Influence of fishing activity over the marine debris composition close to coastal jetty.

Science.gov (United States)

Farias, Eduardo G G; Preichardt, Paulo R; Dantas, David V

2018-04-23

Worldwide, the marine debris emissions have been provoking impacts in ecosystems, generating massive mortality of different species with commercial interest. In South America, we have a lack of studies to verify the marine debris composition in transitional environments such as adjacent regions of coastal jetties. These are hydraulic engineering constructions used to maintain the navigation channel access between the sea-estuarine interface and are also used by teleost fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks like artificial shelters (reefs), being excellent fishing grounds. Therefore, the present study was devoted to qualitatively evaluate the composition of marine debris in an internal jetty portion of a Laguna Estuarine System (LES) located in South America (Brazil). Six hundred freediving were conducted to collect marine debris in the study region. The in situ campaigns were performed in 2016 during all spring season (sand substrata) in four distinct zones with 26,400 m 2 each one covering almost all adjacent jetty extension, to evaluate possible spatial changes in the marine debris composition. All material obtained was identified, measured, weighed, and ordered in eight groups, with six groups being related to the fishing activity and two groups related to the tourism/community in the study region. So, it was possible to observe possible relations between the marine debris distribution to artisanal and recreational local fishing. After 600 freediving sampling efforts, 2142 marine debris items were obtained, totaling close to 100 kg of solid waste removed from the inner portion of the coastal jetty. Notably, 1752 units (50 kg) of fishing leads were collected being this item the main marine debris residue found in the four sampled areas, corresponding to nearly 50% of the total weight of the collected waste. Ninety-eight percent of marine debris were derived from the local fishing activities, and just 2% were derived from tourism/community. Considering the total

N-jettiness Subtractions for NNLO QCD calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaunt, Jonathan R.; Stahlhofen, Maximilian; Tackmann, Frank J.; Walsh, Jonathan R.; California Univ., CA

2015-05-01

We present a subtraction method utilizing the N-jettiness observable, Τ N , to perform QCD calculations for arbitrary processes at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). Our method employs soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to determine the IR singular contributions of N-jet cross sections for Τ N → 0, and uses these to construct suitable Τ N -subtractions. The construction is systematic and economic, due to being based on a physical observable. The resulting NNLO calculation is fully differential and in a form directly suitable for combining with resummation and parton showers. We explain in detail the application to processes with an arbitrary number of massless partons at lepton and hadron colliders together with the required external inputs in the form of QCD amplitudes and lower-order calculations. We provide explicit expressions for the Τ N -subtractions at NLO and NNLO. The required ingredients are fully known at NLO, and at NNLO for processes with two external QCD partons. The remaining NNLO ingredient for three or more external partons can be obtained numerically with existing NNLO techniques. As an example, we employ our method to obtain the NNLO rapidity spectrum for Drell-Yan and gluon-fusion Higgs production. We discuss aspects of numerical accuracy and convergence and the practical implementation. We also discuss and comment on possible extensions, such as more-differential subtractions, necessary steps for going to N 3 LO, and the treatment of massive quarks.

Super-low dose endotoxin pre-conditioning exacerbates sepsis mortality.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Keqiang; Geng, Shuo; Yuan, Ruoxi; Diao, Na; Upchurch, Zachary; Li, Liwu

2015-04-01

Sepsis mortality varies dramatically in individuals of variable immune conditions, with poorly defined mechanisms. This phenomenon complements the hypothesis that innate immunity may adopt rudimentary memory, as demonstrated in vitro with endotoxin priming and tolerance in cultured monocytes. However, previous in vivo studies only examined the protective effect of endotoxin tolerance in the context of sepsis. In sharp contrast, we report herein that pre-conditionings with super-low or low dose endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) cause strikingly opposite survival outcomes. Mice pre-conditioned with super-low dose LPS experienced severe tissue damage, inflammation, increased bacterial load in circulation, and elevated mortality when they were subjected to cecal-ligation and puncture (CLP). This is in opposite to the well-reported protective phenomenon with CLP mice pre-conditioned with low dose LPS. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that super-low and low dose LPS differentially modulate the formation of neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) in neutrophils. Instead of increased ERK activation and NET formation in neutrophils pre-conditioned with low dose LPS, we observed significantly reduced ERK activation and compromised NET generation in neutrophils pre-conditioned with super-low dose LPS. Collectively, our findings reveal a novel mechanism potentially responsible for the dynamic programming of innate immunity in vivo as it relates to sepsis risks.

Super-low Dose Endotoxin Pre-conditioning Exacerbates Sepsis Mortality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Keqiang Chen

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Sepsis mortality varies dramatically in individuals of variable immune conditions, with poorly defined mechanisms. This phenomenon complements the hypothesis that innate immunity may adopt rudimentary memory, as demonstrated in vitro with endotoxin priming and tolerance in cultured monocytes. However, previous in vivo studies only examined the protective effect of endotoxin tolerance in the context of sepsis. In sharp contrast, we report herein that pre-conditioning with super-low or low dose endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS cause strikingly opposite survival outcomes. Mice pre-conditioned with super-low dose LPS experienced severe tissue damage, inflammation, increased bacterial load in circulation, and elevated mortality when they were subjected to cecal-ligation and puncture (CLP. This is in contrast to the well-reported protective phenomenon with CLP mice pre-conditioned with low dose LPS. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that super-low and low dose LPS differentially modulate the formation of neutrophil extracellular trap (NET in neutrophils. Instead of increased ERK activation and NET formation in neutrophils pre-conditioned with low dose LPS, we observed significantly reduced ERK activation and compromised NET generation in neutrophils pre-conditioned with super-low dose LPS. Collectively, our findings reveal a mechanism potentially responsible for the dynamic programming of innate immunity in vivo as it relates to sepsis risks.

Next-to-next-to-leading order N-jettiness soft function for one massive colored particle production at hadron colliders

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Hai Tao [ARC Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale,School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, VIC-3800 (Australia); Wang, Jian [PRISMA Cluster of Excellence Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University, D-55099 Mainz (Germany); Physik Department T31, Technische Universität München,James-Franck-Straße 1, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

2017-02-01

The N-jettiness subtraction has proven to be an efficient method to perform differential QCD next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations in the last few years. One important ingredient of this method is the NNLO soft function. We calculate this soft function for one massive colored particle production at hadron colliders. We select the color octet and color triplet cases to present the final results. We also discuss its application in NLO and NNLO differential calculations.

Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Data

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Affordable Care Act created the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) program to make health insurance available to Americans denied coverage by...

Risk of early or severe pre-eclampsia related to pre-existing conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Catov, Janet M; Ness, Roberta B; Kip, Kevin E

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia (PE), especially severe or early PE, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among mothers and infants. We estimated the population attributable fractions of severe or early PE associated with pre-existing conditions among nulliparous and multiparous women. METHODS...

COMPETENCE CONDITIONS ENABLING EDUCATION IN PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENTS: PARENTS’ EVALUATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Skaistė Kovienė

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Competence, psychological and material-organisational conditions determine favourable educational environment for parent education in pre-school education establishments. The aim of this research is - to identify competence conditions determining favourable educational environment for parent education in pre-school education establishment. Competence conditions, determining favourable educational environment for parent education in pre-school education establishments, which are formed of pedagogues and parents’ collaboration and parents’ communication between themselves, have been examined in the research. One of the determining factors, forming favourable educational environment for parent education is- pre-school educational establishment pedagogues, therefore both professional and personal pedagogues’ abilities were analysed to apply the most suitable communication and collaboration forms with parents in a concrete situation, to give parents pedagogical-psychological support. Standardised interview was applied for the research (for gathering empiric research data and content analysis (empiric data analysis. Parents of the children attending pre-school education establishments participated in the research. The obtained results allowed making concrete conclusions about competence conditions determining favourable environment for parent education and to identify, according to parents, the most necessary for parents’ education improvement educational environment area, – pedagogues and parents’ communication and collaboration.

Condition and Performance Rating Procedures for Rubble Breakwaters and Jetties

Science.gov (United States)

1998-11-01

coastal community whose excellent ideas helped guide this work. Dr. Michael J. O’Connor is Director of USACERL. Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Introduction...headquarters. Concepts for the condition rating procedures were generated by the authors, the CSAG, and other members of the Corps’ coastal community . These

Factors affecting degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) during pre-flotation conditioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caparanga, Alvin R.; Basilia, Blessie A.; Dagbay, Kevin B.; Salvacion, Jonathan W.L.

2009-01-01

In general, plastics are exposed to different degrading agents in every procedure involved in their recovery from waste mixture and from subsequent recycling. In this study, two methods of pre-flotation conditioning were used to determine how these methods affect the general properties of the pre-conditioned PET particles to be recovered from the PET-PVC mixture. The first method comprised the conditioning of PET samples using an alkaline solution of nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) based on the patent by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The second method, developed in this study, was a conditioning process which used an alkali-less solution of the same nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100) used in the first method. The following analytical methods were used to characterize properties of the pre-conditioned PET samples that were correlated to relative degradation of the samples: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), for thermal behavior of the samples; FT-IR spectroscopy, for functional groups present in the samples; and, Pohl's method, for carboxyl end-group concentration count. Results show that in addition to water the presence of NaOH in the conditioning solution contributes to the further degradation of the polymer.

Pre-exposure to wheel running disrupts taste aversion conditioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Salvy, Sarah-Jeanne; Pierce, W David; Heth, Donald C; Russell, James C

2002-05-01

When rats are given access to a running wheel after drinking a flavored solution, they subsequently drink less of that flavor solution. It has been suggested that running produces a conditioned taste aversion (CTA). This study explored whether CTA is eliminated by prior exposure to wheel running [i.e., unconditioned stimulus (UCS) pre-exposure effect]. The rats in the experimental group (UW) were allowed to wheel run for 1 h daily for seven consecutive days of pre-exposure. Rats in the two other groups had either access to locked wheels (LW group) or were maintained in their home cages (HC group) during the pre-exposure days. All rats were then exposed to four paired and four unpaired trials using a "ABBAABBA" design. Conditioning trials were composed of one flavored liquid followed by 60-min access to wheel running. For the unpaired trials, rats received a different flavor not followed by the opportunity to run. All rats were then initially tested for water consumption followed by tests of the two flavors (paired or unpaired) in a counterbalanced design. Rats in the UW group show no CTA to the liquid paired with wheel running, whereas LW and HC groups developed CTA. These results indicate that pre-exposure to wheel running (i.e., the UCS), eliminates subsequent CTA.

Influence of pre-cooking protein paste gelation conditions and post-cooking gel storage conditions on gel texture.

Science.gov (United States)

Paker, Ilgin; Matak, Kristen E

2016-01-15

Gelation conditions affect the setting of myofibrillar fish protein gels. Therefore the impact of widely applied pre-cooking gelation time/temperature strategies and post-cooking period on the texture and color of final protein gels was determined. Four pre-cooking gelation strategies (no setting time, 30 min at 25 °C, 1 h at 40 °C or 24 h at 4 °C) were applied to protein pastes (fish protein concentrate and standard functional additives). After cooking, texture and color were analyzed either directly or after 24 h at 4 °C on gels adjusted to 25 °C. No-set gels were harder, gummier and chewier (P cooking. Gel-setting conditions had a greater (P cooking stored gels in texture and color, depending on the pre-cooking gelation strategy. Pre-cooking gelation conditions will affect final protein gel texture and color, with gel stability benefiting from a gel-setting period. However, post-cooking storage may have a greater impact on final gels, with textural attributes becoming more consistent between all samples. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Proposed Terminology and Classification of Pre-Malignant Neoplastic Conditions: A Consensus Proposal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Valent

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Cancer evolution is a step-wise non-linear process that may start early in life or later in adulthood, and includes pre-malignant (indolent and malignant phases. Early somatic changes may not be detectable or are found by chance in apparently healthy individuals. The same lesions may be detected in pre-malignant clonal conditions. In some patients, these lesions may never become relevant clinically whereas in others, they act together with additional pro-oncogenic hits and thereby contribute to the formation of an overt malignancy. Although some pre-malignant stages of a malignancy have been characterized, no global system to define and to classify these conditions is available. To discuss open issues related to pre-malignant phases of neoplastic disorders, a working conference was organized in Vienna in August 2015. The outcomes of this conference are summarized herein and include a basic proposal for a nomenclature and classification of pre-malignant conditions. This proposal should assist in the communication among patients, physicians and scientists, which is critical as genome-sequencing will soon be offered widely for early cancer-detection.

75 FR 45013 - Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-30

... Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Systematic Alien... pre-existing condition based on evidence of the existence or history of certain medical or health...

Material pre-conditioning effects on the creep behaviour of 316H stainless steel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mehmanparast, A.; Davies, C.M.; Dean, D.W.; Nikbin, K.

2013-01-01

Material pre-conditioning by, for example, pre-strain through component bending and welding is known to alter the creep deformation and creep crack growth (CCG) behaviour of 316H stainless steel. Experimental test data on the creep deformation and crack growth behaviour of 316H weldment compact tension specimens at 550 °C, where the starter defect was introduced into the heat affected zone (HAZ), have been compared to those of obtained from similar specimens manufactured from parent material, which had been subjected to 8% compressive plastic pre-strain at room temperature. Similar degrees of accelerated cracking behaviour compared to parent material, for given values of C*, were exhibited in both 316H HAZ and pre-compressed parent materials. This acceleration has been attributed to the influence of material hardening effects and the reduction of creep ductility in the pre-conditioned materials. These results are discussed in terms of the potential for using material pre-conditioning to assist in predicting the long term cracking behaviour of high temperature 316H stainless steel plant components from shorter term laboratory CCG tests

Report on the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan Program

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — Before the Affordable Care Act, Americans with pre-existing conditions who did not receive health coverage through their employers had few affordable options to get...

Proposed Terminology and Classification of Pre-Malignant Neoplastic Conditions: A Consensus Proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

Valent, Peter; Akin, Cem; Arock, Michel; Bock, Christoph; George, Tracy I; Galli, Stephen J; Gotlib, Jason; Haferlach, Torsten; Hoermann, Gregor; Hermine, Olivier; Jäger, Ulrich; Kenner, Lukas; Kreipe, Hans; Majeti, Ravindra; Metcalfe, Dean D; Orfao, Alberto; Reiter, Andreas; Sperr, Wolfgang R; Staber, Philipp B; Sotlar, Karl; Schiffer, Charles; Superti-Furga, Giulio; Horny, Hans-Peter

2017-12-01

Cancer evolution is a step-wise non-linear process that may start early in life or later in adulthood, and includes pre-malignant (indolent) and malignant phases. Early somatic changes may not be detectable or are found by chance in apparently healthy individuals. The same lesions may be detected in pre-malignant clonal conditions. In some patients, these lesions may never become relevant clinically whereas in others, they act together with additional pro-oncogenic hits and thereby contribute to the formation of an overt malignancy. Although some pre-malignant stages of a malignancy have been characterized, no global system to define and to classify these conditions is available. To discuss open issues related to pre-malignant phases of neoplastic disorders, a working conference was organized in Vienna in August 2015. The outcomes of this conference are summarized herein and include a basic proposal for a nomenclature and classification of pre-malignant conditions. This proposal should assist in the communication among patients, physicians and scientists, which is critical as genome-sequencing will soon be offered widely for early cancer-detection. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimization of Saccharification Conditions of Lignocellulosic Biomass under Alkaline Pre-Treatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafał Łukajtis

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Pre-treatment is a significant step in the production of second-generation biofuels from waste lignocellulosic materials. Obtaining biofuels as a result of fermentation processes requires appropriate pre-treatment conditions ensuring the highest possible degree of saccharification of the feed material. An influence of the following process parameters were investigated for alkaline pre-treatment of Salix viminalis L.: catalyst concentration (NaOH, temperature, pre-treatment time and granulation. For this purpose, experiments were carried out in accordance to the Box-Behnken design for four factors. In the saccharification process of the pre-treated biomass, cellulolytic enzymes immobilized on diatomaceous earth were used. Based on the obtained results, a mathematical model for the optimal conditions of alkaline pre-treatment prediction is proposed. The optimal conditions of alkaline pre-treatment are established as follows: granulation 0.75 mm, catalyst concentration 7%, pre-treatment time 6 h and temperature 65 °C if the saccharification efficiency and cost analysis are considered. An influence of the optimized pre-treatment on both the chemical composition and structural changes for six various lignocellulosic materials (energetic willow, energetic poplar, beech, triticale, meadow grass, corncobs was investigated. SEM images of raw and pre-treated biomass samples are included in order to follow the changes in the biomass structure during hydrolysis.

Gene expression analysis to identify molecular correlates of pre- and post-conditioning derived neuroprotection.

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Shiv S; Russell, Marsha; Nowakowska, Margeryta; Williams, Andrew; Yauk, Carole

2012-06-01

Mild ischaemic exposures before or after severe injurious ischaemia that elicit neuroprotective responses are referred to as preconditioning and post-conditioning. The corresponding molecular mechanisms of neuroprotection are not completely understood. Identification of the genes and associated pathways of corresponding neuroprotection would provide insight into neuronal survival, potential therapeutic approaches and assessments of therapies for stroke. The objectives of this study were to use global gene expression approach to infer the molecular mechanisms in pre- and post-conditioning-derived neuroprotection in cortical neurons following oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) in vitro and then to apply these findings to predict corresponding functional pathways. To this end, microarray analysis was applied to rat cortical neurons with or without the pre- and post-conditioning treatments at 3-h post-reperfusion, and differentially expressed transcripts were subjected to statistical, hierarchical clustering and pathway analyses. The expression patterns of 3,431 genes altered under all conditions of ischaemia (with and without pre- or post-conditioning). We identified 1,595 genes that were commonly regulated within both the pre- and post-conditioning treatments. Cluster analysis revealed that transcription profiles clustered tightly within controls, non-conditioned OGD and neuroprotected groups. Two clusters defining neuroprotective conditions associated with up- and downregulated genes were evident. The five most upregulated genes within the neuroprotective clusters were Tagln, Nes, Ptrf, Vim and Adamts9, and the five most downregulated genes were Slc7a3, Bex1, Brunol4, Nrxn3 and Cpne4. Pathway analysis revealed that the intracellular and second messenger signalling pathways in addition to cell death were predominantly associated with downregulated pre- and post-conditioning associated genes, suggesting that modulation of cell death and signal transduction pathways

Drowning fatalities in childhood: the role of pre-existing medical conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Franklin, Richard C; Pearn, John H; Peden, Amy E

2017-10-01

This study is an analysis of the contribution of pre-existing medical conditions to unintentional fatal child (0-14 years) drowning and a of critique prevention stratagems, with an exploration of issues of equity in recreation. This study is a total population, cross-sectional audit of all demographic, forensic and on-site situational details surrounding unintentional fatal drowning of children 0-14 years in Australia for the period of 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2012. Data were sourced from the National (Australia) Coronial Information System. Age-specific disease patterns in the general population were obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Four hundred and sixty-eight children drowned during the study period. Fifty-three (11.3%) had a pre-existing medical condition, of whom 19 suffered from epilepsy, 13 from autism and 5 with non-specific intellectual disabilities. Epilepsy is a risk factor in childhood drowning deaths, with a prevalence of 4.1% of drowning fatalities, compared with 0.7%-1.7% among the general 0-14 years population (relative risk: 2.4-5.8). Epilepsy was deemed to be contributory in 16 of 19 cases (84.2% of epilepsy cases) with a median age of 8 years. Asthma and intellectual disabilities were under-represented in the drowning cohort. Except for epilepsy, this research has indicated that the risks of drowning while undertaking aquatic activities are not increased in children with pre-existing medical conditions. Children with pre-existing medical conditions can enjoy aquatic activities when appropriately supervised. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Enhanced Eyeblink Conditioning in Behaviorally Inhibited Individuals is Disrupted by Proactive Interference Following US Alone Pre-exposures.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Michael Todd; Miller, Daniel P

2016-01-01

Anxiety vulnerable individuals exhibit enhanced acquisition of conditioned eyeblinks as well as enhanced proactive interference from conditioned stimulus (CS) or unconditioned stimulus (US) alone pre-exposures (Holloway et al., 2012). US alone pre-exposures disrupt subsequent conditioned response (CR) acquisition to CS-US paired trials as compared to context pre-exposure controls. While Holloway et al. (2012) reported enhanced acquisition in high trait anxiety individuals in the context condition, anxiety vulnerability effects were not reported for the US alone pre-exposure group. It appears from the published data that there were no differences between high and low anxiety individuals in the US alone condition. In the work reported here, we sought to extend the findings of enhanced proactive interference with US alone pre-exposures to determine if the enhanced conditioning was disrupted by proactive interference procedures. We also were interested in the spontaneous eyeblinks during the pre-exposure phase of training. We categorized individuals as anxiety vulnerability or non-vulnerable individuals based scores on the Adult Measure of Behavioral Inhibition (AMBI). Sixty-six participants received 60 trials consisting of 30 US alone or context alone pre-exposures followed by 30 CS-US trials. US alone pre-exposures not only disrupted CR acquisition overall, but behaviorally inhibited (BI) individuals exhibited enhanced proactive interference as compared to non-inhibited (NI) individuals. In addition, US alone pre-exposures disrupted the enhanced acquisition observed in BI individuals as compared to NI individuals following context alone pre-exposures. Differences were also found in rates of spontaneous eyeblinks between BI and NI individuals during context pre-exposure. Our findings will be discussed in the light of the neural substrates of eyeblink conditioning as well as possible factors such as hypervigilance in the amygdala and hippocampal systems, and possible

Oceanographic data collected from Jetty A by Center for Coastal Margin Observation and Prediction (CMOP) and assembled by Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observation Systems (NANOOS) in the Columbia River Estuary and North East Pacific Ocean from 2003-07-20 to 2016-02-04 (NCEI Accession 0162176)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NCEI Accession 0162176 contains navigational and physical data collected at Jetty A, a fixed station in the Columbia River estuary - Washington/Oregon. These sensors...

Does pre-exposure to warming conditions increase Mytilus galloprovincialis tolerance to Hg contamination?

Science.gov (United States)

Freitas, Rosa; Coppola, Francesca; Henriques, Bruno; Wrona, Fredrick; Figueira, Etelvina; Pereira, Eduarda; Soares, Amadeu M V M

2017-12-01

The degree to which marine invertebrate populations can tolerate extreme weather events, such as short-term exposure to high temperatures, and the underlying biochemical response mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Furthermore, scarce information is available on how marine organisms respond to the presence of pollutants after exposure to heat stress conditions. Therefore, the present study aimed to understand how the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis responds to Hg pollution after pre-exposure to warming conditions. Mussels were exposed to control (17°C) and warming (21°C) conditions during 14days, followed by Hg contamination during 28days under different temperature regimes (17 and 21°C). The results obtained demonstrated significantly higher Hg concentrations in mussels under 17°C during the entire experiment than in organisms exposed to 21°C during the same period, which resulted in higher oxidative stress in mussels under control temperature. Significantly higher Hg concentrations were also observed in mussels pre-exposed to 21°C followed by a 17°C exposure comparing with organisms maintained the entire experiment at 21°C. These results may be explained by higher metabolic capacity in organisms exposed to 17°C after pre-exposure to 21°C that although induced antioxidant defences were not enough to prevent oxidative stress. No significant differences in terms of Hg concentration were found between mussels exposed to 17°C during the entire experiment and organisms pre-exposed to 21°C followed by a 17°C exposure, leading to similar oxidative stress levels in mussels exposed to both conditions. Therefore, our findings demonstrated that pre-exposure to warming conditions did not change mussels' accumulation and tolerance to Hg in comparison to Hg contaminated mussels maintained at control temperature. Furthermore, the present study indicate that organisms maintained under warming conditions for long periods may prevent the accumulation of

Enhanced eyeblink conditioning in behaviorally inhibited individuals is disrupted by proactive interference following US alone pre-exposures.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Todd Allen

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Anxiety vulnerable individuals exhibit enhanced acquisition of conditioned eyeblinks as well as enhanced proactive interference from CS or US alone pre-exposures (Holloway et al., 2012. US alone pre-exposures disrupt subsequent CR acquisition to CS-US paired trials as compared to context pre-exposure controls. While Holloway et al., (2012 reported enhanced acquisition in high trait anxiety individuals in the context condition, anxiety vulnerability effects were not reported for the US alone pre-exposure group. It appears from the published data that there were no differences between high and low anxiety individuals in the US alone condition. In the work reported here, we sought to extend the findings of enhanced proactive interference with US alone pre-exposures to determine if the enhanced conditioning was disrupted by proactive interference procedures. We also were interested in the spontaneous eyeblinks during the pre-exposure phase of training. We categorized individuals as anxiety vulnerability or non-vulnerable individuals based scores on the Adult Measure of Behavioural Inhibition (AMBI. Sixty six participants received 60 trials consisting of 30 US alone or context alone pre-exposures followed by 30 CS-US trials. US alone pre-exposures not only disrupted CR acquisition overall, but behaviorally inhibited (BI individuals exhibited enhanced proactive interference as compared to non-inhibited (NI individuals. In addition, US alone pre-exposures disrupted the enhanced acquisition observed in BI individuals as compared to NI individuals following context alone pre-exposures. Differences were also found in rates of spontaneous eyeblinks between BI and NI individuals during context pre-exposure. Our findings will be discussed in the light of the neural substrates of eyeblink conditioning as well as possible factors such as hypervigilance in the amygdala and hippocampal systems, and possible learned helplessness. Applications of these findings of

Whole-body pre-cooling and heat storage during self-paced cycling performance in warm humid conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Kay, D; Taaffe, D R; Marino, F E

1999-12-01

The aim of this study was to establish the effect that pre-cooling the skin without a concomitant reduction in core temperature has on subsequent self-paced cycling performance under warm humid (31 degrees C and 60% relative humidity) conditions. Seven moderately trained males performed a 30 min self-paced cycling trial on two separate occasions. The conditions were counterbalanced as control or whole-body pre-cooling by water immersion so that resting skin temperature was reduced by approximately 5-6 degrees C. After pre-cooling, mean skin temperature was lower throughout exercise and rectal temperature was lower (P body sweat fell from 1.7+/-0.1 l x h(-1) to 1.2+/-0.1 l h(-1) (P < 0.05). The distance cycled increased from 14.9+/-0.8 to 15.8+/-0.7 km (P < 0.05) after pre-cooling. The results indicate that skin pre-cooling in the absence of a reduced rectal temperature is effective in reducing thermal strain and increasing the distance cycled in 30 min under warm humid conditions.

PBMC: Pre-conditioned Backward Monte Carlo code for radiative transport in planetary atmospheres

Science.gov (United States)

García Muñoz, A.; Mills, F. P.

2017-08-01

PBMC (Pre-Conditioned Backward Monte Carlo) solves the vector Radiative Transport Equation (vRTE) and can be applied to planetary atmospheres irradiated from above. The code builds the solution by simulating the photon trajectories from the detector towards the radiation source, i.e. in the reverse order of the actual photon displacements. In accounting for the polarization in the sampling of photon propagation directions and pre-conditioning the scattering matrix with information from the scattering matrices of prior (in the BMC integration order) photon collisions, PBMC avoids the unstable and biased solutions of classical BMC algorithms for conservative, optically-thick, strongly-polarizing media such as Rayleigh atmospheres.

Are pre-spraying growing conditions a major determinant of herbicide efficacy?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Riethmuller-Haage, I.C.P.; Bastiaans, L.; Kempenaar, C.; Smutny, V.; Kropff, M.J.

2007-01-01

To evaluate the effect of pre-spraying growing conditions on herbicide efficacy, two years of experimentation were conducted in which Persicaria maculosa plants were exposed to different light intensities for 1¿4 days before metribuzin treatment. Specific leaf area, rather than plant growth rate or

Age dynamic of physical condition changes in pre-school age girls, schoolgirls and students, living in conditions of Eastern Siberia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.Y. Lebedinskiy

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to analyze dynamic of physical condition, considering sex (females and age of the tested, living in region with unfavorable ecology. Material: we studied pre school age girls (n=1580, age 4-7 years. In the research we did not include children with chronic diseases, who were under observation. We tested schoolgirls (n=3211, age 7-17 years and girl students (n=5827, age 17-21 years, 1-4 years of study. Girl students were divided into five age groups: from 17 to 21 years. All participants lived in conditions of Eastern Siberia (Irkutsk. This region is characterized by unfavorable ecology and climate geographic characteristics. Results: in dynamic of physical condition of pre-school girls, schoolgirls and students we marked out three substantial periods of it characteristics' changes. Age 7-8 years is critical (transition from 1st to 2nd stage. The least values of these characteristics are found in older (after 17-18 years ages. In students we observed relative stabilization of these indicators. Conclusions: the received results shall be considered in building physical education training process in pre-school educational establishments, secondary comprehensive schools and higher educational establishments.

Airborne Lidar Bathymetry: The SHOALS System

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-09

with the depths. The application of this kind of data includes engineering evaluation of coastal structures, shoreline surveys, beach and dune surveys...similar manner, SHOALS data is a monitoring tool for beach fill projects. SHOALS data can extend from the dune , through the surf zone, and out to depth...requirements, above and below-water jetty conditions, toe scour at the jetties, and nearshore conditions. Table 3.2 Profile Spacing Volume

Behavior of pre-irradiated fuel under a simulated RIA condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuketa, Toyoshi; Sasajima, Hideo; Mori, Yukihide

1994-07-01

This report presents results from the power burst experiment with pre-irradiated fuel rod, Test JM-3, conducted in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSSR). The data concerning test method, pre-irradiation, pre-pulse fuel examination, pulse irradiation, transient records and post-pulse fuel examination are described, and analyses, interpretations, and discussions of the results are presented. Preceding to the pulse irradiation in the NSRR, test fuel rod was irradiated in the Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR) up to a fuel burnup of 19.6MWd/kgU with average linear heat rate of 25.3 kW/m. The fuel rod was subjected to the pulse irradiation resulting in a deposited energy of 174±6 cal/g·fuel and a peak fuel enthalpy of 130±5 cal/g·fuel under stagnant water cooling condition at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Test fuel rod behavior was assessed from pre- and post-pulse fuel examinations and transient records during the pulse. The cladding surface temperature increased to only 150degC, and the test resulted in slight fuel deformation and no fuel failure. An estimated rod-average fission gas release during the transient was about 2.2%. Through the detailed fuel examinations, the information concerning microstructural change in the fuel pellets were also obtained. (author)

Diversity of endophytic fungi of Myricaria laxiflora grown under pre- and post-flooding conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, W; Bi, Y H; Zeng, W; Jiang, W; Xue, Y H; Wang, G X; Liu, S P

2015-09-09

Myricaria laxiflora is distributed along the riverbanks of the Yangtze River valley. The Three Gorges Dam has dramatically changed the habitat of M. laxiflora, which has evolved to develop increased resistance to flooding stress. In order to elucidate the relationship between plant endophytic fungi and flooding stress, we isolated and taxonomically characterized the endophytic fungi of M. laxiflora. One hundred and sixty-three fungi were isolated from healthy stems, leaves and roots of M. laxiflora grown under pre- and post-flooding conditions. Culture and isolation were carried out under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Based on internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis and morphological characteristics, the isolates exhibited abundant biodiversity; they were classified into 5 subphyla, 7 classes, 12 orders, 17 families, and 26 genera. Dominant endophytes varied between pre- and post-flooding plants, among different plant tissues, and between aerobic and anaerobic culture conditions. Aspergillus and Alternaria accounted for more than 55% of all isolates. Although the number of isolates from post-flooding plants was greater, endophytes from pre-flooding plants were more diverse and abundant. Endophytes were distributed preferentially in particular tissues; this affinity was constrained by both the host habitat and the oxygen availability of the host.

Adiabatic perturbations in pre-big bang models: Matching conditions and scale invariance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durrer, Ruth; Vernizzi, Filippo

2002-01-01

At low energy, the four-dimensional effective action of the ekpyrotic model of the universe is equivalent to a slightly modified version of the pre-big bang model. We discuss cosmological perturbations in these models. In particular we address the issue of matching the perturbations from a collapsing to an expanding phase. We show that, under certain physically motivated and quite generic assumptions on the high energy corrections, one obtains n=0 for the spectrum of scalar perturbations in the original pre-big bang model (with a vanishing potential). With the same assumptions, when an exponential potential for the dilaton is included, a scale invariant spectrum (n=1) of adiabatic scalar perturbations is produced under very generic matching conditions, both in a modified pre-big bang and ekpyrotic scenario. We also derive the resulting spectrum for arbitrary power law scale factors matched to a radiation-dominated era

Proposed minimal diagnostic criteria for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and potential pre-MDS conditions.

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Valent, Peter; Orazi, Attilio; Steensma, David P; Ebert, Benjamin L; Haase, Detlef; Malcovati, Luca; van de Loosdrecht, Arjan A; Haferlach, Torsten; Westers, Theresia M; Wells, Denise A; Giagounidis, Aristoteles; Loken, Michael; Orfao, Alberto; Lübbert, Michael; Ganser, Arnold; Hofmann, Wolf-Karsten; Ogata, Kiyoyuki; Schanz, Julie; Béné, Marie C; Hoermann, Gregor; Sperr, Wolfgang R; Sotlar, Karl; Bettelheim, Peter; Stauder, Reinhard; Pfeilstöcker, Michael; Horny, Hans-Peter; Germing, Ulrich; Greenberg, Peter; Bennett, John M

2017-09-26

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a heterogeneous group of myeloid neoplasms characterized by peripheral cytopenia, dysplasia, and a variable clinical course with about 30% risk to transform to secondary acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In the past 15 years, diagnostic evaluations, prognostication, and treatment of MDS have improved substantially. However, with the discovery of molecular markers and advent of novel targeted therapies, new challenges have emerged in the complex field of MDS. For example, MDS-related molecular lesions may be detectable in healthy individuals and increase in prevalence with age. Other patients exhibit persistent cytopenia of unknown etiology without dysplasia. Although these conditions are potential pre-phases of MDS they may also transform into other bone marrow neoplasms. Recently identified molecular, cytogenetic, and flow-based parameters may add in the delineation and prognostication of these conditions. However, no generally accepted integrated classification and no related criteria are as yet available. In an attempt to address this challenge, an international consensus group discussed these issues in a working conference in July 2016. The outcomes of this conference are summarized in the present article which includes criteria and a proposal for the classification of pre-MDS conditions as well as updated minimal diagnostic criteria of MDS. Moreover, we propose diagnostic standards to delineate between ´normal´, pre-MDS, and MDS. These standards and criteria should facilitate diagnostic and prognostic evaluations in clinical studies as well as in clinical practice.

Early life events carry over to influence pre-migratory condition in a free-living songbird.

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Greg W Mitchell

Full Text Available Conditions experienced during development can have long-term consequences for individual success. In migratory songbirds, the proximate mechanisms linking early life events and survival are not well understood because tracking individuals across stages of the annual cycle can be extremely challenging. In this paper, we first use a 13 year dataset to demonstrate a positive relationship between 1(st year survival and nestling mass in migratory Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis. We also use a brood manipulation experiment to show that nestlings from smaller broods have higher mass in the nest relative to individuals from larger broods. Having established these relationships, we then use three years of field data involving multiple captures of individuals throughout the pre-migratory period and a multi-level path model to examine the hypothesis that conditions during development limit survival during migration by affecting an individual's ability to accumulate sufficient lean tissue and fat mass prior to migration. We found a positive relationship between fat mass during the pre-migratory period (Sept-Oct and nestling mass and a negative indirect relationship between pre-migratory fat mass and fledging date. Our results provide the first evidence that conditions during development limit survival during migration through their effect on fat stores. These results are particularly important given recent evidence showing that body condition of songbirds at fledging is affected by climate change and anthropogenic changes to landscape structure.

Impact of pre-conditioning on the qualification of safety-related equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Isgro, J.R.

1982-01-01

This paper shares some recent experiences on the effects of preconditioning on the qualification of safety-related equipment not located in a harsh environment. Environmental and seismic qualification testing programs were conducted following the guidelines of IEEE 323-1974, IEEE 344-1975 and appropriate IEEE daughter standards, where available. The examples that follow will illustrate the degree of pre-conditioning of safety-related equipment qualified to the requirements of IEEE-323-1974, and its effect on the outcome of the qualification program

Ischemic conditioning-induced endogenous brain protection: Applications pre-, per- or post-stroke.

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Wang, Yuechun; Reis, Cesar; Applegate, Richard; Stier, Gary; Martin, Robert; Zhang, John H

2015-10-01

In the area of brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases, a plethora of experimental and clinical evidence strongly indicates the promise of therapeutically exploiting the endogenous adaptive system at various levels like triggers, mediators and the end-effectors to stimulate and mobilize intrinsic protective capacities against brain injuries. It is believed that ischemic pre-conditioning and post-conditioning are actually the strongest known interventions to stimulate the innate neuroprotective mechanism to prevent or reverse neurodegenerative diseases including stroke and traumatic brain injury. Recently, studies showed the effectiveness of ischemic per-conditioning in some organs. Therefore the term ischemic conditioning, including all interventions applied pre-, per- and post-ischemia, which spans therapeutic windows in 3 time periods, has recently been broadly accepted by scientific communities. In addition, it is extensively acknowledged that ischemia-mediated protection not only affects the neurons but also all the components of the neurovascular network (consisting of neurons, glial cells, vascular endothelial cells, pericytes, smooth muscle cells, and venule/veins). The concept of cerebroprotection has been widely used in place of neuroprotection. Intensive studies on the cellular signaling pathways involved in ischemic conditioning have improved the mechanistic understanding of tolerance to cerebral ischemia. This has added impetus to exploration for potential pharmacologic mimetics, which could possibly induce and maximize inherent protective capacities. However, most of these studies were performed in rodents, and the efficacy of these mimetics remains to be evaluated in human patients. Several classical signaling pathways involving apoptosis, inflammation, or oxidation have been elaborated in the past decades. Newly characterized mechanisms are emerging with the advances in biotechnology and conceptual renewal. In this review we are going to focus on

Quality assessment of baby food made of different pre-processed organic raw materials under industrial processing conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Seidel, Kathrin; Kahl, Johannes; Paoletti, Flavio; Birlouez, Ines; Busscher, Nicolaas; Kretzschmar, Ursula; Särkkä-Tirkkonen, Marjo; Seljåsen, Randi; Sinesio, Fiorella; Torp, Torfinn; Baiamonte, Irene

2015-02-01

The market for processed food is rapidly growing. The industry needs methods for "processing with care" leading to high quality products in order to meet consumers' expectations. Processing influences the quality of the finished product through various factors. In carrot baby food, these are the raw material, the pre-processing and storage treatments as well as the processing conditions. In this study, a quality assessment was performed on baby food made from different pre-processed raw materials. The experiments were carried out under industrial conditions using fresh, frozen and stored organic carrots as raw material. Statistically significant differences were found for sensory attributes among the three autoclaved puree samples (e.g. overall odour F = 90.72, p processed from frozen carrots show increased moisture content and decrease of several chemical constituents. Biocrystallization identified changes between replications of the cooking. Pre-treatment of raw material has a significant influence on the final quality of the baby food.

Effects of Whey Protein Supplementation Pre- or Post-Resistance Training on Muscle Mass, Muscular Strength, and Functional Capacity in Pre-Conditioned Older Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial

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Hellen C. G. Nabuco

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Aging is associated with sarcopenia and dynapenia, with both processes contributing to functional dependence and mortality in older adults. Resistance training (RT and increased protein intake are strategies that may contribute to health improvements in older adults. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the effects of whey protein (WP supplementation consumed either immediately pre- or post-RT on skeletal muscle mass (SMM, muscular strength, and functional capacity in pre-conditioned older women. Seventy older women participated in this investigation and were randomly assigned to one of three groups: whey protein pre-RT and placebo post-RT (WP-PLA, n = 24, placebo pre-RT and whey protein post-RT (PLA-WP, n = 23, and placebo pre- and post-RT (PLA-PLA, n = 23. Each group ingested 35 g of WP or PLA. The RT program was carried out over 12 weeks (three times per week; 3 × 8–12 repetition maximum. Body composition, muscular strength, functional capacity, and dietary intake were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Two-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA for repeated measures, with baseline scores as covariates were used for data analysis. A time vs. group interaction (p < 0.05 was observed with WP-PLA and PLA-WP presenting greater increases compared with PLA-PLA for SMM (WP-PLA = 3.4%; PLA-WP = 4.2%; PLA-PLA = 2.0%, strength (WP-PLA = 8.1%; PLA-WP = 8.3%; PLA-PLA = 7.0%, and the 10-m walk test (WP-PLA = −10.8%; PLA-WP = −11.8%; PLA-PLA = −4.3%. Whey protein supplementation was effective in promoting increases in SMM, muscular strength, and functional capacity in pre-conditioned older women, regardless of supplementation timing. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03247192.

Amelioration of rCBF and PbtO2 following TBI at high altitude by hyperbaric oxygen pre-conditioning.

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Hu, Shengli; Li, Fei; Luo, Haishui; Xia, Yongzhi; Zhang, Jiuquan; Hu, Rong; Cui, Gaoyu; Meng, Hui; Feng, Hua

2010-03-01

Hypobaric hypoxia at high altitude can lead to brain damage and pre-conditioning with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) can reduce ischemic/hypoxic brain injury. This study investigates the effects of high altitude on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and examines the neuroprotection provided by HBO preconditioning against TBI. Rats were randomly divided into four groups: HBO pre-conditioning group (HBOP, n=10), high altitude group (HA, n=10), plain control group (PC, n=10) and plain sham operation group (sham, n=10). All groups were subjected to head trauma by weight drop device except for the sham group. Rats from each group were examined for neurological function, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and brain tissue oxygen pressure (PbtO(2)) and were killed for analysis by transmission electron microscope. The score of neurological deficits in the HA group was highest, followed by the HBOP group and the PC group, respectively. Both rCBF and PbtO(2) were the lowest in the HA group. Brain morphology and structure seen via the transmission electron microscope was diminished in the HA group, while fewer pathological injuries occurred in the HBOP and PC groups. High altitude aggravates TBI significantly and HBO pre-conditioning can attenuate TBI in rats at high altitude by improvement of rCBF and PbtO(2). Pre-treatment with HBO might be beneficial for people traveling to high altitude locations.

Key risk indicators for accident assessment conditioned on pre-crash vehicle trajectory.

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Shi, X; Wong, Y D; Li, M Z F; Chai, C

2018-08-01

Accident events are generally unexpected and occur rarely. Pre-accident risk assessment by surrogate indicators is an effective way to identify risk levels and thus boost accident prediction. Herein, the concept of Key Risk Indicator (KRI) is proposed, which assesses risk exposures using hybrid indicators. Seven metrics are shortlisted as the basic indicators in KRI, with evaluation in terms of risk behaviour, risk avoidance, and risk margin. A typical real-world chain-collision accident and its antecedent (pre-crash) road traffic movements are retrieved from surveillance video footage, and a grid remapping method is proposed for data extraction and coordinates transformation. To investigate the feasibility of each indicator in risk assessment, a temporal-spatial case-control is designed. By comparison, Time Integrated Time-to-collision (TIT) performs better in identifying pre-accident risk conditions; while Crash Potential Index (CPI) is helpful in further picking out the severest ones (the near-accident). Based on TIT and CPI, the expressions of KRIs are developed, which enable us to evaluate risk severity with three levels, as well as the likelihood. KRI-based risk assessment also reveals predictive insights about a potential accident, including at-risk vehicles, locations and time. Furthermore, straightforward thresholds are defined flexibly in KRIs, since the impact of different threshold values is found not to be very critical. For better validation, another independent real-world accident sample is examined, and the two results are in close agreement. Hierarchical indicators such as KRIs offer new insights about pre-accident risk exposures, which is helpful for accident assessment and prediction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pre-existing Periapical Inflammatory Condition Exacerbates Tooth Extraction–induced BRONJ Lesions in Mice

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Minju; Alshaikh, Abdullah; Kim, Terresa; Kim, Sol; Dang, Michelle; Mehrazarin, Shebli; Shin, Ki-Hyuk; Kang, Mo; Park, No-Hee; Kim, Reuben H.

2016-01-01

Introduction Surgical interventions such as tooth extraction increase a chance of developing osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) in patients receiving bisphosphonates (BPs) for treatment of bone-related diseases. Tooth extraction is often performed to eliminate pre-existing pathological inflammatory conditions that make the tooth unsalvageable; however, the role of such conditions on bisphosphonate-related ONJ (BRONJ) development following tooth extraction is not clearly defined. Here, we examined the effects of periapical periodontitis on tooth extraction-induced BRONJ development in mice. Methods Periapical periodontitis was induced by exposing the pulp of the maxillary first molar for 3 weeks in C57/BL6 mice that were intravenously administered with BP. The same tooth was extracted, and after 3 additional weeks, the mice were harvested for histological, histomorphometric, and histochemical staining analyses. Results Pulp exposure induced periapical radiolucency as demonstrated by increased inflammatory cells, TRAP+ osteoclasts, and bone resorption. When BP was administered, pulp exposure did not induce apical bone resorption despite the presence of inflammatory cells and TRAP+ osteoclasts. While tooth extraction alone induced BRONJ lesions, pulp exposure further increased tooth extraction-induced BRONJ development as demonstrated by the presence of more bone necrosis. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that pre-existing pathological inflammatory condition such as periapical periodontitis is a predisposing factor that may exacerbate BRONJ development following tooth extraction. Our study further provides a clinical implication whereby periapical periodontitis should be controlled before performing tooth extraction in BP-users in order to reduce the risk of developing BRONJ. PMID:27637460

Optimization of cell adhesion on mg based implant materials by pre-incubation under cell culture conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Willumeit, Regine; Möhring, Anneke; Feyerabend, Frank

2014-05-05

Magnesium based implants could revolutionize applications where orthopedic implants such as nails, screws or bone plates are used because they are load bearing and degrade over time. This prevents a second surgery to remove conventional implants. To improve the biocompatibility we studied here if and for how long a pre-incubation of the material under cell culture conditions is favorable for cell attachment and proliferation. For two materials, Mg and Mg10Gd1Nd, we could show that 6 h pre-incubation are already enough to form a natural protective layer suitable for cell culture.

Optimization of Cell Adhesion on Mg Based Implant Materials by Pre-Incubation under Cell Culture Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regine Willumeit

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Magnesium based implants could revolutionize applications where orthopedic implants such as nails, screws or bone plates are used because they are load bearing and degrade over time. This prevents a second surgery to remove conventional implants. To improve the biocompatibility we studied here if and for how long a pre-incubation of the material under cell culture conditions is favorable for cell attachment and proliferation. For two materials, Mg and Mg10Gd1Nd, we could show that 6 h pre-incubation are already enough to form a natural protective layer suitable for cell culture.

High fat diet intake during pre and periadolescence impairs learning of a conditioned place preference in adulthood

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Sanabria Federico

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Brain regions that mediate learning of a conditioned place preference (CPP undergo significant development in pre and periadolescence. Consuming a high fat (HF diet during this developmental period and into adulthood can lead to learning impairments in rodents. The present study tested whether HF diet intake, consumed only in pre and periadolescence, would be sufficient to cause impairments using a CPP procedure. Methods Rats were randomly assigned to consume a HF or a low fat (LF diet during postnatal days (PD 21-40 and were then placed back on a standard lab chow diet. A 20-day CPP procedure, using HF Cheetos® as the unconditioned stimulus (US, began either the next day (PD 41 or 40 days later (PD 81. A separate group of adult rats were given the HF diet for 20 days beginning on PD 61, and then immediately underwent the 20-day CPP procedure beginning on PD 81. Results Pre and periadolescent exposure to a LF diet or adult exposure to a HF diet did not interfere with the development of a HF food-induced CPP, as these groups exhibited robust preferences for the HF Cheetos® food-paired compartment. However, pre and periadolescent exposure to the HF diet impaired the development of a HF food-induced CPP regardless of whether it was assessed immediately or 40 days after the exposure to the HF diet, and despite showing increased consumption of the HF Cheetos® in conditioning. Conclusions Intake of a HF diet, consumed only in pre and periadolescence, has long-lasting effects on learning that persist into adulthood.

PRE-DIABETES

OpenAIRE

Akula Annapurna

2013-01-01

Pre-diabetes is a condition where the body's cells begin to show resistance to insulin. Glucose circulates in the blood instead of being used by the cells for energy. Blood sugar levels become elevated. Increased weight, unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle can lead to pre-diabetes. WHAT IS PRE-DIABETES A diagnosis of pre-diabetes means that the cells in your body are becoming resistant to insulin and your blood glucose levels are higher than they should be. Since the levels aren't as hig...

The sensitivity of US wildfire occurrence to pre-season soil moisture conditions across ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Daniel; Reager, John T.; Zajic, Brittany; Rousseau, Nick; Rodell, Matthew; Hinkley, Everett

2018-01-01

It is generally accepted that year-to-year variability in moisture conditions and drought are linked with increased wildfire occurrence. However, quantifying the sensitivity of wildfire to surface moisture state at seasonal lead-times has been challenging due to the absence of a long soil moisture record with the appropriate coverage and spatial resolution for continental-scale analysis. Here we apply model simulations of surface soil moisture that numerically assimilate observations from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission with the USDA Forest Service’s historical Fire-Occurrence Database over the contiguous United States. We quantify the relationships between pre-fire-season soil moisture and subsequent-year wildfire occurrence by land-cover type and produce annual probable wildfire occurrence and burned area maps at 0.25 degree resolution. Cross-validated results generally indicate a higher occurrence of smaller fires when months preceding fire season are wet, while larger fires are more frequent when soils are dry. This is consistent with the concept of increased fuel accumulation under wet conditions in the pre-season. These results demonstrate the fundamental strength of the relationship between soil moisture and fire activity at long lead-times and are indicative of that relationship’s utility for the future development of national-scale predictive capability.

Sex differences in the effects of ethanol pre-exposure during adolescence on ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion in adult rats.

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Sherrill, Luke K; Berthold, Claire; Koss, Wendy A; Juraska, Janice M; Gulley, Joshua M

2011-11-20

Alcohol use, which typically begins during adolescence and differs between males and females, is influenced by both the rewarding and aversive properties of the drug. One way adolescent alcohol use may modulate later consumption is by reducing alcohol's aversive properties. Here, we used a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) paradigm to determine if pre-exposure to alcohol (ethanol) during adolescence would attenuate ethanol-induced CTA assessed in adulthood in a sex-dependent manner. Male and female Long-Evans rats were given intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of saline or 3.0g/kg ethanol in a binge-like pattern during postnatal days (PD) 35-45. In adulthood (>PD 100), rats were given access to 0.1% saccharin, followed by saline or ethanol (1.0 or 1.5g/kg, i.p.), over four conditioning sessions. We found sex differences in ethanol-induced CTA, with males developing a more robust aversion earlier in conditioning. Sex differences in the effects of pre-exposure were also evident: males, but not females, showed an attenuated CTA in adulthood following ethanol pre-exposure, which occurred approximately nine weeks earlier. Taken together, these findings indicate that males are more sensitive to the aversive properties of ethanol than females. In addition, the ability of pre-exposure to the ethanol US to attenuate CTA is enhanced in males compared to females. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pre-task music improves swimming performance.

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Smirmaul, B P; Dos Santos, R V; Da Silva Neto, L V

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pre-task music on swimming performance and other psychological variables. A randomized counterbalanced within-subjects (experimental and control condition) design was employed. Eighteen regional level male swimmers performed two 200-m freestyle swimming time trials. Participants were exposed to either 5 minutes of self-selected music (pre-task music condition) or 5 minutes of silence (control condition) and, after 1 minute, performed the swimming task. Swimming time was significantly shorter (-1.44%) in the pre-task music condition. Listening to pre-task music increased motivation to perform the swimming task, while arousal remained unchanged. While fatigue increased after the swimming task in both conditions, vigor, ratings of perceived exertion and affective valence were unaltered. It is concluded, for the first time, that pre-task music improves swimming performance.

The effect of pre-plasma formation under nonlocal transport conditions for ultra-relativistic laser-plasma interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Holec, M.; Nikl, J.; Vranic, M.; Weber, S.

2018-04-01

Interaction of high-power lasers with solid targets is in general strongly affected by the limited contrast available. The laser pre-pulse ionizes the target and produces a pre-plasma which can strongly modify the interaction of the main part of the laser pulse with the target. This is of particular importance for future experiments which will use laser intensities above 1021 W cm-2 and which are subject to the limited contrast. As a consequence the main part of the laser pulse will be modified while traversing the pre-plasma, interacting with it partially. A further complication arises from the fact that the interaction of a high-power pre-pulse with solid targets very often takes place under nonlocal transport conditions, i.e. the characteristic mean-free-path of the particles and photons is larger than the characteristic scale-lengths of density and temperature. The classical diffusion treatment of radiation and heat transport in the hydrodynamic model is then insufficient for the description of the pre-pulse physics. These phenomena also strongly modify the formation of the pre-plasma which in turn affects the propagation of the main laser pulse. In this paper nonlocal radiation-hydrodynamic simulations are carried out and serve as input for subsequent kinetic simulations of ultra-high intensity laser pulses interacting with the plasma in the ultra-relativistic regime. It is shown that the results of the kinetic simulations differ considerably whether a diffusive or nonlocal transport is used for the radiation-hydrodynamic simulations.

Is risk of degenerative musculoskeletal conditions associated with pre-pregnancy body mass index and parity?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bliddal, Mette; Pottegård, Anton; Kirkegaard, Helene

Background Obesity among women may influence the risk of degenerative musculoskeletal conditions (MSCs) and contribute to poor quality of life. Parity, which constitutes a sudden natural increase in weight as well it affects long-term body mass index (BMI), may put strain on the musculoskeletal....... Information on height and weight prior to pregnancy was obtained from telephone interviews and parity from the Danish Medical Birth Registry. Diagnoses on degenerative MSC including osteoarthritis, disc disorders, low back pain, and soft tissue disorders were obtained from the National Patient Registry......% confidence interval 1.41-1.83]). Conclusions High pre-pregnancy BMI increased the occurrence of degenerative MSC in the years following pregnancy and childbirth. In combination with increasing pre-pregnancy BMI, higher parity added to an already elevated risk. Prevention of maternal overweight may reduce...

Effect of pre-sowing laser biostimulation on seeds on white lupine growth under differentiated temperature conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podleśny, J.

1999-01-01

The experiment went on over 6 weeks. Plants emergence depended on the temperature and pre-sowing laser irradiation of seeds. White lupine seeds germinated better under normal thermal conditions than in chilling stress. Triple irradiation of seeds showed the best advantageous effect improving the quality of plant emergence, irrespective of thermal conditions. The plants sprouted about 3-4 days earlier in comparison to plants from not irradiated seeds. Laser light positively affected also the height of plants, root length and dry matter yield of roots and aboveground parts

Behavior of pre-irradiated fuel under a simulated RIA condition. Results of NSRR Test JM-5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fuketa, Toyoshi; Sasajima, Hideo; Mori, Yukihide; Tanzawa, Sadamitsu; Ishijima, Kiyomi; Kobayashi, Shinsho; Kamata, Hiroshi; Homma, Kozo; Sakai, Haruyuki.

1995-11-01

This report presents results from the power burst experiment with pre-irradiated fuel rod, Test JM-5, conducted in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR). The data concerning test method, pre-irradiation, pre-pulse fuel examination, pulse irradiation, transient records and post-pulse fuel examination are described, and interpretations and discussions of the results are presented. Preceding to the pulse irradiation in the NSRR, test fuel rod was irradiated in the Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR) up to a fuel burnup of 25.7 MWd/kgU with average linear heat rate of 33.4 kW/m. The fuel rod was subjected to the pulse irradiation resulting in a desposited energy of 223 ± 7 cal/g·fuel (0.93 ± 0.03 kJ/g·fuel) and a peak fuel enthalpy of 167 ± 5 cal/g·fuel (0.70 ± 0.02 kJ/g·fuel) under stagnant water cooling condition at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Test fuel rod behavior was assessed from pre- and post-pulse fuel examinations and transient records during the pulse. The Test JM-5 resulted in cladding failure. More than twenty small cracks were found in the post-test cladding, and most of the defects located in pre-existing locally hydrided region. The result indicates an occurrence of fuel failure by PCMI (pellet/cladding mechanical interaction) in combination with decreased integrity of hydrided cladding. (author)

Primary marine aerosol emissions from the Mediterranean Sea during pre-bloom and oligotrophic conditions: correlations to seawater chlorophyll a from a mesocosm study

Science.gov (United States)

Schwier, A. N.; Rose, C.; Asmi, E.; Ebling, A. M.; Landing, W. M.; Marro, S.; Pedrotti, M.-L.; Sallon, A.; Iuculano, F.; Agusti, S.; Tsiola, A.; Pitta, P.; Louis, J.; Guieu, C.; Gazeau, F.; Sellegri, K.

