Compressed Domain Packet Loss Concealment of Sinusoidally Coded Speech

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rødbro, Christoffer A.; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Andersen, Søren Vang

2003-01-01

We consider the problem of packet loss concealment for voice over IP (VoIP). The speech signal is compressed at the transmitter using a sinusoidal coding scheme working at 8 kbit/s. At the receiver, packet loss concealment is carried out working directly on the quantized sinusoidal parameters......, based on time-scaling of the packets surrounding the missing ones. Subjective listening tests show promising results indicating the potential of sinusoidal speech coding for VoIP....

Sensorless optimal sinusoidal brushless direct current for hard disk drives

Science.gov (United States)

Soh, C. S.; Bi, C.

2009-04-01

Initiated by the availability of digital signal processors and emergence of new applications, market demands for permanent magnet synchronous motors have been surging. As its back-emf is sinusoidal, the drive current should also be sinusoidal for reducing the torque ripple. However, in applications like hard disk drives, brushless direct current (BLDC) drive is adopted instead of sinusoidal drive for simplification. The adoption, however, comes at the expense of increased harmonics, losses, torque pulsations, and acoustics. In this paper, we propose a sensorless optimal sinusoidal BLDC drive. First and foremost, the derivation for an optimal sinusoidal drive is presented, and a power angle control scheme is proposed to achieve an optimal sinusoidal BLDC. The scheme maintains linear relationship between the motor speed and drive voltage. In an attempt to execute the sensorless drive, an innovative power angle measurement scheme is devised, which takes advantage of the freewheeling diodes and measures the power angle through the detection of diode voltage drops. The objectives as laid out will be presented and discussed in this paper, supported by derivations, simulations, and experimental results. The proposed scheme is straightforward, brings about the benefits of sensorless sinusoidal drive, negates the need for current sensors by utilizing the freewheeling diodes, and does not incur additional cost.

Sinusoidal Analysis-Synthesis of Audio Using Perceptual Criteria

Science.gov (United States)

Painter, Ted; Spanias, Andreas

2003-12-01

This paper presents a new method for the selection of sinusoidal components for use in compact representations of narrowband audio. The method consists of ranking and selecting the most perceptually relevant sinusoids. The idea behind the method is to maximize the matching between the auditory excitation pattern associated with the original signal and the corresponding auditory excitation pattern associated with the modeled signal that is being represented by a small set of sinusoidal parameters. The proposed component-selection methodology is shown to outperform the maximum signal-to-mask ratio selection strategy in terms of subjective quality.

Deep-etched sinusoidal polarizing beam splitter grating.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jijun; Zhou, Changhe; Cao, Hongchao; Lv, Peng

2010-04-01

A sinusoidal-shaped fused-silica grating as a highly efficient polarizing beam splitter (PBS) is investigated based on the simplified modal method. The grating structure depends mainly on the ratio of groove depth to grating period and the ratio of incident wavelength to grating period. These ratios can be used as a guideline for the grating design at different wavelengths. A sinusoidal-groove PBS grating is designed at a wavelength of 1310 nm under Littrow mounting, and the transmitted TM and TE polarized waves are mainly diffracted into the zeroth order and the -1st order, respectively. The grating profile is optimized by using rigorous coupled-wave analysis. The designed PBS grating is highly efficient (>95.98%) over the O-band wavelength range (1260-1360 nm) for both TE and TM polarizations. The sinusoidal grating can exhibit higher diffraction efficiency, larger extinction ratio, and less reflection loss than the rectangular-groove PBS grating. By applying wet etching technology on the rectangular grating, which was manufactured by holographic recording and inductively coupled plasma etching technology, the sinusoidal grating can be approximately fabricated. Experimental results are in agreement with theoretical values.

Variable Dimension Trellis-Coded Quantization of Sinusoidal Parameters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Morten Holm; Christensen, Mads G.; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2008-01-01

In this letter, we propose joint quantization of the parameters of a set of sinusoids based on the theory of trellis-coded quantization. A particular advantage of this approach is that it allows for joint quantization of a variable number of sinusoids, which is particularly relevant in variable...

Estimating Aquifer Properties Using Sinusoidal Pumping Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, T. C.; Haborak, K. G.; Young, M. H.

2001-12-01

We develop the theoretical and applied framework for using sinusoidal pumping tests to estimate aquifer properties for confined, leaky, and partially penetrating conditions. The framework 1) derives analytical solutions for three boundary conditions suitable for many practical applications, 2) validates the analytical solutions against a finite element model, 3) establishes a protocol for conducting sinusoidal pumping tests, and 4) estimates aquifer hydraulic parameters based on the analytical solutions. The analytical solutions to sinusoidal stimuli in radial coordinates are derived for boundary value problems that are analogous to the Theis (1935) confined aquifer solution, the Hantush and Jacob (1955) leaky aquifer solution, and the Hantush (1964) partially penetrated confined aquifer solution. The analytical solutions compare favorably to a finite-element solution of a simulated flow domain, except in the region immediately adjacent to the pumping well where the implicit assumption of zero borehole radius is violated. The procedure is demonstrated in one unconfined and two confined aquifer units near the General Separations Area at the Savannah River Site, a federal nuclear facility located in South Carolina. Aquifer hydraulic parameters estimated using this framework provide independent confirmation of parameters obtained from conventional aquifer tests. The sinusoidal approach also resulted in the elimination of investigation-derived wastes.

THE RESONANT OVERVOLTAGE IN NON-SINUSOIDAL MODE OF MAIN ELECTRIC NETWORK

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. G. Kuznetsov

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The resonant overvoltage arises in main electrical networks as a result of random coincidence of some parameters of circuit and its mode and it may exist for a relatively long time. Therefore, the traditional means of limitation of short duration commutation surges are not effective in this case. The study determines conditions of appearance and development of non-sinusoidal mode after switching idle autotransformer to the overhead line of extra high voltage. The purpose of the paper is to choice measures for prevention overvoltage, too. Methodology. The study has used the result of extra high voltage line testing, the methods of electric circuit theory and the simulation in the MATLAB & Simulink package. Results. The simulation model of the extra high voltage transmission line for the study of resonant non-sinusoidal overvoltage is developed. The conditions for the appearance of resonant circuits in the real power line are found and harmonic frequency in which overvoltage arises are obtained. The study proposes using the controlled switching device as a measure to prevent resonance surges and determines the appropriate settings. Originality. The expression for calculation of resonant length of extra high voltage line was derived. The special investigation of processes in the resonant circuit of the extra high voltage transmission line for higher harmonic components of voltage is carried out. The program of switching for control apparatus that prevents non-sinusoidal overvoltage has been developed at the first time. Practical value. The using of the proposed settings of controlled switchgear will prevent the occurrence of hazardous resonant surge on higher harmonic components of voltage.

Encryption in Chaotic Systems with Sinusoidal Excitations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Obregón-Pulido

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this contribution an encryption method using a chaotic oscillator, excited by “n” sinusoidal signals, is presented. The chaotic oscillator is excited by a sum of “n” sinusoidal signals and a message. The objective is to encrypt such a message using the chaotic behavior and transmit it, and, as the chaotic system is perturbed by the sinusoidal signal, the transmission security could be increased due to the effect of such a perturbation. The procedure is based on the regulation theory and consider that the receiver knows the frequencies of the perturbing signal, with this considerations the algorithm estimates the excitation in such a way that the receiver can cancel out the perturbation and all the undesirable dynamics in order to produce only the message. In this way we consider that the security level is increased.

Bottomside sinusoidal irregularities in the equatorial F region

Science.gov (United States)

Valladares, C. E.; Hanson, W. B.; Mcclure, J. P.; Cragin, B. L.

1983-01-01

By using the Ogo 6 satellite, McClure and Hanson (1973) have discovered sinusoidal irregularities in the equatorial F region ion number density. In the present investigation, a description is provided of the properties of a distinct category of sinusoidal irregularities found in equatorial data from the AE-C and AE-E satellites. The observed scale sizes vary from about 300 m to 3 km in the direction perpendicular to B, overlapping with and extending the range observed by using Ogo 6. Attention is given to low and high resolution data, a comparison with Huancayo ionograms, the confinement of 'bottomside sinusoidal' (BSS) irregularities essentially to the bottomside of the F layer, spectral characteristics, and BSS, scintillation, and ionosonde observations.

Adaptive Feedforward Cancellation of Sinusoidal Disturbances in Superconducting RF Cavities

CERN Document Server

Kandil, T H; Hartung, W; Khalil, H; Popielarski, J; Vincent, J; York, R C

2004-01-01

A control method, known as adaptive feedforward cancellation (AFC) is applied to damp sinusoidal disturbances due to microphonics in superconducting RF (SRF) cavities. AFC provides a method for damping internal, and external sinusoidal disturbances with known frequencies. It is preferred over other schemes because it uses rudimentary information about the frequency response at the disturbance frequencies, without the necessity of knowing an analytic model (transfer function) of the system. It estimates the magnitude and phase of the sinusoidal disturbance inputs and generates a control signal to cancel their effect. AFC, along with a frequency estimation process, is shown to be very successful in the cancellation of sinusoidal signals from different sources. The results of this research may significantly reduce the power requirements and increase the stability for lightly loaded continuous-wave SRF systems.

Sinusoidal oscillators and waveform generators using modern electronic circuit building blocks

CERN Document Server

Senani, Raj; Singh, V K; Sharma, R K

2016-01-01

This book serves as a single-source reference to sinusoidal oscillators and waveform generators, using classical as well as a variety of modern electronic circuit building blocks. It provides a state-of-the-art review of a large variety of sinusoidal oscillators and waveform generators and includes a catalogue of over 600 configurations of oscillators and waveform generators, describing their relevant design details and salient performance features/limitations. The authors discuss a number of interesting, open research problems and include a comprehensive collection of over 1500 references on oscillators and non-sinusoidal waveform generators/relaxation oscillators. Offers readers a single-source reference to everything connected to sinusoidal oscillators and waveform generators, using classical as well as modern electronic circuit building blocks; Provides a state-of-the-art review of a large variety of sinusoidal oscillators and waveform generators; Includes a catalog of over 600 configurations of oscillato...

Stochastic analysis/synthesis using sinusoidal atoms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kristoffer

2008-01-01

This work proposes a method for re-synthesizing music for use in perceptual experiments regarding structural changes and in music creation. Atoms are estimated from music audio, modelled in a stochastic model, and re-synthesized from the model pa- rameters. The atoms are found by splitting...... sinusoids into short segments, and modelled into amplitude and envelope shape, frequency, time and duration. A simple model for creating envelopes with percussive, sustained or crescendo shape is presented. Single variable and joint probability density functions are created from the atom parameters and used...... to re-create sounds with the same distribution of the atoms parameters. A novel method for visualization music, the musigram, permits a better understanding of the re- synthesized sounds....

Representative Sinusoids for Hepatic Four-Scale Pharmacokinetics Simulations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Ole Schwen

Full Text Available The mammalian liver plays a key role for metabolism and detoxification of xenobiotics in the body. The corresponding biochemical processes are typically subject to spatial variations at different length scales. Zonal enzyme expression along sinusoids leads to zonated metabolization already in the healthy state. Pathological states of the liver may involve liver cells affected in a zonated manner or heterogeneously across the whole organ. This spatial heterogeneity, however, cannot be described by most computational models which usually consider the liver as a homogeneous, well-stirred organ. The goal of this article is to present a methodology to extend whole-body pharmacokinetics models by a detailed liver model, combining different modeling approaches from the literature. This approach results in an integrated four-scale model, from single cells via sinusoids and the organ to the whole organism, capable of mechanistically representing metabolization inhomogeneity in livers at different spatial scales. Moreover, the model shows circulatory mixing effects due to a delayed recirculation through the surrounding organism. To show that this approach is generally applicable for different physiological processes, we show three applications as proofs of concept, covering a range of species, compounds, and diseased states: clearance of midazolam in steatotic human livers, clearance of caffeine in mouse livers regenerating from necrosis, and a parameter study on the impact of different cell entities on insulin uptake in mouse livers. The examples illustrate how variations only discernible at the local scale influence substance distribution in the plasma at the whole-body level. In particular, our results show that simultaneously considering variations at all relevant spatial scales may be necessary to understand their impact on observations at the organism scale.

Plasma characteristics in non-sinusoidally excited CCP discharges

Science.gov (United States)

Lafleur, Trevor; Booth, Jean-Paul

2012-10-01

Using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations we perform a characterization of the plasma response to positive pulse-type voltage excitations (with a repetition frequency of 13.56 MHz) in a geometrically symmetric CCP reactor (with a gap length of 2 cm) operated with argon (for pressures between 20-500 mTorr). Use of these non-sinusoidal waveforms generates an electrical asymmetry effect in the system, which necessitates the formation of a DC bias. This DC bias, together with the shape of the voltage waveforms used, produces a number of new phenomena that are not present in typical sinusoidal discharges: (1) the plasma density and ion flux can be increased as the pulse width is reduced, (2) a significant asymmetry in the ion fluxes to the powered and grounded electrodes develops as the pressure increases, (3) the average ion energy striking the grounded electrode remains low and approximately constant as the pulse width decreases, and (4) the sheath at the grounded electrode never fully collapses; electrons are no longer lost in sharp pulses, but escape essentially throughout the rf cycle. Effects (1) and (3) above offer the possibility for a new form of control in these types of discharges, where the ion flux can be increased while the ion energy on the grounded electrode can be kept small and essentially constant. This effect has recently been exploited to control the crystallinity of silicon thin films [1], where the low ion bombarding energy was found to improve the quality of films grown. [4pt] [1] Johnson E V, Pouliquen S, Delattre P A, and Booth J P, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 2012, in press.

An experimental study on flow friction and heat transfer of water in sinusoidal wavy silicon microchannels

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Houxue; Wu, Huiying; Zhang, Chi

2018-05-01

Sinusoidal wavy microchannels have been known as a more heat transfer efficient heat sink for the cooling of electronics than normal straight microchannels. However, the existing experimental study on wavy silicon microchannels with different phase differences are few. As a result of this, in this paper an experimental study has been conducted to investigate the single phase flow friction and heat transfer of de-ionized water in eight different sinusoidal wavy silicon microchannels (SWSMCs) and one straight silicon microchannel (SMC). The SWSMCs feature different phase differences (α  =  0 to π) and different relative wavy amplitudes (β  =  A/l  =  0.05 to 0.4), but the same average hydraulic diameters (D h  =  160 µm). It is found that both flow friction constant fRe and the Nusselt number depend on the phase difference and relative wavy amplitude. For sinusoidal wavy microchannels with a relative wavy amplitude (β  =  0.05), the Nusselt number increased noticeably with the phase difference for Re  >  250, but the effect was insignificant for Re  reducing the wavy wave length induced higher pressure drop and apparent friction constant fRe, while the Nusselt number increased with relative wavy amplitude for Re  >  300. The results indicate that the thermal resistances of sinusoidal wavy silicon microchannels were generally lower than that of straight silicon microchannels, and the thermal resistance decreased with the increase in relative wavy amplitude. The enhancement of thermal performance is attributed to the flow re-circulation occurring in the corrugation troughs and the secondary flows or Dean vortices introduced by curved channels. It is concluded that silicon sinusoidal wavy microchannels provide higher heat transfer rate albeit with a higher flow friction, making it a better choice for the cooling of high heat flux electronics.

Assessing impact of climate change on season length in Karnataka

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Changes in seasons and season length are an indicator, as well as an effect, of climate change. Seasonal change profoundly affects the balance of life in ecosystems and impacts essential human activities such as agriculture and irrigation. This study investigates the uncertainty of season length in Karnataka state, India, ...

CNNs for sinusoidal signal recognition in hearing rehabilitation

Science.gov (United States)

Carnimeo, Leonarda; Giaquinto, Antonio

2003-04-01

In this paper, a contribution is given to provide a tool to the recognition of sinusoidal signals with a particular reference to the field of pediatric hearing rehabilitation. To this purpose, a synthesis technique previously developed by the authors' is used to design a Cellular Neural Network for an Associative Memory able to compare submitted discrete-time sinusoidal signals with memorized ones. A robustness analysis of the synthesized associative memory is also developed both for noisy inputs and for parameter variations. Simulation results are then reported to illustrate the performances of the designed network.

Converter for Measurement of non-sinusoidal current peak value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Butvin, P.; Nielsen, Otto V; Brauer, Peter

1997-01-01

A linear-response toroid with core wound of rapidly quenched soft magnetic metallic ribbon and fitted with two windings is used to enable correct measurement of mean peak value of non-sinusoidal and not noise-free alternating current.......A linear-response toroid with core wound of rapidly quenched soft magnetic metallic ribbon and fitted with two windings is used to enable correct measurement of mean peak value of non-sinusoidal and not noise-free alternating current....

Structural changes during contraction in vertebrate skeletal muscle as studied by time-resolved X-ray diffraction technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugi, H.; Tanaka, H.; Kobayashi, T.; Iwamoto, H.; Wakabayashi, K.; Hamanaka, T.; Mitsui, T.; Amemiya, Y.

1986-01-01

To obtain information about the structural changes in vertebrate skeletal muscle during contraction, time-resolved X-ray diffraction studies were performed on the intensity changes of the 59 A and 51 A actin layer lines from bullfrog sartorius muscle during the isometric force development, and the intensity changes of the 143 A and 215 A myosin meridional reflections and of the 1,0 and 1,1 equatorial reflections when isometrically contracting muscle was subjected to sinusoidal length changes (1%, 5-10Hz) with the following results. The integrated intensities of the 59 A and 51 A actin layer lines increased during the force development by 30-50% for the 59 A reflection, and by about 70% for the 51 A reflection compard to their respective resting values. These intensity changes were greater than those taking place during the transition from rest to rigor state, and observed to precede the intensity changes of the 429 A myosin off-meridional reflection and of equatorial reflections. When sinusoidal length changes were applied to the muscle generating steady isometric force, the resulting periodic intensity changes in the 1,0 and 1,1 equatorial reflections were in phase and in antiphase with the length changes, respectively. On the other hand, the 143 A myosin reflection exhibited a characteristic periodic change; its intensity reached a maximum at each boundary between the stretch and release phases of the length changes. These results are discussed in connection with the behavior of the cross-bridges during contraction. (author)

Hepatic sinusoid is not well-stirred: estimation of the degree of axial mixing by analysis of lobular concentration gradients formed during uptake of thyroxine by the perfused rat liver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weisiger, R.A.; Mendel, C.M.; Cavalieri, R.R.

1986-01-01

Two general models have been proposed for predicting the effects of metabolism, protein binding, and plasma flow on the removal of drugs by the liver. These models differ in the degree of plasma mixing assumed to exist within each hepatic sinusoid. The venous equilibrium model treats the sinusoid as a single well-stirred compartment, whereas the sinusoidal model effectively breaks up the sinusoid into a large number of sequentially perfused compartments which do not exchange their contents except through plasma flow. As a consequence, the sinusoidal model, but not the venous equilibrium model, predicts that the concentration of highly extracted drugs will decline as the plasma flows through the hepatic lobule. To determine which of these alternative models best describes the hepatic uptake process, we looked for evidence that concentration gradients are formed during the uptake of [ 125 I]thyroxine by the perfused rat liver. Autoradiography of tissue slices after perfusion of the portal vein at physiologic flow rates with protein-free buffer containing [ 125 I]thyroxine demonstrated a rapid exponential fall in grain density with distance from the portal venule, declining by half for each 8% of the mean length of the sinusoid. Reversing the direction of perfusate flow reversed the direction of the autoradiographic gradients, indicating that they primarily reflect differences in the concentration of thyroxine within the hepatic sinusoids rather than differences in the uptake capacity of portal and central hepatocytes. Analysis of the data using models in which each sinusoid was represented by different numbers of sequentially perfused compartments (1-20) indicated that at least eight compartments were necessary to account for the magnitude of the gradients seen

Mapping surface properties of sinusoidal roughness standards by TPM

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, X; Rubert, P

2005-01-01

We report our investigation on the surface properties of sinusoidal roughness standards made from pure electroformed nickel. Two specimens having a sinusoidal profile with nominal R a of 0.36 μm and a peak spacing of 25 μm are chosen for this investigation. One specimen is further treated with a hard protective coating of nickel-boron. The surface topography, friction, hardness and Young's modulus of the specimens were measured by a novel instrument, the multi-function Tribological Probe Microscope (TPM). The results show that hardness of these two specimens is 14.1 GPa for uncoated specimen and 25.7 GPa for the coated one, while the Young's modulus is 188 GPa and 225 GPa, respectively. The ramping force was set to 3mN for both the specimens and the effect of the tip penetration was investigated by comparing the topography measurements before and after hardness mapping. It has been found out that there is no significant change in the averaged profiles over the scanned area, which indicates the topography distortion seen in the multi-function mapping, is recoverable. Cross correlation between topography and its corresponding hardness/Young's modulus has been carried out and the result will be discussed in the paper

Computationally Efficient Amplitude Modulated Sinusoidal Audio Coding using Frequency-Domain Linear Prediction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, M. G.; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2006-01-01

A method for amplitude modulated sinusoidal audio coding is presented that has low complexity and low delay. This is based on a subband processing system, where, in each subband, the signal is modeled as an amplitude modulated sum of sinusoids. The envelopes are estimated using frequency......-domain linear prediction and the prediction coefficients are quantized. As a proof of concept, we evaluate different configurations in a subjective listening test, and this shows that the proposed method offers significant improvements in sinusoidal coding. Furthermore, the properties of the frequency...

Full-Band Quasi-Harmonic Analysis and Synthesis of Musical Instrument Sounds with Adaptive Sinusoids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo Caetano

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Sinusoids are widely used to represent the oscillatory modes of musical instrument sounds in both analysis and synthesis. However, musical instrument sounds feature transients and instrumental noise that are poorly modeled with quasi-stationary sinusoids, requiring spectral decomposition and further dedicated modeling. In this work, we propose a full-band representation that fits sinusoids across the entire spectrum. We use the extended adaptive Quasi-Harmonic Model (eaQHM to iteratively estimate amplitude- and frequency-modulated (AM–FM sinusoids able to capture challenging features such as sharp attacks, transients, and instrumental noise. We use the signal-to-reconstruction-error ratio (SRER as the objective measure for the analysis and synthesis of 89 musical instrument sounds from different instrumental families. We compare against quasi-stationary sinusoids and exponentially damped sinusoids. First, we show that the SRER increases with adaptation in eaQHM. Then, we show that full-band modeling with eaQHM captures partials at the higher frequency end of the spectrum that are neglected by spectral decomposition. Finally, we demonstrate that a frame size equal to three periods of the fundamental frequency results in the highest SRER with AM–FM sinusoids from eaQHM. A listening test confirmed that the musical instrument sounds resynthesized from full-band analysis with eaQHM are virtually perceptually indistinguishable from the original recordings.

Inverse modelling and pulsating torque minimization of salient pole non-sinusoidal synchronous machines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ait-gougam, Y.; Ibtiouen, R.; Touhami, O. [Laboratoire de Recherche en Electrotechnique, Ecole Nationale Polytechnique, BP 182, El-Harrach 16200 (Algeria); Louis, J.-P.; Gabsi, M. [Systemes et Applications des Technologies de l' Information et de l' Energie (SATIE), CNRS UMR 8029, Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, 61 Avenue du President Wilson, 94235 Cachan Cedex (France)

2008-01-15

Sinusoidal motor's mathematical models are usually obtained using classical d-q transformation in the case of salient pole synchronous motors having sinusoidal field distribution. In this paper, a new inverse modelling for synchronous motors is presented. This modelling is derived from the properties of constant torque curves in the Concordia's reference frame. It takes into account the non-sinusoidal field distribution; EMF, self and mutual inductances having non-sinusoidal variations with respect to the angular rotor position. Both copper losses and torque ripples are minimized by adapted currents waveforms calculated from this model. Experimental evaluation was carried out on a DSP-controlled PMSM drive platform. Test results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in reducing torque ripple. (author)

Electronically Tunable Quadrature Sinusoidal Oscillator with Equal Output Amplitudes during Frequency Tuning Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Den Satipar

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A new configuration of voltage-mode quadrature sinusoidal oscillator is proposed. The proposed oscillator employs two voltage differencing current conveyors (VDCCs, two resistors, and two grounded capacitors. In this design, the use of multiple/dual output terminal active building block is not required. The tuning of frequency of oscillation (FO can be done electronically by adjusting the bias current of active device without affecting condition of oscillation (CO. The electronic tuning can be done by controlling the bias current using a digital circuit. The amplitude of two sinusoidal outputs is equal when the frequency of oscillation is tuned. This makes the sinusoidal output voltages meet good total harmonic distortions (THD. Moreover, the proposed circuit can provide the sinusoidal output current with high impedance which is connected to external load or to another circuit without the use of buffer device. To confirm that the oscillator can generate the quadrature sinusoidal output signal, the experimental results using VDCC constructed from commercially available ICs are also included. The experimental results agree well with theoretical anticipation.

A Perceptual Model for Sinusoidal Audio Coding Based on Spectral Integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jensen Søren Holdt

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Psychoacoustical models have been used extensively within audio coding applications over the past decades. Recently, parametric coding techniques have been applied to general audio and this has created the need for a psychoacoustical model that is specifically suited for sinusoidal modelling of audio signals. In this paper, we present a new perceptual model that predicts masked thresholds for sinusoidal distortions. The model relies on signal detection theory and incorporates more recent insights about spectral and temporal integration in auditory masking. As a consequence, the model is able to predict the distortion detectability. In fact, the distortion detectability defines a (perceptually relevant norm on the underlying signal space which is beneficial for optimisation algorithms such as rate-distortion optimisation or linear predictive coding. We evaluate the merits of the model by combining it with a sinusoidal extraction method and compare the results with those obtained with the ISO MPEG-1 Layer I-II recommended model. Listening tests show a clear preference for the new model. More specifically, the model presented here leads to a reduction of more than 20% in terms of number of sinusoids needed to represent signals at a given quality level.

Unidirectional Motion of Vehicle on Sinusoidal Path

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 17; Issue 4. Unidirectional Motion of Vehicle on Sinusoidal Path: Can it Cause Illusory Forward and Backward Motion? Anuj Bhatnagar. Classroom Volume 17 Issue 4 April 2012 pp 387-392 ...

Changes in root lengths of maxillary incisors during orthodontic retention period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ravanmehr H

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: External apical root resorption is a common iatrogenic consequence of orthodontic treatment. Much controversy exists in the literature about changes in root lengths at post treatment periods. Although many practitioners believe that resorption becomes stable after active treatment, quantitative data are scarce. The purpose of this study was to determine quantitative changes in root lengths of maxillary incisors during fixed orthodontic post treatment period, and to assess if it is influenced by gender and factors related to active treatment. Materials and Methods: This was a case cross over study, performed on 80 patients (52 females and 28 males aged between 13 and 22 years. At debonding stage and beginning of retention phase of fixed orthodontic treatment, Hawley type retainer was fabricated for maxillary arch. Periapical radiographs of maxillary incisors using standard parallel technique were obtained immediately after debonding, and 3 and 7 months later. Crown and root lengths of maxillary incisors were measured using computer program. Changes in root lengths were calculated considering correction factors. Also associations between some factors and the change in root lengths during post treatment periods were assessed. These included gender, type of treatment plan (non extraction/extraction, technique (standard edgewise/straight-wire edgewise and duration of active treatment (less than 2 years/2 years and more. T-test and 4-way ANOVA were used for statistical analysis with P0.05 as the limit of significance. Results: No significant relation was found between apical root resorption of maxillary central incisors and time elapsed after treatment. Significant relation was observed between apical root resorption of maxillary lateral incisors and the length of post treatment period. No significant relation was found between root length changes of maxillary incisors during post treatment period and gender, type of treatment

Crashworthiness Analysis and Evaluation of Fuselage Section with Sub-floor Composite Sinusoidal Specimens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H.L. Mou

Full Text Available Abstract Crashworthiness is one of the main concerns in civil aviation safety particularly with regard to the increasing ratio of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP in aircraft primary structures. In order to generate dates for model validations, the mechanical properties of T700/3234 were obtained by material performance tests, and energy-absorbing results were gained by quasi-static crushing tests of composite sinusoidal specimens. The correctness of composite material model and single-layer finite element model of composite sinusoidal specimens were verified based on the simulation results and test results that were in good agreement. A typical civil aircraft fuselage section with composite sinusoidal specimens under cargo floor was suggested. The crashworthiness of finite element model of fuselage section was assessed by simulating the vertical drop test subjected to 7 m/s impact velocity, and the influences of different thickness of sub-floor composite sinusoidal specimens on crashworthiness of fuselage section were also analyzed. The simulation results show that the established finite element model can accurately simulate the crushing process of composite sinusoidal specimens; the failure process of fuselage section is more stable, and the safety of occupants can be effectively improved because of the smaller peak accelerations that was limited to human tolerance, a critical thickness of sub-floor composite sinusoidal specimens can restrict the magnitude of acceleration peaks, which has certain reference values for enhancing crashworthiness capabilities of fuselage section and improving the survivability of passengers.

The sinusoidal lining cells in "normal" human liver. A scanning electron microscopic investigation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Horn, T; Henriksen, Jens Henrik Sahl; Christoffersen, P

1986-01-01

The scanning electron microscopic was used to study the fenestrations of human liver sinusoids. Thirteen biopsies, where light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed normal sinusoidal architecture, were investigated. The number of fenestrae was calculated in acinar zone 3...

Controlled generation of nonlinear resonances through sinusoidal lattice modes in Bose–Einstein condensate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Priyam; Panigrahi, Prasanta K

2015-01-01

We study Bose–Einstein condensate in the combined presence of time modulated optical lattice and harmonic trap in the mean-field approach. Through the self-similar method, we show the existence of sinusoidal lattice modes in this inhomogeneous system, commensurate with the lattice potential. A significant advantage of this system is wide tunability of the parameters through chirp management. The combined effect of the interaction, harmonic trap and lattice potential leads to the generation of nonlinear resonances, exactly where the matter wave changes its direction. When the harmonic trap is switched off, the BEC undergoes a nonlinear compression for the static optical lattice potential. For better understanding of chirp management and the nature of the sinusoidal excitation, we investigate the energy spectrum of the condensate, which clearly reveals the generation of nonlinear resonances in the appropriate regime. We have also identified a classical dynamical phase transition occurring in the system, where loss of superfluidity takes the superfluid phase to an insulating state. (paper)

Investigation of Calibrating Force Transducer Using Sinusoidal Force

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Li; Wang Yu; Zhang Lizhe

2010-01-01

Sinusoidal force calibration method was studied several years before at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). A similar dynamic force calibration system is developed at Changcheng Institute of Metrology and Measurement (CIMM). It uses electro-dynamic shakers to generate dynamic force in the range from 1 N to 20 kN, and heterodyne laser interferometers are used for acceleration measurement. The force transducer to be calibrated is mounted on the shaker, and a mass block is screwed on the top of force transducer, the sinusoidal forces realized by accelerated load masses are traceable to acceleration and mass according to the force definition. The methods of determining Spatial-dependent acceleration on mass block and measuring the end mass of force transducer in dynamic force calibration are discussed in this paper.

Some New Results on the Estimation of Sinusoids in Noise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jesper Kjær

2012-01-01

This thesis is concerned with the problem of estimating sinusoidal parameters from noisy observations. This field of research is applicable to solving problems in a large number of areas such as music and speech processing, electrocardiography, seismology, radar and sonar processing, astronomy....... Third, an efficient algorithm for performing inference and interpolation in a dynamic sinusoidal model is proposed. This method is applied to packet-loss concealment, and listening tests indicate that the proposed algorithm can be used for this purpose. Fourth, the Capon filtering method for amplitude...

An Adaptive Filter for the Removal of Drifting Sinusoidal Noise Without a Reference.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, John W; Siewiorek, Daniel P; Smailagic, Asim; Wang, Wei

2016-01-01

This paper presents a method for filtering sinusoidal noise with a variable bandwidth filter that is capable of tracking a sinusoid's drifting frequency. The method, which is based on the adaptive noise canceling (ANC) technique, will be referred to here as the adaptive sinusoid canceler (ASC). The ASC eliminates sinusoidal contamination by tracking its frequency and achieving a narrower bandwidth than typical notch filters. The detected frequency is used to digitally generate an internal reference instead of relying on an external one as ANC filters typically do. The filter's bandwidth adjusts to achieve faster and more accurate convergence. In this paper, the focus of the discussion and the data is physiological signals, specifically electrocorticographic (ECoG) neural data contaminated with power line noise, but the presented technique could be applicable to other recordings as well. On simulated data, the ASC was able to reliably track the noise's frequency, properly adjust its bandwidth, and outperform comparative methods including standard notch filters and an adaptive line enhancer. These results were reinforced by visual results obtained from real ECoG data. The ASC showed that it could be an effective method for increasing signal to noise ratio in the presence of drifting sinusoidal noise, which is of significant interest for biomedical applications.

Influence of sinusoidal flow on the thermal and hydraulic performance of microchannel heat sink

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Om, N I; Gunnasegaran, P; Rajasegaran, S

2013-01-01

In this paper, the effect of sinusoidal flow on the thermal and hydraulic performance of microchannel heat sink (MCHS) is numerically investigated. This investigation covers Reynolds number in the range of 100 ≤ Re ≤ 1000 and pure water is used as a working fluid. The three-dimensional steady, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using finite volume method (FVM). The water flow field and heat transfer performance inside the sinusoidal microchannels is simulated and the results are compared with the straight microchannels. The effect of using sinusoidal microchannels on temperature distribution, Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal resistance is presented in this paper. It is found that with same rectangular cross-section, sinusoidal microchannels have a better heat transfer performance compared to the straight microchannels.

Analytical solution to the problem of heat transfer in an MHD flow inside a channel with prescribed sinusoidal wall heat flux

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zniber, K.; Oubarra, A.; Lahjomri, J.

2005-01-01

An MHD laminar flow through a two dimensional channel subjected to a uniform magnetic field and heated at the walls of the conduit over the whole length with a sinusoidal heat flux of vanishing mean value or not, is studied analytically. General expressions of the temperature distribution and of the local and mean Nusselt numbers are obtained by using the technique of linear operators in the case of negligible Joule and viscous dissipation and by taking into account the axial conduction effect. The principal results show that an increase of the local Nusselt number with Hartmann number is observed, and, far from the inlet section, the average heat transfer between the fluid and the walls shows a significant improvement at all values of Hartmann number used when the frequency of the prescribed sinusoidal wall heat flux is increasing in the case of vanishing mean value of the heat flux and this is true especially at low Peclet numbers

Regorafenib suppresses sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Okuno, Masayuki; Hatano, Etsuro; Nakamura, Kojiro; Miyagawa-Hayashino, Aya; Kasai, Yosuke; Nishio, Takahiro; Seo, Satoru; Taura, Kojiro; Uemoto, Shinji

2015-02-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), a form of drug-induced liver injury related to oxaliplatin treatment, is associated with postoperative morbidity after hepatectomy. This study aimed to examine the impact of regorafenib, the first small-molecule kinase inhibitor to show efficacy against metastatic colorectal cancer, on a rat model of SOS. Rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced SOS were divided into two groups according to treatment with either regorafenib (6 mg/kg) or vehicle alone, which were administered at 12 and 36 h, respectively, before MCT administration. Histopathologic examination and serum biochemistry tests were performed 48 h after MCT administration. Sinusoidal endothelial cells were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. To examine whether regorafenib preserved remnant liver function, a 30% hepatectomy was performed in each group. The rats in the vehicle group displayed typical SOS features, whereas these features were suppressed in the regorafenib group. The total SOS scores were significantly lower in the regorafenib group than in the vehicle group. Immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy showed that regorafenib had a protective effect on sinusoidal endothelial cells. The postoperative survival rate after 7 d was significantly better in the regorafenib group than that in the vehicle group (26.7% versus 6.7%, P Regorafenib reduced the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase, which induced matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) activation and decreased the activity of MMP-9, one of the crucial mediators of SOS development. Regorafenib suppressed MCT-induced SOS, concomitant with attenuating extracellular signal-regulated kinase phosphorylation, and MMP-9 activation, suggesting that regorafenib may be a favorable agent for use in combination with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interrogation of transcriptomic changes associated with drug-induced hepatic sinusoidal dilatation in colorectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Jarzabek, Monika A; Proctor, William R; Vogt, Jennifer; Desai, Rupal; Dicker, Patrick; Cain, Gary; Raja, Rajiv; Brodbeck, Jens; Stevens, Dale; van der Stok, Eric P; Martens, John W M; Verhoef, Cornelis; Hegde, Priti S; Byrne, Annette T; Tarrant, Jacqueline M

2018-01-01

Drug-related sinusoidal dilatation (SD) is a common form of hepatotoxicity associated with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy used prior to resection of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Recently, hepatic SD has also been associated with anti-delta like 4 (DLL4) cancer therapies targeting the NOTCH pathway. To investigate the hypothesis that NOTCH signaling plays an important role in drug-induced SD, gene expression changes were examined in livers from anti-DLL4 and oxaliplatin-induced SD in non-human primate (NHP) and patients, respectively. Putative mechanistic biomarkers of bevacizumab (bev)-mediated protection against oxaliplatin-induced SD were also investigated. RNA was extracted from whole liver sections or centrilobular regions by laser-capture microdissection (LCM) obtained from NHP administered anti-DLL4 fragment antigen-binding (F(ab')2 or patients with CRLM receiving oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy with or without bev. mRNA expression was quantified using high-throughput real-time quantitative PCR. Significance analysis was used to identify genes with differential expression patterns (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05). Eleven (CCL2, CCND1, EFNB2, ERG, ICAM1, IL16, LFNG, NOTCH1, NOTCH4, PRDX1, and TGFB1) and six (CDH5, EFNB2, HES1, IL16, MIK67, HES1 and VWF) candidate genes were differentially expressed in the liver of anti-DLL4- and oxaliplatin-induced SD, respectively. Addition of bev to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy resulted in differential changes in hepatic CDH5, HEY1, IL16, JAG1, MMP9, NOTCH4 and TIMP1 expression. This work implicates NOTCH and IL16 pathways in the pathogenesis of drug-induced SD and further explains the hepato-protective effect of bev in oxaliplatin-induced SD observed in CRLM patients.

Model selection and comparison for independents sinusoids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Jesper Kjær; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2014-01-01

In the signal processing literature, many methods have been proposed for estimating the number of sinusoidal basis functions from a noisy data set. The most popular method is the asymptotic MAP criterion, which is sometimes also referred to as the BIC. In this paper, we extend and improve this me...

Flame Structure and Chemiluminescence Emissions of Inverse Diffusion Flames under Sinusoidally Driven Plasma Discharges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Grazia De Giorgi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Reduction of nitric oxides (NOx in aircraft engines and in gas turbines by lean combustion is of great interest in the design of novel combustion systems. However, the stabilization of the flame under lean conditions is a main issue. In this context, the present work investigates the effects of sinusoidal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD on a lean inverse diffusive methane/air flame in a Bunsen-type burner under different actuation conditions. The flame appearance was investigated with fixed methane loading (mass flux, but with varying inner airflow rate. High-speed flame imaging was done by using an intensified (charge-coupled device CCD camera equipped with different optical filters in order to selectively record signals from the chemiluminescent species OH*, CH*, or CO2* to evaluate the flame behavior in presence of plasma actuation. The electrical power consumption was less than 33 W. It was evident that the plasma flame enhancement was significantly influenced by the plasma discharges, particularly at high inner airflow rates. The flame structure changes drastically when the dissipated plasma power increases. The flame area decreases due to the enhancement of mixing and chemical reactions that lead to a more anchored flame on the quartz exit with a reduction of the flame length.

[Effect of 50 Hz 1.8 mT sinusoidal electromagnetic fields on bone mineral density in growing rats].

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Yu-Hai; Zhou, Yan-Feng; Li, Shao-Feng; Li, Wen-Yuan; Xi, Hui-Rong; Yang, Fang-Fang; Chen, Ke-Ming

2017-12-25

To study effects of 50 Hz 1.8 mT sinusoidal electromagnetic fields (SEMFs) on bone mineral density (BMD) in SD rats. Thirty SD rats weighted(110±10) and aged 1 month were randomly divided into control group and electromagnetic field group, 15 in each group. Normal control group of 50 Hz 0 mT density and sinusoidal electromagnetic field group of 50 Hz 1.8 mT were performed respectively with 1.5 h/d and weighted weight once a week, and observed food-intake. Rats were anesthesia by intraperitoneal injection and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry were used to detect bone density of whole body, and detected bone density of femur and vertebral body. Osteocalcin and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b were detected by ELSA; weighted liver, kidney and uterus to calculate purtenance index, then detected pathologic results by HE. Compared with control group, there was no significant change in weight every week, food-intake every day; no obvious change of bone density of whole body at 2 and 4 weeks, however bone density of whole body, bone density of excised femur and vertebra were increased at 6 weeks. Expression of OC was increased, and TRACP 5b expression was decreased. No change of HE has been observed in liver, kidney and uterus and organic index. 50 Hz 1.8 mT sinusoidal electromagnetic fields could improve bone formation to decrease relevant factors of bone absorbs, to improve peak bone density of young rats, in further provide a basis for clinical research electromagnetic fields preventing osteoporosis foundation.

New Canonic Active RC Sinusoidal Oscillator Circuits Using Second-Generation Current Conveyors with Application as a Wide-Frequency Digitally Controlled Sinusoid Generator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhirup Lahiri

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper reports two new circuit topologies using second-generation current conveyors (CCIIs for realizing variable frequency sinusoidal oscillators with minimum passive components. The proposed topologies in this paper provide new realizations of resistance-controlled and capacitor-controlled variable frequency oscillators (VFOs using only four passive components. The first topology employs three CCIIs, while the second topology employs two CCIIs. The second topology provides an advantageous feature of frequency tuning through two grounded elements. Application of the proposed circuits as a wide-frequency range digitally controlled sinusoid generator is exhibited wherein the digital frequency control has been enabled by replacing both the capacitors by two identical variable binary capacitor banks tunable by means of the same binary code. SPICE simulations of the CMOS implementation of the oscillators using 0.35 μm TSMC CMOS technology parameters and bipolar implementation of the oscillators using process parameters for NR200N-2X (NPN and PR200N-2X (PNP of bipolar arrays ALA400-CBIC-R have validated their workability. One of the oscillators (with CMOS implementation is exemplified as a digitally controlled sinusoid generator with frequency generation from 25 kHz to 6.36 MHz, achieved by switching capacitors and with power consumption of 7 mW in the entire operating frequency range.

Managing carbon sinks by changing rotation length in European forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaipainen, Terhi; Liski, Jari; Pussinen, Ari; Karjalainen, Timo

2004-01-01

Elongation of rotation length is a forest management activity countries may choose to apply under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol to help them meet their commitments for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We used the CO2FIX model to analyze how the carbon stocks of trees, soil and wood products depend on rotation length in different European forests. Results predicted that the carbon stock of trees increased in each forest when rotation length was increased, but the carbon stock of soil decreased slightly in German and Finnish Scots pine forests; the carbon stock of wood products also decreased slightly in cases other than the Sitka spruce forest in UK. To estimate the efficiency of increasing rotation length as an Article 3.4 activity, we looked at changes in the carbon stock of trees resulting from a 20-year increase in current rotation lengths. To achieve the largest eligible carbon sink mentioned in Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol, the rotation lengths need to be increased on areas varying from 0.3 to 5.1 Mha depending on the forest. This would in some forests cause 1-6% declines in harvesting possibilities. The possible decreases in the carbon stock of soil indicate that reporting the changes in the carbon stocks of forests under Article 3.4 may require measuring soil carbon

Light scattering by sinusoidal surfaces: illumination windows and harmonics in standards.

Science.gov (United States)

Marx, E; Lettieri, T R; Vorburger, T V

1995-03-01

Sinusoidal surfaces can be used as material standards to help calibrate instruments that measure the angular distribution of the intensity of light scattered by arbitrary surfaces, because the power in the diffraction peaks varies over several orders of magnitude. The calculated power in the higher-order diffraction peaks from sinusoidal surfaces expressed in terms of Bessel functions is much smaller than the values determined from angular distributions that are measured or computed from measured profiles, both of which are determined mainly by the harmonic contents of the profile. The finite size of the illuminated area, represented by an illumination window, gives rise to a background that is much larger than the calculated power in the higher-order peaks. For a rectangular window of a size equal to an even number of periods of the sinusoid, a computation of the power distribution produces minima at or near the location of the diffraction angles for higher-order diffraction angles.

Intravascular Immune Surveillance by CXCR6+ NKT Cells Patrolling Liver Sinusoids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geissmann Frederic

2005-01-01

Full Text Available We examined the in vivo behavior of liver natural killer T cells (NKT cells by intravital fluorescence microscopic imaging of mice in which a green fluorescent protein cDNA was used to replace the gene encoding the chemokine receptor CXCR6. NKT cells, which account for most CXCR6+ cells in liver, were found to crawl within hepatic sinusoids at 10-20 µm/min and to stop upon T cell antigen receptor activation. CXCR6-deficient mice exhibited a selective and severe reduction of CD1d-reactive NKT cells in the liver and decreased susceptibility to T-cell-dependent hepatitis. CXCL16, the cell surface ligand for CXCR6, is expressed on sinusoidal endothelial cells, and CXCR6 deficiency resulted in reduced survival, but not in altered speed or pattern of patrolling of NKT cells. Thus, NKT cells patrol liver sinusoids to provide intravascular immune surveillance, and CXCR6 contributes to liver-based immune responses by regulating their abundance.

DISPLAY OF PIXEL LOSS AND REPLICATION IN REPROJECTING RASTER DATA FROM THE SINUSOIDAL PROJECTION

Science.gov (United States)

Recent studies show the sinusoidal projection to be a superior planar projection for representing global raster datasets. This study uses the sinusoidal projection as a basis for evaluating pixel loss and replication in eight other planar map projections. The percent of pixels ...

Unified design of sinusoidal-groove fused-silica grating.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Jijun; Zhou, Changhe; Cao, Hongchao; Lu, Peng

2010-10-20

A general design rule of deep-etched subwavelength sinusoidal-groove fused-silica grating as a highly efficient polarization-independent or polarization-selective device is studied based on the simplified modal method, which shows that the device structure depends little on the incident wavelength, but mainly on the ratio of groove depth to incident wavelength and the ratio of wavelength to grating period. These two ratios could be used as the design guidelines for wavelength-independent structure from deep ultraviolet to far infrared. The optimized grating profile with a different function as a polarizing beam splitter, a polarization-independent two-port beam splitter, or a polarization-independent grating with high efficiency of -1st order is obtained at a wavelength of 1064 nm, and verified by using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. The performance of the sinusoidal grating is better than a conventional rectangular one, which could be useful for practical applications.

Riding the Ferris Wheel: A Sinusoidal Model

Science.gov (United States)

Mittag, Kathleen Cage; Taylor, Sharon E.

2011-01-01

When thinking of models for sinusoidal waves, examples such as tides of the ocean, daily temperatures for one year in your town, light and sound waves, and certain types of motion are used. Many textbooks [1, p. 222] also present a "Ferris wheel description problem" for students to work. This activity takes the Ferris wheel problem out of the…

One-dimensional plasma photonic crystals with sinusoidal densities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi, L.; Shang, L.; Zhang, S.

2014-01-01

Properties of electromagnetic waves with normal and oblique incidence have been studied for one-dimensional plasma layers with sinusoidal densities. Wave transmittance as a function of wave frequency exhibits photonic band gaps characteristic of photonic crystals. For periodic structures, increasing collision frequency is demonstrated to lead to greater absorption, increasing the modulation factor enlarges the gap width, and increasing incidence angle can change the gap locations of the two polarizations. If a defect layer is introduced by inserting a new plasma layer in the center, a defect mode may appear within the gap. Periodic number, collision frequency, and modulation factor can affect magnitude of the defect mode. The incidence angle enables the frequency to be tuned. Defect layer thickness affects both frequency and number of defect modes. These results may provide theoretical guidance in designing tunable narrow-band filters

Comparison between the water activation effects by pulsed and sinusoidal helium plasma jets

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Han; Liu, Dingxin; Xia, Wenjie; Chen, Chen; Wang, Weitao; Liu, Zhijie; Wang, Xiaohua; Kong, Michael G.

2018-01-01

Comparisons between pulsed and sinusoidal plasma jets have been extensively reported for the discharge characteristics and gaseous reactive species, but rarely for the aqueous reactive species in water solutions treated by the two types of plasma jets. This motivates us to compare the concentrations of aqueous reactive species induced by a pulsed and a sinusoidal plasma jet, since it is widely reported that these aqueous reactive species play a crucial role in various plasma biomedical applications. Experimental results show that the aqueous H2O2, OH/O2-, and O2-/ONOO- induced by the pulsed plasma jet have higher concentrations, and the proportional difference increases with the discharge power. However, the emission intensities of OH(A) and O(3p5P) are higher for the sinusoidal plasma jet, which may be attributed to its higher gas temperature since more water vapor could participate in the plasma. In addition, the efficiency of bacterial inactivation induced by the pulsed plasma jet is higher than that for the sinusoidal plasma jet, in accordance with the concentration relation of aqueous reactive species for the two types of plasma jets.

Trans-sinusoidal maxillary distraction in three cleft patients.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wenghoefer, M.H.; Martini, M.; Nadjmi, N.; Schutyser, F.A.C.; Jagtman, A.K.; Bergé, S.J.

2006-01-01

The trans-sinusoidal maxillary distractor (TS-MD) was used to achieve maxillary advancement in three patients with repaired cleft lip and palate. After preoperative computer-aided planning of the distraction vectors, each TS-MD was bent on a stereolithographic model of the maxilla of the patient.

Sinusoidal voltage protocols for rapid characterisation of ion channel kinetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Beattie, Kylie A; Hill, Adam P; Bardenet, Rémi; Cui, Yi; Vandenberg, Jamie I; Gavaghan, David J; de Boer, Teun P; Mirams, Gary R

2018-03-24

Ion current kinetics are commonly represented by current-voltage relationships, time constant-voltage relationships and subsequently mathematical models fitted to these. These experiments take substantial time, which means they are rarely performed in the same cell. Rather than traditional square-wave voltage clamps, we fitted a model to the current evoked by a novel sum-of-sinusoids voltage clamp that was only 8 s long. Short protocols that can be performed multiple times within a single cell will offer many new opportunities to measure how ion current kinetics are affected by changing conditions. The new model predicts the current under traditional square-wave protocols well, with better predictions of underlying currents than literature models. The current under a novel physiologically relevant series of action potential clamps is predicted extremely well. The short sinusoidal protocols allow a model to be fully fitted to individual cells, allowing us to examine cell-cell variability in current kinetics for the first time. Understanding the roles of ion currents is crucial to predict the action of pharmaceuticals and mutations in different scenarios, and thereby to guide clinical interventions in the heart, brain and other electrophysiological systems. Our ability to predict how ion currents contribute to cellular electrophysiology is in turn critically dependent on our characterisation of ion channel kinetics - the voltage-dependent rates of transition between open, closed and inactivated channel states. We present a new method for rapidly exploring and characterising ion channel kinetics, applying it to the hERG potassium channel as an example, with the aim of generating a quantitatively predictive representation of the ion current. We fitted a mathematical model to currents evoked by a novel 8 second sinusoidal voltage clamp in CHO cells overexpressing hERG1a. The model was then used to predict over 5 minutes of recordings in the same cell in response to

The Influence of Chordwise Flexibility on the Flow Structure and Streamwise Force of a Sinusoidally Pitching Airfoil

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, David Arthur

Many natural flyers and swimmers need to exploit unsteady mechanisms in order to generate sufficient aerodynamic forces for sustained flight and propulsion. This is, in part, due to the low speed and length scales at which they typically operate. In this low Reynolds number regime, there are many unanswered questions on how existing aerodynamic theory for both steady and unsteady flows can be applied. Additionally, most of these natural flyers and swimmers have deformable wing/fin structures, three dimensional wing planforms, and exhibit complex kinematics during motion. While some biologically-inspired studies seek to replicate these complex structures and kinematics in the laboratory or in numerical simulations, it becomes difficult to draw explicit connections to the existing knowledge base of classical unsteady aerodynamic theory due to the complexity of the problems. In this experimental study, wing kinematics, structure, and planform are greatly simplified to investigate the effect of chordwise flexibility on the streamwise force (thrust) and wake behavior of a sinusoidally pitching airfoil. The study of flexibility in the literature has typically utilized flat plates with varying thicknesses or lengths to change their chordwise flexibility. This choice introduces additional complexities when comparing to the wealth of knowledge originally developed on streamlined aerodynamic shapes. The current study capitalizes on the recent developments in 3D printer technology to create accurate shapes out of materials with varying degrees of flexibility by creating two standard NACA 0009 airfoils: one rigid and one flexible. Each of the two airfoils are sinusoidally pitched about the quarter chord over a range of oscillation amplitudes and frequencies while monitoring the deformation of the airfoil. The oscillation amplitude is selected to be small enough such that leading edge vortices do not form, and the vortical structures in the wake are formed from the trailing

Long Series of GNSS Integrated Precipitable Water as a Climate Change Indicator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kruczyk Michał

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates information potential contained in tropospheric delay product for selected International GNSS Service (IGS stations in climatologic research. Long time series of daily averaged Integrated Precipitable Water (IPW can serve as climate indicator. The seasonal model of IPW change has been adjusted to the multi-year series (by the least square method. Author applied two modes: sinusoidal and composite (two or more oscillations. Even simple sinusoidal seasonal model (of daily IPW values series clearly represents diversity of world climates. Residuals in periods from 10 up to 17 years are searched for some long-term IPW trend – self-evident climate change indicator. Results are ambiguous: for some stations or periods IPW trends are quite clear, the following years (or the other station not visible. Method of fitting linear trend to IPW series does not influence considerably the value of linear trend. The results are mostly influenced by series length, completeness and data (e.g. meteorological quality. The longer and more homogenous IPW series, the better chance to estimate the magnitude of climatologic IPW changes.

Evaluating Multispectral Snowpack Reflectivity With Changing Snow Correlation Lengths

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Do Hyuk; Barros, Ana P.; Kim, Edward J.

2016-01-01

This study investigates the sensitivity of multispectral reflectivity to changing snow correlation lengths. Matzler's ice-lamellae radiative transfer model was implemented and tested to evaluate the reflectivity of snow correlation lengths at multiple frequencies from the ultraviolet (UV) to the microwave bands. The model reveals that, in the UV to infrared (IR) frequency range, the reflectivity and correlation length are inversely related, whereas reflectivity increases with snow correlation length in the microwave frequency range. The model further shows that the reflectivity behavior can be mainly attributed to scattering rather than absorption for shallow snowpacks. The largest scattering coefficients and reflectivity occur at very small correlation lengths (approximately 10(exp -5 m) for frequencies higher than the IR band. In the microwave range, the largest scattering coefficients are found at millimeter wavelengths. For validation purposes, the ice-lamella model is coupled with a multilayer snow physics model to characterize the reflectivity response of realistic snow hydrological processes. The evolution of the coupled model simulated reflectivities in both the visible and the microwave bands is consistent with satellite-based reflectivity observations in the same frequencies. The model results are also compared with colocated in situ snow correlation length measurements (Cold Land Processes Field Experiment 2002-2003). The analysis and evaluation of model results indicate that the coupled multifrequency radiative transfer and snow hydrology modeling system can be used as a forward operator in a data-assimilation framework to predict the status of snow physical properties, including snow correlation length.

Evoked responses to sinusoidally modulated sound in unanaesthetized dogs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tielen, A.M.; Kamp, A.; Lopes da Silva, F.H.; Reneau, J.P.; Storm van Leeuwen, W.

1. 1. Responses evoked by sinusoidally amplitude-modulated sound in unanaesthetized dogs have been recorded from inferior colliculus and from auditory cortex structures by means of chronically indwelling stainless steel wire electrodes. 2. 2. Harmonic analysis of the average responses demonstrated

Optimization for sinusoidal profiles in surface relief gratings ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2014-02-07

Feb 7, 2014 ... filometry [7–9] and monitoring of surface self-diffusion of solids under ultrahigh vacuum conditions [10]. In the present work, recording parameters, i.e. exposure time and deve- lopment time for fabrication of such holographic gratings have been optimized to obtain nearly perfect sinusoidal profiles in the ...

Asymptotic Theory of the Least Squares Estimators of Sinusoidal Signal

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kundu, Debasis

1997-01-01

... normality are derived for the sinusoidal signal under the assumption of normal error (Kundu; 1993) and under the assumptions of independent and identically distributed random variables in Kundu and Mitra...

Emerging and Submerging Shorelines: Impacts of Physical Change on Bioband Length

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, L. E.; Johnson, A. C.; Gregovich, D.; Buma, B.; Noel, J.

2017-12-01

We approximated shifts in coastal benthic species for shoreline length units undergoing both sea level rise and relative sea level lowering (often post-glacial, termed isostatic rebound) where subsistence-based, southeast Alaska Natives reside. From six community centers, we examined 30 km radii shoreline reaches by merging relevant portions of the NOAA ShoreZone database with near shore bathymetry and measures of mean global sea level rise with local global positioning system information (GIS) of tectonic shift and isostatic rebound. For our analysis, we estimated change for 9,868 assessed shoreline length units having uniform substrate and biologic type over a 100-yr time span (2008-2108) using geometric analysis of shoreline attributes. For each shoreline length unit we assessed relationships among substrate, slope, exposure, and presence of five benthic species including eel grass (Zostera marina), blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), butter clams (Saxidomus gigantean), bull kelp (Nereocytis leutkeana), and foliose red algae including ribbon kelp (Palmaria sp.). Our research indicates that both emergence, up to 1.8 m, and submergence, up 0.2 m, of the land will result in disportionately larger shoreline length segment alterations for habitats in protected low-slope gradient bays and estuaries (dominated by eelgrass and butter clam habitats) with less change for rocky steep-gradient exposed penninsulas (red algae and canopy kelp). This trend, holding true regardless of isostatic rebound, tectonic shift or sea level rise rate, highlights the importance of initial geomorphology-based assessments serving to improve bio-physical, chemical, and socially-related coastal research. Where shorelines are emerging 30% decreases in estuary lengths are predicted, but where shorelines are submerging up to 3% increases in estuaries are expected. Our research results are consistent with anthropology studies assessing past coastal change. Coastal change, influencing subsistance foods

Dynamic performance of maximum power point tracking circuits using sinusoidal extremum seeking control for photovoltaic generation

Science.gov (United States)

Leyva, R.; Artillan, P.; Cabal, C.; Estibals, B.; Alonso, C.

2011-04-01

The article studies the dynamic performance of a family of maximum power point tracking circuits used for photovoltaic generation. It revisits the sinusoidal extremum seeking control (ESC) technique which can be considered as a particular subgroup of the Perturb and Observe algorithms. The sinusoidal ESC technique consists of adding a small sinusoidal disturbance to the input and processing the perturbed output to drive the operating point at its maximum. The output processing involves a synchronous multiplication and a filtering stage. The filter instance determines the dynamic performance of the MPPT based on sinusoidal ESC principle. The approach uses the well-known root-locus method to give insight about damping degree and settlement time of maximum-seeking waveforms. This article shows the transient waveforms in three different filter instances to illustrate the approach. Finally, an experimental prototype corroborates the dynamic analysis.

Estimation of the second heart sound split using windowed sinusoidal models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sæderup, Rasmus Gundorf; Hoang, Poul; Winther, Simon

2018-01-01

to the potential overlap between A2 and P2. In this paper, a model-based approach is proposed where both A2 and P2 are modeled as windowed sinusoids with their sum forming the S2 signal. Estimation of the model parameters and the S2 split form a non-convex optimization problem, where a local minimum is obtained...... using a sequential optimization procedure. First, the window parameters are found as the solution to a regularized least squares problem. Then, the frequencies and phases of the sinusoids are found by locating the maximal peaks of the heart signals’ frequency magnitudes, and using the corresponding...

Sinusoidal modulation analysis for optical system MTF measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Boone, J M; Yu, T; Seibert, J A

1996-12-01

The modulation transfer function (MTF) is a commonly used metric for defining the spatial resolution characteristics of imaging systems. While the MTF is defined in terms of how an imaging system demodulates the amplitude of a sinusoidal input, this approach has not been in general use to measure MTFs in the medical imaging community because producing sinusoidal x-ray patterns is technically difficult. However, for optical systems such as charge coupled devices (CCD), which are rapidly becoming a part of many medical digital imaging systems, the direct measurement of modulation at discrete spatial frequencies using a sinusoidal test pattern is practical. A commercially available optical test pattern containing spatial frequencies ranging from 0.375 cycles/mm to 80 cycles/mm was sued to determine the MRF of a CCD-based optical system. These results were compared with the angulated slit method of Fujita [H. Fujita, D. Tsia, T. Itoh, K. Doi, J. Morishita, K. Ueda, and A. Ohtsuka, "A simple method for determining the modulation transfer function in digital radiography," IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging 11, 34-39 (1992)]. The use of a semiautomated profiled iterated reconstruction technique (PIRT) is introduced, where the shift factor between successive pixel rows (due to angulation) is optimized iteratively by least-squares error analysis rather than by hand measurement of the slit angle. PIRT was used to find the slit angle for the Fujita technique and to find the sine-pattern angle for the sine-pattern technique. Computer simulation of PIRT for the case of the slit image (a line spread function) demonstrated that it produced a more accurate angle determination than "hand" measurement, and there is a significant difference between the errors in the two techniques (Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p < 0.001). The sine-pattern method and the Fujita slit method produced comparable MTF curves for the CCD camera evaluated.

Increased sinusoidal volume and solute extraction during retrograde liver perfusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bass, N.M.; Manning, J.A.; Weisiger, R.A.

