Plus Ipilimumab in Patients With Pretreated Advanced Melanoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilgenhof, Sofie; Corthals, Jurgen; Heirman, Carlo; van Baren, Nicolas; Lucas, Sophie; Kvistborg, Pia; Thielemans, Kris; Neyns, Bart

    2016-04-20

    Autologous monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs) electroporated with synthetic mRNA (TriMixDC-MEL) are immunogenic and have antitumor activity as a monotherapy in patients with pretreated advanced melanoma. Ipilimumab, an immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody directed against the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 receptor that counteracts physiologic suppression of T-cell function, improves the overall survival of patients with advanced melanoma. This phase II study investigated the combination of TriMixDC-MEL and ipilimumab in patients with pretreated advanced melanoma. Thirty-nine patients were treated with TriMixDC-MEL (4 × 10(6) cells administered intradermally and 20 × 10(6) cells administered intravenously) plus ipilimumab (10 mg/kg every 3 weeks for a total of four administrations, followed by maintenance therapy every 12 weeks in patients who remained progression free). Six-month disease control rate according to the immune-related response criteria served as the primary end point. The 6-month disease control rate was 51% (95% CI, 36% to 67%), and the overall tumor response rate was 38% (including eight complete and seven partial responses). Seven complete responses and one partial tumor response are ongoing after a median follow-up time of 36 months (range, 22 to 43 months). The most common treatment-related adverse events (all grades) consisted of local DC injection site skin reactions (100%), transient post-DC infusion chills (38%) and flu-like symptoms (84%), dermatitis (64%), hepatitis (13%), hypophysitis (15%), and diarrhea/colitis (15%). Grade 3 or 4 immune-related adverse events occurred in 36% of patients. There was no grade 5 adverse event. The combination of TriMixDC-MEL and ipilimumab is tolerable and results in an encouraging rate of highly durable tumor responses in patients with pretreated advanced melanoma. © 2016 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  6. Clozapine-induced severe mixed hyperlipidemia: a case report.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Ahmed, Mohamed

    2009-01-01

    To highlight the association between the use of clozapine and the early development of severe mixed hyperlipidemia, a condition that substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular events and other medical complications.

  7. Selfconsistent theory of Coulomb mixing in nuclei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pyatov, N.I.

    1978-01-01

    The theory of isobaric states is considered according to the Coulomb mixing in nuclei. For a given form of the isovestor potential the separable residual interactions are constructed by means of the isotopic invariance principle. The strength parameter of the force is found from a selfconsistency condition. The charge dependent force is represented by the Coulomb effective potential. The theory of the isobaric states is developed using the random phase approximation. The Coulomb mixing effects in the ground and isobaric 0 + states of even-mass nuclei are investigated

  8. The optimization of l-lactic acid production from sweet sorghum juice by mixed fermentation of Bacillus coagulans and Lactobacillus rhamnosus under unsterile conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yong; Chen, Changjing; Cai, Di; Wang, Zheng; Qin, Peiyong; Tan, Tianwei

    2016-10-01

    The cost reduction of raw material and sterilization could increase the economic feasibility of l-lactic acid fermentation, and the development of an cost-effective and efficient process is highly desired. To improve the efficiency of open fermentation by Lactobacillus rhamnosus based on sweet sorghum juice (SSJ) and to overcome sucrose utilization deficiency of Bacillus coagulans, a mixed fermentation was developed. Besides, the optimization of pH, sugar concentration and fermentation medium were also studied. Under the condition of mixed fermentation and controlled pH, a higher yield of 96.3% was achieved, compared to that (68.8%) in sole Lactobacillus rhamnosus fermentation. With an optimized sugar concentration and a stepwise-controlled pH, the l-lactic acid titer, yield and productivity reached 121gL(-1), 94.6% and 2.18gL(-1)h(-1), respectively. Furthermore, corn steep powder (CSP) as a cheap source of nitrogen and salts was proved to be an efficient supplement to SSJ in this process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Mixing of process heels, process solutions, and recycle streams: Results of the small-scale radioactive tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lumetta, G.J.; Bramson, J.P.; Farmer III, O.T.; Greenwood, L.R.; Hoopes, F.V.; Mann, M.A.; Steele, M.J.; Steele, R.T.; Swoboda, R.G.; Urie, M.W.

    2000-01-01

    Various recycle streams will be combined with the low-activity waste (LAW) or the high-level waste (HLW) feed solutions during the processing of the Hanford tank wastes by BNFL, Inc. In addition, the LAW and HLW feed solutions will also be mixed with heels present in the processing equipment. This report describes the results of a test conducted by Battelle to assess the effects of mixing specific process streams. Observations were made regarding adverse reactions (mainly precipitation) and effects on the Tc oxidation state (as indicated by K d measurements with SuperLigreg s ign 639). The work was conducted according to test plan BNFL-TP-29953-023, Rev. 0, Small Scale Mixing of Process Heels, Solutions, and Recycle Streams. The test went according to plan, with only minor deviations from the test plan. The deviations from the test plan are discussed in the experimental section

  10. Turnover, staffing, skill mix, and resident outcomes in a national sample of US nursing homes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trinkoff, Alison M; Han, Kihye; Storr, Carla L; Lerner, Nancy; Johantgen, Meg; Gartrell, Kyungsook

    2013-12-01

    The authors examined the relationship of staff turnover to selected nursing home quality outcomes, in the context of staffing and skill mix. Staff turnover is a serious concern in nursing homes as it has been found to adversely affect care. When employee turnover is minimized, better care quality is more likely in nursing homes. Data from the National Nursing Home Survey, a nationally representative sample of US nursing homes, were linked to Nursing Home Compare quality outcomes and analyzed using logistic regression. Nursing homes with high certified nursing assistant turnover had significantly higher odds of pressure ulcers, pain, and urinary tract infections even after controlling for staffing, skill mix, bed size, and ownership. Nurse turnover was associated with twice the odds of pressure ulcers, although this was attenuated when staffing was controlled. This study suggests turnover may be more important in explaining nursing home (NH) outcomes than staffing and skill mix and should therefore be given greater emphasis.

  11. Experimental and mathematical model of the interactions in the mixed culture of links in the "producer-consumer" cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pisman, T. I.; Galayda, Ya. V.

    The paper presents experimental and mathematical model of interactions between invertebrates the ciliates Paramecium caudatum and the rotifers Brachionus plicatilis and algae Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus quadricauda in the producer -- consumer aquatic biotic cycle with spatially separated components The model describes the dynamics of the mixed culture of ciliates and rotifers in the consumer component feeding on the mixed algal culture of the producer component It has been found that metabolites of the algae Scenedesmus produce an adverse effect on the reproduction of the ciliates P caudatum Taking into account this effect the results of investigation of the mathematical model were in qualitative agreement with the experimental results In the producer -- consumer biotic cycle it was shown that coexistence is impossible in the mixed algal culture of the producer component and in the mixed culture of invertebrates of the consumer component The ciliates P caudatum are driven out by the rotifers Brachionus plicatilis

  12. A laboratory investigation of mixing dynamics between biofuels and surface waters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiaoxiang; Cotel, Aline

    2017-11-01

    Recently, production and usage of ethanol-blend fuels or biofuels have increased dramatically along with increasing risk of spilling into surface waters. Lack of understanding of the environmental impacts and absence of standard clean-up procedures make it crucial to study the mixing behavior between biofuels and water. Biofuels are represented by a solution of ethanol and glycol. A Plexiglas tank in conjunction with a wave generator is used to simulate the mixing of surface waters and biofuels under different natural conditions. In our previous experiments, two distinct mixing regimes were observed. One regime was driven by turbulence and the other by interfacial instabilities. However, under more realistic situations, without wind driven waves, only the first mixing regime was found. After one minute of rapid turbulent mixing, biofuels and water were fully mixed and no interface was formed. During the mixing process, chemical reactions happened simultaneously and influenced mixing dynamics. Current experiments are investigating the effect of waves on the mixing dynamics. Support from NSF CBET 1335878.

  13. Computerized surveillance of opioid-related adverse drug events in perioperative care: a cross-sectional study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gattis Katherine G

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Given the complexity of surgical care, perioperative patients are at high risk of opioid-related adverse drug events. Existing methods of detection, such as trigger tools and manual chart review, are time-intensive which makes sustainability challenging. Using strategic rule design, computerized surveillance may be an efficient, pharmacist-driven model for event detection that leverages existing staff resources. Methods Computerized adverse drug event surveillance uses a logic-based rules engine to identify potential adverse drug events or evolving unsafe clinical conditions. We extended an inpatient rule (administration of naloxone to detect opioid-related oversedation and respiratory depression to perioperative care at a large academic medical center. Our primary endpoint was the adverse drug event rate. For all patients with a naloxone alert, manual chart review was performed by a perioperative clinical pharmacist to assess patient harm. In patients with confirmed oversedation, other patient safety event databases were queried to determine if they could detect duplicate, prior, or subsequent opioid-related events. Results We identified 419 cases of perioperative naloxone administration. Of these, 101 were given postoperatively and 69 were confirmed as adverse drug events after chart review yielding a rate of 1.89 adverse drug events/1000 surgical encounters across both the inpatient and ambulatory settings. Our ability to detect inpatient opioid adverse drug events increased 22.7% by expanding surveillance into perioperative care. Analysis of historical surveillance data as well as a voluntary reporting database revealed that 11 of our perioperative patients had prior or subsequent harmful oversedation. Nine of these cases received intraoperative naloxone, and 2 had received naloxone in the post-anesthesia care unit. Pharmacist effort was approximately 3 hours per week to evaluate naloxone alerts and confirm adverse drug

  14. Surveillance guidelines for smallpox vaccine (vaccinia) adverse reactions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casey, Christine; Vellozzi, Claudia; Mootrey, Gina T; Chapman, Louisa E; McCauley, Mary; Roper, Martha H; Damon, Inger; Swerdlow, David L

    2006-02-03

    CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rely on state and local health departments, health-care providers, and the public to report the occurrence of adverse events after vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. With such data, trends can be accurately monitored, unusual occurrences of adverse events can be detected, and the safety of vaccination intervention activities can be evaluated. On January 24, 2003, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) implemented a preparedness program in which smallpox (vaccinia) vaccine was administered to federal, state, and local volunteers who might be first responders during a biologic terrorism event. As part of the DHHS Smallpox Preparedness and Response Program, CDC in consultation with experts, established surveillance case definitions for adverse events after smallpox vaccination. Adverse reactions after smallpox vaccination identified during the 1960s surveillance activities were classified on the basis of clinical description and included eczema vaccinatum; fetal vaccinia; generalized vaccinia; accidental autoinoculation, nonocular; ocular vaccinia; progressive vaccinia; erythema multiforme major; postvaccinial encephalitis or encephalomyelitis; and pyogenic infection of the vaccination site. This report provides uniform criteria used for the surveillance case definition and classification for these previously recognized adverse reactions used during the DHHS Smallpox Preparedness and Response Program. Inadvertent inoculation was changed to more precisely describe this event as inadvertent autoinoculation and contact transmission, nonocular and ocular vaccinia. Pyogenic infection also was renamed superinfection of the vaccination site or regional lymph nodes. Finally, case definitions were developed for a new cardiac adverse reaction (myo/pericarditis) and for a cardiac adverse event (dilated cardiomyopathy) and are included in this report. The smallpox vaccine surveillance case

  15. Rare and very rare adverse effects of clozapine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    De Fazio P

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Pasquale De Fazio,1 Raffaele Gaetano,1 Mariarita Caroleo,1 Gregorio Cerminara,1 Francesca Maida,2 Antonio Bruno,3 Maria Rosaria Muscatello,3 Maria Jose Jaén Moreno,4 Emilio Russo,2 Cristina Segura-García1 1Department of Health Sciences, School of Specialization in Psychiatry, 2Department of Health Sciences, School of Specialization in Pharmacology, University “Magna Graecia”, Catanzaro, 3Department of Neurosciences, School of Specialization in Psychiatry, University of Messina, Messina, Italy; 4Department of Social Health Sciences, Radiology and Physical Medicine, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain Abstract: Clozapine (CLZ is the drug of choice for the treatment of resistant schizophrenia; however, its suitable use is limited by the complex adverse effects’ profile. The best-described adverse effects in the literature are represented by agranulocytosis, myocarditis, sedation, weight gain, hypotension, and drooling; nevertheless, there are other known adverse effects that psychiatrists should readily recognize and manage. This review covers the “rare” and “very rare” known adverse effects of CLZ, which have been accurately described in literature. An extensive search on the basis of predefined criteria was made using CLZ and its combination with adverse effects as keywords in electronic databases. Data show the association between the use of CLZ and uncommon adverse effects, including ischemic colitis, paralytic ileus, hematemesis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, priapism, urinary incontinence, pityriasis rosea, intertriginous erythema, pulmonary thromboembolism, pseudo-pheochromocytoma, periorbital edema, and parotitis, which are influenced by other variables including age, early diagnosis, and previous/current pharmacological therapies. Some of these adverse effects, although unpredictable, are often manageable if promptly recognized and treated. Others are serious and potentially life-threatening. However, an adequate

  16. Mixing ratio sensor for alcohol mixed fuel

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Miyata, Shigeru; Matsubara, Yoshihiro

    1987-08-24

    In order to improve the combustion efficiency of an internal combustion engine using gasoline-alcohol mixed fuel and to reduce harmful substance in its exhaust gas, it is necessary to control strictly the air-fuel ratio to be supplied and the ignition timing. In order to detect the mixing ratio of the mixed fuel, a mixing ratio sensor has so far been proposed to detect the above mixing ratio by casting a ray of light to the mixed fuel and utilizing a change of critical angle associated with the change of the composition of the fluid of the mixed fuel. However, because of the arrangement of its transparent substance in the fuel passage with the sealing material in between, this sensor invited the leakage of the fluid due to deterioration of the sealing material, etc. and its cost became high because of too many parts to be assembled. In view of the above, in order to reduce the number of parts, to lower the cost of parts and the assembling cost and to secure no fluid leakage from the fuel passage, this invention formed the above fuel passage and the above transparent substance both concerning the above mixing ratio sensor in an integrated manner using light transmitting resin. (3 figs)

  17. Reliability assessment of competing risks with generalized mixed shock models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rafiee, Koosha; Feng, Qianmei; Coit, David W.