2015-07-01

The effect of ocean acidification and changing water conditions on primary (and secondary) marine aerosol emissions is not well understood on a regional or a global scale. To investigate this effect as well as the indirect effect on aerosol that changing biogeochemical parameters can have, ~ 52 m3 pelagic mesocosms were deployed for several weeks in the Mediterranean Sea during both winter pre-bloom and summer oligotrophic conditions and were subjected to various levels of CO2 to simulate the conditions foreseen in this region for the coming decades. After seawater sampling, primary bubble-bursting aerosol experiments were performed using a plunging water jet system to test both chemical and physical aerosol parameters (10-400 nm). Comparing results obtained during pre-bloom and oligotrophic conditions, we find the same four log-normal modal diameters (18.5 ± 0.6, 37.5 ± 1.4, 91.5 ± 2.0, 260 ± 3.2 nm) describing the aerosol size distribution during both campaigns, yet pre-bloom conditions significantly increased the number fraction of the second (Aitken) mode, with an amplitude correlated to virus-like particles, heterotrophic prokaryotes, TEPs (transparent exopolymeric particles), chlorophyll a and other pigments. Organic fractions determined from kappa closure calculations for the diameter, Dp ~ 50 nm, were much larger during the pre-bloom period (64 %) than during the oligotrophic period (38 %), and the organic fraction decreased as the particle size increased. Combining data from both campaigns together, strong positive correlations were found between the organic fraction of the aerosol and chlorophyll a concentrations, heterotrophic and autotrophic bacteria abundance, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. As a consequence of the changes in the organic fraction and the size distributions between pre-bloom and oligotrophic periods, we find that the ratio of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) to condensation nuclei (CN) slightly decreased during the

Pre- and Post-Conditions Expressed in Variants of the Modal µ-Calculus

Science.gov (United States)

Tanabe, Yoshinori; Sekizawa, Toshifusa; Yuasa, Yoshifumi; Takahashi, Koichi

Properties of Kripke structures can be expressed by formulas of the modal µ-calculus. Despite its strong expressive power, the validity problem of the modal µ-calculus is decidable, and so are some of its variants enriched by inverse programs, graded modalities, and nominals. In this study, we show that the pre- and post-conditions of transformations of Kripke structures, such as addition/deletion of states and edges, can be expressed using variants of the modal µ-calculus. Combined with decision procedures we have developed for those variants, the properties of sequences of transformations on Kripke structures can be deduced. We show that these techniques can be used to verify the properties of pointer-manipulating programs.

Performance improvement of a hybrid air conditioning system using the indirect evaporative cooler with internal baffles as a pre-cooling unit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.E. Kabeel

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the present paper, the effects of the indirect evaporative cooler with internal baffle on the performance of the hybrid air conditioning system are numerically investigated. The hybrid air conditioning system contains two indirect evaporative coolers with internal baffle, one is utilized to pre-cool the air inlet to the desiccant wheel and the other is utilized to pre-cool the supply air inlet to the room. The effects of the inlet conditions of the process and reactivation air and working air ratio on the thermal performance of the hybrid air conditioning system have been analyzed. The results of this study show that in the hybrid air conditioning system for using the indirect evaporative cooler with internal baffle as a pre-cooling unit, the supply air temperature reduced by 21% and the coefficient of performance improved by 71% as compared to previous designs of the hybrid air conditioning system at the same inlet conditions. For increasing process air inlet temperature from 25 °C to 45 °C, supply air temperature increases from 12.7 °C to 14.2 °C, thermal COP increases from 1.87 to 2.84, and supply air relative humidity increases from 76.7% to 77.4%. Also, for increasing the reactivation air inlet temperature from 70 °C to 110 °C, supply air temperature dropped from 15.9 °C to 10.9 °C, supply air relative humidity dropped from 82.7% to 71.8%, and thermal COP dropped from 4.5 to 1.7. The recommended optimal air working ratio in the indirect evaporative cooler with internal baffle should be 0.15. Keywords: Desiccant material, Solar air collector, Evaporative cooler, Internal baffles, Air conditioning

The effect of thermal pre-treatment of titanium hydride (TiH2) powder in argon condition

Science.gov (United States)

Franciska P., L.; Erryani, Aprilia; Annur, Dhyah; Kartika, Ika

2018-04-01

Titanium hydride (TiH2) powders are used to enhance the foaming process in the formation of a highly porous metallic material with a cellular structure. But, the low temperature of hydrogen release is one of its problems. The present study, different thermal pre-treatment temperatures were employed to investigate the decomposition behavior of TiH2 to retard or delay a hydrogen gas release process during foaming. As a foaming agent, TiH2 was subjected to various heat treatments prior at 450 and 500°C during 2 hours in argon condition. To study the formation mechanism, the thermal behavior of titanium hydride and hydrogen release are investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The morphology of pre-treated titanium hydride powders were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) while unsure mapping and elemental composition of the pre-treated powders processed by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). To study the phase formation was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). In accordance with the results, an increase in pre-treatment temperature of TiH2 to higher degrees are changing the process of releasing hydrogen from titanium hydride powder. DTA/TGA results showed that thermal pre-treatment TiH2 at 450°C, released the hydrogen gas at 560°C in heat treatment when foaming process. Meanwhile, thermal pre-treatment in TiH2 at 500°C, released the hydrogen gas at 670°C when foaming process. There is plenty of direct evidence for the existence of oxide layers that showed by EDS analysis obtained in SEM. As oxygen is a light element and qualitative proof shows that the higher pre-treatment temperature produces more and thicker oxygen layers on the surface of the TiH2 powder particles. It might the thickness of oxide layer are different from different pre-treatment temperatures, which leading to the differences in the decomposition temperature. But from SEM result that oxidation of the powder does not

Initial conditions for hydrodynamics from weakly coupled pre-equilibrium evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mazeliauskas, Aleksas

2017-01-01

We use leading order effective kinetic theory to simulate the pre-equilibrium evolution of transverse energy and flow perturbations in heavy-ion collisions. We provide a Green function which propagates the initial perturbations of the energy-momentum tensor to a time when hydrodynamics becomes applicable. With this map, the pre-thermal evolution from saturated nuclei to hydrodynamics can be modeled in the framework of weakly coupled QCD. (paper)

Initial conditions for hydrodynamics from weakly coupled pre-equilibrium evolution

CERN Document Server

Keegan, Liam; Mazeliauskas, Aleksas; Teaney, Derek

2016-01-01

We use effective kinetic theory, accurate at weak coupling, to simulate the pre-equilibrium evolution of transverse energy and flow perturbations in heavy-ion collisions. We provide a Green function which propagates the initial perturbations to the energy-momentum tensor at a time when hydrodynamics becomes applicable. With this map, the complete pre-thermal evolution from saturated nuclei to hydrodynamics can be modelled in a perturbatively controlled way.

Identifying hydrological pre-conditions and rainfall triggers of slope failures for 2014 storm events in the Ialomita Subcarpathians, Romania

Science.gov (United States)

Chitu, Zenaida; Bogaard, Thom; Busuioc, Aristita; Burcea, Sorin; Adler, Mary-Jeanne; Sandric, Ionut

2015-04-01

Like in many parts of the world, in Romania, landslides represent recurrent phenomena that produce numerous damages to infrastructure every few years. Various studies on landslide occurrence in the Curvature Subcarpathians reveal that rainfall represents the most important triggering factor for landslides. Depending on rainfall characteristics and environmental factors different types of landslides were recorded in the Ialomita Subcarpathians: slumps, earthflows and complex landslides. This area, located in the western part of Curvature Subcarpathians, is characterized by a very complex geology whose main features are represented by the nappes system, the post tectonic covers, the diapirism phenomena and vertical faults. This work aims to investigate hydrological pre-conditions and rainfall characteristics which triggered slope failures in 2014 in the Ialomita Subcarpathians, Romania. Hydrological pre-conditions were investigated by means of water balance analysis and low flow techniques, while spatial and temporal patterns of rainfalls were estimated using radar data and six rain gauges. Additionally, six soil moisture stations that are fitted with volumetric soil moisture sensors and temperature soil sensors were used to estimate the antecedent soil moisture conditions.

Macro-mesoscopic Fracture and Strength Character of Pre-cracked Granite Under Stress Relaxation Condition

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Junfeng; Yang, Haiqing; Xiao, Yang; Zhou, Xiaoping

2018-05-01

The fracture characters are important index to study the strength and deformation behavior of rock mass in rock engineering. In order to investigate the influencing mechanism of loading conditions on the strength and macro-mesoscopic fracture character of rock material, pre-cracked granite specimens are prepared to conduct a series of uniaxial compression experiments. For parts of the experiments, stress relaxation tests of different durations are also conducted during the uniaxial loading process. Furthermore, the stereomicroscope is adopted to observe the microstructure of the crack surfaces of the specimens. The experimental results indicate that the crack surfaces show several typical fracture characters in accordance with loading conditions. In detail, some cleavage fracture can be observed under conventional uniaxial compression and the fractured surface is relatively rough, whereas as stress relaxation tests are attached, relative slip trace appears between the crack faces and some shear fracture starts to come into being. Besides, the crack faces tend to become smoother and typical terrace structures can be observed in local areas. Combining the macroscopic failure pattern of the specimens, it can be deduced that the duration time for the stress relaxation test contributes to the improvement of the elastic-plastic strain range as well as the axial peak strength for the studied material. Moreover, the derived conclusion is also consistent with the experimental and analytical solution for the pre-peak stage of the rock material. The present work may provide some primary understanding about the strength character and fracture mechanism of hard rock under different engineering environments.

Comparison of two long acting pre-lambing anthelmintic treatments on the productivity of ewes in low body condition.

Science.gov (United States)

Bingham, C; Hodge, A; Mariadass, B

2017-05-01

To determine if there was a benefit from treating ewes with a low body condition score (BCS) with long acting anthelmintic products pre-lambing and to compare the effects of two commonly used treatment options. The study was conducted on a single commercial hill country sheep and beef property in the central North Island of New Zealand. Mixed age twin-bearing ewes were preselected by the farmer as being in poor condition 4 weeks before the planned start of lambing, and were sequentially drafted into three equal groups identified with coloured ear tags. The negative control group (n=199) received no anthelmintic treatment; the other two groups received either a controlled release capsule (CRC) containing abamectin, albendazole, Se and Co (n=200) or a long-acting injection of moxidectin (n=200). All ewes were body condition scored (1-5 scale) and weighed at pre-lambing, docking (65 days after treatment) and at weaning (127 days after treatment). Faecal nematode egg counts (FEC) were carried out on 10 ewes from each group at these three times. Most lambs were matched to the ewe treatment groups at weaning, and weighed. At weaning the mean body weight of ewes treated with moxidectin was 3.2 (95% CI=2.3-4.3) kg heavier than controls, and of ewes treated with CRC was 3.6 (95% CI=2.5-4.5) kg heavier than control ewes (pewes had a BCS≥3. At weaning, more ewes treated with CRC (140/194; 72%) or moxidectin (122/187; 65%) had a BCS≥3 than control ewes (55/179 (31%); pewes from the treatment groups, the mean weight at weaning of lambs from ewes treated with moxidectin was 2.6 (95% CI=1.9-3.3) kg heavier, and from ewes treated with CRC was 2.6 (95% CI=1.9-3.4) kg heavier than lambs from control ewes (pewes with low BCS pre-lambing with long acting anthelmintic treatments (moxidectin long acting injection or CRC) resulted in an increase in mean body weight of the ewes and lambs at weaning. There were no significant differences between the two pre-lambing treatments used

The Effect of Task Type and Pre-task Planning Condition on the Accuracy of Intermediate EFL Learners' Writing Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seyeed Mohammad Alavi

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Task-based language teaching, which requires learners to transact tasks resembling their real life language needs, demands language learners to perform planning at different stages of their learning. Since various types of tasks can be used in task-based instruction, the present study examined the effect of task types and various participatory structures during pre-task planning on the quality of learners' writing performance, (i.e., accuracy. Towards this end, 120 intermediate EFL students were randomly assigned to 3 experimental groups and one control group. While the experimental groups were subjected to different pre-task planning conditions, (i.e., individual, pair, and group, the control group performed tasks without any planning. During the treatment, they experienced task modeling, presentation and completion. A factorial design was followed in the present study, and the collected data were analyzed through ANOVAs that revealed task type and pre-task planning condition influenced the writing accuracy of the participants in a way that resulted in greater accuracy in the decision-making task in the experimental groups, thereby ensuring the effectiveness of the treatment in mitigating the long-standing problem of EFL learners in achieving higher levels of accuracy when a specific task type is concerned.

Performance Comparison of Several Pre-Processing Methods in a Hand Gesture Recognition System based on Nearest Neighbor for Different Background Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iwan Setyawan

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a performance analysis and comparison of several pre-processing methods used in a hand gesture recognition system. The pre-processing methods are based on the combinations of several image processing operations, namely edge detection, low pass filtering, histogram equalization, thresholding and desaturation. The hand gesture recognition system is designed to classify an input image into one of six possible classes. The input images are taken with various background conditions. Our experiments showed that the best result is achieved when the pre-processing method consists of only a desaturation operation, achieving a classification accuracy of up to 83.15%.

Effects of individual pre-fledging traits and environmental conditions on return patterns in juvenile king penguins.

Science.gov (United States)

Saraux, Claire; Viblanc, Vincent A; Hanuise, Nicolas; Le Maho, Yvon; Le Bohec, Céline

2011-01-01

Despite the importance of early life stages in individuals' life history and population dynamics, very few studies have focused on the constraints to which these juvenile traits are subjected. Based on 10 years of automatic monitoring of over 2500 individuals, we present the first study on the effects of environmental conditions and individual pre-fledging traits on the post-fledging return of non-banded king penguins to their natal colony. Juvenile king penguins returned exclusively within one of the three austral summers following their departure. A key finding is that return rates (range 68-87%) were much higher than previously assumed for this species, importantly meaning that juvenile survival is very close to that of adults. Such high figures suggest little juvenile dispersal, and selection occurring mostly prior to fledging in king penguins. Pre-fledging conditions had a strong quadratic impact on juvenile return rates. As expected, cohorts reared under very unfavourable years (as inferred by the breeding success of the colony) exhibited low return rates but surprisingly, so did those fledged under very favourable conditions. Juvenile sojourns away from the colony were shorter under warm conditions and subsequent return rates higher, suggesting a positive effect of climate warming. The longer the post-fledging trip (1, 2 or 3 years), the earlier in the summer birds returned to their natal colony and the longer they stayed before leaving for the winter journey. The presence of juveniles in the colony was more than twice the duration required for moulting purposes, yet none attempted breeding in the year of their first return. Juvenile presence in the colony may be important for acquiring knowledge on the social and physical colonial environment and may play an important part in the learning process of mating behaviour. Further studies are required to investigate its potential implications on other life-history traits such as recruitment age.

Impact of the environmental conditions and substrate pre-treatment on whey protein hydrolysis: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheison, Seronei Chelulei; Kulozik, Ulrich

2017-01-22

Proteins in solution are subject to myriad forces stemming from interactions with each other as well as with the solvent media. The role of the environmental conditions, namely pH, temperature, ionic strength remains under-estimated yet it impacts protein conformations and consequently its interaction with, and susceptibility to, the enzyme. Enzymes, being proteins are also amenable to the environmental conditions because they are either activated or denatured depending on the choice of the conditions. Furthermore, enzyme specificity is restricted to a narrow regime of optimal conditions while opportunities outside the optimum conditions remain untapped. In addition, the composition of protein substrate (whether mixed or single purified) have been underestimated in previous studies. In addition, protein pre-treatment methods like heat denaturation prior to hydrolysis is a complex phenomenon whose progression is influenced by the environmental conditions including the presence or absence of sugars like lactose, ionic strength, purity of the protein, and the molecular structure of the mixed proteins particularly presence of free thiol groups. In this review, we revisit protein hydrolysis with a focus on the impact of the hydrolysis environment and show that preference of peptide bonds and/or one protein over another during hydrolysis is driven by the environmental conditions. Likewise, heat-denaturing is a process which is dependent on not only the environment but the presence or absence of other proteins.

The Tala Tuff, La Primavera caldera Mexico. Pre-eruptive conditions and magma processes before eruption

Science.gov (United States)

Sosa-Ceballos, G.

2015-12-01

La Primavera caldera, Jalisco Mexico, is a Pleistocenic volcanic structure formed by dome complexes and multiple pyroclastic flows and fall deposits. It is located at the intersection of the Chapala, Colima, and Tepic grabens in western Mexico. The first volcanic activity associated to La Primavera started ~0.1 Ma with the emission of pre-caldera lavas. The caldera collapse occurred 95 ka and is associated to the eruption of ~20 km3of pumice flows known as the Tala tuff (Mahood 1980). The border of the caldera was replaced by a series of domes dated in 75-30 ky, which partially filled the inner depression of the caldera with pyroclastic flows and falls. For more than a decade the Federal Commission of Electricity in Mexico (CFE) has prospected and evaluated the geothermal potential of the Cerritos Colorados project at La Primavera caldera. In order to better understand the plumbing system that tapped the Tala tuff and to investigate its relation with the potential geothermal field at La Primavera we performed a series of hydrothermal experiments and studied melt inclusions hosted in quartz phenocrysts by Fourier Infra red stectroscopy (FTIR). Although some post caldera products at La Primavera contain fayalite and quartz (suggesting QFM conditions) the Tala tuff does not contain fayalite and we ran experiments under NNO conditions. The absence of titanomagnetite does not allowed us to calculate pre-eruptive temperature. However, the stability of quartz and plagioclase, which are natural phases, suggest that temperature should be less than 750 °C at a pressure of 200 MPa. The analyses of H2O and CO2 dissolved in melt inclusions yielded concentrations of 2-5 wt.% and 50-100 ppm respectively. This data confirm that the pre-eruptive pressure of the Tala tuff is ~200 MPa and in addition to major elements compositions suggest that the Tala tuff is either, compositionally zoned or mixed with other magma just prior to eruption.

Matrix multiplication operations with data pre-conditioning in a high performance computing architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Eichenberger, Alexandre E; Gschwind, Michael K; Gunnels, John A

2013-11-05

Mechanisms for performing matrix multiplication operations with data pre-conditioning in a high performance computing architecture are provided. A vector load operation is performed to load a first vector operand of the matrix multiplication operation to a first target vector register. A load and splat operation is performed to load an element of a second vector operand and replicating the element to each of a plurality of elements of a second target vector register. A multiply add operation is performed on elements of the first target vector register and elements of the second target vector register to generate a partial product of the matrix multiplication operation. The partial product of the matrix multiplication operation is accumulated with other partial products of the matrix multiplication operation.

Exercise training prevents the attenuation of anesthetic pre-conditioning-mediated cardioprotection in diet-induced obese rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, L; Meng, F; Li, N; Zhang, L; Wang, J; Wang, H; Li, D; Zhang, X; Dong, P; Chen, Y

2015-01-01

Obesity abolishes anesthetic pre-conditioning-induced cardioprotection due to impaired reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway, a consequence of increased basal myocardial oxidative stress. Exercise training has been shown to attenuate obesity-related oxidative stress. This study tests whether exercise training could normalize ROS-mediated AMPK pathway and prevent the attenuation of anesthetic pre-conditioning-induced cardioprotection in obesity. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into lean rats fed with control diet and obese rats fed with high-fat diet. After 4 weeks of feeding, lean and obese rats were assigned to sedentary conditions or treadmill exercise for 8 weeks. There was no difference in infarct size between lean sedentary and obese sedentary rats after 25 min of myocardial ischemia followed by 120 min reperfusion. In lean rats, sevoflurane equally reduced infarct size in lean sedentary and lean exercise-trained rats. Molecular studies revealed that AMPK activity, endothelial nitric oxide synthase, and superoxide production measured at the end of ischemia in lean rats were increased in response to sevoflurane. In obese rats, sevoflurane increased the above molecular parameters and reduced infarct size in obese exercise-trained rats but not in obese sedentary rats. Additional study showed that obese exercise-trained rats had decreased basal oxidative stress than obese sedentary rats. The results indicate that exercise training can prevent the attenuation of anesthetic cardioprotection in obesity. Preventing the attenuation of this strategy may be associated with reduced basal oxidative stress and normalized ROS-mediated AMPK pathway, but the causal relationship remains to be determined. © 2014 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison and Optimization of Saccharification Conditions of Alkaline Pre-Treated Triticale Straw for Acid and Enzymatic Hydrolysis Followed by Ethanol Fermentation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafał Łukajtis

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper concerns the comparison of the efficiency of two-stage hydrolysis processes, i.e., alkaline pre-treatment and acid hydrolysis, as well as alkaline pre-treatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis, carried out in order to obtain reducing sugars from triticale straw. For each of the analyzed systems, the optimization of the processing conditions was carried out with respect to the glucose yield. For the alkaline pre-treatment, an optimal catalyst concentration was selected for constant values of temperature and pre-treatment time. For enzymatic hydrolysis, optimal process time and concentration of the enzyme preparation were determined. For the acidic hydrolysis, performed with 85% phosphoric acid, the optimum temperature and hydrolysis time were determined. In the hydrolysates obtained after the two-stage treatment, the concentration of reducing sugars was determined using HPLC. The obtained hydrolysates were subjected to ethanol fermentation. The concentrations of fermentation inhibitors are given and their effects on the alcoholic fermentation efficiency are discussed.

Neurological condition in 42-month-old children in relation to pre- and postnatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dioxins.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Patandin, S; Fidler, [No Value; Weisglas-Kuperus, N; Sauer, PJJ; Boersma, ER; Touwen, BCL

1998-01-01

Adverse neurological effects of exposure to PCBs have been found up to 18 months of age. Now we report on the effect of pre-and postnatal exposure to PCBs and dioxins on the neurological condition at 42 months of age. For this purpose, PCB levels were determined in cord and maternal plasma, and used

Thyroglobulin assay in fluids from lymph node fine needle-aspiration washout: influence of pre-analytical conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Casson, Florence Boux de; Moal, Valérie; Gauchez, Anne-Sophie; Moineau, Marie-Pierre; Sault, Corinne; Schlageter, Marie-Hélène; Massart, Catherine

2017-04-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the pre-analytical factors contributing to uncertainty in thyroglobulin measurement in fluids from fine-needle aspiration (FNA) washout of cervical lymph nodes. We studied pre-analytical stability, in different conditions, of 41 samples prepared with concentrated solutions of thyroglobulin (FNA washout or certified standard) diluted in physiological saline solution or buffer containing 6% albumin. In this buffer, over time, no changes in thyroglobulin concentrations were observed in all storage conditions tested. In albumin free saline solution, thyroglobulin recovery rates depended on initial sample concentrations and on modalities of their conservation (in conventional storage tubes, recovery mean was 56% after 3 hours-storage at room temperature and 19% after 24 hours-storage for concentrations ranged from 2 to 183 μg/L; recovery was 95%, after 3 hours or 24 hours-storage at room temperature, for a concentration of 5,656 μg/L). We show here that these results are due to non-specific adsorption of thyroglobulin in storage tubes, which depends on sample protein concentrations. We also show that possible contamination of fluids from FNA washout by plasma proteins do not always adequately prevent this adsorption. In conclusion, non-specific adsorption in storage tubes strongly contributes to uncertainty in thyroglobulin measurement in physiological saline solution. It is therefore recommended, for FNA washout, to use a buffer containing proteins provided by the laboratory.

Role of transglutaminase 2 in A1 adenosine receptor- and β2-adrenoceptor-mediated pharmacological pre- and post-conditioning against hypoxia-reoxygenation-induced cell death in H9c2 cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Vyas, Falguni S; Nelson, Carl P; Dickenson, John M

2018-01-15

Pharmacologically-induced pre- and post-conditioning represent attractive therapeutic strategies to reduce ischaemia/reperfusion injury during cardiac surgery and following myocardial infarction. We have previously reported that transglutaminase 2 (TG2) activity is modulated by the A 1 adenosine receptor and β 2 -adrenoceptor in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts. The primary aim of this study was to determine the role of TG2 in A 1 adenosine receptor and β 2 -adrenoceptor-induced pharmacological pre- and post-conditioning in the H9c2 cells. H9c2 cells were exposed to 8h hypoxia (1% O 2 ) followed by 18h reoxygenation, after which cell viability was assessed by monitoring mitochondrial reduction of MTT, lactate dehydrogenase release and caspase-3 activation. N 6 -cyclopentyladenosine (CPA; A 1 adenosine receptor agonist), formoterol (β 2 -adrenoceptor agonist) or isoprenaline (non-selective β-adrenoceptor agonist) were added before hypoxia/reoxygenation (pre-conditioning) or at the start of reoxygenation following hypoxia (post-conditioning). Pharmacological pre- and post-conditioning with CPA and isoprenaline significantly reduced hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced cell death. In contrast, formoterol did not elicit protection. Pre-treatment with pertussis toxin (G i/o -protein inhibitor), DPCPX (A 1 adenosine receptor antagonist) or TG2 inhibitors (Z-DON and R283) attenuated the A 1 adenosine receptor-induced pharmacological pre- and post-conditioning. Similarly, pertussis toxin, ICI 118,551 (β 2 -adrenoceptor antagonist) or TG2 inhibition attenuated the isoprenaline-induced cell survival. Knockdown of TG2 using small interfering RNA (siRNA) attenuated CPA and isoprenaline-induced pharmacological pre- and post-conditioning. Finally, proteomic analysis following isoprenaline treatment identified known (e.g. protein S100-A6) and novel (e.g. adenine phosphoribosyltransferase) protein substrates for TG2. These results have shown that A 1 adenosine receptor and β 2 -adrenoceptor

Influence of material deterioration on strength properties of hydraulic timber structures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gard, W.F.; Van de Kuilen, J.W.G.; Cabrera de Diego, M.

2014-01-01

Hydraulic timber structures such as mooring poles, fenders, lock gates and jetties are widely-used in inner and sea harbours all over the world. In general these structures give satisfactory performance with regard to the technical requirements. Because of the harsh exposure conditions such as

Innovative technologies to accurately model waves and moored ship motions

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

van der Molen, W

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Late in 2009 CSIR Built Environment in Stellenbosch was awarded a contract to carry out extensive physical and numerical modelling to study the wave conditions and associated moored ship motions, for the design of a new iron ore export jetty for BHP...

Influence of pre-hydriding on embrittlement of E110 alloy under LOCA conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (SC VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" >Fedotov, P.; VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (SC VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" >Kuznetsov, V.; VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (SC VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" >Nechaeva, O.; VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (SC VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" >Novikov, V.; VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" data-affiliation=" (SC VNIINM, Moscow (Russian Federation))" >Salatov, A.; Ignatiev, D.; Mokrushin, A.; Soldatkin, D.; Urusov, A.

2015-01-01

The researches presented in this paper were carried out in the framework of TVS-K project developed by JSC “TVEL”. The data on the corrosion and residual ductility of unirradiated and pre-hydrided E110 alloy under LACA conditions at temperature range from 1100 to 1200°C are presented. The hydrogen concentration was varied from 30 (as-received) to 600 wppm. The initial concentration of hydrogen has no effect on the oxidation kinetics, while the oxidation kinetics are parabolic and the breakaway oxidation is not observed. Oxide films on surfaces of claddings are black and shining. There are no cracks, visual spots and peelings. The residual ductility of oxidised samples decrease with hydrogen concentration rise. The residual ductility of claddings oxidized at 1100 °C, generally higher than the same of the claddings oxidized at 1200 °C. E110 alloy has a good residual ductility in comparison to Zry-4, ZIRLO, M5. Joint analysis of the test results allowed us to formulate embrittlement criteria of the E110 alloy under LOCA conditions. This embrittlement criterion is preliminary, because the experimental data base must to be enlarged by results of tests with claddings of another geometry and quench experiments. (author)

Relative role of pre-monsoon conditions and intraseasonal oscillations in determining early-vs-late indian monsoon intensity in a GCM

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Rohit; Chakraborty, Arindam; Nanjundiah, Ravi S.

2018-01-01

The aim of this paper is to identify relative roles of different land-atmospheric conditions, apart from sea surface temperature (SST), in determining early vs. late summer monsoon intensity over India in a high resolution general circulation model (GCM). We find that in its early phase (June-July; JJ), pre-monsoon land-atmospheric processes play major role to modulate the precipitation over Indian region. These effects of pre-monsoon conditions decrease substantially during its later phase (August-September; AS) for which the interannual variation is mainly governed by the low frequency northward propagating intraseasonal oscillations. This intraseasonal variability which is related to mean vertical wind shear has a significant role during the early phase of monsoon as well. Further, using multiple linear regression, we show that interannual variation of early and late monsoon rainfall over India is best explained when all these land-atmospheric parameters are taken together. Our study delineates the relative role of different processes affecting early versus later summer monsoon rainfall over India that can be used for determining its subseasonal predictability.

The effects of feeding unpredictability and classical conditioning on pre-release training of white-lipped peccary (Mammalia, Tayassuidae.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Selene S C Nogueira

Full Text Available Some authors have suggested that environmental unpredictability, accompanied by some sort of signal for behavioral conditioning, can boost activity or foster exploratory behavior, which may increase post-release success in re-introduction programs. Thus, using white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari, a vulnerable Neotropical species, as a model, we evaluated an unpredictable feeding schedule. Associating this with the effect of classical conditioning on behavioral activities, we assessed the inclusion of this approach in pre-release training protocols. The experimental design comprised predictable feeding phases (control phases: C1, C2 and C3 and unpredictable feeding phases (U1- signaled and U2- non-signaled. The animals explored more during the signaled and non-signaled unpredictable phases and during the second control phase (C2 than during the other two predictable phases (C1 and C3. The peccaries also spent less time feeding during the signaled unpredictable phase (U1 and the following control phase (C2 than during the other phases. Moreover, they spent more time in aggressive encounters during U1 than the other experimental phases. However, the animals did not show differences in the time they spent on affiliative interactions or in the body weight change during the different phases. The signaled unpredictability, besides improving foraging behavior, showing a prolonged effect on the next control phase (C2, also increased the competition for food. The signaled feeding unpredictability schedule, mimicking wild conditions by eliciting the expression of naturalistic behaviors in pre-release training, may be essential to fully prepare them for survival in the wild.

The effects of feeding unpredictability and classical conditioning on pre-release training of white-lipped peccary (Mammalia, Tayassuidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Nogueira, Selene S C; Abreu, Shauana A; Peregrino, Helderes; Nogueira-Filho, Sérgio L G

2014-01-01

Some authors have suggested that environmental unpredictability, accompanied by some sort of signal for behavioral conditioning, can boost activity or foster exploratory behavior, which may increase post-release success in re-introduction programs. Thus, using white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), a vulnerable Neotropical species, as a model, we evaluated an unpredictable feeding schedule. Associating this with the effect of classical conditioning on behavioral activities, we assessed the inclusion of this approach in pre-release training protocols. The experimental design comprised predictable feeding phases (control phases: C1, C2 and C3) and unpredictable feeding phases (U1- signaled and U2- non-signaled). The animals explored more during the signaled and non-signaled unpredictable phases and during the second control phase (C2) than during the other two predictable phases (C1 and C3). The peccaries also spent less time feeding during the signaled unpredictable phase (U1) and the following control phase (C2) than during the other phases. Moreover, they spent more time in aggressive encounters during U1 than the other experimental phases. However, the animals did not show differences in the time they spent on affiliative interactions or in the body weight change during the different phases. The signaled unpredictability, besides improving foraging behavior, showing a prolonged effect on the next control phase (C2), also increased the competition for food. The signaled feeding unpredictability schedule, mimicking wild conditions by eliciting the expression of naturalistic behaviors in pre-release training, may be essential to fully prepare them for survival in the wild.

Decadal morphological response of an ebb-tidal delta and down-drift beach to artificial breaching and inlet stabilisation

Science.gov (United States)

Garel, E.; Sousa, C.; Ferreira, Ó.; Morales, J. A.

2014-07-01

The morphodynamic response of a mixed-energy ebb-tidal delta (Guadiana estuary, southern Portugal) and its down-drift barrier island (Canela Island) to channel relocation and stabilisation by jetties is examined using a series of sequential bathymetric maps and vertical aerial photographs spanning five decades. Morphological analysis indicates that the ebb delta is in an immature state, characterised by weak sediment bypassing. Landward-migrating shoals on the swash platform have been produced by the jetty-induced artificial bank-breaching and by the collapse of the eastern portion of the delta. The welding of these shoals has largely controlled the evolution of the coast, with local accretion and erosion lasting for years, and large amounts of regional accretion occurring over decades due to sand accumulation against jetties located further down-drift. These observations provide insights into the potential response of a coast to very large, locally concentrated sand nourishment in the form of shoals. The main effects of the jetties on the coast are observed at the centre of Canela Island, with the production of an erosion hot-spot associated with a temporally persistent and divergent longshore transport providing sand to the adjacent areas. Significant accretion is anticipated for the next decade along the entire island due to the ongoing attachment of the presently observed shoals. After the depletion of this sediment source, and in the context of weak sediment bypassing, the most severe down-drift erosion induced by the jetties is predicted to occur some decades after their construction. This study demonstrates that the geomorphic response of an ebb-tidal delta to jetty construction must be considered at multiple temporal and spatial scales when assessing the impacts of jetties on the down-drift coast.

Effect of Pre-Aging Conditions on Bake-Hardening Response of Al-0.4 wt%Mg-1.2 wt%Si-0.1 wt%Mn Alloy Sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kwang-jin; Woo, Kee-do

2011-01-01

Pre-aging heat treatment after solution heat treatment (SHT) of Al-0.4 wt%Mg-1.2 wt%Si-0.1 wt%Mn alloy sheets for auto-bodies was carried out to investigate the effect of pre-aging and its conditions on the bake-hardening response. Mechanical properties were evaluated by a tensile and Vickers hardness test. Microstructural observation was also performed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). It was revealed that pre-aging treatments play a great role in the bake-hardening response. In addition, it was found that the sphere-shaped nanosized clusters that can directly transit to the needle-shaped β” phase during the paint-bake process, not being dissolved into the matrix, are formed at 343 K. The result, reveals that the dominant factor of the bake-hardening response is the pre-aging temperature rather than the pre-aging time.

Silane pre-treatments on copper and aluminium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deflorian, F.; Rossi, S.; Fedrizzi, L.

2006-01-01

A large part of aluminium products are coated with an organic layer in order to improve the corrosion resistance. Copper surfaces are also sometimes protected with an organic coating to improve the durability or the aesthetic properties. Examples of industrial applications are household appliances and heat exchanger components. For these applications it is not rare to have the industrial need to treat at the same time components made of aluminium and copper. In order to extend the service life of the organic coated copper a specific surface pre-treatment is often required. Nevertheless, probably because of the limited market of this application, no specific pre-treatments for copper are industrially developed, with the exception of cleaning procedures, but simply extensions of existing pre-treatments optimised for other metals (aluminium, zinc) are used. The application of silane pre-treatments as adhesion promoters for organic coated metals is remarkably increasing in the last decade, because silanes offer very good performance together with high environmental compatibility. The idea is therefore to try to develop a specific silane based pre-treatment for copper. The starting point is the existing silane products for aluminium, optimising the composition and the application conditions (concentration, temperature, pH of the bath, etc.) in order to develop a high performance copper alloy pre-treatment increasing the protective properties and the adhesion of a successively applied organic coating. Moreover these pre-treatments could be used for aluminium alloys too and therefore could be suggested for multi-metals components. The deposits were analysed using FTIR spectroscopy and optical and electron microscopic observations. A careful electrochemical characterisation, mainly by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements (EIS) was carried out to highlight the presence of silane and to evaluate the performance of the different deposits. In order to study an

48 CFR 809.106-1 - Conditions for pre-award surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... service or using service chiefs or designees appointed by the facility or VISN director will conduct a pre... for contracts covering the products and services of the following: (1) Bakeries. (2) Dairies. (3) Ice cream plants. (4) Laundry and dry cleaning activities. (b) Before any inspection, the contracting...

Performance Comparison of Several Pre-Processing Methods in a Hand Gesture Recognition System based on Nearest Neighbor for Different Background Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regina Lionnie

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a performance analysis and comparison of several pre-processing  methods  used  in  a  hand  gesture  recognition  system.  The  preprocessing methods are based on the combinations ofseveral image processing operations,  namely  edge  detection,  low  pass  filtering,  histogram  equalization, thresholding and desaturation. The hand gesture recognition system is designed to classify an input image into one of six possibleclasses. The input images are taken with various background conditions. Our experiments showed that the best result is achieved when the pre-processing method consists of only a desaturation operation, achieving a classification accuracy of up to 83.15%.

Nonlocal free vibration in the pre- and post-buckled states of magneto-electro-thermo elastic rectangular nanoplates with various edge conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Ansari, R.; Gholami, R.

2016-09-01

Considering the small scale effect together with the influences of transverse shear deformation, rotary inertia and the magneto-electro-thermo-mechanical coupling, the linear free vibration of magneto-electro-thermo-elastic (METE) rectangular nanoplates with various edge supports in pre- and post-buckled states is investigated herein. It is assumed that the METE nanoplate is subjected to the external in-plane compressive loads in combination with magnetic, electric and thermal loads. The Mindlin plate theory, von Kármán hypothesis and the nonlocal theory are utilized to develop a size-dependent geometrically nonlinear plate model for describing the size-dependent linear and nonlinear mechanical characteristics of moderately thick METE rectangular nanoplates. The nonlinear governing equations and the corresponding boundary conditions are derived using Hamilton’s principle which are then discretized via the generalized differential quadrature method. The pseudo-arc length continuation approach is used to obtain the equilibrium postbuckling path of METE nanoplates. By the obtained postbuckling response, and taking a time-dependent small disturbance around the buckled configuration, and inserting them into the nonlinear governing equations, an eigenvalue problem is achieved from which the frequencies of pre- and post-buckled METE nanoplates can be calculated. The effects of nonlocal parameter, electric, magnetic and thermal loadings, length-to-thickness ratio and different boundary conditions on the free vibration response of METE rectangular nanoplates in the pre- and post-buckled states are highlighted.

Pre-anaesthetic screening of geriatric dogs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K.E. Joubert

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Pre-anaesthetic screening has been advocated as a valuable tool for improving anaesthetic safety and determining anaesthetic risk. This study was done determine whether pre-anaesthetic screening result in cancellation of anaesthesia and the diagnosis of new clinical conditions in geriatric dogs. One hundred and one dogs older than 7 years of age provided informed owner consent were included in the study. Each dog was weighed, and its temperature, pulse and respiration recorded. An abdominal palpation, examination of the mouth, including capillary refill time and mucous membranes, auscultation, body condition and habitus was performed and assessed. A cephalic catheter was placed and blood drawn for pre-anaesthetic testing. A micro-haematocrit tube was filled and the packed cell volume determined. The blood placed was in a test tube, centrifuged and then analysed on an in-house blood analyser. Alkaline phosphatase, alanine transferase, urea, creatinine, glucose and total protein were determined. A urine sample was then obtained by cystocentesis, catheterisation or free-flow for analysis. The urine specific gravity was determined with a refractometer. A small quantity of urine was then placed on a dip stick. Any new diagnoses made during the pre-anaesthetic screening were recorded. The average age of the dogs was 10.99+2.44 years and the weight was 19.64+15.78 kg. There were 13 dogs with pre-existing medical conditions. A total of 30 new diagnoses were made on the basis of the pre-anaesthetic screening. The most common conditions were neoplasia, chronic kidney disease and Cushing's disease. Of the 30 patients with a new diagnosis, 13 did not undergo anaesthesia as result of the new diagnosis. From this study it can be concluded that screening of geriatric patients is important and that sub-clinical disease could be present in nearly 30 % of these patients. The value of screening before anaesthesia is perhaps more questionable in terms of

Arrival Processes for Vessels in a Port Simulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

E. van Asperen (Eelco); R. Dekker (Rommert); M. Polman (Mark); H. de Swaan Arons; L. Waltman (Ludo)

2003-01-01

textabstractPorts provide jetty facilities for ships to load and unload their cargo. Jetty capacity is costly and therefore limited, causing delays for arriving ships. However, ship delays are also costly, so terminal operators attempt to min imize their number and duration. Here, simulation has

Stone anchors from Sindhudurg Fort on the west coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.; Gaur, A.S.

, of which there are triangular and three grapnet-type, used to construct the jetty along with the locally available sand stone. The two remaining grapnet-type anchors are erected on the jetty for mooring purposes. It is found that none of the anchors were...

The role of performing life support courses in rural areas in improving pre-hospital physiologic condition of patients with penetrating injuries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naffisi, N.; Mohebbi, H.A.; Moharamzadeh, Y.

2008-01-01

To evaluate the impact of animal model based medical training courses for village healthcare workers on prehospital physiologic condition and prognosis of patients with penetrating injuries. Seventy-six village healthcare workers were trained and equipped to deliver in-field medical first cares. First group (226 patients) consisted of those who received this cares by the trained group and second group (245 patients) were those who received no in-field cares and were transported directly to the trauma center in provincial capital, Ilam. Physiologic Severity Score (PSS) was calculated to determine the physiologic condition of patients in both groups. Results: The most prevalent cause of trauma in both groups was car accidents (61.6%). Controlling of hemorrhage was the most frequent provided initial medical care (40.6%). A significant improvement regarding the PSS score was observed in the first group of patients compared to the second group (7.505 vs. 6.799, 95% CI for difference: 0.3 to 0.9). The mortality rates of the first and second group of patients were 3% and 7.3%, respectively (p=0.051). Performing life support courses in rural areas of low-income countries where there is no pre-hospital triage and emergency medical system and provision of classic resuscitative measures are limited, has a significant impact on improvement of pre-hospital physiologic condition and prognosis of patients with penetrating injuries. (author)

Optimization of analytical and pre-analytical conditions for MALDI-TOF-MS human urine protein profiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvano, C D; Aresta, A; Iacovone, M; De Benedetto, G E; Zambonin, C G; Battaglia, M; Ditonno, P; Rutigliano, M; Bettocchi, C

2010-03-11

Protein analysis in biological fluids, such as urine, by means of mass spectrometry (MS) still suffers for insufficient standardization in protocols for sample collection, storage and preparation. In this work, the influence of these variables on healthy donors human urine protein profiling performed by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was studied. A screening of various urine sample pre-treatment procedures and different sample deposition approaches on the MALDI target was performed. The influence of urine samples storage time and temperature on spectral profiles was evaluated by means of principal component analysis (PCA). The whole optimized procedure was eventually applied to the MALDI-TOF-MS analysis of human urine samples taken from prostate cancer patients. The best results in terms of detected ions number and abundance in the MS spectra were obtained by using home-made microcolumns packed with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) resin as sample pre-treatment method; this procedure was also less expensive and suitable for high throughput analyses. Afterwards, the spin coating approach for sample deposition on the MALDI target plate was optimized, obtaining homogenous and reproducible spots. Then, PCA indicated that low storage temperatures of acidified and centrifuged samples, together with short handling time, allowed to obtain reproducible profiles without artifacts contribution due to experimental conditions. Finally, interesting differences were found by comparing the MALDI-TOF-MS protein profiles of pooled urine samples of healthy donors and prostate cancer patients. The results showed that analytical and pre-analytical variables are crucial for the success of urine analysis, to obtain meaningful and reproducible data, even if the intra-patient variability is very difficult to avoid. It has been proven how pooled urine samples can be an interesting way to make easier the comparison between

pre-art guidelines

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Enrique

2004-11-01

Nov 1, 2004 ... As these guidelines address pre-ART issues, only conditions that occur at ... All HIV-infected adults who are immunosuppressed, i.e. ... therefore recommended that HIV-infected health care ... vaccine in severely immunosuppressed persons, i.e. those ... with residual insecticides, the use of larvicides, and.

Pre-Service Teachers' Conceptions of Probability

Science.gov (United States)

Odafe, Victor U.

2011-01-01

Probability knowledge and skills are needed in science and in making daily decisions that are sometimes made under uncertain conditions. Hence, there is the need to ensure that the pre-service teachers of our children are well prepared to teach probability. Pre-service teachers' conceptions of probability are identified, and ways of helping them…

Stuctures in hydraulic engineering : Port Infrastructure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Gijt, J.G.

2007-01-01

Lecture notes on the planning and design of port infrastructure, like quay walls as gravity structures, sheet-piles, jetties and ro-ro facilties; anchoring of walls. Discussion of the loads on quay walls, jetties and dolphins. Construction of quay walls. Risk analysis, fender design. Scour problems

Atopic dermatitis-like pre-Sézary syndrome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sokolowska-Wojdylo, Malgorzata; Baranska-Rybak, Wioletta; Cegielska, Agnieszka

2011-01-01

histology without presence of atypical cells). In our patients, overt Sézary syndrome developed after immunosuppressive treatment (including cyclosporine). These cases support the validity of the concept of pre-Sézary syndrome, which is a long-lasting, pre-malignant condition, and which may develop to true...

Structural Statics and Dynamics of the Economy of Transcarpathia under Pre-Crisis and Crisis Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slava Svitlana S.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Under current conditions in Ukraine, when the vector is directed at increasing self-sufficiency of the regions, diagnostics of structural transformations in their economic systems is a mandatory and necessary component to identify potential points of the region development. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to study the structural trends in the economy of the Transcarpathian region and identify its leading sectors under the pre-crisis and crisis conditions, balance in dynamics of the main indicators — the volume of sales, regional value added, capital investment and the number of employees, as well as formation of the main directions in development of the regional economy. It has been revealed that for the past ten years the restructuring of the region economic did not go on too rapidly and it is still difficult to speak about a clear trend of transition to a post-industrial system. Given the current characteristics of the economy of Transcarpathia, the article defined the basic problematic aspects of its structural transformation. It allowed to determine the long-term, according to the authors, ways of “modernization” of economic processes in terms of attracting investments, increasing innovation, business activity, formation of a complete production cycle, use of alternative energy sources, implementation of the EU requirements.

Pre-outbreak forest conditions mediate the effects of spruce beetle outbreaks on fuels in subalpine forests of Colorado.

Science.gov (United States)

Mietkiewicz, Nathan; Kulakowski, Dominik; Veblen, Thomas T

2018-03-01

Over the past 30 years, forest disturbances have increased in size, intensity, and frequency globally, and are predicted to continue increasing due to climate change, potentially relaxing the constraints of vegetation properties on disturbance regimes. However, the consequences of the potentially declining importance of vegetation in determining future disturbance regimes are not well understood. Historically, bark beetles preferentially attack older trees and stands in later stages of development. However, as climate warming intensifies outbreaks by promoting growth of beetle populations and compromising tree defenses, smaller diameter trees and stands in early stages of development now are being affected by outbreaks. To date, no study has considered how stand age and other pre-outbreak forest conditions mediate the effects of outbreaks on surface and aerial fuel arrangements. We collected fuels data across a chronosequence of post-outbreak sites affected by spruce beetle (SB) between the 1940s and the 2010s, stratified by young (130 yr) post-fire stands. Canopy and surface fuel loads were calculated for each tree and stand, and available crown fuel load, crown bulk density, and canopy bulk densities were estimated. Canopy bulk density and density of live canopy individuals were reduced in all stands affected by SB, though foliage loss was proportionally greater in old stands as compared to young stands. Fine surface fuel loads in young stands were three times greater shortly (fuels decreased to below endemic (i.e., non-outbreak) levels. In both young and old stands, the net effect of SB outbreaks during the 20th and 21st centuries reduced total canopy fuels and increased stand-scale spatial heterogeneity of canopy fuels following outbreak. Importantly, the decrease in canopy fuels following outbreaks was greater in young post-fire stands than in older stands, suggesting that SB outbreaks may more substantially reduce risk of active crown fire when they affect

Optimizing bio-physical conditions and pre-treatment options for breaking lignin barrier of maize stover feed using white rot fungi

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew M. Atuhaire

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The greatest limitation to utilization of maize stover by ruminants as a feed is the high concentration of lignin, which limits fibre digestibility. However, ruminants can effectively utilize maize stover if its nutritive value is improved using white rot fungal species. This study was designed to determine optimal bio-physical conditions for mycelial growth and select the most ideal fungal species and pre-treatment options for improving nutritive value of maize stover. Four popular edible Pleurotus fungal species (viz. Pleurotus florida, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus sajor caju and Pleurotus pulmonarius were subjected to varying temperatures, pH levels, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 concentration and illumination to establish the extent of mycelial growth rate. Inclusion of H2O2 was used to determine optimal levels for preservation and prevention of contamination from other indigenous microbiota. Effects of pre-treatment options on chemical composition and nutritive value of maize stover were also examined. Mycelial growth rate of Pleurotus species on potato dextrose agar (PDA varied (P < 0.05 with temperature, pH level and H2O2 concentration following a quadratic trend. Optimal temperature, pH and H2O2 concentration for mycelial growth on PDA were 25 °C, 5 and 0.01 mL/L, respectively. Under the different bio-physical conditions, P. sajor caju had the highest mycelia density and growth rate. Chemical composition of solid-state fermented maize stover differed (P < 0.05 among the Pleurotus species. Maize stover fermented with P. sajor caju had the highest crude protein (CP of 86.6 g/kg DM, in-vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD of 731 g/kg DM, in-vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD of 670.4 g/kg DM and metabolizable energy (ME of 10.0 MJ/kg DM but with the lowest lignin (sa of 50 g/kg DM. At 25 °C, P. sajor caju had the highest mycelial growth rate on PDA and highest lignin (sa breakdown in the maize stover substrate. It was

The Dispersion of the Axisymmetric Longitudinal Waves in the Pre-Strained Bi-Material Hollow Cylinder with the Imperfect Interface Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Akbarov, S. D.; Ipek, C.

This work studies the influence of the imperfectness of the interface conditions on the dispersion of the axisymmetric longitudinal waves in the pre-strained bi-material hollow cylinder. The investigations are made within the 3D linearized theory of elastic waves in elastic bodies with initial stresses. It is assumed that the materials of the layers of the hollow cylinder are made from hyper elastic compressible materials and the elasticity relations of those are given through the harmonic potential. The shear spring type imperfectness of the interface conditions is considered and the degree of this imperfectness is estimated by the shear-spring parameter. Numerical results on the influence of this parameter on the behavior of the dispersion curves are presented and discussed.

The study on pre-heat conditions in the equivalent-dose estimation of holocene loess using the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia Yaofeng; Huang Chunchang; Pang Jiangli; Lu Xinwei; Zhang Xu

2008-01-01

The thermal treatment in the equivalent-dose estimation often is carried in the OSL dating, and pre-heat is a main thermal treatment. Due to which will originate the problems of thermal transfer and thermal activation, the thermal treatment and the setup of their conditions are key problems influencing the accuracy of OSL dating. The paper combined the temperature of pre-heat and cut-heat used in the routine measurement of IRSL and Post-IR OSL, and then estimated the equivalent-dose of several loess samples. The estimated result presents that the equivalent-dose depends on the heat temperature, especially depends on the cut-heat temperature, which is to say that the equivalent-dose increases with the cut-heat temperature; a plateau of equivalent-dose appears when using the 200-240 degree C cut-heat in the range of 200-300 degree C pre-heat, and the equivalent-doses estimated by IRSL and Post-IR OSL respectively are close to each other, which resulted from the similar sensitivity change direction of optical stimulated signals and its smaller change range in the measurement cycles using the combined temperature of pre- heat and cut-heat, and the incomplete calibration of sensitivity change of optical stimulated signals in the whole measurement cycles caused the variation of estimated equivalent-dose corresponding to the cut-heat temperature. (authors)

Effectiveness of different pre-treatments in recovering pre-burial isotopic ratios of charred plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Brinkkemper, O; Braadbaart, F; van Os, B; van Hoesel, A; van Brussel, A A N; Fernandes, R

2018-02-15

Isotopic analysis of archaeological charred plant remains offers useful archaeological information. However, adequate sample pre-treatment protocols may be necessary to provide a contamination-free isotopic signal while limiting sample loss and achieving a high throughput. Under these constraints, research was undertaken to compare the performance of different pre-treatment protocols. Charred archaeological plant material was selected for isotopic analysis (δ 13 C and δ 15 N values) by isotope ratio mass spectrometry from a variety of plant species, time periods and soil conditions. Preservation conditions and the effectiveness of cleaning protocols were assessed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. An acid-base-acid protocol, successfully employed in radiocarbon dating, was used to define a contamination-free isotopic reference. Acid-base-acid isotopic measurements were compared with those obtained from untreated material and an acid-only protocol. The isotopic signals of untreated material and the acid-only protocol typically did not differ more than 1‰ from those of the acid-base-acid reference. There were no significant isotopic offsets between acid-base-acid and acid-only or untreated samples. Sample losses in the acid-base-acid protocol were on average 50 ± 17% (maximum = 98.4%). Elemental XRF measurements showed promising results in the detection of more contaminated samples albeit with a high rate of false positives. For the large range of preservation conditions described in the study, untreated charred plant samples, water cleaned of sediments, provide reliable stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen. The use of pre-treatments may be necessary under different preservation conditions or more conservative measurement uncertainties should be reported. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of performing life support courses in rural areas in improving pre-hospital physiologic conditions of patients with penetrating injuries.

Science.gov (United States)

Nia, Masoud Saghafi; Naffisi, Nahid; Mohebbi, Hassan Ali; Moharamzadeh, Yashar

2008-09-01

To evaluate the impact of animal model based medical training courses for village healthcare workers on prehospital physiologic condition and prognosis of patients with penetrating injuries. Experimental study. This study was carried out in Mehran city and its neighbouring rural districts in western part of Iran from 2002 to 2004. Seventy-six village healthcare workers were trained and equipped to deliver in-field medical first cares. First group (226 patients) consisted of those who received this cares by the trained group and second group (245 patients) were those who received no in-field cares and were transported directly to the trauma center in provincial capital, Ilam. Physiologic Severity Score (PSS) was calculated to determine the physiologic condition of patients in both groups. The most prevalent cause of trauma in both groups was car accidents (61.6%). Controlling of hemorrhage was the most frequent provided initial medical care (40.6%). A significant improvement regarding the PSS score was observed in the first group of patients compared to the second group (7.505 vs. 6.799, 95% CI for difference: 0.3 to 0.9). The mortality rates of the first and second group of patients were 3% and 7.3%, respectively (p=0.051). Performing life support courses in rural areas of low-income countries where there is no pre-hospital triage and emergency medical system and provision of classic resuscitative measures are limited, has a significant impact on improvement of pre-hospital physiologic condition and prognosis of patients with penetrating injuries.

Pre-employment medical testing in Brazil: ethical challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Palhares, Dario; Laurentino dos Santos, Ivone

2012-01-01

Pre-employment medical tests, considered to be a practice within the subspecialty of occupational medicine, are ordered by physicians on behalf of employers. Candidates for a job may be rejected if they are found to suffer from a condition that can be worsened by the job, or one that may put other workers at risk. As the physician who orders pre-employment tests is chosen by the employer, pre-employment tests can violate both the autonomy and the privacy of the individual. This paper discusses ethical conflicts inherent in pre-employment medical testing.

33 CFR 80.505 - Cape Henlopen, DE to Cape Charles, VA.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... to Cape Charles, VA. (a) A line drawn from the seaward extremity of Indian River Inlet North Jetty to Indian River Inlet South Jetty Light. (b) A line drawn from Ocean City Inlet Light 6, 225° true across... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Cape Henlopen, DE to Cape Charles...

Primary marine aerosol emissions from the Mediterranean Sea during pre-bloom and oligotrophic conditions: correlations to seawater chlorophyll a from a mesocosm study

OpenAIRE

Schwier , A. N.; Rose , C.; Asmi , E.; Ebling , A. M.; Landing , W. M.; Marro , S.; Pedrotti , M.-L.; Sallon , A.; Iuculano , F.; Agusti , S.; Tsiola , A.; Pitta , P.; Louis , J.; Guieu , C.; Gazeau , F.

2015-01-01

The effect of ocean acidification and changing water conditions on primary (and secondary) marine aerosol emissions is not well understood on a regional or a global scale. To investigate this effect as well as the indirect effect on aerosol that changing biogeochemical parameters can have, ~ 52 m3 pelagic mesocosms were deployed for several weeks in the Mediterranean Sea during both winter pre-bloom and summer oligotrophic conditions and were subjected to various levels of C...

Research of mining and geological conditions for geological exploration in Pre-Caucasian region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Р. А. Гасумов

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Taking into consideration natural depletion of reserves of hydrocarbons in Mesozoic deposits of the majority of operated deposits of North Caucasus and for the purpose of further development of oil and gas producing industry in the region it is necessary to involve a carbonaceous complex of Jura of West Pre-Caucasus with the burial depth of more than 5300 m in the development. When drafting engineering design for a construction of exploratory wells in complex mining and geological conditions driven by anomalously high overburden pressure and temperature, use of thoroughly studied field geological information and taking into consideration the experience of boring similar wells is important. The paper provides analysis of geophysical data, the results of complex studies of reservoir porosity and permeability features of rocks picked out of core-samples of the first exploratory well on Krupskaya zone (porosity, permeability, electrical, acoustic, lithological characteristics, pressure-and-temperature conditions. The information obtained allowed to specify technological parameters of boring and tailing-in and to give recommendations regarding the way of exploratory wells boring and use of borehole equipment. In order to avoid the development of significant hydrodynamic pressure in the borehole which provokes gas showings it is necessary to keep on a certain level of minimal values of mud rheology parameters (dynamic shear stress τ = 70¸135 dPa; plastic viscosity η = 25¸35 mPa·s. For the purpose of real-time keeping of overbalance with anomalously high overburden pressure, control and regulation of calculated head pressure a stripper head should be included into the equipment configuration. Furthermore well head equipment and blowout preventer equipment must be designed for expected gradient of overburden pressure.