1989-01-01

Retrograde isolated liver perfusion has been used to probe acinar functional heterogeneity, but the hemodynamic effects of backward flow have not been characterized. In this study, extraction of a long-chain fatty acid derivative, 12-N-methyl-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-amino stearate (12-NBDS), was greater during retrograde than during anterograde perfusion of isolated rat liver. To determine whether hemodynamic differences between anterograde and retrograde perfused livers could account for this finding, the hepatic extracellular space was measured for both directions of flow by means of [ 14 C]sucrose washout during perfusion as well as by direct measurement of [ 14 C]sucrose entrapped during perfusion. A three- to fourfold enlargement of the total hepatic extracellular space was found during retrograde perfusion by both approaches. Examination of perfusion-fixed livers by light microscopy and morphometry revealed that marked distension of the sinusoids occurred during retrograde perfusion and that this accounts for the observed increase in the [ 14 C]sucrose space. These findings support the hypothesis that maximum resistance to perfusate flow in the isolated perfused rat liver is located at the presinusoidal level. In addition, increased transit time of perfusate through the liver and greater sinusoidal surface area resulting from sinusoidal distension may account for the higher extraction of 12-NBDS and possibly other compounds by retrograde perfused liver

In vivo metacarpophalanageal joint collateral ligament length changes during flexion.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Y C; Sheng, X M; Chen, J; Qian, Z W

2017-07-01

We investigated the in vivo length changes of the collateral ligaments of metacarpophalangeal joint during flexion. We obtained computed tomography scans of index, middle, ring and little fingers at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° of joint flexion from six hands of six healthy adult volunteers. Three of them had their dominant right hand studied, and the other three had their non-dominant left hand studied. We measured and analysed the radial and ulnar collateral ligaments of each metacarpophalangeal joint from the reconstructed images. We found that the dorsal and middle portions of the both radial and ulnar collateral ligament lengthened progressively during digital flexion and reached the maximum at 90° flexion. The length of the volar portion increased from 0° to 30° flexion and then decreased from 30° to 60° flexion, reaching the minimum at 90°. In conclusion, three portions of collateral ligaments on both sides of the metacarpophalangeal joint have variable length changes during flexion, which act to stabilize the joint through its flexion arc.

BPM Offset Determination by Sinusoidal Quadrupole K-modulation

CERN Document Server

Baer, T; Wenninger, J

2011-01-01

To ensure an adequate orbit steering that maximizes the machine aperture, a good knowledge of the BPM measurement offsets is crucial. During this MD, a sinusoidal k-modulation of individually powered quadrupoles was performed to determine the offsets of the nearby BPMs. An accuracy of 10µm for the determination of the absolute beam position is reached.

Analysis of Passive Mixing in a Serpentine Microchannel with Sinusoidal Side Walls

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Usman Javaid

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Sample mixing is difficult in microfluidic devices because of laminar flow. Micromixers are designed to ensure the optimal use of miniaturized devices. The present study aims to design a chaotic-advection-based passive micromixer with enhanced mixing efficiency. A serpentine-shaped microchannel with sinusoidal side walls was designed, and three cases, with amplitude to wavelength (A/λ ratios of 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 were investigated. Numerical simulations were conducted using the Navier–Stokes equations, to determine the flow field. The flow was then coupled with the convection–diffusion equation to obtain the species concentration distribution. The mixing performance of sinusoidal walled channels was compared with that of a simple serpentine channel for Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.1 to 50. Secondary flows were observed at high Reynolds numbers that mixed the fluid streams. These flows were dominant in the proposed sinusoidal walled channels, thereby showing better mixing performance than the simple serpentine channel at similar or less mixing cost. Higher mixing efficiency was obtained by increasing the A/λ ratio.

Band structure and optical properties of sinusoidal superlattices: ZnSe1-xTex

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, G.; Lee, S.; Furdyna, J. K.

2000-01-01

This paper examines the band structure and optical selection rules in superlattices with a sinusoidal potential profile. The analysis is motivated by the recent successful fabrication of high quality ZnSe 1-x Te x superlattices in which the composition x varies sinusoidally along the growth direction. Although the band alignment in the ZnSe 1-x Te x sinusoidal superlattices is staggered (type II), they exhibit unexpectedly strong photoluminescence, thus suggesting interesting optical behavior. The band structure of such sinusoidal superlattices is formulated in terms of the nearly-free-electron (NFE) approximation, in which the superlattice potential is treated as a perturbation. The resulting band structure is unique, characterized by a single minigap separating two wide, free-electron-like subbands for both electrons and holes. Interband selection rules are derived for optical transitions involving conduction and valence-band states at the superlattice Brillouin-zone center, and at the zone edge. A number of transitions are predicted due to wave-function mixing of different subband states. It should be noted that the zone-center and zone-edge transitions are especially easy to distinguish in these superlattices because of the large width of the respective subbands. The results of the NFE approximation are shown to hold surprisingly well over a wide range of parameters, particularly when the period of the superlattice is short. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

Biphase sinusoidal oscillator based on negative resistor.

Science.gov (United States)

Bayard, Jean

2010-06-01

This paper describes a biphase sinusoidal generator which provides two signals: v(ref)=V(M) sin(omegat) and v(out)=V(M) sin(omegat+DeltaPhi), where DeltaPhi is in the range 0, pi/2 or -pi/2, 0 and is not dependent on the frequency value. It is based on a negative resistor and it requires very few components. SPICE simulations and measurements on an experimental setup confirm the theoretical analysis.

The two dynamical states in sinusoidal potentials: An analog simulation experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Sawkmie, Ivan Skhem; Mahato, Mangal C.

2018-04-01

The phenomenon of stochastic resonance (SR) is usually found to occur theoretically as well as experimentally in bi-stable systems [1]. Recently, it was numerically shown that SR is found to occur in underdamped (friction coefficient γ) sinusoidal potentials also. The occurrence of SR is explained in terms of two competing dynamical states of trajectories as a response to the external periodic drive. We setup an analog simulation experiment similar to the analog simulation work done earlier to study stochastic nonlinear dynamics [2], to verify the existence of the two dynamical states and to investigate the occurrence of SR in sinusoidal potentials obtained earlier [3]. We discuss our experimental setup and the results obtained in detail.

Fibronectin Extra Domain A Promotes Liver Sinusoid Repair following Hepatectomy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bridget Sackey-Aboagye

Full Text Available Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs are the main endothelial cells in the liver and are important for maintaining liver homeostasis as well as responding to injury. LSECs express cellular fibronectin containing the alternatively spliced extra domain A (EIIIA-cFN and increase expression of this isoform after liver injury, although its function is not well understood. Here, we examined the role of EIIIA-cFN in liver regeneration following partial hepatectomy. We carried out two-thirds partial hepatectomies in mice lacking EIIIA-cFN and in their wild type littermates, studied liver endothelial cell adhesion on decellularized, EIIIA-cFN-containing matrices and investigated the role of cellular fibronectins in liver endothelial cell tubulogenesis. We found that liver weight recovery following hepatectomy was significantly delayed and that sinusoidal repair was impaired in EIIIA-cFN null mice, especially females, as was the lipid accumulation typical of the post-hepatectomy liver. In vitro, we found that liver endothelial cells were more adhesive to cell-deposited matrices containing the EIIIA domain and that cellular fibronectin enhanced tubulogenesis and vascular cord formation. The integrin α9β1, which specifically binds EIIIA-cFN, promoted tubulogenesis and adhesion of liver endothelial cells to EIIIA-cFN. Our findings identify a role for EIIIA-cFN in liver regeneration and tubulogenesis. We suggest that sinusoidal repair is enhanced by increased LSEC adhesion, which is mediated by EIIIA-cFN.

New Results on Single-Channel Speech Separation Using Sinusoidal Modeling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mowlaee, Pejman; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll; Jensen, Søren Holdt

2011-01-01

We present new results on single-channel speech separation and suggest a new separation approach to improve the speech quality of separated signals from an observed mix- ture. The key idea is to derive a mixture estimator based on sinusoidal parameters. The proposed estimator is aimed at finding...... mixture estimator used in binary masks and the Wiener filtering approach, it is observed that the proposed method achieves an acceptable perceptual speech quality with less cross- talk at different signal-to-signal ratios. Moreover, the method is independent of pitch estimates and reduces the computational...... complexity of the separation by replacing the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) feature vectors of high dimensionality with sinusoidal feature vectors. We report separation results for the proposed method and compare them with respect to other benchmark methods. The improvements made by applying...

Systematic and Cell Type-Specific Telomere Length Changes in Subsets of Lymphocytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jue Lin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Telomeres, the protective DNA-protein complexes at the ends of linear chromosomes, are important for genome stability. Leukocyte or peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC telomere length is a potential biomarker for human aging that integrates genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors and is associated with mortality and risks for major diseases. However, only a limited number of studies have examined longitudinal changes of telomere length and few have reported data on sorted circulating immune cells. We examined the average telomere length (TL in CD4+, CD8+CD28+, and CD8+CD28− T cells, B cells, and PBMCs, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, in a cohort of premenopausal women. We report that TL changes over 18 months were correlated among these three T cell types within the same participant. Additionally, PBMC TL change was also correlated with those of all three T cell types, and B cells. The rate of shortening for B cells was significantly greater than for the three T cell types. CD8+CD28− cells, despite having the shortest TL, showed significantly more rapid attrition when compared to CD8+CD28+ T cells. These results suggest systematically coordinated, yet cell type-specific responses to factors and pathways contribute to telomere length regulation.

Evaluation of Steel Shear Walls Behavior with Sinusoidal and Trapezoidal Corrugated Plates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emad Hosseinpour

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Reinforcement of structures aims to control the input energy of unnatural and natural forces. In the past four decades, steel shear walls are utilized in huge constructions in some seismic countries such as Japan, United States, and Canada to lessen the risk of destructive forces. The steel shear walls are divided into two types: unstiffened and stiffened. In the former, a series of plates (sinusoidal and trapezoidal corrugated with light thickness are used that have the postbuckling field property under overall buckling. In the latter, steel profile belt series are employed as stiffeners with different arrangement: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal in one side or both sides of wall. In the unstiffened walls, increasing the thickness causes an increase in the wall capacity under large forces in tall structures. In the stiffened walls, joining the stiffeners to the wall is costly and time consuming. The ANSYS software was used to analyze the different models of unstiffened one-story steel walls with sinusoidal and trapezoidal corrugated plates under lateral load. The obtained results demonstrated that, in the walls with the same dimensions, the trapezoidal corrugated plates showed higher ductility and ultimate bearing compared to the sinusoidal corrugated plates.

Dynamical pattern formation in a low-concentration magnetorheological fluid under two orthogonal sinusoidal fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yépez, L.D.; Carrillo, J.L. [Instituto de Física de la Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Ciudad Universitaria, Edif. 110 A, Puebla 72570 (Mexico); Donado, F.; Sausedo-Solorio, J.M.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P. [Instituto de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca 42090, Pachuca (Mexico)

2016-06-15

The dynamical pattern formation of clusters of magnetic particles in a low-concentration magnetorheological fluid, under the influence of a superposition of two perpendicular sinusoidal fields, is studied experimentally. By varying the frequency and phase shift of the perpendicular fields, this configuration enables us to experimentally analyze a wide range of field configurations, including the case of a pure rotating field and the case of an oscillating unidirectional field. The fields are applied parallel to the horizontal plane where the fluid lies or in the vertical plane. For fields applied in the horizontal plane, we observed that, when the ratio of the frequencies increases, the average cluster size exhibits a kind of periodic resonances. When the phase shift between the fields is varied, the average chain length reaches maximal values for the cases of the rotating field and the unidirectional case. We analyze and discuss these results in terms of a weighted average of the time-dependent Mason number. In the case of a rotating field on the vertical plane, we also observe that the competition between the magnetic and the viscous forces determines the average cluster size. We show that this configuration generates a series of physically meaningful self-organization of clusters and transport phenomena. - Highlights: • A weighted average of the time-dependent Mason number is proposed. • The self-propelling clusters appear when a vertical rotating magnetic field is applied. • The largest average chain lengths are reached when frequencies are multiples one another. • Rotating and unidirectional alternating fields produce the largest average chain length values.

Dynamical pattern formation in a low-concentration magnetorheological fluid under two orthogonal sinusoidal fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yépez, L.D.; Carrillo, J.L.; Donado, F.; Sausedo-Solorio, J.M.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.

2016-01-01

The dynamical pattern formation of clusters of magnetic particles in a low-concentration magnetorheological fluid, under the influence of a superposition of two perpendicular sinusoidal fields, is studied experimentally. By varying the frequency and phase shift of the perpendicular fields, this configuration enables us to experimentally analyze a wide range of field configurations, including the case of a pure rotating field and the case of an oscillating unidirectional field. The fields are applied parallel to the horizontal plane where the fluid lies or in the vertical plane. For fields applied in the horizontal plane, we observed that, when the ratio of the frequencies increases, the average cluster size exhibits a kind of periodic resonances. When the phase shift between the fields is varied, the average chain length reaches maximal values for the cases of the rotating field and the unidirectional case. We analyze and discuss these results in terms of a weighted average of the time-dependent Mason number. In the case of a rotating field on the vertical plane, we also observe that the competition between the magnetic and the viscous forces determines the average cluster size. We show that this configuration generates a series of physically meaningful self-organization of clusters and transport phenomena. - Highlights: • A weighted average of the time-dependent Mason number is proposed. • The self-propelling clusters appear when a vertical rotating magnetic field is applied. • The largest average chain lengths are reached when frequencies are multiples one another. • Rotating and unidirectional alternating fields produce the largest average chain length values.

Change in Length of Growing Season by State, 1895-2015

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — This map shows the total change in length of the growing season, time of first fall frost and time of last spring frost from 1895 to 2015 for each of the contiguous...

Removal of Stationary Sinusoidal Noise from Random Vibration Signals.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Johnson, Brian; Cap, Jerome S.

2018-02-01

In random vibration environments, sinusoidal line noise may appear in the vibration signal and can affect analysis of the resulting data. We studied two methods which remove stationary sine tones from random noise: a matrix inversion algorithm and a chirp-z transform algorithm. In addition, we developed new methods to determine the frequency of the tonal noise. The results show that both of the removal methods can eliminate sine tones in prefabricated random vibration data when the sine-to-random ratio is at least 0.25. For smaller ratios down to 0.02 only the matrix inversion technique can remove the tones, but the metrics to evaluate its effectiveness also degrade. We also found that using fast Fourier transforms best identified the tonal noise, and determined that band-pass-filtering the signals prior to the process improved sine removal. When applied to actual vibration test data, the methods were not as effective at removing harmonic tones, which we believe to be a result of mixed-phase sinusoidal noise.

Using piecewise sinusoidal basis functions to blanket multiple wire segments

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Lysko, AA

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses application of the piecewise sinusoidal (PWS) basis function (BF) over a chain of several wire segments, for example as a multiple domain basis function. The usage of PWS BF is compared to results based on the piecewise linear...

Sinusoidal velaroidal shell – numerical modelling of the nonlinear ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The nonlinearity, applied to a sinusoidal velaroidal shell with the inner radius r0, the outer variables radii from 10m to 20m and the number of waves n=8, will give rise to the investigation of its nonlinear buckling resistance. The building material is a high-performant concrete. The investigation emphasizes more on the ...

Electric stimulation with sinusoids and white noise for neural prostheses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel K Freeman

2010-02-01

Full Text Available We are investigating the use of novel stimulus waveforms in neural prostheses to determine whether they can provide more precise control over the temporal and spatial pattern of elicited activity as compared to conventional pulsatile stimulation. To study this, we measured the response of retinal ganglion cells to both sinusoidal and white noise waveforms. The use of cell-attached and whole cell patch clamp recordings allowed the responses to be observed without significant obstruction from the stimulus artifact. Electric stimulation with sinusoids elicited robust responses. White noise analysis was used to derive the linear kernel for the ganglion cell’s spiking response as well as for the underlying excitatory currents. These results suggest that in response to electric stimulation, presynaptic retinal neurons exhibit bandpass filtering characteristics with peak response that occur 25ms after onset. The experimental approach demonstrated here may be useful for studying the temporal response properties of other neurons in the CNS.

New Canonic Active RC Sinusoidal Oscillator Circuits Using Second-Generation Current Conveyors with Application as a Wide-Frequency Digitally Controlled Sinusoid Generator

OpenAIRE

Abhirup Lahiri

2011-01-01

This paper reports two new circuit topologies using second-generation current conveyors (CCIIs) for realizing variable frequency sinusoidal oscillators with minimum passive components. The proposed topologies in this paper provide new realizations of resistance-controlled and capacitor-controlled variable frequency oscillators (VFOs) using only four passive components. The first topology employs three CCIIs, while the second topology employs two CCIIs. The second topology provides an advantag...

An experimental verification of the compensation of length change of line scales caused by ambient air pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Akira; Miwa, Nobuharu

2010-01-01

Line scales are used as a working standard of length for the calibration of optical measuring instruments such as profile projectors, measuring microscopes and video measuring systems. The authors have developed a one-dimensional calibration system for line scales to obtain a lower uncertainty of measurement. The scale calibration system, named Standard Scale Calibrator SSC-05, employs a vacuum interferometer system for length measurement, a 633 nm iodine-stabilized He–Ne laser to calibrate the oscillating frequency of the interferometer laser light source and an Abbe's error compensation structure. To reduce the uncertainty of measurement, the uncertainty factors of the line scale and ambient conditions should not be neglected. Using the length calibration system, the expansion and contraction of a line scale due to changes in ambient air pressure were observed and the measured scale length was corrected into the length under standard atmospheric pressure, 1013.25 hPa. Utilizing a natural rapid change in the air pressure caused by a tropical storm (typhoon), we carried out an experiment on the length measurement of a 1000 mm long line scale made of glass ceramic with a low coefficient of thermal expansion. Using a compensation formula for the length change caused by changes in ambient air pressure, the length change of the 1000 mm long line scale was compensated with a standard deviation of less than 1 nm

Measurement of electroosmotic and electrophoretic velocities using pulsed and sinusoidal electric fields.

Science.gov (United States)

Sadek, Samir H; Pimenta, Francisco; Pinho, Fernando T; Alves, Manuel A

2017-04-01

In this work, we explore two methods to simultaneously measure the electroosmotic mobility in microchannels and the electrophoretic mobility of micron-sized tracer particles. The first method is based on imposing a pulsed electric field, which allows to isolate electrophoresis and electroosmosis at the startup and shutdown of the pulse, respectively. In the second method, a sinusoidal electric field is generated and the mobilities are found by minimizing the difference between the measured velocity of tracer particles and the velocity computed from an analytical expression. Both methods produced consistent results using polydimethylsiloxane microchannels and polystyrene micro-particles, provided that the temporal resolution of the particle tracking velocimetry technique used to compute the velocity of the tracer particles is fast enough to resolve the diffusion time-scale based on the characteristic channel length scale. Additionally, we present results with the pulse method for viscoelastic fluids, which show a more complex transient response with significant velocity overshoots and undershoots after the start and the end of the applied electric pulse, respectively. © 2016 The Authors. Electrophoresis published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Pelagic behaviour of reservoir fishes: sinusoidal swimming and associated behaviour

OpenAIRE

JAROLÍM, Oldřich

2009-01-01

Annotation Long-term fixed-location hydroacoustic study with uplooking transducer was performed during 2005 in Římov reservoir, Czech Republic. It dealt mainly with fish behaviour in the open water of reservoir, especially with sinusoidal swimming behaviour. The dependence of pelagic fish behaviour on environmental conditions was also studied.

A novel length back-calculation approach accounting for ontogenetic changes in the fish length - otolith size relationship during the early life of sprat (Sprattus sprattus)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guenther, Claudia C.; Temming, Axel; Baumann, Hannes

2012-01-01

An individual-based length back-calculation method was developed for juvenile Baltic sprat (Sprattus sprattus), accounting for ontogenetic changes in the relationship between fish length and otolith length. In sprat, metamorphosis from larvae to juveniles is characterized by the coincidence of low...... length growth, strong growth in body height, and maximal otolith growth. Consequently, the method identifies a point of metamorphosis for an individual as the otolith radius at maximum increment widths. By incorporating this information in our back-calculation method, estimated length growth...

A Perceptual Model for Sinusoidal Audio Coding Based on Spectral Integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van de Par, S.; Kohlrausch, A.; Heusdens, R.; Jensen, J.; Holdt Jensen, S.

2005-01-01

Psychoacoustical models have been used extensively within audio coding applications over the past decades. Recently, parametric coding techniques have been applied to general audio and this has created the need for a psychoacoustical model that is specifically suited for sinusoidal modelling of

A perceptual model for sinusoidal audio coding based on spectral integration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van de Par, S.; Kohlrauch, A.; Heusdens, R.; Jensen, J.; Jensen, S.H.

2005-01-01

Psychoacoustical models have been used extensively within audio coding applications over the past decades. Recently, parametric coding techniques have been applied to general audio and this has created the need for a psychoacoustical model that is specifically suited for sinusoidal modelling of

Impact Testing and Simulation of a Sinusoid Foam Sandwich Energy Absorber

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Karen E.; Fasanella, Edwin L; Littell, Justin D.

2015-01-01

A sinusoidal-shaped foam sandwich energy absorber was developed and evaluated at NASA Langley Research Center through multi-level testing and simulation performed under the Transport Rotorcraft Airframe Crash Testbed (TRACT) research project. The energy absorber, designated the "sinusoid," consisted of hybrid carbon- Kevlar® plain weave fabric face sheets, two layers for each face sheet oriented at +/-45deg with respect to the vertical or crush direction, and a closed-cell ELFOAM(TradeMark) P200 polyisocyanurate (2.0-lb/ft3) foam core. The design goal for the energy absorber was to achieve an average floor-level acceleration of between 25- and 40-g during the full-scale crash test of a retrofitted CH-46E helicopter airframe, designated TRACT 2. Variations in the design were assessed through quasi-static and dynamic crush testing of component specimens. Once the design was finalized, a 5-ft-long subfloor beam was fabricated and retrofitted into a barrel section of a CH-46E helicopter. A vertical drop test of the barrel section was conducted onto concrete to evaluate the performance of the energy absorber prior to retrofit into TRACT 2. Finite element models were developed of all test articles and simulations were performed using LSDYNA ®, a commercial nonlinear explicit transient dynamic finite element code. Test analysis results are presented for the sinusoid foam sandwich energy absorber as comparisons of load-displacement and acceleration-time-history responses, as well as predicted and experimental structural deformations and progressive damage for each evaluation level (component testing through barrel section drop testing).

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS): A light and electron microscopy study in human liver.

Science.gov (United States)

Vreuls, C P H; Driessen, A; Olde Damink, S W M; Koek, G H; Duimel, H; van den Broek, M A J; Dejong, C H C; Braet, F; Wisse, E

2016-05-01

Oxaliplatin is an important chemotherapeutic agent, used in the treatment of hepatic colorectal metastases, and known to induce the sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). Pathophysiological knowledge concerning SOS is based on a rat model. Therefore, the aim was to perform a comprehensive study of the features of human SOS, using both light microscopy (LM) and electron microscopy (EM). Included were all patients of whom wedge liver biopsies were collected during a partial hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastases, in a 4-year period. The wedge biopsy were perfusion fixated and processed for LM and EM. The SOS lesions were selected by LM and details were studied using EM. Material was available of 30 patients, of whom 28 patients received neo-adjuvant oxaliplatin. Eighteen (64%) of the 28 patients showed SOS lesions, based on microscopy. The lesions consisted of sinusoidal endothelial cell detachment from the space of Disse on EM. In the enlarged space of Disse a variable amount of erythrocytes were located. Sinusoidal endothelial cell detachment was present in human SOS, accompanied by enlargement of the space of Disse and erythrocytes in this area. These findings, originally described in a rat model, were now for the first time confirmed in human livers under clinically relevant settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electronically tunable RC sinusoidal oscillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florescu, Valeriu

2008-01-01

This paper presents two types of active configurations for realizing electronically tunable RC sinusoidal oscillators. The type-1 network employs two grounded scaled resistances KR 1 and KR 2 , where K is scaling factor. The frequency of oscillation W 0 is controlled conveniently by adjusting K, since W 0 appears in the form W 0 =1/K √ R 1 C 1 R 2 C 2 . For realizing the scaled resistances, an active configuration is proposed, which realizes KR 1 =R 1 /(1+f(V B )), where f(V B ) denotes a function of a controlling voltage V B . Thus the frequency tuning can be effected by controlling a voltage V B . The type-2 oscillator uses two periodically switched conductances. It is shown that the tuning of oscillation frequency can be done by varying the pulse width-to-period ratio (t/T) of the periodically switched conductances. (author)

Core losses of a permanent magnet synchronous motor with an amorphous stator core under inverter and sinusoidal excitations

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Atsushi; Sugimoto, Takaya; Odawara, Shunya; Fujisaki, Keisuke

2018-05-01

We report core loss properties of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) with amorphous magnetic materials (AMM) core under inverter and sinusoidal excitations. To discuss the core loss properties of AMM core, a comparison with non-oriented (NO) core is also performed. In addition, based on both experiments and numerical simulations, we estimate higher (time and space) harmonic components of the core losses under inverter and sinusoidal excitations. The core losses of PMSM are reduced by about 59% using AMM stator core instead of NO core under sinusoidal excitation. We show that the average decrease obtained by using AMM instead of NO in the stator core is about 94% in time harmonic components.

Core losses of a permanent magnet synchronous motor with an amorphous stator core under inverter and sinusoidal excitations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atsushi Yao

2018-05-01

Full Text Available We report core loss properties of permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM with amorphous magnetic materials (AMM core under inverter and sinusoidal excitations. To discuss the core loss properties of AMM core, a comparison with non-oriented (NO core is also performed. In addition, based on both experiments and numerical simulations, we estimate higher (time and space harmonic components of the core losses under inverter and sinusoidal excitations. The core losses of PMSM are reduced by about 59% using AMM stator core instead of NO core under sinusoidal excitation. We show that the average decrease obtained by using AMM instead of NO in the stator core is about 94% in time harmonic components.

Generation of sinusoidal fringes with a holographic phase grating and a phase-only spatial light modulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berberova, Natalia; Stoykova, Elena; Sainov, Ventseslav

2012-01-01

A variety of pattern projection methods for the three-dimensional capture of objects is based on the generation of purely sinusoidal fringes. This is not an easy task, especially when a portable non-interferometric system for outdoor usage is required. The use of phase gratings with coherent illumination as a possible solution has the advantage of providing good stability and a large measurement volume. In this work, we analyze the quality of fringes projected with two sinusoidal phase gratings. The first grating is recorded on a silver-halide holographic plate by means of a Michelson interferometer. The spatial resolution of the silver-halide material used is greater than 6000 lines per millimeter, and the recorded grating is practically analogous to a smooth variation of the phase profile. The second grating is formed as a sinusoidal phase variation on a liquid crystal-on-silicon phase-only reflective display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, a pixel pitch of 8 μm and 256 phase levels. The frequency content of the fringes projected with both gratings is analyzed and compared on the basis of the calculated Fresnel diffraction pattern, taking into account that the sinusoidal phase distribution in the case of a spatial light modulator is both sampled and quantized. Experimental fringe patterns projected using both gratings are also provided.

Levitation performance of high-T{sub c} superconductor in sinusoidal guideway magnetic field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, W. [Applied Superconductivity Laboratory, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031 (China)], E-mail: asclab@asclab.cn; Wang, J.S.; Jing, H.; Jiang, M.; Zheng, J.; Wang, S.Y. [Applied Superconductivity Laboratory, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031 (China)

2008-12-01

The vertical component of the Halbach array's magnetic field exhibits a sinusoid distribution because of the closed magnetic flux area between two neighbouring poles, so this field can be regarded as the sinusoidal magnetic field. This article mainly discusses the influence of the closed flux region on the levitation performance of the bulk high-temperature superconductor (HTS). Moreover, the levitation performance is compared between the closed and diverging region of magnetic flux. The experimental results can be analyzed by the magnetic circuit theory and the frozen-image model. The analysis indicates that the closed region of magnetic flux can influence the levitation performance of bulk HTS obviously and provide an extra useful guidance force. These conclusions are helpful to optimize the HTS Maglev system.

Ageing monitoring in IGBT module under sinusoidal loading

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ghimire, Pramod; Pedersen, Kristian Bonderup; Rannestad, Bjørn

2015-01-01

This paper presents monitoring of ageing in high power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules subjected to sinusoidal loading at nominal power level. On-state voltage for IGBT, diode, and rise in interconnection resistance are used as ageing parameters. These are measured in three...... different ways: calibration of power modules after 24 h of operation, offline characterization every 5 min of operation, and continuous measurement during normal converter operation. Four power modules are tested, which are cycled to different degradation levels by number of cycles, where one is tested...

Cognitive Change during the Life Course and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Late Middle-Aged Men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rask, L.; Bendix, Laila; Harbo, Maria

2016-01-01

style. Design, Setting, and Participants: Two groups of men with negative (n = 97) and positive (n = 93) change in cognitive performance were selected from a birth cohort of 1985 Danish men born in 1953. Cognitive performance of each individual was assessed at age similar to 20 and 56 years. Leukocyte...... telomere length at age similar to 58 was measured using qPCR. Linear regression models were used to investigate the association between cognitive function and leukocyte telomere length. Results: Men with negative change in cognitive performance during adult life had significantly shorter mean leukocyte...... telomere length than men with positive change in cognitive performance (unadjusted difference beta = -0.09, 95% CI -0.16 to -0.02, p = 0.02). This association remained significant after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time activity, body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol (adjusted...

Hydraulic testing in granite using the sinusoidal variation of pressure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Black, J.H.; Holmes, D.C.; Noy, D.J.

1982-09-01

Access to two boreholes at the Carwynnen test site in Cornwall enabled the trial of a number of innovative approaches to the hydrogeology of fractured crystalline rock. These methods ranged from the use of seisviewer data to measure the orientation of fractures to the use of the sinusoidal pressure technique to measure directional hydraulic diffusivity. The testing began with a short programme of site investigation consisting of borehole caliper and seisviewer logging followed by some single borehole hydraulic tests. The single borehole hydraulic testing was designed to assess whether the available boreholes and adjacent rock were suitable for testing using the sinusoidal method. The main testing methods were slug and pulse tests and were analysed using the fissured porous medium analysis proposed in Barker and Black (1983). Derived hydraulic conductivity (K) ranged from 2 x 10 -12 m/sec to 5 x 10 -7 m/sec with one near-surface zone of high K being perceived in both boreholes. The results were of the form which is typical of fractured rock and indicated a combination of high fracture frequency and permeable granite matrix. The results are described and discussed. (author)

The use of 'arms-length' organizations for health system change in Ontario, Canada: some observations by insiders.

Science.gov (United States)

Pink, George H; Leatt, Peggy

2003-01-01

During the past decade, there has been substantial health system reform in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and many other countries. For the most part, Canada has not pursued 'big bang' health system change but rather a variety of strategies to achieve incremental change. In this paper, we present the ways in which three arms-length organizations have been used by government to effect incremental system change in Ontario during the past several years. We observe that, (1) the influence of politics and political interference can be reduced through an arms-length organization; (2) an arms-length organization with the power to make decisions entails more political risk for government and encounters more scrutiny and criticism by providers and the media than an organization with the power to recommend only; (3) an arms-length organization with a limited lifespan faces more delaying tactics by adversely affected parties than an organization without a limited lifespan; (4) an arms-length organization with perceived influence may attract causes that are not related to its mandate; (5) the importance and difficulty of communicating complex information about system change to a wide variety of audiences cannot be overstated; (6) system change informed by the use of expert opinion encounters less provider resistance and may result in better decisions; and (7) the reputation of the Chair and the perceived competence and experience of the CEO are critical success factors in the success of an arms-length organization.

Research on a new magnetic-field-modulated brushless double-rotor machine with sinusoidal-permeance modulating ring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Zheng

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The magnetic-field-modulated brushless double-rotor machine (MFM-BDRM, composed of a stator, a modulating ring rotor, and a PM rotor, is a kind of power-split device for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs. In this paper, a new MFM-BDRM with sinusoidal-permeance modulating ring named Sinusoidal-Permeance-Modulating-Ring Brushless Double-Rotor Machine (SPMR-BDRM is proposed to solve the problem of poor mechanical strength and large iron loss. The structure and the operating principle of the MFM-BDRM are introduced. The design principle of the sinusoidal-permeance modulating ring is analyzed and derived. The main idea of that is to minimize the harmonic permeance of air gap, thereby the harmonic magnetic fields can be restrained. There are comparisons between a MFM-BDRM with sinusoidal-permeance modulating ring and a same size MFM-BDRM with traditional modulating ring, including magnetic field distributions and electromagnetic performances. Most importantly, the iron losses are compared under six different conditions. The result indicates that the harmonic magnetic fields in the air gap are restrained; the electromagnetic torque and power factor are almost the same with same armature current; the torque ripples of the modulating ring rotor and the PM rotor are reduced; the stator loss is reduced by 13% at least and the PM loss is reduced by 20% at least compared with the same size traditional MFM-BDRM under the same operating conditions.

Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome (Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease)

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Cathy Q.; Crawford, James M.

2014-01-01

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is an obliterative venulitis of the terminal hepatic venules, which in its more severe forms imparts a high risk of mortality. SOS, also known as veno-occlusive disease (VOD), occurs as a result of cytoreductive therapy prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), following oxaliplatin-containing adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy for colorectal carcinoma metastatic to the liver and treated by partial hepatectomy, in patients taking pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing herbal remedies, and in other particular settings such as the autosomal recessive condition of veno-occlusive disease with immunodeficiency (VODI). A central pathogenic event is toxic destruction of hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC), with sloughing and downstream occlusion of terminal hepatic venules. Contributing factors are SEC glutathione depletion, nitric oxide depletion, increased intrahepatic expression of matrix metalloproteinases and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and activation of clotting factors. The clinical presentation of SOS includes jaundice, development of right upper-quadrant pain and tender hepatomegaly, ascites, and unexplained weight gain. Owing to the potentially critical condition of these patients, transjugular biopsy may be the preferred route for liver biopsy to exclude other potential causes of liver dysfunction and to establish a diagnosis of SOS. Treatment includes rigorous fluid management so as to avoid excessive fluid overload while avoiding too rapid diuresis or pericentesis, potential use of pharmaceutics such as defibrotide, coagulolytic agents, or methylprednisolone, and liver transplantation. Proposed strategies for prevention and prophylaxis include reduced-intensity conditioning radiation for HSCT, treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid, and inclusion of bevacizumab with oxaliplatin-based chemotherapeutic regimes. While significant progress has been made in understanding the pathogenesis

Observation of Sinusoidal Voltage Behaviour in Silver Doped YBCO

Science.gov (United States)

Altinkok, Atilgan; Olutas, Murat; Kilic, Kivilcim; Kilic, Atilla

The influence of bi-directional square wave (BSW) current was investigated on the evolution of the V - t curves at different periods (P) , temperatures and external magnetic fields. It was observed that slow transport relaxation measurements result in regular sinusoidal voltage oscillations which were discussed mainly in terms of the dynamic competition between pinning and depinning.The symmetry in the voltage oscillations was attributed to the elastic coupling between the flux lines and the pinning centers along grain boundaries and partly inside the grains. This case was also correlated to the equality between flux entry and exit along the YBCO/Ag sample during regular oscillations. It was shown that the voltage oscillations can be described well by an empirical expression V (t) sin(wt + φ) . We found that the phase angle φgenerally takes different values for the repetitive oscillations. Fast Fourier Transform analysis of the V - t oscillations showed that the oscillation period is comparable to that (PI) of the BSW current. This finding suggests a physical mechanism associated with charge density waves (CDWs), and, indeed, the weakly pinned flux line system in YBCO/Ag resembles the general behavior of CDWs. At certain values of PI, amplitude of BSW current, H and T, the YBCO/Ag sample behaves like a double-integrator, since it converts the BSW current to sinusoidal voltage oscillations in time.

Scavenger receptor-mediated endocytosis by sinusoidal cells in rat bone marrow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geoffroy, J.S.

1987-01-01

Endocytosis of serum albumin by sinusoidal endothelial cells in rat bone marrow was investigated initially at the ultrastructural level with subsequent biochemical investigation of the specificity mediating this event. Bovine serum albumin adsorbed to 20nm colloidal gold particles (AuBSA) was chosen as the electron microscopic probe. Morphological data strongly suggested that a receptor was involved in uptake of AuBSA. Confirmation of receptor involvement in the uptake of AuBSA by marrow sinusoidal endothelial cells was achieved utilizing an in situ isolated hind limb perfusion protocol in conjunction with unlabeled, radiolabeled, and radio-/colloidal gold labeled probes. The major findings of competition and saturation experiments were: (1) endocytosis of AuBSA was mediated by a receptor for modified/treated serum albumin; (2) endocytosis of formaldehyde-treated serum albumin was mediated by a binding site which may be the same or closely related to the site responsible for the uptake of AuBSA; and (3) endocytosis of native untreated albumin was not mediated by receptor and probably represents fluid-phase pinocitosis

Three-dimensional anatomy of equine incisors: tooth length, enamel cover and age related changes

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Equine incisors are subjected to continuous occlusal wear causing multiple, age related changes of the extragingival crown. It is assumed that the occlusal wear is compensated by continued tooth elongation at the apical ends of the teeth. In this study, μCT-datasets offered the opportunity to analyze the three-dimensional appearance of the extra- and intraalveolar parts of the enamel containing dental crown as well as of the enamel-free dental root. Multiple morphometric measurements elucidated age related, morphological changes within the intraalveolar part of the incisors. Results Equine incisors possess a unique enamel cover displaying large indentations on the mesial and distal sides. After eruption tooth elongation at the apical end outbalances occlusal wear for two to four years resulting in increasing incisor length in this period of time. Remarkably, this maximum length is maintained for about ten years, up to a tooth age of 13 to 15 years post eruption. Variances in the total length of individual teeth are related to different Triadan positions (central-, middle- and corner incisors) as well as to the upper and lower arcades. Conclusion Equine incisors are able to fully compensate occlusal wear for a limited period of time. However, after this ability ceases, it is expected that a diminished intraalveolar tooth length will cause massive changes in periodontal biomechanics. The time point of these morphodynamic and biomechanical changes (13 to 15 years post eruption) occurs in coincidence with the onset of a recently described destructive disease of equine incisor (equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis) in aged horses. However, further biomechanical, cell biological and microbiological investigations are needed to elucidate a correlation between age related changes of incisor morphology and this disease. PMID:24321365

Instrumentation to Measure the Capacitance of Biosensors by Sinusoidal Wave Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavan Kumar KATHUROJU

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Micro Controller based instrumentation to measure the capacitance of biosensors is developed. It is based on frequency domain technique with sinusoidal wave input. Changes in the capacitance of biosensor because of the analyte specific reaction are calculated by knowing the current flowing through the sample. A dedicated 8-bit microcontroller (AT89C52 and its associated peripherals are employed for the hardware and application specific software is developed in ‘C’ language. The paper describes the methodology, instrumentation details along with a specific application to glucose sensing. The measurements are conducted with glucose oxidase based capacitance biosensor and the obtained results are compared with the conventional method of sugar measurements using the UV-Visible spectroscopy (Phenol-Sulphuric acid assay method. Measurement accuracy of the instrument is found to be ± 5 %. Experiments are conducted on glucose sensor with different bias voltages. It is found that for bias voltages varying from 0.5 to 0.7 Volt, the measurements are good for this application.

Iron Losses in Electrical Machines Due to Non Sinusoidal Alternating Fluxes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ritchie, Ewen; Walker, J.A.; Dorrell, D. G.

2007-01-01

This paper shows how the flux waveform in the core of an electrical machine can be vary non- sinusoidally which complicates the calculation of the iron loss in a machine. A set of tests are conducted on a steel sample using an Epstein square where harmonics are injected into the flux waveform which...... of a machine....

Numerical analysis of beam with sinusoidally corrugated webs

Science.gov (United States)

Górecki, Marcin; Pieńko, Michał; Łagoda, GraŻyna

2018-01-01

The paper presents numerical tests results of the steel beam with sinusoidally corrugated web, which were performed in the Autodesk Algor Simulation Professional 2010. The analysis was preceded by laboratory tests including the beam's work under the influence of the four point bending as well as the study of material characteristics. Significant web's thickness and use of tools available in the software allowed to analyze the behavior of the plate girder as beam, and also to observe the occurrence of stresses in the characteristic element - the corrugated web. The stress distribution observed on the both web's surfaces was analyzed.

"Artificial micro organs"--a microfluidic device for dielectrophoretic assembly of liver sinusoids.

Science.gov (United States)

Schütte, Julia; Hagmeyer, Britta; Holzner, Felix; Kubon, Massimo; Werner, Simon; Freudigmann, Christian; Benz, Karin; Böttger, Jan; Gebhardt, Rolf; Becker, Holger; Stelzle, Martin

2011-06-01

In order to study possible toxic side effects of potential drug compounds in vitro a reliable test system is needed. Predicting liver toxicity presents a major challenge of particular importance as liver cells grown in a cell culture suffer from a rapid loss of their liver specific functions. Therefore we are developing a new microfluidic test system for liver toxicity. This test system is based on an organ-like liver 3D co-culture of hepatocytes and endothelial cells. We devised a microfluidic chip featuring cell culture chambers with integrated electrodes for the assembly of liver sinusoids by dielectrophoresis. Fluid channels enable an organ-like perfusion with culture media and test compounds. Different chamber designs were studied and optimized with regard to dielectrophoretic force distribution, hydrodynamic flow profile, and cell trapping rate using numeric simulations. Based on simulation results a microchip was injection-moulded from COP. This chip allowed the assembly of viable hepatocytes and endothelial cells in a sinusoid-like fashion.

Changes in muscle force-length properties affect the early rise of force in vivo

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blazevich, Anthony J; Cannavan, Dale; Horne, Sara

2009-01-01

Changes in contractile rate of force development (RFD), measured within a short time interval from contraction initiation, were measured after a period of strength training that led to increases in muscle fascicle length but no measurable change in neuromuscular activity. The relationship between...

CMOS-based active RC sinusoidal oscillator with four-phase quadrature outputs and single-resistance-controlled (SRC) tuning laws

OpenAIRE

Lahiri, Abhirup; Herencsár, Norbert

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a very compact CMOS realization of active RC sinusoidal oscillator capable of generating four quadrature voltage outputs. The oscillator is based on the cascade of lossless and lossy integrators in loop. The governing laws for the condition of oscillation (CO) and the frequency of oscillation (FO) are single-resistance-controlled (SRC) and which allow independent FO tuning. Unlike previously reported SRC-based sinusoidal oscillators based on the active building block (ABB)...

Propiedades de transporte de una superred de grafeno tipo sinusoidal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. A. Briones-Torres

2015-01-01

Full Text Available En este trabajo usamos el método de la matriz de transferencia para estudiar el tunelamiento de los electrones de Dirac a través de superredes en grafeno. Consideramos una superred con potencial sinusoidal o polaridad invertida, para ello consideramos dos maneras de crearla, una por medio de sustratos mixtos junto con la aplicación de un campo perpendicular sobre el sustrato de Óxido de Silicio (SiO2, la otra por medio de potenciales alternados aplicados perpendicularmente sobre la sábana de grafeno. Calculamos las propiedades de transmisión, transporte y estructura electrónica, variando diferentes parámetros como ángulo de incidencia, anchos de pozos y barreras y diferente número de barreras. Se encontró (1 el importante papel que juega el efecto Klein en tales estructuras, (2 las propiedades de transmisión y transporte presentan cierta simetría respecto del origen de la energía, y (3 el carácter sinusoidal del sistema trae consigo una baja en el nivel de energía de las subbandas en el espectro de estados acotados, además las degenera y origina que la apertura-cierre de las minibandas sea en el mismo nivel de energía.

No change in total length of white matter fibers in Alzheimer's disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jorgensen, A.M.; Marner, L.; Pakkenberg, B.

2008-01-01

White matter changes have been reported as part of Alzheimer dementia. To investigate this, the total subcortical myelinated nerve fiber length was estimated in postmortem brains from eight females (age 79-88 years) with severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compared with brains from 10 female...

Galalctic Tides & the Sinusoidal Potential

Science.gov (United States)

Bartlett, David F.

2011-05-01

The sinusoidal potential is a nonNewtonian alternative to dark matter. Instead of φ = -GM/r we write φ = -(GM/r) cos kor, where ko= 2π/ λo and λo = Ro/20= 400 pc. Evidence for this choice for the "wavelength” λo has been given in one article and many previous meetings of the AAS & DDA. The solar system and nearby stars are trapped in a local groove of width Δr Quality (4 types) and semi-major axis aoriginal . For 10 of the 12 classes radial tides dominate Z-tides. The classic Oort cloud comets (1851-1996) have a particularly strong modulation with galactic longitude. This modulation is exactly in those directions where a radial tide would be important. The equally numerous recent Oort comets (1996-2008) show a different evidence for strong radial tides. The recent comets generally have much larger perihelion distances q than the classic ones. Here the evidence is that a radial tide is removing angular momentum from the orbit and thus bringing the perihelion closer to the earth and to observers.

Highly enhanced avalanche probability using sinusoidally-gated silicon avalanche photodiode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, Shingo; Namekata, Naoto, E-mail: nnao@phys.cst.nihon-u.ac.jp; Inoue, Shuichiro [Institute of Quantum Science, Nihon University, 1-8-14 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8308 (Japan); Tsujino, Kenji [Tokyo Women' s Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666 (Japan)

2014-01-27

We report on visible light single photon detection using a sinusoidally-gated silicon avalanche photodiode. Detection efficiency of 70.6% was achieved at a wavelength of 520 nm when an electrically cooled silicon avalanche photodiode with a quantum efficiency of 72.4% was used, which implies that a photo-excited single charge carrier in a silicon avalanche photodiode can trigger a detectable avalanche (charge) signal with a probability of 97.6%.

Influence of the Periodicity of Sinusoidal Boundary Condition on the Unsteady Mixed Convection within a Square Enclosure Using an Ag–Water Nanofluid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azharul Karim

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A numerical study of the unsteady mixed convection heat transfer characteristics of an Ag–water nanofluid confined within a square shape lid-driven cavity has been carried out. The Galerkin weighted residual of the finite element method has been employed to investigate the effects of the periodicity of sinusoidal boundary condition for a wide range of Grashof numbers (Gr (105 to 107 with the parametric variation of sinusoidal even and odd frequency, N, from 1 to 6 at different instants (for τ = 0.1 and 1. It has been observed that both the Grashof number and the sinusoidal even and odd frequency have a significant influence on the streamlines and isotherms inside the cavity. The heat transfer rate enhanced by 90% from the heated surface as the Grashof number (Gr increased from 105 to 107 at sinusoidal frequency N = 1 and τ = 1.

Predictive accuracy of changes in transvaginal sonographic cervical length over time for preterm birth: a systematic review and metaanalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Conde-Agudelo, Agustin; Romero, Roberto

2015-12-01

To determine the accuracy of changes in transvaginal sonographic cervical length over time in predicting preterm birth in women with singleton and twin gestations. PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, Lilacs, and Medion (all from inception to June 30, 2015), bibliographies, Google scholar, and conference proceedings. Cohort or cross-sectional studies reporting on the predictive accuracy for preterm birth of changes in cervical length over time. Two reviewers independently selected studies, assessed the risk of bias, and extracted the data. Summary receiver-operating characteristic curves, pooled sensitivities and specificities, and summary likelihood ratios were generated. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria, of which 7 provided data on singleton gestations (3374 women) and 8 on twin gestations (1024 women). Among women with singleton gestations, the shortening of cervical length over time had a low predictive accuracy for preterm birth at predictive accuracy for preterm birth at predictive accuracies for preterm birth of cervical length shortening over time and the single initial and/or final cervical length measurement in 8 of 11 studies that provided data for making these comparisons. In the largest and highest-quality study, a single measurement of cervical length obtained at 24 or 28 weeks of gestation was significantly more predictive of preterm birth than any decrease in cervical length between these gestational ages. Change in transvaginal sonographic cervical length over time is not a clinically useful test to predict preterm birth in women with singleton or twin gestations. A single cervical length measurement obtained between 18 and 24 weeks of gestation appears to be a better test to predict preterm birth than changes in cervical length over time. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automatic fringe enhancement with novel bidimensional sinusoids-assisted empirical mode decomposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chenxing; Kemao, Qian; Da, Feipeng

2017-10-02

Fringe-based optical measurement techniques require reliable fringe analysis methods, where empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is an outstanding one due to its ability of analyzing complex signals and the merit of being data-driven. However, two challenging issues hinder the application of EMD in practical measurement. One is the tricky mode mixing problem (MMP), making the decomposed intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) have equivocal physical meaning; the other is the automatic and accurate extraction of the sinusoidal fringe from the IMFs when unpredictable and unavoidable background and noise exist in real measurements. Accordingly, in this paper, a novel bidimensional sinusoids-assisted EMD (BSEMD) is proposed to decompose a fringe pattern into mono-component bidimensional IMFs (BIMFs), with the MMP solved; properties of the resulted BIMFs are then analyzed to recognize and enhance the useful fringe component. The decomposition and the fringe recognition are integrated and the latter provides a feedback to the former, helping to automatically stop the decomposition to make the algorithm simpler and more reliable. A series of experiments show that the proposed method is accurate, efficient and robust to various fringe patterns even with poor quality, rendering it a potential tool for practical use.

Origin of the X-Hal (Hal = Cl, Br) bond-length change in the halogen-bonded complexes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Weizhou; Hobza, Pavel

2008-05-01

The origin of the X-Hal bond-length change in the halogen bond of the X-Hal...Y type has been investigated at the MP2(full)/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory using a natural bond orbital analysis, atoms in molecules procedure, and electrostatic potential fitting methods. Our results have clearly shown that various theories explaining the nature of the hydrogen bond cannot be applied to explain the origin of the X-Hal bond-length change in the halogen bond. We provide a new explanation for this change. The elongation of the X-Hal bond length is caused by the electron-density transfer to the X-Hal sigma* antibonding orbital. For the blue-shifting halogen bond, the electron-density transfer to the X-Hal sigma* antibonding orbital is only of minor importance; it is the electrostatic attractive interaction that causes the X-Hal bond contraction.

Design of Helical Capacitance Sensor for Holdup Measurement in Two-Phase Stratified Flow: A Sinusoidal Function Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Lam Ghai; Pao, William K. S.; Hamid, Nor Hisham; Tang, Tong Boon

2016-01-01

A 360° twisted helical capacitance sensor was developed for holdup measurement in horizontal two-phase stratified flow. Instead of suppressing nonlinear response, the sensor was optimized in such a way that a ‘sine-like’ function was displayed on top of the linear function. This concept of design had been implemented and verified in both software and hardware. A good agreement was achieved between the finite element model of proposed design and the approximation model (pure sinusoidal function), with a maximum difference of ±1.2%. In addition, the design parameters of the sensor were analysed and investigated. It was found that the error in symmetry of the sinusoidal function could be minimized by adjusting the pitch of helix. The experiments of air-water and oil-water stratified flows were carried out and validated the sinusoidal relationship with a maximum difference of ±1.2% and ±1.3% for the range of water holdup from 0.15 to 0.85. The proposed design concept therefore may pose a promising alternative for the optimization of capacitance sensor design. PMID:27384567

Design of Helical Capacitance Sensor for Holdup Measurement in Two-Phase Stratified Flow: A Sinusoidal Function Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lam Ghai Lim

2016-07-01

Full Text Available A 360° twisted helical capacitance sensor was developed for holdup measurement in horizontal two-phase stratified flow. Instead of suppressing nonlinear response, the sensor was optimized in such a way that a ‘sine-like’ function was displayed on top of the linear function. This concept of design had been implemented and verified in both software and hardware. A good agreement was achieved between the finite element model of proposed design and the approximation model (pure sinusoidal function, with a maximum difference of ±1.2%. In addition, the design parameters of the sensor were analysed and investigated. It was found that the error in symmetry of the sinusoidal function could be minimized by adjusting the pitch of helix. The experiments of air-water and oil-water stratified flows were carried out and validated the sinusoidal relationship with a maximum difference of ±1.2% and ±1.3% for the range of water holdup from 0.15 to 0.85. The proposed design concept therefore may pose a promising alternative for the optimization of capacitance sensor design.

Design of Helical Capacitance Sensor for Holdup Measurement in Two-Phase Stratified Flow: A Sinusoidal Function Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Lam Ghai; Pao, William K S; Hamid, Nor Hisham; Tang, Tong Boon

2016-07-04

A 360° twisted helical capacitance sensor was developed for holdup measurement in horizontal two-phase stratified flow. Instead of suppressing nonlinear response, the sensor was optimized in such a way that a 'sine-like' function was displayed on top of the linear function. This concept of design had been implemented and verified in both software and hardware. A good agreement was achieved between the finite element model of proposed design and the approximation model (pure sinusoidal function), with a maximum difference of ±1.2%. In addition, the design parameters of the sensor were analysed and investigated. It was found that the error in symmetry of the sinusoidal function could be minimized by adjusting the pitch of helix. The experiments of air-water and oil-water stratified flows were carried out and validated the sinusoidal relationship with a maximum difference of ±1.2% and ±1.3% for the range of water holdup from 0.15 to 0.85. The proposed design concept therefore may pose a promising alternative for the optimization of capacitance sensor design.

Change in the collateral and accessory collateral ligament lengths of the proximal interphalangeal joint using cadaveric model three-dimensional laser scanning.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandhu, S S; Dreckmann, S; Binhammer, P A

2016-05-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the lengths of the index and middle finger proximal interphalangeal joint ligaments and determine the relative changes in the collateral and accessory collateral ligament lengths at 0°, 45° and 90° flexion. We generated three-dimensional scans of 16 finger (eight index and eight middle) proximal interphalangeal joints to assess relative changes in ligament length. Significant changes were found between 45°-90° and 0°-90° for the ulnar collateral ligament of the index finger and both collateral ligaments of the middle finger between 45°-90° and 0°-90°. No significant changes in length were found for the radial collateral ligament of the index finger or the accessory collateral ligaments of the index and middle fingers. Overall, it was found that the collateral ligament length changed significantly, but there was no significant change in the accessory collateral ligaments. Therapeutic IV. © The Author(s) 2015.

[Defibrotide therapy for patients with sinusoidal obstruction syndrome after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation].

Science.gov (United States)

Yakushijin, Kimikazu; Okamura, Atsuo; Ono, Kanako; Kawano, Yuko; Kawano, Hiroki; Funakoshi, Yohei; Kawamori, Yuriko; Nishikawa, Shinichiro; Minagawa, Kentaro; Sada, Akiko; Shimoyama, Manabu; Yamamoto, Katsuya; Katayama, Yoshio; Matsui, Toshimitsu

2009-01-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is one of the life-threatening complications caused by endothelial damage to the hepatic sinusoids after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, a satisfactory treatment for SOS has not yet been established. Defibrotide has anti-thrombotic, anti-ischemic, anti-inflammatory, and thrombolytic properties without systemic anticoagulant effects. We treated eight post-transplant SOS patients with defibrotide. Three patients responded to the therapy and the initial response was observed within a week. In addition to the improvement of liver function, rapid recovery of response to diuretic drugs followed by the improvement of renal function was observed. All of the five patients with respiratory dysfunction died despite administration of defibrotide, suggesting that early treatment might lead to better outcomes. There were no severe adverse effects directly due to defibrotide administration. Defibrotide seems to be a promising treatment for SOS, and the initiation of a clinical study in Japan would be important.

CFD study on NACA 4415 airfoil implementing spherical and sinusoidal Tubercle Leading Edge.

Science.gov (United States)

Aftab, S M A; Ahmad, K A

2017-01-01

The Humpback whale tubercles have been studied for more than a decade. Tubercle Leading Edge (TLE) effectively reduces the separation bubble size and helps in delaying stall. They are very effective in case of low Reynolds number flows. The current Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is on NACA 4415 airfoil, at a Reynolds number 120,000. Two TLE shapes are tested on NACA 4415 airfoil. The tubercle designs implemented on the airfoil are sinusoidal and spherical. A parametric study is also carried out considering three amplitudes (0.025c, 0.05c and 0.075c), the wavelength (0.25c) is fixed. Structured mesh is utilized to generate grid and Transition SST turbulence model is used to capture the flow physics. Results clearly show spherical tubercles outperform sinusoidal tubercles. Furthermore experimental study considering spherical TLE is carried out at Reynolds number 200,000. The experimental results show that spherical TLE improve performance compared to clean airfoil.

CFD study on NACA 4415 airfoil implementing spherical and sinusoidal Tubercle Leading Edge.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S M A Aftab

Full Text Available The Humpback whale tubercles have been studied for more than a decade. Tubercle Leading Edge (TLE effectively reduces the separation bubble size and helps in delaying stall. They are very effective in case of low Reynolds number flows. The current Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD study is on NACA 4415 airfoil, at a Reynolds number 120,000. Two TLE shapes are tested on NACA 4415 airfoil. The tubercle designs implemented on the airfoil are sinusoidal and spherical. A parametric study is also carried out considering three amplitudes (0.025c, 0.05c and 0.075c, the wavelength (0.25c is fixed. Structured mesh is utilized to generate grid and Transition SST turbulence model is used to capture the flow physics. Results clearly show spherical tubercles outperform sinusoidal tubercles. Furthermore experimental study considering spherical TLE is carried out at Reynolds number 200,000. The experimental results show that spherical TLE improve performance compared to clean airfoil.

Sinusoidal visuomotor tracking: intermittent servo-control or coupled oscillations?

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, D M; Sternad, D

2001-12-01

In visuomotor tasks that involve accuracy demands, small directional changes in the trajectories have been taken as evidence of feedback-based error corrections. In the present study variability, or intermittency, in visuomanual tracking of sinusoidal targets was investigated. Two lines of analyses were pursued: First, the hypothesis that humans fundamentally act as intermittent servo-controllers was re-examined, probing the question of whether discontinuities in the movement trajectory directly imply intermittent control. Second, an alternative hypothesis was evaluated: that rhythmic tracking movements are generated by entrainment between the oscillations of the target and the actor, such that intermittency expresses the degree of stability. In 2 experiments, participants (N = 6 in each experiment) swung 1 of 2 different hand-held pendulums, tracking a rhythmic target that oscillated at different frequencies with a constant amplitude. In 1 line of analyses, the authors tested the intermittency hypothesis by using the typical kinematic error measures and spectral analysis. In a 2nd line, they examined relative phase and its variability, following analyses of rhythmic interlimb coordination. The results showed that visually guided corrective processes play a role, especially for slow movements. Intermittency, assessed as frequency and power components of the movement trajectory, was found to change as a function of both target frequency and the manipulandum's inertia. Support for entrainment was found in conditions in which task frequency was identical to or higher than the effector's eigenfrequency. The results suggest that it is the symmetry between task and effector that determines which behavioral regime is dominant.

Stress singularities in a model of a wood disk under sinusoidal pressure

Science.gov (United States)

Jay A. Johnson; John C. Hermanson; Steven M. Cramer; Charles Amundson

2005-01-01

A thin, solid, circular wood disk, cut from the transverse plane of a tree stem, can be modeled as a cylindrically orthotropic elastic material. It is known that a stress singularity can occur at the center of a cylindrically orthotropic disk subjected to uniform pressure. If a solid cylindrically orthotropic disk is subjected to sinusoidal pressure distributions, then...

Fish wariness is a more sensitive indicator to changes in fishing pressure than abundance, length or biomass.

Science.gov (United States)

Goetze, Jordan S; Januchowski-Hartley, Fraser A; Claudet, Joachim; Langlois, Tim J; Wilson, Shaun K; Jupiter, Stacy D

2017-06-01

Identifying the most sensitive indicators to changes in fishing pressure is important for accurately detecting impacts. Biomass is thought to be more sensitive than abundance and length, while the wariness of fishes is emerging as a new metric. Periodically harvested closures (PHCs) that involve the opening and closing of an area to fishing are the most common form of fisheries management in the western Pacific. The opening of PHCs to fishing provides a unique opportunity to compare the sensitivity of metrics, such as abundance, length, biomass and wariness, to changes in fishing pressure. Diver-operated stereo video (stereo-DOV) provides data on fish behavior (using a proxy for wariness, minimum approach distance) simultaneous to abundance and length estimates. We assessed the impact of PHC protection and harvesting on the abundance, length, biomass, and wariness of target species using stereo-DOVs. This allowed a comparison of the sensitivity of these metrics to changes in fishing pressure across four PHCs in Fiji, where spearfishing and fish drives are common. Before PHCs were opened to fishing they consistently decreased the wariness of targeted species but were less likely to increase abundance, length, or biomass. Pulse harvesting of PHCs resulted in a rapid increase in the wariness of fishes but inconsistent impacts across the other metrics. Our results suggest that fish wariness is the most sensitive indicator of fishing pressure, followed by biomass, length, and abundance. The collection of behavioral data simultaneously with abundance, length, and biomass estimates using stereo-DOVs offers a cost-effective indicator of protection or rapid increases in fishing pressure. Stereo-DOVs can rapidly provide large amounts of behavioral data from monitoring programs historically focused on estimating abundance and length of fishes, which is not feasible with visual methods. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Muscle specific changes in length-force characteristics of the calf muscles in the spastic Han-Wistar rat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Annesofie Thorup; Jensen, Bente Rona; Uhlendorf, Toni L

2014-01-01

length, passive stiffness and passive force of spastic GA were decreased whereas those of spastic SO were increased. No mechanical interaction between the calf muscles and TA was found. As GA was lengthened, force from SO and PL declined despite a constant muscle-tendon unit length of SO and PL. However......, the extent of this interaction was not different in the spastic rats. In conclusion, the effects of spasticity on length-force characteristics were muscle specific. The changes seen for GA and PL muscles are consistent with the changes in limb mechanics reported for human patients. Our results indicate......The purpose of the present study was to investigate muscle mechanical properties and mechanical interaction between muscles in the lower hindlimb of the spastic mutant rat. Length-force characteristics of gastrocnemius (GA), soleus (SO) and plantaris (PL) were assessed in anesthetized spastic...

