Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons profiles of spent drilling fluids deposited at Emu-Uno, Delta State, Nigeria.

PubMed

Iwegbue, Chukwujindu M A

2011-10-01

The concentrations and profiles of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were determined in spent drilling fluid deposited at Emu-Uno, Delta State of Nigeria. The total concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the spent drilling fluid deposits ranged between 40 and 770 μg kg(-1). The PAHs profile were predominantly 2- and 3-rings with acenaphthalene, phenanthrene, fluorene being the predominant PAHs. The prevalence of 2- and 3-rings PAHs in the spent drilling fluid deposits indicate contamination of the drilling fluids with crude oil during drilling. Incorporation of spent drilling fluids into the soil has serious implication for soil, surface water and groundwater quality. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Stacking up against alternative conceptions: using Uno cards to introduce discourse and argumentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunac, Patricia S.; Demir, Kadir

2013-11-01

We engaged secondary science students in a teacher and student constructed Uno card game (UCG) to change their conceptual understanding of the various energy transformations. The paper outlines how we incorporated Toulmin’s argumentation pattern (Toulmin 1958 The Uses of Argument (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)) in the UCG, using discourse (Erduran et al 2004 Sci. Educ. 88 915-33) and through a 5E learning cycle (Bybee 1997 Achieving Scientific Literacy: From Purposes to Practices (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books)). The activity helped students develop a deeper understanding of the energy transformation among and between different sources. Students experienced a conceptual gain in their ways of thinking, in contrast to traditional teaching and learning practices. The collaboration and interaction between teacher-student(s) and between students fostered an environment where they became co-constructors of knowledge.

Liver transplantation for neonatal hemochromatosis: analysis of the UNOS database.

PubMed

Sheflin-Findling, Shari; Annunziato, Rachel A; Chu, Jaime; Arvelakis, Antonios; Mahon, Danielle; Arnon, Ronen

2015-03-01

NH is the most common identifiable cause of ALF in the neonate. LT is the definitive treatment for neonates with NH who have failed medical therapy. Our aim was to determine the outcomes of LT in infants with NH. Patients (less than one yr of age) with NH who were listed for LT and patients who underwent LT between 1994 and 2013 were identified from the UNOS database for analysis. Risk factors for death and graft loss were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Thirty-eight infants with NH with a total of 43 transplants were identified. One- and five-yr patient and graft survival were 84.2%, 81.6%, 71.1%, and 68.4%, respectively. The outcomes for NH were not significantly different when compared to the same age-matched recipients with other causes of ALF. There were no statistically significant risk factors identified for graft loss or death. Ninety infants with NH were listed for LT. Reasons for removal included transplanted (49%), death (27%), too sick to transplant (7%), and improved status (13%). LT for infants with NH has a high rate of graft loss and death; however, outcomes are comparable to the same age-matched recipients with other causes of ALF. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Autoimmune conditions are associated with perioperative thrombotic complications in liver transplant recipients: A UNOS database analysis.

PubMed

Bezinover, Dmitri; Iskandarani, Khaled; Chinchilli, Vernon; McQuillan, Patrick; Saner, Fuat; Kadry, Zakiyah; Riley, Thomas R; Janicki, Piotr K

2016-05-21

End stage liver disease (ESLD) is associated with significant thrombotic complications. In this study, we attempted to determine if patients with ESLD, due to oncologic or autoimmune diseases, are susceptible to thrombosis to a greater extent than patients with ESLD due to other causes. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the UNOS database to determine the incidence of thrombotic complications in orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) recipients with autoimmune and oncologic conditions. Between 2000 and 2012, 65,646 OLTs were performed. We found 4,247 cases of preoperative portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and 1,233 cases of postoperative vascular thrombosis (VT) leading to graft failure. Statistical evaluation demonstrated that patients with either hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or autoimmune hepatitis (AIC) had a higher incidence of PVT (p = 0.05 and 0.03 respectively). Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and AIC had a higher incidence of postoperative VT associated with graft failure (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, p = 0.05 respectively). Patients with preoperative PVT had a higher incidence of postoperative VT (p < 0.0001). Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated that patients with AIC, and BMI ≥40, having had a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, and those with diabetes mellitus were more likely to have preoperative PVT: odds ratio (OR)(1.36, 1.19, 1.78, 1.22 respectively). Patients with PSC, PBC, AIC, BMI ≤18, or with a preoperative PVT were more likely to have a postoperative VT: OR (1.93, 2.09, 1.64, 1.60, and 2.01, respectively). Despite the limited number of variables available in the UNOS database potentially related to thrombotic complications, this analysis demonstrates a clear association between autoimmune causes of ESLD and perioperative thrombotic complications. Perioperative management of patients at risk should include strategies to reduce the potential for these

Near field communication (NFC) model for arduino uno based security systems office system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chairunnas, A.; Abdurrasyid, I.

2018-03-01

Currently, many offices or companies that start growing rapidly in a company or office should have a very limited room to enter only people entitled to enter the room and use the facilities contained in it, for example, Files in it must have many files and documents very important because to reduce the abuse of files and irresponsible person. Because it will be made room door security system by using Near Field Communication on android smartphone. Software used is Arduino IDE. The tools used in this system are Arduino Uno R3, NFC shield, pear sensor, bell, led, servo, 16 × 2 LCD, and Near Field Communication (NFC) in android smartphone. This system runs based on 2 inputs of a new technology that is Near Field Communication (NFC) in android smartphone. And also use pear sensor to detect unauthorized person entering the room. If the correct password is entered then the door will open and the pear sensor will light off if wrong then the bell will light up.

Under Utilization of Pancreas Transplants in Cystic Fibrosis Recipients in the United Network Organ Sharing (UNOS) Data 1987-2014.

PubMed

Usatin, D J; Perito, E R; Posselt, A M; Rosenthal, P

2016-05-01

Despite a high prevalence of pancreatic endocrine and exocrine insufficiency in cystic fibrosis (CF), pancreas transplantation is rarely reported. United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data were used to examine utilization of pancreas transplant and posttransplant outcomes in CF patients. Between 1987-2014, CF patients (N = 4600) underwent 17 liver-pancreas, three lung-pancreas, one liver-lung pancreas, four kidney-pancreas, and three pancreas-only transplants. Of the 303 CF patients who received liver transplantation, 20% had CF-related diabetes (CFRD) before transplantation, and nine of those received a liver-pancreas transplant. Of 4241 CF patients who underwent lung transplantation, 33% had CFRD before transplantation, and three of those received a pancreas transplant. Of 49 CF patients who received a liver-lung transplant, 57% had CFRD before transplantation and one received a pancreas transplant. Posttransplantation diabetes developed in 7% of CF pancreas transplant recipients versus 24% of CF liver and 29% of CF lung recipients. UNOS has no data on pancreas exocrine insufficiency. Two-year posttransplantation survival was 88% after liver-pancreas transplant, 33% after lung-pancreas transplant, and 100% after pancreas-kidney and pancreas-only transplants. Diabetes is common pretransplantation and posttransplantation in CF solid organ transplant recipients, but pancreas transplantation remains rare. Further consideration of pancreas transplant in CF patients undergoing other solid organ transplant may be warranted. © Copyright 2015 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Geodetic point positioning with GPS (Global Positioning System) carrier beat phase data from the CASA (Central and South America) Uno experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Malys, S.; Jensen, P.A.

1990-04-01

The Global Positioning System (GPS) carrier beat phase data collected by the TI4100 GPS receiver has been successfully utilized by the US Defense Mapping Agency in an algorithm which is designed to estimate individual absolute geodetic point positions from data collected over a few hours. The algorithm uses differenced data from one station and two to four GPS satellites at a series of epochs separated by 30 second intervals. The precise GPS ephemerides and satellite clock states, held fixed in the estimation process, are those estimated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). Broadcast ephemerides and clock states are alsomore » utilized for comparative purposes. An outline of the data corrections applied, the mathematical model and the estimation algorithm are presented. Point positioning results and statistics are presented for a globally-distributed set of stations which contributed to the CASA Uno experiment. Statistical assessment of 114 GPS point positions at 11 CASA Uno stations indicates that the overall standard deviation of a point position component, estimated from a few hours of data, is 73 centimeters. Solution of the long line geodetic inverse problem using repeated point positions such as these can potentially offer a new tool for those studying geodynamics on a global scale.« less

[Stinging nettle root extract (Bazoton-uno) in long term treatment of benign prostatic syndrome (BPS). Results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled multicenter study after 12 months].

PubMed

Schneider, T; Rübben, H

2004-03-01

Phytotherapy of BPS has a long tradition in Germany; nevertheless, data referring to single phytotherapeutic agents are rare. We therefore performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter study for 1 year with Bazoton uno (459 mg dry extract of stinging nettle roots) with 246 patients. The IPSS decreased on average from 18.7+/-0.3 to 13.0+/-0.5 with a statistically significant difference compared to placebo (18.5+/-0.3 to 13.8+/-0.5; p=0.0233). The median Q(max) increased by 3.0+/-0.4 ml/s in comparison to 2.9+/-0.4 ml/s (placebo), thus not statistically significantly different, as well as the median volume of residual urine, which changed from 35.5+/-3.4 ml before therapy to 20.0+/-2.8 ml and from 40.0+/-4.0 ml to 21.0+/-2.9 ml under placebo application. The number of adverse events (29/38) as well as urinary infections etc. (3/10 events) was smaller under Bazoton uno therapy compared to placebo. Treatment with Bazoton uno can therefore be considered a safe therapeutic option for BPS, especially for reducing irritative symptoms and BPS-associated complications due to the postulated antiphlogistic and antiproliferative effects of the stinging nettle extract. A strong increase of Q(max) or reduction of residual urine are not to be expected.

Moessbauer spectrometer based on UNO-4096-90 accumulator and Elektronika D3-28 microcomputer for simultaneous recording of four spectra

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Romanov, E.S.; Ivoilov, N.G.

A buffer memory unit and an interface for the UNO-4096-90 accumulator with an Elektronika D3-28 microcomputer are described that allow simultaneous recording of four Moessbauer spectra with zero dead time. For complete elimination of dead time, the pulses from each detector are fed to two buffer counters units, which operate alternately in the write and interrogate modes. This organization of the buffer memory also completely eliminates the effect of the sensors on one another. The use of these circuits does not require any modifications of the computer or accumulator.

Arduino Uno Microcontroller with Commercially Available Sensors Towards Generating Student Accessible Raw Meteorological Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henson, Gabrielle; Tanner, Meghan; Senevirathne, Indrajith

Microcontroller systems can be a boon to cost - effective techniques that can be used to enhance teaching at college level. We have used Arduino microcontroller coupled with commercially available sensors to systematically measure, record and analyze temperature, humidity and barometric pressure and to upload the real time raw data to cloud. Corresponding data will be available in classroom settings for predictions, analysis and simple weather forecasting. Setup was assembled via breadboard, wire and simple soldering with an Arduino Uno ATmega328P microcontroller connected to a PC. The microcontroller was programmed with Arduino Software while the bootloader was used to upload the code. Commercial DHT22 humidity and temperature sensor and BMP180 barometric pressure sensor were used to obtain relative humidity, temperature and the barometric pressure. System was mounted inside a weather resistant enclosure and data measurements were obtained and were uploaded onto the PC and then to cloud. Cloud data can be accessed via a shared link in a General Education class for multitude of purposes.

Designing using Lego and Uno-Stacko: A Playful Architecture for an Integrated Kindergarten and Elementary School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muthmainnah, K.; Aryanti, T.; Ardiansyah, A.

2017-03-01

The integrated kindergarten and elementary school is a public educational facility used for early age and elementary education. Designated for children at 4-12 years of age, the design should meet the standards and requirements, while considering children’s needs in their development phase. This paper discusses the design of an integrated kindergarten and elementary school using the playful theme. Design was explored using LEGO and UNO-STACKO to create spaces that accommodate material exploration for children. The design takes the play concept as a medium of child’s learning in order to improve their ability and awareness of the surrounding environment. The design translates the playful theme into imaginary dimension, constructive-deconstructive shapes, and glide circulations concept. The spatial pattern is applied by considering children’s behavior in the designated ages to trigger their creativity improvement. The design is expected to serve as a model of an integrated kindergarten and elementary school architecture.

Outcomes following Kidney transplantation in IgA nephropathy: a UNOS/OPTN analysis.

PubMed

Kadiyala, Aditya; Mathew, Anna T; Sachdeva, Mala; Sison, Cristina P; Shah, Hitesh H; Fishbane, Steven; Jhaveri, Kenar D

2015-10-01

This study updates assessment of post-transplant outcomes in IgAN patients in the modern era of immunosuppression. Using UNOS/OPTN data, patients ≥18 yr of age with first kidney transplant (1/1/1999 to 12/31/2008) were analyzed. Multivariable Cox regression models and propensity score-based matching techniques were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for death-censored allograft survival (DCGS) and patient survival in IgAN compared to non-IgAN. Results of multivariable regression were stratified by donor type (living vs. deceased). A total of 107, 747 recipients were included (4589 with IgAN and 103 158 with non-IgAN). Adjusted HR for DCGS showed no significant difference between IgAN and non-IgAN. IgAN had higher patient survival compared to non-IgAN (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.47-0.62, p < 0.0001 for deceased donors; HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.33-0.54, p < 0.0001 for living donors). Propensity score-matched analysis was similar, with no significant difference in DCGS between matched groups and higher patient survival in IgAN patients compared to non-IgAN group (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.47, 0.63; p-value <0.0001). IgAN patients with first kidney transplant have superior patient survival and similar graft survival compared to non-IgAN recipients. Results can be used in prognostication and informed decision-making about kidney transplantation in patients with IgAN. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Differential Diagnosis of Malaria on Truelab Uno®, a Portable, Real-Time, MicroPCR Device for Point-Of-Care Applications.

PubMed

Nair, Chandrasekhar Bhaskaran; Manjula, Jagannath; Subramani, Pradeep Annamalai; Nagendrappa, Prakash B; Manoj, Mulakkapurath Narayanan; Malpani, Sukriti; Pullela, Phani Kumar; Subbarao, Pillarisetti Venkata; Ramamoorthy, Siva; Ghosh, Susanta K

2016-01-01

Sensitive and specific detection of malarial parasites is crucial in controlling the significant malaria burden in the developing world. Also important is being able to identify life threatening Plasmodium falciparum malaria quickly and accurately to reduce malaria related mortality. Existing methods such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have major shortcomings. Here, we describe a new real-time PCR-based diagnostic test device at point-of-care service for resource-limited settings. Truenat® Malaria, a chip-based microPCR test, was developed by bigtec Labs, Bangalore, India, for differential identification of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax parasites. The Truenat Malaria tests runs on bigtec's Truelab Uno® microPCR device, a handheld, battery operated, and easy-to-use real-time microPCR device. The performance of Truenat® Malaria was evaluated versus the WHO nested PCR protocol. The Truenat® Malaria was further evaluated in a triple-blinded study design using a sample panel of 281 specimens created from the clinical samples characterized by expert microscopy and a rapid diagnostic test kit by the National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR). A comparative evaluation was done on the Truelab Uno® and a commercial real-time PCR system. The limit of detection of the Truenat Malaria assay was found to be <5 parasites/μl for both P. falciparum and P. vivax. The Truenat® Malaria test was found to have sensitivity and specificity of 100% each, compared to the WHO nested PCR protocol based on the evaluation of 100 samples. The sensitivity using expert microscopy as the reference standard was determined to be around 99.3% (95% CI: 95.5-99.9) at the species level. Mixed infections were identified more accurately by Truenat Malaria (32 samples identified as mixed) versus expert microscopy and RDTs which detected 4 and 5 mixed samples, respectively. The Truenat® Malaria microPCR test is a valuable diagnostic tool and implementation should be

Differential Diagnosis of Malaria on Truelab Uno®, a Portable, Real-Time, MicroPCR Device for Point-Of-Care Applications

PubMed Central

Nair, Chandrasekhar Bhaskaran; Manjula, Jagannath; Subramani, Pradeep Annamalai; Nagendrappa, Prakash B.; Manoj, Mulakkapurath Narayanan; Malpani, Sukriti; Pullela, Phani Kumar; Subbarao, Pillarisetti Venkata; Ramamoorthy, Siva; Ghosh, Susanta K.

2016-01-01

Background Sensitive and specific detection of malarial parasites is crucial in controlling the significant malaria burden in the developing world. Also important is being able to identify life threatening Plasmodium falciparum malaria quickly and accurately to reduce malaria related mortality. Existing methods such as microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have major shortcomings. Here, we describe a new real-time PCR-based diagnostic test device at point-of-care service for resource-limited settings. Methods Truenat® Malaria, a chip-based microPCR test, was developed by bigtec Labs, Bangalore, India, for differential identification of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax parasites. The Truenat Malaria tests runs on bigtec’s Truelab Uno® microPCR device, a handheld, battery operated, and easy-to-use real-time microPCR device. The performance of Truenat® Malaria was evaluated versus the WHO nested PCR protocol. The Truenat® Malaria was further evaluated in a triple-blinded study design using a sample panel of 281 specimens created from the clinical samples characterized by expert microscopy and a rapid diagnostic test kit by the National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR). A comparative evaluation was done on the Truelab Uno® and a commercial real-time PCR system. Results The limit of detection of the Truenat Malaria assay was found to be <5 parasites/μl for both P. falciparum and P. vivax. The Truenat® Malaria test was found to have sensitivity and specificity of 100% each, compared to the WHO nested PCR protocol based on the evaluation of 100 samples. The sensitivity using expert microscopy as the reference standard was determined to be around 99.3% (95% CI: 95.5–99.9) at the species level. Mixed infections were identified more accurately by Truenat Malaria (32 samples identified as mixed) versus expert microscopy and RDTs which detected 4 and 5 mixed samples, respectively. Conclusion The Truenat® Malaria microPCR test is a valuable

Stand alone, low current measurements on possible sensing platforms via Arduino Uno microcontroller with modified commercially available sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanner, Meghan; Henson, Gabriel; Senevirathne, Indrajith

Advent of cost-effective solid-state sensors has spurred an immense interest in microcontrollers, in particular Arduino microcontrollers. These include serious engineering and physical science applications due to their versatility and robustness. An Arduino microcontroller coupled with a commercially available sensor has been used to methodically measure, record, and explore low currents, low voltages, and corresponding dissipated power towards assessing secondary physical properties in a select set of engineered systems. System was assembled via breadboard, wire, and simple soldering with an Arduino Uno with ATmega328P microcontroller connected to a PC. The microcontroller was programmed with Arduino software while the bootloader was used to upload the code. High-side measurement INA169 current shunt monitor was used to measure corresponding low to ultra-low currents and voltages. A collection of measurements was obtained via the sensor and was compared with measurements from standardized devices to assess reliability and uncertainty. Some sensors were modified/hacked to improve the sensitivity of the measurements.

Design prototype detection tools of Porous Tree using microcontroller Arduino Uno R3 and piezoelectric sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sujadi, H.; Bastian, A.; Tira

2018-05-01

In the city, many trees are found uprooted and cause accidents and many losses. No exception in the area of Majalengka Regency of West Java Province which can also anytime an accident or disaster caused by fallen trees, where in Majalengka district is logging trees on the street and public places are not done regularly. Based on the above problems, the need for tools that can detect a porous tree, to assist in the sorting of trees which should be felled and not felled by the party who has the authority of the general management of BMCK. Previously created tools to detect porous trees imported from Hungary and Germany, namely Arbosonic3D and Sonic Tomography. This design uses piezoelectric sensors to detect how much pressure is received by fragile and fragile trees, of course the fragile and fragile strength of trees will be different when exposed to the same pressure given the fragile density of fragile and fragile trees, then the data sent to Arduino Uno R3 to be processed into an information. This research produces a means of detecting the loss of a tree for early detection and no falling trees.

Enhanced low current, voltage, and power dissipation measurements via Arduino Uno microcontroller with modified commercially available sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanner, Meghan; Eckel, Ryan; Senevirathne, Indrajith

The versatility, simplicity, and robustness of Arduino microcontroller architecture have won a huge following with increasingly serious engineering and physical science applications. Arduino microcontroller environment coupled with commercially available sensors have been used to systematically measure, record, and analyze low currents, low voltages and corresponding dissipated power for assessing secondary physical properties in a diverse array of engineering systems. Setup was assembled via breadboard, wire, and simple soldering with an Arduino Uno with ATmega328P microcontroller connected to a PC. The microcontroller was programmed with Arduino Software while the bootloader was used to upload the code. Commercial Hall effect current sensor modules ACS712 and INA169 current shunt monitor was used to measure corresponding low to ultra-low currents and voltages. Stable measurement data was obtained via sensors and compared with corresponding oscilloscope measurements to assess reliability and uncertainty. Sensor breakout boards were modified to enhance the sensitivity of the measurements and to expand the applicability. Discussion of these measurements will focus on capabilities, capacities and limitations of the systems with examples of possible applications. Lock Haven Nanotechnology Program.

An analysis of pancreas transplantation outcomes based on age groupings--an update of the UNOS database.

PubMed

Siskind, Eric; Maloney, Caroline; Akerman, Meredith; Alex, Asha; Ashburn, Sarah; Barlow, Meade; Siskind, Tamar; Bhaskaran, Madhu; Ali, Nicole; Basu, Amit; Molmenti, Ernesto; Ortiz, Jorge

2014-09-01

Previously, increasing age has been a part of the exclusion criteria used when determining eligibility for a pancreas transplant. However, the analysis of pancreas transplantation outcomes based on age groupings has largely been based on single-center reports. A UNOS database review of all adult pancreas and kidney-pancreas transplants between 1996 and 2012 was performed. Patients were divided into groups based on age categories: 18-29 (n = 1823), 30-39 (n = 7624), 40-49 (n = 7967), 50-59 (n = 3160), and ≥60 (n = 280). We compared survival outcomes and demographic variables between each age grouping. Of the 20 854 pancreas transplants, 3440 of the recipients were 50 yr of age or above. Graft survival was consistently the greatest in adults 40-49 yr of age. Graft survival was least in adults age 18-29 at one-, three-, and five-yr intervals. At 10- and 15-yr intervals, graft survival was the poorest in adults >60 yr old. Patient survival and age were found to be inversely proportional; as the patient population's age increased, survival decreased. Pancreas transplants performed in patients of increasing age demonstrate decreased patient and graft survival when compared to pancreas transplants in patients <50 yr of age. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Kidney Transplant Outcomes in the Super Obese: A National Study From the UNOS Dataset.

PubMed

Kanthawar, Pooja; Mei, Xiaonan; Daily, Michael F; Chandarana, Jyotin; Shah, Malay; Berger, Jonathan; Castellanos, Ana Lia; Marti, Francesc; Gedaly, Roberto

2016-11-01

We evaluated outcomes of super-obese patients (BMI > 50) undergoing kidney transplantation in the US. We performed a review of 190 super-obese patients undergoing kidney transplantation from 1988 through 2013 using the UNOS dataset. Super-obese patients had a mean age of 45.7 years (21-75 years) and 111 (58.4 %) were female. The mean BMI of the super-obese group was 56 (range 50.0-74.2). A subgroup analysis demonstrated that patients with BMI > 50 had worse survival compared to any other BMI class. The 30-day perioperative mortality and length of stay was 3.7 % and 10.09 days compared to 0.8 % and 7.34 days in nonsuper-obese group. On multivariable analysis, BMI > 50 was an independent predictor of 30-day mortality, with a 4.6-fold increased risk of perioperative death. BMI > 50 increased the risk of delayed graft function and the length of stay by twofold. The multivariable analysis of survival showed a 78 % increased risk of death in this group. Overall patient survival for super-obese transplant recipients at 1, 3, and 5 years was 88, 82, and 76 %, compared to 96, 91, 86 % on patients transplanted with BMI < 50. A propensity score adjusted analysis further demonstrates significant worse survival rates in super-obese patients undergoing kidney transplantation. Super-obese patients had prolonged LOS and worse DGF rates. Perioperative mortality was increased 4.6-fold compared to patients with BMI < 50. In a subgroup analysis, super-obese patients who underwent kidney transplantation had significantly worse graft and patient survival compared to underweight, normal weight, and obesity class I, II, and III (BMI 40-50) patients.

New OPTN/UNOS classification system for nodules in cirrhotic livers detected with MR imaging: effect on hepatocellular carcinoma detection and transplantation allocation.

PubMed

Rosenkrantz, Andrew B; Campbell, Naomi; Wehrli, Natasha; Triolo, Michael J; Kim, Sooah

2015-02-01

To assess the effect of the new Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policy on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) detection and liver transplant allocation in patients with cirrhosis undergoing dynamic contrast material-enhanced liver magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. In this HIPAA-compliant institutional review board-approved retrospective study with waiver of informed consent, 247 patients (196 men, 51 women; mean age, 60 years ± 11 [standard deviation]) with liver cirrhosis who underwent evaluation for HCC with MR imaging were identified via database search. Three radiologists independently reviewed images and identified number and size of HCC based on criteria within either the prior or revised policy. Based on these interpretations, priority for liver transplantation for each patient was determined with prior and revised transplantation allocation criteria. HCC detection was compared between sessions by using McNemar tests, and interreader agreement for detection of at least one HCC was assessed by using κ coefficients. All three readers detected significantly more 1-2-cm HCCs with the revised policy (readers detected 22, eight, and 20 1-2-cm HCCs) versus the prior policy (no reader detected 1-2-cm HCCs) (P ≤ .031). All readers detected significantly fewer 2-5-cm HCCs with the revised policy (readers detected eight, 13, and 14 2-5-cm HCCs) versus the prior policy (readers detected 24, 21, and 24 2-5-cm HCCs) (P ≤ .027). For all readers, fewer patients met criteria for increased transplantation priority with the revised versus the prior policy (number of patients who received increased priority for the three readers were 4.9% [12 of 247] vs 9.3% [23 of 247]; 5.7% [14 of 247] vs 8.1% [20 of 247]; and 6.9% [17 of 247] vs 8.9% [22 of 247]). Interreader agreement was substantial for the prior policy (κ = 0.607) and almost perfect for the revised policy (κ = 0.813). Among cirrhotic patients who underwent

Experimental Galileo System Time (E-GST): One Year of Real-Time Experiment

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-12-01

operations at the E-PTS in the current configuration. The frequency output of the H-maser is fed to a high-accuracy phase micro -stepper (namely an...turn, GaIn is a joint company consisting of Alenia Spazio, Alcatel Industries, Astrium GmbH, Astrium Ltd., and GSS (Galileo Sistemas y Servicios

Risk of tumor transmission after thoracic allograft transplantation from adult donors with central nervous system neoplasm-A UNOS database study.

PubMed

Hynes, Conor F; Ramakrishnan, Karthik; Alfares, Fahad A; Endicott, Kendal M; Hammond-Jack, Katrina; Zurakowski, David; Jonas, Richard A; Nath, Dilip S

2017-04-01

We analyzed the UNOS database to better define the risk of transmission of central nervous system (CNS) tumors from donors to adult recipients of thoracic organs. Data were procured from the Standard Transplant Analysis and Research dataset files. Donors with CNS tumors were identified, and recipients from these donors comprised the study group (Group I). The remaining recipients of organs from donors who did not have CNS tumors formed the control group (Group II). Incidence of recipient CNS tumors, donor-related malignancies, and overall survival were calculated and compared in addition to multivariable logistic regression. A cohort of 58 314 adult thoracic organ recipients were included, of which 337 received organs from donors who had documented CNS tumors (Group I). None of these recipients developed CNS tumors at a median follow-up of 72 months (IR: 30-130 months). Although overall mortality in terms of the percentage was higher in Group I than Group II (163/320=51% vs 22 123/52 691=42%), Kaplan-Meier curves indicate no significant difference in the time to death between the two groups (P=.92). There is little risk of transmission of the common nonaggressive CNS tumors to recipients of thoracic organs. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Long-term outcome of patients undergoing liver transplantation for mixed hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma: an analysis of the UNOS database.

PubMed

Vilchez, Valery; Shah, Malay B; Daily, Michael F; Pena, Luis; Tzeng, Ching-Wei D; Davenport, Daniel; Hosein, Peter J; Gedaly, Roberto; Maynard, Erin

2016-01-01

Mixed hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma (HCC-CC) have been associated with a poor prognosis after liver transplantation (LT). We aimed to evaluate long-term outcomes in patients undergoing LT for HCC-CC versus patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Retrospective analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database from 1994-2013. Overall survival (OS) in patients with HCC-CC, HCC, and CC, were compared. We identified 4049 patients transplanted for primary malignancy (94 HCC-CC; 3515 HCC; 440 CC). Mean age of patients with HCC-CC was 57 ± 10 years, and 77% were male. MELD score did not differ among the groups (p = 0.637). Hepatitis C virus was the most common secondary diagnosis within the HCC-CC (44%) and HCC (36%) cohorts, with primary sclerosing cholangitis in the CC (16%) cohort. OS rates at 1, 3 and 5 years for HCC-CC (82%, 47%, 40%) were similar to CC (79%, 58%, 47%), but significantly worse than HCC (86%, 72%, and 62% p = 0.002). Patients undergoing LT for HCC had significantly better survival compared to those transplanted for HCC-CC and CC. LT for mixed HCC-CC confers a survival rate similar to selected patients with CC. Efforts should be made to identify HCC-CC patients preoperatively. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The effect of tracking network configuration on Global Positioning System (GPS) baseline estimates for the CASA (Central and South America) Uno experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolf, S.K.; Dixon, T.H.; Freymueller, J.T.

1990-04-01

Geodetic monitoring of subduction of the Nazca and Cocos plates is a goal of the CASA (Central and South America) Global Positioning System (GPS) experiments, and requires measurement of intersite distances (baselines) in excess of 500 km. The major error source in these measurements is the uncertainty in the position of the GPS satellites at the time of observation. A key aspect of the first CASA experiment, CASA Uno, was the initiation of a global network of tracking stations minimize these errors. The authors studied the effect of using various subsets of this global tracking network on long (>100 km)more » baseline estimates in the CASA region. Best results were obtained with a global tracking network consisting of three U.S. fiducial stations, two sites in the southwest pacific and two sites in Europe. Relative to smaller subsets, this global network improved baseline repeatability, resolution of carrier phase cycle ambiguities, and formal errors of the orbit estimates. Describing baseline repeatability for horizontal components as {sigma}=(a{sup 2} + b{sup 2}L{sup 2}){sup 1/2} where L is baseline length, the authors obtained a = 4 and 9 mm and b = 2.8{times}10{sup {minus}8} and 2.3{times}10{sup {minus}8} for north and east components, respectively, on CASA baselines up to 1,000 km in length with this global network.« less

The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Patients Supported with a Left Ventricular Assist Device: An Analysis of the UNOS Database

PubMed Central

Clerkin, Kevin J.; Garan, A. Reshad; Wayda, Brian; Givens, Raymond C.; Yuzefpolskaya, Melana; Nakagawa, Shunichi; Takeda, Koji; Takayama, Hiroo; Naka, Yoshifumi; Mancini, Donna M.; Colombo, Paolo C.; Topkara, Veli K.

2016-01-01

Background Low socioeconomic status (SES) is a known risk factor for heart failure, mortality among those with heart failure, and poor post heart transplant (HT) outcomes. This study sought to determine if SES is associated with decreased waitlist survival while on LVAD support and after HT. Methods and Results 3,361 adult patients bridged to primary HT with an LVAD between May 2004 and April 2014 were identified in the UNOS database. SES was measured using the AHRQ SES index using data from the 2014 American Community Survey. In the study cohort, SES did not have an association with the combined endpoint of death or delisting on LVAD support (p=0.30). In a cause-specific unadjusted model, those in the top (HR 1.55, 95% CI 1.14–2.11, p=0.005) and second greatest SES quartile (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.10–2.04, p=0.01) had an increased risk of death on device support compared to the lowest SES quartile. Adjusting for clinical risk factors mitigated the increased risk. There was no association between SES and complications. Post-HT survival, both crude and adjusted, was decreased for patients in the lowest quartile of SES index compared to all other SES quartiles. Conclusions Freedom from waitlist death or delisting was not impacted by SES. Patients with a higher SES had an increased unadjusted risk of waitlist mortality during LVAD support, which was mitigated by adjusting for increased comorbid conditions. Low SES was associated with worse post-HT outcomes. Further study is needed to confirm and understand a differential effect of SES on post-transplant outcomes that was not seen during LVAD support prior to HT. PMID:27758810

Recurrence of IgA nephropathy after kidney transplantation in steroid continuation versus early steroid-withdrawal regimens: a retrospective analysis of the UNOS/OPTN database.

PubMed

Leeaphorn, Napat; Garg, Neetika; Khankin, Eliyahu V; Cardarelli, Francesca; Pavlakis, Martha

2018-02-01

In the past 20 years, there has been an increase in use of steroid-withdrawal regimens in kidney transplantation. However, steroid withdrawal may be associated with an increased risk of recurrent IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Using United Network of (Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) UNOS/OPTN data, we analyzed adult patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to IgAN who received their first kidney transplant between 2000 and 2014. For the primary outcome, we used a competing risk analysis to compare the cumulative incidence of graft loss due to IgAN recurrence between early steroid-withdrawal (ESW) and steroid continuation groups. The secondary outcomes were patient survival and death-censored graft survival (DCGS). A total of 9690 recipients were included (2831 in ESW group and 6859 in steroid continuation group). In total, 1238 recipients experienced graft loss, of which 191 (15.43%) were due to IgAN recurrence. In multivariable analysis, steroid use was associated with a decreased risk of recurrence (subdistribution hazard ratio 0.666, 95% CI 0.482-0.921; P = 0.014). Patient survival and DCGS were not different between the two groups. In the USA, ESW in transplant for ESRD due to IgAN is associated with a higher risk of graft loss due to disease recurrence. Future prospective studies are warranted to further address which patients with IgAN would benefit from steroid continuation. © 2017 Steunstichting ESOT.

Use of a non-linear method for including the mass uncertainty of gravimetric standards and system measurement errors in the fitting of calibration curves for XRFA freeze-dried UNO/sub 3/ standards

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pickles, W.L.; McClure, J.W.; Howell, R.H.

1978-05-01

A sophisticated nonlinear multiparameter fitting program was used to produce a best fit calibration curve for the response of an x-ray fluorescence analyzer to uranium nitrate, freeze dried, 0.2% accurate, gravimetric standards. The program is based on unconstrained minimization subroutine, VA02A. The program considers the mass values of the gravimetric standards as parameters to be fit along with the normal calibration curve parameters. The fitting procedure weights with the system errors and the mass errors in a consistent way. The resulting best fit calibration curve parameters reflect the fact that the masses of the standard samples are measured quantities withmore » a known error. Error estimates for the calibration curve parameters can be obtained from the curvature of the ''Chi-Squared Matrix'' or from error relaxation techniques. It was shown that nondispersive XRFA of 0.1 to 1 mg freeze-dried UNO/sub 3/ can have an accuracy of 0.2% in 1000 s.« less

Comparison of Early versus Delayed Timing of Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation as a Bridge-to-Transplantation: An Analysis of the UNOS Dataset

PubMed Central

Jin, Zhezhen; Clerkin, Kevin; Homma, Shunichi; Mancini, Donna M.

2016-01-01

Background Placement of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) as a bridge-to-heart transplantation (HTx) has rapidly expanded due to organ donor shortage. However, the timing of LVAD implantation is variable and it remains unclear if earlier implantation improves survival. Methods We analyzed 14,187 adult candidates from the United Network of Organ Sharing database. Patients were classified by 3 treatment strategies including patients medically treated alone (MED, n=11,009), patients on LVAD support at listing (Early-LVAD, n=1588) and patients undergoing LVAD placement while awaiting HTx (Delayed-LVAD, n=1590). Likelihood of HTx and event-free survival were assessed in patients subcategorized by clinical strategies and UNOS status at listing. Results The device support strategy, despite the timing of placement, was not associated with increased likelihood of HTx compared to MED group. However, both LVAD implantation strategies showed better survival compared to MED group (Early-LVAD: HR 0.811 and 0.633, 95% CI 0.668-0.984 and 0.507-0.789, for 1A and 1B; p=0.034 and p<0.001, Delayed-LVAD: HR 0.553 and 0.696, 95% CI 0.415-0.736 and 0.571-0.847, for 1A and 1B; both p<0.001, respectively). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in survival between these LVAD implantation strategies in patients listed as 1B (p=0.500), although Early-LVAD implantation showed worse survival in patients listed as 1A (HR 1.467, 95% CI 1.076-2.000; p=0.015). Conclusion LVAD support strategies offer a safe bridge-to-HTx. Those candidates who receive urgent upfront LVAD implantation for HTx, and improve to 1B status, would achieve competitive survival with those who receive elective LVAD implantation. PMID:26618255

Comparison of early versus delayed timing of left ventricular assist device implantation as a bridge-to-transplantation: An analysis of the UNOS dataset.

PubMed

Kitada, Shuichi; Schulze, P Christian; Jin, Zhezhen; Clerkin, Kevin; Homma, Shunichi; Mancini, Donna M

2016-01-15

Placement of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) as a bridge-to-heart transplantation (HTx) has rapidly expanded due to organ donor shortage. However, the timing of LVAD implantation is variable and it remains unclear if earlier implantation improves survival. We analyzed 14,187 adult candidates from the United Network of Organ Sharing database. Patients were classified by 3 treatment strategies including patients medically treated alone (MED, n=11,009), patients on LVAD support at listing (Early-LVAD, n=1588) and patients undergoing LVAD placement while awaiting HTx (Delayed-LVAD, n=1590). Likelihood of HTx and event-free survival were assessed in patients subcategorized by clinical strategies and UNOS status at listing. The device support strategy, despite the timing of placement, was not associated with increased likelihood of HTx compared to MED group. However, both LVAD implantation strategies showed better survival compared to MED group (Early-LVAD: HR 0.811 and 0.633, 95% CI 0.668-0.984 and 0.507-0.789, for 1A and 1B; p=0.034 and p<0.001, Delayed-LVAD: HR 0.553 and 0.696, 95% CI 0.415-0.736 and 0.571-0.847, for 1A and 1B; both p<0.001, respectively). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in survival between these LVAD implantation strategies in patients listed as 1B (p=0.500), although Early-LVAD implantation showed worse survival in patients listed as 1A (HR 1.467, 95% CI 1.076-2.000; p=0.015). LVAD support strategies offer a safe bridge-to-HTx. Those candidates who receive urgent upfront LVAD implantation for HTx, and improve to 1B status, would achieve competitive survival with those who receive elective LVAD implantation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Patients Supported With a Left Ventricular Assist Device: An Analysis of the UNOS Database (United Network for Organ Sharing).

PubMed

Clerkin, Kevin J; Garan, Arthur Reshad; Wayda, Brian; Givens, Raymond C; Yuzefpolskaya, Melana; Nakagawa, Shunichi; Takeda, Koji; Takayama, Hiroo; Naka, Yoshifumi; Mancini, Donna M; Colombo, Paolo C; Topkara, Veli K

2016-10-01

Low socioeconomic status (SES) is a known risk factor for heart failure, mortality among those with heart failure, and poor post heart transplant (HT) outcomes. This study sought to determine whether SES is associated with decreased waitlist survival while on left ventricular assist device (LVADs) support and after HT. A total of 3361 adult patients bridged to primary HT with an LVAD between May 2004 and April 2014 were identified in the UNOS database (United Network for Organ Sharing). SES was measured using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality SES index using data from the 2014 American Community Survey. In the study cohort, SES did not have an association with the combined end point of death or delisting on LVAD support (P=0.30). In a cause-specific unadjusted model, those in the top (hazard ratio, 1.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.11; P=0.005) and second greatest SES quartile (hazard ratio 1.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.04; P=0.01) had an increased risk of death on device support compared with the lowest SES quartile. Adjusting for clinical risk factors mitigated the increased risk. There was no association between SES and complications. Post-HT survival, both crude and adjusted, was decreased for patients in the lowest quartile of SES index compared with all other SES quartiles. Freedom from waitlist death or delisting was not affected by SES. Patients with a higher SES had an increased unadjusted risk of waitlist mortality during LVAD support, which was mitigated by adjusting for increased comorbid conditions. Low SES was associated with worse post-HT outcomes. Further study is needed to confirm and understand a differential effect of SES on post-transplant outcomes that was not seen during LVAD support before HT. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Space simulation techniques and facilities for SAX STM test campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giordano, Pietro; Raimondo, Giacomo; Messidoro, Piero

1994-01-01

SAX is a satellite for X-Ray astronomy. It is a major element of the overall basic Science Program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and is being developed with the contribution of the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR). The scientific objectives of SAX are to carry out systematic and comprehensive observations of celestial X-Ray sources over the 0.1 - 300 KeV energy range with special emphasis on spectral and timing measurements. The satellite will also monitor the X-Ray sky to investigate long-term source variability and to permit localization and study of X-Ray transients. Alenia Spazio is developing the satellite that is intended for launch in the second half of 1995 in a low, near-equatorial Earth orbit. At system level a Structural Thermal Model (STM) has been conceived to verify the environmental requirements by validating the mechanical and thermal analytical models and qualifying satellite structure and thermal control. In particular, the following tests have been carried out in Alenia Spazio, CEA/CESTA and ESTEC facilities: Modal Survey, Centrifuge, Acoustic, Sinusoidal/Random Vibration and Thermal Balance. The paper, after a short introduction of the SAX satellite, summarizes the environmental qualification program performed on the SAX STM. It presents test objectives, methodologies and relevant test configurations. Peculiar aspects of the test campaign are highlighted. Problems encountered and solutions adopted in performing the tests are described as well. Furthermore, test results are presented and assessed.

Infrastructure, logistics and regulation of transplantation: UNOS.

PubMed

Heimbach, Julie K

2013-12-01

Organ transplantation has evolved into the standard of care for patients with end-stage organ failure. Despite considering increasingly complex transplant recipients for organs recovered from donors with increasing comorbid conditions, 1-year patient survival following kidney transplantation is 97% in the United States, whereas liver transplant recipient 1-year survival is 90%. There were 16,485 kidney recipients in the United States in 2012, and 6256 patients who underwent liver transplantation. The intent of this review is to highlight the logistics required for transplantation as well as reviewing the current oversight of transplantation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

KSC-04PD-2102

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Inside the Space Station Processing Facility, a technician begins checking the Cupola after its delivery and uncrating. It was shipped from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, for the European Space Agency. A dome-shaped module with seven windows, the Cupola will give astronauts a panoramic view for observing many operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The view out of the Cupola windows will enhance an arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing television camera views and graphics. It will provide external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations and hardware surveys and for Earth and celestial studies. The Cupola is the final element of the Space Station core.

KSC-04PD-2103

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Inside the Space Station Processing Facility, technicians begin checking the Cupola after its delivery and uncrating. It was shipped from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, for the European Space Agency. A dome-shaped module with seven windows, the Cupola will give astronauts a panoramic view for observing many operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The view out of the Cupola windows will enhance an arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing television camera views and graphics. It will provide external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations and hardware surveys, and for Earth and celestial studies. The Cupola is the final element of the Space Station core.

Sex Differences in Mortality Based on United Network for Organ Sharing Status While Awaiting Heart Transplantation.

PubMed

Hsich, Eileen M; Blackstone, Eugene H; Thuita, Lucy; McNamara, Dennis M; Rogers, Joseph G; Ishwaran, Hemant; Schold, Jesse D

2017-06-01

There are sex differences in mortality while awaiting heart transplantation, and the reason remains unclear. We included all adults in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients placed on the heart transplant active waitlist from 2004 to 2015. The primary end point was all-cause mortality. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were performed to evaluate survival by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) status at the time of listing. Random survival forest was used to identify sex interactions for the competing risk of death and transplantation. There were 33 069 patients (25% women) awaiting heart transplantation. This cohort included 7681 UNOS status 1A (26% women), 13 027 UNOS status 1B (25% women), and 12 361 UNOS status 2 (26% women). During a median follow-up of 4.3 months, 1351 women and 4052 men died. After adjusting for >20 risk factors, female sex was associated with a significant risk of death among UNOS status 1A (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.29) and UNOS status 1B (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-1.30). In contrast, female sex was significantly protective for time to death among UNOS status 2 (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.76-0.95). Sex differences in probability of transplantation were present for every UNOS status, and >20 sex interactions were identified for mortality and transplantation. When stratified by initial UNOS status, women had a higher mortality than men as UNOS status 1 and a lower mortality as UNOS status 2. With >20 sex interactions for mortality and transplantation, further evaluation is warranted to form a more equitable allocation system. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

A Qualitative Assessment of Students' Experiences of Studying Music: A Spanish Perspective on the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faubel, Jose Maria Esteve; Valero, Miguel Angel Molina; Stephens, Jonathan

2009-01-01

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate whether or not the allocation of time proposed in the Music Study Guide, adapted from the Espacio Europeo de Educacion Superior (European Higher Education Area) guidelines, is consistent and adequate for students with a minimal musical knowledge. The data for this study arise from a…

KSC-04PD-2099

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. At the Space Station Processing Facility, a trailer delivers the Cupola, an element scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station in early 2009. It was shipped from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, for the European Space Agency. A dome-shaped module with seven windows, the Cupola will give astronauts a panoramic view for observing many operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The view out of the Cupola windows will enhance an arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing television camera views and graphics. It will provide external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations and hardware surveys and for Earth and celestial studies. The Cupola is the final element of the Space Station core.

KSC-04PD-2098

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. The Cupola, an element scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station in early 2009, arrives at KSC on the flatbed of a trailer. It was shipped from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, for the European Space Agency. A dome-shaped module with seven windows, the Cupola will give astronauts a panoramic view for observing many operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The view out of the Cupola windows will enhance an arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing television camera views and graphics. It will provide external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations and hardware surveys and for Earth and celestial studies. The Cupola is the final element of the Space Station core.

VII Workshop Italiano sulla fisica pp a LHC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LHCpp2016 è la settima edizione dell'incontro nazionale sulla fisica p-p a LHC. Questa serie di incontri è nata a Pisa nel 2003 con lo scopo di stimolare lo scambio di idee tra le comunità sperimentali di ATLAS, CMS e LHCB e la comunità teorica. Caratteristica fondamentale di questi incontri è la preparazione di larga parte dei talk in collaborazione tra i vari esperimenti e la comunità teorica. Largo spazio nella preparazione e presentazione dei talk viene dato ai giovani ricercatori. In questa settima edizione, che si tiene di nuovo a Pisa, vogliamo concentrare l'attenzione sulle potenzialità di scoperta offerte dai dati raccolti durante il runII di LHC.