The effect of pre-existing health conditions on the cost of recovery from road traffic injury: insights from data linkage of medicare and compensable injury claims in Victoria, Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassani-Mahmooei, Behrooz; Berecki-Gisolf, Janneke; Hahn, Youjin; McClure, Roderick J

2016-04-29

Comorbidity is known to affect length of hospital stay and mortality after trauma but less is known about its impact on recovery beyond the immediate post-accident care period. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of pre-existing health conditions in the cost of recovery from road traffic injury using health service use records for 1 year before and after the injury. Individuals who claimed Transport Accident Commission (TAC) compensation for a non-catastrophic injury that occurred between 2010 and 2012 in Victoria, Australia and who provided consent for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) linkage were included (n = 738) in the analysis. PBS and MBS records dating from 12 months prior to injury were provided by the Department of Human Services (Canberra, Australia). Pre-injury use of health service items and pharmaceuticals were considered to indicate pre-existing health condition. Bayesian Model Averaging techniques were used to identify the items that were most strongly correlated with recovery cost. Multivariate regression models were used to determine the impact of these items on the cost of injury recovery in terms of compensated ambulance, hospital, medical, and overall claim cost. Out of the 738 study participants, 688 used at least one medical item (total of 15,625 items) and 427 used at least one pharmaceutical item (total of 9846). The total health service cost of recovery was $10,115,714. The results show that while pre-existing conditions did not have any significant impact on the total cost of recovery, categorical costs were affected: e.g. on average, for every anaesthetic in the year before the accident, hospital cost of recovery increased by 24 % [95 % CI: 13, 36 %] and for each pathological test related to established diabetes, hospital cost increased by $10,407 [5466.78, 15346.28]. For medical costs, each anaesthetic led to $258 higher cost [174.16, 341.16] and every prescription of drugs

BASIC SUPPOSITIONS FOR ORGANIZING AND ESTABLISHING A COHERENT SYSTEM OF EARLY TREATMENT AND PRE-SCHOOL UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFICULTIES IN CONDITIONS OF TRANSITION (situation, problems and needs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljupco Ajdinski

1997-03-01

Full Text Available The author of this paper wants to pay attention to the utmost problems of treatment and pre-school upbringing, from several points of view ( health, social, educational, economic, normative etc., that are related to the establishment of the primary conditions and suppositions for successful organization of protection and rehabilitation of these children.Children with developmental difficulties are quite a complex problem of the family, society and professional problem. The complexity and the burden of this problem are seen through the type and level of impairment, through the number of such children, as in providing financial, personnel and other conditions that are needed for successful protection and treatment.Taking into consideration the number of these children, in the paper is given the prognosis according to some percentages used for the whole population by ON and WHO. It is considered that 5-7 % are children with developmental difficulties at pre-school period. because the main topic at this Symposium is early treatment and pre- school upbringing, the early age is taken for the mentioned percentage. According to this, in our country there are about 19.000 children from 0-9 years of age, if this percentage of 6 % is applied from the total number of children at that age, that shows in the latest census of the population in the R. of Macedonia in 1994 , that there are 313.908 children. This number shows the gravity of the problem that is elaborated in this paper. The author stresses that the complexity of this problem increases if we take into consideration the present conditions according to the range of these children with early treatment and preschool upbringing, as apart of the whole system of rehabilitation.The complete treatment, i.e. the rehabilitation of children with developmental difficulties presents the unity of all the provisions and proceedings that are necessary to be undertaken to eliminate or reduce to the minimum

Combined Screening for Early Detection of Pre-Eclampsia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hee Jin Park

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Although the precise pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia remains unknown, this condition continues to be a major cause of maternal and fetal mortality. Early prediction of pre-eclampsia would allow for timely initiation of preventive therapy. A combination of biophysical and biochemical markers are superior to other tests for early prediction of the development of pre-eclampsia. Apart from the use of parameters in first-trimester aneuploidy screening, cell-free fetal DNA quantification is emerging as a promising marker for prediction of pre-eclampsia. This article reviews the current research of the most important strategies for prediction of pre-eclampsia, including the use of maternal risk factors, mean maternal arterial pressure, ultrasound parameters, and biomarkers.

Using MODIS-NDVI for the Modeling of Post-Wildfire Vegetation Response as a Function of Environmental Conditions and Pre-Fire Restoration Treatments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grant M. Casady

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Post-fire vegetation response is influenced by the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors such as topography, climate, vegetation type and restoration practices. Previous research has analyzed the relationship of some of these factors to vegetation response, but few have taken into account the effects of pre-fire restoration practices. We selected three wildfires that occurred in Bandelier National Monument (New Mexico, USA between 1999 and 2007 and three adjacent unburned control areas. We used interannual trends in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI time series data derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS to assess vegetation response, which we define as the average potential photosynthetic activity through the summer monsoon. Topography, fire severity and restoration treatment were obtained and used to explain post-fire vegetation response. We applied parametric (Multiple Linear Regressions-MLR and non-parametric tests (Classification and Regression Trees-CART to analyze effects of fire severity, terrain and pre-fire restoration treatments (variable used in CART on post-fire vegetation response. MLR results showed strong relationships between vegetation response and environmental factors (p < 0.1, however the explanatory factors changed among treatments. CART results showed that beside fire severity and topography, pre-fire treatments strongly impact post-fire vegetation response. Results for these three fires show that pre-fire restoration conditions along with local environmental factors constitute key processes that modify post-fire vegetation response.

Method for Pre-Conditioning a Measured Surface Height Map for Model Validation

Science.gov (United States)

Sidick, Erkin

2012-01-01

This software allows one to up-sample or down-sample a measured surface map for model validation, not only without introducing any re-sampling errors, but also eliminating the existing measurement noise and measurement errors. Because the re-sampling of a surface map is accomplished based on the analytical expressions of Zernike-polynomials and a power spectral density model, such re-sampling does not introduce any aliasing and interpolation errors as is done by the conventional interpolation and FFT-based (fast-Fourier-transform-based) spatial-filtering method. Also, this new method automatically eliminates the measurement noise and other measurement errors such as artificial discontinuity. The developmental cycle of an optical system, such as a space telescope, includes, but is not limited to, the following two steps: (1) deriving requirements or specs on the optical quality of individual optics before they are fabricated through optical modeling and simulations, and (2) validating the optical model using the measured surface height maps after all optics are fabricated. There are a number of computational issues related to model validation, one of which is the "pre-conditioning" or pre-processing of the measured surface maps before using them in a model validation software tool. This software addresses the following issues: (1) up- or down-sampling a measured surface map to match it with the gridded data format of a model validation tool, and (2) eliminating the surface measurement noise or measurement errors such that the resulted surface height map is continuous or smoothly-varying. So far, the preferred method used for re-sampling a surface map is two-dimensional interpolation. The main problem of this method is that the same pixel can take different values when the method of interpolation is changed among the different methods such as the "nearest," "linear," "cubic," and "spline" fitting in Matlab. The conventional, FFT-based spatial filtering method used to

Pre-emergency-department care-seeking patterns are associated with the severity of presenting condition for emergency department visit and subsequent adverse events: a timeframe episode analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Chien-Lung; Lin, Wender; Yang, Nan-Ping; Lai, K Robert; Huang, Hsin-Tsung

2015-01-01

Many patients treated in Emergency Department (ED) visits can be treated at primary or urgent care sectors, despite the fact that a number of ED visitors seek other forms of care prior to an ED visit. However, little is known regarding how the pre-ED activity episodes affect ED visits. We investigated whether care-seeking patterns involve the use of health care services of various types prior to ED visits and examined the associations of these patterns with the severity of the presenting condition for the ED visit (EDVS) and subsequent events. This retrospective observational study used administrative data on beneficiaries of the universal health care insurance program in Taiwan. The service type, treatment capacity, and relative diagnosis were used to classify pre-ED visits into 8 care types. Frequent pattern analysis was used to identify sequential care-seeking patterns and to classify 667,183 eligible pre-ED episodes into patterns. Generalized linear models were developed using generalized estimating equations to examine the associations of these patterns with EDVS and subsequent events. The results revealed 17 care-seeking patterns. The EDVS and likelihood of subsequent events significantly differed among patterns. The ED severity index of patterns differ from patterns seeking directly ED care (coefficients ranged from -0.05 to 0.13), and the odds-ratios for the likelihood of subsequent ED visits and hospitalization ranged from 1.18 to 1.86 and 1.16 to 2.84, respectively. The pre-ED care-seeking patterns differ in severity of presenting condition and subsequent events that may represent different causes of ED visit. Future health policy maker may adopt different intervention strategies for targeted population to reduce unnecessary ED visit effectively.

Transcriptome comparisons shed light on the pre-condition and potential barrier for C4 photosynthesis evolution in eudicots.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Yimin; Lyu, Ming-Ju Amy; Zhu, Xin-Guang

2016-05-01

C4 photosynthesis evolved independently from C3 photosynthesis in more than 60 lineages. Most of the C4 lineages are clustered together in the order Poales and the order Caryophyllales while many other angiosperm orders do not have C4 species, suggesting the existence of biological pre-conditions in the ancestral C3 species that facilitate the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in these lineages. To explore pre-adaptations for C4 photosynthesis evolution, we classified C4 lineages into the C4-poor and the C4-rich groups based on the percentage of C4 species in different genera and conducted a comprehensive comparison on the transcriptomic changes between the non-C4 species from the C4-poor and the C4-rich groups. Results show that species in the C4-rich group showed higher expression of genes related to oxidoreductase activity, light reaction components, terpene synthesis, secondary cell synthesis, C4 cycle related genes and genes related to nucleotide metabolism and senescence. In contrast, C4-poor group showed up-regulation of a PEP/Pi translocator, genes related to signaling pathway, stress response, defense response and plant hormone metabolism (ethylene and brassinosteroid). The implications of these transcriptomic differences between the C4-rich and C4-poor groups to C4 evolution are discussed.

Are pre-treatment psychological characteristics influenced by pre-surgical orthodontics?

Science.gov (United States)

Cunningham, S J; Gilthorpe, M S; Hunt, N P

2001-12-01

A number of investigations have looked at psychological changes occurring in association with orthognathic treatment. However, most of these studies have used a pre-surgery questionnaire as the baseline measurement. There is little data relating to the true baseline, i.e. that prior to any active treatment. Until this aspect is investigated, it is not possible to assume that pre-surgery is an acceptable baseline. This questionnaire based study aimed to assess changes in six psychological outcome measures between T1 (prior to any active treatment) and T2 (following pre-surgical orthodontics/prior to surgery). The outcome variables were: state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, self-esteem, body image, and facial body image. Sixty-two patients (39 females and 23 males) completed both questionnaires. The results showed that intervention, in the form of orthodontic treatment, had a minimal effect on the chosen psychometric outcome variables. There was a significant reduction in satisfaction with body image amongst patients who initially reported mild to moderate dental/facial problems, whilst a moderate increase in satisfaction occurred in those patients reporting severe conditions initially. Also of note were significant increases in state anxiety amongst older patients whilst trait anxiety showed greater increases in females than males.

Biopharmaceutical formulations for pre-filled delivery devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jezek, Jan; Darton, Nicholas J; Derham, Barry K; Royle, Nikki; Simpson, Iain

2013-06-01

Pre-filled syringes are becoming an increasingly popular format for delivering biotherapeutics conveniently and cost effectively. The device design and stable liquid formulations required to enable this pre-filled syringe format are technically challenging. In choosing the materials and process conditions to fabricate the syringe unit, their compatibility with the biotherapeutic needs to be carefully assessed. The biothereaputic stability demanded for the production of syringe-compatible low-viscosity liquid solutions requires critical excipient choices to be made. The purpose of this review is to discuss key issues related to the stability aspects of biotherapeutics in pre-filled devices. This includes effects on both physical and chemical stability due to a number of stress conditions the product is subjected to, as well as interactions with the packaging system. Particular attention is paid to the control of stability by formulation. We anticipate that there will be a significant move towards polymer primary packaging for most drugs in the longer term. The timescales for this will depend on a number of factors and hence will be hard to predict. Formulation will play a critical role in developing successful products in the pre-filled syringe format, particularly with the trend towards concentrated biotherapeutics. Development of novel, smart formulation technologies will, therefore, be increasingly important.

PENGUKURAN LEBAR LAUT TERITORIAL MENGGUNAKAN GARIS PANGKAL MENURUT UNCLOS 1982 DAN PENERAPANNYA DALAM HUKUM INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Johan

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Arrangement of concerning wide determination the territorial of sea is conducted by withdrawal the jetty lines that done by harmonizing the regulation of the stipulating the useful of the archipelago jetty lines that matching with region of NKRI by positive law instrument of Indonesia. But which require to be reemphasized is Indonesia obligation to make a map of the regional border line of Indonesia, because till in the end Indonesia still use the illustrative map that made in the 1960 year. The government of Indonesia have to immediately make the map of the region of Indonesia by using dot co-ordinate of the jetty lines of Indonesia archipelago which have been specified according to PP No.37 year 2008 to take care the sovereignty of Indonesia.

Pre-big-bang model on the brane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Foffa, Stefano

2002-01-01

The equations of motion and junction conditions for a gravidilaton brane world scenario are studied in the string frame. It is shown that they allow Kasner-like solutions on the brane, which makes the dynamics of the brane very similar to the low curvature phase of pre-big-bang cosmology. Analogies and differences of this scenario with the Randall-Sundrum one and with the standard bulk pre-big-bang dynamics are also discussed

PRE-SCHOOL UPBRINGING OF CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFICULTIES-CONDITION FOR SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATIONAL EDUCATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zora JACOVA

1997-12-01

Full Text Available Preschool upbringing of children with developmental difficulties is the first link in the system of education and upbringing and at the same time the utmost segment in the system of integrational rehabilitation.Initiating the process of preschool upbringing and adequate organized treatment at early age, permits support of the development and maximum usage of the remained capabilities of children with developmental difficulties.The newest world experiences show that the upbringing and educational integration of children with developmental difficulties as asegment of the social integration, should set the main conditions in the frames of upbringing education and rehabilitational continuity and support the minimal restrictive environment for their development.In the pre-school institutions that function on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia, an indifferent attitude towards the children with developmental difficulties is present, due to the uninformed educators for the characteristics and capabilities of these children and their believes for the negative influence of the children with developmental difficulties on the children without impairments, that implicates involvement of subsidery defectological education of present employed staff in the mainstream preschool institutions, also including defectologists in kindergartens for work with children with special difficulties in their development. Also, the data about the educator’s attitude in the mainstream preschool institutions is disturbing, so that they put the accent on the obligation for reducing of the program for work with handicapped children, not taking into consideration that subsidery, special forms and methods are needed beside the programs that are for the main stream group.The goal of our paper is to point out the need of involving of children with light developmental difficulties; the existence of special team in the preschool institutions when involving children with

Effect of sand versus grass training surfaces during an 8-week pre-season conditioning programme in team sport athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Binnie, Martyn John; Dawson, Brian; Arnot, Mark Alexander; Pinnington, Hugh; Landers, Grant; Peeling, Peter

2014-01-01

This study compared the use of sand and grass training surfaces throughout an 8-week conditioning programme in well-trained female team sport athletes (n = 24). Performance testing was conducted pre- and post-training and included measures of leg strength and balance, vertical jump, agility, 20 m speed, repeat speed (8 × 20 m every 20 s), as well as running economy and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). Heart rate (HR), training load (rating of perceived exertion (RPE) × duration), movement patterns and perceptual measures were monitored throughout each training session. Participants completed 2 × 1 h conditioning sessions per week on sand (SAND) or grass (GRASS) surfaces, incorporating interval training, sprint and agility drills, and small-sided games. Results showed a significantly higher (P < 0.05) HR and training load in the SAND versus GRASS group throughout each week of training, plus some moderate effect sizes to suggest lower perceptual ratings of soreness and fatigue on SAND. Significantly greater (P < 0.05) improvements in VO2max were measured for SAND compared to GRASS. These results suggest that substituting sand for grass training surfaces throughout an 8-week conditioning programme can significantly increase the relative exercise intensity and training load, subsequently leading to superior improvements in aerobic fitness.

Pre-emergency-department care-seeking patterns are associated with the severity of presenting condition for emergency department visit and subsequent adverse events: a timeframe episode analysis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chien-Lung Chan

Full Text Available Many patients treated in Emergency Department (ED visits can be treated at primary or urgent care sectors, despite the fact that a number of ED visitors seek other forms of care prior to an ED visit. However, little is known regarding how the pre-ED activity episodes affect ED visits.We investigated whether care-seeking patterns involve the use of health care services of various types prior to ED visits and examined the associations of these patterns with the severity of the presenting condition for the ED visit (EDVS and subsequent events.This retrospective observational study used administrative data on beneficiaries of the universal health care insurance program in Taiwan. The service type, treatment capacity, and relative diagnosis were used to classify pre-ED visits into 8 care types. Frequent pattern analysis was used to identify sequential care-seeking patterns and to classify 667,183 eligible pre-ED episodes into patterns. Generalized linear models were developed using generalized estimating equations to examine the associations of these patterns with EDVS and subsequent events.The results revealed 17 care-seeking patterns. The EDVS and likelihood of subsequent events significantly differed among patterns. The ED severity index of patterns differ from patterns seeking directly ED care (coefficients ranged from -0.05 to 0.13, and the odds-ratios for the likelihood of subsequent ED visits and hospitalization ranged from 1.18 to 1.86 and 1.16 to 2.84, respectively.The pre-ED care-seeking patterns differ in severity of presenting condition and subsequent events that may represent different causes of ED visit. Future health policy maker may adopt different intervention strategies for targeted population to reduce unnecessary ED visit effectively.

Pre-Exercise Hyperhydration-Induced Bodyweight Gain Does Not Alter Prolonged Treadmill Running Time-Trial Performance in Warm Ambient Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric D. B. Goulet

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This study compared the effect of pre-exercise hyperhydration (PEH and pre-exercise euhydration (PEE upon treadmill running time-trial (TT performance in the heat. Six highly trained runners or triathletes underwent two 18 km TT runs (~28 °C, 25%–30% RH on a motorized treadmill, in a randomized, crossover fashion, while being euhydrated or after hyperhydration with 26 mL/kg bodyweight (BW of a 130 mmol/L sodium solution. Subjects then ran four successive 4.5 km blocks alternating between 2.5 km at 1% and 2 km at 6% gradient, while drinking a total of 7 mL/kg BW of a 6% sports drink solution (Gatorade, USA. PEH increased BW by 1.00 ± 0.34 kg (P < 0.01 and, compared with PEE, reduced BW loss from 3.1% ± 0.3% (EUH to 1.4% ± 0.4% (HYP (P < 0.01 during exercise. Running TT time did not differ between groups (PEH: 85.6 ± 11.6 min; PEE: 85.3 ± 9.6 min, P = 0.82. Heart rate (5 ± 1 beats/min and rectal (0.3 ± 0.1 °C and body (0.2 ± 0.1 °C temperatures of PEE were higher than those of PEH (P < 0.05. There was no significant difference in abdominal discomfort and perceived exertion or heat stress between groups. Our results suggest that pre-exercise sodium-induced hyperhydration of a magnitude of 1 L does not alter 80–90 min running TT performance under warm conditions in highly-trained runners drinking ~500 mL sports drink during exercise.

Pre-Session Satiation as a Treatment for Stereotypy During Group Activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Rispoli, Mandy; Camargo, Síglia Hoher; Neely, Leslie; Gerow, Stephanie; Lang, Russell; Goodwyn, Fara; Ninci, Jennifer

2014-05-01

Individuals with developmental disabilities may engage in automatically reinforced behaviors that may interfere with learning opportunities. Manipulation of motivating operations has been shown to reduce automatically maintained behavior in some individuals. Considering behavioral indicators of satiation may assist in identifying the point at which an abolishing operation has begun to effect behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-session satiation of automatic reinforcement on subsequent levels of stereotypy and activity engagement during group activities for three males ages 5 to 13 years with developmental disabilities. Following functional analyses with analogue conditions, an alternating treatment design compared a pre-session access to stereotypy condition with a no-pre-session access condition prior to group activity sessions. Results indicated that pre-session satiation of the putative reinforcer produced by stereotypy was effective in decreasing stereotypy and increasing activity engagement during subsequent group activities for all participants. These findings add to the literature supporting the effectiveness of abolishing operations to decrease automatically maintained stereotypy. © The Author(s) 2013.

Chemical composition and bioactive compounds of garlic (Allium sativum L.) as affected by pre- and post-harvest conditions: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Natália; Petropoulos, Spyridon; Ferreira, Isabel C F R

2016-11-15

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is considered one of the twenty most important vegetables, with various uses throughout the world, either as a raw vegetable for culinary purposes, or as an ingredient of traditional and modern medicine. Furthermore, it has also been proposed as one of the richest sources of total phenolic compounds, among the usually consumed vegetables, and has been highly ranked regarding its contribution of phenolic compounds to human diet. This review aims to examine all the aspects related with garlic chemical composition and quality, focusing on its bioactive properties. A particular emphasis is given on the organosulfur compounds content, since they highly contribute to the effective bioactive properties of garlic, including its derived products. The important effects of pre-harvest (genotype and various cultivation practices) and post-harvest conditions (storage conditions and processing treatments) on chemical composition and, consequently, bioactive potency of garlic are also discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ni/YSZ anode – Effect of pre-treatments on cell degradation and microstructures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hauch, Anne; Jørgensen, Peter Stanley; Brodersen, Karen

2011-01-01

,TPB) was decreased to ¼ or less for the pre-treated and fuel cell tested cells when compared with a non-pre-treated reference tested cell; all operated at the same fuel cell test conditions. Scanning electron microscopy and image analyses for the non-pre-treated reference tested cell and selected pre-treated cells...

Initial conditions and the structure of the singularity in pre-big-bang cosmology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feinstein, A.; Kunze, K.E.; Vazquez-Mozo, M.A.

2000-01-01

We propose a picture, within the pre-big-bang approach, in which the universe emerges from a bath of plane gravitational and dilatonic waves. The waves interact gravitationally breaking the exact plane symmetry and lead generically to gravitational collapse resulting in a singularity with the

Proximal, but not distal, pre-exposure reduces serial overshadowing in one-trial taste aversion learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwok, Dorothy W S; Boakes, Robert A

2015-09-01

This experiment tested whether pre-exposing a taste would reduce its ability to overshadow conditioning to a target taste and whether this effect would depend on the delay between pre-exposure and conditioning. Two groups of rats were pre-exposed to an interfering taste (HCl) either a week before conditioning (Group Distal) or the day preceding conditioning (Group Proximal). In the single conditioning trial, rats were given the target taste (sucrose) and 65min later were injected with lithium. The groups differed as to what they were given to drink 50min after sucrose: The Distal, Proximal and Novel groups were given HCl, while the Control group was given water. Pre-exposure to HCl reduced overshadowing of the sucrose aversion by HCl in Group Proximal but not in Group Distal. Possible explanations for the latter result include extinction of the context-HCl association and loss of context control over an HCl-no outcome association. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aberrant approach-avoidance conflict resolution following repeated cocaine pre-exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, David; Schumacher, Anett; Erb, Suzanne; Ito, Rutsuko

2015-10-01

Addiction is characterized by persistence to seek drug reinforcement despite negative consequences. Drug-induced aberrations in approach and avoidance processing likely facilitate the sustenance of addiction pathology. Currently, the effects of repeated drug exposure on the resolution of conflicting approach and avoidance motivational signals have yet to be thoroughly investigated. The present study sought to investigate the effects of cocaine pre-exposure on conflict resolution using novel approach-avoidance paradigms. We used a novel mixed-valence conditioning paradigm to condition cocaine-pre-exposed rats to associate visuo-tactile cues with either the delivery of sucrose reward or shock punishment in the arms in which the cues were presented. Following training, exploration of an arm containing a superimposition of the cues was assessed as a measure of conflict resolution behavior. We also used a mixed-valence runway paradigm wherein cocaine-pre-exposed rats traversed an alleyway toward a goal compartment to receive a pairing of sucrose reward and shock punishment. Latency to enter the goal compartment across trials was taken as a measure of motivational conflict. Our results reveal that cocaine pre-exposure attenuated learning for the aversive cue association in our conditioning paradigm and enhanced preference for mixed-valence stimuli in both paradigms. Repeated cocaine pre-exposure allows appetitive approach motivations to gain greater influence over behavioral output in the context of motivational conflict, due to aberrant positive and negative incentive motivational processing.

Risks to Navigation at the Matagorda Ship Channel Entrance, Texas, Phase 2: Evaluation of Significant Risk Factors

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-01

jetties are deteriorating. As a result of this deterioration and lowered beach and dunes adjacent to the jetties, there are overwash occurrences during...the toe . An example slope stability analysis is presented in Figure 51. This figure shows a typical cross section or model properties (soil layers...depth caused by the ship passage. Any area of influence will be localized and, in light of a critical gradient analysis, near- toe scouring effects

Inhomogeneous Pre-Big Bang String Cosmology

OpenAIRE

Veneziano, Gabriele

1997-01-01

An inhomogeneous version of pre--Big Bang cosmology emerges, within string theory, from quite generic initial conditions, provided they lie deeply inside the weak-coupling, low-curvature regime. Large-scale homogeneity, flatness, and isotropy appear naturally as late-time outcomes of such an evolution.

A computationally efficient P_1 radiation model for modern combustion systems utilizing pre-conditioned conjugate gradient methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishnamoorthy, Gautham

2017-01-01

Highlights: • The P_1 radiation model was interfaced with high performance linear solvers. • Pre-conditioned conjugate gradient (PC CG) method improved convergence by 50% • PC CG was more than 30 times faster than classical iterative methods. • The time to solution scaled linearly with increase in problem size employing PC CG. • Employing WSGGM with P_1 model compared reasonably well against benchmark data. - Abstract: The iterative convergence of the P_1 radiation model can be slow in optically thin scenarios when employing classical iterative methods. In order to remedy this shortcoming, an in-house P_1 radiation model was interfaced with high performance, scalable, linear solver libraries. Next, the accuracies of P_1 radiation model calculations was assessed by comparing its predictions against discrete ordinates (DO) model calculations for prototypical problems representative of modern combustion systems. Corresponding benchmark results were also included for comparison. Utilizing Pre-Conditioners (PC) to the Conjugate Gradients (CG) method, the convergence time of the P_1 radiation model reduced by a factor of 30 for modest problem sizes and a factor of 70 for larger sized problems when compared against classical Gauss Seidel sweeps. Further, PC provided 50% computational savings compared to employing CG in a standalone mode. The P_1 model calculation times were about 25–30% of the DO model calculation time. The time to solution also scaled linearly with an increase in problem size. The weighted sum of gray gases model employed in this study in conjunction with the P_1 model provided good agreement against benchmark data with L_2 error norms (defined relative to corresponding DO calculations) improving when isotropic intensities were prevalent.

Pre-shelling parameters and conditions that influence the whole kernel out-turn of steam-boiled cashew nuts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Babatunde Sunday Ogunsina

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This work investigates the effect of moisture content (MC, nut size distribution and steam exposure time (SET on the whole kernel out turn (WKO of cashew nuts during shelling using a 3 x 5 x 4 factorial experiment. Three nut sizes: small (18–22 mm, medium (23–25 mm and large (26–35 mm; five levels of MC: 8.34%, 11.80%, 12.57%, 15.40%, 16.84% (wet basis and four levels of steam exposure time (SET: 28, 30, 32, and 34 min were considered. Nuts were conditioned with warm water to the desired moisture content of 8.34%,11.80%, 12.57%, 15.40% and 16.84% (wb; and steam-boiled at 700 kPa for 28, 30,32, and 34 min. The pre-treated nuts were shelled using a hand-operated cashew nuts shelling machine. The results showed that the single effect of MC, steam exposure time (SET or nut size distribution is not enough for estimating WKO; it is rather by an interaction of these parameters. The optimum WKO of steam-boiled nuts was 91.74%, 90.94% and 87.98% for large, medium and small sized nuts at MC∗SET combination of 8.34%∗30 min, 11.80%∗32 min and 8.34%∗30 min, respectively. Pre-treatment of cashew nuts by steam boiling was found to improve whole kernel out-turn of the cashew nut. Whole kernel out-turn decreased as MC increased, thereby limiting the need for moisture adjustment when nuts are to be processed by steam boiling.

LIF supports primitive endoderm expansion during pre-implantation development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Morgani, Sophie M; Brickman, Joshua M

2015-01-01

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are pluripotent cell lines that can be maintained indefinitely in an early developmental state. ESC culture conditions almost always require the cytokine LIF to maintain self-renewal. As ESCs are not homogeneous but contain multiple populations reminiscent...... of the blastocyst, identifying the target cells of LIF is necessary to understand the propagation of pluripotency. We recently found that LIF acts under self-renewing conditions to stimulate the fraction of ESCs that express extraembryonic markers, but has little impact on pluripotent gene expression. Here, we...... derivatives, whereas the increase in PrE is mediated both by an increase in proliferation and inhibition of PrE apoptosis that is normally triggered in embryos with an excess of GATA6(+) cells. Thus, it appears that the relative size of the PrE is determined by the number of LIF-producing cells in the embryo...

Pre-Analytical Conditions in Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing of Cell-Free Fetal RHD

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Frederik Banch; Jakobsen, Tanja Roien; Rieneck, Klaus

2013-01-01

D positive fetus. Prophylaxis reduces the risk of immunization that may lead to hemolytic disease of the fetus and the newborn. The reliability of predicting the fetal RhD type depends on pre-analytical factors and assay sensitivity. We evaluated the testing setup in the Capital Region of Denmark, based...

Delayed hydride cracking: alternative pre-cracking method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mieza, Juan I.; Ponzoni, Lucio M.E.; Vigna, Gustavo L.; Domizzi, Gladys

2009-01-01

The internal components of nuclear reactors built-in Zr alloys are prone to a failure mechanism known as Delayed Hydride Cracking (DHC). This situation has triggered numerous scientific studies in order to measure the crack propagation velocity and the threshold stress intensity factor associated to DHC. Tests are carried out on fatigued pre-crack samples to ensure similar test conditions and comparable results. Due to difficulties in implementing the fatigue pre-crack method it would be desirable to replace it with a pre-crack produced by the same process of DHC, for which is necessary to demonstrate equivalence of this two methods. In this work tests on samples extracted from two Zr-2.5 Nb tubes were conducted. Some of the samples were heat treated to obtain a range in their metallurgical properties as well as different DHC velocities. A comparison between velocities measured in test samples pre-cracked by fatigue and RDIH is done, demonstrating that the pre-cracking method does not affect the measured velocity value. In addition, the incubation (t inc ), which is the time between the application of the load and the first signal of crack propagation, in samples pre-cracked by RDIH, was measured. It was found that these times are sufficiently short, even in the worst cases (lower speed) and similar to the ones of fatigued pre-cracked samples. (author)

Audit of surgeries for pre-auricular sinus infection/abscess in a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Pre-auricular sinus frequently present with recurrent episodes of infections/abscesses causing severe discomfort and disturbance of daily activities, necessitating surgical intervention to eradicate the condition. Aim: To audit the surgeries that were done for pre-auricular sinus infection/abscess in University of ...

Multivariate Correlation between Analysis Data on Dissolved Organic Material from Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris Chips and their Autohydrolysis Pre-Treatment Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joni Lehto

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Various chemometric techniques were used to establish the relationship between the autohydrolysis conditions prior to pulping and the chemical compositions of the soluble organic materials removed from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris wood chips. The aqueous chip pre-treatments (autohydrolysis were administered at 130 °C and 150 °C for 30, 60, 90, and 120 min, and the hydrolysates obtained were characterized in terms of total carbohydrates (various mono-, oligo-, and polysaccharides together with uronic acid side groups, volatile acids (acetic and formic acids, lignin, and furans (furfural and 5-(hydroxymethylfurfural. Based on the analytical data gathered, a relatively accurate model for pine chip autohydrolysis was developed.

Qualification of conditioning process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wolf, J.

1989-01-01

A conditioning process is qualified by the PTB if the execution of pre-treatment and conditioning occurs so that a safe and orderly final storage of the products and waste containers produced can be assumed. All the relevant operating conditions for the plant are laid down by the producer/conditioner of the waste in a handbook. The elements of product inspection by process qualification are shown in tabular form. (DG) [de

Regional Sediment Budget of the Columbia River Littoral Cell, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Buijsman, Maarten C.; Sherwood, C.R.; Gibbs, A.E.; Gelfenbaum, G.; Kaminsky, G.M.; Ruggiero, P.; Franklin, J.

2002-01-01

1913 at the Columbia River entrance. The inlets and inner deltas eroded and the outer deltas moved offshore and accreted. The adjacent coasts experienced accretion over alongshore distances of tens of kilometers. North of the Grays Harbor entrance along North Beach and north of the Columbia River entrance along Long Beach the shoreface and the beach-dune complex mainly prograded, whereas south of the Grays Harbor entrance along Grayland Plains and south of the Columbia River entrance along Clatsop Plains the beach-dune complex above -10 m NAVD88 prograded and the shoreface between approximately -30 m and -10 m NAVD88 eroded. In the decades following jetty construction, the rates of erosion and accretion at the entrances decreased and the centers of deposition along the adjacent coasts moved away from the entrances. The rates of change have decreased, suggesting the systems are approaching dynamic equilibrium. Exceptions to this behaviour are the accretion of the beach-dune complex of Long Beach, the erosion of Cape Shoalwater, and the northward migration of the Willapa Bay ebb-tidal delta during all intervals. The net shoreline advance of Long Beach increases from 0.28 m/yr in pre-jetty conditions to 3.78 m/yr during Interval 4. The erosion of Cape Shoalwater and the northward migration of the Willapa Bay ebb-tidal delta are related to the northern migration of the Willapa Bay North Channel. Volume changes at the Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and Columbia River entrances and the Columbia River estuary are balanced against losses and gains due to littoral transport and sand supply from the Columbia River. Based on these sediment balances, we infer the following pathways: sand that eroded from the inlets and inner deltas at the Grays Harbor and Columbia River entrances moved offshore and northward to accrete the outer deltas and the beaches to the north; sand from the south flank of the Grays Harbor delta and shelf along Grayland Plains moved onshore to accrete th

75 FR 35970 - Safety Zone; North Jetty, Named the Barview Jetty, Tillamook Bay, OR

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-24

... Manitowoc 18,000 lb crane with as much as 200 feet of boom. The crane will be used to move large granite boulders weighing approximately 20 to 50 tons each by lifting them up, circling them out over the waterway...

75 FR 22336 - Safety Zone; North Jetty, Named the Barview Jetty, Tillamook Bay, OR

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-28

... begin in June 2010 and will involve the use of a track mounted Manitowoc 18,000 lb crane with as much as 200 feet of boom. The crane will be used to move large granite boulders weighing approximately 20 to 50 tons each by lifting them up, circling them out over the waterway on either side of the north...

Convective environment in pre-monsoon and monsoon conditions over the Indian subcontinent: the impact of surface forcing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Thomas

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Thermodynamic soundings for pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons from the Indian subcontinent are analysed to document differences between convective environments. The pre-monsoon environment features more variability for both near-surface moisture and free-tropospheric temperature and moisture profiles. As a result, the level of neutral buoyancy (LNB and pseudo-adiabatic convective available potential energy (CAPE vary more for the pre-monsoon environment. Pre-monsoon soundings also feature higher lifting condensation levels (LCLs. LCL heights are shown to depend on the availability of surface moisture, with low LCLs corresponding to high surface humidity, arguably because of the availability of soil moisture. A simple theoretical argument is developed and showed to mimic the observed relationship between LCLs and surface moisture. We argue that the key element is the partitioning of surface energy flux into its sensible and latent components, that is, the surface Bowen ratio, and the way the Bowen ratio affects surface buoyancy flux. We support our argument with observations of changes in the Bowen ratio and LCL height around the monsoon onset, and with idealized simulations of cloud fields driven by surface heat fluxes with different Bowen ratios.

Mitigating nonlinearity in full waveform inversion using scaled-Sobolev pre-conditioning

Science.gov (United States)

Zuberi, M. AH; Pratt, R. G.

2018-04-01

The Born approximation successfully linearizes seismic full waveform inversion if the background velocity is sufficiently accurate. When the background velocity is not known it can be estimated by using model scale separation methods. A frequently used technique is to separate the spatial scales of the model according to the scattering angles present in the data, by using either first- or second-order terms in the Born series. For example, the well-known `banana-donut' and the `rabbit ear' shaped kernels are, respectively, the first- and second-order Born terms in which at least one of the scattering events is associated with a large angle. Whichever term of the Born series is used, all such methods suffer from errors in the starting velocity model because all terms in the Born series assume that the background Green's function is known. An alternative approach to Born-based scale separation is to work in the model domain, for example, by Gaussian smoothing of the update vectors, or some other approach for separation by model wavenumbers. However such model domain methods are usually based on a strict separation in which only the low-wavenumber updates are retained. This implies that the scattered information in the data is not taken into account. This can lead to the inversion being trapped in a false (local) minimum when sharp features are updated incorrectly. In this study we propose a scaled-Sobolev pre-conditioning (SSP) of the updates to achieve a constrained scale separation in the model domain. The SSP is obtained by introducing a scaled Sobolev inner product (SSIP) into the measure of the gradient of the objective function with respect to the model parameters. This modified measure seeks reductions in the L2 norm of the spatial derivatives of the gradient without changing the objective function. The SSP does not rely on the Born prediction of scale based on scattering angles, and requires negligible extra computational cost per iteration. Synthetic

Pre-glow phenomenon origin and its scaling for ECRIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izotov, I.; Sidorov, A.; Skalyga, V.; Zorin, V.

2012-01-01

Pre-glow is the multi-charged ion current burst that may occur at the beginning of the beam pulse. Pre-glow effect investigation is one of topical directions of ECR ion sources development at present. Pre-glow is of interest for efficient short-pulsed multicharged ion source creation. Particularly, such source of intense beams of short living radioactive isotopes multi-charged ions is one of key elements in 'Beta-Beam' European project. The use of Pre-glow-generating regime of an ECRIS operation is a promising way of pulsed high-intense multi-charged ion beams production with much shorter edges in comparison with usual operation regime. Numerical simulations made with the updated theoretical model allow authors to propose more physical and intuitive explanations of Pre-glow phenomenon origins. The obtained dependences of Pre-glow characteristics on experimental conditions offer a scaling for a wide range of ECRIS. The propose scaling demonstrates that an ECR source with plasma heating by radiation at frequency of 37 GHz and higher seems to be the most effective in terms of currents, pre-glow intensity and mean ion charge. The paper is followed by the slides of the presentation

Pre-exposure to simultaneous, but not individual, climate change stressors limits acclimation capacity of Irukandji jellyfish polyps to predicted climate scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Shannon G.; Pitt, Kylie A.; Carroll, Anthony R.

2017-09-01

Researchers have investigated the immediate effects of end-of-century climate change scenarios on many marine species, yet it remains unclear whether we can reliably predict how marine species may respond to future conditions because biota may become either more or less resistant over time. Here, we examined the role of pre-exposure to elevated temperature and reduced pH in mitigating the potential negative effects of future ocean conditions on polyps of a dangerous Irukandji jellyfish Alatina alata. We pre-exposed polyps to elevated temperature (28 °C) and reduced pH (7.6), in a full factorial experiment that ran for 14 d. We secondarily exposed original polyps and their daughter polyps to either current (pH 8.0, 25 °C) or future conditions (pH 7.6, 28 °C) for a further 34 d to assess potential phenotypic plastic responses and whether asexual offspring could benefit from parental pre-exposure. Polyp fitness was characterised as asexual reproduction, respiration, feeding, and protein concentrations. Pre-exposure to elevated temperature alone partially mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness, while pre-exposure to reduced pH in isolation completely mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness. Pre-exposure to the dual stressors, however, reduced fitness under future conditions relative to those in the control treatment. Under future conditions, polyps had higher respiration rates regardless of the conditions they were pre-exposed to, suggesting that metabolic rates will be higher under future conditions. Parent and daughter polyps responded similarly to the various treatments tested, demonstrating that parental pre-exposure did not confer any benefit to asexual offspring under future conditions. Importantly, we demonstrate that while pre-exposure to the stressors individually may allow Irukandji polyps to acclimate over short timescales, the stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation in the long term, and

Pre-exposure to simultaneous, but not individual, climate change stressors limits acclimation capacity of Irukandji jellyfish polyps to predicted climate scenarios

KAUST Repository

Klein, Shannon G.; Pitt, Kylie A.; Carroll, Anthony R.

2017-01-01

Researchers have investigated the immediate effects of end-of-century climate change scenarios on many marine species, yet it remains unclear whether we can reliably predict how marine species may respond to future conditions because biota may become either more or less resistant over time. Here, we examined the role of pre-exposure to elevated temperature and reduced pH in mitigating the potential negative effects of future ocean conditions on polyps of a dangerous Irukandji jellyfish Alatina alata. We pre-exposed polyps to elevated temperature (28 °C) and reduced pH (7.6), in a full factorial experiment that ran for 14 d. We secondarily exposed original polyps and their daughter polyps to either current (pH 8.0, 25 °C) or future conditions (pH 7.6, 28 °C) for a further 34 d to assess potential phenotypic plastic responses and whether asexual offspring could benefit from parental pre-exposure. Polyp fitness was characterised as asexual reproduction, respiration, feeding, and protein concentrations. Pre-exposure to elevated temperature alone partially mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness, while pre-exposure to reduced pH in isolation completely mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness. Pre-exposure to the dual stressors, however, reduced fitness under future conditions relative to those in the control treatment. Under future conditions, polyps had higher respiration rates regardless of the conditions they were pre-exposed to, suggesting that metabolic rates will be higher under future conditions. Parent and daughter polyps responded similarly to the various treatments tested, demonstrating that parental pre-exposure did not confer any benefit to asexual offspring under future conditions. Importantly, we demonstrate that while pre-exposure to the stressors individually may allow Irukandji polyps to acclimate over short timescales, the stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation in the long term, and

Pre-exposure to simultaneous, but not individual, climate change stressors limits acclimation capacity of Irukandji jellyfish polyps to predicted climate scenarios

KAUST Repository

Klein, Shannon G.

2017-05-20

Researchers have investigated the immediate effects of end-of-century climate change scenarios on many marine species, yet it remains unclear whether we can reliably predict how marine species may respond to future conditions because biota may become either more or less resistant over time. Here, we examined the role of pre-exposure to elevated temperature and reduced pH in mitigating the potential negative effects of future ocean conditions on polyps of a dangerous Irukandji jellyfish Alatina alata. We pre-exposed polyps to elevated temperature (28 °C) and reduced pH (7.6), in a full factorial experiment that ran for 14 d. We secondarily exposed original polyps and their daughter polyps to either current (pH 8.0, 25 °C) or future conditions (pH 7.6, 28 °C) for a further 34 d to assess potential phenotypic plastic responses and whether asexual offspring could benefit from parental pre-exposure. Polyp fitness was characterised as asexual reproduction, respiration, feeding, and protein concentrations. Pre-exposure to elevated temperature alone partially mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness, while pre-exposure to reduced pH in isolation completely mitigated the negative effects of future conditions on polyp fitness. Pre-exposure to the dual stressors, however, reduced fitness under future conditions relative to those in the control treatment. Under future conditions, polyps had higher respiration rates regardless of the conditions they were pre-exposed to, suggesting that metabolic rates will be higher under future conditions. Parent and daughter polyps responded similarly to the various treatments tested, demonstrating that parental pre-exposure did not confer any benefit to asexual offspring under future conditions. Importantly, we demonstrate that while pre-exposure to the stressors individually may allow Irukandji polyps to acclimate over short timescales, the stressors are unlikely to occur in isolation in the long term, and

Pre-sowing irradiation of vegetable seeds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stoyanov, S

1975-01-01

Results are reported of trials with radiation stimulation of vegetable crops conducted under farm conditions in different regions. They were based on exact tests accomplished at the IGHB. Pre-sowing irradiation of seed increased the greenhouse yield of Extase tomato variety by 15%; it increased the yield of Triumph tomato variety under field conditions as well. The pepper variety Kourtovska Kapiya and eggplant variety Bulgarski 12, both grown from irradiated seed in open field produced 18% and 5.5% higher yields, respectively. Irradiation of vegetable seeds finds a large application in the farm practice.

Pre-sowing irradiation of vegetable seeds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoyanov, S.

1975-01-01

Results are reported of trials with radiation stimulation of vegetable crops conducted under farm conditions in different regions. They were based on exact tests accomplished at the IGHB. Pre-sowing irradiation of seed increased the greenhouse yield of Extase tomato variety by 15%; it increased the yield of Triumph tomato variety under field conditions as well. The pepper variety Kourtovska Kapiya and eggplant variety Bulgarski 12, both grown from irradiated seed in open field produced 18% and 5.5% higher yields, respectively. Irradiation of vegetable seeds finds a large application in the farm practice. (author)

Numerical investigation on pressure fluctuations in centrifugal compressor with different inlet guide vanes pre-whirl angles

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y. C.; Shi, M.; Cao, S. L.; Li, Z. H.

2013-12-01

The pressure fluctuations in a centrifugal compressor with different inlet guide vanes (IGV) pre-whirl angles were investigated numerically, as well as the pre-stress model and static structural of blade. The natural frequency was evaluated by pre-stress model analysis. The results show that, the aero-dynamic pressure acting on blade surface is smaller than rotation pre-stress, which wouldn't result in large deformation of blade. The natural frequencies with rotation pre-stress are slightly higher than without rotation pre-stress. The leading mechanism of pressure fluctuations for normal conditions is the rotor-stator (IGVs) interaction, while is serious flow separations for conditions that are close to surge line. A few frequency components in spectra are close to natural frequency, which possibly result in resonant vibration if amplitude is large enough, which is dangerous for compressor working, and should be avoided.

Collaborating With Parents of Children With Chronic Conditions and Professionals to Design, Develop and Pre-pilot PLAnT (the Parent Learning Needs and Preferences Assessment Tool).

Science.gov (United States)

Nightingale, Ruth; Wirz, Lucy; Cook, Wendy; Swallow, Veronica

This study aimed to design, develop and pre-pilot an assessment tool (PLAnT) to identify parents' learning needs and preferences when carrying out home-based clinical care for their child with a chronic condition. A mixed methods, two-phased design was used. Phase 1: a total of 10 parents/carers and 13 professionals from six UK's children's kidney units participated in qualitative interviews. Interview data were used to develop the PLAnT. Eight of these participants subsequently took part in an online survey to refine the PLAnT. Phase 2: thirteen parents were paired with one of nine professionals to undertake a pre-pilot evaluation of PLAnT. Data were analyzed using the Framework approach. A key emergent theme identifying parents' learning needs and preferences was identified. The importance of professionals being aware of parents' learning needs and preferences was recognised. Participants discussed how parents' learning needs and preferences should be identified, including: the purpose for doing this, the process for doing this, and what would the outcome be of identifying parents' needs. The evidence suggests that asking parents directly about their learning needs and preferences may be the most reliable way for professionals to ascertain how to support individual parents' learning when sharing management of their child's chronic condition. With the increasing emphasis on parent-professional shared management of childhood chronic conditions, professionals can be guided by PLAnT in their assessment of parents' learning needs and preferences, based on identified barriers and facilitators to parental learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of a pre-collimator system for neutronics benchmark experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai Xinggang; Liu Jiantao; Nie Yangbo; Bao Jie; Ruan Xichao; Lu Yanxia

2013-01-01

Benchmark experiment is an important means to inspect the reliability and accuracy of the evaluated nuclear data, the effect/background ratios are the important parameters to weight the quality of experimental data. In order to obtain higher effect/background ratios, a pre-collimator system was designed for benchmark experiment. This system mainly consists of a pre-collimator and a shadow cone, The MCNP-4C code was used to simulate the background spectra under various conditions, from the results we found that with the pre-collimator system have a very marked improvement in the effect/background ratios. (authors)

Response surface methodology for the optimization of sludge solubilization by ultrasonic pre-treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Mingyue; Zhang, Xiaohui; Lu, Peng; Cao, Qiguang; Yuan, Yuan; Yue, Mingxing; Fu, Yiwei; Wu, Libin

2018-02-01

The present study examines the optimization of the ultrasonic pre-treatment conditions with response surface experimental design in terms of sludge disintegration efficiency (solubilisation of organic components). Ultrasonic pre-treatment for the maximum solubilization with residual sludge enhanced the SCOD release. Optimization of the ultrasonic pre-treatment was conducted through a Box-Behnken design (three variables, a total of 17 experiments) to determine the effects of three independent variables (power, residence time and TS) on COD solubilization of sludge. The optimal COD was obtained at 17349.4mg/L, when the power was 534.67W, the time was 10.77, and TS was 2%, while the SE of this condition was 28792J/kg TS.

Development of chloride-induced corrosion in pre-cracked RC beams under sustained loading: Effect of load-induced cracks, concrete cover, and exposure conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Linwen [Université de Toulouse, UPS, INSA, LMDC, Toulouse (France); Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada); François, Raoul, E-mail: raoul.francois@insa-toulouse.fr [Université de Toulouse, UPS, INSA, LMDC, Toulouse (France); Dang, Vu Hiep [Hanoi Architectural University, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Hanoi (Viet Nam); L' Hostis, Valérie [CEA Saclay, CEA, DEN, DPC, SECR, Laboratoire d' Etude du Comportement des Bétons et des Argiles, Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Gagné, Richard [Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec (Canada)

2015-01-15

This paper deals with corrosion initiation and propagation in pre-cracked reinforced concrete beams under sustained loading during exposure to a chloride environment. Specimen beams that were cast in 2010 were compared to specimens cast in 1984. The only differences between the two sets of beams were the casting direction in relation to tensile reinforcement and the exposure conditions in the salt-fog chamber. The cracking maps, corrosion maps, chloride profiles, and cross-sectional loss of one group of two beams cast in 2010 were studied and their calculated corrosion rates were compared to that of beams cast in 1984 in order to investigate the factors influencing the natural corrosion process. Experimental results show that, after rapid initiation of corrosion at the crack tip, the corrosion process practically halted and the time elapsing before corrosion resumed depended on the exposure conditions and cover depth.

Numerical investigation on pressure fluctuations in centrifugal compressor with different inlet guide vanes pre-whirl angles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Y C; Shi, M; Cao, S L; Li, Z H

2013-01-01

The pressure fluctuations in a centrifugal compressor with different inlet guide vanes (IGV) pre-whirl angles were investigated numerically, as well as the pre-stress model and static structural of blade. The natural frequency was evaluated by pre-stress model analysis. The results show that, the aero-dynamic pressure acting on blade surface is smaller than rotation pre-stress, which wouldn't result in large deformation of blade. The natural frequencies with rotation pre-stress are slightly higher than without rotation pre-stress. The leading mechanism of pressure fluctuations for normal conditions is the rotor-stator (IGVs) interaction, while is serious flow separations for conditions that are close to surge line. A few frequency components in spectra are close to natural frequency, which possibly result in resonant vibration if amplitude is large enough, which is dangerous for compressor working, and should be avoided

Cerebrovascular ischemic protection by pre- and post-conditioning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey M Gidday

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Stroke and cardiac arrest involve injury to all the brain′s resident cells and their respective progenitors, including neurons, all glial subtypes, vascular smooth muscle, vascular endothelium, and pericytes, resulting either in the death of the individual or in a lesion that likely manifests as long-term impairments across a number of cognitive and functional domains. Thousands of studies in experimental animals and results from a few clinical trials in humans have demonstrated that the mechanisms responsible for ischemic brain injury can be blocked or slowed by survival-enhancing epigenetic responses induced by "conditioning" the brain with a stress stimulus paradigm before or even after ictus. The resultant reduction in lesion size and functional deficits are often termed endogenous "neuroprotection," but this in fact involves cytoprotective responses on the part of all the aforementioned resident brain cells and the circulating immune cells as well. The present review will summarize findings demonstrating conditioning-induced protection of the cerebral vasculature, that in turn manifests as reductions in vascularly targeted inflammatory responses; less endothelial injury and improvements in structural integrity of the circulation across all levels of organization; enhanced perfusion with less thrombosis; reductions in vascular dysregulation and reactivity impairments; and, over the longer term, more robust angiogenesis and vascular remodeling. Advancing the mechanistic basis for these innately vasculoprotective phenotypes may provide therapeutic targets for limiting cerebral circulatory injury and dysfunction following stroke and cardiac arrest.

78 FR 30218 - Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Program

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-22

... require immediate and ongoing medical treatment including severe or life threatening conditions such as..., work, risk and resources of the service. (Hereafter, we generally refer to this pricing methodology as..., facilities and providers will be prohibited from ``balance billing'' enrollees in the federally-administered...

Women with a recent history of early-onset pre-eclampsia have a worse periodontal condition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kunnen, Alina; Blaauw, Judith; van Doormaal, Jasper J.; van Pampus, Maria G; van der Schans, Cees; Aarnoudse, Jan G; van Winkelhoff, Arie J; Abbas, Frank

OBJECTIVE: Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by systemic vascular dysfunction and pathological changes in placental arteries. Growing evidence of chronic infection as an aetiological factor in vascular diseases prompted us to study maternal periodontal disease in subjects

Women with a recent history of early-onset pre-eclampsia have a worse periodontal condition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kunnen, Alina; Blaauw, Judith; van Doormaal, Jasper J.; van Pampus, Maria G.; van der Schans, Cees P.; Aarnoudse, Jan G.; van Winkelhoff, Arie J.; Abbas, Frank

Objective: Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by systemic vascular dysfunction and pathological changes in placental arteries. Growing evidence of chronic infection as an aetiological factor in vascular diseases prompted us to study maternal periodontal disease in subjects

Physical condition and stress levels during early development reflect feeding rates and predict pre- and post-fledging survival in a nearshore seabird.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, Juliet S; O'Reilly, Kathleen M; Jodice, Patrick G R

2016-01-01

conditions, provided pre-existing baseline variation is monitored and understood.

Pre-Swirl Stator and Propeller Design for Varying Operating Conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Saettone, Simone; Regener, Pelle Bo; Andersen, Poul

2016-01-01

blades ahead of the propeller.This paper describes the hydrodynamic design of apre-swirl stator with radially variable pitch, paired with aconventional propeller. The aim is to achieve the highest possible effciency in various operating conditions, and to avoid effciency penalties in off-design operation.......To investigate the propeller and stator designs and configurations in different operating conditions, the computationally inexpensive vortex-lattice method is used a sa first step to optimize the geometry in an initial parameter study. Then the flow over hull, stator and propelleris simulated in a CFD...

Studi Eksperimen Pengaruh Dimensi Pipa Kapiler Pada Sistem Air Conditioning Dengan Pre-Cooling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Awan Satya Darmawan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Penggunaan air conditioner semakin banyak digunakan pada kehidupan sehari-hari diiringi dengan harga jual energi yang semakin mahal. Pada studi eksperimen kali ini mencoba mengoptimalisasi dan menigkatkan efisiensi energi pada sistem air conditioner dengan cara menambahkan satu buah evaporator dan satu buah pre-cooling, dimana pre-cooling dimanfaatkan untuk memanaskan air yang nantinya akan digunakan untuk keperluan rumah tangga. Pada sistem pengkondisian udara yang telah dimodifikasi tersebut maka dilakukan studi eksperimen dengan variasi panjang pipa kapiler, diameter pipa kapiler d=0,054 in, dengan panjang kapiler 1 = 35 cm, kapiler 2 = 65 cm, kapiler 3 = 95 cm. Hasil yang didapat dari studi eksperimen kali ini adalah semakin bertambahnya panjang pipa kapiler, kapasitas pendinginan evaporator, kerja kompresor dan COP dari sistem juga akan semakin kecil dan juga mengakibatkan temperatur masuk evaporator akan semakin kecil, yang akan mengakibatkan efek pendinginan akan semakin besar. Pada variasi pipa kapiler terpendek 35 cm menghasilkan data kapasitas pendinginan total sebesar 2,25 kW, kerja kompresor 0,433 kW, temperatur masuk evaporator 7,26°C, COP sebesar 5,21 dan HRR sebesar 1,16. Sedangkan pada variasi pipa kapiler terpanjang 95 cm kapasitas pendinginan total sebesar 0,72 kW, kerja kompresor 0,332 kW, temperatur masuk evaporator 1,64°C, COP sebesar 4,35 dan HRR sebesar 1,26.

The Notion of a "Pre-emptive War:" the Six Day War Revisited

OpenAIRE

Kurtulus, Ersun N

2007-01-01

The article presents a critical assessment of the widespread conceptualization of the June 1967 War between Israel and its neighboring Arab states as a pre-emptive war both in academic and non-academic writing. Tracing the origins of the notion of pre-emptive war to international law, the article identifies three necessary conditions for such a war to be classified as pre-emptive: acute crisis combined with high alert levels; vulnerable offensive weapons; and strategic parity as regards to of...

Superior pre-attentive auditory processing in musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Koelsch, S; Schröger, E; Tervaniemi, M

1999-04-26

The present study focuses on influences of long-term experience on auditory processing, providing the first evidence for pre-attentively superior auditory processing in musicians. This was revealed by the brain's automatic change-detection response, which is reflected electrically as the mismatch negativity (MMN) and generated by the operation of sensoric (echoic) memory, the earliest cognitive memory system. Major chords and single tones were presented to both professional violinists and non-musicians under ignore and attend conditions. Slightly impure chords, presented among perfect major chords elicited a distinct MMN in professional musicians, but not in non-musicians. This demonstrates that compared to non-musicians, musicians are superior in pre-attentively extracting more information out of musically relevant stimuli. Since effects of long-term experience on pre-attentive auditory processing have so far been reported for language-specific phonemes only, results indicate that sensory memory mechanisms can be modulated by training on a more general level.