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates reliability modeling for systems subject to dependent competing risks considering the impact from a new generalized mixed shock model. Two dependent competing risks are soft failure due to a degradation process, and hard failure due to random shocks. The shock process contains fatal shocks that can cause hard failure instantaneously, and nonfatal shocks that impact the system in three different ways: 1) damaging the unit by immediately increasing the degradation level, 2) speeding up the deterioration by accelerating the degradation rate, and 3) weakening the unit strength by reducing the hard failure threshold. While the first impact from nonfatal shocks comes from each individual shock, the other two impacts are realized when the condition for a new generalized mixed shock model is satisfied. Unlike most existing mixed shock models that consider a combination of two shock patterns, our new generalized mixed shock model includes three classic shock patterns. According to the proposed generalized mixed shock model, the degradation rate and the hard failure threshold can simultaneously shift multiple times, whenever the condition for one of these three shock patterns is satisfied. An example using micro-electro-mechanical systems devices illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach with sensitivity analysis. - Highlights: • A rich reliability model for systems subject to dependent failures is proposed. • The degradation rate and the hard failure threshold can shift simultaneously. • The shift is triggered by a new generalized mixed shock model. • The shift can occur multiple times under the generalized mixed shock model.

  18. Mixing processes at the subsurface layer in the Amundsen Sea shelf region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mojica, J.; Djoumna, G.; Francis, D. K.; Holland, D.

    2017-12-01

    In the Amundsen Sea shelf region, mixing processes promote an upward transport of diapycnal fluxes of heat and salt from the subsurface to the surface mixing layer. Here we estimate the diapycnal mixing rates on the Amundsen shelf from a multi-year mooring cluster and five research cruises. By applying fine-scale parameterizations, the mixing rates obtained were higher near the southern end of Pine Island glacier front and exceeded 10-2 m2s-1. The eddy diffusivity increased near the critical latitude (74o 28' S) for semi-diurnal M2 tides, which coincided with near-critical topography on the shelf. This condition favored the generation of internal waves of M2 frequency. The semi-diurnal dynamic enhanced the mixing that potentially affected the heat budget and the circulation of the modified Circumpolar Deep Water. This can be observed in the characteristics of water exchange both below the ice shelves and between the continental shelf and the ice shelf cavities. The location of the critical latitude and critical topography provided favorable conditions for the generation of internal waves. KEYWORDS: Mixing processes, diapycnal fluxes, critical latitude, Circumpolar Deep Water.

  19. Gender differences in the effects of childhood adversity on alcohol, drug, and polysubstance-related disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Elizabeth A; Grella, Christine E; Upchurch, Dawn M

    2017-07-01

    To examine gender differences in the associations between childhood adversity and different types of substance use disorders and whether gender moderates these relationships. We analyzed data from 19,209 women and 13,898 men as provided by Wave 2 (2004-2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to examine whether gender moderates the associations between childhood adversity and DSM-IV defined lifetime occurrence of alcohol, drug, and polysubstance-related disorders. We used multinomial logistic regression, weighted to be representative of the US adult civilian, noninstitutionalized population, and we calculated predicted probabilities by gender, controlling for covariates. To test which specific moderation contrasts were statistically significant, we conducted pair-wise comparisons corrected for multiple comparisons using Bonferroni's method. For each type of substance use disorder, risk was increased by more exposure to childhood adversity, and women had a lower risk than men. However, moderation effects revealed that with more experiences of childhood adversity, the gender gap in predicted probability for a disorder narrowed in relation to alcohol, it converged in relation to drugs such that risk among women surpassed that among men, and it widened in relation to polysubstances. Knowledge regarding substance-specific gender differences associated with childhood adversity exposure can inform evidence-based treatments. It may also be useful for shaping other types of gender-sensitive public health initiatives to ameliorate or prevent different types of substance use disorders.

  20. Flight in Adverse Environmental Condition

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-01-01

    more frequently. the beginner like behaviour of the active automatic throttle control system is very unpleasent for experienced pilots. - besides...predict the details of an aircraft icing encounter. The flowchart in Fig. 5 show: the many codes required to form such an over- all icing analysis

  1. A general mixed boundary model reduction method for component mode synthesis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Voormeeren, S.N.; Van der Valk, P.L.C.; Rixen, D.J.

    2010-01-01

    A classic issue in component mode synthesis (CMS) methods is the choice for fixed or free boundary conditions at the interface degrees of freedom (DoF) and the associated vibration modes in the components reduction base. In this paper, a novel mixed boundary CMS method called the “Mixed

  2. Mixed culture engineering for steering starter functionality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Spuś, Maciej

    2016-01-01

    Undefined mixed complex starter cultures are broadly used in Gouda-type cheese production due to their robustness to phage predation, resilience for changes in environmental conditions and aroma compounds production ability during ripening. These microbial communities of lactic acid bacteria

  3. Childhood adversities as specific contributors to the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress and alcohol use disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Mario; Vandeleur, Caroline; Rodgers, Stephanie; Rössler, Wulf; Castelao, Enrique; Preisig, Martin; Ajdacic-Gross, Vladeta

    2015-08-30

    There is much evidence that alcohol use disorders (AUD) often co-occur with posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and that the comorbid condition is associated with a more severe clinical profile than that of PTSD without AUD. However, little is known about the role of childhood adversities as specific risk factors for the development of AUD in individuals presenting with PTSD. The aim of the study was to explore whether specific stressors from the spectrum of trauma and childhood adversities contribute to the development of AUD among subjects with PTSD. From a large community sample, of N=140 individuals with PTSD, N=24 (17.14%) received an additional diagnosis of AUD with an onset after the onset of PTSD. Those with comorbid PTSD/AUD and those with PTSD only were compared regarding type and features of their trauma, childhood adversities and psychiatric comorbidity. Compared to PTSD alone, PTSD/AUD was associated with higher levels of stress in terms of childhood adversities; in particular, sexual abuse below the age of 16, but also with having been brought up in a foster home. PTSD/AUD was also associated with an earlier age of adverse events. Treatment of AUD should include standardized assessments of trauma, especially of trauma experienced during childhood. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Transfusion-related adverse reactions: From institutional hemovigilance effort to National Hemovigilance program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahul Vasudev

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Aims: In this study we have evaluated the various adverse reactions related to transfusion occurring in our institution as a pilot institutional effort toward a hemovigilance program. This study will also help in understanding the problems faced by blood banks/Transfusion Medicine departments in implementing an effective hemovigilance program. Materials and Methods: All the adverse reactions related to transfusion of whole blood and its components in various clinical specialties were studied for a period of 1 year. Any transfusion-related adverse event was worked up in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS and departmental standard operating procedures. Results: During the study period from November 1, 2011 to October 31, 2012, 45812 components were issued [30939 WB/PRBC; 12704 fresh frozen plasma (FFP; 2169 platelets]. Risk estimation per 1000 units of red cells (WB/PRBC transfused was estimated to be: 0.8 for febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reaction (FNHTR, 0.7 for allergic reaction, 0.19 for acute hemolytic transfusion reaction (AcHTR, 0.002 for anaphylactoid reactions, 0.1 for bacterial sepsis, and 0.06 for hypervolemia and hypocalcemia. 0.09 is the risk for delayed transfusion reaction and 0.03 is the risk for transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI. Risk estimate per 1,000 units of platelets transfused was estimated to be 1.38 for FNHTR, 1.18 for allergic reaction, and 1 in case of bacterial sepsis. Risk estimation per 1,000 units of FFP was estimated to be 0.15 for FNHTR and 0.2 for allergic reactions. Conclusions: Factors such as clerical checks at various levels, improvement in blood storage conditions outside blood banks, leukodepletion, better inventory management, careful donor screening, bedside monitoring of transfusion, and documentation of adverse events may decrease transfusion-related adverse events. Better coordination between transfusion specialists and various clinical

  5. Iterative method for solving a problem with mixed boundary conditions for biharmonic equation arising in fracture mechanics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dang Quang A

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we consider a mixed boundary value problem for biharmonic equation of the Airy stress function which models a crack problem of a solid elastic plate. An iterative method for reducing the problem to a sequence of mixed problems for Poisson equations is proposed and investigated. The convergence of the method is established theoretically and illustrated on many numerical experiments.

  6. TRENDS IN ESTIMATED MIXING DEPTH DAILY MAXIMUMS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buckley, R; Amy DuPont, A; Robert Kurzeja, R; Matt Parker, M

    2007-11-12

    Mixing depth is an important quantity in the determination of air pollution concentrations. Fireweather forecasts depend strongly on estimates of the mixing depth as a means of determining the altitude and dilution (ventilation rates) of smoke plumes. The Savannah River United States Forest Service (USFS) routinely conducts prescribed fires at the Savannah River Site (SRS), a heavily wooded Department of Energy (DOE) facility located in southwest South Carolina. For many years, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has provided forecasts of weather conditions in support of the fire program, including an estimated mixing depth using potential temperature and turbulence change with height at a given location. This paper examines trends in the average estimated mixing depth daily maximum at the SRS over an extended period of time (4.75 years) derived from numerical atmospheric simulations using two versions of the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS). This allows for differences to be seen between the model versions, as well as trends on a multi-year time frame. In addition, comparisons of predicted mixing depth for individual days in which special balloon soundings were released are also discussed.

  7. Typologies of adverse childhood experiences and their relationship to incarceration in U.S. military veterans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Jana; Waterhouse-Bradley, Bethany; Contractor, Ateka A; Armour, Cherie

    2018-05-01

    Numerous studies have reported that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with negative psychosocial outcomes in adulthood, but no study has examined the different typologies of ACEs and the relationship of these with adult incarceration in military veterans. The current study used latent class analysis to examine the existence of different childhood maltreatment and household dysfunction typologies in a sample of U.S. military veterans identified through the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III ((NESARC-III)). A total of 60.73% of veterans reported one or more ACEs. Four latent classes were identified and were named Low adversities, Moderate maltreatment with high household substance use, Severe maltreatment with moderate household dysfunction and Severe multi-type adversities. Relative to the Low adversities class, the three maltreatment/dysfunction classes had significantly elevated odds ratios (1.72-2.29) for adult incarceration, when controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and alcohol and drug use. The results point to the importance of examining childhood risk factors for incarceration and suggest that a certain sub-group of military personnel who are about to transition into the civilian life may need additional support to adjust and live successful lives. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Latino children’s autonomic nervous system reactivity moderates the relations between cumulative socioeconomic adversity in the first five years and externalizing behavior problems at seven years

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abbey Alkon

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Thirty-seven percent of Hispanic and Latino children under 5 years of age are living in poverty in the United States. Children growing up under conditions of cumulative adversity are at much greater risk for compromised psychosocial adjustment with long-lasting ramifications for mental and physical health. This study assessed whether the relations between adversity early in life and later externalizing behaviors was moderated by children’s autonomic nervous system (ANS reactivity for immigrant, poor, MexicanAmerican children. Methods: A cumulative socioeconomic adversity index of children’s exposure to poverty, father’s absence, household crowding, mothers speaking Spanish, and poor housing condition at 6 months and 1, 3.5, and 5 years of age was calculated. At 5 years, ANS profiles during resting and social- and emotion-evoking challenges were calculated as combined parasympathetic and sympathetic difference scores. At 7 years, parents assessed children’s externalizing behavior problems. Results: Multiple regression models (n=220 showed that the relations between cumulative socioeconomic adversity and externalizing behaviors were moderated by children’s ANS profiles of coactivation during a social, not emotion-evoking, challenge, controlling for relevant covariates. Conclusions: Children living in adverse conditions early in life with specific psychobiologic responses to social challenges may be at risk for developing externalizing behavior problems later in life.