KSC-08pd3760

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Workers in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida oversee placement of the Cupola module onto a workstand. The module was delivered to Kennedy by the European Space Agency in 2004 from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola will provide a 360-degree panoramic view of activities outside the station and spectacular views of the Earth. Cupola has the capability for command and control workstations to be installed to assist in space station remote manipulator system and extra vehicular activities. The final element of the space station core, Cupola is scheduled for launch on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission, targeted for Dec. 10, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

KSC-04PD-2100

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. Inside the Space Station Processing Facility, the Cupola is uncrated. It was shipped from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, for the European Space Agency. The Cupola is an element scheduled to be installed on the International Space Station in early 2009. A dome-shaped module with seven windows, the Cupola will give astronauts a panoramic view for observing many operations on the outside of the orbiting complex. The view out of the Cupola windows will enhance an arm operator's situational awareness, supplementing television camera views and graphics. It will provide external observation capabilities during spacewalks, docking operations and hardware surveys and for Earth and celestial studies. The Cupola is the final element of the Space Station core.

KSC-08pd3757

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Suspended by a crane in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Cupola module is being moved to a workstand. The module was delivered to Kennedy by the European Space Agency in 2004 from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola will provide a 360-degree panoramic view of activities outside the station and spectacular views of the Earth. Cupola has the capability for command and control workstations to be installed to assist in space station remote manipulator system and extra vehicular activities. The final element of the space station core, Cupola is scheduled for launch on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission, targeted for Dec. 10, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

KSC-08pd3759

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Suspended by a crane in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Cupola module is lowered toward the workstand. The module was delivered to Kennedy by the European Space Agency in 2004 from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola will provide a 360-degree panoramic view of activities outside the station and spectacular views of the Earth. Cupola has the capability for command and control workstations to be installed to assist in space station remote manipulator system and extra vehicular activities. The final element of the space station core, Cupola is scheduled for launch on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission, targeted for Dec. 10, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

KSC-08pd3758

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-11-19

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Suspended by a crane in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Cupola module moves closer to the workstand at right. The module was delivered to Kennedy by the European Space Agency in 2004 from Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy. Cupola will provide a 360-degree panoramic view of activities outside the station and spectacular views of the Earth. Cupola has the capability for command and control workstations to be installed to assist in space station remote manipulator system and extra vehicular activities. The final element of the space station core, Cupola is scheduled for launch on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission, targeted for Dec. 10, 2009. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Geometry-Of-Fire Tracking Algorithm for Direct-Fire Weapon Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

this specific application. A scaled-down version for a fire team was created with XBee Pro radios, Arduino Uno microcontrollers, Raspberry Pi computers...constructed with XBee Pro radios, Arduino Uno microcontrollers, Raspberry Pi computers and ROS [5]. The XBee Pro radios and Arduino Uno microcontrollers...communicated the positional data of each node as shown in Figure 4, and the Raspberry Pi computers and ROS executed the tracking algorithm and allowed

Pneumatically Modulated Liquid Delivery System for Nebulizers

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-02

VII. Acknowledgements 18 APPENDIX A: Complete Parts List 19 APPENDIX B: Source code for the Arduino Uno microcontroller (CD) 23 1 I...implemented. The Arduino Uno is a well-established hobbyist microcontroller, focused on ease-of-use and teaching non-computer programmers about embedded...circuits. The Arduino Uno uses an Atmega328 microcontroller with thirteen digital TTL control lines, six 10-bit resolution 0-5 V analog inputs, TTL

Impact of long term left ventricular assist device therapy on donor allocation in cardiac transplantation.

PubMed

Uriel, Nir; Jorde, Ulrich P; Woo Pak, Sang; Jiang, Jeff; Clerkin, Kevin; Takayama, Hiroo; Naka, Yoshifumi; Schulze, P Christian; Mancini, Donna M

2013-02-01

Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD) are increasingly used as a bridge to transplant (BTT) for patients with advanced congestive heart failure (CHF) and are assigned United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) high priority status (1B or 1A). The purpose of our study was asses the effect of organ allocation in the era of continuous flow pumps. A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients transplanted between 1/2001-1/2011 at Columbia University Medical Center. Seven hundred twenty six adult heart transplantations were performed. Two hundred seventy four BTT patients were implanted with LVAD; of which 227 patients were transplanted. Sixty three patients were transplanted as UNOS-1B, while 164 were transplanted as UNOS-1A (72%). Of these 164 patients, 65 were transplanted during their 30-day 1A period (43%) and 96 after upgrading to UNOS-1A for device complication (56%). For 452 non-device patients 139 (31%) were transplanted as UNOS-1A, 233 as UNOS-1B (52%), and 80 as UNOS-2 (17%). The percentage of patients bridged with LVAD increased from 19% in 2001 to 64% in 2010 while the number transplanted during their 30 day 1A grace period declined from 57% in 2005 to 16% in 2011; i.e. 84% of BTT patients in 2011 needed more than 30 days 1A time to be transplanted. Most LVAD patients are now transplanted while suffering device complication. There was no difference in post transplant survival between LVAD patients transplanted as UNOS 1B, 1A grace period or for a device complication As wait time for cardiac transplantation increased the percentage of patients being bridged to transplant with an LVAD has increased with the majority of them transplanted in the setting of device complication. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The UNOS Renal Transplant Registry: Review of the Last Decade.

PubMed

Andre, Mark; Huang, Edmund; Everly, Matthew; Bunnapradist, Suphamai

2014-01-01

Kidney transplantation has become a preferred treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) as transplant recipients enjoy freedom from dialysis and improvement in both quality and quantity of life. More patients are being placed on the transplant waiting list, although the waiting list patients still only represent a very small fraction of ESRD patients. The characteristics of both waitlisted and transplanted patients have changed considerably in the last decade, as the ESRD population has aged and waiting list times have increased. Over the last 10 years, we have witnessed an increasingly severe shortage of kidney donors. Even with increasing efforts of the transplant community to expand the donor pool by including larger numbers of high risk deceased donor transplants, the overall number of kidney transplants has remained relatively stable. Those who do receive transplants, however, benefit from excellent transplant outcomes. The use of paired exchange/chain transplant donors has increased the living donor pool significantly and with outstanding results. Belatacept, a costimulation blockage drug, represents a new class of transplant immunosuppression. It has been used sparingly in the first few years of its approval. Most kidney transplant patients are still maintained on immunosuppressive agents that were approved almost two decades ago. In the next decade, we will certainly continue to deal with an organ shortage as the number of eligible and waitlisted patients is likely to increase. Effective and efficient organ allocation policies will be increasingly necessary to address this scarcity. Optimizing the transplant candidate work-up, improving maintenance of waitlisted patients, and providing optimal post-transplant medical care will be vital to the continued success of kidney transplantation.

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: The Airline Quality Rating 1997

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

1997-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Rating 1997, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1996. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) 1997 is a summary of a month-by-month quality ratings for the nine major domestic U.S. airlines operating during 1996. Using the Airline Quality Rating system and monthly performance data for each airline for the calendar year of 1996, individual and comparative ratings are reported. This research monograph contains a brief summary of the AQR methodology, detailed data and charts that track comparative quality for major domestic airlines across the 12 month period of 1996, and industry average results. Also comparative Airline Quality Rating data for 1991 through 1995 are included to provide a longer term view of quality in the industry.

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: The Airline Quality Rating 1998

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.

1998-01-01

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR) was developed and first announced in early 1991 as an objective method of comparing airline performance on combined multiple factors important to consumers. Development history and calculation details for the AQR rating system are detailed in The Airline Quality Rating 1991 issued in April, 1991, by the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University. This current report, Airline Quality Rating 1998, contains monthly Airline Quality Rating scores for 1997. Additional copies are available by contacting Wichita State University or University of Nebraska at Omaha. The Airline Quality Rating 1998 is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the ten major U.S. airlines operating during 1997. Using the Airline Quality Rating system and monthly performance data for each airline for the calendar year of 1997, individual and comparative ratings are reported. This research monograph contains a brief summary of the AQR methodology, detailed data and charts that track comparative quality for major airlines domestic operations for the 12 month period of 1997, and industry average results. Also, comparative Airline Quality Rating data for 1991 through 1996 are included to provide a longer term view of quality in the industry.

Regional differences in recipient waitlist time and pre- and post-transplant mortality after the 2006 United Network for Organ Sharing policy changes in the donor heart allocation algorithm.

PubMed

Schulze, P Christian; Kitada, Shuichi; Clerkin, Kevin; Jin, Zhezhen; Mancini, Donna M

2014-04-01

This study examined the impact of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policy changes for regional differences in waitlist time and mortality before and after heart transplantation. The 2006 UNOS thoracic organ allocation policy change was implemented to allow for greater regional sharing of organs for heart transplantation. We analyzed 36,789 patients who were listed for heart transplantation from January 1999 through April 2012. These patients were separated into 2 eras centered on the July 12, 2006 UNOS policy change. Pre- and post-transplantation characteristics were compared by UNOS regions. Waitlist mortality decreased nationally (up to 180 days: 13.3% vs. 7.9% after the UNOS policy change, p < 0.001) and within each region. Similarly, 2-year post-transplant mortality decreased nationally (2-year mortality: 17.3% vs. 14.6%; p < 0.001) as well as regionally. Waitlist time for UNOS status 1A and 1B candidates increased nationally 17.8 days on average (p < 0.001) with variability between the regions. The greatest increases were in Region 9 (59.2-day increase, p < 0.001) and Region 4 (41.2-day increase, p < 0.001). Although the use of mechanical circulatory support increased nearly 2.3-fold nationally in Era 2, significant differences were present on a regional basis. In Regions 6, 7, and 10, nearly 40% of those transplanted required left ventricular assist device bridging, whereas only 19.6%, 22.3%, and 15.5% required a left ventricular assist device in regions 3, 4, and 5, respectively. The 2006 UNOS policy change has resulted in significant regional heterogeneity with respect to waitlist time and reliance on mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to transplantation, although overall both waitlist mortality and post-transplant survival are improved. Copyright © 2014 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Regional Differences in Recipient Waitlist Time and Pre- and Post-Transplant Mortality After the 2006 United Network for Organ Sharing Policy Changes in the Donor Heart Allocation Algorithm

PubMed Central

Schulze, P. Christian; Kitada, Shuichi; Clerkin, Kevin; Jin, Zhezhen; Mancini, Donna M.

2014-01-01

Objectives This study examined the impact of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policy changes for regional differences in waitlist time and mortality before and after heart transplantation. Background The 2006 UNOS thoracic organ allocation policy change was implemented to allow for greater regional sharing of organs for heart transplantation. Methods We analyzed 36,789 patients who were listed for heart transplantation from January 1999 through April 2012. These patients were separated into 2 eras centered on the July 12, 2006 UNOS policy change. Pre- and post-transplantation characteristics were compared by UNOS regions. Results Waitlist mortality decreased nationally (up to 180 days: 13.3% vs. 7.9% after the UNOS policy change, p < 0.001) and within each region. Similarly, 2-year post-transplant mortality decreased nationally (2-year mortality: 17.3% vs. 14.6%; p < 0.001) as well as regionally. Waitlist time for UNOS status 1A and 1B candidates increased nationally 17.8 days on average (p < 0.001) with variability between the regions. The greatest increases were in Region 9 (59.2-day increase, p < 0.001) and Region 4 (41.2-day increase, p < 0.001). Although the use of mechanical circulatory support increased nearly 2.3-fold nationally in Era 2, significant differences were present on a regional basis. In Regions 6, 7, and 10, nearly 40% of those transplanted required left ventricular assist device bridging, whereas only 19.6%, 22.3%, and 15.5% required a left ventricular assist device in regions 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Conclusions The 2006 UNOS policy change has resulted in significant regional heterogeneity with respect to waitlist time and reliance on mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to transplantation, although overall both waitlist mortality and post-transplant survival are improved. PMID:24720925

Selection of active spaces for multiconfigurational wavefunctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keller, Sebastian; Boguslawski, Katharina; Janowski, Tomasz; Reiher, Markus; Pulay, Peter

2015-06-01

The efficient and accurate description of the electronic structure of strongly correlated systems is still a largely unsolved problem. The usual procedures start with a multiconfigurational (usually a Complete Active Space, CAS) wavefunction which accounts for static correlation and add dynamical correlation by perturbation theory, configuration interaction, or coupled cluster expansion. This procedure requires the correct selection of the active space. Intuitive methods are unreliable for complex systems. The inexpensive black-box unrestricted natural orbital (UNO) criterion postulates that the Unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) charge natural orbitals with fractional occupancy (e.g., between 0.02 and 1.98) constitute the active space. UNOs generally approximate the CAS orbitals so well that the orbital optimization in CAS Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF) may be omitted, resulting in the inexpensive UNO-CAS method. A rigorous testing of the UNO criterion requires comparison with approximate full configuration interaction wavefunctions. This became feasible with the advent of Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) methods which can approximate highly correlated wavefunctions at affordable cost. We have compared active orbital occupancies in UNO-CAS and CASSCF calculations with DMRG in a number of strongly correlated molecules: compounds of electronegative atoms (F2, ozone, and NO2), polyenes, aromatic molecules (naphthalene, azulene, anthracene, and nitrobenzene), radicals (phenoxy and benzyl), diradicals (o-, m-, and p-benzyne), and transition metal compounds (nickel-acetylene and Cr2). The UNO criterion works well in these cases. Other symmetry breaking solutions, with the possible exception of spatial symmetry, do not appear to be essential to generate the correct active space. In the case of multiple UHF solutions, the natural orbitals of the average UHF density should be used. The problems of the UNO criterion and their potential solutions are discussed

A Review of the Electronic Coursework Efforts of the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the Earth System Science Education Alliance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N.

2007-12-01

The University of Nebraska at Omaha has been a state leader in helping Nebraska teachers embrace earth systems science education, with a special emphasis in online coursework. UNO was one of the initial members in the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) and has offered three different ESSEA courses, with a total of 167 students having taken ESSEA courses at UNO for graduate credit. UNO is currently involved in expanding its earth system science courses, modules, and educational research. We are also integrating these courses into several degree programs, including a Masters of Science in Education, a new Middle School Endorsement, a Certificate in Urban Education, and the Graduate Program for the Department of Geography/Geology. UNO is beginning to examine teacher content learning and science reasoning within its coursework. Feedback surveys from earlier ESSEA offerings already indicate a strongly positive perception of the courses by the teachers enrolled in the coursework. Project impact has been documented in teacher projects, quotes, and lessons associated with the coursework activities. We will describe the UNO earth system science efforts (emphasizing ESSEA coursework), and describe past efforts and teacher perceptions, as well as new strategies being undertaken to more closely examine content learning and science reasoning impact with course participants. We will also describe online course modules being developed within the UNO online course efforts, including one on the global amphibian crisis, and also the impact of urbanization on a local native prairie environment.

Matching Organs

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Types of Cancer Associated with Transplant Recipients

MedlinePlus

... work or school Physical changes Relationship changes Sexuality changes Managing comorbidities People to know FAQ Living donation What ... Organ Sharing , a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization | Guidestar | Sitemap | Legal ... https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Organ Facts

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Getting on the List

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Types of Cancer Associated with Transplant Recipients

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Organ Facts: Pancreas

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Kidney Facts

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Liver Facts

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Diet and Exercise

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Organ Transplantation: Frequently Asked Questions

MedlinePlus

... to enews Follow Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Google+ Contact 700 N. 4th Street Richmond, VA 23219 ( ... com/UnitedNetworkForOrganSharing https://twitter.com/unosnews https://plus.google.com/+UnosOrg https://www.linkedin.com/company/unos

Ukrainian network of Optical Stations for man-made space objects observation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sybiryakova, Yevgeniya

2016-07-01

The Ukrainian Network of Optical Stations (UNOS) for man-made objects research was founded in 2012 as an association of professional astronomers. The main goals of network are: positional and photometric observations of man-made space objects, calculation of orbital elements, research of shape and period of rotation. The network consists of 8 stations: Kiev, Nikolaev, Odesa, Uzhgorod, Lviv, Yevpatoriya, Alchevsk. UNOS has 12 telescopes for observation of man-made space objects. The new original methods of positional observation were developed for optical observation of geosynchronous and low earth orbit satellites. The observational campaigns of LEO satellites held in the network every year. The numerical model of space object motion, developed in UNOS, is using for orbit calculation. The results of orbital elements calculation are represented on the UNOS web-site http://umos.mao.kiev.ua/eng/. The photometric observation of selected objects is also carried out in network.

Volunteer Program Assessment at the University of Nebraska at Omaha: A Metropolitan University's Collaboration with Rural and Spanish-Speaking Volunteers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scherer, Lisa L.; Graeve-Cunningham, Victoria M.; Trent, Sheridan B.; Weddington, Stephanie A.; Thurley, Adam R.; Prange, Kelly A.; Allen, Joseph A.

2016-01-01

The Volunteer Program Assessment at UNO (VPA-UNO), a faculty-led student group, partners with nonprofit and governmental agencies to provide free assessments and consultations to enhance volunteer engagement, organizational commitment and retention. Three recent initiatives are discussed representing an intentional effort of a metropolitan…

Selection of active spaces for multiconfigurational wavefunctions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Keller, Sebastian; Boguslawski, Katharina; Reiher, Markus, E-mail: markus.reiher@phys.chem.ethz.ch

2015-06-28

The efficient and accurate description of the electronic structure of strongly correlated systems is still a largely unsolved problem. The usual procedures start with a multiconfigurational (usually a Complete Active Space, CAS) wavefunction which accounts for static correlation and add dynamical correlation by perturbation theory, configuration interaction, or coupled cluster expansion. This procedure requires the correct selection of the active space. Intuitive methods are unreliable for complex systems. The inexpensive black-box unrestricted natural orbital (UNO) criterion postulates that the Unrestricted Hartree-Fock (UHF) charge natural orbitals with fractional occupancy (e.g., between 0.02 and 1.98) constitute the active space. UNOs generally approximatemore » the CAS orbitals so well that the orbital optimization in CAS Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF) may be omitted, resulting in the inexpensive UNO-CAS method. A rigorous testing of the UNO criterion requires comparison with approximate full configuration interaction wavefunctions. This became feasible with the advent of Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) methods which can approximate highly correlated wavefunctions at affordable cost. We have compared active orbital occupancies in UNO-CAS and CASSCF calculations with DMRG in a number of strongly correlated molecules: compounds of electronegative atoms (F{sub 2}, ozone, and NO{sub 2}), polyenes, aromatic molecules (naphthalene, azulene, anthracene, and nitrobenzene), radicals (phenoxy and benzyl), diradicals (o-, m-, and p-benzyne), and transition metal compounds (nickel-acetylene and Cr{sub 2}). The UNO criterion works well in these cases. Other symmetry breaking solutions, with the possible exception of spatial symmetry, do not appear to be essential to generate the correct active space. In the case of multiple UHF solutions, the natural orbitals of the average UHF density should be used. The problems of the UNO criterion and their potential

Impacts of the MERCOSUR Agreement on the Uruguayan Economy

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-06-01

Bhagwati, Jagdish, "Free Trade: Old and New Challenges," in The Economic Journal, Volume 104, No. 423, March 1994. Bizzozero, Lincoln, "El comportamiento de...socios pequefios en el inicio de un proceso de integraci6n," in Pequefios Paises en la Integraci6n. Oportunidades v Riesgos. CIESU/FESUR Ediciones...Negociadora de un Pequefio Pais en el Proceso de Integraci6n Europeo. El ejemplo de Luxemburgo." in Pequehos Paises en la Integraci6n: Oportunidades y

AWOS (Automatic Weather Observing System) Sensor Evaluation. Transmissometer, Forward-Scatter Meter and Lidar Ceilometer.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-01-01

receiver to the existing 500-foot baseline. The RVV-700 was displaced about 100 feet to the side in order to secure a clear path past small trees...U.N U.No U.N9 U.743 U.24 U.N U.N9 U.No U.U a.N U.N 314o a.N a.Ś U.41.411 CIMP .47 a." U. U.6 9;- .99 U.No USo U.N a.Ś (3/4 114 1.42 314 1.N8 1.25 3...SCATTER VISIBILITY SENSORS Paper presented at the Fifth Symposium on Meterologioal Observation and Instrumentation, April 11-15, 1983, in Toronto

Accelerated Schools Centers: How To Address Challenges to Institutionalization and Growth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meza, James, Jr.

The Accelerated Schools Project (ASP) at the University of New Orleans (UNO) was established in spring 1990, funded by a 3-year grant from Chevron. Beginning with 1 pilot school in 1991, the UNO Accelerated Schools Center has expanded to 36 schools representing 19 school districts in Louisiana and 3 schools from the Memphis City Schools district.…

Nasal obstruction during adolescence induces memory/learning impairments associated with BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway hypofunction and high corticosterone levels.

PubMed

Ogawa, Takuya; Okihara, Hidemasa; Kokai, Satoshi; Abe, Yasunori; Karin Harumi, Uchima Koecklin; Makiguchi, Mio; Kato, Chiho; Yabushita, Tadachika; Michikawa, Makoto; Ono, Takashi

2018-06-01

The hippocampus is an important brain region involved in memory and learning. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB), and phospho-p44/p42 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) are known to contribute to hippocampal memory/learning. The present study aimed to clarify the effects of nasal obstruction during the growth period on memory/learning in an animal model, using combined behavioral, biochemical, and histological approaches. Male BALB/C mice underwent unilateral nasal obstruction (UNO) by cauterization at 8 days of age and were subjected to Y-maze and passive avoidance tests at 15 weeks of age. The serum corticosterone levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and brain tissues were subjected to hematoxylin-eosin staining and histological analysis or homogenization and Western blot analysis. Compared with control mice, UNO mice had lower blood oxygen saturation levels and exhibited apparent memory/learning impairments during behavioral testing. Additionally, the UNO group had higher hippocampal BDNF levels and serum corticosterone levels, lower hippocampal TrkB and phospho-p44/p42 MAPK levels, and reduced neuron numbers relative to controls. Our findings suggest that UNO during adolescence affects the hippocampus and causes memory/learning impairments. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Initial Results of On-Line Earth System Science Course Offerings at the University of Nebraska-Omaha Through the Earth System Science Education Alliance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N. F.; Schnase, W. L.; Hamersky, S.; Moshman, R.

2008-12-01

The University of Nebraska at Omaha has been offering on-line Earth System Science coursework to teachers in Nebraska since 2002. UNO was one of the initial members in the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) and has offered three different ESSEA courses, with nearly 200 students having taken ESSEA courses at UNO for graduate credit. Our experiences in delivering this coursework have involved both teachers who have received a stipend to take the course and those who have paid their own tuition and fees and received graduate credit for the course. We will report on the online behavior of teachers from both populations and also discuss pros and cons of each approach. UNO has also experimented with different approaches in the support and management of the course, including using undergraduate majors as content experts. This improves access of teachers to content-related feedback and is a positive experience for the undergraduate major. Feedback surveys from earlier ESSEA offerings indicate a strongly positive perception of the courses by the teachers enrolled in the coursework. Project impact has been documented in teacher projects, quotes, and lessons associated with the coursework activities. We will also describe online course modules being developed within the UNO online course efforts, including one focusing on the global amphibian crisis.

Node 2 and Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) In Space Station Processing Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

Lining the walls of the Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are the launch awaiting U.S. Node 2 (lower left). and the first pressurized module of the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) (upper right), named 'Kibo' (Hope). Node 2, the 'utility hub' and second of three connectors between International Space Station (ISS) modules, was built in the Torino, Italy facility of Alenia Spazio, an International contractor based in Rome. Japan's major contribution to the station, the JEM, was built by the Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) at the Tsukuba Space Center near Tokyo and will expand research capabilities aboard the station. Both were part of an agreement between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Node 2 will be the next pressurized module installed on the Station. Once the Japanese and European laboratories are attached to it, the resulting roomier Station will expand from the equivalent space of a 3-bedroom house to a 5-bedroom house. The Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama manages the Node program for NASA.

Fine structure of striations observed in barium plasma injections in the magnetospheric cleft

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simons, D.J.; Eastman, T.E.; Pongratz, M.B.

1976-01-01

In January and November of 1975, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory sponsored four high altitude shaped charge barium plasma injections in the magnetospheric cleft region. These experiments were TORDO UNO (January 6), TORDO DOS (January 11), PERIQUITO UNO (November 25), and PERIQUITO DOS (November 28). All four injections took place near 500 km altitude, and optical data were taken from two aircraft and a ground station. The TORDO DOS and the PERIQUITO experiments showed rapid formation of striations (within one minute after injection), and fast horizontal spreading in contrast with TORDO UNO. In PERIQUITO DOS, the debris cloud spread magneticallymore » east-west with a small net northerly motion. TORDO UNO shows very rapid poleward motion, and the remaining two events resulted in magnetically east-west horizontal spreading, with no noticeable poleward motion. Striations observed in the PERIQUITO DOS experiment separate in opposite directions with relative velocities of up to 3 km/sec. These field-aligned structures appear to form in sheets of approximately constant magnetic latitude. Significant spatial variations occur on a scale of less than 200 meters. Spatial frequency power spectra across these striations have been determined at various times. Observations of the debris cloud and the fast barium streak show strong field-aligned coherency of striation fine structure, indicating a field line mapping of transverse electric fields and gradients.« less

Heart transplantation in children with intellectual disability: An analysis of the UNOS database.

PubMed

Goel, Alexander N; Iyengar, Amit; Schowengerdt, Kenneth; Fiore, Andrew C; Huddleston, Charles B

2017-03-01

Heart transplantation in children with intellectual disability (ID) is an issue of debate due to the shortage of available donor organs. We sought to perform the first large-scale retrospective cohort study describing the prevalence and outcomes of heart transplantation in this population. The United Network of Organ Sharing database was queried from 2008 to 2015 for pediatric patients (age <19 years) receiving first, isolated heart transplant. Recipients were divided into three subgroups: definite ID, probable ID, and no ID. The chi-square test was used to compare patients' baseline characteristics. Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used to estimate the association between ID and death-censored graft failure and patient survival. Over the study period, 565 pediatric patients with definite (131) or probable (434) ID received first heart transplant, accounting for 22.4% of all first pediatric heart transplants (n=2524). Recipients with definite ID did not significantly differ from those without ID in terms of gender, ethnicity, ischemia time, severity of pretransplant condition (waitlist status, mechanical ventilation, inotrope dependence, ECMO, VAD, PVRI, infection prior to transplant), or incidents of acute rejection within the first year. ID was associated with prolonged waitlist time (P<.001). Graft and patient survival at 3 years was equivalent between children with and without ID (P=.811 and .578, respectively). We conclude that intellectual disability is prevalent in children receiving heart transplants, with 22.4% of recipients over the study period having definite or probable ID. ID does not appear to negatively affect transplantation outcomes. Future studies are needed to assess long-term outcomes of transplantation in this population. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

G. Marconi: A Data Relay Satellite for Mars Communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dionisio, C.; Marcozzi, M.; Landriani, C.

2002-01-01

Ascent Vehicle launch and Orbiting Sample Canister detection for the Mars Sample Return mission. The GMO mission is a close collaboration between the Italian and American national space agencies and two implementing organizations: Alenia Spazio in Italy and JPL in the United States. As the Italian prime contractor, Alenia Spazio is to design and fabricate the spacecraft bus, integrate the Italian and JPL payloads, support integration of the spacecraft with the launch vehicle, support launch, and conduct mission operations. GMO will use Alenia' s PRIMA spacecraft bus in a deep space configuration. The PRIMA bus is a new design concept, developed under ASI funding, that combines flexibility, low cost and high efficiency. Its modular design makes it adaptable for several classes of missions, including interplanetary.

Thirty-three years of recruiting and graduating minority students at the University of New Orleans.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serpa, L. F.; Pavlis, T. L.

2006-12-01

The University of New Orleans (UNO) began a formal program to recruit minority geoscience students in 1974 when Dr. Louis Fernandez initiated the program through a grant from the National Science Foundation. A major tool in the original program was to take minority high school students on a field trip. That early program was a major success at a time when even one African American student graduating with a B.S. degree in Geology or Geophysics from any university in the U.S. was considered to be significant. The field trip has continued every year since the program began and it continues to be part of a very successful recruiting effort. Over the last approximately 15 years, the minority geoscience undergraduate student population at UNO rose to approximately 40% with African American students making up the largest single ethnic group. The retention and graduation rates of these minority undergraduates at UNO are high and minority students are often graduating at or near the top of their class. Despite the disproportionate displacement of African Americans from the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina, those minority geoscience students who can return to UNO are doing so in significant numbers. Thus, the minority program appears to have achieved a high level of sustainability. Recently we took a closer look at the program to determine the possible explanations for its success. Although availability of scholarships, tutoring and mentors clearly contributes to our success, the key to the success of the program remains the field trip. The trip not only serves as an academic opportunity for students to see geological features first hand and develop a curiosity for earth sciences, but it also affords an opportunity to build trust and a relationship between the faculty on the trip and the meet other potential students. That trust may be the most important key to our successful recruitment of minority students at UNO. In addition, the approximately 2 week field trip is

Big Data, Predictive Analytics, and Quality Improvement in Kidney Transplantation: A Proof of Concept.

PubMed

Srinivas, T R; Taber, D J; Su, Z; Zhang, J; Mour, G; Northrup, D; Tripathi, A; Marsden, J E; Moran, W P; Mauldin, P D

2017-03-01

We sought proof of concept of a Big Data Solution incorporating longitudinal structured and unstructured patient-level data from electronic health records (EHR) to predict graft loss (GL) and mortality. For a quality improvement initiative, GL and mortality prediction models were constructed using baseline and follow-up data (0-90 days posttransplant; structured and unstructured for 1-year models; data up to 1 year for 3-year models) on adult solitary kidney transplant recipients transplanted during 2007-2015 as follows: Model 1: United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data; Model 2: UNOS & Transplant Database (Tx Database) data; Model 3: UNOS, Tx Database & EHR comorbidity data; and Model 4: UNOS, Tx Database, EHR data, Posttransplant trajectory data, and unstructured data. A 10% 3-year GL rate was observed among 891 patients (2007-2015). Layering of data sources improved model performance; Model 1: area under the curve (AUC), 0.66; (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.60, 0.72); Model 2: AUC, 0.68; (95% CI: 0.61-0.74); Model 3: AUC, 0.72; (95% CI: 0.66-077); Model 4: AUC, 0.84, (95 % CI: 0.79-0.89). One-year GL (AUC, 0.87; Model 4) and 3-year mortality (AUC, 0.84; Model 4) models performed similarly. A Big Data approach significantly adds efficacy to GL and mortality prediction models and is EHR deployable to optimize outcomes. © 2016 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

[In Process Citation].

PubMed

Álvarez, Cristian; Ramírez-Campillo, Rodrigo; Vallejos-Rojas, Andrea; Jaramillo-Gallardo, Javiera; Salas Bravo, Carlos; Cano-Montoya, Johnattan; Celis-Morales, Carlos

2016-03-25

 Introducción: obesidad e inactividad física son importantes factores de riesgo para el desarrollo de hipertensión en adultos. No obstante, hay poca evidencia sobre el efecto de estos factores de riesgo en el desarrollo de hipertensión en población infantil. Objetivo: investigar la asociación del estado nutricional, niveles de actividad física y etnicidad con niveles de hipertensión en escolares entre 6 y 13 años de edad. Métodos: un total de 418 escolares de ascendencia étnica europea (n = 311) y mapuche (n = 107) fueron participantes de este estudio transversal. Se midió el peso, talla, índice de masa corporal (IMC) y presión arterial, utilizando protocolos estandarizados. Resultados: no se encontraron diferencias significativas en IMC, estado nutricional y presión arterial entre niños con ascendencia europea y mapuche. No obstante, la prevalencia de prehipertensión (21,3% vs. 11,1%) e hipertensión (28,9% vs. 18,6%) fue significativamente mayor en escolares mapuches en comparación con europeos, respectivamente. Escolares con ascendencia mapuche tienen un mayor riesgo de desarrollar prehipertensión o hipertensión que escolares con ascendencia europea (OR: 1,92 [1,19 a 3,06], p < 0,01). La prevalencia de hipertensión aumenta significativamente en ambos grupos étnicos con el incremento de IMC y bajos niveles de actividad física. Conclusiones: el riesgo de desarrollar prehipertensión o hipertensión es mayor en población infantil ascendiente de mapuches que ascendiente de europeos y este riesgo se ve acentuado con el incremento de obesidad y bajos niveles de actividad física.

Italian aerospace company Alenia prepare TSS-1R in O&C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

Employees of the Italian aerospace company Alenia Spazio S.p.A. prepare the Tethered Satellite System-1R (TSS-1R) that is one of two primary payloads scheduled to fly aboard the Orbiter Columbia during the STS-75 mission in early 1996 for a series of tests in the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building. The TSS program is a joint venture between NASA and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, or Italian Space Agency. The 'R' designation indicates a reflight. The TSS-1 flew aboard Atlantis during the STS-46 mission in July 1992 and achieved only a partial success when its tether reel mechanism became jammed after only approximately 840 feet of the 12-mile-long tether had been unwound as the satellite rose from its cradle in the orbiter's payload bay. Once deployed to the 12- mile height on the STS-75 mission, the satellite will be used to validate theories that such a system could possibly be used in the future to generate electrical power to power orbital systems, raise and lower spacecraft, study atmospheric conditions at several different heights and for many other applications.

Evaluation of MPLM Design and Mission 6A Coupled Loads Analyses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bookout, Paul S.; Ricks, Ed

1999-01-01

Through the development of a space shuttle payload, there are usually several coupled loads analyses (CLA) performed: preliminary design, critical design, final design and verification loads analysis (VLA). A final design CLA is the last analysis conducted prior to model delivery to the shuttle program for the VLA. The finite element models used in the final design CLA and the VLA are test verified dynamic math models. Mission 6A is the first of many flights of the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The MPLM was developed by Alenia Spazio S.p.A. (an Italian aerospace company) and houses the International Standard Payload Racks (ISPR) for transportation to the space station in the shuttle. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), the payload integrator of the MPLM for Mission 6A, performed the final design CLA using the M6.OZC shuttle data for liftoff and landing conditions using the proper shuttle cargo manifest. Alenia performed the preliminary and critical design CLAs for the development of the MPLM. However, these CLAs did not use the current Mission 6A cargo manifest. An evaluation of the preliminary and critical design performed by Alenia and the final design performed by MSFC is presented.

Metrologia: uno sguardo alle grandezze fisiche fondamentali; il Pendolo, il Piano Inclinato e g

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sigismondi, Costantino

2016-07-01

Metrology studies the standards utilized in physics, we focus on MKS introduced by Giovanni Giorgi at the turn of XIX-XX century. Galileo, the pendulum and the inclined plane are reviewed to obtain the universal g.

Trend in lung transplantation in the U.S.: an analysis of the UNOS registry.

PubMed

Freitas, Maria Cecilia S

2010-01-01

The number of lung transplants continues to increase in the U.S. The most significant change over the last decade occurred after the 2005 implementation of LAS. When the percentage of patients being transplanted increased even further, while time-to-transplant and the number of patients dying on the waiting list significantly declined. As a result of implementation of LAS in 2005, IPF recipients became the largest group to receive a lung transplant. And the number of transplants for patients age 60 and over has increased significantly. The number of DL transplants performed yearly increased while the number of SL transplants has remained relatively consistent throughout the last decade. Though the gender distribution of recipients has fluctuated each year, the proportion of females receiving lung transplant has decreased. Of the deceased-donor DL and SL transplant recipients, 69% had a cold ischemia time between 3-6 hrs. And 79% of primary DL and SL transplant recipients had a 0% PRA. 6. A higher number of HLA mismatches impacts unfavorably on graft survival rates; yet, surprisingly, zero HLA A-B-DR MM also have an unfavorable impact; Recipients with less than two hours of cold ischemia-time (n = 815, 4.3%) have the worst five-year graft survival; PRA levels greater than 25% have an unfavorable impact on graft survival.

Operational aspects of CASA UNO '88-The first large scale international GPS geodetic network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neilan, Ruth E.; Dixon, T. H.; Meehan, Thomas K.; Melbourne, William G.; Scheid, John A.; Kellogg, J. N.; Stowell, J. L.

1989-01-01

For three weeks, from January 18 to February 5, 1988, scientists and engineers from 13 countries and 30 international agencies and institutions cooperated in the most extensive GPS (Global Positioning System) field campaign, and the largest geodynamics experiment, in the world to date. This collaborative eperiment concentrated GPS receivers in Central and South America. The predicted rates of motions are on the order of 5-10 cm/yr. Global coverage of GPS observations spanned 220 deg of longitude and 125 deg of latitude using a total of 43 GPS receivers. The experiment was the first civilian effort at implementing an extended international GPS satellite tracking network. Covariance analyses incorporating the extended tracking network predicted significant improvement in precise orbit determination, allowing accurate long-baseline geodesy in the science areas.

Linea abierta -- Comunicacion en espanol. Nivel Uno (Open Line -- Communication in Spanish. Level One).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dissemination and Assessment Center for Bilingual Education, Austin, TX.

This text is the first of a series of four units concerning language skills for Spanish speakers of limited English-speaking ability in grades 6-9. The text includes a variety of learning experiences designed to develop competence in the student's cognitive and affective skills derived from the following basic areas: listening, speaking, reading,…

In-Hospital Vital Status and Heart Transplants After Intervention for Congenital Heart Disease in the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium: Completeness of Ascertainment Using the National Death Index and United Network for Organ Sharing Datasets.

PubMed

Spector, Logan G; Menk, Jeremiah S; Vinocur, Jeffrey M; Oster, Matthew E; Harvey, Brian A; St Louis, James D; Moller, James; Kochilas, Lazaros K

2016-08-09

The long-term outcomes of patients undergoing interventions for congenital heart disease (CHD) remain largely unknown. We linked the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium (PCCC) with the National Death Index (NDI) and the United Network for Organ Sharing Dataset (UNOS) registries to study mortality and transplant occurring up to 32 years postintervention. The objective of the current analysis was to determine the sensitivity of this linkage in identifying patients who are known to have died or undergone heart transplant. We used direct identifiers from 59 324 subjects registered in the PCCC between 1982 and 2003 to test for completeness of case ascertainment of subjects with known vital and heart transplant status by linkage with the NDI and UNOS registries. Of the 4612 in-hospital deaths, 3873 were identified by the NDI as "true" matches for a sensitivity of 84.0% (95% CI, 82.9-85.0). There was no difference in sensitivity across 25 congenital cardiovascular conditions after adjustment for age, sex, race, presence of first name, death year, and residence at death. Of 455 known heart transplants in the PCCC, there were 408 matches in the UNOS registry, for a sensitivity of 89.7% (95% CI, 86.9-92.3). An additional 4851 deaths and 363 transplants that occurred outside the PCCC were identified through 2014. The linkage of the PCCC with the NDI and UNOS national registries is feasible with a satisfactory sensitivity. This linkage provides a conservative estimate of the long-term death and heart transplant events in this cohort. © 2016 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.

La salud en personas con discapacidad intelectual en España: estudio europeo POMONA-II

PubMed Central

Martínez-Leal, Rafael; Salvador-Carulla, Luis; Gutiérrez-Colosía, Mencía Ruiz; Nadal, Margarida; Novell-Alsina, Ramón; Martorell, Almudena; González-Gordón, Rodrigo G.; Mérida-Gutiérrez, M. Reyes; Ángel, Silvia; Milagrosa-Tejonero, Luisa; Rodríguez, Alicia; García-Gutiérrez, Juan C.; Pérez-Vicente, Amado; García-Ibáñez, José; Aguilera-Inés, Francisco

2011-01-01

Introducción Estudios internacionales demuestran que existe un patrón diferenciado de salud y una disparidad en la atención sanitaria entre personas con discapacidad intelectual (DI) y población general. Objetivo Obtener datos sobre el estado de salud de las personas con DI y compararlos con datos de población general. Pacientes y métodos Se utilizó el conjunto de indicadores de salud P15 en una muestra de 111 sujetos con DI. Los datos de salud encontrados se compararon según el tipo de residencia de los sujetos y se utilizó la Encuesta Nacional de Salud 2006 para comparar estos datos con los de la población general. Resultados La muestra con DI presentó 25 veces más casos de epilepsia y el doble de obesidad. Un 20% presentó dolor bucal, y existió una alta presencia de problemas sensoriales, de movilidad y psicosis. Sin embargo, encontramos una baja presencia de patologías como la diabetes, la hipertensión, la osteoartritis y la osteoporosis. También presentaron una menor participación en programas de prevención y promoción de la salud, un mayor número de ingresos hospitalarios y un uso menor de los servicios de urgencia. Conclusiones El patrón de salud de las personas con DI difiere del de la población general, y éstas realizan un uso distinto de los servicios sanitarios. Es importante el desarrollo de programas de promoción de salud y de formación profesional específicamente diseñados para la atención de personas con DI, así como la implementación de encuestas de salud que incluyan datos sobre esta población. PMID:21948011

A Trust-Based Pact in Research Biobanks. From Theory to Practice.

PubMed

Sanchini, Virginia; Bonizzi, Giuseppina; Disalvatore, Davide; Monturano, Massimo; Pece, Salvatore; Viale, Giuseppe; Di Fiore, Pier Paolo; Boniolo, Giovanni

2016-05-01

Traditional Informed Consent is becoming increasingly inadequate, especially in the context of research biobanks. How much information is needed by patients for their consent to be truly informed? How does the quality of the information they receive match up to the quality of the information they ought to receive? How can information be conveyed fairly about future, non-predictable lines of research? To circumvent these difficulties, some scholars have proposed that current consent guidelines should be reassessed, with trust being used as a guiding principle instead of information. Here, we analyse one of these proposals, based on a Participation Pact, which is already being offered to patients at the Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, a comprehensive cancer hospital in Milan, Italy. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

HLA AND CROSS·REACTIVE ANTIGEN GROUP MATCHING FOR CADAVER KIDNEY ALLOCATION1

PubMed Central

Starzl, Thomas E.; Eliasziw, Michael; Gjertson, David; Terasaki, Paul I.; Fung, John J.; Trucco, Massimo; Martell, Joan; McMichael, John; Scantlebury, Velma; Shapiro, Ron; Donner, Allan

2010-01-01

Background Allocation of cadaver kidneys by graded human leukocyte antigen (HLA) compatibility scoring arguably has had little effect on overall survival while prejudicing the transplant candidacy of African-American and other hard to match populations. Consequently, matching has been proposed of deduced amino acid residues of the individual HLA molecules shared by cross-reactive antigen groups (CREGs). We have examined the circumstances under which compatibility with either method impacted graft survival. Methods Using Cox proportional hazards regression modeling, we studied the relationship between levels of conventional HLA mismatch and other donor and recipient factors on primary cadaver kidney survival between 1981 and 1995 at the University of Pittsburgh (n=1,780) and in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Scientific Registry during 1991–1995 (n=31,291). The results were compared with those obtained by the matching of amino acid residues that identified CREG-compatible cases with as many as four (but not five and six) HLA mismatches. Results With more than one HLA mismatch (>85% of patients in both series), most of the survival advantage of a zero mismatch was lost. None of the HLA loci were “weak.” In the UNOS (but not Pittsburgh) category of one-HLA mismatch (n=1334), a subgroup of CREG-matched recipients (35.3%) had better graft survival than the remaining 64.7%, who were CREG-mismatched. There was no advantage of a CREG match in the two- to four-HLA incompatibility tiers. Better graft survival with tacrolimus was observed in both the Pittsburgh and UNOS series. Conclusions Obligatory national sharing of cadaver kidneys is justifiable only for zero-HLA-mismatched kidneys. The potential value of CREG matching observed in the one-HLA-mismatched recipients of the UNOS (but not the Pittsburgh) experience deserves further study. PMID:9381546

Towards GPS orbit accuracy of tens of centimeters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lichten, Stephen M.

1990-01-01

In this paper, CASA Uno orbit results are presented utilizing data from four continents. Refinements in orbit modeling, combined with the availability of a worldwide tracking network and the dense distribution of tracking sites in North and South America, have improved orbit determination precision to about 60 cm (per component) for four of the seven GPS satellites tracked in CASA Uno. The orbit results are consistent with California baseline repeatabilities, which are at the few mm level in horizontal and length, and 1-2 cm in the vertical. Baseline comparisons with VLBI provide a measure of orbit accuracy, showing sub-cm agreement in length and 1.5 cm agreement in the horizontal.

U.S. Transplantation Data

MedlinePlus

... and values Strategic goals History of UNOS Leadership Governance Financials Annual report SERVICES Education and training Research and data analytics Technology services Meeting planning Advertising Online store ...

United Network for Organ Sharing

MedlinePlus

... and values Strategic goals History of UNOS Leadership Governance Financials Annual report SERVICES Education and training Research and data analytics Technology services Meeting planning Advertising Online store ...

Assessment of Spanish Panel Reactive Antibody Calculator and Potential Usefulness.

PubMed

Asensio, Esther; López-Hoyos, Marcos; Romón, Íñigo; Ontañón, Jesús; San Segundo, David

2017-01-01

The calculated panel reactive of antibodies (cPRAs) necessary for kidney donor-pair exchange and highly sensitized programs are estimated using different panel reactive antibody (PRA) calculators based on big enough samples in Eurotransplant (EUTR), United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and Canadian Transplant Registry (CTR) websites. However, those calculators can vary depending on the ethnic they are applied. Here, we develop a PRA calculator used in the Spanish Program of Transplant Access for Highly Sensitized patients (PATHI) and validate it with EUTR, UNOS, and CTR calculators. The anti-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibody profile of 42 sensitized patients on waiting list was defined, and cPRA was calculated with different PRA calculators. Despite different allelic frequencies derived from population differences in donor panel from each calculator, no differences in cPRA between the four calculators were observed. The PATHI calculator includes anti-DQA1 antibody profiles in cPRA calculation; however, no improvement in total cPRA calculation of highly sensitized patients was demonstrated. The PATHI calculator provides cPRA results comparable with those from EUTR, UNOS, and CTR calculators and serves as a tool to develop valid calculators in geographical and ethnic areas different from Europe, USA, and Canada.

New paradigms for organ allocation and distribution in liver transplantation.