Losses analysis of soft magnetic ring core under sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) and space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) excitations

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Hezhe; Li, Yongjian; Wang, Shanming; Zhu, Jianguo; Yang, Qingxin; Zhang, Changgeng; Li, Jingsong

2018-05-01

Practical core losses in electrical machines differ significantly from those experimental results using the standardized measurement method, i.e. Epstein Frame method. In order to obtain a better approximation of the losses in an electrical machine, a simulation method considering sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) and space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) waveforms is proposed. The influence of the pulse width modulation (PWM) parameters on the harmonic components in SPWM and SVPWM is discussed by fast Fourier transform (FFT). Three-level SPWM and SVPWM are analyzed and compared both by simulation and experiment. The core losses of several ring samples magnetized by SPWM, SVPWM and sinusoidal alternating current (AC) are obtained. In addition, the temperature rise of the samples under SPWM, sinusoidal excitation are analyzed and compared.

Diffraction Efficiency Testing of Sinusoidal and Blazed Off-Plane Reflection Gratings

Science.gov (United States)

Tutt, James H.; McEntaffer, Randall L.; Marlowe, Hannah; Miles, Drew M.; Peterson, Thomas J.; Deroo, Casey T.; Scholze, Frank; Laubis, Christian

2016-09-01

Reflection gratings in the off-plane mount have the potential to enhance the performance of future high resolution soft X-ray spectrometers. Diffraction efficiency can be optimized through the use of blazed grating facets, achieving high-throughput on one side of zero-order. This paper presents the results from a comparison between a grating with a sinusoidally grooved profile and two gratings that have been blazed. The results show that the blaze does increase throughput to one side of zero-order; however, the total throughput of the sinusoidal gratings is greater than the blazed gratings, suggesting the method of manufacturing the blazed gratings does not produce precise facets. The blazed gratings were also tested in their Littrow and anti-Littrow configurations to quantify diffraction efficiency sensitivity to rotations about the grating normal. Only a small difference in the energy at which efficiency is maximized between the Littrow and anti-Littrow configurations is seen with a small shift in peak efficiency towards higher energies in the anti-Littrow case. This is due to a decrease in the effective blaze angle in the anti-Littrow mounting. This is supported by PCGrate-SX V6.1 modeling carried out for each blazed grating which predicts similar response trends in the Littrow and anti-Littrow orientations.

Driving and control strategies in alternative current machines of permanent magnet with non-sinusoidal flux; Estrategias de acionamento e controle em maquinas CA de ima permanente com fluxo nao senoidal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Monteiro, Jose Roberto Boffino de Almeida

1997-07-01

The aim of this work is to study and analyze the torque performance of brush less machines with non-sinusoidal distributed magnetic fluxes. The machine type considered is a surface mount permanent magnet brush less machine. Three mathematical models for the machine are considered: the per stator phase, the vectorial and the linear second order speed-voltage models. Machines with different stator windings are compared including the permanent magnet synchronous machines with sinusoidal distributed stator windings. The torque outputs of these machines are obtained considering two kinds of open loop driving systems: one with a six-pulse waveform and other with a sinusoidal waveform. Finally, a vectorial control is proposed for the non-sinusoidal machines. The torque ripple as well the overall performance of non-sinusoidal machines with vectorial control is compared to that of sinusoidal machines. (author)

Realization of Electronically Tunable Current- Mode Multiphase Sinusoidal Oscillators Using CFTAs

OpenAIRE

Prungsak Uttaphut

2012-01-01

An implementation of current-mode multiphase sinusoidal oscillators is presented. Using CFTA-based lossy integrators, odd and odd/even phase systems can be realized with following advantages. The condition of oscillation and frequency of oscillation can be orthogonally tuned. The high output impedances facilitate easy driving an external load without additional current buffers. The proposed MSOs provide odd or even phase signals that are equally spaced in phase and equal amplitude. The circui...

Inference of historical changes in migration rate from the lengths of migrant tracts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pool, John E; Nielsen, Rasmus

2009-01-01

After migrant chromosomes enter a population, they are progressively sliced into smaller pieces by recombination. Therefore, the length distribution of "migrant tracts" (chromosome segments with recent migrant ancestry) contains information about historical patterns of migration. Here we introduce...... a theoretical framework describing the migrant tract length distribution and propose a likelihood inference method to test demographic hypotheses and estimate parameters related to a historical change in migration rate. Applying this method to data from the hybridizing subspecies Mus musculus domesticus and M....... m. musculus, we find evidence for an increase in the rate of hybridization. Our findings could indicate an evolutionary trajectory toward fusion rather than speciation in these taxa....

Propiedades de transporte de una superred de grafeno tipo sinusoidal

OpenAIRE

J. A. Briones-Torres; I. Rodríguez-Vargas

2015-01-01

En este trabajo usamos el método de la matriz de transferencia para estudiar el tunelamiento de los electrones de Dirac a través de superredes en grafeno. Consideramos una superred con potencial sinusoidal o polaridad invertida, para ello consideramos dos maneras de crearla, una por medio de sustratos mixtos junto con la aplicación de un campo perpendicular sobre el sustrato de Óxido de Silicio (SiO2), la otra por medio de potenciales alternados aplicados perpendicularmente sobre la sábana de...

Sinusoidal Order Estimation Using Angles between Subspaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Søren Holdt Jensen

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the problem of determining the order of a parametric model from a noisy signal based on the geometry of the space. More specifically, we do this using the nontrivial angles between the candidate signal subspace model and the noise subspace. The proposed principle is closely related to the subspace orthogonality property known from the MUSIC algorithm, and we study its properties and compare it to other related measures. For the problem of estimating the number of complex sinusoids in white noise, a computationally efficient implementation exists, and this problem is therefore considered in detail. In computer simulations, we compare the proposed method to various well-known methods for order estimation. These show that the proposed method outperforms the other previously published subspace methods and that it is more robust to the noise being colored than the previously published methods.

Optical fiber Bragg gratings. Part II. Modeling of finite-length gratings and grating arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Passaro, Vittorio M N; Diana, Roberto; Armenise, Mario N

2002-09-01

A model of both uniform finite-length optical fiber Bragg gratings and grating arrays is presented. The model is based on the Floquet-Bloch formalism and allows rigorous investigation of all the physical aspects in either single- or multiple-periodic structures realized on the core of a monomodal fiber. Analytical expressions of reflectivity and transmittivity for both single gratings and grating arrays are derived. The influence of the grating length and the index modulation amplitude on the reflected and transmitted optical power for both sinusoidal and rectangular profiles is evaluated. Good agreement between our method and the well-known coupled-mode theory (CMT) approach has been observed for both single gratings and grating arrays only in the case of weak index perturbation. Significant discrepancies exist there in cases of strong index contrast because of the increasing approximation of the CMT approach. The effects of intragrating phase shift are also shown and discussed.

Factors associated with changes in vaginal length and diameter during pelvic radiotherapy for cervical cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Jumara; Vaz, Ana Francisca; Grion, Regina Celia; Esteves, Sérgio Carlos Barros; Costa-Paiva, Lúcia; Baccaro, Luiz Francisco

2017-12-01

This study reports the incidence and factors associated with vaginal stenosis and changes in vaginal dimensions after pelvic radiotherapy for cervical cancer. A descriptive longitudinal study with 139 women with cervical cancer was conducted from January 2013 to November 2015. The outcome variables were vaginal stenosis assessed using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v3.0) and changes in vaginal diameter and length after the end of radiotherapy. Independent variables were the characteristics of the neoplasm, clinical and sociodemographic data. Bivariate analysis was carried out using χ 2 , Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney's test. Multiple analysis was carried out using Poisson regression and a generalized linear model. Most women (50.4%) had stage IIIB tumors. According to CTCAE v3.0 scale, 30.2% had no stenosis, 69.1% had grade 1 and 0.7% had grade 2 stenosis after radiotherapy. Regarding changes in vaginal measures, the mean variation in diameter was - 0.6 (± 1.7) mm and the mean variation in length was - 0.6 (± 1.3) cm. In the final statistical model, having tumoral invasion of the vaginal walls (coefficient + 0.73, p vaginal stenosis and lower reduction of vaginal dimensions. Advanced clinical stage (coefficient + 1.44; p = 0.02) and receiving brachytherapy/teletherapy (coefficient - 1.17, p vaginal dimensions. Most women had mild vaginal stenosis with slight reductions in both diameter and length of the vaginal canal. Women with tumoral invasion of the vagina have an increase in vaginal length soon after radiotherapy due to a reduction in tumoral volume.

Iodine-frequency-stabilized laser diode and displacement-measuring interferometer based on sinusoidal phase modulation

Science.gov (United States)

Duong, Quang Anh; Vu, Thanh Tung; Higuchi, Masato; Wei, Dong; Aketagawa, Masato

2018-06-01

We propose a sinusoidal phase modulation method to achieve both the frequency stabilization of an external-cavity laser diode (ECLD) to an 127I2 saturated absorption transition near 633 nm and displacement measurement using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. First, the frequency of the ECLD is stabilized to the b 21 hyperfine component of the P(33) 6-3 transition of 127I2 by combining sinusoidal phase modulation by an electro-optic modulator and frequency modulation spectroscopy by chopping the pump beam using an acousto-optic modulator. Even though a small modulation index of m  =  3.768 rad is utilized, a relative frequency stability of 10‑11 order is obtained over a sampling time of 400 s. Secondly, the frequency-stabilized ECLD is applied as a light source to a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. From the two consecutive modulation harmonics (second and third orders) involved in the interferometer signal, the displacement of the moving mirror is determined for four optical path differences (L 0  =  100, 200, 500, and 1000 mm). The measured modulation indexes for the four optical path differences coincide with the designated value (3.768 rad) within 0.5%. Compared with the sinusoidal frequency modulation Michelson interferometer (Vu et al 2016 Meas. Sci. Technol. 27 105201) which was demonstrated by some of the same authors of this paper, the phase modulation Mach–Zhender interferometer could fix the modulation index to a constant value for the four optical path differences. In this report, we discuss the measurement principle, experimental system, and results.

Construction of a liver sinusoid based on the laminar flow on chip and self-assembly of endothelial cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Mi, Shengli; Yi, Xiaoman; Du, Zhichang; Xu, Yuanyuan; Sun, Wei

2018-02-20

The liver is one of the main metabolic organs, and nearly all ingested drugs will be metabolized by the liver. Only a small fraction of drugs are able to come onto the market during drug development, and hepatic toxicity is a major cause for drug failure. Since drug development is costly in both time and materials, an in vitro liver model that can accelerate bioreactions in the liver and reduce drug consumption is imperative in the pharmaceutical industry. The liver on a chip is an ideal alternative for its controllable environment and tiny size, which means constructing a more biomimetic model, reducing material consumption as well as promoting drug diffusion and reaction. In this study, taking advantage of the laminar flow on chips and using natural degradable gel rat tail Collagen-I, we constructed a liver sinusoid on a chip. By synchronously injecting two kinds of cell-laden collagen, HepG2-laden collagen and HUVEC-laden collagen, we formed two collagen layers with a clear borderline. By controlling the HUVEC density and injection of growth factors, HUVECs in collagen formed a monolayer through self-assembly. Thus, a liver sinusoid on a chip was achieved in a more biomimetic environment with a more controllable and uniform distribution of discrete HUVECs. Viability, album secretion and urea synthesis of the live sinusoid on a chip were analysed on days 3, 5 and 7 after collagen injection with acetaminophen treatment at 0 (control), 10 and 20 mM. The results indicated that our liver sinusoid on a chip was able to maintain bioactivity and function for at least 7 d and was beneficial for hepatotoxic drug screening.

Reciprocal activation of gastrocnemius and soleus motor units is associated with fascicle length change during knee flexion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauber, Benedikt; Lichtwark, Glen A; Cresswell, Andrew G

2014-06-01

While medial gastrocnemius (MG) and soleus (SOL) are considered synergists, they are anatomically exclusive in that SOL crosses only the ankle, while MG crosses both the knee and ankle. Due to the force-length properties of both active and passive structures, activation of SOL and MG must be constantly regulated to provide the required joint torques for any planned movement. As such, the aim of this study was to investigate the neural regulation of MG and SOL when independently changing their length by changing only the knee joint angle, thus exclusively altering the length of MG fibers. MG and SOL motor units (MU) were recorded intramuscularly along with ultrasound imaging of MG and SOL fascicle lengths, while moving the knee through 60° of rotation and maintaining a low level of voluntary plantar flexor torque. The results showed a reciprocal activation of MG and SOL as the knee was moved into flexion and extension. A clear reduction in MG MU firing rates occurred as the knee was flexed (MG fascicles shortening), with de-recruitment of most MG MU occurring at close to full knee flexion. A concomitant increase in SOL MU activity was observed while no change in the length of its fascicles was found. The opposite effects were found when the knee was moved into extension. A strong correlation (ICC = 0.78) was found between the fascicle length at which MG MUs were de-recruited and subsequently re-recruited. This was stronger than the relationship of de-recruitment and re-recruitment with knee angle (ICC = 0.52), indicating that in this instance, muscle fascicle length rather than joint angle is more influential in regulating MG recruitment. Such a reciprocal arrangement like the one presented here for SOL and MG is essential for human voluntary movements such as walking or cycling. © 2014 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

Flow and heat transfer characteristics in a channel having furrowed wall based on sinusoidal wave

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Jiansheng; Gao, Xiaoming; Li, Weiyi [Tianjin University, Tianjin (Switzerland)

2015-11-15

The effect of wall geometry on the flow and heat transfer in a channel with one lower furrowed and an upper flat wall kept at a uniform temperature is investigated by large eddy simulation. Three channels, one with sinusoidal wavy surface having the ratio (amplitude to wavelength) α/λ=0.05 and the other two with furrowed surface derived from the sinusoidal curve, are considered. The numerical results show that the streamwise vortices center is located near the lower wall and vary along the streamwise on various furrow surfaces. The furrow geometry increases the pressure drag and decreases the friction drag of the furrowed surface compared with that of the smooth surface; consequently, the total drag is increased for the augment of pressure drag. As expected, the heat transfer performance has been improved. Finally, a thermal performance factor is defined to evaluate the performance of the furrowed wall.

СURRENT FILTERING IN A THREE-PHASE THREE-WIRE POWER SYSTEM AT ASYMMETRIC SINUSOIDAL VOLTAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Yu. Artemenko

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Investigation of the optimal current distribution between source, shunt active filter and reactive compensator of a three-phase three-wire system that provides consumption of a sinusoidal symmetric current under asymmetric source voltages with minimal power losses was provided. Methodology. The tasks were solved by conducting theoretical and experimental studies. The main provisions of the theory of electrical circuits, the apparatus of mathematical analysis, methods for solving linear differential and algebraic equations, elements of matrix and complex calculus and vector algebra are used. During the development, modern methods and software of computer simulation of electrical engineering complexes and dynamic systems were applied: Matlab-Simulink, MATHCAD. Originality. The principle of compensating current distribution between PAF and reactive compensator of a three-phase three-wire power system with asymmetric sinusoidal voltage was proposed at which the input current is equal to the positive-sequence active current and rms value of PAF current is minimal. The feasibility to compensate the inactive sinusoidal Fryze current by reactive elements under arbitrary combination of load and source parameters was proved and expression for direct calculation of the reactive compensator parameters for generation of inactive Fryze current in the source unbalanced mode was obtained. Practical value. The simulative example for transmission line load showed that combined application of PAF and reactive compensator with the specified distribution of compensating currents ensured a reduction of power losses in 3.273 times and rms value of the SAF current is 12.9 % of rms value total compensation current.

Successful treatment of severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome despite multiple organ failure with defibrotide after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Behre, Gerhard; Theurich, Sebastian; Christopeit, Maximilian; Weber, Thomas

2009-03-10

We report a case of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, a typical and life-threatening complication after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation, successfully treated with defibrotide despite massive multiple organ failure. A 64-year-old Caucasian woman underwent allogeneic peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation from her human leukocyte antigen-identical sister against aggressive lymphoplasmocytoid immunocytoma. Seven days later, the patient developed severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome according to the modified Seattle criteria. We initiated treatment with defibrotide. Despite early treatment, multiple organ failure with kidney failure requiring dialysis and ventilator-dependent lung failure aggravated the clinical course. Furthermore, central nervous dysfunction occurred as well as transfusion refractory thrombocytopenia. As highlighted in our report, defibrotide is the most promising drug in the treatment of the formerly, almost lethal, severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome to date. This is demonstrated very clearly in our patient. She improved completely, even after renal, cerebral and respiratory failure.

Simply Adjustable Sinusoidal Oscillator Based on Negative Three-Port Current Conveyors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Sotner

2010-09-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with sinusoidal oscillator employing two controlled second-generation negative-current conveyors and two capacitors. The proposed oscillator has a simple circuit configuration. Electronic (voltage adjusting of the oscillation frequency and condition of oscillation are possible. The presented circuit is verified in PSpice utilizing macro models of commercially available negative current conveyors. The circuit is also verified by experimental measurements. Important characteristics and drawbacks of the proposed circuit and influences of real active elements in the designed circuit are discussed in detail.

Biliary obstruction dissipates bioelectric sinusoidal-canalicular barrier without altering taurocholate uptake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cotting, J.; Zysset, T.; Reichen, J.

1989-01-01

To study immediate events during extrahepatic cholestasis, we investigated the effect of short-term biliary obstruction on the bioelectrical sinusoidal-canalicular barrier in the rat using molecular weight-matched uncharged and negatively charged inert solute pairs. The bioelectrical barrier averaged -22 +/- 5 and -18 +/- 4 mV (NS) using the pair carboxy-/methoxyinulin and ferrocyanide/sucrose, respectively. After a 20-min biliary obstruction both decreased by 61 and 11%, respectively, but only the large molecular weight pair (the inulins) returned to base line after release of the obstruction. Inert solute clearances were increased after short biliary obstruction depending on molecular size and negative charge (ferrocyanide greater than sucrose greater than carboxyinulin greater than inulin), suggesting that both permeability and bioelectrical barriers were affected by obstruction. The hepatic extraction in vivo of a passively transported drug not excreted into bile (D-propranolol) was not affected by obstruction, whereas that of an actively transported drug (glycocholate) decreased from 66 +/- 8 to 41 +/- 20% during biliary obstruction (P less than 0.01). Unidirectional transfer of glycocholate was not affected by short-term biliary obstruction in the situ perfused rat liver; however, 2 min after [14C]glycocholate administration, increased return was observed in hepatic venous effluent in obstructed animals. Our findings demonstrate a loss of the bioelectrical barrier immediately after short-term biliary obstruction. Decreased hepatic extraction in the view of unaltered sinusoidal uptake demonstrates regurgitation of bile into blood during short-term biliary obstruction

Successful treatment of severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome despite multiple organ failure with defibrotide after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behre Gerhard

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction We report a case of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome, a typical and life-threatening complication after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation, successfully treated with defibrotide despite massive multiple organ failure. Case presentation A 64-year-old Caucasian woman underwent allogeneic peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation from her human leukocyte antigen-identical sister against aggressive lymphoplasmocytoid immunocytoma. Seven days later, the patient developed severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome according to the modified Seattle criteria. We initiated treatment with defibrotide. Despite early treatment, multiple organ failure with kidney failure requiring dialysis and ventilator-dependent lung failure aggravated the clinical course. Furthermore, central nervous dysfunction occurred as well as transfusion refractory thrombocytopenia. Conclusion As highlighted in our report, defibrotide is the most promising drug in the treatment of the formerly, almost lethal, severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome to date. This is demonstrated very clearly in our patient. She improved completely, even after renal, cerebral and respiratory failure.

Scintillations associated with bottomside sinusoidal irregularities in the equatorial F region

Science.gov (United States)

Basu, S.; Basu, S.; Valladares, C. E.; Dasgupta, A.; Whitney, H. E.

1986-01-01

Multisatellite scintillation observations and spaced receiver drift measurements are presented for a category of equatorial F region plasma irregularities characterized by nearly sinusoidal waveforms in the ion number density. The observations were made at Huancayo, Peru, and the measurements at Ancon, Peru, associated with irregularities observed by the Atmospheric-Explorer-E satellite on a few nights in December 1979. Utilizing ray paths to various geostationary satellites, it was found that the irregularities grow and decay almost simultaneously in long-lived patches extending at least 1000 km in the east-west direction.

Electromagnetic characterization of current transformer with toroidal core under sinusoidal conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koprivica, Branko, E-mail: branko.koprivica@ftn.kg.ac.rs; Milovanovic, Alenka, E-mail: alenka.milovanovic@ftn.kg.ac.rs

2016-04-01

The aim of this paper is to present a new procedure for the electromagnetic analysis of a measuring current transformer under sinusoidal conditions in its electrical and magnetic circuit. The influence of the magnetic hysteresis has been taken into account using the measured inverse magnetization curve and phase lag between the time waveforms of the magnetic field and the magnetic induction. Using the proposed analysis, ratio and phase errors of the current transformer have been calculated. The results of the calculation have been compared with experimental results and a good agreement has been found.

Voltage-Mode Four-Phase Sinusoidal Generator and Its Useful Extensions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sudhanshu Maheshwari

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces a new voltage-mode second-order sinusoidal generator circuit with four active elements and six passive elements, including grounded capacitors. The frequency and condition of oscillation can be independently controlled. The effect of active element’s nonidealities and parasitic effects is also studied; the proposed topology is good in absorbing several parasitic elements involved with the active elements. The circuit is advantageous for generating high frequency signals which is demonstrated for 25 MHz outputs. Several circuit extensions are also given which makes the new proposal useful for real circuit adoption. The proposed theory is validated through simulation results.

Defibrotide in Severe Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome: Medicine and Economic Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Steelandt, Julie; Bocquet, François; Cordonnier, Anne-Laure; De Courtivron, Charlotte; Fusier, Isabelle; Paubel, Pascal

2017-02-01

In Europe, Defitelio (defibrotide) has a Market Authorization in curative treatment of severe sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) but not in prophylaxis (2013). In France, defibrotide has had a compassionate-use program since 2009. Today, the high cost of defibrotide remains a major hurdle for hospital budgets. Medicine and economic issues were evaluated for the 39 hospitals of the French Public Assistance-Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP). We analyzed literature reviews, consumption, and expenditures through AP-HP data in 2014 and patient profiles with defibrotide in the corresponding diagnostic-related groups (DRGs) and consulted a board of hematologists. Finally, 18 publications were selected. Between 2011 and 2014 consumption increased to €5.2M. In 2014, 80 patients receiving defibrotide were mainly ascribed to the DRG "hematopoietic stem cell transplantation" levels 3 or 4. The tariffs attributed to drugs (€3544 to 4084) cover a small part of treatment costs (€97,524 for an adult). French experts thus recommended a harmonization of indications in prophylaxis (off-label use), improvement of pretransplant care, and optimization of the number of vials used. The economic impact led experts to change their practices. They recommended the restriction of defibrotide use to SOS curative treatment and to high-risk situations in prophylaxis. Copyright © 2017 The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Seasonal changes, sleep length and circadian preference among twins with bipolar disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koskenvuo Markku

2003-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background We aimed at studying the seasonal changes in mood and behaviour, the distribution of hospital admissions by season, and the persistence of the circadian type in twins with bipolar disorder and their healthy co-twins. Methods All Finnish like-sex twins born from 1940 to 1969 were screened for a diagnosis of bipolar type I disorder. The diagnosis was assessed with a structured research interview, and the study subjects (n = 67 filled in the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ. For studying the persistence of the habitual sleep length and circadian type, we used data derived from the Finnish Twin Cohort Questionnaire (FTCQ. Bipolar twins were compared with their healthy co-twins. Results Bipolar twins had greater seasonal changes in sleep length (p = 0.01 and mood (p = 0.01, and higher global seasonality scores (p = 0.03 as compared with their co-twins with no mental disorder. Sunny days (p = 0.03 had a greater positive effect on wellbeing in the bipolar than healthy co-twins. Conclusions Our results support the view that bipolar disorder is sensitive to the environmental influence in general and to the seasonal effect in specific. Exposure to natural light appears to have a substantial effect on wellbeing in twins with bipolar disorder.

Identification of a single sinusoidal bile salt uptake system in skate liver

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fricker, G.; Hugentobler, G.; Meier, P.J.; Kurz, G.; Boyer, J.L.

1987-01-01

To identify the sinusoidal bile acid uptake system(s) of skate liver, photoaffinity labeling and kinetic transport studies were performed in isolated plasma membranes as well as intact hepatocytes. In both preparations photoaffinity labeling with the photolabile bile salt derivative revealed the presence of a predominant bile salt binding polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 54,000. The [ 3 H]-labeling of this polypeptide was inhibited by taurocholate and cholate in a concentration-dependent manner and was virtually abolished by 1 mM of the anion transport inhibitor 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid. Kinetic studies of hepatic uptake with taurocholate, cholate, and the photoreactive bile salt derivative indicated the involvement of a single transport system, and all three substrates mutually competed with the uptake of each other. Finally, irreversible inhibition of the bile salt uptake system of photoaffinity labeling of hepatocytes with high concentrations of photolabile derivative reduced the V max but the K m of taurocholate uptake. These findings strongly indicate that a single polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 54,000 is involved in sinusoidal bile salt uptake into skate hepatocytes. These findings contrast with similar studies in rat liver that implicate both a 54,000- and 48,000-K polypeptide in bile salt uptake and are consistent with a single Na + -independent transport mechanism for hepatic bile salt uptake in this primitive vertebrate

The reliability of nonlinear least-squares algorithm for data analysis of neural response activity during sinusoidal rotational stimulation in semicircular canal neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Pengyu; Li, Bowen; Dong, Shiyao; Chen, Lin; Zhang, Yuelin

2018-01-01

Although many mathematical methods were used to analyze the neural activity under sinusoidal stimulation within linear response range in vestibular system, the reliabilities of these methods are still not reported, especially in nonlinear response range. Here we chose nonlinear least-squares algorithm (NLSA) with sinusoidal model to analyze the neural response of semicircular canal neurons (SCNs) during sinusoidal rotational stimulation (SRS) over a nonlinear response range. Our aim was to acquire a reliable mathematical method for data analysis under SRS in vestibular system. Our data indicated that the reliability of this method in an entire SCNs population was quite satisfactory. However, the reliability was strongly negatively depended on the neural discharge regularity. In addition, stimulation parameters were the vital impact factors influencing the reliability. The frequency had a significant negative effect but the amplitude had a conspicuous positive effect on the reliability. Thus, NLSA with sinusoidal model resulted a reliable mathematical tool for data analysis of neural response activity under SRS in vestibular system and more suitable for those under the stimulation with low frequency but high amplitude, suggesting that this method can be used in nonlinear response range. This method broke out of the restriction of neural activity analysis under nonlinear response range and provided a solid foundation for future study in nonlinear response range in vestibular system.

A Study of Nonlinear Variable Viscosity in Finite-Length Tube with Peristalsis

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Y. Abd Elmaboud

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Peristaltic motion of an incompressible Newtonian fluid with variable viscosity induced by periodic sinusoidal traveling wave propagating along the walls of a finite-length tube has been investigated. A perturbation method of solution is sought. The viscosity parameter α (α << 1 is chosen as a perturbation parameter and the governing equations are developed up to the first-order in the viscosity parameter (α. The analytical solution has been derived for the radial velocity at the tube wall, the axial pressure gradient across the length of the tube, and the wall shear stress under the assumption of low Reynolds number and long wavelength approximation. The impacts of physical parameters such as the viscosity and the parameter determining the shape of the constriction on the pressure distribution and on the wall shear stress for integral and non-integral number of waves are illustrated. The main conclusion that can be drawn out of this study is that the peaks of pressure fluctuate with time and attain different values with non-integral numbers of peristaltic waves. The considered problem is very applicable in study of biological flow and industrial flow.

New Realizations of Single OTRA-Based Sinusoidal Oscillators

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Hung-Chun Chien

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study proposes three new sinusoidal oscillators based on an operational transresistance amplifier (OTRA. Each of the proposed oscillator circuits consists of one OTRA combined with a few passive components. The first circuit is an OTRA-based minimum RC oscillator. The second circuit is capable of providing independent control on the condition of oscillation without affecting the oscillation frequency. The third circuit exhibits independent control of oscillation frequency through a capacitor. This study first introduces the OTRA and the related formulations of the proposed oscillator circuits, and then discusses the nonideal effects, sensitivity analyses, and frequency stability of the presented circuits. The proposed oscillators exhibit low sensitivities and good frequency stability. Because the presented circuits feature low impedance output, they can be connected directly to the next stage without cascading additional voltage buffers. HSPICE simulations and experimental results confirm the feasibility of the new oscillator circuits.

Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells induce immunosuppressive IL-10-producing Th1 cells via the Notch pathway

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Neumann, Katrin; Rudolph, Christine; Neumann, Christian; Janke, Marko; Amsen, Derk; Scheffold, Alexander

2015-01-01

Under homeostasis, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) shift intrahepatic T-cell responses towards tolerance. However, the role of LSECs in the regulation of T-cell-induced liver inflammation is less clear. Here, we studied the capacity of LSECs to modulate pro-inflammatory Th1-cell

The Relationship between fenestrations, sieve plates and rafts in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.

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Dmitri Svistounov

Full Text Available Fenestrations are transcellular pores in endothelial cells that facilitate transfer of substrates between blood and the extravascular compartment. In order to understand the regulation and formation of fenestrations, the relationship between membrane rafts and fenestrations was investigated in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells where fenestrations are grouped into sieve plates. Three dimensional structured illumination microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, internal reflectance fluorescence microscopy and two-photon fluorescence microscopy were used to study liver sinusoidal endothelial cells isolated from mice. There was an inverse distribution between sieve plates and membrane rafts visualized by structured illumination microscopy and the fluorescent raft stain, Bodipy FL C5 ganglioside GM1. 7-ketocholesterol and/or cytochalasin D increased both fenestrations and lipid-disordered membrane, while Triton X-100 decreased both fenestrations and lipid-disordered membrane. The effects of cytochalasin D on fenestrations were abrogated by co-administration of Triton X-100, suggesting that actin disruption increases fenestrations by its effects on membrane rafts. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF depleted lipid-ordered membrane and increased fenestrations. The results are consistent with a sieve-raft interaction, where fenestrations form in non-raft lipid-disordered regions of endothelial cells once the membrane-stabilizing effects of actin cytoskeleton and membrane rafts are diminished.

Aerosol absorption measurement with a sinusoidal phase modulating fiber optic photo thermal interferometer

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shuwang; Shao, Shiyong; Mei, Haiping; Rao, Ruizhong

2016-10-01

Aerosol light absorption plays an important role in the earth's atmosphere direct and semi-direct radiate forcing, simultaneously, it also has a huge influence on the visibility impairment and laser engineering application. Although various methods have been developed for measuring aerosol light absorption, huge challenge still remains in precision, accuracy and temporal resolution. The main reason is that, as a part of aerosol light extinction, aerosol light absorption always generates synchronously with aerosol light scattering, and unfortunately aerosol light scattering is much stronger in most cases. Here, a novel photo-thermal interferometry is proposed only for aerosol absorption measurement without disturbance from aerosol scattering. The photo-thermal interferometry consists of a sinusoidal phase-modulating single mode fiber-optic interferometer. The thermal dissipation, caused by aerosol energy from photo-thermal conversion when irritated by pump laser through interferometer, is detected. This approach is completely insensitive to aerosol scattering, and the single mode fiber-optic interferometer is compact, low-cost and insensitive to the polarization shading. The theory of this technique is illustrated, followed by the basic structure of the sinusoidal phase-modulating fiber-optic interferometer and demodulation algorithms. Qualitative and quantitative analysis results show that the new photo-thermal interference is a potential approach for aerosol absorption detection and environmental pollution detection.

Generation of hyperchaos from the Chen-Lee system via sinusoidal perturbation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tam, L.M.; Chen, J.H.; Chen, H.K.; Wai Meng Si Tou

2008-01-01

A system with more than one positive Lyapunov exponent can be classified as a hyperchaotic system. In this study, a sinusoidal perturbation was designed for generating hyperchaos from the Chen-Lee chaotic system. The hyperchaos was identified by the existence of two positive Lyapunov exponents and bifurcation diagrams. The system is hyperchaotic in several different regions of the parameters c, ε, and ω. It was found that this method not only can enhance or suppress chaotic behavior, but also induces chaos in non-chaotic parameter ranges. In addition, two interesting dynamical behaviors, Hopf bifurcation and intermittency, were also found in this study

Generation of hyperchaos from the Chen-Lee system via sinusoidal perturbation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tam, L.M. [Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Av. Padre Thomas Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macau (China)], E-mail: fstlmt@umac.mo; Chen, J.H. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan (China); Chen, H.K. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hsiuping Institute of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan (China); Wai Meng Si Tou [Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Av. Padre Thomas Pereira S.J., Taipa, Macau (China)

2008-11-15

A system with more than one positive Lyapunov exponent can be classified as a hyperchaotic system. In this study, a sinusoidal perturbation was designed for generating hyperchaos from the Chen-Lee chaotic system. The hyperchaos was identified by the existence of two positive Lyapunov exponents and bifurcation diagrams. The system is hyperchaotic in several different regions of the parameters c, {epsilon}, and {omega}. It was found that this method not only can enhance or suppress chaotic behavior, but also induces chaos in non-chaotic parameter ranges. In addition, two interesting dynamical behaviors, Hopf bifurcation and intermittency, were also found in this study.

Unique cell type-specific junctional complexes in vascular endothelium of human and rat liver sinusoids.

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Cyrill Géraud

Full Text Available Liver sinusoidal endothelium is strategically positioned to control access of fluids, macromolecules and cells to the liver parenchyma and to serve clearance functions upstream of the hepatocytes. While clearance of macromolecular debris from the peripheral blood is performed by liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs using a delicate endocytic receptor system featuring stabilin-1 and -2, the mannose receptor and CD32b, vascular permeability and cell trafficking are controlled by transcellular pores, i.e. the fenestrae, and by intercellular junctional complexes. In contrast to blood vascular and lymphatic endothelial cells in other organs, the junctional complexes of LSECs have not yet been consistently characterized in molecular terms. In a comprehensive analysis, we here show that LSECs express the typical proteins found in endothelial adherens junctions (AJ, i.e. VE-cadherin as well as α-, β-, p120-catenin and plakoglobin. Tight junction (TJ transmembrane proteins typical of endothelial cells, i.e. claudin-5 and occludin, were not expressed by rat LSECs while heterogenous immunreactivity for claudin-5 was detected in human LSECs. In contrast, junctional molecules preferentially associating with TJ such as JAM-A, B and C and zonula occludens proteins ZO-1 and ZO-2 were readily detected in LSECs. Remarkably, among the JAMs JAM-C was considerably over-expressed in LSECs as compared to lung microvascular endothelial cells. In conclusion, we show here that LSECs form a special kind of mixed-type intercellular junctions characterized by co-occurrence of endothelial AJ proteins, and of ZO-1 and -2, and JAMs. The distinct molecular architecture of the intercellular junctional complexes of LSECs corroborates previous ultrastructural findings and provides the molecular basis for further analyses of the endothelial barrier function of liver sinusoids under pathologic conditions ranging from hepatic inflammation to formation of liver metastasis.

Current and Voltage Mode Multiphase Sinusoidal Oscillators Using CBTAs

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M. Sagbas

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Current-mode (CM and voltage-mode (VM multiphase sinusoidal oscillator (MSO structures using current backward transconductance amplifier (CBTA are proposed. The proposed oscillators can generate n current or voltage signals (n being even or odd equally spaced in phase. n+1 CBTAs, n grounded capacitors and a grounded resistor are used for nth-state oscillator. The oscillation frequency can be independently controlled through transconductance (gm of the CBTAs which are adjustable via their bias currents. The effects caused by the non-ideality of the CBTA on the oscillation frequency and condition have been analyzed. The performance of the proposed circuits is demonstrated on third-stage and fifth-stage MSOs by using PSPICE simulations based on the 0.25 µm TSMC level-7 CMOS technology parameters.

A metabonomic evaluation of the monocrotaline-induced sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) in rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conotte, R.; Colet, J.-M.

2014-01-01

The main curative treatment of colorectal cancer remains the surgery. However, when metastases are suspected, surgery is followed by a preventive chemotherapy using oxaliplatin which, unfortunately, may cause liver sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). Such hepatic damage is barely detected during or after chemotherapy due to a lack of effective diagnostic procedures, but liver biopsy. The primary objective of the present study was to identify potential early diagnosis biomarkers of SOS using a metabonomic approach. SOS was induced in rats by monocrotaline, a prototypical toxic substance. 1 H NMR spectroscopy analysis of urine samples collected from rats treated with monocrotaline showed significant metabolic changes as compared to controls. During a first phase, cellular protective mechanisms such as an increased synthesis of GSH (reduced taurine) and the recruitment of cell osmolytes in the liver (betaine) were seen. In the second phase, the disturbance of the urea cycle (increased ornithine and urea reduction) leading to the depletion of NO, the alteration in the GSH synthesis (increased creatine and GSH precursors (glutamate, dimethylglycine and sarcosine)), and the liver necrosis (decrease taurine and increase creatine) all indicate the development of SOS. - Highlights: • Urine metabonomic profiles of SOS have been identified. • Urine osmoprotectants and anti-oxidants indicated an initial liver protection. • Liver necrosis was demonstrated by increased urine levels of taurine and creatine. • NO depletion was suggested by changes in ornithine and urea

A transgenic model for conditional induction and rescue of portal hypertension reveals a role of VEGF-mediated regulation of sinusoidal fenestrations.

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Dalit May

Full Text Available Portal hypertension (PH is a common complication and a leading cause of death in patients with chronic liver diseases. PH is underlined by structural and functional derangement of liver sinusoid vessels and its fenestrated endothelium. Because in most clinical settings PH is accompanied by parenchymal injury, it has been difficult to determine the precise role of microvascular perturbations in causing PH. Reasoning that Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF is required to maintain functional integrity of the hepatic microcirculation, we developed a transgenic mouse system for a liver-specific-, reversible VEGF inhibition. The system is based on conditional induction and de-induction of a VEGF decoy receptor that sequesters VEGF and preclude signaling. VEGF blockade results in sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs fenestrations closure and in accumulation and transformation of the normally quiescent hepatic stellate cells, i.e. provoking the two processes underlying sinusoidal capillarization. Importantly, sinusoidal capillarization was sufficient to cause PH and its typical sequela, ascites, splenomegaly and venous collateralization without inflicting parenchymal damage or fibrosis. Remarkably, these dramatic phenotypes were fully reversed within few days from lifting-off VEGF blockade and resultant re-opening of SECs' fenestrations. This study not only uncovered an indispensible role for VEGF in maintaining structure and function of mature SECs, but also highlights the vasculo-centric nature of PH pathogenesis. Unprecedented ability to rescue PH and its secondary manifestations via manipulating a single vascular factor may also be harnessed for examining the potential utility of de-capillarization treatment modalities.

3D hepatic cultures simultaneously maintain primary hepatocyte and liver sinusoidal endothelial cell phenotypes.

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Yeonhee Kim

Full Text Available Developing in vitro engineered hepatic tissues that exhibit stable phenotype is a major challenge in the field of hepatic tissue engineering. However, the rapid dedifferentiation of hepatic parenchymal (hepatocytes and non-parenchymal (liver sinusoidal endothelial, LSEC cell types when removed from their natural environment in vivo remains a major obstacle. The primary goal of this study was to demonstrate that hepatic cells cultured in layered architectures could preserve or potentially enhance liver-specific behavior of both cell types. Primary rat hepatocytes and rat LSECs (rLSECs were cultured in a layered three-dimensional (3D configuration. The cell layers were separated by a chitosan-hyaluronic acid polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM, which served to mimic the Space of Disse. Hepatocytes and rLSECs exhibited several key phenotypic characteristics over a twelve day culture period. Immunostaining for the sinusoidal endothelial 1 antibody (SE-1 demonstrated that rLSECs cultured in the 3D hepatic model maintained this unique feature over twelve days. In contrast, rLSECs cultured in monolayers lost their phenotype within three days. The unique stratified structure of the 3D culture resulted in enhanced heterotypic cell-cell interactions, which led to improvements in hepatocyte functions. Albumin production increased three to six fold in the rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures. Only rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures exhibited increasing CYP1A1/2 and CYP3A activity. Well-defined bile canaliculi were observed only in the rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures. Together, these data suggest that rLSEC-PEM-Hepatocyte cultures are highly suitable models to monitor the transformation of toxins in the liver and their transport out of this organ. In summary, these results indicate that the layered rLSEC-PEM-hepatocyte model, which recapitulates key features of hepatic sinusoids, is a potentially powerful medium for obtaining comprehensive knowledge on liver metabolism

Spectral multitude and spectral dynamics reflect changing conjugation length in single molecules of oligophenylenevinylenes

KAUST Repository

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki; Tsuchiya, Kousuke; Ogino, Kenji; Vacha, Martin

2012-01-01

Single-molecule study of phenylenevinylene oligomers revealed distinct spectral forms due to different conjugation lengths which are determined by torsional defects. Large spectral jumps between different spectral forms were ascribed to torsional flips of a single phenylene ring. These spectral changes reflect the dynamic nature of electron delocalization in oligophenylenevinylenes and enable estimation of the phenylene torsional barriers. © 2012 The Owner Societies.

Manifestations and management of veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in the era of contemporary therapies.

Science.gov (United States)

Tewari, Priti; Wallis, Whitney; Kebriaei, Partow

2017-02-01

The concept of veno-occlusive disease (VOD), along with our understanding of it, has historically been and remains an evolving phenomenon. This review presents a broad view of VOD, also known as sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), including (1) traditional hematopoietic stem cell transplant-associated VOD/SOS, (2) late-onset VOD/SOS, (3) pulmonary VOD, and (4) VOD/SOS associated with chemotherapy only. Several VOD/SOS management modalities exist that include modes for both prophylaxis and treatment. An extensive review of the literature on monoclonal antibodies, both approved and pending approval by the US Food and Drug Administration, reveals that only a few have been associated with an increased risk for VOD/SOS. In fact, bevacizumab appears to have a protective effect against the development of VOD/SOS. As the landscape of cancer treatment changes, careful attention needs to be focused on how new therapies affect the incidence of VOD/SOS.

Sinusoidal excitation on the Chua's circuit simulation of limit cycles and chaos

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindberg, Erik

1994-01-01

of charging”, and stable limit cycle behaviour based on the balance between the energy lost in the regions with mainly positive losses and the energy gained in the regions with mainly negative losses. Convergence problems observed in connection with simulation of the ideal piecewise-linear model are solved......Experiments with modelling and simulation of sinusoidal excitation on Chua's circuit are presented. It is demonstrated that the behaviour of the circuit is based on the interaction of two different kinds of energy balance: chaotic behaviour based on a balance between two unstable “states...

The electronic states calculated using the sinusoidal potential for Cd1-xZnxS quantum dot superlattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakly, A.; Safta, N.; Mejri, H.; Lamine, A. Ben

2011-01-01

Research highlights: → This paper is dedicated to structures based on Cd 1-x Zn x S. - Abstract: The present work reports on a theoretical investigation of superlattices based on Cd 1-x Zn x S quantum dots embedded in an insulating material. The system to model is assumed to be a series of flattened cylindrical quantum dots with a finite barrier at the boundary and is studied using a sinusoidal potential. The electronic states of both Γ 1 - (ground) and Γ 2 - (first excited) minibands have been computed as a function of inter-quantum dot separation and Zn composition. An analysis of the results shows that the widths of Γ 1 - and Γ 2 - minibands decrease as the superlattice period and Zn content increase separately. Moreover, the sinusoidal shape of the confining potential accounts for the coupling between quantum dots quantitatively less than the Kronig-Penney potential model.

Improvement of the growth and yield of lettuce plants by elf sinusoidal non-uniform magnetic fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souzal, A. De; Gonzalez, L.M.; Sueirol, L.; Peralta, O.; Liceal, L.; Porras, E.; Gilart, F.

2008-01-01

Influence of pre-sowing magnetic treatments on plant growth and final yield of lettuce (cv. Black Seeded Simpson) were studied under organoponic conditions. Lettuce seeds were exposed to full-wave rectified sinusoidal non-uniform magnetic fields (MFs) induced by an electromagnet at 120 mT(rms) for 3 min, 160 mT(rms) for 1 min and to 160 mT (rms) for 5 min. Non-treated seeds were considered as controls. Plants were grown in experimental stonemasons (25.2 m2) of an organoponic and cultivated according to standard agricultural practices. During nursery and vegetative growth stages, samples were collected at regular intervals for seedling growth assessment and growth rate analyses. At physiological maturity, the plants were harvested from each stonemason and the final yield and yield parameters were determined. In the nursery stage, the magnetic treatments induced a significant increase of root length and shoot height in plants derived from magnetically-treated seeds. In the vegetative stage, the relative growth rates of plants derived from magnetically-exposed seeds were greater than those shown by the control plants. At maturity stage, all magnetic treatments increased significantly (p<0.05) the plant height, the leaf area per plant, the final yield per area and the fresh mass per plant in comparison with the controls. Pre-sowing magnetic treatments would enhance the growth and final yield of lettuce crop

Dai-kenchu-to attenuates rat sinusoidal obstruction syndrome by inhibiting the accumulation of neutrophils in the liver.

Science.gov (United States)

Narita, Masato; Hatano, Etsuro; Tamaki, Nobuyuki; Yamanaka, Kenya; Yanagida, Atsuko; Nagata, Hiromitsu; Asechi, Hiroyuki; Takada, Yasutsugu; Ikai, Iwao; Uemoto, Shinji

2009-06-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is drug-induced liver injury that occurs in patients who receive hematopoietic cell transplantation and oxaliplatin-contained chemotherapy. The aim of study was to investigate the pharmacological treatment of SOS using a traditional Japanese medicine, Dai-kenchu-to (DKT). Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with monocrotaline (MCT) to induce SOS. The rats were divided into three groups: control, MCT and MCT+DKT groups. In the MCT+DKT group, DKT was gavaged at 12 h after MCT treatment and given every 12 h until the end of the protocol. The rats of MCT group were treated with water instead of DKT. At 48 h after MCT treatment, blood and liver samples were collected. In the MCT+DKT group, the macroscopic and histological findings revealed liver congestion, sinusoidal alteration and the destruction of sinusoidal lining, which were comparable with those of the MCT group. However, the area of hepatic necrosis and serum AST levels significantly decreased in the MCT+DKT group compared with those of the MCT group. Treatment with DKT resulted in the reduction of neutrophil accumulation, myeloperoxidase activity and the expression of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC) and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) mRNA in the liver compared with those of the MCT group. Treatment with processed ginger, one of the ingredients in DKT, resulted in similar effects to those shown by DKT. Dai-kenchu-to attenuates MCT-induced liver injury by preventing neutrophil-induced liver injury through blockage of upregulation of CINC and ICAM-1 mRNA level.

Research regarding the influence of driving-wires length change on positioning precision of a robotic arm

Science.gov (United States)

Ciofu, C.; Stan, G.

2016-08-01

The paper emphasise positioning precision of an elephant's trunk robotic arm which has joints driven by wires with variable length while operating The considered 5 degrees of freedom robotic arm has a particular structure of joint that makes possible inner actuation with wire-driven mechanism. We analyse solely the length change of wires as a consequence due inner winding and unwinding on joints for certain values of rotational angles. Variations in wires length entail joint angular displacements. We analyse positioning precision by taking into consideration equations from inverse kinematics of the elephant's trunk robotic arm. The angular displacements of joints are considered into computational method after partial derivation of positioning equations. We obtain variations of wires length at about tenths of micrometers. These variations employ angular displacements which are about minutes of sexagesimal degree and, thus, define positioning precision of elephant's trunk robotic arms. The analytical method is used for determining aftermath design structure of an elephant's trunk robotic arm with inner actuation through wires on positioning precision. Thus, designers could take suitable decisions on accuracy specifications limits of the robotic arm.

Upregulation of miR21 and repression of Grhl3 by leptin mediates sinusoidal endothelial injury in experimental nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

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Sahar Pourhoseini

Full Text Available Sinusoidal endothelial dysfunction (SED has been found to be an early event in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH progression but the molecular mechanisms underlying its causation remains elusive. We hypothesized that adipokine leptin worsens sinusoidal injury by decreasing functionally active nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3 via miR21. Using rodent models of NASH, and transgenic mice lacking leptin and leptin receptor, results showed that hyperleptinemia caused a 4-5 fold upregulation of hepatic miR21 as assessed by qRTPCR. The upregulation of miR21 led to a time-dependent repression of its target protein Grhl3 levels as shown by western blot analyses. NOS3-p/NOS3 ratio which is controlled by Grhl3 was significantly decreased in NASH models. SED markers ICAM-1, VEGFR-2, and E-selectin as assessed by immunofluorescence microscopy were significantly up regulated in the progressive phases of NASH. Lack of leptin or its receptor in vivo, reversed the upregulation of miR21 and restored the levels of Grhl3 and NOS3-p/NOS3 ratio coupled with decreased SED dysfunction markers. Interestingly, leptin supplementation in mice lacking leptin, significantly enhanced miR21 levels, decreased Grhl3 repression and NOS3 phosphorylation. Leptin supplementation in isolated primary endothelial cells, Kupffer cells and stellate cells showed increased mir21 expression in stellate cells while sinusoidal injury was significantly higher in all cell types. Finally miR21 KO mice showed increased NOS3-p/NOS3 ratio and reversed SED markers in the rodent models of NASH. The experimental results described here show a close association of leptin-induced miR21 in aiding sinusoidal injury in NASH.

Changes in myosin S1 orientation and force induced by a temperature increase.

Science.gov (United States)

Griffiths, Peter J; Bagni, Maria A; Colombini, Barbara; Amenitsch, Heinz; Bernstorff, Sigrid; Ashley, Christopher C; Cecchi, Giovanni; Ameritsch, Heinz

2002-04-16

Force generation in myosin-based motile systems is thought to result from an angular displacement of the myosin subfragment 1 (S1) tail domain with respect to the actin filament axis. In muscle, raised temperature increases the force generated by S1, implying a greater change in tail domain angular displacement. We used time-resolved x-ray diffraction to investigate the structural corollary of this force increase by measuring M3 meridional reflection intensity during sinusoidal length oscillations. This technique allows definition of S1 orientation with respect to the myofilament axis. M3 intensity changes were approximately sinusoid at low temperatures but became increasingly distorted as temperature was elevated, with the formation of a double intensity peak at maximum shortening. This increased distortion could be accounted for by assuming a shift in orientation of the tail domain of actin-bound S1 toward the orientation at which M3 intensity is maximal, which is consistent with a tail domain rotation model of force generation in which the tail approaches a more perpendicular projection from the thin filament axis at higher temperatures. In power stroke simulations, the angle between S1 tail mean position during oscillations and the position at maximum intensity decreased by 4.7 degrees, corresponding to a mean tail displacement toward the perpendicular of 0.73 nm for a temperature-induced force increase of 0.28 P(0) from 4 to 22 degrees C. Our findings suggest that at least 62% of crossbridge compliance is associated with the tail domain.

Changes in hip joint muscle-tendon lengths with mode of locomotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Patrick O; Franz, Jason; Dicharry, Jay; Kerrigan, D Casey

2010-02-01

We have reported that peak hip extension is nearly identical in walking and running, suggesting that anatomical constraints, such as flexor muscle tightness may limit the range of hip extension. To obtain a more mechanistic insight into mobility at the hip and pelvis we examined the lengths of the muscle-tendons units crossing the hip joint. Data defining the three-dimensional kinematics of 26 healthy runners at self-selected walking and running speeds were obtained. These data were used to scale and drive musculoskeletal models using OpenSIM. Muscle-tendon unit (MTU) lengths were calculated for the trailing limb illiacus, rectus femoris, gluteus maximus, and biceps femoris long head and the advancing limb biceps femoris and gluteus maximus. The magnitude and timing of MTU length peaks were each compared between walking and running. The peak length of the right (trailing limb) illiacus MTU, a pure hip flexor, was nearly identical between walking and running, while the maximum length of the rectus femoris MTU, a hip flexor and knee extensor, increased during running. The maximum length of the left (leading limb) biceps femoris was also unchanged between walking and running. Further, the timing of peak illiacus MTU length and peak contralateral biceps femoris MTU length occurred essentially simultaneously during running, at a time during gait when the hamstrings are most vulnerable to stretch injury. This latter finding suggests exploring the role for hip flexor stretching in combination with hamstring stretching to treat and/or prevent running related hamstring injury. Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Correlated evolution of sternal keel length and ilium length in birds

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Tao Zhao

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The interplay between the pectoral module (the pectoral girdle and limbs and the pelvic module (the pelvic girdle and limbs plays a key role in shaping avian evolution, but prior empirical studies on trait covariation between the two modules are limited. Here we empirically test whether (size-corrected sternal keel length and ilium length are correlated during avian evolution using phylogenetic comparative methods. Our analyses on extant birds and Mesozoic birds both recover a significantly positive correlation. The results provide new evidence regarding the integration between the pelvic and pectoral modules. The correlated evolution of sternal keel length and ilium length may serve as a mechanism to cope with the effect on performance caused by a tradeoff in muscle mass between the pectoral and pelvic modules, via changing moment arms of muscles that function in flight and in terrestrial locomotion.

An all digital phase locked loop for synchronization of a sinusoidal signal embedded in white Gaussian noise

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, C. P.; Gupta, S. C.

1973-01-01

An all digital phase locked loop which tracks the phase of the incoming sinusoidal signal once per carrier cycle is proposed. The different elements and their functions and the phase lock operation are explained in detail. The nonlinear difference equations which govern the operation of the digital loop when the incoming signal is embedded in white Gaussian noise are derived, and a suitable model is specified. The performance of the digital loop is considered for the synchronization of a sinusoidal signal. For this, the noise term is suitably modelled which allows specification of the output probabilities for the two level quantizer in the loop at any given phase error. The loop filter considered increases the probability of proper phase correction. The phase error states in modulo two-pi forms a finite state Markov chain which enables the calculation of steady state probabilities, RMS phase error, transient response and mean time for cycle skipping.

Responses of Medullary Lateral Line Units of the Goldfish, Carassius auratus, to Amplitude-Modulated Sinusoidal Wave Stimuli

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramadan Ali

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the responses of brainstem lateral line units in goldfish, Carassius auratus, to constant-amplitude and to amplitude-modulated sinusoidal water motions. If stimulated with constant-amplitude sinusoidal water motions, units responded with phasic (50% or with sustained (50% increases in dicharge rate. Based on isodisplacement curves, units preferred low (33 Hz, 12.5%, mid (50 Hz, 10% and 100 Hz, 30% or high (200 Hz, 47.5% frequencies. In most units, responses were weakly phase locked to the carrier frequency. However, at a carrier frequency of 50 Hz or 100 Hz, a substantial proportion of the units exhibited strong phase locking. If stimulated with amplitude-modulated water motions, units responded with a burst of discharge to each modulation cycle, that is, units phase locked to the amplitude modulation frequency. Response properties of brainstem units were in many respects comparable to those of midbrain units, suggesting that they emerge first in the lateral line brainstem.

A Comparison Study of Sinusoidal PWM and Space Vector PWM Techniques for Voltage Source Inverter

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Ömer Türksoy

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the methods used to control voltage source inverters which have been intensively investigated in recent years are compared. Although the most efficient result is obtained with the least number of switching elements in the inverter topologies, the method used in the switching is at least as effective as the topology. Besides, the selected switching method to control the inverter will play an effective role in suppressing harmonic components while producing the ideal output voltage. There are many derivatives of pulse width modulation techniques that are commonly used to control voltage source inverters. Some of widespread methods are sinusoidal pulse width modulation and space vector pulse width modulation techniques. These modulation techniques used for generating variable frequency and amplitude output voltage in voltage source inverters, have been simulated by using MATLAB/SIMULINK. And, the total harmonic distortions of the output voltages are compared. As a result of simulation studies, sinusoidal pulse width modulation has been found to have more total harmonic distortion in output voltages of voltage source inverters in the simulation. Space vector pulse width modulation has been shown to produce a more efficient output voltage with less total harmonic distortion.

Realisation and advanced engineering of true optical rugate filters based on nanoporous anodic alumina by sinusoidal pulse anodisation

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, Abel; Yoo, Jeong Ha; Rohatgi, Charu Vashisth; Kumeria, Tushar; Wang, Ye; Losic, Dusan

2016-01-01

This study is the first realisation of true optical rugate filters (RFs) based on nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA) by sinusoidal waves. An innovative and rationally designed sinusoidal pulse anodisation (SPA) approach in galvanostatic mode is used with the aim of engineering the effective medium of NAA in a sinusoidal fashion. A precise control over the different anodisation parameters (i.e. anodisation period, anodisation amplitude, anodisation offset, number of pulses, anodisation temperature and pore widening time) makes it possible to engineer the characteristic reflection peaks and interferometric colours of NAA-RFs, which can be finely tuned across the UV-visible-NIR spectrum. The effect of the aforementioned anodisation parameters on the photonic properties of NAA-RFs (i.e. characteristic reflection peaks and interferometric colours) is systematically assessed in order to establish for the first time a comprehensive rationale towards NAA-RFs with fully controllable photonic properties. The experimental results are correlated with a theoretical model (Looyenga-Landau-Lifshitz - LLL), demonstrating that the effective medium of these photonic nanostructures can be precisely described by the effective medium approximation. NAA-RFs are also demonstrated as chemically selective photonic platforms combined with reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS). The resulting optical sensing system is used to assess the reversible binding affinity between a model drug (i.e. indomethacin) and human serum albumin (HSA) in real-time. Our results demonstrate that this system can be used to determine the overall pharmacokinetic profile of drugs, which is a critical aspect to be considered for the implementation of efficient medical therapies.This study is the first realisation of true optical rugate filters (RFs) based on nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA) by sinusoidal waves. An innovative and rationally designed sinusoidal pulse anodisation (SPA) approach in galvanostatic

A two-level voltage source inverter with differentially sinusoidal pulse width modulation used in the interconnection system of a wind turbine generator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandros C. Charalampidis

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This study analyses an interconnection system based on differentially sinusoidal pulse width modulation, used for the interconnection to the grid of a variable speed wind turbine. The modulation technique used provides specific advantages in comparison with the commonly used sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM technique, such as lower DC bus voltage requirements, smaller switching losses for the same switching frequency as well as less higher harmonic content in the voltage waveforms produced. The respective control system is also described in detail. Thus this study provides a guide enabling the design of any interconnection system based on this modulation technique.

A metabonomic evaluation of the monocrotaline-induced sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) in rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conotte, R.; Colet, J.-M., E-mail: jean-marie.colet@umons.ac.be

2014-04-15

The main curative treatment of colorectal cancer remains the surgery. However, when metastases are suspected, surgery is followed by a preventive chemotherapy using oxaliplatin which, unfortunately, may cause liver sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS). Such hepatic damage is barely detected during or after chemotherapy due to a lack of effective diagnostic procedures, but liver biopsy. The primary objective of the present study was to identify potential early diagnosis biomarkers of SOS using a metabonomic approach. SOS was induced in rats by monocrotaline, a prototypical toxic substance. {sup 1}H NMR spectroscopy analysis of urine samples collected from rats treated with monocrotaline showed significant metabolic changes as compared to controls. During a first phase, cellular protective mechanisms such as an increased synthesis of GSH (reduced taurine) and the recruitment of cell osmolytes in the liver (betaine) were seen. In the second phase, the disturbance of the urea cycle (increased ornithine and urea reduction) leading to the depletion of NO, the alteration in the GSH synthesis (increased creatine and GSH precursors (glutamate, dimethylglycine and sarcosine)), and the liver necrosis (decrease taurine and increase creatine) all indicate the development of SOS. - Highlights: • Urine metabonomic profiles of SOS have been identified. • Urine osmoprotectants and anti-oxidants indicated an initial liver protection. • Liver necrosis was demonstrated by increased urine levels of taurine and creatine. • NO depletion was suggested by changes in ornithine and urea.

Changes in nucleosome repeat lengths precede replication in the early replicating metallothionein II gene region of cells synchronized in early S phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'Anna, J.A.; Tobey, R.A.

1989-01-01

Previous investigations showed that inhibition of DNA synthesis by hydroxyurea, aphidicolin, or 5-fluorodeoxyuridine produced large changes in the composition and nucleosome repeat lengths of bulk chromatin. There the authors report results of investigations to determine whether the changes in nucleosome repeat lengths might be localized in the initiated replicons, as postulated. In most experiments, Chinese hamster (line CHO) cells were synchronized in G1, or they were synchronized in early S phase by allowing G1 cells to enter S phase in medium containing 1 mM hydroxyurea or 5 μg mL -1 aphidicolin, a procedure believed to produce an accumulation of initiated replicons that arise from normally early replicating DNA. Measurements of nucleosome repeat lengths of bulk chromatin, the early replicating unexpressed metallothionein II (MTII) gene region, and a later replicating repeated sequence indicate that the changes in repeat lengths occur preferentially in the early replicating MTII gene region as G1 cells enter and become synchronized in early S phase. During that time, the MTII gene region is not replicated nor is there any evidence for induction of MTII messenger RNA. Thus, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that changes in chromatin structure occur preferentially in the early replicating (presumably initiated) replicons at initiation or that changes in chromatin structure can precede replication during inhibition of DNA synthesis. The shortened repeat lengths that precede MTII replication are, potentially, reversible, because they become elongated when the synchronized early S-phase cells are released to resume cell cycle progression

Phonological awareness and sinusoidal amplitude modulation in phonological dislexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Peñaloza-López, Yolanda; Herrera-Rangel, Aline; Pérez-Ruiz, Santiago J; Poblano, Adrián

2016-04-01

Dyslexia is the difficulty of children in learning to read and write as results of neurological deficiencies. The objective was to test the Phonological awareness (PA) and Sinusoidal amplitude modulation (SAM) threshold in children with Phonological dyslexia (PD). We performed a case-control, analytic, cross sectional study. We studied 14 children with PD and 14 control children from 7 to 11 years of age, by means of PA measurement and by SAM test. The mean age of dyslexic children was 8.39 years and in the control group was 8.15. Children with PD exhibited inadequate skills in PA, and SAM. We found significant correlations between PA and SAM at 4 Hertz frequency, and calculated regression equations that predicts between one-fourth and one-third of variance of measurements. Alterations in PA and SAM found can help to explain basis of deficient language processing exhibited by children with PD.