Acrylamide generation in pre-treated potato chips

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedreschi, Franco; Kaack, Karl; Granby, Kit

2008-01-01

Acrylamide formation in potato slices fried at two different temperatures ( 170 and 190 degrees C) was investigated under different pre-processing conditions. Potato slices (Saturna variety, diameter: 37 mm, width: 2.2 mm) were either fried at 170 degrees C per 5 min or 190 degrees C per 3.5 min...... to reach a final moisture content of 1.8 g water/100g ( wet basis). Prior to frying, potato slices were treated in one of the following ways: (i) Raw slices without any pre-treatment were considered as the control; (ii) Blanching: which was accomplished in 2 temperature-time combinations: 60 degrees C....... Acrylamide content in potato chips was determined after frying at 170 or 190 degrees C. Frying at 190 degrees C increased by almost 130 percent the acrylamide content of all the pre-treated samples ( average value) fried at 170 degrees C. Soaking of blanched potato slices in the 3 g/100 g of NaCl solution...

Evaluation of the effectiveness of pre-employment screening

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sorgdrager, Bas; Hulshof, Carel T. J.; van Dijk, Frank J. H.

2004-01-01

Aim. As pre-employment screening and selection is a main function in the protection of susceptible applicants from developing an occupational disease, we need insight into the effectiveness of this intervention under different exposure conditions. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the

Variability of pre-vitamin D3 effectiveness of UV appliances for skin tanning.

Science.gov (United States)

Sayre, Robert M; Dowdy, John C; Shepherd, James G

2010-07-01

While there is limited documentation that certain indoor tanning lamps effectively produce vitamin D, the diversity of such devices has not been extensively surveyed. This study compares the spectral effectiveness of a variety of tanning units, and solar spectra, for ultraviolet (UV) photosynthesis of pre-vitamin D3 (preD3) and UV induced erythema. Well-established techniques exist for the calculation of spectral effectiveness for photobiological responses that have defined action spectra. Using spectroradiometric data from sunlamp measurements, and standard solar reference spectra, we computed effective irradiances using the CIE action spectrum for the production of preD3 in human skin and the ISO/CIE human erythema reference action spectrum. We found, as with sunlight at different times or latitude, the preD3 and erythemal effectiveness of sunlamps varied as a function of the UV-B proportion of the spectrum. Ratios of sunlamp preD3 to erythemal effectiveness ranged from approximately 0.5 to nearly 2.0, similar to ratios for sunlight. Optimal risk to benefit conditions for preD3 from solar UV exposure occurs under high solar altitude, low zenith angle, midday midsummer sunlight. Analogous optimal preD3 exposure conditions are provided by low to intermediate pressure sunlamps with greater UV-B spectral overlap with the preD3 action spectrum. Similar to low altitude or high latitude sunlight, high pressure tanning units, filtered for negligible UV-B emissions, have insignificant vitamin D benefit. We conclude that while vitamin D can be made by both UVB exposure from indoor tanning units and by exposure UVB from sunlight, the effect is also comparably variable. Unlike sunlight, indoor tanning offers privacy and environmental conditions for practical full body exposure, lowering the requisite exposure per skin surface area, and device timers limit the potential of overexposure. Guidance for optimal use of tanning sources for vitamin D benefit is needed. Copyright (c

Evaluation of bias associated with high-multiplex, target-specific pre-amplification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven T. Okino

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We developed a novel PCR-based pre-amplification (PreAmp technology that can increase the abundance of over 350 target genes one million-fold. To assess potential bias introduced by PreAmp we utilized ERCC RNA reference standards, a model system that quantifies measurement error in RNA analysis. We assessed three types of bias: amplification bias, dynamic range bias and fold-change bias. We show that our PreAmp workflow introduces only minimal amplification and fold-change bias under stringent conditions. We do detect dynamic range bias if a target gene is highly abundant and PreAmp occurred for 16 or more PCR cycles; however, this type of bias is easily correctable. To assess PreAmp bias in a gene expression profiling experiment, we analyzed a panel of genes that are regulated during differentiation using the NTera2 stem cell model system. We find that results generated using PreAmp are similar to results obtained using standard qPCR (without the pre-amplification step. Importantly, PreAmp maintains patterns of gene expression changes across samples; the same biological insights would be derived from a PreAmp experiment as with a standard gene expression profiling experiment. We conclude that our PreAmp technology can facilitate analysis of extremely limited samples in gene expression quantification experiments.

1.7.2. The hydrochloric acid decomposition of pre-baked kaolin clays and siallites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirsaidov, U.M.; Mirzoev, D.Kh.; Boboev, Kh.E.

2016-01-01

Present article of book is devoted to hydrochloric acid decomposition of pre-baked kaolin clays and siallites. The chemical composition of kaolin clays and siallites was determined. The influence of temperature, process duration, acid concentration on hydrochloric acid decomposition of pre-baked kaolin clays and siallites was studied. The optimal conditions of hydrochloric acid decomposition of pre-baked kaolin clays and siallites were determined.

Trace spaces in a pre-cubical complex

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raussen, Martin

2009-01-01

In directed algebraic topology, directed irreversible (d)-paths and spaces consisting of d-paths are studied from a topological and from a categorical point of view. Motivated by models for concurrent computation, we study in this paper spaces of d-paths in a pre-cubical complex. Such paths...... are equipped with a natural arc length which moreover is shown to be invariant under directed homotopies. D-paths up to reparametrization (called traces) can thus be represented by arc length parametrized d-paths. Under weak additional conditions, it is shown that trace spaces in a pre-cubical complex...... are separable metric spaces which are locally contractible and locally compact. Moreover, they have the homotopy type of a CW-complex....

Molecular Mechanisms of Renal Ischemic Conditioning Strategies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kierulf-Lassen, Casper; Nieuwenhuijs-Moeke, Gertrude J; Krogstrup, Nicoline V

2015-01-01

summarizes research on the molecular mechanisms underlying both local and remote ischemic pre-, per- and postconditioning of the kidney. The different types of conditioning strategies in the kidney recruit similar powerful pro-survival mechanisms. Likewise, renal ischemic conditioning mobilizes many...

Effects of Brief Psychoeducational Program on Stigma in Malaysian Pre-clinical Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Aaron; Tan, Kit-Aun; Knaak, Stephanie; Chew, Boon How; Ghazali, Sazlina Shariff

2016-12-01

If presented with serious mental illness (SMI), individuals' low help-seeking behaviors and poor adherence to treatment are associated with negative stereotypes and attitudes of healthcare providers. In this study, we examined the effects of a brief psychoeducational program on reducing stigma in pre-clinical medical students. One hundred and two pre-clinical medical students (20-23 years old) were randomly assigned to face-to-face contact + educational lecture (n = 51) condition or video-based contact + educational lecture (n = 51) condition. Measures of pre-clinical medical students' mental illness-related stigma using the Opening Minds Stigma Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC) were administered at pre-, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up. A 2 (condition: face-to-face contact + educational lecture, video-based contact + educational lecture) by 3 (time: pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 1-month follow-up) mixed model MANOVA was conducted on the Attitudes, Disclosure and Help-Seeking, and Social Distance OMS-HC subscales. Participants' scores on all subscales changed significantly across time, regardless of conditions. To determine how participants' scores changed significantly over time on each subscale, Bonferroni follow-up comparisons were performed to access pairwise differences for the main effect of time. Specifically, pairwise comparisons produced a significant reduction in Social Distance subscale between pre-treatment and post-treatment and between pre-treatment and 1-month follow-up, and a significant increase between post-treatment and 1-month follow-up, regardless of conditions. With respect to the Attitudes and Disclosure and Help-Seeking subscales, pairwise comparisons produced a significant reduction in scores between pre-treatment and post-treatment and a significant increase between post-treatment and 1-month follow-up. Our findings provide additional evidence that educational lecture on mental illness, coupled

Effects of Borax on the Reduction of Pre-oxidized Panzhihua Ilmenite

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Yufeng; Zheng, Fuqiang; Jiang, Tao; Chen, Feng; Wang, Shuai; Qiu, Guanzhou

2018-01-01

The effects of borax (sodium borate) on the enhancement reduction of pre-oxidized Panzhihua ilmenite were investigated. The effects of borax on the mineral phase transformation, microstructures, crystal cell parameter, melting point and Mg distribution were studied to reveal the mechanism of enhancement reduction. Under the constant reduction conditions, the borax could reduce the reduction activation energy of pre-oxidized ilmenite. The reduction kinetics analysis indicated that the reduction rate was controlled by interfacial chemical reaction. The reduction activation energy of the pre-oxidized ilmenite with 4% borax was 80.263 kJ/mol, which was 28.585 kJ/mol less than that of the pre-oxidized ilmenite without borax. Borax could eliminate the migration of Mg into the reduced particle center. The crystal cell parameter of the reduced product was increased by adding borax. Borax could improve the growth of dendritic crystals in the pre-oxidized ilmenite.

Old and new aspects in the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federico Prefumo

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Pre-eclampsia is a condition affecting the feto-placental unit and the mother. Three to five percent of pregnancies are complicated by pre-eclampsia, a multisystem disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria that occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Pre-eclampsia is associated with substantial risks. For the fetus, these include intrauterine growth restriction, death, and prematurity with attendant complications, whereas the mother is at risk for complications of widespread alterations in endothelial function such as seizures (eclampsia, renal failure, pulmonary edema, stroke, and death. The establishment of pathological uterine perfusion raises the problem of stage two. The problem at stage three describes pre-eclampsia as a syndrome with the global maternal endothelial damage as the central pathophysiological feature.\tIt has been suggested that the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia can be thought of as a ‘three-stage problem’, where each stage generates one, so far unsolved problem. An impaired trophoblast invasion is thought to be the central factor (first step regarding the etiology of pre-eclampsia. An increased uterine artery Doppler findings (PI, RI, lower maternal serum PAPP-A and free ßhCG levels, ischaemia modified albumin (IMA may be associated with pre-eclampsia.

Pre-eruptive conditions of the phonolitic magma from the El Abrigo caldera-forming eruption (Las Canadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marti, J; Andujar, J; Costa, F; Wolff, J A; Carroll, M R

2008-01-01

We have performed phase equilibrium experiments to determine the pre-eruptive conditions of the largest phonolitic caldera-forming eruption (∼20 km3 of DRE) that occurred on Tenerife (Canary Islands). The Abrigo ignimbrite was erupted during the last caldera-forming episode (ca. 190 ka), from the Canadas caldera. Comparison of the natural and experimental phase proportions and compositions indicates that the phonolite at the roof of the Abrigo magma reservoir was at 130 ± 50 MPa (corresponding to ca. 4 - 5 km below the surface), 825 ± 25 oC, with 3 ± 1 wt% dissolved H2O and fO2 at the Ni-NiO buffer ? 1 log unit. This shows that the magma that produced the largest ignimbrite on Tenerife was stored at relatively shallow depths but was water-undersaturated, and its eruption was probably triggered by input of fresh mafic magma.

Pre-eruptive conditions of the phonolitic magma from the El Abrigo caldera-forming eruption (Las Canadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marti, J; Andujar, J; Costa, F [Institute of Earth Sciences ' Jaume Almera' , CSIC, C/ Lluis Sole I Sabaris, s/n Barcelona, 08028 Spain (Spain); Wolff, J A [School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2812 (United States); Carroll, M R [Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Via Gentile III da Varano, Universita di Camerino, 62032 MC (Italy)], E-mail: jawolff@mail.wsu.edu, E-mail: Michael.carroll@unicam.it

2008-10-01

We have performed phase equilibrium experiments to determine the pre-eruptive conditions of the largest phonolitic caldera-forming eruption ({approx}20 km3 of DRE) that occurred on Tenerife (Canary Islands). The Abrigo ignimbrite was erupted during the last caldera-forming episode (ca. 190 ka), from the Canadas caldera. Comparison of the natural and experimental phase proportions and compositions indicates that the phonolite at the roof of the Abrigo magma reservoir was at 130 {+-} 50 MPa (corresponding to ca. 4 - 5 km below the surface), 825 {+-} 25 oC, with 3 {+-} 1 wt% dissolved H2O and fO2 at the Ni-NiO buffer ? 1 log unit. This shows that the magma that produced the largest ignimbrite on Tenerife was stored at relatively shallow depths but was water-undersaturated, and its eruption was probably triggered by input of fresh mafic magma.

Working hours and risk of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Pei-Jen; Chu, Li-Ching; Hsieh, Wu-Shiun; Chuang, Yi-Li; Lin, Shio-Jean; Chen, Pau-Chung

2010-01-01

The potential impact of employment on maternal health, particularly in relation to gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia, has been subject to research. However, there is limited evidence on associations between shift work and long working hours on the incidence of these conditions. To evaluate potential associations between maternal shift work and long working hours during pregnancy and gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Multistage stratified systematic sampling was used to recruit 24 200 post-partum women from the Taiwan national birth registration database in 2005. Subjects underwent home interview 6 months after their deliveries by structured questionnaire to obtain characteristics of maternal employment and potential confounders. Diagnosis of gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia was obtained from the birth registration. There was no association between employment status and gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. Also, no significant association between gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia and maternal shift work or long working hours during pregnancy was found in all or primiparous women. There was no convincing evidence that maternal shift work or long working hours had a higher risk of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia. However, further research is warranted to confirm these negative findings.

Optimization of combustion chamber geometry and operating conditions for compression ignition engine fueled with pre-blended gasoline-diesel fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Seokhwon; Jeon, Joonho; Park, Sungwook

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Pre-blended gasoline-diesel fuel was used with direct injection system. • KIVA-CHEMKIN code modeled dual-fuel fuel spray and combustion processes with discrete multi-component model. • The characteristics of Combustion and emission on pre-blended fuel was investigated with various fuel reactivities. • Optimization of combustion chamber shape improved combustion performance of the gasoline-diesel blended fuel engine. - Abstract: In this study, experiments and numerical simulations were used to improve the fuel efficiency of compression ignition engine using a gasoline-diesel blended fuel and an optimization technology. The blended fuel is directly injected into the cylinder with various blending ratios. Combustion and emission characteristics were investigated to explore the effects of gasoline ratio on fuel blend. The present study showed that the advantages of gasoline-diesel blended fuel, high thermal efficiency and low emission, were maximized using the numerical optimization method. The ignition delay and maximum pressure rise rate increased with the proportion of gasoline. As the gasoline fraction increased, the combustion duration and the indicated mean effective pressure decreased. The homogeneity of the fuel-air mixture was improved due to longer ignition delay. Soot emission was significantly reduced up to 90% compared to that of conventional diesel. The nitrogen oxides emissions of the blended fuel increased slightly when the start of injection was retarded toward top dead center. For the numerical study, KIVA-CHEMKIN multi-dimensional CFD code was used to model the combustion and emission characteristics of gasoline-diesel blended fuel. The micro genetic algorithm coupled with the KIVA-CHEMKIN code were used to optimize the combustion chamber shape and operating conditions to improve the combustion performance of the blended fuel engine. The optimized chamber geometry enhanced the fuel efficiency, for a level of nitrogen oxides

Pre-symptomatic increase in urine-orosomucoid excretion in pre-eclamptic women

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kronborg, Camilla Skovhus; Allen, Jim; Vittinghus, Erik

2007-01-01

, 32 women developed pre-eclampsia, and 5 controls for every case of pre-eclampsia were found. Blood samples were collected 4 times and urine samples 6 times from the 18/19th week and throughout pregnancy. Orosomucoid and albumin in plasma were analysed by standard methods, and in urine by sandwich...... in orosomucoid. In the plasma samples, orosomucoid was significantly higher late in pre-eclamptic pregnancies (>or=36th week, p=0.0275). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-eclampsia is associated with a pre-symptomatic increase in the urine excretion of orosomucoid, and orosomucoid excretion precedes that of albumin. Orosomucoid...... excretion can probably be used as a prognostic tool in combination with other screening methods, and seems to be a more sensitive marker for evolving pre-eclampsia than albumin. Plasma orosomucoid is significantly increased late in pre-eclampsia. Thus, the increased excretion of orosomucoid must primarily...

Tuning Geneva+Pythia 8 Using Professor 2

CERN Document Server

Gellersen, Leif Erik

2016-01-01

We study the tuning of the Geneva Monte Carlo framework to LHC data. Geneva improves the predictions for Drell-Yan production by including NNLO QCD corrections and extending the resummation accuracy to NNLL$'$ for 0-jettiness and NLL for 1-jettiness. The partonic results provided by Geneva are interfaced to Pythia 8 for showering including its multiple parton interaction (MPI) model. This allows us to obtain sensible predictions for Underlying Event (UE) sensitive observables too. Retuning Geneva + Pythia 8 to LHC data with the Professor 2 package shows an improved agreement for both UE sensitive and more inclusive observables.

PreCam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allam, Sahar S. [Fermilab; Tucker, Douglas L. [Fermilab

2015-01-01

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) will be taking the next step in probing the properties of Dark Energy and in understanding the physics of cosmic acceleration. A step towards the photometric calibration of DES is to have a quick, bright survey in the DES footprint (PreCam), using a pre-production set of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) CCDs and a set of 100 mm×100 mm DES filters. The objective of the PreCam Survey is to create a network of calibrated DES grizY standard stars that will be used for DES nightly calibrations and to improve the DES global relative calibrations. Here, we describe the first year of PreCam observation, results, and photometric calibrations.

The Impacts of a Scalable Intervention on the Language and Literacy Development of Rural Pre-Kindergartners

Science.gov (United States)

Mashburn, Andrew; Justice, Laura M.; McGinty, Anita; Slocum, Laura

2016-01-01

Read It Again (RIA) is a curriculum for pre-kindergarten (pre-K) classrooms that targets children's development of language and literacy skills. A cluster randomized trial was conducted in which 104 pre-K classrooms in the Appalachian region of the United States were randomly assigned to one of three study conditions: Control (n = 30), RIA only…

Sex Ratio and Twinning in Women with Hyperemesis or Pre-eclampsia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basso, Olga; Olsen, Jørn

2001-01-01

We examined twinning and fetal gender in births of women with a hospital diagnosis of pre-eclampsia or hyperemesis. We also investigated sex ratio in infants whose mothers had had hyperemesis or pre-eclampsia in a different pregnancy. From all the hospitalized cases in Denmark between 1980 and 1996...... we extracted 6,227 births with hyperemesis and 24,764 with pre-eclampsia. Twins were more frequent in pregnancies with either condition. The male to female sex ratio was 1.04 (95%CI = 1.02-1.05) in the reference population, 0.87 (95% CI = 0.82-0.91) in births with hyperemesis, and 1.10 (95% CI = 1...

Efficient Conditional Proxy Re-encryption with Chosen-Ciphertext Security

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Weng, Jiang; Yang, Yanjiang; Tang, Qiang; Deng, Robert H.; Bao, Feng

Recently, a variant of proxy re-encryption, named conditional proxy re-encryption (C-PRE), has been introduced. Compared with traditional proxy re-encryption, C-PRE enables the delegator to implement fine-grained delegation of decryption rights, and thus is more useful in many applications. In this

Pre-attentive, context-specific representation of fear memory in the auditory cortex of rat.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akihiro Funamizu

Full Text Available Neural representation in the auditory cortex is rapidly modulated by both top-down attention and bottom-up stimulus properties, in order to improve perception in a given context. Learning-induced, pre-attentive, map plasticity has been also studied in the anesthetized cortex; however, little attention has been paid to rapid, context-dependent modulation. We hypothesize that context-specific learning leads to pre-attentively modulated, multiplex representation in the auditory cortex. Here, we investigate map plasticity in the auditory cortices of anesthetized rats conditioned in a context-dependent manner, such that a conditioned stimulus (CS of a 20-kHz tone and an unconditioned stimulus (US of a mild electrical shock were associated only under a noisy auditory context, but not in silence. After the conditioning, although no distinct plasticity was found in the tonotopic map, tone-evoked responses were more noise-resistive than pre-conditioning. Yet, the conditioned group showed a reduced spread of activation to each tone with noise, but not with silence, associated with a sharpening of frequency tuning. The encoding accuracy index of neurons showed that conditioning deteriorated the accuracy of tone-frequency representations in noisy condition at off-CS regions, but not at CS regions, suggesting that arbitrary tones around the frequency of the CS were more likely perceived as the CS in a specific context, where CS was associated with US. These results together demonstrate that learning-induced plasticity in the auditory cortex occurs in a context-dependent manner.

Pre-attentive, context-specific representation of fear memory in the auditory cortex of rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Funamizu, Akihiro; Kanzaki, Ryohei; Takahashi, Hirokazu

2013-01-01

Neural representation in the auditory cortex is rapidly modulated by both top-down attention and bottom-up stimulus properties, in order to improve perception in a given context. Learning-induced, pre-attentive, map plasticity has been also studied in the anesthetized cortex; however, little attention has been paid to rapid, context-dependent modulation. We hypothesize that context-specific learning leads to pre-attentively modulated, multiplex representation in the auditory cortex. Here, we investigate map plasticity in the auditory cortices of anesthetized rats conditioned in a context-dependent manner, such that a conditioned stimulus (CS) of a 20-kHz tone and an unconditioned stimulus (US) of a mild electrical shock were associated only under a noisy auditory context, but not in silence. After the conditioning, although no distinct plasticity was found in the tonotopic map, tone-evoked responses were more noise-resistive than pre-conditioning. Yet, the conditioned group showed a reduced spread of activation to each tone with noise, but not with silence, associated with a sharpening of frequency tuning. The encoding accuracy index of neurons showed that conditioning deteriorated the accuracy of tone-frequency representations in noisy condition at off-CS regions, but not at CS regions, suggesting that arbitrary tones around the frequency of the CS were more likely perceived as the CS in a specific context, where CS was associated with US. These results together demonstrate that learning-induced plasticity in the auditory cortex occurs in a context-dependent manner.

Pre-harvest calcium sulfate application improves postharvest quality ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The quality of cut rose flowers at the postharvest stage is affected by pre-harvest conditions. The present study was conducted to examine the possible involvement of calcium sulfate (CaSO4) in regulation of rose flower senescence. Roses (Rosa hybrida L.) cultivars 'Cool Water' and 'Pretty Blinda', were treated with either ...

Microstructural study of pre-treated and enzymatic hydrolyzed bamboo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Funsho O. KOLAWOLE

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Bamboo was used as biomass feedstock which was pre-treated using dilute acid hydrolysis followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The bamboo was mechanical ground to particle sizes 212–500µm, followed by pre-treatment with dilute sulfuric acid at a concentration of 0.5 and 1.0 (%v/v at temperatures of 25, 110, 120, 150 and 200°C with time intervals of 2 and 4 hours. Pre-hydrolyzate was later analyzed for reducing sugar using UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Under the above conditions, a maximum glucose yield of 153.1 mg/g was obtained at 200°C and acid concentrations of 1% for 4 hours. Water insoluble solids obtained were subsequently hydrolyzed with Celluclast (Trichoderma reesi and β-glucosidase (Novozyme 188 for 72 hours. Optical Microscope and ESEM images of bamboo samples were obtained at various stages of pre-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Result reveals a breakdown in the ligno-cellulosic structure of the bamboo during exposure to dilute acid and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Enhanced Age Strengthening of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr Alloy via Pre-Stretching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erjun Guo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Pre-stretching was carried out to modify the microstructure of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy to enhance its age strengthening. The results indicated that more heterogeneous nucleation sites can be provided by the high density of dislocations caused by the plastic pre-stretching deformation, as well as speeding up the growth rate of precipitates. Comparison of microstructure in non-pre-stretched specimens after artificial aging showed that pre-stretched specimens exhibited a higher number density of precipitates. The fine and coarse plate-shaped precipitates were found in the matrix. Due to an increase in the number density of precipitates, the dislocation slipping during the deformation process is effectively hindered, and the matrix is strengthened. The yield strength stabilizes at 4% pre-stretching condition, and then the evolution is stable within the error bars. The 8% pre-stretched specimens can achieve an ultimate tensile strength of 297 MPa. However, further pre-stretching strains after 8% cannot supply any increase in strength. Tensile fracture surfaces of specimens subjected to pre-stretching strain mainly exhibit a trans-granular cleavage fracture. This work indicated that a small amount of pre-stretching strain can further increase strength of alloy and also effectively enhance the formation of precipitates, which can expand the application fields of this alloy.

22 CFR 226.14 - Special award conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Special award conditions. 226.14 Section 226.14 Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION OF ASSISTANCE AWARDS TO U.S. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS Pre-award Requirements § 226.14 Special award conditions. If an applicant or...

NH3 (10-00) in the pre-stellar core L1544

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Caselli, P.; Bizzocchi, L.; Keto, E.

2017-01-01

GHz and study the abundance profile of ammonia across the pre-stellar core L1544 to test current theories of its physical and chemical structure. Recently calculated collisional coefficients have been included in our non-LTE radiative transfer code to reproduce Herschel observations. A gas......Pre-stellar cores represent the initial conditions in the process of star and planet formation, therefore it is important to study their physical and chemical structure. Because of their volatility, nitrogen-bearing molecules are key to study the dense and cold gas present in pre-stellar cores....... The NH3 rotational transition detected with Herschel-HIFI provides a unique combination of sensitivity and spectral resolution to further investigate physical and chemical processes in pre-stellar cores. Here we present the velocity-resolved Herschel-HIFI observations of the ortho-NH3(10-00) line at 572...

Pre-aspiration in Welsh English: a case study of Aberystwyth

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hejná, Michaela

-aspiration would be manifested as a h sound inserted in the following words as indicated: paht, peht, piht, poht, puht, mahp, mahtt, mahck, ohff, mohth, mahss, mahsh. Because the sound is understudied in English, the work focuses on what other sounds condition the presence of the phenomenon and its duration......Lay abstract This thesis examines pre-aspiration in English spoken in Aberystwyth, mid Wales. Pre-aspiration is a sound very similar to h (as in honey), and it can be found mainly in the sequences of vowels (a, e, i, o, u, etc.) and certain consonants (p, t, k, f, th, s, sh). In English, pre......, if it is sensitive to social factors such as age or gender as well, and it suggests some implications for sound changes including pre-aspiration. Chapter 1 summarises the questions addressed in this thesis and outlines where this work is positioned with respect to our current knowledge of the phenomenon...

Non-invasive pre-lens tear film assessment with high-speed videokeratoscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Llorens-Quintana, Clara; Mousavi, Maryam; Szczesna-Iskander, Dorota; Iskander, D Robert

2018-02-01

To evaluate the effect of two types of daily contact lenses (delefilcon A and omafilcon A) on the tear film and establish whether it is dependent on pre-corneal tear film characteristics using a new method to analyse high-speed videokeratoscopy recordings, as well as to determine the sensitivity of the method in differentiating between contact lens materials on eye. High-speed videokeratoscopy recordings were analysed using a custom made automated algorithm based on a fractal dimension approach that provides a set of parameters directly related to tear film stability. Fifty-four subjects participated in the study. Baseline measurements, in suppressed and natural blinking conditions, were taken before subjects were fitted with two different daily contact lenses and after four hours of contact lens wear. The method for analysing the stability of the tear film provides alternative parameters to the non-invasive break up time to assess the quality of the pre-corneal and pre-lens tear film. Both contact lenses significantly decreased the quality of the tear film in suppressed and natural blinking conditions (pfilm characteristics were not correlated with the decrease in pre-lens tear film quality. High-speed videokeratoscopy equipped with an automated method to analyse the dynamics of the tear film is able to distinguish between contact lens materials in vivo. Incorporating the assessment of pre-lens tear film to the clinical practice could aid improving contact lens fitting and understand contact lens comfort. Copyright © 2017 British Contact Lens Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pre-activation of ice-nucleating particles by the pore condensation and freezing mechanism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Wagner

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In spite of the resurgence in ice nucleation research a comparatively small number of studies deal with the phenomenon of pre-activation in heterogeneous ice nucleation. Fifty years ago, it was shown that various mineral dust and volcanic ash particles can be pre-activated to become nuclei for ice crystal formation even at temperatures as high as 270–271 K. Pre-activation was achieved under ice-subsaturated conditions without any preceding macroscopic ice growth by just temporarily cooling the particles to temperatures below 228 K. A two-step mechanism involving capillary condensation of supercooled water and subsequent homogeneous freezing was proposed to account for the particles' enhanced ice nucleation ability at high temperatures. This work reinvestigates the efficiency of the proposed pre-activation mechanism in temperature-cycling experiments performed in a large cloud chamber with suspended particles. We find the efficiency to be highest for the clay mineral illite as well as for highly porous materials like zeolite and diatomaceous earth, whereas most aerosols generated from desert dust surface samples did not reveal a measurable pre-activation ability. The pre-activation efficiency is linked to particle pores in a certain size range. As estimated by model calculations, only pores with diameters between about 5 and 8 nm contribute to pre-activation under ice-subsaturated conditions. This range is set by a combination of requirements from the negative Kelvin effect for condensation and a critical size of ice embryos for ice nucleation and melting. In contrast to the early study, pre-activation is only observed for temperatures below 260 K. Above that threshold, the particles' improved ice nucleation ability disappears due to the melting of ice in the pores.

Fabrication of indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film with pre-treated sol coating

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hong, Sung-Jei; Han, Jeong-In

2004-01-01

A new pre-treated sol-coating method to fabricate an indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film is introduced in this paper. The pre-treatment sol-coating method is to form a seed layer on the substrate before spin coating of ITO sol. The pre-treatment was carried out at room temperature in order not to damage the substrate during the pre-treatment. It is effective to enhance the formation of the ITO sol film on the substrate, owing to the seed layer. The seed layer consists of ultrafine grains, which are observed at the pre-treated substrate. For the optimal pre-treatment condition, we used pre-treatment times of 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours to observe the effect on the characteristics of ITO sol film. As a result, the lowest resistance could be achieved with a pre-treatment time of 72 hours. The optical transmittance of the ITO sol film with the pre-treatment time of 72 hours exceeded 80 % at a wavelength of 400 nm. So, an ITO sol film with good electrical and optical properties could be fabricated by using the pretreatment sol coating.

The influence of antecedent conditions on flood risk in sub-Saharan Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Bischiniotis, Konstantinos; van den Hurk, Bart; Jongman, Brenden; Coughlan de Perez, Erin; Veldkamp, Ted; de Moel, Hans; Aerts, Jeroen

2018-01-01

Most flood early warning systems have predominantly focused on forecasting floods with lead times of hours or days. However, physical processes during longer timescales can also contribute to flood generation. In this study, we follow a pragmatic approach to analyse the hydro-meteorological pre-conditions of 501 historical damaging floods from 1980 to 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa. These are separated into (a) weather timescale (0-6 days) and (b) seasonal timescale conditions (up to 6 months) before the event. The 7-day precipitation preceding a flood event (PRE7) and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) are analysed for the two timescale domains, respectively. Results indicate that high PRE7 does not always generate floods by itself. Seasonal SPEIs, which are not directly correlated with PRE7, exhibit positive (wet) values prior to most flood events across different averaging times, indicating a relationship with flooding. This paper provides evidence that bringing together weather and seasonal conditions can lead to improved flood risk preparedness.

Worm Infestation And Anaemia Among Pre-school Children Of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Worm infection and anaemia are common childhood conditions in Nigeria. We assessed the status of helminthiasis and associated anaemia among pre school children of peasant farmers aged 1-5 years living in a rubber plantation near Calabar, Nigeria. Design: Cross sectional. Method: Three hundred and ...

Pre-exposure Schedule Effects on Generalization of Taste Aversion and Palatability for Thirsty and Not Thirsty Rats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rocío Angulo

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The study reported four experiments aiming to test the effects of the pre-exposure schedule and water deprivation on the generalization of a conditioned taste aversion in rats, with a particular focus on testing whether or not the concurrent schedule might enhance generalization. In two experiments, non-water-deprived rats received concurrent, intermixed, or blocked exposure to a sweet-acid solution and a salty-acid solution before conditioning of one of these compounds and testing of both flavors. During pre-exposure, the rats consumed a greater amount of the sweet-acid solution than the salty-acid solution (Experiments 1 and 2, consumption of the former increasing during pre-exposure while consumption of the latter decreased (Experiment 1. Furthermore, consumption of the salty-acid solution was lower during concurrent than intermixed or blocked pre-exposure (Experiment 1 and 2 while consumption of the sweet-acid solution was greater during intermixed than concurrent or blocked pre-exposure (Experiment 1. It is discussed whether the pre-exposure schedule might modify stimulus perception beyond the mere enhancement of stimulus differentiation, by, for instance, affecting the palatability of gustatory stimuli. Evidence for enhanced generalization after concurrent pre-exposure was not found for either deprived (Experiments 1, 2, and 3 or non-deprived rats (Experiments 3 and 4, with deprivation leading to a general increase in consumption of both the conditioned and test flavors. This then raised the question of whether or not concurrent pre-exposure to flavors always increases generalization between them. The present study highlights the importance of this issue for various accounts of perceptual learning.

Pre-equilibrium plasma dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heinz, U.

1986-01-01

Approaches towards understanding and describing the pre-equilibrium stage of quark-gluon plasma formation in heavy-ion collisions are reviewed. Focus is on a kinetic theory approach to non-equilibrium dynamics, its extension to include the dynamics of color degrees of freedom when applied to the quark-gluon plasma, its quantum field theoretical foundations, and its relationship to both the particle formation stage at the very beginning of the nuclear collision and the hydrodynamic stage at late collision times. The usefulness of this approach to obtain the transport coefficients in the quark-gluon plasma and to derive the collective mode spectrum and damping rates in this phase are discussed. Comments are made on the general difficulty to find appropriated initial conditions to get the kinetic theory started, and a specific model is given that demonstrates that, once given such initial conditions, the system can be followed all the way through into the hydrodynamical regime. 39 refs., 7 figs. (LEW)

Pre-equilibrium plasma dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinz, U.

1986-01-01

Approaches towards understanding and describing the pre-equilibrium stage of quark-gluon plasma formation in heavy-ion collisions are reviewed. Focus is on a kinetic theory approach to non-equilibrium dynamics, its extension to include the dynamics of color degrees of freedom when applied to the quark-gluon plasma, its quantum field theoretical foundations, and its relationship to both the particle formation stage at the very beginning of the nuclear collision and the hydrodynamic stage at late collision times. The usefulness of this approach to obtain the transport coefficients in the quark-gluon plasma and to derive the collective mode spectrum and damping rates in this phase are discussed. Comments are made on the general difficulty to find appropriated initial conditions to get the kinetic theory started, and a specific model is given that demonstrates that, once given such initial conditions, the system can be followed all the way through into the hydrodynamical regime. 39 refs., 7 figs

SONO-OXIDATIVE PRE-TREATMENT OF WASTE ACTIVATED SLUDGE BEFORE ANAEROBIC BIODEGRADATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Şahinkaya

Full Text Available Abstract The effects of sonication, potassium ferrate (K2FeO4 oxidation and their simultaneous combination (called "sono-oxidative pre-treatment" on chemical properties and anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS were investigated and compared comprehensively. Based on chemical parameters, the optimum operating conditions were found to be 0.3 g K2FeO4/g total solids (TS dosage for 2-h individual K2FeO4 oxidation, 0.50 W/mL ultrasonic power density for 10-min individual sonication and, lastly, the combination of 2.5-min sonication at 0.75 W/mL ultrasonic power density with 2-h chemical oxidation at 0.3 g K2FeO4/g TS dosage for sono-oxidative pre-treatment. The disintegration efficiencies of these methods under the optimized conditions were in the following descending order: 37.8% for sono-oxidative pre-treatment > 26.3% for sonication > 13.1% for K2FeO4 oxidation. The influences of these methods on anaerobic biodegradability were tested with the biochemical methane potential assay. It was seen that the cumulative methane production increased by 9.2% in the K2FeO4 oxidation reactor, 15.8% in the sonicated reactor and 18.6% in the reactor with sono-oxidative pre-treatment, compared to the control (untreated reactor.

STUDY OF THE SEDIMENTATION TREND IN THE PROSPECTIVE AREA OF PORT OF MARINE CENTER, CIREBON BASED ON REMOTE SENSING DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Undang Hernawan

2017-07-01

Full Text Available A coastal zone is the interface between the land and water that influenced by both of them. Coastal dynamic is influenced by many factors from land and sea, such as sedimentation and current. In order to support marine facility, Marine Geological Institute of Indonesia (MGI plan to build a port. The prospective area is behind MGI office at Cirebon. This study use multi temporal remote sensing data in order to observe trend of coastline change around MGI. Based on the interpretation of the data, there are sedimentation around the MGI water and abrasion due to the presence of Kejawanan’s jetty and Kalijaga River. The result also shows that the current in this region is moving from southeast to northwest. The presence of the Kejawanan’s jetty stymies the movement of sediment. The sediment which is normally moving to the north of the jetty is then trapped on the south side of the structure, so that the sediment precipitates in this region and makes it as the active region of sedimentation and accretion. The presence mangrove conduces to support sedimentation speed and accretion at this region, because of his function as the catchment area. Abrasion occurs in the eastern part of MGI office at the Kalijaga river mouth within the bay. The Kalijaga River mouth is predicted to be the primary source of sedimentation in this area. The coastline change caused by sedimentation will be continuing as long as it is supplied by the sediment. The direction of the sedimentation is parallel to the jetty and it forms ellipsoid, with the sedimentation/accretion region is behind MGI office. The abrasion area is found in Kalijaga River mouth and a small area beside Kalijaga River. In order to build a port, we have to consider this sedimentation process. One of the alternatives to build the port is to make a quay pile model which gives way the current to pass through the other side of the port. Another alternative is to build the port as a pond model but

The Influence of Pre-Conditioning on Space Charge Formation in LDPE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fleming, Robert J.; Henriksen, Mogens; Holbøll, Joachim T.

1996-01-01

In this paper we present space charge accumulation data for planar low density polyethylene samples subjected to 20 kV/mm dc fields at room temperature. The data were obtained using the laser-induced-pressure-pulse (LIPP) technique. Some of the samples were conditioned by holding them at 40oC in ......C in short-circuit at rotary pump pressure for 48 hr prior to measurement. Such conditioning had no consistent effect on the space charge. The extent of charge injection/extraction at the semicon electrodes appeared to vary considerably between samples....

Expression study of GLUT4 translocation-related genes in a porcine pre-diabetic model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Thea; Fredholm, Merete; Cirera Salicio, Susanna

2015-01-01

Obesity is a world-wide exponentially growing health problem that increases the risk of co-morbidities including metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), and cancer. These co-morbidities are all complex conditions constituting a big challenge when searching for susceptib......Obesity is a world-wide exponentially growing health problem that increases the risk of co-morbidities including metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), and cancer. These co-morbidities are all complex conditions constituting a big challenge when searching...... for susceptibility genes. Identification of relevant genes, which could contribute to an earlier identification of individuals prone to develop diabetes, is urgently needed as many long-term complications can be avoided by preventive measures. Pre-diabetes is mainly associated with hyperglycemia; thus studying...... this phenotype might provide knowledge on relevant genes implicated in molecular mechanisms underlying pre-diabetes, and contributing to the development of T2DM. In the present study, two groups of pigs with high (HGG, N = 6) and low (NGG, N = 6) fasting plasma glucose level respectively were selected from...

Assessment of the impact of oil spill on Mumbai harbor bay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pandit, G.G.; Saradhi, I.V.; Puranik, V.D.; Sharma, D.N.; Ghosh, A.K.

2011-04-01

On 7 th August, 2010 two cargo ships MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia collided off Mumbai coast causing an oil spill that spread quickly through Maharashtra's coastline. MSC Chitra ruptured its tank when it hit incoming MV Khalijia. MSC Chitra tilted to about 80 degrees soon after the collision, spilling an estimated 400 to 500 tonnes of oil. The ship was loaded with an estimated 2,600 tonnes of oil, 300 tonnes of diesel and 70 tonnes of lubricating oil at the time of the accident. The oil spill has spreaded over an area of 25 square kilometers. MSC Chitra was carrying 1219 containers out of which 31 had hazardous chemicals like organophosphate pesticides. After the collision about 400 containers fall off into to the sea from the deck of MSC Chitra. The oil spill has resulted in severe environmental damage along the Mumbai coastline as well as to the marine life. In order to assess the impact of oil spill on the marine environment daily monitoring of oil and grease levels has been carried out at CIRUS Jetty. Additionally three field surveys have been carried out along the coast line of Mumbai harbor bay from Vashi Jetty to Uran collecting sea water samples. The samples collected at CIRUS Jetty and Mumbai harbor bay are analyzed for various water quality parameters apart from oil and grease. The results indicate the oil and grease levels in sea water at CIRUS Jetty reduced to background levels within 15 days. The filed survey along Mumbai harbor bay also shows a decreasing trend in the oil and grease levels in seawater. (author)

Inflationary and deflationary branches in extended pre-big-bang cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lidsey, J.E.

1997-01-01

The pre-big-bang cosmological scenario is studied within the context of the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity. An epoch of superinflationary expansion may occur in the pre-big-bang phase of the Universe close-quote s history in a certain region of parameter space. Two models are considered that contain a cosmological constant in the gravitational and matter sectors of the theory, respectively. Classical pre- and post-big-bang solutions are found for both models. The existence of a curvature singularity forbids a classical transition between the two branches. On the other hand, a quantum cosmological approach based on the tunneling boundary condition results in a nonzero transition probability. The transition may be interpreted as a spatial reflection of the wave function in minisuperspace. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Inflationary and deflationary branches in extended pre-big-bang cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lidsey, J.E. [Astronomy Unit, School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary Westfield, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS (United Kingdom)

1997-03-01

The pre-big-bang cosmological scenario is studied within the context of the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity. An epoch of superinflationary expansion may occur in the pre-big-bang phase of the Universe{close_quote}s history in a certain region of parameter space. Two models are considered that contain a cosmological constant in the gravitational and matter sectors of the theory, respectively. Classical pre- and post-big-bang solutions are found for both models. The existence of a curvature singularity forbids a classical transition between the two branches. On the other hand, a quantum cosmological approach based on the tunneling boundary condition results in a nonzero transition probability. The transition may be interpreted as a spatial reflection of the wave function in minisuperspace. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

Optimisation of dilute acid pre-treatment of artisan rice hulls for ethanol production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, Yoney; Martin, Carlos; Gullon, Beatriz; Parajo, Juan Carlos

2011-01-01

Rice hulls are potential low-cost feedstocks for fuel ethanol production in many countries. In this work, the dilute-acid pre-treatment of artisan rice hulls was investigated using a central composite rotatable experimental design. The experimental variables were temperature (140-210 C), biomass load (5-20%) and sulphuric acid concentration (0.5-1.5 g per 100 g of reaction mixture). A total of 16 experimental runs, including a 23-plan, two replicates at the central point and six star points, were carried out. Low temperatures were found to be favourable for the hydrolysis of xylan and of the easily hydrolyzable glucan fraction. High glucose formation (up to 15.3 g/100 g), attributable to starch hydrolysis, was detected in the hydrolysates obtained under the least severe pre-treatment conditions. Using the experimental results, several models for predicting the effect of the operational conditions on the yield of pretreated solids, xylan and glucan conversion upon pre-treatment, and on enzymatic convertibility of cellulose were developed. Optimum results were predicted for the conversion of easily-hydrolyzable glucan in the material pretreated at 140.7 C, and for the enzymatic saccharification of cellulose in the material pretreated at 169 C. These results suggested the use of two-step acid hydrolysis as future pre-treatment strategy for artisan rice hulls. Key words: Dilute acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, pre-treatment, rice hulls. (author)

Effects of various pre-slaughter conditions on pig carcasses and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nedjeljko Karabasil

2016-11-12

Nov 12, 2016 ... most have been carried out in high-input large-scale production systems, which highlights the need to evaluate conditions in low-input production systems. ... fully slatted floor, in groups of 20 animals per pen, with average space ..... animal wellbeing, pork quality and transport economy (European ...

Southwest Washington littoral drift restoration—Beach and nearshore morphological monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Andrew W.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Ruggiero, Peter; Kaminsky, George M.

2012-01-01

A morphological monitoring program has documented the placement and initial dispersal of beach nourishment material (280,000 m3) placed between the Mouth of the Columbia River (MCR) North Jetty and North Head, at the southern end of the Long Beach Peninsula in southwestern Washington State. A total of 21 topographic surveys and 8 nearshore bathymetric surveys were performed between July 11, 2010, and November 4, 2011. During placement, southerly alongshore transport resulted in movement of nourishment material to the south towards the MCR North Jetty. Moderate wave conditions (significant wave height around 4 m) following the completion of the nourishment resulted in cross-shore sediment transport, with most of the nourishment material transported into the nearshore bars. The nourishment acted as a buffer to the more severe erosion, including dune overtopping and retreat, that was observed at the northern end of the study area throughout the winter. One year after placement of the nourishment, onshore transport and beach recovery were most pronounced within the permit area and to the south toward the MCR North Jetty. This suggests that there is some long-term benefit of the nourishment for reducing erosion rates locally, although the enhanced recovery also could be due to natural gradients in alongshore transport causing net movement of the sediment from north to south. Measurements made during the morphological monitoring program documented the seasonal movement and decay of nearshore sand bars. Low-energy conditions in late summer resulted in onshore bar migration early in the monitoring program. Moderate wave conditions in the autumn resulted in offshore movement of the middle bar and continued onshore migration of the outer bar. High-energy wave conditions early in the winter resulted in strong cross-shore transport and creation of a 3-bar system along portions of the coast. More southerly wave events occurred later in the winter and early spring and coincided

Functional imaging in pre-motor Parkinson’s disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnaldi, D.; Picco, A.; Ferrara, M.; Nobili, F.; Famà, F.; Buschiazzo, A.; Morbelli, S.; De Carli, F.

2014-01-01

Several non motor symptoms (NMS) can precede the onset of the classical motor Parkinson’s disease (PD) syndrome. The existence of pre-motor and even pre-clinical PD stages has been proposed but the best target population to be screened to disclose PD patients in a pre-clinical, thus asymptomatic, stage is still matter of debate. The REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) often affects PD patients at different stages of the disease and could precede the onset of motor symptoms by several years. However, RBD could also precede other synucleinopathies (namely, dementia with Lewy bodies and multisystem atrophy), and less frequently could be related to other neurological conditions or remain idiopathic. Moreover, not all PD patients exhibit RBD. Despite these caveats, RBD probably represents the best feature to disclose pre-motor PD patients given its high-risk of developing a full motor syndrome. Other clinical clues in the premotor stages of PD undergoing active investigation include hyposmia, depression, and autonomic dysfunction. Effective biomarkers are needed in order to improve the diagnostic accuracy in the pre-motor stage of PD, to monitor disease progression and to plan both pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention. Functional imaging, in particular radionuclide methodologies, has been often used to investigate dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic features as well as cortical functioning in patients with RBD in its idiopathic form (iRBD) and/or associated with PD. Recently, new tracers to image α-synuclein pathologies are under development. Functional imaging in pre-motor PD, and in particular in iRBD, could improve our knowledge about the underlying mechanisms and the neurodegenerative progress of PD

Performance analysis of a SOFC under direct internal reforming conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Janardhanan, Vinod M.; Deutschmann, Olaf [Institute for Chemical Technology and Polymer Chemistry, Engesserstr 20, D-76131 Karlsruhe, University of Karlsruhe (Germany); Heuveline, Vincent [Institute for Applied and Numerical Mathematics, Kaiserstr. 12, D-76128 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2007-10-11

This paper presents the performance analysis of a planar solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) under direct internal reforming conditions. A detailed solid-oxide fuel cell model is used to study the influences of various operating parameters on cell performance. Significant differences in efficiency and power density are observed for isothermal and adiabatic operational regimes. The influence of air number, specific catalyst area, anode thickness, steam to carbon (s/c) ratio of the inlet fuel, and extend of pre-reforming on cell performance is analyzed. In all cases except for the case of pre-reformed fuel, adiabatic operation results in lower performance compared to isothermal operation. It is further discussed that, though direct internal reforming may lead to cost reduction and increased efficiency by effective utilization of waste heat, the efficiency of the fuel cell itself is higher for pre-reformed fuel compared to non-reformed fuel. Furthermore, criteria for the choice of optimal operating conditions for cell stacks operating under direct internal reforming conditions are discussed. (author)

Performance analysis of a SOFC under direct internal reforming conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Janardhanan, Vinod M.; Heuveline, Vincent; Deutschmann, Olaf

This paper presents the performance analysis of a planar solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) under direct internal reforming conditions. A detailed solid-oxide fuel cell model is used to study the influences of various operating parameters on cell performance. Significant differences in efficiency and power density are observed for isothermal and adiabatic operational regimes. The influence of air number, specific catalyst area, anode thickness, steam to carbon (s/c) ratio of the inlet fuel, and extend of pre-reforming on cell performance is analyzed. In all cases except for the case of pre-reformed fuel, adiabatic operation results in lower performance compared to isothermal operation. It is further discussed that, though direct internal reforming may lead to cost reduction and increased efficiency by effective utilization of waste heat, the efficiency of the fuel cell itself is higher for pre-reformed fuel compared to non-reformed fuel. Furthermore, criteria for the choice of optimal operating conditions for cell stacks operating under direct internal reforming conditions are discussed.

Use of pre-pulse in laser spot welding of materials with high optical reflection

Science.gov (United States)

Mys, Ihor; Geiger, Manfred

2003-11-01

Laser micro welding has become a standard manufacturing technique, particularly in industry sectors, such as automotive and aerospace electronics or medical devices, where the requirements for strength, miniaturization and temperature resistance are constantly rising. So far the use of laser micro welding is limited due to the fluctuation of the quality of the welded joints, because the welding results for material with high optical reflection and thermal conductivity, such as copper and copper alloys, depend very strongly on the condition of the material surface. This paper presents investigations on the use of a laser pre-pulse in spot welding of electronic materials with Nd:YAG laser. In order to achieve reproducible joining results two strategies are followed-up. The first one utilizes a reflection-based process control for measuring the reflection during the short pre-pulse. The intensity of the reflected light is used to calculate an appropriated welding pulse power, which corresponds to the measured relative absorption. Adjustment of laser parameters according to the condition of the surface is done in real time before laser main pulse. A second possibility for the stabilization of copper welding is the employment of a short and powerful laser pre-pulse before laser main pulse. This pre-pulse affects the workpiece surface and creates more reproducible absorption conditions for the main pulse, independent from the initial situation on material surface.

Effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on waste activated sludge rheology, hygienization and methane potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Hernando, M; Martín-Díaz, J; Labanda, J; Mata-Alvarez, J; Llorens, J; Lucena, F; Astals, S

2014-09-15

Waste activated sludge is slower to biodegrade under anaerobic conditions than is primary sludge due to the glycan strands present in microbial cell walls. The use of pre-treatments may help to disrupt cell membranes and improve waste activated sludge biodegradability. In the present study, the effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on the rheology, hygienization and biodegradability of waste activated sludge was evaluated. The optimum condition of each pre-treatment was selected based on rheological criteria (reduction of steady state viscosity) and hygienization levels (reduction of Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages and spores of sulfite-reducing clostridia). The three pre-treatments were able to reduce the viscosity of the sludge, and this reduction was greater with increasing treatment intensity. However, only the alkali and thermal conditioning allowed the hygienization of the sludge, whereas the ultrasonication did not exhibit any notorious effect on microbial indicators populations. The selected optimum conditions were as follows: 27,000 kJ/kg TS for the ultrasound, 80 °C during 15 min for the thermal and 157 g NaOH/kg TS for the alkali. Afterward, the specific methane production was evaluated through biomethane potential tests at the specified optimum conditions. The alkali pre-treatment exhibited the greatest methane production increase (34%) followed by the ultrasonication (13%), whereas the thermal pre-treatment presented a methane potential similar to the untreated sludge. Finally, an assessment of the different treatment scenarios was conducted considering the results together with an energy balance, which revealed that the ultrasound and alkali treatments entailed higher costs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Volume 9 No. 5 2009 August 2009 1210 EFFECT OF PRE ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

post harvest pre-cooling and heat treatments on antioxidant enzymes, CAT, POX and. SOD involved in ... conditions and low temperature storage/ripening have been well studied. [10,11,12,13]. ... MATERIALS AND METHODS. Matured ...

Pre-trauma individual differences in extinction learning predict posttraumatic stress

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lommen, M.J.J.; Engelhard, I.M.; Sijbrandij, M.; van Hout, M.A.; Hermans, D.

2013-01-01

In the aftermath of a traumatic event, many people suffer from psychological distress, but only a minority develops posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pre-trauma individual differences in fear conditioning, most notably reduced extinction learning, have been proposed as playing an important role

System performance enhancement with pre-distorted OOFDM signal waveforms in DM/DD systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez, C; Ortega, B; Capmany, J

2014-03-24

In this work we propose a pre-distortion technique for the mitigation of the nonlinear distortion present in directly modulated/detected OOFDM systems and explore the system performance achieved under varying system parameters. Simulation results show that the proposed pre-distortion technique efficiently mitigates the nonlinear distortion, achieving transmission information rates around 40 Gbits/s and 18.5 Gbits/s over 40 km and 100 km of single mode fiber links, respectively, under optimum operating conditions. Moreover, the proposed pre-distortion technique can potentially provide higher system performance to that obtained with nonlinear equalization at the receiver.

Performance of seeds Crambe exposed to pre-germination treatments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rocha Cardoso, Rebeca; Costa Nobre, Danubia Aparecida; Santos de Souza David, Andreia Marcia; Ribeiro Amaro, Hugo Tiago; Borghetti, Renato Antonio; Costa, Marcia Regina

2014-01-01

Encouraging the production and use of biodiesel, seeds of crambe today constitute one of the best options for the supply of raw material, is also an excellent alternative for autumn-winter crop rotation order. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of combined pre-germination treatments on the seed behavior of Crambe. From a seed sample of FMS Brilhante cultivar, an experimental design completely randomized with a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement was performed. it was formed from combination of two structural conditions, seeds with or without pericarp, and treatments with or without giberelic acid, being: control (no treatment); seeds pre-soaked in distilled water for 24 hours as control; and seeds pre-soaked in gibberellic acid at 4 % at different concentrations (400, 500 and 600 mg.L"-1). Water content, first count germination, germination, seedling emergence and emergence rate index were determined. From these results it is concluded that removal of the pericarp in seed of Crambe, cultivar FMS brilhante, accelerated the germination rate, however, decreased your final percentage. The pre-soaking in gibberellic acid (400, 500 and 600 mg L"-1) for 24 hours, increased the germination and seed vigor crambe with pericarp.

Cocaine and Pavlovian fear conditioning: dose-effect analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Suzanne C; Fay, Jonathan; Sage, Jennifer R; Anagnostaras, Stephan G

2007-01-25

Emerging evidence suggests that cocaine and other drugs of abuse can interfere with many aspects of cognitive functioning. The authors examined the effects of 0.1-15mg/kg of cocaine on Pavlovian contextual and cued fear conditioning in mice. As expected, pre-training cocaine dose-dependently produced hyperactivity and disrupted freezing. Surprisingly, when the mice were tested off-drug later, the group pre-treated with a moderate dose of cocaine (15mg/kg) displayed significantly less contextual and cued memory, compared to saline control animals. Conversely, mice pre-treated with a very low dose of cocaine (0.1mg/kg) showed significantly enhanced fear memory for both context and tone, compared to controls. These results were not due to cocaine's anesthetic effects, as shock reactivity was unaffected by cocaine. The data suggest that despite cocaine's reputation as a performance-enhancing and anxiogenic drug, this effect is seen only at very low doses, whereas a moderate dose disrupts hippocampus and amygdala-dependent fear conditioning.

Blood spotting on underpants: Case report of urethral prolapse in a pre-pubertal Chinese girl

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hei Yi Wong

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Urethral prolapse is a rare urological condition with non-specific clinical manifestations which is mostly seen in pre-pubertal black girls and postmenopausal woman. The exact etiology still remains unknown. We herein present a case report of urethral mucosa prolapse in a 5 year-old Chinese pre-pubertal girl.

LA AGENCIA DE LA NIÑA Y EL NIÑO EN LA CONDICIÓN PRE-CIUDADANA AGENCY (CHILDHOOD IN THE PRE-CITIZEN CONDITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

González Coto, Marcela

2012-05-01

ability of agency to children in this age, understood as a willingness to explore, reflect, act and valued in their environments as political subjects. For this goal, this paper conducts a critical analysis of the ideological and cultural models, in the contemporary society, that legitimize and promote the status of "pre-citizens" of the children, diminishing their performance, present and future, as full citizens of their society. The analysis is based on different materials from distinct origins, all relating to the current conditions of childhood and the ways in which these capabilities are diminished. The essay also discusses the difficulties and obstacles faced by a redefinition of the relations between adults and children. It also documents recent efforts, both locally and internationally, to create alternative frameworks from which to rethink the institutional relationship between the two partners. The main result of this revision states possible curriculum guidelines that can support the building of children's agency, with a direct manifestation on childhood citizenship, which the essay affirms is based on three dimensions or developmental axes (responsibility, autonomy and complex thinking.

Functional compensation of motor function in pre-symptomatic Huntington's disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klöppel, Stefan; Draganski, Bogdan; Siebner, Hartwig R

2009-01-01

the compensatory mechanisms that underlie the phenomenon of retained motor function in the presence of degenerative change. Fifteen pre-symptomatic gene carriers and 12 matched controls performed button presses paced by a metronome at either 0.5 or 2 Hz with four fingers of the right hand whilst being scanned...... with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects pressed buttons either in the order of a previously learnt 10-item finger sequence, from left to right, or kept still. Error rates ranged from 2% to 7% in the pre-symptomatic gene carriers and from 0.5% to 4% in controls, depending on the condition...