PubMed

Kalra, Avash; Biggins, Scott W

2018-05-01

The 'Final Rule,' issued by the Health Resources and Service Administration in 2000, mandated that liver allocation policy should be based on disease severity and probability of death, and - among other factors - should be independent of a candidate's residence or listing. As a result, the Organ Procurement Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has explored policy changes addressing geographic disparities without compromising outcomes. Major paradigm shifts are underway in U.S. liver allocation policy. New hepatocellular carcinoma exception policy incorporates tumor characteristics associated with posttransplantation outcomes, whereas a National Liver Review Board will promote a standardized process for awarding exception points. Meanwhile, following extensive debate, new allocation policy aims to reduce geographic disparity by broadening sharing to the UNOS region and 150-mile circle around the donor hospital for liver transplant candidates with a calculated model for end-stage liver disease score at least 32. Unnecessary organ travel will be reduced by granting 3 'proximity points' to candidates within the same donation service area (DSA) as a liver donor or within 150 nautical miles of the donor hospital, regardless of DSA or UNOS region. This review provides an evaluation of major policy changes in liver allocation from 2016 to 2018.

Shaping Ability of Reciproc, UnicOne, and Protaper Universal in Simulated Root Canals

PubMed Central

Matos Maia Filho, Etevaldo; de Castro Rizzi, Cláudia; Bandeca Coelho, Matheus; Freitas Santos, Sara; Mayanne Oliveira Costa, Luzia; Nunes Carvalho, Ceci; Rodolfo de Jesus Tavarez, Rudys; Alves Soares, Janir

2015-01-01

The study aimed to compare the shaping effects, preservation of the original curvature, and transportation of the apical foramen of Reciproc (VDW, Munich, Germany), UnicOne (Medin, Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic), and Protaper Universal (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) in simulated root canals. Thirty resin blocks with simulated curved root canals were distributed into three groups (n = 10), and prepared using Reciproc (RCp), UnicOne (UnO) and the Protaper Universal (PTu). Standardized photographs were taken before and after the instrumentation, after which they were superimposed. Measurements were taken of the quantity of resin removed from the inner and outer walls of the curvature at 6 levels, the curvature angles before and after instrumentation, and the transportation of the apical foramen. RCp obtained the highest values for amount of resin removed from the inner wall while UnO demonstrated similar shaping on both the inner and outer walls. PTu produced the greatest transportation of foramen when compared to the reciprocating instruments. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the change in angle (P > 0.05). All the instruments were capable of maintaining the original curvature of the root canal; however, the UnO, which used reciprocating movement, produced more conservative shapes with lower foramen transportation. PMID:25950022

Ultra-low current biosensor output detection using portable electronic reader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yahaya, N. A. N.; Rajapaksha, R. D. A. A.; Uda, M. N. Afnan; Hashim, U.

2017-09-01

Generally, the electrical biosensor usually shows extremely low current signal output around pico ampere to microampere range. In this research, electronic reader with amplifier has been demonstrated to detect ultra low current via the biosensor. The operational amplifier Burr-Brown OPA 128 and Arduino Uno board were used to construct the portable electronic reader. There are two cascaded inverting amplifier were used to detect ultra low current through the biosensor from pico amperes (pA) to nano amperes ranges (nA). A small known input current was form by applying variable voltage between 0.1V to 5.0V across a 5GΩ high resistor to check the amplifier circuit. The amplifier operation was measured with the high impedance current source and has been compared with the theoretical measurement. The Arduino Uno was used to convert the analog signal to digital signal and process the data to display on reader screen. In this project, Proteus software was used to design and test the circuit. Then it was implemented together with Arduino Uno board. Arduino board was programmed using C programming language to make whole circuit communicate each order. The current was measured then it shows a small difference values compared to theoretical values, which is approximately 14pA.

Impact of pre-transplant pulmonary hypertension on survival after heart transplantation: a UNOS registry analysis.

PubMed

Vakil, Kairav; Duval, Sue; Sharma, Alok; Adabag, Selcuk; Abidi, Kashan Syed; Taimeh, Ziad; Colvin-Adams, Monica

2014-10-20

Severe pre-transplant pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been associated with adverse short-term clinical outcomes after heart transplantation in relatively small single-center studies. The impact of pre-transplant PH on long-term survival after heart transplantation has not been examined in a large, multi-center cohort. Adults (≥18 years) who underwent first time heart transplantation in the United States between 1987 and 2012 were retrospectively identified from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry. Pre-transplant PH was classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), trans-pulmonary gradient (TPG), and pulmonary artery (PA) mean pressure. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Data from 26,649 heart transplant recipients (mean age 52±12 years; 76% male; 76% Caucasian) were analyzed. During a mean follow-up of 5.7±4.8 years, there were 10,334 (39%) deaths. Pre-transplant PH (PVR≥2.5 WU) was a significant predictor of mortality (hazard ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.14, p<0.0001) in multivariable analysis. However, the severity of pre-transplant PH (mild/moderate vs. severe) did not affect short or long-term survival. Similarly, even in patients who were supported with either a left ventricular assist device or a total artificial heart prior to transplant, severe pre-transplant PH was not associated with worse survival when compared to patients with mild/moderate pre-transplant PH. Pre-transplant PH (PVR≥2.5 WU) is associated with a modest increase in mortality when compared to patients without pre-transplant PH. However, the severity of pre-transplant PH, assessed by PVR, TPG, or mean PA pressure, is not a discriminating factor for poor survival in patients listed for heart transplantation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Double- and single-lung transplantation: an analysis of twenty years of OPTN/UNOS registry data.

PubMed

Cai, Junchao

2007-01-01

1. Within the past 2 decades, the annual number of lung transplants, especially double-lung transplants, has steadily increased every year and exceeded 1,400 in the last 2 years. 2. Overall 1-, 5-, and 10-year graft survival rates for double-lung transplant recipients were 79.5%, 50.6%, and 30.4% respectively; those for left-lung transplant recipients were 76.0%, 41.8%, and 17.1%; and for right-lung transplant recipients were 78.3%, 44.8%, and 19.2%. 3. The improvement in long-term graft survival in the most recent transplant era was mainly due to improved one-year survival, more precisely, due to the increased early outcome within the first 2-3 months after transplantation. 4. A negative association between HLA mismatch and graft survival is statistically significant in both double and left-lung transplants. 5. Female COPD and ATD single-lung recipients had high long-term graft survival when they received right-lung transplants. While for male single-lung recipients, CF patients had better graft survival when they received left lung transplants; but PPH patients had higher graft survival when receiving right-lung transplants. This association between recipient gender and/or different original diseases and graft survival requires further investigation.

Signals and Noises Acting On The Accelerometer Mounted In The Mpo (mercury Planetary Orbiter).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iafolla, V.; Fiorenza, E.; Lucchesi, D.; Milyukov, V.; Nozzoli, S.

The RadioScience experiments proposed for the BepiClombo ESA CORNERSTONE are aiming at performing planetary measurements such as: the rotation state of Mer- cury, the global structure of its gravity field and the local gravitational anomalies, but also to test some aspects of the General Relativity, to an unprecedented level of accu- racy. A high sensitivity accelerometer will measure the inertial acceleration acting on the MPO; these data, together with tracking data are used to evaluate the purely gravi- tational trajectory of the MPO, by transforming it to a virtual drag-free satellite system. At the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) a high sensitive accelerom- eter named ISA (Italian Spring Accelerometer)* and considered for this mission has been studied. The main problems concerning the use of the accelerometer are related to the high dynamics necessary to follow the variation of the acceleration signals, with accuracy equal to 10^-9 g/sqr(Hz), and very high at the MPO orbital period and due to thermal noise introduced at the sidereal period of Mercury. The description of the accelerometer will be presented, with particular attention to the thermal problems and to the analysis regarding the choice of the mounting position on the MPO. *Project funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Adaptive Observations At Ncep: Past, Present, and Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toth, Z.; Szunyogh, I.; Bishop, C.; Majumdar, S.; Moskaitis, J.; Lord, S.

The RadioScience experiments proposed for the BepiClombo ESA CORNERSTONE are aiming at performing planetary measurements such as: the rotation state of Mer- cury, the global structure of its gravity field and the local gravitational anomalies, but also to test some aspects of the General Relativity, to an unprecedented level of accu- racy. A high sensitivity accelerometer will measure the inertial acceleration acting on the MPO; these data, together with tracking data are used to evaluate the purely gravi- tational trajectory of the MPO, by transforming it to a virtual drag-free satellite system. At the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) a high sensitive accelerom- eter named ISA (Italian Spring Accelerometer)* and considered for this mission has been studied. The main problems concerning the use of the accelerometer are related to the high dynamics necessary to follow the variation of the acceleration signals, with accuracy equal to 10^-9 g/sqr(Hz), and very high at the MPO orbital period and due to thermal noise introduced at the sidereal period of Mercury. The description of the accelerometer will be presented, with particular attention to the thermal problems and to the analysis regarding the choice of the mounting position on the MPO. *Project funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Young Investigator Perspectives. Teaching and the postdoctoral experience: impact on transition to faculty positions.

PubMed

Uno, Jennifer; Walton, Kristen L W

2014-05-01

This editorial continues with our Young Investigator Perspectives series. Drs. Uno and Walton are young investigators who hold faculty positions. They completed a K12 postdoctoral program through the IRACDA (Individual Research and Career Development Award) program sponsored through the NIGMS institute at NIH. IRACDA programs exist at multiple institutions in the USA to combine postdoctoral training with formal training in academic skills and teaching at partner institutions. I thank Drs. Walton and Uno for a thoughtful perspective on how this experience shaped their career goals to combine teaching and research and inspire undergraduates to science careers. Given the current national dialog on broadening career paths and outcomes for PhD scientists, this is a timely perspective. -P. Kay Lund.

Fotometría de grupos compactos de galaxias: Shakhbazian 37, 45, 166, 331 y 362

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campos, J. M.; Calderón, J. H.; Gimeno, N. G.; Díaz, R. J.

Continuando con la fotometría CCD de Grupos de Galaxias Compactos de Shakhbazyan (SCGG) en este trabajo se presentan nuevos resultados preliminares sobre los grupos Shakbazyan 37, 45, 166, 331 y 362. EL objeto del proyecto es contribuir al estudio de las propiedades físicas de tales grupos y contribuir a las bases de datos para mejora de las estadísticas. Los datos fueron adquiridos con el Telescopio JKT del Observatorio Norte Europeo. El análisis de las imágenes en las bandas I y B como del índice de color B-I permitió reidentificar las galaxias catalogadas, resultando las mismas muy enrojecidas y verificando que predominan las galaxias tempranas, resultados consistentes con los obtenidos para otros grupos y por otros autores.

ISS Phase One Activities and Manufacturing in Russia, France and Italy

NASA Image and Video Library

1996-10-07

Photographs documenting International Space Station (ISS) Phase One activities at the Russian Space Agency's (RSA) Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Korolov Mission Control Center and Zvezda; and ISS and Soyuz manufacturing at RSA's Khrunichev Design Center and RSC Energiya in Moscow, Russia, the French Space Agency's (CNES) INTESPACE facility in Toulouse, France, and the Italian Space Agency's (ASI) Alenia Spazio facility in Torino, Italy. Photographs were taken by Johnson Space Center Imagery and Publications Office contractors travelling from October 7 to November 4, 1996. Includes: VIEWS FROM RSC ENERGIYA'S SPACE MUSEUM: Room with a Buran model and photographic displays (17372-374). Salyut Space Station mock-up (17376). Russian propulsion engines on display (17377-378). Russian spacecraft on display (17375, 17387-398). Graphic displays (17399-405). VIEWS FROM RSC ENERGIYA MANUFACTURING FACILITIES: Unidentified facility (17379). Mir 24 crew member Michael C. Foale, suited in a Soyuz pressure suit, ingresses the Soyuz TM-26 flight article at RSC Energiya for a fit check (17380-381). Closeups of Foale inside the Soyuz during the fit check (17382-383, 17466-467). Overhead views of RSC Energiya's Building 444 manufacturing floor where docking modules and Soyuz TM spacecraft are built (17495-498). Technicians on the Building 444 manufacturing floor assembling probe and drogue docking modules (17499-500, 17504). Technicians assembling Soyuz spacecraft (17437-439). Views of other Soyuz spacecraft (17440-441). Androgynous Peripheral Docking System (APDS) mock-up (17501-503). Closeups of a control panel, possibly for the APDS mock-up (17519-528). VIEWS FROM ZVEZDA, RSA CONTRACTOR FOR SUIT DESIGN AND SOYUZ SEAT LINERS: Mir 24 crew member Foale dons a "penguin" flight suit for a fit check (17454-456). Zvezda personnel adjust Foale's Soyuz seat and seat liner (17442). Closeup of Foale, suited in a Soyuz pressure suit, sitting on a chair (17444). Zvezda personnel strap

Como Podar Arboles (Spanish Version), How to Prune Trees

Treesearch

Maureen McDonough; Russell; Lisa Burban; Lee Nancarrow; United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry

2004-01-01

Introduccion, El proposito de la poda es tener plantas fuertes, sanas y atractivas. Esta meta se puede alcanzar sabiendo como, cuando y por que podar, y siguiendo unos cuantos principios muy sencillos.

QRS peak detection for heart rate monitoring on Android smartphone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pambudi Utomo, Trio; Nuryani, Nuryani; Darmanto

2017-11-01

In this study, Android smartphone is used for heart rate monitoring and displaying electrocardiogram (ECG) graph. Heart rate determination is based on QRS peak detection. Two methods are studied to detect the QRS complex peak; they are Peak Threshold and Peak Filter. The acquisition of ECG data is utilized by AD8232 module from Analog Devices, three electrodes, and Microcontroller Arduino UNO R3. To record the ECG data from a patient, three electrodes are attached to particular body’s surface of a patient. Patient’s heart activity which is recorded by AD8232 module is decoded by Arduino UNO R3 into analog data. Then, the analog data is converted into a voltage value (mV) and is processed to get the QRS complex peak. Heart rate value is calculated by Microcontroller Arduino UNO R3 uses the QRS complex peak. Voltage, heart rate, and the QRS complex peak are sent to Android smartphone by Bluetooth HC-05. ECG data is displayed as the graph by Android smartphone. To evaluate the performance of QRS complex peak detection method, three parameters are used; they are positive predictive, accuracy and sensitivity. Positive predictive, accuracy, and sensitivity of Peak Threshold method is 92.39%, 70.30%, 74.62% and for Peak Filter method are 98.38%, 82.47%, 83.61%, respectively.

Organ Transplantation: Frequently Asked Questions

MedlinePlus

... transplanted at the same time) intestine vascularized composite allografts (VCAs), such as face and hand transplantation Are ... including organ size, and condition, blood type and tissue type. UNOS generates a list of potential recipients. ...

Heartrending Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Patricia C.; Marple, Jennifer; Knight, Sharon M.

2000-01-01

Explains the responsibilities of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and its decision making process as to who receives an organ for transplant. Presents an activity exploring ethics, human values, and human anatomy. (YDS)

Collegiate Aviation Research and Education Solutions to Critical Safety Issues. UNO Aviation Monograph Series. UNOAI Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Brent, Ed.

This document contains four papers concerning collegiate aviation research and education solutions to critical safety issues. "Panel Proposal Titled Collegiate Aviation Research and Education Solutions to Critical Safety Issues for the Tim Forte Collegiate Aviation Safety Symposium" (Brent Bowen) presents proposals for panels on the…

The Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) 2002 Report. UNO Aviation Monograph Series. UNOAI Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Brent D.; Box, Richard C.; Fink, Mary M.; Gogos, George; Lehrer, Henry R.; Narayanan, Ram M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.; O'Neil, Patrick D.; Tarry, Scott E.; Vlasek, Karisa D.

This document contains four papers on aeronautics education, research, and partnerships that partly supported through the Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL). The paper "2002 AERIAL Monograph" (Brent D. Bowen, Jocelyn S. Nickerson, Mary M. Fink, et al.) presents an overview of research and development in the…

The UNO Aviation Monograph Series: Aviation Security: An Annotated Bibliography of Responses to the Gore Commission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carrico, John S.; Schaaf, Michaela M.

1998-01-01

This monograph is a companion to UNOAI Monograph 96-2, "The Image of Airport Security: An Annotated Bibliography," compiled in June 1996. The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, headed by Vice President Al Gore, was formed as a result of the TWA Flight 800 crash in August 1996. The Commission's final report included 31 recommendations addressed toward aviation security. The recommendations were cause for security issues to be revisited in the media and by the aviation industry. These developments necessitated the need for an updated bibliography to review the resulting literature. Many of the articles were written in response to the recommendations made by the Gore Commission. "Aviation Security: An Annotated Bibliography of Responses to the Gore Commission" is the result of this need.

77 FR 54947 - Unblocking of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons Pursuant to the Foreign...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-06

... Act: 1. FLORES CACHO, Javier, c/o LA NUMERO UNO DE CUAUHTEMOC S.A. DE C.V., Mexico City, Distrito...) (individual) [SDNTK]. The listing for this individual now appears as follows: 1. FLORES CACHO, Javier, Avenida...

Renal protection by a soy diet in obese Zucker rats is associated with restoration of nitric oxide generation.

PubMed

Trujillo, Joyce; Ramírez, Victoria; Pérez, Jazmín; Torre-Villalvazo, Ivan; Torres, Nimbe; Tovar, Armando R; Muñoz, Rosa M; Uribe, Norma; Gamba, Gerardo; Bobadilla, Norma A

2005-01-01

The obese Zucker rat is a valuable model for studying kidney disease associated with obesity and diabetes. Previous studies have shown that substitution of animal protein with soy ameliorates the progression of renal disease. To explore the participation of nitric oxide (NO) and caveolin-1 in this protective effect, we evaluated proteinuria, creatinine clearance, renal structural lesions, nitrites and nitrates urinary excretion (UNO(2)(-)/NO(3)V), and mRNA and protein levels of neuronal NO synthase (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS), and caveolin-1 in lean and fatty Zucker rats fed with 20% casein or soy protein diet. After 160 days of feeding with casein, fatty Zucker rats developed renal insufficiency, progressive proteinuria, and renal structural lesions; these alterations were associated with an important fall of UNO(2)(-)/NO(3)V, changes in nNOS and eNOS mRNA levels, together with increased amount of eNOS and caveolin-1 present in plasma membrane proteins of the kidney. In fatty Zucker rats fed with soy, we observed that soy diet improved renal function, UNO(2)(-)/NO(3)V, and proteinuria and reduced glomerulosclerosis, tubular dilation, intersticial fibrosis, and extracapilar proliferation. Renal protection was associated with reduction of caveolin-1 and eNOS in renal plasma membrane proteins. In conclusion, our results suggest that renal protective effect of soy protein appears to be mediated by improvement of NO generation and pointed out to caveolin-1 overexpression as a potential pathophysiological mechanism in renal disease.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Grandgenett, Neal

2000-01-01

Within the context of innovative coursework and other educational activities, we are proposing the establishment of a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Center for the Use of Space Data in Teaching and Learning. This Center will provide an exciting and motivating process for educators at all levels to become involved in professional development and training which engages real life applications of mathematics, science, and technology. The Center will facilitate innovative courses (including online and distance education formats), systematic degree programs, classroom research initiatives, new instructional methods and tools, engaging curriculum materials, and various symposiums. It will involve the active participation of several Departments and Colleges on the UNO campus and be well integrated into the campus environment. It will have a direct impact on pre-service and in-service educators, the K12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) students that they teach, and other college students of various science, mathematics, and technology related disciplines, in which they share coursework. It is our belief that there are many exciting opportunities represented by space data and imagery, as a context for engaging mathematics, science, and technology education. The UNO Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning being proposed in this document will encompass a comprehensive training and dissemination strategy that targets the improvement of K-12 education, through changes in the undergraduate and graduate preparation of teachers in science, mathematics and technology education.

Dicloruro de paraquat

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

El dicloruro de paraquat, comúnmente conocido como “paraquat,” es uno de los herbicidas registrados de mayor uso en los Estados Unidos. El paraquat también se conoce como Gramaxone (un producto popular de uso final

An assessment model for quality management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Völcker, Chr.; Cass, A.; Dorling, A.; Zilioli, P.; Secchi, P.

2002-07-01

SYNSPACE together with InterSPICE and Alenia Spazio is developing an assessment method to determine the capability of an organisation in the area of quality management. The method, sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), is called S9kS (SPiCE- 9000 for SPACE). S9kS is based on ISO 9001:2000 with additions from the quality standards issued by the European Committee for Space Standardization (ECSS) and ISO 15504 - Process Assessments. The result is a reference model that supports the expansion of the generic process assessment framework provided by ISO 15504 to nonsoftware areas. In order to be compliant with ISO 15504, requirements from ISO 9001 and ECSS-Q-20 and Q-20-09 have been turned into process definitions in terms of Purpose and Outcomes, supported by a list of detailed indicators such as Practices, Work Products and Work Product Characteristics. In coordination with this project, the capability dimension of ISO 15504 has been revised to be consistent with ISO 9001. As contributions from ISO 9001 and the space quality assurance standards are separable, the stripped down version S9k offers organisations in all industries an assessment model based solely on ISO 9001, and is therefore interesting to all organisations, which intend to improve their quality management system based on ISO 9001.

Liver alone or simultaneous liver-kidney transplant? Pretransplant chronic kidney disease and post-transplant outcome - a retrospective study.

PubMed

Nagai, Shunji; Safwan, Mohamed; Collins, Kelly; Schilke, Randolph E; Rizzari, Michael; Moonka, Dilip; Brown, Kimberly; Patel, Anita; Yoshida, Atsushi; Abouljoud, Marwan

2018-05-02

The new Organ Procurement and Transplant Network/United Organ Sharing Network (OPTN/UNOS) simultaneous liver-kidney transplant (SLK) policy has been implemented. The aim of this study was to review liver transplant outcomes utilizing the new SLK policy. Liver transplant alone (LTA) and SLK patients between 2009 and 2015 were reviewed. Graft survival and post-transplant kidney function were investigated among LTA patients meeting the chronic kidney disease (CKD) criteria of the new policy (LTA-CKD group). To validate our findings, we reviewed and applied our analysis to the OPTN/UNOS registry. A total of 535 patients were eligible from our series. The LTA-CKD group (n = 27) showed worse 1-year graft survival, compared with the SLK group (n = 44), but not significant (81% vs. 93%, P = 0.15). The LTA-CKD group significantly increased a risk of post-transplant dialysis (odds ratio = 5.59 [95% CI = 1.27-24.7], P = 0.02 [Ref. normal kidney function]). Post-transplant dialysis was an independent risk factor for graft loss (hazard ratio = 7.25, 95% CI = 3.3-15.91, P < 0.001 [Ref. SLK]). In the validation analysis based on the OPTN/UNOS registry, the hazard of 1-year-graft loss in the LTA-CKD group (n = 751) was 34.8% higher than the SLK group (n = 2856) (hazard ratio = 1.348, 95% CI = 1.157-1.572, P < 0.001). Indicating SLK for patients who meet the CKD criteria may significantly improve transplant outcomes. © 2018 Steunstichting ESOT.

Attitudes and barriers to the use of donation after cardiac death livers: Comparison of a United States transplant center survey to the united network for organ sharing data.

PubMed

Sher, Linda; Quintini, Cristiano; Fayek, Sameh Adel; Abt, Peter; Lo, Mary; Yuk, Pui; Ji, Lingyun; Groshen, Susan; Case, Jamie; Marsh, Christopher Lee

2017-11-01

Transplantation of liver grafts from donation after cardiac death (DCD) is limited. To identify barriers of DCD liver utilization, all active US liver transplant centers (n = 138) were surveyed, and the responses were compared with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data. In total, 74 (54%) centers responded, and diversity in attitudes was observed, with many not using organ and/or recipient prognostic variables defined in prior studies and UNOS data analysis. Most centers (74%) believed lack of a system allowing a timely retransplant is a barrier to utilization. UNOS data demonstrated worse 1- and 5-year patient survival (PS) and graft survival (GS) in DCD (PS, 86% and 64%; GS, 82% and 59%, respectively) versus donation after brain death (DBD) recipients (PS, 90% and 71%; GS, 88% and 69%, respectively). Donor alanine aminotransferase (ALT), recipient Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD), and cold ischemia time (CIT) significantly impacted DCD outcomes to a greater extent than DBD outcomes. At 3 years, relisting and retransplant rates were 7.9% and 4.6% higher in DCD recipients. To optimize outcome, our data support the use of DCD liver grafts with CIT <6-8 hours in patients with MELD ≤ 20. In conclusion, standardization of donor and recipient criteria, defining the impact of ischemic cholangiopathy, addressing donor hospital policies, and developing a strategy for timely retransplant may help to expand the use of these organs. Liver Transplantation 23 1372-1383 2017 AASLD. © 2017 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno: A novel, evidence-based, unifying theory for the pathogenesis of endometriosis.

PubMed

Laganà, Antonio Simone; Vitale, Salvatore Giovanni; Salmeri, Francesca Maria; Triolo, Onofrio; Ban Frangež, Helena; Vrtačnik-Bokal, Eda; Stojanovska, Lily; Apostolopoulos, Vasso; Granese, Roberta; Sofo, Vincenza

2017-06-01

The theory of retrograde menstruation as aetiopathogenesis of endometriosis formulated by John Sampson in 1927 shows clear shortcomings: this does not explain why retrograde menstruation is a physiological process that affects 90% of women, while endometriosis occurs in only 10% of cases; it also does not explain the endometriotic foci distant from the pelvis, nor explains the cases of endometriosis in male patients. The immunological alterations of the peritoneal fluid explains the effects of disease, such as the inhibition of the physiological processes of cytolysis, but does not explain the cause. There is evidence to support the hypothesis that ectopic müllerian remnants of the endometrium, endocervix and endosalpinx are items from the genital ridge leaked during organogenesis. It is known that tissues derived from coelomatic epithelial and mesenchymal cells have the potential to metaplastically differentiate into epithelium and stroma. In addition, the phenotype of the ectopic endometrial cells is significantly different from those ectopic. There is scientific evidence that, during organogenesis, the genes of the Homeobox and Wingless family play a fundamental role in the differentiation of the ducts of Muller and development of the anatomical structure of the urogenital tract. We present here a hypothesis that deregulation of genes and the Wnt signaling pathway Wnt/β-catenin leads to aberrations and deregulation within the mesoderm, thus, may cause aberrant placement of stem cells. In addition, immune cells, adhesion molecules, extracellular matrix metalloproteinase and pro-inflammatory cytokines activate/alter peritoneal microenvironment, creating the conditions for differentiation, adhesion, proliferation and survival of ectopic endometrial cells. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nomograms for predicting graft function and survival in living donor kidney transplantation based on the UNOS Registry.

PubMed

Tiong, H Y; Goldfarb, D A; Kattan, M W; Alster, J M; Thuita, L; Yu, C; Wee, A; Poggio, E D

2009-03-01

We developed nomograms that predict transplant renal function at 1 year (Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation [estimated glomerular filtration rate]) and 5-year graft survival after living donor kidney transplantation. Data for living donor renal transplants were obtained from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry for 2000 to 2003. Nomograms were designed using linear or Cox regression models to predict 1-year estimated glomerular filtration rate and 5-year graft survival based on pretransplant information including demographic factors, immunosuppressive therapy, immunological factors and organ procurement technique. A third nomogram was constructed to predict 5-year graft survival using additional information available by 6 months after transplantation. These data included delayed graft function, any treated rejection episodes and the 6-month estimated glomerular filtration rate. The nomograms were internally validated using 10-fold cross-validation. The renal function nomogram had an r-square value of 0.13. It worked best when predicting estimated glomerular filtration rate values between 50 and 70 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2). The 5-year graft survival nomograms had a concordance index of 0.71 for the pretransplant nomogram and 0.78 for the 6-month posttransplant nomogram. Calibration was adequate for all nomograms. Nomograms based on data from the United Network for Organ Sharing registry have been validated to predict the 1-year estimated glomerular filtration rate and 5-year graft survival. These nomograms may facilitate individualized patient care in living donor kidney transplantation.

Outcomes of dual adult kidney transplants in the United States: an analysis of the OPTN/UNOS database.

PubMed

Gill, Jagbir; Cho, Yong W; Danovitch, Gabriel M; Wilkinson, Alan; Lipshutz, Gerald; Pham, Phuong-Thu; Gill, John S; Shah, Tariq; Bunnapradist, Suphamai

2008-01-15

The organ shortage has resulted in increased use of kidneys from expanded criteria donors (ECD). For ECD kidneys unsuitable for single use, dual kidney transplants (DKT) may be possible. There are limited data comparing outcomes of DKT to single kidney ECD transplants, making it unclear where DKT fits in the current allocation scheme. Our purpose was to compare outcomes of DKT and ECD transplants in the United States. From 2000 to 2005, a total of 625 DKT, 7686 single kidney ECD, and 6,044 SCD transplants from donors aged>or=50 years were identified from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing data. Allograft survival was the primary outcome. DKT comprised 4% of kidney transplants from donors aged>or=50 years. Compared to the ECD donor group, the DKT donor group was older (mean age 64.6+/-7.7 years vs. 59.9+/-6.2 years) and consisted of more African Americans (13.1% vs. 9.9%), and more diabetic donors (16.3% vs. 10.4%; P<0.001). Mean cold ischemic time was longer in DKT (22.2+/-9.7 hr), but rates of delayed graft function were lower (29.3%) compared to ECD transplants (33.6%, P=0.03). Three-year overall graft survival was 79.8% for DKT and 78.3% for ECD transplants. DKT were infrequent and had outcomes comparable to ECD transplants, despite the use of organs from higher risk donors. With a more upfront approach to DKT by offering this option to patients at the time of wait-listing as part of an ECD algorithm, we may be able to further optimize outcomes of DKT and minimize discard of potential organs.

Organ Transplants: What Every Kid Needs to Know

MedlinePlus

... federal government. For more information about UNOS, living donation, and organ transplantation, please call 1-888-894-6361 or ... speaker can come talk to your class about donation and transplants. This may ... mission is to advance organ availability and transplantation by uniting and supporting its ...

How to Use Case Analysis as an Entire Semester Course in Aviation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of the case analysis method as an entire semester course in aviation. The author taught a sixteen week course entitled Case Analysis in Aviation at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). This paper ...

La importancia de los arrecifes de coral

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Los arrecifes de coral son uno de los ecosistemas más diversos y biológicamente complejos del mundo. Un cuarto de toda la vida marina depende de los arrecifes de coral para obtener alimentos y refugio. Los arrecifes sanos benefician a las comunidades.

Application of Social Network Analysis Techniques to Machine Translated Documents

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

Mandela, por la nueva Asamblea nacional sudafricana. La Comisión electoral independiente , una gigantesca maquinaria administrativa con unos 300.000...seat perpetration 2 surpassed 1 ultramoderno 1 recount 3 party 1 sellar 1 posting 1 suspended 1 urns 1 regions 1 president 2 south_african 1

Financing the Airport of the Future: The Small Aircraft Transportation System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bartle, John R.

2000-01-01

The objective of SATS is to reduce gridlock at hubs, reduce travel times, allow for personal control over travel, and anticipate demand shifts resulting from a migration from suburbs to rural places. The technology is presently available and economical to produce SATS aircraft. The public issue centers on the airports. SATS is a federal program, and many airports in the U.S. are under the control of local governments. The scope of the objective will require thousands of airports in rural and suburban areas to modify their infrastructure and increase their investment. Researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and others at other institutions, have prepared reports surveying the relevant issues of implementing SATS. Our UNO team focused on the issues of policy implementation, economic development, management, and finance specific to Nebraska. We are finding that these issues are similar to those in other states in our region and other rural states. This paper discusses how this investment might be financed.

Influence of the Rh (D) blood group system on graft survival in renal transplantation.

PubMed

Bryan, C F; Mitchell, S I; Lin, H M; Nelson, P W; Shield, C F; Luger, A M; Pierce, G E; Ross, G; Warady, B A; Aeder, M I; Helling, T S; Landreneau, M D; Harrell, K M

1998-02-27

The Rh (D) blood group system has not traditionally been considered to be a clinically relevant histocompatibility barrier in transplantation since conflicting results of its clinical importance have been reported. We analyzed 786 consecutive primary cadaveric renal transplants performed by transplant centers in our Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) between 1990 and 1997. We also analyzed United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) data on 26,469 kidney transplants done from April 1994 to June 1996. Multivariate analysis revealed that Rh identity between the recipient and donor was significantly related to better graft outcome (risk ratio, 0.43; 95% confidence interval, 0.30 to 0.61; P=0.0001). Multivariate analysis of the UNOS data revealed that the Rh -/- group may have a positive influence on graft survival with a risk ratio of 0.43 (P=0.14). Multivariate analysis of primary cadaveric renal allografts performed within the Midwest Organ Bank OPO indicates that Rh (D) is a clinically relevant histocompatibility barrier that influences 7-year graft survival.

Development of Semi-Automatic Lathe by using Intelligent Soft Computing Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakthi, S.; Niresh, J.; Vignesh, K.; Anand Raj, G.

2018-03-01

This paper discusses the enhancement of conventional lathe machine to semi-automated lathe machine by implementing a soft computing method. In the present scenario, lathe machine plays a vital role in the engineering division of manufacturing industry. While the manual lathe machines are economical, the accuracy and efficiency are not up to the mark. On the other hand, CNC machine provide the desired accuracy and efficiency, but requires a huge capital. In order to over come this situation, a semi-automated approach towards the conventional lathe machine is developed by employing stepper motors to the horizontal and vertical drive, that can be controlled by Arduino UNO -microcontroller. Based on the input parameters of the lathe operation the arduino coding is been generated and transferred to the UNO board. Thus upgrading from manual to semi-automatic lathe machines can significantly increase the accuracy and efficiency while, at the same time, keeping a check on investment cost and consequently provide a much needed escalation to the manufacturing industry.

Creating Interdisciplinary STEM Environments at the University of Nebraska at Omaha

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N. F.

2010-12-01

Effective, integrated and interdisciplinary STEM environments depend upon strong faculty collaboration. During the past decade, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has put an emphasis on STEM faculty working together across departments, colleges, and the university system, as well as with local school systems. Supported by a University-wide Content and Pedagogy Committee and a new Office of STEM Education, faculty members have aggressively undertaken and evaluated various interdisciplinary STEM activities. This presentation will briefly describe three of these projects, including evaluation-related data and UNO support mechanisms. First, an interdisciplinary student research project has been developed involving our introductory geology and chemistry courses. The project includes collecting drinking water samples from around Omaha by geology students, the chemical analysis of drinking water by chemistry students, followed by water quality analysis of the chemical data by the geology students. Students learn about the scientific method, potential problems with project design, and limitations of interpretation of real data, while also applying knowledge learned in the class to this real world problem. This project reaches ~600 undergraduate students each year and requires close cooperation between faculty of the Chemistry and Geology programs. Evaluation data indicates that this project has had a positive impact on student attitude towards science in general and towards geology and chemistry in particular. The second project highlighted will be the Silicon Prairie Initiative for Robotics in Information Technology (SPIRIT). The SPIRIT project is a NSF funded collaboration between the UNO College of Education, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln College of Engineering, and local school systems. It strives to integrate the use of educational robotics and sensors in the teaching of STEM topics, particularly at the middle school and high school levels. The project

University Facilitation of School Restructuring: Critical Milestones for Organization Transformation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidson, Betty M.; Allen-Haynes, Leetta

Critical milestones in the university facilitation of meaningful school reform in schools serving at-risk students--schoolwide assessment, cadre-based planning, and pilot testing of new strategies--are examined in this paper. A training and facilitation mechanism developed by the University of New Orleans' (UNO) Louisiana Accelerated Schools…

The Impact of Obesity on Patients Bridged to Transplantation with Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices

PubMed Central

Clerkin, Kevin J.; Naka, Yoshifumi; Mancini, Donna M.; Colombo, Paolo C.; Topkara, Veli K.

2017-01-01

Objectives This study sought to determine if obese patients had worse post-LVAD implantation outcomes and if the implantation of an LVAD allowed for weight loss. Background Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease including heart failure. Obese heart failure patients have better outcomes than those with normal weight; however obese patients have worse outcomes following heart transplantation. Methods Patients were identified in the UNOS database that underwent LVAD implantation as bridge to transplantation from May 2004 and April 2014, with follow-up through June 2014. Patients were grouped according to BMI based on the WHO classification Results Among 3,856 patients the risk of death or delisting was not significantly different between BMI groups (p=0.347). There was no increased risk of death (p=0.234) or delisting (p=0.918). The risk of complication requiring UNOS status upgrade was increased for those with Class II obesity or greater (HR 1.48, 95% CI 1.14–1.93, p=0.004), driven by increased infection and thromboembolism. Obese patients had worse post-transplant outcomes. Weight loss substantial enough to decrease BMI group was achieved by a small proportion of patients listed with Class I obesity or greater (9.6–15.5%). Conclusions Patients with obesity had similar freedom from death or delisting while on LVAD support. However, Class II obese or greater patients had an increased risk of complications requiring UNOS status upgrade compared with those with normal BMI during LVAD support and decreased post-transplant survival. Weight loss on device therapy was possible, but uncommon. Careful consideration is needed when a bridge to weight loss strategy is proposed. PMID:27614942

Assessment of an On-Line Earth System Science Course for Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N.

2009-12-01

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has been offering on-line Earth System Science coursework to in-service teachers in Nebraska since 2002 through the Earth Systems Science Education Alliance (ESSEA). The goal of this course is to increase teacher content knowledge in Earth Science, introduce them to Earth System Science, and have them experience cooperative learning. We have offered three different ESSEA courses, with nearly 200 students having taken ESSEA courses at UNO for graduate credit. This effort represents a close collaboration between faculty and students from the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Education, with periodic assistance of the local schools. In a follow-up study related to ESSEA coursework, UNO examined the perceptions of teachers who have taken the course and the potential benefits of the ESSEA courses for their own educational settings. The study was descriptive in design and included an online survey and a focus group. The results of these assessments indicated that the teachers felt very positive about what they learned in these courses, and in particular, how they could incorporate cooperative learning, inquiry based activities, and Earth System Science interconnections in their own classrooms. Problems identified by the teachers included a perceived lack of time to be able to integrate the learned material into their science curriculua and a lack of computer and/or technological resources in their educational settings. In addition, this Fall, we will conduct two teacher case studies, where we will interview two teachers, visit their classrooms, acquire work samples and talk with students. All of the results of our survey and focus group will be presented.

X-SAR: The X-band synthetic aperture radar on board the Space Shuttle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Werner, Marian U.

1993-01-01

The X-band synthetic aperture radar (X-SAR) is the German/Italian contribution to the NASA/JPL Shuttle Radar Lab missions as part of the preparation for the Earth Observation System (EOS) program. The Shuttle Radar Lab is a combination of several radars: an L-band (1.2 GHz) and a C-band (5.3 GHz) multipolarization SAR known as SIR-C (Shuttle Imaging Radar); and an X-band (9.6 GHz) vertically polarized SAR which will be operated synchronously over the same target areas to deliver calibrated multifrequency and multipolarization SAR data at multiple incidence angles from space. A joint German/Italian project office at DARA (German Space Agency) is responsible for the management of the X-SAR project. The space hardware has been developed and manufactured under industrial contract by Dornier and Alenia Spazio. Besides supporting all the technical and scientific tasks, DLR, in cooperation with ASI (Agencia Spaziale Italiano) is responsible for mission operation, calibration, and high precision SAR processing. In addition, DLR developed an airborne X-band SAR to support the experimenters with campaigns to prepare for the missions. The main advantage of adding a shorter wavelength (3 cm) radar to the SIR-C radars is the X-band radar's weaker penetration into vegetation and soil and its high sensitivity to surface roughness and associated phenomena. The performance of each of the three radars is comparable with respect to radiometric and geometric resolution.

ISO Guest Observer Data Analysis and LWS Instrument Team Activities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Howard

2001-01-01

The following is an interim annual report. Dr. Smith is currently on an extended TDY to the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) at the Consilio Nazionale delle Richerche (CNR) in Rome, Italy, where he has been working on a related NASA grant in support of analysis of Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) data on star formation in Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies and our galaxy. Work emphasizes development of metal mesh grids for use in spacecraft, and the design and fabrication of test elements by the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C. Work has progressed well, but slowly, on that program due to the departure of a key engineer. NASA has been advised of the delay, and granted a no-cost extension, whereby SAO has authorized a delay in the final report from NRL. Nevertheless NRL has continued to make progress. Two papers have been submitted to refereed journals related to this program, and a new design for mesh operating in the 20-40 micron region has been developed. Meetings continue through the summer on these items. A new technical scientist has been made a job offer and hopefully will be on board NRL shortly, although most of the present grant work is already completed. A more complete report, with copies of the submitted papers, designs, and other measures of progress, will be submitted to NASA in September when Dr. Smith returns from his current TDY.

Estudio Sobre Portadores Cronicos de Salmonellas en Manipuladores de Alimentos de la Ciudad de Iquitos (Study of Chronic Salmonella Carriers in Food Handlers in the City of Iquitos)

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

muy desfavorables de las medidas sanita- riast puede ocasionar cpid~cmias de ficbre tifoidea en Iquitos. [I- Io rclerente a los anaisk bdcteriol6gico...hajo porcentaje dc portadores cr6nicos es significativo, porque es uno de los medios que permite rnantener la endemia de la Fiebre tifoides o Salmone

Enhancing the STEM Ecosystem through Teacher-Researcher Partnerships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tapprich, William; Grandgenett, Neal; Leas, Heather; Rodie, Steve; Shuster, Robert; Schaben, Chris; Cutucache, Christine

2016-01-01

STEM faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) have partnered with teachers and administrators in the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) to implement a Teacher-Researcher Partnership Program. This program establishes resources and infrastructure that engage K-12 science teachers in scientific research experiences. In the first implementation of…

An Investigation of Anglicized Spanish as a Communication Strategy in the Beginning Spanish Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kobeck, Ashley Brianne

2013-01-01

Considering the recent increase in Spanish use in the United States, particularly as reflected in the media, beginning Spanish students are entering their classrooms with knowledge of phrases such as "hasta la vista" and "numero uno," regardless of their amount of previous formal Spanish study. The present research focuses on…

Embedding Science Facts in Leisure Skill Instruction Conducted by Peer Tutors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fetko, Erin E.; Collins, Belva C.; Hager, Karen D.; Spriggs, Amy D.

2013-01-01

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of using peer tutors to teach a chained leisure skill (i.e., UNO card game) to three middle school students with disabilities using a simultaneous prompting procedure within a multiple probe design. The investigation also assessed whether the students with disabilities would acquire four unrelated…

Building an Engagement Center through Love of Place: The Story of the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Sarah; Reed, B. J.; Smith-Howell, Deborah

2016-01-01

Universities throughout the United States operate engagement centers to extend campus faculty, staff and student resources to their communities. In 2014, the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) opened the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center (Weitz CEC): a privately funded $24 million, 70,000 square foot facility located in the middle of its…

Changing the Scholarly Sources Landscape with Geomorphology Undergraduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackburn, Heidi; Dere, Ashlee

2016-01-01

Science is a core discipline in academia yet the focus of most undergraduate technical writing is generally on the data and results, not the literature review. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) librarian and a new geology professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) collaborated to develop an information literacy…

An Inquiry-Based Exercise for Demonstrating Prey Preference in Snakes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Place, Aaron J.; Abramson, Charles I.

2006-01-01

The recent promotion of inquiry-based learning techniques (Uno, 1990) is well suited to the use of animals in the classroom. Working with living organisms directly engages students and stimulates them to actively participate in the learning process. Students develop a greater appreciation for living things, the natural world, and their impact on…

Doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as building blocks for nanoelectronics: a theoretical study.

PubMed

Dral, Pavlo O; Kivala, Milan; Clark, Timothy

2013-03-01

Density functional theory (DFT) and semiempirical UHF natural orbital configuration interaction (UNO-CI) calculations are used to investigate the effect of heteroatom substitution at the central position of a model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The effects of the substitution on structure, strain, electronic and spectral properties, and aromaticity of the compounds are discussed.

Surgical Thoracic Transplant Training: Super Fellowship-Is It Super?

PubMed

Makdisi, George; Makdisi, Tony; Caldeira, Christiano C; Wang, I-Wen

2017-10-11

The quality of training provided to thoracic transplant fellows is a critical step in the care of complex patients undergoing transplant. The training varies since it is not an accreditation council for graduate medical education accredited fellowship. A total of 104 heart or lung transplant program directors throughout the United States were sent a survey of 24 questions focusing on key aspects of training, fellowship training content and thoracic transplant job satisfaction. Out of the 104 programs surveyed 45 surveys (43%) were returned. In total, 26 programs offering a transplant fellowship were included in the survey. Among these programs 69% currently have fellows of which 56% are American Board of Thoracic Surgery board eligible. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) requirements, 46% of the programs do not meet the requirements to be qualified as a primary heart transplant surgeon. A total of 23% of lung transplant programs also perform less than the UNOS minimum requirements. Only 24% have extra-surgical curriculum. Out of the participating programs, only 38% of fellows secured a job in a hospital setting for performing transplants. An astounding 77% of replies site an unpredictable work schedule as the main reason that makes thoracic transplant a less than favorable profession among new graduates. Long hours were also a complaint of 69% of graduates who agreed that their personal life is affected by excessive work hours. Annually, almost half of all thoracic transplant programs perform fewer than the UNOS requirements to be a primary thoracic surgeon. This results in a majority of transplant fellows not finding a suitable transplant career. The current and future needs for highly qualified thoracic transplant surgeons will not be met through our existing training mechanisms. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The role of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in patients bridged to transplantation with a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device: A propensity score matched analysis.