The FXR agonist PX20606 ameliorates portal hypertension by targeting vascular remodelling and sinusoidal dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwabl, Philipp; Hambruch, Eva; Seeland, Berit A; Hayden, Hubert; Wagner, Michael; Garnys, Lukas; Strobel, Bastian; Schubert, Tim-Lukas; Riedl, Florian; Mitteregger, Dieter; Burnet, Michael; Starlinger, Patrick; Oberhuber, Georg; Deuschle, Ulrich; Rohr-Udilova, Nataliya; Podesser, Bruno K; Peck-Radosavljevic, Markus; Reiberger, Thomas; Kremoser, Claus; Trauner, Michael

2017-04-01

Steroidal farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists demonstrated potent anti-fibrotic activities and lowered portal hypertension in experimental models. The impact of the novel non-steroidal and selective FXR agonist PX20606 on portal hypertension and fibrosis was explored in this study. In experimental models of non-cirrhotic (partial portal vein ligation, PPVL, 7days) and cirrhotic (carbon tetrachloride, CCl 4 , 14weeks) portal hypertension, PX20606 (PX,10mg/kg) or the steroidal FXR agonist obeticholic acid (OCA,10mg/kg) were gavaged. We then measured portal pressure, intrahepatic vascular resistance, liver fibrosis and bacterial translocation. PX decreased portal pressure in non-cirrhotic PPVL (12.6±1.7 vs. 10.4±1.1mmHg; p=0.020) and cirrhotic CCl 4 (15.2±0.5 vs. 11.8±0.4mmHg; p=0.001) rats. In PPVL animals, we observed less bacterial translocation (-36%; p=0.041), a decrease in lipopolysaccharide binding protein (-30%; p=0.024) and splanchnic tumour necrosis factor α levels (-39%; p=0.044) after PX treatment. In CCl 4 rats, PX decreased fibrotic Sirius Red area (-43%; p=0.005), hepatic hydroxyproline (-66%; pportal pressure (-14%; p=0.041) by restoring endothelial function, 14week PX therapy additionally inhibited sinusoidal remodelling and decreased portal pressure to a greater extent (-22%; p=0.001). In human liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, PX increased eNOS and DDAH expression. The non-steroidal FXR agonist PX20606 ameliorates portal hypertension by reducing liver fibrosis, vascular remodelling and sinusoidal dysfunction. The novel drug PX20606 activates the bile acid receptor FXR and shows beneficial effects in experimental liver cirrhosis: In the liver, it reduces scarring and inflammation, and also widens blood vessels. Thus, PX20606 leads to an improved blood flow through the liver and decreases hypertension of the portal vein. Additionally, PX20606 improves the altered intestinal barrier and decreases bacterial migration from the gut. Copyright �

How does harvest size vary with hunting season length?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunde, Peter; Asferg, Tommy

2014-01-01

season length (population management/ethical/other). In non-sedentary species, changes in bag size correlated positively with changes in season length (overall response: b = 0.54, 95%CI: 0.14-0.95): reducing the hunting season to 50% of its initial length would on average result in a 31% reduction (95...

Diagnosis of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome by positron emission tomography/computed tomography: report of two cases treated by defibrotide.

Science.gov (United States)

Gauthé, Mathieu; Bozec, Laurence; Bedossa, Pierre

2014-11-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is a potentially fatal liver injury that mainly occurs after myeloablative chemotherapy. We report two cases of SOS investigated by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography and treated with defibrotide. © 2014 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Static length changes of cochlear outer hair cells can tune low-frequency hearing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikola Ciganović

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The cochlea not only transduces sound-induced vibration into neural spikes, it also amplifies weak sound to boost its detection. Actuators of this active process are sensory outer hair cells in the organ of Corti, whereas the inner hair cells transduce the resulting motion into electric signals that propagate via the auditory nerve to the brain. However, how the outer hair cells modulate the stimulus to the inner hair cells remains unclear. Here, we combine theoretical modeling and experimental measurements near the cochlear apex to study the way in which length changes of the outer hair cells deform the organ of Corti. We develop a geometry-based kinematic model of the apical organ of Corti that reproduces salient, yet counter-intuitive features of the organ's motion. Our analysis further uncovers a mechanism by which a static length change of the outer hair cells can sensitively tune the signal transmitted to the sensory inner hair cells. When the outer hair cells are in an elongated state, stimulation of inner hair cells is largely inhibited, whereas outer hair cell contraction leads to a substantial enhancement of sound-evoked motion near the hair bundles. This novel mechanism for regulating the sensitivity of the hearing organ applies to the low frequencies that are most important for the perception of speech and music. We suggest that the proposed mechanism might underlie frequency discrimination at low auditory frequencies, as well as our ability to selectively attend auditory signals in noisy surroundings.

Cytotoxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloid in human hepatic parenchymal and sinusoidal endothelial cells: Firm evidence for the reactive metabolites mediated pyrrolizidine alkaloid-induced hepatotoxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Mengbi; Ruan, Jianqing; Fu, Peter P; Lin, Ge

2016-01-05

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) widely distribute in plants and can cause hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS), which typically presents as a primary sinusoidal endothelial cell damage. It is well-recognized that after ingestion, PAs undergo hepatic cytochromes P450 (CYPs)-mediated metabolic activation to generate dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids (DHPAs), which are hydrolyzed to dehydroretronecine (DHR). DHPAs and DHR are reactive metabolites having same core pyrrole moiety, and can bind proteins to form pyrrole-protein adducts, which are believed as the primary cause for PA-induced HSOS. However, to date, the direct evidences supporting the toxicity of DHPAs and DHR in the liver, in particular in the sinusoidal endothelial cells, are lacking. Using human hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSEC) and HepG2 (representing hepatic parenchymal cells), cells that lack CYPs activity, this study determined the direct cytotoxicity of dehydromonocrotaline, a representative DHPA, and DHR, but no cytotoxicity of the intact PA (monocrotaline) in both cell lines, confirming that reactive metabolites mediate PA intoxication. Comparing with HepG2, HSEC had significantly lower basal glutathione (GSH) level, and was significantly more susceptible to the reactive metabolites with severer GSH depletion and pyrrole-protein adducts formation. The toxic potency of two reactive metabolites was also compared. DHPA was more reactive than DHR, leading to severer toxicity. In conclusion, our results unambiguously provided the first direct evidence for the critical role of DHPA and DHR in the reactive metabolites-mediated PA-induced hepatotoxicity, which occurs predominantly in HSEC due to severe GSH depletion and the significant formation of pyrrole-protein adducts in HSEC. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variations in DNA synthesis and mitotic indices in hepatocytes and sinusoid litoral cells of adult intact male mouse along a circadian time span.

Science.gov (United States)

Surur, J M; Moreno, F R; Badrán, A F; Llanos, J M

1985-01-01

Variations of DNA synthesis (DNAS) and mitotic indices along a circadian time span are described in the hepatocyte and sinusoid litoral cell populations of adult intact male mouse liver. Standardized (light from 0600 to 1800) mice were killed in groups of six to nine animals, every 2-4 hr along a circadian time span. Hepatocytes show significant peaks in the synthesis of DNA and the mitotic activity at 0200 and 1400, respectively. These results correspond to those previously described by us in young immature liver, regenerating liver and hepatomas. The phase differences between these peaks and the differences between their absolute values are discussed. Also considered are the practical consequences of our findings for experimental design. The curve of DNA synthesis of sinusoid litoral cells show a peak at 0200. The mitotic index show a bimodal waveform with peaks at 0800 and 2000. The existence of four different cell populations composing the so called sinusoid litoral cells and also the migration into and out of the liver of some macrophages considered as litoral (Kupffer) cells in our counts, makes interpretation of the curves somewhat complicated and deserves further analysis.

Changes of the electron density distribution during MHD activity in CHS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soltwisch, H.; Tanaka, K.

2000-09-01

Density oscillations induced by MHD activities were observed in NBI heated plasmas on CHS by using an HCN laser interferometer. The accompanied changes of the density profiles were also observed. The oscillations are composition of m=0 sawteeth like crash and m=2 sinusoidal oscillations as a post courser of the crash. Possible models of the oscillation structure are examined in order to explain experimental data of the interferometer. Rotating plasma core, which is hollow profile and keeps constant elongation of the flux surface can explain amplitude and phase distribution of the sinusoidal oscillation. (author)

The evaluation of distributed damage in concrete based on sinusoidal modeling of the ultrasonic response.

Science.gov (United States)

Sepehrinezhad, Alireza; Toufigh, Vahab

2018-05-25

Ultrasonic wave attenuation is an effective descriptor of distributed damage in inhomogeneous materials. Methods developed to measure wave attenuation have the potential to provide an in-site evaluation of existing concrete structures insofar as they are accurate and time-efficient. In this study, material classification and distributed damage evaluation were investigated based on the sinusoidal modeling of the response from the through-transmission ultrasonic tests on polymer concrete specimens. The response signal was modeled as single or the sum of damping sinusoids. Due to the inhomogeneous nature of concrete materials, model parameters may vary from one specimen to another. Therefore, these parameters are not known in advance and should be estimated while the response signal is being received. The modeling procedure used in this study involves a data-adaptive algorithm to estimate the parameters online. Data-adaptive algorithms are used due to a lack of knowledge of the model parameters. The damping factor was estimated as a descriptor of the distributed damage. The results were compared in two different cases as follows: (1) constant excitation frequency with varying concrete mixtures and (2) constant mixture with varying excitation frequencies. The specimens were also loaded up to their ultimate compressive strength to investigate the effect of distributed damage in the response signal. The results of the estimation indicated that the damping was highly sensitive to the change in material inhomogeneity, even in comparable mixtures. In addition to the proposed method, three methods were employed to compare the results based on their accuracy in the classification of materials and the evaluation of the distributed damage. It is shown that the estimated damping factor is not only sensitive to damage in the final stages of loading, but it is also applicable in evaluating micro damages in the earlier stages providing a reliable descriptor of damage. In addition

Estimation of airway smooth muscle stiffness changes due to length oscillation using artificial neural network.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Jumaily, Ahmed; Chen, Leizhi

2012-10-07

This paper presents a novel approach to estimate stiffness changes in airway smooth muscles due to external oscillation. Artificial neural networks are used to model the stiffness changes due to cyclic stretches of the smooth muscles. The nonlinear relationship between stiffness ratios and oscillation frequencies is modeled by a feed-forward neural network (FNN) model. The structure of the FNN is selected through the training and validation using literature data from 11 experiments with different muscle lengths, muscle masses, oscillation frequencies and amplitudes. Data pre-processing methods are used to improve the robustness of the neural network model to match the non-linearity. The validation results show that the FNN model can predict the stiffness ratio changes with a mean square error of 0.0042. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perception of the dynamic visual vertical during sinusoidal linear motion.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomante, A; Selen, L P J; Medendorp, W P

2017-10-01

The vestibular system provides information for spatial orientation. However, this information is ambiguous: because the otoliths sense the gravitoinertial force, they cannot distinguish gravitational and inertial components. As a consequence, prolonged linear acceleration of the head can be interpreted as tilt, referred to as the somatogravic effect. Previous modeling work suggests that the brain disambiguates the otolith signal according to the rules of Bayesian inference, combining noisy canal cues with the a priori assumption that prolonged linear accelerations are unlikely. Within this modeling framework the noise of the vestibular signals affects the dynamic characteristics of the tilt percept during linear whole-body motion. To test this prediction, we devised a novel paradigm to psychometrically characterize the dynamic visual vertical-as a proxy for the tilt percept-during passive sinusoidal linear motion along the interaural axis (0.33 Hz motion frequency, 1.75 m/s 2 peak acceleration, 80 cm displacement). While subjects ( n =10) kept fixation on a central body-fixed light, a line was briefly flashed (5 ms) at different phases of the motion, the orientation of which had to be judged relative to gravity. Consistent with the model's prediction, subjects showed a phase-dependent modulation of the dynamic visual vertical, with a subject-specific phase shift with respect to the imposed acceleration signal. The magnitude of this modulation was smaller than predicted, suggesting a contribution of nonvestibular signals to the dynamic visual vertical. Despite their dampening effect, our findings may point to a link between the noise components in the vestibular system and the characteristics of dynamic visual vertical. NEW & NOTEWORTHY A fundamental question in neuroscience is how the brain processes vestibular signals to infer the orientation of the body and objects in space. We show that, under sinusoidal linear motion, systematic error patterns appear in the

Length dependence of rectification in organic co-oligomer spin rectifiers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hu Gui-Chao; Zhang Zhao; Li Ying; Ren Jun-Feng; Wang Chuan-Kui

2016-01-01

The rectification ratio of organic magnetic co-oligomer diodes is investigated theoretically by changing the molecular length. The results reveal two distinct length dependences of the rectification ratio: for a short molecular diode, the charge-current rectification changes little with the increase of molecular length, while the spin-current rectification is weakened sharply by the length; for a long molecular diode, both the charge-current and spin-current rectification ratios increase quickly with the length. The two kinds of dependence switch at a specific length accompanied with an inversion of the rectifying direction. The molecular ortibals and spin-resolved transmission analysis indicate that the dominant mechanism of rectification suffers a change at this specific length, that is, from asymmetric shift of molecular eigenlevels to asymmetric spatial localization of wave functions upon the reversal of bias. This work demonstrates a feasible way to control the rectification in organic co-oligomer spin diodes by adjusting the molecular length. (paper)

[The sequential use of local vacuum magnetotherapy and papaverine electrophoresis with sinusoidal modulated currents in impotence].

Science.gov (United States)

Karpukhin, I V; Bogomol'nyĭ, V A

1997-01-01

105 patients with chronic nonspecific prostatitis were examined and treated with papaverin electrophoresis using sinusoidal modulated currents (SMC) and local vacuum magnetotherapy (LVMT). Papaverin SMC electrophoresis and LVMT stimulated cavernous circulation. The highest stimulation was achieved at successive use of LVMT and the electrophoresis. LVMT followed by the electrophoresis maintained good cavernous circulation for 5-6 hours after the procedure in the course of which several spontaneous erections were observed.

Sinusoidal oscillators with lower gain requirements at higher frequencies based on an explicit tanh(x) nonlinearity

KAUST Repository

Elwakil, Ahmed S.

2009-04-28

Two novel sinusoidal oscillator structures with an explicit tanh(x) nonlinearity are proposed. The oscillators have the attractive feature: the higher the operating frequency, the lower the necessary gain required to start oscillations. A nonlinear model for the two oscillators is derived and verified numerically. Spice simulations using AMS BiCMOS 0.35 μ model parameters and experimental results are shown. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Response of resonant gravitational wave detectors to damped sinusoid signals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pai, A; Celsi, C; Pallottino, G V; D'Antonio, S; Astone, P

2007-01-01

Till date, the search for burst signals with resonant gravitational wave (GW) detectors has been done using the δ-function approximation for the signal, which was reasonable due to the very small bandwidth of these detectors. However, now with increased bandwidth (of the order of 10 or more Hz) and with the possibility of comparing results with interferometric GW detectors (broad-band), it is very important to exploit the resonant detectors' capability to detect also signals with specific wave shapes. As a first step, we present a study of the response of resonant GW detectors to damped sinusoids with given frequency and decay time and report on the development of a filter matched to these signals. This study is a preliminary step towards the comprehension of the detector response and of the filtering for signals such as the excitation of stellar quasi-normal modes

Real-time detection of musical onsets with linear prediction and sinusoidal modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Glover, John; Lazzarini, Victor; Timoney, Joseph

2011-12-01

Real-time musical note onset detection plays a vital role in many audio analysis processes, such as score following, beat detection and various sound synthesis by analysis methods. This article provides a review of some of the most commonly used techniques for real-time onset detection. We suggest ways to improve these techniques by incorporating linear prediction as well as presenting a novel algorithm for real-time onset detection using sinusoidal modelling. We provide comprehensive results for both the detection accuracy and the computational performance of all of the described techniques, evaluated using Modal, our new open source library for musical onset detection, which comes with a free database of samples with hand-labelled note onsets.

Sensitivity of echo enabled harmonic generation to sinusoidal electron beam energy structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Hemsing

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We analytically examine the bunching factor spectrum of a relativistic electron beam with sinusoidal energy structure that then undergoes an echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG transformation to produce high harmonics. The performance is found to be described primarily by a simple scaling parameter. The dependence of the bunching amplitude on fluctuations of critical parameters is derived analytically, and compared with simulations. Where applicable, EEHG is also compared with high gain harmonic generation (HGHG and we find that EEHG is generally less sensitive to several types of energy structure. In the presence of intermediate frequency modulations like those produced by the microbunching instability, EEHG has a substantially narrower intrinsic bunching pedestal.

Exact solution of unsteady flow generated by sinusoidal pressure gradient in a capillary tube

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Abdulhameed

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the mathematical modeling of unsteady second grade fluid in a capillary tube with sinusoidal pressure gradient is developed with non-homogenous boundary conditions. Exact analytical solutions for the velocity profiles have been obtained in explicit forms. These solutions are written as the sum of the steady and transient solutions for small and large times. For growing times, the starting solution reduces to the well-known periodic solution that coincides with the corresponding solution of a Newtonian fluid. Graphs representing the solutions are discussed.

Isothermal sinusoidal analysis of balanced compound Vuilleumier heat pumps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finkelstein, T.

1992-01-01

This paper reports on Vuilleumier heat pumps with balanced compounding which have been under investigation for about fifteen years but have not yet reached the stage of commercial utilization. Previously published analytical treatment based upon isothermal treatment of the variable-volume spaces resulted in closed form solution of considerable complexity of the coupled differential equations but applied only to free piston machines. In contrast, the procedure presented here is based on previously demonstrated sinusoidal excursions of the reciprocators. It is of the same order of accuracy, but much more simple and usable. It was found that there is only negligible difference between the results of the present and the previous approach. Additionally, the treatment presented here is applicable to kinematic machines, as well as to free piston machines. For the latter design, an equation for the natural frequency is also derived. Ideal proportions and practical expressions for the energy streams are derived. Gas forces are plotted versus displacement and it is shown that they are equivalent to a linear spring, which is of importance for the concept of a free-piston design

The 3-D alignment of objects in dynamic PET scans using filtered sinusoidal trajectories of sinogram

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kostopoulos, Aristotelis E.; Happonen, Antti P.; Ruotsalainen, Ulla

2006-01-01

In this study, our goal is to employ a novel 3-D alignment method for dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) scans. Because the acquired data (i.e. sinograms) often contain noise considerably, filtering of the data prior to the alignment presumably improves the final results. In this study, we utilized a novel 3-D stackgram domain approach. In the stackgram domain, the signals along the sinusoidal trajectory signals of the sinogram can be processed separately. In this work, we performed angular stackgram domain filtering by employing well known 1-D filters: the Gaussian low-pass filter and the median filter. In addition, we employed two wavelet de-noising techniques. After filtering we performed alignment of objects in the stackgram domain. The local alignment technique we used is based on similarity comparisons between locus vectors (i.e. the signals along the sinusoidal trajectories of the sinogram) in a 3-D neighborhood of sequences of the stackgrams. Aligned stackgrams can be transformed back to sinograms (Method 1), or alternatively directly to filtered back-projected images (Method 2). In order to evaluate the alignment process, simulated data with different kinds of additive noises were used. The results indicated that the filtering prior to the alignment can be important concerning the accuracy

A study of unsteady physiological magneto-fluid flow and heat transfer through a finite length channel by peristaltic pumping.

Science.gov (United States)

Tripathi, Dharmendra; Bég, O Anwar

2012-08-01

Magnetohydrodynamic peristaltic flows arise in controlled magnetic drug targeting, hybrid haemodynamic pumps and biomagnetic phenomena interacting with the human digestive system. Motivated by the objective of improving an understanding of the complex fluid dynamics in such flows, we consider in the present article the transient magneto-fluid flow and heat transfer through a finite length channel by peristaltic pumping. Reynolds number is small enough and the wavelength to diameter ratio is large enough to negate inertial effects. Analytical solutions for temperature field, axial velocity, transverse velocity, pressure gradient, local wall shear stress, volume flowrate and averaged volume flowrate are obtained. The effects of the transverse magnetic field, Grashof number and thermal conductivity on the flow patterns induced by peristaltic waves (sinusoidal propagation along the length of channel) are studied using graphical plots. The present study identifies that greater pressure is required to propel the magneto-fluid by peristaltic pumping in comparison to a non-conducting Newtonian fluid, whereas, a lower pressure is required if heat transfer is effective. The analytical solutions further provide an important benchmark for future numerical simulations.

Comparison of apical transportation and change of working length in K3, NRT AND PROFILE rotary instruments using transparent resin block

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Min-Jung Yoon

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives The purpose of this study is to compare the apical transportation and working length change in curved root canals created in resin blocks, using 3 geometrically different types of Ni-Ti files, K3, NRT, and Profile. Materials and Methods The curvature of 30 resin blocks was measured by Schneider technique and each groups of Ni-Ti files were allocated with 10 resin blocks at random. The canals were shaped with Ni-Ti files by Crown-down technique. It was analyzed by Double radiograph superimposition method (Backman CA 1992, and for the accuracy and consistency, specially designed jig, digital X-ray, and CAD/CAM software for measurement of apical transportation were used. The amount of apical transportation was measured at 0, 1, 3, 5 mm from 'apical foramen - 0.5 mm' area, and the alteration of the working length before and after canal shaping was also measured. For statistics, Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis was used. Results There was no significant difference between the groups in the amount of working length change and apical transportation at 0, 1, and 3 mm area (p = 0.027, however, the amount of apical transportation at 5 mm area showed significant difference between K3 and Profile system (p = 0.924. Conclusions As a result of this study, the 3 geometrically different Ni-Ti files showed no significant difference in apical transportation and working length change and maintained the original root canal shape.

A Statistical and Spectral Model for Representing Noisy Sounds with Short-Time Sinusoids

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Myriam Desainte-Catherine

2005-07-01

Full Text Available We propose an original model for noise analysis, transformation, and synthesis: the CNSS model. Noisy sounds are represented with short-time sinusoids whose frequencies and phases are random variables. This spectral and statistical model represents information about the spectral density of frequencies. This perceptually relevant property is modeled by three mathematical parameters that define the distribution of the frequencies. This model also represents the spectral envelope. The mathematical parameters are defined and the analysis algorithms to extract these parameters from sounds are introduced. Then algorithms for generating sounds from the parameters of the model are presented. Applications of this model include tools for composers, psychoacoustic experiments, and pedagogy.

T-cell mean telomere lengths changes in treatment naïve HIV-infected patients randomized to G-CSF or placebo simultaneously with initiation of HAART

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aladdin, H; Von Essen, M; Schjerling, P

2001-01-01

The effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) on mean telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was examined in 11 treatment naïve human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals...... with a CD4+ T-cell count CSF thrice weekly for 12 weeks (n = 6) or placebo (n = 5). An increase in the mean TRF lengths was observed in PBMC of patients on HAART after 24 weeks of treatment mainly owing to increased mean CD8+ T-cell TRF...... lengths. However, in the group of patients on HAART combined with G-CSF no changes of PBMC mean TRF length was observed during treatment or during 12 weeks of follow-up. The mean CD4+ T-cell TRF length did not change in any of the two groups. These results confirm that HAART induces mainly the lengthening...

Length scale hierarchy and spatiotemporal change of alluvial morphologies over the Selenga River delta, Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, T. Y.; Nittrouer, J.; McElroy, B. J.; Ma, H.; Czapiga, M. J.; Il'icheva, E.; Pavlov, M.; Parker, G.

2017-12-01

The movement of water and sediment in natural channels creates various types of alluvial morphologies that span length scales from dunes to deltas. The behavior of these morphologies is controlled microscopically by hydrodynamic conditions and bed material size, and macroscopically by hydrologic and geological settings. Alluvial morphologies can be modeled as either diffusive or kinematic waves, in accordance with their respective boundary conditions. Recently, it has been shown that the difference between these two dynamic behaviors of alluvial morphologies can be characterized by the backwater number, which is a dimensionless value normalizing the length scale of a morphological feature to its local hydrodynamic condition. Application of the backwater number has proven useful for evaluating the size of morphologies, including deltas (e.g., by assessing the preferential avulsion location of a lobe), and for comparing bedform types across different fluvial systems. Yet two critical questions emerge when applying the backwater number: First, how do different types of alluvial morphologies compare within a single deltaic system, where there is a hydrodynamic transition from uniform to non-uniform flow? Second, how do different types of morphologies evolve temporally within a system as a function of changing water discharge? This study addresses these questions by compiling and analyzing field data from the Selenga River delta, Russia, which include measurements of flow velocity, channel geometry, bed material grain size, and channel slope, as well as length scales of various morphologies, including dunes, island bars, meanders, bifurcations, and delta lobes. Data analyses reveal that the length scale of morphologies decrease and the backwater number increases as flow transitions from uniform to non-uniform conditions progressing downstream. It is shown that the evaluated length scale hierarchy and planform distribution of different morphologies can be used to

Stabilization of Phase of a Sinusoidal Signal Transmitted Over Optical Fiber

Science.gov (United States)

DAddario, Larry R.; Trink, Joseph T.

2010-01-01

In the process of connecting widely distributed antennas into a coherent array, it is necessary to synchronize the timing of signals at the various locations. This can be accomplished by distributing a common reference signal from a central source, usually over optical fiber. A high-frequency (RF or microwave) tone is a good choice for the reference. One difficulty is that the effective length of the optical fiber changes with temperature and mechanical stress, leading to phase instability in the received tone. This innovation provides a new way to stabilize the phase of the received tone, in spite of variations in the electrical length of the fiber. Stabilization is accomplished by two-way transmission in which part of the received signal is returned to the transmitting end over an identical fiber. The returned signal is detected and used to close an electrical servo loop whose effect is to keep constant the phase of the tone at the receiving end.

Bottomside sinusoidal irregularities in the equatorial F region. II - Cross-correlation and spectral analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cragin, B. L.; Hanson, W. B.; Mcclure, J. P.; Valladares, C. E.

1985-01-01

Equatorial bottomside sinusoidal (BSS) irregularities have been studied by applying techniques of cross-correlation and spectral analysis to the Atmosphere Explorer data set. The phase of the cross-correlations of the plasma number density is discussed and the two drift velocity components observed using the retarding potential analyzer and ion drift meter on the satellite are discussed. Morphology is addressed, presenting the geographical distributions of the occurrence of BSS events for the equinoxes and solstices. Physical processes including the ion Larmor flux, interhemispheric plasma flows, and variations in the lower F region Pedersen conductivity are invoked to explain the findings.

Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome During Chemotherapy of Pediatric Cancers and its Successful Management With Defibrotide.

Science.gov (United States)

Kizilocak, Hande; Dikme, Gürcan; Özdemir, Nihal; Kuruğoğlu, Sebuh; Adaletli, İbrahim; Erkan, Tülay; Celkan, Tiraje

2017-10-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is a life-threatening complication generally occurring after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. SOS after standard dose chemotherapy in malignancies is rare. Between the year 1995 and 2016, 414 patients were diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 113 patients were diagnosed with Wilms tumor in our institution. Among these patients, 4 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (0.96%) and 2 patients with Wilms tumor (1.7%) developed SOS during treatment. SOS behaves like a local disseminated intravascular coagulation. Defibrotide has proved to be effective in SOS. In this article, we report our experience with defibrotide in SOS.

Additional Energy Losses from Asymmetric and Non-Sinusoidal Current in an Electrical Facility and Methods of their Reduction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tarasov Evgeniy V.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Influence of the asymmetry and higher harmonics of current on the operation of an electrical facility is analyzed. The level of additional losses from the asymmetric and non-sinusoidal currents is evaluated for a 110 kV electrical network in the Siberian Region of the Russian Federation. Methods for reducing the additional energy losses in the electrical facility are suggested.

Additional Energy Losses from Asymmetric and Non-Sinusoidal Current in an Electrical Facility and Methods of their Reduction

OpenAIRE

Tarasov, Evgeny Vladimirovich; Bulyga, Leonid Leonidovich; Ushakov, Vasily Yakovlevich; Kharlov, Nikolay Nikolaevich

2015-01-01

Influence of the asymmetry and higher harmonics of current on the operation of an electrical facility is analyzed. The level of additional losses from the asymmetric and non-sinusoidal currents is evaluated for a 110 kV electrical network in the Siberian Region of the Russian Federation. Methods for reducing the additional energy losses in the electrical facility are suggested.

Examining Hurricane Track Length and Stage Duration Since 1980

Science.gov (United States)

Fandrich, K. M.; Pennington, D.

2017-12-01

Each year, tropical systems impact thousands of people worldwide. Current research shows a correlation between the intensity and frequency of hurricanes and the changing climate. However, little is known about other prominent hurricane features. This includes information about hurricane track length (the total distance traveled from tropical depression through a hurricane's final category assignment) and how this distance may have changed with time. Also unknown is the typical duration of a hurricane stage, such as tropical storm to category one, and if the time spent in each stage has changed in recent decades. This research aims to examine changes in hurricane stage duration and track lengths for the 319 storms in NOAA's National Ocean Service Hurricane Reanalysis dataset that reached Category 2 - 5 from 1980 - 2015. Based on evident ocean warming, it is hypothesized that a general increase in track length with time will be detected, thus modern hurricanes are traveling a longer distance than past hurricanes. It is also expected that stage durations are decreasing with time so that hurricanes mature faster than in past decades. For each storm, coordinates are acquired at 4-times daily intervals throughout its duration and track lengths are computed for each 6-hour period. Total track lengths are then computed and storms are analyzed graphically and statistically by category for temporal track length changes. The stage durations of each storm are calculated as the time difference between two consecutive stages. Results indicate that average track lengths for Cat 2 and 3 hurricanes are increasing through time. These findings show that these hurricanes are traveling a longer distance than earlier Cat 2 and 3 hurricanes. In contrast, average track lengths for Cat 4 and 5 hurricanes are decreasing through time, showing less distance traveled than earlier decades. Stage durations for all Cat 2, 4 and 5 storms decrease through the decades but Cat 3 storms show a

Device-length changes and implant function following surgical implantation of the KineSpring in cadaver knees

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McNicholas MJ

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Michael J McNicholas,1 Stefan M Gabriel,2 Anton G Clifford,2 Evelyne M Hasler2 1Aintree University Hospital, Teaching Hospital, Major Trauma Centre, NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, UK; 2Moximed, Hayward, CA, USA Introduction: The KineSpring implant system has been shown to provide load reductions at the medial compartment of the knee, and has demonstrated clinical success in reducing pain and increasing function in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis. These results depend on the ability of the KineSpring to rotate, lengthen, and shorten to accommodate knee motions, and in response to knee position and loading. Purpose: The present study was undertaken to determine length changes of the implanted KineSpring in response to a range of knee positions, external knee loads, and placements by different orthopedic surgeons. Materials and methods: KineSpring system components were implanted in ten cadaver leg specimens by ten orthopedic surgeons, and absorber-length changes were measured under combined loading and in different positions of the knee. Results and conclusion: Spring compression consistent with knee-load reduction, and device lengthening and shortening to accommodate knee loads and motions were seen. These confirm the functionality of the KineSpring when implanted medially to the knee. Keywords: KineSpring, knee, function, preservation, offloading, osteoarthritis

Blue Light Protects Against Temporal Frequency Sensitive Refractive Changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rucker, Frances; Britton, Stephanie; Spatcher, Molly; Hanowsky, Stephan

2015-09-01

Time spent outdoors is protective against myopia. The outdoors allows exposure to short-wavelength (blue light) rich sunlight, while indoor illuminants can be deficient at short-wavelengths. In the current experiment, we investigate the role of blue light, and temporal sensitivity, in the emmetropization response. Five-day-old chicks were exposed to sinusoidal luminance modulation of white light (with blue; N = 82) or yellow light (without blue; N = 83) at 80% contrast, at one of six temporal frequencies: 0, 0.2, 1, 2, 5, 10 Hz daily for 3 days. Mean illumination was 680 lux. Changes in ocular components and corneal curvature were measured. Refraction, eye length, and choroidal changes were dependent on the presence of blue light (P light, refraction did not change across frequencies (mean change -0.24 [diopters] D), while in the absence of blue light, we observed a hyperopic shift (>1 D) at high frequencies, and a myopic shift (>-0.6 D) at low frequencies. With blue light there was little difference in eye growth across frequencies (77 μm), while in the absence of blue light, eyes grew more at low temporal frequencies and less at high temporal frequencies (10 vs. 0.2 Hz: 145 μm; P light. Illuminants rich in blue light can protect against myopic eye growth when the eye is exposed to slow changes in luminance contrast as might occur with near work.

Maternal telomere length inheritance in the king penguin.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichert, S; Rojas, E R; Zahn, S; Robin, J-P; Criscuolo, F; Massemin, S

2015-01-01

Telomeres are emerging as a biomarker for ageing and survival, and are likely important in shaping life-history trade-offs. In particular, telomere length with which one starts in life has been linked to lifelong survival, suggesting that early telomere dynamics are somehow related to life-history trajectories. This result highlights the importance of determining the extent to which telomere length is inherited, as a crucial factor determining early life telomere length. Given the scarcity of species for which telomere length inheritance has been studied, it is pressing to assess the generality of telomere length inheritance patterns. Further, information on how this pattern changes over the course of growth in individuals living under natural conditions should provide some insight on the extent to which environmental constraints also shape telomere dynamics. To fill this gap partly, we followed telomere inheritance in a population of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus). We tested for paternal and maternal influence on chick initial telomere length (10 days old after hatching), and how these relationships changed with chick age (at 70, 200 and 300 days old). Based on a correlative approach, offspring telomere length was positively associated with maternal telomere length early in life (at 10 days old). However, this relationship was not significant at older ages. These data suggest that telomere length in birds is maternally inherited. Nonetheless, the influence of environmental conditions during growth remained an important factor shaping telomere length, as the maternal link disappeared with chicks' age.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography of hepatocellular carcinoma: Correlation between quantitative parameters and arteries in neoangiogenesis or sinusoidal capillarization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pei Xiaoqing; Liu Longzhong; Zheng Wei; Cai Muyan; Han Feng; He Jiehua; Li Anhua; Chen Minshan

2012-01-01

Objective: The quantitative parameters in contrast-enhanced ultrasonography-time–intensity curve of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were studied to explore their potential importance in monitoring the effects of anti-angiogenic therapy for HCC. Methods: 115 HCC patients were studied with contrast-enhanced ultrasonography-time–intensity curve (CEUS-TIC) and with immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections. The CEUS images were analyzed off-line to obtained quantitative parameters including maximum of intensity (IMAX), rise time (RT), time to peak (TTP), mean transit time (mTT), rise slope (RS), and washout time (WT). Monoclonal antibodies specific for smooth muscle actin and anti-CD34 were used to observe unpaired arteries (UAs) and microvessel area (MVA) of sinusoidal capillarization, respectively. The UAs and MVA of 82 HCC cases were successfully stained. Results: The number of UAs had moderate correlation with RT (r = −0.446), TTP (r = −0.432), and RS (r = 0.431) (P < 0.05), and it had mild correlation with IMAX (r = 0.303) and WT (r = 0.285) (P < 0.05). MVA of sinusoidal capillarization had no correlation with perfusion parameters. Conclusion: Quantitative CEUS-TIC parameters reflecting hemodynamics of tumors are correlated with UAs, but not with MVA, and they might be used to monitor the effects of anti-angiogenic therapy on HCC.

Telomere Length – a New Biomarker in Medicine

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Agnieszka Kozłowska

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A number of xenobiotics in the environment and workplace influences on our health and life. Biomarkers are tools for measuring such exposures and their effects in the organism. Nowadays, telomere length, epigenetic changes, mutations and changes in gene expression pattern have become new molecular biomarkers. Telomeres play the role of molecular clock, which influences on expectancy of cell life and thus aging, the formation of damages, development diseases and carcinogenesis. The telomere length depends on mechanisms of replication and the activity of telomerase. Telomere length is currently used as a biomarker of susceptibility and/or exposure. This paper describes the role of telomere length as a biomarker of aging cells, oxidative stress, a marker of many diseases including cancer, and as a marker of environmental and occupational exposure.

Defibrotide: An Oligonucleotide for Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Aziz, May T; Kakadiya, Payal P; Kush, Samantha M; Weigel, Kylie; Lowe, Denise K

2018-02-01

To review the efficacy and safety of defibrotide as well as its pharmacology, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics (PK), drug-drug interactions, dosing, cost considerations, and place in therapy. A PubMed search was performed through August 2017 using the terms defibrotide, oligonucleotide, hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), and hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Other data sources were from references of identified studies, review articles, and conference abstracts plus manufacturer product labeling and website, the Food and Drug Administration website, and clinicaltrials.gov. English-language trials that examined defibrotide's pharmacodynamics, mechanism, PK, efficacy, safety, dosing, and cost-effectiveness were included. Trials have confirmed the safety and efficacy of defibrotide for treatment of VOD/SOS in adult and pediatric HCT patients, with complete response rates and day +100 overall survival rates ranging from 25.5% to 76% and 35% to 64%, respectively. The British Committee for Standards in Haematology/British Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Guidelines recommend defibrotide prophylaxis in pediatric and adult HCT patients with risk factors for VOD/SOS; however, its prophylactic use in the United States is controversial. Although there are efficacy data to support this strategy, cost-effectiveness data have not shown it to be cost-effective. Defibrotide has manageable toxicities, with low rates of grade 3 to 4 adverse effects. Defibrotide is the first medication approved in the United States for the treatment of adults and children with hepatic VOD/SOS, with renal or pulmonary dysfunction following HCT. Data evaluating defibrotide for VOD/SOS prevention are conflicting and have not shown cost-effectiveness.

Change in muscle fascicle length influences the recruitment and discharge rate of motor units during isometric contractions.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasquet, Benjamin; Carpentier, Alain; Duchateau, Jacques

2005-11-01

This study examines the effect of fascicle length change on motor-unit recruitment and discharge rate in the human tibialis anterior (TA) during isometric contractions of various intensities. The torque produced during dorsiflexion and the surface and intramuscular electromyograms (EMGs) from the TA were recorded in eight subjects. The behavior of the same motor unit (n = 59) was compared at two ankle joint angles (+10 and -10 degrees around the ankle neutral position). Muscle fascicle length of the TA was measured noninvasively using ultrasonography recordings. When the ankle angle was moved from 10 degrees plantarflexion to 10 degrees dorsiflexion, the torque produced during maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was significantly reduced [35.2 +/- 3.3 vs. 44.3 +/- 4.2 (SD) Nm; P Motor units were activated at a lower recruitment threshold for short compared with long muscle fascicle length, either when expressed in absolute values (2.1 +/- 2.5 vs. 3.6 +/- 3.7 Nm; P motor-unit recruitment were observed at a given absolute or relative torque when muscle fascicles were shortened. However, the data indicate that increased rate coding was mainly present at low torque level (recruitment of additional motor units played a dominant role at higher torque level and decreased compliance (10-35% MVC). Taken together, the results suggest that the central command is modulated by the afferent proprioceptive information during submaximal contractions performed at different muscle fascicle lengths.

Large right ventricular sinusoids in an infant with aorta-left ventricular tunnel and proximal right coronary artery atresia.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Peter C; Spinner, Joseph A; Heinle, Jeffrey S

2018-07-01

We report a 1-month-old infant diagnosed with an aorta-left ventricular tunnel, ventricular septal defect, and right coronary atresia with right ventricular sinusoids. The patient's anatomy and physiology did not indicate right-ventricular-dependent coronary circulation, and therefore right ventricular decompression could be performed without compromising coronary perfusion during surgical correction. A detailed understanding of the coronary anatomy is critical in managing this defect when coronary anomalies are present.

CEPF Western Ghats Special Series: Length-weight and length-length relationship of three species of snakehead fish, Channa diplogramma, C. marulius and C. striata from the riverine reaches of Lake Vembanad, Kerala, India.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ali

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The length-weight relationship (LWR and length-length relationships (LLR of three snakehead fishes, Channa diplogramma, C. marulius and C. striata, exploited by small-scale fishers in the riverine reaches of Lake Vembanad, Kerala were studied using the allometric growth equation Y = aXb. Our analysis shows that the LWR of C. diplogramma and C. marulius is nonisometric with exponents much smaller than the cubic value (b = 3, while that of C. striata is isometric. Channa marulius showed a definite change in LWR with size, with smaller fish growing with positive allometric exponents (b greater than 3 and larger individuals having negative allometric relationship (b less than 3, indicating a possible age-related change in growth pattern. In the case of LLR, all three snakehead species showed non-isometric growth patterns. The caudal fin did not grow substantially with increasing fish length.

Relativistic length agony continued

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Redžić D.V.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We made an attempt to remedy recent confusing treatments of some basic relativistic concepts and results. Following the argument presented in an earlier paper (Redžić 2008b, we discussed the misconceptions that are recurrent points in the literature devoted to teaching relativity such as: there is no change in the object in Special Relativity, illusory character of relativistic length contraction, stresses and strains induced by Lorentz contraction, and related issues. We gave several examples of the traps of everyday language that lurk in Special Relativity. To remove a possible conceptual and terminological muddle, we made a distinction between the relativistic length reduction and relativistic FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction, corresponding to a passive and an active aspect of length contraction, respectively; we pointed out that both aspects have fundamental dynamical contents. As an illustration of our considerations, we discussed briefly the Dewan-Beran-Bell spaceship paradox and the ‘pole in a barn’ paradox. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 171028

Keeping disease at arm's length

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lassen, Aske Juul

2015-01-01

active ageing change everyday life with chronic disease, and how do older people combine an active life with a range of chronic diseases? The participants in the study use activities to keep their diseases at arm’s length, and this distancing of disease at the same time enables them to engage in social...... and physical activities at the activity centre. In this way, keeping disease at arm’s length is analysed as an ambiguous health strategy. The article shows the importance of looking into how active ageing is practised, as active ageing seems to work well in the everyday life of the older people by not giving...... emphasis to disease. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork and uses vignettes of four participants to show how they each keep diseases at arm’s length....

Fundamental length and relativistic length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strel'tsov, V.N.

1988-01-01

It si noted that the introduction of fundamental length contradicts the conventional representations concerning the contraction of the longitudinal size of fast-moving objects. The use of the concept of relativistic length and the following ''elongation formula'' permits one to solve this problem

Otolith Length-Fish Length Relationships of Eleven US Arctic Fish Species and Their Application to Ice Seal Diet Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, K. L.; Norcross, B.

2016-02-01

The Arctic ecosystem has moved into the spotlight of scientific research in recent years due to increased climate change and oil and gas exploration. Arctic fishes and Arctic marine mammals represent key parts of this ecosystem, with fish being a common part of ice seal diets in the Arctic. Determining sizes of fish consumed by ice seals is difficult because otoliths are often the only part left of the fish after digestion. Otolith length is known to be positively related to fish length. By developing species-specific otolith-body morphometric relationships for Arctic marine fishes, fish length can be determined for fish prey found in seal stomachs. Fish were collected during ice free months in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas 2009 - 2014, and the most prevalent species captured were chosen for analysis. Otoliths from eleven fish species from seven families were measured. All species had strong linear relationships between otolith length and fish total length. Nine species had coefficient of determination values over 0.75, indicating that most of the variability in the otolith to fish length relationship was explained by the linear regression. These relationships will be applied to otoliths found in stomachs of three species of ice seals (spotted Phoca largha, ringed Pusa hispida, and bearded Erignathus barbatus) and used to estimate fish total length at time of consumption. Fish lengths can in turn be used to calculate fish weight, enabling further investigation into ice seal energetic demands. This application will aid in understanding how ice seals interact with fish communities in the US Arctic and directly contribute to diet comparisons among and within ice seal species. A better understanding of predator-prey interactions in the US Arctic will aid in predicting how ice seal and fish species will adapt to a changing Arctic.

A pre-heating method based on sinusoidal alternating current for lithium-ion battery

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Wentao; Sun, Fengchun; Guo, Shanshan

2018-04-01

In this paper, a method of low temperature pre-heating of sinusoidal alternating current (SAC) is proposed. Generally, the lower the frequency of the AC current, the higher the heat generation rate. Yet at low frequency, there is a risk of lithium-ion deposition during the half cycle of charging. This study develops a temperature-adaptive, deposition-free AC pre-heating method. a equivalent electric circuit(EEC) model is established to predict the heat generation rate and temperature status, whose parameters are calibrated from the EIS impedance measurements. The effects of current frequency and amplitude on the heating effect are investigated respectively. A multistep temperature-adaptive amplitude strategy is proposed and the cell can be heated from -20°C to 5°C within 509s at 100Hz frequency with this method.

Identical phase oscillators with global sinusoidal coupling evolve by Mobius group action.

Science.gov (United States)

Marvel, Seth A; Mirollo, Renato E; Strogatz, Steven H

2009-12-01

Systems of N identical phase oscillators with global sinusoidal coupling are known to display low-dimensional dynamics. Although this phenomenon was first observed about 20 years ago, its underlying cause has remained a puzzle. Here we expose the structure working behind the scenes of these systems by proving that the governing equations are generated by the action of the Mobius group, a three-parameter subgroup of fractional linear transformations that map the unit disk to itself. When there are no auxiliary state variables, the group action partitions the N-dimensional state space into three-dimensional invariant manifolds (the group orbits). The N-3 constants of motion associated with this foliation are the N-3 functionally independent cross ratios of the oscillator phases. No further reduction is possible, in general; numerical experiments on models of Josephson junction arrays suggest that the invariant manifolds often contain three-dimensional regions of neutrally stable chaos.

Amelioration of cirrhotic portal hypertension by targeted cyclooxygenase-1 siRNA delivery to liver sinusoidal endothelium with polyethylenimine grafted hyaluronic acid.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Liteng; Cai, Mingyue; Deng, Shaohui; Huang, Wensou; Huang, Jingjun; Huang, Xinghua; Huang, Mingsheng; Wang, Yong; Shuai, Xintao; Zhu, Kangshun

2017-10-01

Portal hypertension (PH), a leading cause of mortality in cirrhosis, lacks effective clinical therapeutic strategies. The increased thromboxane A 2 (TXA 2 ), derived primarily from the upregulation of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) in cirrhotic liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), is responsible for hepatic endothelial dysfunction and PH. Thus, blocking the COX-1 pathway in cirrhotic LSECs may benefit the treatment of PH. In this study, hyaluronate-graft-polyethylenimine (HA-PEI) was synthesized for the targeted delivery of COX-1 siRNA to LSECs. Compared to non-targeted PEI, HA-PEI mediated much more efficient siRNA delivery, which resulted in potent targeted gene silencing in LSECs. In vivo, HA-PEI notably increased the accumulation of siRNA along the sinusoidal lining of the liver, inhibited over-activation of the COX-1/TXA 2 pathway in LSECs, and successfully reduced portal pressure in cirrhotic mice. These results highlight the potential of HA-PEI complexed siRNA to serve as a LSECs-specific nanomedical system for effective gene therapy in PH. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"Pre-emptive strike"-the case for early treatment of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome with defibrotide.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajagopal, Revathi; Phillips, Marianne B; Gottardo, Nicholas G

2018-07-01

The initial signs of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) can be challenging to recognize in children, especially outside the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation setting. To assist clinicians to promptly identify HSOS, the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation has proposed pediatric HSOS diagnostic criteria which emphasize unexplained consumptive and transfusion-refractory thrombocytopenia. To highlight the importance of these "bellwether" early signs of HSOS and the efficacy of pre-emptive treatment with defibrotide, we describe the case of a child with a right 11th rib primitive neuroectodermal tumor who developed HSOS following focal radiotherapy and actinomycin-D treatment. © 2018 The Authors. Pediatric Blood & Cancer Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

CHANG-ES. IX. Radio scale heights and scale lengths of a consistent sample of 13 spiral galaxies seen edge-on and their correlations

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, Marita; Irwin, Judith; Wiegert, Theresa; Miskolczi, Arpad; Damas-Segovia, Ancor; Beck, Rainer; Li, Jiang-Tao; Heald, George; Müller, Peter; Stein, Yelena; Rand, Richard J.; Heesen, Volker; Walterbos, Rene A. M.; Dettmar, Ralf-Jürgen; Vargas, Carlos J.; English, Jayanne; Murphy, Eric J.

2018-03-01

Aim. The vertical halo scale height is a crucial parameter to understand the transport of cosmic-ray electrons (CRE) and their energy loss mechanisms in spiral galaxies. Until now, the radio scale height could only be determined for a few edge-on galaxies because of missing sensitivity at high resolution. Methods: We developed a sophisticated method for the scale height determination of edge-on galaxies. With this we determined the scale heights and radial scale lengths for a sample of 13 galaxies from the CHANG-ES radio continuum survey in two frequency bands. Results: The sample average values for the radio scale heights of the halo are 1.1 ± 0.3 kpc in C-band and 1.4 ± 0.7 kpc in L-band. From the frequency dependence analysis of the halo scale heights we found that the wind velocities (estimated using the adiabatic loss time) are above the escape velocity. We found that the halo scale heights increase linearly with the radio diameters. In order to exclude the diameter dependence, we defined a normalized scale height h˜ which is quite similar for all sample galaxies at both frequency bands and does not depend on the star formation rate or the magnetic field strength. However, h˜ shows a tight anticorrelation with the mass surface density. Conclusions: The sample galaxies with smaller scale lengths are more spherical in the radio emission, while those with larger scale lengths are flatter. The radio scale height depends mainly on the radio diameter of the galaxy. The sample galaxies are consistent with an escape-dominated radio halo with convective cosmic ray propagation, indicating that galactic winds are a widespread phenomenon in spiral galaxies. While a higher star formation rate or star formation surface density does not lead to a higher wind velocity, we found for the first time observational evidence of a gravitational deceleration of CRE outflow, e.g. a lowering of the wind velocity from the galactic disk.

Time-frequency analyses of fluid-solid interaction under sinusoidal translational shear deformation of the viscoelastic rat cerebrum

Science.gov (United States)

Leahy, Lauren N.; Haslach, Henry W.

2018-02-01

During normal extracellular fluid (ECF) flow in the brain glymphatic system or during pathological flow induced by trauma resulting from impacts and blast waves, ECF-solid matter interactions result from sinusoidal shear waves in the brain and cranial arterial tissue, both heterogeneous biological tissues with high fluid content. The flow in the glymphatic system is known to be forced by pulsations of the cranial arteries at about 1 Hz. The experimental shear stress response to sinusoidal translational shear deformation at 1 Hz and 25% strain amplitude and either 0% or 33% compression is compared for rat cerebrum and bovine aortic tissue. Time-frequency analyses aim to correlate the shear stress signal frequency components over time with the behavior of brain tissue constituents to identify the physical source of the shear nonlinear viscoelastic response. Discrete fast Fourier transformation analysis and the novel application to the shear stress signal of harmonic wavelet decomposition both show significant 1 Hz and 3 Hz components. The 3 Hz component in brain tissue, whose magnitude is much larger than in aortic tissue, may result from interstitial fluid induced drag forces. The harmonic wavelet decomposition locates 3 Hz harmonics whose magnitudes decrease on subsequent cycles perhaps because of bond breaking that results in easier fluid movement. Both tissues exhibit transient shear stress softening similar to the Mullins effect in rubber. The form of a new mathematical model for the drag force produced by ECF-solid matter interactions captures the third harmonic seen experimentally.

Dynamics of the Josephson multi-junction system with junctions characterized by non-sinusoidal current - phase relationship

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abal'osheva, I.; Lewandowski, S.J.

2004-01-01

It is shown that the inclusion of junctions characterized by non-sinusoidal current - phase relationship in the systems composed of multiple Josephson junctions - results in the appearance of additional system phase states. Numerical simulations and stability considerations confirm that those phase states can be realized in practice. Moreover, spontaneous formation of the grain boundary junctions in high-T c superconductors with non-trivial current-phase relations due to the d-wave symmetry of the order parameter is probable. Switching between the phase states of multiple grain boundary junction systems can lead to additional 1/f noise in high-T c superconductors. (author)

Local-field refinement of neutron scattering lengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sears, V.F.

1985-01-01

We examine the way in which local field effects in the neutron refractive index affect the values of coherent scattering lengths determined by various kinds of neutron optical measurements. We find that under typical experimental conditions these effects are negligible for interferometry measurements but that they are significant for gravity refractometry measurements, producing changes in the effective scattering length of as much as two or three standard deviations in some cases. Refined values of the scattering length are obtained for the thirteen elements for which data are presently available. The special role of local field effects in neutron transmission is also discussed. (orig.)

Local-field refinement of neutron scattering lengths

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sears, V F

1985-06-01

We examine the way in which local field effects in the neutron refractive index affect the values of coherent scattering lengths determined by various kinds of neutron optical measurements. We find that under typical experimental conditions these effects are negligible for interferometry measurements but that they are significant for gravity refractometry measurements, producing changes in the effective scattering length of as much as two or three standard deviations in some cases. Refined values of the scattering length are obtained for the thirteen elements for which data are presently available. The special role of local field effects in neutron transmission is also discussed.

Conformational change in full-length mouse prion: A site-directed spin-labeling study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inanami, Osamu; Hashida, Shukichi; Iizuka, Daisuke; Horiuchi, Motohiro; Hiraoka, Wakako; Shimoyama, Yuhei; Nakamura, Hideo; Inagaki, Fuyuhiko; Kuwabara, Mikinori

2005-01-01

The structure of the mouse prion (moPrP) was studied using site-directed spin-labeling electron spin resonance (SDSL-ESR). Since a previous NMR study by Hornemanna et al., [Hornemanna, Korthb, Oeschb, Rieka, Widera, Wuethricha, Glockshubera, Recombinant full-length murine prion protein, mPrP (23-231): purification and spectroscopic characterization, FEBS Lett. 413 (1997) 277-281] has indicated that N96, D143, and T189 in moPrP are localized in a Cu 2+ binding region, Helix1 and Helix2, respectively, three recombinant moPrP mutations (N96C, D143C, and T189C) were expressed in an Escherichia coli system, and then refolded by dialysis under low pH and purified by reverse-phase HPLC. By using the preparation, we succeeded in preserving a target cystein residue without alteration of the α-helix structure of moPrP and were able to apply SDSL-ESR with a methane thiosulfonate spin label to the full-length prion protein. The rotational correlation times (τ) of 1.1, 3.3, and 4.8 ns were evaluated from the X-band ESR spectra at pH 7.4 and 20 deg C for N96R1, D143R1, and T189R1, respectively. τ reflects the fact that the Cu 2+ binding region is more flexible than Helix1 or Helix2. ESR spectra recorded at various temperatures revealed two phases together with a transition point at around 20 deg C in D143R1 and T189R1, but not in N96R1. With the variation of pH from 4.0 to 7.8, ESR spectra of T189R1 at 20 deg C showed a gradual increase of τ from 2.9 to 4.8 ns. On the other hand, the pH-dependent conformational changes in N96R1 and D143R1 were negligible. These results indicated that T189 located in Helix2 possessed a structure sensitive to physiological pH changes; simultaneously, N96 in the Cu 2+ binding region and D143 in Helix1 were conserved

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (veno-occlusive disease in a patient receiving bevacizumab for metastatic colorectal cancer: a case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agarwal Vijay

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction We present the case of a patient with colon cancer who, while receiving bevacizumab, developed sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (veno-occlusive disease (SOSVOD. Certain antitumour agents such as 6-mercaptopurine and 6-thioguanine have also been reported to initiate hepatic SOSVOD in isolated cases. There have been no reports so far correlating bevacizumab with SOSVOD. Case presentation A 77-year-old man was being treated with oxaliplatin and a modified de Gramont regimen of 5-fluorouracil for metastatic colon cancer. Bevacizumab (7.5 mg/kg was added from the seventh cycle onwards. Protracted neutropenia and thrombocytopenia led to discontinuation of oxaliplatin after the ninth cycle. A computed tomography scan showed complete response and bevacizumab was continued for another 3 months, after which time the patient developed right hypochondrial pain, transudative ascites, splenomegaly and abnormal liver function tests. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed oesophageal varices. Liver biopsy showed features considered to be consistent with SOSVOD. Bevacizumab was stopped and a policy of watchful waiting was adopted. He tolerated the acute damage to his liver and subsequently the ascites resolved and liver function tests normalised. Conclusion We need to be aware that bevacizumab can cause sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (veno-occlusive disease and that the occurrence of ascites should not be attributed to progressive disease without appropriate evaluation.

Tissue responses to fractional transient heating with sinusoidal heat flux condition on skin surface.

Science.gov (United States)

Ezzat, Magdy A; El-Bary, Alaa A; Al-Sowayan, Noorah S

2016-10-01

A fractional model of Bioheat equation for describing quantitatively the thermal responses of skin tissue under sinusoidal heat flux conditions on skin surface is given. Laplace transform technique is used to obtain the solution in a closed form. The resulting formulation is applied to one-dimensional application to investigate the temperature distribution in skin with instantaneous surface heating for different cases. According to the numerical results and its graphs, conclusion about the fractional bioheat transfer equation has been constructed. Sensitivity analysis is performed to explore the thermal effects of various control parameters on tissue temperature. The comparisons are made with the results obtained in the case of the absence of time-fractional order. © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science. © 2016 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Estimation of tissue stiffness, reflex activity, optimal muscle length and slack length in stroke patients using an electromyography driven antagonistic wrist model.

Science.gov (United States)

de Gooijer-van de Groep, Karin L; de Vlugt, Erwin; van der Krogt, Hanneke J; Helgadóttir, Áróra; Arendzen, J Hans; Meskers, Carel G M; de Groot, Jurriaan H

2016-06-01

About half of all chronic stroke patients experience loss of arm function coinciding with increased stiffness, reduced range of motion and a flexed wrist due to a change in neural and/or structural tissue properties. Quantitative assessment of these changes is of clinical importance, yet not trivial. The goal of this study was to quantify the neural and structural properties contributing to wrist joint stiffness and to compare these properties between healthy subjects and stroke patients. Stroke patients (n=32) and healthy volunteers (n=14) were measured using ramp-and-hold rotations applied to the wrist joint by a haptic manipulator. Neural (reflexive torque) and structural (connective tissue stiffness and slack lengths and (contractile) optimal muscle lengths) parameters were estimated using an electromyography driven antagonistic wrist model. Kruskal-Wallis analysis with multiple comparisons was used to compare results between healthy subjects, stroke patients with modified Ashworth score of zero and stroke patients with modified Ashworth score of one or more. Stroke patients with modified Ashworth score of one or more differed from healthy controls (Pslack length of connective tissue of the flexor muscles. Non-invasive quantitative analysis, including estimation of optimal muscle lengths, enables to identify neural and non-neural changes in chronic stroke patients. Monitoring these changes in time is important to understand the recovery process and to optimize treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Length-dependent optical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naumov, Anton V.; Tsyboulski, Dmitri A.; Bachilo, Sergei M.; Weisman, R. Bruce

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Length-independent absorption per atom in single-walled carbon nanotubes. ► Reduced fluorescence quantum yield for short nanotubes. ► Exciton quenching at nanotube ends, sidewall defects probably limits quantum yield. - Abstract: Contradictory findings have been reported on the length dependence of optical absorption cross sections and fluorescence quantum yields in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). To clarify these points, studies have been made on bulk SWCNT dispersions subjected to length fractionation by electrophoretic separation or by ultrasonication-induced scission. Fractions ranged from ca. 120 to 760 nm in mean length. Samples prepared by shear-assisted dispersion were subsequently shortened by ultrasonic processing. After accounting for processing-induced changes in the surfactant absorption background, SWCNT absorption was found constant within ±11% as average nanotube length changed by a factor of 3.8. This indicates that the absorption cross-section per carbon atom is not length dependent. By contrast, in length fractions prepared by both methods, the bulk fluorescence efficiency or average quantum yield increased with SWCNT average length and approached an apparent asymptotic limit near 1 μm. This result is interpreted as reflecting the combined contributions of exciton quenching by sidewall defects and by the ends of shorter nanotubes

Broadband frequency and angular response of a sinusoidal bull’s eye antenna

Science.gov (United States)

Beaskoetxea, U.; Navarro-Cía, M.; Beruete, M.

2016-07-01

A thorough experimental study of the frequency and beaming angle response of a metallic leaky-wave bull’s eye antenna working at 77 GHz with a sinusoidally corrugated profile is presented. The beam scanning property of these antennas as frequency is varied is experimentally demonstrated and corroborated through theoretical and numerical results. From the experimental results the dispersion diagram of the n  =  -1 and n  =  -2 space harmonics is extracted, and the operation at different frequency regimes is identified and discussed. In order to show the contribution of each half of the antenna, numerical examples of the near-field behavior are also displayed. Overall, experimental results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with theoretical and numerical calculations. Finally, an analysis of the beamwidth as a function of frequency is performed, showing that it can achieve values below 1.5° in a fractional bandwidth of 4% around the operation frequency, which is an interesting frequency-stable broadside radiation.

Iron losses evaluation in soft magnetic materials with a sinusoidal voltage supply

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nedelcu, Steluţa; Ritchie, Ewen; Leban, Krisztina Monika

2013-01-01

This paper presents an evaluation method of for specific iron losses in non-oriented laminated steel suitable for electric motors and transformers in the case of a sinusoidal excitation. The model is based on the separation of loss contribution due to hysteresis, eddy currents and excess losses...... (between 0.35 mm and 0.65 mm) and alloy compositions. Hysteresis and eddy currents loss coefficients have been considered as dependent on the frequency. For curve fitting of these coefficients third and fourth polynomials were employed, with good result for all the frequencies and magnetic flux density...... and it is proposing an identification procedure for the model coefficients from multi-frequency single sheet tests. The frequencies used are in the range 10 Hz and 150 Hz and with the values of magnetic flux density in the range 0.1 T and 1.4 T. The model was applied on six magnetic materials of different thicknesses...