  9. Early fetal size and growth as predictors of adverse outcome

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Nina Gros; Figueras, Francesc; Wøjdemann, Karen R

    2008-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between fetal size and growth between the first and second trimesters and subsequent adverse pregnancy outcome. METHODS: A cohort was created of 7,642 singleton pregnancies cared for in three obstetric units associated with Copenhagen University. Data were...... obtained from ultrasound measurements at 11-14 weeks (crown-rump length, biparietal diameter) and 17-21 weeks (biparietal diameter). Fetal size was assessed by gestation-specific z scores, and fetal growth between the first and second trimester was calculated individually using conditional centiles....... The main outcome measures were preterm delivery, smallness for gestational age, and perinatal death. RESULTS: Slow growth of the biparietal diameter less than the 10th and less than the 2.5th conditional centiles between first and second trimesters occurred in 10.4% and 3.6% of the population, respectively...

  10. Confounding and Statistical Significance of Indirect Effects: Childhood Adversity, Education, Smoking, and Anxious and Depressive Symptomatology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mashhood Ahmed Sheikh

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The life course perspective, the risky families model, and stress-and-coping models provide the rationale for assessing the role of smoking as a mediator in the association between childhood adversity and anxious and depressive symptomatology (ADS in adulthood. However, no previous study has assessed the independent mediating role of smoking in the association between childhood adversity and ADS in adulthood. Moreover, the importance of mediator-response confounding variables has rarely been demonstrated empirically in social and psychiatric epidemiology. The aim of this paper was to (i assess the mediating role of smoking in adulthood in the association between childhood adversity and ADS in adulthood, and (ii assess the change in estimates due to different mediator-response confounding factors (education, alcohol intake, and social support. The present analysis used data collected from 1994 to 2008 within the framework of the Tromsø Study (N = 4,530, a representative prospective cohort study of men and women. Seven childhood adversities (low mother's education, low father's education, low financial conditions, exposure to passive smoke, psychological abuse, physical abuse, and substance abuse distress were used to create a childhood adversity score. Smoking status was measured at a mean age of 54.7 years (Tromsø IV, and ADS in adulthood was measured at a mean age of 61.7 years (Tromsø V. Mediation analysis was used to assess the indirect effect and the proportion of mediated effect (% of childhood adversity on ADS in adulthood via smoking in adulthood. The test-retest reliability of smoking was good (Kappa: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.63; 0.71 in this sample. Childhood adversity was associated with a 10% increased risk of smoking in adulthood (Relative risk: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.03; 1.18, and both childhood adversity and smoking in adulthood were associated with greater levels of ADS in adulthood (p < 0.001. Smoking in adulthood did not significantly

  11. Population dynamics during startup of thermophilic anaerobic digesters: The mixing factor

    KAUST Repository

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A.

    2013-11-01

    Two thermophilic digesters were inoculated with manure and started-up under mixed and stagnant conditions. The Archaea in the mixed digester (A) were dominated by hydrogenotrophic Methanobateriaceae (61%) with most of the methane being produced via syntrophic pathways. Methanosarcinales (35%) were the only acetoclastic methanogens present. Acetate dissipation seems to depend on balanced hydrogenotrophic-to-acetotrophic abundance, which in turn was statistically correlated to free ammonia levels. Relative abundance of bacterial community was associated with the loading rate. However, in the absence of mixing (digester B), the relationship between microbial composition and operating parameters was not discernible. This was attributed to the development of microenvironments where environmental conditions are significantly different from average measured parameters. The impact of microenvironments was accentuated by the use of a non-acclimated seed that lacks adequate propionate degraders. Failure to disperse the accumulated propionate, and other organics, created high concentration niches where competitive and inhibiting conditions developed and favored undesired genera, such as Halobacteria (65% in B). As a result, digester B experienced higher acid levels and lower allowable loading rate. Mixing was found necessary to dissipate potential inhibitors, and improve stability and loading capacity, particularly when a non-acclimated seed, often lacking balanced thermophilic microflora, is used. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

  12. Population dynamics during startup of thermophilic anaerobic digesters: the mixing factor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghanimeh, Sophia A; Saikaly, Pascal E; Li, Dong; El-Fadel, Mutasem

    2013-11-01

    Two thermophilic digesters were inoculated with manure and started-up under mixed and stagnant conditions. The Archaea in the mixed digester (A) were dominated by hydrogenotrophic Methanobateriaceae (61%) with most of the methane being produced via syntrophic pathways. Methanosarcinales (35%) were the only acetoclastic methanogens present. Acetate dissipation seems to depend on balanced hydrogenotrophic-to-acetotrophic abundance, which in turn was statistically correlated to free ammonia levels. Relative abundance of bacterial community was associated with the loading rate. However, in the absence of mixing (digester B), the relationship between microbial composition and operating parameters was not discernible. This was attributed to the development of microenvironments where environmental conditions are significantly different from average measured parameters. The impact of microenvironments was accentuated by the use of a non-acclimated seed that lacks adequate propionate degraders. Failure to disperse the accumulated propionate, and other organics, created high concentration niches where competitive and inhibiting conditions developed and favored undesired genera, such as Halobacteria (65% in B). As a result, digester B experienced higher acid levels and lower allowable loading rate. Mixing was found necessary to dissipate potential inhibitors, and improve stability and loading capacity, particularly when a non-acclimated seed, often lacking balanced thermophilic microflora, is used. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Biodegradation of sulfamethoxazole by individual and mixed bacteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larcher, Simone; Yargeau, Viviane

    2011-07-01

    Antibiotic compounds, like sulfamethoxazole (SMX), have become a concern in the aquatic environment due to the potential development of antibacterial resistances. Due to excretion and disposal, SMX has been frequently detected in wastewaters and surface waters. SMX removal in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) ranges from 0% to 90%, and there are opposing results regarding its biodegradability at lab scale. The objective of this research was to determine the ability of pure cultures of individual and mixed consortia of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas putida, Rhodococcus equi, Rhodococcus erythropolis, Rhodococcus rhodocrous, and Rhodococcus zopfii) known to exist in WWTP activated sludge to remove SMX. Results showed that R. equi alone had the greatest ability to remove SMX leading to 29% removal (with glucose) and the formation of a metabolite. Degradation pathways and metabolite structures have been proposed based on the potential enzymes produced by R. equi. When R. equi was mixed with other microorganisms, a positive synergistic effect was not observed and the maximum SMX removal achieved was 5%. This indicates that pure culture results cannot be extrapolated to mixed culture conditions, and the methodology developed here to study the biodegradability of compounds under controlled mixed culture conditions offers an alternative to conventional studies using pure bacterial cultures or inocula from activated sludge sources consisting of unknown and variable microbial populations.

  14. Mixing-Structure Relationship in Jet-Stirred Reactors

    KAUST Repository

    Ayass, Wassim W.

    2016-05-26

    In this study, measurements were performed to assess the overall mixing in jet-stirred reactors (JSRs) passively agitated by feed nozzles. The reactor diameter, nozzle shape, and nozzle diameter were varied to determine the effects of these geometrical parameters on mixing. The mixing was studied at ambient conditions using laser absorption spectroscopy to follow the exit concentration of a tracer gas, carbon dioxide, after a step change in its input flow. The results indicate that the use of a JSR of diameter D = 40 mm, having inclined or crossed nozzles of diameter d = 1 mm is recommended for low residence times up to 0.4 sec, while at moderate/high residence times 0.5-5 sec the use of a JSR of D = 56 mm and d = 0.3 mm having crossed nozzles is suggested.

  15. Evaluation of mixing rules for VLE calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adachi, Y.; Chung, W.K.; Lu, B.C.Y.; Yu, J.M.

    1983-01-01

    This chapter calculates vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) values for a number of binary systems of cryogenic interest, including hydrogen- and helium-containing mixtures, by means of several selected cubic equations of state using different sets of mixing rules. The aim is to test the capabilities of these equations for representing VLE values for the selected mixtures, and to identify and recommend the most suitable equation of state together with its compatible mixing rules for the desired data representation. It is determined that the conventional mixing rules together with the modified van der Waals equation, or the four-parameter equation, are suitable for calculating VLE values for the selected systems at cryogenic conditions. The Peng-Robinson and four-parameter equations may yield slightly better results for helium-containing systems

  16. The cost of nurse-sensitive adverse events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pappas, Sharon Holcombe

    2008-05-01

    The aim of this study was to describe the methodology for nursing leaders to determine the cost of adverse events and effective levels of nurse staffing. The growing transparency of quality and cost outcomes motivates healthcare leaders to optimize the effectiveness of nurse staffing. Most hospitals have robust cost accounting systems that provide actual patient-level direct costs. These systems allow an analysis of the cost consumed by patients during a hospital stay. By knowing the cost of complications, leaders have the ability to justify the cost of improved staffing when quality evidence shows that higher nurse staffing improves quality. An analysis was performed on financial and clinical data from hospital databases of 3,200 inpatients. The purpose was to establish a methodology to determine actual cost per case. Three diagnosis-related groups were the focus of the analysis. Five adverse events were analyzed along with the costs. A regression analysis reported that the actual direct cost of an adverse event was dollars 1,029 per case in the congestive heart failure cases and dollars 903 in the surgical cases. There was a significant increase in the cost per case in medical patients with urinary tract infection and pressure ulcers and in surgical patients with urinary tract infection and pneumonia. The odds of pneumonia occurring in surgical patients decreased with additional registered nurse hours per patient day. Hospital cost accounting systems are useful in determining the cost of adverse events and can aid in decision making about nurse staffing. Adverse events add costs to patient care and should be measured at the unit level to adjust staffing to reduce adverse events and avoid costs.

  17. Influence of stimulated Raman scattering on the conversion efficiency in four wave mixing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wunderlich, R.; Moore, M.A.; Garrett, W.R.; Payne, M.G.

    1988-01-01

    Secondary nonlinear optical effects following parametric four wave mixing in sodium vapor are investigated. The generated ultraviolet radiation induces stimulated Raman scattering and other four wave mixing process. Population transfer due to Raman transitions strongly influences the phase matching conditions for the primary mixing process. Pulse shortening and a reduction in conversion efficiency are observed. 8 refs., 3 figs

  18. Enhanced kefiran production by mixed culture of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheirsilp, Benjamas; Shimizu, Hiroshi; Shioya, Suteaki

    2003-01-09

    In a batch mixed culture of Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which could assimilate lactic acid, cell growth and kefiran production rates of L. kefiranofaciens significantly increased, compared with those in pure cultures. The kefiran production rate was 36 mg l(-1) h(-1) in the mixed culture under the anaerobic condition, which was greater than that in the pure culture (24 mg l(-1) h(-1)). Under the aerobic condition, a more intensive interaction between these two strains was observed and higher kefiran production rate (44 mg l(-1) h(-1)) was obtained compared with that under the anaerobic condition. Kefiran production was further enhanced by an addition of fresh medium in the fed-batch mixed culture. In the fed-batch mixed culture, a final kefiran concentration of 5.41 g l(-1) was achieved at 87 h, thereby attaining the highest productivity at 62 mg l(-1) h(-1). Simulation study considered the reduction of lactic acid in pure culture was performed to estimate the additional effect of coculture with S. cerevisiae. Slightly higher cell growth and kefiran production rates in the mixed culture than those expected from pure culture by simulation were observed. These results suggest that coculture of L. kefiranofaciens and S. cerevisiae not only reduces the lactic acid concentration by consumption but also stimulates cell growth and kefiran production of L. kefiranofaciens.