PubMed

Clerkin, Kevin J; Topkara, Veli K; Mancini, Donna M; Yuzefpolskaya, Melana; Demmer, Ryan T; Dizon, Jose M; Takeda, Koji; Takayama, Hiroo; Naka, Yoshifumi; Colombo, Paolo C; Garan, A Reshad

2017-06-01

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) provide a significant mortality benefit for appropriately selected patients with advanced heart failure. ICDs are associated with a mortality benefit when used in patients with a pulsatile left ventricular assist device (LVAD). It is unclear whether patients with a continuous-flow LVAD (CF-LVAD) derive the same benefit. We sought to determine if the presence of an ICD provided a mortality benefit during CF-LVAD support as a bridge to transplantation. Patients were identified in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry who underwent LVAD implantation as bridge to transplantation between May 2004 and April 2014, with follow-up through June 2014. Primary outcome was freedom from death while on CF-LVAD support with adjustment for complications requiring UNOS listing status upgrade. Secondary end-points included freedom from delisting while on CF-LVAD support and incidence of transplantation. The study cohort comprised 2,990 patients, and propensity score matching identified 1,012 patients with similar propensity scores. There was no difference in survival during device support between patients with and without an ICD (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.66-2.17; p = 0.55). Adjusting for device complications requiring a UNOS listing status upgrade had minimal influence (HR = 1.11; 95% CI, 0.60-2.05; p = 0.74). There was no increased risk of delisting owing to being too sick for patients with an ICD (HR = 1.08; 95% CI, 0.63-1.86; p = 0.78). Likewise, the probability of transplantation was similar (HR = 1.05; 95% CI, 0.87-1.27; p = 0.62). Among patients bridged to transplantation with a CF-LVAD, the presence of an ICD did not reduce mortality. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Obesity on Patients Bridged to Transplantation With Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

PubMed

Clerkin, Kevin J; Naka, Yoshifumi; Mancini, Donna M; Colombo, Paolo C; Topkara, Veli K

2016-10-01

This study sought to determine if obese patients had worse post-left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation outcomes and if the implantation of an LVAD allowed for weight loss. Obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease including heart failure. Obese heart failure patients have better outcomes than those with normal weight; however, obese patients have worse outcomes after heart transplantation. Patients were identified in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database that underwent LVAD implantation as bridge to transplantation from May 2004 and April 2014, with follow-up through June 2014. Patients were grouped according to body mass index (BMI) based on the World Health Organization classification. Among 3,856 patients, the risk of death or delisting was not significantly different between BMI groups (p = 0.347). There was no increased risk of death (p = 0.234) or delisting (p = 0.918). The risk of complication requiring UNOS status upgrade was increased for those with class II obesity or greater (hazard ratio: 1.48; p = 0.004), driven by increased infection and thromboembolism. Obese patients had worse post-transplantation outcomes. Weight loss substantial enough to decrease BMI group was achieved by a small proportion of patients listed with class I obesity or greater (9.6% to 15.5%). Patients with obesity had similar freedom from death or delisting while on LVAD support. However, class II obese or greater patients had an increased risk of complications requiring UNOS status upgrade compared with those with normal BMI during LVAD support and decreased post-transplantation survival. Weight loss on device therapy was possible, but uncommon. Careful consideration is needed when a bridge to weight loss strategy is proposed. Copyright © 2016 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Role of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators in Patients Bridged to Transplantation with a Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device: A Propensity Score Matched Analysis

PubMed Central

Clerkin, Kevin J.; Topkara, Veli K.; Mancini, Donna M.; Yuzefpolskaya, Melana; Demmer, Ryan T.; Dizon, Jose M.; Takeda, Koji; Takayama, Hiroo; Naka, Yoshifumi; Colombo, Paolo C.; Garan, A. Reshad

2016-01-01

Background Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) provide a significant mortality benefit for appropriately selected patients with advanced heart failure. ICDs are associated with a mortality benefit when used in patients with a pulsatile left ventricular assist device (LVAD). However it is unclear whether patients with a continuous flow LVAD (CF-LVAD) derive the same benefit. This study sought to determine if the presence of an ICD provided a mortality benefit during CFLVAD support as a bridge to transplantation. Methods Patients were identified in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry that underwent LVAD implantation as bridge to transplantation from May 2004 and April 2014, with follow-up through June 2014. The primary outcome was freedom from death while on CF-LVAD support with adjustment for complications requiring UNOS listing status upgrade. Secondary endpoints included freedom from delisting while on CF-LVAD support and incidence of transplantation. Results 2,990 patients composed the study cohort and propensity score matching identified 1,012 patients with similar propensity scores. There was no difference in survival during device support between patients with and without an ICD (Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.20, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.66-2.17, p=0.55). Adjusting for device complications requiring a UNOS listing status upgrade had minimal influence (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.60-2.05, p=0.74). There was no increased risk of delisting due to being too sick for those with an ICD (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.63-1.86, p=0.78). Likewise, the probability of transplantation was similar (HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.87-1.27, p=0.62). Conclusions Among patients bridged to transplantation with a CF-LVAD, the presence of an ICD did not reduce mortality. PMID:28089072

Verification of Heart Disease: Implications for a New Heart Transplantation Allocation System.

PubMed

Raeisi-Giglou, Pejman; Rodriguez, E Rene; Blackstone, Eugene H; Tan, Carmela D; Hsich, Eileen M

2017-12-01

This study sought to determine the accuracy of the pre-transplantation clinical diagnosis of heart disease in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database. Because survival on the heart transplantation waitlist depends on underlying heart disease, a new allocation system will include the type of heart disease. Accuracy of the pre-transplantation clinical diagnosis and the effect of misclassification are unknown. We included all adults who received transplants at our center between January 2009 to December 2015. We compared the pre-transplantation clinical diagnosis at listing with pathology of the explanted heart and determined the potential effect of misclassification with the proposed allocation system. A total of 334 patients had the following clinical cardiac diagnoses at listing: 148 had dilated cardiomyopathy, 19 had restrictive cardiomyopathy, 103 had ischemic cardiomyopathy, 24 had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 11 had valvular disease, 16 had congenital heart disease (CHD), and 13 patients had a diagnosis of "other." Pathology of the explanted hearts revealed 82% concordance and 18% discordance (10% coding errors and 8% incorrect diagnosis). The most common incorrect diagnoses were sarcoidosis (66%), arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (60%), and other causes of predominately right-sided heart failure (33%). Among the misclassified diagnoses, 40% were listed as UNOS status 2, 8% remained at status 2 at transplantation, and only sarcoidosis and CHD were potentially at a disadvantage with the new allocation. There is high concordance between clinical and pathologic diagnosis, except for sarcoidosis and genetic diseases. Few misclassifications result in disadvantages to patients based on the new allocation system, but rare diseases like sarcoidosis remain problematic. To improve the UNOS database and enhance outcome research, pathology of the explanted hearts should be required post-transplantation. Copyright © 2017 American College of

Underreporting of liver transplant waitlist removals due to death or clinical deterioration: results at four major centers.

PubMed

Goldberg, David; French, Benjamin; Trotter, James; Shetty, Kirti; Schiano, Thomas; Reddy, K Rajender; Halpern, Scott D

2013-07-27

Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) or Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data among patients listed for liver transplantation. Of particular importance for transplant policy and practice is whether patients' outcomes are coded properly. Using data from four transplant centers, we identified all liver transplant candidates removed from the waitlist from February 27, 2002 to July 24, 2010, with a specific focus the removal code of "other." Among nontransplanted patients at these centers, 2206 patients were removed for death or clinical deterioration. Of these, 8.6% (189 of 2206) were misclassified; they were assigned the UNOS removal code of "other." Among these 189 misclassified patients, 128 became medically unsuitable, 35 died, and 26 became too sick to transplant. Nearly one-half (46.8%) of misclassified patients were removed due to advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Among true waitlist removals for death, only 35 of 1593 (2.2%) were misclassified. Conversely, of true removals for clinical deterioration, 154 of 612 (25.2%) were misclassified, with significant (P < 0.001) center variation: 4.4% (Baylor), 8.0% (Georgetown), 32.6% (University of Pennsylvania), and 45.0% (Mount Sinai). Extrapolating these data to the entire United States, if "other" patients who truly died or clinically deteriorated were recoded appropriately, there would be an additional 2525 (95% confidence interval, 2046-3102) patients removed from the waitlist due to death (331) or clinical deterioration (2194) since 2002. A substantial proportion of patients truly removed from the waitlist for death or clinical deterioration were misclassified as "other." Thus, analyses using the UNOS or the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database may underestimate the true proportion of patients removed from the waitlist for clinical deterioration.

Vehicle Theft Identification and Intimation Using GSM & IOT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eswar Kumar, M.; Thippa Reddy, G.; Sudheer, K.; Reddy, M. Praveen Kumar; Kaluri, Rajesh; Singh Rajput, Dharmendra; Lakshmanna, Kuruva

2017-11-01

Internet of Things is the most predominant innovation associates the things through web. IoT is a technology which interfaces things from different places on the planet. Home mechanization is a wide range innovation in IoT technology on the planet. Home automation constitutes in security issues, controlling gadgets and so on. In existing model, the vehicle theft is distinguished and controlled by physically with GSM module. Furthermore, there are a few in controlling the vehicle is major issue for owner from theft. Here in this paper a technique described to overcome issue of existing one. In this the vehicle is identified, controlled and connected updates with Internet in a simple way. By utilization of AT commands of GSM module a message will be send to the owner that the vehicle is recognized. Action can be taken by sending a reply to GSM module to stop motor of vehicle. Arduino uno board is used to interface the GSM and engine of vehicle with appropriate sensors. Visual studio, Arduino uno are the programming software used to outline this application.

Using Quantum Confinement to Uniquely Identify Devices

PubMed Central

Roberts, J.; Bagci, I. E.; Zawawi, M. A. M.; Sexton, J.; Hulbert, N.; Noori, Y. J.; Young, M. P.; Woodhead, C. S.; Missous, M.; Migliorato, M. A.; Roedig, U.; Young, R. J.

2015-01-01

Modern technology unintentionally provides resources that enable the trust of everyday interactions to be undermined. Some authentication schemes address this issue using devices that give a unique output in response to a challenge. These signatures are generated by hard-to-predict physical responses derived from structural characteristics, which lend themselves to two different architectures, known as unique objects (UNOs) and physically unclonable functions (PUFs). The classical design of UNOs and PUFs limits their size and, in some cases, their security. Here we show that quantum confinement lends itself to the provision of unique identities at the nanoscale, by using fluctuations in tunnelling measurements through quantum wells in resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs). This provides an uncomplicated measurement of identity without conventional resource limitations whilst providing robust security. The confined energy levels are highly sensitive to the specific nanostructure within each RTD, resulting in a distinct tunnelling spectrum for every device, as they contain a unique and unpredictable structure that is presently impossible to clone. This new class of authentication device operates with minimal resources in simple electronic structures above room temperature. PMID:26553435

Nuevas estrategias de gestión, tratamiento y valorización de los efluentes organicos pecuarios: Experiencias en USDA. (Management strategies for organic livestock effluents,innovative treatment and valorization)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

En la actualidad el impacto potencial de los residuos ganaderos en el medio-ambiente representa uno de los desafíos más grandes de la agricultura. Las tecnologías de tratamiento pueden tener un importante papel en el manejo de los residuos ganaderos dando más flexibilidad en los programas de la apli...

A Simulation of Coevolution Using Playing Cards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tatina, Robert

2007-01-01

In this article, the author describes a simulation of a coevolutionary "arms race" and introduce a way of teaching it that lets students use the theory of natural selection to explain the outcomes of the simulation. The simulation uses the numerical cards from an UNO[R] playing card deck to represent the speeds of individuals in populations of…

The "I" of the Storm: Teaching English and Helping Students and Instructors Cope in Post-Katrina New Orleans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Nancy

2007-01-01

This essay is entitled "The 'I' of the Storm" in order to stress the very personal nature of teaching in the immediate, post-Katrina semester of Fall 2005. The University of New Orleans (UNO) was the only university in the city to open that semester, and many traumatized instructors, the author included, were serving the thousands of…

Impact: an Integrated Approach (Space and Ground) for Monitoring the Threat of Earth Orbit Corssing Celestial Bodies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bussolino, L.; Somma, R.

The threat of possible collision of asteroids and comets with our planet has reached an international stage since 1990 when U.S.A. Congress set up a dedicated committee for the analysis and the assessment of this problem.The U.N. organized a congress later on to summarize the current knowledge on this subject as well as the Europea Council recommended its member states to conduct studies to further deepen the understanding in terms of tackling and solving this kind of problem interesting the entire world. IMPACT is the acronym for " International Monitoring Program for Asteroids and Comets Threats " coming out as proposal from a study funded by the italian region PIEMONTE throughout the Civil Protection Bureau and performed by the Planetology Group of the Astronomical Observatory of Torino ( Italy ) and Alenia Spazio for the engineering part. They have carried out a series of analyses aimed at contributing in subsequent steps to the solution of the two fundamental problems associated to the potential impact threat : the assessment of the numbers of killers/terminators and the impact rates from one side and the development of the idea of considering space segments for supporting activities of discovery as well as the physical and mineralogical characterization using satellites in orbit around the Earth. other additional studies also funded by the European Space Agency where the space technology appears to offer a great contribution if conveniently integrated with the Earth networks for Potentially Hazardous Asteroids ( PHA ) detection. An international approach for monitoring this threat for the Earth is then proposed.

Apuntes en torno a la caoba dominicana y hondureña en Puerto Rico durante el siglo XIX e inicios del siglo XX

Treesearch

Carlos M. Domínguez Cristóbal

2009-01-01

La introducción de la caoba dominicana a Puerto Rico es uno de los temas que no solo interesan a los geobotànicos. Dentro de esa perspectiva el Instituto Internacional de Dasonomía Tropical (IIDT) posee un legado de significativa contribución para con el tema. No obstante, este tema no ha sido considerado desde la perspectiva de los...

PIA Program | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

se cuenta con los fondos necesarios para efectuar el Programa PIA para el 2018. We do, on occasion Observatorio Inter-Americano de Cerro Tololo es el centro nacional de los Estados Unidos para el desarrollo de unos 400 kms al norte de Santiago. Los telescopios se ubican en la cima de Cerro Tololo, a 90 kms al

Leyendo con tu hijo: Consejos practicos para los padres... (Reading with Your Child: Practical Advice for Parents...).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver.

This brochure (in Spanish) offers some practical tips for Spanish-speaking parents who wish to read to their young children. The brochure first provides general tips, such as "Lea a su hijo en voz alto por lo menos unos 15 minutos todos los dias" (Read to your child aloud for at least 15 minutes daily), and "Estabeleza una rotina y…

Gaining and Sustaining TEL in a 1:1 Laptop Initiative: Possibilities and Challenges for Teachers and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindqvist, Marcia J. P. Håkansson

2015-01-01

The uptake and use of digital technologies is studied in Unos Umeå, a joint one-to-one (1:1) research project between Umeå University and the municipality of Umeå in Sweden. This article presents the results of the third phase of the classroom work with laptops. Using the ecology of resources model (Luckin, 2010), these possibilities and…

Design and implementation of telephone dialer based on Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Zilong; Lei, Ying

2017-03-01

Introduces a system design scheme of the telephone dialer based on Arduino, including the design principle, hardware and software design and the experimental results in this paper. The scheme is based on the dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) dialing mode, using the Arduino UNO as the main controller, the serial port send out the telephone number to be dialed, speaker synthesize the voice.

Indicators for Forecasting Ship Icing (Metodicheskie Ukazaniia po Preduprezhdeniiu Ugrozy Obledeneniia Sudov)

DTIC Science & Technology

1975-06-01

L.A. Klyuchnikova’s data, the design of the deck and of the side ports should provide a certain lag in the water hitting the deck, in order to...On Ships In Northern Seas Of Japan. J, Met. Soc, Vol 46, No 3, 1968. 14. Tabata , T., Ivata, S. and Uno, N. Studies On The Ice Accum- ulation On

Why not the University of New Orleans? Social disorganization and sexual violence among internally displaced women of Hurricane Katrina.

PubMed

Fagen, Jennifer L; Sorensen, William; Anderson, Peter B

2011-10-01

Researchers have reported that natural disasters lead to an increase in sexual violence against women and this is echoed by the current situation in Haiti. This is a social pattern throughout the world during periods of war, as well as natural disasters such as tsunamis, famine, and hurricanes. This article examines the prevalence of sexual violence experienced by women students at the University of New Orleans (UNO) before and after Hurricane Katrina using the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey. Two hundred and thirty seven women participated in the pre-Katrina study and 215 women participated in the post-Katrina study. We hypothesized that, due to the trauma of this disaster, there would be a higher prevalence of sexual aggression against women after Katrina than there was before Katrina. Our analyses yielded no significant differences in any of the measures of sexual violence toward women (nine CORE survey items) pre to post Katrina, so our hypothesis was not supported. We suggest that social organization and cultural attenuation--often indicators of sexual assault in FEMA Greenfield communities--were mitigated by social cohesion found on the UNO campus post-Katrina.

Aves municipales oficiales de Puerto Rico

Treesearch

Carlos M. Domínguez Cristóbal

2009-01-01

Las aves constituyen uno de los recursos de muy poco uso como símbolo oficial representativo de los municipios en Puerto Rico. Es muy probable que la decisión que màs pueda influenciar en esa selección esté relacionada con la movilidad de las aves ya que éstas no se limitan a una municipalidad en específico...

An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Extracorporeal Liver Support Techniques in Patients Hospitalized in the ICU for Severe Liver Dysfunction Secondary to Alcoholic Liver Disease

PubMed Central

Piechota, Mariusz; Piechota, Anna

2016-01-01

Background The mortality rate in patients with severe liver dysfunction secondary to alcoholic liver disease (ALD) who do not respond to the standard treatment is exceptionally high. Objectives The main aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of applying extracorporeal liver support techniques to treat this group of patients. Patients and Methods The data from 23 hospital admissions of 21 patients with ALD who were admitted to the department of anesthesiology and intensive therapy (A&IT) at the Dr Wł. Biegański Regional Specialist Hospital in Łódź between March 2013 and July 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 111 liver dialysis procedures were performed during the 23 hospitalizations, including 13 dialyses using fractionated plasma separation and adsorption (FPSA) with the Prometheus® system, and 98 procedures using the single pass albumin dialysis (SPAD) system. Upon admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), the median (interquartile range [IQR]) Glasgow coma scale (GCS), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II, and simplified acute physiology score (SAPS) II scores were 15 (14 - 15), 9 (7 - 13), 17 (14 - 24), and 32 (22 - 50), respectively. The ICU, 30-day, and three-month mortality rates were 43.48%, 39.13%, and 73.91%, respectively. As determined by the receiver operative characteristic (ROC) analysis for single-factor models, the significant predictors of death in the ICU included the patients’ SOFA, APACHE II, SAPS II, and model of end-stage liver disease modified by the united network for organ sharing (MELD UNOS Modification) scores; the duration of stay (in days) in the A&IT Department; and bile acid, creatinine and albumin levels upon ICU admission. The ROC analysis indicated the significant discriminating power of the SOFA, APACHE II, SAPS II, and MELD UNOS modification scores on the three-month mortality rate. Conclusions The application of

Real-time bus location monitoring using Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Mohammad Y. M.; Audah, Lukman

2017-09-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of objects, such as a vehicles, mobile devices, and buildings that have electronic components, software, and network connectivity that enable them to collect data, run commands, and be controlled through the Internet. Controlling physical items from the Internet will increase efficiency and save time. The growing number of devices used by people increases the practicality of having IoT devices on the market. The IoT is also an opportunity to develop products that can save money and time and increase work efficiency. Initially, they need more efficiency for real-time bus location systems, especially in university campuses. This system can easily find the accurate locations of and distances between each bus stop and the estimated time to reach a new location. This system has been separated into two parts, which are the hardware and the software. The hardware parts are the Arduino Uno and the Global Positioning System (GPS), while Google Earth and GpsGate are the software parts. The GPS continuously takes input data from the satellite and stores the latitude and longitude values in the Arduino Uno. If we want to track the vehicle, we need to send the longitude and latitude as a message to the Google Earth software to convert these into maps for navigation. Once the Arduino Uno is activated, it takes the last received latitude and longitude positions' values from GpsGate and sends a message to Google Earth. Once the message has been sent to Google Earth, the current location will be shown, and navigation will be activated automatically. Then it will be broadcast using ManyCam, Google+ Hangouts, and YouTube, as well as Facebook, and appear to users. The additional features use Google Forms for determining problems faced by students, who can also take immediate action against the responsible department. Then after several successful simulations, the results will be shown in real time on a map.

Proceedings of the Annual Nebraska Aviation Education Association Conference (1st, Omaha, Nebraska, January 1994). The UNO Aviation Monograph Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crehan, James E., Ed.

This collection of six papers constitutes the proceedings of the First Annual Conference of the Nebraska Aviation Education Association. These papers present many issues that the discipline of aviation is confronting, including those related to the aviation industry. The papers included are as follows: (1) "Using the DAT for Selection of…

Aerospace Workforce Development: The Nebraska Proposal; and Native View Connections: A Multi-Consortium Workforce Development Proposal. UNO Aviation Monograph Series

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Russell, Valerie; Vlasek, Karisa; Avery, Shelly; Calamaio, Larry; Carstenson, Larry; Farritor, Shane; deSilva, Shan; Dugan, James; Farr, Lynne

2003-01-01

The NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium (NSGC) continues to recognize the necessity of increasing the quantity and quality of highly skilled graduates and faculty involved with NASA. Through NASA Workforce Development funds awarded in 2002, NSGC spearheaded customer- focused workforce training and higher education, industry and community partnerships that are significantly impacting the state s workforce in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competencies. NSGC proposes to build upon these accomplishments to meet the steadily increasing demand for STEM skills and to safeguard minority representation in these disciplines. A wide range of workforce development activities target NASA s need to establish stronger connections among higher education, industry, and community organizations. Participation in the National Student Satellite Program (NSSP), Community Internship Program, and Nebraska Science and Technology Recruitment Fair will extend the pipeline of employees benefiting NASA as well as Nebraska. The diversity component of this proposal catapults from the exceptional reputation NSGC has built by delivering geospatial science experiences to Nebraska s Native Americans. For 6 years, NSGC has fostered and sustained partnerships with the 2 tribal colleges and 4 reservation school districts in Nebraska to foster aeronautics education and outreach. This program, the Nebraska Native American Outreach Program (NNAOP), has grown to incorporate more than educational institutions and is now a partnership among tribal community leaders, academia, tribal schools, and industry. The content focus has broadened from aeronautics in the school systems to aerospace technology and earth science applications in tribal community decision-making and workforce training on the reservations. To date, participants include faculty and staff at 4 Nebraska tribal schools, 2 tribal colleges, approximately 1,000 Native American youth, and over 1,200 community members. This Native American Initiative of the NSGC addresses Nebraska workforce development and serves as a model to others. Following a structured evaluation process, NSGC proposes to sustain delivery of the training funded by NASA in 2002 to tribal entities through partnerships linking academic programs and industry leaders.

[National Academy of Medicine, one hundred and fifty-four academic year].

PubMed

Mansilla-Olivares, Armando

2017-01-01

El incalculable valor que atesora la Academia Nacional de Medicina, su enorme influencia y repercusión sobre la toma de decisiones médico-científico-epidemiológicas, radica única y exclusivamente en el dominio del conocimiento, la mente científica y el talento de todos y cada uno de sus miembros, desde su fundación en 1864 hasta nuestros días.

The kidney allocation score: methodological problems, moral concerns and unintended consequences.

PubMed

Hippen, B

2009-07-01

The growing disparity between the demand for and supply of kidneys for transplantation has generated interest in alternative systems of allocating kidneys from deceased donors. This personal viewpoint focuses attention on the Kidney Allocation Score (KAS) proposal promulgated by the UNOS/OPTN Kidney Committee. I identify several methodological and moral flaws in the proposed system, concluding that any iteration of the KAS proposal should be met with more skepticism than sanguinity.

Optimised Environmental Test Approaches in the GOCE Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ancona, V.; Giordano, P.; Casagrande, C.

2004-08-01

The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) is dedicated to measuring the Earth's gravity field and modelling the geoid with extremely high accuracy and spatial resolution. It is the first Earth Explorer Core mission to be developed as part of ESA's Living Planet Programme and is scheduled for launch in 2006. The program is managed by a consortium of European companies: Alenia Spazio, the prime contractor, Astrium GmbH, the platform responsible, Alcatel Space Industries and Laben, suppliers of the main payloads, respectively the Electrostatic Gravity Gradiometer (EGG) and the Satellite to Satellite Tracking Instrument (SSTI), actually a precise GPS receiver. The GOCE Assembly Integration and Verification (AIV) approach is established and implemented in order to demonstrate to the customer that the satellite design meets the applicable requirements and to qualify and accept from lower level up to system level. The driving keywords of "low cost" and "short schedule" program, call for minimizing the development effort by utilizing off-the-shelf equipment combined with a model philosophy lowering the number of models to be used. The paper will deal on the peculiarities of the optimized environmental test approach in the GOCE project. In particular it introduces the logic of the AIV approach and describe the foreseen tests at system level within the SM environmental test campaign, outlining the Quasi Static test performed in the frame of the SM sine vibration tests, and the PFM environmental test campaign pinpointing the deletion of the Sine Vibration test on PFM model. Furthermore the paper highlights how the Model and Test Effectiveness Database (MATD) can be utilized for the prediction of the new space projects like GOCE Satellite.

National Decline in Donor Heart Utilization With Regional Variability: 1995–2010

PubMed Central

Khush, K. K.; Zaroff, J. G.; Nguyen, J.; Menza, R.; Goldstein, B. A.

2015-01-01

The severe shortage of donor hearts limits the availability of transplantation for the growing population of patients with end-stage heart disease. We examined national trends in donor heart acceptance for transplant. OPTN data were analyzed for all potential adult cardiac organ donors between 1995 and 2010. Donor heart disposition was categorized as transplanted, declined for transplant or other. We studied changes in the probability of donor heart acceptance according to demographic and clinical characteristics, nationwide and by UNOS region. Of 82 053 potential donor hearts, 34% were accepted and 48% were declined (18% used for other purposes). There was a significant decrease in donor heart acceptance from 44% in 1995 to 29% in 2006, and subsequent increase to 32% in 2010. Older donor age, female sex and medical co-morbidities predicted non-acceptance. Donor age and co-morbidities increased during the study period, with a concomitant decrease in acceptance of hearts from donors with undesirable characteristics. Overall, predictors of heart non-use were similar across UNOS regions, although utilization varied between regions. Regional variation suggests a potential to improve heart acceptance rates in under-performing regions, and supports research and policy efforts aimed at establishing evidence-based criteria for donor heart evaluation and acceptance for transplantation. PMID:25676093

Archive of Sediment Data Collected around the Chandeleur Islands and Breton Island in 2007 and 1987 (Vibracore Surveys: 07SCC04, 07SCC05, and 87039)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dreher, C.A.; Flocks, J.G.; Kulp, M.A.; Ferina, N.F.

2010-01-01

In 2006 and 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and collaborators at the University of New Orleans (UNO) collected high-resolution seismic profiles and subsurface cores around the Chandeleur and Breton Islands, Louisiana (Study Area Map). To ground-truth the acoustic seismic surveys conducted in 2006, 124 vibracores were acquired during the 07SCC04 and 07SCC05 cruises in 2007. These cores were collected within the back-barrier, nearshore, and offshore environments. The surveys were conducted as part of a post-hurricane assessment and sediment resource inventory for the Barrier Island Coastal Monitoring (BICM) project. Vibracores were collected offshore using the USGS R/V G.K. Gilbert, while the terrestrial, back-barrier, and nearshore vibracores were collected from the UNO R/V Greenhead. This report serves as an archive of sediment data from two concurrent vibracore surveys (cruises 07SCC04 and 07SCC05) from around the Breton and Chandeleur Islands in 2007 and also documents sediment data from vibracores collected offshore of the Chandeleur Islands in 1987 (cruise 87039). The 1987 vibracores were collected through the collaborated efforts of the USGS, Louisiana Geological Survey (LGS), and Alpine Ocean Seismic. Each vibracore can be identified by cruise and core number.

Discos de acreción circumplanares: Modelo de Co-acreción

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parisi, M. G.; de Elía, G.

Los discos de acreción circumplanetarios precursores de los satélites regulares de los planetas gigantes, se pueden formar por cuatro mecanismos (Pollack y otros, 1991, In Uranus, Bergtralh, Miner y Mattews, Eds., p. 469, Univ. de Arizona Press, Tucson). En este trabajo estudiamos uno de tales mecanismos: el Modelo de Co-acreción. En dicho modelo, el disco circumplanetario se forma a partir de las colisiones mutuas entre planetesimales dentro de la esfera de Hill del planeta durante el proceso de formación planetaria. Realizamos un modelo semi-analítico para calcular la masa del disco y compararla con la masa requerida para formar los satélites regulares de los planetas gigantes. Hemos obtenido una cota superior para la masa del disco que resulta inferior a la masa de los satélites más grandes de los planetas gigantes. En principio, estos resultados permitirían descartar el modelo de co-acreción como uno de los procesos que podrían dar lugar a la formación de los satélites regulares. Estos resultados permiten obtener restricciones en el escenario de formación planetaria y en los mecanismos de formación de sistemas de satélites.

Operational Roles, Aircrew Systems and Human Factors in Future High Performance Aircraft

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-03-01

sensory, muscular , and cognitive capacities in responding to all of the mission stresses. To ensure accomplishment of operational missions, the...no more effective than its human operators: in that sense the system is merely an extension of the operator’s sensory, muscular and cognitive...autoriser la. res- -piration on surpres ot A fort Sradient d’une part, assurer un rapport de prossioar. - tant In distension pulnonairo lors d’uno

[Visceral leishmaniasis. Pediatric case report].

PubMed

Gomila H, Andrés; Vanzo, Carolina; Garnero, Analía; Peruzzo, Luisina; Badalotti, Mónica

2017-08-01

La leishmaniasis es una enfermedad causada por parásitos obligados intracelulares pertenecientes al género Leishmania y que reconoce tres formas clínicas principales: cutánea, visceral y mucocutánea. Es una patología del grupo de las "enfermedades desatendidas". Es la única enfermedad tropical transmitida a través de vectores que se ha mantenido endémica por décadas en el sur de Europa. La leishmaniasis visceral representa la forma más grave. Se caracteriza por fiebre, pérdida de peso, anemia y hepatoesplenomegalia. Su período de incubación oscila entre 2 semanas y 18 meses. La leishmaniasis se considera una enfermedad reemergente a nivel mundial. Algunos de los factores que favorecen esta situación son los cambios en las condiciones climáticas, migraciones y urbanizaciones deficitarias en saneamiento ambiental. Se presenta el caso de un niño europeo que estaba vacacionando en Córdoba y fue derivado a nuestro Hospital por fiebre y pancitopenia, lo que generó un abordaje multidisciplinario con resolución clínica favorable. Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría.

Hybrid BEM/empirical approach for scattering of correlated sources in rocket noise prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbarino, Mattia; Adamo, Francesco P.; Bianco, Davide; Bartoccini, Daniele

2017-09-01

Empirical models such as the Eldred standard model are commonly used for rocket noise prediction. Such models directly provide a definition of the Sound Pressure Level through the quadratic pressure term by uncorrelated sources. In this paper, an improvement of the Eldred Standard model has been formulated. This new formulation contains an explicit expression for the acoustic pressure of each noise source, in terms of amplitude and phase, in order to investigate the sources correlation effects and to propagate them through a wave equation. In particular, the correlation effects between adjacent and not-adjacent sources have been modeled and analyzed. The noise prediction obtained with the revised Eldred-based model has then been used for formulating an empirical/BEM (Boundary Element Method) hybrid approach that allows an evaluation of the scattering effects. In the framework of the European Space Agency funded program VECEP (VEga Consolidation and Evolution Programme), these models have been applied for the prediction of the aeroacoustics loads of the VEGA (Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata - Advanced Generation European Carrier Rocket) launch vehicle at lift-off and the results have been compared with experimental data.

Orthotopic Liver Transplantation in High-Risk Patients

PubMed Central

Gayowski, Timothy; Marino, Ignazio R.; Singh, Nina; Doyle, Howard; Wagener, Marilyn; Fung, John J.; Starzl, Thomas E.

2010-01-01

Background One of the most controversial areas in patient selection and donor allocation is the high-risk patient. Risk factors for mortality and major infectious morbidity were prospectively analyzed in consecutive United States veterans undergoing liver transplantation under primary tacrolimus-based immunosuppression. Methods Twenty-eight pre-liver transplant, operative, and posttransplant risk factors were examined univariately and multivariately in 140 consecutive liver transplants in 130 veterans (98% male; mean age, 47.3 years). Results Eighty-two percent of the patients had post-necrotic cirrhosis due to viral hepatitis or ethanol (20% ethanol alone), and only 12% had cholestatic liver disease. Ninety-eight percent of the patients were hospitalized at the time of transplantation (66% United Network for Organ Sharing [UNOS] 2, 32% UNOS 1). Major bacterial infection, posttransplant dialysis, additional immunosuppression, readmission to intensive care unit (P=0.0001 for all), major fungal infection, posttransplant abdominal surgery, posttransplant intensive care unit stay length of stay (P<0.005 for all), donor age, pretransplant dialysis, and creatinine (P<0.05 for all) were significantly associated with mortality by univariate analysis. Underlying liver disease, cytomegalovirus infection and disease, portal vein thrombosis, UNOS status, Childs-Pugh score, patient age, pretransplant bilirubin, ischemia time, and operative blood loss were not significant predictors of mortality. Patients with hepatitis C (HCV) and recurrent HCV had a trend towards higher mortality (P=0.18). By multivariate analysis, donor age, any major infection, additional immunosuppression, post-transplant dialysis, and subsequent transplantation were significant independent predictors of mortality (P<0.05). Major infectious morbidity was associated with HCV recurrence (P=0.003), posttransplant dialysis (P=0.001), pretransplant creatinine, donor age, median blood loss, intensive care unit

Yo Ciudadano: Un Curriculo de Experiencias para Educacion Civica. Nivel: Uno (Citizen Me: An Experiential Curriculum for Citizenship Education. Level: One).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loftin, Richard

Integrating concepts of basic citizenship education with community involvement, this experiential curriculum, written in Spanish, provides a means for developing decision making and critical thinking skills within the existing social studies curriculum in grade 1. Using short stories, field trips, and class discussions, the 11 lessons on…

Validation of organ procurement and transplant network (OPTN)/united network for organ sharing (UNOS) criteria for imaging diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

PubMed

Fowler, Kathryn J; Karimova, E Jane; Arauz, Anthony R; Saad, Nael E; Brunt, Elizabeth M; Chapman, William C; Heiken, Jay P

2013-06-27

Imaging diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) presents an important pathway for transplant exception points and priority for cirrhotic patients. The purpose of this retrospective study is to evaluate the validity of the new Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) classification system on patients undergoing transplantation for HCC. One hundred twenty-nine patients underwent transplantation for HCC from April 14, 2006 to April 18, 2011; a total of 263 lesions were reported as suspicious for HCC on pretransplantation magnetic resonance imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging examinations were reviewed independently by two experienced radiologists, blinded to final pathology. Reviewers identified major imaging features and an OPTN classification was assigned to each lesion. Final proof of diagnosis was pathology on explant or necrosis along with imaging findings of ablation after transarterial chemoembolization. Application of OPTN imaging criteria in our population resulted in high specificity for the diagnosis of HCC. Sensitivity in diagnosis of small lesions (≥1 and <2 cm) was low (range, 26%-34%). Use of the OPTN system would have resulted in different management in 17% of our population who had received automatic exception points for HCC based on preoperative imaging but would not have met criteria under the new system. Eleven percent of the patients not meeting OPTN criteria were found to have T2 stage tumor burden on pathology. The OPTN imaging policy introduces a high level of specificity for HCC but may decrease sensitivity for small lesions. Management may be impacted in a number of patients, potentially requiring longer surveillance periods or biopsy to confirm diagnosis.

Factors affecting graft survival within 1-year post-transplantation in heart and lung transplant: an analysis of the OPTN/UNOS registry.

PubMed

Ohe, Hidenori

2012-01-01

Today, a main focus of the transplant community is the long-term outcomes of lung and heart allograft recipients. However, even early post-transplant survival (within the first post-transplant year) needs improvement, as early graft failure still accounts for many allograft losses. In this chapter, we review the experience of heart and lung transplantation as reported to the Organ Procurement Transplant Network/United Network of Organ Sharing registry and investigate the factors responsible for causing failure in the first post-transplant year. Trends indicate that sicker patients are increasingly being transplanted, thereby limiting improvements in early post-transplant survival. More lung and heart transplant patients are coming to transplant on dialysis. In heart transplant, there is an increase in the number of heart retransplant patients and an increase in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. For lung transplant, more patients are on a ventilator prior to transplant than in the past 25 years. Given that sicker/riskier patients are now receiving more heart and lung transplants, future studies need to take place to better understand these patients so that they can have the same survival as patients entering transplant with less severe illnesses.

The Conference Proceedings of the 1997 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society. Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oum, Tae Hoon (Editor); Bowen, Brent D. (Editor)

1997-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute has published the 1997 Proceedings of the Air Transport Research Group of the World Conference on Transportation Research (WCTR) Society. Items published in this three volume, seven monograph series were presented at the triennial ATRG Conference held at the University of British Columbia, June 25-27, 1997. A wide variety of policy issues are discussed including the following: open- skies agreements, liberalization, globalization, airline competition, airport performance, pricing, hubs, and safety, among others.

Migration of Hazardous Substances through Soil. Part 4. Development of a Serial Batch Extraction Method and Application to the Accelerated Testing of Seven Industrial Wastes

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

Evaluation Commnand &_. ADMASS Coly, 1W~., and ZIP Code ) 7b. ADDRESS (C01y, State, wid ZIP Code ) Dugwiay, Utahi 84022-5000 Aberdeen Proving Ground...Aency_________________________ 9L AoOMS(CRY, 0to, and ZIP Code ) 10. SOURCE OF FUNDING NUMBERS Hazardous Waste Environmental RLsearch Lab PROGRAM PROJECT TASK...CLASSIFICATION 0 UNO.ASSIFIEDAIJNLIMITED 0l SAME AS RPT. 03 OTIC USERS UNCLA.SSIFIED 22a. RAWE OF RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL 22b TELEPHONE (Include Area Code ) I

Proper Motion Of Teh Magellanic Clouds Using SPM

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

determinado los movimientos propios absolutos para estrellas y galaxias hasta V = 17.5 sobre un área de 450 grados cuadrados que incluye a las Nubes...tos propios fueron combinadas en una solución de traslapo usando estrellas fotométricamente seleccionadas del disco galáctico como sistema de...referencia relativo, que luego fue transformado a uno absoluto usando galaxias externas y al ICRS usando estrellas Hipparcos. El catálogo resultante se usa

Comportamiento Sexual y Autoeficacia para la Negociación de Sexo Más Seguro en Personas Heterosexuales

PubMed Central

Pérez-Jiménez, David; Santiago-Rivas, Marimer; Serrano-García, Irma

2012-01-01

La autoeficacia se le ha identificado como uno de los factores que puede facilitar o dificultar llevar a cabo sexo más seguro. Estudios revelan que las personas que están el relaciones estables usan métodos de protección menos frecuente que quienes tienen parejas casuales. Realizamos un estudio con 447 personas heterosexuales activas sexualmente. Les administramos un cuestionario dirigido a medir el comportamiento sexual, el uso del condón masculino y la práctica de la masturbación mutua, y la autoeficacia para llevar a cabo estas conductas. Los resultados reflejan que los hombres están más activos sexualmente y que el uso del condón y la práctica de la masturbación mutua como alternativa de sexo más seguro es muy baja. En los casos donde se usa el condón esta práctica es realizada en su mayoría por las personas que se encuentran en una relación de pareja casual. No obstante, los/las participantes tienen altos niveles de autoeficacia hacia ambas prácticas. Aunque la autoeficacia es uno de los factores que incide en decidir llevar a cabo sexo más seguro, ésta no es suficiente para que esta meta se logre. PMID:22837585

Assessing Consequences of Intra-Aortic Balloon Counterpulsation vs. Left Ventricular Assist Devices at the Time of Heart Transplantation

PubMed Central

Castleberry, Anthony W.; DeVore, Adam D.; Southerland, Kevin W.; Meza, James M.; Irish, William D.; Rogers, Joseph G.; Milano, Carmelo A.; Patel, Chetan B.

2016-01-01

The proportion of heart transplant recipients bridged with durable left ventricular assist devices (dLVADs) has dramatically increased; however, concern exists regarding obligate repeat sternotomy, increase bleeding risk due to anticoagulation and acquired von Willebrand disease, and increased rates of allosensitization. Whether dLVAD patients have impaired post-transplant outcomes compared to equivalent patients with less invasive intraaortic balloon counterpulsation (IABP) at the time of transplant is unknown. We therefore analyzed adult, first time, heart-only transplant procedures with dLVAD (n=2,636) compared to IABP (n=571) at the time of transplant based on data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) 07/2004 – 12/2011. There was clear geographic variation in IABP and dLVAD at transplant. Multivariable analysis demonstrated equivalent cumulative risk of death (adjusted Cox proportional hazard ratio: 1.08, 95% confidence interval: 0.87 – 1.33, p=0.51). There was no significant difference in adjusted comparison of perioperative morality, length of stay, postoperative renal failure requiring dialysis, or early acute rejection (p≥0.14 for all). Data from UNOS therefore suggests that the presence of dLVAD at the time of heart transplantation does not have a detrimental effect on postoperative outcomes compared to IABP, which must be considered in the context of pre-transplant mortality and locoregional organ availability. PMID:26735554

Rethinking the advantage of zero-HLA mismatches in unrelated living donor kidney transplantation: implications on kidney paired donation.

PubMed

Casey, Michael Jin; Wen, Xuerong; Rehman, Shehzad; Santos, Alfonso H; Andreoni, Kenneth A

2015-04-01

The OPTN/UNOS Kidney Paired Donation (KPD) Pilot Program allocates priority to zero-HLA mismatches. However, in unrelated living donor kidney transplants (LDKT)-the same donor source in KPD-no study has shown whether zero-HLA mismatches provide any advantage over >0 HLA mismatches. We hypothesize that zero-HLA mismatches among unrelated LDKT do not benefit graft survival. This retrospective SRTR database study analyzed LDKT recipients from 1987 to 2012. Among unrelated LDKT, subjects with zero-HLA mismatches were compared to a 1:1-5 matched (by donor age ±1 year and year of transplantation) control cohort with >0 HLA mismatches. The primary endpoint was death-censored graft survival. Among 32,654 unrelated LDKT recipients, 83 had zero-HLA mismatches and were matched to 407 controls with >0 HLA mismatches. Kaplan-Meier analyses for death-censored graft and patient survival showed no difference between study and control cohorts. In multivariate marginal Cox models, zero-HLA mismatches saw no benefit with death-censored graft survival (HR = 1.46, 95% CI 0.78-2.73) or patient survival (HR = 1.43, 95% CI 0.68-3.01). Our data suggest that in unrelated LDKT, zero-HLA mismatches may not offer any survival advantage. Therefore, particular study of zero-HLA mismatching is needed to validate its place in the OPTN/UNOS KPD Pilot Program allocation algorithm. © 2014 Steunstichting ESOT.

The SAX Italian scientific satellite. The on-board implemented automation as a support to the ground control capability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Martelli, Andrea

1994-01-01

This paper presents the capabilities implemented in the SAX system for an efficient operations management during its in-flight mission. SAX is an Italian scientific satellite for x-ray astronomy whose major mission objectives impose quite tight constraints on the implementation of both the space and ground segment. The most relevant mission characteristics require an operative lifetime of two years, performing scientific observations both in contact and in noncontact periods, with a low equatorial orbit supported by one ground station, so that only a few minutes of communications are available each orbit. This operational scenario determines the need to have a satellite capable of performing the scheduled mission automatically and reacting autonomously to contingency situations. The implementation approach of the on-board operations management, through which the necessary automation and autonomy are achieved, follows a hierarchical structure. This has been achieved adopting a distributed avionic architecture. Nine different on-board computers, in fact, constitute the on-board data management system. Each of them performs the local control and monitors its own functions while the system level control is performed at a higher level by the data handling applications software. The SAX on-board architecture provides the ground operators with different options of intervention by three classes of telecommands. The management of the scientific operations will be scheduled by the operation control center via dedicated operating plans. The SAX satellite flight mode is presently being integrated at Alenia Spazio premises in Turin for a launch scheduled for the end of 1995. Once in orbit, the SAX satellite will be subject to intensive check-out activities in order to verify the required mission performances. An overview of the envisaged procedure and of the necessary on-ground activities is therefore depicted as well.

EXPERT: An atmospheric re-entry test-bed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massobrio, F.; Viotto, R.; Serpico, M.; Sansone, A.; Caporicci, M.; Muylaert, J.-M.

2007-06-01

In recognition of the importance of an independent European access to the International Space Station (ISS) and in preparation for the future needs of exploration missions, ESA is conducting parallel activities to generate flight data using atmospheric re-entry test-beds and to identify vehicle design solutions for human and cargo transportation vehicles serving the ISS and beyond. The EXPERT (European eXPErimental Re-entry Test-bed) vehicle represents the major on-going development in the first class of activities. Its results may also benefit in due time scientific missions to planets with an atmosphere and future reusable launcher programmes. The objective of EXPERT is to provide a test-bed for the validation of aerothermodynamics models, codes and ground test facilities in a representative flight environment, to improve the understanding of issues related to analysis, testing and extrapolation to flight. The vehicle will be launched on a sub-orbital trajectory using a Volna missile. The EXPERT concept is based on a symmetrical re-entry capsule whose shape is composed of simple geometrical elements. The suborbital trajectory will reach 120 km altitude and a re-entry velocity of 5 6km/s. The dimensions of the capsule are 1.6 m high and 1.3 m diameter; the overall mass is in the range of 250 350kg, depending upon the mission parameters and the payload/instrumentation complement. A consistent number of scientific experiments are foreseen on-board, from innovative air data system to shock wave/boundary layer interaction, from sharp hot structures characterisation to natural and induced regime transition. Currently the project is approaching completion of the phase B, with Alenia Spazio leading the industrial team and CIRA coordinating the scientific payload development under ESA contract.

Space Radar Image of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This three-dimensional image of the volcano Kilauea was generated based on interferometric fringes derived from two X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar data takes on April 13, 1994 and October 4, 1994. The altitude lines are based on quantitative interpolation of the topographic fringes. The level difference between neighboring altitude lines is 20 meters (66 feet). The ground area covers 12 kilometers by 4 kilometers (7.5 miles by 2.5 miles). The altitude difference in the image is about 500 meters (1,640 feet). The volcano is located around 19.58 degrees north latitude and 155.55 degrees west longitude. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. The Instituto Ricerca Elettromagnetismo Componenti Elettronici (IRECE) at the University of Naples was a partner in the interferometry analysis.

Operation Resettlement, Fort Chafee, Arkansas. 1st Psyop Bn

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

R0J0S DE CINCINNATI DAN PRUEBA A UN REFUGIADO CUBANO ********* El refugiado aubano Julio Soto, uno de los tantos en la base atrea de Eglin estd...talentos a pesar de que todavia no ha campletado el papeleo y los proaedimientos de relooalizacidn en la Florida. Soto tuvo su primera prueba el...Ibnites del Area - del Ccvdbn a exoepaiin auando sea esaoltado a ctros puntcs i aya ser prcsesado. Este de - be ’naaerse ver alaro a todos los cubancs

Massing the Third Dimension in AirLand Battle-Future: The Aviation Division

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-12-01

org.anizzationai prececients wnicn nave aireaay oeen successtuiiy tieioea or are aoour to De as in the case of the German A irmooile 6ivision in German "Army...progression to autonomous aviation units performing the tank and transport role simuitanfousIv. TUKHACHE VSKY Constoereo by some as the father or the deep...A comotnea arms torce consisting mainly or MBAVs as the major kLiilng system, wouja be, in von Senger uno Etteriin s view, a tacticaliy and logistica

Computer simulation techniques for artificial modification of the ionosphere. Final report 31 jan 79-30 apr 81

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vance, B.; Mendillo, M.