Aristotelian pre-Socratics, A glance at Aristotle's Narrative from pre-Socratics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehdi Qavam Safari

2015-02-01

Full Text Available In this article, it's tried to study Aristotle's narrative of  pre-Socratics on the base of Aristotle's texts and mainly using  metaphysics, physics, genesis and decadence books. It is also tried to show how Aristotle has interpreted all the pre-Socratics in one way and on the base of his own philosophy framework. He interprets pre-Socratic Arche as an element that means comprehensive matter which is nothing itself, but everything is combination of it and even considers that as substance and the other things as accident. He interprets the distinction of Arche and other things on the basis of this contrast in his philosophy. Aristotle, also analyzes pre-Socratics' viewpoint to change on the base of his distinction among change, genesis and corruption. All these cases show that Aristotle has interpreted the pre-Socratics on the basis of his thought, as Aristotelians. On this basis, since Aristotle's thoughts are the first and the most important sources of pre-Socratic philosophy, Aristotle's role should be considered in studies.

Pre-exposure and retrieval effects on generalization of contextual fear

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sevenster, D.; de Oliveira Alvares, L.; D'Hooge, R.

2018-01-01

The degree of generalization from a fearful context to other contexts is determined by precision of the original fear memory. Experiences before and after fear learning affect memory precision. Pre-exposure to a similar context before context conditioning results in increased generalization to the

Decomposition of pre calcined aluminium silicate ores of Afghanistan by hydrochloric acid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khomidi, A.K.; Mamatov, E.D.

2015-01-01

Present article is devoted to decomposition of pre calcined aluminium silicate ores of Afghanistan by hydrochloric acid. The physicochemical properties of initial aluminium silicate ores were studied by means of X-ray phase, differential thermal and silicate analysis. The chemical composition of aluminium containing ores was determined. The optimal conditions of interaction of initial and pre calcined siallites with hydrochloric acid were defined. The kinetics of acid decomposition of aluminium silicate ores was studied as well.

The influence of antecedent conditions on flood risk in sub-Saharan Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Bischiniotis

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Most flood early warning systems have predominantly focused on forecasting floods with lead times of hours or days. However, physical processes during longer timescales can also contribute to flood generation. In this study, we follow a pragmatic approach to analyse the hydro-meteorological pre-conditions of 501 historical damaging floods from 1980 to 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa. These are separated into (a weather timescale (0–6 days and (b seasonal timescale conditions (up to 6 months before the event. The 7-day precipitation preceding a flood event (PRE7 and the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI are analysed for the two timescale domains, respectively. Results indicate that high PRE7 does not always generate floods by itself. Seasonal SPEIs, which are not directly correlated with PRE7, exhibit positive (wet values prior to most flood events across different averaging times, indicating a relationship with flooding. This paper provides evidence that bringing together weather and seasonal conditions can lead to improved flood risk preparedness.

The ECE Pre-Service Teachers' Perception on Factors Affecting the Integration of Educational Computer Games in Two Conditions: Selecting versus Redesigning

Science.gov (United States)

Sancar Tokmak, Hatice; Ozgelen, Sinan

2013-01-01

This case study aimed to examine early childhood education (ECE) pre-service teachers' perception on the factors affecting integration of educational computer games to their instruction in two areas: selecting and redesigning. Twenty-six ECE pre-service teachers participated in the study. The data was collected through open-ended questionnaires,…

Reconstructing vegetation past: Pre-Euro-American vegetation for the midwest driftless area, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Monika E. Shea; Lisa A. Schulte; Brian J. Palik

2014-01-01

Historical reference conditions provide important context for creating ecological restoration and management plans. The U.S. 19th Century Public Land Survey (PLS) records provide extensive ecological information for constructing such reference conditions. We used PLS records to reconstruct pre-Euro-American tree species cover class and vegetation structure types for...

Ozone-induced growth suppression in radish plants in relation to pre- and post-fumigation temperatures. [Raphanus sativus L

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adedipe, N.O.; Ormrod, D.P.

1974-01-01

Two cultivars of Raphanus sativus L. (radish) were fumigated with ozone at a concentration of 25 parts per hundred million (pphm) for 3 h, before or after subjecting the plants to two growth temperature regimes. In the cultivar ''Cavalier'' ozone decreased leaf weight at the lower pre-fumigation day/night growth temperature regime of 20/15/sup 0/, but had no significant effect when the plants were either pre- or post-fumigation conditioned at the high temperatures of 30/25/sup 0/. In the cultivar ''Cherry Belle'', ozone decreased the leaf weight of only low temperature post-fumigation conditioned plants. Ozone had no significant effect on the total soluble carbohydrate concentration of ''Cherry Belle'', while it increased that of pre-fumigation conditioned ''Cavalier'' plants.

The onset condition of equatorial plasma bubbles - the role of seeding mechanism and growth condition

Science.gov (United States)

Kil, H.; Choi, J. M.; Kwak, Y. S.; Lee, W. K.; Park, J.

2015-12-01

We investigate the role of seeding mechanism and growth condition of perturbations in the creation of equatorial plasma bubbles by analyzing the C/NOFS and ROCSAT-1 satellite observations. The initial development times of bubbles were identified by manual processing of the data, and the periodic characteristics in the occurrence of bubbles were investigated using periodograms obtained from segments of bubble chains. Our preliminary results show that bubbles initiate at the time that the pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) ends. This time corresponds to the time that the F region reaches the highest altitude where the growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability is large. The initial onset time of bubbles varies with season and longitude in accordance with the variation of the PRE ending time. Our investigation of the periodicity in the occurrence of bubbles (spacing between bubbles) shows that a dominant periodicity does not exist; the spacing between bubbles ranges from 100 km to over 1000 km. A pronounced periodicity occurs in some series of bubbles, but, in general, multiple periodicity co-exists. The initiation of bubbles at a specific local time but the absence of a preferential wave property in the occurrence of bubbles lead to the conclusion that the onset of bubbles is controlled by the growth condition of the R-T instability.

Comparison Between Pre-Exhaustion and Traditional Exercise Order on Muscle Activation and Performance in Trained Men

Science.gov (United States)

Soares, Enrico Gori; Brown, Lee E.; Gomes, Willy Andrade; Corrêa, Daniel Alves; Serpa, Érica Paes; da Silva, Josinaldo Jarbas; Junior, Guanis de Barros Vilela; Fioravanti, Gustavo zorzi; Aoki, Marcelo Saldanha; Lopes, Charles Ricardo; Marchetti, Paulo Henrique

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to measure the acute effects of pre-exhaustion vs. traditional exercise order on neuromuscular performance and sEMG in trained men. Fourteen young, healthy, resistance trained men (age: 25.5 ± 4.0 years, height: 174.9 ± 4.1 cm, and total body mass: 80.0 ± 11.1 kg) took part of this study. All tests were randomized and counterbalanced for all subjects and experimental conditions. Volunteers attended one session in the laboratory. First, they performed ten repetition maximum (10RM) tests for each exercise (bench press and triceps pushdown) separately. Secondly, they performed all three conditions at 10RM: pre-test (bench press and triceps pushdown, separately), pre-exhaustion (triceps pushdown+bench press, PE) and traditional (bench press+triceps pushdown, TR), and rested 30 minutes between conditions. Results showed that pre-test was significantly greater than PE (p = 0.031) but not different than TR, for total volume load lifted. There was a significant difference between the pre-test and the time-course of lactate measures (p = 0.07). For bench press muscle activity of the pectoralis major, the last repetition was significantly greater than the first repetition (pre-test: p = 0.006, PE: p = 0.016, and TR: p = 0.005). Also, for muscle activity of the triceps brachii, the last repetition was significantly greater than the first repetition (pre-test: p = 0.001, PE: p = 0.005, and TR: p = 0.006). For triceps pushdown, muscle activity of the triceps brachii, the last repetition was significantly greater than the first repetition (pre-test: p = 0.006, PE: p = 0.016, and TR: p = 0.005). For RPE, there were no significant differences between PE and TR (p = 0.15). Our results suggest that exercise order decreases repetitions performed, however, neuromuscular fatigue, lactate, and RPE are not impacted. The lack of difference in total volume load lifted between PE and TR might explain, at least in part, the similar metabolic and perceptual

Effects of pre-harvest methyl jasmonate treatment on post-harvest ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... quality and bioactive compounds of three different Japanese plums under storage conditions. Materials and Methods: The effects of pre-harvest methyl jasmonate treatment (MeJA) on weight loss, color characteristics (L*, C* and h°), firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), total phenolics (TP) and total ...

Treatment Integrity in a Home-Based Pre-Reading Intervention Programme

Science.gov (United States)

van Otterloo, Sandra G.; van der Leij, Aryan; Veldkamp, Esther

2006-01-01

Treatment integrity is an underexposed issue in the phonological awareness intervention research. The current study assessed the integrity of treatment of the families (N = 32) participating in the experimental condition of a home-based pre-reading intervention study. The participating kindergartners were all genetically at risk for developing…

Prevalence and risk factors of pre-hypertension in Congolese pre ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Prevalence and risk factors of pre-hypertension in Congolese pre and post menopausal women. M.J.S. Muchanga, F.B. Lepira, R Tozin, E.P. Mbelambela, N.R. Ngatu, E.K. Sumaili, J.R. Makulo, N Suganuma ...

Life cycle and production of Baetis rhodani in a regulated river in Western Norway: comparison of pre- and post-regulation conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raddum, G.G.; Fjellheim, A.

1993-01-01

The benthic invertebrate fauna of the lowland part of the Aurland River was investigated in 1966-7 over a full year cycle. The watershed was built out for hydropower production during 1979-83. In this study the life cycle and production of Baetis rhodani from pre-regulated conditions (1966-7) was compared with two types of post-regulation streams(1988-9). Before regulation the water flow was high during May-June and in autumn, combined with heavy rainfall. The lowest flow was in winter and early spring. The pre-regulated temperature was low in winter, increasing from April to a maximum in August (10-14 o C). After regulation one part of the river received reduced flow and increased summer temperatures (upper part) and one received hypolimnion release and reduced summer temperatures (lower part). In the upper part the density of B.rhodani increased between 10 and 20 times. The reason for this seems to be increased temperature, reduced accidental drift of larvae and increased amount of stored organic material on the bottom. In the lower part the density increase was two to five times and the production two times higher after regulation. The lower increase in production than density was due to a much higher proportion of small larvae. B.rhodani had mainly an univoltine life cycle before regulation, but a small part of the population was bivoltine. After regulation the species was univoltine in the lower part. In the upper part the life cycle was about one month faster, but no clear indication of bivoltinism was seen. The absence of the second generation is due to low temperatures and probably a lack of signals connected with temperature. (Author)

Correct, Fake and Absent Pre-Information Does Not Affect the Occurrence and Magnitude of the Bilateral Force Deficit

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Donath

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The present study examined whether different pre-information conditions could lead to a volitional modulation of the occurrence and magnitude of the bilateral force deficit (BFD during isometric leg press. Twenty trained male adults (age: 24.5 ± 1.7 years; weight: 77.5 ± 7.1 kg; height: 1.81 ± 0.05 m were examined on three days within a week. Isometric leg press was performed on a negatively inclined leg press slide. Each participant completed three maximal isometric strength test sessions with different pre-information conditions given in a graphical chart: no pre-information (NPI; first day, false pre-information (FPI; bilateral force > sum of unilateral forces; second or third day and correct pre-information (CPI; bilateral force < sum of unilateral forces; second or third day during bilateral, unilateral-left and unilateral-right leg-press. The sum of left- and right-sided force values were calculated for bilateral (FBL = FBL_left + FBL_right and unilateral (FUL = FUL_left + FUL_right analyses. Force data for NPI revealed: Mean (SD: FUL_NPI = 3023 N (435 vs. FBL_NPI = 2812 (453; FPI showed FUL_FPI = 3013 N (459 vs. FBL_FPI = 2843 (446 and the CPI revealed FUL_CPI = 3035 (425 vs. FBL_CPI = 2844 (385. The three (no, false, correct x 2 (FUL, FBL rANOVA revealed a high significant main effect of Force (F = 61.82, p < 0.001. No significant main effect of the factor Condition and no significant interaction between Force x Condition was observed. The BFD does not rely on the trueness of the given pre-information (no, false, correct. Cognition-based volitional influences on the BFD on supra-spinal level seem negligible.

Effect of pre-heating on the thermal decomposition kinetics of cotton

Science.gov (United States)

The effect of pre-heating at low temperatures (160-280°C) on the thermal decomposition kinetics of scoured cotton fabrics was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis under nonisothermal conditions. Isoconversional methods were used to calculate the activation energies for the pyrolysis after one-...

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pre-slaughter effects on bleed-out times and some behavioural and physiological responses of Nguni and non-descript steers. ... South African Journal of Animal Science ... Some environmental conditions and steer behavioural responses were monitored during on- and off-loading, transportation, lairage, and stunning.

Pre-oxidation and its effect on reducing high-temperature corrosion of superheater tubes during biomass firing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Okoro, Sunday Chukwudi; Kvisgaard, M.; Montgomery, Melanie

2017-01-01

Superheater tubes in biomass-fired power plants experience high corrosion rates due to condensation of corrosive alkali chloride-rich deposits. To explore the possibility of reducing the corrosion attack by the formation of an initial protective oxide layer, the corrosion resistance of pre......-oxidised Al and Ti-containing alloys (Kanthal APM and Nimonic 80A, respectively) was investigated under laboratory conditions mimicking biomass firing. The alloys were pre-oxidised at 900°C for 1 week. Afterwards, pre-oxidised samples, and virgin non-pre-oxidised samples as reference, were coated...... with a synthetic deposit of KCl and exposed at 560°C for 1 week to a gas mixture typical of biomass firing. Results show that pre-oxidation could hinder the corrosion attack; however, the relative success was different for the two alloys. While corrosion attack was observed on the pre-oxidised Kanthal APM, the pre...

Geochemical characteristics of Antarctic magmatism connected with Karoo-Maud and Kerguelen mantle plumes

Science.gov (United States)

Sushchevskaya, Nadezhda; Krymsky, Robert; Belyatsky, Boris; Antonov, Anton; Migdisova, Natalya

2013-04-01

Emplacement (130-115 m.y. ago) of dikes and sills of alkaline-ultrabasic composition within Jetty oasis (East Antarctica) is suggested as a later appearance of plume magmatism within the East-Antarctic Shield [Andronikov et al., 1993, 2001; Laiba et al., 1987]. This region is located opposite Kerguelen Islands and possibly could be properly connected with activity of the Kerguelen-plume [Foley et al., 2001, 2006]. Jurassic-Cretaceous dykes, stocks and sills of alkaline-ultrabasic rocks, relatively close to kimberlite-type, are exposed within Jetty oasis and on the southern shore of the Raddock Lake. This alkaline-ultrabasic magmatism has appeared to be connected with the main Mesozoic stage of the evolution of the Lambert and Amery glaciers riftogenic structure [Kurinin et al., 1980, 1988]. The alkaline-ultrabasic dikes and sills within Jetty oasis cut the rocks of the Beaver complex, Permo-Triassic terrigeneous successions of the Amery complex, and late Paleozoic low-alkaline basic dikes as well. Dashed chain of 6 stock bodies spread out on 15 km along the eastern shore of the Beaver Lake, marked their allocation with submeridianal zone of the deep cracks, boarded of the eastern side of the Beaver Lake trough. At the same time, new data upon Quaternary magmatism of the mountain Gaussberg has confirmed the unique features of ultra-potassium alkaline magmatism (up to 14-17% K2O) formed under exclusively continental conditions [Murphy et al., 2002]. Volcanic cone is located at the continuation of Gaussberg rift zone which is possibly a part of Lambert fracture zone. Its formation is connected with the early stages of Gondwana development, perhaps, reactivated in different Precambrian events and according to numerous data is a single rift zone which is traced Indian inland (Indrani graben, [Golynsky, 2011]). The time of lamproitic magmas eruption is estimated at 56000±5000 yeas ago [Tingey et al., 1983]. Earlier it had been shown the Mesozoic (about 170 Ma) basaltic

[An oral function improvement program utilizing health behavior theories ameliorates oral functions and oral hygienic conditions of pre-frail elderly persons].

Science.gov (United States)

Sakaguchi, Hideo

2014-06-01

Oral function improvement programs utilizing health behavior theories are considered to be effective in preventing the need for long-term social care. In the present study, an oral function improvement program based upon health behavior theories was designed, and its utility was assessed in 102 pre-frail elderly persons (33 males, 69 females, mean age: 76.9 +/- 5.7) considered to be in potential need of long-term social care and attending a long-term care prevention class in Sayama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The degree of improvement in oral functions (7 items) and oral hygienic conditions (3 items) was assessed by comparing oral health before and after participation in the program. The results showed statistically significant improvements in the following oral functions: (1) lip functions (oral diadochokinesis, measured by the regularity of the repetition of the syllable "Pa"), (2) tongue functions, (3) tongue root motor skills (oral diadochokinesis, measured by the regularity of the repetition of the syllables "Ta" and "Ka"), (4) tongue extension/retraction, (5) side-to-side tongue movement functions, (6) cheek motor skills, and (7) repetitive saliva swallowing test (RSST). The following measures of oral hygiene also showed a statistically significant improvement: (1) debris on dentures or teeth, (2) coated tongue, and (3) frequency of oral cleaning. These findings demonstrated that an improvement program informed by health behavior theories is useful in improving oral functions and oral hygiene conditions.

Comparing the IRT Pre-equating and Section Pre-equating: A Simulation Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Chi-en; Cleary, T. Anne

The results obtained from two basic types of pre-equatings of tests were compared: the item response theory (IRT) pre-equating and section pre-equating (SPE). The simulated data were generated from a modified three-parameter logistic model with a constant guessing parameter. Responses of two replication samples of 3000 examinees on two 72-item…

Investigation of pre-drying lignite in an existing Greek power plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agraniotis Michalis

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The application of lignite pre-drying technologies in next generation of lignite power plants by utilizing low pressure steam as a drying medium instead of hot recirculated flue gas - combined with thermal utilization of the vaporized coal moisture - is expected to bring efficiency increase of 2-4 percentage points in future lignite power plants compared with today’s state of the art. The pre-drying concept is of particular importance in Greek boilers firing lignite with a high water and ash content. The combustion of Greek predried lignite has been investigated experimentally and via numerical simulations in our previous research. This study focuses on the potential integration of a lignite pre-drying system in an existing Greek power plant with dry lignite co-firing thermal share of up to 30%. The radiative and convective heat fluxes to the boiler and the overall boiler heat balance is calculated for reference and dry lignite co-firing conditions by an in-house calculation code. The overall plant’s thermal cycle is then simulated using commercial thermal cycle calculation software. The net plant efficiency is in this way determined for reference and dry coal co-firing conditions. According to the simulation results the integration of a pre-drying system and the implementation of dry lignite co-firing may bring an efficiency increase of about 1.5 percentage points in existing Greek boilers. It is therefore considered as an important measure towards improving plant efficiency and reducing specific CO2 emissions in existing plants.

Genes controlling seed dormancy and pre-harvest sprouting in a rice-wheat-barley comparison

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Chengdao; Ni, Peixiang; Francki, Michael

2004-01-01

Pre-harvest sprouting results in significant economic loss for the grain industry around the world. Lack of adequate seed dormancy is the major reason for pre-harvest sprouting in the field under wet weather conditions. Although this trait is governed by multiple genes it is also highly heritable....... A major QTL controlling both pre-harvest sprouting and seed dormancy has been identified on the long arm of barley chromosome 5H, and it explains over 70% of the phenotypic variation. Comparative genomics approaches among barley, wheat and rice were used to identify candidate gene(s) controlling seed...... dormancy and hence one aspect of pre-harvest sprouting. The barley seed dormancy/pre-harvest sprouting QTL was located in a region that showed good synteny with the terminal end of the long arm of rice chromosome 3. The rice DNA sequences were annotated and a gene encoding GA20-oxidase was identified...

Correct, fake and absent pre-information does not affect the occurrence and magnitude of the bilateral force deficit.

Science.gov (United States)

Donath, Lars; Siebert, Tobias; Faude, Oliver; Puta, Christian

2014-05-01

The present study examined whether different pre-information conditions could lead to a volitional modulation of the occurrence and magnitude of the bilateral force deficit (BFD) during isometric leg press. Twenty trained male adults (age: 24.5 ± 1.7 years; weight: 77.5 ± 7.1 kg; height: 1.81 ± 0.05 m) were examined on three days within a week. Isometric leg press was performed on a negatively inclined leg press slide. Each participant completed three maximal isometric strength test sessions with different pre-information conditions given in a graphical chart: no pre-information (NPI; first day), false pre-information (FPI; bilateral force > sum of unilateral forces; second or third day) and correct pre-information (CPI; bilateral force false, correct) x 2 (FUL, FBL) rANOVA revealed a high significant main effect of Force (F = 61.82, p information (no, false, correct). Cognition-based volitional influences on the BFD on supra-spinal level seem negligible. Key pointsBFD is reliable occurring phenomenonAvailable theoretical knowledge does not affect the BFDAlternating sport should include alternating strength exercises.

Concentration- and age-dependent effects of chronic caffeine on contextual fear conditioning in C57BL/6J mice

Science.gov (United States)

Poole, Rachel L.; Braak, David; Gould, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

Chronic caffeine exerts negligible effects on learning and memory in normal adults, but it is unknown whether this is also true for children and adolescents. The hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory, undergoes extensive structural and functional modifications during pre-adolescence and adolescence. As a result, chronic caffeine may have differential effects on hippocampus-dependent learning in pre-adolescents and adolescents compared with adults. Here, we characterized the effects of chronic caffeine and withdrawal from chronic caffeine on hippocampus-dependent (contextual) and hippocampus-independent (cued) fear conditioning in pre-adolescent, adolescent, and adult mice. The results indicate that chronic exposure to caffeine during pre-adolescence and adolescence enhances or impairs contextual conditioning depending on concentration, yet has no effect on cued conditioning. In contrast, withdrawal from chronic caffeine impairs contextual conditioning in pre-adolescent mice only. No changes in learning were seen for adult mice for either the chronic caffeine or withdrawal conditions. These findings support the hypothesis that chronic exposure to caffeine during pre-adolescence and adolescence can alter learning and memory and as changes were only seen in hippocampus-dependent learning, this suggests that the developing hippocampus may be sensitive to the effects of caffeine. PMID:25827925

Concentration- and age-dependent effects of chronic caffeine on contextual fear conditioning in C57BL/6J mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Poole, Rachel L; Braak, David; Gould, Thomas J

2016-02-01

Chronic caffeine exerts negligible effects on learning and memory in normal adults, but it is unknown whether this is also true for children and adolescents. The hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory, undergoes extensive structural and functional modifications during pre-adolescence and adolescence. As a result, chronic caffeine may have differential effects on hippocampus-dependent learning in pre-adolescents and adolescents compared with adults. Here, we characterized the effects of chronic caffeine and withdrawal from chronic caffeine on hippocampus-dependent (contextual) and hippocampus-independent (cued) fear conditioning in pre-adolescent, adolescent, and adult mice. The results indicate that chronic exposure to caffeine during pre-adolescence and adolescence enhances or impairs contextual conditioning depending on concentration, yet has no effect on cued conditioning. In contrast, withdrawal from chronic caffeine impairs contextual conditioning in pre-adolescent mice only. No changes in learning were seen for adult mice for either the chronic caffeine or withdrawal conditions. These findings support the hypothesis that chronic exposure to caffeine during pre-adolescence and adolescence can alter learning and memory and as changes were only seen in hippocampus-dependent learning, which suggests that the developing hippocampus may be sensitive to the effects of caffeine. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COCAINE AND PAVLOVIAN FEAR CONDITIONING: DOSE-EFFECT ANALYSIS

OpenAIRE

Wood, Suzanne C.; Fay, Jonathon; Sage, Jennifer R.; Anagnostaras, Stephan G.

2006-01-01

Emerging evidence suggests that cocaine and other drugs of abuse can interfere with many aspects of cognitive functioning. The authors examined the effects of 0.1 – 15 mg/kg of cocaine on Pavlovian contextual and cued fear conditioning in mice. As expected, pre-training cocaine dose-dependently produced hyperactivity and disrupted freezing. Surprisingly, when the mice were tested off-drug later, the group pre-treated with a moderate dose of cocaine (15 mg/kg) displayed significantly less cont...

Neural signal for counteracting pre-action bias in the centromedian thalamic nucleus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takafumi eMinamimoto

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Most of our daily actions are selected and executed involuntarily under familiar situations by the guidance of internal drives, such as motivation. The behavioral tendency or biasing towards one over others reflects the action-selection process in advance of action execution (i.e., pre-action bias. Facing unexpected situations, however, pre-action bias should be withdrawn and replaced by an alternative that is suitable for the situation (i.e., counteracting bias. To understand the neural mechanism for the counteracting process, we studied the neural activity of the thalamic centromedian (CM nucleus in monkeys performing GO-NOGO task with asymmetrical or symmetrical reward conditions. The monkeys reacted to GO signal faster in large-reward condition, indicating behavioral bias toward large reward. In contrast, they responded slowly in small-reward condition, suggesting a conflict between internal drive and external demand. We found that neurons in the CM nucleus exhibited phasic burst discharges after GO and NOGO instructions especially when they were associated with small reward. The small-reward preference was positively correlated with the strength of behavioral bias toward large reward. The small-reward preference disappeared when only NOGO action was requested. The timing of activation predicted the timing of action opposed to bias. These results suggest that CM signals the discrepancy between internal pre-action bias and external demand, and mediates the counteracting process — resetting behavioral bias and leading to execution of opposing action.

Effects of hot water pre-extraction on surface properties of bagasse soda pulp.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordeiro, Nereida; Ashori, Alireza; Hamzeh, Yahya; Faria, Marisa

2013-03-01

In this work, the effects of hot water pre-extraction of depithed bagasse on the soda pulping and surface properties were studied. The conditions of hot water pre-extraction were: maximum temperature 170 °C, heat-up time 90 min, time at maximum temperature 10 min, and solid to liquor ratio (S:L) 1:8. Consequently, the pre-extracted and un-extracted bagasse chips were subjected to soda pulping at 160 °C for 1h with 11, 14 and 17% active alkali charge and an S:L of 1:5. The results showed that the hot water pre-extraction increased bagasse surface texture porosity by hemicellulose degradation. Therefore, the delignification was faster for pulping of pre-extracted samples. At a certain charge of alkali, pre-extracted samples showed higher screened yield and lower Kappa number. For instance, at 17% alkali charge, pre-extracted bagasse gave 11.3% higher pulp yield compared with the un-extracted ones. Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) results showed that the hot water pre-extraction changed the active sites on the bagasse surface, decreasing the dispersive energy and the basicity character, and affected the particle morphology. The pulping process decreased the hydrophobicity and the basicity of the bagasse surface. The surfaces of un-extracted and pre-extracted bagasse pulps had similar properties but different morphology. The pulps present higher surface area and permeability with more reactive capacity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pre-main sequence sun: a dynamic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Newman, M.J.; Winkler, K.H.A.

1979-01-01

The classical pre-main sequence evolutionary behavior found by Hayashi and his coworkers for the Sun depends crucially on the choice of initial conditions. The Hayashi picture results from beginning the calculation with an already centrally condensed, highly Jeans unstable object not terribly far removed from the stellar state initially. The present calculation follows the work of Larson in investigating the hydrodynamic collapse and self-gravitational accretion of an initially uniform, just Jeans unstable interstellar gas-dust cloud. The resulting picture for the early history of the Sun is quite different from that found by Hayashi. A rather small (R approx. = 2 R/sub sun/), low-luminosity (L greater than or equal to L/sub sun/) protostellar core develops. A fully convective stellar core, characteristic of Hayashi's work, is not found during the accretion process, and can only develop, if at all, in the subsequent pre-main sequence Kelvin-Helmholtz contraction of the core. 3 figures, 1 table

Pre - big bang inflation requires fine tuning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Turner, Michael S. [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Weinberg, Erick J. [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)

1997-10-01

The pre-big-bang cosmology inspired by superstring theories has been suggested as an alternative to slow-roll inflation. We analyze, in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, the effect of spatial curvature on this scenario and show that too much curvature --- of either sign --- reduces the duration of the inflationary era to such an extent that the flatness and horizon problems are not solved. Hence, a fine-tuning of initial conditions is required to obtain enough inflation to solve the cosmological problems.

Pre-equilibrium assumptions and statistical model parameters effects on reaction cross-section calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Avrigeanu, M.; Avrigeanu, V.

1992-02-01

A systematic study on effects of statistical model parameters and semi-classical pre-equilibrium emission models has been carried out for the (n,p) reactions on the 56 Fe and 60 Co target nuclei. The results obtained by using various assumptions within a given pre-equilibrium emission model differ among them more than the ones of different models used under similar conditions. The necessity of using realistic level density formulas is emphasized especially in connection with pre-equilibrium emission models (i.e. with the exciton state density expression), while a basic support could be found only by replacement of the Williams exciton state density formula with a realistic one. (author). 46 refs, 12 figs, 3 tabs

Comparative performance evaluation of transform coding in image pre-processing

Science.gov (United States)

Menon, Vignesh V.; NB, Harikrishnan; Narayanan, Gayathri; CK, Niveditha

2017-07-01

We are in the midst of a communication transmute which drives the development as largely as dissemination of pioneering communication systems with ever-increasing fidelity and resolution. Distinguishable researches have been appreciative in image processing techniques crazed by a growing thirst for faster and easier encoding, storage and transmission of visual information. In this paper, the researchers intend to throw light on many techniques which could be worn at the transmitter-end in order to ease the transmission and reconstruction of the images. The researchers investigate the performance of different image transform coding schemes used in pre-processing, their comparison, and effectiveness, the necessary and sufficient conditions, properties and complexity in implementation. Whimsical by prior advancements in image processing techniques, the researchers compare various contemporary image pre-processing frameworks- Compressed Sensing, Singular Value Decomposition, Integer Wavelet Transform on performance. The paper exposes the potential of Integer Wavelet transform to be an efficient pre-processing scheme.

Reduced Performance During a Sentence Repetition Task by Continuous Theta-Burst Magnetic Stimulation of the Pre-supplementary Motor Area

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Susanne; Hertrich, Ingo; Müller-Dahlhaus, Florian; Ackermann, Hermann; Belardinelli, Paolo; Desideri, Debora; Seibold, Verena C.; Ziemann, Ulf

2018-01-01

The pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) is engaged in speech comprehension under difficult circumstances such as poor acoustic signal quality or time-critical conditions. Previous studies found that left pre-SMA is activated when subjects listen to accelerated speech. Here, the functional role of pre-SMA was tested for accelerated speech comprehension by inducing a transient “virtual lesion” using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS). Participants were tested (1) prior to (pre-baseline), (2) 10 min after (test condition for the cTBS effect), and (3) 60 min after stimulation (post-baseline) using a sentence repetition task (formant-synthesized at rates of 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 syllables/s). Speech comprehension was quantified by the percentage of correctly reproduced speech material. For high speech rates, subjects showed decreased performance after cTBS of pre-SMA. Regarding the error pattern, the number of incorrect words without any semantic or phonological similarity to the target context increased, while related words decreased. Thus, the transient impairment of pre-SMA seems to affect its inhibitory function that normally eliminates erroneous speech material prior to speaking or, in case of perception, prior to encoding into a semantically/pragmatically meaningful message. PMID:29896086

Reduced Performance During a Sentence Repetition Task by Continuous Theta-Burst Magnetic Stimulation of the Pre-supplementary Motor Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susanne Dietrich

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA is engaged in speech comprehension under difficult circumstances such as poor acoustic signal quality or time-critical conditions. Previous studies found that left pre-SMA is activated when subjects listen to accelerated speech. Here, the functional role of pre-SMA was tested for accelerated speech comprehension by inducing a transient “virtual lesion” using continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS. Participants were tested (1 prior to (pre-baseline, (2 10 min after (test condition for the cTBS effect, and (3 60 min after stimulation (post-baseline using a sentence repetition task (formant-synthesized at rates of 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 syllables/s. Speech comprehension was quantified by the percentage of correctly reproduced speech material. For high speech rates, subjects showed decreased performance after cTBS of pre-SMA. Regarding the error pattern, the number of incorrect words without any semantic or phonological similarity to the target context increased, while related words decreased. Thus, the transient impairment of pre-SMA seems to affect its inhibitory function that normally eliminates erroneous speech material prior to speaking or, in case of perception, prior to encoding into a semantically/pragmatically meaningful message.

Theta burst magnetic stimulation over the pre-supplementary motor area improves motor inhibition.

Science.gov (United States)

Obeso, Ignacio; Wilkinson, Leonora; Teo, James T; Talelli, Penelope; Rothwell, John C; Jahanshahi, Marjan

Stopping an ongoing motor response or resolving conflict induced by conflicting stimuli are associated with activation of a right-lateralized network of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and subthalamic nucleus (STN). However, the roles of the right IFG and pre-SMA in stopping a movement and in conflict resolution remain unclear. We used continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to examine the involvement of the right IFG and pre-SMA in inhibition and conflict resolution using the conditional stop signal task. We measured stop signal reaction time (SSRT, measure of reactive inhibition), response delay effect (RDE, measure of proactive action restraint) and conflict induced slowing (CIS, measure of conflict resolution). Stimulation over the pre-SMA resulted in significantly shorter SSRTs (improved inhibition) compared to sham cTBS. This effect was not observed for CIS, RDE, or any other measures. cTBS over the right IFG had no effect on SSRT, CIS, RDE or on any other measure. The improvement of SSRT with cTBS over the pre-SMA suggests its critical contribution to stopping ongoing movements. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pre: Surgical orthopedic pre-maxillary alignment in bilateral cleft lip and palate patient

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vijaya Prasad Kamavaram Ellore

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Pre-surgical orthopedic appliances are mainly used to retract and align the protruded and deviated pre-maxilla and to facilitate initial lip repair. This article presents a case report of a five year old male child patient with bilateral cleft lip and palate in whom a special custom made pre-surgical orthopedic appliance was delivered. Use of a special custom made presurgical orthopedic appliance for repositioning pre-maxilla in bilateral cleft lip and palate patient is discussed in this article.

Flashback resistant pre-mixer assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Laster, Walter R [Oviedo, FL; Gambacorta, Domenico [Oviedo, FL

2012-02-14

A pre-mixer assembly associated with a fuel supply system for mixing of air and fuel upstream from a main combustion zone in a gas turbine engine. The pre-mixer assembly includes a swirler assembly disposed about a fuel injector of the fuel supply system and a pre-mixer transition member. The swirler assembly includes a forward end defining an air inlet and an opposed aft end. The pre-mixer transition member has a forward end affixed to the aft end of the swirler assembly and an opposed aft end defining an outlet of the pre-mixer assembly. The aft end of the pre-mixer transition member is spaced from a base plate such that a gap is formed between the aft end of the pre-mixer transition member and the base plate for permitting a flow of purge air therethrough to increase a velocity of the air/fuel mixture exiting the pre-mixer assembly.

A comparison of pre- and post-remediation water quality, Mineral Creek, Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

Runkel, R.L.; Bencala, K.E.; Kimball, B.A.; Walton-Day, K.; Verplanck, P.L.

2009-01-01

Pre- and post-remediation data sets are used herein to assess the effectiveness of remedial measures implemented in the headwaters of the Mineral Creek watershed, where contamination from hard rock mining has led to elevated metal concentrations and acidic pH. Collection of pre- and post-remediation data sets generally followed the synoptic mass balance approach, in which numerous stream and inflow locations are sampled for the constituents of interest and estimates of streamflow are determined by tracer dilution. The comparison of pre- and post-remediation data sets is confounded by hydrologic effects and the effects of temporal variation. Hydrologic effects arise due to the relatively wet conditions that preceded the collection of pre-remediation data, and the relatively dry conditions associated with the post-remediation data set. This difference leads to a dilution effect in the upper part of the study reach, where pre-remediation concentrations were diluted by rainfall, and a source area effect in the lower part of the study reach, where a smaller portion of the watershed may have been contributing constituent mass during the drier post-remediation period. A second confounding factor, temporal variability, violates the steady-state assumption that underlies the synoptic mass balance approach, leading to false identification of constituent sources and sinks. Despite these complications, remedial actions completed in the Mineral Creek headwaters appear to have led to improvements in stream water quality, as post-remediation profiles of instream load are consistently lower than the pre-remediation profiles over the entire study reach for six of the eight constituents considered (aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, and zinc). Concentrations of aluminium, cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc remain above chronic aquatic-life standards, however, and additional remedial actions may be needed. Future implementations of the synoptic mass balance approach should be

Aristotelian pre-Socratics, A glance at Aristotle's Narrative from pre-Socratics

OpenAIRE

Mehdi Qavam Safari; M.B Ghomi

2015-01-01

In this article, it's tried to study Aristotle's narrative of  pre-Socratics on the base of Aristotle's texts and mainly using  metaphysics, physics, genesis and decadence books. It is also tried to show how Aristotle has interpreted all the pre-Socratics in one way and on the base of his own philosophy framework. He interprets pre-Socratic Arche as an element that means comprehensive matter which is nothing itself, but everything is combination of it and even considers that as substance and ...

Pre-school education and school maturity of children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Panajotis Cakirpaloglu

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The adaptability of children to the school environment and their potential to succeed there is closely linked to the development of their cognitive and social skills. These are primarily linked to personal factors -physical maturity as well as mental or emotional maturity and the environment in which those children grow up. This fact is evident in children growing up in disadvantageous socio-economic conditions. In general the school readiness of children from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds is affected by the specific environment, the primary family and a number of other factors. A significant support of psychosocial development and successful adaptability at the start of the compulsory education is the preschool education, especially for children growing up in disadvantageous socio-economic conditions. The presented study focused on the effect of pre-school education on school readiness in first grade children. 24 children from socially disadvantaged environment were tested twice - for first time shortly after the beginning of their first grade and for the second time before the end of the first grade. The children were then divided into two groups - those who attended pre-school education and those who started school without any pre-school education programme. The attendance thus made the independent variable in the research design. There were three research questions - what is the impact of pre-school education on: Q1: general cognitive functioning (tested using the Intelligence Image Scale, Q2: on the ability to acquire the reading skills (tested using the Reversal test by Edfeldt and Q3 on the social maturity of the children (tested using the Vineland scale of adaptive behaviour The results of the study suggest that pre-school education has significant effect on social skills and this effect increases during the first year. The reading skills were better in children who attended the pre-school education however this impact decreases

A study on pre-heat conditions in equivalent-dose estimation of holocene loess using single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia Yaofeng; Huang Chunchang; Pang Jiangli; Lu Xinwei; Zhang Xu

2007-01-01

Through various arrangements of pre-heat and cut-heat temperatures in the equivalent-dose estimation of Holocene loess using a Double-SAR dating protocol, the paper estimated the equivalent-doses from several loess samples by application of IRSL and Post-IR OSL signals, respectively. The measured results present that the equivalent-dose depends on the heat temperature, especially depends on the cut-heat temperature, showing the equivalent-dose increases with the cut-heat temperature; a plateau of equivalent-dose appears at the 200-300 degree C preheat temperatures and the 200-240 degree C cut-heat temperatures, furthermore, the equivalent-doses estimated by IRSL and Post-IR OSL signals respectively are close to each other, which resulted from the similar sensitivity change directions of optical stimulated signals and their smaller change ranges in the measurement cycles using the various temperatures of pre-heat and cut-heat. This suggests that the 200-300 degree C pre-heat temperatures and the 200-240 degree C cut-heat temperatures are fit for dating young Holocene loess samples. (authors)

Building Adjustable Pre-storm Reservoir Flood-control Release Rules

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Shun-Nien; Chang, Li-Chiu; Chang, Fi-John; Hsieh, Cheng-Daw

2017-04-01

Typhoons hit Taiwan several times every year, which could cause serious flood disasters. Because mountainous terrains and steep landforms can rapidly accelerate the speed of flood flow during typhoon events, rivers cannot be a stable source of water supply. Reservoirs become the most effective floodwater storage facilities for alleviating flood damages in Taiwan. The pre-storm flood-control release can significantly increase reservoir storage capacity available to store floodwaters for reducing downstream flood damage, while the uncertainties of total forecasted rainfalls are very high in different stages of an oncoming typhoon, which may cause the risk of water shortage in the future. This study proposes adjustable pre-storm reservoir flood-control release rules in three designed operating stages with various hydrological conditions in the Feitsui Reservoir, a pivot reservoir for water supply to Taipei metropolitan in Taiwan, not only to reduce the risk of reservoir flood control and downstream flooding but also to consider water supply. The three operating stages before an oncoming typhoon are defined upon the timings when: (1) typhoon news is issued (3-7days before typhoon hit); (2) the sea warning is issued (2-4 days before typhoon hit); and (3) the land warning is issued (1-2 days before typhoon hit). We simulate 95 historical typhoon events with 3000 initial water levels and build some pre-storm flood-control release rules to adjust the amount of pre-release based on the total forecasted rainfalls at different operating stages. A great number of simulations (68.4 millions) are conducted to extract their major consequences and then build the adjustable pre-storm reservoir flood-control release rules. Accordingly, given a total forecasted rainfall and a water level, reservoir decision makers can easily identify the corresponding rule to tell the amount of pre-release in any stage. The results show that the proposed adjustable pre-release rules can effectively

Pre-1989 epidemiological surveys of low-level dose pre-conception irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rose, K.S.B.

1990-01-01

Information from 59 pre-1989 epidemiological surveys concerning pre-conception irradiation at doses less than 0.1 Gy has been collated to determine whether any consistent patterns of health effects emerge. The surveys are considered in three groups: childhood malignancies, Down's syndrome and indicators of reproductive damage. Although a pattern is observed for Down's syndrome, no reliable associations are apparent for childhood malignancies (where all surveys pre-date the Gardner survey at Sellafield) or indications of reproductive damage. The twelve surveys of Down's syndrome in relation to maternal pre-conception irradiation received for medical reasons show a pattern consistent with a doubling dose of about 20 mGy. This doubling dose value is, however, not based on individual measurements of ovarian dose and is inconsistent with results from high-level dose surveys. There is no association between paternal irradiation and Down's syndrome. (author)

Conditioning radioactive wastes by means of thermosetting resins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auboing, G.; Limongi, A.; Thiery, D.

1976-01-01

The principle of the conditioning process of low and medium activity wastes by means of thermosetting resins is described. The two major phases of its application, viz: pre-treatment and coating are analysed. Finally as an example, the plant where this conditioning process is put into application (currently in operation at the Nuclear Study Center of Grenoble) is described [fr

Cocaine enhances the conditioned rewarding effects of MDMA in adolescent mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguilar, M A; Roger-Sánchez, C; Rodríguez-Arias, M; Miñarro, J

2015-04-01

Although the consumption of cocaine is frequent in young users of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), the influence of exposure to cocaine on the rewarding effects of MDMA in adolescents has not been studied. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the effect of co-administration of cocaine (1 and 10 mg/kg) and a sub-threshold dose of MDMA (1.25 mg/kg) on the acquisition of conditioned place preference (CPP) (experiment 1). In addition, the effect of pre-treatment with cocaine on MDMA-induced CPP was evaluated (experiment 2). Levels of monoamines in striatum, hippocampus and cortex were measured in both experiments. Our hypotheses were that cocaine co-administration or pre-treatment would increase the rewarding effects of MDMA, and that these effects would be related with changes in brain monoamine levels. Our results showed that cocaine potentiated the rewarding effects of MDMA, since a sub-threshold dose of MDMA, which did not induce CPP by itself, induced a significant CPP in adolescent mice when administered along with cocaine during conditioning (experiment 1). Moreover, pre-treatment with cocaine several days before conditioning also increased the rewarding effects of MDMA (experiment 2). No significant changes in the levels of biogenic amines, which correlated with these behavioural effects, were observed. Our results confirm the involvement of the dopaminergic system in MDMA-induced CPP in adolescent mice and suggest that combined consumption with or pre-exposure to cocaine increases the conditioned rewarding effects of MDMA, which may enhance the capacity of MDMA to induce dependence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Occurrence of silent cerebral infarction in pre-senile, senile subjects with depressive states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujikawa, Tokumi; Yamawaki, Shigeto; Touhouda, Yoshikuni.

1993-01-01

We examined the relationship between pre-senile, senile depressive states and silent cerebral infarction (SCI) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The diagnostic criteria of major depression according to DSM-3-R was used to diagnose. Patients in whom stroke had occurred or who had local neurologic symptoms were not included. About half of the patients with depressive states of pre-senile onset and most of the patients with those of senile onset had SCI, were considered to be organic-depressive states complicated with SCI. Because patients with depressive states with SCI are at high risk of occurrence of stroke, we designated this condition 'pre-stroke depression', and classified it with endogenous depression. At this time, it is important to begin therapy for cerebrovascular disease. (author)

Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies

CERN Document Server

Zegarelli, Mark

2010-01-01

Many students worry about starting algebra. Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies provides an overview of critical pre-algebra concepts to help new algebra students (and their parents) take the next step without fear. Free of ramp-up material, Pre-Algebra Essentials For Dummies contains content focused on key topics only. It provides discrete explanations of critical concepts taught in a typical pre-algebra course, from fractions, decimals, and percents to scientific notation and simple variable equations. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical pre-algebra

A model optimization for pre-dispatch among the hydroelectric generator unities; Um modelo de otimizacao para pre-despacho entre as unidades geradoras de hidreletricas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Colnago, Glauber R.; Correia, Paulo B. [Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP (Brazil). Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica]. E-mails: grcolnago@fem.unicamp.br; pcorreia@fem.unicamp.br

2006-07-01

This work proposes a mixed integer nonlinear programming model to pre-dispatch of a hydroelectric power plant. In the model we want to minimize the losses in the electricity generation with conditions of electricity demand, operational prohibited zones and units' efficiency data. The Xingo Hydroelectric Power Plant was utilized in the mode tests. The solver used was Lingo 8.0. (author)

UVΑ pre-irradiation to P25 titanium dioxide nanoparticles enhanced its toxicity towards freshwater algae Scenedesmus obliquus.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Barsha; Chandrasekaran, Hemamalini; Palamadai Krishnan, Suresh; Chandrasekaran, Natarajan; Mukherjee, Amitava

2018-04-02

There has recently been an increase in the usage of TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs). P25 TiO 2 NPs, a mixture of anatase and rutile phase in 3:1 ratio, are generally used for photocatalytic applications because both phases exhibit a synergistic effect on the photocatalytic activity of the TiO 2 NPs. In the present study, increased toxicity of UVA-pre-irradiated P25 TiO 2 NPs on freshwater algae Scenedesmus obliquus was assessed under visible light and dark exposure conditions at actual low concentrations (0.3, 3 and 35 μM of Ti). Photocatalytic property of P25 TiO 2 NPs caused disaggregation of UVA-pre-irradiated NPs, thus significantly decreasing the mean hydrodynamic diameter (MHD) (188.74 ± 0.54 nm) than that of non-irradiated NPs (232.26 ± 0.44). This decrease in diameter of UVA-pre-irradiated NPs may increase its biological activity towards algal samples. All concentrations of pre-irradiated NPs, under both light and dark conditions, showed a significantly lesser cell viability (p effects of UVA-pre-irradiated TiO 2 NPs on freshwater algae, thereby emphasising the need for ecological risk assessments of metal oxide nanoparticles in a natural experimental medium.

Pre-cementation of deep shaft

Science.gov (United States)

Heinz, W. F.

1988-12-01

Pre-cementation or pre-grouting of deep shafts in South Africa is an established technique to improve safety and reduce water ingress during shaft sinking. The recent completion of several pre-cementation projects for shafts deeper than 1000m has once again highlighted the effectiveness of pre-grouting of shafts utilizing deep slimline boreholes and incorporating wireline technique for drilling and conventional deep borehole grouting techniques for pre-cementation. Pre-cementation of deep shaft will: (i) Increase the safety of shaft sinking operation (ii) Minimize water and gas inflow during shaft sinking (iii) Minimize the time lost due to additional grouting operations during sinking of the shaft and hence minimize costly delays and standing time of shaft sinking crews and equipment. (iv) Provide detailed information of the geology of the proposed shaft site. Informations on anomalies, dykes, faults as well as reef (gold bearing conglomerates) intersections can be obtained from the evaluation of cores of the pre-cementation boreholes. (v) Provide improved rock strength for excavations in the immediate vicinity of the shaft area. The paper describes pre-cementation techniques recently applied successfully from surface and some conclusions drawn for further considerations.

Pre-Primary Education of Roma Children in Serbia: Barriers and Possibilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunčica Macura-Milovanović

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In Serbia, as in the other countries of the Western Balkans and South-Eastern Europe, the most disadvantaged communities belong to the Roma minority. The present paper demonstrates the conditions of Roma preschool children in Serbia: primarily their early education, but also habitation and health in Roma settlements. The data highlight the under-representation of Roma children in pre-primary education, although their growing up in extremely deprived settlements would suggest a need for their earliest possible inclusion in pre-primary services. The paper analyses the following barriers to the access of Roma children to the system of pre-primary education: the poverty of Roma families; discrimination and prejudice towards Roma; the lack of intercultural provision; insufficient inter-sectorial cooperation; the underdeveloped network of preschool institutions; and the absence of kindergartens in Roma settlements. In addition, possible ways to increase the coverage of Roma children in pre-primary education are discussed. As a transitory solution, the paper proposes comprehensivecommunity-based programmes that could contribute to the education, care, health and overall development of young Roma children before their inclusion in desegregated programmes in preschool institutions.

Pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis as a predictor of outcomes in National Football League athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Gregory D; Lynch, T Sean; Gibbs, Daniel B; Chow, Ian; LaBelle, Mark; Patel, Alpesh A; Savage, Jason W; Hsu, Wellington K; Nuber, Gordon W

2015-04-01

It is currently unknown how pre-existing lumbar spine conditions may affect the medical evaluation, draft status, and subsequent career performance of National Football League (NFL) players. To determine if a pre-existing lumbar diagnosis affects a player's draft status or his performance and longevity in the NFL. Cohort study; Level 3. The investigators evaluated the written medical evaluations and imaging reports of prospective NFL players from a single franchise during the NFL Scouting Combine from 2003 to 2011. Players with a reported lumbar spine diagnosis and with appropriate imaging were included in this study. Athletes were then matched to control draftees without a lumbar spine diagnosis by age, position, year, and round drafted. Career statistics and performance scores were calculated. Of a total of 2965 athletes evaluated, 414 were identified as having a pre-existing lumbar spine diagnosis. Players without a lumbar spine diagnosis were more likely to be drafted than were those with a diagnosis (80.2% vs. 61.1%, respectively, P study suggest that athletes with pre-existing lumbar spine conditions were less likely to be drafted and that the diagnosis is associated with a decrease in career longevity but not performance. Players with lumbar fusion have achieved successful careers in the NFL. © 2015 The Author(s).

Optimized pre-thinning procedures of ion-beam thinning for TEM sample preparation by magnetorheological polishing.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Hu; Yin, Shaohui; Zhang, Guanhua; Liu, Chunhui; Tang, Qingchun; Guo, Meijian

2017-10-01

Ion-beam-thinning is a well-established sample preparation technique for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), but tedious procedures and labor consuming pre-thinning could seriously reduce its efficiency. In this work, we present a simple pre-thinning technique by using magnetorheological (MR) polishing to replace manual lapping and dimpling, and demonstrate the successful preparation of electron-transparent single crystal silicon samples after MR polishing and single-sided ion milling. Dimples pre-thinned to less than 30 microns and with little mechanical surface damage were repeatedly produced under optimized MR polishing conditions. Samples pre-thinned by both MR polishing and traditional technique were ion-beam thinned from the rear side until perforation, and then observed by optical microscopy and TEM. The results show that the specimen pre-thinned by MR technique was free from dimpling related defects, which were still residual in sample pre-thinned by conventional technique. Nice high-resolution TEM images could be acquired after MR polishing and one side ion-thinning. MR polishing promises to be an adaptable and efficient method for pre-thinning in preparation of TEM specimens, especially for brittle ceramics. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measuring myokines with cardiovascular functions: pre-analytical variables affecting the analytical output.

Science.gov (United States)

Lombardi, Giovanni; Sansoni, Veronica; Banfi, Giuseppe

2017-08-01

In the last few years, a growing number of molecules have been associated to an endocrine function of the skeletal muscle. Circulating myokine levels, in turn, have been associated with several pathophysiological conditions including the cardiovascular ones. However, data from different studies are often not completely comparable or even discordant. This would be due, at least in part, to the whole set of situations related to the preparation of the patient prior to blood sampling, blood sampling procedure, processing and/or store. This entire process constitutes the pre-analytical phase. The importance of the pre-analytical phase is often not considered. However, in routine diagnostics, the 70% of the errors are in this phase. Moreover, errors during the pre-analytical phase are carried over in the analytical phase and affects the final output. In research, for example, when samples are collected over a long time and by different laboratories, a standardized procedure for sample collecting and the correct procedure for sample storage are acknowledged. In this review, we discuss the pre-analytical variables potentially affecting the measurement of myokines with cardiovascular functions.

Pre-irradiation induced emulsion graft polymerization of acrylonitrile onto polyethylene nonwoven fabric

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Hanzhou; Yu Ming; Deng Bo; Li Linfan; Jiang Haiqing; Li Jingye

2012-01-01

Acrylonitrile has been widely used in the modification of polymers by graft polymerization. In the present work, pre-irradiation induced emulsion graft polymerization method is used to introduce acrylonitrile onto PE nonwoven fabric instead of the traditional reaction in organic solvents system. The degree of grafting (DG) is measured by gravimetric method and the kinetics of the graft polymerization is studied. The existence of the graft chains is proven by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis. Thermal stability of the grafted polymer is measured by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). - Highlights: → Acrylonitrile is grafted onto pre-irradiated polyethylene (PE) nonwoven fabrics. → Emulsion system is applied, for the graft polymerization avoids organic solvent. → Kinetic of the pre-irradiation induced graft polymerization is studied. → Optimal condition is determined at the temperature below the b.p. of acrylonitrile.

Glucose uptake and transport in contracting, perfused rat muscle with different pre-contraction glycogen concentrations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hespel, P; Richter, Erik

1990-01-01

1. Glucose uptake and transport, muscle glycogen, free glucose and glucose-6-phosphate concentrations were studied in perfused resting and contracting rat skeletal muscle with different pre-contraction glycogen concentrations. Rats were pre-conditioned by a combination of swimming exercise and diet......, resulting in either low (glycogen-depleted rats), normal (control rats) or high (supercompensated rats) muscle glycogen concentrations at the time their hindlimbs were perfused. 2. Compared with control rats, pre-contraction muscle glycogen concentration was approximately 40% lower in glycogen-depleted rats......, whereas it was 40% higher in supercompensated rats. Muscle glycogen break-down correlated positively (r = 0.76; P less than 0.001) with pre-contraction muscle glycogen concentration. 3. Glucose uptake during contractions was approximately 50% higher in glycogen-depleted hindquarters than in control...

CFD modeling of fouling in crude oil pre-heaters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bayat, Mahmoud; Aminian, Javad; Bazmi, Mansour; Shahhosseini, Shahrokh; Sharifi, Khashayar

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A conceptual CFD-based model to predict fouling in industrial crude oil pre-heaters. ► Tracing fouling formation in the induction and developing continuation periods. ► Effect of chemical components, shell-side HTC and turbulent flow on the fouling rate. - Abstract: In this study, a conceptual procedure based on the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique has been developed to predict fouling rate in an industrial crude oil pre-heater. According to the developed CFD concept crude oil was assumed to be composed of three pseudo-components comprising of petroleum, asphaltene and salt. The binary diffusion coefficients were appropriately categorized into five different groups. The species transport model was applied to simulate the mixing and transport of chemical species. The possibility of adherence of reaction products to the wall was taken into account by applying a high viscosity for the products in competition with the shear stress on the wall. Results showed a reasonable agreement between the model predictions and the plant data. The CFD model could be applied to new operating conditions to investigate the details of the crude oil fouling in the industrial pre-heaters.

Prevalence of pre-diabetes, diabetes, pre-hypertension, and hypertension in children weighing more than normal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priti Phatale

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: Prevalence of pre-diabetes, diabetes, pre-hypertension (pre-HT, and hypertension (HT in children weighing more than normal. Materials and Methods: Three- to eighteen-year old children weighing more than normal were included. Pathological short children were excluded. According to Centre for Disease Control (CDC, children are grouped into overweight (OW and obese (OB. Indian B.P. reference tables are used for defining HT and pre-HT. [2] HbA1c by HPLC (BIO RAD method was used to define pre-diabetes and diabetes. [3] Children with HbA1c ≥6.5 were subjected for Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT. C-peptide assay was done to rule out (r/o IDDM. Observations: When we compare this with our earlier presentation at PEDICON 2011, we found that hypertension (HTN (22.9% vs. 23.07% is not significantly different but pre-HTN (28.09% vs. 33.9%, pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM (3.7% vs. 64.3%, and diabetes mellitus (DM (0.35% vs. 3.8% are significantly high in this study. Conclusion: (1 Prevalence of HT (22.90% vs. 23.07% is similar in both groups but pre-HT (33.9% vs. 28.09% is high in this study. (2 Significant rise in prevalence of diabetes (3.84% vs. 0.35% and pre-diabetes (64.33% vs. 3.7% is seen in this study. (3 This change is because of using HbA1c as screening tool in children weighing more than normal.