  19. Ventral striatal activity links adversity and reward processing in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niki H. Kamkar

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Adversity impacts many aspects of psychological and physical development including reward-based learning and decision-making. Mechanisms relating adversity and reward processing in children, however, remain unclear. Here, we show that adversity is associated with potentiated learning from positive outcomes and impulsive decision-making, but unrelated to learning from negative outcomes. We then show via functional magnetic resonance imaging that the link between adversity and reward processing is partially mediated by differences in ventral striatal response to rewards. The findings suggest that early-life adversity is associated with alterations in the brain’s sensitivity to rewards accounting, in part, for the link between adversity and altered reward processing in children.

  20. Family Adversity and Resilience Measures in Pediatric Acute Care Settings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Malley, Donna M; Randell, Kimberly A; Dowd, M Denise

    2016-01-01

    Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact health across the life course. The purpose of this study was to identify caregiver ACEs, current adversity, and resilience in families seeking care in pediatric acute care settings. Study aims included identifying demographic characteristics, current adversities, and resilience measures associated with caregiver ACEs ≥4. A cross-sectional survey study design was used and a convenience sample (n = 470) recruited at emergency and urgent care settings of a large Midwest pediatric hospital system. Measures were self-reported. The original 10-item ACEs questionnaire measured caregiver past adversity. Current adversity was measured using the 10-item IHELP. The six-item Brief Resiliency Scale measured resilience, and WHO-5 Well-Being Index was used to measure depressive affect. Compared to participants with ACEs score of 0-3 participants with ACEs ≥4 were more likely to have multiple current adversities, increased risk of depression, and lower resilience. Caregivers using pediatric acute care settings carry a high burden of ACEs and current adversities. Caregiver ACEs are associated with current child experiences of adversity. Caregivers socioeconomic status and education level may not be an accurate indicator of a family's risks or needs. Pediatric acute care settings offer opportunities to access, intervene, and prevent childhood adversity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Reliability of the peer-review process for adverse event rating.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan J Forster

    Full Text Available Adverse events are poor patient outcomes caused by medical care. Their identification requires the peer-review of poor outcomes, which may be unreliable. Combining physician ratings might improve the accuracy of adverse event classification.To evaluate the variation in peer-reviewer ratings of adverse outcomes; determine the impact of this variation on estimates of reviewer accuracy; and determine the number of reviewers who judge an adverse event occurred that is required to ensure that the true probability of an adverse event exceeded 50%, 75% or 95%.Thirty physicians rated 319 case reports giving details of poor patient outcomes following hospital discharge. They rated whether medical management caused the outcome using a six-point ordinal scale. We conducted latent class analyses to estimate the prevalence of adverse events as well as the sensitivity and specificity of each reviewer. We used this model and Bayesian calculations to determine the probability that an adverse event truly occurred to each patient as function of their number of positive ratings.The overall median score on the 6-point ordinal scale was 3 (IQR 2,4 but the individual rater median score ranged from a minimum of 1 (in four reviewers to a maximum median score of 5. The overall percentage of cases rated as an adverse event was 39.7% (3798/9570. The median kappa for all pair-wise combinations of the 30 reviewers was 0.26 (IQR 0.16, 0.42; Min = -0.07, Max = 0.62. Reviewer sensitivity and specificity for adverse event classification ranged from 0.06 to 0.93 and 0.50 to 0.98, respectively. The estimated prevalence of adverse events using a latent class model with a common sensitivity and specificity for all reviewers (0.64 and 0.83 respectively was 47.6%. For patients to have a 95% chance of truly having an adverse event, at least 3 of 3 reviewers are required to deem the outcome an adverse event.Adverse event classification is unreliable. To be certain that a case

  2. Evaluation of warm mix asphalt for Alaska conditions : [summary].

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-01

    This project developed and tested protocols to determine concrete curing strength during the construction process, so that : building under very cold conditions can be performed safely and quickly. Researchers determined the laboratory strengthmaturi...

  3. MATTER MIXING IN ASPHERICAL CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE: A SEARCH FOR POSSIBLE CONDITIONS FOR CONVEYING {sup 56}Ni INTO HIGH VELOCITY REGIONS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ono, Masaomi; Nagataki, Shigehiro; Ito, Hirotaka; Lee, Shiu-Hang; Mao, Jirong; Tolstov, Alexey [Astrophysical Big Bang Laboratory, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198 (Japan); Hashimoto, Masa-aki, E-mail: masaomi.ono@riken.jp [Department of Physics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581 (Japan)

    2013-08-20

    We perform two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations of matter mixing in aspherical core-collapse supernova explosions of a 16.3 M{sub Sun} star with a compact hydrogen envelope. Observations of SN 1987A have provided evidence that {sup 56}Ni synthesized by explosive nucleosynthesis is mixed into fast moving matter ({approx}>3500 km s{sup -1}) in the exploding star. In order to clarify the key conditions for reproducing such high velocity of {sup 56}Ni, we revisit matter mixing in aspherical core-collapse supernova explosions. Explosions are initiated artificially by injecting thermal and kinetic energies around the interface between the iron core and the silicon-rich layer. Perturbations of 5% or 30% amplitude in the radial velocities are introduced at several points in time. We find that no high velocity {sup 56}Ni can be obtained if we consider bipolar explosions with perturbations (5% amplitude) of pre-supernova origins. If large perturbations (30% amplitude) are introduced or exist due to some unknown mechanism in a later phase just before the shock wave reaches the hydrogen envelope, {sup 56}Ni with a velocity of 3000 km s{sup -1} can be obtained. Aspherical explosions that are asymmetric across the equatorial plane with clumpy structures in the initial shock waves are investigated. We find that the clump sizes affect the penetration of {sup 56}Ni. Finally, we report that an aspherical explosion model that is asymmetric across the equatorial plane with multiple perturbations of pre-supernova origins can cause the penetration of {sup 56}Ni clumps into fast moving matter of 3000 km s{sup -1}. We show that both aspherical explosions with clumpy structures and perturbations of pre-supernova origins may be necessary to reproduce the observed high velocity of {sup 56}Ni. To confirm this, more robust three-dimensional simulations are required.

  4. Financial impact of inaccurate Adverse Event recording post Hip Fracture surgery: Addendum to 'Adverse event recording post hip fracture surgery'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Matthew J; Doody, Kevin; Mohamed, Khalid M S; Butler, Audrey; Street, John; Lenehan, Brian

    2018-02-15

    A study in 2011 by (Doody et al. Ir Med J 106(10):300-302, 2013) looked at comparing inpatient adverse events recorded prospectively at the point of care, with adverse events recorded by the national Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) System. In the study, a single-centre University Hospital in Ireland treating acute hip fractures in an orthopaedic unit recorded 39 patients over a 2-month (August-September 2011) period, with 55 adverse events recorded prospectively in contrast to the HIPE record of 13 (23.6%) adverse events. With the recent change in the Irish hospital funding model from block grant to an 'activity-based funding' on the basis of case load and case complexity, the hospital financial allocation is dependent on accurate case complexity coding. A retrospective assessment of the financial implications of the two methods of adverse incident recording was carried out. A total of €39,899 in 'missed funding' for 2 months was calculated when the ward-based, prospectively collected data was compared to the national HIPE data. Accurate data collection is paramount in facilitating activity-based funding, to improve patient care and ensure the appropriate allocation of resources.

  5. Common adverse drug reactions with psychiatric medications and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Common adverse drug reactions with psychiatric medications and an approach to their management: Adverse drug reactions are as important in psychiatric practice as they are in any other branch of medicine.

  6. Mixing by rotary jet heads: Indications of the benefits of head rotation under turbulent and transitional flow conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordkvist, Mikkel; Vognsen, Marie; Nienow, Alfred W.

    2008-01-01

    Mixing times were obtained by the iodine-thiosulphate decolorization technique using rotary jet heads (RJH) for mixing in a Perspex tank with an inner diameter of 0.75 m and an aspect ratio of 2.5 using both water (turbulent flow) and shear-thinning, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions...

  7. Effect of exercise on patient specific abdominal aortic aneurysm flow topology and mixing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arzani, Amirhossein; Les, Andrea S; Dalman, Ronald L; Shadden, Shawn C

    2014-02-01

    Computational fluid dynamics modeling was used to investigate changes in blood transport topology between rest and exercise conditions in five patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm models. MRI was used to provide the vascular anatomy and necessary boundary conditions for simulating blood velocity and pressure fields inside each model. Finite-time Lyapunov exponent fields and associated Lagrangian coherent structures were computed from blood velocity data and were used to compare features of the transport topology between rest and exercise both mechanistically and qualitatively. A mix-norm and mix-variance measure based on fresh blood distribution throughout the aneurysm over time were implemented to quantitatively compare mixing between rest and exercise. Exercise conditions resulted in higher and more uniform mixing and reduced the overall residence time in all aneurysms. Separated regions of recirculating flow were commonly observed in rest, and these regions were either reduced or removed by attached and unidirectional flow during exercise, or replaced with regional chaotic and transiently turbulent mixing, or persisted and even extended during exercise. The main factor that dictated the change in flow topology from rest to exercise was the behavior of the jet of blood penetrating into the aneurysm during systole. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Transfusion-related adverse events at the tertiary care center in North India: An institutional hemovigilance effort

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bhattacharya Prasun

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim: This study was designed to analyze the incidence and spectrum of adverse effects of blood transfusion so as to initiate measures to minimize risks and improve overall transfusion safety in the institute. Materials and Methods: During the period from July 2002 to July 2003 all the adverse events related to transfusion of blood and blood components in various clinical specialties were recorded. They were analyzed and classified on the basis of their clinical features and laboratory tests. Attempt was also made to study the predisposing risk factors. Results: During the study period 56,503 blood and blood components were issued to 29,720 patients. A total of 105 adverse reactions due to transfusion were observed during the study period. A majority of the adverse reactions was observed in hemato-oncology patients 43% (n = 45 and in presensitized patient groups 63% (n = 66. FNHTR 41% (n = 43 and allergic reactions 34% (n = 36 were the most common of all types of adverse transfusion reactions, followed by AcHTR 8.56% (n = 9. Majority of these AcHTR were due to unmonitored storage of blood in the refrigerator of wards resulting in hemolysis due to thermal injury. Less frequently observed reactions were anaphylactoid reactions (n = 4, bacterial sepsis (n = 4, hypervolemia (n = 2, hypocalcemia (n = 2, TRALI (n = 1, DHTR (n = 1, and TAGvHD (n = 1. Conclusion: Analysis of transfusion-related adverse outcomes is essential for improving safety. Factors such as improvement of blood storage conditions outside the blood bank, improvement in cross-matching techniques, careful donor screening, adherence to good manufacturing practices while component preparation, bedside monitoring of transfusion, and documentation of adverse events will help in reducing transfusion-related morbidity and mortality.

  9. Periodontal disease, atherosclerosis, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and head-and-neck cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Y W; Houcken, W; Loos, B G; Schenkein, H A; Tezal, M

    2014-05-01

    Interrelationships between periodontal infection and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and head-and-neck cancer have become increasingly appreciated in recent years. Periodontitis is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and, experimentally, with measures of atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction. Periodontal therapy may reduce atherosclerotic changes and improve endothelial function. Preliminary findings suggest a role for the genetic locus ANRIL in the pathobiology of both CVD and periodontitis. Periodontal pathogens induce anticardiolipin in periodontitis patients by molecular mimicry of the serum protein β-2 glycoprotein I. These antibodies have biological and pathological activities consistent with those reported for other infection-induced antiphospholipid antibodies. Anticardiolipin may explain some of the observed associations between periodontitis and systemic conditions such as CVD and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The oral commensal Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) becomes pathogenic on migration to extra-oral sites. Fn infection of the fetal-placental unit has been linked to pregnancy complications, including preterm birth, stillbirth, and early-onset neonatal sepsis. Reagents aimed at inhibiting or resolving inflammatory responses may be used to treat or prevent pregnancy complications due to bacterial infection. Chronic periodontitis may be independently associated with head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) through direct toxic effects of bacteria and their products, and/or through indirect effects of inflammation. Additionally, chronic periodontitis may facilitate the acquisition and persistence of oral HPV infection, a recently emerged risk factor for HNSCC.

  10. 75 FR 57019 - Pesticide Product Registrations; Conditional Approval

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-17

    ..., the Agency was able to make basic health and safety determinations which show that use of flutriafol... unreasonable adverse effects to man and the environment. III. Conditional Approval Form EPA issued a notice...

  11. CDC WONDER: Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) online database on CDC WONDER provides counts and percentages of adverse event case reports after vaccination, by...