Sensorless Sinusoidal Drives for Fan and Pump Motors by V/f Control

Science.gov (United States)

Kiuchi, Mitsuyuki; Ohnishi, Tokuo

This paper proposes sensorless sinusoidal driving methods of permanent magnet synchronous motors for fans and pumps by V/f control. The proposed methods are simple methods that control the motor peak current constant by voltage or frequency control, and are characterized by DC link current detection using a single shunt resistor at carrier wave signal bottom timing. As a result of the dumping factor from square torque load characteristics of fan and pump motors, it is possible to control stable starting and stable steady state by V/f control. In general, pressure losses as a result of the fluid pass of fan and pump systems are nearly constant; therefore, the flow rate and motor torque are determined by revolutions. Accordingly, high efficiency driving is possible by setting corresponding currents to q-axis currents (torque currents) at target revolutions. Because of the simple current detection and motor control methods, the proposed methods are optimum for fan and pump motor driving systems of home appliances.

Sinusoidal Parameter Estimation Using Quadratic Interpolation around Power-Scaled Magnitude Spectrum Peaks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurt James Werner

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The magnitude of the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT of a discrete-time signal has a limited frequency definition. Quadratic interpolation over the three DFT samples surrounding magnitude peaks improves the estimation of parameters (frequency and amplitude of resolved sinusoids beyond that limit. Interpolating on a rescaled magnitude spectrum using a logarithmic scale has been shown to improve those estimates. In this article, we show how to heuristically tune a power scaling parameter to outperform linear and logarithmic scaling at an equivalent computational cost. Although this power scaling factor is computed heuristically rather than analytically, it is shown to depend in a structured way on window parameters. Invariance properties of this family of estimators are studied and the existence of a bias due to noise is shown. Comparing to two state-of-the-art estimators, we show that an optimized power scaling has a lower systematic bias and lower mean-squared-error in noisy conditions for ten out of twelve common windowing functions.

Recent Changes in Arctic Sea Ice Melt Onset, Freeze-Up, and Melt Season Length

Science.gov (United States)

Markus, Thorsten; Stroeve, Julienne C.; Miller, Jeffrey

2010-01-01

In order to explore changes and trends in the timing of Arctic sea ice melt onset and freeze-up and therefore melt season length, we developed a method that obtains this information directly from satellite passive microwave data, creating a consistent data set from 1979 through present. We furthermore distinguish between early melt (the first day of the year when melt is detected) and the first day of continuous melt. A similar distinction is made for the freeze-up. Using this method we analyze trends in melt onset and freeze-up for 10 different Arctic regions. In all regions except for the Sea of Okhotsk, which shows a very slight and statistically insignificant positive trend (O.4 days/decade), trends in melt onset are negative, i.e. towards earlier melt. The trends range from -1.0day/decade for the Bering Sea to -7.3 days/decade for the East Greenland Sea. Except for the Sea of Okhotsk all areas also show a trend towards later autumn freeze onset. The Chukchi/Beaufort Seas and Laptev/East Siberian Seas observe the strongest trends with 7 days/decade. For the entire Arctic, the melt season length has increased by about 20 days over the last 30 years. Largest trends of over 1O days/decade are seen for Hudson Bay, the East Greenland Sea the Laptev/East Siberian Seas, and the Chukchi/Beaufort Seas. Those trends are statistically significant a1 the 99% level.

Brain blood-flow changes during motion sickness. [thalamus vascular changes in dogs during swing tests

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, W. H.; Hsuen, J.

1973-01-01

The possibility of diminished blood flow in the brain is studied as one of the factors resulting from an increase in skeletal muscle blood volume concomitant with other characteristics of motion sickness. Thermistors are implanted in the thalamus of dogs and blood flow changes are recorded while they are subjected to sinusoidal movement on a two pole swing. Results of these initial steps in a proposed long term exploration of different areas of the brain are presented.

Length change of the alloys Waspaloy and Inconel 718 after long-term annealing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinzel, Svenja

2016-01-01

Within the scope of this work the contraction behavior of Ni-based superalloy Waspaloy could in detail be referred to a combination of different microstructural changes and the results could partially be transferred to Ni-Fe-based alloy Inconel 718. Isothermal annealing of sample rods at temperatures between 450 C and 750 C induces an average relative length contraction of about -2.10"-"4. It is apparent that contraction is more pronounced for lower temperatures (-3.10"-"4 at 550 C) than for higher ones (-1.10"-"4 at 750 C). Within the first 300 hours of annealing the contraction reaches about 70-75% of the value measured after 10,000 hours. This means the major part of the effect takes place at the beginning of long term annealing but even after 10,000 hours no saturation occurs. On the basis of lattice parameter measurements it could be found that within the first 300 hours a significant lattice parameter decrease of matrix and γ"' phase emerged. Longer annealing time does not cause further lattice contraction. This sample behavior can be explained by temperature dependence of phase fractions and phase compositions. Thermodynamic calculations as well as stereological analysis of micrographs show a decrease of stable γ"'-phase content with increasing temperature. In parallel, TEM-EDS measurements and calculated phase fractions show concentration fluctuations due to the different precipitate fraction, which cause contraction of the lattice parameter. Furthermore, within the first 100 hours at temperatures up to 650 C the formation or Ni-Cr rich domains could be observed. As these domains exhibit a smaller lattice parameter than the matrix they contribute to the more pronounced contraction at lower temperatures. While XRD measurements point to the formation of Ni_3Cr, TEM-EDS measurements reveal a composition of (Ni,Co)_2Cr. Stress relief heat treatment at higher temperatures (815 C) after annealing shows that the effect of contraction is reversible. It causes an

Estimation Issues and Generational Changes in Modeling Criminal Career Length

Science.gov (United States)

Francis, Brian; Soothill, Keith; Piquero, Alex R.

2007-01-01

This article seeks to model criminal career length using data from six different birth cohorts born between 1953 and 1978, totaling more than 58,000 males and females from England and Wales. A secondary aim of this article is to consider whether information available at the first court appearance leading to a conviction is associated with the…

Continuously variable focal length lens

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Bernhard W; Chollet, Matthieu C

2013-12-17

A material preferably in crystal form having a low atomic number such as beryllium (Z=4) provides for the focusing of x-rays in a continuously variable manner. The material is provided with plural spaced curvilinear, optically matched slots and/or recesses through which an x-ray beam is directed. The focal length of the material may be decreased or increased by increasing or decreasing, respectively, the number of slots (or recesses) through which the x-ray beam is directed, while fine tuning of the focal length is accomplished by rotation of the material so as to change the path length of the x-ray beam through the aligned cylindrical slows. X-ray analysis of a fixed point in a solid material may be performed by scanning the energy of the x-ray beam while rotating the material to maintain the beam's focal point at a fixed point in the specimen undergoing analysis.

Allometric relationships among body mass, MUZZLE-tail length, and tibia length during the growth of Wistar rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago, Hildemberg Agostinho Rocha de; De Pierro, Lucas Rodolfo; Reis, Rafael Menezes; Caluz, Antônio Gabriel Ricardo Engracia; Ribeiro, Victor Barbosa; Volpon, José Batista

2015-11-01

To investigate allometric relationships among body mass (BM), muzzle-tail length (MTL), and tibia length (TL) in Wistar rats and establish their growth rate change parameters. Eighteen male and 18 female Wistar rats were studied from the 3rd to the 21st week of age. BM, MTL, and TL were measured daily, and relative growth was compared using allometry. A positive correlation between BM and MTL (p<0.05) and BM and TL (p<0.05) was observed. Males and females showed comparable curves; however, females had turning points at a younger age. The allometric relationship between BM and MTL presented a regular increase until reaching a mass of 351 g (males) and 405 g (females). BM and TL showed an initial increase until 185 g (males) and 182 g (females), and then reached a plateau that finished at 412 g (males) and 334 g (females), to display another increase. The allometric relationship of body mass with animal length and tibia length was comparable for male and female rats, with female rats maturing earlier. Animal longitudinal growth occurred in a single stage. In contrast, tibia length depicted two stages of accelerated growth with an intermediate period of deceleration.

Immediate, short‐, and long‐term changes in tracheal stent diameter, length, and positioning after placement in dogs with tracheal collapse syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Raske, Matthew; Berent, Allyson C.; McDougall, Renee; Lamb, Kenneth

2018-01-01

Background Intraluminal tracheal stenting is a minimally invasive procedure shown to have variable degrees of success in managing clinical signs associated with tracheal collapse syndrome (CTCS) in dogs. Objectives Identify immediate post‐stent changes in tracheal diameter, determine the extent of stent migration, and stent shortening after stent placement in the immediate‐, short‐, and long‐term periods, and evaluate inter‐observer reliability of radiographic measurements. Animals Fifty client‐owned dogs. Methods Retrospective study in which medical records were reviewed in dogs with CTCS treated with an intraluminal tracheal stent. Data collected included signalment, location, and type of collapse, stent diameter and length, and post‐stent placement radiographic follow‐up times. Radiographs were used to obtain pre‐stent tracheal measurements and post‐stent placement measurements. Results Immediate mean percentage change was 5.14%, 5.49%, and 21.64% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra‐thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Ultimate mean follow‐up time was 446 days, with mean percentage change of 2.55%, 15.09%, and 8.65% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra‐thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Initial mean stent length was 26.72% higher than nominal length and ultimate long‐term tracheal mean stent shortening was only 9.90%. No significant stent migration was identified in the immediate, short‐, or long‐term periods. Good inter‐observer agreement of radiographic measurements was found among observers of variable experience level. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Use of an intraluminal tracheal stent for CTCS is associated with minimal stent shortening with no clinically relevant stent migration after fluoroscopic placement. Precise stent sizing and placement techniques likely play important roles in avoiding these reported complications. PMID:29460368

Correlation length estimation in a polycrystalline material model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simonovski, I.; Cizelj, L.

2005-01-01

This paper deals with the correlation length estimated from a mesoscopic model of a polycrystalline material. The correlation length can be used in some macroscopic material models as a material parameter that describes the internal length. It can be estimated directly from the strain and stress fields calculated from a finite-element model, which explicitly accounts for the selected mesoscopic features such as the random orientation, shape and size of the grains. A crystal plasticity material model was applied in the finite-element analysis. Different correlation lengths were obtained depending on the used set of crystallographic orientations. We determined that the different sets of crystallographic orientations affect the general level of the correlation length, however, as the external load is increased the behaviour of correlation length is similar in all the analyzed cases. The correlation lengths also changed with the macroscopic load. If the load is below the yield strength the correlation lengths are constant, and are slightly higher than the average grain size. The correlation length can therefore be considered as an indicator of first plastic deformations in the material. Increasing the load above the yield strength creates shear bands that temporarily increase the values of the correlation lengths calculated from the strain fields. With a further load increase the correlation lengths decrease slightly but stay above the average grain size. (author)

A Small Crack Length Evaluation Technique by Electronic Scanning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Yong Sang; Kim, Jae Hoon

2009-01-01

The results of crack evaluation by conventional UT(Ultrasonic Test)is highly depend on the inspector's experience or knowledge of ultrasound. Phased array UT system and its application methods for small crack length evaluation will be a good alternative method which overcome present UT weakness. This study was aimed at checking the accuracy of crack length evaluation method by electronic scanning and discuss about characteristics of electronic scanning for crack length evaluation. Especially ultrasonic phased array with electronic scan technique was used in carrying out both sizing and detect ability of crack as its length changes. The response of ultrasonic phased array was analyzed to obtain the special method of determining crack length without moving the transducer and detectability of crack minimal length and depth from the material. A method of crack length determining by electronic scanning for the small crack is very real method which has it's accuracy and verify the effectiveness of method compared to a conventional crack length determination

Sinusoidal Wave Estimation Using Photogrammetry and Short Video Sequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewelina Rupnik

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of the work is to model the shape of the sinusoidal shape of regular water waves generated in a laboratory flume. The waves are traveling in time and render a smooth surface, with no white caps or foam. Two methods are proposed, treating the water as a diffuse and specular surface, respectively. In either case, the water is presumed to take the shape of a traveling sine wave, reducing the task of the 3D reconstruction to resolve the wave parameters. The first conceived method performs the modeling part purely in 3D space. Having triangulated the points in a separate phase via bundle adjustment, a sine wave is fitted into the data in a least squares manner. The second method presents a more complete approach for the entire calculation workflow beginning in the image space. The water is perceived as a specular surface, and the traveling specularities are the only observations visible to the  cameras, observations that are notably single image. The depth ambiguity is removed given additional constraints encoded within the law of reflection and the modeled parametric surface. The observation and constraint equations compose a single system of equations that is solved with the method of least squares adjustment. The devised approaches are validated against the data coming from a capacitive level sensor and on physical targets floating on the surface. The outcomes agree to a high degree.

The Gregoriev Ice Cap length changes derived by 2-D ice flow line model for harmonic climate histories

OpenAIRE

Konovalov, Y. V.; Nagornov, O. V.

2009-01-01

Different ice thickness distributions along the flow line and the flow line length changes of the Gregoriev Ice Cap, Terskey Ala-Tau, Central Asia, were obtained for some surface mass balance histories which can be considered as possible surface mass balances in the future. The ice cap modeling was performed by solving of steady state hydrodynamic equations in the case of low Reynolds number in the form of the mechanical equilibrium equation in terms of stress deviator components coupled with...

Time-dependent evolution of strand transfer length in pretensioned prestressed concrete members

Science.gov (United States)

Caro, L. A.; Martí-Vargas, J. R.; Serna, P.

2013-11-01

For design purposes, it is generally considered that prestressing strand transfer length does not change with time. However, some experimental studies on the effect of time on transfer lengths show contradictory results. In this paper, an experimental research to study transfer length changes over time is presented. A test procedure based on the ECADA testing technique to measure prestressing strand force variation over time in pretensioned prestressed concrete specimens has been set up. With this test method, an experimental program that varies concrete strength, specimen cross section, age of release, prestress transfer method, and embedment length has been carried out. Both the initial and long-term transfer lengths of 13-mm prestressing steel strands have been measured. The test results show that transfer length variation exists for some prestressing load conditions, resulting in increased transfer length over time. The applied test method based on prestressing strand force measurements has shown more reliable results than procedures based on measuring free end slips and longitudinal strains of concrete. An additional factor for transfer length models is proposed in order to include the time-dependent evolution of strand transfer length in pretensioned prestressed concrete members.

Sinusoidal potential cycling operation of a direct ethanol fuel cell to improving carbon dioxide yields

Science.gov (United States)

Majidi, Pasha; Pickup, Peter G.

2014-12-01

A direct ethanol fuel cell has been operated under sinusoidal (AC) potential cycling conditions in order to increase the yield of carbon dioxide and thereby increase cell efficiency relative to operation at a fixed potential. At 80 °C, faradaic yields of CO2 as high as 25% have been achieved with a PtRu anode catalyst, while the maximum CO2 production at constant potential was 13%. The increased yields under cycling conditions have been attributed to periodic oxidative stripping of adsorbed CO. These results will be important in the optimization of operating conditions for direct ethanol fuel cells, where the benefits of potential cycling are projected to increase as catalysts that produce CO2 more efficiently are implemented.

Immediate, short-, and long-term changes in tracheal stent diameter, length, and positioning after placement in dogs with tracheal collapse syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Raske, Matthew; Weisse, Chick; Berent, Allyson C; McDougall, Renee; Lamb, Kenneth

2018-03-01

Intraluminal tracheal stenting is a minimally invasive procedure shown to have variable degrees of success in managing clinical signs associated with tracheal collapse syndrome (CTCS) in dogs. Identify immediate post-stent changes in tracheal diameter, determine the extent of stent migration, and stent shortening after stent placement in the immediate-, short-, and long-term periods, and evaluate inter-observer reliability of radiographic measurements. Fifty client-owned dogs. Retrospective study in which medical records were reviewed in dogs with CTCS treated with an intraluminal tracheal stent. Data collected included signalment, location, and type of collapse, stent diameter and length, and post-stent placement radiographic follow-up times. Radiographs were used to obtain pre-stent tracheal measurements and post-stent placement measurements. Immediate mean percentage change was 5.14%, 5.49%, and 21.64% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra-thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Ultimate mean follow-up time was 446 days, with mean percentage change of 2.55%, 15.09%, and 8.65% for cervical, thoracic inlet, and intra-thoracic tracheal diameters, respectively. Initial mean stent length was 26.72% higher than nominal length and ultimate long-term tracheal mean stent shortening was only 9.90%. No significant stent migration was identified in the immediate, short-, or long-term periods. Good inter-observer agreement of radiographic measurements was found among observers of variable experience level. Use of an intraluminal tracheal stent for CTCS is associated with minimal stent shortening with no clinically relevant stent migration after fluoroscopic placement. Precise stent sizing and placement techniques likely play important roles in avoiding these reported complications. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

Broadband frequency and angular response of a sinusoidal bull’s eye antenna

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beaskoetxea, U; Beruete, M; Navarro-Cía, M

2016-01-01

A thorough experimental study of the frequency and beaming angle response of a metallic leaky-wave bull’s eye antenna working at 77 GHz with a sinusoidally corrugated profile is presented. The beam scanning property of these antennas as frequency is varied is experimentally demonstrated and corroborated through theoretical and numerical results. From the experimental results the dispersion diagram of the n   =  −1 and n   =  −2 space harmonics is extracted, and the operation at different frequency regimes is identified and discussed. In order to show the contribution of each half of the antenna, numerical examples of the near-field behavior are also displayed. Overall, experimental results are in good qualitative and quantitative agreement with theoretical and numerical calculations. Finally, an analysis of the beamwidth as a function of frequency is performed, showing that it can achieve values below 1.5° in a fractional bandwidth of 4% around the operation frequency, which is an interesting frequency-stable broadside radiation. (paper)

Exponential sinusoidal model for predicting temperature inside underground wine cellars from a Spanish region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mazarron, Fernando R.; Canas, Ignacio [Departamento de Construccion y Vias Rurales, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros Agronomos, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Avda. Complutense s/n, 28040 Madrid (Spain)

2008-07-01

This article develops a mathematical model for determining the annual cycle of air temperature inside traditional underground wine cellars in the Spanish region of ''Ribera del Duero'', known because of the quality of its wines. It modifies the sinusoidal analytical model for soil temperature calculation. Results obtained when contrasting the proposed model with experimental data of three subterranean wine cellars for 2 years are satisfactory. The RMSE is below 1 C and the index of agreement is above 0.96 for the three cellars. When using the average of experimental data corresponding to the 2 years' time, results improve noticeably: the RMSE decreases by more than 30% and the mean d reaches 0.99. This model should be a useful tool for designing underground wine cellars making the most of soil energy advantages. (author)

Understanding the length dependence of molecular junction thermopower

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlström, Sven Olov Harald; Strange, Mikkel; Solomon, Gemma

2014-01-01

Thermopower of molecular junctions is sensitive to details in the junction and may increase, decrease, or saturate with increasing chain length, depending on the system. Using McConnell's theory for exponentially suppressed transport together with a simple and easily interpretable tight binding...... model, we show how these different behaviors depend on the molecular backbone and its binding to the contacts. We distinguish between resonances from binding groups or undercoordinated electrode atoms, and those from the periodic backbone. It is demonstrated that while the former gives a length......-independent contribution to the thermopower, possibly changing its sign, the latter determines its length dependence. This means that the question of which orbitals from the periodic chain that dominate the transport should not be inferred from the sign of the thermopower but from its length dependence. We find...

Cycle length maximization in PWRs using empirical core models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okafor, K.C.; Aldemir, T.

1987-01-01

The problem of maximizing cycle length in nuclear reactors through optimal fuel and poison management has been addressed by many investigators. An often-used neutronic modeling technique is to find correlations between the state and control variables to describe the response of the core to changes in the control variables. In this study, a set of linear correlations, generated by two-dimensional diffusion-depletion calculations, is used to find the enrichment distribution that maximizes cycle length for the initial core of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). These correlations (a) incorporate the effect of composition changes in all the control zones on a given fuel assembly and (b) are valid for a given range of control variables. The advantage of using such correlations is that the cycle length maximization problem can be reduced to a linear programming problem

3D palmprint and hand imaging system based on full-field composite color sinusoidal fringe projection technique.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zonghua; Huang, Shujun; Xu, Yongjia; Chen, Chao; Zhao, Yan; Gao, Nan; Xiao, Yanjun

2013-09-01

Palmprint and hand shape, as two kinds of important biometric characteristics, have been widely studied and applied to human identity recognition. The existing research is based mainly on 2D images, which lose the third-dimensional information. The biological features extracted from 2D images are distorted by pressure and rolling, so the subsequent feature matching and recognition are inaccurate. This paper presents a method to acquire accurate 3D shapes of palmprint and hand by projecting full-field composite color sinusoidal fringe patterns and the corresponding color texture information. A 3D imaging system is designed to capture and process the full-field composite color fringe patterns on hand surface. Composite color fringe patterns having the optimum three fringe numbers are generated by software and projected onto the surface of human hand by a digital light processing projector. From another viewpoint, a color CCD camera captures the deformed fringe patterns and saves them for postprocessing. After compensating for the cross talk and chromatic aberration between color channels, three fringe patterns are extracted from three color channels of a captured composite color image. Wrapped phase information can be calculated from the sinusoidal fringe patterns with high precision. At the same time, the absolute phase of each pixel is determined by the optimum three-fringe selection method. After building up the relationship between absolute phase map and 3D shape data, the 3D palmprint and hand are obtained. Color texture information can be directly captured or demodulated from the captured composite fringe pattern images. Experimental results show that the proposed method and system can yield accurate 3D shape and color texture information of the palmprint and hand shape.

Tube Length and Water Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ben Ruktantichoke

2011-06-01

Full Text Available In this study water flowed through a straight horizontal plastic tube placed at the bottom of a large tank of water. The effect of changing the length of tubing on the velocity of flow was investigated. It was found that the Hagen-Poiseuille Equation is valid when the effect of water entering the tube is accounted for.

ADVERTISING TEXT AS THE REFLECTION OF SOCIAL-ECONOMIC CHANGES AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEP (ON THE MATERIALS OF YENISEYSKAYA GUBERNIYA

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P. V. Yurlov

2014-09-01

Full Text Available On the modern level of History development its local and social fields are increasingly getting popular since they meet the requirements of innovation and actuality of scientific work. These fields allow to lead in the research new, often alternative, sources revealing new facets of traditional issues of precise historical period. In this work the author on the base of advertising texts in newspapers using quantity and content analysis researches the changes of business climate, main forms of companies organization, and their development in Yeniseyskaya guberniya in the 1920s. Moreover, taking newspaper advertisements the author highlights the periods of business activity having got it as a result of market and political conjuncture. The length of each period is 2 years and caused by the economic crisis in 1923, 1925, 1927 and 1929. Thus, materials of advertisements prove sinusoidal development of business through the periods of ups and downs and give the opportunity for researching market behavior of local entrepreneurs. 

Phase-locking and chaos in a silent Hodgkin-Huxley neuron exposed to sinusoidal electric field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Che Yanqiu; Wang Jiang; Si Wenjie; Fei Xiangyang

2009-01-01

Neuronal firing patterns are related to the information processing in neural system. This paper investigates the response characteristics of a silent Hodgkin-Huxley neuron to the stimulation of externally-applied sinusoidal electric field. The neuron exhibits both p:q phase-locked (i.e. a periodic oscillation defined as p action potentials generated by q cycle stimulations) and chaotic behaviors, depending on the values of stimulus frequencies and amplitudes. In one-parameter space, a rich bifurcation structure including period-adding without chaos and phase-locking alternated with chaos suggests frequency discrimination of the neuronal firing patterns. Furthermore, by mapping out Arnold tongues, we partition the amplitude-frequency parameter space in terms of the qualitative behaviors of the neuron. Thus the neuron's information (firing patterns) encodes the stimulus information (amplitude and frequency), and vice versa

Modeling direction discrimination thresholds for yaw rotations around an earth-vertical axis for arbitrary motion profiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Soyka, Florian; Giordano, Paolo Robuffo; Barnett-Cowan, Michael; Bülthoff, Heinrich H

2012-07-01

Understanding the dynamics of vestibular perception is important, for example, for improving the realism of motion simulation and virtual reality environments or for diagnosing patients suffering from vestibular problems. Previous research has found a dependence of direction discrimination thresholds for rotational motions on the period length (inverse frequency) of a transient (single cycle) sinusoidal acceleration stimulus. However, self-motion is seldom purely sinusoidal, and up to now, no models have been proposed that take into account non-sinusoidal stimuli for rotational motions. In this work, the influence of both the period length and the specific time course of an inertial stimulus is investigated. Thresholds for three acceleration profile shapes (triangular, sinusoidal, and trapezoidal) were measured for three period lengths (0.3, 1.4, and 6.7 s) in ten participants. A two-alternative forced-choice discrimination task was used where participants had to judge if a yaw rotation around an earth-vertical axis was leftward or rightward. The peak velocity of the stimulus was varied, and the threshold was defined as the stimulus yielding 75 % correct answers. In accordance with previous research, thresholds decreased with shortening period length (from ~2 deg/s for 6.7 s to ~0.8 deg/s for 0.3 s). The peak velocity was the determining factor for discrimination: Different profiles with the same period length have similar velocity thresholds. These measurements were used to fit a novel model based on a description of the firing rate of semi-circular canal neurons. In accordance with previous research, the estimates of the model parameters suggest that velocity storage does not influence perceptual thresholds.

TRAIL enhances paracetamol-induced liver sinusoidal endothelial cell death in a Bim- and Bid-dependent manner

Science.gov (United States)

Badmann, A; Langsch, S; Keogh, A; Brunner, T; Kaufmann, T; Corazza, N

2012-01-01

Paracetamol (acetaminophen, APAP) is a universally used analgesic and antipyretic agent. Considered safe at therapeutic doses, overdoses cause acute liver damage characterized by centrilobular hepatic necrosis. One of the major clinical problems of paracetamol-induced liver disease is the development of hemorrhagic alterations. Although hepatocytes represent the main target of the cytotoxic effect of paracetamol overdose, perturbations within the endothelium involving morphological changes of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) have also been described in paracetamol-induced liver disease. Recently, we have shown that paracetamol-induced liver damage is synergistically enhanced by the TRAIL signaling pathway. As LSECs are constantly exposed to activated immune cells expressing death ligands, including TRAIL, we investigated the effect of TRAIL on paracetamol-induced LSEC death. We here demonstrate for the first time that TRAIL strongly enhances paracetamol-mediated LSEC death with typical features of apoptosis. Inhibition of caspases using specific inhibitors resulted in a strong reduction of cell death. TRAIL appears to enhance paracetamol-induced LSEC death via the activation of the pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins Bid and Bim, which initiate the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Taken together this study shows that the liver endothelial layer, mainly LSECs, represent a direct target of the cytotoxic effect of paracetamol and that activation of TRAIL receptor synergistically enhances paracetamol-induced LSEC death via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. TRAIL-mediated acceleration of paracetamol-induced cell death may thus contribute to the pathogenesis of paracetamol-induced liver damage. PMID:23254290

Neuronal oscillations with non-sinusoidal morphology produce spurious phase-to-amplitude coupling and directionality.

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Diego Lozano-Soldevilla

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Neuronal oscillations support cognitive processing. Modern views suggest that neuronal oscillations do not only reflect coordinated activity in spatially distributed networks, but also that there is interaction between the oscillations at different frequencies. For example, invasive recordings in animals and humans have found that the amplitude of fast oscillations (> 40 Hz occur non-uniformly within the phase of slower oscillations, forming the so-called cross-frequency coupling (CFC. However, the CFC patterns be influenced by features in the signal that do not relate to underlying physiological interactions. For example, CFC estimates may be sensitive to spectral correlations due to non-sinusoidal properties of the alpha band wave morphology. To investigate this issue, we performed CFC analysis using experimental and synthetic data. The former consisted in a double-blind magnetoencephalography pharmacological study in which participants received either placebo, 0.5 mg or 1.5 mg of lorazepam (LZP; GABAergic enhancer in different experimental sessions. By recording oscillatory brain activity with during rest and working memory (WM, we were able to demonstrate that posterior alpha (8 – 12 Hz phase was coupled to beta-low gamma band (20 – 45 Hz amplitude envelope during all sessions. Importantly, bicoherence values around the harmonics of the alpha frequency were similar both in magnitude and topographic distribution to the cross-frequency coherence (CFCoh values observed in the alpha-phase to beta-low gamma coupling. In addition, despite the large CFCoh we found no significant cross-frequency directionality (CFD. Critically, simulations demonstrated that a sizable part of our empirical CFCoh between alpha and beta-low gamma coupling and the lack of CFD could be explained by two-three harmonics aligned in zero phase-lag produced by the physiologically characteristic alpha asymmetry in the amplitude of the peaks relative to the troughs

Automated path length and M56 measurements at Jefferson Lab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardy, D.; Tang, J.; Legg, R.

1997-01-01

Accurate measurement of path length and path length changes versus momentum (M 56 ) are critical for maintaining minimum beam energy spread in the CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) accelerator at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). The relative path length for each circuit of the beam (1256m) must be equal within 1.5 degrees of 1497 MHz RF phase. A relative path length measurement is made by measuring the relative phases of RF signals from a cavity that is separately excited for each pass of a 4.2 μs pulsed beam. This method distinguishes the path length to less than 0.5 path length error. The development of a VME based automated measurement system for path length and M 56 has contributed to faster machine setup time and has the potential for use as a feedback parameter for automated control

Agency ownership, patient payment source, and length of service in home care, 1992 2000.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Beth; McAuley, William J; Remsburg, Robin E

2007-08-01

Little is known about whether an association exists between agency ownership and length of service among home care patients with different payment sources. This study investigated how for-profit and not-for-profit agencies responded to policy changes in the 1990s with respect to length of service. We examined length of service among 37,364 home care patients using the 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2000 National Home and Hospice Care Surveys. We used Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox regression models. After we adjusted for patient and agency characteristics, our results revealed that agency ownership was not associated with length of service for patients with private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare plus Medicaid, or Medicare plus private insurance. This finding was consistent from 1992 through 2000. Length of service among patients with Medicare decreased significantly from 1998 through 2000, but length of service among patients with Medicaid did not change significantly from 1992 through 2000. Agency ownership is not associated with patient length of service in home care. Regardless of the policy changes in the home care arena in the 1990s, for-profit and not-for-profit home health agencies behaved similarly with regard to length of service among patients within differently structured payment systems.

Age-related changes in molar topography and shearing crest length in a wild population of mountain Gorillas from Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda.

Science.gov (United States)

Glowacka, Halszka; McFarlin, Shannon C; Catlett, Kierstin K; Mudakikwa, Antoine; Bromage, Timothy G; Cranfield, Michael R; Stoinski, Tara S; Schwartz, Gary T

2016-05-01

Great ape teeth must remain functional over long lifespans. The molars of the most folivorous apes, the mountain gorillas, must maintain shearing function for 40+ years while the animals consume large quantities of mechanically challenging foods. While other folivorous primates experience dental senescence, which compromises their occlusal surfaces and affects their reproductive success as they age, it is unknown whether dental senescence also occurs in mountain gorillas. In this article, we quantified and evaluated how mountain gorilla molars change throughout their long lifespans. We collected high-resolution replicas of M(1)s (n = 15), M(2)s (n = 13), and M(3)s (n = 11) from a cross-sectional sample of wild mountain gorilla skeletons from the Virunga Volcanoes, ranging in age from 4 to 43 years. We employed dental topographic analyses to track how aspects of occlusal slope, angularity, relief index, and orientation patch count rotated change with age. In addition, we measured the relative length of shearing crests in two- and three-dimensions. Occlusal topography was found to decrease, while 2D relative shearing crest length increased, and 3D relative crest lengths were maintained with age. Our findings indicate that shearing function is maintained throughout the long lifetimes of mountain gorillas. Unlike the dental senescence experienced by other folivorous primates, mountain gorillas do not appear to possess senesced molars despite their long lifetimes, mechanically challenging diets, and decreases in occlusal topography with age. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The length-weight and length-length relationships of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766 from Samsun, middle Black Sea region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melek Özpiçak

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In this study, length-weight relationship (LWR and length-length relationship (LLR of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix were determined. A total of 125 specimens were sampled from Samsun, the middle Black Sea in 2014 fishing season. Bluefish specimens were monthly collected from commercial fishing boats from October to December 2014. All captured individuals (N=125 were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm for total, fork and standard lengths. The weight of each fish (W was recorded to the nearest 0.01 g. According to results of analyses, there were no statistically significant differences between sexes in term of length and weight (P˃0.05. The minimum and maximum total, fork and standard lengths of bluefish ranged between 13.5-23.6 cm, 12.50-21.80 cm and 10.60-20.10 cm, respectively. The equation of length-weight relationship were calculated as W=0.008TL3.12 (r2>0.962. Positive allometric growth was observed for bluefish (b>3. Length-length relationship was also highly significant (P<0.001 with coefficient of determination (r2 ranging from 0.916 to 0.988.

Modeling of Changing Electrode Profiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prentice, Geoffrey Allen [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials and Molecular Research Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering

1980-12-01

A model for simulating the transient behavior of solid electrodes undergoing deposition or dissolution has been developed. The model accounts for ohmic drop, charge transfer overpotential, and mass transport limitations. The finite difference method, coupled with successive overrelaxation, was used as the basis of the solution technique. An algorithm was devised to overcome the computational instabilities associated with the calculations of the secondary and tertiary current distributions. Simulations were performed on several model electrode profiles: the sinusoid, the rounded corner, and the notch. Quantitative copper deposition data were obtained in a contoured rotating cylinder system, Sinusoidal cross-sections, machined on stainless steel cylinders, were used as model geometries, Kinetic parameters for use in the simulation were determined from polarization curves obtained on copper rotating cylinders, These parameters, along with other physical property and geometric data, were incorporated in simulations of growing sinusoidal profiles. The copper distributions on the sinusoidal cross-sections were measured and found to compare favorably with the simulated results. At low Wagner numbers the formation of a slight depression at the profile peak was predicted by the simulation and observed on the profile. At higher Wagner numbers, the simulated and experimental results showed that the formation of a depression was suppressed. This phenomenon was shown to result from the competition between ohmic drop and electrode curvature.

Bifurcation of Lane Change and Control on Highway for Tractor-Semitrailer under Rainy Weather

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Peng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available A new method is proposed for analyzing the nonlinear dynamics and stability in lane changes on highways for tractor-semitrailer under rainy weather. Unlike most of the literature associated with a simulated linear dynamic model for tractor-semitrailers steady steering on dry road, a verified 5DOF mechanical model with nonlinear tire based on vehicle test was used in the lane change simulation on low adhesion coefficient road. According to Jacobian matrix eigenvalues of the vehicle model, bifurcations of steady steering and sinusoidal steering on highways under rainy weather were investigated using a numerical method. Furthermore, based on feedback linearization theory, taking the tractor yaw rate and joint angle as control objects, a feedback linearization controller combined with AFS and DYC was established. The numerical simulation results reveal that Hopf bifurcations are identified in steady and sinusoidal steering conditions, which translate into an oscillatory behavior leading to instability. And simulations of urgent step and single-lane change in high velocity show that the designed controller has good effects on eliminating bifurcations and improving lateral stability of tractor-semitrailer, during lane changing on highway under rainy weather. It is a valuable reference for safety design of tractor-semitrailers to improve the traffic safety with driver-vehicle-road closed-loop system.

Cognitive Change during the Life Course and Leukocyte Telomere Length in Late Middle-Aged Men

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rask, Lene; Bendix, Laila; Harbo, Maria

2016-01-01

men with positive change in cognitive performance (unadjusted difference β = −0.09, 95% CI −0.16 to −0.02, p = 0.02). This association remained significant after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time activity, body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol (adjusted difference β = −0.09, 95......% CI −0.17 to −0.01, p = 0.02) but was non-significant after adjusting for smoking, alcohol consumption, leisure time activity, BMI, cholesterol, current cognitive function, depression and education (adjusted difference β = −0.07, 95% CI −0.16 to −0.01, p = 0.08). Conclusion and Relevance: Preclinical......Importance: Cognitive skills are known to decline through the lifespan with large individual differences. The molecular mechanisms for this decline are incompletely understood. Although leukocyte telomere length provides an index of cellular age that predicts the incidence of age-related diseases...

Mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium prevents radiation-induced liver injury by inhibiting inflammation and protecting sinusoidal endothelial cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Yixing; Zeng Zhaochong; Sun Jing; Huang Yan; Zhang Zhenyu; Zeng Haiying

2015-01-01

Current management of radiation-induced liver injury is limited. Sinusoidal endothelial cell (SEC) apoptosis and inflammation are considered to be initiating events in hepatic damage. We hypothesized that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory actions during hepatic irradiation, acting via paracrine mechanisms. This study aims to examine whether MSC-derived bioactive components are protective against radiation-induced liver injury in rats. MSC-conditioned medium (MSC-CM) was generated from rat bone marrow–derived MSCs. The effect of MSC-CM on the viability of irradiated SECs was examined by flow cytometric analysis. Activation of the Akt and ERK pathways was analyzed by western blot. MSC-CM was also delivered to Sprague–Dawley rats immediately before receiving liver irradiation, followed by testing for pathological features, changes in serum hyaluronic acid, ALT, and inflammatory cytokine levels, and liver cell apoptosis. MSC-CM enhanced the viability of irradiated SECs in vitro and induced Akt and ERK phosphorylation in these cells. Infusion of MSC-CM immediately before liver irradiation provided a significant anti-apoptotic effect on SECs and improved the histopathological features of injury in the irradiated liver. MSC-CM also reduced the secretion and expression of inflammatory cytokines and increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines. MSC-derived bioactive components could be a novel therapeutic approach for treating radiation-induced liver injury. (author)

Scattering of atoms by a stationary sinusoidal hard wall: Rigorous treatment in (n+1) dimensions and comparison with the Rayleigh method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goodman, F.O.

1977-01-01

A rigorous treatment of the scattering of atoms by a stationary sinusoidal hard wall in (n+1) dimensions is presented, a previous treatment by Masel, Merrill, and Miller for n=1 being contained as a special case. Numerical comparisons are made with the GR method of Garcia, which incorporates the Rayleigh hypothesis. Advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed, and it is concluded that the Rayleigh GR method, if handled properly, will probably work satisfactorily in physically realistic cases

Microfluidic Device to Measure the Speed of C. elegans Using the Resistance Change of the Flexible Electrode

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaehoon Jung

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This work presents a novel method to assess the condition of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans through a resistance measurement of its undulatory locomotion speed inside a micro channel. As the worm moves over the electrode inside the micro channel, the length of the electrode changes, consequently behaving like a strain gauge. In this paper, the electrotaxis was applied for controlling the direction of motion of C. elegans as an external stimulus, resulting in the worm moving towards the cathode of the circuit. To confirm the proposed measurement method, a microfluidic device was developed that employs a sinusoidal channel and a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS layer with an electrode. The PDMS layer maintains a porous structure to enable the flexibility of the electrode. In this study, 6 measurements were performed to obtain the speed of an early adult stage C. elegans, where the measured average speed was 0.35 (±0.05 mm/s. The results of this work demonstrate the application of our method to measure the speed of C. elegans undulatory locomotion. This novel approach can be applied to make such measurements without an imaging system, and more importantly, allows directly to detect the locomotion of C. elegans using an electrical signal (i.e., the change in resistance.

Natural Length Scales of Ecological Systems: Applications at Community and Ecosystem Levels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig R. Johnson

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The characteristic, or natural, length scales of a spatially dynamic ecological landscape are the spatial scales at which the deterministic trends in the dynamic are most sharply in focus. Given recent development of techniques to determine the characteristic length scales (CLSs of real ecological systems, I explore the potential for using CLSs to address three important and vexing issues in applied ecology, viz. (i determining the optimum scales to monitor ecological systems, (ii interpreting change in ecological communities, and (iii ascertaining connectivity between species in complex ecologies. In summarizing the concept of characteristic length scales as system-level scaling thresholds, I emphasize that the primary CLS is, by definition, the optimum scale at which to monitor a system if the objective is to observe its deterministic dynamics at a system level. Using several different spatially explicit individual-based models, I then explore predictions of the underlying theory of CLSs in the context of interpreting change and ascertaining connectivity among species in ecological systems. Analysis of these models support predictions that systems with strongly fluctuating community structure, but an otherwise stable long-term dynamic defined by a stationary attractor, indicate an invariant length scale irrespective of community structure at the time of analysis, and irrespective of the species analyzed. In contrast, if changes in the underlying dynamic are forcibly induced, the shift in dynamics is reflected by a change in the primary length scale. Thus, consideration of the magnitude of the CLS through time enables distinguishing between circumstances where there are temporal changes in community structure but not in the long-term dynamic, from that where changes in community structure reflect some kind of fundamental shift in dynamics. In this context, CLSs emerge as a diagnostic tool to identify phase shifts to alternative stable states

Flow and axial dispersion in a sinusoidal-walled tube: Effects of inertial and unsteady flows

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond, Marshall C.; Perkins, William A.; Scheibe, Timothy D.; Lambert, Adam; Wood, Brian D.

2013-12-01

In this work, we consider a sinusoidal-walled tube (a three-dimensional tube with sinusoidally-varying diameter) as a simplified conceptualization of flow in porous media. Direct numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods was used to compute velocity fields by solving the Navier-Stokes equations, and also to numerically solve the volume averaging closure problem, for a range of Reynolds numbers (Re) spanning the low-Re to inertial flow regimes, including one simulation at Re=449 for which unsteady flow was observed. The longitudinal dispersion observed for the flow was computed using a random walk particle tracking method, and this was compared to the longitudinal dispersion predicted from a volume-averaged macroscopic mass balance using the method of volume averaging; the results of the two methods were consistent. Our results are compared to experimental measurements of dispersion in porous media and to previous theoretical results for both the low-Re, Stokes flow regime and for values of Re representing the steady inertial regime. In the steady inertial regime, a power-law increase in the effective longitudinal dispersion (DL) with Re was found, and this is consistent with previous results. This rapid rate of increase is caused by trapping of solute in expansions due to flow separation (eddies). One unsteady (but non-turbulent) flow case (Re=449) was also examined. For this case, the rate of increase of DL with Re was smaller than that observed at lower Re. Velocity fluctuations in this regime lead to increased rates of solute mass transfer between the core flow and separated flow regions, thus diminishing the amount of tailing caused by solute trapping in eddies and thereby reducing longitudinal dispersion. The observed tailing was further explored through analysis of concentration skewness (third moment) and its assymptotic convergence to conventional advection-dispersion behavior (skewness = 0). The method of volume averaging was

The roles of productivity and ecosystem size in determining food chain length in tropical terrestrial ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Hillary S; McCauley, Douglas J; Dunbar, Robert B; Hutson, Michael S; Ter-Kuile, Ana Miller; Dirzo, Rodolfo

2013-03-01

Many different drivers, including productivity, ecosystem size, and disturbance, have been considered to explain natural variation in the length of food chains. Much remains unknown about the role of these various drivers in determining food chain length, and particularly about the mechanisms by which they may operate in terrestrial ecosystems, which have quite different ecological constraints than aquatic environments, where most food chain length studies have been thus far conducted. In this study, we tested the relative importance of ecosystem size and productivity in influencing food chain length in a terrestrial setting. We determined that (1) there is no effect of ecosystem size or productive space on food chain length; (2) rather, food chain length increases strongly and linearly with productivity; and (3) the observed changes in food chain length are likely achieved through a combination of changes in predator size, predator behavior, and consumer diversity along gradients in productivity. These results lend new insight into the mechanisms by which productivity can drive changes in food chain length, point to potential for systematic differences in the drivers of food web structure between terrestrial and aquatic systems, and challenge us to consider how ecological context may control the drivers that shape food chain length.

Spline-based high-accuracy piecewise-polynomial phase-to-sinusoid amplitude converters.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrinović, Davor; Brezović, Marko

2011-04-01

We propose a method for direct digital frequency synthesis (DDS) using a cubic spline piecewise-polynomial model for a phase-to-sinusoid amplitude converter (PSAC). This method offers maximum smoothness of the output signal. Closed-form expressions for the cubic polynomial coefficients are derived in the spectral domain and the performance analysis of the model is given in the time and frequency domains. We derive the closed-form performance bounds of such DDS using conventional metrics: rms and maximum absolute errors (MAE) and maximum spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) measured in the discrete time domain. The main advantages of the proposed PSAC are its simplicity, analytical tractability, and inherent numerical stability for high table resolutions. Detailed guidelines for a fixed-point implementation are given, based on the algebraic analysis of all quantization effects. The results are verified on 81 PSAC configurations with the output resolutions from 5 to 41 bits by using a bit-exact simulation. The VHDL implementation of a high-accuracy DDS based on the proposed PSAC with 28-bit input phase word and 32-bit output value achieves SFDR of its digital output signal between 180 and 207 dB, with a signal-to-noise ratio of 192 dB. Its implementation requires only one 18 kB block RAM and three 18-bit embedded multipliers in a typical field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device. © 2011 IEEE

Laser interferometric method for determining the carrier diffusion length in semiconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manukhov, V. V. [Saint Petersburg State University (Russian Federation); Fedortsov, A. B.; Ivanov, A. S., E-mail: ivaleks58@gmail.com [Saint Petersburg Mining University (Russian Federation)

2015-09-15

A new laser interferometric method for measuring the carrier diffusion length in semiconductors is proposed. The method is based on the interference–absorption interaction of two laser radiations in a semiconductor. Injected radiation generates additional carriers in a semiconductor, which causes a change in the material’s optical constants and modulation of the probing radiation passed through the sample. When changing the distance between carrier generation and probing points, a decrease in the carrier concentration, which depends on the diffusion length, is recorded. The diffusion length is determined by comparing the experimental and theoretical dependences of the probe signal on the divergence of the injector and probe beams. The method is successfully tested on semiconductor samples with different thicknesses and surface states and can be used in scientific research and the electronics industry.

Modelling of the glass fiber length and the glass fiber length distribution in the compounding of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics

Science.gov (United States)

Kloke, P.; Herken, T.; Schöppner, V.; Rudloff, J.; Kretschmer, K.; Heidemeyer, P.; Bastian, M.; Walther, Dridger, A.

2014-05-01

The use of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics for the production of highly stressed parts in the plastics processing industry has experienced an enormous boom in the last few years. The reasons for this are primarily the improvements to the stiffness and strength properties brought about by fiber reinforcement. These positive characteristics of glass fiber-reinforced polymers are governed predominantly by the mean glass fiber length and the glass fiber length distribution. It is not enough to describe the properties of a plastics component solely as a function of the mean glass fiber length [1]. For this reason, a mathematical-physical model has been developed for describing the glass fiber length distribution in compounding. With this model, it is possible on the one hand to optimize processes for the production of short glass fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, and, on the other, to obtain information on the final distribution, on the basis of which much more detailed statements can be made about the subsequent properties of the molded part. Based on experimental tests, it was shown that this model is able to accurately describe the change in glass fiber length distribution in compounding.

The effects of session length on demand functions generated using FR schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, T Mary; Kinloch, Jennifer; Poling, Alan

2011-05-01

In comparing open and closed economies, researchers often arrange shorter sessions under the former condition than under the latter. Several studies indicate that session length per se can affect performance and there are some data that indicate that this variable can influence demand functions. To provide further data, the present study exposed domestic hens to series of increasing fixed-ratio schedules with the length of the open-economy sessions varied over 10, 40, 60, and 120 min. Session time affected the total-session response rates and pause lengths. The shortest session gave the greatest response rates and shortest pauses and the longest gave the lowest response rates and longest pauses. The total-session demand functions also changed with session length: The shortest session gave steeper initial slopes (i.e., the functions were more elastic at small ratios) and smaller rates of change of elasticity than the longest session. Response rates, pauses, and demand functions were, however, similar for equivalent periods of responding taken from within sessions of different overall lengths (e.g., total-session data for 10-min sessions and the data for the first 10 min of 120-min sessions). These findings suggest that differences in session length can confound the results of studies comparing open and closed economies when those economies are arranged in sessions that differ substantially in length, hence data for equivalent-length periods of responding, rather than total-session data, should be of primary interest under these conditions.

The length-weight and length-length relationships of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) from Samsun, middle Black Sea region

OpenAIRE

Özpiçak, Melek; Saygın, Semra; Polat, Nazmi

2017-01-01

In this study, length-weight relationship (LWR) and length-length relationship (LLR) of bluefish,Pomatomus saltatrix were determined. A total of 125 specimens were sampled from Samsun, themiddle Black Sea in 2014 fishing season. Bluefish specimens were monthly collected fromcommercial fishing boats from October to December 2014. All captured individuals (N=125) weremeasured to the nearest 0.1 cm for total, fork and standard lengths. The weight of each fish (W)was recorded to the nearest 0.01 ...

Decrease of PECAM-1-gene-expression induced by proinflammatory cytokines IFN-γ and IFN-α is reversed by TGF-β in sinusoidal endothelial cells and hepatic mononuclear phagocytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramadori Giuliano

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background and aim The mechanisms of transmigration of inflammatory cells through the sinusoids are still poorly understood. This study aims to identify in vitro conditions (cytokine treatment which may allow a better understanding of the changes in PECAM (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1-gene-expression observed in vivo. Methods and results In this study we show by immunohistochemistry, that there is an accumulation of ICAM-1 (intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 and ED1 positive cells in necrotic areas of livers of CCl4-treated rats, whereas there are few PECAM-1 positive cells observable. After the administration of CCl4, we could detect an early rise of levels of IFN-γ followed by an enhanced TGF-β protein level. As shown by Northern blot analysis and surface protein expression analysed by flow cytometry, IFN-γ-treatment decreased PECAM-1-gene-expression in isolated SECs (sinusoidal endothelial cells and mononuclear phagocytes (MNPs in parallel with an increase in ICAM-1-gene-expression in a dose and time dependent manner. In contrast, TGF-β-treatment increased PECAM-1-expression. Additional administration of IFN-γ to CCl4-treated rats and observations in IFN-γ-/- mice confirmed the effect of IFN-γ on PECAM-1 and ICAM-1-expression observed in vitro and increased the number of ED1-expressing cells 12 h after administration of the toxin. Conclusion The early decrease of PECAM-1-expression and the parallel increase of ICAM-1-expression following CCl4-treatment is induced by elevated levels of IFN-γ in livers and may facilitate adhesion and transmigration of inflammatory cells. The up-regulation of PECAM-1-expression in SECs and MNPs after TGF-β-treatment suggests the involvement of PECAM-1 during the recovery after liver damage.

Telomere length analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Canela, Andrés; Klatt, Peter; Blasco, María A

2007-01-01

Most somatic cells of long-lived species undergo telomere shortening throughout life. Critically short telomeres trigger loss of cell viability in tissues, which has been related to alteration of tissue function and loss of regenerative capabilities in aging and aging-related diseases. Hence, telomere length is an important biomarker for aging and can be used in the prognosis of aging diseases. These facts highlight the importance of developing methods for telomere length determination that can be employed to evaluate telomere length during the human aging process. Telomere length quantification methods have improved greatly in accuracy and sensitivity since the development of the conventional telomeric Southern blot. Here, we describe the different methodologies recently developed for telomere length quantification, as well as their potential applications for human aging studies.

Detailed comparative study regarding different formulae of predicting the iron losses in a machine excited by non-sinusoidal supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Kharashi, Eyhab

2014-01-01

Variable-speed drives in any machine provide an accurate control and high-energy efficiency. More and more often machines are excited by non-sinusoidal voltages. Predicting the amount of iron losses in non-sinusoidal excitation is important. The paper aims to achieve accurate efficiency estimation by presenting a new modified calculation method to predict the iron losses. In a switched reluctance motor, the iron losses can't be ignored, it has considered value. This paper presents conventional and modified Steinmetz formulae for the estimation of the iron losses. The conventional Steinmetz formula consists of three terms: hysteresis, eddy current and anomalous losses. The equations of hysteresis and eddy current losses depend mainly on the value of the peak flux density. The reason to modify the Steinmetz formula is to avoid the need of knowing the peak flux density and the anomalous losses in accurate figures. The paper also explains and clarifies the methods of using both the conventional as well as the modified Steinmetz formulae in accurate calculation of the iron losses in different sections of the magnetic circuit. For both formulae, a comparison is made between the distributions of the iron losses in different parts of the magnetic circuit and the efficiencies. - Highlights: • The paper aims to achieve accurate efficiency estimation. • The predicted iron loss by the conventional Steinmetz formula is inaccurate. • The modified Steinmetz formula is more accurate because it includes the minor loops losses caused by each flux density. • The paper compared the predicted losses obtained by the two different formals to stand on the degree of accuracy

Experimental study of fluid flow in the entrance of a sinusoidal channel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oviedo-Tolentino, F.; Romero-Mendez, R.; Hernandez-Guerrero, A.; Giron-Palomares, B.

2008-01-01

An experimental flow visualization study of the entrance section of channels formed with sinusoidal plates was made. The experiments were conducted in a water tunnel and a laser illuminated particle tracking was used as the technique of flow visualization. The geometric parameters of the plates were maintained constant while the distance between plates, phase angle, and the Reynolds number were varied during the experiments. The flow regimes that were found in the experiments are steady, unsteady and significantly-mixed flows. Instabilities of the flow first appear near the exit of the channel, and move closer to the inlet waves as the Reynolds number grows, but in the first wave from inlet the flow is always steady. The results show that, for all other parameters fixed, the Reynolds number at which unsteady flow first appears grows with the distance between plates. The phase angle that best promotes unsteady flow depends on the average distance between plates: for certain average distance between plates, there is a phase angle that best disturbs the flow. For the set of parameters used in this experiment, a channel with eight waves is sufficiently long and the flow features presented in the first eight waves of a longer channel will be similar to what was observed here

Length and elasticity of side reins affect rein tension at trot.

Science.gov (United States)

Clayton, Hilary M; Larson, Britt; Kaiser, LeeAnn J; Lavagnino, Michael

2011-06-01

This study investigated the horse's contribution to tension in the reins. The experimental hypotheses were that tension in side reins (1) increases biphasically in each trot stride, (2) changes inversely with rein length, and (3) changes with elasticity of the reins. Eight riding horses trotted in hand at consistent speed in a straight line wearing a bit and bridle and three types of side reins (inelastic, stiff elastic, compliant elastic) were evaluated in random order at long, neutral, and short lengths. Strain gauge transducers (240 Hz) measured minimal, maximal and mean rein tension, rate of loading and impulse. The effects of rein type and length were evaluated using ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests. Rein tension oscillated in a regular pattern with a peak during each diagonal stance phase. Within each rein type, minimal, maximal and mean tensions were higher with shorter reins. At neutral or short lengths, minimal tension increased and maximal tension decreased with elasticity of the reins. Short, inelastic reins had the highest maximal tension and rate of loading. Since the tension variables respond differently to rein elasticity at different lengths, it is recommended that a set of variables representing different aspects of rein tension should be reported. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Buckling instability in amorphous carbon films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, X D [CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Narumi, K [Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 1233 Watanuki, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292 (Japan); Naramoto, H [Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 1233 Watanuki, Takasaki, Gunma 370-1292 (Japan)

2007-06-13

In this paper, we report the buckling instability in amorphous carbon films on mirror-polished sapphire (0001) wafers deposited by ion beam assisted deposition at various growth temperatures. For the films deposited at 150 deg. C, many interesting stress relief patterns are found, which include networks, blisters, sinusoidal patterns with {pi}-shape, and highly ordered sinusoidal waves on a large scale. Starting at irregular buckling in the centre, the latter propagate towards the outer buckling region. The maximum length of these ordered patterns reaches 396 {mu}m with a height of {approx}500 nm and a wavelength of {approx}8.2 {mu}m. However, the length decreases dramatically to 70 {mu}m as the deposition temperature is increased to 550 deg. C. The delamination of the film appears instead of sinusoidal waves with a further increase of the deposition temperature. This experimental observation is correlated with the theoretic work of Crosby (1999 Phys. Rev. E 59 R2542)

Buckling instability in amorphous carbon films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, X D; Narumi, K; Naramoto, H

2007-01-01

In this paper, we report the buckling instability in amorphous carbon films on mirror-polished sapphire (0001) wafers deposited by ion beam assisted deposition at various growth temperatures. For the films deposited at 150 deg. C, many interesting stress relief patterns are found, which include networks, blisters, sinusoidal patterns with π-shape, and highly ordered sinusoidal waves on a large scale. Starting at irregular buckling in the centre, the latter propagate towards the outer buckling region. The maximum length of these ordered patterns reaches 396 μm with a height of ∼500 nm and a wavelength of ∼8.2 μm. However, the length decreases dramatically to 70 μm as the deposition temperature is increased to 550 deg. C. The delamination of the film appears instead of sinusoidal waves with a further increase of the deposition temperature. This experimental observation is correlated with the theoretic work of Crosby (1999 Phys. Rev. E 59 R2542)

Comparative analysis of maximum renal longitudinal length with positional changes on ultrasound with multiplanar reconstructed MR image in Korea Adults

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, Yun Hee; Cho, Bum Sang; Kang, Min Ho; Kang, Woo Young; Lee, Jisun; Kim, Yook; Lee, Soo Hyun; Lee, Soo Jung; Lee, Jin Yong

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine a suitable position in which the measured length on ultrasound is close to the true renal length obtained through a multiplanar reconstructed MR image. A total of 33 individuals (males: 15, females: 18) without any underlying renal disease were included in the present study. Renal length was measured as the longest axis at the level of the renal hilum in three positions-supine, lateral decubitus, and prone, respectively. With a 3.0 T MR scanner, 3D eTHRIVE was acquired. Subsequently, the maximum longitudinal length of both the kidneys was measured through multiplanar reconstructed MR images. Paired t-test was used to compare the renal length obtained from ultrasonographic measurement with the length obtained through multiplanar reconstructed MR images. Our study demonstrated significant difference between sonographic renal length in three positions and renal length through MRI (p < 0.001). However, the longest longitudinal length of right kidney among the measured three values by ultrasound was statistically similar to the renal length measured by reconstructed MR image. Among them, the lateral decubitus position showed the strongest correlation with true renal length (right: 0.887; left: 0.849). We recommend measurement of the maximum renal longitudinal length in all possible positions on ultrasonography. If not allowed, the best measurement is on the lateral decubitus showing the strongest correlation coefficient with true renal length

Comparative analysis of maximum renal longitudinal length with positional changes on ultrasound with multiplanar reconstructed MR image in Korea Adults

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jang, Yun Hee; Cho, Bum Sang; Kang, Min Ho; Kang, Woo Young; Lee, Jisun; Kim, Yook; Lee, Soo Hyun; Lee, Soo Jung [Dept. of Radiology, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Jin Yong [Public Health Medical Service, Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-07-15

The purpose of this study was to determine a suitable position in which the measured length on ultrasound is close to the true renal length obtained through a multiplanar reconstructed MR image. A total of 33 individuals (males: 15, females: 18) without any underlying renal disease were included in the present study. Renal length was measured as the longest axis at the level of the renal hilum in three positions-supine, lateral decubitus, and prone, respectively. With a 3.0 T MR scanner, 3D eTHRIVE was acquired. Subsequently, the maximum longitudinal length of both the kidneys was measured through multiplanar reconstructed MR images. Paired t-test was used to compare the renal length obtained from ultrasonographic measurement with the length obtained through multiplanar reconstructed MR images. Our study demonstrated significant difference between sonographic renal length in three positions and renal length through MRI (p < 0.001). However, the longest longitudinal length of right kidney among the measured three values by ultrasound was statistically similar to the renal length measured by reconstructed MR image. Among them, the lateral decubitus position showed the strongest correlation with true renal length (right: 0.887; left: 0.849). We recommend measurement of the maximum renal longitudinal length in all possible positions on ultrasonography. If not allowed, the best measurement is on the lateral decubitus showing the strongest correlation coefficient with true renal length.

Defibrotide sodium for the treatment of hepatic veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, Paul G; Triplett, Brandon M; Ho, Vincent T; Chao, Nelson; Dignan, Fiona L; Maglio, Michelle; Mohty, Mohamad

2018-02-01

Hepatic veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (VOD/SOS) is an unpredictable condition associated with endothelial-cell damage due to conditioning for hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) or chemotherapy without HSCT. Mortality in patients with VOD/SOS and multi-organ dysfunction (MOD) may be >80%. Areas covered: Defibrotide is the only approved drug for the treatment of severe hepatic VOD/SOS after HSCT in the European Union and hepatic VOD/SOS with renal or pulmonary dysfunction in the United States. Its efficacy in patients with VOD/SOS with MOD post-HSCT was demonstrated in a clinical-trial program that included a historically controlled treatment study, a phase 2 trial, and a large T-IND expanded-access program that also included patients without MOD and who received chemotherapy without HSCT. Expert commentary: Defibrotide appears to protect endothelial cells and restore the thrombolytic-fibrinolytic balance. It addresses a significant clinical need and has demonstrated favorable Day +100 survival and overall adverse-event rates that seem similar to control groups receiving supportive care alone. Currently, defibrotide is under investigation for the prevention of VOD/SOS in high-risk pediatric and adult patients.

Successful treatment with defibrotide for sinusoidal obstruction syndrome after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yakushijin, Kimikazu; Matsui, Toshimitsu; Okamura, Atsuo; Yamamoto, Katsuya; Ito, Mitsuhiro; Chihara, Kazuo

2005-01-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) (formerly known as hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD)) is a life-threatening complication subsequent to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, no completely satisfactory strategies for the treatment of SOS have been established yet. Defibrotide is a single-stranded polydeoxyribonucleotide with anti-thrombotic, anti-ischemic, anti-inflammatory and thrombolytic properties, but without systemic anticoagulant effects, and some encouraging results have been reported in western countries. We treated four patients with defibrotide for SOS, since there seemed to be no possibility to cure the patients with conventionally available treatments in Japan. All patients showed evidence of multiple organ failure at the start of the treatment. Defibrotide was administered intravenously in normal saline in four divided doses for 14 to 27 days. Three patients (75%) responded to the therapy, while one died of SOS and cytomegalovirus infection despite intensive therapy. None of the patients suffered from significant adverse effects such as severe hemorrhage. This is the first report dealing with the treatment with defibrotide of Japanese patients with SOS. Because defibrotide is considered to be promising for the treatment of SOS, it is important to start a phase II study as soon as possible.