1981-04-30

A three-dimensional model of the ionosphere was developed including chemical reactions and neutral and plasma transport. The model uses Finite Element Simulation to simulate ionospheric modification rather than solving a set of differential equations. The initial conditions of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory experiments, Lagopedo Uno and Dos, were input to the model, and these events were simulated. Simulation results were compared to ground and rocketborne electron-content measurements. A simulation of the transport of released SF6 was also made.

Combustion of Solid Propellants (La Combustion des Propergols Solides)

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-07-01

cin~tiques initiales. Il relatives A Ia granulom ~trie ct la surface eat s~me possible dWaller plus loin et sp~cifique des catalyseurs existent, il est...grand nombro do vari~t~s granulom ~triques des proporgols. On pout ainsi observer uno mont donc utilis~es induatriellemont pour notte influence du temps...et do la ajuster la vitosso des vari~tds do tempdrature do laminage sur la diminution granulom ~trie moyenno 400, 200, 100, 10, 3 de l’exposant do

Let's Help Each Other. Economic Organization Booklet 3. Teacher's Edition=Ayudemonos uno al otro. Organizacion economica libro 3. Manual para El Maestro.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Univ., Los Angeles. National Dissemination and Assessment Center.

The booklet is part of a grade 10-12 social studies series produced for bilingual education. The series consists of six major thematic modules, with four to five booklets in each. The interdisciplinary modules are based on major ideas and designed to help students understand some major human problems and make sound, responsive decisions to improve…

Environmentally Safe and Effective Processes for Paint Removal (Les Procedes Efficaces et Ecologiques pour l’Enlevement des Peintures)

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-01

1992 sur tine coclule d’avion TRANSALL pointe A loexception des composites vner / dpoxy (inhtalla- avec In garame Airbus . don non robotisde, 2 buses...Los P.M.P. h AIRBUS INDUSTRIE page P.M.P, cii cabine (MATRASUR ct SCHLICK) pour l’onl~vormont des peinturos sur las 616ments md- Ril~ant suite h uno...dtudo sur las P.M.P. lancdo fin caziiquos (site do MARIGNANE) =* capacitd do iral. 1987, tine spcificatlun do pr ddwv Airbus Industrie tement : 1500 kg

SIMULATED COAL GAS MCFC POWER PLANT SYSTEM VERIFICATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

J.A. Scroppo

1998-07-01

This is the Technical Progress Report covering June 1998. All tasks have been completed, except for those discussed on the following pages. Unocal estimated the costs of dismantling and packaging the test facility for storage and shipment. The scope of work for the contract has been modified to accommodate the dismantling and packaging of the plant. An amendment to Sub-Contract No. MCP-9-UNO between M-C Power and Unocal has been executed which includes the Scope of Work in Unocal's cost estimate.

SIMULATED COAL GAS MCFC POWER PLANT SYSTEM VERIFICATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1998-10-31

This is the Technical Progress Report covering October 1998. All tasks have been completed, except for those discussed on the following pages. Unocal estimated the costs of dismantling and packaging the test facility for storage and shipment. The scope of work for the contract has been modified to accommodate the dismantling and packaging of the plant. An amendment to Sub-Contract No. MCP-9-UNO between M-C Power and Unocal has been executed which includes the Scope of Work in Unocal's cost estimate.

Note: Circuit design for direct current and alternating current electrochemical etching of scanning probe microscopy tips.

PubMed

Jobbins, Matthew M; Raigoza, Annette F; Kandel, S Alex

2012-03-01

We present control circuits designed for electrochemically etching, reproducibly sharp STM probes. The design uses an Arduino UNO microcontroller to allow for both ac and dc operation, as well as a comparator driven shut-off that allows for etching to be stopped in 0.5-1 μs. The Arduino allows the instrument to be customized to suit a wide variety of potential applications without significant changes to hardware. Data is presented for coarse chemical etching of 80:20 platinum-iridium, tungsten, and nickel tips.

Novel Resuscitation from Lethal Hemorrhage - Suspended Animation for Delayed Resuscitation

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-09-01

para la inducci6n rApida de hipotermia leve en perros , usando un equipo simple de bomba enfriadora. Se anetesiaron superficialmente dies perros de caza...21 - 28 kg) y se pusieron en ventilaci6n mecAnica. En cinco perros , se insertaron dos cat~teres en las venas femorales, uno perif~rico y el otro hacia...gasto cardiaco). En los otros 5 perros (grvpo control) se realiz6 un enfriamiento con m6todo dlinico externo, usando alcohol sobre ]a piel del tronco

Controlled rephasing of single spin-waves in a quantum memory based on cold atoms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farrera, Pau; Albrecht, Boris; Heinze, Georg; Cristiani, Matteo; de Riedmatten, Hugues; Quantum Photonics With Solids; Atoms Team

2015-05-01

Quantum memories for light allow a reversible transfer of quantum information between photons and long lived matter quantum bits. In atomic ensembles, this information is commonly stored in the form of single collective spin excitations (spin-waves). In this work we demonstrate that we can actively control the dephasing of the spin-waves created in a quantum memory based on a cold Rb87 atomic ensemble. The control is provided by an external magnetic field gradient, which induces an inhomogeneous broadening of the atomic hyperfine levels. We show that acting on this gradient allows to control the dephasing of individual spin-waves and to induce later a rephasing. The spin-waves are then mapped into single photons, and we demonstrate experimentally that the active rephasing preserves the sub-Poissonian statistics of the retrieved photons. Finally we show that this rephasing control enables the creation and storage of multiple spin-waves in different temporal modes, which can be selectively readout. This is an important step towards the implementation of a functional temporally multiplexed quantum memory for quantum repeaters. We acknowledge support from the ERC starting grant, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, and the International PhD- fellowship program ``la Caixa''-Severo Ochoa @ICFO.

Organ Donation in the United States: The Tale of the African-American Journey of Moving From the Bottom to the Top.

PubMed

Callender, C O; Koizumi, N; Miles, P V; Melancon, J K

2016-09-01

The purpose was to review the increase of minority organ donation. The methodology was based on the efforts of the DC Organ Donor Program and the Dow Take Initiative Program that focused on increasing donors among African Americans (AAs). From 1982 to 1988, AA donor card signings increased from 20/month to 750/month, and Black donations doubled. A review of the data, including face-to-face grassroots presentations combined with national media, was conducted. Gallup polls in 1985 and 1990 indicated a tripling of black awareness of transplantation and the number of blacks signing donor cards. Based on the applied successful methodologies, in 1991, the National Minority Organ Tissues Transplant Education Program was established targeting AA, Hispanic, Asian, and other ethnic groups. A review of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database from 1990 to 2010 was accomplished. Nationally, ethnic minority organ donors per million (ODM) increased from 8-10 ODM (1982) to 35 ODM (AA and Latino/Hispanics) in 2002. In 1995, ODMs were white 34.2, black 33.1, Hispanic 31.5, and Asian 17.9. In 2010, Black organ donors per million totaled 35.36 versus white 27.07, Hispanic 25.59, and Asian 14.70. Based on the data retrieved from UNOS in 2010, blacks were ranked above whites and other ethnic minority populations as the number one ethnic group of organ donors per million in the US. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effect of Bridging Locoregional Therapy and Sociodemographics on Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients Undergoing Orthotopic Liver Transplantation: A United Network for Organ Sharing Population Study.

PubMed

Magnetta, Michael J; Xing, Minzhi; Zhang, Di; Kim, Hyun S

2016-12-01

To investigate socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with transplantation outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with bridging locoregional therapy (LRT) before orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was used to identify all patients in the United States with HCC who were listed for OLT between 2002 and 2013. Mean overall survival (OS) after OLT was stratified based on age, sex, ethnicity, transplant year, region, and insurance status. Kaplan-Meier estimation was used for survival analysis with log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model to assess independent prognostic factors for OS. Of the 17,291 listed patients with HCC, 14,511 underwent OLT. Mean age was 57.4 years (76.8% male). Favorable sociodemographic factors were associated with increased rates of bridging LRT before OLT and longer wait time on the transplant list and were shown to be independent prognostic factors for prolonged OS after OLT using multivariate analysis. Favorable demographic factors included patient age < 60 years, donor age < 45 years, year of diagnosis between 2008 and 2013, UNOS regions 4 and 5, Asian ethnicity, high functional status, postgraduate education, private payer insurance, and employment at the time of OLT. Patients with favorable sociodemographics had higher rates of LRT before OLT performed for HCC cure. These patients had longer transplant wait times and longer OS after OLT. Copyright © 2016 SIR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Observaciones de fulguraciones en rayos X duros

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rovira, M. G.; Mandrini, C. H.

El objetivo principal de la investigación de las fulguraciones solares es el descubrimiento del proceso responsable de la impredecible, rápida y enorme, liberación de energía que ocurre en ellas. Las evidencias observacionales más claras de esta liberación son la emisión de rayos X y microondas. En particular, la detección de la emisión de rayos X duros (energías entre decenas y centenas de keV) es uno de los elementos de diagnóstico utilizados para comprender los mecanismos de aceleración y transporte de los electrones energéticos que, hoy es aceptado, son los que en su interacción con la atmósfera solar generan los rayos X observados. En 1991 se puso en órbita el Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) uno de cuyos instrumentos observa las fulguraciones solares en el rango de energías 15 <= E <= 300 keV con una resolución temporal de 0.064 seg. En este trabajo analizamos, usando la Técnica de la Transformada Discreta en Onditas, algunos de los casos registrados para intentar separar y parametrizar las componentes de distinta escala de tiempo que se superponen durante la fase impulsiva de una fulguración. Discutimos nuestros resultados en términos de las características del mecanismo de liberación de energía.

Using a standardized donor ratio to assess the performance of organ procurement organizations.

PubMed

Stogis, Sheryl; Hirth, Richard A; Strawderman, Robert L; Banaszak-Holl, Jane; Smith, Dean G

2002-10-01

To develop a Standardized Donor Ratio (SDR) as an outcome measure for evaluating the effectiveness of organ procurement organizations (OPOs). All deaths by cause in the United States during 1993-1994 as reported in the Vital Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death files. The OPO-specific data were provided by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Each OPO's expected number of donors was calculated by applying national donation rates to deaths with potential for donation in 24 age, sex, and race cells. The SDR was calculated by dividing the observed number of donors by the expected number. The chi2 tests of the hypothesis that the OPO's performance differed from the national norm of 1.0 were performed. The SDR was compared to the existing performance standard based on the unadjusted number of donors per million live population in the OPO's service area. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression assessed predictors of the SDR. The SDRs ranged from 0.41 to 1.99. Twenty-nine of 64 OPOs had SDRs significantly different than 1.0. The SDRs were positively associated with the percent of white living population and the number of organ types transplanted per transplant center served by the OPO. The SDRs can be used by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), UNOS, and OPOs to target quality improvement initiatives, present more accurate comparisons of OPO performance, and develop public policy on the evaluation of the effectiveness of organ procurement efforts.

Variation of heart transplant rates in the United States during holidays.

PubMed

Grodin, Justin L; Ayers, Colby R; Thibodeau, Jennifer T; Mishkin, Joseph D; Mammen, Pradeep P A; Markham, David W; Drazner, Mark H; Patel, Parag C

2014-08-01

Some cardiac transplant programs may upgrade listed patients to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) 1A-status during the holidays. Whether more transplants actually occur during holidays is unknown. We assessed rates of single-organ heart transplantation from 2001 to 2010 for recipients age ≥18 yr using the UNOS database. Patients were stratified by transplantation during holiday (±3 d, n = 2375) and non-holiday periods (n = 16 112). Holidays included Easter/Spring break, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Years (winter holidays). Secondary analysis assessing transplant rates across seasons was also completed. Donor and recipient characteristics were similar between groups. Compared with non-holidays, July 4th had higher transplant rates (5.69 vs. 5.09 transplants/d, p = 0.03) while the winter holiday had lower transplant rates (4.50 vs. 5.09 transplants/d, p < 0.01). There was a trend toward lower transplant rates for all holidays compared with non-holidays (p = 0.06). Transplant rates were significantly different across seasons with greater rates in spring and summer (p < 0.01). Heart transplant rates were higher during the July 4th and lower during the winter holidays. Although there was a higher likelihood of transplantation during the spring and summer seasons, upgrading patients to 1A status during most holidays may not improve their chances for transplantation. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Anorexia nervosa as a cause of acute liver failure. Report of a case].

PubMed

Voltas-Arribas, Beatriz; Artero-Fullana, Ana; Ferrer-García, Juan Carlos; Sánchez-Juan, Carlos; Marco-Alacid, Cristian; Sanz-Revert, Pablo; García-Blasco, Lourdes

2018-01-10

Caso clínico: presentamos una paciente de 33 años con anorexia nerviosa de 15 años de evolución con uno de los pocos casos reportados de fallo hepático agudo severo secundario a la desnutrición.Discusión: tras el soporte nutricional protocolizado para evitar el síndrome de realimentación y un adecuado manejo multidisciplinar, la paciente evoluciona favorablemente logrando normalizar los electrolitos, la función hepática y las alteraciones en la coagulación.

The Conference Proceedings of the 2003 Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conference, Volume 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent (Editor); Gudmundsson, Sveinn (Editor); Oum, Tae (Editor)

2003-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities.

Observaciones del CH interestelar y el continuo en 3,3 GHz

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olano, C. A.; Combi, J. A.; Pöppel, W.; Benaglia, P.; Sanz, A. J.; Bava, J. A.

Se informa sobre el proyecto que se lleva a cabo en el IAR con el propósito de observar las líneas hiperfinas del estado fundamental del CH y el continuo en la banda de 3,3 GHz. El nuevo receptor construído en nuestro laboratorio para tal fin se instaló sobre uno de los radiotelescopios, funcionando conjuntamente con los sistemas de procesamiento actuales del IAR. Los resultados de las primeras observaciones, realizadas tanto en las líneas espectrales como en el continuo sobre fuentes conocidas, fueron satisfactorios.

NASA Nebraska Space Grant 5 Year Proposal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Vlasek, Karisa; Russell, Valerie; Woods, Sara; Webb, Cindy; Schaaf, Michaela; Vlasek, Scott; Wurdeman, Melissa; Lucas, Sarah; Tegeder, Amy

2004-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities.

Weight monitoring system for newborn incubator application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widianto, Arif; Nurfitri, Intan; Mahatidana, Pradipta; Abuzairi, Tomy; Poespawati, N. R.; Purnamaningsih., Retno W.

2018-02-01

We proposed weight monitoring system using load cell sensor for newborn incubator application. The weight sensing system consists of a load cell, conditioning signal circuit, and microcontroller Arduino Uno R3. The performance of the sensor was investigated by using the various weight from 0 up to 3000 g. Experiment results showed that this system has a small error of 4.313% and 12.5 g of threshold and resolution value. Compared to the typical baby scale available in local market, the proposed system has a lower error value and hysteresis.

Aeronautics Education, Research, and Industry Alliance (AERIAL) Year 2 Report and Year 3 Proposal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Box, Richard C.; Fink, Mary M.; Gogos, George; Lehrer, Henry R.; Narayanan, Ram M.; Nickerson, Jocelyn S.; Tarry, Scott E.; Vlasek, Karisa D.

2003-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities.

Finite-volume effects and the electromagnetic contributions to kaon and pion masses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Basak, Subhasish; Bazavov, Alexei; Bernard, Claude

2014-09-25

We report on the MILC Collaboration calculation of electromagnetic effects on light pseudoscalar mesons. The simulations employ asqtad staggered dynamical quarks in QCD plus quenched photons, with lattice spacings varying from 0.12 to 0.06 fm. Finite volume corrections for the MILC realization of lattice electrodynamics have been calculated in chiral perturbation theory and applied to the lattice data. These corrections differ from those calculated by Hayakawa and Uno because our treatment of zero modes differs from theirs. Updated results for the corrections to "Dashen's theorem" are presented.

Preliminary Study for Measurement of Shear Stress and Hemocompatibility Using Commercialized Lab on a Chip.

PubMed

Lee, Joshua; Kim, In Gi; Oh, Young Min; Park, Chan-Hee; Kim, Cheol Sang

2018-02-01

We have investigated the effect of flow rate on shear stress and in turn thrombus formation on a lab-on-a-chip with a microchannel that is suitable for cell culture and growth. Using a combination of Arduino UNO, Arduino Motor Shield, and a SERVO stepper motor, we created a pump system that closely mimics the in vivo conditions of the human body. With this system, we achieved continuous flow of blood and observed attached platelets at the bottom of the collagen coated microslide, confirming that with shear stress, thrombus formation increases.

Nebraska Initiative for Aerospace Research and Industrial Development (NIARID)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent; Reichenbach, Steve; Ianno, Ned; Farr, Lynne; Tarry, Scott; Narayanan, Ram; Lehrer, Henry

2002-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities.

Development of a Low-Cost Arduino-Based Sonde for Coastal Applications.

PubMed

Lockridge, Grant; Dzwonkowski, Brian; Nelson, Reid; Powers, Sean

2016-04-13

This project addresses the need for an expansion in the monitoring of marine environments by providing a detailed description of a low cost, robust, user friendly sonde, built on Arduino Mega 2560 (Mega) and Arduino Uno (Uno) platforms. The sonde can be made without specialized tools or training and can be easily modified to meet individual application requirements. The platform allows for internal logging of multiple parameters of which conductivity, temperature, and GPS position are demonstrated. Two design configurations for different coastal hydrographic applications are highlighted to show the robust and versatile nature of this sensor platform. The initial sonde design was intended for use on a Lagrangian style surface drifter that recorded measurements of temperature; salinity; and position for a deployment duration of less than 24 h. Functional testing of the sensor consisted of a 55 h comparison with a regularly maintained water quality sensor (i.e., YSI 6600 sonde) in Mobile Bay, AL. The temperature and salinity data were highly correlated and had acceptable RMS errors of 0.154 °C and 1.35 psu for the environmental conditions. A second application using the sonde platform was designed for longer duration (~3-4 weeks); subsurface (1.5-4.0 m depths) deployment, moored to permanent structures. Design alterations reflected an emphasis on minimizing power consumption, which included the elimination of the GPS capabilities, increased battery capacity, and power-saving software modifications. The sonde designs presented serve as templates that will expand the hydrographic measurement capabilities of ocean scientists, students, and teachers.

Development of a Low-Cost Arduino-Based Sonde for Coastal Applications

PubMed Central

Lockridge, Grant; Dzwonkowski, Brian; Nelson, Reid; Powers, Sean

2016-01-01

This project addresses the need for an expansion in the monitoring of marine environments by providing a detailed description of a low cost, robust, user friendly sonde, built on Arduino Mega 2560 (Mega) and Arduino Uno (Uno) platforms. The sonde can be made without specialized tools or training and can be easily modified to meet individual application requirements. The platform allows for internal logging of multiple parameters of which conductivity, temperature, and GPS position are demonstrated. Two design configurations for different coastal hydrographic applications are highlighted to show the robust and versatile nature of this sensor platform. The initial sonde design was intended for use on a Lagrangian style surface drifter that recorded measurements of temperature; salinity; and position for a deployment duration of less than 24 h. Functional testing of the sensor consisted of a 55 h comparison with a regularly maintained water quality sensor (i.e., YSI 6600 sonde) in Mobile Bay, AL. The temperature and salinity data were highly correlated and had acceptable RMS errors of 0.154 °C and 1.35 psu for the environmental conditions. A second application using the sonde platform was designed for longer duration (~3–4 weeks); subsurface (1.5–4.0 m depths) deployment, moored to permanent structures. Design alterations reflected an emphasis on minimizing power consumption, which included the elimination of the GPS capabilities, increased battery capacity, and power-saving software modifications. The sonde designs presented serve as templates that will expand the hydrographic measurement capabilities of ocean scientists, students, and teachers. PMID:27089337

Using a Standardized Donor Ratio to Assess Organ Procurement Organizations

PubMed Central

Stogis, Sheryl; Hirth, Richard A; Strawderman, Robert L; Banaszak-Holl, Jane; Smith, Dean G

2002-01-01

Objective To develop a Standardized Donor Ratio (SDR) as an outcome measure for evaluating the effectiveness of organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Data Sources/Study Setting All deaths by cause in the United States during 1993–1994 as reported in the Vital Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death files. The OPO-specific data were provided by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Study Design Each OPO's expected number of donors was calculated by applying national donation rates to deaths with potential for donation in 24 age, sex, and race cells. The SDR was calculated by dividing the observed number of donors by the expected number. The X2 tests of the hypothesis that the OPO's performance differed from the national norm of 1.0 were performed. The SDR was compared to the existing performance standard based on the unadjusted number of donors per million live population in the OPO's service area. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression assessed predictors of the SDR. Principal Findings The SDRs ranged from 0.41 to 1.99. Twenty-nine of 64 OPOs had SDRs significantly different than 1.0. The SDRs were positively associated with the percent of white living population and the number of organ types transplanted per transplant center served by the OPO. Conclusions The SDRs can be used by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), UNOS, and OPOs to target quality improvement initiatives, present more accurate comparisons of OPO performance, and develop public policy on the evaluation of the effectiveness of organ procurement efforts. PMID:12479499

Detection System of Sound Noise Level (SNL) Based on Condenser Microphone Sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajagukguk, Juniastel; Eka Sari, Nurdieni

2018-03-01

The research aims to know the noise level by using the Arduino Uno as data processing input from sensors and called as Sound Noise Level (SNL). The working principle of the instrument is as noise detector with the show notifications the noise level on the LCD indicator and in the audiovisual form. Noise detection using the sensor is a condenser microphone and LM 567 as IC op-amps, which are assembled so that it can detect the noise, which sounds are captured by the sensor will turn the tide of sinusoida voice became sine wave energy electricity (altering sinusoida electric current) that is able to responded to complaints by the Arduino Uno. The tool is equipped with a detector consists of a set indicator LED and sound well as the notification from the text on LCD 16*2. Work setting indicators on the condition that, if the measured noise > 75 dB then sound will beep, the red LED will light up indicating the status of the danger. If the measured value on the LCD is higher than 56 dB, sound indicator will be beep and yellow LED will be on indicating noisy. If the noise measured value <55 dB, sound indicator will be quiet indicating peaceful from noisy. From the result of the research can be explained that the SNL is capable to detecting and displaying noise level with a measuring range 50-100 dB and capable to delivering the notification noise in audiovisual.

Treating and Downstaging Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Caudate Lobe with Yttrium-90 Radioembolization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ibrahim, Saad M.; Kulik, Laura; Baker, Talia

2012-10-15

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the technical feasibility, safety, efficacy, and potential to downstage patients to within transplantation criteria when treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of the caudate lobe using Y90 radioembolization. Methods: During a 4-year period, 8 of 291 patients treated with radioembolization for unresectable HCC had disease involving the caudate lobe. All patients were followed for treatment-related clinical/biochemical toxicities, serum tumor marker response, and treatment response. Imaging response was assessed with the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) classification schemes. Pathologic response was reported as percent necrosismore » at explantation. Results: Caudate lobe radioembolization was successfully performed in all eight patients. All patients presented with both cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Half were United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) stage T3 (n = 4, 50%). Fatigue was reported in half of the patients (n = 4, 50%). One (13%) grade 3/4 bilirubin toxicity was reported. One patient (13%) showed complete tumor response by WHO criteria, and three patients (38%) showed complete response using EASL guidelines. Serum AFP decreased by more than 50% in most patients (n = 6, 75%). Four patients (50%) were UNOS downstaged from T3 to T2, three of who underwent transplantation. One specimen showed histopathologic evidence of 100% complete necrosis, and two specimens demonstrated greater than 50% necrosis. Conclusions: Radioembolization with yttrium-90 appears to be a feasible, safe, and effective treatment option for patients with unresectable caudate lobe HCC. It has the potential to downstage patients to transplantation.« less

Design of fiber optic based respiratory sensor for newborn incubator application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhia, Arika; Devara, Kresna; Abuzairi, Tomy; Poespawati, N. R.; Purnamaningsih, Retno W.

2018-02-01

This paper reports the design of respiratory sensor using fiber optic for newborn incubator application. The sensor works based on light intensity losses difference obtained due to thorax movement during respiration. The output of the sensor launched to support electronic circuits to be processed in Arduino Uno microcontroler such that the real-time respiratory rate (breath per minute) can be presented on LCD. Experiment results using thorax expansion of newborn simulator show that the system is able to measure respiratory rate from 10 up to 130 breaths per minute with 0.595% error and 0.2% hysteresis error.

CNA’s Integrated Ship Database, Fourth Quarter 2011 Update

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

AKR300 G T-AKR301 G T-AKR302 8 T-AKR303 A 8 T-AKR304 G T-AKR305 G T-AKR30S 8 T- AKR 31l R - G T- AKR 312 G T- AKR 313 8 T- AKR 314 G T- AKR 315...CNA’s Integrated Ship Database Fourth Quarter 2011 Update Gregory N. Suess, Lynette A . McClain, and Rhea Stone CNA Interactive Software DIS-2012-U...no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control

Aplicación del Teorema de Nekhorochev para tiempos de estabilidad en Mecánica Celeste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miloni, O.; Núñez, J.; Brunini, A.

En Mecánica Celeste, uno de los problemas centrales consiste en la determinación de los tiempos de estabilidad. El teorema de Nekhorochev proporciona un método para dicho estudio, para un sistema determinado por un hamiltoniano descripto en las variables acción-ángulo. El trabajo consiste en la acotación tanto del potencial perturbador y de la matriz hessiana del hamiltoniano integrable para determinar luego el tiempo de estabilidad de dicho sistema, donde por estabilidad se entiende la separación en norma infinito en el espacio de las acciones.

Pointing system for the balloon-borne astronomical payloads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nirmal, Kaipacheri; Sreejith, Aickara Gopinathan; Mathew, Joice; Sarpotdar, Mayuresh; Ambily, Suresh; Prakash, Ajin; Safonova, Margarita; Murthy, Jayant

2016-10-01

We describe the development and implementation of a light-weight, fully autonomous 2-axis pointing and stabilization system designed for balloon-borne astronomical payloads. The system is developed using off-the-shelf components such as Arduino Uno controller, HMC 5883L magnetometer, MPU-9150 inertial measurement unit, and iWave GPS receiver unit. It is a compact and rugged system which can also be used to take images/video in a moving vehicle or in real photography. The system performance is evaluated from the ground, as well as in conditions simulated to imitate the actual flight by using a tethered launch.

PubMed

Bellido, Diego; Bellido, Virginia

2016-09-20

El sobrepeso y la obesidad se definen como un depósito anormal o excesivo de grasa corporal. El aumento de su prevalencia en las últimas décadas lo convierte en uno de los principales problemas de salud pública que afecta a 42 millones de niños menores de 5 años en el mundo. Su presencia durante la infancia puede ser causa de enfermedades metabólicas hasta ahora consideradas típicas del adulto y mortalidad prematura, por lo que su correcto diagnóstico y tratamiento son fundamentales.

[COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF uNOS-POSITIVE STRUCTURES IN THE CNS OF SOME SPECIES OF CRUSTACEANS].

PubMed

Chertok, V M; Kotsyuba, E P

2015-01-01

We conducted a comparative study of NO-ergic system in the CNS of 10 species of crustaceans subclass Malacostraca, belonging to orders Stomatopoda and Decapoda, with a common habitat in Ussuri Bay (Sea of Japan). Both similar characteristics and differences in content and distribution of universal NO-synthase (uNOS) were revealed in homologous parts of the brain and ventral nerve cord of the investigated species of crustaceans. We discuss the involvement of nitric oxide in the regulation of physiological functions of decapod crustaceans and its role in the processes of adaptation to the environmental conditions.

One dimensional two-body collisions experiment based on LabVIEW interface with Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saphet, Parinya; Tong-on, Anusorn; Thepnurat, Meechai

2017-09-01

The purpose of this work is to build a physics lab apparatus that is modern, low-cost and simple. In one dimensional two-body collisions experiment, we used the Arduino UNO R3 as a data acquisition system which was controlled by LabVIEW program. The photogate sensors were designed using LED and LDR to measure position as a function of the time. Aluminium frame houseware and blower were used for the air track system. In both totally inelastic and elastic collision experiments, the results of momentum and energy conservation are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations.

Determination of Optimum Operating Parameters of Single-Electron Photomultiplier

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lukichev, A.A.; Shalyapin, A.L.; Shul'gin, B.V.

1986-06-01

This paper presents a procedure for determining the effective quantum yield and average gain of the dynode system of a photomultiplier. An objective performance figure, the extrapolated count response, is introduced. The results for FEU-142 photomultiplier studies are given. The radiation source used in the studies was a PRK-2 mercury-vapor lamp with a regulated power supply. The recorder was a pulse analyzer based on a UNO-4096-90, which was equipped with BPA-2-95, BPV-2-90, and UVTs-2-90 units. The amplifier used a KP303V transistor and a 140UD1B operational amplifier.

NASA EPSCoR Nebraska Preparation Grant: Year 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent D.; Holmes, Bruce J.; Bartle, John R.; Gogos, George; Hinton, David W.; Lehrer, Henry R.; Moussavi, Massoum; Reed, B. J.; Schaaf, Michaela M.; Smith, Russell L.;

Measurement of Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Level Based Sensor Color TCS3200 and Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniadi Wardana, Humaidillah; Indahwati, Elly; Arifah Fitriyah, Lina

2018-04-01

Design and measurement of Arduino-based urinary (non-invasive) urine glucose using RGB tcs3200 sensor. This research was conducted by making use of the urine in diabetes patients detected by sensor colours then measured levels of colour based on the RGB colour of the urine of diabetics. The detection is done on 4 urine samples with each consisting of 3 diabetics and 1 non-diabetics. Equipment used in this research, among others, Arduino Uno, colour sensor tcs3200, LCD 16x4. The results showed that the detection of RGB values in diabetics 230 with blue and not diabetics 200 with red.

Utilisation of Wearable Computing for Space Programmes Test Activities Optimasation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basso, V.; Lazzari, D.; Alemanni, M.

2004-08-01

New technologies are assuming a relevant importance in the Space business domain also in the Assembly Integration and Test (AIT) activities allowing process optimization and capability that were unthinkable only few years ago. This paper has the aim to describe Alenia Spazio (ALS) gained experience on the remote interaction techniques as a results of collaborations established both on European Communities (EC) initiatives, with Alenia Aeronautica (ALA) and Politecnico of Torino (POLITO). The H/W and S/W components performances increase and costs reduction due to the home computing massive utilization (especially demanded by the games business) together with the network technology possibility (offered by the web as well as the hi-speed links and the wireless communications) allow today to re-think the traditional AIT process activities in the light of the multimedia data exchange: graphical, voice video and by sure more in the future. Aerospace business confirm its innovation vocation which in the year '80 represents the cradle of the CAD systems and today is oriented to the 3D data visualization/ interaction technologies and remote visualisation/ interaction in collaborative way on a much more user friendly bases (i.e. not for specialists). Fig. 1 collects AIT extended scenario studied and adopted by ALS in these years. ALS experimented two possibilities of remote visualization/interaction: Portable [e.g. Fig.2 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Wearable] and walls (e.g.VR-Lab) screens as both 2D/3D visualisation and interaction devices which could support many types of traditional (mainly based on EGSE and PDM/CAD utilisation/reports) company internal AIT applications: 1. design review support 2. facility management 3. storage management 4. personnel training 5. integration sequences definition 6. assembly and test operations follow up 7. documentation review and external access to AIT activities for remote operations (e.g. tele-testing) EGSE Portable Clean room

Three dimensional perspective view of Mammoth Mountain, California

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-17

STS059-S-084 (17 April 1994) --- This is a three-dimensional perspective of Mammoth Mountain, California. This view was constructed by overlaying a SIR-C radar image on a U.S. Geological Survey digital elevation map. Vertical exaggeration is 2x. The image is centered at 37.6 degrees north, 119.0 degrees west. It was acquired from the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its 67th orbit, April 13, 1994. In this color representation, red is C-Band HV-polarization, green is C-Band VV-polarization and blue is the ratio of C-Band VV to C-Band HV. Blue areas are smooth and yellow areas are rock outcrops with varying amounts of snow and vegetation. Crowley Lake is in the foreground and Highway 395 crosses in the middle of the image. Mammoth Mountain is shown in the upper right. SIR-C/X-SAR is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE). SIR-C/X-SAR radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-Band (24 cm), C-Band (6 cm), and X-Band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43933

MIOSAT Mission Scenario and Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostara, C.; Dionisio, C.; Sgroi, G.; di Salvo, A.

2008-08-01

MIOSAT ("Mssione Ottica su microSATellite") is a low-cost technological / scientific microsatellite mission for Earth Observation, funded by Italian Space Agency (ASI) and managed by a Group Agreement between Rheinmetall Italia - B.U. Spazio - Contraves as leader and Carlo Gavazzi Space as satellite manufacturer. Several others Italians Companies, SME and Universities are involved in the development team with crucial roles. MIOSAT is a microsatellite weighting around 120 kg and placed in a 525 km altitude sun-synchronuos circular LEO orbit. The microsatellite embarks three innovative optical payloads: Sagnac multi spectral radiometer (IFAC-CNR), Mach Zehender spectrometer (IMM-CNR), high resolution pancromatic camera (Selex Galileo). In addition three technological experiments will be tested in-flight. The first one is an heat pipe based on Marangoni effect with high efficiency. The second is a high accuracy Sun Sensor using COTS components and the last is a GNSS SW receiver that utilizes a Leon2 processor. Finally a new generation of 28% efficiency solar cells will be adopted for the power generation. The platform is highly agile and can tilt along and cross flight direction. The pointing accuracy is in the order of 0,1° for each axe. The pointing determination during images acquisition is <0,02° for the axis normal to the boresight and 0,04° for the boresight. This paper deals with MIOSAT mission scenario and definition, highlighting trade-offs for mission implementation. MIOSAT mission design has been constrained from challenging requirements in terms of satellite mass, mission lifetime, instrument performance, that have implied the utilization of satellite agility capability to improve instruments performance in terms of S/N and resolution. The instruments provide complementary measurements that can be combined in effective ways to exploit new applications in the fields of atmosphere composition analysis, Earth emissions, antropic phenomena, etc. The Mission

Space Radar Image of Kilauea, Hawaii - interferometry 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This X-band image of the volcano Kilauea was taken on October 4, 1994, by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar. The area shown is about 9 kilometers by 13 kilometers (5.5 miles by 8 miles) and is centered at about 19.58 degrees north latitude and 155.55 degrees west longitude. This image and a similar image taken during the first flight of the radar instrument on April 13, 1994 were combined to produce the topographic information by means of an interferometric process. This is a process by which radar data acquired on different passes of the space shuttle is overlaid to obtain elevation information. Three additional images are provided showing an overlay of radar data with interferometric fringes; a three-dimensional image based on altitude lines; and, finally, a topographic view of the region. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. The Instituto Ricerca Elettromagnetismo

Space Radar Image of Kilauea, Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

Data acquired on April 13, 1994 and on October 4, 1994 from the X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar on board the space shuttle Endeavour were used to generate interferometric fringes, which were overlaid on the X-SAR image of Kilauea. The volcano is centered in this image at 19.58 degrees north latitude and 155.55 degrees west longitude. The image covers about 9 kilometers by 13 kilometers (5.6 miles by 8 miles). The X-band fringes correspond clearly to the expected topographic image. The yellow line indicates the area below which was used for the three-dimensional image using altitude lines. The yellow rectangular frame fences the area for the final topographic image. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. The Instituto Ricerca Elettromagnetismo Componenti Elettronici (IRECE) at the University of Naples was a partner in interferometry analysis.

Sudden death after pediatric heart transplantation: analysis of data from the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group.

PubMed

Daly, Kevin P; Chakravarti, Sujata B; Tresler, Margaret; Naftel, David C; Blume, Elizabeth D; Dipchand, Anne I; Almond, Christopher S

2011-12-01

Sudden death is a well-recognized complication of heart transplantation. Little is known about the incidence and risk factors for sudden death after transplant in children. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of and risk factors for sudden death. This retrospective multicenter cohort study used the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group (PHTS) database, an event-driven registry of children aged <18 at listing undergoing heart transplantation between 1993 and 2007. Standard Kaplan-Meier and parametric analyses were used for survival analysis. Multivariate analysis in the hazard-function domain was used to identify risk factors for sudden death after transplant. Of 604 deaths in 2,491 children who underwent heart transplantation, 94 (16%) were classified as sudden. Freedom from sudden death was 97% at 5 years, and the hazard for sudden death remained constant over time at 0.01 deaths/year. Multivariate risk factors associated with sudden death included black race (hazard ratio [HR], 2.6; p < 0.0001), United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) status 2 at transplant (HR, 1.8; p = 0.008), older age (HR, 1.4/10 years of age; p = 0.03), and an increased number of rejection episodes in the first post-transplant year (HR, 1.6/episode; p = 0.03). Sudden death accounts for 1 in 6 deaths after heart transplant in children. Older recipient age, recurrent rejection within the first year, black race, and UNOS status 2 at listing were associated with sudden death. Patients with 1 or more of these risk factors may benefit from primary prevention efforts. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mechanical circulatory support as a bridge to cardiac retransplantation: a single center experience.

PubMed

Clerkin, Kevin J; Thomas, Sunu S; Haythe, Jennifer; Schulze, P Christian; Farr, Maryjane; Takayama, Hiroo; Jorde, Ulrich P; Restaino, Susan W; Naka, Yoshifumi; Mancini, Donna M

2015-02-01

Cardiac retransplantation is increasing in frequency. Recent data have shown that retransplantation outcomes are now comparable with primary transplantation. The use of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) as a bridge to retransplantation has similar post-retransplant outcomes to those without MCS, but the success of bridging patients to retransplant with MCS has not been well studied. From January 2000 to February 2014 at Columbia University Medical Center, 84 patients were listed for retransplantation. Of this cohort, 48 patients underwent retransplantation, 15 were bridged with MCS, 24 died, and 6 clinically improved. A retrospective analysis was performed examining waiting list time, survival to retransplantation, and survival after retransplant. The effect of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) allocation policy change in 2006 on waiting list time and MCS use was also investigated. Of 48 patients who underwent retransplantation, 11 were bridged with MCS. Overall 1-year survival to retransplantation was 81.3%. There was no significant difference in waiting list survival (p = 0.71) in those with and without MCS. Death from cardiac arrest or multiorgan failure with infection was more frequent in the medically managed group (p = 0.002). After the UNOS 2006 allocation policy change, waiting list time (599 ± 936 days in Era 1 vs 526 ± 498 days in Era 2, p = 0.65) and waiting list survival (p = 0.22) between eras were comparable, but there was a trend toward greater use of MCS (p = 0.13). Survival after retransplant was acceptable. The use of MCS as a bridge to cardiac retransplantation is a reasonable strategy. Copyright © 2015 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teorí­as de primer y segundo orden sobre el potencial de ciertas figuras de equilibrio de cuerpos celestes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumbau, Manuel Forner

2010-11-01

Uno de los problemas que aborda la Mecánica Celeste es la determinación de las figuras de equilibrio de los cuerpos celestes. Para investigar su solución mediante métodos directos, se precisa evaluar el potencial generado por su autogravitación, el generado por su fuerza centrí­fuga y el generado por la fuerza de atracción entre los cuerpos. Los métodos clásicos de Finlay y Kopal que afrontan estos problemas, para determinar el potencial autogravitatorio en las configuraciones de equilibrio, emplean desarrollos en serie de los potenciales interior y exterior del potencial autogravitatorio. Estos métodos incurren en el error de suponer la convergencia en capas donde resulta cuestionable dicha convergencia para estos desarrollos en serie. En este trabajo se han elaborado unos algoritmos que contemplan toda la casuí&stica y que permiten una manipulación efic iente del producto de polinomios de Legendre, del producto de funciones asociada s de Legendre y del producto de armónicos esféricos como combinacióon lineal de ellos mismos, respectivamente. Se han obtenido, para primer y segundo orden en las amplitudes, los desarrollos correctos para los potencial es interior y exterior del potencial autogravitatorio para configuraciones de equilibrio aisladas, y , en primer orden de amplitudes, los mismos potenciales para los sistemas binarios próximos. Se ha elaborado un método analítico, en primer orden respecto de las amplitudes, para la determinación del potencial de marea en sistemas binarios próximos en el cual se manifiesta la forma de la componente secundaria del sistema

MIZEX. A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. III. Modeling the Marginal Ice Zone,

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-01

Ii TS C]r.I2 TAB 0] Unzanro’ unoed 0 justi fica ~r: 0 April 1984 vs - ASValabilitY Codes lvyall and/or U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering...coupled model. Fig. 1. Annual average simulated velocity fields. 3 192 Aloka 190 / 902 190+ WOO S’,. o Ice OnlY Mod" D"’, 55*w F~tth Yea’ Ice Ocean Model...A more precise delinga- inflow boundary conditions. 12 4- a. [ o ll ii traspert 00 0 0- 0e a I " i i , - - I I 1161 63 15 67 69 Ti 73 75 77 1980 *= 4h

Bathymetric survey of the nearshore from Belle Pass to Caminada Pass, Louisiana: methods and data report

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeWitt, Nancy T.; Flocks, James G.; Hansen, Mark; Kulp, Mark; Reynolds, B.J.

2007-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the University of New Orleans (UNO) and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR), conducted a high-resolution, single-beam bathymetric survey along the Louisiana southern coastal zone from Belle Pass to Caminada Pass. The survey consisted of 483 line kilometers of data acquired in July and August of 2005. This report outlines the methodology and provides the data from the survey. Analysis of the data and comparison to a similar bathymetric survey completed in 1989 show significant loss of seafloor and shoreline retreat, which is consistent with previously published estimates of shoreline change in the study area.

The Conference Proceedings of the 1999 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society. Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Anming (Editor); Bowen, Brent D. (Editor)

1999-01-01

The UNO (University of Nebraska at Omaha) Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities.

An Open-Source Automated Peptide Synthesizer Based on Arduino and Python.

PubMed

Gali, Hariprasad

2017-10-01

The development of the first open-source automated peptide synthesizer, PepSy, using Arduino UNO and readily available components is reported. PepSy was primarily designed to synthesize small peptides in a relatively small scale (<100 µmol). Scripts to operate PepSy in a fully automatic or manual mode were written in Python. Fully automatic script includes functions to carry out resin swelling, resin washing, single coupling, double coupling, Fmoc deprotection, ivDde deprotection, on-resin oxidation, end capping, and amino acid/reagent line cleaning. Several small peptides and peptide conjugates were successfully synthesized on PepSy with reasonably good yields and purity depending on the complexity of the peptide.

Does recipient work status pre-transplant affect post-heart transplant survival? A United Network for Organ Sharing database review.

PubMed

Ravi, Yazhini; Lella, Srihari K; Copeland, Laurel A; Zolfaghari, Kiumars; Grady, Kathleen; Emani, Sitaramesh; Sai-Sudhakar, Chittoor B

2018-05-01

Recipient-related factors, such as education level and type of health insurance, are known to affect heart transplantation outcomes. Pre-operative employment status has shown an association with survival in abdominal organ transplant patients. We sought to evaluate the effect of work status of heart transplant (HTx) recipients at the time of listing and at the time of transplantation on short- and long-term survival. We evaluated the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry for all adult HTx recipients from 2001 to 2014. Recipients were grouped based on their work status at listing and at heart transplantation. Kaplan-Meier estimates illustrated 30-day, 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year survival comparing working with non-working groups. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was applied to adjust for covariates that could potentially confound the post-transplantation survival analysis. Working at listing for HTx was not significantly associated with 30-day and 1-year survival. However, 5- and 10-year mortality were 14.5% working vs 19.8% not working (p < 0.0001) and 16% working vs 26% not working (p < 0.0001), respectively. Working at HTx appeared to be associated with a survival benefit at every time interval, with a trend toward improved survival at 30 days and 1 year and a significant association at 5 and 10 years. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated a 5% and 10% decrease in 5- and 10-year mortality, respectively, for the working group compared with the group not working at transplantation. The Cox proportional hazards regression model showed that working at listing and working at transplantation were each associated with decreased mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71 to 0.91; and HR = 0.76, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.89, respectively). This study is the first analysis of UNOS STAR data on recipient work status pre-HTx demonstrating: (1) an improvement in post-transplant survival for working HTx candidates; and (2

The Need for New Donor Stratification to Predict Graft Survival in Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation.

PubMed

Yang, Shin Seok; Yang, Jaeseok; Ahn, Curie; Min, Sang Il; Ha, Jongwon; Kim, Sung Joo; Park, Jae Berm

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to determine whether stratification of deceased donors by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) criteria negatively impacts graft survival. We retrospectively reviewed deceased donor and recipient pretransplant variables of kidney transplantations that occurred between February 1995 and December 2009. We compared clinical outcomes between standard criteria donors (SCDs) and expanded criteria donors (ECDs). The deceased donors consisted of 369 patients. A total of 494 transplant recipients were enrolled in this study. Mean age was 41.7±11.4 year (range 18-69) and 273 patients (55.4%) were male. Mean duration of follow-up was 8.8±4.9 years. The recipients from ECD kidneys were 63 patients (12.8%). The overall mean cold ischemia time was 5.7±3.2 hours. Estimated glomerular filtration rate at 1, 2, and 3 years after transplantation were significantly lower in ECD transplants (1 year, 62.2±17.6 vs. 51.0±16.4, p<0.001; 2 year, 62.2±17.6 vs. 51.0±16.4, p=0.001; 3 year, 60.9±23.5 vs. 54.1±18.7, p=0.047). In multivariate analysis, donor age (≥40 years) was an independent risk factor for graft failure. In Kaplan-Meier analyses, there was no significant difference in death-censored graft survival (Log rank test, p>0.05), although patient survival was lower in ECDs than SCDs (Log rank test, p=0.011). Our data demonstrate that stratification by the UNOS criteria does not predict graft survival. In order to expand the donor pool, new criteria for standard/expanded donors need to be modified by regional differences. © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2017

Bringing the SF-ROCKS Model Beyond the San Francisco Bay Area: Building a Partnership Between the San Francisco State University and the University of New Orleans Geoscience Diversity Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

White, L. D.; Snow, M. K.; Davis, J.; Serpa, L. F.