  12. Intersections of poverty, race/ethnicity, and sex: Alcohol consumption and adverse outcomes in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glass, Joseph E.; Rathouz, Paul J.; Gattis, Maurice; Joo, Young Sun; Nelson, Jennifer C.; Williams, Emily C.

    2017-01-01

    We examine whether intersectionality theory—which formalizes the notion that adverse health outcomes owing to having a marginalized social status, identity, or characteristic, may be magnified for individuals with an additional marginalized social status, identity, or characteristic —can be applied using quantitative methods to describe the differential effects of poverty on alcohol consumption across sex and race/ethnicity. Using the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, we analyze longitudinal data from Black, Hispanic, and White drinkers (n = 21,140) to assess multiplicative interactions between poverty, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, sex, and race/ethnicity, on adverse alcohol outcomes. Findings indicated that the effect of poverty on the past-year incidence of heavy episodic drinking was stronger among Black men and Black women in comparison to men and women of other racial/ethnic groups. Poverty reduction programs that are culturally informed may help reduce racial/ethnic disparities in the adverse outcomes of alcohol consumption. PMID:28349171

  13. Childhood adversities and clinical symptomatology in first-episode psychosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindgren, Maija; Mäntylä, Teemu; Rikandi, Eva; Torniainen-Holm, Minna; Morales-Muñoz, Isabel; Kieseppä, Tuula; Mantere, Outi; Suvisaari, Jaana

    2017-12-01

    In addition to severe traumatic experiences, milder, more common childhood adversities reflecting psychosocial burden may also be common in people with psychotic disorders and have an effect on symptomatology and functioning. We explored eleven negative childhood experiences and their influence on clinical symptoms among young adults with first-episode psychosis (FEP, n = 75) and matched population controls (n = 51). Individuals with FEP reported more adversities than controls. Specifically serious conflicts within the family, bullying at school, maternal mental health problems, and one's own and parents' serious illness during childhood were experienced by the patients more often than by controls. In the FEP group, the severity of adversity was associated with increased anxiety, manic, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but not with the severity of positive psychotic symptoms. Adversity produced a more pronounced effect on symptoms in male patients than in female patients. To conclude, in line with earlier studies of more chronic psychosis, a majority of the participants with FEP reported exposure to childhood adversities, with the FEP group reporting more adversities than controls. High levels of mood and anxiety symptoms in patients with FEP may be related to cumulative exposure to childhood adversities. This should be taken into account in the treatment for FEP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Frequency mixing in boron carbide laser ablation plasmas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oujja, M.; Benítez-Cañete, A.; Sanz, M.; Lopez-Quintas, I.; Martín, M.; de Nalda, R.; Castillejo, M.

    2015-05-01

    Nonlinear frequency mixing induced by a bichromatic field (1064 nm + 532 nm obtained from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser) in a boron carbide (B4C) plasma generated through laser ablation under vacuum is explored. A UV beam at the frequency of the fourth harmonic of the fundamental frequency (266 nm) was generated. The dependence of the efficiency of the process as function of the intensities of the driving lasers differs from the expected behavior for four-wave mixing, and point toward a six-wave mixing process. The frequency mixing process was strongly favored for parallel polarizations of the two driving beams. Through spatiotemporal mapping, the conditions for maximum efficiency were found for a significant delay from the ablation event (200 ns), when the medium is expected to be a low-ionized plasma. No late components of the harmonic signal were detected, indicating a largely atomized medium.

  15. Stress Level and Adversity Quotient among Single Working Mothers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dianne Bautista Solis

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The study identified the profile of the single working mothers in terms of number of children, number of years as a single parent and reason for being a single parent; assessed the single mothers’ stress level and adversity quotient; determined the significant difference of stress level and adversity quotient of single mothers when grouped according to profile variables; determined the best predictor of stress level and adversity quotient. Moreover this research endeavoured to test significant relationship between the adversity quotient and stress level of single working mothers. Lastly, it proposed a stress management program for single working mothers for them to cope with their stress and adversities in life. The researcher employed quantitative method using standardized questionnaires namely Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS and Adversity Response Profile (ARP. The respondents were twenty five (25 single working mothers of the students of Batangas State University. From the results, majority of the respondents have 3 children, widow and in early years as single parent; with a normal level of stress and an average adversity quotient.. There are no significant differences on the stress level and adversity quotient of the respondents when grouped according to profile variables. Finally, stress level has no significant effect on adversity quotient of single working mothers. From the findings, the researcher further recommends that the Office of Guidance and Counseling should update the student information database to determine students with a single working mother. The Parent-Teacher Association may form a single-parent subgroup for the single working mothers to be able to identify to other mothers with same situation. Moreover, the proposed stress management program may be reviewed and implemented by the Office of Guidance and Counseling in coordination with the Parent-Teacher Association of Batangas State University. Future researchers

  16. Effect of mix parameters on longevity of bituminous mixtures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichle, Clayton Matthew

    This study was performed to evaluate the effects of varying aggregate sources, aggregate gradations on the stripping and rutting potential of bituminous based plant mixes specified by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The different aggregate combinations included two different aggregate sources (Potosi Dolomite and Jefferson City Dolomite) including two variations for the Jefferson City Dolomite mix to simulate a marginally in-specification mix and an out-of-specification but in-field tolerance mix. The "field" mix simulated the marginal mix where field tolerance of high dust and low binder content were maximized. All three mixes were evaluated for stripping susceptibility using the Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR) test and the Hamburg Wheel Tracking Device (HWTD). The mix characteristics (unit weight, effective binder content, and air voids) were used for a Level 3 analysis in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) to determine long term pavement distress conditions such as fatigue cracking, rutting, and IRI (smoothness). The Potosi mix exhibited the best resistance to rutting and stripping during both the TSR testing as well as the Hamburg testing. The Jefferson City In-Spec and Out-of-Spec mixes showed less resistance to rutting and stripping in order, respectively. This was expected for the Jefferson City mixes where the aggregate was of lower quality (higher Los Angeles Abrasion, Micro Deval loss, absorption, and deleterious materials). Also, in the case of the Jefferson City Out-of-Spec mix, the binder content was lower. Upon evaluating the mixes using the MEPDG software, it was shown that mix characteristics such as air voids, VMA, and VFA influenced the fatigue cracking, rutting, and IRI predictions to a minor degree.

  17. Forced oscillation of hyperbolic equations with mixed nonlinearities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yutaka Shoukaku

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we consider the mixed nonlinear hyperbolic equations with forcing term via Riccati inequality. Some sufficient conditions for the oscillation are derived by using Young inequality and integral averaging method.

  18. Black carbon mixing state impacts on cloud microphysical properties: effects of aerosol plume and environmental conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ching, Ping Pui; Riemer, Nicole; West, Matthew

    2016-05-27

    Black carbon (BC) is usually mixed with other aerosol species within individual aerosol particles. This mixture, along with the particles' size and morphology, determines the particles' optical and cloud condensation nuclei properties, and hence black carbon's climate impacts. In this study the particle-resolved aerosol model PartMC-MOSAIC was used to quantify the importance of black carbon mixing state for predicting cloud microphysical quantities. Based on a set of about 100 cloud parcel simulations a process level analysis framework was developed to attribute the response in cloud microphysical properties to changes in the underlying aerosol population ("plume effect") and the cloud parcel cooling rate ("parcel effect"). It shows that the response of cloud droplet number concentration to changes in BC emissions depends on the BC mixing state. When the aerosol population contains mainly aged BC particles an increase in BC emission results in increasing cloud droplet number concentrations ("additive effect"). In contrast, when the aerosol population contains mainly fresh BC particles they act as sinks for condensable gaseous species, resulting in a decrease in cloud droplet number concentration as BC emissions are increased ("competition effect"). Additionally, we quantified the error in cloud microphysical quantities when neglecting the information on BC mixing state, which is often done in aerosol models. The errors ranged from -12% to +45% for the cloud droplet number fraction, from 0% to +1022% for the nucleation-scavenged black carbon (BC) mass fraction, from -12% to +4% for the effective radius, and from -30% to +60% for the relative dispersion.

  19. Development of an adverse events reporting form for Korean folk medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Jeong Hwan; Choi, Sun-Mi; Moon, Sujeong; Kim, Sungha; Kim, Boyoung; Kim, Min-Kyeoung; Lee, Sanghun

    2017-05-01

    We developed an adverse events (AEs) reporting form for Korean folk medicine. The first version of the form was developed and tested in the clinical setting for spontaneous reporting of AEs. Additional revisions to the reporting form were made based on collected data and expert input. We developed an AEs reporting form for Korean folk medicine. The items of this form were based on patient information, folk medicine properties, and AEs. For causality assessment, folk medicine properties such as classification, common and vernacular names, scientific name, part used, harvesting time, storage conditions, purchasing route, product licensing, prescription, persons with similar exposure, any remnant of raw natural products collected from the patient, and cautions or contraindications were added. This is the first reporting form for AEs that incorporates important characteristics of Korean folk medicine. This form would have an important role in reporting adverse events for Korean folk medicine. © 2016 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2016 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Ventral striatal activity links adversity and reward processing in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamkar, Niki H; Lewis, Daniel J; van den Bos, Wouter; Morton, J Bruce

    2017-08-01

    Adversity impacts many aspects of psychological and physical development including reward-based learning and decision-making. Mechanisms relating adversity and reward processing in children, however, remain unclear. Here, we show that adversity is associated with potentiated learning from positive outcomes and impulsive decision-making, but unrelated to learning from negative outcomes. We then show via functional magnetic resonance imaging that the link between adversity and reward processing is partially mediated by differences in ventral striatal response to rewards. The findings suggest that early-life adversity is associated with alterations in the brain's sensitivity to rewards accounting, in part, for the link between adversity and altered reward processing in children. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. Time does not heal all wounds: older adults who experienced childhood adversities have higher odds of mood, anxiety, and personality disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raposo, Sarah M; Mackenzie, Corey S; Henriksen, Christine A; Afifi, Tracie O

    2014-11-01

    We aimed to examine the prevalence of several types of childhood adversity across adult cohorts, whether age moderates the effect of childhood adversity on mental health, the relationship between childhood adversity and psychopathology among older adults, the dose-response relationship between number of types of childhood adversities and mental disorders in later life, and whether lifetime mental health treatment reduces the odds of psychopathology among older survivors of childhood adversity. In a population-based, cross-sectional study on a nationally representative U.S. sample, we studied 34,653 community-dwelling Americans 20 years and older, including 7,080 adults 65 years and older from Wave 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Trained lay interviewers assessed past-year mood and anxiety disorders and lifetime personality disorders. Participants self-reported childhood adversity based on questions from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Childhood adversity was prevalent across five age cohorts. In our adjusted models, age did not moderate the effect of childhood adversity on mental disorders. Older adults who experienced childhood adversity had higher odds of having mood (odds ratio: 1.73; 95% confidence interval: 1.32-2.28), anxiety (odds ratio: 1.48; 95% confidence interval: 1.20-1.83), and personality disorders (odds ratio: 2.11; 95% confidence interval: 1.75-2.54) after adjusting for covariates. An increasing number of types of childhood adversities was associated with higher odds of personality disorders and somewhat higher odds of anxiety disorders. Treatment-seeking was associated with a reduced likelihood of anxiety and, especially, mood disorders in older adult childhood adversity survivors. These results emphasize the importance of preventing childhood adversity and intervening once it occurs to avoid the negative mental health effects that can last into old age. Copyright © 2014 American Association for

  2. The Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC: INP measurements at conditions relevant for mixed-phase clouds at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Lacher

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available In this work we describe the Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC as a new instrument to measure ambient ice-nucleating particle (INP concentrations for conditions relevant to mixed-phase clouds. Laboratory verification and validation experiments confirm the accuracy of the thermodynamic conditions of temperature (T and relative humidity (RH in HINC with uncertainties in T of ±0.4 K and in RH with respect to water (RHw of ±1.5 %, which translates into an uncertainty in RH with respect to ice (RHi of ±3.0 % at T > 235 K. For further validation of HINC as a field instrument, two measurement campaigns were conducted in winters 2015 and 2016 at the High Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (JFJ; Switzerland, 3580 m a. s. l.  to sample ambient INPs. During winters 2015 and 2016 the site encountered free-tropospheric conditions 92 and 79 % of the time, respectively. We measured INP concentrations at 242 K at water-subsaturated conditions (RHw = 94 %, relevant for the formation of ice clouds, and in the water-supersaturated regime (RHw = 104 % to represent ice formation occurring under mixed-phase cloud conditions. In winters 2015 and 2016 the median INP concentrations at RHw = 94 % was below the minimum detectable concentration. At RHw = 104 %, INP concentrations were an order of magnitude higher, with median concentrations in winter 2015 of 2.8 per standard liter (std L−1; normalized to standard T of 273 K and pressure, p, of 1013 hPa and 4.7 std L−1 in winter 2016. The measurements are in agreement with previous winter measurements obtained with the Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber (PINC of 2.2 std L−1 at the same location. During winter 2015, two events caused the INP concentrations at RHw = 104 % to significantly increase above the campaign average. First, an increase to 72.1 std L−1 was measured during an event influenced by marine air, arriving at the JFJ

  3. Extrusion-mixing compared with hand-mixing of polyether impression materials?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMahon, Caroline; Kinsella, Daniel; Fleming, Garry J P

    2010-12-01

    The hypotheses tested were two-fold (a) whether altering the base:catalyst ratio influences working time, elastic recovery and strain in compression properties of a hand-mixed polyether impression material and (b) whether an extrusion-mixed polyether impression material would have a significant advantage over a hand-mixed polyether impression material mixed to the optimum base:catalyst ratio. The polyether was hand-mixed at the optimum (manufacturers recommended) base:catalyst ratios (7:1) and further groups were made by increasing or decreasing the catalyst length by 25%. Additionally specimens were also made from an extrusion-mixed polyether impression material and compared with the optimum hand-mixed base:catalyst ratio. A penetrometer assembly was used to measure the working time (n=5). Five cylindrical specimens for each hand-mixed and extrusion mixed group investigated were employed for elastic recovery and strain in compression testing. Hand-mixing polyether impression materials with 25% more catalyst than that recommended significantly decreased the working time while hand-mixing with 25% less catalyst than that recommended significantly increased the strain in compression. The extrusion-mixed polyether impression material provided similar working time, elastic recovery and strain in compression to the hand-mixed polyether mixed at the optimum base:catalyst ratio.