Investigation of secondary flows in turbulent pipe flows with three-dimensional sinusoidal walls

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Leon; MacDonald, Michael; Chung, Daniel; Hutchins, Nicholas; Ooi, Andrew

2017-11-01

The occurrence of secondary flows is systematically investigated via Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent flow in a rough wall pipe at friction Reynolds numbers of 540. In this study, the peak-to-trough height of the roughness elements, which consist of three-dimensional sinusoidal roughness, is fixed at 120 viscous units while the wavelength of the roughness elements is varied. The solidity or effective slope (ES) of the roughness ranges from the sparse regime (ES = 0.18) to the closely packed roughness/dense regime (ES = 0.72). The time-independent dispersive stresses, which arise due to the stationary features of the flow, are analysed and are found to increase with increasing roughness wavelength. These dispersive stresses are related to the occurrence of secondary flows and are maximum within the roughness canopy. Above the crest of the roughness elements, the dispersive stresses reduce to zero at wall-normal heights greater than half of the roughness wavelength. This study has found that the size and wall-normal extent of the secondary flows scales with the roughness wavelength and can reach wall-normal heights of almost half of the pipe radius.

Frequency Characteristics of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Resonator with Different Length

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun-Ha LEE

2016-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we have conducted classical molecular dynamics simulations for DWCNTs of various wall lengths to investigate their use as ultrahigh frequency nano-mechanical resonators. We sought to determine the variations in the frequency of these resonators according to changes in the DWCNT wall lengths. For a double-walled carbon nanotube resonator with a shorter inner nanotube, the shorter inner nanotube can be considered to be a flexible core, and thus, the length influences the fundamental frequency. In this paper, we analyze the variation in frequency of ultra-high frequency nano-mechnical resonators constructed from DWCNTs with different wall lengths.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12951

Determination of the paraxial focal length using Zernike polynomials over different apertures

Science.gov (United States)

Binkele, Tobias; Hilbig, David; Henning, Thomas; Fleischmann, Friedrich

2017-02-01

The paraxial focal length is still the most important parameter in the design of a lens. As presented at the SPIE Optics + Photonics 2016, the measured focal length is a function of the aperture. The paraxial focal length can be found when the aperture approaches zero. In this work, we investigate the dependency of the Zernike polynomials on the aperture size with respect to 3D space. By this, conventional wavefront measurement systems that apply Zernike polynomial fitting (e.g. Shack-Hartmann-Sensor) can be used to determine the paraxial focal length, too. Since the Zernike polynomials are orthogonal over a unit circle, the aperture used in the measurement has to be normalized. By shrinking the aperture and keeping up with the normalization, the Zernike coefficients change. The relation between these changes and the paraxial focal length are investigated. The dependency of the focal length on the aperture size is derived analytically and evaluated by simulation and measurement of a strong focusing lens. The measurements are performed using experimental ray tracing and a Shack-Hartmann-Sensor. Using experimental ray tracing for the measurements, the aperture can be chosen easily. Regarding the measurements with the Shack-Hartmann- Sensor, the aperture size is fixed. Thus, the Zernike polynomials have to be adapted to use different aperture sizes by the proposed method. By doing this, the paraxial focal length can be determined from the measurements in both cases.

Improvement of stability of sinusoidally driven atmospheric pressure plasma jet using auxiliary bias voltage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyun-Jin Kim

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this study, we have proposed the auxiliary bias pulse scheme to improve the stability of atmospheric pressure plasma jets driven by an AC sinusoidal waveform excitation source. The stability of discharges can be significantly improved by the compensation of irregular variation in memory voltage due to the effect of auxiliary bias pulse. From the parametric study, such as the width, voltage, and onset time of auxiliary bias pulse, it has been demonstrated that the auxiliary bias pulse plays a significant role in suppressing the irregular discharges caused by the irregular variation in memory voltage and stable discharge can be initiated with the termination of the auxiliary bias pulse. As a result of further investigating the effects of the auxiliary pulse scheme on the jet stability under various process conditions such as the distance between the jet head and the counter electrode, and carrier gas flow, the jet stability can be improved by adjusting the amplitude and number of the bias pulse depending on the variations in the process conditions.

Effects of chronic alcoholism in the sensitivity to luminance contrast in vertical sinusoidal gratings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Éllen Dias Nicácio da Cruz

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this study was to measure visual contrast sensitivity (CS of luminance using vertical sinusoidal gratings with spatial frequencies of 0.6, 2.5, 5.0 and 20.0 cycles per degree of visual angle in chronic alcoholics in abstinence period. The participants were 20 volunteers (26–59 years of age divided into two groups: the study group (SG consisted of 10 volunteers with a clinical history of chronic alcoholism abstinence and the control group (CG consisted of 10 healthy volunteers. Each group had five female and five male participants. All participants had normal or corrected visual acuity and were free of identifiable diseases. The psychophysical method of forced choice between two temporal alternatives (2AFC was used to measure visual CS of luminance of 41.2 cd/m2. The results showed significant differences between groups for all spatial frequencies tested (p< 0.001. These results suggest alterations in the visual perception related to chronic alcohol consumption even after years of abstinence.

Treatment of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome with defibrotide: a single-center experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Sucak, G T; Aki, Z S; Yagcí, M; Yegin, Z A; Ozkurt, Z N; Haznedar, R

2007-06-01

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is a frequent, troubling, and potentially fatal complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Despite promising results with defibrotide (DF), no treatment has been established as standard. DF is a single-stranded polydeoxyribonucleotide, obtained from controlled depolymerization of porcine intestinal mucosal cells. It has antithrombotic, antiischemic, antiinflammatory, and thrombolytic properties without significant side effects. We retrospectively evaluated the charts of 80 consecutive patients, with 89 hematopoietic stem cell transplants for hematologic malignancies. The results of early initiation of DF treatment in 14 patients with SOS are presented in this study. Fourteen patients, 8 males and 6 females % median age 40.5 years (range, 16-46 years) were diagnosed to have SOS. Disease severity was classified as severe in 6 (42.85%), moderate in 4 (28.57%), and mild in 4 (28.57%) patients. We treated 14 patients with DF for a median of 21.5 days (range, 4-39 days). All 14 patients received DF after the diagnosis of SOS. Three patients with severe and all of the patients with mild to moderate SOS responded to treatment with complete resolution of SOS-related signs and symptoms. All patients responding to DF were alive at 100 days posttransplantation. There was no significant drug-related side effect among patients treated with DF. With an overall response rate of 78.56% and a 50% complete response rate in severe SOS cases and minimal side effects, we suggest that DF is the best available agent to treat SOS.

In-vitro study on haemodiluted blood flow in a sinusoidal microstenosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, M J; Ji, H-S; Lee, S J

2010-01-01

In-vitro experiments were carried out to investigate the haemodynamic and haemorheological behaviours of haemodiluted blood flow through a microstenosis using a micro-particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. The micro-PIV system employed in this study consisted of a two-head neodymium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser, a cooled charge-coupled device camera, and a delay generator. To simulate blood flow in a stenosed vascular vessel, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel with a sinusoidal throat of 80 per cent severity was employed. The width and depth of the microchannel were 100 microm and 50 microm, respectively. To compare the flow characteristics in the microstenosis, the same experiments were repeated in a straight microchannel under the same flow conditions. Using a syringe pump, human blood with 5 per cent haematocrit was supplied into the microstenosis channel. The flow characteristics and transport of blood cells through the microstenosis were investigated with various flowrates. The mean velocity fields were nearly symmetric with respect to the channel centreline. In the contraction section, the oncoming blood flow was accelerated rapidly, and the maximum velocity at the throat was almost 4.99 times faster than that of the straight microchannel without stenosis. In the diffusion section, the blood cells show rolling, deformation, twisting, and tumbling motion due to the flow-choking characteristics at the stenotic region. The results from this study will provide useful basic data for comparison with those obtained by clinical researchers.

Seasonal changes in climatic parameters and their relationship with the incidence of pneumococcal bacteraemia in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tvedebrink, Torben; Lundbye-Christensen, Søren; Thomsen, R.W.

2008-01-01

The seasonal variation in the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease is well recognized, but little is known about its relationship with actual changes in climatic parameters. In this 8-year longitudinal population-based study in Denmark, a harmonic sinusoidal regression model was used...... to examine whether preceding changes in climatic parameters corresponded with subsequent variations in the incidence of pneumococcal bacteraemia, independently of seasonal variation. The study shows that changes in temperature can be used to closely predict peaks in the incidence of pneumococcal bacteraemia...

Agency Ownership, Patient Payment Source, and Length of Service in Home Care, 1992-2000

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Beth; McAuley, William J.; Remsburg, Robin E.

2007-01-01

Purpose: Little is known about whether an association exists between agency ownership and length of service among home care patients with different payment sources. This study investigated how for-profit and not-for-profit agencies responded to policy changes in the 1990s with respect to length of service. Design and Methods: We examined length of…

Length-weight and length-length relationships of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces

Science.gov (United States)

Al-jebory, Taymaa A.; Das, Simon K.; Usup, Gires; Bakar, Y.; Al-saadi, Ali H.

2018-04-01

In this study, length-weight and length-length relationships of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces were determined. Fish specimens were procured from seven provinces from July to December, 2015. A negative and positive allometric growth pattern was obtained, where the total length (TL) ranged from 25.60 cm to 33.53 cm, and body weight (BW) ranged from 700 g to 1423 g. Meanwhile, the lowest of 1.03 and highest of 3.54 in "b" value was recorded in group F and group C, respectively. Therefore, Fulton condition factor (K) range from 2.57 to 4.94. While, relative condition factor (Kn) was in the ranged of 0.95 to 1.01. A linear relationship between total length (TL) and standard length (SL) among the provinces for fish groups was obtained. The variances in "b" value ranged from 0.10 to 0.93 with correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.02 to 0.97. This research could be used as a guide to study the ecology and biology of common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) in the middle and southern Iraq provinces.

Air refractometry in a length comparator and the response to changes in the measurement environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pieles, H

1998-11-01

Two different interference refractometers and one air parameter set-up are simultaneously operated in a temperature-stabilized casing of a length comparator. They allow absolute and relative measurements and calculations, respectively of the refractive index of air to be carried out for continuous interferometric length measurements. Measurement results are presented which were obtained under optimized environmental conditions. In addition, sources of disturbances are described which can significantly influence the measurements of the refractive index of air, and consequently may influence the accuracy of interferometric displacement measurements. (orig.)

Age-related changes in the plasticity and toughness of human cortical bone at multiple length-scales

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zimmermann, Elizabeth A.; Schaible, Eric; Bale, Hrishikesh; Barth, Holly D.; Tang, Simon Y.; Reichert, Peter; Busse, Bjoern; Alliston, Tamara; Ager III, Joel W.; Ritchie, Robert O.

2011-08-10

The structure of human cortical bone evolves over multiple length-scales from its basic constituents of collagen and hydroxyapatite at the nanoscale to osteonal structures at nearmillimeter dimensions, which all provide the basis for its mechanical properties. To resist fracture, bone’s toughness is derived intrinsically through plasticity (e.g., fibrillar sliding) at structural-scales typically below a micron and extrinsically (i.e., during crack growth) through mechanisms (e.g., crack deflection/bridging) generated at larger structural-scales. Biological factors such as aging lead to a markedly increased fracture risk, which is often associated with an age-related loss in bone mass (bone quantity). However, we find that age-related structural changes can significantly degrade the fracture resistance (bone quality) over multiple lengthscales. Using in situ small-/wide-angle x-ray scattering/diffraction to characterize sub-micron structural changes and synchrotron x-ray computed tomography and in situ fracture-toughness measurements in the scanning electron microscope to characterize effects at micron-scales, we show how these age-related structural changes at differing size-scales degrade both the intrinsic and extrinsic toughness of bone. Specifically, we attribute the loss in toughness to increased non-enzymatic collagen cross-linking which suppresses plasticity at nanoscale dimensions and to an increased osteonal density which limits the potency of crack-bridging mechanisms at micron-scales. The link between these processes is that the increased stiffness of the cross-linked collagen requires energy to be absorbed by “plastic” deformation at higher structural levels, which occurs by the process of microcracking.

Effects of Pedal Speed and Crank Length on Pedaling Mechanics during Submaximal Cycling

Science.gov (United States)

BARRATT, PAUL RICHARD; MARTIN, JAMES C.; ELMER, STEVE J.; KORFF, THOMAS

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT During submaximal cycling, the neuromuscular system has the freedom to select different intermuscular coordination strategies. From both a basic science and an applied perspective, it is important to understand how the central nervous system adjusts pedaling mechanics in response to changes in pedaling conditions. Purpose To determine the effect of changes in pedal speed (a marker of muscle shortening velocity) and crank length (a marker of muscle length) on pedaling mechanics during submaximal cycling. Methods Fifteen trained cyclists performed submaximal isokinetic cycling trials (90 rpm, 240 W) using pedal speeds of 1.41 to 1.61 m·s−1 and crank lengths of 150 to 190 mm. Joint powers were calculated using inverse dynamics. Results Increases in pedal speed and crank length caused large increases knee and hip angular excursions and velocities (P 0.05). Joint moments and joint powers were less affected by changes in the independent variables, but some interesting effects and trends were observed. Most noteworthy, knee extension moments and powers tended to decrease, whereas hip extension power tended to increase with an increase in crank length. Conclusions The distribution of joint moments and powers is largely maintained across a range of pedaling conditions. The crank length induced differences in knee extension moments, and powers may represent a trade-off between the central nervous system’s attempts to simultaneously minimize muscle metabolic and mechanical stresses. These results increase our understanding of the neural and mechanical mechanisms underlying multi-joint task performance, and they have practical relevance to coaches, athletes, and clinicians. PMID:26559455

Comparison of methods for extracting annual cycle with changing amplitude in climate science

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Q.; Fu, Z.

2017-12-01

Changes of annual cycle gains a growing concern recently. The basic hypothesis regards annual cycle as constant. Climatology mean within a time period is usually used to depict the annual cycle. Obviously this hypothesis contradicts with the fact that annual cycle is changing every year. For the lack of a unified definition about annual cycle, the approaches adopted in extracting annual cycle are various and may lead to different results. The precision and validity of these methods need to be examined. In this work we numerical experiments with known monofrequent annual cycle are set to evaluate five popular extracting methods: fitting sinusoids, complex demodulation, Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), Nonlinear Mode Decomposition (NMD) and Seasonal trend decomposition procedure based on loess (STL). Three different types of changing amplitude will be generated: steady, linear increasing and nonlinearly varying. Comparing the annual cycle extracted by these methods with the generated annual cycle, we find that (1) NMD performs best in depicting annual cycle itself and its amplitude change, (2) fitting sinusoids, complex demodulation and EEMD methods are more sensitive to long-term memory(LTM) of generated time series thus lead to overfitting annual cycle and too noisy amplitude, oppositely the result of STL underestimate the amplitude variation (3)all of them can present the amplitude trend correctly in long-time scale but the errors on account of noise and LTM are common in some methods over short time scales.

Hepatitis C virus core protein induces dysfunction of liver sinusoidal endothelial cell by down-regulation of silent information regulator 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Li-Jie; Yu, Jian-Wu; Shi, Yu-Guang; Zhang, Xiao-Yu; Shu, Meng-Ni; Chen, Mo-Yang

2018-05-01

Hepatic fibrosis is a frequent feature of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Some evidence has suggested the potential role of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) in organ fibrosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of HCV core protein on expression of SIRT1 of liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) and function of LSEC. LSECs were co-cultured with HepG2 cells or HepG2 cells expressing HCV core protein and LSECs cultured alone were used as controls. After co-culture, the activity and expression levels of mRNA and protein of SIRT1 in LSEC were detected by a SIRT1 fluorometric assay kit, real time-PCR (RT-PCR), Western blot, respectively. The levels of adiponectin receptor 2 (AdipoR2), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured by Western blot. Cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31), CD14, and von Willebrand factor (vWf) of LSECs was performed by flow cytometry. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was assayed. Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), adiponectin, nitric oxide (NO), and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels in the co-culture supernatant were measured. The co-culture supernatant was then used to cultivate LX-2 cells. The levels of α-smooth muscle actin (ASMA) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) protein in LX-2 cells were measured by Western blot. Compared with LSEC co-cultured with HepG2 cells group, in LSEC co-cultured with HepG2-core cells group, the activity and expression level of mRNA and protein of SIRT1 reduced; the level of adiponectin reduced and the expression level of AdipoR2 protein decreased; ROS levels increased; the expression level of eNOS, VEGF protein decreased; and the expression level of CD14 decreased; the expression level of vWf and CD31 increased; NO and SOD levels decreased; whereas ET-1 and MDA levels increased; the levels of ASMA and TGF-β1 protein in LX-2 cells increased. SIRT1 activator improved the above-mentioned changes

Effects of absorption on coherence domain path length resolved dynamic light scattering in the diffuse regime

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petoukhova, A. L.; Steenbergen, W.; van Leeuwen, T. G.; de Mul, F. F. M.

2002-01-01

A low coherence Mach-Zehnder interferometer is developed for path length resolved dynamic light scattering in highly turbid media. The path length distribution of multiply scattered photons in Intralipid is changed by the addition of absorbing dyes. Path length distributions obtained for various

Effects of absorption on coherence domain path length resolved dynamic light scattering in the diffuse regime

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Petoukhova, Anna; Steenbergen, Wiendelt; van Leeuwen, Ton; de Mul, F.F.M.

2002-01-01

A low coherence Mach–Zehnder interferometer is developed for path length resolved dynamic light scattering in highly turbid media. The path length distribution of multiply scatteredphotons in Intralipid is changed by the addition of absorbing dyes. Path length distributions obtained for various

Joint variable frame rate and length analysis for speech recognition under adverse conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tan, Zheng-Hua; Kraljevski, Ivan

2014-01-01

This paper presents a method that combines variable frame length and rate analysis for speech recognition in noisy environments, together with an investigation of the effect of different frame lengths on speech recognition performance. The method adopts frame selection using an a posteriori signal......-to-noise (SNR) ratio weighted energy distance and increases the length of the selected frames, according to the number of non-selected preceding frames. It assigns a higher frame rate and a normal frame length to a rapidly changing and high SNR region of a speech signal, and a lower frame rate and an increased...... frame length to a steady or low SNR region. The speech recognition results show that the proposed variable frame rate and length method outperforms fixed frame rate and length analysis, as well as standalone variable frame rate analysis in terms of noise-robustness....

Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of a sinusoidal interface driven by a cylindrical shock

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, L.; Ding, J.; Zhai, Z.; Luo, X.

2018-04-01

Evolution of a single-mode interface triggered by a cylindrically converging shock in a V-shaped geometry is investigated numerically using an adaptive multi-phase solver. Several physical mechanisms, including the Bell-Plesset (BP) effect, the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) effect, the nonlinearity, and the compressibility are found to be pronounced in the converging environment. Generally, the BP and nonlinear effects play an important role at early stages, while the RT effect and the compressibility dominate the late-stage evolution. Four sinusoidal interfaces with different initial amplitudes (a_0 ) and wavelengths (λ ) are found to evolve differently in the converging geometry. For the very small a_0 /λ interfaces, nonlinearity is negligible at the early stages and the sole presence of the BP effect results in an increasing growth rate, confining the linear growth of the instability to a relatively small amount of time. For the moderately small a_0 /λ cases, the BP and nonlinear effects, which, respectively, promote and inhibit the perturbation development, coexist in the early stage. The counterbalancing effects between them produce a very long period of growth that is linear in time, even to a moment when the amplitude over wavelength ratio approaches 0.6. The RT stabilization effect at late stages due to the interface deceleration significantly inhibits the perturbation growth, which can be reasonably predicted by a modified Bell model.

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome caused by herbal medicine: CT and MRI features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Hua; Lou, Hai Yan; Wang, Yi Xiang J.; Xu, Xiao Jun; Zhang, Min Ming

2014-01-01

To describe the CT and MRI features of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) caused by herbal medicine Gynura segetum. The CT and MRI features of 16 consecutive Gynura segetum induced HSOS cases (12 men, 4 women) were analyzed. Eight patients had CT; three patients had MRI, and the remaining five patients had both CT and MRI examinations. Based on their clinical presentations and outcomes, the patients were classified into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. The severity of the disease was also evaluated radiologically based on the abnormal hepatic patchy enhancement in post-contrast CT or MRI images. Ascites, patchy liver enhancement, and main right hepatic vein narrowing or occlusion were present in all 16 cases. Hepatomegaly and gallbladder wall thickening were present in 14 cases (87.5%, 14/16). Periportal high intensity on T2-weighted images was present in 6 cases (75%, 6/8). Normal liver parenchymal enhancement surrounding the main hepatic vein forming a clover-like sign was observed in 4 cases (25%, 4/16). The extent of patchy liver enhancement was statistically associated with clinical severity classification (kappa = 0.565). Ascites, patchy liver enhancement, and the main hepatic veins narrowing were the most frequent signs of herbal medicine induced HSOS. The grade of abnormal patchy liver enhancement was associated with the clinical severity.

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome caused by herbal medicine: CT and MRI features

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Hua; Lou, Hai Yan [Dept. of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou (China); Wang, Yi Xiang J. [Dept. of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou (China); Xu, Xiao Jun; Zhang, Min Ming [Dept. of Radiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou (China)

2014-04-15

To describe the CT and MRI features of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) caused by herbal medicine Gynura segetum. The CT and MRI features of 16 consecutive Gynura segetum induced HSOS cases (12 men, 4 women) were analyzed. Eight patients had CT; three patients had MRI, and the remaining five patients had both CT and MRI examinations. Based on their clinical presentations and outcomes, the patients were classified into three categories: mild, moderate, and severe. The severity of the disease was also evaluated radiologically based on the abnormal hepatic patchy enhancement in post-contrast CT or MRI images. Ascites, patchy liver enhancement, and main right hepatic vein narrowing or occlusion were present in all 16 cases. Hepatomegaly and gallbladder wall thickening were present in 14 cases (87.5%, 14/16). Periportal high intensity on T2-weighted images was present in 6 cases (75%, 6/8). Normal liver parenchymal enhancement surrounding the main hepatic vein forming a clover-like sign was observed in 4 cases (25%, 4/16). The extent of patchy liver enhancement was statistically associated with clinical severity classification (kappa = 0.565). Ascites, patchy liver enhancement, and the main hepatic veins narrowing were the most frequent signs of herbal medicine induced HSOS. The grade of abnormal patchy liver enhancement was associated with the clinical severity.

Severe Hepatic Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome in a Child Receiving Vincristine, Actinomycin-D, and Cyclophosphamide for Rhabdomyosarcoma: Successful Treatment with Defibrotide.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Aery; Kang, Young Kyung; Lim, Sewon; Kim, Dong Ho; Lim, Jung Sub; Lee, Jun Ah

2016-10-01

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is a life-threatening syndrome that generally occurs as a complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or, less commonly, after conventional chemotherapy. Regarding SOS in rhabdomyosarcoma patients who received conventional chemotherapy, the doses of chemotherapeutic agents are associated with the development of SOS. Several cases of SOS in rhabdomyosarcoma patients after receiving chemotherapy with escalated doses of cyclophosphamide have been reported. Here, we report on a 9-year-old female with rhabdomyosarcoma who developed severe SOS after receiving chemotherapy consisting of vincristine, actinomycin-D, and a moderate dose of cyclophosphamide. She was treated successfully with defibrotide without sequelae to the liver.

Vocal tract length development during the first two decades of life: A magnetic resonance imaging study

Science.gov (United States)

Vorperian, Houri K.; Chung, Moo K.; Gentry, Lindell R.; Kent, Ray D.; Choih, Celia S.; Durtschi, Reid B.; Ziegert, Andrew J.

2005-09-01

As the vocal tract length (VTL) increases more than twofold from infancy to adulthood, its geometric proportions change. This study assesses the developmental changes of the various hard and soft tissue structures in the vicinity of the vocal tract (VT), and evaluates the relational growth of the various structures with VTL. Magnetic resonance images from 327 cases, ages birth to age 20, were used to secure quantitative measurements of the various soft, cartilaginous and bony structures in the oral and pharyngeal regions using established procedures [Vorperian et al. (1999), (2005)]. Structures measured include: lip thickness, hard- and soft-palate length, tongue length, naso-oro-pharyngeal length, mandibular length and depth, and distance of the hyoid bone and larynx from the posterior nasal spine. Findings indicate: (a) ongoing growth of all oral and pharyngeal structures with changes in growth rate as a function of age; (b) a strong interdependency between structure orientation and its growth curve; and (c) developmental changes in the relational growth of the different VT structures with VTL. Findings provide normative data on the anatomic changes of the supra-laryngeal speech apparatus, and can be used to model the development of the VT. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD Grants R03-DC4362 R01-DC006282, and NIH-NICHHD P30-HK03352.

Ileal transposition surgery produces ileal length-dependent changes in food intake, body weight, gut hormones and glucose metabolism in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramzy, A R; Nausheen, S; Chelikani, P K

2014-03-01

gut hormones, glycemic improvements and associated changes in tissue metabolic markers following IT surgery are dependent on the length of the transposed ileum.

Telomere Length and Mortality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kimura, Masayuki; Hjelmborg, Jacob V B; Gardner, Jeffrey P

2008-01-01

Leukocyte telomere length, representing the mean length of all telomeres in leukocytes, is ostensibly a bioindicator of human aging. The authors hypothesized that shorter telomeres might forecast imminent mortality in elderly people better than leukocyte telomere length. They performed mortality...

Effects of frequency and duration on psychometric functions for detection of increments and decrements in sinusoids in noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, B C; Peters, R W; Glasberg, B R

1999-12-01

Psychometric functions for detecting increments or decrements in level of sinusoidal pedestals were measured for increment and decrement durations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 ms and for frequencies of 250, 1000, and 4000 Hz. The sinusoids were presented in background noise intended to mask spectral splatter. A three-interval, three-alternative procedure was used. The results indicated that, for increments, the detectability index d' was approximately proportional to delta I/I. For decrements, d' was approximately proportional to delta L. The slopes of the psychometric functions increased (indicating better performance) with increasing frequency for both increments and decrements. For increments, the slopes increased with increasing increment duration up to 200 ms at 250 and 1000 Hz, but at 4000 Hz they increased only up to 50 ms. For decrements, the slopes increased for durations up to 50 ms, and then remained roughly constant, for all frequencies. For a center frequency of 250 Hz, the slopes of the psychometric functions for increment detection increased with duration more rapidly than predicted by a "multiple-looks" hypothesis, i.e., more rapidly than the square root of duration, for durations up to 50 ms. For center frequencies of 1000 and 4000 Hz, the slopes increased less rapidly than predicted by a multiple-looks hypothesis, for durations greater than about 20 ms. The slopes of the psychometric functions for decrement detection increased with decrement duration at a rate slightly greater than the square root of duration, for durations up to 50 ms, at all three frequencies. For greater durations, the increase in slope was less than proportional to the square root of duration. The results were analyzed using a model incorporating a simulated auditory filter, a compressive nonlinearity, a sliding temporal integrator, and a decision device based on a template mechanism. The model took into account the effects of both the external noise and an assumed internal

Static correlation lengths in QCD at high temperatures and finite densities

CERN Document Server

Hart, A; Philipsen, O

2000-01-01

We use a perturbatively derived effective field theory and three-dimensional lattice simulations to determine the longest static correlation lengths in the deconfined QCD plasma phase at high temperatures (T\\gsim 2 Tc) and finite densities (\\mu\\lsim 4 T). For vanishing chemical potential, we refine a previous determination of the Debye screening length, and determine the dependence of different correlation lengths on the number of massless flavours as well as on the number of colours. For non-vanishing but small chemical potential, the existence of Debye screening allows us to carry out simulations corresponding to the full QCD with two (or three) massless dynamical flavours, in spite of a complex action. We investigate how the correlation lengths in the different quantum number channels change as the chemical potential is switched on.

Measuring minority-carrier diffusion length using a Kelvin probe force microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shikler, R.; Fried, N.; Meoded, T.; Rosenwaks, Y.

2000-01-01

A method based on Kelvin probe force microscopy for measuring minority-carrier diffusion length in semiconductors is described. The method is based on measuring the surface photovoltage between the tip of an atomic force microscope and the surface of an illuminated semiconductor junction. The photogenerated carriers diffuse to the junction and change the contact potential difference between the tip and the sample, as a function of the distance from the junction. The diffusion length L is then obtained by fitting the measured contact potential difference using the minority-carrier continuity equation. The method was applied to measurements of electron diffusion length in GaP pn and Schottky junctions. The measured diffusion length was found to be ∼2 μm, in good agreement with electron beam induced current measurements

Sonographic Measurement of Normal Splenic Length in Korean Adults

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shin, Sang Bum; Cheon, Byung Kook; Kim, Jong Min; Oh, Kyung Seoung; Jung, Gyoo Sik; Huh, Jin Do; Joh, Young Duk [Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan (Korea, Republic of)

1996-12-15

To establish upper limit of normal splenic length of Korean adults on ultrasonography and to determice the degree of interobserver and intraobserver variation. Ultrasonographic scans were performed to measure the maximum length of spleen in 105 of 150 adults selected by convenience sampling. Remained 45 cases with any conditions that could alter splenic size were excluded from this study. The maximum length of spleen was measured and correlated with body surface area, patient height, weight, age and sex. In 31 of the 105 adults we evaluated the interobserver and intraobserver variations in sonographic measurements of splenic length obtained by three radiologists in blind fashion. The mean splenic length in 105 adults was 8.56cm ({+-} 0.95). The splenic length positively correlated with body surface area, patient height and weight (P <0.001), and negatively correlated with patient age (P < 0.01). Male spleen (8.87 cm {+-} 1.07) was longer than female spleen (8.35 cm {+-} 0.81) (P < 0.05). The following guidelines are proposed for the upper limit of normal splenic length at different groups of body surface area: no longer than 10 cm at 1.20{approx}1.59 m{sup 2}, 11 cm at1.60{approx}1.79 m{sup 2}, and 12 cm at 1.80{approx}1.99 m{sup 2}. The mean interobserver variation between any two radiologists ranged from 0.32 cm ({+-} 0.29) to 0.39 cm ({+-} 0.33) and interobserver variations were within 1 cm in 96%. The mean intraobserver variations were within 0.5 cm in 91%. The splenic length closely correlated with body surface area, patient height, weight and age. Particularly the upper limit of normal splenic length changed according to body surface area. Interobserver variation about 1 cm and intraobserver variation about 0.5 cm should be considered in the measurement of the splenic length on ultrasonography

Structures of PEP–PEO Block Copolymer Micelles: Effects of Changing Solvent and PEO Length and Comparison to a Thermodynamic Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Grethe Vestergaard; Shi, Qing; Deen, G. Roshan

2012-01-01

Structures of poly(ethylene propylene)–poly(ethylene oxide) (PEP–PEO) block copolymer micelles were determined from small-angle X-ray scattering and static light scattering and compared to predictions from a thermodynamic model. Both the corona block length and the solvent water–ethanol ratio were...... changed, leading to a thorough test of this model. With increasing ethanol fraction, the PEP core–solvent interfacial tension decreases, and the solvent quality for PEO changes. The weight-average block masses were 5.0 kDa for PEP and 2.8–49 kDa for PEO. For the lowest PEO molar mass and samples in pure...... water (except for the highest PEO molar mass), the micelles were cylindrical; for other conditions they were spherical. The structural parameters can be reasonably well described by the thermodynamic model by Zhulina et al. [Macromolecules2005, 38 (12), 5330–5351]; however, they have a stronger...

Changes in the timing, length and heating degree days of the heating season in central heating zone of China

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Xiangjin; Liu, Binhui

2016-01-01

Climate change affects the demand for energy consumption, especially for heating and cooling buildings. Using daily mean temperature (Tmean) data, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes of the starting date for heating (HS), ending date for heating (HE), length (HL) and heating degree day (HDD) of the heating season in central heating zone of China. Over China’s central heating zone, regional average HS has become later by 0.97 day per decade and HE has become earlier by 1.49 days per decade during 1960–2011, resulting in a decline of HL (−2.47 days/decade). Regional averaged HDD decreased significantly by 63.22 °C/decade, which implies a decreasing energy demand for heating over the central heating zone of China. Spatially, there are generally larger energy-saving rate in the south, due to low average HDD during the heating season. Over China’s central heating zone, Tmean had a greater effect on HL in warm localities and a greater effect on HDD in cold localities. We project that the sensitivity of HL (HDD) to temperature change will increase (decrease) in a warmer climate. These opposite sensitivities should be considered when we want to predict the effects of climate change on heating energy consumption in China in the future. PMID:27651063

A feedback control system for vibration of magnetostrictive plate subjected to follower force using sinusoidal shear

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ghorbanpour Arani

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In this research, the vibrational behavior of magnetostrictive plate (MsP as a smart component is studied. The plate is subjected to an external follower force and a magnetic field in which the vibration response of MsP has been investigated for both loading combinations. The velocity feedback gain parameter is evaluated to study the effect of magnetic field which is generated by the coil. Sinusoidal shear deformation theory is utilized due to its accuracy of polynomial function with respect to other plate theories. Equations of motion are derived using Hamilton’s principle and solved by differential quadrature method (DQM considering general boundary conditions. The effects of aspect ratio, thickness ratio, follower force and velocity feedback gain are investigated on the frequency response of MsP. Results indicate that magneto-mechanical coupling in MsM helps to control vibrational behaviors of systems such as electro-hydraulic actuator, wireless linear Motors and sensors.

Hepatic Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome During Chemotherapy for Childhood Medulloblastoma: Report of a Case and Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Buckland, Amy; Phillips, Marianne B.; Cole, Catherine H.; Gottardo, Nicholas G.

2014-01-01

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS), also known as veno-occlusive disease, is a well-recognized toxic complication after autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, during treatment of Wilms tumor and rhabdomyosarcoma associated with actinomycin-D, and during acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy due to oral 6-thioguanine. However, its occurrence in the context of chemotherapy regimens for other childhood malignancies is rare. We report a 5-year-old girl with high-risk anaplastic medulloblastoma, who developed severe HSOS during her second cycle of maintenance chemotherapy, consisting of vincristine, cisplatin, and cyclophosphamide. She was treated with defibrotide with complete resolution of the HSOS. These findings and a review of the literature, highlight the occurrence of HSOS in children outside the established settings of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, Wilms tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. PMID:24276042

Interannual variations in length-of-day (LOD) as a tool to assess climate variability and climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmann, E.

2016-12-01

On interannual time scales the atmosphere affects significantly fluctuations in the geodetic quantity of length-of-day (LOD). This effect is directly proportional to perturbations in the relative angular momentum of the atmosphere (AAM) computed from zonal winds. During El Niño events tropospheric westerlies increase due to elevated sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Pacific inducing peak anomalies in relative AAM and correspondingly, in LOD. However, El Niño events affect LOD variations differently strong and the causes of this varying effect are yet not clear. Here, we investigate the LOD-El Niño relationship in the 20th and 21st century (1982-2100) whether the quantity of LOD can be used as a geophysical tool to assess variability and change in a future climate. In our analysis we applied a windowed discrete Fourier transform on all de-seasonalized data to remove climatic signals outside of the El Niño frequency band. LOD (data: IERS) was related in space and time to relative AAM and SSTs (data: ERA-40 reanalysis, IPCC ECHAM05-OM1 20C, A1B). Results from mapped Pearson correlation coefficients and time frequency behavior analysis identified a teleconnection pattern that we term the EN≥65%-index. The EN≥65%-index prescribes a significant change in variation in length-of-day of +65% and more related to (1) SST anomalies of >2° in the Pacific Niño region (160°E-80°W, 5°S-5°N), (2) corresponding stratospheric warming anomalies of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and (3) strong westerly winds in the lower equatorial stratosphere. In our analysis we show that the coupled atmosphere-ocean conditions prescribed in the EN≥65%-index apply to the extreme El Niño events of 19982/83 and 1997/98, and to 75% of all El Niño events in the last third of the 21st century. At that period of time the EN≥65%-index describes a projected altered base state of the equatorial Pacific that shows almost continuous El Niño conditions under climate warming.

Safety and effects of prophylactic defibrotide for sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Meerim; Park, Hyeon Jin; Eom, Hyeon-Seok; Kwon, Young Joo; Park, Jeong A; Lim, Yeon Jung; Yoon, Jong Hyung; Kong, Sun-Young; Ghim, Thad T; Lee, Hye Won; Yun, Tak; Park, Byung-Kiu

2013-01-28

Sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) is a serious complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), with a mortality rate of up to 90%. We report our experience on the use of defibrotide for SOS prophylaxis in HSCT. We retrospectively reviewed data of 49 patients who received defibrotide as SOS prophylaxis during the course of HSCT at the National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea, between August 2005 and July 2008. Thirty-four patients (69.4%) were classified as a high-risk group for developing SOS. Defibrotide was well-tolerated, without any grade 3 or 4 toxicity. The median value of maximum total bilirubin within 100 days after HSCT was within the normal range. SOS was diagnosed in only 1 patient, who underwent autologous HSCT due to relapsed medulloblastoma. There was no day 100 treatment-related mortality in our study. Defibrotide appears to be a safe prophylaxis for SOS. This study suggests that it could be effective to use prophylactic defibrotide in advance to improve HSCT outcomes in patients at risk of SOS.

Does length or neighborhood size cause the word length effect?

Science.gov (United States)

Jalbert, Annie; Neath, Ian; Surprenant, Aimée M

2011-10-01

Jalbert, Neath, Bireta, and Surprenant (2011) suggested that past demonstrations of the word length effect, the finding that words with fewer syllables are recalled better than words with more syllables, included a confound: The short words had more orthographic neighbors than the long words. The experiments reported here test two predictions that would follow if neighborhood size is a more important factor than word length. In Experiment 1, we found that concurrent articulation removed the effect of neighborhood size, just as it removes the effect of word length. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this pattern is also found with nonwords. For Experiment 3, we factorially manipulated length and neighborhood size, and found only effects of the latter. These results are problematic for any theory of memory that includes decay offset by rehearsal, but they are consistent with accounts that include a redintegrative stage that is susceptible to disruption by noise. The results also confirm the importance of lexical and linguistic factors on memory tasks thought to tap short-term memory.

Evidence for long-term change in length, mass and migration phenology of anadromous spawners in French Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

Science.gov (United States)

Bal, G; Montorio, L; Rivot, E; Prévost, E; Baglinière, J-L; Nevoux, M

2017-06-01

This study provides new data on Atlantic salmon Salmo salar life-history traits across France. Using a long-term recreational angling database (1987-2013) covering 34 rivers in three regions (genetic units), a decline in individual length, mass and a delayed adult return to French rivers was reported. Temporal similarities in trait variations between regions may be attributed to common change in environmental conditions at sea. The relative rate of change in phenotypic traits was more pronounced in early maturing fish [1 sea-winter (1SW) fish] than in late maturing fish (2SW fish). Such contrasted response within populations highlights the need to account for the diversity in life histories when exploring mechanisms of phenotypic change in S. salar. Such detailed life-history data on returning S. salar have not previously been reported from France. This study on French populations also contributes to reducing the gap in knowledge by providing further empirical evidence of a global pattern in S. salar across its distribution range. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that the observed changes in life-history traits are primarily associated with environmental changes in the North Atlantic Ocean. They also emphasize the presence of less important, but still significant contrasts between region and life history. © 2017 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Fundamental length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pradhan, T.

1975-01-01

The concept of fundamental length was first put forward by Heisenberg from purely dimensional reasons. From a study of the observed masses of the elementary particles known at that time, it is sumrised that this length should be of the order of magnitude 1 approximately 10 -13 cm. It was Heisenberg's belief that introduction of such a fundamental length would eliminate the divergence difficulties from relativistic quantum field theory by cutting off the high energy regions of the 'proper fields'. Since the divergence difficulties arise primarily due to infinite number of degrees of freedom, one simple remedy would be the introduction of a principle that limits these degrees of freedom by removing the effectiveness of the waves with a frequency exceeding a certain limit without destroying the relativistic invariance of the theory. The principle can be stated as follows: It is in principle impossible to invent an experiment of any kind that will permit a distintion between the positions of two particles at rest, the distance between which is below a certain limit. A more elegant way of introducing fundamental length into quantum theory is through commutation relations between two position operators. In quantum field theory such as quantum electrodynamics, it can be introduced through the commutation relation between two interpolating photon fields (vector potentials). (K.B.)

Area, length and thickness conservation: Dogma or reality?

Science.gov (United States)

Moretti, Isabelle; Callot, Jean Paul

2012-08-01

The basic assumption of quantitative structural geology is the preservation of material during deformation. However the hypothesis of volume conservation alone does not help to predict past or future geometries and so this assumption is usually translated into bed length in 2D (or area in 3D) and thickness conservation. When subsurface data are missing, geologists may extrapolate surface data to depth using the kink-band approach. These extrapolations, preserving both thicknesses and dips, lead to geometries which are restorable but often erroneous, due to both disharmonic deformation and internal deformation of layers. First, the Bolivian Sub-Andean Zone case is presented to highlight the evolution of the concepts on which balancing is based, and the important role played by a decoupling level in enhancing disharmony. Second, analogue models are analyzed to test the validity of the balancing techniques. Chamberlin's excess area approach is shown to be on average valid. However, neither the length nor the thicknesses are preserved. We propose that in real cases, the length preservation hypothesis during shortening could also be a wrong assumption. If the data are good enough to image the decollement level, the Chamberlin excess area method could be used to compute the bed length changes.

Mid-21st-century climate changes increase predicted fire occurrence and fire season length, Northern Rocky Mountains, United States

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Karin L.; Loehman, Rachel A.

2016-01-01

Climate changes are expected to increase fire frequency, fire season length, and cumulative area burned in the western United States. We focus on the potential impact of mid-21st-century climate changes on annual burn probability, fire season length, and large fire characteristics including number and size for a study area in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Although large fires are rare they account for most of the area burned in western North America, burn under extreme weather conditions, and exhibit behaviors that preclude methods of direct control. Allocation of resources, development of management plans, and assessment of fire effects on ecosystems all require an understanding of when and where fires are likely to burn, particularly under altered climate regimes that may increase large fire occurrence. We used the large fire simulation model FSim to model ignition, growth, and containment of wildfires under two climate scenarios: contemporary (based on instrumental weather) and mid-century (based on an ensemble average of global climate models driven by the A1B SRES emissions scenario). Modeled changes in fire patterns include increased annual burn probability, particularly in areas of the study region with relatively short contemporary fire return intervals; increased individual fire size and annual area burned; and fewer years without large fires. High fire danger days, represented by threshold values of Energy Release Component (ERC), are projected to increase in number, especially in spring and fall, lengthening the climatic fire season. For fire managers, ERC is an indicator of fire intensity potential and fire economics, with higher ERC thresholds often associated with larger, more expensive fires. Longer periods of elevated ERC may significantly increase the cost and complexity of fire management activities, requiring new strategies to maintain desired ecological conditions and limit fire risk. Increased fire activity (within the historical range of

Dorsal Phalloplasty to Preserve Penis Length after Penile Prosthesis Implantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osama Shaeer

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Following penile prosthesis implantation (PPI, patients may complain of a decrease in visible penis length. A dorsal phalloplasty defines the penopubic junction by tacking pubic skin to the pubis, revealing the base of the penis. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a dorsal phalloplasty in increasing the visible penis length following PPI. Methods: An inflatable penile prosthesis was implanted in 13 patients with severe erectile dysfunction (ED at the Kamal Shaeer Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, from January 2013 to May 2014. During the surgery, nonabsorbable tacking sutures were used to pin the pubic skin to the pubis through the same penoscrotal incision. Intraoperative penis length was measured before and after the dorsal phalloplasty. Overall patient satisfaction was measured on a 5-point rating scale and patients were requested to subjectively compare their postoperative penis length with memories of their penis length before the onset of ED. Results: Intraoperatively, the dorsal phalloplasty increased the visible length of the erect penis by an average of 25.6%. The average length before and after tacking was 10.2 ± 2.9 cm and 13.7 ± 2.8 cm, respectively (P <0.002. Postoperatively, seven patients (53.8% reported a longer penis, five patients (38.5% reported no change in length and one patient (7.7% reported a slightly shorter penis. The mean overall patient satisfaction score was 4.9 ± 0.3. None of the patients developed postoperative complications. Conclusion: A dorsal phalloplasty during PPI is an effective method of increasing visible penis length, therefore minimising the impression of a shorter penis after implantation.

Evaluation and statistical judgement of neural responses to sinusoidal stimulation in cases with superimposed drift and noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Jastreboff, P W

1979-06-01

Time histograms of neural responses evoked by sinuosidal stimulation often contain a slow drifting and an irregular noise which disturb Fourier analysis of these responses. Section 2 of this paper evaluates the extent to which a linear drift influences the Fourier analysis, and develops a combined Fourier and linear regression analysis for detecting and correcting for such a linear drift. Usefulness of this correcting method is demonstrated for the time histograms of actual eye movements and Purkinje cell discharges evoked by sinusoidal rotation of rabbits in the horizontal plane. In Sect. 3, the analysis of variance is adopted for estimating the probability of the random occurrence of the response curve extracted by Fourier analysis from noise. This method proved to be useful for avoiding false judgements as to whether the response curve was meaningful, particularly when the response was small relative to the contaminating noise.

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome during maintenance therapy of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia is associated with continuous asparaginase therapy and mercaptopurine metabolites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toksvang, Linea Natalie; De Pietri, Silvia; Nielsen, Stine N.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) during treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has mainly been associated with 6-thioguanine. The occurrence of several SOS cases after the introduction of extended pegylated asparaginase (PEG-asparaginase) therapy...... in the Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO) ALL2008 protocol led us to hypothesize that PEG-asparaginase, combined with other drugs, may trigger SOS during 6-thioguanine-free maintenance therapy. PROCEDURE: In children with ALL treated in Denmark according to the NOPHO ALL2008 protocol...... children receiving PEG-asparaginase biweekly, 29 developed SOS (≥2 criteria: hyperbilirubinemia, hepatomegaly, ascites, weight gain ≥2.5%, unexplained thrombocytopenia

Longitudinal changes in telomere length and associated genetic parameters in dairy cattle analysed using random regression models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luise A Seeker

Full Text Available Telomeres cap the ends of linear chromosomes and shorten with age in many organisms. In humans short telomeres have been linked to morbidity and mortality. With the accumulation of longitudinal datasets the focus shifts from investigating telomere length (TL to exploring TL change within individuals over time. Some studies indicate that the speed of telomere attrition is predictive of future disease. The objectives of the present study were to 1 characterize the change in bovine relative leukocyte TL (RLTL across the lifetime in Holstein Friesian dairy cattle, 2 estimate genetic parameters of RLTL over time and 3 investigate the association of differences in individual RLTL profiles with productive lifespan. RLTL measurements were analysed using Legendre polynomials in a random regression model to describe TL profiles and genetic variance over age. The analyses were based on 1,328 repeated RLTL measurements of 308 female Holstein Friesian dairy cattle. A quadratic Legendre polynomial was fitted to the fixed effect of age in months and to the random effect of the animal identity. Changes in RLTL, heritability and within-trait genetic correlation along the age trajectory were calculated and illustrated. At a population level, the relationship between RLTL and age was described by a positive quadratic function. Individuals varied significantly regarding the direction and amount of RLTL change over life. The heritability of RLTL ranged from 0.36 to 0.47 (SE = 0.05-0.08 and remained statistically unchanged over time. The genetic correlation of RLTL at birth with measurements later in life decreased with the time interval between samplings from near unity to 0.69, indicating that TL later in life might be regulated by different genes than TL early in life. Even though animals differed in their RLTL profiles significantly, those differences were not correlated with productive lifespan (p = 0.954.

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin-induced sinusoidal obstructive syndrome treated with defibrotide: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Lannoy, D; Decaudin, B; Grozieux de Laguérenne, A; Barrier, F; Pignon, J M; Wetterwald, M; Odou, P

2006-08-01

New treatments for relapse of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), include gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO), an anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody. We describe a second case of GO-induced sinusoidal obstructive syndrome (SOS) effectively treated with defibrotide (DF). No stem-cell transplantation was involved. On day 23 after the first GO dose, a patient presented with ascites, weight gain, liver enlargement and pain in the right upper quadrant. Sudden hepatic cytolysis (transaminases at six times the normal range: grade 3) and cholestasis [alkaline phosphatase ALP and gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) respectively at four and eight times the normal range: grade 2] were observed but there was no evidence of increase serum bilirubin. Treatment with DF (Prociclide), Crinos; 10 mg/kg/day, or 200 mg, q.i.d.) improved the hepatic abnormality within a few days (serum transaminases decreased from 312 to 103 IU/L for aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and from 141 to 80 IU/L for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) within 3 days ALP increased from 253 to 383 IU/L and gamma-GT from 238 to 417 IU/L 4 days after administration of DF. The clinical and biological features of our case suggest a direct involvement of GO in causing SOS, even when used as monotherapy, without allogenic stem-cell transplantation. Low dose DF (10 mg/kg/day) given early during the development of SOS associated with GO was effective. Unfortunately, in our case the patient eventually died of multi-organ failure probably because of failure of GO.

Unsteady flow damping force prediction of MR dampers subjected to sinusoidal loading

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, M.; Wang, S. Q.; Fu, J.; Peng, Y. X.

2013-02-01

So far quasi-steady models are usually used to design magnetorheological (MR) dampers, but these models are not sufficient to describe the MR damper behavior under unsteady dynamic loading, for fluid inertia is neglected in quasi-steady models, which will bring more error between computer simulation and experimental results. Under unsteady flow model, the fluid inertia terms will bring error calculated upto 10%, so it is necessary to be considered in the governing equation. In this paper, force-stroke behavior of MR damper with flow mode due to sinusoidal loading excitation is mainly investigated, to simplify the analysis, the one-dimensional axisymmetric annular duct geometry of MR dampers is approximated as a rectangular duct. The rectangular duct can be divided into 3 regions for the velocity profile of the incompressible MR fluid flow, in each region, a partial differential equation is composed of by Navier-Stokes equations, boundary conditions and initial conditions to determine the velocity solution. In addition, in this work, not only Bingham plastic model but the Herschel—Bulkley model is adopted to analyze the MR damper performance. The damping force resulting from the pressure drop of unsteady MR dampers can be obtained and used to design or size MR dampers. Compared with the quasi-steady flow damping force, the damping force of unsteady MR dampers is more close to practice, particularly for the high-speed unsteady movement of MR dampers.

Unsteady flow damping force prediction of MR dampers subjected to sinusoidal loading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, M; Fu, J; Wang, S Q; Peng, Y X

2013-01-01

So far quasi-steady models are usually used to design magnetorheological (MR) dampers, but these models are not sufficient to describe the MR damper behavior under unsteady dynamic loading, for fluid inertia is neglected in quasi-steady models, which will bring more error between computer simulation and experimental results. Under unsteady flow model, the fluid inertia terms will bring error calculated upto 10%, so it is necessary to be considered in the governing equation. In this paper, force-stroke behavior of MR damper with flow mode due to sinusoidal loading excitation is mainly investigated, to simplify the analysis, the one-dimensional axisymmetric annular duct geometry of MR dampers is approximated as a rectangular duct. The rectangular duct can be divided into 3 regions for the velocity profile of the incompressible MR fluid flow, in each region, a partial differential equation is composed of by Navier-Stokes equations, boundary conditions and initial conditions to determine the velocity solution. In addition, in this work, not only Bingham plastic model but the Herschel—Bulkley model is adopted to analyze the MR damper performance. The damping force resulting from the pressure drop of unsteady MR dampers can be obtained and used to design or size MR dampers. Compared with the quasi-steady flow damping force, the damping force of unsteady MR dampers is more close to practice, particularly for the high-speed unsteady movement of MR dampers.

The effect of lactation length on greenhouse gas emissions from the national dairy herd.

Science.gov (United States)

Wall, E; Coffey, M P; Pollott, G E

2012-11-01

Many governments have signed up to greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) reduction programmes under their national climate change obligations. Recently, it has been suggested that the use of extended lactations in dairy herds could result in reduced GHGE. Dairy GHGE were modelled on a national basis and the model was used to compare emissions from lactations of three different lengths (305, 370 and 440 days), and a current 'base' scenario on the basis of maintaining current milk production levels. In addition to comparing GHGE from the average 'National Herd' under these scenarios, results were used to investigate how accounting for lactations of different lengths might alter the estimation of emissions calculated from the National Inventory methodology currently recommended by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Data for the three lactation length scenarios were derived from nationally recorded dairy performance information and used in the GHGE model. Long lactations required fewer milking cows and replacements to maintain current milk yield levels than short ones, but GHGEs were found to rise from 1214 t of CO2 equivalent (CE)/farm per year for lactations of 305 days to 1371 t CE/farm per year for 440-day lactations. This apparent anomaly can be explained by the less efficient milk production (kg milk produced per kg cow weight) found in later lactation, a more pronounced effect in longer lactations. The sensitivity of the model to changes in replacement rate, persistency and level of milk yield was investigated. Changes in the replacement rate from 25% to 20% and in persistency by −10% to +20% resulted in very small changes in GHGE. Differences in GHGE due to the level of milk yield were much more dramatic with animals in the top 10% for yield, producing about 25% less GHGE/year than the average animal. National Inventory results were investigated using a more realistic spread of lactation lengths than recommended for such calculations using emissions

Effects of wall roughness and entry length on void profile in vertical bubbly flow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takamasa, Tomoji

1988-01-01

An experimental study of upward air-water bubbly two-phase flow in an entry region was performed with various rough wall test tubes. The objective of the work is to clarify the effects of wall roughness and entry length on void profile. The fluid flows in the vertical circular test tube of 25 mm I.D. under nearly atmospheric pressure, at room temperature. The void profile changes from a pattern similar in appearance to the saddle shape which has local void peaks near the wall, into the power law shape whose curve is approximated by a power law formula, with increasing wall roughness and/or entry length. That is, wall roughness and entry length have a similar effect upon void profile. There are two patterns in the power law shape, a pattern with sharp center peak and a pattern with obtuse center peak. As wall roughness and/or entry length increase, the void profile changes from the former pattern to the latter pattern. At enough long entry length (L/D ≅ 150), every void profile has almost the same power law shape independent of wall roughness. Some void profiles are asymmetric to the axis. (author)

Impact of payment system change from per-case to per-diem on high severity patient's length of stay.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Sung-In; Nam, Chung Mo; Lee, Sang Gyu; Kim, Tae Hyun; Park, Sohee; Park, Eun-Cheol

2016-09-01

A new payment system, the diagnosis-related group (DRG) system, and Korean diagnosis procedure combination (KDPC, per-diem) payment system were officially introduced in 2002 and in 2012, respectively. We evaluated the impact of payment system change from per-case to per-diem on high severity patient's length of stay (LOS).Claim data was used. A total of 36,240 case admissions and 72,480 control admissions were included in the analysis. Segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series between cases and controls was conducted. Hospitals that consistently participated in the DRG payment system and changed to the KDPC payment system were defined as case hospitals. Hospitals that consistently participated in the DRG payment system were defined as control hospitals.LOS increased by 0.025 days per month (P = 0.0055) for 3 surgical diagnosis-related admissions due to the bundled payment system change. LOS among emergency admissions also increased and showed an increasing tendency under the KDPC. The LOS increase was observed specifically for complex procedure admissions and high severity cases (CCI 0, 1: 0.022, P = 0.0142; CCI 2, 3: 0.026, P = 0.0288; CCI ≥ 4: 0.055, P = 0.0003).Although both payment systems are optimized to decrease LOS, incentives to reduce LOS are stronger under the DRG system than under the KDPC system. It is worth noting that too strong incentive for reducing LOS is suitable to high severity cases.

The Role of Thromboelastography in Pediatric Patients with Sinusoidal Obstructive Syndrome Receiving Defibrotide.

Science.gov (United States)

Gendreau, Joanna L; Knoll, Christine; Adams, Roberta H; Su, Leon L

2017-04-01

Sinusoidal obstructive syndrome (SOS) is a potentially fatal form of hepatic injury after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Patients can develop liver dysfunction, portal hypertension, ascites, coagulopathies, and multisystem organ failure. The mortality rate of severe SOS has been reported as high as 98% by day 100 after transplantation. Defibrotide, which is now approved for the treatment of SOS, has significantly decreased mortality. Defibrotide is a polynucleotide with profibrinolytic, anti-ischemic, and anti-inflammatory activity. These properties can increase the risk of life-threatening bleeding in this patient population. Previous protocols have suggested maintaining international normalized ratio ≤ 1.5, platelets > 30 k/uL, and fibrinogen ≥ 150 mg/dL to minimize this risk of bleeding. However, this can be challenging in fluid-sensitive patients with SOS. Thromboelastography (TEG) is a functional assay that evaluates the balance of procoagulant and anticoagulant proteins. In this series, TEG was used to guide defibrotide therapy as well as blood product transfusions in SOS patients with abnormal coagulation studies. Each patient recovered from SOS and had no bleeding complications. A randomized clinical trial is the next step in supporting the use of TEG in SOS patients with abnormal coagulation studies receiving defibrotide therapy. Copyright © 2017 The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Renal length measured by ultrasound in adult mexican population].

Science.gov (United States)

Oyuela-Carrasco, J; Rodríguez-Castellanos, F; Kimura, E; Delgado-Hernández, R; Herrera-Félix, J P

2009-01-01

Renal length estimation by ultrasound is an important parameter in clinical evaluation of kidney disease and healthy donors. Changes in renal volume may be a sign of kidney disease. Correct interpretation of renal length requires the knowledge of normal limits, these have not been described for Latin American population. To describe normal renal length (RL) by ultrasonography in a group of Mexican adults. Ultrasound measure of RL in 153 healthy Mexican adults stratified by age. Describe the association of RL to several anthropometric variables. A total of 77 males and 76 females were scanner. The average age for the group was 44.12 +/- 15.44 years. The mean weight, body mass index (BMI) and height were 68.87 +/- 11.69 Kg, 26.77 +/- 3.82 kg/m2 and 160 +/- 8.62 cm respectively. Dividing the population by gender, showed a height of 166 +/- 6.15 cm for males and 154.7 +/- 5.97 cm for females (p =0.000). Left renal length (LRL) in the whole group was 105.8 +/- 7.56 mm and right renal length (RRL) was 104.3 +/- 6.45 mm (p = 0.000.) The LRL for males was 107.16 +/- 6.97 mm and for females was 104.6 +/- 7.96 mm. The average RRL for males was 105.74 +/- 5.74 mm and for females 102.99 +/- 6.85 mm (p = 0.008.) We noted that RL decreased with age and the rate of decline accelerates alter 60 years of age. Both lengths correlated significantly and positively with weight, BMI and height. The RL was significantly larger in males than in females in both kidneys (p = 0.036) in this Mexican population. Renal length declines after 60 years of age and specially after 70 years.

[Shushu (ancient Chinese numerology) in Lingshu: Gudu (Miraculous Pivot: Bone-Length Measurement)].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuo, Lian-Shi

2010-10-01

Lingshu: Gudu (Miraculous Pivot: Bone-Length Measurement) is compared with literatures concerning the Shushu (ancient Chinese numerology) of the Qin Dynasty (221 B. C. - 206 B. C. ) and the Han Dynasty (206 B. C.-220 A. D.) in this article. And it is discovered that "the number of heaven and earth" in Yijing (The Book of Change) was implied in the bone-length measurement. The theory of Shushu is hidden in the sized of head, neck, chest, abdomen, back and 4 extremities according to the measurement. The meaning of establishment of bone-length measurement, which is found to have universality, laid in setting down the measurement of meridians. And it is the origin of the proportional measurement of locating acupoints. Checked with the theory of Shushu, errors in the description of bone-length measurement could also be found in Lingshu: Gudu (Miraculous Pivot: Bone-Length Measurement) of the present edition, which is helpful for the modern study on the measurement.

Tubing length for long-term oxygen therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Aguiar, Carolina; Davidson, Josy; Carvalho, Andréa K; Iamonti, Vinícius C; Cortopassi, Felipe; Nascimento, Oliver A; Jardim, José R

2015-02-01

Most patients on long-term oxygen therapy use stationary oxygen delivery systems. It is not uncommon for guidelines to instruct patients to use tubing lengths no longer than 19.68 ft (6 m) when using an oxygen concentrator and 49.21 ft (15 m) when using cylinders. However, these concepts are not based on sufficient evidence. Thus, our objective was to evaluate whether a 98.42-ft (30-m) tubing length affects oxygen flow and FIO2 delivery from 1 cylinder and 2 oxygen concentrators. The 3 oxygen delivery systems were randomly selected, and 1, 3, and 5 L/min flows and FIO2 were measured 5 times at each flow at the proximal and distal outlets of the tubing by a gas-flow analyzer. Paired Student t test was used to analyze the difference between flows and FIO2 at proximal and distal outlets of tubing length. A total of 45 flows were measured between proximal and distal outlets of the 98.42-ft (30-m) tubing. Flows were similar for 1 and 3 L/min, but distal flow was higher than proximal flow at 5 L/min (5.57×5.14 L/min, Ptubing at flows 1, 3, and 5 L/min, but the mean difference between measurements was less than 1%. Tubing length of 98.42 ft (30 m) may be used by patients for home delivery oxygen with flows up to 5 L/min, as there were no important changes in flows or FIO2. Copyright © 2015 by Daedalus Enterprises.