2005-05-01

Since 2001, faculty and graduate students in the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University (SFSU) have coordinated a program to encourage high school students from traditionally underrepresented groups to pursue the geosciences. The SF-ROCKS (Reaching Out to Communities and Kids with Science in San Francisco) program is a multifaceted NSF-funded program that includes curriculum enhancement, teacher in-service training, summer and academic year research experiences for high school students, and field excursions to national parks. Six faculty, five graduate students, and several undergraduate students work together to develop program activities. Working with 9th grade integrated science courses, the students are introduced to SF-ROCKS through lesson plans and activities that focus on the unique geologic environments that surround the schools. Each year a group of twelve to fifteen students is selected to participate in a summer and academic year research institute at the SFSU campus. In the four years of our program, twenty-seven ninth and tenth-grade students have participated in the summer and academic year research experiences. We have observed increased interest and skill development as the high school students work closely with university faculty and students. As SF-ROCKS continues to expand, we are exploring ways to partner with other diversity programs such as the long-standing University of New Orleans (UNO) Minority Geoscience summer field program. The UNO program is successful because it combines field exposure and mentoring with scholarship opportunities for students making it more likely they will study geosciences in college. SF-ROCKS is creating additional ways to further enhance the students' perspective of the geosciences through meaningful field and scientific research experiences by focusing on local and regional geologic environments and also on the geology of national parks.

Incidence and predictors of myocardial recovery on long-term left ventricular assist device support: Results from the United Network for Organ Sharing database.

PubMed

Pan, Stephen; Aksut, Baran; Wever-Pinzon, Omar E; Rao, Shaline D; Levin, Allison P; Garan, Arthur R; Fried, Justin A; Takeda, Koji; Hiroo, Takayama; Yuzefpolskaya, Melana; Uriel, Nir; Jorde, Ulrich P; Mancini, Donna M; Naka, Yoshifumi; Colombo, Paolo C; Topkara, Veli K

2015-12-01

Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) leads to favorable changes in the failing heart at the molecular, cellular, and structural levels. However, myocardial recovery leading to device explantation is rare. We reasoned that the multicenter United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry might provide insights into clinical predictors and outcomes of the recovery process. The MCS device data set of the UNOS registry was queried for patients with long-term continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVADs) that were explanted for heart transplantation or indication of recovery. Analysis was restricted to adult patients (≥18 years old) who were listed for an initial heart transplantation. Patients with CF-LVADs that were explanted because of recovery were compared with patients with CF-LVADs who underwent transplantation. We identified 594 patients with HeartMate II devices and 92 patients with HeartWare devices. Duration of support was on average 500.4 ± 325.3 days. In 34 (5.0%) patients, devices were explanted secondary to myocardial recovery. Univariate predictors of recovery in patients with long-term LVADs included younger age (40 years vs 53 years), female sex, lower body mass index (25.7 kg/m(2) vs 27.9 kg/m(2)), non-ischemic etiology (91% vs 59%), lack of implantable cardioverter defibrillator at the time of listing (44% vs 79%), and lower serum creatinine (0.97 mg/dl vs 1.28 mg/dl) (all p < 0.05). In the post-explantation period, freedom from death or transplantation was 66% at 1 year. The incidence of recovery on device support is low in the current MCS era and limited to a select cohort of predominantly young patients with non-ischemic myopathy. Given the high incidence of disease recurrence, patients should be closely followed after device explantation. Copyright © 2015 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early phase drugs and biologicals clinical trials on worldwide leading causes of death: a descriptive analysis.

PubMed

Dal-Ré, Rafael

2011-06-01

To describe the global effort targeting the major causes of mortality in terms of "open" early phase clinical trials with drugs and biologicals. Sixteen of the 20 leading causes of death were chosen; 9 of these were also amongst the top 10 causes of death in low-income countries. Studies were identified from the ClinicalTrials.gov database and included phase 1 and/or 2 "interventional" "open" trials, i.e. those recruiting or about to start recruitment. Trials were considered in terms of sponsorship [industry, universities and other organisations (UNO), and US federal agencies (NIH included)], genders and age groups included, and whether they were conducted with drugs and/or biologicals. The search was performed in March 2010. A total of 2,298 (824 phase 1; 1,474 phase 2) trials were retrieved. Of these, 67% were on trachea, bronchus, and lung cancers (25%); diabetes mellitus (15%); colon and rectum cancers (14%); and HIV/AIDS (12%). In contrast, only 4% were trials on diarrhoeal disease, nephrosis and nephritis, liver cirrhosis, and prematurity and low birth weight. UNO were the first source of funding. Fifty-two percent of phase 1 non-cancer trials were on healthy volunteers. Twenty-nine percent of all trials were co-funded. There were 4.6 times as many drug trials as those with biologicals. Only 7% were conducted with a combination of drugs and biologicals, the majority (78%) on cancers. Discrimination in terms of gender or age group was not observed. Four of the 16 diseases considered represented 2/3 of early phase trials. Cancers were a top priority for all sponsors. Increasing attention should be given to conditions with current and projected global high mortality rates that had few "open" early phase trials.

Center variation in the use of nonstandardized model for end-stage liver disease exception points.

PubMed

Goldberg, David S; Makar, George; Bittermann, Therese; French, Benjamin

2013-12-01

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score is an imperfect prognosticator of waitlist dropout, so transplant centers may apply for exception points to increase a waitlist candidate's priority on the waitlist. Exception applications are categorized as recognized exceptional diagnoses (REDs; eg, hepatocellular carcinoma) and non-REDs (eg, cholangitis). Although prior work has demonstrated regional variation in the use of exceptions, no work has examined the between-center variability. We analyzed all new waitlist candidates from February 27, 2002 to June 3, 2011 to explore variations in the use of non-REDs, for which no strict exception criteria exist. There were 58,641 new waitlist candidates, and 4356 (7.4%) applied for a non-RED exception. The number of applications increased steadily over time, as did the approval rates for such applications: from <50% in 2002 to nearly 75% in 2010. When we adjusted for patient factors, there was significant variability (P < 0.001) in the use of non-RED exceptions in 8 of 11 United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) regions and in the approval of these exceptions in 6 of 11 UNOS regions. The variability in the use and approval of non-REDs was clinically significant: waitlist candidates with approved exceptions were significantly more likely to undergo transplantation (68.3% versus 53.4%, P < 0.001) and were less likely to be removed for death or clinical deterioration (10.4% versus 16.2%, P < 0.001). Increased median MELD score at transplantation within a donor service area was the only center factor associated with increased odds of applying for exceptions, while no center factors were associated with having non-RED exceptions approved. Further work is needed to identify other sources of variation to ensure the appropriate and equitable use of non-RED exceptions. © 2013 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Predictors of Donor Heart Utilization for Transplantation in United States.

PubMed

Trivedi, Jaimin R; Cheng, Allen; Gallo, Michele; Schumer, Erin M; Massey, H Todd; Slaughter, Mark S

2017-06-01

Optimum use of donor organs can increase the reach of the transplantation therapy to more patients on waiting list. The heart transplantation (HTx) has remained stagnant in United States over the past decade at approximately 2,500 HTx annually. With the use of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) deceased donor database (DCD) we aimed to evaluate donor factors predicting donor heart utilization. UNOS DCD was queried from 2005 to 2014 to identify total number of donors who had at least one of their organs donated. We then generated a multivariate logistic regression model using various demographic and clinical donor factors to predict donor heart use for HTx. Donor hearts not recovered due to consent or family issues or recovered for nontransplantation reasons were excluded from the analysis. During the study period there were 80,782 donors of which 23,606 (29%) were used for HTx, and 38,877 transplants (48%) were not used after obtaining consent because of poor organ function (37%), donor medical history (13%), and organ refused by all programs (5%). Of all, 22,791 donors with complete data were used for logistic regression (13,389 HTx, 9,402 no-HTx) which showed significant predictors of donor heart use for HTx. From this model we assigned probability of donor heart use and identified 3,070 donors with HTx-eligible unused hearts for reasons of poor organ function (28%), organ refused by all programs (15%), and recipient not located (9%). An objective system based on donor factors can predict donor heart use for HTx and may help increase availability of hearts for transplantation from existing donor pool. Copyright © 2017 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Insurance and education predict long-term survival after orthotopic heart transplantation in the United States.

PubMed

Allen, Jeremiah G; Weiss, Eric S; Arnaoutakis, George J; Russell, Stuart D; Baumgartner, William A; Shah, Ashish S; Conte, John V

2012-01-01

Insurance status and education are known to affect health outcomes. However, their importance in orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) is unknown. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database provides a large cohort of OHT recipients in which to evaluate the effect of insurance and education on survival. UNOS data were retrospectively reviewed to identify adult primary OHT recipients (1997 to 2008). Patients were stratified by insurance at the time of transplantation (private/self-pay, Medicare, Medicaid, and other) and college education. All-cause mortality was examined using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression incorporating 15 variables. Survival was modeled using the Kaplan-Meier method. Insurance for 20,676 patients was distributed as follows: private insurance/self-pay, 12,298 (59.5%); Medicare, 5,227 (25.3%); Medicaid, 2,320 (11.2%); and "other" insurance, 831 (4.0%). Educational levels were recorded for 15,735 patients (76.1% of cohort): 7,738 (49.2%) had a college degree. During 53 ± 41 months of follow-up, 6,125 patients (29.6%) died (6.7 deaths/100 patient-years). Survival differed by insurance and education. Medicare and Medicaid patients had 8.6% and 10.0% lower 10-year survival, respectively, than private/self-pay patients. College-educated patients had 7.0% higher 10-year survival. On multivariable analysis, college education decreased mortality risk by 11%. Medicare and Medicaid increased mortality risk by 18% and 33%, respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Our study examining insurance and education in a large cohort of OHT patients found that long-term mortality after OHT is higher in Medicare/Medicaid patients and in those without a college education. This study points to potential differences in the care of OHT patients based on education and insurance status. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

RELACIÓN MÉDICO PACIENTE: DERECHOS DEL ADULTO MAYOR

PubMed Central

Barrantes-Monge, Melba; Rodríguez, Eduardo; Lama, Alexis

2009-01-01

Existen prejuicios en relación con la vejez, incluso entre los profesionales que se dedican a la gerontología. Uno común y peligroso es considerar que los viejos son todos enfermos o discapacitados. La relación médico-paciente es la piedra angular de la práctica y ética médicas. Para alcanzar el respeto por los adultos mayores es necesaria una medicina prudente, basada en una práctica en la cual la reflexión ética y clínica pueda contribuir. Esto último es posible si se hacen valer los derechos del adulto mayor, en particular como paciente para la toma de decisiones. PMID:20379380

PubMed

Barrantes-Monge, Melba; Rodríguez, Eduardo; Lama, Alexis

2009-01-01

Existen prejuicios en relación con la vejez, incluso entre los profesionales que se dedican a la gerontología. Uno común y peligroso es considerar que los viejos son todos enfermos o discapacitados.La relación médico-paciente es la piedra angular de la práctica y ética médicas. Para alcanzar el respeto por los adultos mayores es necesaria una medicina prudente, basada en una práctica en la cual la reflexión ética y clínica pueda contribuir. Esto último es posible si se hacen valer los derechos del adulto mayor, en particular como paciente para la toma de decisiones.

Correlation of Shear Strength Between Longitudial and Transverse Specimens

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-17

Transverse Specimens" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1435. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/ td /1435 Report Documentation... ATI ) and they were  the sole providers of this metal during this project.  ATI  called the alloy:  ATI  425; it is very similar  in its properties to...Nie, C.; Dong, P.. Traction Stress Based Shear Strength Definition of Fillet Welds. Pending  Publishing.  [5] ATI  38‐644 Beta Titanium Alloy. Technical

The coordination of allocation: Logistics of kidney organ allocation to highly sensitized patients.

PubMed

Lunz, John; Hinsdale, Lisa; King, Casey; Pastush, Robin; Buenvenida, Magnolia; Harmon, Michael

2017-01-01

Since implementation, the new UNOS OPTN kidney allocation system (KAS) has drastically expanded the pool of available kidneys to candidates that may have previously waited extended periods for an organ offer. This is particularly true for highly sensitized patients. The changes to the KAS have had ramifications throughout the transplant process, including for organ procurement organizations (OPO) and local transplant hospital call centers. Here, we will examine the impact of the new KAS on the organ donation process and highlight the necessary interactions between the OPO and transplant centers to best match donor kidneys and highly sensitized recipients. Copyright © 2016 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design of river height and speed monitoring system by using Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasution, T. H.; Siagian, E. C.; Tanjung, K.; Soeharwinto

2018-02-01

River is one part of the hydrologic cycle. Water in rivers is generally collected from precipitation, such as rain, dew, springs, underground runoff, and in certain countries also comes from melt ice/snow. The height and speed of water in a river is always changing. Changes in altitude and speed of water can affect the surrounding environment. In this paper, we will design a system to measure the altitude and speed of the river. In this work we use Arduino Uno, ultrasonic sensors and flow rate sensors. Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04 is used as a river height meter. Based on the test results, this sensor has an accuracy of 96.6%.

[Temperature Measurement with Bluetooth under Android Platform].

PubMed

Wang, Shuai; Shen, Hao; Luo, Changze

2015-03-01

To realize the real-time transmission of temperature data and display using the platform of intelligent mobile phone and bluetooth. Application of Arduino Uno R3 in temperature data acquisition of digital temperature sensor DS18B20 acquisition, through the HC-05 bluetooth transmits the data to the intelligent smart phone Android system, realizes transmission of temperature data. Using Java language to write applications program under Android development environment, can achieve real-time temperature data display, storage and drawing temperature fluctuations drawn graphics. Temperature sensor is experimentally tested to meet the body temperature measurement precision and accuracy. This paper can provide a reference for other smart phone mobile medical product development.

Measuring the RC time constant with Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, N. S. A.

2016-11-01

In this work we use the Arduino UNO R3 open source hardware platform to assemble an experimental apparatus for the measurement of the time constant of an RC circuit. With adequate programming, the Arduino is used as a signal generator, a data acquisition system and a basic signal visualisation tool. Theoretical calculations are compared with direct observations from an analogue oscilloscope. Data processing and curve fitting is performed on a spreadsheet. The results obtained for the six RC test circuits are within the expected interval of values defined by the tolerance of the components. The hardware and software prove to be adequate to the proposed measurements and therefore adaptable to a laboratorial teaching and learning context.

Nuclear mass formula with the shell energies obtained by a new method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koura, H.; Tachibana, T.; Yamada, M.

1998-12-21

Nuclear shapes and masses are estimated by a new method. The main feature of this method lies in estimating shell energies of deformed nuclei from spherical shell energies by mixing them with appropriate weights. The spherical shell energies are calculated from single-particle potentials, and, till now, two mass formulas have been constructed from two different sets of potential parameters. The standard deviation of the calculated masses from all the experimental masses of the 1995 Mass Evaluation is about 760 keV. Contrary to the mass formula by Tachibana, Uno, Yamada and Yamada in the 1987-1988 Atomic Mass Predictions, the present formulasmore » can give nuclear shapes and predict on super-heavy elements.« less

Arduino Based Weather Monitoring Telemetry System Using NRF24L01+

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidqi, Rafi; Rio Rynaldo, Bagus; Hadi Suroso, Satya; Firmansyah, Rifqi

2018-04-01

Abstract-Weather is an important part of the natural environment, thus knowing weather information is needed before doing activity. The main purpose of this research was to develop a weather monitoring system which capable to transmit weather data via radio frequency by using nRF24L01+ 2,4GHz radio module. This research implement Arduino UNO as the main controller of the system which send data wirelessly using the radio module and received by a receiver system. Received data then logged and displayed using a Graphical User Interface on a personal computer. Test and experiment result show that the system was able to transmit weather data via radio wave with maximum transmitting range of 32 meters.

Simple Harmonics Motion experiment based on LabVIEW interface for Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong-on, Anusorn; Saphet, Parinya; Thepnurat, Meechai

2017-09-01

In this work, we developed an affordable modern innovative physics lab apparatus. The ultrasonic sensor is used to measure the position of a mass attached on a spring as a function of time. The data acquisition system and control device were developed based on LabVIEW interface for Arduino UNO R3. The experiment was designed to explain wave propagation which is modeled by simple harmonic motion. The simple harmonic system (mass and spring) was observed and the motion can be realized using curve fitting to the wave equation in Mathematica. We found that the spring constants provided by Hooke’s law and the wave equation fit are 9.9402 and 9.1706 N/m, respectively.

Arduino-based noise robust online heart-rate detection.

PubMed

Das, Sangita; Pal, Saurabh; Mitra, Madhuchhanda

2017-04-01

This paper introduces a noise robust real time heart rate detection system from electrocardiogram (ECG) data. An online data acquisition system is developed to collect ECG signals from human subjects. Heart rate is detected using window-based autocorrelation peak localisation technique. A low-cost Arduino UNO board is used to implement the complete automated process. The performance of the system is compared with PC-based heart rate detection technique. Accuracy of the system is validated through simulated noisy ECG data with various levels of signal to noise ratio (SNR). The mean percentage error of detected heart rate is found to be 0.72% for the noisy database with five different noise levels.

Recent Changes in UC Admissions Policies. Parent/Student Guide = Unos cambios recientes en los reglamentos de ingreso de la universidad de California. Guia de padres/estudiantes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

EdSource, Inc., Palo Alto, CA.

This parent/student guide describes recent changes in admissions policies at the University of California (UC). Traditionally, UC admitted the top 12.5% of high school graduating seniors, but beginning in 2001, the top 4% of students in the graduating class of every high school are eligible if they have completed 11 specific "a-f"…

Estudio de los Esquemas Conceptuales y de los Perfiles de Unos Alumnos de Segundo de Bup en Relacion con el Concepto de Pendiente de Una Recta.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gimenez, Carmen Azcarate

1992-01-01

Presents a study to determine students' concept of slope carried out in three classes of the second form before introducing the notion of derivative. Discusses the meaning of conceptual framework and reviews literature on slope. Analyzes student responses to a questionnaire for mathematical content and expression and interprets the results. (MDH)

False-color L-band image of Manaus region of Brazil

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-13

STS059-S-068 (13 April 1994) --- This false-color L-Band image of the Manaus region of Brazil was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on orbit 46 of the mission. The area shown is approximately 8 kilometers by 40 kilometers (5 by 25 miles). At the top of the image are the Solimoes and Rio Negro Rivers just before they combine at Manaus to form the Amazon River. The image is centered at about 3 degrees south latitude, and 61 degrees west longitude. The false colors are created by displaying three L-Band polarization channels; red areas correspond to high backscatter at HH polarization, while green areas exhibit high backscatter at HV polarization. Blue areas show low returns at VV polarization; hence the bright blue colors of the smooth river surfaces. Using this color scheme, green areas in the image are heavily forested, while blue areas are either cleared forest or open water. The yellow and red areas are flooded forest. Between Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro a road can be seen running from some cleared areas (visible as blue rectangles north of Rio Solimoes) north towards a tributary of Rio Negro. SIR-C/X-SAR is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE). SIR-C/X-SAR radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-Band (24 cm), C-Band (6 cm), and X-Band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies

Space Radar Image of Raco Biomass Map

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

This biomass map of the Raco, Michigan, area was produced from data acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) onboard space shuttle Endeavour. Biomass is the amount of plant material on an area of Earth's surface. Radar can directly sense the quantity and organizational structure of the woody biomass in the forest. Science team members at the University of Michigan used the radar data to estimate the standing biomass for this Raco site in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Detailed surveys of 70 forest stands will be used to assess the accuracy of these techniques. The seasonal growth of terrestrial plants, and forests in particular, leads to the temporary storage of large amounts of carbon, which could directly affect changes in global climate. In order to accurately predict future global change, scientists need detailed information about current distribution of vegetation types and the amount of biomass present around the globe. Optical techniques to determine net biomass are frustrated by chronic cloud-cover. Imaging radar can penetrate through cloud-cover with negligible signal losses. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German

MPLM On-Orbit Interface Dynamic Flexibility Modal Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bookout, Paul S.; Rodriguez, Pedro I.; Tinson, Ian; Fleming, Paolo

2001-01-01

Now that the International Space Station (ISS) is being constructed, payload developers have to not only verify the Shuttle-to-payload interface, but also the interfaces their payload will have with the ISS. The Multi Purpose Logistic Module (MPLM) being designed and built by Alenia Spazio in Torino, Italy is one such payload. The MPLM is the primary carrier for the ISS Payload Racks, Re-supply Stowage Racks, and the Resupply Stowage Platforms to re-supply the ISS with food, water, experiments, maintenance equipment and etc. During the development of the MPLM there was no requirement for verification of the on-orbit interfaces with the ISS. When this oversight was discovered, all the dynamic test stands had already been disassembled. A method was needed that would not require an extensive testing stand and could be completed in a short amount of time. The residual flexibility testing technique was chosen. The residual flexibility modal testing method consists of measuring the free-free natural frequencies and mode shapes along with the interface frequency response functions (FRF's). Analytically, the residual flexibility method has been investigated in detail by, MacNeal, Martinez, Carne, and Miller, and Rubin, but has not been implemented extensively for model correlation due to difficulties in data acquisition. In recent years improvement of data acquisition equipment has made possible the implementation of the residual flexibility method as in Admire, Tinker, and Ivey, and Klosterman and Lemon. The residual flexibility modal testing technique is applicable to a structure with distinct points (DOF) of contact with its environment, such as the MPLM-to-Station interface through the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM). The CBM is bolted to a flange on the forward cone of the MPLM. During the fixed base test (to verify Shuttle interfaces) some data was gathered on the forward cone panels. Even though there was some data on the forward cones, an additional modal test was

ESA Press Event: See Mars Express before its departure to the Red Planet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2002-08-01

There will be ten participants: four ESA astronauts (Pedro Duque, Leopold Eyharts, Paolo Nespoli and Thomas Reiter), four Japanese astronauts from NASDA (Takao Doi, Koichi Wakata, Satoshi Furukawa and Aikihido Hoshide) and two NASA astronauts (Nicole Passonno Stott and Stephanie D. Wilson). The main objective of this training session is to prepare the astronauts for the tasks they will have to perform when the Japanese experiment module (JEM) and ESA's Columbus laboratory are docked with the core of the International Space Station over the years ahead. After completing their training and certification, the astronauts will be assigned to long-duration missions to the ISS. The advanced training at the EAC will focus on the Columbus systems and the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). It will consist of 24 classroom lectures on the Columbus and ATV systems and 4 on payloads, and 2 sessions in the Columbus Trainer. Instructors are being provided by Astrium for the Columbus systems and Alenia Spazio for the ATV, with ESA/EAC staff as mentors for the Columbus payloads. The astronauts are scheduled to visit Astrium in Bremen on 30 August to get acquainted with the flight unit of the Columbus laboratory module currently undergoing integration. This group of astronauts started their advanced training in April 2001 at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston, where they attended a first course on the US segment of the International Space Station. This was followed by training on the JEM system at NASDA's Tsukuba Space Center, Japan, in December 2001 - January 2002 and additional training at the JSC in May 2002. At the beginning of next year the group will be returning to Tsukuba for training on Japanese payloads. Hands-on sessions on Columbus Payload Training Models are scheduled for the second half of 2003, again at ESA's European Astronaut Centre. On Thursday 5 September, between 16:30 and 18:30 hrs, the astronauts and other ESA specialists will be available for interviews

Arduino based radiation survey meter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Nur Aira Abd; Lombigit, Lojius; Abdullah, Nor Arymaswati; Azman, Azraf; Dolah, Taufik; Muzakkir, Amir; Jaafar, Zainudin; Mohamad, Glam Hadzir Patai; Ramli, Abd Aziz Mhd; Zain, Rasif Mohd; Said, Fazila; Khalid, Mohd Ashhar; Taat, Muhamad Zahidee

2016-01-01

This paper presents the design of new digital radiation survey meter with LND7121 Geiger Muller tube detector and Atmega328P microcontroller. Development of the survey meter prototype is carried out on Arduino Uno platform. 16-bit Timer1 on the microcontroller is utilized as external pulse counter to produce count per second or CPS measurement. Conversion from CPS to dose rate technique is also performed by Arduino to display results in micro Sievert per hour (μSvhr-1). Conversion factor (CF) value for conversion of CPM to μSvhr-1 determined from manufacturer data sheet is compared with CF obtained from calibration procedure. The survey meter measurement results are found to be linear for dose rates below 3500 µSv/hr.

Failure analysis on false call probe pins of microprocessor test equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, L. W.; Ong, N. R.; Mohamad, I. S. B.; Alcain, J. B.; Retnasamy, V.

2017-09-01

A study has been conducted to investigate failure analysis on probe pins of test modules for microprocessor. The `health condition' of the probe pin is determined by the resistance value. A test module of 5V power supplied from Arduino UNO with "Four-wire Ohm measurement" method is implemented in this study to measure the resistance of the probe pins of a microprocessor. The probe pins from a scrapped computer motherboard is used as the test sample in this study. The functionality of the test module was validated with the pre-measurement experiment via VEE Pro software. Lastly, the experimental work have demonstrated that the implemented test module have the capability to identify the probe pin's `health condition' based on the measured resistance value.

Electronic system for the complex measurement of a Wilberforce pendulum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kos, B.; Grodzicki, M.; Wasielewski, R.

2018-05-01

The authors present a novel application of a micro-electro-mechanical measurement system to the description of basic physical phenomena in a model Wilberforce pendulum. The composition of the kit includes a tripod with a mounted spring with freely hanging bob, a module GY-521 on the MPU 6050 coupled with an Arduino Uno, which in conjunction with a PC acts as measuring set. The system allows one to observe the swing of the pendulum in real time. Obtained data stays in good agreement with both theoretical predictions and previous works. The aim of this article is to introduce the study of a Wilberforce pendulum to the canon of physical laboratory exercises due to its interesting properties and multifaceted method of measurement.

Estructura orbital en el Problema Restringido Rectilíneo Isósceles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orellana, R. B.

Para definir problemas en Mecánica Celeste se utilizan diferentes parámetros. El conocimiento de la dinámica del problema para valores particulares de estos parámetros nos permite entender el comportamiento en casos más generales. El Problema Restringido Rectilíneo Isósceles puede ser considerado como el caso límite del Problema de Sitnikov cuando la excentricidad tiende a uno o como el Problema Isósceles cuando la masa central tiende a cero. Se ha compactificado el espacio de fases y analizado la dinámica en el límite. Esto ha permitido separar el espacio de fases en diferentes regiones dependiendo de las clases de órbitas.

[Concept of "opinion leader": Recommendations of the Committee on Ethics and Transparency in the Medical-Industry Relationship (CETREMI) of the National Academy of Medicine (ANM)].

PubMed

Burgos, Rubén; Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos Alberto; Barile-Fabris, Leonor; Rangel-Fraustro, Manuel Sigfrido; Arrieta, Óscar; Campillo, Carlos; Celis, Miguel Ángel; Llata, Manuel de la; Domínguez, Judith; Halabe, José; Islas, Sergio; Jasso, Luis; Lifshitz, Alberto; Moreno, Mucio; Plancarte, Ricardo; Reyes, Alejandro; Soda, Antonio; Verástegui, Emma; Sotelo, Julio

2017-01-01

La relación que involucra al médico y la industria abarca un espectro amplio de formas, para lo cual se requiere una exposición clara y transparente de términos y principios. Uno de los objetivos primordiales de la industria es contar con un respaldo académico que le permita dar a conocer las características y las propiedades de sus productos -eficacia, eficiencia y seguridad- con el propósito de ser prescritos y usados. Los fines de la industria son la venta de sus productos, el reconocimiento como empresas de prestigio y la ganancia económica. Implícitamente, para CETREMI el principio de mayor importancia en esta relación es indudablemente el beneficio del enfermo.

Nutrieconomic model can facilitate healthy and low-cost food choices.

PubMed

Primavesi, Laura; Caccavelli, Giovanna; Ciliberto, Alessandra; Pauze, Emmanuel

2015-04-01

Promotion of healthy eating can no longer be postponed as a priority, given the alarming growth rate of chronic degenerative diseases in Western countries. We elaborated a nutrieconomic model to assess and identify the most nutritious and affordable food choices. Seventy-one food items representing the main food categories were included and their nationally representative prices monitored. Food composition was determined using CRA-NUT (Centro di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione) and IEO (Istituto Europeo di Oncologia) databases. To define food nutritional quality, the mean adequacy ratio and mean excess ratio were combined. Both prices and nutritional quality were normalised for the edible food content and for the recommended serving sizes for the Italian adult population. Stores located in different provinces throughout Italy. Not applicable. Cereals and legumes presented very similar nutritional qualities and prices per serving. Seasonal fruits and vegetables presented differentiated nutritional qualities and almost equal prices. Products of animal origin showed similar nutritional qualities and varied prices: the best nutrieconomic choices were milk, oily fish and poultry for the dairy products, fish and meat groups, respectively. Analysing two balanced weekly menus, our nutrieconomic model was able to note a significant decrease in cost of approximately 30 % by varying animal-protein sources without affecting nutritional quality. Healthy eating does not necessarily imply spending large amounts of money but rather being able to make nutritionally optimal choices. The nutrieconomic model is an innovative and practical way to help consumers make correct food choices and nutritionists increase the compliance of their patients.

Artist meets computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faggin, Marzia

1997-04-01

I would like to share my experience ofusing the computer for creating art. I am a graphic designer originally trained without any exposure to the computer. I graduated in July of 1994 from a four-year curriculum of graphic design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan Italy. Italy is famous for its excellent design capability. Art and beauty influence the life ofnearly every Italian. Everywhere you look on the streets there is art from grandiose architecture to the displays in shop windows. A keen esthetic sense and a search and appreciation for quality permeate all aspects of Italian life, manifesting in the way people cut their hair, the style ofthe clothes and how furniture and everyday objects are designed. Italian taste is fine-tuned to the appreciation ofrefined textiles and quality materials are often enhanced by simple design. The Italian culture has a long history ofexcellent artisanship and good craftsmanship is highly appreciated. Gadgets have never been popular in Italian society. Gadgets are considered useless objects which add nothing to a person's life, and since they cost money they are actually viewed as a waste. The same is true for food, exception made in the big cities filled with tourists, fast food chains have never survived. Genuine and simple food is what people truly desire. A typical Italian sandwich, for example, is minimalist, the essential ingredients are left alone without additional sauces because if something is delicious by itselfwhy would anyone want to disgnise its taste?

"Es como uno bomba de tiempo [It's like a time bomb]": A Qualitative Analysis of Perceptions of Diabetes Among First-Degree Relatives of Latino Patients With Diabetes.

PubMed

Castro-Rivas, Erida; Boutin-Foster, Carla; Milan, Maria; Kanna, Balavenkatesh

2014-02-01

Background. The South Bronx, a largely Latino community, has become an epicenter of the diabetes epidemic in New York City. In this community, nondiabetic first-degree relatives of people with diabetes are prime targets for intervention. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the knowledge of diabetes and attitudes toward health behavior modification of Latino adults who are first-degree relatives of people with diabetes. Methods. Participants were recruited from three settings in the South Bronx (a community-based organization, a faith-based organization, and a taxi station). The Common Sense Model was used to develop focus-group items. This model provides a framework for exploring illness representations along five domains: identity, cause, consequences, timeline, and perceptions of curability. Responses were transcribed verbatim, and data analysis proceeded in the following order: data immersion, assignment of codes, grouping of key concepts to form categories, and construction of higher-order themes. Results. Of the 115 potential participants identified, 53 were found to be eligible, and 23 of these participated in the focus group. Of these, 20 were Dominicans, 2 were Puerto Ricans, and 1 was Salvadorian. The mean age was 46.39 years, 35% were women, 61% were married, and 26% had less than a high school education. Qualitative analyses resulted in 547 codes that were grouped into 52 concepts, from which 9 categories and 4 overarching themes emerged. The dominant themes were 1) family, genetics, and culture play a major role in the etiology of diabetes; 2) being Latino and having a first-degree relative with diabetes makes getting diabetes inevitable, and, like a time bomb exploding, it is destined to happen; 3) once one develops diabetes, the physical and emotional consequences are devastating and destructive; and 4) diabetes can be "cured" through healthy eating and with insulin. Conclusions.In this study, first-degree relatives of patients with diabetes were knowledgeable about the risks and consequences of diabetes. However, some participants felt that being Latino and having a first-degree relative with diabetes made one destined to have diabetes. Addressing this misperception through culturally tailored interventions has implications for diabetes prevention and may help to stem the diabetes epidemic in Latino communities.

Transplantation of A2 and A2B kidneys from deceased donors into B waiting list candidates increases their transplantation rate.

PubMed

Bryan, Christopher F; Nelson, Paul W; Shield, Charles F; Ross, Gilbert; Warady, Bradley; Murillo, Daniel; Winklhofer, Franz T

2004-01-01

Transplant centers in the Midwest Transplant Network began transplanting kidneys from A2 or A2B donors into blood group B and O patients in 1986. Since 1991, an OPTN/UNOS variance has permitted us to allocate these kidneys preferentially into B and O waiting list patients. With more than 10 years of experience we have noted the following: 1. Thirty-one percent more blood group B patients were transplanted by allocating them A2 or A2B kidneys from our deceased donors. 2. Ten-year graft survival for B recipients of an A2 or A2B kidney (72%) was equivalent to that for B recipients of a B kidney (69%). 3. Type B recipients of simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplants (n=4) also did well with A2 or A2B organs. 4. Non-A recipients were transplanted only when their anti-A IgG titer history was consistently low (< or =4). 5. Most (90%) blood group B patients had a low anti-A IgG titer history; whereas, only one-third of blood group O patients had a low titer history. 6. Neither ethnicity nor HLA class I sensitization level influenced the anti-A IgG titer history. 7. In an OPO with mostly (87%) white donors, nearly 20% of blood group A donors were A2. 8. Waiting time until transplantation was lower for B patients who received an A2 or A2B kidney than for those who received a B or O kidney. 9. Our OPO blood group B waiting list was reduced from 25 low PRA (<40%) B candidates in 1994 to 4 in July, 2004. 10. Blood group A candidates received 6.4% fewer transplants with our A2/A2B--> B allocation algorithm. 11. Minority patients were transplanted at the same rate when using the A2/A2B--> B allocation algorithm as when using the standard UNOS algorithm for allocating B and O kidneys--> B patients.

Extended study on oxidation behaviors of UN0.68 and UN1.66 by XPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Lizhu; Hu, Yin; Pan, Qifa; Long, Zhong; Lu, Lei; Liu, Kezhao; Wang, Xiaolin

2018-04-01

The surface oxidation behaviors of UN0.68 and UN1.66 thin films are investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the traditional U4f/N1s, O1s, valence band spectra as well as the unconventional U4d and U5d spectra are collected for the understanding of their oxidation behavior in-depth. Similar asymmetrical peak shape of the U4f spectra to uranium is observed for both uranium nitrides, despite of a slight shift to higher energy side for UN1.66 clean surface. However, significant difference among the corresponding spectra of UN0.68 and UN1.66 during oxidation reveals the distinctive properties of each own. The coexistence of UO2-x, UO2 and UO2-x.Ny on UN0.68 surface results in the peculiar features of U4f spectra as well as the others within the XPS energy scale, where peaks of the oxidized species firstly shift to higher energy side compared to the clean surface, and then return closely towards those of stoichiometric UO2. For UN1.66, the generation of U-N-O ternary compounds on the surface is identified with the symmetrical U4f peaks at 379.9eV and 390.8 eV, which locate intermediate between UO2 and UN1.66, and gradually expanding to higher energy side during the progressive oxidation. Furthermore, the formation of N-O species on UN1.66 surface is also detected as an oxidation product. The metallic character of UN1.66 is identified by the intense signal at Fermi level, which is greatly suppressed by the increasing oxygen exposure and implies the weakening metallic properties of the as-generated U-N-O compounds. Higher uranium oxides, such as UO3 and U4O9, are deduced to be the final oxidation products, and a multistage mechanism for UN1.66 following the exposure to oxygen is discussed.

The Pancreas Can Take the Cold: Lower Waitlist Times Through Importation.

PubMed

Choinski, K; Rocca, J P; Torabi, J; Lorenzen, K; Yongue, C; Herbert, M E; Block, T; Chokechanachaisakul, A; Kamal, L; Kinkhabwala, M; Graham, J A

2017-12-01

Our center has used a strategy of pancreas importation owing to long regional waitlist times. Here we assess the clinical outcomes and financial considerations of this strategy. This was a retrospective observational cohort study of patients who received a pancreas transplant at Montefiore Medical Center (MMC) from 2014 to 2017 (n = 28). Clinical parameters, including hemoglobin A 1c and complications, were analyzed. The cohort was compared with United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Region 9 with the use of the UNOS/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database. Cost analysis of length of stay (LOS), standard acquisition (SAC) fees, and transportation was performed with the use of internal financial data. Pancreas importation resulted in significantly shorter simultaneous pancreas kidney transplant waitlist times compared with Region 9: 518 days vs 1001 days (P = .038). In addition, postoperative complications and 1-year HbA 1c did not differ between groups: local 6.30% vs import 6.17% (P = .87). Patients receiving local pancreata stayed an average of 9.2 days compared with 11 days for the import group (P = .36). As such, pancreas importation was associated with higher mean charges ($445,968) compared with local pancreas recipients ($325,470). Long waitlist times in Region 9 have encouraged our center's adoption of pancreas importation to address the needs of our patient population. This practice has resulted in a reduction of waitlist times by an average of 483 days. Understandably, centers have long been wary of importation owing to perceived risk in clinical outcomes. In our single-center experience, we have demonstrated equivalent postoperative glucose control and graft survival. Importantly, there does appear to be increased costs associated with importation, which are mainly driven by LOS. Curiously, importation from regions with lower SAC fees has the potential to offset costs related to transportation expenses. Notwithstanding these findings

Passive stability and actuation of micro aerial vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piccoli, Matthew

Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) have increased in popularity in recent years. The most common platform, the quadrotor, has surpassed other MAVs like traditional helicopters and ornithopters in popularity mainly due to their simplicity. Yet the quadrotor design is a century old and was intended to carry people. We set out to design a MAV that is designed specifically to be a MAV, i.e. a vehicle not intended to carry humans as a payload. With this constraint lifted the vehicle can continuously rotate, which would dizzy a human, can sustain larger forces, which would damage a human, or can take advantage of scaling properties, where it may not work at human scale. Furthermore, we aim for simplicity by removing vehicle controllers and reducing the number of actuators, such that the vehicle can be made cost effective, if not disposable. We begin by studying general equations of motion for hovering MAVs. We search for vehicle configurations that exhibit passive stability, allowing the MAV to operate without a controller or actuators to apply control, ideally a single actuator. The analysis suggests two distinct types of passively stabilized MAVs and we create test vehicles for both. With simple hovering achieved, we concentrate on controlled motion with an emphasis on doing so without adding actuators. We find we can attain three degree of freedom control using separation of time scales with our actuator via low frequency for control in the vertical direction and high frequency for control in the horizontal plane. We explore techniques for achieving high frequency actuator control, which also allow the compensation of motor defects, specifically cogging torque. We combine passive stability with the motion control into two vehicles, UNO and Piccolissimo. UNO, the Underactuated-propeller Naturally-stabilized One-motor vehicle, demonstrates the capabilities of simple vehicles by performing maneuvers like conventional quadrotors. Piccolissimo, Italian for very little

Lung retransplantation in children: appropriate when selectively applied.

PubMed

Scully, Brandi B; Zafar, Farhan; Schecter, Marc G; Rossano, Joseph W; Mallory, George B; Heinle, Jeffrey S; Morales, David L S

2011-02-01

Lung retransplantation (re-LTx) in children has been associated with lower survival rates compared with primary lung transplantation. However, improving survival for primary LTx has led to more patients presenting for re-LTx. Therefore, an analysis of the UNOS (United Network of Organ Sharing) database to evaluate the effectiveness of pediatric lung retransplantation in the United States was completed. The UNOS registry was queried for pediatric re-LTx patients from May 1988 to May 2008. There were 81 (10%) re-LTx out of a total 802 pediatric lung transplants. Median age and weight at re-LTx were 14 (range, 0 to 18) years and 32 (4 to 58) kg. Indications for re-LTx were obliterative bronchiolitis in 50 patients (62%), primary graft failure in 8 (10%), and other in 23 (28%). The Kaplan-Meier graft survival for re-LTx patients was worse than for primary transplant patients (p < 0.001, graft half-life 0.9 vs 4.0 years), especially if re-LTx was done less than 1 year after primary transplant (graft half-life 0.25 years). Graft survival in patients who underwent re-LTx greater than 1 year after primary transplant was not statistically different than for primary LTx patients (p = 0.21; graft half-life 2.8 vs 4.0 years), and if re-LTx greater than 1 year posttransplant occurred in patients who were not ventilator dependent, survival was further improved (p = 0.68; graft half-life 4.7 vs 4.0 years). Pediatric lung retransplantation within the first year after primary transplant does not appear advisable. Pediatric re-LTx greater than 1 year after primary transplantation may be a reasonable strategy for end-stage graft failure. Patients greater than 1 year posttransplant and not ventilator dependent appear an even more compelling group in which to consider lung retransplantation. Copyright © 2011 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A one-day centralized work-up for kidney transplant recipient candidates: a quality improvement report.

PubMed

Formica, Richard N; Barrantes, Fidel; Asch, William S; Bia, Margaret J; Coca, Steven; Kalyesubula, Robert; McCloskey, Barbara; Leary, Tucker; Arvelakis, Antonios; Kulkarni, Sanjay

2012-08-01

Waiting time for a kidney transplant is calculated from the date the patient is placed on the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) waitlist to the date the patient undergoes transplant. Time from transplant evaluation to listing represents unaccounted waiting time, potentially resulting in longer dialysis exposure for some patients with prolonged evaluation times. There are established disparities demonstrating that groups of patients take longer to be placed on the waitlist and thus have less access to kidney transplant. Quality improvement report. 905 patients from a university-based hospital were evaluated for kidney transplant candidacy, and analysis was performed from July 1, 2004, to January 31, 2010. A 1-day centralized work-up was implemented on July 1, 2007, whereby the transplant center coordinated the necessary tests needed to fulfill minimal listing criteria. Time from evaluation to UNOS listing was compared between the 2 cohorts. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were created to assess the relative hazards of waitlist placement comparing 1-day versus conventional work-up and were adjusted for age, sex, race, and education. Of 905 patients analyzed, 378 underwent conventional evaluation and 527 underwent a 1-day center-coordinated evaluation. Median time to listing in the 1-day center-coordinated evaluation compared with conventional was significantly less (46 vs 226 days, P < 0.001). On multivariable analysis controlling for age, sex, and education level, the 1-day in-center group was 3 times more likely to place patients on the wait list (adjusted HR, 3.08; 95% CI, 2.64-3.59). Listing time was significantly decreased across race, sex, education, and ethnicity. Single center, retrospective. Variables that may influence transplant practitioners, such as comorbid conditions or functional status, were not assessed. A 1-day center-coordinated pretransplant work-up model significantly decreased time to listing for kidney transplant. Copyright

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rahman, Nur Aira Abd, E-mail: nur-aira@nm.gov.my; Lombigit, Lojius; Abdullah, Nor Arymaswati

This paper presents the design of new digital radiation survey meter with LND7121 Geiger Muller tube detector and Atmega328P microcontroller. Development of the survey meter prototype is carried out on Arduino Uno platform. 16-bit Timer1 on the microcontroller is utilized as external pulse counter to produce count per second or CPS measurement. Conversion from CPS to dose rate technique is also performed by Arduino to display results in micro Sievert per hour (μSvhr{sup −1}). Conversion factor (CF) value for conversion of CPM to μSvhr{sup −1} determined from manufacturer data sheet is compared with CF obtained from calibration procedure. The surveymore » meter measurement results are found to be linear for dose rates below 3500 µSv/hr.« less

The Conference Proceedings of the 1997 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society. Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Own, Tae Hoon (Editor); Bowen, Brent D. (Editor)

1997-01-01

The Aviation Institute University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Monograph series has published the Conference Proceedings of the 1997 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the World Conference on Transportation Research Society (WCTR) volume 1, number 3. The topics included in this document are: 1) Industrial Reform and Air Transport Development in China; 2) The Economic Effects of Airline Deregulation and the Open-Sky Policy of Korea; 3) The Economic Effects of Airline Deregulation and the Open-Sky Policy of Korea; 4) "Open Skies" in India-Is the policy succeeding? 5) The Japanese Domestic Air Fares under the Regulatory Regime: What will be expected after the revision of current charging system? 6) The Competitive Position of Airline Networks; and 7) Air Transport and Regional Economic Development in the European Union.

An automatic editing algorithm for GPS data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blewitt, Geoffrey

1990-01-01

An algorithm has been developed to edit automatically Global Positioning System data such that outlier deletion, cycle slip identification, and correction are independent of clock instability, selective availability, receiver-satellite kinematics, and tropospheric conditions. This algorithm, called TurboEdit, operates on undifferenced, dual frequency carrier phase data, and requires the use of P code pseudorange data and a smoothly varying ionospheric electron content. TurboEdit was tested on the large data set from the CASA Uno experiment, which contained over 2500 cycle slips.Analyst intervention was required on 1 percent of the station-satellite passes, almost all of these problems being due to difficulties in extrapolating variations in the ionospheric delay. The algorithm is presently being adapted for real time data editing in the Rogue receiver for continuous monitoring applications.

First GPS baseline results from the North Andes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kellogg, James N.; Freymueller, Jeffrey T.; Dixon, Timothy H.; Neilan, Ruth E.; Ropain, Clemente

1990-01-01

The CASA Uno GPS experiment (January-February 1988) has provided the first epoch baseline measurements for the study of plate motions and crustal deformation in and around the North Andes. Two dimensional horizontal baseline repeatabilities are as good as 5 parts in 10 to the 8th for short baselines (100-1000 km), and better than 3 parts in 10 to the 8th for long baselines (greater than 1000 km). Vertical repeatabilities are typically 4-6 cm, with a weak dependence on baseline length. The expected rate of plate convergence across the Colombia Trench is 6-8cm/yr, which should be detectable by the repeat experiment planned for 1991. Expected deformation rates within the North Andes are of the order of 1 cm/yr, which may be detectable with the 1991 experiment.

Organic Compounds in the Exhaust of a J85-5 Turbine Engine

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

8217 rcoe E)a•se, Teyxes uno r job vrder 79?31D-11-1H ilhen J.. averegt , spe: i czt ~ 1 -s , oir r=the data are used -’) an 7,rx~se oither than 2: rei...the USAFSAM sorption tube atmospheric sample system ( AF Invention No. 12,052; U.S. Patent No. 4,170,901). The collected samples were analyzed with a...f ’a- @1. 06 a C L v M~~I w ,a!j 1 ’l l .1 cNm l c0 w EL In c , .0 0 ) d’ 3 G)I’ c af a c. I%0 111 , 3 >1u w z w" r ojn 3..c N m enj m L. Nuw X >- 12

[Competence in biocentric ethics.