  4. Arabic translation and cultural adaptation of Liverpool Adverse ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Keywords: Adverse drug event, Epilepsy, Older adults, Cronbach's alpha, Liverpool Adverse Events. Profile, Seizure ... uncommon symptoms such as memory loss [5]. Age is a known .... to control seizures and minimize their side effects. [22].

  5. A flexible mixed-effect negative binomial regression model for detecting unusual increases in MRI lesion counts in individual multiple sclerosis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kondo, Yumi; Zhao, Yinshan; Petkau, John

    2015-06-15

    We develop a new modeling approach to enhance a recently proposed method to detect increases of contrast-enhancing lesions (CELs) on repeated magnetic resonance imaging, which have been used as an indicator for potential adverse events in multiple sclerosis clinical trials. The method signals patients with unusual increases in CEL activity by estimating the probability of observing CEL counts as large as those observed on a patient's recent scans conditional on the patient's CEL counts on previous scans. This conditional probability index (CPI), computed based on a mixed-effect negative binomial regression model, can vary substantially depending on the choice of distribution for the patient-specific random effects. Therefore, we relax this parametric assumption to model the random effects with an infinite mixture of beta distributions, using the Dirichlet process, which effectively allows any form of distribution. To our knowledge, no previous literature considers a mixed-effect regression for longitudinal count variables where the random effect is modeled with a Dirichlet process mixture. As our inference is in the Bayesian framework, we adopt a meta-analytic approach to develop an informative prior based on previous clinical trials. This is particularly helpful at the early stages of trials when less data are available. Our enhanced method is illustrated with CEL data from 10 previous multiple sclerosis clinical trials. Our simulation study shows that our procedure estimates the CPI more accurately than parametric alternatives when the patient-specific random effect distribution is misspecified and that an informative prior improves the accuracy of the CPI estimates. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  6. Climate conditions in bedded confinement buildings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Confinement buildings are utilized for finishing cattle to allow more efficient collection of animal waste and to buffer animals against adverse climatic conditions. Environmental data were obtained from a 29 m wide x 318 m long bedded confinement building with the long axis oriented east to west. T...

  7. Fatigue behaviour of bituminous materials : from binders to mixes

    OpenAIRE

    SOENEN, H; DE LA ROCHE, C; REDELIUS, P

    2003-01-01

    Test procedures, aiming at measuring fatigue directly on bituminous binders, are increasingly used. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance of this type of binder fatigue tests and to compare the results with laboratory fatigue properties of the corresponding mixes, using one mix composition for all binders, and similar fatigue tests conditions. Eight binders were selected, derived from two crude sources, including an oxidised and two polymer modified samples. All fatigue te...

  8. BENCH SCALE SALTSTONE PROCESS DEVELOPMENT MIXING STUDY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cozzi, A.; Hansen, E.

    2011-08-03

    The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was requested to develop a bench scale test facility, using a mixer, transfer pump, and transfer line to determine the impact of conveying the grout through the transfer lines to the vault on grout properties. Bench scale testing focused on the effect the transfer line has on the rheological property of the grout as it was processed through the transfer line. Rheological and other physical properties of grout samples were obtained prior to and after pumping through a transfer line. The Bench Scale Mixing Rig (BSMR) consisted of two mixing tanks, grout feed tank, transfer pump and transfer hose. The mixing tanks were used to batch the grout which was then transferred into the grout feed tank. The contents of the feed tank were then pumped through the transfer line (hose) using a progressive cavity pump. The grout flow rate and pump discharge pressure were monitored. Four sampling stations were located along the length of the transfer line at the 5, 105 and 205 feet past the transfer pump and at 305 feet, the discharge of the hose. Scaling between the full scale piping at Saltstone to bench scale testing at SRNL was performed by maintaining the same shear rate and total shear at the wall of the transfer line. The results of scaling down resulted in a shorter transfer line, a lower average velocity, the same transfer time and similar pressure drops. The condition of flow in the bench scale transfer line is laminar. The flow in the full scale pipe is in the transition region, but is more laminar than turbulent. The resulting plug in laminar flow in the bench scale results in a region of no-mixing. Hence mixing, or shearing, at the bench scale should be less than that observed in the full scale, where this plug is non existent due to the turbulent flow. The bench scale tests should be considered to be conservative due to the highly laminar condition of flow that exists. Two BSMR runs were performed. In both cases, wall

  9. Two-phase turbulent mixing and buoyancy drift in rod bundles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlucci, L.N.; Hammouda, N.; Rowe, D.S.

    2004-01-01

    This paper describes the development of generalized relationships for single- and two-phase inter subchannel turbulent mixing in vertical and horizontal flows, and lateral buoyancy drift in horizontal flows. The relationships for turbulent mixing, together with a recommended one for void drift, have been implemented in a subchannel thermal hydraulics code, and assessed using a range of data on enthalpy migration in vertical steam-water lows under BWR and PWR diabatic conditions. The intent of this assessment as to optimize these relationships to give the best agreement with the enthalpy migration data for vertical flows. The optimized turbulent mixing relationships were then used as a basis to benchmark a proposed buoyancy rift model to give the best predictions of void and enthalpy migration data n horizontal flows typical of PHWR CANDU reactor operation under normal and off-normal conditions. Overall, the optimized turbulent mixing and buoyancy drift relationships have been found to predict the available data quite well, nd generally better and more consistently than currently used models. This is expected to result in more accurate calculations of subchannel distributions of phasic flows, and hence, in improved predictions of critical heat flux (CHF)

  10. Mixed layer depths via Doppler lidar during low-level jet events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, Brian; Demoz, Belay; Bonin, Timothy; Delgado, Ruben

    2018-04-01

    A low-level jet (LLJ) is a prominent wind speed peak in the lower troposphere. Nocturnal LLJs have been shown to transport and mix atmospheric constituents from the residual layer down to the surface, breaching quiescent nocturnal conditions due to high wind shear. A new fuzzy logic algorithm combining turbulence and aerosol information from Doppler lidar scans can resolve the strength and depth of this mixing below the jet. Conclusions will be drawn about LLJ relations to turbulence and mixing.

  11. Stratification-mixing cycles and plankton dynamics in a shallow estuary (Limfjord, Denmark)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Teixeira, Isabel G.; Crespo, Bibiani G.; Nielsen, Torkel Gissel

    2014-01-01

    The biomass, production and consumption of phytoplankton, bacteria and zooplankton in a shallow Danish estuary (Limfjord) were analysed during a 9-day period.The water column changed between stratified and mixed conditions which influenced the dominant processes in the pelagic system. During strong...... stratification, phytoplankton was mainly controlled by microzooplankton grazing. A mixing event, which homogenized the water column, possibly provided food to a mussel-dominated benthic community. Concomitantly, zooplankton feeding and reproduction decreased.However, the nutrient input to the upper part...... of the water column during mixing and the subsequent stabilization provided the ideal conditions for the recovery of phytoplankton from the loss processes from previous days. Microzooplankton, which was also a significant consumer of bacteria throughout the sampling period, was not the only consumer...

  12. Adverse Situations Encountered by Adolescent Students Who Return to School Following Suspension

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng-Fang Yen

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the adverse personal, family, peer and school situations encountered by adolescent students who had returned to school after being suspended. This was a large-scale study involving a representative population of Taiwanese adolescents. A total of 8,494 adolescent students in Southern Taiwan were recruited in the study and completed the questionnaires. The relationships between their experiences of suspension from school and adverse personal, family, peer, and school situations were examined. The results indicated that 178 (2.1% participants had been suspended from school at some time. Compared with students who had never been suspended, those who had experienced suspension were more likely to report depression, low self-esteem, insomnia, alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, low family support, low family monitoring, high family conflict, habitual alcohol consumption, illicit drug use by family members, low rank and decreased satisfaction in their peer group, having peers with substance use and deviant behaviors, low connectedness to school, and poor academic achievement. These results indicate that adolescent students who have returned to school after suspension encounter numerous adverse situations. The psychological conditions and social contexts of these individuals need to be understood in depth, and intervention programs should be developed to help them to adjust when they return to school and to prevent school dropouts in the future.

  13. Ontology-Based Vaccine Adverse Event Representation and Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Jiangan; He, Yongqun

    2017-01-01

    Vaccine is the one of the greatest inventions of modern medicine that has contributed most to the relief of human misery and the exciting increase in life expectancy. In 1796, an English country physician, Edward Jenner, discovered that inoculating mankind with cowpox can protect them from smallpox (Riedel S, Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) 18(1):21, 2005). Based on the vaccination worldwide, we finally succeeded in the eradication of smallpox in 1977 (Henderson, Vaccine 29:D7-D9, 2011). Other disabling and lethal diseases, like poliomyelitis and measles, are targeted for eradication (Bonanni, Vaccine 17:S120-S125, 1999).Although vaccine development and administration are tremendously successful and cost-effective practices to human health, no vaccine is 100% safe for everyone because each person reacts to vaccinations differently given different genetic background and health conditions. Although all licensed vaccines are generally safe for the majority of people, vaccinees may still suffer adverse events (AEs) in reaction to various vaccines, some of which can be serious or even fatal (Haber et al., Drug Saf 32(4):309-323, 2009). Hence, the double-edged sword of vaccination remains a concern.To support integrative AE data collection and analysis, it is critical to adopt an AE normalization strategy. In the past decades, different controlled terminologies, including the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) (Brown EG, Wood L, Wood S, et al., Drug Saf 20(2):109-117, 1999), the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) (NCI, The Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE). Available from: http://evs.nci.nih.gov/ftp1/CTCAE/About.html . Access on 7 Oct 2015), and the World Health Organization (WHO) Adverse Reactions Terminology (WHO-ART) (WHO, The WHO Adverse Reaction Terminology - WHO-ART. Available from: https://www.umc-products.com/graphics/28010.pdf

  14. Periodontal treatment during pregnancy decreases the rate of adverse pregnancy outcome: a controlled clinical trial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Campos Passanezi Sant'Ana

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of non-surgical treatment of periodontal disease during the second trimester of gestation on adverse pregnancy outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Pregnant patients during the 1st and 2nd trimesters at antenatal care in a Public Health Center were divided into 2 groups: NIG - "no intervention" (n=17 or IG- "intervention" (n=16. IG patients were submitted to a non-surgical periodontal treatment performed by a single periodontist consisting of scaling and root planning (SRP, professional prophylaxis (PROPH and oral hygiene instruction (OHI. NIG received PROPH and OHI during pregnancy and were referred for treatment after delivery. Periodontal evaluation was performed by a single trained examiner, blinded to periodontal treatment, according to probing depth (PD, clinical attachment level (CAL, plaque index (PI and sulcular bleeding index (SBI at baseline and 35 gestational weeks-28 days post-partum. Primary adverse pregnancy outcomes were preterm birth (0.05 at IG and worsening of all periodontal parameters at NIG (p<0.0001, except for PI. Signifcant differences in periodontal conditions of IG and NIG were observed at 2nd examination (p<0.001. The rate of adverse pregnancy outcomes was 47.05% in NIG and 6.25% in IG. Periodontal treatment during pregnancy was associated to a decreased risk of developing adverse pregnancy outcomes [OR=13.50; CI: 1.47-123.45; p=0.02]. CONCLUSIONS: Periodontal treatment during the second trimester of gestation contributes to decrease adverse pregnancy outcomes.