Characteristics of a Sensitive Well Showing Pre-Earthquake Water-Level Changes

Science.gov (United States)

King, Chi-Yu

2018-04-01

Water-level data recorded at a sensitive well next to a fault in central Japan between 1989 and 1998 showed many coseismic water-level drops and a large (60 cm) and long (6-month) pre-earthquake drop before a rare local earthquake of magnitude 5.8 on 17 March 1997, as well as 5 smaller pre-earthquake drops during a 7-year period prior to this earthquake. The pre-earthquake changes were previously attributed to leakage through the fault-gouge zone caused by small but broad-scaled crustal-stress increments. These increments now seem to be induced by some large slow-slip events. The coseismic changes are attributed to seismic shaking-induced fissures in the adjacent aquitards, in addition to leakage through the fault. The well's high-sensitivity is attributed to its tapping a highly permeable aquifer, which is connected to the fractured side of the fault, and its near-critical condition for leakage, especially during the 7 years before the magnitude 5.8 earthquake.

The effect of surface pre-conditioning treatments on the local composition of Zr-based conversion coatings formed on aluminium alloys

Science.gov (United States)

Cerezo, J.; Vandendael, I.; Posner, R.; de Wit, J. H. W.; Mol, J. M. C.; Terryn, H.

2016-03-01

This study investigates the effect of different alkaline, acidic and thermal pre-conditioning treatments applied to different Al alloy surfaces. The obtained results are compared to the characteristics of Zr-based conversion coatings that were subsequently generated on top of these substrates. Focus is laid on typical elemental distributions on the sample surfaces, in particular on the amount of precipitated functional additives such as Cu species that are present in the substrate matrix as well as in the conversion bath solutions. To this aim, Field Emission Auger Electron spectra, depth profiles and surface maps with superior local resolution were acquired and compared to scanning electron microscopy images of the sample. The results show how de-alloying processes, which occur at and around intermetallic particles in the Al matrix during typical industrial alkaline or acidic cleaning procedures, provide a significant source of crystallization cores for any following coating processes. This is in particular due for Cu-species, as the resulting local Cu structures on the surface strongly affect the film formation and compositions of state-of-the-art Zr-based films. The findings are highly relevant for industrial treatments of aluminium surfaces, especially for those that undergo corrosion protection and painting process steps prior to usage.

Managing Phytophthora crown and root rot on tomato by pre-plant treatments with biocontrol agents, resistance inducers, organic and mineral fertilizers under nursery conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giovanna GILARDI

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Five trials were carried out under greenhouse conditions to test the efficacy of spray programmes based on biocontrol agents, phosphite-based fertilizers and a chemical inducer of resistance (acibenzolar-S-methyl, phosethyl-Al to control crown and root rot of tomato incited by Phytophthora nicotianae. The best disease control, under high disease pressure resulting from artificial inoculation, was obtained with three pre-plant leaf sprays at 7 d intervals with acibenzolar-S-methyl and with two mineral phosphite-based fertilizers. The disease reduction achieved was similar to that obtained with a single application of azoxystrobin and metalaxyl-M. Phosetyl-Al and the biocontrol agents Glomus spp. + Bacillus megaterium + Trichoderma, B. subtilis QST713, B. velezensis IT45 and the mixture T. asperellum ICC012 + T. gamsii ICC080 provided a partial disease control. Brassica carinata pellets did not control the disease.

Pre-Algebra Lexicon.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayden, Dunstan; Cuevas, Gilberto

The pre-algebra lexicon is a set of classroom exercises designed to teach the technical words and phrases of pre-algebra mathematics, and includes the terms most commonly found in related mathematics courses. The lexicon has three parts, each with its own introduction. The first introduces vocabulary items in three groups forming a learning…

Do pre-drinkers consume more alcohol than non-pre-drinkers on an event-specific night out?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Jeanette; Skov, Peter Rohde

2014-01-01

Introduction and Aims Young people drinking heavily before going out to bars and clubs is associated with alcohol-related harm and therefore of great public concern. This study examines whether pre-drinkers consume more alcohol than non-pre-drinkers on an event-specific night out in England...... demographics, socioeconomic status, frequency of intoxication and alcohol unit intake before and during the young people's night out. Results A mixed linear model performed on the panel mobile survey shows that pre-drinkers in England and Denmark consume 9.185 (P ..., respectively, more than the non-pre-drinkers. However, in both countries pre-drinkers consume 3.430 (P alcohol on-premises than the non-pre-drinkers. Discussion and Conclusion Pre-drinking is a widespread phenomenon in England and Denmark, with more than half of young...

Efficiency of pre-sowing gamma-irradiation of tomato seeds under conditions of protected ground and under the effect of mineral fertilizers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pogosyan, G.S.; Avakyan, A.G.; Semerdzhyan, S.P.

1983-01-01

Efficiency of pre-sowing gamma-irradiation of seeds on yield capacity and other practical and biological criteria of hothouse fertilized tomatoes has been studied. It is shown that pre-sowing gamma-irradiation of seeds increases the output of early production and total crop. It is suggested to use in production the irradiation of seeds in the dose of 12 Gr cultivating tomatoes on the background of N 240 P 240 K 240 and in the dose of 5 Gr on the ground of N 120 P 120 K 120 fertilizers

Pre-Service Teacher Education for Mental Health and Inclusion in Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Atkins, Melanie-Anne; Rodger, Susan

2016-01-01

Pre-service teacher education in mental health and mental health literacy is essential to creating the conditions necessary to support the mental health and wellness of children and youth in schools. Many teachers report never having received any education about mental health, but recognize the importance of this knowledge in meeting the needs of…

Changes in cognitive control in pre-manifest Huntington's disease examined using pre-saccadic EEG potentials - a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ness, Vanessa; Bestgen, Anne-Kathrin; Saft, Carsten; Beste, Christian

2014-01-01

It is well-known that Huntington's disease (HD) affects saccadic processing. However, saccadic dysfunctions in HD may be seen as a result of dysfunctional processes occurring at the oculomotor level prior to the execution of saccades, i.e., at a pre-saccadic level. Virtually nothing is known about possible changes in pre-saccadic processes in HD. This study examines pre-saccadic processing in pre-manifest HD gene mutation carriers (pre-HDs) by using clinically available EEG measures. Error rates, pre-saccadic EEG potentials and saccade onset EEG potentials were measured in 14 pre-HDs and case-matched controls performing prosaccades and antisaccades in a longitudinal study over a 15-month period. The results show that pre-saccadic potentials were changed in pre-HDs, relative to controls and also revealed changes across the 15-month longitudinal period. In particular, pre-saccadic ERP in pre-HDs were characterized by lower amplitudes and longer latencies, which revealed longitudinal changes. These changes were observed for anti-saccades, but not for pro-saccades. Overt saccadic trajectories (potentials) were not different to those in controls, showing that pre-saccadic processes are sensitive to subtle changes in fronto-striatal networks in pre-HDs. Deficits in pre-saccadic processes prior the execution of an erroneous anti-saccade can be seen as an effect of dysfunctional cognitive control in HD. This may underlie saccadic abnormalities and hence a major phenotype of HD. Pre-saccadic EEG potentials preceding erroneous anti-saccades are sensitive to pre-manifest disease progression in HD.

Pre- and post- test calculation for the parameter-SF1 experiment with ATHLET-CD

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erdmann, W.; Trambauer, K.; Stuckert, J. [Gesellschaft fuer Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbH (GRS), Koln (Germany)

2006-07-01

The main objective of the PARAMETER-SF1 experiment in the frame of the ISTC project 3194 is the experimental and analytical investigation of the Russian VVER-1000 fuel rod assemblies behavior under simulated conditions of a severe accident. The special feature is to study the effect of flooding a superheated test bundle from the top (top quenching) which has not yet been investigated at all. - Simulation of the PARAMETER test facility To calculate the special effects of the top quenching, some aspects are important: detailed simulation of the bundle top, top and bottom quench front, heat losses at top/bottom of bundle, electrical heater power. - Main initial and boundary conditions The proposed initial and boundary conditions for the double-blind pre-test calculation were quite different from the actual experimental data during the test e.g.: electric power, mass flow (water, steam, argon), temperature. - Conclusions: first experiment with top flooding proposed initial condition given in the specification could not be performed during the experiment, bundle parameters deviated from anticipated values, thus, the pre-calculations not comparable with the experiment, post-calculations with ATHLET-CD showed good agreement with experiment data, top flooding is well predicted, calculational results sensitive with respect to: boundary conditions, nodalization. (authors)

Pre-hospital critical care by anaesthesiologist-staffed pre-hospital services in Scandinavia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krüger, A J; Lossius, H M; Mikkelsen, S

2013-01-01

All Scandinavian countries provide anaesthesiologist-staffed pre-hospital services. Little is known of the incidence of critical illness or injury attended by these services. We aimed to investigate anaesthesiologist-staffed pre-hospital services in Scandinavia with special emphasis on incidence...

Comparing Binaural Pre-processing Strategies II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regina M. Baumgärtel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Several binaural audio signal enhancement algorithms were evaluated with respect to their potential to improve speech intelligibility in noise for users of bilateral cochlear implants (CIs. 50% speech reception thresholds (SRT50 were assessed using an adaptive procedure in three distinct, realistic noise scenarios. All scenarios were highly nonstationary, complex, and included a significant amount of reverberation. Other aspects, such as the perfectly frontal target position, were idealized laboratory settings, allowing the algorithms to perform better than in corresponding real-world conditions. Eight bilaterally implanted CI users, wearing devices from three manufacturers, participated in the study. In all noise conditions, a substantial improvement in SRT50 compared to the unprocessed signal was observed for most of the algorithms tested, with the largest improvements generally provided by binaural minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR beamforming algorithms. The largest overall improvement in speech intelligibility was achieved by an adaptive binaural MVDR in a spatially separated, single competing talker noise scenario. A no-pre-processing condition and adaptive differential microphones without a binaural link served as the two baseline conditions. SRT50 improvements provided by the binaural MVDR beamformers surpassed the performance of the adaptive differential microphones in most cases. Speech intelligibility improvements predicted by instrumental measures were shown to account for some but not all aspects of the perceptually obtained SRT50 improvements measured in bilaterally implanted CI users.

Seasonal variations in biomass and species composition of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

of seaweeds along the northern coasts of Persian Gulf. (Bushehr ... Keywords. Seaweed; biomass; composition; Bushehr; Persian Gulf. ...... tosynthesis at increasing dim and turbid waters. .... rock jetty in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico; Bot. Mar.

Download this PDF file

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Joshua Konne

initial metal concentration and contact time on the removal processes was investigated. The results ... metal works and jetties, waste water from industries such as .... The reaction proceeded according to the ..... potassium bromate and some.

Development of the NUMO pre-selection, site-specific safety case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujiyama, Tetsuo; Suzuki, Satoru; Deguchi, Akira; Umeki, Hiroyuki

2016-01-01

Key conclusions: ◆ “The NUMO pre-selection, site-specific safety case” provides the basic structure for subsequent safety cases that will be applied to any selected site, emphasising practical approaches and methodology which will be applicable for the conditions/constraints during an actual siting process. ◆ The preliminary results of the design and safety assessment would underpin the feasibility and safety of geological disposal in Japan.

An Analysis of Mechanical Constraints when Using Superconducting Gravimeters for Far-Field Pre-Seismic Anomaly Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shyh-Chin Lan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Pre-seismic gravity anomalies from records obtained at a 1 Hz sampling rate from superconducting gravimeters (SG around East Asia are analyzed. A comparison of gravity anomalies to the source parameters of associated earthquakes shows that the detection of pre-seismic gravity anomalies is constrained by several mechanical conditions of the seismic fault plane. The constraints of the far-field pre-seismic gravity amplitude perturbation were examined and the critical spatial relationship between the SG station and the epicenter precursory signal for detection was determined. The results show that: (1 the pre-seismic amplitude perturbation of gravity is inversely proportional to distance; (2 the transfer path from the epicenter to the SG station that crosses a tectonic boundary has a relatively low pre-seismic gravity anomaly amplitude; (3 the pre-seismic gravity perturbation amplitude is also affected by the attitude between the location of an SG station and the strike of the ruptured fault plane. The removal of typhoon effects and the selection of SG stations within a certain intersection angle to the strike of the fault plane are essential for obtaining reliable pre-seismic gravity anomaly results.

Effects of Progressive Resistance Exercise Training on Low Back Pain Conditions of Miners in Ghana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monday Omoniyi MOSES

2014-09-01

Conclusions: The low back pain conditions of miners were significantly improved using PRE, especially pain intensity, pain scale and pain frequency. Hence, exercise and physical activity that followed PRE training patterns should be majorly incorporated into the lifestyles of the miners.

Statutory right of pre-emption of agricultural real estate Ustawowe prawo pierwokupu nieruchomości rolnych

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aneta Suchoń

2008-09-01

Full Text Available The article presents the problem of the right of pre-emption of agricultural real property and attempt to answer the question whether it was justified for the legislator to introduce a right which limits an attribute of an owner, such as the right of asset disposal. The statutory right of pre-emption of agricultural property has been regulated in different legal acts and entitle to the lessee, the Agricultural Property Agency and the co-owner. The article also discusses issues concerning the exercise of the right of pre-emption and problems concerning the concurrence of the right of pre-emption from the Act on the establishment of the agrarian system with other cases of the statutory right of pre-emption. In Authors opinion the fact that the right of pre-emption of agricultural property to the lessee and co-owner has to be considered as positive, but some conditions should be change. It is also necessary to change the provisions of the Act of 11 April 2003 on the establishment of the agrarian system concerning the right of pre-emption of the Agricultural Property Agency The objective scope of the application of the right of pre-emption (re-demption is too wide.

Construction Condition and Damage Monitoring of Post-Tensioned PSC Girders Using Embedded Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Kyung-Joon; Lee, Seong-Cheol; Kim, Yun Yong; Kim, Jae-Min; Park, Seunghee; Lee, Hwanwoo

2017-08-10

The potential for monitoring the construction of post-tensioned concrete beams and detecting damage to the beams under loading conditions was investigated through an experimental program. First, embedded sensors were investigated that could measure pre-stress from the fabrication process to a failure condition. Four types of sensors were installed on a steel frame, and the applicability and the accuracy of these sensors were tested while pre-stress was applied to a tendon in the steel frame. As a result, a tri-sensor loading plate and a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor were selected as possible candidates. With those sensors, two pre-stressed concrete flexural beams were fabricated and tested. The pre-stress of the tendons was monitored during the construction and loading processes. Through the test, it was proven that the variation in thepre-stress had been successfully monitored throughout the construction process. The losses of pre-stress that occurred during a jacking and storage process, even those which occurred inside the concrete, were measured successfully. The results of the loading test showed that tendon stress and strain within the pure span significantly increased, while the stress in areas near the anchors was almost constant. These results prove that FBG sensors installed in a middle section can be used to monitor the strain within, and the damage to pre-stressed concrete beams.

Attributes of Pre-Service and Inservice Teacher Satisfaction with Online Collaborative Mentoring

Science.gov (United States)

Dorner, Helga; Kumar, Swapna

2017-01-01

This study examines Hungarian pre-service and inservice teachers' satisfaction (n = 154) with the Mentored Innovation Model (MIM), an online collaborative mentoring model focused on technology integration. The Kano model was applied to results from two surveys to identify conditions in the MIM that most contribute to overall satisfaction with…

The human nucleolar protein FTSJ3 associates with NIP7 and functions in pre-rRNA processing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis G Morello

Full Text Available NIP7 is one of the many trans-acting factors required for eukaryotic ribosome biogenesis, which interacts with nascent pre-ribosomal particles and dissociates as they complete maturation and are exported to the cytoplasm. By using conditional knockdown, we have shown previously that yeast Nip7p is required primarily for 60S subunit synthesis while human NIP7 is involved in the biogenesis of 40S subunit. This raised the possibility that human NIP7 interacts with a different set of proteins as compared to the yeast protein. By using the yeast two-hybrid system we identified FTSJ3, a putative ortholog of yeast Spb1p, as a human NIP7-interacting protein. A functional association between NIP7 and FTSJ3 is further supported by colocalization and coimmunoprecipitation analyses. Conditional knockdown revealed that depletion of FTSJ3 affects cell proliferation and causes pre-rRNA processing defects. The major pre-rRNA processing defect involves accumulation of the 34S pre-rRNA encompassing from site A' to site 2b. Accumulation of this pre-rRNA indicates that processing of sites A0, 1 and 2 are slower in cells depleted of FTSJ3 and implicates FTSJ3 in the pathway leading to 18S rRNA maturation as observed previously for NIP7. The results presented in this work indicate a close functional interaction between NIP7 and FTSJ3 during pre-rRNA processing and show that FTSJ3 participates in ribosome synthesis in human cells.

Interpretation of surface-water circulation, Aransas Pass, Texas, using Landsat imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Finley, R. J.; Baumgardner, R. W., Jr.

1980-01-01

The development of plumes of turbid surface water in the vicinity of Aransas Pass, Texas has been analyzed using Landsat imagery. The shape and extent of plumes present in the Gulf of Mexico is dependent on the wind regime and astronomical tide prior to and at the time of satellite overpass. The best developed plumes are evident when brisk northerly winds resuspend bay-bottom muds and flow through Aransas Pass is increased by wind stress. Seaward diversion of nearshore waters by the inlet jetties was also observed. A knowledge of surface-water circulation through Aransas Pass under various wind conditions is potentially valuable for monitoring suspended and surface pollutants

PLAY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN CORECTIVE GYMNASTICS FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grujo Bjeković

2008-08-01

Full Text Available In present life conditions, especially in urban environment, children have very poor conditions for physical activities, or for movement in general. According to the new researches, working conditions and quality of work in nurseries and schools, especially if they are related to physical exercises, have certain influences on overall development of pre-school and school children. Childhood is ideal time for correction of numerous postural disturbances and deformities, whether they are congenital or acquired by injury, wrong body posture, or by poor nutrition. Playing is a power fultool for directing correct development of children, so very of ten it has to be adapted to age, capabilities, interests and needs of children.

Stability of heparin blood samples during transport based on defined pre-analytical quality goals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Esther A; Stahl, Marta; Brandslund, Ivan

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: In many countries and especially in Scandinavia, blood samples drawn in primary healthcare are sent to a hospital laboratory for analysis. The samples are exposed to various conditions regarding storage time, storage temperature and transport form. As these factors can have a severe...... impact on the quality of results, we wanted to study which combination of transport conditions could fulfil our pre-defined goals for maximum allowable error. METHODS: Samples from 406 patients from nine general practitioners (GPs) in two Danish counties were sent to two hospitals for analyses, during......, centrifuged and separated at the doctor's office within 45-60 min. This sample was considered as the best estimate of a comparison value. RESULTS: The pre-set quality goals were fulfilled for all the investigated components for samples transported to hospital by courier either as whole blood or as "on gel...

Robert Smithsoni ülevaade

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

1999-01-01

Ameerika maakunstniku Robert Smithsoni (1938-1973) retrospektiivnäitus 12. sept.-ni Stockholmi Moodsa Kunsti Muuseumis. Kunstnikule maailmakuulsuse toonud tööst, 1970. a. Utah' osariigi Suurde Soolajärve ehitatud spiraalmuulist "Spiral Jetty".

Including ethical considerations in models for first-trimester screening for pre-eclampsia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Jennifer Maureen; Hedley, Paula L.; Gjerris, Mickey

2014-01-01

Recent efforts to develop reliable and efficient early pregnancy screening programmes for pre-eclampsia have focused on com-bining clinical, biochemical and biophysical markers. The same model has been used for first-trimester screening for fetal aneuploidies i.e. prenatal diagnosis (PD), which...... is routinely offered to all pregnant women in many developed countries. Some studies suggest combining PD and pre-eclampsia screening, so women can be offered testing for a number of conditions at the same clinical visit. A combination of these tests may be practical in terms of saving time and resources......; however, the combination raises ethical issues. First-trimester PD and pre-eclampsia screening entail qualitative differences which alter the requirements for disclosure, non-directedness and consent with regard to the informed consent process. This article explores the differences related to the ethical...

Pre design processing of waste of ex-resin without materials matrix from nuclear power plant type PWR 1000 MW

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerdas Tarigan

2010-01-01

Have been done pre design processing of waste ex-resin without capacities matrix materials from nuclear power plant type PWR 1000 MW During the time radioactive waste of ex-resin processed to use process of immobilization use matrix materials like mixture cement and epoxy resin and then conditioning. This process is not effective and efficient because end result volume of end product bigger than volume early operation system and maintenance of its installation more difficult. To overcome this created a design of technology processing of waste of ex- resin without matrix materials through process of strainer, drying and conditioning represent technological innovation newly processing of radioactive waste of ex-resin. Besides this process more effective and efficient, volume of end product waste much more small from volume early and operation system and maintenance of its easier installation. Pre design is expected to be used as a basis to make conceptual of pre design installation of strainer, drying and conditioning for the processing of waste of ex-resin from nuclear power plant type PWR 1000 MW. (author)

Effect of diesel pre-injection timing on combustion and emission characteristics of compression ignited natural gas engine

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Min; Cheng, Wei; Zhang, Hongfei; An, Tao; Zhang, Shaohua

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Pre-injection timing on combustion and emission of CING engine are studied. • Closely pre-injection operations leads to increase of combustion intensity. • Early pre-injection operations leads to lower combustion intensity. • Early pre-injection modes provide better NO x emission. - Abstract: Pre-injection strategy is considered to be one of the most important ways to improve diesel engine performance, emission and combustion. It is the same important factor in pilot diesel compression ignition natural gas (CING) engine. In this study, effects of pre-injection timing on combustion and emission performances were experimentally studied in a CING engine which was modified from a turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine. The experiments were conducted at constant speed of 1400 rpm and different engine loads with a constant fuel injection pressure of 1100 bar. Main injection timing was fixed at 10 °CA BTDC in the advance process of pre-injection timing. The cylinder pressure, heart release rate (HRR), pressure rise rate (PRR), start of combustion (SOC) and coefficient of variation (COV IMEP ), as well as NO x , HC and CO emissions were analyzed. The results indicated that closely pre-injection operations lead to the advance of SOC which intensified combustion of in-cylinder mixture, thereby resulting in higher cylinder pressure, HRR and PRR, as well higher NO x emissions and lower HC and CO emissions. However, early pre-injection operations lead to lower cylinder pressure, HRR and PRR due to decreasing in combustion intensity. Pre-injection timing of 70 °CA BTDC is a conversion point in which influence of pre-injection fuel on ignition and combustion of natural gas nearly disappeared and lowest NO x emission could be obtained. Compared with single injection ignition mode, NO x emissions at the conversion point were reduced by 33%, 38% and 7% at engine load of 38%, 60% and 80% respectively. This is important for the conditions that ignition fuel

JPP: A Java Pre-Processor

OpenAIRE

Kiniry, Joseph R.; Cheong, Elaine

1998-01-01

The Java Pre-Processor, or JPP for short, is a parsing pre-processor for the Java programming language. Unlike its namesake (the C/C++ Pre-Processor, cpp), JPP provides functionality above and beyond simple textual substitution. JPP's capabilities include code beautification, code standard conformance checking, class and interface specification and testing, and documentation generation.

CHARACTERIZATIONS OF FUZZY SOFT PRE SEPARATION AXIOMS

OpenAIRE

El-Latif, Alaa Mohamed Abd

2015-01-01

− The notions of fuzzy pre open soft sets and fuzzy pre closed soft sets were introducedby Abd El-latif et al. [2]. In this paper, we continue the study on fuzzy soft topological spaces andinvestigate the properties of fuzzy pre open soft sets, fuzzy pre closed soft sets and study variousproperties and notions related to these structures. In particular, we study the relationship betweenfuzzy pre soft interior fuzzy pre soft closure. Moreover, we study the properties of fuzzy soft pre regulars...

Conditioned Stimuli’s Role in Relapse: Pre-Clinical Research on Pavlovian Instrumental Transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Lamb, R.J.; Schindler, W.; Pinkston, Jonathan W.

2016-01-01

Rationale and Objective Pavlovian learning is central to many theories of addiction. In these theories, stimuli paired with drug ingestion become Conditioned Stimuli (CS) and subsequently elicit drug-seeking and -taking. However in most relevant studies, Pavlovian and instrumental learning are confounded. This confound may be avoided in Pavlovian-Instrumental-Transfer (PIT) procedures. In PIT, Pavlovian and instrumental learning are established separately, and then combined. In order to better understand the role of CSs in addiction, we review the relevant studies using PIT. Findings We identified seven articles examining PIT effects of ethanol- or cocaine-paired CSs. Under at least one condition six of these articles reported CS-elicited increases in responding previously maintained by drug. However, the only study using the optimal control condition failed to find a CS-elicited increase. Two studies examining CS specificity found the CS also increased responding maintained by a different reinforcer. Two studies examined if CSs elicit increases in actual drug-taking. Both failed to find CS-elicited increases, i.e., no study shows CS-elicited increases in actual drug-taking. Further, CS-elicited increases in extinguished responding are short-lived. Conclusions These findings are not entirely consistent with Pavlovian learning playing a central role in addiction. However, design issues can explain most of these inconsistencies. Studies without these design issues are needed. Additionally, existing theories hypothesize drug-paired CSs increase drug-taking by increasing motivation, by eliciting conditioned responses that make drug-seeking more probable, or by a combination of these. Work distinguishing between these mechanisms would also be useful. PMID:26800688

Ceramic production during changing environmental/climatic conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Oestreich, Daniela B.; Glasmacher, Ulrich A.

2015-04-01

Ceramics, with regard to their status as largely everlasting everyday object as well as on the basis of their chronological sensitivity, reflect despite their simplicity the technological level of a culture and therefore also, directly or indirectly, the adaptability of a culture with respect to environmental and/or climatic changes. For that reason the question arises, if it is possible to identify changes in production techniques and raw material sources for ceramic production, as a response to environmental change, e.g. climate change. This paper will present results of a research about Paracas Culture (800 - 200 BC), southern Peru. Through several investigations (e.g. Schittek et al., 2014; Eitel and Mächtle, 2009) it is well known that during Paracas period changes in climate and environmental conditions take place. As a consequence, settlement patterns shifted several times through the various stages of Paracas time. Ceramics from three different sites (Jauranga, Cutamalla, Collanco) and temporal phases of the Paracas period are detailed archaeometric, geochemical and mineralogical characterized, e.g. Raman spectroscopy, XRD, and ICP-MS analyses. The aim of this research is to resolve potential differences in the chemical composition of the Paracas ceramics in space and time and to compare the data with the data sets of pre-Columbian environmental conditions. Thus influences of changing environmental conditions on human societies and their cultural conditions will be discussed. References Eitel, B. and Mächtle, B. 2009. Man and Environment in the eastern Atacama Desert (Southern Peru): Holocene climate changes and their impact on pre-Columbian cultures. In: Reindel, M. & Wagner, G. A. (eds.) New Technologies for Archaeology. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. Schittek, K., Mächtle, B., Schäbitz, F., Forbriger, M., Wennrich, V., Reindel, M., and Eitel, B.. Holocene environmental changes in the highlands of the southern Peruvian Andes (14° S) and their

On the effect of the pre-ionization technique on the discharge regime in a tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bulyginskij, D.G.; Larionov, M.M.; Levin, L.S.; Miklukho, O.V.; Tokunov, A.I.; Shustova, N.V.

1980-01-01

The study is devoted to an experimental comparison of three ways of pre-ionization: by the main current, by the back current and by SHF breakdown in the conditions of the electron-cyclotron resonance (ECR). A discharge in hydrogen has been investigated at the initial pressure of 3x10 -4 torr. Oscillograms of hydrogen and impurity ion luminescence have the ionization maximum. The suposition is confirmed that the hard X radiation observed in ionization by the main current is caused by the runaway electrons passed into acceleration regime at the moment of breakdown. A comparison of the pre-ionization methods considered shows that they differ only slightly. ECR and back current pre-ionizations suppress the hard X-radiation. By these ways of pre-ionization it is possible to obtain a partly ionized plasma with the electron temperature not exceeding 10 eV, which does not support the earlier suppositions on a possibility of obtaining fully ionized plasma with the electron temperature of about 250 eV in the ECR pre-ionization

Growth performance, survival, and processing characteristics of hybrid catfish fed pre And probiotics

Science.gov (United States)

There has been a lot of interest in the use of pre and probiotics to increase growth and improve disease resistance in the catfish industry. This study aimed to evaluate a commercially available prebiotic and probiotic under conditions simulating commercial production in hybrid catfish. The dietar...

Palaeo-coastline of Saurashtra, Gujarat: A study based on archaeological proxies

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A.S.; Sundaresh

Important archaeological sites of our investigation include Dwarka, Bet Dwarka, Kindar Kheda, Pindara, Somnath and sites in Gulf of Khambhat and evidences recorded from these sites include stone anchors, remains of jetties and other structures While...

Acute maternal infection and risk of pre-eclampsia: a population-based case-control study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Minassian

Full Text Available Infection in pregnancy may be involved in the aetiology of pre-eclampsia. However, a clear association between acute maternal infection and pre-eclampsia has not been established. We assessed whether acute urinary tract infection, respiratory tract infection, and antibiotic drug prescriptions in pregnancy (a likely proxy for maternal infection are associated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia.We used a matched nested case-control design and data from the UK General Practice Research Database to examine the association between maternal infection and pre-eclampsia. Primiparous women aged at least 13 years and registered with a participating practice between January 1987 and October 2007 were eligible for inclusion. We selected all cases of pre-eclampsia and a random sample of primiparous women without pre-eclampsia (controls. Cases (n=1533 were individually matched with up to ten controls (n=14236 on practice and year of delivery. We calculated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for pre-eclampsia comparing women exposed and unexposed to infection using multivariable conditional logistic regression. After adjusting for maternal age, pre-gestational hypertension, diabetes, renal disease and multifetal gestation, the odds of pre-eclampsia were increased in women prescribed antibiotic drugs (adjusted odds ratio 1.28;1.14-1.44 and in women with urinary tract infection (adjusted odds ratio 1.22;1.03-1.45. We found no association with maternal respiratory tract infection (adjusted odds ratio 0.91;0.72-1.16. Further adjustment for maternal smoking and pre-pregnancy body mass index made no difference to our findings.Women who acquire a urinary infection during pregnancy, but not those who have a respiratory infection, are at an increased risk of pre-eclampsia. Maternal antibiotic prescriptions are also associated with an increased risk. Further research is required to elucidate the underlying mechanism of this association and to determine

Pre-treatment technology for electrochemical detection of heavy metal lead and cadmium in food

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ke YAN

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Wet digestion is used as the pre-treatment technology for the electrochemical detection of heavy metals in food, and the complete wet digestion condition of food sample is optimized by electrochemical experiments. The results show that the experimental samples can be digested completely using the Nitric acid-hydrogen peroxide system and is not pre-digested after adding 10 mL nitric acid at 120~140 ℃ and adding 10~15 mL of hydrogen peroxide during the heating process. The correlation coefficient of electrochemical detect is 0.99 for digestion solution of the samples, and the recovery of standard addition is 82%~115%. Wet digestion as a pre-treatment technology of food samples. It can digest sample fully and meet the requirements of electrochemical detection.

(AGA) Pre Term Babies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Haematological Indices in Healthy Appropriate For-Gestational-Age (AGA) Pre Term Babies. ... International Journal of Medicine and Health Development. Journal Home ... Patient and Methods: All consecutive healthy pre-term new born babies delivered at UNTH and admitted into the hospital NBSCU were included.

Pre-OSART mission highlights. 1988-1990

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-09-01

The IAEA Pre-Operational Safety Review Teams (Pre-OSART) programme is part of the Operational Safety Review teams (OSART) programme and provides advice and assistance to Member States for enhancing the operational safety of nuclear power plants. OSART and Pre-OSART reviews are available to all countries with nuclear power plants in operation or approaching operation. Most of these countries have participated in the programme, by hosting one or more OSART or Pre-OSART missions or by making experts available to participate in missions. This document, which summarizes the finding of Pre-OSART reviews, covers the period from January 1988 to December 1990, and it is intended that further such documents will be prepared to cover subsequent Pre-OSART reviews

Analysis of La Dehesa paleo-landslide. Central Pre-Andes of Argentina

Science.gov (United States)

Tapia Baldis, Carla; Rothis, Luis Martín; Perucca, Laura; Esper Angillieri, María; Vargas, Horacio; Ponce, David; Allis, Carlos

2018-04-01

The main objective of this paper is to consider the influence of Quaternary faults as likely triggering factor for rockslides occurrence in the Central Pre-Andes, a region with intense shallow seismic activity. A rockslide deposit was selected as study case, placed in the western flank of La Dehesa and Talacasto (DT) range (31°3‧37″ S and 68°46‧ 8″ W). Applied methodology includes the characterization of main discontinuities, reconstruction of the topography using a high-resolution digital elevation model, safety factor calculation along the sliding surface and, Newmark displacements estimation for three different hypothetical seismic scenarios, recreated from existing neotectonic local information. Equilibrium-limit method's results confirm that study case, La Dehesa rockslide (LDR), had a stable and safe slope's configuration under static conditions. However, a seismic horizontal coefficient between 0.2 and 0.3 decreases safety factor below the safety threshold. Newmark's displacements for different seismic reconstructed scenarios varies between 4.1 and 15.9 cm, values that agreed with a coherent failure process, likely triggered by Pleistocene to Holocene seismogenic sources in Central Pre-Andes. LDR trigger could be assigned mainly to an earthquake related to La Dehesa Quaternary fault (LDF) activity; however, similar movements produced by neighboring faults should not be discarded. LDR triggering related to climatic conditions is despised. Finally, the methodology presented in this work is easy to reproduce and may be applied to other rockslides located in the mountainous areas of the Central Pre-Andes of Argentina.

Identification of clinical biomarkers for pre-analytical quality control of blood samples.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Hyun Ju; Jeon, Soon Young; Park, Jae-Sun; Yun, Ji Young; Kil, Han Na; Hong, Won Kyung; Lee, Mee-Hee; Kim, Jun-Woo; Jeon, Jae-Pil; Han, Bok Ghee

2013-04-01

Pre-analytical conditions are key factors in maintaining the high quality of biospecimens. They are necessary for accurate reproducibility of experiments in the field of biomarker discovery as well as achieving optimal specificity of laboratory tests for clinical diagnosis. In research at the National Biobank of Korea, we evaluated the impact of pre-analytical conditions on the stability of biobanked blood samples by measuring biochemical analytes commonly used in clinical laboratory tests. We measured 10 routine laboratory analytes in serum and plasma samples from healthy donors (n = 50) with a chemistry autoanalyzer (Hitachi 7600-110). The analyte measurements were made at different time courses based on delay of blood fractionation, freezing delay of fractionated serum and plasma samples, and at different cycles (0, 1, 3, 6, 9) of freeze-thawing. Statistically significant changes from the reference sample mean were determined using the repeated-measures ANOVA and the significant change limit (SCL). The serum levels of GGT and LDH were changed significantly depending on both the time interval between blood collection and fractionation and the time interval between fractionation and freezing of serum and plasma samples. The glucose level was most sensitive only to the elapsed time between blood collection and centrifugation for blood fractionation. Based on these findings, a simple formula (glucose decrease by 1.387 mg/dL per hour) was derived to estimate the length of time delay after blood collection. In addition, AST, BUN, GGT, and LDH showed sensitive responses to repeated freeze-thaw cycles of serum and plasma samples. These results suggest that GGT and LDH measurements can be used as quality control markers for certain pre-analytical conditions (eg, delayed processing or repeated freeze-thawing) of blood samples which are either directly used in the laboratory tests or stored for future research in the biobank.

REACTION KINETICS SELF-PROPOGATION REGIME DURING PRE-IGNITION PERIOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. D. Polishchuk

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Self-propagation high temperature synthesis (SHS technological regulations application is mainly limited by transformation processes taking place in the pre-ignition period. Zn-S, Zn-Se, Ti-C and 3Ni-Al small sample systems ignition experimental study was carried out under heating conditions in inert atmosphere with temperature values T = 1200K.It was shown that at this temperature level a chemical reaction can be initiated, turning into a self-sustaining mode. Wherein the reaction limiting factors can be mass transfer processes. Ignition temperatures were determined and plotted via the samples size. A physical ignition model was developed assuming the pre-ignition period limiting reaction Arrhenius law.The inverse combustion problem solution made it possible to calculate the low-temperature (T = 800 ÷ 1200K reaction kinetic constant values. Comparison thus obtained values  with the known data of other researchers showed their good agreement.Activation energy values for the Zn-S system were used to calculate the heat wave propagation speed. This value appeared to coincide with experimental values.Obtained results analysis leads to the conclusion about the availability and justification for the proposed method of express-analysis of presupposed, but previously not studied SHS systems. The results thus obtained allow us to estimate conditions for the SHS technology implementation, the reactor characteristic sizes and the thermal wave’s propagation speed.

Pre-Calculus For Dummies

CERN Document Server

Kuang, Yang

2012-01-01

The fun and easy way to learn pre-calculus Getting ready for calculus but still feel a bit confused? Have no fear. Pre-Calculus For Dummies is an un-intimidating, hands-on guide that walks you through all the essential topics, from absolute value and quadratic equations to logarithms and exponential functions to trig identities and matrix operations. With this guide's help you'll quickly and painlessly get a handle on all of the concepts - not just the number crunching - and understand how to perform all pre-calc tasks, from graphing to tackling proofs. You'll also get a new appreciation for

Evaluation of pre and post-operative spinal plain CT and CT-myelography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagase, Joji; Inoue, Shunichi; Miyasaka, Hitoshi; Kamata, Sakae; Shinohara, Hiroyasu.

1983-01-01

Confirmation of the level of scan slices is essential for the CT diagnosis of spinal and spinal-cord diseases. Pre- and postoperative comparison should be made on the same level. For reading of plain CT and CTM, window levels should be identical pre- and postoperatively. Both methods demonstrated the spinal canal, morphology of the spinal cord, and three-Fdimensional pathologic pictures inside and outside the spinal cord. Preoperative CT contributed useful information on the pathologic conditions and selection of surgical procedures and routes. Postoperative plain CT confirmed surgical results, and CTM revealed the spinal cord and the subarachnoid space, as well as the range and degree of decompression from the spinal cord. (Chiba, N.)

Sulphur cement pre-composition and process for preparing such sulphur cement pre-composition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

2013-01-01

The invention provides a process for the preparation of a sulphur cement pre-composition comprising reacting sulphur modifier with polysulphide-containing organosilane to obtain in the presence of sulphur the sulphur cement pre-composition, wherein the organosilane has the general molecular formula:

Open pre-schools at integrated health services - A program theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agneta Abrahamsson

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Family centres in Sweden are integrated services that reach all prospective parents and parents with children up to their sixth year, because of the co-location of the health service with the social service and the open pre-school. The personnel on the multi-professional site work together to meet the needs of the target group. The article explores a program theory focused on the open pre-schools at family centres.Method: A multi-case design is used and the sample consists of open pre-schools at six family centres. The hypothesis is based on previous research and evaluation data. It guides the data collection which is collected and analysed stepwise. Both parents and personnel are interviewed individually and in groups at each centre.Findings: The hypothesis was expanded to a program theory. The compliance of the professionals was the most significant element that explained why the open access service facilitated positive parenting. The professionals act in a compliant manner to meet the needs of the children and parents as well as in creating good conditions for social networking and learning amongst the parents. Conclusion: The compliance of the professionals in this program theory of open pre-schools at family centres can be a standard in integrated and open access services, whereas the organisation form can vary. The best way of increasing the number of integrative services is to support and encourage professionals that prefer to work in a compliant manner.

Open pre-schools at integrated health services - A program theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agneta Abrahamsson

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Family centres in Sweden are integrated services that reach all prospective parents and parents with children up to their sixth year, because of the co-location of the health service with the social service and the open pre-school. The personnel on the multi-professional site work together to meet the needs of the target group. The article explores a program theory focused on the open pre-schools at family centres. Method: A multi-case design is used and the sample consists of open pre-schools at six family centres. The hypothesis is based on previous research and evaluation data. It guides the data collection which is collected and analysed stepwise. Both parents and personnel are interviewed individually and in groups at each centre. Findings: The hypothesis was expanded to a program theory. The compliance of the professionals was the most significant element that explained why the open access service facilitated positive parenting. The professionals act in a compliant manner to meet the needs of the children and parents as well as in creating good conditions for social networking and learning amongst the parents. Conclusion: The compliance of the professionals in this program theory of open pre-schools at family centres can be a standard in integrated and open access services, whereas the organisation form can vary. The best way of increasing the number of integrative services is to support and encourage professionals that prefer to work in a compliant manner.

Cardiovascular mortality after pre-eclampsia in one child mothers: prospective, population based cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Skjaerven, Rolv; Wilcox, Allen J; Klungsøyr, Kari; Irgens, Lorentz M; Vikse, Bjørn Egil; Vatten, Lars J; Lie, Rolv Terje

2012-11-27

To assess the association of pre-eclampsia with later cardiovascular death in mothers according to their lifetime number of pregnancies, and particularly after only one child. Prospective, population based cohort study. Medical Birth Registry of Norway. We followed 836,147 Norwegian women with a first singleton birth between 1967 and 2002 for cardiovascular mortality through linkage to the national Cause of Death Registry. About 23,000 women died by 2009, of whom 3891 died from cardiovascular causes. Associations between pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular death were assessed by hazard ratios, estimated by Cox regression analyses. Hazard ratios were adjusted for maternal education (three categories), maternal age at first birth, and year of first birth The rate of cardiovascular mortality among women with preterm pre-eclampsia was 9.2% after having only one child, falling to 1.1% for those with two or more children. With term pre-eclampsia, the rates were 2.8% and 1.1%, respectively. Women with pre-eclampsia in their first pregnancy had higher rates of cardiovascular death than those who did not have the condition at first birth (adjusted hazard ratio 1.6 (95% confidence interval 1.4 to 2.0) after term pre-eclampsia; 3.7 (2.7 to 4.8) after preterm pre-eclampsia). Among women with only one lifetime pregnancy, the increase in risk of cardiovascular death was higher than for those with two or more children (3.4 (2.6 to 4.6) after term pre-eclampsia; 9.4 (6.5 to 13.7) after preterm pre-eclampsia). The risk of cardiovascular death was only moderately elevated among women with pre-eclamptic first pregnancies who went on to have additional children (1.5 (1.2 to 2.0) after term pre-eclampsia; 2.4 (1.5 to 3.9) after preterm pre-eclampsia). There was little evidence of additional risk after recurrent pre-eclampsia. All cause mortality for women with two or more lifetime births, who had pre-eclampsia in first pregnancy, was not elevated, even with preterm pre-eclampsia in first

Reaction in air and in nitrogen of pre-oxidised Zircaloy-4 and M5™ claddings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Duriez, C., E-mail: christian.duriez@irsn.fr [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES/SEREX-LE2M, Centre de Cadarache, St Paul-Lez-Durance 13115 (France); Drouan, D. [Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSN-RES/SEREX-LE2M, Centre de Cadarache, St Paul-Lez-Durance 13115 (France); Pouzadoux, G. [Université Technologique de Troyes, BP 2060, Troyes 10010 (France)

2013-10-15

High temperature reactivity in air and in nitrogen of pre-oxidised Zircaloy-4 and M5™ claddings has been studied by thermogravimetry. Claddings were pre-oxidised at low temperature with the aim of simulating spent fuel. Different pre-oxidation modes, inducing significant variation in the pre-oxides microstructure, were compared. The behaviour in air, investigated in the 850–1000 °C temperature range, was found to be strongly dependant on the type of pre-oxide: the compact pre-oxide formed in autoclave (at temperature, pressure, and water chemistry representative of PWR conditions) significantly slows down the degradation in air compared to the bare alloys; on the contrary, a pre-oxide formed at 500 °C at ambient pressure, either in oxygen or in steam, favours the initiation of post-breakaway type oxidation, which in air is associated with nitride formation. The behaviour in nitrogen has been investigated in the 800–1200 °C temperature range, with Zircaloy-4 pre-oxidised at 500 °C in O{sub 2}. Reactivity is low up to 1000 °C but becomes very significant at the highest temperatures investigated, 1100 and 1200 °C. Finally, cladding segments first reacted in N{sub 2} at 1100 °C, were exposed to air and show fast oxidation even at the lowest temperature investigated (600 °C)

Pre-slaughter stress and pork quality

Science.gov (United States)

Stajković, S.; Teodorović, V.; Baltić, M.; Karabasil, N.

2017-09-01

Stress is an inevitable consequence of handling of animals for slaughter. Stress conditions during transport, lairage and at slaughter induce undesirable effects on the end quality of meat such as pale, soft, exudative meat and dark firm dry meat. Hence, it is very important to define appropriate parameters for objective assessment of level of stress. Attempts to define measures of stress have been difficult and no physiological parameter has been successfully used to evaluate stress situations. One physiological change in swine associated with animal handling stress and with pork quality is an increase in blood lactate concentration. Plasma cortisol was thought to be an appropriate indicator of stress, but the concentration was not consistently changed by different stressors. Therefore, finding alternative parameters reacting to stressors, such as acute phase proteins, would be of great value for the objective evaluation of level of stress and meat quality. As the stress during pre-slaughter handling is unavoidable, the final goal is to improve transport and slaughter conditions for the animal and, as a consequence, meat quality and animal welfare.

SUPPORT OF PSYCHO-PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF A PRE-SCHOOL CHILD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radovan Čokorilo

2011-03-01

Full Text Available In this work are analyzed needs, ability and the ways of supporting psychophysical activity of a pre-school child. Primary child’s need for movement, which should be invented by play, boosts impulses for growth and development of the organism and is considered as a main condition of it’s psycho-physical development. In the way of physical development child should be encouraged on many different ways of movement: walking, running, jumping, but also crawling, climbing, throwing, catching… For the development of skill of detection optimal senses stimulation is good way, in point of making communication with nature and social surroundings. Thru play and practical activity it is possible to contribute to acceptable way of showing emotional condition of the child. Thinking and imagination at start are very dependable of emotions, and they develop also thru playing and practical activity. It is also possible to contribute a start of development of the main character line which are made from imitation and identification of child with parents and teachers. Functional contribution of psycho-physical activity of pre-school child is possible to achieve if, with skill and a lot of pedagogy talent, awards and compliment are given to child, and giving to them honor and promises

Pre-concentration and determination of tartrazine dye from aqueous solutions using modified cellulose nanosponges.

Science.gov (United States)

Shiralipour, Roohollah; Larki, Arash

2017-01-01

In this study, a new absorbent based on cellulose nanosponges modified with methyltrioctylammonium chloride (aliquat 336) was prepared and used for pre-concentration, removal and determination of tartrazine dye, using UV-vis spectrophotometry. This adsorbent was fully characterized using various instrumental techniques such as SEM, FTIR and XRD spectra. The pre-concentration and removal procedures were studied in column and batch modes, respectively. The effects of parameters such as pH of the aqueous medium, methyltrioctylammounium chloride dose, adsorbent amount, desorbing conditions and interfering ions on the adsorption of tartrazine were investigated and optimized. The fitting experimental data with conventional isotherm models revealed that the adsorption followed the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) model and the maximum adsorption capacity for tartrazine was 180mg/g with modified nanosponges. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration curve was linear over the range of 2-300ng/mL and the limit of detection was 0.15ng/mL. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for 20 and 100ng/mL of tartrazine were 3.1% and 1.5%, respectively. The proposed method was applied for pre-concentration and determination of tartrazine dye in different water samples. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Possible health effects associated with Pre-Columbian metallurgy].

Science.gov (United States)

Idrovo, Alvaro Javier

2005-09-01

In the Old World, several researchers have indicated that adverse health effects were associated with exposure to arsenic, and that this influenced a change in the use of copper-arsenic alloys to others less toxic. This hypothesis was evaluated for three Pre-Columbian metallurgy traditions: Central Andes, Intermediate Area, and West Mexico. The metal artifacts from the Central Andes showed arsenic concentrations similar to those in the Old World (0.5%-1.0%). In the Intermediate Area the values were smallest; however, in West Mexico the arsenic content was very high (7%-25%). In Central Andes arsenical bronze was used initially, but copper-tin alloys when introduced were preferred and distributed throughout the Inca Empire. Osteological and artistic evidences of foot amputations among Moche individuals from Central Andes support the presence of "black foot disease" (a condition associated with arsenic poisoning) among Pre-Columbian populations. In conclusion, the adverse effects of arsenic have been observed in the New World, and that these effects promoted a change toward the use of less toxic alloys.

Migration velocity analysis using pre-stack wave fields

KAUST Repository

Alkhalifah, Tariq Ali

2016-08-25

Using both image and data domains to perform velocity inversion can help us resolve the long and short wavelength components of the velocity model, usually in that order. This translates to integrating migration velocity analysis into full waveform inversion. The migration velocity analysis part of the inversion often requires computing extended images, which is expensive when using conventional methods. As a result, we use pre-stack wavefield (the double-square-root formulation) extrapolation, which includes the extended information (subsurface offsets) naturally, to make the process far more efficient and stable. The combination of the forward and adjoint pre-stack wavefields provides us with update options that can be easily conditioned to improve convergence. We specifically use a modified differential semblance operator to split the extended image into a residual part for classic differential semblance operator updates and the image (Born) modelling part, which provides reflections for higher resolution information. In our implementation, we invert for the velocity and the image simultaneously through a dual objective function. Applications to synthetic examples demonstrate the features of the approach.

Effects of ultrasonic and thermo-chemical pre-treatments on methane production from fat, oil and grease (FOG) and synthetic kitchen waste (KW) in anaerobic co-digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Chenxi; Champagne, Pascale; Anderson, Bruce C

2013-02-01

The effects of ultrasonic and thermo-chemical pre-treatments on the methane production potential of anaerobic co-digestion with synthetic kitchen waste (KW) or fat, oil and grease (FOG) were investigated. Non-linear regressions were fitted to accurately assess and compare the methane production from co-digestion under the various pre-treatment conditions and to achieve representative simulations and predictions. Ultrasonic pre-treatment was not found to improve methane production effectively from either FOG co-digestion or KW co-digestions. Thermo-chemical pre-treatment could increase methane production yields from both FOG and KW co-digestions. COD solubilization was found to effectively represent the effects of pre-treatment. A comprehensive evaluation indicated that the thermo-chemical pre-treatments of pH=10, 55°C and pH=8, 55°C provided the best conditions to increase methane production from FOG and KW co-digestions, respectively. The most effective enhancement of biogas production (288±0.85mLCH(4)/g TVS) was achieved from thermo-chemically pre-treated FOG co-digestion, which was 9.9±1.5% higher than FOG co-digestion without thermo-chemical pre-treatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Early industrial stage of modernization pre-revolutionary Russia: sources, tendencies and results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Татьяна Михайловна Братченко

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In the article the sources, occurrence and development of industrialization of pre-revolutionary Russia at its early stage are analyzed. The authors have shown the basic tendencies and directions of these processes. In the article the set of the reasons of industrialization of Russia is opened, among which not internal conditions, and external factors were basic. Is shown also, that the earli-industrial modernization in the liberal - conservative form has put a society in the extremely unstable, «transitive» condition, that was fraught with social shocks.

Study on Safety Assessment for TINT- Pre disposal Radioactive Waste Management Facilities by the Application of SAFRAN Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ya-anant, Nanthavan

2011-06-01

Full text: The Radioactive Waste Management Center, Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) provides a centralized radioactive waste management (RWM) service in the country. The pre disposal RWM facilities are composed of low and intermediate level waste treatment and storage facilities. The benefits of this study are (1) to improve the safety of pre disposal RWM facilities (2) to experience with the SAFRAN software tool for the safety assessment of pre disposal RWM facilities, which has been developed following to the methodology from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The work was performed on collecting all waste management data, the diagram of facilities, buildings, location, procedure, waste classification, waste form, radiological/chemical/physical properties including scenarios in normal and accidental conditions. The result of normal condition is that the effective dose per year of worker and public is less than 20 mSv and 1 mSv respectively. So the TINT-RWM operation is safe, as referred to the regulation

Homeostatic properties and phenotypic maturation of murine CD4+ pre-thymic emigrants in the thymus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Dong

Full Text Available After a tightly regulated developmental program in the thymus, "mature" single positive (SP thymocytes leave the thymus and enter the periphery. These newly arrived recent thymic emigrants (RTEs are phenotypically and functionally immature, and will complete a dynamic maturation in the peripheral lymphoid organs before being licensed to be resident naïve T cells. To study the early events occurring in the RTE maturation process, we identified the phenotype of CD4(+ pre-RTEs, a population of CD4(+ SP thymocytes that have acquired the thymus egress capability. Compared to peripheral naïve T cells, CD4(+ pre-RTEs displayed superior survival capability in lymphoreplete mice and faster proliferation under lymphopenic condition. The differences in Bcl2/Bim expression and/or heightened IL-7 signaling pathway may account for the pre-RTEs' better responsiveness to homeostatic signals. Qa2, the expression of which indicates the phenotypic maturation of SPs and RTEs, was found to be upregulated in CD4(+ pre-RTEs in thymic perivascular space. Migratory dendritic cells that surround this region contribute to Qa2 expression in pre-RTEs. The dendritic cell-driven Qa2 induction of CD4(+ pre-RTEs is independent of MHC class II and Aire molecules.

Interventions for hyperthyroidism pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Earl, Rachel; Crowther, Caroline A; Middleton, Philippa

2013-11-19

Women with hyperthyroidism in pregnancy have increased risks of miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, and intrauterine growth restriction; and they can develop severe pre-eclampsia or placental abruption. To identify interventions used in the management of hyperthyroidism pre-pregnancy or during pregnancy and to ascertain the impact of these interventions on important maternal, fetal, neonatal and childhood outcomes. We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (30 September 2013). We planned to include randomised controlled trials, quasi-randomised controlled trials, and cluster-randomised trials comparing antithyroid interventions for hyperthyroidism pre-pregnancy or during pregnancy with another intervention or no intervention (placebo or no treatment). Two review authors assessed trial eligibility and planned to assess trial quality and extract the data independently. No trials were included in the review. As we did not identify any eligible trials, we are unable to comment on implications for practice, although early identification of hyperthyroidism before pregnancy may allow a woman to choose radioactive iodine therapy or surgery before planning to have a child. Designing and conducting a trial of antithyroid interventions for pregnant women with hyperthyroidism presents formidable challenges. Not only is hyperthyroidism a relatively rare condition, both of the two main drugs used have potential for harm, one for the mother and the other for the child. More observational research is required about the potential harms of methimazole in early pregnancy and about the potential liver damage from propylthiouracil.

Pre-Diabetes Non-Modifiable Risk Factors

Science.gov (United States)

... Artery Disease Venous Thromboembolism Aortic Aneurysm More Pre-diabetes Non-modifiable Risk Factors Updated:Nov 9,2015 ... This content was last reviewed August 2015. Pre-diabetes • Introduction • About Pre-diabetes • What's the Problem? Intro ...

Social, moral, and temporal qualities: Pre-service teachers' considerations of evolution and creation

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Deirdre

The introduction of the theories of evolution into public education has created a history of misinterpretation and uncertainty about its application to understanding deep time and human origins. Conceptions about negative social and moral outcomes of evolution itself along with cognitive temporal constraints may be difficult for many individuals to uncouple from the scientific theory, serving to provoke the ongoing debate about the treatment of evolution in science education. This debate about teaching evolution is strongly influenced by groups who strive to add creationism to the science curriculum for a balanced treatment of human origins and to mediate implied negative social and moral outcomes of evolution. Individual conceptualization of evolution and creation may influence the choice of college students to teach science. This study is designed to examine if pre-service teachers' conceptualize an evolutionary and creationist process of human development using certain social, moral or temporal patterns; and if the patterns follow a negative conceptual theme. The pilot study explored 21 pre-service teachers' conceptual representation of an evolutionary process through personal narratives. Participants tended to link evolutionary changes with negative social and moral consequences and seemed to have difficulty envisioning change over time. The pilot study was expanded to include a quantitative examination of attribute patterns of an evolutionary and creationist developmental process. Seventy-three pre-service teachers participated in the second experiment and tended to fall evenly along a continuum of creationist and evolutionist beliefs about life. Using a chi-square and principle components analysis, participants were found to map concepts of evolution and creation onto each other using troubling attributes of development to distinguish negative change over time. A strong negative social and moral pattern of human development was found in the creation condition

Improvement of Haramay Fiber by Pre-treatment of Retting Process withPhosphoric Acid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuntari-Sasas; Neni-Rustini Eriawati

2000-01-01

Haramay as bast fiber contains of cellulose fiber as the main part, mixedwith hemi cellulose, pectin, and lignin as binding material for cellulosefiber to keep it together in the bundle form. For textile material, this bastfiber has to be freed from its binding material, called as retting process,before subjecting to scouring, dyeing and finishing process in textileindustry. In the retting process the dissolve of binding material can be doneeither by using enzyme in bio technology or extraction with strong alkalinecondition in common technology. Using sodium hydroxide for dissolving thebinding material can be carried out easily with good dissolving ability, butcan render the strength retention of the cellulose fiber. Pre-treatment ofthe bast fiber with phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4 ), is expected to hydrolyze someof the binding materials that can not be dissolved in alkaline condition,including natural pigment that colored the fiber with creamy white. In thisstudy, the pre-treatment process before retting with phosphoric acid wascarried out in various condition, such as concentration of phosphoric acid (5ml/l- 25 ml/l), time and temperature of pre-treatment (1-3 hours at 50 o C or12-24 hours at room temperature), followed by neutralization in dilutealkaline. The retting process was carried out by means of scouring in variousconcentration of sodium hydroxide (NaOH 38 o Be, 10 ml/l-30 m/l), and then wascontinued with bleaching process in hydrogen peroxide solution. Aftercarrying out those experiment, the bast fiber that called haramay wassubjected to testing for weight reduction, strength retention and degree ofwhiteness. From the testing results it is concluded that pre-treatment withphosphoric acid can increase the weight reduction, strength retention ortenacity and degree of whiteness of haramay fiber compared to the oneswithout pre-treatment with phosphoric acid. The best result was obtained bypre-treatment with 5 ml/l H 3 PO 4 at 50 o C for 2 hours, continued by

Effect of high organic enrichment of benthic polychaete population in an estuary

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Ansari, Z.A.; Ingole, B.S.; Parulekar, A.H.