PubMed

Stepke, Fernando Lolas

2012-07-01

ResumenEste artículo explora el origen y la conceptualización de la bioética en tanto ética biocéntrica, definida por el pionero Fritz Jahr como un imperativo hipotético que llama a respetar la vida en todas sus formas. Tras describirla como proceso social, procedimiento técnico y producto académico, se enumeran y comentan algunas competencias que debieran presidir el empleo del discurso bioético en cualquier punto del complejo social "investigación médica": miembros de comités de ética de investigación, investigadores, empresarios, administradores. Cada uno de estos grupos, en su "cultura epistémica" propia, define y explicita los principios básicos en tanto expresión de valores y leyes generales.

Using satellite images to monitor glacial-lake outburst floods: Lago Cachet Dos drainage, Chile

USGS Publications Warehouse

Friesen, Beverly A.; Cole, Christopher J.; Nimick, David A.; Wilson, Earl M.; Fahey, Mark J.; McGrath, Daniel J.; Leidich, Jonathan

2015-01-01

During 2008–2013, 14 GLOFs were released from Lago Cachet Dos and created environmental and safety concerns for downstream residents and to infrastructure. If GLOFs and the consequent headward erosion continue, the moraine that creates Lago Cachet Uno could be destabilized and breached, and the two lakes could merge. If the two lakes become connected, the volume of future GLOFs likely would be greater and thus cause longer and (or) more extensive flooding downstream. Additional GLOFs from Lago Cachet Dos are expected in the future, and continued environmental monitoring could provide an early warning system as well as scientific information that could increase our understanding of GLOFs and their consequences. GLOFs occur in glaciated areas around the world and remote sensing technologies can allow researchers to better understand—and potentially predict—future GLOF events.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Molina Villaverde, Raquel

2016-06-03

El cáncer es un problema sanitario de primera magnitud a escala mundial. Su tratamiento es uno de los mayores campos de innovación y desarrollo en medicina. La visión del cáncer como una enfermedad sistémica, heterogénea y de una elevada complejidad hace que los enfermos deban recibir una atención oncológica de calidad, proporcionada por equipos multidisciplinares altamente cualificados. Además de la gran incidencia de malnutrición en estos pacientes, la intervención nutricional precoz puede mejorar su pronóstico, aumentar la calidad de vida y disminuir la tasa de complicaciones de la enfermedad. Por ello, es necesaria una estrecha colaboración entre el oncólogo y el experto en nutrición.

Proyecto para la medición sistemática de seeing en CASLEO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernández Lajus, E.; Forte, J. C.

La calidad del seeing astronómico es ciertamente uno de los parámetros mas importantes que caracterizan el sitio de un observatorio. Por tanto se desea determinar si el alto valor de seeing observado con el telescopio de 2.15 m se debe a efectos internos y/o del entorno a la cupula o si se debe simplemente al seeing propio del lugar. El actual mecanismo de refrigeración del espejo primario del 2.15, parece haber mejorado notablemente la calidad del seeing. Sin embargo se hace necesario saber hasta que punto el valor del seeing puede ser mejorado. La primera etapa del proyecto consistió en la puesta a punto del telescopio emplazado para este propósito y la adquisición de las primeras medidas tentativas de seeing.

An Inexpensive, Open-Source USB Arduino Data Acquisition Device for Chemical Instrumentation.

PubMed

Grinias, James P; Whitfield, Jason T; Guetschow, Erik D; Kennedy, Robert T

2016-07-12

Many research and teaching labs rely on USB data acquisition devices to collect voltage signals from instrumentation. However, these devices can be cost-prohibitive (especially when large numbers are needed for teaching labs) and require software to be developed for operation. In this article, we describe the development and use of an open-source USB data acquisition device (with 16-bit acquisition resolution) built using simple electronic components and an Arduino Uno that costs under $50. Additionally, open-source software written in Python is included so that data can be acquired using nearly any PC or Mac computer with a simple USB connection. Use of the device was demonstrated for a sophomore-level analytical experiment using GC and a CE-UV separation on an instrument used for research purposes.

Nuclear half-lives for {alpha}-radioactivity of elements with 100 {<=} Z {<=} 130

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chowdhury, P. Roy; Samanta, C.; Physics Department, Gottwald Science Center, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA 23173

2008-11-15

Theoretical estimates for the half-lives of about 1700 isotopes of heavy elements with 100 {<=} Z {<=} 130 are tabulated using theoretical Q-values. The quantum mechanical tunneling probabilities are calculated within a WKB framework using microscopic nuclear potentials. The microscopic nucleus-nucleus potentials are obtained by folding the densities of interacting nuclei with a density-dependent M3Y effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. The {alpha}-decay half-lives calculated in this formalism using the experimental Q-values were found to be in good agreement over a wide range of experimental data spanning about 20 orders of magnitude. The theoretical Q-values used for the present calculations are extracted frommore » three different mass estimates viz. Myers-Swiatecki, Muntian-Hofmann-Patyk-Sobiczewski, and Koura-Tachibana-Uno-Yamada.« less

PubMed

Ávila García, Manuel; Huertas Delgado, Francisco Javier Huertas Delgado; Tercedor Sánchez, Pablo

2016-11-29

Introducción: España es el tercer país europeo con mayor prevalencia de obesidad infantil, dando lugar a la aparición de programas de intervención destinados a fomentar hábitos alimentarios saludables y/o de actividad física (AF).Objetivo: el propósito de esta revisión sistemática fue conocer aquellos programas de intervención para la promoción de hábitos alimentarios y de AF desarrollados en escolares españoles de Educación Primaria (EP) y analizar la influencia que han tenido las intervenciones sobre la composición corporal, los hábitos alimentarios y la AF.Método: se revisaron los artículos publicados entre los años 2000 y 2015 en las siguientes bases de datos: Web of Science, Scopus, Dialnet, PubMed, Eric, Sportdiscus y Psycinfo por dos revisores independientes.Resultados: se contabilizaron un total de 813 artículos, de los cuales tras la eliminación de duplicados (192), lectura de títulos y resumen (587) y lectura del texto completo (17), tan solo 7 cumplieron con los criterios de inclusión.Conclusiones: los programas de intervención analizados mostraron cambios positivos en la mejora de la composición corporal en algo menos de la mitad de los estudios analizados; por otro lado, casi todos los programas de intervención analizados tuvieron un efecto positivo sobre conductas respecto a ciertos hábitos alimentarios, como la ingesta de frutas, y sobre el incremento del nivel de AF.

Achieving Real-Time Tracking Mobile Wireless Sensors Using SE-KFA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadhim Hoomod, Haider, Dr.; Al-Chalabi, Sadeem Marouf M.

2018-05-01

Nowadays, Real-Time Achievement is very important in different fields, like: Auto transport control, some medical applications, celestial body tracking, controlling agent movements, detections and monitoring, etc. This can be tested by different kinds of detection devices, which named "sensors" as such as: infrared sensors, ultrasonic sensor, radars in general, laser light sensor, and so like. Ultrasonic Sensor is the most fundamental one and it has great impact and challenges comparing with others especially when navigating (as an agent). In this paper, concerning to the ultrasonic sensor, sensor(s) detecting and delimitation by themselves then navigate inside a limited area to estimating Real-Time using Speed Equation with Kalman Filter Algorithm as an intelligent estimation algorithm. Then trying to calculate the error comparing to the factual rate of tracking. This paper used Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 with Arduino-UNO as Microcontroller.

Development of a Microcontroller-based Battery Charge Controller for an Off-grid Photovoltaic System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rina, Z. S.; Amin, N. A. M.; Hashim, M. S. M.; Majid, M. S. A.; Rojan, M. A.; Zaman, I.

2017-08-01

A development of a microcontroller-based charge controller for a 12V battery has been explained in this paper. The system is designed based on a novel algorithm to couple existing solar photovoltaic (PV) charging and main grid supply charging power source. One of the main purposes of the hybrid charge controller is to supply a continuous charging power source to the battery. Furthermore, the hybrid charge controller was developed to shorten the battery charging time taken. The algorithm is programmed in an Arduino Uno R3 microcontroller that monitors the battery voltage and generates appropriate commands for the charging power source selection. The solar energy is utilized whenever the solar irradiation is high. The main grid supply will be only consumed whenever the solar irradiation is low. This system ensures continuous charging power supply and faster charging of the battery.

Competencias en ética biocéntrica

PubMed Central

Stepke, Fernando Lolas

2013-01-01

Resumen Este artículo explora el origen y la conceptualización de la bioética en tanto ética biocéntrica, definida por el pionero Fritz Jahr como un imperativo hipotético que llama a respetar la vida en todas sus formas. Tras describirla como proceso social, procedimiento técnico y producto académico, se enumeran y comentan algunas competencias que debieran presidir el empleo del discurso bioético en cualquier punto del complejo social “investigación médica”: miembros de comités de ética de investigación, investigadores, empresarios, administradores. Cada uno de estos grupos, en su “cultura epistémica” propia, define y explicita los principios básicos en tanto expresión de valores y leyes generales. PMID:23459767

Space Radar Image of Niya ruins, Taklamakan desert

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtange-legenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstaltfuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Colima Volcano, Jalisco, Mexico

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Color Image of Death Valley, California from SIR-C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

Three dimensional perspective view of portion of western Galapagos Islands

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-18

which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43938

False-color composite image of Raco, Michigan

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-10

insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43882

IDIS Small Bodies and Dust Node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Sanctis, M. C.; Capria, M. T.; Carraro, F.; Fonte, S.; Giacomini, L.; Turrini, D.

2009-04-01

The EuroPlaNet information service provides access to lists of researchers, laboratories and data archives relevant to many aspects of planetary and space physics. Information can be accessed through EuroPlaNet website or, for advanced searches, via web-services available at the different thematic nodes. The goal of IDIS is to provide easy-to-use access to resources like people, laboratories, modeling activities and data archives related to planetary sciences. The development of IDIS is an international effort started under the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme and which will expand its capabilities during the 7th Framework Programme, as part of the Capacities Specific Programme/Research Infrastructures. IDIS is complemented by a set of other EuroPlaNet web-services maintained under the responsibility of separate institutions. Each activity maintains its own web-portal with cross-links pointing to the other elements of EuroPlaNet. General access is provided via the EuroPlaNet Homepage. IDIS is not a repository of original data but rather supports the access to various data sources. The final goal of IDIS is to provide Virtual Observatory tools for the access to data from laboratory measurements and ground- and spaced-based observations to modeling results, allowing the combination of as divergent data sources as feasible. IDIS is built around four scientific nodes located in different European countries. Each node deals with a subset of the disciplines related to planetary sciences and, working in cooperation with international experts in these fields, provides a wealth of information to the international planetary science community. The EuroPlaNet IDIS thematic node "Small Bodies and Dust Node" is hosted by the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario and is established in close cooperation with the Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale. Both these institutes are part of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF). The IDIS Small Bodies and Dust

Radar Image of Galapagos Island

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

North Central Thailand

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing of X-SAR.

Pancreas Transplantation of US and Non-US Cases from 2005 to 2014 as Reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the International Pancreas Transplant Registry (IPTR)

PubMed Central

Gruessner, Angelika C.; Gruessner, Rainer W.G.

2016-01-01

This report is an update of pancreas and kidney transplant activities in the US and non-US region in two periods, 2005-2009 and 2010-2014. The aim of the report was to analyze transplant progress and success in the US compared to non-US countries, and to compare trends between the two periods. Between 2005-2009 and 2010-2014, the number of US pancreas transplants declined by over 20%, while the overall number of pancreas transplants performed outside the US has increased. The decline in US numbers is predominantly due to the decline in primary and secondary pancreas after kidney transplants (PAK). During the time period studied, the number of PAK transplants dropped by 50%. In contrast, the number of simultaneous pancreas/kidney transplants (SPK) declined by only 10%, and the number of pancreas transplants alone (PTA) by 20%. Over 90% of pancreas transplants worldwide were performed, with a simultaneous kidney transplant and excellent results. Transplant outcomes in SPK improved significantly because of a decrease in the rates of technical and immunologic graft loss. In 2010-2014 vs. 2005-2009, US SPK transplant patient survival at 1 year post-transplant increased from 95.7% to 97.4%, pancreas graft function from 88.3% to 91.3%, and kidney function from 93.6% to 95.5%. A significant improvement was also noted in PAK transplants. One-year patient survival increased from 96.4% to 97.9% and pancreas graft function from 81.0% to 86.0%. PTA 1-year patient survival remained constant at 97%, and pancreas 1-year graft survival improved from 81.0% to 85.7%. With the decline in the number of transplants, a change towards better pancreas donor selection was observed. In solitary transplants, the donors were primarily young trauma victims, and the pancreas preservation time was relatively short. A general tendency towards transplanting older recipients was noted. In 2010-2014 vs. 2005-2009, PTA recipients 50 years of age or older accounted for 32% vs. 22%, PAK for 28% vs. 22%, and SPK for 22% vs. 20%. This may be due to a relatively lower immunologic graft loss rate, especially in solitary transplants, which historically has been high in young recipients. The number of pancreas transplants in patients with type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease has increased, and accounted for 9% of all SPK recipients in 2010-2014. PMID:26982345

The impact of meeting donor management goals on the number of organs transplanted per expanded criteria donor: a prospective study from the UNOS Region 5 Donor Management Goals Workgroup.

PubMed

Patel, Madhukar S; Zatarain, John; De La Cruz, Salvador; Sally, Mitchell B; Ewing, Tyler; Crutchfield, Megan; Enestvedt, C Kristian; Malinoski, Darren J

2014-09-01

The shortage of organs available for transplant has led to the use of expanded criteria donors (ECDs) to extend the donor pool. These donors are older and have more comorbidities and efforts to optimize the quality of their organs are needed. To determine the impact of meeting a standardized set of critical care end points, or donor management goals (DMGs), on the number of organs transplanted per donor in ECDs. Prospective interventional study from February 2010 to July 2013 of all ECDs managed by the 8 organ procurement organizations in the southwestern United States (United Network for Organ Sharing Region 5). Implementation of 9 DMGs as a checklist to guide the management of every ECD. The DMGs represented normal cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, and endocrine end points. Meeting the DMG bundle was defined a priori as achieving any 7 of the 9 end points and was recorded at the time of referral to the organ procurement organization, at the time of authorization for donation, 12 to 18 hours later, and prior to organ recovery. The primary outcome measure was 3 or more organs transplanted per donor and binary logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors with P < .05. There were 671 ECDs with a mean (SD) number of 2.1 (1.3) organs transplanted per donor. Ten percent of the ECDs had met the DMG bundle at referral, 15% at the time of authorization, 33% at 12 to 18 hours, and 45% prior to recovery. Forty-three percent had 3 or more organs transplanted per donor. Independent predictors of 3 or more organs transplanted per donor were older age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.95 per year [95% CI, 0.93-0.97]), increased creatinine level (OR = 0.73 per mg/dL [95% CI, 0.63-0.85]), DMGs met prior to organ recovery (OR = 1.90 [95% CI, 1.35-2.68]), and a change in the number of DMGs achieved from referral to organ recovery (OR = 1.11 per additional DMG [95% CI, 1.00-1.23]). Meeting DMGs prior to organ recovery with ECDs is associated with achieving 3 or more organs transplanted per donor. An increase in the number of critical care end points achieved throughout the care of a potential donor by both donor hospital and organ procurement organization is also associated with an increase in organ yield.

Revision curricular a partir de un analisis comparativo de las discrepancias en los curriculos de una escuela de optometria en Puerto Rico con las competencias requeridas para las agencias de revalida y acreditacion 2004

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rivera Pacheco, Andres

El proposito de esta investigacion, un estudio cualitativo de caso, fue comparar y contrastar el curriculo vigente de la Escuela de Optometria de la UIAPR con las competencias y estandares requeridos por las agencias de acreditacion y de revalida. Con este proposito, decidimos realizar una revision y un analisis de documentos: el prontuario de cada uno de los cursos de los curriculos implantados en el 1993 y en el 2001; las competencias y estandares establecidos por las agencias de revalida y de acreditacion; y las estadisticas en las que se analiza el porcentaje de estudiantes que aprueban cada una de las partes de los examenes de revalida entre el 1998 al 2003. Se realizaron entrevistas dirigidas para dar apoyo y complementar la revision y el analisis de estos documentos. Los participantes de las entrevistas fueron tres estudiantes de la clase de optometria del 2004 (ultima clase del curriculo del 1993); tres estudiantes de la clase de optometria del 2005 (primera clase graduanda del curriculo vigente) y tres profesores y/o directores de los Departamentos de Ciencias Basicas, Ciencias Clinicas y Cuidado al Paciente. Esta investigacion se enmarco en el modelo de evaluacion curricular de discrepancia de Malcolm Provus y en el modelo de desarrollo basado en competencias. Uno de los hallazgos mas importantes del estudio es que los cambios que se implantaron al curriculo del 2001 no han logrado que los estudiantes mejoren su ejecucion en los examenes de revalida. Por otro lado, se encontro que el curriculo vigente atiende completamente los estandares de la practica de Optometria, pero no las competencias. Esta informacion fue validada mediante el uso de una tabla de cotejo para el analisis de los cursos y de la informacion obtenida de las entrevistas. El estudio determina y concluye que existen discrepancias entre los prontuarios de los cursos del curriculo y las competencias requeridas por la agencia de revalida. Segundo, que el Departamento de Ciencias Basicas es el

Institutional decision to adopt Y90 as primary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma informed by a 1,000-patient 15-year experience.

PubMed

Salem, Riad; Gabr, Ahmed; Riaz, Ahsun; Mora, Ronald; Ali, Rehan; Abecassis, Michael; Hickey, Ryan; Kulik, Laura; Ganger, Daniel; Flamm, Steven; Atassi, Rohi; Atassi, Bassel; Sato, Kent; Benson, Al B; Mulcahy, Mary F; Abouchaleh, Nadine; Asadi, Ali Al; Desai, Kush; Thornburg, Bartley; Vouche, Michael; Habib, Ali; Caicedo, Juan; Miller, Frank H; Yaghmai, Vahid; Kallini, Joseph R; Mouli, Samdeep; Lewandowski, Robert J

2017-12-01

Yttrium-90 transarterial radioembolization (TARE) is a locoregional therapy (LRT) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study, we present overall survival (OS) outcomes in a 1,000-patient cohort acquired over a 15-year period. Between December 1, 2003 and March 31, 2017, 1,000 patients with HCC were treated with TARE as part of a prospective cohort study. A comprehensive review of toxicity and survival outcomes was performed. Outcomes were stratified by baseline Child-Pugh (CP) class, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging systems. Albumin and bilirubin laboratory toxicities were compared to baseline. OS outcomes were reported using censoring and intention-to-treat methodologies. All treatments were outpatient, with a median one treatment per patient. Five hundred six (51%) were CP A, 450 (45%) CP B, and 44 (4%) CP C. Two hundred sixty-three (26%) patients were BCLC A, 152 (15%) B, 541 (54%) C, and 44 (4%) D. Three hundred sixty-eight (37%) were UNOS T1/T2, 169 (17%) T3, 147 (15%) T4a, 223 (22%) T4b, and 93 (9%) N/M. In CP A patients, censored OS for BCLC A was 47.3 (confidence interval [CI], 39.5-80.3) months, BCLC B 25.0 (CI, 17.3-30.5) months, and BCLC C 15.0 (CI, 13.8-17.7) months. In CP B patients, censored OS for BCLC A was 27 (CI, 21-30.2) months, BCLC B 15.0 (CI, 12.3-19.0) months, and BCLC C 8.0 (CI, 6.8-9.5) months. Forty-nine (5%) and 110 (11%) patients developed grade 3/4 albumin and bilirubin toxicities, respectively. Based on our experience with 1,000 patients over 15 years, we have made a decision to adopt TARE as the first-line transarterial LRT for patients with HCC. Our decision was informed by prospective data and incrementally reported demonstrating outcomes stratified by BCLC, applied as either neoadjuvant or definitive treatment. (Hepatology 2017). © 2017 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Changing outcomes after heart transplantation in patients with amyloid cardiomyopathy.

PubMed

Davis, Margot K; Lee, Peter H U; Witteles, Ronald M

2015-05-01

Amyloid cardiomyopathy (ACM) is associated with a poor prognosis. Previous reports have suggested unfavorable post-heart transplant (HT) survival in this population compared with other HT recipients. Data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry were used to study outcomes among ACM patients undergoing HT in the modern era (Era 2, 2008 to 2013) as compared with the historical era (Era 1, 1987 to 2007). One hundred eighty-eight ACM patients underwent primary single-organ HT. Ninety-seven patients (51.6%) were transplanted in Era 1 and 91 (48.4%) in Era 2. ACM patients undergoing HT in Era 2 were older (p < 0.0001), had higher body mass index (p = 0.008) and longer ischemic times (p = 0.02), and were more likely to be African-American (p < 0.0001), UNOS Status 1A (p < 0.0001), male (p = 0.01) and highly sensitized (p < 0.0001) compared with those in Era 1. Compared with patients with other etiologies of restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM; n = 339 in Era 1, n = 164 in Era 2), adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for post-HT mortality of ACM were 2.08 (p < 0.0001) in Era 1 and 1.22 (p = not statistically significant) in Era 2. Adjusted HRs for mortality of ACM vs all other diagnoses (n = 36,334 in Era 1, n = 9,225 in Era 2) were 1.84 (p < 0.0001) in Era 1 and 1.38 (p = NS) in Era 2. Although post-HT survival did not change with time among non-ACM RCM patients, post-HT mortality was lower in Era 2 compared with Era 1 among ACM patients (HR 0.49, p = 0.03). Although historically associated with inferior survival, post-HT outcomes in ACM patients in the modern era are now approaching those of non-ACM patients. Changes in patients' demographics suggest that this may be related to improved patient selection, including an increased proportion of patients with transthyretin ACM. HT should be considered for appropriate candidates with ACM. Copyright © 2015 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recruiting Minority Geoscientists: A 30 Year Success Story

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serpa, L.; Pavlis, T. L.; Hall, F.

2003-12-01

The University of New Orleans (UNO) is located in a city rich in diversity and industries that employ geoscientists. Thus, it is an ideal place to develop a strong diversity program in geology and geophysics. In 1974, Dr. Louis Fernandez received a grant from the NSF to formally develop a minority recruiting program. The focus of that initial program was a field trip for local minority high school students and that trip has gone continuously every year since then. It is still our best tool for recruiting outstanding minority students into our department. The initial NSF funding disappeared long ago and was replaced variously by support from private industry and creative use of departmental funds which kept the program alive through some lean funding years. As a result of this effort UNO has graduated more minority, particularly African-American, geoscientist than any other institution in the US for most of the past 30 years. The field trip is not the only reason for our success. Indeed, retaining and graduating students, regardless of their ethnicity, required a serious commitment to education on the part of our department. There are six universities in the city of New Orleans and several more within commuting distance from the city. Three of the six local universities are HBCU's with excellent reputations but, fortunately for us, no geoscience degree programs. There are several strong geoscience departments in the non-minority serving institutions in our area that attract many outstanding local students. To meet the competition, we have worked with local K-12 teachers, developed additional programs to interest local 7-12 students, and worked closely with our majors to keep them in the program and help them succeed once they are recruited. This has required a cohesive effort on the part of our faculty and students that is constantly changing to meet new demands as our department has expanded in size and developed its research activities sometimes at the expense of

Rheological Implications of Peridotite Serpentinization Reactions and Orogenic Serpentinite Emplacement by "Cold" Intrusion under Hydrothermal Conditions (T < 550°C) in the California Coast Ranges: Insights from Dissolution and Growth Microstructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirby, Stephen

2017-04-01

The natural system represented by a simplified serpentinization and dehydration reaction: olivine + water <-> serpentine + associated minerals has unusual properties from the standpoint of rheology and flow. In the absence of free water, the layer-silicate serpentine at T < 500°C is moderately strong, with a coefficient of friction of 0.6 over the range that it is stable, poor (001) cleavage, conchoidal fracture, high plastic yield strength, consequent to its difficult intracrystalline slip owing to its difficult basal slip that require breaking the Mg-O and Mg-OH bonds in the Mg interlayer and lack of easy slip on non-basal glide planes. The serpentinite-forming reaction involves a large mass uptake of water and volume increase. In excess of the amount of water to complete the reaction, serpentinites in orogens generally show abundant evidence of deformation under hydrothermal conditions, such as vein filling and deformation-induced dissolution and growth processes. Recent petrographic studies of serpentinite block-and-matrix samples collected from the San Francisco Bay Area of California by Uno and Kirby (EPSL Submitted, 2017), Lewis and Kirby (2015 AGU Poster Abstract) verify the importance of this deformation mechanism in those rocks. Finally, dozens of geologic papers published from 1935 to 1999 on these same serpentinite bodies, including those based geologic mapping on surface and underground mercury mine workings, concluded that they are cold intrusions injected as plugs, sills, dikes and fault fillings as enabled by the rheological effects of hydrothermal fluids as described above (Kellner and Kirby, 2016 AGU Poster Abstract). Some of these bodies may have been driven upward as diapirs and/or by volume expansion while being serpentinized during ascent through the crust. Evidence for these reactions has been found in thin sections found in nearly several hundred thin sections cut from block samples from 21 such bodies (Uno and Kirby, 2017; Madeline Lewis

Liver allocation and distribution: time for a change.

PubMed

Deshpande, Ranjit; Hirose, Ryutaro; Mulligan, David

2017-04-01

Liver allograft allocation has been a topic of hot debate for over a decade. New redistricting changes have been proposed by the Liver and Intestinal Transplant Committee to the existing United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) liver allocation policy. The basis of this new proposal is similar to the old one with an aim to distribute organs in a fair, efficient and equitable fashion. In this review, we plan to look in depth at the redistribution proposals thus far, their merits and how they may help patients who do not have adequate access to livers. Many authors have criticized the proposed changes to organ distribution to reduce geographic disparity in access to liver transplantation. Our focus in this article is to bring forth the most recent literature and proposed changes in the current distribution system. We will also mention two other possible methods that have been proposed to redesign distribution using concentric circles and neighborhoods. In this article, we also look at the economics of the redistricting proposal and its effects on transplant centers. The UNOS Liver and Intestinal Transplant Committee has recommended a proposal using the eight-district model with proximity circles and three additional Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) points with initial sharing MELD threshold of 25 as a starting point to reduce disparity in patient access to deceased donor livers for transplantation. This proposal has met with significant resistance because of concerns of cost, logistics and impact on existing transplant centers. Other methodologies have also been proposed that have the potential to significantly improve our current disparity of access to life-saving organs. Variation in the supply of donor organs vs. the demand or need for liver transplant by geography and the current defined areas of distribution drive this disparity. Cost benefits to the healthcare system in caring for patients with advanced stages of liver disease may outweigh increased

OPTN/SRTR 2016 Annual Data Report: Pancreas.

PubMed

Kandaswamy, R; Stock, P G; Gustafson, S K; Skeans, M A; Curry, M A; Prentice, M A; Fox, A; Israni, A K; Snyder, J J; Kasiske, B L

2018-01-01

The number of pancreas transplants performed in the United States increased by 7.0% in 2016 over the previous year, the first such increase in more than a decade, largely attributable to an increase in simultaneous kidney pancreas transplants. Transplant rates increased in 2016, and mortality on the waiting list decreased. The declining enthusiasm for pancreas after kidney (PAK) transplants persisted. The uniform definition of graft failure was approved by the OPTN Board of Directors in 2015 and will be implemented in early 2018. Meanwhile, SRTR continues to refrain from reporting pancreas graft failure data. The OPTN/UNOS Pancreas Transplantation Committee is seeking to broaden allocation of pancreata across compatible ABO blood types in a proposal out for public comment July 31 to October 2, 2017. A new initiative to provide guidance on the benefits of PAK transplants is also out for public comment.  .

Silhouette-based approach of 3D image reconstruction for automated image acquisition using robotic arm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azhar, N.; Saad, W. H. M.; Manap, N. A.; Saad, N. M.; Syafeeza, A. R.

2017-06-01

This study presents the approach of 3D image reconstruction using an autonomous robotic arm for the image acquisition process. A low cost of the automated imaging platform is created using a pair of G15 servo motor connected in series to an Arduino UNO as a main microcontroller. Two sets of sequential images were obtained using different projection angle of the camera. The silhouette-based approach is used in this study for 3D reconstruction from the sequential images captured from several different angles of the object. Other than that, an analysis based on the effect of different number of sequential images on the accuracy of 3D model reconstruction was also carried out with a fixed projection angle of the camera. The effecting elements in the 3D reconstruction are discussed and the overall result of the analysis is concluded according to the prototype of imaging platform.

H3+: superficies de energía potencial, estados y transiciones rovibracionales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguado, M. Paniagua Y. A.

Hemos calculado varias superficies globales de energía potencial para el estado fundamental y excitados del sistema H3+ en más de ocho mil geometrías diferentes usando una base (9s 3p 1d)/[4s 3p 1d] en cada átomo de Hidrógeno y mediante un método de cálculo de interacción de configuraciones completa (FCI). Hemos ajustado las superficies a formas analíticas del tipo Aguado y Paniagua con un error promedio menor de 50 cm-1 y menor en el pozo de potencial del estado fundamental. Finalmente hemos calculado y analizado los niveles vibracionales para los dos estados electrónicos más bajos, siendo la desviación respecto de los mejores valores publicados, tanto experimentales como teóricos, de unos pocos números de onda.

[Un processo che può gettare luce sulla cosiddetta 'paura di sé' nel disturbo ossessivo-compulsivo: l'Identificazione Retrospettiva delle Motivazioni e delle Inclinazioni].

PubMed

Mannino, Gherardo; Guerini, Rossella

2018-01-01

RIASSUNTO. Al fine di comprendere meglio la psicopatologia del disturbo ossessivo-compulsivo (DOC), in anni recenti è stata prestata una crescente attenzione alla cosiddetta "paura di sé" (fear of self), vale a dire la paura che le persone con DOC nutrono di ospitare dentro di sé aspetti inaccettabili. Tuttavia, l'esatta dinamica di questo fenomeno ancora non è chiara: di conseguenza, allo scopo di delucidarla meglio, sarà qui descritto uno specifico processo psicologico denominato Identificazione Retrospettiva delle Motivazioni e delle Inclinazioni (IRMI). Quando un paziente con DOC valuta in qualche modo come inaccettabile una propria esperienza interna (pensieri, emozioni, immagini mentali, ecc.) o un proprio comportamento, identificherà retrospettivamente le presunte motivazioni/inclinazioni negative che sarebbero state all'origine di quell'esperienza o comportamento. L'IRMI non solo aiuta a comprendere meglio il fenomeno della "paura di sé", ma possiede anche importanti implicazioni per la terapia.

Phase II multi-institutional clinical trial on a new mixed beam RT scheme of IMRT on pelvis combined with a carbon ion boost for high-risk prostate cancer patients.

PubMed

Marvaso, Giulia; Jereczek-Fossa, Barbara A; Vischioni, Barbara; Ciardo, Delia; Giandini, Tommaso; Hasegawa, Azusa; Cattani, Federica; Carrara, Mauro; Ciocca, Mario; Bedini, Nice; Villa, Sergio; Morlino, Sara; Russo, Stefania; Zerini, Dario; Colangione, Sarah Pia; Panaino, Costanza Maria Vittoria; Fodor, Cristiana; Santoro, Luigi; Pignoli, Emanuele; Valvo, Francesca; Valdagni, Riccardo; De Cobelli, Ottavio; Orecchia, Roberto

2017-05-12

Definition of the optimal treatment schedule for high-risk prostate cancer is under debate. A combination of photon intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) on pelvis with a carbon ion boost might be the optimal treatment scheme to escalate the dose on prostate and deliver curative dose with respect to normal tissue and quality of dose distributions. In fact, carbon ion beams offer the advantage to deliver hypofractionated radiotherapy (RT) using a significantly smaller number of fractions compared to conventional RT without increasing risks of late effects. This study is a prospective phase II clinical trial exploring safety and feasibility of a mixed beam scheme of carbon ion prostate boost followed by photon IMRT on pelvis. The study is designed to enroll 65 patients with localized high-risk prostate cancer at 3 different oncologic hospitals: Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, and Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica. The primary endpoint is the evaluation of safety and feasibility with acute toxicity scored up to 1 month after the end of RT. Secondary endpoints are treatment early (3 months after the end of RT) and long-term tolerability, quality of life, and efficacy. The study is not yet recruiting; in silico studies are ongoing and we expect to start recruitment by 2017. The present clinical trial aims at improving the current treatment for high-risk prostate cancer, evaluating safety and feasibility of a new RT mixed-beam scheme including photons and carbon ions. Encouraging results are coming from carbon ion facilities worldwide on the treatment of different tumors including prostate cancers. Carbon ions combine physical properties allowing for high dose conformity and advantageous radiobiological characteristics. The proposed mixed beam treatment has the advantage to combine a photon high conformity standard of care IMRT phase with a hypofractionated carbon ion RT boost delivered in a short overall

Ethical limitations in patenting biotechnological inventions.

PubMed

Lugagnani, V

1999-01-01

In order to connect ethical considerations with practical limits to patentability, the moral judgement should possibly move from the exploitation of the invention to the nature and/or objectives of Research and Development (R&D) projects which have produced it: in other words, it appears quite reasonable and logical that Society is not rewarding unethical R&D activities by granting intellectual property rights. As far as biotechnology R&D is concerned, ethical guidance can be derived from the 1996 Council of EuropeOs OConvention for the protection of human rights and dignity of the human being with regard to the application of biology and medicineO, whose Chapter V - Scientific research - provides guidelines on: i. protection of persons undergoing research (e.g. informed consent); ii. protection of persons not able to consent to research; iii. research on embryos in vitro. As far as the specific point of patenting biotechnology inventions is concerned, the four exclusions prescribed by Directive 98/44/EC (i.e. human cloning, human germ-line gene therapy, use of human embryos for commercial purposes, unjustified animal suffering for medical purposes) are all we have in Europe in terms of ethical guidance to patentability. In Italy, in particular, we certainly need far more comprehensive legislation, expressing SocietyOs demand to provide ethical control of modern biotechnology. However it is quite difficult to claim that ethical concerns are being raised by currently awarded biotechnology patents related to living organisms and material thereof; they largely deal with the results of genomic R&D, purposely and usefully oriented toward improving health-care and agri-food processes, products and services. ONo patents on lifeOO can be an appealing slogan of militants against modern biotechnology, but it is far too much of an over-simplified abstraction to become the Eleventh Commandment our Society.

Incidence of corneal infections after laser in situ keratomileusis and surface ablation when moxifloxacin and tobramycin are used as postoperative treatment.

PubMed

Ortega-Usobiaga, Julio; Llovet-Osuna, Fernando; Djodeyre, Mohammad Reza; Llovet-Rausell, Andrea; Beltran, Jaime; Baviera, Julio

2015-06-01

To assess the incidence, culture results, and visual outcomes of infectious keratitis after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and surface ablation when topical moxifloxacin was added to postoperative prophylaxis with tobramycin. Clínica Baviera, Instituto Oftalmológico Europeo, Bilbao, Spain. Retrospective case series review. The medical records of 55 255 patients (108 014 eyes) who had LASIK and surface ablation were reviewed to identify cases of infectious keratitis. The incidence, risk factors, clinical course, days to diagnosis, treatment, and final visual outcomes were recorded. These data were compared with previously published data of 221 437 eyes that received postoperative tobramycin alone. Post-LASIK infectious keratitis was diagnosed in 10 eyes (9 patients) and post-surface ablation infectious keratitis in 11 eyes (10 patients). The onset of infection was early in 40.00% of cases after LASIK and in 36.36% after surface ablation. Cultures were positive in 2 cases after surface ablation. Immediate flap lifting and irrigation with antibiotics were performed in all eyes after LASIK. The final corrected distance visual acuity was 20/20 or better in 7 cases after LASIK (70.00%) and 7 cases after surface ablation (63.64%) and 20/40 or better in all cases after LASIK or surface ablation. The incidence of infectious keratitis decreased from 0.025% to 0.011% (P < .001) per procedure after LASIK and from 0.200% to 0.066% (P < .001) after surface ablation. Infectious keratitis was less frequent after LASIK than after surface ablation. The frequency of infection, mainly early-onset infection, was lower when the postoperative treatment was tobramycin and moxifloxacin rather than tobramycin alone. No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. Copyright © 2015 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

“Es como uno bomba de tiempo [It’s like a time bomb]”: A Qualitative Analysis of Perceptions of Diabetes Among First-Degree Relatives of Latino Patients With Diabetes

PubMed Central

Boutin-Foster, Carla; Milan, Maria; Kanna, Balavenkatesh

2014-01-01

Abstract Background. The South Bronx, a largely Latino community, has become an epicenter of the diabetes epidemic in New York City. In this community, nondiabetic first-degree relatives of people with diabetes are prime targets for intervention. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the knowledge of diabetes and attitudes toward health behavior modification of Latino adults who are first-degree relatives of people with diabetes. Methods. Participants were recruited from three settings in the South Bronx (a community-based organization, a faith-based organization, and a taxi station). The Common Sense Model was used to develop focus-group items. This model provides a framework for exploring illness representations along five domains: identity, cause, consequences, timeline, and perceptions of curability. Responses were transcribed verbatim, and data analysis proceeded in the following order: data immersion, assignment of codes, grouping of key concepts to form categories, and construction of higher-order themes. Results. Of the 115 potential participants identified, 53 were found to be eligible, and 23 of these participated in the focus group. Of these, 20 were Dominicans, 2 were Puerto Ricans, and 1 was Salvadorian. The mean age was 46.39 years, 35% were women, 61% were married, and 26% had less than a high school education. Qualitative analyses resulted in 547 codes that were grouped into 52 concepts, from which 9 categories and 4 overarching themes emerged. The dominant themes were 1) family, genetics, and culture play a major role in the etiology of diabetes; 2) being Latino and having a first-degree relative with diabetes makes getting diabetes inevitable, and, like a time bomb exploding, it is destined to happen; 3) once one develops diabetes, the physical and emotional consequences are devastating and destructive; and 4) diabetes can be “cured” through healthy eating and with insulin. Conclusions.In this study, first-degree relatives of patients with diabetes were knowledgeable about the risks and consequences of diabetes. However, some participants felt that being Latino and having a first-degree relative with diabetes made one destined to have diabetes. Addressing this misperception through culturally tailored interventions has implications for diabetes prevention and may help to stem the diabetes epidemic in Latino communities. PMID:26246756

Development of a working Hovercraft model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noor, S. H. Mohamed; Syam, K.; Jaafar, A. A.; Mohamad Sharif, M. F.; Ghazali, M. R.; Ibrahim, W. I.; Atan, M. F.

2016-02-01

This paper presents the development process to fabricate a working hovercraft model. The purpose of this study is to design and investigate of a fully functional hovercraft, based on the studies that had been done. The different designs of hovercraft model had been made and tested but only one of the models is presented in this paper. In this thesis, the weight, the thrust, the lift and the drag force of the model had been measured and the electrical and mechanical parts are also presented. The processing unit of this model is Arduino Uno by using the PSP2 (Playstation 2) as the controller. Since our prototype should be functioning on all kind of earth surface, our model also had been tested in different floor condition. They include water, grass, cement and tile. The Speed of the model is measured in every case as the respond variable, Current (I) as the manipulated variable and Voltage (V) as the constant variable.

The first geocenter estimation results using GPS measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malla, R. P.; Wu, S. C.

1990-01-01

The center of mass of the Earth is the natural and unambiguous origin of a geocentric satellite dynamical system. A geocentric reference frame assumes that the origin of its coordinate axes is at the geocenter, in which all relevant observations and results can be referred and in which geodynamic theories or models for the dynamic behavior of Earth can be formulated. In practice, however, a kinematically obtained terrestrial reference frame may assume an origin other than the geocenter. A fast and accurate method of determining origin offset from the geocenter is highly desirable. Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements, because of their abundance and broad distribution, provide a powerful tool to obtain this origin offset in a short period of time. Two effective strategies have been devised. Data from the first Central and South America (Casa Uno) global GPS experiment were studied to demonstrate the ability of recovering the geocenter location with present-day GPS satellites and receivers.

Los “puntos débiles o sensibles” de los Ensayos Clínicos en niñas/os y adolescentes

PubMed Central

Melamed, Irene N.

2017-01-01

Resumen La revisión ética de un Ensayo Clínico1 que incluye a niñas/os y adolescentes en calidad de participantes, debe centrar su mirada en aspectos relacionados con la vulnerabilidad inherente a esa etapa de la vida, condición que se nutre de elementos biológicos, emocionales, de justicia y de equidad, entre otros. Sin embargo, la visión sugerida en este caso y sin desoír las características mencionadas, es la que busca profundizar en uno de los actores del proceso de investigación: el Ensayo Clínico. El objetivo es poder determinar la presencia o no de “zonas frágiles o de puntos débiles” en su interior, los que al ser individualizados y especialmente considerados, contribuyan a mejorar la calidad de la revisión ética de las investigaciones que son llevadas a cabo en niñas/os y adolescentes. PMID:28757905

1986-87 atomic mass predictions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haustein, P.E.

A project to perform a comprehensive update of the atomic mass predictions has recently been concluded and will be published shortly in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables. The project evolved from an ongoing comparison between available mass predictions and reports of newly measured masses of isotopes throughout the mass surface. These comparisons have highlighted a variety of features in current mass models which are responsible for predictions that diverge from masses determined experimentally. The need for a comprehensive update of the atomic mass predictions was therefore apparent and the project was organized and began at the last mass conferencemore » (AMCO-VII). Project participants included: Pape and Anthony; Dussel, Caurier and Zuker; Moeller and Nix; Moeller, Myers, Swiatecki and Treiner; Comay, Kelson, and Zidon; Satpathy and Nayak; Tachibana, Uno, Yamada and Yamada; Spanier and Johansson; Jaenecke and Masson; and Wapstra, Audi and Hoekstra. An overview of the new atomic mass predictions may be obtained by written request.« less

The 1986-87 atomic mass predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haustein, P. E.

1987-12-01

A project to perform a comprehensive update of the atomic mass predictions has recently been concluded and will be published shortly in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables. The project evolved from an ongoing comparison between available mass predictions and reports of newly measured masses of isotopes throughout the mass surface. These comparisons have highlighted a variety of features in current mass models which are responsible for predictions that diverge from masses determined experimentally. The need for a comprehensive update of the atomic mass predictions was therefore apparent and the project was organized and began at the last mass conference (AMCO-VII). Project participants included: Pape and Anthony; Dussel, Caurier and Zuker; Möller and Nix; Möller, Myers, Swiatecki and Treiner; Comay, Kelson, and Zidon; Satpathy and Nayak; Tachibana, Uno, Yamada and Yamada; Spanier and Johansson; Jänecke and Masson; and Wapstra, Audi and Hoekstra. An overview of the new atomic mass predictions may be obtained by written request.

El Proyecto Gémini: informe actualizado y técnica de observación

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahade, J.; Lapasset, E.; Levato, H.

Se describirá la situación actual en lo que se refiere al desarrollo del Proyecto Gémini en cuanto a su estructura, faz constructiva y programación general. Se informará sobre los planes a desarrollar en el tiempo de verificación científica y puesta a punto del instrumental, a partir de la primera imagen que se obtenga con el telescopio Gemini Norte. Se presentará, además, el plan operativo para observar con los telescopios Gemini tal cual está concebido hasta la fecha, describiéndose el proceso desde el mismo momento en que un investigador decide presentar una propuesta para observar con uno de los telescopios, hasta el archivo y derechos de propiedad sobre los datos. Se decribe también el ``soft" denominado Observing Tool (OT) que es clave en la planificación científica de Gemini y que puede ser utilizado ``off-line" en cualquier PC con un entorno windows.

Connected car: Engines diagnostic via Internet of Things (IoT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamid, A. F. A.; Rahman, M. T. A.; Khan, S. F.; Adom, A. H.; Rahim, M. A.; Rahim, N. A.; Ismail, M. H. N.; Norizan, A.

2017-10-01

This paper is about an experiment for performing engines diagnostic using wireless sensing Internet of Thing (IoT). The study is to overcome problem of current standard On Board Diagnosis (OBD-II) data acquisition method that only can be perform in offline or wired method. From this paper it show a method to determined how the data from engines can be collected, make the data can be easily understand by human and sending data over the wireless internet connection via platform of IOT. This study is separate into three stages that is CAN-bus data collection, CAN data conversion and send data to cloud storage. Every stage is experimented with a two different method and consist five data parameter that is Revolution per Minute (RPM), Manifold Air Pressure (MAP), load-fuel, barometric pressure and engine temperature. The experiment use Arduino Uno as microcontroller, CAN-bus converter and ESP8266 wifi board as transfer medium for data to internet.

El círculo meridiano automático de San Fernando - San Juan. Sus primeros pasos en el hemisferio sur

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mallamaci, C. C.; Muiños, J. L.; Gallego, M.; Pérez, J. A.; Marmolejo, L.; Navarro, J. L.; Sedeño, J.; Vallejos, M.; Belizón, F.

Se informa sobre el estado actual del Círculo Meridiano Automático de San Fernando-San Juan. El instrumento (Grubb-Parson, de 178mm de abertura y 2665 mm de distancia focal) es gemelo del que se encuentra en las Islas Canarias, y fue instalado durante los meses de julio y agosto de 1996 en la estación astronómica ``Dr. C.U.Cesco" (El Leoncito, Barreal), a unos 200 km de distancia de la ciudad de San Juan, merced a un Convenio de Cooperación Científica, firmado en 1994 entre el ROA (España) y el OAFA (Argentina). En la actualidad se está llevando a cabo un programa de prueba cuyos resultados preliminares muestran que el telescopio está en buenas condiciones para observar estrellas de hasta magnitud aproximada 14.5, con buenos errores de observación (<0.12" en ascensión recta y declinación).

Water Pipeline Monitoring and Leak Detection using Flow Liquid Meter Sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahmat, R. F.; Satria, I. S.; Siregar, B.; Budiarto, R.

2017-04-01

Water distribution is generally installed through underground pipes. Monitoring the underground water pipelines is more difficult than monitoring the water pipelines located on the ground in open space. This situation will cause a permanent loss if there is a disturbance in the pipeline such as leakage. Leaks in pipes can be caused by several factors, such as the pipe’s age, improper installation, and natural disasters. Therefore, a solution is required to detect and to determine the location of the damage when there is a leak. The detection of the leak location will use fluid mechanics and kinematics physics based on harness water flow rate data obtained using flow liquid meter sensor and Arduino UNO as a microcontroller. The results show that the proposed method is able to work stably to determine the location of the leak which has a maximum distance of 2 metres, and it’s able to determine the leak location as close as possible with flow rate about 10 litters per minute.