  15. Differences by Veteran/civilian status and gender in associations between childhood adversity and alcohol and drug use disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Elizabeth A; Upchurch, Dawn M; Simpson, Tracy; Hamilton, Alison B; Hoggatt, Katherine J

    2018-04-01

    To examine differences by US military Veteran status and gender in associations between childhood adversity and DSM-5 lifetime alcohol and drug use disorders (AUD/DUD). We analyzed nationally representative data from 3119 Veterans (n = 379 women; n = 2740 men) and 33,182 civilians (n = 20,066 women; n = 13,116 men) as provided by the 2012-2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III). We used weighted multinomial logistic regression, tested interaction terms, and calculated predicted probabilities by Veteran status and gender, controlling for covariates. To test which specific moderation contrasts were statistically significant, we conducted pairwise comparisons. Among civilians, women had lower AUD and DUD prevalence than men; however, with more childhood adversity, this gender gap narrowed for AUD and widened for DUD. Among Veterans, in contrast, similar proportions of women and men had AUD and DUD; with more childhood adversity, AUD-predicted probability among men surpassed that of women. Childhood adversity elevated AUD probability among civilian women to levels exhibited by Veteran women. Among men, Veterans with more childhood adversity were more likely than civilians to have AUD, and less likely to have DUD. Childhood adversity alters the gender gap in AUD and DUD risk, and in ways that are different for Veterans compared with civilians. Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and community health centers can prevent and ameliorate the harmful effects of childhood adversity by adapting existing behavioral health efforts to be trauma informed, Veteran sensitive, and gender tailored.

  16. The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Guy; Assor, Avi; Niemiec, Christopher P; Deci, Edward L; Ryan, Richard M

    2009-07-01

    The authors conducted 2 studies of 9th-grade Israeli adolescents (169 in Study 1, 156 in Study 2) to compare the parenting practices of conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support using data from multiple reporters. Two socialization domains were studied: emotion control and academics. Results were consistent with the self-determination theory model of internalization, which posits that (a) conditional negative regard predicts feelings of resentment toward parents, which then predict dysregulation of negative emotions and academic disengagement; (b) conditional positive regard predicts feelings of internal compulsion, which then predict suppressive regulation of negative emotions and grade-focused academic engagement; and (c) autonomy support predicts sense of choice, which then predicts integrated regulation of negative emotions and interest-focused academic engagement. These findings suggest that even parents' use of conditional positive regard as a socialization practice has adverse emotional and academic consequences, relative to autonomy support.

  17. Poignancy: Mixed Emotional Experience in the Face of Meaningful Endings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ersner-Hershfield, Hal; Mikels, Joseph A.; Sullivan, Sarah J.; Carstensen, Laura L.

    2009-01-01

    The experience of mixed emotions increases with age. Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that mixed emotions are associated with shifting time horizons. Theoretically, perceived constraints on future time increase appreciation for life, which, in turn, elicits positive emotions such as happiness. Yet, the very same temporal constraints heighten awareness that these positive experiences come to an end, thus yielding mixed emotional states. In 2 studies, the authors examined the link between the awareness of anticipated endings and mixed emotional experience. In Study 1, participants repeatedly imagined being in a meaningful location. Participants in the experimental condition imagined being in the meaningful location for the final time. Only participants who imagined “last times” at meaningful locations experienced more mixed emotions. In Study 2, college seniors reported their emotions on graduation day. Mixed emotions were higher when participants were reminded of the ending that they were experiencing. Findings suggest that poignancy is an emotional experience associated with meaningful endings. PMID:18179325

  18. Mixing, ergodicity and slow relaxation phenomena

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, I. V. L.; Vainstein, M. H.; Lapas, L. C.; Batista, A. A.; Oliveira, F. A.

    2006-11-01

    Investigations on diffusion in systems with memory [I.V.L. Costa, R. Morgado, M.V.B.T. Lima, F.A. Oliveira, Europhys. Lett. 63 (2003) 173] have established a hierarchical connection between mixing, ergodicity, and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT). This hierarchy means that ergodicity is a necessary condition for the validity of the FDT, and mixing is a necessary condition for ergodicity. In this work, we compare those results with recent investigations using the Lee recurrence relations method [M.H. Lee, Phys. Rev. B 26 (1982) 2547; M.H. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87 (2001) 250601; M.H. Lee, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 (2006) 4651]. Lee shows that ergodicity is violated in the dynamics of the electron gas [M.H. Lee, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 (2006) 4651]. This reinforces both works and implies that the results of [I.V.L. Costa, R. Morgado, M.V.B.T. Lima, F.A. Oliveira, Europhys. Lett. 63 (2003) 173] are more general than the framework in which they were obtained. Some applications to slow relaxation phenomena are discussed.

  19. Verifying the performance of instrumentation under adverse environmental conditions in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Navorro, S.M.; Gonzalez-Granda, C.

    1983-01-01

    The current standards concerning the environmental qualification of electrical equipment and instrumentation, although extensive and consistent, are likely to be modified or improved in the short term, but will certainly not undergo any fundamental changes. At present, there is a requirement that the condition of equipment in plants in operation or approaching operational status should be checked and monitored for compliance with the relevant standards. One method of checking and monitoring electrical equipment and instrumentation basically consists in determining the environmental conditions in the various areas where safety-related equipment is being installed and then carrying out a study, component by component, using a pre-established form which summarizes the qualification requirements. The form consists of three different columns: the first contains information on the component; the second, information on the environmental conditions for which the component is to be certified or has been certified; and the third, information on the reference documents relating to those conditions. This form makes it possible to determine deficiencies, which are then collated in a table. Once the criteria for acceptance or refusal have been established, the necessary justification or proposal for corrective action is drawn up. Tolerances, accessories and subsequent tests are examples of grounds for justifying requalification, a change of an instrument or of its position, protection of the instrument and additional analyses. These are the possible corrective measures, and a careful study has to be made in order to determine which is the most appropriate measure in each case. A study of this type calls for experts in various fields. Co-operation between the organizations dealing with environmental qualification is desirable in order to facilitate the gathering of data and the adoption of uniform approaches. (author)

  20. Adverse events in surgical inpatients: A comparative analysis of public hospitals in Victoria

    OpenAIRE

    Katharina Hauck; Xueyan Zhao; Terri Jackson

    2010-01-01

    We compare adverse event rates for surgical inpatients across 36 public hospitals in the state of Victoria, Australia, conditioning on differences in patient complexity across hospitals. We estimate separate models for elective and emergency patients which stay at least one night in hospitals, using fixed effects complementary log-log models to estimate AEs as a function of patient and episode characteristics, and hospital effects. We use 4 years of patient level administrative hospital data ...

  1. Dynamic Characteristics of Rotating Stall in Mixed Flow Pump

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojun Li

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Rotating stall, a phenomenon that causes flow instabilities and pressure hysteresis by propagating at some fraction of the impeller rotational speed, can occur in centrifugal impellers, mixed impellers, radial diffusers, or axial diffusers. Despite considerable efforts devoted to the study of rotating stall in pumps, the mechanics of this phenomenon are not sufficiently understood. The propagation mechanism and onset of rotating stall are not only affected by inlet flow but also by outlet flow as well as the pressure gradient in the flow passage. As such, the complexity of these concepts is not covered by the classical explanation. To bridge this research gap, the current study investigated prerotation generated at the upstream of the impeller, leakage flow at the tip clearance between the casing and the impeller, and strong reserve flow at the inlet of the diffuser. Understanding these areas will clarify the origin of the positive slope of the head-flow performance curve for a mixed flow pump. Nonuniform pressure distribution and adverse pressure gradient were also introduced to evaluate the onset and development of rotating stall within the diffuser.

  2. Adverse effects of iodine thyroid blocking: A systematic review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spallek, L.; Krille, L.; Reiners, C.; Schneider, R.; Yamashita, S.; Zeeb, H.

    2008-01-01

    131 I, when released in a radiological or nuclear accident as happened recently in Fukushima (Japan)), may cause thyroid cancer as a long-term consequence. Iodine thyroid blocking (ITB) is known to reduce the risk of developing thyroid cancer. Potential adverse effects of ITB have not been systematically investigated so far. This article summarises the results of a review on adverse effects of ITB based on a systematic literature search in scientific medical databases. A meta-analysis was not performed as identified studies displayed major heterogeneity. The search resulted in 14 articles relevant to the topic, reporting mostly on surveys, ecological and intervention studies. Only one study from Poland focused on effects (both desired and adverse) of an ITB intervention following the Chernobyl accident. All other studies reported on iodine administration in a different context. Overall, the studies did not reveal severe adverse reactions to potassium iodide in the general public. Since ITB is a protective measure only applied in very specific circumstances, scientifically sound studies of adverse effects are scarce and consequently the evidence base is weak. The assessment of adverse effects of ITB relies on indirect evidence from related areas. This study may contribute to ongoing developments in pharmaco-epidemiology aiming to better quantify adverse effects of medications and health care interventions including ITB. All rights reserved. (authors)

  3. Does the Distribution of Efficiency Scores Depend on the Input Mix?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Asmild, Mette; Leth Hougaard, Jens; Kronborg, Dorte

    for evaluating the test statistic are violated. Therefore, we propose to explore its statistical properties by the use of simulation studies. The simulations are performed conditional on the observed input mixes. The method, as shown here, is applicable for models with multiple inputs and one output......In this paper we examine the possibility of using the standard Kruskal-Wallis rank test in order to evaluate whether the distribution of efficiency scores resulting from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is independent of the input (or output) mix. Recently, a general data generating process (DGP......) suiting the DEA methodology has been formulated and some asymptotic properties of the DEA estimators have been established. In line with this generally accepted DGP, we formulate a conditional test for the assumption of mix independence. Since the DEA frontier is estimated, many standardl assumptions...

  4. The Study on Financial Supervision for Chinese Financial Industry under Mixed Operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Song

    Financial mixed operation refers to that financial institution can offer all financial services (banking, securities, insurance, and trust) and engage in industrial businesses by holding the share ownership. Because of self interests, risk diversification, the change of competition condition, and clients' needs of the diversity of financial products and services, commercial banks make it possible for the mixed operation to be the optimal choice of the banking businesses under dynamic conditions in globalized competition, which results in the diversity and integration of banking businesses.

  5. Simulation of temperature conditions on APT of HMA mixes

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Steyn, WJVDM

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available between these APT data and practical application of the outcomes of the tests. The paper starts with general background on the effect of temperature on the loading conditions and response of HMA materials, methods to manage it during APT testing...