The benthic polychaete fauna of an estuarine region receiving domestic sewage and wastes from a nearby fish landing jetty was compared to that of a site having normal organic enrichment. The population density, biomass and species diversity were...

Are stirring and sonication pre-dispersion methods equivalent for in vitro toxicology evaluation of SiC and TiC?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mejia, Jorge; Valembois, Vanessa; Piret, Jean-Pascal; Tichelaar, Frans; Huis, Marijn van; Masereel, Bernard; Toussaint, Olivier; Delhalle, Joseph; Mekhalif, Zineb; Lucas, Stéphane

2012-01-01

The evolution of the particle size distribution and the surface composition of silicon carbide and titanium carbide nanoparticle (NP) dispersions were studied. The pre-dispersions were prepared using two commonly used protocols for dispersion: stirring and sonication. Two dispersants were investigated (water and Pluronic F108 1 %) at two stages: pre-dispersion and during in vitro assays. Our data show that for each tested condition, different time-dependent results for the surface chemical composition as well as size and percentage of the agglomerates and the primary particles are observed. De-agglomeration and successive or simultaneous cleaning-wrapping cycles of the nanomaterial are observed and are related to the dispersion method and the medium as well as to the chemical stability of the NP surface. Biological response during in vitro assessment was also performed for one given pre-dispersion time condition and demonstrates that the preparation method significantly alters the results.

Are stirring and sonication pre-dispersion methods equivalent for in vitro toxicology evaluation of SiC and TiC?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mejia, Jorge, E-mail: jorge.mejiamendoza@fundp.ac.be; Valembois, Vanessa [University of Namur-FUNDP, Research Centre for the Physics of Matter and Radiation (LARN-PMR), NARILIS (Belgium); Piret, Jean-Pascal [University of Namur-FUNDP, Research Unit in Cellular Biology (URBC), NARILIS (Belgium); Tichelaar, Frans; Huis, Marijn van [Delft University of Technology, National Centre for HRTEM, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience (Netherlands); Masereel, Bernard [University of Namur-FUNDP, Department of Pharmacy NAMEDIC, Namur Thrombosis and Hemostasis Center (NTHC) (Belgium); Toussaint, Olivier [University of Namur-FUNDP, Research Unit in Cellular Biology (URBC), NARILIS (Belgium); Delhalle, Joseph; Mekhalif, Zineb [University of Namur-FUNDP, Laboratory of Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Surfaces-CES (Belgium); Lucas, Stephane [University of Namur-FUNDP, Research Centre for the Physics of Matter and Radiation (LARN-PMR), NARILIS (Belgium)

2012-03-15

The evolution of the particle size distribution and the surface composition of silicon carbide and titanium carbide nanoparticle (NP) dispersions were studied. The pre-dispersions were prepared using two commonly used protocols for dispersion: stirring and sonication. Two dispersants were investigated (water and Pluronic F108 1 %) at two stages: pre-dispersion and during in vitro assays. Our data show that for each tested condition, different time-dependent results for the surface chemical composition as well as size and percentage of the agglomerates and the primary particles are observed. De-agglomeration and successive or simultaneous cleaning-wrapping cycles of the nanomaterial are observed and are related to the dispersion method and the medium as well as to the chemical stability of the NP surface. Biological response during in vitro assessment was also performed for one given pre-dispersion time condition and demonstrates that the preparation method significantly alters the results.

Enhanced conditioned eyeblink response acquisition and proactive interference in anxiety vulnerable individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacqueline L Holloway

2012-11-01

Full Text Available In classical conditioning, proactive interference may arise from experience with the conditioned stimulus (CS, the unconditional stimulus (US, or both, prior to their paired presentations. Interest in the application of proactive interference has extended to clinical populations as either a risk factor for disorders or as a secondary sign. Although the current literature is dense with comparisons of stimulus pre-exposure effects in animals, such comparisons are lacking in human subjects. As such, interpretation of proactive interference over studies as well as its generalization and utility in clinical research is limited. The present study was designed to assess eyeblink response acquisition after equal numbers of CS, US, and explicitly unpaired CS and US pre-exposures, as well as to evaluate how anxiety vulnerability might modulate proactive interference. In the current study, anxiety vulnerability was assessed using the State/Trait Anxiety Inventories as well as the adult and retrospective measures of behavioural inhibition (AMBI and RMBI, respectively. Participants were exposed to 1 of 4 possible pre-exposure contingencies: 30 CS, 30 US, 30 CS and 30 US explicitly unpaired pre-exposures, or context pre-exposure, immediately prior to standard delay training. Robust proactive interference was evident in all pre-exposure groups relative to context pre-exposure, independent of anxiety classification, with CR acquisition attenuated at similar rates. In addition, trait anxious individuals were found to have enhanced overall acquisition as well as greater proactive interference relative to non-vulnerable individuals. The findings suggest that anxiety vulnerable individuals learn implicit associations faster, an effect which persists after the introduction of new stimulus contingencies. This effect is not due to enhanced sensitivity to the US. Such differences would have implications for the development of anxiety psychopathology within a learning

Enhanced conditioned eyeblink response acquisition and proactive interference in anxiety vulnerable individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

Holloway, Jacqueline L; Trivedi, Payal; Myers, Catherine E; Servatius, Richard J

2012-01-01

In classical conditioning, proactive interference may arise from experience with the conditioned stimulus (CS), the unconditional stimulus (US), or both, prior to their paired presentations. Interest in the application of proactive interference has extended to clinical populations as either a risk factor for disorders or as a secondary sign. Although the current literature is dense with comparisons of stimulus pre-exposure effects in animals, such comparisons are lacking in human subjects. As such, interpretation of proactive interference over studies as well as its generalization and utility in clinical research is limited. The present study was designed to assess eyeblink response acquisition after equal numbers of CS, US, and explicitly unpaired CS and US pre-exposures, as well as to evaluate how anxiety vulnerability might modulate proactive interference. In the current study, anxiety vulnerability was assessed using the State/Trait Anxiety Inventories as well as the adult and retrospective measures of behavioral inhibition (AMBI and RMBI, respectively). Participants were exposed to 1 of 4 possible pre-exposure contingencies: 30 CS, 30 US, 30 CS, and 30 US explicitly unpaired pre-exposures, or Context pre-exposure, immediately prior to standard delay training. Robust proactive interference was evident in all pre-exposure groups relative to Context pre-exposure, independent of anxiety classification, with CR acquisition attenuated at similar rates. In addition, trait anxious individuals were found to have enhanced overall acquisition as well as greater proactive interference relative to non-vulnerable individuals. The findings suggest that anxiety vulnerable individuals learn implicit associations faster, an effect which persists after the introduction of new stimulus contingencies. This effect is not due to enhanced sensitivity to the US. Such differences would have implications for the development of anxiety psychopathology within a learning framework.

Comparative study on toxicity of ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles on Artemia salina: effect of pre-UV-A and visible light irradiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhuvaneshwari, M; Sagar, Bhawana; Doshi, Siddharth; Chandrasekaran, N; Mukherjee, Amitava

2017-02-01

This study evaluated the toxicity potential of ZnO and TiO 2 nanoparticles under pre-UV-A irradiation and visible light condition on Artemia salina. The nanoparticle suspension was prepared in seawater medium and exposed under pre-UV-A (0.23 mW/cm 2 ) and visible light (0.18 mW/cm 2 ) conditions. The aggregation profiles of both nanoparticles (NPs) and dissolution of ZnO NPs under both irradiation conditions at various kinetic intervals (1, 24, 48 h) were studied. The 48-h LC 50 values were found to be 27.62 and 71.63 mg/L for ZnO NPs and 117 and 120.9 mg/L for TiO 2 NPs under pre-UV-A and visible light conditions. ZnO NPs were found to be more toxic to A. salina as compared to TiO 2 NPs. The enhanced toxicity was observed under pre-UV-A-irradiated ZnO NPs, signifying its phototoxicity. Accumulation of ZnO and TiO 2 NPs into A. salina depends on the concentration of particles and type irradiations. Elimination of accumulated nanoparticles was also evident under both irradiation conditions. Other than ZnO NPs, the dissolved Zn 2+ also had a significant effect on toxicity and accumulation in A. salina. Increased catalase (CAT) activity in A. salina indicates the generation of oxidative stress due to NP interaction. Thus, this study provides an understanding of the toxicity of photoreactive ZnO and TiO 2 NPs as related to the effects of pre-UV-A and visible light irradiation.

Selected chemical composition changes in microwave-convective dried parsley leaves affected by ultrasound and steaming pre-treatments - An optimization approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Dadan, Magdalena; Rybak, Katarzyna; Wiktor, Artur; Nowacka, Malgorzata; Zubernik, Joanna; Witrowa-Rajchert, Dorota

2018-01-15

Parsley leaves contain a high amount of bioactive components (especially lutein), therefore it is crucial to select the most appropriate pre-treatment and drying conditions, in order to obtain high quality of dried leaves, which was the aim of this study. The optimization was done using response surface methodology (RSM) for the following factors: microwave power (100, 200, 300W), air temperature (20, 30, 40°C) and pre-treatment variant (ultrasound, steaming and dipping as a control). Total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity, chlorophyll and lutein contents (using UPLC-PDA) were determined in dried leaves. The analysed responses were dependent on the applied drying parameters and the pre-treatment type. The possibility of ultrasound and steam treatment application was proven and the optimal processing conditions were selected. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 1065.520 - Pre-test verification procedures and pre-test data collection.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... corrective action does not resolve the deficiency, you may request to use the contaminated system as an... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Pre-test verification procedures and pre-test data collection. 1065.520 Section 1065.520 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION...

The application of remote ischemic conditioning in cardiac surgery [version 1; referees: 3 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeljko J. Bosnjak

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Perioperative myocardial ischemia and infarction are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality following anesthesia and surgery. The discovery of endogenous cardioprotective mechanisms has led to testing of new methods to protect the human heart. These approaches have included ischemic pre-conditioning, per-conditioning, post-conditioning, and remote conditioning of the myocardium. Pre-conditioning and per-conditioning include brief and repetitive periods of sub-lethal ischemia before and during prolonged ischemia, respectively; and post-conditioning is applied at the onset of reperfusion. Remote ischemic conditioning involves transient, repetitive, non-lethal ischemia and reperfusion in one organ or tissue (remote from the heart that renders myocardium more resistant to lethal ischemia/reperfusion injury. In healthy, young hearts, many conditioning maneuvers can significantly increase the resistance of the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury. The large multicenter clinical trials with ischemic remote conditioning have not been proven successful in cardiac surgery thus far. The lack of clinical success is due to underlying risk factors that interfere with remote ischemic conditioning and the use of cardioprotective agents that have activated the endogenous cardioprotective mechanisms prior to remote ischemic conditioning. Future preclinical research using remote ischemic conditioning will need to be conducted using comorbid models.

Modeling ionospheric pre-reversal enhancement and plasma bubble growth rate using data assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Rajesh, P. K.; Lin, C. C. H.; Chen, C. H.; Matsuo, T.

2017-12-01

We report that assimilating total electron content (TEC) into a coupled thermosphere-ionosphere model by using the ensemble Kalman filter results in improved specification and forecast of eastward pre-reversal enhancement (PRE) electric field (E-field). Through data assimilation, the ionospheric plasma density, thermospheric winds, temperature and compositions are adjusted simultaneously. The improvement of dusk-side PRE E-field over the prior state is achieved primarily by intensification of eastward neutral wind. The improved E-field promotes a stronger plasma fountain and deepens the equatorial trough. As a result, the horizontal gradients of Pedersen conductivity and eastward wind are increased due to greater zonal electron density gradient and smaller ion drag at dusk, respectively. Such modifications provide preferable conditions and obtain a strengthened PRE magnitude closer to the observation. The adjustment of PRE E-field is enabled through self-consistent thermosphere and ionosphere coupling processes captured in the model. The assimilative outputs are further utilized to calculate the flux tube integrated Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth rate during March 2015 for investigation of global plasma bubble occurrence. Significant improvements in the calculated growth rates could be achieved because of the improved update of zonal electric field in the data assimilation forecast. The results suggest that realistic estimate or prediction of plasma bubble occurrence could be feasible by taking advantage of the data assimilation approach adopted in this work.

Pre-processing by data augmentation for improved ellipse fitting.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Pankaj; Belchamber, Erika R; Miklavcic, Stanley J

2018-01-01

Ellipse fitting is a highly researched and mature topic. Surprisingly, however, no existing method has thus far considered the data point eccentricity in its ellipse fitting procedure. Here, we introduce the concept of eccentricity of a data point, in analogy with the idea of ellipse eccentricity. We then show empirically that, irrespective of ellipse fitting method used, the root mean square error (RMSE) of a fit increases with the eccentricity of the data point set. The main contribution of the paper is based on the hypothesis that if the data point set were pre-processed to strategically add additional data points in regions of high eccentricity, then the quality of a fit could be improved. Conditional validity of this hypothesis is demonstrated mathematically using a model scenario. Based on this confirmation we propose an algorithm that pre-processes the data so that data points with high eccentricity are replicated. The improvement of ellipse fitting is then demonstrated empirically in real-world application of 3D reconstruction of a plant root system for phenotypic analysis. The degree of improvement for different underlying ellipse fitting methods as a function of data noise level is also analysed. We show that almost every method tested, irrespective of whether it minimizes algebraic error or geometric error, shows improvement in the fit following data augmentation using the proposed pre-processing algorithm.

The effectiveness of CCDSR learning model to improve skills of creating lesson plan and worksheet science process skill (SPS) for pre-service physics teacher

Science.gov (United States)

Limatahu, I.; Suyatno; Wasis; Prahani, B. K.

2018-03-01

In the previous research, CCDSR (Condition, Construction, Development, Simulation, and Reflection) learning model has been developed to improve science process skills for pre-service physics teacher. This research is aimed to analyze the effectiveness of CCDSR learning model towards the improvement skills of creating lesson plan and worksheet of Science Process Skill (SPS) for pre-service physics teacher in academic year 2016/2017. This research used one group pre-test and post-test design on 12 pre-service physics teacher at Physics Education, University of Khairun. Data collection was conducted through test and observation. Creating lesson plan and worksheet SPS skills of pre-service physics teacher measurement were conducted through Science Process Skill Evaluation Sheet (SPSES). The data analysis technique was done by Wilcoxon t-test and n-gain. The CCDSR learning model consists of 5 phases, including (1) Condition, (2) Construction, (3) Development, (4) Simulation, and (5) Reflection. The results showed that there was a significant increase in creating lesson plan and worksheet SPS skills of pre-service physics teacher at α = 5% and n-gain average of moderate category. Thus, the CCDSR learning model is effective for improving skills of creating lesson plan and worksheet SPS for pre-service physics teacher.

Gross Motor Development of Malaysian Hearing Impaired Male Pre- and Early School Children

Science.gov (United States)

Zawi, Khairi; Lian, Denise Koh Choon; Abdullah, Rozlina Tan

2014-01-01

Acquisition of gross motor skill is a natural developmental process for children. This aspect of human development increases with one's chronological age, irrespective of any developmental conditions. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of gross motor skill development among pre- and early school-aged children with motor disability.…

Study and Optimization on graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, and its application to metal adsorbent

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueki, Yuji; Chandra Dafader, Nirmal; Hoshina, Hiroyuki; Seko, Noriaki; Tamada, Masao

2012-01-01

Radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto non-woven polyethylene (NWPE) fabric was achieved under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, without using unique apparatus such as glass ampoules or vacuum lines. To attain graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, the effects of the pre-irradiation dose, pre-irradiation atmosphere, pre-irradiation temperature, de-aeration of GMA-emulsion, grafting atmosphere in a reactor, and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in GMA-emulsion on the degree of grafting (Dg) were investigated in detail. It was found that the DO concentration had the strongest influence, the pre-irradiation dose, de-aeration of emulsion and grafting atmosphere had a relatively strong impact, and the pre-irradiation atmosphere and pre-irradiation temperature had the least effect on Dg. The optimum DO concentration before grafting was 2.0 mg/L or less. When a polyethylene bottle was used as a reactor instead of a glass ampoule, graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions could be achieved under the following conditions; the pre-irradiation dose was more than 50 kGy, the volume ratio of GMA-emulsion to air was 50:1 or less, and the DO concentration in GMA-emulsion during grafting was below 2.0 mg/L. Under these grafting conditions, Dg was controlled within a range of up to 362%. The prepared GMA–grafted NWPE (GMA–g-NWPE) fabric was modified with a phosphoric acid to obtain an adsorbent for heavy metal ions. In the column-mode adsorption tests of Pb(II), the adsorption performance of the produced phosphorylated GMA–g-NWPE fabric (fibrous metal adsorbent) was not essentially dependent on the flow rate of the feed. The breakthrough points of 200, 500, and 1000 h −1 in space velocity were 483, 477 and 462 bed volumes, and the breakthrough capacities of the three flow rates were 1.16, 1.15 and 1.16 mmol-Pb(II)/g-adsorbent.

Study and Optimization on graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, and its application to metal adsorbent

Science.gov (United States)

Ueki, Yuji; Chandra Dafader, Nirmal; Hoshina, Hiroyuki; Seko, Noriaki; Tamada, Masao

2012-07-01

Radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto non-woven polyethylene (NWPE) fabric was achieved under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, without using unique apparatus such as glass ampoules or vacuum lines. To attain graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions, the effects of the pre-irradiation dose, pre-irradiation atmosphere, pre-irradiation temperature, de-aeration of GMA-emulsion, grafting atmosphere in a reactor, and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in GMA-emulsion on the degree of grafting (Dg) were investigated in detail. It was found that the DO concentration had the strongest influence, the pre-irradiation dose, de-aeration of emulsion and grafting atmosphere had a relatively strong impact, and the pre-irradiation atmosphere and pre-irradiation temperature had the least effect on Dg. The optimum DO concentration before grafting was 2.0 mg/L or less. When a polyethylene bottle was used as a reactor instead of a glass ampoule, graft polymerization under normal pressure and air atmospheric conditions could be achieved under the following conditions; the pre-irradiation dose was more than 50 kGy, the volume ratio of GMA-emulsion to air was 50:1 or less, and the DO concentration in GMA-emulsion during grafting was below 2.0 mg/L. Under these grafting conditions, Dg was controlled within a range of up to 362%. The prepared GMA-grafted NWPE (GMA-g-NWPE) fabric was modified with a phosphoric acid to obtain an adsorbent for heavy metal ions. In the column-mode adsorption tests of Pb(II), the adsorption performance of the produced phosphorylated GMA-g-NWPE fabric (fibrous metal adsorbent) was not essentially dependent on the flow rate of the feed. The breakthrough points of 200, 500, and 1000 h-1 in space velocity were 483, 477 and 462 bed volumes, and the breakthrough capacities of the three flow rates were 1.16, 1.15 and 1.16 mmol-Pb(II)/g-adsorbent.

Preliminary thermal-hydraulic and structural strength analyses for pre-moderator of cold moderator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aso, Tomokazu; Kaminaga, Masanori; Terada, Atsuhiko; Hino, Ryutaro

2001-08-01

A light-water cooled pre-moderator with a thin-walled structure made of aluminum alloy is installed around a liquid hydrogen moderator in order to enhance the neutron performance of a MW-scale spallation target system which is being developed in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). Since the pre-moderator is needed to be located close to a target working as a neutron source, it is indispensable to remove nuclear heat deposition in the pre-moderator effectively by means of smooth water flow without flow stagnation. Also, the structural integrity of the thin-walled structure should be kept against the water pressure. Preliminary thermal-hydraulic analytical results showed that the water temperature rise could be suppressed less than 1degC while keeping the smooth water flow, which would assure the expected neutron performance. As for the structural integrity, several measures to meet allowable stress conditions of aluminum alloy were proposed on the basis of the preliminary structural strength analyses. (author)

Pre-test calculations for FAL-19 and FAL-20 using the ITHACA code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradley, S.J.; Ketchell, N.

1992-08-01

Falcon is a small scale experimental apparatus, designed to simulate the transport of fission products through the primary circuit and containment of a nuclear power reactor under severe accident conditions. Information gained from the experiments in Falcon will be used to guide and assist in understanding the much larger Phebus-FP experiments. This report presents the results of pre-test calculations performed using ITHACA for the two tests: FAL-19 and FAL-20. Initial calculations were concerned solely with the thermal-hydraulic conditions in the containment while later ones briefly investigated the effect of the injection of an insoluble aerosol into the containment with the same thermal-hydraulic conditions. (author)

Thermodynamic analysis and economical evaluation of two 310-80 K pre-cooling stage configurations for helium refrigeration and liquefaction cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Z. G.; Zhuang, M.; Jiang, Q. F.; Y Zhang, Q.; Feng, H. S.

2017-12-01

In 310-80 K pre-cooling stage, the temperature of the HP helium stream reduces to about 80 K where nearly 73% of the enthalpy drop from room temperature to 4.5 K occurs. Apart from the most common liquid nitrogen pre-cooling, another 310-80 K pre-cooling configuration with turbine is employed in some helium cryoplants. In this paper, thermodynamic and economical performance of these two kinds of 310-80 K pre-cooling stage configurations has been studied at different operating conditions taking discharge pressure, isentropic efficiency of turbines and liquefaction rate as independent parameters. The exergy efficiency, total UA of heat exchangers and operating cost of two configurations are computed. This work will provide a reference for choosing 310-80 K pre-cooling stage configuration during design.

Maritime archaeology of Gujarat: Northwest coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A; Sundaresh

dominated the Indian Ocean for over a millennia. Underwater investigations have been carried out at various places along the Saurashtra coast and a large number of stone anchors were found. The effect of tide when using jetties and anchoring points along...

A Prevention of Pre-eclampsia with the Use of Acetylsalicylic Acid and Low-molecular Weight Heparin - Molecular Mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Darmochwal-Kolarz, Dorota; Kolarz, Bogdan; Korzeniewski, Michal; Kimber-Trojnar, Zaneta; Patro-Malysza, Jolanta; Mierzynski, Radzisław; Przegalinska-Kałamucka, Monika; Oleszczuk, Jan

Pre-eclampsia appears to be the main cause for the maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Pregnant women with pre-eclampsia are more likely to be threatened with conditions which potentially may be lethal, such as: disseminated intravascular coagulation, cerebral hemorrhage, liver and renal failure. Pregnancy complicated with pre-eclampsia is also associated with a greater risk for iatrogenic prematurity, intrauterine growth retardation, premature abruption of placenta, and even intrauterine fetal death. In the majority of cases the reasons for arterial hypertension among pregnant women remain obscure. For the past decades, there were many abortive attempts in the use of some microelements, vitamins or specific diets, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, for the prophylaxis of pre-eclampsia. Recently, it has been shown that a prevention of pre-eclampsia with the use of a lowmolecular- weight heparins (LMWHs) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) could considerably reduce the frequency of preeclampsia. In this review, we present the studies concerning the applications of LMWHs and aspirin in the prophylaxis of pre-eclampsia and some important data about the mechanisms of anti-inflammatory actions of LMWHs and ASA.

Pre-HEAT: submillimeter site testing and astronomical spectra from Dome A, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

Kulesa, C. A.; Walker, C. K.; Schein, M.; Golish, D.; Tothill, N.; Siegel, P.; Weinreb, S.; Jones, G.; Bardin, J.; Jacobs, K.; Martin, C. L.; Storey, J.; Ashley, M.; Lawrence, J.; Luong-Van, D.; Everett, J.; Wang, L.; Feng, L.; Zhu, Z.; Yan, J.; Yang, J.; Zhang, X.-G.; Cui, X.; Yuan, X.; Hu, J.; Xu, Z.; Jiang, Z.; Yang, H.; Li, Y.; Sun, B.; Qin, W.; Shang, Z.

2008-07-01

Pre-HEAT is a 20 cm aperture submillimeter-wave telescope with a 660 GHz (450 micron) Schottky diode heterodyne receiver and digital FFT spectrometer for the Plateau Observatory (PLATO) developed by the University of New South Wales. In January 2008 it was deployed to Dome A, the summit of the Antarctic plateau, as part of a scientific traverse led by the Polar Research Institute of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dome A may be one of the best sites in the world for ground based Terahertz astronomy, based on the exceptionally cold, dry and stable conditions which prevail there. Pre-HEAT is measuring the 450 micron sky opacity at Dome A and mapping the Galactic Plane in the 13CO J=6-5 line, constituting the first submillimeter measurements from Dome A. It is field-testing many of the key technologies for its namesake -- a successor mission called HEAT: the High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz telescope. Exciting prospects for submillimeter astronomy from Dome A and the status of Pre-HEAT will be presented.

PRE: A framework for enterprise integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whiteside, R.A.; Friedman-Hill, E.J. [Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States); Detry, R.J. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

1998-03-01

Sandia National Laboratories` Product Realization Environment (PRE) is a lightweight, CORBA based framework for the integration of a broad variety of applications. These applications are wrapped for use in the PRE framework as reusable components. For example, some of the PRE components currently available include: (1) product data management (PDM) system, (2) human resources database, several finite element analysis programs, and (3) a variety of image and document format converters. PRE enables the development of end user applications (as Java applets, for example) that use these components as building blocks. To aid such development, the PreLib library (available in both C++ and Java) permits both wrapping and using these components without knowledge of either CORBA or the security mechanisms used.

Effects of Pre-Strain on the Aging Behavior of Al 7075 Alloy for Hot-Stamping Capability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seon-Ho Jung

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The present study investigates the significance of pre-strain on the T6 aging behavior of an Al 7075 alloy for evaluating the applicability of hot stamping. In practice, the alloy was pre-strained up to 15% during solution heat treatment at 480 °C prior to quenching, and artificial aging was conducted at 120 °C. The peak aging time and precipitation behavior were compared with the alloy with pre-straining at room temperature after quenching but immediately before the artificial aging. The results showed that increasing amounts of pre-strain tend to reduce the aging time up to 50% for achieving peak hardness, which is consistent with the alloy at the T6 condition. There is a limitation for the maximum attainable amount of pre-strain of 10% for the homogeneous distribution of strain when the alloy is strained at room temperature (RT due to the low formability. The pre-strained alloy as hot stamping exhibited lowering of the peak reaction temperatures for dissolution and formation of Guinier–Preston (GP-Zones and precipitated with increasing amounts of pre-strain towards 15% through the differential scanning calorimetry analysis, thereby confirming the shortening of the peak aging time. The present study confirms the excellent potential of the hot-stamping process to extend the capability of an Al 7075 alloy.

Pre-tuning of TRISTAN superconducting RF cavities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tajima, Tsuyoshi; Furuya, Takaaki; Suzuki, Toshiji; Iino, Yohsuke.

1990-01-01

Pre-tuning of thirty-two TRISTAN superconducting cavities has been done. In this paper are described the pre-tuning system and the results of all the cavities. The average field flatness was 1.4 % after pre-tuning. From our experience, the followings are important, 1) to evacuate the cavity during the process of the pre-tuning to avoid the uncertainty in evacuation, 2) pre-tuning is needed after annealing because it causes changes of the cell length and the field profile and 3) field flatness sometimes changes when expanded and 4) cells should not be expanded more than 1.5 mm after pre-tuning since inelastic deformation occurs. (author)

Pre-participation screening of asymptomatic athletes : "Don't do stupid stuff".

Science.gov (United States)

Mosterd, A

2018-03-01

Catastrophic events, be it traffic accidents, natural disasters or homicides, always lead to scrutiny. Could we have seen the event coming and could it have been prevented? In the case of a sudden cardiac arrest of a seemingly healthy athlete the public outcry is not any different. Despite an intrinsic appeal for screening to prevent similar events, there is no evidence that justifies routine cardiovascular pre-participation screening of athletes. On balance, cardiovascular screening in athletes will most likely do more harm than good. Fatal exercise-related cardiac arrests do not occur very often. The true diagnostic yield of the pre-participation evaluation is not known and once a cardiac condition has been identified, the most appropriate intervention is often unclear. It follows that pre-participation screening of large groups of athletes without known cardiac disease will inevitably result in many false positive findings, while at the same time providing a false sense of security to those screened negative. Except for compelling reasons (e. g. cascade screening, research settings, professional athletes), physicians should not engage in routine examination of asymptomatic athletes to prevent cardiac events.

Comparison of the South Florida Natural System Model with Pre-canal Everglades Hydrology Estimated from Historical Sources

Science.gov (United States)

McVoy, Christopher; Park, Winifred A.; Obeysekera, Jayantha

1996-01-01

Preservation and restoration of the remaining Everglades ecosystem is focussed on two aspects: improving upstream water quality and improving 'hydropatterns' - the timing, depth and flow of surface water. Restoration of hydropatterns requires knowledge of the original pre-canal drainage conditions as well as an understanding of the soil, topo-graphic, and vegetation changes that have taken place since canal drainage began in the 1880's. The Natural System Model (NSM), developed by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) and Everglades National Park, uses estimates of pre-drainage vegetation and topography to estimate the pre-drainage hydrologic response of the Everglades. Sources of model uncertainty include: (1) the algorithms, (2) the parameters (particularly those relating to vegetation roughness and evapotranspiration), and (3) errors in the assumed pre-drainage vegetation distribution and pre-drainage topography. Other studies are concentrating on algorithmic and parameter sources of uncertainty. In this study we focus on the NSM output -- predicted hydropattern -- and evaluate this by comparison with all available direct and indirect information on pre-drainage hydropatterns. The unpublished and published literature is being searched exhaustively for observations of water depth, flow direction, flow velocity and hydroperiod, during the period prior and just after drainage (1840-1920). Additionally, a comprehensive map of soils in the Everglades region, prepared in the 1940's by personnel from the University of Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Everglades Drainage District, is being used to identify wetland soils and to infer the spatial distribution of pre-drainage hydrologic conditions. Detailed study of this map and other early soil and vegetation maps in light of the history of drainage activities will reveal patterns of change and possible errors in the input to the

Surplus, Scarcity and Soil Fertility in Pre-Industrial Austrian Agriculture—The Sustainability Costs of Inequality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Gizicki-Neundlinger

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper takes a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER perspective to integrate important aspects of social inequality into Socio-Ecological Metabolism (SEM research. SEM has dealt with biophysical features of pre-industrial agricultural systems from a largely apolitical perspective, neglecting social relations and conditions of peasant production and reproduction. One of the politically and economically most important manorial systems in Early Modern Austria (Grundherrschaft Grafenegg serves as a case study to reconstruct the unequal distribution of central resources between ruling landlords and subjected peasants. We show that peasant land use systems generated small surpluses only, whereas landlords enjoyed significant economies of scale. Furthermore, we explore what these conditions of landlord surplus and peasant scarcity implied for their respective agro-ecological sustainability. Finally, we argue that within pre-industrial agrarian systems sustainability costs of inequality were severely limiting margins for agricultural intensification and growth of peasant economies.

PRE-CASKETSS: an input data generation computer program for thermal and structural analysis of nuclear fuel shipping casks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikushima, Takeshi

1988-12-01

A computer program PRE-CASKETSS has been developed for the purpose of input data generation for thermal and structural analysis computer code system CASKETSS (CASKETSS means a modular code system for CASK Evaluation code system for Thermal and Structural Safety). Main features of PRE-CASKETSS are as follow; (1) Function of input data generation for thermal and structural analysis computer programs is provided in the program. (2) Two- and three-dimensional mesh generation for finite element and finite difference programs are available in the program. (3) The capacity of the material input data generation are provided in the program. (4) The boundary conditions, the load conditions and the initial conditions are capable in the program. (5) This computer program operate both the time shearing system and the batch system. In the paper, brief illustration of calculation method, input data and sample calculations are presented. (author)

The Then and Now of Reference Conditions in Streams of the Central Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Huggins, D.; Angelo, R.; Baker, D. S.; Welker, G.

2005-05-01

Models of contemporary and pre-settlement reference conditions were constructed for streams that once drained the tallgrass prairies of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri (e.g. Western Corn Belt Plains ecoregion), and for streams within the heart of the mixed grass prairie (e.g. Southwestern Tablelands ecoregion). Data on watershed, habitat, chemistry and biology compiled for existing reference streams (least or minimally impacted systems) were used to characterize contemporary reference conditions. Contemporary reference conditions within these two prairie regions are contrasted against hypothetical pre-settlement conditions using information from the best streams (upper 25%) of the current reference population, historical accounts, museum records, natural heritage programs, Public Land Survey and current remote sensing data. Similar comparisons were made between historical and current reference conditions for the Southwestern Tablelands located in central Kansas and Oklahoma. Much of this region remains in mixed grass prairie; has limited hydrological alterations (e.g. impoundments, dewatering) and low human and livestock densities. Within the tablelands these factors have preserved reference conditions that resemble historic conditions. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons indicate that many regions within the Central Plains require caution when using "least disturbed" reference streams and conditions to identify regional biological integrity goals relative to the Clean Water Act.

Pre-test analysis results of a PWR steel lined pre-stressed concrete containment model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basha, S.M.; Ghosh, Barnali; Patnaik, R.; Ramanujam, S.; Singh, R.K.; Kushwaha, H.S.; Venkat Raj, V.

2000-02-01

Pre-stressed concrete nuclear containment serves as the ultimate barrier against the release of radioactivity to the environment. This ultimate barrier must be checked for its ultimate load carrying capacity. BARC participated in a Round Robin analysis activity which is co-sponsored by Sandia National Laboratory, USA and Nuclear Power Engineering Corporation Japan for the pre-test prediction of a 1:4 size Pre-stressed Concrete Containment Vessel. In house finite element code ULCA was used to make the test predictions of displacements and strains at the standard output locations. The present report focuses on the important landmarks of the pre-test results, in sequential terms of first crack appearance, loss of pre-stress, first through thickness crack, rebar and liner yielding and finally liner tearing at the ultimate load. Global and local failure modes of the containment have been obtained from the analysis. Finally sensitivity of the numerical results with respect to different types of liners and different constitutive models in terms of bond strength between concrete and steel and tension-stiffening parameters are examined. The report highlights the important features which could be observed during the test and guidelines are given for improving the prediction in the post test computation after the test data is available. (author)

Experience of a Neural Network Imitator Applied to Diagnosis of Pre-pathological Conditions in Humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belyashov, D.N.; Emelyanova, I.V.; Tichshenko, A.V.; Makarenko, N.G.; Sultanova, B.G.

1998-01-01

The Governmental Resolution of the RK 'Program of Medical Rehabilitation for People Influenced by Nuclear Tests at STS in 1949-1990' was published in March 1997. Implementation of the program requires first of all to create the effective methods of operative diagnostics of arid zones' population. To our mind, for this aims systems analysis with elements of neural network classification is more effective. We demonstrate such an approach using the example of the modem diagnostics system creating to detect the pre-pathological states among population by express analysis and personal particulars. The following considerations were used in the base of the training set: 1) any formalism must be based oneself upon wealth of phenomenology (experience, intuition, the presence of symptoms); 2) typical attributes of disease can be divided on 2 groups - subjective and objective. The common state of patient is characterised by the first group and it can have no intercommunication with disease. The second one is obtained by laboratory inspection and it is not connected with patient sensations. Each of the objective at-tributes can be the attribute of several illnesses at once. In this case both the subjective and objective features must be used together; 3) acceptability of any scheme can be substantiated only statistically. The question about justifiability and sufficiency of training set always demands separate discussion. Personal particulars are more available for creating training set. The set must be professionally oriented in order to reduce of selection effects. For our experiment the fully-connected neural network ( computer software, imitating the work of neural computer) 'Multi Neuron' was chosen. Feature space using for the net work was created from the 206 personal particulars. The research aimed to determine pre-pathological states of the urinary system organs among industrial, office and professional workers in the mining industry connected with phosphorus

Model of pre-harvest quality of pineapple guava fruits (Acca sellowiana (O. berg burret as a function of weather conditions of the crops

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfonso Parra-Coronado

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Weather conditions influence the quality parameters of pineapple guava fruit during growth and development. The aim of this study was to propose a model of pre-harvest fruit quality as a function of weather conditions in the cultivation area. Twenty trees were flagged per farm in 2 localities of the Department of Cundinamarca, Colombia: Tenjo (2,580 m.a.s.l.; 12.5 °C; relative humidity between 74 and 86%; mean annual precipitation 765 mm and San Francisco de Sales (1,800 m.a.s.l.; 20.6 °C; relative humidity between 63 and 97%; mean annual precipitation 1,493 mm. Measurements were performed every 7 days during 2 harvest periods starting on days 96 (Tenjo and 99 (San Francisco de Sales after anthesis and until harvest. The models were obtained using Excel® Solver, and a set of data was obtained for the 2 different cultivar periods and each study site. The results showed that altitude, growing degree days, and accumulated precipitation are the weather variables with the highest influence on the physicochemical characteristics of the fruit during growth. The models of fresh weight, total titratable acidity, and skin firmness better predict the development of fruit quality during growth and development. Equations were obtained for increases of length and diameter as a function of fruit weight and for days from anthesis as a function of growing degree days and altitude. The regression analysis parameters showed that the models adequately predicted the fruit characteristics during growth for both localities, and a cross-validation analysis showed a good statistical fit between the estimated and observed values.

Nonlocal matching condition and scale-invariant spectrum in bouncing cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chu, C.-S.; Furuta, K.; Lin, F.-L.

2006-01-01

In cosmological scenarios such as the pre-big bang scenario or the ekpyrotic scenario, a matching condition between the metric perturbations in the pre-big bang phase and those in the post big bang phase is often assumed. Various matching conditions have been considered in the literature. Nevertheless obtaining a scale-invariant CMB spectrum via a concrete mechanism remains impossible. In this paper, we examine this problem from the point of view of local causality. We begin with introducing the notion of local causality and explain how it constrains the form of the matching condition. We then prove a no-go theorem: independent of the details of the matching condition, a scale-invariant spectrum is impossible as long as the local causality condition is satisfied. In our framework, it is easy to show that a violation of local causality around the bounce is needed in order to give a scale-invariant spectrum. We study a specific scenario of this possibility by considering a nonlocal effective theory inspired by noncommutative geometry around the bounce and show that a scale-invariant spectrum is possible. Moreover we demonstrate that the magnitude of the spectrum is compatible with observations if the bounce is assumed to occur at an energy scale which is a few orders of magnitude below the Planckian energy scale

SU-F-T-318: Sensitivity and Stability of OSLDs with Filled Deep Electron/hole Traps Under Pre-Irradiation and Bleaching Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J; Park, S; Lee, H; Kim, H; Choi, C; Park, J

2016-01-01

Purpose: This work evaluated the characteristics of optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) with fully filled deep electron/hole traps (OSLDfull) with the bleaching conditions according to the accumulated dose. Methods: The OSLDs were first pre-irradiated with a Co-60 gamma ray at more than 5 kGy, so as to fill the deep electron and hole traps. Using a 6-MV beam, the OSLDfull characteristics were investigated in terms of the full bleaching, fading, dose linearity, and dose sensitivity obtained in response to the accumulated dose values. To facilitate a comparison of the dose sensitivity, OSLDs with un-filled deep electron/hole traps (OSLDempty) were investigated in the same manner. A long-pass filter was used to exclude bleaching-source wavelengths of less than 520 nm. Various bleaching time and wavelength combinations were used in order to determine the optimal bleaching conditions for the OSLD full. Results: The fading for the OSLDfull exhibited stable signals after 8 min, for both 1- and 10-Gy. For 4-h bleaching time and an unfiltered bleaching device, the supralinear index values for the OSLDfull were 1.003, 1.002, 0.999, and 1.001 for doses of 2, 4, 7, and 10 Gy, respectively. For a 65-Gy accumulated dose with a 5-Gy fraction, no variation in dose sensitivity was obtained for the OSLDfull, within a standard deviation of 0.85%, whereas the OSLDempty dose sensitivity decreased by approximately 2.3% per 10 Gy. The filtered bleaching device yielded a highly stable sensitivity for OSLDfull, independent of bleaching time and within a standard deviation of 0.71%, whereas the OSLDempty dose sensitivity decreased by approximately 4.2% per 10 Gy for an accumulated dose of 25 Gy with a 5-Gy fraction. Conclusion: Under the bleaching conditions determined in this study, clinical dosimetry with OSLDfull is highly stable, having an accuracy of 1% with no change in dose sensitivity or linearity at clinical doses. This work was supported by a National Research

Contribution of the pre-SMA to the production of words and non-speech oral motor gestures, as revealed by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

Science.gov (United States)

Tremblay, Pascale; Gracco, Vincent L

2009-05-01

An emerging theoretical perspective, largely based on neuroimaging studies, suggests that the pre-SMA is involved in planning cognitive aspects of motor behavior and language, such as linguistic and non-linguistic response selection. Neuroimaging studies, however, cannot indicate whether a brain region is equally important to all tasks in which it is activated. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the pre-SMA is an important component of response selection, using an interference technique. High frequency repetitive TMS (10 Hz) was used to interfere with the functioning of the pre-SMA during tasks requiring selection of words and oral gestures under different selection modes (forced, volitional) and attention levels (high attention, low attention). Results show that TMS applied to the pre-SMA interferes selectively with the volitional selection condition, resulting in longer RTs. The low- and high-attention forced selection conditions were unaffected by TMS, demonstrating that the pre-SMA is sensitive to selection mode but not attentional demands. TMS similarly affected the volitional selection of words and oral gestures, reflecting the response-independent nature of the pre-SMA contribution to response selection. The implications of these results are discussed.

Progress in Management of Sediment Bypassing at Coastal Inlets: Natural Bypassing, Weir Jetties, Jetty Spurs, and Engineering Aids in Design

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Seabergh, William C; Kraus, Nicholas C

2003-01-01

.... Artificial bypassing mimics or preserves the pathways of sediment in the littoral zone and harmonizes the requirement for deepening navigation channels within the context of the natural sediment...

Exposure to light enhances pre-adult fitness in two dark-dwelling sympatric species of ants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharma Vijay

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In insects, circadian clocks play a key role in enhancing fitness by regulating life history traits such as developmental time and adult lifespan. These clocks use environmental light/dark (LD cycles to fine-tune a wide range of behavioral and physiological processes. To study the effect of environmental LD conditions on pre-adult fitness components, we used two dark-dwelling sympatric species of ants (the night active Camponotus compressus and the day active Camponotus paria, which normally develop underground and have fairly long pre-adult developmental time. Results Our results suggest that ants develop fastest as pre-adults when maintained under constant light (LL, followed closely by 12:12 hr light/dark (LD, and then constant darkness (DD. While light exposure alters developmental rates of almost all stages of development, the overall pre-adult development in LL is speeded-up (relative to DD by ~37% (34 days in C. compressus and by ~35% (31 days in C. paria. In LD too, development is faster (relative to DD by ~29% (26 days in C. compressus and by ~28% (25 days in C. paria. Pre-adult viability of both species is also higher under LL and LD compared to DD. While pre-adult development time and viability is enhanced in LL and LD, clutch-size undergoes reduction, at least in C. compressus. Conclusion Exposure to light enhances pre-adult fitness in two dark-dwelling species of Camponotus by speeding-up development and by enhancing viability. This suggests that social ants use environmental light/dark cycles to modulate key life history traits such as pre-adult development time and viability.

Isometric pre-conditioning blunts exercise-induced muscle damage but does not attenuate changes in running economy following downhill running.

Science.gov (United States)

Lima, Leonardo C R; Bassan, Natália M; Cardozo, Adalgiso C; Gonçalves, Mauro; Greco, Camila C; Denadai, Benedito S

2018-05-08

Running economy (RE) is impaired following unaccustomed eccentric-biased exercises that induce muscle damage. It is also known that muscle damage is reduced when maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) are performed at a long muscle length 2-4 days prior to maximal eccentric exercise with the same muscle, a phenomenon that can be described as isometric pre-conditioning (IPC). We tested the hypothesis that IPC could attenuate muscle damage and changes in RE following downhill running. Thirty untrained men were randomly assigned into experimental or control groups and ran downhill on a treadmill (-15%) for 30 min. Participants in the experimental group completed 10 MVIC in a leg press machine two days prior to downhill running, while participants in the control group did not perform IPC. The magnitude of changes in muscle soreness determined 48 h after downhill running was greater for the control group (122 ± 28 mm) than for the experimental group (92 ± 38 mm). Isometric peak torque recovered faster in the experimental group compared with the control group (3 days vs. no full recovery, respectively). No significant effect of IPC was found for countermovement jump height, serum creatine kinase activity or any parameters associated with RE. These results supported the hypothesis that IPC attenuates changes in markers of muscle damage. The hypothesis that IPC attenuates changes in RE was not supported by our data. It appears that the mechanisms involved in changes in markers of muscle damage and parameters associated with RE following downhill running are not completely shared. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A review of blood sample handling and pre-processing for metabolomics studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernandes, Vinicius Veri; Barbas, Coral; Dudzik, Danuta

2017-09-01

Metabolomics has been found to be applicable to a wide range of clinical studies, bringing a new era for improving clinical diagnostics, early disease detection, therapy prediction and treatment efficiency monitoring. A major challenge in metabolomics, particularly untargeted studies, is the extremely diverse and complex nature of biological specimens. Despite great advances in the field there still exist fundamental needs for considering pre-analytical variability that can introduce bias to the subsequent analytical process and decrease the reliability of the results and moreover confound final research outcomes. Many researchers are mainly focused on the instrumental aspects of the biomarker discovery process, and sample related variables sometimes seem to be overlooked. To bridge the gap, critical information and standardized protocols regarding experimental design and sample handling and pre-processing are highly desired. Characterization of a range variation among sample collection methods is necessary to prevent results misinterpretation and to ensure that observed differences are not due to an experimental bias caused by inconsistencies in sample processing. Herein, a systematic discussion of pre-analytical variables affecting metabolomics studies based on blood derived samples is performed. Furthermore, we provide a set of recommendations concerning experimental design, collection, pre-processing procedures and storage conditions as a practical review that can guide and serve for the standardization of protocols and reduction of undesirable variation. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Discovery of three x-ray luminous pre-main-sequence stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feigelson, E.D.; Kriss, G.A.

1981-01-01

Three X-ray sources found serendipitously in Einstein images of the Taurus-Auriga cloud complex were observed at the McGraw-Hill Observatory and are found to be associated with approx.12 mag stars with weak Hα emission. The stars lie on the edges of dark clouds and are spectroscopically similar to the least active emission-line pre-main-sequence stars. Although they lie well above the ZAMS in the H-R diagram, they do not exhibit ultraviolet excess, strong optical variability, or evidence for mass outflow/inflow characteristics of the more active T Tauri stars. Their only unusual property is high X-ray luminosity (approx.10 30 ergs s1). It is suggested that the X-ray emission from pre-main-sequence stars is not closely linked to the conditions giving rise to their unusual spectroscopic properties. The emission may instead represent an enhanced form of the coronal activity producing X-rays observed in late-type main-sequence stars

New record of Scleractinian coral Astrangia sp. from Indian waters

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Anil, A.C.; Wagh, A.B.

The scleractinian coral Astrangia was found to have settled on aluminium and mild steel panels exposed at the two stations at Cortalim beach and oil jetty of Marmugao harbour, Goa, India. This is a new record of the specimen in these waters...

Ecological response of foraminiferal component in the sediments of Kharo Creek, Kachchh (Gujarat), west coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Chaturvedi, S.K.; Nigam, R.; Khare, N.

emphasize on the possibility of the detailed foraminiferal study in the creek on seasonal basis as such study will form the base line data to asses the future impact of industrial pollution (if any) as a jetty for offloading cement is being constructed...

Diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging and pre-surgical evaluation in the assessment of traumatic intra-articular knee disorders in children and adolescents: what conditions still pose diagnostic challenges?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gans, Itai; Ganley, Theodore J. [The Children' s Hospital of Philadelphia, Division of Orthopaedics, 34th and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Bedoya, Maria A.; Ho-Fung, Victor [The Children' s Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Radiology, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

2014-08-31

Diagnosis of intra-articular lesions in children based on clinical examination and MRI is particularly challenging. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation of the knee in pediatric patients relative to arthroscopic evaluation as the gold standard. We report diagnoses frequently missed or inaccurately diagnosed pre-operatively. We conducted a retrospective review of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation in children and adolescents ages 1-17 years who were treated by knee arthroscopy during a 21/2-year period. All MRIs were reviewed by a pediatric radiologist blinded to clinical findings. Pediatric orthopedic clinic notes were reviewed for pre-surgical evaluation (based on physical exam, radiograph, MR images and radiologist's MRI report). Arthroscopic findings were used as the gold standard. We calculated the percentages of diagnoses at arthroscopy missed on both MRI and pre-surgical evaluation. Diagnostic accuracy between children and adolescents and in patients with one pathological lesion vs. those with >1 lesion was analyzed. We performed a second review of MR images of the missed or over-called MRI diagnoses with knowledge of arthroscopic findings. We included 178 children and adolescents. The most common diagnoses missed on MRI or pre-surgical evaluation but found at arthroscopy were: discoid meniscus (8/30, or 26.7% of cases); lateral meniscal tears (15/80, or 18.8% of cases); intra-articular loose bodies (5/36, or 13.9% of cases), and osteochondral injuries (9/73, or 12.3% of cases). Overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation was 92.7% and 95.3%, respectively. No significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between children and adolescents was observed. When multiple intra-articular lesions were present, lateral meniscal tears were more likely to be inaccurately diagnosed (missed or over-called) on both MRI (P = 0.009) and pre-surgical evaluation (P < 0.001). Overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI and pre

Diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging and pre-surgical evaluation in the assessment of traumatic intra-articular knee disorders in children and adolescents: what conditions still pose diagnostic challenges?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gans, Itai; Ganley, Theodore J.; Bedoya, Maria A.; Ho-Fung, Victor

2015-01-01

Diagnosis of intra-articular lesions in children based on clinical examination and MRI is particularly challenging. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation of the knee in pediatric patients relative to arthroscopic evaluation as the gold standard. We report diagnoses frequently missed or inaccurately diagnosed pre-operatively. We conducted a retrospective review of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation in children and adolescents ages 1-17 years who were treated by knee arthroscopy during a 21/2-year period. All MRIs were reviewed by a pediatric radiologist blinded to clinical findings. Pediatric orthopedic clinic notes were reviewed for pre-surgical evaluation (based on physical exam, radiograph, MR images and radiologist's MRI report). Arthroscopic findings were used as the gold standard. We calculated the percentages of diagnoses at arthroscopy missed on both MRI and pre-surgical evaluation. Diagnostic accuracy between children and adolescents and in patients with one pathological lesion vs. those with >1 lesion was analyzed. We performed a second review of MR images of the missed or over-called MRI diagnoses with knowledge of arthroscopic findings. We included 178 children and adolescents. The most common diagnoses missed on MRI or pre-surgical evaluation but found at arthroscopy were: discoid meniscus (8/30, or 26.7% of cases); lateral meniscal tears (15/80, or 18.8% of cases); intra-articular loose bodies (5/36, or 13.9% of cases), and osteochondral injuries (9/73, or 12.3% of cases). Overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI and pre-surgical evaluation was 92.7% and 95.3%, respectively. No significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between children and adolescents was observed. When multiple intra-articular lesions were present, lateral meniscal tears were more likely to be inaccurately diagnosed (missed or over-called) on both MRI (P = 0.009) and pre-surgical evaluation (P < 0.001). Overall diagnostic accuracy of MRI and pre

APLIKASI THERMAL PRE-TREATMENT LIMBAH TANAMAN JAGUNG (Zea mays SEBAGAI CO·SUBSTRAT PADA PROSES ANAEROBIK DIGESTI UNTUK PRODUKSI BIOGAS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darwin Darwin

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Thermal pre-treatment was given on corn stover in the purpose of breaking the lignin content; thus, it may help anaerobic microorganisms to convert polymer including cellulose and hemicelluloses into biogas. This study aimed to investigate the effects of thermal pre-treatment on corn stover in anaerobic digestion process related to the production of biogas as well as digestion process efficiency. This research was carried out by utilizing batch reactors where the temperature was maintained at mesophilic conditions above room temperature (33 ± 2 oC. Based on the result, it was known that thermal pre-treatment given on the corn stover may enhance anaerobic digestion process for biogas production at the first 10 days. This condition reduced the time of lag phase during anaerobic digestion. The biogas production of corn stover given thermal pre-treatment was slow at 26 days where their average total production were 12,412.5 mL,12,310 mL at 15 and 25 minutes thermal pre-treatment, respectively while biogas production of non pre-treated corn stover was 12,557 mL. The highest daily biogas production was accomplished by corn stover that was given thermal pre-treatment at 25 minutes (915 mL. Corn stover given with 15 minutes thermal pre-treatment also generated higher daily biogas production at day 9 (772.5 mL compared with corn stover that was not pre-treated (405 mL. This research also revealed that corn stover given thermal pre-treatment reached higher biogas yield compared with non pre-treated corn stover where their biogas yield were 670.39, 690.65 mL/g volatile solids added at 15 and 25 minutes thermal pre- treatment respectively, and 456.37 mL/g volatile solids added of non pre-treated corn stover. Keywords: Thermal pre-treatment, corn stover, anaerobic digestion, biogas   ABSTRAK Thermal pre-treatment diberikan pada limbah tanaman jagung dengan tujuan untuk memecahkan kandungan lignin yang terdapat pada limbah tanaman jagung sehingga memudahkan

An anaesthetic pre-operative assessment clinic reduces pre-operative inpatient stay in patients requiring major vascular surgery.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O'Connor, D B

2012-02-01

BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing major vascular surgery (MVS) require extensive anaesthetic assessment. This can require extended pre-operative stays. AIMS: We investigated whether a newly established anaesthetic pre-operative assessment clinic (PAC) would reduce the pre-operative inpatient stay, avoid unnecessary investigations and facilitate day before surgery (DBS) admissions for patients undergoing MVS. PATIENT AND METHODS: One year following and preceding the establishment of the PAC the records of patients undergoing open or endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, carotid endarterectomy and infra-inguinal bypass were reviewed to measure pre-operative length of stay (LoS). RESULTS: Pre-operative LoS was significantly reduced in the study period (1.85 vs. 4.2 days, respectively, P < 0.0001). Only 12 out of 61 patients in 2007 were admitted on the DBS and this increased to 33 out of 63 patients (P = 0.0002). No procedure was cancelled for medical reasons. CONCLUSION: The PAC has facilitated accurate outpatient anaesthetic assessment for patients requiring MVS. The pre-operative in-patient stay has been significantly reduced.

Acid Pre hydrolysis of the Lignocellulose biomass from thistle Onopordum nervosum Boiss

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suarez Contreras, C.; Paz Saa, D.; Diaz Palma, A.

1983-01-01

The acid pre hydrolysis of the lignocellulose biomass from thistle O. nervosum has been conducted to determine the conditions for maximum yield of pentoses with minimum yield of hexoses. Variables studied were acid concentration (H 2 SO 4 , 1 , 3, 4 and 5%) , temperature (1000 and 120 degree centigree) time, solid to liquid ratio and degree of fineness of thistle (1 to 65 mesh). (Author) 15 refs

Hydration status in adolescent runners: pre and post training

Science.gov (United States)

Ashadi, K.; Mirza, D. N.; Siantoro, G.

2018-01-01

The adequacy of body fluids is important for athletes in supporting performance. The purpose of this research was to determine the hydration status of athletes before and after training. The study was a qualitative descriptive by using random sampling. All athletes were trained for approximately 60 minutes. And they were asked to analyze their body fluid pattern routinely. Data were obtained through urine color measurement. The urinary was taken at pre and post training and was immediately assessed in the afternoon. Based on pre-training urine samples, a mean of urine color scale was 3.1 point. It meant that only 31.2% of the athletes were in dehydrated condition. However, after exercising, urine color index showed scale 4.1. And 62.5% of the athletes experienced dehydration. The results showed that there was a significant change in hydration level before and after training. It can be concluded that training for a long time increases the risk of dehydration. It is important for athletes to meet the needs of body fluids in order to avoid functional impairment in the body during sports activities.

Design Issues of the Pre-Compression Rings of Iter

Science.gov (United States)

Knaster, J.; Baker, W.; Bettinali, L.; Jong, C.; Mallick, K.; Nardi, C.; Rajainmaki, H.; Rossi, P.; Semeraro, L.

2010-04-01

The pre-compression system is the keystone of ITER. A centripetal force of ˜30 MN will be applied at cryogenic conditions on top and bottom of each TF coil. It will prevent the `breathing effect' caused by the bursting forces occurring during plasma operation that would affect the machine design life of 30000 cycles. Different alternatives have been studied throughout the years. There are two major design requirements limiting the engineering possibilities: 1) the limited available space and 2) the need to hamper eddy currents flowing in the structures. Six unidirectionally wound glass-fibre composite rings (˜5 m diameter and ˜300 mm cross section) are the final design choice. The rings will withstand the maximum hoop stresses machine operation. The present paper summarizes the pre-compression ring R&D carried out during several years. In particular, we will address the composite choice and mechanical characterization, assessment of creep or stress relaxation phenomena, sub-sized rings testing and the optimal ring fabrication processes that have led to the present final design.