Electro-Magnetic Bunch Length Measurement in LEP

CERN Document Server

Vos, L

1998-01-01

Bunch lengths between 3 and 12 mm have been measured routinely in LEP in 1997 with a small (7 mm diameter) button electrode. The measurement method is based on the spectral analysis of the electrode signal and relies on the fact that the transfer function of the complete set-up, including the signal cable, can be computed rather exactly thus eliminating the need for external calibration. The information of beam intensity is recovered as a by-product. It provides an interesting internal validation of the measurement by comparison with the normal intensity measurement. The system has been used to detect subtle but real bunch length changes with bunch intensity which can be attributed to the inductive impedance in LEP. A value for the imaginary (inductive) longitudinal impedance is derived from the observations. An indication for the resistive part of the impedance is given as well.

Corrigendum to "Sinusoidal potential cycling operation of a direct ethanol fuel cell to improving carbon dioxide yields" [J. Power Sources 268 (5 December 2014) 439-442

Science.gov (United States)

Majidi, Pasha; Pickup, Peter G.

2016-09-01

The authors regret that Equation (5) is incorrect and has resulted in errors in Fig. 4 and the efficiencies stated on p. 442. The corrected equation, figure and text are presented below. In addition, the title should be 'Sinusoidal potential cycling operation of a direct ethanol fuel cell to improve carbon dioxide yields', and the reversible cell potential quoted on p. 441 should be 1.14 V. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Generation of Length Distribution, Length Diagram, Fibrogram, and Statistical Characteristics by Weight of Cotton Blends

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Azzouz

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The textile fibre mixture as a multicomponent blend of variable fibres imposes regarding the proper method to predict the characteristics of the final blend. The length diagram and the fibrogram of cotton are generated. Then the length distribution, the length diagram, and the fibrogram of a blend of different categories of cotton are determined. The length distributions by weight of five different categories of cotton (Egyptian, USA (Pima, Brazilian, USA (Upland, and Uzbekistani are measured by AFIS. From these distributions, the length distribution, the length diagram, and the fibrogram by weight of four binary blends are expressed. The length parameters of these cotton blends are calculated and their variations are plotted against the mass fraction x of one component in the blend .These calculated parameters are compared to those of real blends. Finally, the selection of the optimal blends using the linear programming method, based on the hypothesis that the cotton blend parameters vary linearly in function of the components rations, is proved insufficient.

Word length, set size, and lexical factors: Re-examining what causes the word length effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Guitard, Dominic; Gabel, Andrew J; Saint-Aubin, Jean; Surprenant, Aimée M; Neath, Ian

2018-04-19

The word length effect, better recall of lists of short (fewer syllables) than long (more syllables) words has been termed a benchmark effect of working memory. Despite this, experiments on the word length effect can yield quite different results depending on set size and stimulus properties. Seven experiments are reported that address these 2 issues. Experiment 1 replicated the finding of a preserved word length effect under concurrent articulation for large stimulus sets, which contrasts with the abolition of the word length effect by concurrent articulation for small stimulus sets. Experiment 2, however, demonstrated that when the short and long words are equated on more dimensions, concurrent articulation abolishes the word length effect for large stimulus sets. Experiment 3 shows a standard word length effect when output time is equated, but Experiments 4-6 show no word length effect when short and long words are equated on increasingly more dimensions that previous demonstrations have overlooked. Finally, Experiment 7 compared recall of a small and large neighborhood words that were equated on all the dimensions used in Experiment 6 (except for those directly related to neighborhood size) and a neighborhood size effect was still observed. We conclude that lexical factors, rather than word length per se, are better predictors of when the word length effect will occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Flagellum motion in 2-D: Work rate and efficiency of the non-sinusoidal approach

Science.gov (United States)

Viridi, Sparisoma; Nuraini, Nuning; Stephanie, Monica; Rifqi, Ainur; Christina, Dina; Thania, Elsa; Sihite, Erland

2018-03-01

Today microorganisms have been widely used to support human life. Some examples include foodstuffs (Spirulina.sp), to help with medical needs, for mining purposes and more. On the other hand, the development of technology is also very big influence on human life. The combination of technology and health science will be very useful if we can develop it. One is the cancer treatment by utilizing the movement of the flagella to be made a nanorobot used as a carrier of cancer drugs. Movement of flagella that resembles the shape of the arc and straight line can be searched formulation and then applied to the manufacture of nanorobot tail. Then the nanorobot will carry a cancer drug that leads directly to the cancer cells. So hopefully with this nanorobot, can minimize the death of healthy cells around cancer cells. From the results of research and analysis of the movement of flagella, it can be concluded that the smaller the mass of the flagella, the greater the efficiency will be or will be more efficient. So, the energy needed nanorobot will be smaller. Model with non-sinusoidal approach (Brokaw, 1965) is discussed in this work and formulation to get the energy efficiency is proposed and analyzed. Unfortunately, there is a negative value in the formulation.

Diagnostic performance of Contrast-enhanced CT in Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids-induced Hepatic Sinusoidal Obstructive Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Kan, Xuefeng; Ye, Jin; Rong, Xinxin; Lu, Zhiwen; Li, Xin; Wang, Yong; Yang, Ling; Xu, Keshu; Song, Yuhu; Hou, Xiaohua

2016-01-01

Hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) can be caused by pyrrolizidine alkaloids(PAs)-containing herbals. Since PAs exposure is obscure and clinical presentation of HSOS is unspecific, it is challenge to establish the diagnosis of PAs-induced HSOS. Gynura segetum is one of the most wide-use herbals containing PAs. The aim of our study is to describe the features of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in gynura segetum-induced HSOS, and then determine diagnostic performance of radiological signs. We retrospectively analyzed medical records and CT images of HSOS patients (71 cases) and the controls (222 cases) enrolled from January 1, 2008, to Oct 31, 2015. The common findings of contrast CT in PAs-induced HSOS included: ascites (100%), hepatomegaly (78.87%), gallbladder wall thickening (86.96%), pleural effusion (70.42%), hepatic vein narrowing (87.32%), patchy liver enhancement (92.96%), and heterogeneous hypoattenuation (100%); of these signs, patchy enhancement and heterogeneous hypoattenuation were valuable features. Then, the result of diagnostic performance demonstrated that contrast CT possessed better performance in diagnosing PAs-induced HSOS compared with various parameters of Seattle criteria. In conclusion, the patients with PAs-induced HSOS display distinct radiologic features at CT-scan, which reveals that contrast-enhanced CT provides an effective noninvasive method for diagnosing PAs-induced HSOS. PMID:27897243

Gap length distributions by PEPR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warszawer, T.N.

1980-01-01

Conditions guaranteeing exponential gap length distributions are formulated and discussed. Exponential gap length distributions of bubble chamber tracks first obtained on a CRT device are presented. Distributions of resulting average gap lengths and their velocity dependence are discussed. (orig.)

Engraftment and reconstitution of hematopoiesis is dependent on VEGFR2 mediated regeneration of sinusoidal endothelial cells

Science.gov (United States)

Hooper, Andrea T.; Butler, Jason M.; Nolan, Daniel J; Kranz, Andrea; Iida, Kaoruko; Kobayashi, Mariko; Kopp, Hans-Georg; Shido, Koji; Petit, Isabelle; Yanger, Kilangsungla; James, Daylon; Witte, Larry; Zhu, Zhenping; Wu, Yan; Pytowski, Bronislaw; Rosenwaks, Zev; Mittal, Vivek; Sato, Thomas N.; Rafii, Shahin

2011-01-01

SUMMARY The phenotypic attributes and molecular determinants for the regeneration of bone marrow (BM) sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs) and their contribution to hematopoiesis are unknown. We show that after myelosuppression VEGFR2 activation promotes reassembly of regressed SECs, reconstituting hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 expression are restricted to BM vasculature, demarcating a continuous network of VEGFR2+VEGFR3+Sca1− SECs and VEGFR2+VEGFR3−Sca1+ arterioles. While chemotherapy (5FU) and sublethal irradiation (650 rad) induce minor SEC regression, lethal irradiation (950 rad) induces severe regression of SECs requiring BM transplantation (BMT) for regeneration. Conditional deletion of VEGFR2 in adult mice blocks regeneration of SECs in sublethally irradiated animals, preventing hematopoietic reconstitution. Inhibition of VEGFR2 signaling in lethally irradiated wild type mice rescued with BMT severely impairs SEC reconstruction, preventing engraftment and reconstitution of HSPCs. Therefore, activation of VEGFR2 is critical for regeneration of VEGFR3+Sca1− SECs that are essential for engraftment and restoration of HSPCs and hematopoiesis. PMID:19265665

Bevacizumab exacerbates sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) in the animal model and increases MMP 9 production.

Science.gov (United States)

Jafari, Azin; Matthaei, Hanno; Wehner, Sven; Tonguc, Tolga; Kalff, Jörg C; Manekeller, Steffen

2018-04-24

Thanks to modern multimodal treatment the ouctome of patients with colorectal cancer has experienced significant improvements. As a downside, agent specific side effects have been observed such as sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) after oxaliplatin chemotherapy (OX). Bevazicumab targeting VEGF is nowadays comprehensively used in combination protocols with OX but its impact on hepatotoxicity is thus far elusive and focus of the present study. After MCT administration 67% of animals developed SOS. GOT serum concentration significantly increased in animals developing SOS ( p SOS. In contrast, animals receiving VEGF developed SOS merely in 40% while increasing the VEGF dose led to a further decrease in SOS development to 25%. MMP 9 concentration in animals developing SOS was significantly higher compared to controls ( p SOS paralleled by MMP 9 production. Therefore, OX-Bevacizumab combination therapies should be administered with caution, especially if liver parenchyma damage is apparent. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were gavaged Monocrotaline (MCT) to induce SOS. Recombinant VEGF or an Anti-VEGF antibody was administered to MCT-treated rats and the hepatotoxic effect monitored in defined time intervals. MMP 9 expression in the liver was measured by ELISA.

Vibration sensitivity of human muscle spindles and Golgi tendon organs.

Science.gov (United States)

Fallon, James B; Macefield, Vaughan G

2007-07-01

The responses of the various muscle receptors to vibration are more complicated than a naïve categorization into stretch (muscle spindle primary ending), length (muscle spindle secondary endings), and tension (Golgi tendon organs) receptors. To emphasize the similarity of responses to small length changes, we recorded from 58 individual muscle afferents subserving receptors in the ankle or toe dorsiflexors of awake human subjects (32 primary endings, 20 secondary endings, and six Golgi tendon organs). Transverse sinusoidal vibration was applied to the distal tendon of the receptor-bearing muscle, while subjects either remained completely relaxed or maintained a weak isometric contraction of the appropriate muscle. In relaxed muscle, few units responded in a 1:1 manner to vibration, and there was no evidence of a preferred frequency of activation. In active muscle the response profiles of all three receptor types overlapped, with no significant difference in threshold between receptor types. These results emphasize that when intramuscular tension increases during a voluntary contraction, Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindle secondary endings, not just muscle spindle primary endings, can effectively encode small imposed length changes.

Dual-layer electrode-driven liquid crystal lens with electrically tunable focal length and focal plane

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y. A.; Lin, C. F.; Lin, J. P.; Zeng, X. Y.; Yan, Q.; Zhou, X. T.; Guo, T. L.

2018-04-01

Electric-field-driven liquid crystal (ELC) lens with tunable focal length and their depth of field has been extensively applied in 3D display and imaging systems. In this work, a dual-layer electrode-driven liquid crystal (DELC) lens with electrically tunable focal length and controllable focal plane is demonstrated. ITO-SiO2-AZO electrodes with the dual-layer staggered structure on the top substrate are used as driven electrodes within a LC cell, which permits the establishment of an alternative controllability. The focal length of the DELC lens can be adjusted from 1.41 cm to 0.29 cm when the operating voltage changes from 15 V to 40 V. Furthermore, the focal plane of the DELC lens can selectively move by changing the driving method of the applied voltage to the next driven electrodes. This work demonstrates that the DELC lens has potential applications in imaging systems because of electrically tunable focal length and controllable focal plane.

Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome during Treatment for Wilms' Tumor: A Life-threatening Complication.

Science.gov (United States)

Totadri, Sidharth; Trehan, Amita; Bansal, Deepak; Jain, Richa

2017-01-01

Survival rates exceed 90% in Wilms' tumor (WT). Actinomycin-D (ACT-D) which is indispensable in the management of WT is associated with the development of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), a potentially fatal complication. The aim is to study the presentation, management, and outcome of SOS complicating ACT-D administration in WT. Retrospective file review conducted in a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology unit. Patients diagnosed and treated for WT from January 2012 to December 2015 were analyzed. SOS was diagnosed clinically, based on McDonalds criteria, requiring two of the following: jaundice, hepatomegaly and/or right upper quadrant pain, weight gain with or without ascites. Of 104 patients treated, SOS occurred in 5 (4.8%). Age: 6 months to 5 years, 3 were girls. Tumor involved left kidney in 3, right in 1 and a horseshoe kidney in 1. Histopathology was consistent with WT in 4 and clear cell sarcoma kidney in 1. One had pulmonary metastases. Three developed SOS preoperatively and two during adjuvant chemotherapy. None received radiotherapy. Clinical manifestations comprised of jaundice, hepatomegaly, ascites/weight gain, respiratory distress, hypotension, and encephalopathy. Laboratory findings included thrombocytopenia, elevated serum transaminases, and coagulopathy. Treatment included fluid restriction, broad spectrum antibiotics, and transfusional support. Two children received N-acetyl cysteine infusion. Defibrotide was administered to two patients. Four recovered and one succumbed to multi-organ failure. Two patients were safely re-challenged with 50% doses of ACT-D. SOS is a clinical diagnosis. Systematic supportive care can enable complete recovery. Under close monitoring, re-challenge of ACT-D can be performed in gradually escalating doses.

Cutting Whole Length or Partial Length of Internal Anal Sphincter in Managementof Fissure in Ano

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Furat Shani Aoda

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A chronic anal fissure is a common painful perianal condition.The main operative procedure to treat this painful condition is a lateral internal sphincteretomy (LIS.The aim of study is to compare the outcome and complications of closed LIS up to the dentate line (whole length of internal sphincter or up to the fissure apex (partial length of internal sphincter in the treatment of anal fissure.It is a prospective comparativestudy including 100 patients with chronic fissure in ano. All patients assigned to undergo closed LIS. Those patients were randomly divided into two groups: 50 patients underwent LIS to the level of dentate line (whole length and other 50 patients underwent LIS to the level of fissure apex (partial length. Patients were followed up weekly in the 1st month, twice monthly in the second month then monthly   for next 2 months and finally after 1 year. There was satisfactory relief of pain in all patients in both groups & complete healing of the fissure occurred. Regarding post operative incontinence no major degree of incontinence occur in both group but minor degree of incontinence persists In 7 patients after whole length LIS after one year. In conclusion, both whole length & partial length LIS associated with improvement of pain, good chance of healing but whole length LIS associated with more chance of long term  flatus incontinence. Hence,we recommend partial length LIS as treatment forchronic anal fissure.

An optimized method for mouse liver sinusoidal endothelial cell isolation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meyer, Jeremy, E-mail: jeremy.meyer@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Lacotte, Stéphanie, E-mail: stephanie.lacotte@unige.ch [Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Morel, Philippe, E-mail: philippe.morel@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Gonelle-Gispert, Carmen, E-mail: carmen.gonelle@unige.ch [Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland); Bühler, Léo, E-mail: leo.buhler@hcuge.ch [Division of Digestive and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospitals of Geneva, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211 Genève 14 (Switzerland); Unit of Surgical Research, University of Geneva, Rue Michel-Servet 1, 1206 Genève (Switzerland)

2016-12-10

The objective of the present study was to develop an accurate and reproducible method for liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) isolation in mice. Non-parenchymal cells were isolated using a modified two-step collagenase digestion combined with Optiprep density gradient centrifugation. LSEC were further purified using two prevalent methods, short-term selective adherence and CD146+ magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), and compared in terms of cell yield, viability and purity to our purification technique using CD11b cell depletion combined with long-term selective adherence. LSEC purification using our technique allowed to obtain 7.07±3.80 million LSEC per liver, while CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence yielded 2.94±1.28 and 0.99±0.66 million LSEC, respectively. Purity of the final cell preparation reached 95.10±2.58% when using our method. In contrast, CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence gave purities of 86.75±3.26% and 47.95±9.82%, respectively. Similarly, contamination by non-LSEC was the lowest when purification was performed using our technique, with a proportion of contaminating macrophages of only 1.87±0.77%. Further, isolated cells analysed by scanning electron microscopy presented typical LSEC fenestrations organized in sieve plates, demonstrating that the technique allowed to isolate bona fide LSEC. In conclusion, we described a reliable and reproducible technique for the isolation of high yields of pure LSEC in mice. This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare LSEC for studying their biological functions. - Highlights: • This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare primary mouse LSEC for studying their biological functions. • The liver cell dispersion step was improved by performing a retrograde cannulation of the liver. • The cell yield and the purity obtained were higher than comparative techniques in mice. • Contaminating macrophages were removed by introducing a CD11b- magnetic �

An optimized method for mouse liver sinusoidal endothelial cell isolation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, Jeremy; Lacotte, Stéphanie; Morel, Philippe; Gonelle-Gispert, Carmen; Bühler, Léo

2016-01-01

The objective of the present study was to develop an accurate and reproducible method for liver sinusoidal endothelial cell (LSEC) isolation in mice. Non-parenchymal cells were isolated using a modified two-step collagenase digestion combined with Optiprep density gradient centrifugation. LSEC were further purified using two prevalent methods, short-term selective adherence and CD146+ magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS), and compared in terms of cell yield, viability and purity to our purification technique using CD11b cell depletion combined with long-term selective adherence. LSEC purification using our technique allowed to obtain 7.07±3.80 million LSEC per liver, while CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence yielded 2.94±1.28 and 0.99±0.66 million LSEC, respectively. Purity of the final cell preparation reached 95.10±2.58% when using our method. In contrast, CD146+ MACS and short-term selective adherence gave purities of 86.75±3.26% and 47.95±9.82%, respectively. Similarly, contamination by non-LSEC was the lowest when purification was performed using our technique, with a proportion of contaminating macrophages of only 1.87±0.77%. Further, isolated cells analysed by scanning electron microscopy presented typical LSEC fenestrations organized in sieve plates, demonstrating that the technique allowed to isolate bona fide LSEC. In conclusion, we described a reliable and reproducible technique for the isolation of high yields of pure LSEC in mice. This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare LSEC for studying their biological functions. - Highlights: • This protocol provides an efficient method to prepare primary mouse LSEC for studying their biological functions. • The liver cell dispersion step was improved by performing a retrograde cannulation of the liver. • The cell yield and the purity obtained were higher than comparative techniques in mice. • Contaminating macrophages were removed by introducing a CD11b- magnetic �

Telomere length and depression

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wium-Andersen, Marie Kim; Ørsted, David Dynnes; Rode, Line

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Depression has been cross-sectionally associated with short telomeres as a measure of biological age. However, the direction and nature of the association is currently unclear. AIMS: We examined whether short telomere length is associated with depression cross-sectionally as well...... as prospectively and genetically. METHOD: Telomere length and three polymorphisms, TERT, TERC and OBFC1, were measured in 67 306 individuals aged 20-100 years from the Danish general population and associated with register-based attendance at hospital for depression and purchase of antidepressant medication....... RESULTS: Attendance at hospital for depression was associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally, but not prospectively. Further, purchase of antidepressant medication was not associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally or prospectively. Mean follow-up was 7.6 years (range 0...

A floodplain continuum for Atlantic coast rivers of the Southeastern US: Predictable changes in floodplain biota along a river's length

Science.gov (United States)

Batzer, Darold P.; Noe, Gregory; Lee, Linda; Galatowitsch, Mark

2018-01-01

Floodplains are among the world’s economically-most-valuable, environmentally-most-threatened, and yet conceptually-least-understood ecosystems. Drawing on concepts from existing riverine and wetland models, and empirical data from floodplains of Atlantic Coast rivers in the Southeastern US (and elsewhere when possible), we introduce a conceptual model to explain a continuum of longitudinal variation in floodplain ecosystem functions with a particular focus on biotic change. Our hypothesis maintains that major controls on floodplain ecology are either external (ecotonal interactions with uplands or stream/river channels) or internal (wetland-specific functions), and the relative importance of these controls changes progressively from headwater to mid-river to lower-river floodplains. Inputs of water, sediments, nutrients, flora, and fauna from uplands-to-floodplains decrease, while the impacts of wetland biogeochemistry and obligate wetland plants and animals within-floodplains increase, along the length of a river floodplain. Inputs of water, sediment, nutrients, and fauna from river/stream channels to floodplains are greatest mid-river, and lower either up- or down-stream. While the floodplain continuum we develop is regional in scope, we review how aspects may apply more broadly. Management of coupled floodplain-river ecosystems would be improved by accounting for how factors controlling the floodplain ecosystem progressively change along longitudinal riverine gradients.

Studies on bone marrow damages after 60Co irradiation using uncalcified method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Mitsuaki

1976-01-01

Acute bone marrow degeneration and early regeneration after local 60 Co irradiation to rat bone marrow were studied histologically with the use of a ''Cut-all microtome''. With the use of Epon embedding, this method makes it possible to observe bone marrow in the natural state, especially to observe sinusoidal and stromal changes. After 60 Co irradiation of 500 and 1000 r to rat bone marrow, degeneration and disappearance of hematopoietic elements of the erythropoietic and granulopoietic series were noted within three days. In the hematopoietic elements of the megakaryocytic series, after 60 Co irradiation of 500 r, only mild changes were found, but after 60 Co irradiation of 1000 r, significant changes were noted. Sinusoidal and stromal reaction was also noted. Hematopoietic depression and regeneration were correlated with the disappearance and regeneration of the sinusoidal microcirculation. Against the previous reports, in the non-irradiated bone marrow, mild degeneration of the sinusoid was noted. In this study, associated with the degeneration of sinusoid -dilatation of the sinusoid and exudation-, disappearance of hematopoietic cells was noted. The etiology of the above fact is not know at present. (Evans, J.)

Can comodulation masking release occur when frequency changes could promote perceptual segregation of the on-frequency and flanking bands?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Verhey, Jesko L; Epp, Bastian; Stasiak, Arkadiusz

2013-01-01

A common characteristic of natural sounds is that the level fluctuations in different frequency regions are coherent. The ability of the auditory system to use this comodulation is shown when a sinusoidal signal is masked by a masker centred at the signal frequency (on-frequency masker, OFM......) and one or more off-frequency components, commonly referred to as flanking bands (FBs). In general, the threshold of the signal masked by comodulated masker components is lower than when masked by masker components with uncorrelated envelopes or in the presence of the OFM only. This effect is commonly...... referred to as comodulation masking release (CMR). The present study investigates if CMR is also observed for a sinusoidal signal embedded in the OFM when the centre frequencies of the FBs are swept over time with a sweep rate of one octave per second. Both a common change of different frequencies...

Factors related to axial length elongation and myopia progression in orthokeratology practice.

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Bingjie Wang

Full Text Available To investigate which baseline factors are predictive for axial length growth over an average period of 2.5 years in a group of children wearing orthokeratology (OK contact lenses.In this retrospective study, the clinical records of 249 new OK wearers between January 2012 and December 2013 from the contact lens clinic at the Eye and ENT Hospital of Fudan University were reviewed. The primary outcome measure was axial length change from baseline to the time of review (July-August 2015. Independent variables included baseline measures of age at initiation of OK wear, gender, refractive error (spherical equivalent, astigmatism, average keratometry, corneal toricity, central corneal thickness, white-to-white corneal diameter, pupil size, corneal topography eccentricity value (e-value, intraocular pressure (IOP and total time in follow-up (months total. The contributions of all independent variables on axial length change at the time of review were assessed using univariate and multivariable regression analyses.Univariate analyses of the right eyes of 249 OK patients showed that smaller increases in axial length were associated with older age at the onset of OK lens wear, greater baseline spherical equivalent myopic refractive error, less time in follow-up and a smaller e-value. Multivariable analyses of the significant right eye variables showed that the factors associated with smaller axial length growth were older age at the onset of OK lens wear (p<0.0001, greater baseline spherical equivalent myopic refractive error (p = 0.0046 and less time in follow-up (p<0.0001.The baseline factors demonstrating the greatest correlation with reduced axial length elongation during OK lens wear in myopic children included greater baseline spherical equivalent myopic refractive error and older age at the onset of OK lens wear.

Reducing liver transplant length of stay: a Lean Six Sigma approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Toledo, Alexander H; Carroll, Tracy; Arnold, Emily; Tulu, Zeynep; Caffey, Tom; Kearns, Lauren E; Gerber, David A

2013-12-01

Organ transplant centers are under increasing scrutiny to maintain outcomes while controlling cost in a challenging population of patients. Throughout health care and transplant specifically, length of stay is used as a benchmark for both quality and resource utilization. To decrease our length of stay for liver transplant by using Lean Six Sigma methods. The Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) method was used to systematically analyze our process from transplant listing to hospital discharge after transplant, identifying many factors affecting length of stay. Adult, single-organ, primary liver transplant recipients between July 2008 and June 2012 were included in the study. Recipients with living donors or fulminant liver failure were excluded. Multiple interventions, including a clinical pathway and enhanced communication, were implemented. Length of stay after liver transplant and readmission after liver transplant.R ESULTS: Median length of stay decreased significantly from 11 days before the intervention to 8 days after the intervention. Readmission rate did not change throughout the study. The improved length of stay was maintained for 24 months after the study. Using a Lean Six Sigma approach, we were able to significantly decrease the length of stay of liver transplant patients. These results brought our center's outcomes in accordance with our goal and industry benchmark of 8 days. Clear expectations, improved teamwork, and a multidisciplinary clinical pathway were key elements in achieving and maintaining these gains.

Self-calibrating interferometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nussmeier, T.A.

1982-01-01

A self-calibrating interferometer is disclosed which forms therein a pair of Michelson interferometers with one beam length of each Michelson interferometer being controlled by a common phase shifter. The transfer function measured from the phase shifter to either of a pair of detectors is sinusoidal with a full cycle for each half wavelength of phase shifter travel. The phase difference between these two sinusoidal detector outputs represents the optical phase difference between a path of known distance and a path of unknown distance

Extended-length fiber optic carbon dioxide monitoring

Science.gov (United States)

Delgado-Alonso, Jesus; Lieberman, Robert A.

2013-05-01

This paper discusses the design and performance of fiber optic distributed intrinsic sensors for dissolved carbon dioxide, based on the use optical fibers fabricated so that their entire lengths are chemically sensitive. These fibers use a polymer-clad, silica-core structure where the cladding undergoes a large, reversible, change in optical absorbance in the presence of CO2. The local "cladding loss" induced by this change is thus a direct indication of the carbon dioxide concentration in any section of the fiber. To create these fibers, have developed a carbon dioxide-permeable polymer material that adheres well to glass, is physically robust, has a refractive index lower than fused silica, and acts as excellent hosts for a unique colorimetric indicator system that respond to CO2. We have used this proprietary material to produce carbon-dioxide sensitive fibers up to 50 meters long, using commercial optical fiber fabrication techniques. The sensors have shown a measurement range of dissolved CO2 of 0 to 1,450 mg/l (0 to 100% CO2 saturation), limit of detection of 0.3 mg/l and precision of 1.0 mg/l in the 0 to 50 mg/l dissolved CO2 range, when a 5 meter-long sensor fiber segment is used. Maximum fiber length, minimum detectable concentration, and spatial resolution can be adjusted by adjusting indicator concentration and fiber design.

Slow oscillation amplitudes and up-state lengths relate to memory improvement.

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Dominik P J Heib

Full Text Available There is growing evidence of the active involvement of sleep in memory consolidation. Besides hippocampal sharp wave-ripple complexes and sleep spindles, slow oscillations appear to play a key role in the process of sleep-associated memory consolidation. Furthermore, slow oscillation amplitude and spectral power increase during the night after learning declarative and procedural memory tasks. However, it is unresolved whether learning-induced changes specifically alter characteristics of individual slow oscillations, such as the slow oscillation up-state length and amplitude, which are believed to be important for neuronal replay. 24 subjects (12 men aged between 20 and 30 years participated in a randomized, within-subject, multicenter study. Subjects slept on three occasions for a whole night in the sleep laboratory with full polysomnography. Whereas the first night only served for adaptation purposes, the two remaining nights were preceded by a declarative word-pair task or by a non-learning control task. Slow oscillations were detected in non-rapid eye movement sleep over electrode Fz. Results indicate positive correlations between the length of the up-state as well as the amplitude of both slow oscillation phases and changes in memory performance from pre to post sleep. We speculate that the prolonged slow oscillation up-state length might extend the timeframe for the transfer of initial hippocampal to long-term cortical memory representations, whereas the increase in slow oscillation amplitudes possibly reflects changes in the net synaptic strength of cortical networks.

Do changes in surgical procedures for breast cancer have consequences for hospital mean length of stay? A study of women operated on for breast cancer in Sweden, 1980-95

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lindqvist, Rikard; Möller, Torgil R; Stenbeck, Magnus

2002-01-01

period, the mean length of stay for surgical curative breast cancer treatment in Sweden decreased by 56%. In 1980, the proportion of women receiving conservative surgery was 7%. At the end of the period, this share had increased to 51%. Breast-conserving surgery had an approximately 30% shorter mean......BACKGROUND: Between 1986 and 1996, the overall mean overnight length of stay for all diagnoses in Sweden decreased from 20.8 to 7.1 days. OBJECTIVES: The study describes changes in surgical technique, from mastectomy to breast-conserving surgery, in treatment of female breast cancer...... length of stay compared with mastectomy. The gap was remarkably stable during the study period. The shift from mastectomy to breast-conserving surgery had a limited effect on the share of patients that went through lymph node dissection. Neither age nor the number of operations per woman could, to any...

Contingent sounds change the mental representation of one's finger length.

Science.gov (United States)

Tajadura-Jiménez, Ana; Vakali, Maria; Fairhurst, Merle T; Mandrigin, Alisa; Bianchi-Berthouze, Nadia; Deroy, Ophelia

2017-07-18

Mental body-representations are highly plastic and can be modified after brief exposure to unexpected sensory feedback. While the role of vision, touch and proprioception in shaping body-representations has been highlighted by many studies, the auditory influences on mental body-representations remain poorly understood. Changes in body-representations by the manipulation of natural sounds produced when one's body impacts on surfaces have recently been evidenced. But will these changes also occur with non-naturalistic sounds, which provide no information about the impact produced by or on the body? Drawing on the well-documented capacity of dynamic changes in pitch to elicit impressions of motion along the vertical plane and of changes in object size, we asked participants to pull on their right index fingertip with their left hand while they were presented with brief sounds of rising, falling or constant pitches, and in the absence of visual information of their hands. Results show an "auditory Pinocchio" effect, with participants feeling and estimating their finger to be longer after the rising pitch condition. These results provide the first evidence that sounds that are not indicative of veridical movement, such as non-naturalistic sounds, can induce a Pinocchio-like change in body-representation when arbitrarily paired with a bodily action.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2018-04-01

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

Characterization of Wet Air Plasma Jet Powered by Sinusoidal High Voltage and Nanosecond Pulses for Plasma Agricultural Application

Science.gov (United States)

Takashima, Keisuke; Shimada, Keisuke; Konishi, Hideaki; Kaneko, Toshiro

2015-09-01

Not only for the plasma sterilization but also for many of plasma life-science applications, atmospheric pressure plasma devices that allowed us to control its state and reactive species production are deserved to resolve the roles of the chemical species. Influence of the hydroxyl radical and ozone on germination of conidia of a strawberry pathogen is presented. Water addition to air plasma jet significantly improves germination suppression performance, while measured reactive oxygen species (ROS) are reduced. Although the results show a negative correlation between ROS and the germination suppression, this infers the importance of chemical composition generated by plasma. For further control of the plasma product, a plasma jet powered by sinusoidal high voltage and nanosecond pulses is developed and characterized with the voltage-charge Lissajous. Control of breakdown phase and discharge power by pulse-imposed phase is presented. This work is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) Grant Number 15K17480 and Exploratory Research Grant Number 23644199.

Kidney Length in Normal Korean Children

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, In One; Cheon, Jung Eun; Lee, Young Seok; Lee, Sun Wha; Kim, Ok Hwa; Kim, Ji Hye; Kim, Hong Dae; Sim, Jung Suk

2010-01-01

Renal length offers important information to detect or follow-up various renal diseases. The purpose of this study was to determine the kidney length of normal Korean children in relation to age, height, weight, body surface area (BSA), and body mass index (BMI). Children between 1 month and 15 years of age without urological abnormality were recruited. Children below 3rd percentile and over 97th percentile for height or weight were excluded. Both renal lengths were measured in the prone position three times and then averaged by experienced radiologists. The mean length and standard deviation for each age group was obtained, and regression equation was calculated between renal length and age, weight, height, BSA, and BMI, respectively. Renal length was measured in 550 children. Renal length grows rapidly until 24 month, while the growth rate is reduced thereafter. The regression equation for age is: renal length (mm) = 45.953 + 1.064 x age (month, ≤ 24 months) (R2 = 0.720) or 62.173 + 0.203 x age (months, > 24 months) (R2 = 0.711). The regression equation for height is: renal length (mm) = 24.494 + 0.457 x height (cm) (R2 = 0.894). The regression equation for weight is: renal length (mm) = 38.342 + 2.117 x weight (kg, ≤18 kg) (R2 = 0.852) or 64.498 + 0.646 x weight (kg, > 18 kg) (R2 = 0.651). The regression equation for BSA is: renal length (mm) = 31.622 + 61.363 x BSA (m2, ≤ 0.7) (R2 = 0.857) or 52.717 + 29.959 x BSA (m2, > 0.7) (R2 = 0.715). The regression equation for BMI is: renal length (mm) = 44.474 + 1.163 x BMI (R2 = 0.079). This study provides data on the normal renal length and its association with age, weight, height, BSA and BMI. The results of this study will guide the detection and follow-up of renal diseases in Korean children

Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome during Treatment for Wilms' Tumor: A Life-threatening Complication

Science.gov (United States)

Totadri, Sidharth; Trehan, Amita; Bansal, Deepak; Jain, Richa

2017-01-01

Context: Survival rates exceed 90% in Wilms' tumor (WT). Actinomycin-D (ACT-D) which is indispensable in the management of WT is associated with the development of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), a potentially fatal complication. Aims: The aim is to study the presentation, management, and outcome of SOS complicating ACT-D administration in WT. Settings and Design: Retrospective file review conducted in a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology unit. Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed and treated for WT from January 2012 to December 2015 were analyzed. SOS was diagnosed clinically, based on McDonalds criteria, requiring two of the following: jaundice, hepatomegaly and/or right upper quadrant pain, weight gain with or without ascites. Results: Of 104 patients treated, SOS occurred in 5 (4.8%). Age: 6 months to 5 years, 3 were girls. Tumor involved left kidney in 3, right in 1 and a horseshoe kidney in 1. Histopathology was consistent with WT in 4 and clear cell sarcoma kidney in 1. One had pulmonary metastases. Three developed SOS preoperatively and two during adjuvant chemotherapy. None received radiotherapy. Clinical manifestations comprised of jaundice, hepatomegaly, ascites/weight gain, respiratory distress, hypotension, and encephalopathy. Laboratory findings included thrombocytopenia, elevated serum transaminases, and coagulopathy. Treatment included fluid restriction, broad spectrum antibiotics, and transfusional support. Two children received N-acetyl cysteine infusion. Defibrotide was administered to two patients. Four recovered and one succumbed to multi-organ failure. Two patients were safely re-challenged with 50% doses of ACT-D. Conclusions: SOS is a clinical diagnosis. Systematic supportive care can enable complete recovery. Under close monitoring, re-challenge of ACT-D can be performed in gradually escalating doses. PMID:29333010

The comparison between the length of vertical dimension of occlusion and the length of thumb on undergraduate Mongoloid students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goh Li Teng

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The Thumb Rule of Leonardo da Vinci states that many proportions of the face show relationship with the length of thumb which is measured from the proximal tip of the proximal phalanx to the distal tip of the distal phalanx. Previous studies have shown that the length of the vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO is similar to the length of thumb of the Caucasoid race. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the length of VDO have correlations with the length of thumb among those of the Mongoloid race. This study took a survey method with the analytical cross-sectional approach. A total of 80 students of Faculty of Dentistry who have fulfilled all population criteria were randomly chosen to measure the length of VDO and the length of the thumb. Results analyzed with Student's t-test statistic revealed that there was a significant difference between males and females in the length of VDO and the length of the thumb, however, there was no significant difference between the length of VDO and the length of the thumb. There were very strong correlations (P<0.05 between the length of VDO and the length of the thumb. As a conclusion, the length of thumb can be suggested as an objective method to determine the length of VDO in this population.

Amplification of Frequency-Modulated Similariton Pulses in Length-Inhomogeneous Active Fibers

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I. O. Zolotovskii

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The possibility of an effective gain of the self-similar frequency-modulated (FM wave packets is studied in the length-inhomogeneous active fibers. The dynamics of parabolic pulses with the constant chirp has been considered. The optimal profile for the change of the group-velocity dispersion corresponding to the optimal similariton pulse amplification has been obtained. It is shown that the use of FM pulses in the active (gain and length-inhomogeneous optical fibers with the normal group-velocity dispersion can provide subpicosecond optical pulse amplification up to the energies higher than 1 nJ.

All-optical, thermo-optical path length modulation based on the vanadium-doped fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Matjasec, Ziga; Campelj, Stanislav; Donlagic, Denis

2013-05-20

This paper presents an all-fiber, fully-optically controlled, optical-path length modulator based on highly absorbing optical fiber. The modulator utilizes a high-power 980 nm pump diode and a short section of vanadium-co-doped single mode fiber that is heated through absorption and a non-radiative relaxation process. The achievable path length modulation range primarily depends on the pump's power and the convective heat-transfer coefficient of the surrounding gas, while the time response primarily depends on the heated fiber's diameter. An absolute optical length change in excess of 500 µm and a time-constant as short as 11 ms, were demonstrated experimentally. The all-fiber design allows for an electrically-passive and remote operation of the modulator. The presented modulator could find use within various fiber-optics systems that require optical (remote) path length control or modulation.

Dealing with time-varying recruitment and length in Hill-type muscle models.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamouda, Ahmed; Kenney, Laurence; Howard, David

2016-10-03

Hill-type muscle models are often used in muscle simulation studies and also in the design and virtual prototyping of functional electrical stimulation systems. These models have to behave in a sufficiently realistic manner when recruitment level and contractile element (CE) length change continuously. For this reason, most previous models have used instantaneous CE length in the muscle׳s force vs. length (F-L) relationship, but thereby neglect the instability problem on the descending limb (i.e. region of negative slope) of the F-L relationship. Ideally CE length at initial recruitment should be used but this requires a multiple-motor-unit muscle model to properly account for different motor-units having different initial lengths when recruited. None of the multiple-motor-unit models reported in the literature have used initial CE length in the muscle׳s F-L relationship, thereby also neglecting the descending limb instability problem. To address the problem of muscle modelling for continuously varying recruitment and length, and hence different values of initial CE length for different motor-units, a new multiple-motor-unit muscle model is presented which considers the muscle to comprise 1000 individual Hill-type virtual motor-units, which determine the total isometric force. Other parts of the model (F-V relationship and passive elements) are not dependent on the initial CE length and, therefore, they are implemented for the muscle as a whole rather than for the individual motor-units. The results demonstrate the potential errors introduced by using a single-motor-unit model and also the instantaneous CE length in the F-L relationship, both of which are common in FES control studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flame Length

Data.gov (United States)

Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Flame length was modeled using FlamMap, an interagency fire behavior mapping and analysis program that computes potential fire behavior characteristics. The tool...

Growth and liver histology of Channa punctatus exposed to a common biofertilizer.

Science.gov (United States)

Nath, S; Matozzo, V; Bhandari, D; Faggio, C

2018-01-28

Mustard oil cake (MOC) is widely used as biofertilizer in the field of agriculture and aquaculture. Channa punctatus was exposed to 0.42 g.L -1 sublethal concentration for 4, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Due to such exposure, body growth and histological changes in liver were observed. It was revealed that weight, length and breadth of fish were gradually increased with the days of exposure in compare to control fish, whereas, liver showed an increase in sinusoidal space and lipidosis during early days, followed by a recovery from the stress of MOC on the 28th day.

The length and time scales of water's glass transitions

Science.gov (United States)

Limmer, David T.

2014-06-01

Using a general model for the equilibrium dynamics of supercooled liquids, I compute from molecular properties the emergent length and time scales that govern the nonequilibrium relaxation behavior of amorphous ice prepared by rapid cooling. Upon cooling, the liquid water falls out of equilibrium whereby the temperature dependence of its relaxation time is predicted to change from super-Arrhenius to Arrhenius. A consequence of this crossover is that the location of the apparent glass transition temperature depends logarithmically on cooling rate. Accompanying vitrification is the emergence of a dynamical length-scale, the size of which depends on the cooling rate and varies between angstroms and tens of nanometers. While this protocol dependence clarifies a number of previous experimental observations for amorphous ice, the arguments are general and can be extended to other glass forming liquids.

The length and time scales of water's glass transitions.

Science.gov (United States)

Limmer, David T

2014-06-07

Using a general model for the equilibrium dynamics of supercooled liquids, I compute from molecular properties the emergent length and time scales that govern the nonequilibrium relaxation behavior of amorphous ice prepared by rapid cooling. Upon cooling, the liquid water falls out of equilibrium whereby the temperature dependence of its relaxation time is predicted to change from super-Arrhenius to Arrhenius. A consequence of this crossover is that the location of the apparent glass transition temperature depends logarithmically on cooling rate. Accompanying vitrification is the emergence of a dynamical length-scale, the size of which depends on the cooling rate and varies between angstroms and tens of nanometers. While this protocol dependence clarifies a number of previous experimental observations for amorphous ice, the arguments are general and can be extended to other glass forming liquids.

Intraflagellar transport particle size scales inversely with flagellar length: revisiting the balance-point length control model.

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, Benjamin D; Ludington, William B; Marshall, Wallace F

2009-10-05

The assembly and maintenance of eukaryotic flagella are regulated by intraflagellar transport (IFT), the bidirectional traffic of IFT particles (recently renamed IFT trains) within the flagellum. We previously proposed the balance-point length control model, which predicted that the frequency of train transport should decrease as a function of flagellar length, thus modulating the length-dependent flagellar assembly rate. However, this model was challenged by the differential interference contrast microscopy observation that IFT frequency is length independent. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to quantify protein traffic during the regeneration of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flagella, we determined that anterograde IFT trains in short flagella are composed of more kinesin-associated protein and IFT27 proteins than trains in long flagella. This length-dependent remodeling of train size is consistent with the kinetics of flagellar regeneration and supports a revised balance-point model of flagellar length control in which the size of anterograde IFT trains tunes the rate of flagellar assembly.

Controlling the optical path length in turbid media using differential path-length spectroscopy: fiber diameter dependence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kaspers, O. P.; Sterenborg, H. J. C. M.; Amelink, A.

2008-01-01

We have characterized the path length for the differential path-length spectroscopy (DPS) fiber optic geometry for a wide range of optical properties and for fiber diameters ranging from 200 mu m to 1000 mu m. Phantom measurements show that the path length is nearly constant for scattering

Thermal Conductivity of Nanotubes Revisited: Effects of Chirality, Isotope Impurity, Tube Length, and Temperature

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Gang; Li, Baowen

2004-01-01

We study the dependence of thermal conductivity of single walled nanotubes (SWNT) on chirality, isotope impurity, tube length and temperature by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method with accurate potentials. It is found that, contrary to electronic conductivity, the thermal conductivity is insensitive to the chirality. The isotope impurity, however, can reduce the thermal conductivity up to 60% and change the temperature dependence behavior. We also found that the tube length dependence o...

The length of the male urethra

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tobias. S. Kohler

2008-08-01

Full Text Available PURPOSE: Catheter-based medical devices are an important component of the urologic armamentarium. To our knowledge, there is no population-based data regarding normal male urethral length. We evaluated the length of the urethra in men with normal genitourinary anatomy undergoing either Foley catheter removal or standard cystoscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male urethral length was obtained in 109 men. After study permission was obtained, the subject's penis was placed on a gentle stretch and the catheter was marked at the tip of the penis. The catheter was then removed and the distance from the mark to the beginning of the re-inflated balloon was measured. Alternatively, urethral length was measured at the time of cystoscopy, on removal of the cystoscope. Data on age, weight, and height was obtained in patients when possible. RESULTS: The mean urethral length was 22.3 cm with a standard deviation of 2.4 cm. Urethral length varied between 15 cm and 29 cm. No statistically significant correlation was found between urethral length and height, weight, body mass index (BMI, or age. CONCLUSIONS: Literature documenting the length of the normal male adult urethra is scarce. Our data adds to basic anatomic information of the male urethra and may be used to optimize genitourinary device design.

Short Rayleigh Length Free Electron Lasers

CERN Document Server

Crooker, P P; Armstead, R L; Blau, J

2004-01-01

Conventional free electron laser (FEL) oscillators minimize the optical mode volume around the electron beam in the undulator by making the resonator Rayleigh length about one third of the undulator length. This maximizes gain and beam-mode coupling. In compact configurations of high-power infrared FELs or moderate power UV FELs, the resulting optical intensity can damage the resonator mirrors. To increase the spot size and thereby reduce the optical intensity at the mirrors below the damage threshold, a shorter Rayleigh length can be used, but the FEL interaction is significantly altered. A new FEL interaction is described and analyzed with a Rayleigh length that is only one tenth the undulator length, or less. The effect of mirror vibration and positioning are more critical in the short Rayleigh length design, but we find that they are still within normal design tolerances.

Measuring Historical Coastal Change using GIS and the Change Polygon Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, M.J.; Cromley, R.G.

2012-01-01

This study compares two automated approaches, the transect-from-baseline technique and a new change polygon method, for quantifying historical coastal change over time. The study shows that the transect-from-baseline technique is complicated by choice of a proper baseline as well as generating transects that intersect with each other rather than with the nearest shoreline. The change polygon method captures the full spatial difference between the positions of the two shorelines and average coastal change is the defined as the ratio of the net area divided by the shoreline length. Although then change polygon method is sensitive to the definition and measurement of shoreline length, the results are more invariant to parameter changes than the transect-from-baseline method, suggesting that the change polygon technique may be a more robust coastal change method. ?? 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A simple method for estimating the length density of convoluted tubular systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferraz de Carvalho, Cláudio A; de Campos Boldrini, Silvia; Nishimaru, Flávio; Liberti, Edson A

2008-10-01

We present a new method for estimating the length density (Lv) of convoluted tubular structures exhibiting an isotropic distribution. Although the traditional equation Lv=2Q/A is used, the parameter Q is obtained by considering the collective perimeters of tubular sections. This measurement is converted to a standard model of the structure, assuming that all cross-sections are approximately circular and have an average perimeter similar to that of actual circular cross-sections observed in the same material. The accuracy of this method was tested in eight experiments using hollow macaroni bent into helical shapes. After measuring the length of the macaroni segments, they were boiled and randomly packed into cylindrical volumes along with an aqueous suspension of gelatin and India ink. The solidified blocks were cut into slices 1.0 cm thick and 33.2 cm2 in area (A). The total perimeter of the macaroni cross-sections so revealed was stereologically estimated using a test system of straight parallel lines. Given Lv and the reference volume, the total length of macaroni in each section could be estimated. Additional corrections were made for the changes induced by boiling, and the off-axis position of the thread used to measure length. No statistical difference was observed between the corrected estimated values and the actual lengths. This technique is useful for estimating the length of capillaries, renal tubules, and seminiferous tubules.

The relationship between randomness and power-law distributed move lengths in random walk algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Sakiyama, Tomoko; Gunji, Yukio-Pegio

2014-05-01

Recently, we proposed a new random walk algorithm, termed the REV algorithm, in which the agent alters the directional rule that governs it using the most recent four random numbers. Here, we examined how a non-bounded number, i.e., "randomness" regarding move direction, was important for optimal searching and power-law distributed step lengths in rule change. We proposed two algorithms: the REV and REV-bounded algorithms. In the REV algorithm, one of the four random numbers used to change the rule is non-bounded. In contrast, all four random numbers in the REV-bounded algorithm are bounded. We showed that the REV algorithm exhibited more consistent power-law distributed step lengths and flexible searching behavior.

Length dependent properties of SNS microbridges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sauvageau, J.E.; Jain, R.K.; Li, K.; Lukens, J.E.; Ono, R.H.

1985-01-01

Using an in-situ, self-aligned deposition scheme, arrays of variable length SNS junctions in the range of 0.05 μm to 1 μm have been fabricated. Arrays of SNS microbridges of lead-copper and niobium-copper fabricated using this technique have been used to study the length dependence, at constant temperature, of the critical current I and bridge resistance R /SUB d/ . For bridges with lengths pounds greater than the normal metal coherence length xi /SUB n/ (T), the dependence of I /SUB c/ on L is consistent with an exponential dependence on the reduced length l=L/xi /SUB n/ (T). For shorter bridges, deviations from this behavior is seen. It was also found that the bridge resistance R /SUB d/ does not vary linearly with the geometric bridge length but appears to approach a finite value as L→O

Does working memory change with age? The interactions of concurrent articulation with the effects of word length and acoustic confusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Bireta, Tamra J; Fine, Hope C; Vanwormer, Lisa A

2013-01-01

The effects of acoustic confusion (phonological similarity), word length, and concurrent articulation (articulatory suppression) are cited as support for Working Memory's phonological loop component (e.g., Baddeley, 2000 , Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 7, 544). Research has focused on younger adults, with no studies examining whether concurrent articulation reduces the word length and acoustic confusion effects among older adults. In the current study, younger and older adults were given lists of similar and dissimilar letters (Experiment 1) or long and short words (Experiment 2) for immediate serial reconstruction of order. Items were presented visually or auditorily, with or without concurrent articulation. As expected, younger and older adults demonstrated effects of acoustic confusion, word length, and concurrent articulation. Further, concurrent articulation reduced the effects of acoustic confusion and word length equally for younger and older adults. This suggests that age-related differences occur in overall performance, but do not reflect an age-related deficiency in the functioning of the phonological loop component of working memory.

Effective Debye length in closed nanoscopic systems: a competition between two length scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Tessier, Frédéric; Slater, Gary W

2006-02-01

The Poisson-Boltzmann equation (PBE) is widely employed in fields where the thermal motion of free ions is relevant, in particular in situations involving electrolytes in the vicinity of charged surfaces. The applications of this non-linear differential equation usually concern open systems (in osmotic equilibrium with an electrolyte reservoir, a semi-grand canonical ensemble), while solutions for closed systems (where the number of ions is fixed, a canonical ensemble) are either not appropriately distinguished from the former or are dismissed as a numerical calculation exercise. We consider herein the PBE for a confined, symmetric, univalent electrolyte and quantify how, in addition to the Debye length, its solution also depends on a second length scale, which embodies the contribution of ions by the surface (which may be significant in high surface-to-volume ratio micro- or nanofluidic capillaries). We thus establish that there are four distinct regimes for such systems, corresponding to the limits of the two parameters. We also show how the PBE in this case can be formulated in a familiar way by simply replacing the traditional Debye length by an effective Debye length, the value of which is obtained numerically from conservation conditions. But we also show that a simple expression for the value of the effective Debye length, obtained within a crude approximation, remains accurate even as the system size is reduced to nanoscopic dimensions, and well beyond the validity range typically associated with the solution of the PBE.

Sighting optics including an optical element having a first focal length and a second focal length

Science.gov (United States)

Crandall, David Lynn [Idaho Falls, ID

2011-08-01

One embodiment of sighting optics according to the teachings provided herein may include a front sight and a rear sight positioned in spaced-apart relation. The rear sight includes an optical element having a first focal length and a second focal length. The first focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a distance separating the optical element and the front sight and the second focal length is selected so that it is about equal to a target distance. The optical element thus brings into simultaneous focus, for a user, images of the front sight and the target.

Childhood adversity, social support, and telomere length among perinatal women.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Amanda M; Kowalsky, Jennifer M; Epel, Elissa S; Lin, Jue; Christian, Lisa M

2018-01-01

Adverse perinatal health outcomes are heightened among women with psychosocial risk factors, including childhood adversity and a lack of social support. Biological aging could be one pathway by which such outcomes occur. However, data examining links between psychosocial factors and indicators of biological aging among perinatal women are limited. The current study examined the associations of childhood socioeconomic status (SES), childhood trauma, and current social support with telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a sample of 81 women assessed in early, mid, and late pregnancy as well as 7-11 weeks postpartum. Childhood SES was defined as perceived childhood social class and parental educational attainment. Measures included the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and average telomere length in PBMCs. Per a linear mixed model, telomere length did not change across pregnancy and postpartum visits; thus, subsequent analyses defined telomere length as the average across all available timepoints. ANCOVAs showed group differences by perceived childhood social class, maternal and paternal educational attainment, and current family social support, with lower values corresponding with shorter telomeres, after adjustment for possible confounds. No effects of childhood trauma or social support from significant others or friends on telomere length were observed. Findings demonstrate that while current SES was not related to telomeres, low childhood SES, independent of current SES, and low family social support were distinct risk factors for cellular aging in women. These data have relevance for understanding potential mechanisms by which early life deprivation of socioeconomic and relationship resources affect maternal health. In turn, this has potential significance for intergenerational transmission of telomere length. The predictive value of

Associations between levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 and sinusoidal obstruction syndrome after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weischendorff, Sarah; Kielsen, Katrine; Sengeløv, H

2017-01-01

. We hypothesised that insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a mediator of growth and proliferation of various tissues, may attenuate chemotherapy-induced tissue damage after HSCT. We prospectively measured plasma levels of IGF-1 and its binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) in 41 patients undergoing...... myeloablative HSCT. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels were inversely correlated with C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels post HSCT. In multivariate analyses, low levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 before conditioning were associated with increased risk of developing sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS; OR=5.00 per 1...... SDS decrease in IGF-1 (95% CI: 1.45-16.67), P=0.011 and OR=5.00 (1.37-20.00), P=0.015, respectively). Furthermore, low pre-transplant levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 were associated with increased fluid retention during the first 21 days post transplant (OR=7.69 (95% CI: 1.59-33.33), P=0.012, and OR=2...

A high-stability non-contact dilatometer for low-amplitude temperature-modulated measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luckabauer, Martin; Sprengel, Wolfgang; Würschum, Roland [Institute of Materials Physics, Graz University of Technology, A-8010 Graz (Austria)

2016-07-15

Temperature modulated thermophysical measurements can deliver valuable insights into the phase transformation behavior of many different materials. While especially for non-metallic systems at low temperatures numerous powerful methods exist, no high-temperature device suitable for modulated measurements of bulk metallic alloy samples is available for routine use. In this work a dilatometer for temperature modulated isothermal and non-isothermal measurements in the temperature range from room temperature to 1300 K is presented. The length measuring system is based on a two-beam Michelson laser interferometer with an incremental resolution of 20 pm. The non-contact measurement principle allows for resolving sinusoidal length change signals with amplitudes in the sub-500 nm range and physically decouples the length measuring system from the temperature modulation and heating control. To demonstrate the low-amplitude capabilities, results for the thermal expansion of nickel for two different modulation frequencies are presented. These results prove that the novel method can be used to routinely resolve length-change signals of metallic samples with temperature amplitudes well below 1 K. This high resolution in combination with the non-contact measurement principle significantly extends the application range of modulated dilatometry towards high-stability phase transformation measurements on complex alloys.

Working length changes in curved canals after coronal flaring by using rotary files and hand file: An in vitro study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Rahul; Khambete, Neha; Patil, Suvarna; Hoshing, Upendra; Medha, Ashish; Shetty, Roshan

2013-09-01

This in vitro investigation examined the effect of early coronal flaring (CF) and late CF on the working length (WL) in curved root canals. The objective of this study was to determine if canal length is altered as a result of CF in curved canals of molar roots. The conditions compared were combinations of (a) stainless steel hand files using Gates Glidden (G. G.) drills (SS) versus nickel-titanium rotary files (Ni-Ti); and (b) early CF (flaring completed before WL determination) versus late CF (flaring completed after WL determination). Selected were 90 canals of extracted maxillary or mandibular first molars (mesial root of mandibular molars and the mesiobuccal root of the maxillary molars) from three groups. CF was accomplished for the SS group using G. G. drills and for the Ni-Ti group using rotary ProTaper and Hero Shaper files. WL was determined by a digital vernier caliper before CF, immediately after CF, and again after canal preparation. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and a Tukey's multiple prosthoc test were used for this study. Results indicated that WL decreased for all canals as a result of canal preparation. The mean decrease in WL was significantly greater for the SS group (-0.77 ± 0.42 mm) than for the Ni-Ti groups (-0.33 mm ± 0.44). Less change in WL occurred in all groups when initial WL was determined after CF. WL in curved canals consistently decreases during the course of instrumentation. Clinician should keep this in mind for better treatment outcome.

length-weight relationhip of freshwater wild fish species

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Naeem

2012-06-21

Jun 21, 2012 ... Length-weight (LWR) and length-length relationships (LLR) were determined for a freshwater catfish ... Key words: Mystus bleekeri, length-weight relationship, length-length relationship, predictive equations. INTRODUCTION. Mystus bleekeri (freshwater catfish Day, 1877), locally ..... fish farmers, Aquacult.

Using spatiotemporal source separation to identify prominent features in multichannel data without sinusoidal filters.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Michael X

2017-09-27

The number of simultaneously recorded electrodes in neuroscience is steadily increasing, providing new opportunities for understanding brain function, but also new challenges for appropriately dealing with the increase in dimensionality. Multivariate source separation analysis methods have been particularly effective at improving signal-to-noise ratio while reducing the dimensionality of the data and are widely used for cleaning, classifying and source-localizing multichannel neural time series data. Most source separation methods produce a spatial component (that is, a weighted combination of channels to produce one time series); here, this is extended to apply source separation to a time series, with the idea of obtaining a weighted combination of successive time points, such that the weights are optimized to satisfy some criteria. This is achieved via a two-stage source separation procedure, in which an optimal spatial filter is first constructed and then its optimal temporal basis function is computed. This second stage is achieved with a time-delay-embedding matrix, in which additional rows of a matrix are created from time-delayed versions of existing rows. The optimal spatial and temporal weights can be obtained by solving a generalized eigendecomposition of covariance matrices. The method is demonstrated in simulated data and in an empirical electroencephalogram study on theta-band activity during response conflict. Spatiotemporal source separation has several advantages, including defining empirical filters without the need to apply sinusoidal narrowband filters. © 2017 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of G-CSF on telomere lengths in PBMCs from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aladdin, H; Ullum, H; Schjerling, P

2000-01-01

, and not in CD4+ T cells. In this double-blind placebo-controlled study, we investigated the effect of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment combined with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on mean telomere length in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The terminal restriction...... fragment (TRF) length showed no changes during G-CSF treatment although the number of lymphocytes increased significantly. The mean TRF length correlated positively (R = 0.552, P = 0.009) and negatively (R = -0.503, P = 0.02) to the proportion of CD4+ memory and naïve cells, respectively. Our data suggest...

A multiple length scale description of the mechanism of elastomer stretching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Neuefeind, J.; Skov, Anne Ladegaard; Daniels, J. E.

2016-01-01

Conventionally, the stretching of rubber is modeled exclusively by rotations of segments of the embedded polymer chains; i.e. changes in entropy. However models have not been tested on all relevant length scales due to a lack of appropriate probes. Here we present a universal X-ray based method f...

Correcting length-frequency distributions for imperfect detection

Science.gov (United States)

Breton, André R.; Hawkins, John A.; Winkelman, Dana L.

2013-01-01

Sampling gear selects for specific sizes of fish, which may bias length-frequency distributions that are commonly used to assess population size structure, recruitment patterns, growth, and survival. To properly correct for sampling biases caused by gear and other sources, length-frequency distributions need to be corrected for imperfect detection. We describe a method for adjusting length-frequency distributions when capture and recapture probabilities are a function of fish length, temporal variation, and capture history. The method is applied to a study involving the removal of Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu by boat electrofishing from a 38.6-km reach on the Yampa River, Colorado. Smallmouth Bass longer than 100 mm were marked and released alive from 2005 to 2010 on one or more electrofishing passes and removed on all other passes from the population. Using the Huggins mark–recapture model, we detected a significant effect of fish total length, previous capture history (behavior), year, pass, year×behavior, and year×pass on capture and recapture probabilities. We demonstrate how to partition the Huggins estimate of abundance into length frequencies to correct for these effects. Uncorrected length frequencies of fish removed from Little Yampa Canyon were negatively biased in every year by as much as 88% relative to mark–recapture estimates for the smallest length-class in our analysis (100–110 mm). Bias declined but remained high even for adult length-classes (≥200 mm). The pattern of bias across length-classes was variable across years. The percentage of unadjusted counts that were below the lower 95% confidence interval from our adjusted length-frequency estimates were 95, 89, 84, 78, 81, and 92% from 2005 to 2010, respectively. Length-frequency distributions are widely used in fisheries science and management. Our simple method for correcting length-frequency estimates for imperfect detection could be widely applied when mark–recapture data

Probiotics supplementation and length of hospital stay in neonates with gastrointestinal surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronica Mugarab-Samedi

Full Text Available Any manipulation on open bowel causes interventional impact on gut microbiome, and surgical stress triggers bacterial translocation; thus, it will be fundamental to determine gut microbiome after surgery. Monitoring dynamic changes in microbiome of post-surgical infants who received probiotics and placebo could provide with important information about gut colonization and potential bacterial overgrowth.The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of probiotics supplementation on length of hospital stay, duration of parenteral nutrition, and feed tolerance in neonates after gastrointestinal surgery. Keywords: Neonates, Surgery, Probiotics, Microbiome, Length of hospital stay, Full enteral feeds

Effect of hydrocarbon chain length of aliphatic diluents on hydrodynamic properties of irradiated solutions of extractant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gumenyuk, V.E.; Pribush, A.G.; Egorov, G.F.