  6. Adverse childhood experiences of low-income urban youth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wade, Roy; Shea, Judy A; Rubin, David; Wood, Joanne

    2014-07-01

    Current assessments of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may not adequately encompass the breadth of adversity to which low-income urban children are exposed. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the range of adverse childhood experiences faced by young adults who grew up in a low-income urban area. Focus groups were conducted with young adults who grew up in low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods. Using the nominal group technique, participants generated a list of adverse childhood experiences and then identified the 5 most stressful experiences on the group list. The most stressful experiences identified by participants were grouped into a ranked list of domains and subdomains. Participants identified a range of experiences, grouped into 10 domains: family relationships, community stressors, personal victimization, economic hardship, peer relationships, discrimination, school, health, child welfare/juvenile justice, and media/technology. Included in these domains were many but not all of the experiences from the initial ACEs studies; parental divorce/separation and mental illness were absent. Additional experiences not included in the initial ACEs but endorsed by our participants included single-parent homes; exposure to violence, adult themes, and criminal behavior; personal victimization; bullying; economic hardship; and discrimination. Gathering youth perspectives on childhood adversity broadens our understanding of the experience of stress and trauma in childhood. Future work is needed to determine the significance of this broader set of adverse experiences in predisposing children to poor health outcomes as adults. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  7. Childhood adversity, social support, and telomere length among perinatal women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchell, Amanda M; Kowalsky, Jennifer M; Epel, Elissa S; Lin, Jue; Christian, Lisa M

    2018-01-01

    Adverse perinatal health outcomes are heightened among women with psychosocial risk factors, including childhood adversity and a lack of social support. Biological aging could be one pathway by which such outcomes occur. However, data examining links between psychosocial factors and indicators of biological aging among perinatal women are limited. The current study examined the associations of childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood trauma, and current social support with telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a sample of 81 women assessed in early, mid, and late pregnancy as well as 7-11 weeks postpartum. Childhood SES was defined as perceived childhood social class and parental educational attainment. Measures included the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and average telomere length in PBMCs. Per a linear mixed model, telomere length did not change across pregnancy and postpartum visits; thus, subsequent analyses defined telomere length as the average across all available timepoints. ANCOVAs showed group differences by perceived childhood social class, maternal and paternal educational attainment, and current family social support, with lower values corresponding with shorter telomeres, after adjustment for possible confounds. No effects of childhood trauma or social support from significant others or friends on telomere length were observed. Findings demonstrate that while current SES was not related to telomeres, low childhood SES, independent of current SES, and low family social support were distinct risk factors for cellular aging in women. These data have relevance for understanding potential mechanisms by which early life deprivation of socioeconomic and relationship resources affect maternal health. In turn, this has potential significance for intergenerational transmission of telomere length. The predictive value of

  8. Bimaximal fermion mixing from the quark and leptonic mixing matrices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohlsson, Tommy

    2005-01-01

    In this Letter, we show how the mixing angles of the standard parameterization add when multiplying the quark and leptonic mixing matrices, i.e., we derive explicit sum rules for the quark and leptonic mixing angles. In this connection, we also discuss other recently proposed sum rules for the mixing angles assuming bimaximal fermion mixing. In addition, we find that the present experimental and phenomenological data of the mixing angles naturally fulfill our sum rules, and thus, give rise to bilarge or bimaximal fermion mixing

  9. Adverse events associated with meropenem versus imipenem/cilastatin therapy in a large retrospective cohort of hospitalized infants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornik, Christoph P; Herring, Amy H; Benjamin, Daniel K; Capparelli, Edmund V; Kearns, Gregory L; van den Anker, John; Cohen-Wolkowiez, Michael; Clark, Reese H; Smith, P Brian

    2013-07-01

    Carbapenems are commonly used in hospitalized infants despite a lack of complete safety data and associations with seizures in older children. We compared the incidence of adverse events in hospitalized infants receiving meropenem versus imipenem/cilastatin. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 5566 infants treated with meropenem or imipenem/cilastatin in neonatal intensive care units managed by the Pediatrix Medical Group between 1997 and 2010. Multivariable conditional logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association between carbapenem therapy and adverse events, controlling for infant factors and severity of illness. Adverse events were more common with use of meropenem compared with imipenem/cilastatin (62.8/1000 infant days versus 40.7/1000 infant days, P imipenem/cilastatin (adjusted odds ratio 0.96; 95% confidence interval: 0.68, 1.32). The incidence of death, as well as the combined outcome of death or seizure, was lower with meropenem use-odds ratio 0.68 (0.50, 0.88) and odds ratio 0.77 (0.62, 0.95), respectively. In this cohort of infants, meropenem was associated with more frequent but less severe adverse events when compared with imipenem/cilastatin.

  10. 77 FR 10515 - Pesticide Product Registrations; Conditional Approval

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-02-22

    ... reviews, the Agency was able to make basic health and safety determinations which show that use of HeiQ... unreasonable adverse effects to man and the environment. The conditions of this registration can be reviewed in...

  11. Hydrochemical and isotopic tracing of mixing dynamics and water quality evolution under pumping conditions in the mine shaft of the abandoned Frances Colliery, Scotland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elliot, Trevor; Younger, Paul L.

    2007-01-01

    Since 1995, when pumps were withdrawn from deep mines in East Fife (Scotland), mine waters have been rebounding throughout the coalfield. Recently, it has become necessary to pump and treat these waters to prevent their uncontrolled emergence at the surface. However, even relatively shallow pumping to surface treatment lagoons of the initially chemically-stratified mine water from a shaft in the coastal Frances Colliery during two dynamic step-drawdown tests to establish the hydraulic characteristics of the system resulted in rapid breakdown of the stratification within 24 h and a poor pumped water quality with high dissolved Fe loading. Further, data are presented here of hydrochemical and isotopic sampling of the extended pump testing lasting up to several weeks. The use in particular of the environmental isotopes δ 18 O, δ 2 H, δ 34 S, 3 H, 13 C and 14 C alongside hydrochemical and hydraulic pump test data allowed characterisation of the Frances system dynamics, mixing patterns and water quality sources feeding into this mineshaft under continuously pumped conditions. The pumped water quality reflects three significant components of mixing: shallow freshwater, seawater, and leakage from the surface treatment lagoons. In spite of the early impact of recirculating lagoon waters on the hydrochemistries, the highest Fe loadings in the longer-term pumped waters are identified with a mixed freshwater-seawater component affected by pyrite oxidation/melanterite dissolution in the subsurface system

  12. Comparative study of modified bitumen binder properties collected from mixing plant and quarry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mustafa Kamal, M.; Abu Bakar, R.; Hadithon, K. A.

    2017-11-01

    Quality control and assurance are essential in pavement construction. In general, the properties of bitumen change as it ages in bulk storage, transport, and storage on site. The minimization of bituminous hardening during storing, transportation and mixing depends on careful control of binder temperature. Hence therefore, bitumen should always be stored and handled at the lowest temperature possible, consistent with efficient use. The objective of the work is to monitor the quality of bitumen samples collected from mixing plant and quarry. Results showed that, samples modified bitumen which collected from quarry showed some adverse effects on rheological properties and physical properties after subjecting to high temperature storage within a period of time. The dynamic stiffness, elastic properties and other common binder properties were deteriorated too. The chemical changes that occurred during storage were analysed using Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). Thus studies developed an understanding of bitumen ageing in storage.

  13. Mixing height determination from the momentum balance of the neutral or stable PBL

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergmann, J.C. [Risoe National Lab., Roskilde (Denmark)

    1997-10-01

    The mixing height is defined by the top of the layer of turbulent mixing. This height is equal to the height H of turbulent vertical momentum transport (fiction) in neutral or stable stratification. In very stable cases, the wave induced momentum transport must be excluded if the waves do not have mixing effects (e.g. break) within the frictional layer. Thus the conditions provided by the momentum balance determine the mixing height in most cases of mechanical turbulence. Mixing is a time dependent process and depends also on the height of release of substance to be mixed. It depends on the specific form of the exchange coefficient function whether the mixing time for the mixed layer is finite of infinite. If this time is infinite, an additional mixing time criterion for a substance released close to the ground must be applied for the determination of the corresponding mixing height. (au)

  14. Information about adverse drug reactions reported in children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aagaard, Lise; Christensen, Arne; Hansen, Ebba Holme

    2010-01-01

    AIM: To review the literature on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children with respect to occurrence, seriousness, type, therapeutic group, age and gender of the child and category of reporter. METHODS: Medline and Embase databases were searched from origin and updated until February 2010. We...... included empirically based articles on ADRs in populations aged 0 to 17 years. Studies monitoring ADRs in patients with particular conditions or drug exposure were excluded. We extracted information about types and seriousness of ADRs, therapeutic groups, age and gender of the child and category...... of reporter. ADR occurrence was calculated as incidence rate and prevalence. RESULTS: We included 33 studies monitoring ADRs in general paediatric populations. The highest numbers of ADRs were reported in national ADR databases where data were collected over a longer period than in studies monitoring...

  15. Clinical survey on adverse reaction of contrast media, final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katayama, Hitoshi; Ishida, Osamu; Osawa, Tadashi

    1988-01-01

    This report is a final analysis of adverse reactions to iodinated contrast media examined in 33,440 patients from 11 hospitals during the period from October 1983 through June 1986. Adverse reactions, such as nausea, exanthema and vomiting, to contrast media occurred in 2,523 patients (7.5 %), with the higher number occuring in patients aged 40 - 60, irrespective of sex. There were no significant alternations in vital signs. Patients positive for pretesting and having a history of allergy had higher incidences of adverse reactions (48 % and 52 %, respectively). A history of allergy is the most potential predictor for adverse reactions to contrast media. There was no definitive correlation between prior medication of contrast media and the occurrence of their adverse reactions. The relationship between the occurrence of adverse reactions and both kinds and dosage of contrast media was unknown. (Namekawa, K.)

  16. Mixed-use development in a high-rise context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Generalova, Elena M.; Generalov, Viktor P.; Kuznetsova, Anna A.; Bobkova, Oksana N.

    2018-03-01

    The article deals with an actual problem of finding techniques and methods to create a comfortable urban environment. The authors emphasize that in the existing conditions of intensive urban development greater attention should be given to spatial concentration based on and more compact distribution of population in urban space. It is stressed that including mixed-use facilities into urban realm results in a significant improvement of living environment qualitative characteristics. The paper also examines modern approaches to constructing a «compact city» for comfortable and convenient living with a mixed-use tall building development. The authors explore the world's experience of designing tall mixed-use buildings and reveal modern trends in their construction. The statistics given is based on the data analysis of a group of tall mixed-use buildings consisting of more than 400 objects, constructed in 2007-2016. The research shows functional and architectural peculiarities of this typology of tall buildings and investigates a mechanism of creating zones of mixed-use tall building development in the urban structure. In conclusion, the authors consider prospects of development and major directions of improvement of mixed-use tall building parameters for a reasonable territorial urban growth and creation of high-density and comfortable building development.

  17. Modifying mixing and instability growth through the adjustment of initial conditions in a high-energy-density counter-propagating shear experiment on OMEGA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merritt, E. C.; Doss, F. W.; Loomis, E. N.; Flippo, K. A.; Kline, J. L.

    2015-01-01

    Counter-propagating shear experiments conducted at the OMEGA Laser Facility have been evaluating the effect of target initial conditions, specifically the characteristics of a tracer foil located at the shear boundary, on Kelvin-Helmholtz instability evolution and experiment transition toward nonlinearity and turbulence in the high-energy-density (HED) regime. Experiments are focused on both identifying and uncoupling the dependence of the model initial turbulent length scale in variable-density turbulence models of k-ϵ type on competing physical instability seed lengths as well as developing a path toward fully developed turbulent HED experiments. We present results from a series of experiments controllably and independently varying two initial types of scale lengths in the experiment: the thickness and surface roughness (surface perturbation scale spectrum) of a tracer layer at the shear interface. We show that decreasing the layer thickness and increasing the surface roughness both have the ability to increase the relative mixing in the system, and thus theoretically decrease the time required to begin transitioning to turbulence in the system. We also show that we can connect a change in observed mix width growth due to increased foil surface roughness to an analytically predicted change in model initial turbulent scale lengths

  18. Adverse childhood experience and asthma onset: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Exley, Daniel; Norman, Alyson; Hyland, Michael

    2015-06-01

    Adverse childhood experiences such as abuse and neglect are associated with subsequent immune dysregulation. Some studies show an association between adverse childhood experiences and asthma onset, although significant disparity in results exists in the published literature. We aimed to review available studies employing a prospective design that investigates associations between adverse childhood experience and asthma. A search protocol was developed and studies were drawn from four electronic journal databases. Studies were selected in accordance with pre-set inclusion criteria and relevant data were extracted. 12 studies, assessing data from a total of 31 524 individuals, were identified that investigate the impact of a range of adverse childhood experiences on the likelihood of developing asthma. Evidence suggests that chronic stress exposure and maternal distress in pregnancy operate synergistically with known triggers such as traffic-related air pollution to increase asthma risk. Chronic stress in early life is associated with an increased risk of asthma onset. There is evidence that adverse childhood experience increases the impact of traffic-related air pollution and inconsistent evidence that adverse childhood experience has an independent effect on asthma onset. Copyright ©ERS 2015.

  19. Ventral striatal activity links adversity and reward processing in children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kamkar, N.H.; Lewis, D.J.; van den Bos, W.; Morton, J.B.

    2017-01-01

    Adversity impacts many aspects of psychological and physical development including reward-based learning and decision-making. Mechanisms relating adversity and reward processing in children, however, remain unclear. Here, we show that adversity is associated with potentiated learning from positive

  20. Proteomic characterization of a temperature-sensitive conditional lethal in Drosophila melanogaster

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Kamilla Sofie; Codrea, M.C; Vermeulen, Corneel

    2010-01-01

    Genetic variation that is expressed only under specific environmental conditions can contribute to additional adverse effects of inbreeding if environmental conditions change. We present a proteomic characterization of a conditional lethal found in an inbred line of Drosophila melanogaster. The l...