Cocaine mummies and the pre-frontal reality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lloyd, Mark Anthony

2001-01-01

Full text: The scientific community frames its world with facts - facts which have been subjected to tests and apparently proven themselves and are therefore proffered by scientists to mankind as things upon which it can rely to steer it safely through life. However, facts are a moveable feast. Time and fresh minds often prove scientific 'facts' wrong. The cocaine mummies seem to indicate that 2000 years ago the Ancient Egyptians had access to both tobacco and cocaine - something previously believed impossible. One part of the German and British scientific community has proven in laboratory tests that the mummies are telling the truth. The rest of the scientific community disputes that truth'. But if the laboratory tests are right, then humanity has to rewrite its entire history. Nuclear communicators have very little credibility with the general public because they represent scientists, who not only are often proven wrong by time but also cannot agree on the truth. At the same time, there are fundamental facts about the human condition that nuclear communicators ignore - to the detriment of their message. Fact: thinking is a learned skill, not an instinct. Fact: language is a learned skill, not an instinct. For humans to follow the positive nuclear argument they must both think and also understand language. But thinking is not the brain's first choice of operation. Fact: the pre-frontal lobe of the brain is the seat of mankind's primitive emotions, including the instinct of fear and the instinct for life. The pre-frontal lobe dominates the way man thinks and speaks. Therefore, nuclear communicators have to learn the skill of mapping their messages to the pre-frontal human reality. This presentation provides practical points for that learning and message mapping exercise. (author)

[Relieving pre-exam anxiety syndrome with wrist-ankle acupuncture: a randomized controlled trial].

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Shi; Li, Tong-ming; Fang, Fan-fu; He, Hou-luo; Zhou, Qing-hui; Gu, Wei; Zhou, Shuang

2011-06-01

Pre-exam anxiety syndrome is a common condition occurring in pre-exam students and directly affects their examination performance and physical state. Wrist-ankle acupuncture has significant therapeutic effects in treating mental disorders and may also relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome. To assess the therapeutic effect of wrist-ankle acupuncture on pre-exam anxiety syndrome. A total of 60 students who met the inclusion criteria of pre-exam anxiety syndrome were enrolled from a university in Shanghai and they were randomly divided into treatment group and control group. There were 30 cases in each group, and no case failed to follow-up. In the treatment group, wrist-ankle acupuncture was adopted to point upper 1 bilaterally (impression between flexor carpi ulnaris tendon and ulnar margin), and there was no requirement for Deqi (arrival of qi). In the control group, sham acupuncture was adopted. The treatment was applied 3 times totally in both groups one week before the exam, once every other day, each time with the needles retained for 30 min. The therapeutic effects were compared between two groups. Before and after 3 treatments, Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (TAS) and Expectation and Treatment Credibility Scale (ETCS) were measured and evaluated. The therapeutic effect experienced by the treatment group was better than that of the control group (PETCS before treatment between the two groups. The scores of TAS after treatment in two groups were higher than those before treatment (PETCS than those in the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01). No adverse reaction was reported. Wrist-ankle acupuncture can relieve the symptoms of pre-exam anxiety syndrome significantly, and this therapy is highly safe.

Comparison of steam sterilization conditions efficiency in the treatment of Infectious Health Care Waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Maamari, Olivia; Mouaffak, Lara; Kamel, Ramza; Brandam, Cedric; Lteif, Roger; Salameh, Dominique

2016-03-01

Many studies show that the treatment of Infectious Health Care Waste (IHCW) in steam sterilization devices at usual operating standards does not allow for proper treatment of Infectious Health Care Waste (IHCW). Including a grinding component before sterilization allows better waste sterilization, but any hard metal object in the waste can damage the shredder. The first objective of the study is to verify that efficient IHCW treatment can occur at standard operating parameters defined by the contact time-temperature couple in steam treatment systems without a pre-mixing/fragmenting or pre-shredding step. The second objective is to establish scientifically whether the standard operation conditions for a steam treatment system including a step of pre-mixing/fragmenting were sufficient to destroy the bacterial spores in IHCW known to be the most difficult to treat. Results show that for efficient sterilization of dialysis cartridges in a pilot 60L steam treatment system, the process would require more than 20 min at 144°C without a pre-mixing/fragmenting step. In a 720L steam treatment system including pre-mixing/fragmenting paddles, only 10 min at 144°C are required to sterilize IHCW proved to be sterilization challenges such as dialysis cartridges and diapers in normal conditions of rolling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Color-singlet production at NNLO in MCFM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boughezal, Radja [Argonne National Laboratory, High Energy Physics Division, Argonne, IL (United States); Campbell, John M.; Giele, Walter [Fermilab, P.O.Box 500, Batavia, IL (United States); Ellis, R.K. [University of Durham, Department of Physics, Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham (United Kingdom); Focke, Christfried [Northwestern University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Evanston, IL (United States); Liu, Xiaohui [University of Maryland, Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics, College Park, Maryland (United States); Petriello, Frank [Argonne National Laboratory, High Energy Physics Division, Argonne, IL (United States); Northwestern University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Evanston, IL (United States); Williams, Ciaran [University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Department of Physics, Buffalo (United States)

2017-01-15

We present the implementation of several color-singlet final-state processes at Next-to-Next-to Leading Order (NNLO) accuracy in QCD to the publicly available parton-level Monte Carlo program MCFM. Specifically we discuss the processes pp → H, pp → Z, pp → W, pp → HZ, pp → HW and pp → γγ. Decays of the unstable bosons are fully included, resulting in a flexible fully differential Monte Carlo code. The NNLO corrections have been calculated using the non-local N-jettiness subtraction approach. Special attention is given to the numerical aspects of running MCFM for these processes at this order. We pay particular attention to the systematic uncertainties due to the power corrections induced by the N-jettiness regularization scheme and the evaluation time needed to run the hybrid openMP/MPI version of MCFM at NNLO on multi-processor systems. (orig.)

An integrated model of multiple-condition ChIP-Seq data reveals predeterminants of Cdx2 binding.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaun Mahony

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Regulatory proteins can bind to different sets of genomic targets in various cell types or conditions. To reliably characterize such condition-specific regulatory binding we introduce MultiGPS, an integrated machine learning approach for the analysis of multiple related ChIP-seq experiments. MultiGPS is based on a generalized Expectation Maximization framework that shares information across multiple experiments for binding event discovery. We demonstrate that our framework enables the simultaneous modeling of sparse condition-specific binding changes, sequence dependence, and replicate-specific noise sources. MultiGPS encourages consistency in reported binding event locations across multiple-condition ChIP-seq datasets and provides accurate estimation of ChIP enrichment levels at each event. MultiGPS's multi-experiment modeling approach thus provides a reliable platform for detecting differential binding enrichment across experimental conditions. We demonstrate the advantages of MultiGPS with an analysis of Cdx2 binding in three distinct developmental contexts. By accurately characterizing condition-specific Cdx2 binding, MultiGPS enables novel insight into the mechanistic basis of Cdx2 site selectivity. Specifically, the condition-specific Cdx2 sites characterized by MultiGPS are highly associated with pre-existing genomic context, suggesting that such sites are pre-determined by cell-specific regulatory architecture. However, MultiGPS-defined condition-independent sites are not predicted by pre-existing regulatory signals, suggesting that Cdx2 can bind to a subset of locations regardless of genomic environment. A summary of this paper appears in the proceedings of the RECOMB 2014 conference, April 2-5.

Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth pre-treated at 80 degrees C.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrer, Ivet; Palatsi, Jordi; Campos, Elena; Flotats, Xavier

2010-10-01

Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is a fast growing aquatic plant which causes environmental problems in continental water bodies. Harvesting and handling this plant becomes an issue, and focus has been put on the research of treatment alternatives. Amongst others, energy production through biomethanation has been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The effect of a thermal sludge pre-treatment at 80 degrees C was also evaluated. To this end, anaerobic biodegradability tests were carried out at 35 degrees C and 55 degrees C, with raw and pre-treated water hyacinth. According to the results, the thermal pre-treatment enhanced the solubilisation of water hyacinth (i.e. increase in the soluble to total chemical oxygen demand (COD)) from 4% to 12% after 30 min. However, no significant effect was observed on the methane yields (150-190 L CH(4)/kg volatile solids). Initial methane production rates for thermophilic treatments were two fold those of mesophilic ones (6-6.5L vs. 3-3.5 L CH(4)/kg COD x day). Thus, higher methane production rates might be expected from thermophilic reactors working at short retention times. The study of longer low temperature pre-treatments or pre-treatments at elevated temperatures coupled to thermophilic reactors should be considered in the future. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth pre-treated at 80 oC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferrer, Ivet; Palatsi, Jordi; Campos, Elena; Flotats, Xavier

2010-01-01

Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is a fast growing aquatic plant which causes environmental problems in continental water bodies. Harvesting and handling this plant becomes an issue, and focus has been put on the research of treatment alternatives. Amongst others, energy production through biomethanation has been proposed. The aim of this study was to assess the anaerobic biodegradability of water hyacinth under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The effect of a thermal sludge pre-treatment at 80 o C was also evaluated. To this end, anaerobic biodegradability tests were carried out at 35 o C and 55 o C, with raw and pre-treated water hyacinth. According to the results, the thermal pre-treatment enhanced the solubilisation of water hyacinth (i.e. increase in the soluble to total chemical oxygen demand (COD)) from 4% to 12% after 30 min. However, no significant effect was observed on the methane yields (150-190 L CH 4 /kg volatile solids). Initial methane production rates for thermophilic treatments were two fold those of mesophilic ones (6-6.5 L vs. 3-3.5 L CH 4 /kg COD.day). Thus, higher methane production rates might be expected from thermophilic reactors working at short retention times. The study of longer low temperature pre-treatments or pre-treatments at elevated temperatures coupled to thermophilic reactors should be considered in the future.

Serum 8-isoprostane increased in pre-eclampsia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Besari Adi Pramono

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Background The main causes of maternal mortality in Indonesia are pre-eclampsia, hemorrhage, and infection. Oxidative stress has a primary role in pre-eclampsia and one of its parameters is 8-isoprostane serum level. The objective of this study is to measure 8-isoprostane and to analyze the relationship between 8-isoprostane level and birth weight in pre-eclampsia. Methods A cross-sectional study involving 23 pre-eclampsia and 29 normotensive pregnant women with normal or cesarean delivery at Dr. Kariadi Hospital Semarang from January to May 2011. Collected maternal blood samples were assessed for 8-Isoprostane levels by means of a specific ELISA kit. Neonatal birth weight was measured immediately after delivery by means of calibrated baby scales. Differences in 8-isoprostane levels between pre-eclampsia and normotensive women were assessed using independent t-test for normal distributed data, and the Mann-Whitney test for non-normally distributed data. Results Mean 8-isoprostane level was significantly higher in women with pre-eclampsia than in normotensive women (62.52 ± 12.19 pg/mL vs 28.64 ± 8.81 pg/mL (p<0.05. Low birth weight was twice as frequent in pre-eclampsia than in normotensives. There was no correlation between 8-isoprostane serum level and neonatal birth weight in pre-eclampsia. Conclusion The level of 8-isoprostane was higher in pre-eclampsia than in normotensives. It is recommended to conduct further studies to determine whether 8-isoprostane may be used as a predictive marker of pre-eclampsia.

Reactive Desorption of CO Hydrogenation Products under Cold Pre-stellar Core Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Chuang, K.-J.; Fedoseev, G.; Qasim, D.; Ioppolo, S.; van Dishoeck, E. F.; Linnartz, H.

2018-02-01

The astronomical gas-phase detection of simple species and small organic molecules in cold pre-stellar cores, with abundances as high as ∼10‑8–10‑9 n H, contradicts the generally accepted idea that at 10 K, such species should be fully frozen out on grain surfaces. A physical or chemical mechanism that results in a net transfer from solid-state species into the gas phase offers a possible explanation. Reactive desorption, i.e., desorption following the exothermic formation of a species, is one of the options that has been proposed. In astronomical models, the fraction of molecules desorbed through this process is handled as a free parameter, as experimental studies quantifying the impact of exothermicity on desorption efficiencies are largely lacking. In this work, we present a detailed laboratory study with the goal of deriving an upper limit for the reactive desorption efficiency of species involved in the CO–H2CO–CH3OH solid-state hydrogenation reaction chain. The limit for the overall reactive desorption fraction is derived by precisely investigating the solid-state elemental carbon budget, using reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy and the calibrated solid-state band-strength values for CO, H2CO and CH3OH. We find that for temperatures in the range of 10 to 14 K, an upper limit of 0.24 ± 0.02 for the overall elemental carbon loss upon CO conversion into CH3OH. This corresponds with an effective reaction desorption fraction of ≤0.07 per hydrogenation step, or ≤0.02 per H-atom induced reaction, assuming that H-atom addition and abstraction reactions equally contribute to the overall reactive desorption fraction along the hydrogenation sequence. The astronomical relevance of this finding is discussed.

Pre-prosthetic surgery: Mandible

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veeramalai Naidu Devaki

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Pre-prosthetic surgery is that part of oral and maxillofacial surgery which restores oral function and facial form. This is concerned with surgical modification of the alveolar process and its surrounding structures to enable the fabrication of a well-fitting, comfortable, and esthetic dental prosthesis. The ultimate goal of pre-prosthetic surgery is to prepare a mouth to receive a dental prosthesis by redesigning and smoothening bony edges.

Stratigraphic reconstruction of two debris avalanche deposits at Colima Volcano (Mexico): Insights into pre-failure conditions and climate influence

Science.gov (United States)

Roverato, M.; Capra, L.; Sulpizio, R.; Norini, G.

2011-10-01

Throughout its history, Colima Volcano has experienced numerous partial edifice collapses with associated emplacement of debris avalanche deposits of contrasting volume, morphology and texture. A detailed stratigraphic study in the south-eastern sector of the volcano allowed the recognition of two debris avalanche deposits, named San Marcos (> 28,000 cal yr BP, V = ~ 1.3 km 3) and Tonila (15,000-16,000 cal yr BP, V = ~ 1 km 3 ). This work sheds light on the pre-failure conditions of the volcano based primarily on a detailed textural study of debris avalanche deposits and their associated pyroclastic and volcaniclastic successions. Furthermore, we show how the climate at the time of the Tonila collapse influenced the failure mechanisms. The > 28,000 cal yr BP San Marcos collapse was promoted by edifice steep flanks and ongoing tectonic and volcanotectonic deformation, and was followed by a magmatic eruption that emplaced pyroclastic flow deposits. In contrast, the Tonila failure occurred just after the Last Glacial Maximum (22,000-18,000 cal BP) and, in addition to the typical debris avalanche textural characteristics (angular to sub-angular clasts, coarse matrix, jigsaw fit) it shows a hybrid facies characterized by debris avalanche blocks embedded in a finer, homogenous and partially cemented matrix, a texture more characteristic of debris flow deposits. The Tonila debris avalanche is directly overlain by a 7-m thick hydromagmatic pyroclastic succession. Massive debris flow deposits, often more than 10 m thick and containing large amounts of tree trunk logs, represent the top unit in the succession. Fluvial deposits also occur throughout all successions; these represent periods of highly localized stream reworking. All these lines of evidence point to the presence of water in the edifice prior to the Tonila failure, suggesting it may have been a weakening factor. The Tonila failure appears to represent an anomalous event related to the particular climatic

Nutritional practices in full-day-care pre-schools.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Jennings, A

2011-06-01

Full-day-care pre-schools contribute significantly to the nutritional intake and acquisition of dietary habits of the pre-school child. The present study investigated nutritional practices in full-day-care pre-schools in Dublin, Ireland, aiming to determine the nutritional support that pre-school managers deem necessary, thereby facilitating the amelioration of existing pre-school nutritional training and practices.

Social environment as a factor affecting exploration and learning in pre-juvenile rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Modlinska, Klaudia; Stryjek, Rafał; Chrzanowska, Anna; Pisula, Wojciech

2018-05-17

Stress associated with social isolation in early life can lead to disturbances in the emotional regulation in adult rats. However, there are no reports on the impact of isolation from the mother while providing contact with peers. Under such conditions, young individuals have the opportunity to interact with others, are able to develop social behaviour, etc. Yet, there is no stimulation and care provided by the mother. We examined the relative impact of maternal contact and sibling contact in the rarely studied pre-juvenile (3rd and 4th week post birth) period on subsequent development. An experiment was designed to compare the impact of different social environments on the animals' behaviour in adulthood. There were three breeding conditions: young with mother, young with peers, and standard breeding conditions. Adult rats were subjected to a T-Maze test to measure the level of exploratory behaviour. Spatial learning was assessed by placing water bottles in the side corridors. The analysis revealed that a distorted environment during the development process has a negative impact on the rats' emotional regulation and a subtle effect on related aspects of adaptive behaviours (i.e. exploration). In the pre-juvenile period, to some degree, contact with peers may be complementary to the mother's influence. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of human health risk from in situ recovery uranium mining, pre-and post-mining, and post-restoration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ruedig, E.; Bhattacharyya, A.; Borch, T.; Johnson, T. [Colorado State University (United States); Till, J. [Risk Assessment Corporation (United States)

2014-07-01

In the United States, the restoration of in situ recovery (ISR) uranium mines is aimed at returning sites to pre-mining conditions. While this may seem an appropriate goal, little or no scientific information is available to justify utilizing baseline conditions for regulatory compliance. The chemical and radiological contaminants monitored for restoration compliance have not been evaluated to ensure they are proper indicators of the mitigation of risk. Pre-mining aquifers do not meet minimum United States drinking water standards, and must have an aquifer exemption in place prior to mining. Under these conditions, returning groundwater to near the original concentrations of contaminants may be unnecessary. Post-mining groundwater is also unlikely to meet standards for drinking water, but may be depleted in at least some toxic species as a result of the mining process. Here, we examine the risk to representative person from the personal use of groundwater sourced from an Uranium ISR mine. Water samples were collected from Cameco Resource's Smith Ranch-Highlands ISR Uranium mine near Casper, Wyoming, USA. Samples were acquired pre-mining, post-mining, and post-restoration. Concentrations of heavy metals and radionuclides were assessed by appropriate analytical techniques (e.g., mass spectroscopy or alpha spectroscopy) and these concentrations were used to estimate human health risk for three exposure scenarios: a scenario with high exposure, a scenario with medium exposure, and a scenario with low exposure. A simple biosphere transport model was constructed for each scenario to estimate the risk to humans from the use of contaminated waters for subsistence-related activities. Chemical and radiological risks were harmonized according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's guidance for superfund sites. Each exposure scenario and its subsequent risk were evaluated individually for pre-mining, post-mining, and post-restoration aquifer waters

Upgrade of the PreProcessor System for the ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger

CERN Document Server

Khomich, A

2010-01-01

The ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger is a hardware-based pipelined system designed to identify high-pT objects in the ATLAS calorimeters within a fixed latency of 2.5\\,us. It consists of three subsystems: the PreProcessor which conditions and digitizes analogue signals and two digital processors. The majority of the PreProcessor's tasks are performed on a dense Multi-Chip Module(MCM) consisting of FADCs, a time-adjustment and digital processing ASICs, and LVDS serialisers designed and implemented in ten years old technologies. An MCM substitute, based on today's components (dual channel FADCs and FPGA), is being developed to profit from state-of-the-art electronics and to enhance the flexibility of the digital processing. Development and first test results are presented.

Upgrade of the PreProcessor System for the ATLAS LVL1 Calorimeter Trigger

CERN Document Server

Khomich, A; The ATLAS collaboration

2010-01-01

The ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger is a hardware-based pipelined system designed to identify high-pT objects in the ATLAS calorimeters within a fixed latency of 2.5us. It consists of three subsystems: the PreProcessor which conditions and digitizes analogue signals and two digital processors. The majority of the PreProcessor's tasks are performed on a dense Multi-Chip Module(MCM) consisting of FADCs, a time-adjustment and digital processing ASICs, and LVDS serializers designed and implemented in ten years old technologies. An MCM substitute, based on today's components (dual channel FADCs and FPGA), is being developed to profit from state-of-the-art electronics and to enhance the flexibility of the digital processing. Development and first test results are presented.

Optimizing the pre-referral workup for gastroenterology and hepatology specialty care: consensus using the Delphi method.

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Chanda K; Boscardin, Christy K; Gleason, Nathaniel; Collado, Don; Terdiman, Jonathan; Terrault, Norah A; Gonzales, Ralph

2016-02-01

Specialty care referrals have doubled in the last decade. Optimization of the pre-referral workup by a primary care doctor can lead to a more efficient first specialty visit with the patient. Guidance regarding pre-referral laboratory testing is a first step towards improving the specialty referral process. Our aim was to establish consensus regarding appropriate pre-referral workup for common gastrointestinal and liver conditions. The Delphi method was used to establish local consensus for recommending certain laboratory tests prior to specialty referral for 13 clinical conditions. Seven conditions from The University of Michigan outpatient referral guidelines were used as a baseline. An expert panel of three PCPs and nine gastroenterologists from three academic hospitals participated in three iterative rounds of electronic surveys. Each panellist ranked each test using a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Local panellists could recommend additional tests for the initial diagnoses, and also recommended additional diagnoses needing guidelines: iron deficiency anaemia, abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome, fatty liver disease, liver mass and cirrhosis. Consensus was defined as ≥70% of experts scoring ≥4 (agree or strongly agree). Applying Delphi methodology to extrapolate externally developed referral guidelines for local implementation resulted in considerable modifications. For some conditions, many tests from the external group were eliminated by the local group (abdominal bloating; iron deficiency anaemia; irritable bowel syndrome). In contrast, for chronic diarrhoea, abnormal liver enzymes and viral hepatitis, all/most original tests were retained with additional tests added. For liver mass, fatty liver disease and cirrhosis, there was high concordance among the panel with few tests added or eliminated. Consideration of externally developed referral guidelines using a consensus-building process leads to significant local

Pharmacologic pre- and postconditioning for stroke: Basic mechanisms and translational opportunity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elga Esposito

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Beyond reperfusion therapies, there are still no widely effective therapies for ischemic stroke. Although much progress has been made to define the molecular pathways involved, targeted neuroprotective strategies have often failed in clinical trials. An emerging hypothesis suggests that focusing on single targets and mechanisms may not work since ischemic stroke triggers multiple pathways in multiple cell types. In this review, we briefly survey and assess the opportunities that may be afforded by pre- and postconditioning therapies, with particular attention to pharmacologic pre- and postconditioning. Pharmacologic conditioning may be defined as the use of chemical agents either before or shortly after stroke onset to trigger mechanisms of endogenous tolerance that are thought to involve evolutionarily conserved signals that offer broad protection against ischemia. Importantly, many of the pharmacologic agents may also have been previously used in humans, thus providing hope for translating basic mechanisms into clinical applications.

EVALUATION OF PRE AND POST TRAINING PRACTICES REGARDING MANAGEMENT OF DIABETES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Mohanty

1995-09-01

Full Text Available The study was conducted on 112 diabetic patients in S.S. Hospital.Varanasi to evaluate the pre- and post- training practices regarding management of Diabetes mellitus. A pre-tested structured respondent schedule urn used to collect information regarding the socio-economic status and some of the managerial aspects of the disease by questionaire cum interview method. Education cum training was imparted to all the respondents in the first three months and in the fourth month evaluation programme was carried out and their level ofpractive regarding different aspects of diabetic management were assessed by using seven point score method. It was found that training was proved effective for the aspect "Physical exer­cise" and "Restricted diet" but slight improvement in the practive score was seen in "Precaution in Special Hygienic Condition" aspects. So. con­tinuous education programme was needed to improve their practice rate.

Circulating vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, and normal pregnancy: evidence of selective dysregulation of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 homeostasis in pre-eclampsia.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, J R; Papayianni, A; Brady, H R; Darling, M R; Walshe, J J

1998-08-01

Our purpose was to investigate circulating levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in the peripheral and uteroplacental circulations during normotensive and hypertensive pregnancies. This prospective observational study involved 2 patient groups. Group 1 consisted of 22 women with pre-eclampsia and 30 normotensive women followed up longitudinally through pregnancy and post partum. There were an additional 13 women with established gestational hypertension. Group 2 consisted of 20 women with established pre-eclampsia and 19 normotensive control subjects undergoing cesarean delivery. Plasma levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 were measured in blood drawn from the antecubital vein (group 1) and from both the antecubital and uterine veins (group 2). Data were analyzed by analysis of variance. In group 1 vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 levels did not change significantly throughout normal pregnancy and post partum. Women with established pre-eclampsia had increased vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 levels compared with the normotensive pregnancy group (P = .01). Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 levels were not elevated in women with established gestational hypertension. In group 2 significantly higher levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 were detected in the uteroplacental (P post partum, is not a feature of nonproteinuric gestational hypertension, and is not observed with other major leukocyte adhesion molecules. Induction of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 expression in pre-eclampsia may contribute to leukocyte-mediated tissue injury in this condition or may reflect perturbation of other, previously unrecognized, functions of this molecule in pregnancy.

Evaluation of pre-treatments for inhibiting bromate formation during ozonation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Antoniou, Maria; Andersen, Henrik Rasmus

2011-01-01

This study compared several pre-treatment methods for inhibiting BrO3- formation during ozonation of tap water, from the DTU campus, including H2O2 addition (perozone), pH-depression, NH4+ and Cl2/NH4+ addition. At the same time, the inhibition of atrazine and carbamazepine removal was evaluated...... close to the 10 μg/L limit, however atrazine removal did not exceed 75%. Carbamazepine was completely removed under all the tested experimental conditions with the 3.5 mg/L O3 dose....

Space Nuclear Power Plant Pre-Conceptual Design Report, For Information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

B. Levine

2006-01-27

This letter transmits, for information, the Project Prometheus Space Nuclear Power Plant (SNPP) Pre-Conceptual Design Report completed by the Naval Reactors Prime Contractor Team (NRPCT). This report documents the work pertaining to the Reactor Module, which includes integration of the space nuclear reactor with the reactor radiation shield, energy conversion, and instrumentation and control segments. This document also describes integration of the Reactor Module with the Heat Rejection segment, the Power Conditioning and Distribution subsystem (which comprise the SNPP), and the remainder of the Prometheus spaceship.

New evidence on the maritime activity at Dabhol on the Maharashtra coast

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A.S.; Sundaresh; Tripati, S.; Vora, K.H.

the remains of an ancient jetty and four stone anchors at Dabhol. Stone anchors were retrieved from the creek during a dredging operation for the channel. These anchors are of the Indo-Arabia type and dated to the medieval period. A temple of Loyaleshwar has...

DDT residues in fishes from the eastern Arabian Sea

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shailaja, M.S.; SenGupta, R.

degrees E) were obtained from the commercial jetty within 2 h of landing while those from the open sea (16 degrees 30'N 69 degrees E-19 degrees 30'N 67 degrees E) such as Tylosurus sp. (longtom), Coryphaena hippurus (dolphin fish), Loligo sp. (squid...

Foraminiferal study from Kharo Creek, Kachchh (Gujarat), north west coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Nigam, R.; Chaturvedi, S.K.

any creek of Kachchh area will also serve as a baseline data to assess the future impact of industrial pollution (if any) as a jetty for offoading cement is being constructed in Kharo creek for proposed cement plant which is coming up in this area....

Underwater exploration of submerged towns near Tranquebar (Tarangambadi) on Tamilnadu coast

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Rao, S.R.

is covered with sand. The massive brick jetty, pier and protection walls of 17th and 18th century has been destroyed due to the wave action. Further land ward, the 11th century Chola Temple, locally known as Masalamani Temple has also collapsed owing...

Investigation of Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers' Attitudes Towards Computer Technologies (Case of Turkey)

Science.gov (United States)

Can, Suleyman

2015-01-01

Elicitation of pre-service physical education teachers' attitudes towards computer technologies seems to be of great importance to satisfy the conditions to be met for the conscious and effective use of the technologies required by the age to be used in educational settings. In this respect, the purpose of the present study is to investigate…

The Effects of Tulsa's Pre-K Program on Middle School Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Gormley,, William T., Jr.; Phillips, Deborah; Anderson, Sara

2018-01-01

As states have upgraded their commitment to pre-K education over the past two decades, questions have arisen. Critics argue that program effects are likely to fade out or disappear over time, while supporters contend that program effects are likely to persist under certain conditions. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools, three neighboring school…

Pre-operative haematological investigations in paediatric orofacial ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pre-operative haematological investigations in paediatric orofacial cleft repair: Any relevance to management outcome? ... Aim and Objectives: To determine the value of routine pre-operative haematologic investigations in children undergoing orofacial cleft repair. Background: Although routine pre-operative laboratory ...

Who are the young adult Danish pre-drinkers and why do they pre-drink before a night out?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Jeanette; Andrade, Stefan Bastholm

2014-01-01

cannot explain whether a young person will pre-drink on an event-specific night out, young people's income level and their motives explain the quantities they consume. Lower-earning males who pre-drank to save money consumed larger quantities of alcohol at home, but lower-earning females pre-drank larger...

Conditioned to eat while watching television? Low-income caregivers' perspectives on the role of snacking and television viewing among pre-schoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Blaine, Rachel E; Fisher, Jennifer Orlet; Blake, Christine E; Orloski, Alexandria; Younginer, Nicholas; Bruton, Yasmeen; Ganter, Claudia; Rimm, Eric B; Geller, Alan C; Davison, Kirsten K

2016-06-01

Although television (TV) viewing is frequently paired with snacking among young children, little is known about the environment in which caregivers promote this behaviour. We describe low-income pre-schoolers' snacking and TV viewing habits as reported by their primary caregivers, including social/physical snacking contexts, types of snacks and caregiver rationales for offering snacks. These findings may support the development of effective messages to promote healthy child snacking. Semi-structured interviews assessed caregiver conceptualizations of pre-schoolers' snacks, purpose of snacks, snack context and snack frequency. Interviews occurred in Boston, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Forty-seven low-income multi-ethnic primary caregivers of children aged 3-5 years (92 % female, 32 % Hispanic/Latino, 34 % African American) described their child's snacking in the context of TV viewing. TV viewing and child snacking themes were described consistently across racial/ethnic groups. Caregivers described snacks offered during TV viewing as largely unhealthy. Labels for TV snacks indicated non-nutritive purposes, such as 'time out', 'enjoyment' or 'quiet.' Caregivers' primary reasons for providing snacks included child's expectations, behaviour management (e.g. to occupy child) and social time (e.g. family bonding). Some caregivers used TV to distract picky children to eat more food. Child snacking and TV viewing were contextually paired by providing child-sized furniture ('TV table') specifically for snacking. Low-income caregivers facilitate pre-schoolers' snacking and TV viewing, which are described as routine, positive and useful for non-nutritive purposes. Messages to caregivers should encourage 'snack-free' TV viewing, healthy snack options and guidance for managing children's behaviour without snacks or TV.

Understanding Pre-Quantitative Risk in Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Lynne P.

2011-01-01

Standard approaches to risk management in projects depend on the ability of teams to identify risks and quantify the probabilities and consequences of these risks (e.g., the 5 x 5 risk matrix). However, long before quantification does - or even can - occur, and long after, teams make decisions based on their pre-quantitative understanding of risk. These decisions can have long-lasting impacts on the project. While significant research has looked at the process of how to quantify risk, our understanding of how teams conceive of and manage pre-quantitative risk is lacking. This paper introduces the concept of pre-quantitative risk and discusses the implications of addressing pre-quantitative risk in projects.

Characterization of very high gravity ethanol fermentation of corn mash. Effect of glucoamylase dosage, pre-saccharification and yeast strain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Devantier, Rasmus; Pedersen, S; Olsson, Lisbeth

2005-01-01

Ethanol was produced from very high gravity mashes of dry milled corn (35% w/w total dry matter) under simultaneous saccharification and fermentation conditions. The effects of glucoamylase dosage, pre-saccharification and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain on the growth characteristics such as the ......Ethanol was produced from very high gravity mashes of dry milled corn (35% w/w total dry matter) under simultaneous saccharification and fermentation conditions. The effects of glucoamylase dosage, pre-saccharification and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain on the growth characteristics...... such as the ethanol yield and volumetric and specific productivity were determined. It was shown that higher glucoamylase doses and/or pre-saccharification accelerated the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process and increased the final ethanol concentration from 106 to 126 g/kg although the maximal...... specific growth rate was decreased. Ethanol production was not only growth related, as more than half of the total saccharides were consumed and more than half of the ethanol was produced during the stationary phase. Furthermore, a high stress tolerance of the applied yeast strain was found to be crucial...

Optimization of Pre-transplantation Conditions to Enhance the Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Haque, Nazmul; Kasim, Noor Hayaty Abu; Rahman, Mohammad Tariqur

2015-01-01

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered a potential tool for cell based regenerative therapy due to their immunomodulatory property, differentiation potentials, trophic activity as well as large donor pool. Poor engraftment and short term survival of transplanted MSCs are recognized as major limitations which were linked to early cellular ageing, loss of chemokine markers during ex vivo expansion, and hyper-immunogenicity to xeno-contaminated MSCs. These problems can be minimized by ex vivo expansion of MSCs in hypoxic culture condition using well defined or xeno-free media i.e., media supplemented with growth factors, human serum or platelet lysate. In addition to ex vivo expansion in hypoxic culture condition using well defined media, this review article describes the potentials of transient adaptation of expanded MSCs in autologous serum supplemented medium prior to transplantation for long term regenerative benefits. Such transient adaptation in autologous serum supplemented medium may help to increase chemokine receptor expression and tissue specific differentiation of ex vivo expanded MSCs, thus would provide long term regenerative benefits. PMID:25678851

Operational performance of generator condition monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braun, J.M.; Brown, G.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on the generator condition monitor (GCM) developed in an attempt to detect overheating inside large turbine generators. As part of a broader study on rotating machinery diagnostics, generator condition monitors were evaluated under field conditions in a 550 MW turbogenerator. Small 100 W resistors coated with insulating paints and varnishes were mounted inside the generator to simulate insulation overheating. The GCM responded very rapidly to an overheating event, typically within two minutes, even for hot spots as small s 10 cm 2 . Similarly the aerosols produced on overheating were found extremely short lived, decaying within two to three minutes after overheating was discontinued. Use of heated ion chambers was found to desensitize the GCM regardless of the nature of the overheated insulation and in some cases would altogether prevent the GCM from reaching the 50% pre-set alarm level commonly used on GCMs

Pre-irradiation tests on U-Si alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howe, L.M.; Bell, L.G.

1958-05-01

Pre-irradiation tests of hardness, density, electrical resistivity, and corrosion resistance as well as metallographic and X-ray examinations were undertaken on U-Si core material, which had been co-extruded in Zr--2, in order that the effect of irradiation on alloys in the epsilon range could be assessed. In addition, a study of the epsilonization of arc-melted material was undertaken in order to rain familiarity with the epsilonization process and to obtain information on the corrosion behaviour of epsilonized material. Sheathed U-Si samples in the epsilonized and de-epsilonized conditions have been irradiated in the X-2 loop, with a water temperature of 275 o C. The samples have been examined after 250 MWD/Tonne and show no dimensional change. (author)

Review on pre-eclampsia

OpenAIRE

Schlembach, Dietmar

2003-01-01

Pre-eclampsia is still one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Despite active research for many decades, the etiology of this disorder exclusive to human pregnancy is an enigma. Recent evidence suggests there may be several underlying causes or predispositions leading to endothelial dysfunction and causing the signs of hypertension, proteinuria, and edema--findings that allow us to make the diagnosis of the "syndrome" of pre-eclampsia. It is obvious that a sin...

Pre-Assessment: Promises and Cautions

Science.gov (United States)

Guskey, Thomas R.; McTighe, Jay

2016-01-01

Nearly every modern instructional planning model, differentiation approach, and personalized learning system incorporates some form of re-assessment. Yet there's scant research evidence that teachers use pre-assessment in ways that improve learning, according to Guskey and McTighe. To increase the likelihood that pre-assessment will be worth the…

The Pre-IPO Dividend Puzzle

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Martin, J.; Zeckhauser, R.

2011-01-01

We investigate dividend payments of companies prior to their IPOs. U.S. companies conducting an IPO between 1990 through 2006 comprise our sample. Pre-IPO dividend payments are significant both in number and size in the quarter leading up to the IPO. We find support for the hypothesis that pre-IPO

Pre-T Cell Receptors (Pre-TCRs) Leverage Vβ Complementarity Determining Regions (CDRs) and Hydrophobic Patch in Mechanosensing Thymic Self-ligands.

Science.gov (United States)

Das, Dibyendu Kumar; Mallis, Robert J; Duke-Cohan, Jonathan S; Hussey, Rebecca E; Tetteh, Paul W; Hilton, Mark; Wagner, Gerhard; Lang, Matthew J; Reinherz, Ellis L

2016-12-02

The pre-T cell receptor (pre-TCR) is a pTα-β heterodimer functioning in early αβ T cell development. Although once thought to be ligand-autonomous, recent studies show that pre-TCRs participate in thymic repertoire formation through recognition of peptides bound to major histocompatibility molecules (pMHC). Using optical tweezers, we probe pre-TCR bonding with pMHC at the single molecule level. Like the αβTCR, the pre-TCR is a mechanosensor undergoing force-based structural transitions that dynamically enhance bond lifetimes and exploiting allosteric control regulated via the Cβ FG loop region. The pre-TCR structural transitions exhibit greater reversibility than TCRαβ and ordered force-bond lifetime curves. Higher piconewton force requires binding through both complementarity determining region loops and hydrophobic Vβ patch apposition. This patch functions in the pre-TCR as a surrogate Vα domain, fostering ligand promiscuity to favor development of β chains with self-reactivity but is occluded by α subunit replacement of pTα upon αβTCR formation. At the double negative 3 thymocyte stage where the pre-TCR is first expressed, pre-TCR interaction with self-pMHC ligands imparts growth and survival advantages as revealed in thymic stromal cultures, imprinting fundamental self-reactivity in the T cell repertoire. Collectively, our data imply the existence of sequential mechanosensor αβTCR repertoire tuning via the pre-TCR. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Kinetics and Signal Activation Properties of Circulating Factor(s From Healthy Volunteers Undergoing Remote Ischemic Pre-Conditioning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heike A. Hildebrandt, MD

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Although remote ischemic pre-conditioning (RIPC reduced infarct size in animal experiments and proof-of-concept clinical trials, recent phase III trials failed to confirm cardioprotection during cardiac surgery. Here, we characterized the kinetic properties of humoral factors that are released after RIPC, as well as the signal transduction pathways that were responsible for cardioprotection in an ex vivo model of global ischemia reperfusion injury. Venous blood from 20 healthy volunteers was collected at baseline and 5 min, 30 min, 1 h, 6 h, and daily from 1 to 7 days after RIPC (3 × 5/5 min upper-limb ischemia/reperfusion. Plasma-dialysates (cut-off: 12 to 14 kDa; dilution: 1:20 were infused into Langendorff-perfused mouse hearts subjected to 20/120 min global ischemia/reperfusion. Infarct size and phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3, STAT5, extracellular-regulated kinase 1/2 and protein kinase B were determined. In a subgroup of plasma-dialysates, an inhibitor of STAT3 (Stattic was used in mouse hearts. Perfusion with baseline-dialysate resulted in an infarct size of 39% of ventricular mass (interquartile range: 36% to 42%. Perfusion with dialysates obtained 5 min to 6 days after RIPC significantly reduced infarct size by ∼50% and increased STAT3 phosphorylation beyond that with baseline-dialysate. Inhibition of STAT3 abrogated these effects. These results suggest that RIPC induces the release of cardioprotective, dialyzable factor(s within 5 min, and that circulate for up to 6 days. STAT3 is activated in murine myocardium by RIPC-induced human humoral factors and is causally involved in cardioprotection.

Early pre-eclampsia unmasks underlying IgA nephropathy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mona Singh

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Mona Singh, Akhenaton Pappoe, Burl R DonDivision of Nephrology, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USAAbstract: Pre-eclampsia is the most ominous complication of pregnancy, and primary glomerular diseases can mimic pre-eclampsia in presentation. A patient presented at 21 weeks gestation with signs and symptoms of both pre-eclampsia and primary glomerular nephropathy. A critical clinical decision whether to continue or terminate the pregnancy was dependent on results of a renal biopsy. The biopsy noted the presence of both pre-eclampsia and immunoglobulin A (IgA nephropathy. Thus, the onset of pre-eclampsia unmasked the presence of unrecognized IgA nephropathy, and the IgA nephropathy was a risk factor for this patient developing pre-eclampsia. The results of a renal biopsy are key in distinguishing pre-eclampsia from other kidney diseases and instituting appropriate clinical management.Keywords: proteinuria, IgA nephropathy, renal biopsy, pre-eclampsia

Dropping the hammer: Examining impact ignition and combustion using pre-stressed aluminum powder

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Kevin J.; Warzywoda, Juliusz; Pantoya, Michelle L.; Levitas, Valery I.

2017-09-01

Pre-stressing aluminum (Al) particles by annealing and quenching Al powder alters particle mechanical properties and has also been linked to an increase in particle reactivity. Specifically, energy propagation in composites consisting of aluminum mixed with copper oxide (Al + CuO) exhibits a 24% increase in flame speed when using pre-stressed aluminum (PS Al) compared to Al of the same particle size. However, no data exist for the reactivity of PS Al powders under impact loading. In this study, a drop weight impact tester with pressure cell was designed and built to examine impact ignition sensitivity and combustion of PS Al when mixed with CuO. Both micron and nanometer scale powders (i.e., μAl and nAl, respectively) were pre-stressed, then combined with CuO and analyzed. Three types of ignition and combustion events were identified: ignition with complete combustion, ignition with incomplete combustion, and no ignition or combustion. The PS nAl + CuO demonstrated a lower impact ignition energy threshold for complete combustion, differing from nAl + CuO samples by more than 3.5 J/mg. The PS nAl + CuO also demonstrated significantly more complete combustion as evidenced by pressure history data during ignition and combustion. Additional material characterization provides insight on hot spot formation in the incomplete combustion samples. The most probable reasons for higher impact-induced reactivity of pre-stressed particles include (a) delayed but more intense fracture of the pre-stressed alumina shell due to release of energy of internal stresses during fracture and (b) detachment of the shell from the core during impact due to high tensile stresses in the Al core leading to much more pronounced fracture of unsupported shells and easy access of oxygen to the Al core. The μAl + CuO composites did not ignite, even under pre-stressed conditions.

Why do Patients in Pre-Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) Care Default: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chakravarty, Jaya; Kansal, Sangeeta; Tiwary, Narendra; Sundar, Shyam

2016-01-01

Approximately, 40% of the patients registered in the National AIDS Control Program in India are not on antiretroviral therapy (ART), i.e., are in pre-ART care. However, there are scarce data regarding the retention of pre-ART patients under routine program conditions. The main objective of this study was to find out the reasons for default among patients in pre-ART care. Patients enrolled in the ART Centre, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) between January and December 2009 and in pre-ART care were included in the study. Defaulters were those pre-ART patients who missed their last appointment of CD4 count by more than 1 month. Defaulters were traced telephonically in 2011 and those who returned and gave their consent for the study were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Out of 620 patients in pre-ART care, 384 (68.2%) were defaulters. One hundred forty-four of the defaulters were traced and only 83 reached the ART center for interview. Among defaulters who did not reach the ART center, illiterate and unmarried were significantly more and mean duration from registration to default was also significantly less as compared to those who came back for the interview. Most defaulters gave more than one reason for defaulting that were as follows: Inconvenient clinic timings (98%), need for multiple mode of transport (92%), perceived improved health (65%), distance of center from home (61%), lack of social support (62%), and financial difficulty (59%). Active tracing of pre-ART patients through outreach and strengthening of the Link ART centers will improve the retention of patients in the program.

Modelling the Intention to Use Technology for Teaching Mathematics among Pre-Service Teachers in Serbia

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Timothy; Milutinovic, Verica

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine the variables that influence Serbian pre-service teachers' intention to use technology to teach mathematics. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the framework, we developed a research model to include subjective norm, knowledge of mathematics, and facilitating conditions as external variables to the TAM. In…

Study on the pre-treatment of oxidized zinc ore prior to flotation

Science.gov (United States)

He, Dong-sheng; Chen, Yun; Xiang, Ping; Yu, Zheng-jun; Potgieter, J. H.

2018-02-01

The pre-treatment of zinc oxide bearing ores with high slime content is important to ensure that resources are utilized optimally. This paper reports an improved process using hydrocyclone de-sliming, dispersion reagents, and magnetic removal of iron minerals for the pre-treatment of zinc oxide ore with a high slime and iron content, and the benefits compared to traditional technologies are shown. In addition, this paper investigates the damage related to fine slime and iron during zinc oxide flotation, the necessity of using hydrocyclone de-sliming together with dispersion reagents to alleviate the influence of slime, and interactions among hydrocyclone de-sliming, reagent dispersion, and magnetic iron removal. Results show that under optimized operating conditions the entire beneficiation technology results in a flotation concentrate with a Zn grade of 34.66% and a recovery of 73.41%.

Clean conditions during the erection phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koschel, P.

1977-01-01

Following the basic requirements of the Regulatory Guide 1.37 and ANSI 45.2.1 - Standard on Cleaning of Fluid Systems and Associated Components during the Construction Phase of Nuclear Power Plants as a guideline, the implementation of cleaning operations in the pre-installation phase, the installation phase and the maintenance of clean conditions until the operational phase is covered. Specific information will be given from the practical experience point of view with the work execution under clean conditions of piping and components at the semi-finished product manufacturer, the prefabrication workshop and the on-site installation with specific reference to the various detailed procedures required by individual system builders for nuclear power plants in Germany and abroad. (orig.) [de

Chronic intermittent hypoxia alters local respiratory circuit function at the level of the preBötzinger complex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alfredo J Garcia

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH is a common state experienced in several breathing disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA and apneas of prematurity. Unraveling how CIH affects the CNS, and in turn how the CNS contributes to apneas is perhaps the most challenging task. The preBötzinger complex (preBötC is a pre-motor respiratory network critical for inspiratory rhythm generation. Here, we test the hypothesis that CIH increases irregular output from the isolated preBötC, which can be mitigated by antioxidant treatment. Electrophysiological recordings from brainstem slices revealed that CIH enhanced burst-to-burst irregularity in period and/or amplitude. Irregularities represented a change in individual fidelity among preBötC neurons, and changed transmission from preBötC to the hypoglossal motor nucleus (XIIn, which resulted in increased transmission failure to XIIn. CIH increased the degree of lipid peroxidation in the preBötC and treatment with the antioxidant, 5,10,15,20-Tetrakis (1-methylpyridinium-4-yl-21H,23H-porphyrin manganese(III pentachloride (MnTMPyP, reduced CIH-mediated irregularities on the network rhythm and improved transmission of preBötC to the XIIn. These findings suggest that CIH promotes a pro-oxidant state that destabilizes rhythmogenesis originating from the preBötC and changes the local rhythm generating circuit which in turn, can lead to intermittent transmission failure to the XIIn. We propose that these CIH-mediated effects represent a part of the central mechanism that may perpetuate apneas and respiratory instability, which are hallmark traits in several dysautonomic conditions.

IRIS pre-application licensing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carelli, Mario D.; Kling, Charles L.; Ritterbusch, Stanley E.

2003-01-01

This paper presents the approach to pre-application licensing by the International Reactor Innovative and Secure (IRIS), and advanced, integral reactor design with a thermal power of 1000 MW. The rationale for the pre-application licensing is discussed. Since IRIS technology is based on proven LWR experience, the project will rely on AP600/AP1000 precedent and will focus during the pre-application on long lead and novel items. A discussion of the evolution of the project to significantly reduce licensing issues is provided, followed by a summary of the IRIS safety-by-design which provides a formidable first step in the Defense in Depth approach. The effects of the safety-by-design, as well as of passive systems, on the IRIS safety will be investigated in a proposed testing program that will be reviewed by NRC during the pre-application. Documentation to be provided to NRC is discussed. Early design analyses indicate that the benefits of the IRIS safety-by-design approach are so significant that the basic premise of current emergency planning regulations (i.e., likelihood of core damage) will be reduced to the extent that special emergency response planning beyond the exclusion area boundary may not be needed. How this very significant outcome can be effected through a highly risk-informed licensing is discussed. (author)

The Impact of Enactive /Vicarious pre-reading Tasks on Reading Comprehension and Self-Efficacy of Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arezoo Eshghipour

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effect of enactive pre-reading tasks on Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy. Moreover, it explored whether Iranian per-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy are influenced by vicarious pre-reading tasks. The required data was gathered through a reading comprehension passage entailing 20 comprehension questions and a 30-item self-efficacy questionnaire with 5-point Likert-scale response options. A total of 66 participants (including 34 individuals in the enactive group and 32 leaners in the vicarious one took part in this study. The Pearson formula, an independent T-Test, paired T-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test were used to analyze the data. Based on the findings of the study, enactive pre-reading tasks played a key role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ reading comprehension ability. Moreover, it was found that vicarious pre-reading tasks served an important role in the Iranian pre-intermediate EFL learners’ self-efficacy.

Pre-operative biliary drainage for obstructive jaundice

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Yuan; Gurusamy, Kurinchi Selvan; Wang, Qin; Davidson, Brian R; Lin, He; Xie, Xiaodong; Wang, Chaohua

2014-01-01

Background Patients with obstructive jaundice have various pathophysiological changes that affect the liver, kidney, heart, and the immune system. There is considerable controversy as to whether temporary relief of biliary obstruction prior to major definitive surgery (pre-operative biliary drainage) is of any benefit to the patient. Objectives To assess the benefits and harms of pre-operative biliary drainage versus no pre-operative biliary drainage (direct surgery) in patients with obstructive jaundice (irrespective of a benign or malignant cause). Search methods We searched the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Science Citation Index Expanded until February 2012. Selection criteria We included all randomised clinical trials comparing biliary drainage followed by surgery versus direct surgery, performed for obstructive jaundice, irrespective of the sample size, language, and publication status. Data collection and analysis Two authors independently assessed trials for inclusion and extracted data. We calculated the risk ratio (RR), rate ratio (RaR), or mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) based on the available patient analyses. We assessed the risk of bias (systematic overestimation of benefit or systematic underestimation of harm) with components of the Cochrane risk of bias tool. We assessed the risk of play of chance (random errors) with trial sequential analysis. Main results We included six trials with 520 patients comparing pre-operative biliary drainage (265 patients) versus no pre-operative biliary drainage (255 patients). Four trials used percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage and two trials used endoscopic sphincterotomy and stenting as the method of pre-operative biliary drainage. The risk of bias was high in all trials. The proportion of patients with malignant obstruction varied between 60

22 CFR 226.11 - Pre-award policies.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Pre-award policies. 226.11 Section 226.11 Foreign Relations AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION OF ASSISTANCE AWARDS TO U.S. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS Pre-award Requirements § 226.11 Pre-award policies. (a) Use of grants and...

Antioxidative Peptides Derived from Enzyme Hydrolysis of Bone Collagen after Microwave Assisted Acid Pre-Treatment and Nitrogen Protection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Sun

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This study focused on the preparation method of antioxidant peptides by enzymatic hydrolysis of bone collagen after microwave assisted acid pre-treatment and nitrogen protection. Phosphoric acid showed the highest ability of hydrolysis among the four other acids tested (hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and/or citric acid. The highest degree of hydrolysis (DH was 9.5% using 4 mol/L phosphoric acid with a ratio of 1:6 under a microwave intensity of 510 W for 240 s. Neutral proteinase gave higher DH among the four protease tested (Acid protease, neutral protease, Alcalase and papain, with an optimum condition of: (1 ratio of enzyme and substrate, 4760 U/g; (2 concentration of substrate, 4%; (3 reaction temperature, 55 °C and (4 pH 7.0. At 4 h, DH increased significantly (P < 0.01 under nitrogen protection compared with normal microwave assisted acid pre-treatment hydrolysis conditions. The antioxidant ability of the hydrolysate increased and reached its maximum value at 3 h; however DH decreased dramatically after 3 h. Microwave assisted acid pre-treatment and nitrogen protection could be a quick preparatory method for hydrolyzing bone collagen.

Pre-migration Trauma Exposure and Psychological Distress for Asian American Immigrants: Linking the Pre- and Post-migration Contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Miao; Anderson, James G

2016-08-01

Drawing on the life course perspective and the assumptive world theory, this paper examines whether pre-migration trauma exposure is associated with psychological distress through post-migration perceived discrimination for Asian American immigrants. The study is based on cross-sectional data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (N = 1639). Structural equation model is used to estimate the relationship between pre-migration trauma, post-migration perceived discrimination, and psychological distress. Additional models are estimated to explore possible variations across ethnic groups as well as across different types of pre-migration trauma experience. Pre-migration trauma exposure is associated with higher levels of psychological distress, both directly and indirectly through higher level of perceived discrimination, even after controlling for demographic/acculturative factors and post-migration trauma exposure. This pattern holds for the following sub-types of pre-migration trauma: political trauma, crime victimization, physical violence, accidental trauma, and relational trauma. Multi-group analyses show that this pattern holds for all Asian immigrant subgroups except the Vietnamese. Studies of immigrant mental health primarily focus on post-migration stressors. Few studies have considered the link between pre- and post-migration contexts in assessing mental health outcomes. The study illustrates the usefulness of bridging the pre- and post-migration context in identifying the mental health risks along the immigrant life course.

Occurrence of silent cerebral infarction in pre-senile, senile subjects with depressive states; MRI findings and its distribution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujikawa, Tokumi; Yamawaki, Shigeto (Hiroshima Univ. (Japan). School of Medicine); Touhouda, Yoshikuni

1993-02-01

We examined the relationship between pre-senile, senile depressive states and silent cerebral infarction (SCI) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The diagnostic criteria of major depression according to DSM-3-R was used to diagnose. Patients in whom stroke had occurred or who had local neurologic symptoms were not included. About half of the patients with depressive states of pre-senile onset and most of the patients with those of senile onset had SCI, were considered to be organic-depressive states complicated with SCI. Because patients with depressive states with SCI are at high risk of occurrence of stroke, we designated this condition 'pre-stroke depression', and classified it with endogenous depression. At this time, it is important to begin therapy for cerebrovascular disease. (author).

Early Historic Shipwreck Archaeology of the Indian Subcontinent Region

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A

to present a passenger jetty at a water depth of 8 m. The site is located in high energy tidal current thus the chance of survival of any lighter material is low. The quantity of pottery and material indicate the possibility of a shipwreck of foreign origin...

Pre-college education

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Sylvia

1990-01-01

Pre-college education efforts are many and varied, involving the teachers, students, parents, museums, and youth groups. However, it is necessary to reach out to school administration at all levels if teachers are to be innovative in their approaches. This introductory meeting clearly indicated that more interaction between the participants would be profitable. It is clear that the science pipeline leading from kindergarten to college entry needs to be filled with students. What is not clear is how we can do it. The plethora of projects being pursued by the NASA Space Grant College Fellowship (NSGC) programs to accomplish that goal are heartening and exciting. However, this large gamut of programs may also indicate how new we are in this game and how little anyone knows about creating a pre-college interest in science and engineering. In a way, it resembles the situation of the common cold--there is no known cure yet, so there are many so-called remedies. Unfortunately, the time we had together was entirely too short to address the evaluation situation, so that we can in the future zero in on the most effective approaches. This report is a summary of the many ways the different NSGC' s are approaching pre-college education and a list of suggestions.

Pre-crastination in the pigeon.

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Edward A; Brzykcy, Stephen J

2015-08-01

Procrastination is the tendency to delay initiating or completing tasks. Rosenbaum et al. (Psychological Science, May 8, 2014) recently documented the opposite of procrastination: pre-crastination, the tendency to begin or to finish tasks as soon as possible. We devised a simple two-alternative forced-choice task, in which pigeons could choose to switch response location either sooner or later in a sequence of actions eventuating in food reward. Even though there was no economic advantage for doing so, pigeons chose to switch response location sooner rather than later in the sequence, showing pre-crastination to be quite general. Pre-crastination thus joins other anticipatory learning phenomena in challenging rational or optimal accounts of behavioral adaptation.

Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional Assessment: pre-assessment report

Science.gov (United States)

Assal, Timothy J.; Melcher, Cynthia P.; Carr, Natasha B.

2015-01-01

The purpose of the Pre-Assessment Report for the Southern Great Plains Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REA) is to document the selection process for and final list of Conservation Elements, Change Agents, and Management Questions developed during Phase I. The overall goal of the REAs being conducted for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is to provide information that supports regional planning and analysis for the management of ecological resources. The REA provides an assessment of baseline ecological conditions, an evaluation of current risks from drivers of ecosystem change, and a predictive capacity for evaluating future risks. The REA also may be used for identifying priority areas for conservation or restoration and for assessing the cumulative effects of a variety of land uses. There are several components of the REAs. Management Questions, developed by the BLM and partners for the ecoregion, identify the information needed for addressing land-management responsibilities. Conservation Elements represent regionally significant terrestrial and aquatic species and communities that are to be conserved and (or) restored. For each Conservation Element, key ecological attributes will be evaluated to determine the status of each species and community. The REA also will evaluate major drivers of ecosystem change, or Change Agents, currently affecting or likely to affect the status of Conservation Elements in the future. The relationships between Change Agents and key ecological attributes will be summarized using conceptual models. The REA process is a two-phase process. Phase I (pre-assessment) includes developing and finalizing the lists of priority Management Questions, Conservation Elements, and Change Agents, culminating in the REA Pre-Assessment Report.

Pre-meal screen-time activities increase subjective emotions, but not food intake in young girls.