1990-01-01

To optimize the composition of n-paraffin mixtures with different molecular weight, used as a diluent (D) of extractant during extraction reprocessing of spent fuel, interrelation between D hydrocarbon chain length and change in hydrodynamic properties of extraction mixture on D basis depending on the dose has been considered. It is shown that the value of threshold dose loading (D crit ), at which a sharp change in hydrodynamic properties of tri-n-butyl phosphate solutions in D is observed, decreases with hydrocarbon chain length growth. Empiric ratio relating D crit value and the number of carbon atoms of D is obtained

Defibrotide for the treatment of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome: evaluation of response to therapy and patient outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Coutsouvelis, John; Avery, Sharon; Dooley, Michael; Kirkpatrick, Carl; Spencer, Andrew

2018-03-01

Defibrotide is an agent used to treat sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS/VOD) in patients undergoing haemopoietic stem cell transplantation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of defibrotide used within institutional guidelines for the treatment of SOS/VOD in patients undergoing haemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Data for 23 patients was retrospectively reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of defibrotide and the utility of response criteria to direct therapy as specified within institution guidelines. Patients met institutional criteria for a diagnosis of SOS/VOD based on predominantly Baltimore criteria and received defibrotide. Stabilisation or improvement in symptoms and biochemical markers was required for continuation of therapy with defibrotide. Overall, 14 patients responded to therapy. Survival at day 100 post HSCT was 70%. Median serum (total) bilirubin concentrations in all evaluable patients had decreased at days 5 and 10 (p defibrotide, there was a decrease in the proportion of patients exhibiting hepatomegaly (p = 0.02), ascites (p Defibrotide to treat SOS/VOD and continued based on attainment of early response was effective management of this condition. Defibrotide should be considered in any consensus protocol providing guidance on the management of SOS/VOD, with future studies considered to assess appropriate time points for response to therapy during treatment.

Fragment Length of Circulating Tumor DNA.

Science.gov (United States)

Underhill, Hunter R; Kitzman, Jacob O; Hellwig, Sabine; Welker, Noah C; Daza, Riza; Baker, Daniel N; Gligorich, Keith M; Rostomily, Robert C; Bronner, Mary P; Shendure, Jay

2016-07-01

Malignant tumors shed DNA into the circulation. The transient half-life of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) may afford the opportunity to diagnose, monitor recurrence, and evaluate response to therapy solely through a non-invasive blood draw. However, detecting ctDNA against the normally occurring background of cell-free DNA derived from healthy cells has proven challenging, particularly in non-metastatic solid tumors. In this study, distinct differences in fragment length size between ctDNAs and normal cell-free DNA are defined. Human ctDNA in rat plasma derived from human glioblastoma multiforme stem-like cells in the rat brain and human hepatocellular carcinoma in the rat flank were found to have a shorter principal fragment length than the background rat cell-free DNA (134-144 bp vs. 167 bp, respectively). Subsequently, a similar shift in the fragment length of ctDNA in humans with melanoma and lung cancer was identified compared to healthy controls. Comparison of fragment lengths from cell-free DNA between a melanoma patient and healthy controls found that the BRAF V600E mutant allele occurred more commonly at a shorter fragment length than the fragment length of the wild-type allele (132-145 bp vs. 165 bp, respectively). Moreover, size-selecting for shorter cell-free DNA fragment lengths substantially increased the EGFR T790M mutant allele frequency in human lung cancer. These findings provide compelling evidence that experimental or bioinformatic isolation of a specific subset of fragment lengths from cell-free DNA may improve detection of ctDNA.

Dynamic Allan Variance Analysis Method with Time-Variant Window Length Based on Fuzzy Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shanshan Gu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To solve the problem that dynamic Allan variance (DAVAR with fixed length of window cannot meet the identification accuracy requirement of fiber optic gyro (FOG signal over all time domains, a dynamic Allan variance analysis method with time-variant window length based on fuzzy control is proposed. According to the characteristic of FOG signal, a fuzzy controller with the inputs of the first and second derivatives of FOG signal is designed to estimate the window length of the DAVAR. Then the Allan variances of the signals during the time-variant window are simulated to obtain the DAVAR of the FOG signal to describe the dynamic characteristic of the time-varying FOG signal. Additionally, a performance evaluation index of the algorithm based on radar chart is proposed. Experiment results show that, compared with different fixed window lengths DAVAR methods, the change of FOG signal with time can be identified effectively and the evaluation index of performance can be enhanced by 30% at least by the DAVAR method with time-variant window length based on fuzzy control.

Thermal significance of fission-track length distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crowley, K.D.

1985-01-01

The semi-analytical solution of an equation describing the production and shortening of fission tracks in apatite suggests that certain thermal histories have unique length-distribution 'signatures'. Isothermal-heating histories should be characterized by flattened, length-shortened distributions; step-heating histories should be characterized by bimodal track length distributions; and linear-cooling histories should be characterized by negatively skewed, length-shortened distributions. The model formulated here to investigate track length distributions can be used to constrain the thermal histories of natural samples for which unbiased track length data are available - provided that the geologic history of the system of interest can be used to partially constrain one of the unknowns in the model equations, time or temperature. (author)

A Refined Self-Tuning Filter-Based Instantaneous Power Theory Algorithm for Indirect Current Controlled Three-Level Inverter-Based Shunt Active Power Filters under Non-sinusoidal Source Voltage Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yap Hoon

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a refined reference current generation algorithm based on instantaneous power (pq theory is proposed, for operation of an indirect current controlled (ICC three-level neutral-point diode clamped (NPC inverter-based shunt active power filter (SAPF under non-sinusoidal source voltage conditions. SAPF is recognized as one of the most effective solutions to current harmonics due to its flexibility in dealing with various power system conditions. As for its controller, pq theory has widely been applied to generate the desired reference current due to its simple implementation features. However, the conventional dependency on self-tuning filter (STF in generating reference current has significantly limited mitigation performance of SAPF. Besides, the conventional STF-based pq theory algorithm is still considered to possess needless features which increase computational complexity. Furthermore, the conventional algorithm is mostly designed to suit operation of direct current controlled (DCC SAPF which is incapable of handling switching ripples problems, thereby leading to inefficient mitigation performance. Therefore, three main improvements are performed which include replacement of STF with mathematical-based fundamental real power identifier, removal of redundant features, and generation of sinusoidal reference current. To validate effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm, simulation work in MATLAB-Simulink and laboratory test utilizing a TMS320F28335 digital signal processor (DSP are performed. Both simulation and experimental findings demonstrate superiority of the proposed algorithm over the conventional algorithm.

Screening length in dusty plasma crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolaev, V S; Timofeev, A V

2016-01-01

Particles interaction and value of the screening length in dusty plasma systems are of great interest in dusty plasma area. Three inter-particle potentials (Debye potential, Gurevich potential and interaction potential in the weakly collisional regime) are used to solve equilibrium equations for two dusty particles suspended in a parabolic trap. The inter-particle distance dependence on screening length, trap parameter and particle charge is obtained. The functional form of inter-particle distance dependence on ion temperature is investigated and compared with experimental data at 200-300 K in order to test used potentials applicability to dusty plasma systems at room temperatures. The preference is given to the Yukawa-type potential including effective values of particle charge and screening length. The estimated effective value of the screening length is 5-15 times larger than the Debye length. (paper)

Zero-point length from string fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontanini, Michele; Spallucci, Euro; Padmanabhan, T.

2006-01-01

One of the leading candidates for quantum gravity, viz. string theory, has the following features incorporated in it. (i) The full spacetime is higher-dimensional, with (possibly) compact extra-dimensions; (ii) there is a natural minimal length below which the concept of continuum spacetime needs to be modified by some deeper concept. On the other hand, the existence of a minimal length (zero-point length) in four-dimensional spacetime, with obvious implications as UV regulator, has been often conjectured as a natural aftermath of any correct quantum theory of gravity. We show that one can incorporate the apparently unrelated pieces of information-zero-point length, extra-dimensions, string T-duality-in a consistent framework. This is done in terms of a modified Kaluza-Klein theory that interpolates between (high-energy) string theory and (low-energy) quantum field theory. In this model, the zero-point length in four dimensions is a 'virtual memory' of the length scale of compact extra-dimensions. Such a scale turns out to be determined by T-duality inherited from the underlying fundamental string theory. From a low energy perspective short distance infinities are cutoff by a minimal length which is proportional to the square root of the string slope, i.e., α ' . Thus, we bridge the gap between the string theory domain and the low energy arena of point-particle quantum field theory

Structure-guided investigation of lipopolysaccharide O-antigen chain length regulators reveals regions critical for modal length control.

Science.gov (United States)

Kalynych, Sergei; Ruan, Xiang; Valvano, Miguel A; Cygler, Miroslaw

2011-08-01

The O-antigen component of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) represents a population of polysaccharide molecules with nonrandom (modal) chain length distribution. The number of the repeat O units in each individual O-antigen polymer depends on the Wzz chain length regulator, an inner membrane protein belonging to the polysaccharide copolymerase (PCP) family. Different Wzz proteins confer vastly different ranges of modal lengths (4 to >100 repeat units), despite having remarkably conserved structural folds. The molecular mechanism responsible for the selective preference for a certain number of O units is unknown. Guided by the three-dimensional structures of PCPs, we constructed a panel of chimeric molecules containing parts of two closely related Wzz proteins from Salmonella enterica and Shigella flexneri which confer different O-antigen chain length distributions. Analysis of the O-antigen length distribution imparted by each chimera revealed the region spanning amino acids 67 to 95 (region 67 to 95), region 200 to 255, and region 269 to 274 as primarily affecting the length distribution. We also showed that there is no synergy between these regions. In particular, region 269 to 274 also influenced chain length distribution mediated by two distantly related PCPs, WzzB and FepE. Furthermore, from the 3 regions uncovered in this study, region 269 to 274 appeared to be critical for the stability of the oligomeric form of Wzz, as determined by cross-linking experiments. Together, our data suggest that chain length determination depends on regions that likely contribute to stabilize a supramolecular complex.

Diet, nutrition and telomere length.

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Ligi

2011-10-01

The ends of human chromosomes are protected by DNA-protein complexes termed telomeres, which prevent the chromosomes from fusing with each other and from being recognized as a double-strand break by DNA repair proteins. Due to the incomplete replication of linear chromosomes by DNA polymerase, telomeric DNA shortens with repeated cell divisions until the telomeres reach a critical length, at which point the cells enter senescence. Telomere length is an indicator of biological aging, and dysfunction of telomeres is linked to age-related pathologies like cardiovascular disease, Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease and cancer. Telomere length has been shown to be positively associated with nutritional status in human and animal studies. Various nutrients influence telomere length potentially through mechanisms that reflect their role in cellular functions including inflammation, oxidative stress, DNA integrity, DNA methylation and activity of telomerase, the enzyme that adds the telomeric repeats to the ends of the newly synthesized DNA. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extended fuel cycle length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruyere, M.; Vallee, A.; Collette, C.

1986-09-01

Extended fuel cycle length and burnup are currently offered by Framatome and Fragema in order to satisfy the needs of the utilities in terms of fuel cycle cost and of overall systems cost optimization. We intend to point out the consequences of an increased fuel cycle length and burnup on reactor safety, in order to determine whether the bounding safety analyses presented in the Safety Analysis Report are applicable and to evaluate the effect on plant licensing. This paper presents the results of this examination. The first part indicates the consequences of increased fuel cycle length and burnup on the nuclear data used in the bounding accident analyses. In the second part of this paper, the required safety reanalyses are presented and the impact on the safety margins of different fuel management strategies is examined. In addition, systems modifications which can be required are indicated

Length and time scales of atmospheric moisture recycling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. J. van der Ent

2011-03-01

Full Text Available It is difficult to quantify the degree to which terrestrial evaporation supports the occurrence of precipitation within a certain study region (i.e. regional moisture recycling due to the scale- and shape-dependence of regional moisture recycling ratios. In this paper we present a novel approach to quantify the spatial and temporal scale of moisture recycling, independent of the size and shape of the region under study. In contrast to previous studies, which essentially used curve fitting, the scaling laws presented by us follow directly from the process equation. thus allowing a fair comparison between regions and seasons. The calculation is based on ERA-Interim reanalysis data for the period 1999 to 2008. It is shown that in the tropics or in mountainous terrain the length scale of recycling can be as low as 500 to 2000 km. In temperate climates the length scale is typically between 3000 to 5000 km whereas it amounts to more than 7000 km in desert areas. The time scale of recycling ranges from 3 to 20 days, with the exception of deserts, where it is much longer. The most distinct seasonal differences can be observed over the Northern Hemisphere: in winter, moisture recycling is insignificant, whereas in summer it plays a major role in the climate. The length and time scales of atmospheric moisture recycling can be useful metrics to quantify local climatic effects of land use change.

Influence of carbon nanotube length on toxicity to zebrafish embryos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng J

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Jinping Cheng,1,2 Shuk Han Cheng11Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; 2State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaAbstract: There is currently a large difference of opinion in nanotoxicology studies of nanomaterials. There is concern about why some studies have indicated that there is strong toxicity, while others have not. In this study, the length of carbon nanotubes greatly affected their toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs were sonicated in a nitric acid solution for 24 hours and 48 hours. The modified MWCNTs were tested in early developing zebrafish embryo. MWCNTs prepared with the longer sonication time resulted in severe developmental toxicity; however, the shorter sonication time did not induce any obvious toxicity in the tested developing zebrafish embryos. The cellular and molecular changes of the affected zebrafish embryos were studied and the observed phenotypes scored. This study suggests that length plays an important role in the in vivo toxicity of functionalized CNTs. This study will help in furthering the understanding on current differences in toxicity studies of nanomaterials.Keywords: length, carbon nanotubes, sonication, developmental toxicity, zebrafish

Anomalous length dependence of the conductance of graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges

KAUST Repository

Bilić, Ante

2013-01-01

Charge transport through two sets of symmetric graphene nanoribbons with zigzag shaped edges in a two-terminal device has been investigated, using density functional theory combined with the non-equilibrium Green\\'s function method. The conductance has been explored as a function of nanoribbon length, bias voltage, and the strength of terminal coupling. The set of narrower nanoribbons, in the form of thiolated linear acenes, shows an anomalous length dependence of the conductance, which at first exhibits a drop and a minimum, followed by an evident rise. The length trend is shown to arise because of a gradual transformation in the transport mechanism, which changes from being governed by a continuum of out-of-plane π type and in-plane state channels to being fully controlled by a single, increasingly more resonant, occupied π state channel. For the set of nanoribbons with a wider profile, a steady increase is observed across the whole length range, owing to the absence of the former transport mechanism. The predicted trends are confirmed by the inclusion of self-interaction correction in the calculations. For both sets of nanoribbons the replacement of the strongly coupling thiol groups by weakly bonding phenathroline has been found to cause a strong attenuation with the length and a generally low conductance. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.

effect of side chain length on the stability and structural properties of 3

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We report on the effect of the alkoxy chain length on the thermodynamic ... studied by Hartree-Fock (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. ..... with longer alkoxy substituents on the phenyl ring have lesser value of change in Gibbs ...

Assessing thermally induced errors of machine tools by 3D length measurements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Florussen, G.H.J.; Delbressine, F.L.M.; Schellekens, P.H.J.

2003-01-01

A new measurement technique is proposed for the assessment of thermally induced errors of machine tools. The basic idea is to measure changes of length by a telescopic double ball bar (TDEB) at multiple locations in the machine's workspace while the machine is thermally excited. In addition thermal

Bond-Length Distortions in Strained Semiconductor Alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woicik, J.C.; Pellegrino, J.G.; Steiner, B.; Miyano, K.E.; Bompadre, S.G.; Sorensen, L.B.; Lee, T.; Khalid, S.

1997-01-01

Extended x-ray absorption fine structure measurements performed at In-K edge have resolved the outstanding issue of bond-length strain in semiconductor-alloy heterostructures. We determine the In-As bond length to be 2.581±0.004 Angstrom in a buried, 213 Angstrom thick Ga 0.78 In 0.22 As layer grown coherently on GaAs(001). This bond length corresponds to a strain-induced contraction of 0.015±0.004 Angstrom relative to the In-As bond length in bulk Ga 1-x In x As of the same composition; it is consistent with a simple model which assumes a uniform bond-length distortion in the epilayer despite the inequivalent In-As and Ga-As bond lengths. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

CHOSEN PROPERTIES OF SANDWICH MATERIAL Ti-304 STAINLESS STEEL AFTER EXPLOSIVE WELDING

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Dmytro Ostroushko

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The work deals with evaluation of joint of stainless steel 304 SS (sheet and commercially pure Ti both after welding explosion and followed-up annealing at 600°C/1.5h/air. The bonding line shows sinusoidal character with curls in crest unlike the trough of the sine curve. The heat treatment does not change the character of the interface. In work amplitude, wave length and the interface thickness were measured. Thickness of compressed cladded matrix of Ti was measured in area of crests and troughs. In crest of joint melted zones were studied, where complex oxides and intermetallic phases were revealed.

Stability of a Short Rayleigh Range Laser Resonator with Misaligned or Distorted Mirrors

CERN Document Server

Crooker, Peter P; Colson, William B

2004-01-01

Motivated by the prospect of constructing an FEL with short Rayleigh length in a high-vibration shipboard environment, we have studied the effect of mirror vibration and distortion on the behavior of the fundamental optical mode of a cold-cavity resonator. A tilt or transverse shift of a mirror causes the optical mode to rock sinusoidally about the original resonator axis. A longitudinal mirror shift or a change in the mirror’s radius of curvature causes the beam diameter at a mirror to dilate and contract with successive impacts. Results from both ray-tracing techniques and wavefront propagation simulations are in excellent agreement.

Analytical and numerical solution of three-dimensional channel flow in presence of a sinusoidal fluid injection and a chemical reaction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sahin Ahmed

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Modeling of three-dimensional channel flow in a chemically-reacting fluid between two long vertical parallel flat plates in the presence of a transverse magnetic field is presented. The stationary plate is subjected to a transverse sinusoidal injection velocity distribution while the uniformly moving plate is subjected to a constant suction and slip boundary conditions. Due to this type of injection velocity, the flow becomes three dimensional. Comparisons with previously published work are performed and the results are found to be in excellent agreement. An increase in the permeability/magnetic parameter is found to escalate the velocity near the plate in motion. Growing Reynolds number or magnetic parameter enhances the x-component and reduces the z-component of the skin-friction at the wall at rest. The acquired knowledge in our study can be used by designers to control MHD flow as suitable for certain applications which include laminar magneto-aerodynamics, materials processing and MHD propulsion thermo-fluid dynamics.

Removing damped sinusoidal vibrations in adaptive optics systems using a DFT-based estimation method

Science.gov (United States)

Kania, Dariusz

2017-06-01

The problem of a vibrations rejection in adaptive optics systems is still present in publications. These undesirable signals emerge because of shaking the system structure, the tracking process, etc., and they usually are damped sinusoidal signals. There are some mechanical solutions to reduce the signals but they are not very effective. One of software solutions are very popular adaptive methods. An AVC (Adaptive Vibration Cancellation) method has been presented and developed in recent years. The method is based on the estimation of three vibrations parameters and values of frequency, amplitude and phase are essential to produce and adjust a proper signal to reduce or eliminate vibrations signals. This paper presents a fast (below 10 ms) and accurate estimation method of frequency, amplitude and phase of a multifrequency signal that can be used in the AVC method to increase the AO system performance. The method accuracy depends on several parameters: CiR - number of signal periods in a measurement window, N - number of samples in the FFT procedure, H - time window order, SNR, THD, b - number of A/D converter bits in a real time system, γ - the damping ratio of the tested signal, φ - the phase of the tested signal. Systematic errors increase when N, CiR, H decrease and when γ increases. The value of systematic error for γ = 0.1%, CiR = 1.1 and N = 32 is approximately 10^-4 Hz/Hz. This paper focuses on systematic errors of and effect of the signal phase and values of γ on the results.

Effects of tail docking and docking length on neuroanatomical changes in healed tail tips of pigs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Herskin, M S; Thodberg, K; Jensen, Henrik Elvang

2015-01-01

% (n=19); or leaving 25% (n=11) of the tail length on the pigs. The piglets were docked between day 2 and 4 after birth using a gas-heated apparatus, and were kept under conventional conditions until slaughter at 22 weeks of age, where tails were removed and examined macroscopically and histologically...

Topological analysis of polymeric melts: chain-length effects and fast-converging estimators for entanglement length.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoy, Robert S; Foteinopoulou, Katerina; Kröger, Martin

2009-09-01

Primitive path analyses of entanglements are performed over a wide range of chain lengths for both bead spring and atomistic polyethylene polymer melts. Estimators for the entanglement length N_{e} which operate on results for a single chain length N are shown to produce systematic O(1/N) errors. The mathematical roots of these errors are identified as (a) treating chain ends as entanglements and (b) neglecting non-Gaussian corrections to chain and primitive path dimensions. The prefactors for the O(1/N) errors may be large; in general their magnitude depends both on the polymer model and the method used to obtain primitive paths. We propose, derive, and test new estimators which eliminate these systematic errors using information obtainable from the variation in entanglement characteristics with chain length. The new estimators produce accurate results for N_{e} from marginally entangled systems. Formulas based on direct enumeration of entanglements appear to converge faster and are simpler to apply.

Assessing Fatigue and Ultimate Load Uncertainty in Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Due to Varying Simulation Length

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stewart, G.; Lackner, M.; Haid, L.; Matha, D.; Jonkman, J.; Robertson, A.

2013-07-01

With the push towards siting wind turbines farther offshore due to higher wind quality and less visibility, floating offshore wind turbines, which can be located in deep water, are becoming an economically attractive option. The International Electrotechnical Commission's (IEC) 61400-3 design standard covers fixed-bottom offshore wind turbines, but there are a number of new research questions that need to be answered to modify these standards so that they are applicable to floating wind turbines. One issue is the appropriate simulation length needed for floating turbines. This paper will discuss the results from a study assessing the impact of simulation length on the ultimate and fatigue loads of the structure, and will address uncertainties associated with changing the simulation length for the analyzed floating platform. Recommendations of required simulation length based on load uncertainty will be made and compared to current simulation length requirements.

Economic issues of broiler production length

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Szőllősi László

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The length of broiler production cycle is also an important factor when profitability is measured. This paper is to determine the effects of different market ages and down-time period, overall broiler production cycle length on performance and economic parameters based on Hungarian production and financial circumstances. A deterministic model was constructed to manage the function-like correlations of age-related daily weight gain, daily feed intake and daily mortality data. The results show that broiler production cycle length has a significant effect on production and economic performance. Cycle length is determined by the length of down-time and grow-out periods. If down-time period is reduced by one day, an average net income of EUR 0.55 per m2 is realizable. However, the production period is not directly proportional either with emerging costs or obtainable revenues. Profit maximization is attainable if the production period is 41-42 days.

The influence of spring length on the physical parameters of simple harmonic motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Triana, C A; Fajardo, F

2012-01-01

The aim of this work is to analyse the influence of spring length on the simple harmonic motion of a spring-mass system. In particular, we study the effect of changing the spring length on the elastic constant k, the angular frequency ω and the damping factor γ of the oscillations. To characterize the behaviour of these variables we worked with a series of springs of seven different lengths, in which the elastic constant was found by means of the spring-elongation measurement and ω was obtained from the measurement of the oscillation period T of a suspended mass. The oscillatory movement was recorded using a force sensor and the γ value was determined by the fit of the envelope oscillations. Graphical analysis of the results shows that k, ω and γ decrease when the natural spring length increases. This experiment can be performed with equipment normally found in undergraduate physics laboratories. In addition, through graphical analysis students can deduce some relationships between variables that determine the simple harmonic motion behaviour. (paper)

Optimization of path length stretching in Monte Carlo calculations for non-leakage problems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoogenboom, J.E. [Delft Univ. of Technology (Netherlands)

2005-07-01

Path length stretching (or exponential biasing) is a well known variance reduction technique in Monte Carlo calculations. It can especially be useful in shielding problems where particles have to penetrate a lot of material before being tallied. Several authors sought for optimization of the path length stretching parameter for detection of the leakage of neutrons from a slab. Here the adjoint function behaves as a single exponential function and can well be used to determine the stretching parameter. In this paper optimization is sought for a detector embedded in the system, which changes the adjoint function in the detector drastically. From literature it is known that the combination of path length stretching and angular biasing can result in appreciable variance reduction. However, angular biasing is not generally available in general purpose Monte Carlo codes and therefore we want to restrict ourselves to the application of pure path length stretching and finding optimum parameters for that. Nonetheless, the starting point for our research is the zero-variance scheme. In order to study the solution in detail the simplified monoenergetic two-direction model is adopted, which allows analytical solutions and can still be used in a Monte Carlo simulation. Knowing the zero-variance solution analytically, it is shown how optimum path length stretching parameters can be derived from it. It results in path length shrinking in the detector. Results for the variance in the detector response are shown in comparison with other patterns for the stretching parameter. The effect of anisotropic scattering on the path length stretching parameter is taken into account. (author)

HAMSTRING ARCHITECTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL ADAPTATIONS FOLLOWING LONG VS. SHORT MUSCLE LENGTH ECCENTRIC TRAINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenny Guex

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Most common preventive eccentric-based exercises, such as Nordic hamstring do not include any hip flexion. So, the elongation stress reached is lower than during the late swing phase of sprinting. The aim of this study was to assess the evolution of hamstring architectural (fascicle length and pennation angle and functional (concentric and eccentric optimum angles and concentric and eccentric peak torques parameters following a 3-week eccentric resistance program performed at long (LML versus short muscle length (SML. Both groups performed eight sessions of 3-5x8 slow maximal eccentric knee extensions on an isokinetic dynamometer: the SML group at 0° and the LML group at 80° of hip flexion. Architectural parameters were measured using ultrasound imaging and functional parameters using the isokinetic dynamometer. The fascicle length increased by 4.9% (p<0.01, medium effect size in the SML and by 9.3% (p<0.001, large effect size in the LML group. The pennation angle did not change (p=0.83 in the SML and tended to decrease by 0.7° (p=0.09, small effect size in the LML group. The concentric optimum angle tended to decrease by 8.8° (p=0.09, medium effect size in the SML and by 17.3° (p<0.01, large effect size in the LML group. The eccentric optimum angle did not change (p=0.19, small effect size in the SML and tended to decrease by 10.7° (p=0.06, medium effect size in the LML group. The concentric peak torque did not change in the SML (p=0.37 and the LML (p=0.23 groups, whereas eccentric peak torque increased by 12.9% (p<0.01, small effect size and 17.9% (p<0.001, small effect size in the SML and the LML group, respectively. No group-by-time interaction was found for any parameters. A correlation was found between the training-induced change in fascicle length and the change in concentric optimum angle (r=-0.57, p<0.01. These results suggest that performing eccentric exercises lead to several architectural and functional adaptations. However

Measurements of fatigue crack length at elevated temperature by D. C. electrical potential method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsumoto, Masakatsu; Yamauchi, Isamu; Kodaira, Tsuneo

1982-07-01

The direct current (d.c.) electrical potential method was used to automatically and continuously measure the crack length in cyclic crack growth test at elevated temperature. This report describes some results concerning the calibration curves, i.e. the relation between electrical potential change and amount of crack extention, using SUS 304 and 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steels. It can be concluded that the measurements of fatigue crack length is possible even at elevated temperature as well as at room temperature with the equivalent accuracy. (author)

Climate change velocity underestimates climate change exposure in mountainous regions

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon Z. Dobrowski; Sean A. Parks

2016-01-01

Climate change velocity is a vector depiction of the rate of climate displacement used for assessing climate change impacts. Interpreting velocity requires an assumption that climate trajectory length is proportional to climate change exposure; longer paths suggest greater exposure. However, distance is an imperfect measure of exposure because it does not...

Socio-ecological implications of modifying rotation lengths in forestry.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberge, Jean-Michel; Laudon, Hjalmar; Björkman, Christer; Ranius, Thomas; Sandström, Camilla; Felton, Adam; Sténs, Anna; Nordin, Annika; Granström, Anders; Widemo, Fredrik; Bergh, Johan; Sonesson, Johan; Stenlid, Jan; Lundmark, Tomas

2016-02-01

The rotation length is a key component of even-aged forest management systems. Using Fennoscandian forestry as a case, we review the socio-ecological implications of modifying rotation lengths relative to current practice by evaluating effects on a range of ecosystem services and on biodiversity conservation. The effects of shortening rotations on provisioning services are expected to be mostly negative to neutral (e.g. production of wood, bilberries, reindeer forage), while those of extending rotations would be more varied. Shortening rotations may help limit damage by some of today's major damaging agents (e.g. root rot, cambium-feeding insects), but may also increase other damage types (e.g. regeneration pests) and impede climate mitigation. Supporting (water, soil nutrients) and cultural (aesthetics, cultural heritage) ecosystem services would generally be affected negatively by shortened rotations and positively by extended rotations, as would most biodiversity indicators. Several effect modifiers, such as changes to thinning regimes, could alter these patterns.

Analysis of ureteral length in adult cadavers

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Hugo F. F. Novaes

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction In some occasions, correlations between human structures can help planning surgical intra-abdominal interventions. The previous determination of ureteral length helps pre-operatory planning of surgeries, reduces costs of auxiliary exams, the correct choice of double-J catheter with low morbidity and fewer symptoms, and an adequate adhesion to treatment. Objective To evaluate ureteral length in adult cadavers and to analyze its correlation with anthropometric measures. Materials and Methods: From April 2009 to January 2012 we determined ureteral length of adult cadavers submitted to necropsy and obtained the following measures: height, distance from shoulder to wrist, elbow-wrist, xiphoid appendix-umbilicus, umbilicus-pubis, xiphoid appendix-pubis and between iliac spines. We analyzed the correlations between ureteral length and those anthropometric measures. Results We dissected 115 ureters from 115 adult corpses from April 2009 to January 2012. Median ureteral length didn't vary between sexes or according to height. It was observed no correlation among ureteral length and all considered anthropometric measures in all analyzed subgroups and in general population. There were no significant differences between right and left ureteral measures. Conclusions There is no difference of ureteral length in relation to height or gender (male or female. There is no significant correlation among ureteral length and the considered anthropometric measures.

Wind direction variations in the natural wind – A new length scale

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansson, Jens; Christensen, Silas Sverre

2018-01-01

During an observation period of e.g. 10min, the wind direction will differ from its mean direction for short periods of time, and a body of air will pass by from that direction before the direction changes once again. The present paper introduces a new length scale which we have labeled the angular...... length scale. This length scale expresses the average size of the body of air passing by from any deviation of wind direction away from the mean direction. Using metrological observations from two different sites under varying conditions we have shown that the size of the body of air relative to the mean...... size decreases linearly with the deviation from the mean wind direction when the deviation is normalized with the standard deviation of the wind direction. It is shown that this linear variation is independent of the standard deviation of the wind direction, and that the two full-scale data sets follow...

Copoly(Imide Siloxane) Abhesive Materials with Varied Siloxane Oligomer Length

Science.gov (United States)

Wohl, Christopher J.; Atkins, Brad M.; Belcher, Marcus A.; Connell, John W.

2010-01-01

Incorporation of PDMS moieties into a polyimide matrix lowered the surface energy resulting in enhanced adhesive interactions. Polyimide siloxane materials were generated using amine-terminated PDMS oligomers of different lengths to study changes in surface migration behavior, phase segregation, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties. These materials were characterized using contact angle goniometry, tensile testing, and differential scanning calorimetry. The surface migration behavior of the PDMS component depended upon the siloxane molecular weight as indicated by distinct relationships between PDMS chain length and advancing water contact angles. Similar correlations were observed for percent elongation values obtained from tensile testing, while the addition of PDMS reduced the modulus. High fidelity topographical modification via laser ablation patterning further reduced the polyimide siloxane surface energy. Initial particulate adhesion testing experiments demonstrated that polyimide siloxane materials exhibited greater abhesive interactions relative to their respective homopolyimides.

Relativistic distances, sizes, lengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strel'tsov, V.N.

1992-01-01

Such notion as light or retarded distance, field size, formation way, visible size of a body, relativistic or radar length and wave length of light from a moving atom are considered. The relation between these notions is cleared up, their classification is given. It is stressed that the formation way is defined by the field size of a moving particle. In the case of the electromagnetic field, longitudinal sizes increase proportionally γ 2 with growing charge velocity (γ is the Lorentz-factor). 18 refs

Generation of equivalent forms of operational trans-conductance amplifier-RC sinusoidal oscillators: the nullor approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raj Senani

2014-06-01

Full Text Available It has been shown in two earlier papers published from this study that corresponding to a given single-operational trans-conductance amplifier (single-OTA-RC and dual-OTA-RC sinusoidal oscillators, there are three other structurally distinct equivalent forms having the same characteristic equation, one of which employs both grounded capacitors (GC. In this study, an earlier nullor-based theory of generating equivalent op-amp oscillator circuits, proposed by the first author, is extended to derive equivalent OTA-RC circuits which discloses the existence of an additional number of equivalent forms for the same given OTA-RC oscillators than those predicted by the quoted earlier works, and thereby considerably enlarging the set of equivalents of a given OTA-RC oscillator. Furthermore, the presented nullor-based theory of generating equivalent OTA-RC oscillators results in three additional interesting outcomes: (i the revelation that corresponding to any given OTA-RC oscillator there are two ‘both-GC’ oscillators (and not merely one, as derived in the quoted earlier works; (ii the availability of explicit current outputs in several of the derived equivalents and (iii the realisability explicit-current-output ‘quadrature oscillators’ in some of the generated equivalent oscillators. The workability of the generated equivalent OTA-RC oscillators has been verified by SPICE simulations, based on CMOS OTAs using 0.18 µm CMOS technology process parameters, and some sample results are given.

Evaluation of head movement periodicity and irregularity during locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryuzo eShingai

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Caenorhabditis elegans is suitable for studying the nervous system, which controls behavior. C. elegans shows sinusoidal locomotion on an agar plate. The head moves not only sinusoidally but also more complexly, which reflects regulation of the head muscles by the nervous system. The head movement becomes more irregular with senescence. To date, the head movement complexity has not been quantitatively analyzed. We propose two simple methods for evaluation of the head movement regularity on an agar plate using image analysis. The methods calculate metrics that are a measure of how the head end movement is correlated with body movement. In the first method, the length along the trace of the head end on the agar plate between adjacent intersecting points of the head trace and the quasi-midline of the head trace, which was made by sliding an averaging window of 1/2 the body wavelength, was obtained. Histograms of the lengths showed periodic movement of the head and deviation from it. In the second method, the intersections between the trace of the head end and the trace of the 5 (near the pharynx or 50% (the mid-body point from the head end in the centerline length of the worm image were marked. The length of the head trace between adjacent intersections was measured, and a histogram of the lengths was produced. The histogram for the 5% point showed deviation of the head end movement from the movement near the pharynx. The histogram for the 50% point showed deviation of the head movement from the sinusoidal movement of the body center. Application of these methods to wild type and several mutant strains enabled evaluation of their head movement periodicity and irregularity, and revealed a difference in the age-dependence of head movement irregularity between the strains. A set of five parameters obtained from the histograms reliably identifies differences in head movement between strains.

Extreme telomere length dimorphism in the Tasmanian devil and related marsupials suggests parental control of telomere length.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannah S Bender

Full Text Available Telomeres, specialised structures that protect chromosome ends, play a critical role in preserving chromosome integrity. Telomere dynamics in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii are of particular interest in light of the emergence of devil facial tumour disease (DFTD, a transmissible malignancy that causes rapid mortality and threatens the species with extinction. We used fluorescent in situ hybridisation to investigate telomere length in DFTD cells, in healthy Tasmanian devils and in four closely related marsupial species. Here we report that animals in the Order Dasyuromorphia have chromosomes characterised by striking telomere length dimorphism between homologues. Findings in sex chromosomes suggest that telomere length dimorphism may be regulated by events in the parental germlines. Long telomeres on the Y chromosome imply that telomere lengthening occurs during spermatogenesis, whereas telomere diminution occurs during oogenesis. Although found in several somatic cell tissue types, telomere length dimorphism was not found in DFTD cancer cells, which are characterised by uniformly short telomeres. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of naturally occurring telomere length dimorphism in any species and suggests a novel strategy of telomere length control. Comparative studies in five distantly related marsupials and a monotreme indicate that telomere dimorphism evolved at least 50 million years ago.

Impedance of finite length resistive cylinder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Krinsky

2004-11-01

Full Text Available We determine the impedance of a cylindrical metal tube (resistor of radius a, length g, and conductivity σ attached at each end to perfect conductors of semi-infinite length. Our main interest is in the asymptotic behavior of the impedance at high frequency (k≫1/a. In the equilibrium regime, ka^{2}≪g, the impedance per unit length is accurately described by the well-known result for an infinite length tube with conductivity σ. In the transient regime, ka^{2}≫g, where the contribution of transition radiation arising from the discontinuity in conductivity is important, we derive an analytic expression for the impedance and compute the short-range wakefield. The analytic results are shown to agree with numerical evaluation of the impedance.

[Alveolar bone thickness and root length changes in the treatment of skeletal Class III patients facilitated by improved corticotomy: a cone-beam CT analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jiaqi; Jiang, Jiuhui; Xu, Li; Liang, Cheng; Li, Cuiying; Xu, Xiao

2015-04-01

To evaluate the alveolar bone thickness and root length changes of anterior teeth with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). CBCT scans were taken for 12 skeletal Class III patients who accepted the improved corticotomy (IC) procedures during pre-surgical orthodontics. The CBCT data in T1 (the maxillary dental arch was aligned and leveled) and T2 (extraction space closure) were superimposed and the alveolar bone thickness at root apex level and root length measurements were done. From T1 to T2, the buccal alveolar bone thickness for the upper lateral incisors increased from (1.89±0.83) to (2.47±1.02) mm (P<0.05), and for central incisors and for canines from (2.32±0.71) to (2.68±1.48) mm and from (2.28±1.08) to (2.41±1.40) mm, respectively. According to Sharpe Grading System, the root resorption grade for 69 teeth of 72 was located in Grade 1, two teeth in Grade 2, one tooth in Grade 3. The improved corticotomy had the potential to increase the buccal alveolar bone thickness and the root resorption in most teeth was in Grade 1 according to Sharpe grading system.

Microcomputer system for controlling fuel rod length

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meyer, E.R.; Bouldin, D.W.; Bolfing, B.J.

1979-01-01

A system is being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to automatically measure and control the length of fuel rods for use in a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). The system utilizes an LSI-11 microcomputer for monitoring fuel rod length and for adjusting the primary factor affecting length. Preliminary results indicate that the automated system can maintain fuel rod length within the specified limits of 1.940 +- 0.040 in. This system provides quality control documentation and eliminates the dependence of the current fuel rod molding process on manual length control. In addition, the microcomputer system is compatible with planned efforts to extend control to fuel rod fissile and fertile material contents

Longitudinal changes of telomere length and epigenetic age related to traumatic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Boks, Marco P; van Mierlo, Hans C; Rutten, Bart P F; Radstake, Timothy R D J; De Witte, Lot; Geuze, Elbert; Horvath, Steve; Schalkwyk, Leonard C; Vinkers, Christiaan H; Broen, Jasper C A; Vermetten, Eric

2015-01-01

Several studies have reported an association between traumatic stress and telomere length suggesting that traumatic stress has an impact on ageing at the cellular level. A newly derived tool provides an additional means to investigate cellular ageing by estimating epigenetic age based on DNA methylation profiles. We therefore hypothesise that in a longitudinal study of traumatic stress both indicators of cellular ageing will show increased ageing. We expect that particularly in individuals that developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increases in these ageing parameters would stand out. From an existing longitudinal cohort study, ninety-six male soldiers were selected based on trauma exposure and the presence of symptoms of PTSD. All military personnel were deployed in a combat zone in Afghanistan and assessed before and 6 months after deployment. The Self-Rating Inventory for PTSD was used to measure the presence of PTSD symptoms, while exposure to combat trauma during deployment was measured with a 19-item deployment experiences checklist. These groups did not differ for age, gender, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, military rank, length, weight, or medication use. In DNA from whole blood telomere length was measured and DNA methylation levels were assessed using the Illumina 450K DNA methylation arrays. Epigenetic ageing was estimated using the DNAm age estimator procedure. The association of trauma with telomere length was in the expected direction but not significant (B=-10.2, p=0.52). However, contrary to our expectations, development of PTSD symptoms was associated with the reverse process, telomere lengthening (B=1.91, p=0.018). In concordance, trauma significantly accelerated epigenetic ageing (B=1.97, p=0.032) and similar to the findings in telomeres, development of PTSD symptoms was inversely associated with epigenetic ageing (B=-0.10, p=0.044). Blood cell count, medication and premorbid early life trauma exposure did not

Recruitment of single human low-threshold motor units with increasing loads at different muscle lengths.

Science.gov (United States)

McNulty, P A; Cresswell, A G

2004-06-01

We investigated the recruitment behaviour of low threshold motor units in flexor digitorum superficialis by altering two biomechanical constraints: the load against which the muscle worked and the initial muscle length. The load was increased using isotonic (low load), loaded dynamic (intermediate load) and isometric (high load) contractions in two studies. The initial muscle position reflected resting muscle length in series A, and a longer length with digit III fully extended in series B. Intramuscular EMG was recorded from 48 single motor units in 10 experiments on five healthy subjects, 21 units in series A and 27 in series B, while subjects performed ramp up, hold and ramp down contractions. Increasing the load on the muscle decreased the force, displacement and firing rate of single motor units at recruitment at shorter muscle lengths (Precruitment pattern was observed between loaded dynamic and isotonic contractions, but not between isometric and loaded dynamic contractions. Thus, the recruitment properties of single motor units in human flexor digitorum superficialis are sensitive to changes in both imposed external loads and the initial length of the muscle.

Generalization of improved step length symmetry from treadmill to overground walking in persons with stroke and hemiparesis†

Science.gov (United States)

Savin, Douglas N.; Morton, Susanne M.; Whitall, Jill

2013-01-01

Objectives Determine whether adaptation to a swing phase perturbation during gait transferred from treadmill to overground walking, the rate of overground deadaptation, and whether overground aftereffects improved step length asymmetry in persons with hemiparetic stroke and gait asymmetry. Methods Ten participants with stroke and hemiparesis and 10 controls walked overground on an instrumented gait mat, adapted gait to a swing phase perturbation on a treadmill, then walked overground on the gait mat again. Outcome measures, primary: overground step length symmetry, rates of treadmill step length symmetry adaptation and overground step length symmetry deadaptation; secondary: overground gait velocity, stride length, and stride cycle duration. Results Step length symmetry aftereffects generalized to overground walking and adapted at a similar rate on the treadmill in both groups. Aftereffects decayed at a slower rate overground in participants with stroke and temporarily improved overground step length asymmetry. Both groups’ overground gait velocity increased post adaptation due to increased stride length and decreased stride duration. Conclusions Stroke and hemiparesis do not impair generalization of step length symmetry changes from adapted treadmill to overground walking, but prolong overground aftereffects. Significance Motor adaptation during treadmill walking may be an effective treatment for improving overground gait asymmetries post-stroke. PMID:24286858

Performance of RC columns with partial length corrosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Xiaohui; Liang Fayun

2008-01-01

Experimental and analytical studies on the load capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) columns with partial length corrosion are presented, where only a fraction of the column length was corroded. Twelve simply supported columns were eccentrically loaded. The primary variables were partial length corrosion in tensile or compressive zone and the corrosion level within this length. The failure of the corroded column occurs in the partial length, mainly developed from or located nearby or merged with the longitudinal corrosion cracks. For RC column with large eccentricity, load capacity of the column is mainly influenced by the partial length corrosion in tensile zone; while for RC column with small eccentricity, load capacity of the column greatly decreases due to the partial length corrosion in compressive zone. The destruction of the longitudinally mechanical integrality of the column in the partial length leads to this great reduction of the load capacity of the RC column

Penile length and circumference: an Indian study.

Science.gov (United States)

Promodu, K; Shanmughadas, K V; Bhat, S; Nair, K R

2007-01-01

Apprehension about the normal size of penis is a major concern for men. Aim of the present investigation is to estimate the penile length and circumference of Indian males and to compare the results with the data from other countries. Results will help in counseling the patients worried about the penile size and seeking penis enlargement surgery. Penile length in flaccid and stretched conditions and circumference were measured in a group of 301 physically normal men. Erected length and circumference were measured for 93 subjects. Mean flaccid length was found to be 8.21 cm, mean stretched length 10.88 cm and circumference 9.14 cm. Mean erected length was found to be 13.01 cm and erected circumference was 11.46 cm. Penile dimensions are found to be correlated with anthropometric parameters. Insight into the normative data of penile size of Indian males obtained. There are significant differences in the mean penile length and circumference of Indian sample compared to the data reported from other countries. Study need to be continued with a large sample to establish a normative data applicable to the general population.

Comparison of different undulator schemes with superimposed alternating gradients for the VUV-FEL at the TESLA Test Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pflueger, J.; Nikitina, Y.M. [DESY/HASYLAB, Hamburg (Germany)

1995-12-31

For the VUV-FEL at the TESLA Test Facility an undulator with a total length of 30 m is needed. In this study three different approaches to realize an undulator with a sinusoidal plus a superimposed quadrupolar field were studied with the 3D code MAFIA.

Bunch Length Measurements in SPEAR3

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Corbett, W.J.; Fisher, A.; Huang, X.; Safranek, J.; Sebek, J.; /SLAC; Lumpkin, A.; /Argonne; Sannibale, F.; /LBL, Berkeley; Mok, W.; /Unlisted

2007-11-28

A series of bunch length measurements were made in SPEAR3 for two different machine optics. In the achromatic optics the bunch length increases from the low-current value of 16.6ps rms to about 30ps at 25ma/bunch yielding an inductive impedance of -0.17{Omega}. Reducing the momentum compaction factor by a factor of {approx}60 [1] yields a low-current bunch length of {approx}4ps rms. In this paper we review the experimental setup and results.

Assessment of weather indicators for possible climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maqssood, H.; Ahmed, S.I.

2014-01-01

From 20 century onwards, a great concern has been expressed regarding global climate change. This study attempts to perform detailed analysis of temperature and precipitation for Karachi city of Pakistan, to assess the possible climate change, using two data sets (51-year data: 1961-2012 and 31-year data: 1981-2012) for different parameters. Trends were generated using linear regression (LR) and Mann-Kendall (MK), which depicted that daily and annual temperatures were increasing, with changes in minimum temperature being more significant than maximum temperature. Analyses also showed increase in extreme temperature at night and during winter, showing that urbanization was a major factor, as the heat from buildings trapped in between dissipates at nights. The daily and monthly precipitation levels increased in contrast to annual precipitation trend, which is justified by the averaged monthly analysis showing that decreasing trends were much more significant than increasing trends. In addition, monthly precipitation showed an increase of 4.3 mm, using LR and MK test. It can be noticed that two extreme winter months (December and January) and two extreme hot months (May and October) received increased rainfall. However, statistical analyses showed overall annual decrease in rainfall. Furthermore, decadal analysis indicated sinusoidal behaviour of change in climate indicators; making climatic change evident but cyclic in nature. (author)

LENGTH-WEIGHT RELATIONSHIP AND CONDITION FACTOR OF ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Data Collection and Analysis. The measurements of length (cm), weight (g) and the condition factor of individual fish sampled were recorded. The relationship between length and weight of the fish was examined by simple linear regression using WINKS software. The variations in the length-weight represented by 'b' were.

πK-scattering lengths

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Volkov, M.K.; Osipov, A.A.

1983-01-01

The msub(π)asub(0)sup(1/2)=0.1, msub(π)asub(0)sup(3/2)=-0.1, msub(π)asub(0)sup((-))=0.07, msub(π)sup(3)asub(1)sup(1/2)=0.018, msub(π)sup(3)asub(1)aup(3/2)=0.002, msub(π)sup(3)asub(1)sup((-))=0.0044, msub(π)sup(5)asub(2)sup(1/2)=2.4x10sup(-4) and msub(π)sup(5)asub(2)sup(3/2)=-1.2x10sup(-4) scattering lengths are calculated in the framework of the composite meson model which is based on four-quark interaction. The decay form factors of (rho, epsilon, S*) → 2π, (K tilde, K*) → Kπ are used. The q 2 -terms of the quark box diagrams are taken into account. It is shown that the q 2 -terms of the box diagrams give the main contribution to the s-wave scattering lengths. The diagrams with the intermediate vector mesons begin to play the essential role at calculation of the p- and d-wave scattering lengths

Validation of Navigation Ultrasound for Clavicular Length Measurement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høj, Anders Thorsmark; Villa, Chiara; Christensen, Ole M.

2017-01-01

interval): approximately ± 7.5 mm, Pearson's correlation R: 0.948-0.974). Navigation ultrasound can measure clavicular length with an intra-rater reliability matching that of 3-D rendered computed tomography scans and with high validity. Its use could spread to other fields requiring accurate...... of 52.5 (range: 21-78 y) were included. Navigation ultrasound exhibited high reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient: 0.942-0.997, standard error of the mean: 0.7-2.9 mm, minimal detectable change: 2.3-8.1 mm) and validity (measurement error: 1.3%-1.8%, limits of agreement (95% confidence...

Effects of surface roughness and film thickness on the adhesion of a bioinspired nanofilm

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Z. L.; Chen, S. H.

2011-05-01

Inspired by the gecko's climbing ability, adhesion between an elastic nanofilm with finite length and a rough substrate with sinusoidal roughness is studied in the present paper, considering the effects of substrate roughness and film thickness. It demonstrates that the normal adhesion force of the nanofilm on a rough substrate depends significantly on the geometrical parameters of the substrate. When the film length is larger than the wavelength of the sinusoidal roughness of the substrate, the normal adhesion force decreases with increasing surface roughness, while the normal adhesion force initially decreases then increases if the wavelength of roughness is larger than the film length. This finding is qualitatively consistent with a previously interesting experimental observation in which the adhesion force of the gecko spatula is found to reduce significantly at an intermediate roughness. Furthermore, it is inferred that the gecko may achieve an optimal spatula thickness not only to follow rough surfaces, but also to saturate the adhesion force. The results in this paper may be helpful for understanding how geckos overcome the influence of natural surface roughness and possess such adhesion to support their weights.

Experimental study of heat transfer to the N2O4 dissociating coolant in the circular tube with variable heat load on the wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golovnya, V.N.; Kolykhan, L.I.

1983-01-01

The results of the experimental study of heat transfer to N 2 O 4 dissociating coolant with a sinusoidal law of heat flux density variation by length are presented. The heat transfer process has been studied at subcritical and supercritical parameters and different substance aggregation states. Maximum error of heat transfer coefficient determination don't exceed 15%. The esimation of the effect of variable heat load on heat transfer has been condUcted by comparison of experimental data on the Nusselt number change along the tube length with that calculated using conventional relations for the conditions of uniform heat release. It is shown that heat transfer is enhanced in the region of heat load qsub(c) growth while its intensity is decreased in the region of heat flux reduction. The quantitative effect of qsub(c) variation on heat transfer can be regarded for by the method of superpositions

Lifetime and Path Length of the Virtual Particle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyuboshitz, V.L.; Lyuboshitz, V.V.

2005-01-01

The concepts of the lifetime and path length of a virtual particle are introduced. It is shown that, near the mass surface of the real particle, these quantities constitute a 4-vector. At very high energies, the virtual particle can propagate over considerable (even macroscopic) distances. The formulas for the lifetime and path length of an ultrarelativistic virtual electron in the process of bremsstrahlung in the Coulomb field of a nucleus are obtained. The lifetime and path length of the virtual photon at its conversion into an electron-positron pair are discussed. The connection between the path length of the virtual particle and the coherence length (formation length) is analyzed

Diffusion length variation in 0.5- and 3-MeV-proton-irradiated, heteroepitaxial indium phosphide solar cells

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Raj K.; Weinberg, Irving; Flood, Dennis J.

1993-01-01

Indium phosphide (InP) solar cells are more radiation resistant than gallium arsenide (GaAs) and silicon (Si) solar cells, and their growth by heteroepitaxy offers additional advantages leading to the development of light weight, mechanically strong, and cost-effective cells. Changes in heteroepitaxial InP cell efficiency under 0.5- and 3-MeV proton irradiations have been explained by the variation in the minority-carrier diffusion length. The base diffusion length versus proton fluence was calculated by simulating the cell performance. The diffusion length damage coefficient, K(sub L), was also plotted as a function of proton fluence.

Information, polarization and term length in democracy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schultz, Christian

2008-01-01

This paper considers term lengths in a representative democracy where the political issue divides the population on the left-right scale. Parties are ideologically different and better informed about the consequences of policies than voters are. A short term length makes the government more...... accountable, but the re-election incentive leads to policy-distortion as the government seeks to manipulate swing voters' beliefs to make its ideology more popular. This creates a trade-off: A short term length improves accountability but gives distortions. A short term length is best for swing voters when...

Decomposing the queue length distribution of processor-sharing models into queue lengths of permanent customer queues

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cheung, S.K.; van den Berg, Hans Leo; Boucherie, Richardus J.

2005-01-01

We obtain a decomposition result for the steady state queue length distribution in egalitarian processor-sharing (PS) models. In particular, for an egalitarian PS queue with $K$ customer classes, we show that the marginal queue length distribution for class $k$ factorizes over the number of other

History-dependence of muscle slack length following contraction and stretch in the human vastus lateralis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stubbs, Peter W; Walsh, Lee D; D'Souza, Arkiev; Héroux, Martin E; Bolsterlee, Bart; Gandevia, Simon C; Herbert, Robert D

2018-06-01

In reduced muscle preparations, the slack length and passive stiffness of muscle fibres have been shown to be influenced by previous muscle contraction or stretch. In human muscles, such behaviours have been inferred from measures of muscle force, joint stiffness and reflex magnitudes and latencies. Using ultrasound imaging, we directly observed that isometric contraction of the vastus lateralis muscle at short lengths reduces the slack lengths of the muscle-tendon unit and muscle fascicles. The effect is apparent 60 s after the contraction. These observations imply that muscle contraction at short lengths causes the formation of bonds which reduce the effective length of structures that generate passive tension in muscles. In reduced muscle preparations, stretch and muscle contraction change the properties of relaxed muscle fibres. In humans, effects of stretch and contraction on properties of relaxed muscles have been inferred from measurements of time taken to develop force, joint stiffness and reflex latencies. The current study used ultrasound imaging to directly observe the effects of stretch and contraction on muscle-tendon slack length and fascicle slack length of the human vastus lateralis muscle in vivo. The muscle was conditioned by (a) strong isometric contractions at long muscle-tendon lengths, (b) strong isometric contractions at short muscle-tendon lengths, (c) weak isometric contractions at long muscle-tendon lengths and (d) slow stretches. One minute after conditioning, ultrasound images were acquired from the relaxed muscle as it was slowly lengthened through its physiological range. The ultrasound image sequences were used to identify muscle-tendon slack angles and fascicle slack lengths. Contraction at short muscle-tendon lengths caused a mean 13.5 degree (95% CI 11.8-15.0 degree) shift in the muscle-tendon slack angle towards shorter muscle-tendon lengths, and a mean 5 mm (95% CI 2-8 mm) reduction in fascicle slack length, compared to the

First evidence of pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxide-induced hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Mengbi; Ruan, Jianqing; Gao, Hong; Li, Na; Ma, Jiang; Xue, Junyi; Ye, Yang; Fu, Peter Pi-Cheng; Wang, Jiyao; Lin, Ge

2017-12-01

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are among the most potent phytotoxins widely distributed in plant species around the world. PA is one of the major causes responsible for the development of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (HSOS) and exerts hepatotoxicity via metabolic activation to form the reactive metabolites, which bind with cellular proteins to generate pyrrole-protein adducts, leading to hepatotoxicity. PA N-oxides coexist with their corresponding PAs in plants with varied quantities, sometimes even higher than that of PAs, but the toxicity of PA N-oxides remains unclear. The current study unequivocally identified PA N-oxides as the sole or predominant form of PAs in 18 Gynura segetum herbal samples ingested by patients with liver damage. For the first time, PA N-oxides were recorded to induce HSOS in human. PA N-oxide-induced hepatotoxicity was further confirmed on mice orally dosed of herbal extract containing 170 μmol PA N-oxides/kg/day, with its hepatotoxicity similar to but potency much lower than the corresponding PAs. Furthermore, toxicokinetic study after a single oral dose of senecionine N-oxide (55 μmol/kg) on rats revealed the toxic mechanism that PA N-oxides induced hepatotoxicity via their biotransformation to the corresponding PAs followed by the metabolic activation to form pyrrole-protein adducts. The remarkable differences in toxicokinetic profiles of PAs and PA N-oxides were found and attributed to their significantly different hepatotoxic potency. The findings of PA N-oxide-induced hepatotoxicity in humans and rodents suggested that the contents of both PAs and PA N-oxides present in herbs and foods should be regulated and controlled in use.

Effects of Titanium Oxide Nanotube Arrays with Different Lengths on the Characteristics of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chin-Guo Kuo

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The self-aligned highly ordered TiO2 nanotube (TNT arrays were fabricated by potentiostatic anodization of Ti foil, and we found that the TNT-array length and diameter were dependent on the electrolyte (NH4F concentration in ethylene glycol and anodization time. The characteristics of the fabricated TNT arrays were characterized by XRD pattern, FESEM, and absorption spectrum. As the electrolyte NH4F concentration in the presence of H2O (2 vol% with anodization was changed from 0.25 to 0.75 wt% and the anodization period was increased from 1 to 5 h, the TNT-array length was changed from 9.55 to 30.2 μm and the TNT-array diameter also increased. As NH4F concentration was 0.5 wt%, the prepared TNT arrays were also used to fabricate the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs. We would show that the measured photovoltaic performance of the DSSCs was dependent on the TNT-array length.

Should title lengths really adhere to the American Psychological Association's twelve word limit?

Science.gov (United States)

Hallock, Robert M; Dillner, Kari M

2016-04-01

The publication manual for the American Psychological Association (APA) suggests that title lengths do not exceed 12 words, yet journals do not prevent longer titles. Here, we examined title lengths in APA journals to see how many exceeded the APA's suggested limit. First, we conducted a systematic analysis of 235 articles in the current issues of 23 APA journals. A total of 52% of titles were more than 12 words long. Second, we examined articles from APA journals that were at least 50 years old to examine whether title lengths have changed over time. Our results suggested that the average title lengths have indeed increased with time. One of 2 courses should be taken. Perhaps science is becoming more complex that longer titles are needed in order to convey the primary message to the reader. If this is the case, then the APA's word limit should be increased. On the other hand, however, maybe editor and reviewers should try to enforce the current word limit to force writers to be succinct. Either way, editors should make their preferences clear so that the trend for longer titles does not continue unchecked. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

CEBAF Upgrade Bunch Length Measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahmad, Mahmoud [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)

2016-05-01

Many accelerators use short electron bunches and measuring the bunch length is important for efficient operations. CEBAF needs a suitable bunch length because bunches that are too long will result in beam interruption to the halls due to excessive energy spread and beam loss. In this work, bunch length is measured by invasive and non-invasive techniques at different beam energies. Two new measurement techniques have been commissioned; a harmonic cavity showed good results compared to expectations from simulation, and a real time interferometer is commissioned and first checkouts were performed. Three other techniques were used for measurements and comparison purposes without modifying the old procedures. Two of them can be used when the beam is not compressed longitudinally while the other one, the synchrotron light monitor, can be used with compressed or uncompressed beam.

Anthropometric measurements of foot length and shape in children 2 to 7 years of age

OpenAIRE

Vrdoljak, Ozren; Kujundžić Tiljak, Mirjana; Čimić, Mislav

2017-01-01

Background and purpose: A child’s foot changes shape and proportions during growth so that it adapts to function. The purpose of this article is to determine foot length in children aged 2-7 years as a fundamental unit for measuring the growth of the foot, with which it will be able to compare other anthropometric measures of the foot. Determination of the shape of the foot and interpretation of the growth curve of the foot in length are important for standardization of the foot.Materials and...

Influence of solder joint length to the mechanical aspect during the thermal stress analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, J. S.; Khor, C. Y.; Rahim, Wan Mohd Faizal Wan Abd; Ishak, Muhammad Ikman; Rosli, M. U.; Jamalludin, Mohd Riduan; Zakaria, M. S.; Nawi, M. A. M.; Aziz, M. S. Abdul; Ani, F. Che

2017-09-01

Solder joint is an important interconnector in surface mount technology (SMT) assembly process. The real time stress, strain and displacement of the solder joint is difficult to observe and assess the experiment. To tackle these problems, simulation analysis was employed to study the von Mises stress, strain and displacement in the thermal stress analysis by using Finite element based software. In this study, a model of leadless electronic package was considered. The thermal stress analysis was performed to investigate the effect of the solder length to those mechanical aspects. The simulation results revealed that solder length gives significant effect to the maximum von Mises stress to the solder joint. Besides, changes in solder length also influence the displacement of the solder joint in the thermal environment. The increment of the solder length significantly reduces the von Mises stress and strain on the solder joint. Thus, the understanding of the physical parameter for solder joint is important for engineer prior to designing the solder joint of the electronic component.

The Effect of Gestational Age on Axial Length of the Eyes of Premature Infants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehmet Ali Sekeroglu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the axial length of the eyes of premature infants without retinopathy of prematurity and to document the relationship with gestational age and changes as infants grew-up. Material and Method: The axial length of the eyes were measured by using a mobile A-scan ultrasonographic biometry device just before the first retinopathy of prematurity screening examination and 4-weeks thereafter. Results: One-hundred and thirty-six infants with a mean gestational age of 31,7±2,7 weeks and a birth-weight of 1561.0±379.3 g were included in the study. Axial length measurements were done at a mean postconceptional age of 35.8 ±2.6 (31-40 and 39.8±2.7 (35-44 weeks, consecutively. The mean axial length at first and second visits were 16.43±0.42 mm (15.28-17.13 and 16.69±0.41 mm (15.60-17.70, consecutively (p

Effect of heated length on the Critical Heat Flux of subcooled flow boiling. 2. Effective heated length under axially nonuniform heating condition