Relevamiento de HI en el Hemisferio Austral

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arnal, E. M.; Bajaja, E.; Morras, R.; Pöppel, W. G. L.

Un nuevo relevamiento de HI de todo el Hemisferio Austral, comprendido entre -90o <= δ <= -25o, está siendo observado con la antena I del IAR. El mismo es realizado con alta sensibilidad (r.m.s.<= 0.07 K) y alta resolución espectral (1 Km/s). Un total de ~50000 posiciones en el cielo serán observadas, espaciadas en una grilla (lxb) de (0.5o x 0.5o). El intervalo de velocidades cubierto en este relevamiento abarca el rango -450 km/s a +450 km/s en el sistema LSR. Esta base de datos será corregida por efectos de ``stray radiation''. Al presente se ha observado ~70% del total del relevamiento. El mismo es complementario de uno similar realizado en el Hemisferio Norte por Hartman y Burton (1996), con cubrimiento espacial, sensibilidad, resoluciones espaciales y en velocidad, similares a los del IAR. El objetivo final de ambos relevamientos es disponer de una base de datos uniforme en todo el cielo.

Recovery of a geocentric reference frame using the present-day GPS system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malla, Rajendra P.; Wu, Sien-Chong

1990-01-01

A geocentric reference frame adopts the center of mass of the earth as the origin of the coordinate axes. The center of mass of the earth is the natural and unambiguous origin of a geocentric satellite dynamical system. But in practice a kinematically obtained terrestrial reference frame may assume an origin other than the geocenter. The establishment of a geocentric reference frame, to which all relevant observations and results can be referred and in which geodynamic theories or models for the dynamic behavior of earth can be formulated, requires the ability to accurately recover a given coordinate frame origin offset from the geocenter. GPS measurements, because of their abundance and broad distribution, provide a powerful tool to obtain this origin offset in a short period of time. Two effective strategies have been devised. Data from the First Central And South America (Casa Uno) geodynamics experiment has been studied, in order to demonstrate the ability of recovering the geocenter location with present day GPS satellites and receivers.

Precise regional baseline estimation using a priori orbital information

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindqwister, Ulf J.; Lichten, Stephen M.; Blewitt, Geoffrey

1990-01-01

A solution using GPS measurements acquired during the CASA Uno campaign has resulted in 3-4 mm horizontal daily baseline repeatability and 13 mm vertical repeatability for a 729 km baseline, located in North America. The agreement with VLBI is at the level of 10-20 mm for all components. The results were obtained with the GIPSY orbit determination and baseline estimation software and are based on five single-day data arcs spanning the 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27 of January, 1988. The estimation strategy included resolving the carrier phase integer ambiguities, utilizing an optial set of fixed reference stations, and constraining GPS orbit parameters by applying a priori information. A multiday GPS orbit and baseline solution has yielded similar 2-4 mm horizontal daily repeatabilities for the same baseline, consistent with the constrained single-day arc solutions. The application of weak constraints to the orbital state for single-day data arcs produces solutions which approach the precise orbits obtained with unconstrained multiday arc solutions.

Home security system using internet of things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anitha, A.

2017-11-01

IoT refers to the infrastructure of connected physical devices which is growing at a rapid rate as huge number of devices and objects are getting associated to the Internet. Home security is a very useful application of IoT and we are using it to create an inexpensive security system for homes as well as industrial use. The system will inform the owner about any unauthorized entry or whenever the door is opened by sending a notification to the user. After the user gets the notification, he can take the necessary actions. The security system will use a microcontroller known as Arduino Uno to interface between the components, a magnetic Reed sensor to monitor the status, a buzzer for sounding the alarm, and a WiFi module, ESP8266 to connect and communicate using the Internet. The main advantages of such a system includes the ease of setting up, lower costs and low maintenance.

Design of mechanical arm for an automatic sorting system of recyclable cans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Resti, Y.; Mohruni, A. S.; Burlian, F.; Yani, I.; Amran, A.

2018-04-01

The use of a mechanical arm for an automatic sorting system of used cans should be designed carefully. The right design will result in a high precision sorting rate and a short sorting time. The design includes first; design manipulator,second; determine link and joint specifications, and third; build mechanical systems and control systems. This study aims to design the mechanical arm as a hardware system for automatic cans sorting system. The material used for the manipulator is the aluminum plate. The manipulator is designed using 6 links and 6 join where the 6th link is the end effectorand the 6th join is the gripper. As a driving motor used servo motor, while as a microcontroller used Arduino Uno which is connected with Matlab programming language. Based on testing, a mechanical arm designed for this recyclable canned recycling system has a precision sorting rate at 93%, where the average total time required for sorting is 10.82 seconds.

Investigation of Thermal Properties of High-Density Polyethylene/Aluminum Nanocomposites by Photothermal Infrared Radiometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koca, H. D.; Evgin, T.; Horny, N.; Chirtoc, M.; Turgut, A.; Tavman, I. H.

2017-12-01

In this study, thermal properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) filled with nanosized Al particles (80 nm) were investigated. Samples were prepared using melt mixing method up to filler volume fraction of 29 %, followed by compression molding. By using modulated photothermal radiometry (PTR) technique, thermal diffusivity and thermal effusivity were obtained. The effective thermal conductivity of nanocomposites was calculated directly from PTR measurements and from the measurements of density, specific heat capacity (by differential scanning calorimetry) and thermal diffusivity (obtained from PTR signal amplitude and phase). It is concluded that the thermal conductivity of HDPE composites increases with increasing Al fraction and the highest effective thermal conductivity enhancement of 205 % is achieved at a filler volume fraction of 29 %. The obtained results were compared with the theoretical models and experimental data given in the literature. The results demonstrate that Agari and Uno, and Cheng and Vachon models can predict well the thermal conductivity of HDPE/Al nanocomposites in the whole range of Al fractions.

Biodegradation Behaviour of Thermoplastic Starch Films Derived from Tacca leontopetaloides Starch under Controlled Composting Condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amin, A. M. Mohd; Sauid, S. Mohd; Hamid, K. H. Ku; Musa, M.

2018-05-01

The biodegradation study of thermoplastic starch (TPS) films derived from Tacca leontopetaloides starch; namely TPS/GLY, TPS/ACE and TPS/BCHR were investigated under controlled composting conditions. A manual set-up test rig in laboratory scale was built according to ISO 14855-1: 2012. The biodegradation percentage was determined by measuring the amount of CO2 evolved using titration method and validated by automatic system (Arduino UNO System) that detected the CO2 evolved. After 45 days under controlled composting condition, results indicated that TPS/GLY degraded the fastest, followed by TPS/BCHR and the TPS/ACE had the slowest degradation. The biodegradation process of TPS/GLY, TPS/ACE and TPS/BCHR also exhibited two stages with different degradation speeds. From these results, it indicated that chemical modification of the TPS films by adding acetic acid and rice husk bio-char to the thermoplastic starch can have a major impact on the biodegradation rate and final biodegradation percentage.

Nuevas observaciones de 3C10 con el VLA*: estudio de la expansión

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reynoso, E. M.; Moffett, D. A.:; Dubner, G. M.; Giacani, E. B.; Reynolds, S. P.; Goss, W. M.; Dickel, J.

Se presentan nuevos resultados sobre la expansión del remanente de la supernova de Tycho a lo largo de un intervalo de 10.9 años, comparando nuevas observaciones tomadas con el VLA a 1375 y 1635 MHz durante 1994 y 1995, con observaciones previas realizadas entre 1983 y 1984 (Dickel y col. ~1991 AJ 101, 2151), usando las mismas configuraciones, anchos de banda, calibradores y tiempos de integración. El coeficiente de expansión se calcula para sectores radiales de 4o de ancho cada uno, ajustando la correlación cruzada de las derivadas de los perfiles promedio para cada época. A partir de la expansión medida, se estima el índice (parámetro de expansión) de la ley potencial R∝ tm como m≡ d ln R/d ln t . Este valor se compara con coeficientes teóricos para diferentes fases evolutivas de remanentes de supernova.

IL TRAPIANTO ORTOTOPICO DEL FEGATO

PubMed Central

STARZL, THOMAS E.

2010-01-01

E’ormai noto che esiste la possibilità rivoluzionaria di utilizzare il fegato per il trattamento della stadio terminale delle epatopatie. Nel gennaio 1980 si celebra il decimo anna di sopravvivenza con fegato trapiantato (la più lunga della letteratura) di un paziente da noi trattato. Si tratta di uno dei 12 malati sottoposti a trapianto e seguiti per più di 5 anni. La nota positiva di questa tipo di trattamento è rappresentata dall’eccellente tenore di vita che i pazienti conducono e dalla riabilitazione sociale e professionale. La nota negativa è data, invece, dal fatto che i buoni risultati non vengono raggiunti con regolarità e non possono essere previsti con esattezza. In questa breve rassegna considereremo la esperienza da noi fatta presso l’Università di Denver nel Colorado, mettendo in risalto le cause dell’elevata mortalità precoce e le prospettive future di questa mezzo terapeutico. PMID:21572898

ArControl: An Arduino-Based Comprehensive Behavioral Platform with Real-Time Performance.

PubMed

Chen, Xinfeng; Li, Haohong

2017-01-01

Studying animal behavior in the lab requires reliable delivering stimulations and monitoring responses. We constructed a comprehensive behavioral platform (ArControl: Arduino Control Platform) that was an affordable, easy-to-use, high-performance solution combined software and hardware components. The hardware component was consisted of an Arduino UNO board and a simple drive circuit. As for software, the ArControl provided a stand-alone and intuitive GUI (graphical user interface) application that did not require users to master scripts. The experiment data were automatically recorded with the built in DAQ (data acquisition) function. The ArControl also allowed the behavioral schedule to be entirely stored in and operated on the Arduino chip. This made the ArControl a genuine, real-time system with high temporal resolution (<1 ms). We tested the ArControl, based on strict performance measurements and two mice behavioral experiments. The results showed that the ArControl was an adaptive and reliable system suitable for behavioral research.

Customized design and 3D printing of face seal for an N95 filtering facepiece respirator.

PubMed

Cai, Mang; Li, Hui; Shen, Shengnan; Wang, Yu; Yang, Quan

2018-03-01

Filtering Facepiece Respirator (FFR) is the most common respirator users in the health care environment utilize for personal protection from outside particles. Comfort and fit are important while wearing an FFR. This paper proposes a novel technology to produce customized face seal design for improving the wearing comfort and fit of FFR wearers. In order to customize the design of face seals, we scanned the faces of three subjects using three-dimensional (3D) laser scanning method. A customized face seal for a 3M 8210 N95 FFR for each headform was designed using reverse engineering technique. Next, the face seal prototypes were fabricated with Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) plastic using the 3D printing method. A force sensing system based on Arduino Uno R3 was developed, and the force sensor of this system was inserted between the FFR and headform to measure contact pressure. Experimental results showed that the newly designed FFR face seal provided the subjects with an improved contact pressure.

A Simple Experimental Setup for Teaching Additive Colors with Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carvalho, Paulo Simeão; Hahn, Marcelo

2016-04-01

The result of additive colors is always fascinating to young students. When we teach this topic to 14- to 16-year-old students, they do not usually notice we use maximum light quantities of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) to obtain yellow, magenta, and cyan colors in order to build the well-known additive color diagram of Fig. 1. But how about using different light intensities for R, G, and B? What colors do we get? This problem of color mixing has been intensively discussed for decades by several authors, as pointed out by Ruiz's "Color Addition and Subtraction Apps" work and the references included therein. An early LED demonstrator for additive color mixing dates back to 1985, and apps to illustrate color mixing are available online. In this work, we describe an experimental setup making use of a microcontroller device: the Arduino Uno. This setup is designed as a game in order to improve students' understanding of color mixing.

ArControl: An Arduino-Based Comprehensive Behavioral Platform with Real-Time Performance

PubMed Central

Chen, Xinfeng; Li, Haohong

2017-01-01

Studying animal behavior in the lab requires reliable delivering stimulations and monitoring responses. We constructed a comprehensive behavioral platform (ArControl: Arduino Control Platform) that was an affordable, easy-to-use, high-performance solution combined software and hardware components. The hardware component was consisted of an Arduino UNO board and a simple drive circuit. As for software, the ArControl provided a stand-alone and intuitive GUI (graphical user interface) application that did not require users to master scripts. The experiment data were automatically recorded with the built in DAQ (data acquisition) function. The ArControl also allowed the behavioral schedule to be entirely stored in and operated on the Arduino chip. This made the ArControl a genuine, real-time system with high temporal resolution (<1 ms). We tested the ArControl, based on strict performance measurements and two mice behavioral experiments. The results showed that the ArControl was an adaptive and reliable system suitable for behavioral research. PMID:29321735

Purification and characterization of a thermostable beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase from Laetiporus sulphureus var. miniatus.

PubMed

Hong, Mi-Ri; Kim, Yeong-Su; Joo, Ah-Reum; Lee, Jung-Kul; Kim, Yeong-Suk; Oh, Deok-Kun

2009-08-01

A beta-1,3-1,4-glucanase from the fungus Laetiporus sulphureus var. miniatus was purified as a single 26 kDa band by ammonium sulfate precipitation, HiTrap Q HP, and UNO Q ion-exchange chromatography, with a specific activity of 29 U/mg. The molecular mass of the native enzyme was 52 kDa as a dimer by gel filtration. beta-1,3-1,4-Glucanase showed optimum activity at pH 4.0 and 75 degrees . The half-lives of the enzyme at 70 degrees and 75 degrees were 152 h and 22 h, respectively. The enzyme showed the highest activity for barley beta- glucan as beta-1,3-1,4-glucan among the tested polysaccharides and p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glycosides with a K(m) of 0.67 mg/ml, a k(cat) of 13.5 s(-1) and a k(cat)/K(m) of 20 mg/ml/s.

Coping with Social Change: Programs That Work. Proceedings of a Conference (Acapulco, Mexico, June 1989) = Como enfrentarse al cambio social: programas eficaces. Actas de uno Conferencia (Acapulco, Mexico, Junio de 1989).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoskins, Irene, Ed.

Written in English and Spanish, this document contains the proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Gerontology on concerns about the impact of rapid social change on the well-being of older women and families in Latin American and the Caribbean and about effective programs that address the needs of the older populations. The first…

Studiar L'inglese dalle elementari--Problema europeo: Una proposta nuova della pedagogia cibernetica (Beginning the Study of English in the Elementary School Grades--A European Problem: A New Proposal from Cibernetic Education).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiti-Batelli, Andrea

1986-01-01

Warns the European community of the dangers of accepting English as the international language and urges the adoption of Esperanto, a neutral language without its own cultural tradition, as the international lingua franca. (CFM)

The corrected donor age for hepatitis C virus-infected liver transplant recipients.

PubMed

Dirchwolf, Melisa; Dodge, Jennifer L; Gralla, Jane; Bambha, Kiran M; Nydam, Trevor; Hung, Kenneth W; Rosen, Hugo R; Feng, Sandy; Terrault, Norah A; Biggins, Scott W

2015-08-01

Donor age has become the dominant donor factor used to predict graft failure (GF) after liver transplantation (LT) in hepatitis C virus (HCV) recipients. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a model of corrected donor age (CDA) for HCV LT recipients that transforms the risk of other donor factors into the scale of donor age. We analyzed all first LT recipients with HCV in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry from January 1998 to December 2007 (development cohort, n = 14,538) and January 2008 to December 2011 (validation cohort, n = 7502) using Cox regression, excluding early GF (<90 days from LT). Accuracy in predicting 1 year GF (death or repeat LT) was assessed with the net reclassification index (NRI). In the development cohort, after controlling for pre-LT recipient factors and geotemporal trends (UNOS region, LT year), the following donor factors were independent predictors of GF, all P < 0.05: donor age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.02/year), donation after cardiac death (DCD; HR, 1.31), diabetes (HR, 1.23), height < 160 cm (HR, 1.13), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) ≥ 120 U/L (HR, 1.10), female (HR, 0.94), cold ischemia time (CIT; HR, 1.02/hour), and non-African American (non-AA) donor-African American (AA) recipient (HR, 1.65). Transforming these risk factors into the donor age scale yielded the following: DCD = +16 years; diabetes = +12 years; height < 160 cm = +7 years; AST ≥ 120 U/L = +5 years; female = -4 years; and CIT = +1 year/hour > 8 hours and -1 year/hour < 8 hours. There was a large effect of donor-recipient race combinations: +29 years for non-AA donor and an AA recipient but only +5 years for an AA donor and an AA recipient, and -2 years for an AA donor and a non-AA recipient. In a validation cohort, CDA better classified risk of 1-year GF versus actual age (NRI, 4.9%; P = 0.009) and versus the donor risk index (9.0%, P < 0.001). The CDA, compared

Estudio teórico de la distribución catiónica en la capa octaédrica de silicatos laminares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Laguna, A.

Los silicatos laminares son unos minerales de gran extensión en la corteza de nuestro y otros planetas, y se ha detectado su presencia en masas de partículas de polvo interplanatario. Están formados por láminas estructuradas en una capa tetraedros de sílice y una de octaédros de oxihidroxido de aluminio. Según el número de capas y la disposición aparecen distintos minerales. Además, también pueden aparecer distintos minerales como consecuencia de la substitución isomórfica de cationes en la capas, en particular, Al(III) por Si en la capa tetraédrica y Fe(III) y/o Mg(II) por Al(III) en la octaédrica. Cuando el catión substituyente presenta un estado de oxidación más bajo que al que substituye genera carga negativa que tiene que neutralizarse con cationes que se disponen en el espacio interlaminar. En este trabajo vamos a estudiar, mediante distintos métodos computacionales, las distribuciones de dichos cationes de substitución en la capa octaédrica de silicatos laminares 2:1 (dos capas tetraédricas y en medio una octaédrica), en particular, en los minerales esmectitas e ilitas. En primer lugar, estudiaremos la distribución de dichos cationes en la capa octaédrica en un modelo de gas reticular por el método de Monte Carlo, minimizando el número de pares de cationes Al, Fe y Mg de nuestro modelo con respecto a los procedentes de resultados espectroscópicos de muestras de minerales. Posteriormente, y mediante un modelo de potenciales empíricos, estudiamos la energética de las distribuciones binarias en dichos minerales, generando unos potenciales de interacción intercambio a dos y tres cationes (extrapolables a cualquier filosilicato) que son la base para una investigación Monte Carlo-"simulated-annealing" en la que se encuentran las transiciones de fase y las estructuras ordenadas, dependiendo dichas estructuras y la temperatura de cambio de fase de la de la naturaleza y concentración de los cationes de substitución. También se han

Calorimetria nucleare in collisioni tra ioni pesanti ad energie intermedie

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spezzi, L.

2002-07-01

Nel presente lavoro di tesi ci si e' occupati di uno studio sistematico di misure di temperatura ed energia di eccitazione in sistemi nucleari formati in reazioni tra ioni pesanti ad energie intermedie. La temperatura a stata misurata tramite due diversi metodi: rapporto tra le rese di isotopi che differiscono di uno stesso numero di nucleoni ( d/t-3He/4He , 3He/4He -6Li/7Li) - temperatura isotopica -, e rapporto tra le popolazioni degli stati eccitati in frammenti instabili (5Li e 6Li) che decadono in particelle leggere in coincidenza - temperatura di emissione. Le misure in esame sono state effettuate presso i Laboratori Nazionali del Sud per i sistemi 93Nb+93Nb, 93Nb+116,124Sn, 116,120Sn+116,124Sn e 116Sn+93Nb ad energie comprese tra 17 e 40 A MeV. L'apparato di rivelazione era costituito da un odoscopio ad alta granularite (96 telescopi Si (50micron)-Si(300micron)-CsI(Tl) ) e basse soglie di rivelazione, utilizzato sia per identificare risonanze in frammenti eccitati che per misure di rese di isotopi di frammenti con 2<=Z<=6, e dal multirivelatore FIASCO che, grazie alla misura contemporanea di posizione e tempo di volo dei frammenti provenienti dal proiettile (PLF - Projectile Like Fragments) e dal bersaglio (TLF - Target Like Fragment), e' stato utilizzato per misurare direttamente l'energia di eccitazione del sistema in studio. Analisi precedenti, condotte nell'ambito di varie collaborazioni, hanno messo in evidenza la possible esistenza di una transizione di fase liquido-gas del primo ordine nella materia nucleare. In tale contesto, ci siamo occupati di una verifica della curva calorica nucleare, ovvero della correlazione esistente fra temperatura ed energia di eccitazione del sistema, indagando, nel contempo, sulla sua dipendenza dalla massa del sistema che si frammenta. Si e' effettuato, inoltre, un confronto fra i due diversi metodi di misura della temperatura (temperatura isotopica e di emissione): l'andamento plateau-like della curva calorica e' stato

Space Radar Image of Manaus, Brazil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Central African Gorilla Habitat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image Isla Isabela in 3-D

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

National Workshop on Astrobiology: The Life Science Involvement of AAS I Laben

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adami, Giorgio

2006-12-01

The search for traces of past and present life is a complex and multidisciplinary research activity involving several scientific heritages and a specific industrial ability for planetary exploration. Laben was established in 1958 to design and manufacture electronic instruments for research in nuclear physics. In the mid 2004 the company was merged with Alenia Spazio. It is now part of Alcatel Alenia Space, a French Italian joint venture. Alcatel Alenia Space Italia SpA is a Finmeccanica Company. Currently the plant of Vimodrone provides a wide heritage in life science oriented to space application. The experience in Space Life Science is consolidated in the following research areas: (1) Physiology: Mouse models related to studies on human physiology Human neuroscience research and dosimetry (2) Animal Adaptation and Behaviour: mice behaviour related to stabling stress (3) Developmental Biology: aquatic microorganisms cultivation (4) Cell culture & Biotechnology: Protein crystal growth General purpose Multiwell Next Biotechnology studies and development: Bio reactor, mainly oriented to tissue engineering Microsensor for tissue control (organ replacement) Multiwell for adherent cell culture or

Space Radar Image of San Francisco, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Mammoth, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operation and data processing of X-SAR.

Preparation of scanning tunneling microscopy tips using pulsed alternating current etching

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Valencia, Victor A.; Thaker, Avesh A.; Derouin, Jonathan

An electrochemical method using pulsed alternating current etching (PACE) to produce atomically sharp scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) tips is presented. An Arduino Uno microcontroller was used to control the number and duration of the alternating current (AC) pulses, allowing for ready optimization of the procedures for both Pt:Ir and W tips using a single apparatus. W tips prepared using constant and pulsed AC power were compared. Tips fashioned using PACE were sharper than those etched with continuous AC power alone. Pt:Ir tips were prepared with an initial coarse etching stage using continuous AC power followed by fine etching using PACE.more » The number and potential of the finishing AC pulses was varied and scanning electron microscope imaging was used to compare the results. Finally, tip quality using the optimized procedures was verified by UHV-STM imaging. With PACE, at least 70% of the W tips and 80% of the Pt:Ir tips were of sufficiently high quality to obtain atomically resolved images of HOPG or Ni(111)« less

Real-time monitoring system for elderly people in detecting falling movement using accelerometer and gyroscope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siregar, B.; Andayani, U.; Bahri, R. P.; Seniman; Fahmi, F.

2018-03-01

Most of the elderly people is experiencing a decrease in physical quality, especially the weakness in the legs. This will cause elderly easy to fall and can have a serious impact on their health if not getting help very quickly. It is, therefore, necessary to take immediate action against the falling cases experienced by the elderly. One such action is by developing supervision and detecting of falling movements in real-time, which is then the connection to a member of the family. In this research, we used Arduino Uno as a microcontroller, sensor accelerometer, and gyroscope that serves to measure falling movement of the elderly person and supported by GPS technology Ublox Neo 6M to provide information about coordinates. The result was the high accuracy of delivering notification data to server and accuracy of data delivery to family notification equal to 93,75%. The system successfully detects the direction of falling: forward, backward, left or right and able to distinguish between unintentional falling and conscious falling like a bow or prostrate position.

Electron beam deflection control system of a welding and surface modification installation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koleva, E.; Dzharov, V.; Gerasimov, V.; Tsvetkov, K.; Mladenov, G.

2018-03-01

In the present work, we examined the patterns of the electron beam motion when controlling the transverse with respect to the axis of the beam homogeneous magnetic field created by the coils of the deflection system the electron gun. During electron beam processes, the beam motion is determined the process type (welding, surface modification, etc.), the technological mode, the design dimensions of the electron gun and the shape of the processed samples. The electron beam motion is defined by the cumulative action of two cosine-like control signals generated by a functional generator. The signal control is related to changing the amplitudes, frequencies and phases (phase differences) of the generated voltages. We realized the motion control by applying a graphical user interface developed by us and an Arduino Uno programmable microcontroller. The signals generated were calibrated using experimental data from the available functional generator. The free and precise motion on arbitrary trajectories determines the possible applications of an electron beam process to carrying out various scientific research tasks in material processing.

Nonlinear method for including the mass uncertainty of standards and the system measurement errors in the fitting of calibration curves

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pickles, W.L.; McClure, J.W.; Howell, R.H.

1978-01-01

A sophisticated non-linear multiparameter fitting program has been used to produce a best fit calibration curve for the response of an x-ray fluorescence analyzer to uranium nitrate, freeze dried, 0.2% accurate, gravimetric standards. The program is based on unconstrained minimization subroutine, VA02A. The program considers the mass values of the gravimetric standards as parameters to be fit along with the normal calibration curve parameters. The fitting procedure weights with the system errors and the mass errors in a consistent way. The resulting best fit calibration curve parameters reflect the fact that the masses of the standard samples are measured quantitiesmore » with a known error. Error estimates for the calibration curve parameters can be obtined from the curvature of the Chi-Squared Matrix or from error relaxation techniques. It has been shown that non-dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis of 0.1 to 1 mg freeze-dried UNO/sub 3/ can have an accuracy of 0.2% in 1000 sec.« less

Comprehensive and critical review of the predictive properties of the various mass models

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haustein, P.E.

1984-01-01

Since the publication of the 1975 Mass Predictions approximately 300 new atomic masses have been reported. These data come from a variety of experimental studies using diverse techniques and they span a mass range from the lightest isotopes to the very heaviest. It is instructive to compare these data with the 1975 predictions and several others (Moeller and Nix, Monahan, Serduke, Uno and Yamada which appeared latter. Extensive numerical and graphical analyses have been performed to examine the quality of the mass predictions from the various models and to identify features in these models that require correction. In general, theremore » is only rough correlation between the ability of a particular model to reproduce the measured mass surface which had been used to refine its adjustable parameters and that model's ability to predict correctly the new masses. For some models distinct systematic features appear when the new mass data are plotted as functions of relevant physical variables. Global intercomparisons of all the models are made first, followed by several examples of types of analysis performed with individual mass models.« less

[Increasing Number of Road Traffic Fatalities in Germany - Turnaround or Snap-Shot].

PubMed

Brand, S; Schmucker, U; Lob, G; Haasper, C; Juhra, C; Hell, W; Rieth, P; Matthes, G

2017-04-01

Introduction: For the first time since 20 years, the number of road accident fatalities in 2011 increased on German roads compared to earlier periods. Methods and Results: The presented paper submitted by the expert group for accident prevention investigates and discusses possible reasons for the observed increase in road traffic fatalities. Results: Climate changes as well as changes in economic environment, and technological progress in car and passenger safety are identified as possible reasons for the observed increase. Discussion: Mentioning the "Decade of Action for Road Safety" initiated by the UNO and coordinated by the WHO, the overall goal is a worldwide reduction of accident related road fatalities. But prognostic calculations predict an asymptotic approximation to a limit of road fatalities. To achieve a reduction by half until 2020 intense collaboration and disproportional expenditure are necessary. Conclusion: From the authors' point of view the current increase of traffic fatalities in Germany is rated as a snapshot rather than a turnaround. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Central radio galaxies in groups: cavities, bubbles and the history of AGN heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giacintucci, S.; Venturi, T.; Raychaudhury, S.; Vrtilek, J.

2008-10-01

E' noto che le regioni centrali degli ammassi e gruppi di galassie costituiscono un ambiente in cui gas caldo e plasma radioemittente proveniente dalle galassie dominanti interagiscono tra loro. In particolare, si pensa che la radioemissione dell'AGN centrale ed i suoi possibili cicli di attivita', siano strettamente legati alla presenza di cavita' e "bubbles" nel gas intergalattico. Si presentera' lo status di un progetto osservativo effettuato con il Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT, India) su di un campione di 18 gruppi di galassie, osservati a tre frequenze radio (235 MHz, 325 MHz e 610 MHz). Lo studio della morfologia radio degli AGN centrali e la relativa analisi spettrale permettono di ottenere stime sull'eta' di questi oggetti, e sulla loro energia totale, che a loro volta sono in relazione con le proprieta' X dei gruppi stessi. Per tutti gli oggetti del campione sono disponibili osservazioni Chandra di proprieta'. Per due oggetti del campione, 4C+24.36 (al centro di AWM04) e NGC741 (al centro di RSOG17) verra' presentato uno studio dettagliato.

Design of Embedded System for Multivariate Classification of Finger and Thumb Movements Using EEG Signals for Control of Upper Limb Prosthesis.

PubMed

Rashid, Nasir; Iqbal, Javaid; Javed, Amna; Tiwana, Mohsin I; Khan, Umar Shahbaz

2018-01-01

Brain Computer Interface (BCI) determines the intent of the user from a variety of electrophysiological signals. These signals, Slow Cortical Potentials, are recorded from scalp, and cortical neuronal activity is recorded by implanted electrodes. This paper is focused on design of an embedded system that is used to control the finger movements of an upper limb prosthesis using Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This is a follow-up of our previous research which explored the best method to classify three movements of fingers (thumb movement, index finger movement, and first movement). Two-stage logistic regression classifier exhibited the highest classification accuracy while Power Spectral Density (PSD) was used as a feature of the filtered signal. The EEG signal data set was recorded using a 14-channel electrode headset (a noninvasive BCI system) from right-handed, neurologically intact volunteers. Mu (commonly known as alpha waves) and Beta Rhythms (8-30 Hz) containing most of the movement data were retained through filtering using "Arduino Uno" microcontroller followed by 2-stage logistic regression to obtain a mean classification accuracy of 70%.

SRTR center-specific reporting tools: Posttransplant outcomes.

PubMed

Dickinson, D M; Shearon, T H; O'Keefe, J; Wong, H-H; Berg, C L; Rosendale, J D; Delmonico, F L; Webb, R L; Wolfe, R A

2006-01-01

Measuring and monitoring performance--be it waiting list and posttransplant outcomes by a transplant center, or organ donation success by an organ procurement organization and its partnering hospitals--is an important component of ensuring good care for people with end-stage organ failure. Many parties have an interest in examining these outcomes, from patients and their families to payers such as insurance companies or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; from primary caregivers providing patient counseling to government agencies charged with protecting patients. The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients produces regular, public reports on the performance of transplant centers and organ procurement organizations. This article explains the statistical tools used to prepare these reports, with a focus on graft survival and patient survival rates of transplant centers--especially the methods used to fairly and usefully compare outcomes of centers that serve different populations. The article concludes with a practical application of these statistics--their use in screening transplant center performance to identify centers that may need remedial action by the OPTN/UNOS Membership and Professional Standards Committee.

A factor converting viable but nonculturable Vibrio cholerae to a culturable state in eukaryotic cells is a human catalase.

PubMed

Senoh, Mitsutoshi; Hamabata, Takashi; Takeda, Yoshifumi

2015-08-01

In our previous work, we demonstrated that viable but nonculturable (VBNC) Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 were converted to culturable by coculture with eukaryotic cells. Furthermore, we isolated a factor converting VBNC V. cholerae to culturable (FCVC) from a eukaryotic cell line, HT-29. In this study, we purified FCVC by successive column chromatographies comprising UNO Q-6 anion exchange, Bio-Scale CHT2-1 hydroxyapatite, and Superdex 200 10/300 GL. Homogeneity of the purified FCVC was demonstrated by SDS-PAGE. Nano-LC MS/MS analysis showed that the purified FCVC was a human catalase. An experiment of RNAi knockdown of catalase mRNA from HT-29 cells and treatment of the purified FCVC with a catalase inhibitor, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole confirmed that the FCVC was a catalase. A possible role of the catalase in converting a VBNC V. cholerae to a culturable state in the human intestine is discussed. © 2015 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Novel Certificateless Signature Scheme for Smart Objects in the Internet-of-Things.

PubMed

Yeh, Kuo-Hui; Su, Chunhua; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Chiu, Wayne

2017-05-01

Rapid advances in wireless communications and pervasive computing technologies have resulted in increasing interest and popularity of Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, ubiquitously providing intelligence and convenience to our daily life. In IoT-based network environments, smart objects are embedded everywhere as ubiquitous things connected in a pervasive manner. Ensuring security for interactions between these smart things is significantly more important, and a topic of ongoing interest. In this paper, we present a certificateless signature scheme for smart objects in IoT-based pervasive computing environments. We evaluate the utility of the proposed scheme in IoT-oriented testbeds, i.e., Arduino Uno and Raspberry PI 2. Experiment results present the practicability of the proposed scheme. Moreover, we revisit the scheme of Wang et al. (2015) and revealed that a malicious super type I adversary can easily forge a legitimate signature to cheat any receiver as he/she wishes in the scheme. The superiority of the proposed certificateless signature scheme over relevant studies is demonstrated in terms of the summarized security and performance comparisons.

Capital social de los padres de escolares de una zona vulnerable.

PubMed

Cornejo, Susana; Herrera, Ariel; Hilas, Elena; Gigena, Y Pablo

2018-01-01

El capital social supone importantes inversiones materiales, simbólicas y de esfuerzos. Conocer el capital social de una comunidad puede facilitar la comprensión del beneficio de las relaciones comunitarias para la promoción de salud. Con el objetivo de reconocer los componentes del capital social de padres de escolares atendiendo una escuela en una zona vulnerable de la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina, indagamos a través de grupos focales acerca de elementos esenciales del capital social. La asintonía socio-cultural entre los pobladores originarios y los reubicados, la estigmatización policial y el clientelismo político han generado desconfianza del uno hacia el otro en diferentes aspectos convivenciales, siendo la familia la única red de apoyo. La escuela se reconoce como espacio adonde la gente espontáneamente se organiza para invertir en redes sociales, presentándose así con potencialidad para la promoción de conductas saludables, por el lugar simbólico que ocupa para los padres.

Units for quantities of dimension one

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dybkaer, René

2004-02-01

All quantities of dimension one are said to have the SI coherent derived unit "one" with the symbol '1'. (Single quotation marks are used here sometimes to indicate a quote, name, term or symbol; double quotation marks flag a concept when necessary.) Conventionally, the term and symbol may not be combined with the SI prefixes (except for the special terms and symbols for one and 1: radian, rad, and steradian, sr). This restriction is understandable, but leads to correct yet impractical alternatives and ISO deprecated symbols such as ppm or in some cases redundant combinations of units, such as mg/kg. "Number of entities" is dimensionally independent of the current base quantities and should take its rightful place among them. The corresponding base unit is "one". A working definition is given. Other quantities of dimension one are derived as fraction, ratio, efficiency, relative quantity, relative increment or characteristic number and may also use the unit "one", whether considered to be base or derived. The special term 'uno' and symbol 'u' in either case are proposed, allowing combination with SI prefixes.

Design and Implementation of a Brain Computer Interface System for Controlling a Robotic Claw

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angelakis, D.; Zoumis, S.; Asvestas, P.

2017-11-01

The aim of this paper is to present the design and implementation of a brain-computer interface (BCI) system that can control a robotic claw. The system is based on the Emotiv Epoc headset, which provides the capability of simultaneous recording of 14 EEG channels, as well as wireless connectivity by means of the Bluetooth protocol. The system is initially trained to decode what user thinks to properly formatted data. The headset communicates with a personal computer, which runs a dedicated software application, implemented under the Processing integrated development environment. The application acquires the data from the headset and invokes suitable commands to an Arduino Uno board. The board decodes the received commands and produces corresponding signals to a servo motor that controls the position of the robotic claw. The system was tested successfully on a healthy, male subject, aged 28 years. The results are promising, taking into account that no specialized hardware was used. However, tests on a larger number of users is necessary in order to draw solid conclusions regarding the performance of the proposed system.

Development of low cost and accurate homemade sensor system based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laksono, F. D.; Supardianningsih; Arifin, M.; Abraha, K.

2018-04-01

In this paper, we developed homemade and computerized sensor system based on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). The developed systems consist of mechanical system instrument, laser power sensor, and user interface. The mechanical system development that uses anti-backlash gear design was successfully able to enhance the angular resolution angle of incidence laser up to 0.01°. In this system, the laser detector acquisition system and stepper motor controller utilizing Arduino Uno which is easy to program, flexible, and low cost, was used. Furthermore, we employed LabView’s user interface as the virtual instrument for facilitating the sample measurement and for transforming the data recording directly into the digital form. The test results using gold-deposited half-cylinder prism showed the Total Internal Reflection (TIR) angle of 41,34°± 0,01° and SPR angle of 44,20°± 0,01°, respectively. The result demonstrated that the developed system managed to reduce the measurement duration and data recording errors caused by human error. Also, the test results also concluded that the system’s measurement is repeatable and accurate.

Portable water quality monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nizar, N. B.; Ong, N. R.; Aziz, M. H. A.; Alcain, J. B.; Haimi, W. M. W. N.; Sauli, Z.

2017-09-01

Portable water quality monitoring system was a developed system that tested varied samples of water by using different sensors and provided the specific readings to the user via short message service (SMS) based on the conditions of the water itself. In this water quality monitoring system, the processing part was based on a microcontroller instead of Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) machines to receive the results. By using four main sensors, this system obtained the readings based on the detection of the sensors, respectively. Therefore, users can receive the readings through SMS because there was a connection between Arduino Uno and GSM Module. This system was designed to be portable so that it would be convenient for users to carry it anywhere and everywhere they wanted to since the processor used is smaller in size compared to the LCR machines. It was also developed to ease the user to monitor and control the water quality. However, the ranges of the sensors' detection still a limitation in this study.

Effective thermal conductivity of isotropic polymer composites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tavman, I.H.

1998-07-01

The effective thermal conductivity of tin powder filled high density polyethylene composites is investigated experimentally as a function of filler concentration and the measured values are compared with the existing theoretical and empirical models. Samples are prepared by compression molding process, up to 16% volumetric concentration of tin particles. The thermal conductivity is measured by a modified hot wire technique in a temperature range from about 0 to 70 C. Experimental results show a region of low particle content, up to about 10% volume concentration, where the increase in thermal conductivity is rather slow. The filler particles are dispersed inmore » the matrix material in this region, the thermal conductivity is best predicted by Maxwell`s model and Nielsen`s model with A = 1.5, {phi}{sub m} = 0.637. Whereas, at high filler concentrations, the filler particles tend to form agglomerates and conductive chains in the direction of heat flow resulting in a rapid increase in thermal conductivity. A model developed by Agari and Uno estimates the thermal conductivity in this region, using two experimentally determined constants.« less

Permanent magnet DC motor control by using arduino and motor drive module BTS7960

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syukriyadin, S.; Syahrizal, S.; Mansur, G.; Ramadhan, H. P.

2018-05-01

This study proposes a control system for permanent magnet DC (PMDC) motor. PMDC drive control system has two critical parameters: control and monitoring. Control system includes rotation speed control and direction of rotation of motor using motor drive module BTS7960. The PWM signal has a fixed frequency of waves with varying duty cycles (between 0% and 100%), so the motor rotation can be regulated gradually using a potentiometer already programmed on the Arduino Uno board. The motor rotation direction setting uses the H-bridge circuit method using a 3-way switch to set the direction of forward-reverse rotation of the motor. The monitoring system includes measurements of rotational speed, current, and voltage. Motor rotation speed can be adjusted from the armature voltage settings through the duty cycle PWM setting so that the motor speed can be increased or decreased by the desired duty cycle. From the unload PMDC motor test results it has also been shown that the torque of the motor is relatively constant when there is a change in speed from low rpm to high rpm or vice versa.

Implementation of Smart Metering based on Internet of Things

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaur, Milanpreet; Mathew, Lini, Dr.; Alokdeep; Kumar, Ajay

2018-03-01

From the aspect of saving energy, there is a continuous modification in communication technology and information in order to satisfy all customers demand. Today customers are demanding for accurate energy measurement, timely data and for good customer services. The best solution is smart grid system with various communication technologies which can be cost effective and electrical section to have a bidirectional communication in which information about electrical energy consumption is shared between consumers as well as by utility for remote checking. This paper describes the monitoring of energy consumption with Arduino Uno board and Ethernet using IoT (Internet of Things) concept. This proposed design eliminates human inclusion in the conservation of electricity. The consumer can receive the information about consumption of energy by using IP address on their devices. The web client code is uploaded for checking the client information such as location, content, connection, and disconnection to the web server. This proposed system gives reliable and accurate information regarding electrical energy management system (EMS) through Internet of things (IoT).

A Novel Certificateless Signature Scheme for Smart Objects in the Internet-of-Things

PubMed Central

Yeh, Kuo-Hui; Su, Chunhua; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Chiu, Wayne

2017-01-01

Rapid advances in wireless communications and pervasive computing technologies have resulted in increasing interest and popularity of Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, ubiquitously providing intelligence and convenience to our daily life. In IoT-based network environments, smart objects are embedded everywhere as ubiquitous things connected in a pervasive manner. Ensuring security for interactions between these smart things is significantly more important, and a topic of ongoing interest. In this paper, we present a certificateless signature scheme for smart objects in IoT-based pervasive computing environments. We evaluate the utility of the proposed scheme in IoT-oriented testbeds, i.e., Arduino Uno and Raspberry PI 2. Experiment results present the practicability of the proposed scheme. Moreover, we revisit the scheme of Wang et al. (2015) and revealed that a malicious super type I adversary can easily forge a legitimate signature to cheat any receiver as he/she wishes in the scheme. The superiority of the proposed certificateless signature scheme over relevant studies is demonstrated in terms of the summarized security and performance comparisons. PMID:28468313

Big Data in Organ Transplantation: Registries and Administrative Claims

PubMed Central

Massie, Allan B.; Kucirka, Lauren; Segev, Dorry L.

2015-01-01

The field of organ transplantation benefits from large, comprehensive, transplant-specific national datasets available to researchers. In addition to the widely-used OPTN-based registries (the UNOS and SRTR datasets) and USRDS datasets, there are other publicly available national datasets, not specific to transplantation, which have historically been underutilized in the field of transplantation. Of particular interest are the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) and State Inpatient Databases (SID), produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The United States Renal Data System (USRDS) database provides extensive data relevant to studies of kidney transplantation. Linkage of publicly available datasets to external data sources such as private claims or pharmacy data provides further resources for registry-based research. Although these resources can transcend some limitations of OPTN-based registry data, they come with their own limitations, which must be understood to avoid biased inference. This review discusses different registry-based data sources available in the United States, as well as the proper design and conduct of registry-based research. PMID:25040084

[Not Available].

PubMed

Curilem Gatica, Cristian; Almagià Flores, Atilio; Rodríguez Rodríguez, Fernando; Yuing Farias, Tuillang; Berral de la Rosa, Francisco; Martínez Salazar, Cristian; Jorquera Aguilera, Carlos; Bahamondes Ávila, Carlos; Soís Urra, Patricio; Cristi Montero, Carlos; Bruneau Chávez, José; Pinto Aguilante, Juan; Niedmann Brunet, Luis

2016-06-30

El índice de masa corporal (IMC) otorga uno de los índices más usados para determinar el estado nutricional de la población a nivel mundial, donde a pesar de existir recomendaciones claras y definidas para su interpretación como el sexo, edad, raza, entre otros, normalmente se estandariza su clasificación, independiente de las variables, aumentando el error en el resultado y en la clasificación del estado nutricional.El uso de la composición corporal a través de la antropometría entrega mayor información que el IMC, siendo la masa grasa y la masa muscular los principales resultados útiles.Este artículo presenta una revisión de las ecuaciones existentes y propone aquellas más simples y con menor error de estimación para ser usadas como una herramienta que reemplace o complemente al IMC, favoreciendo una mejor comprensión e interpretación del estado nutricional y nivelde actividad física en niños y adolescentes.

[La diagnosi del disturbo da uso di alcol dal punto di vista psicologico].

PubMed

Coriale, Giovanna; Fiorentino, Daniela; Porrari, Raffaella; Battagliese, Gemma; Capriglione, Ida; Cereatti, Federica; Iannuzzi, Silvia; Mauri, Benilde; Galli, Domenica; Fiore, Marco; Attilia, Maria Luisa; Ceccanti, Mauro

2018-01-01

RIASSUNTO. Il disturbo da uso di alcol (DUA) è uno dei disturbi psichiatrici più comuni nella popolazione generale. Il DUA è caratterizzato da un pattern di bere eccessivo, che si mantiene nonostante gli effetti negativi che l'alcol ha sul funzionamento lavorativo, sulla salute, sulle problematiche legali, sull'educazione e sulla vita sociale. Attualmente, il modello bio-psico-sociale è quello che spiega meglio il DUA. Infatti, molte ricerche hanno fornito evidenze su come il DUA sia una patologia multidimensionale. Variabili biologiche, psicologiche e socio-culturali entrano in gioco nell'eziologia, nella natura, nel mantenimento e nel cambiamento nel tempo del disturbo. La fase diagnostica è un momento importante del processo di cura, perché il successo del trattamento dipende in larga misura dall'esattezza e dall'adeguatezza della diagnosi. La diagnosi clinica si basa su una valutazione globale del funzionamento del paziente e utilizza il colloquio e gli strumenti psicometrici come mezzo di raccolta di informazioni. Questo articolo fornirà una panoramica delle dimensioni psicologiche più importanti da valutare e sui migliori strumenti psicometrici da usare per una diagnosi adeguata.

Complete genome sequences of two novel autographiviruses infecting a bacterium from the Pseudomonas fluorescens group.

PubMed

Nowicki, Grzegorz; Walkowiak-Nowicka, Karolina; Zemleduch-Barylska, Agata; Mleczko, Anna; Frąckowiak, Patryk; Nowaczyk, Natalia; Kozdrowska, Emilia; Barylski, Jakub

2017-09-01

In this paper, we describe two independent isolates of a new member of the subfamily Autographivirinae, Pseudomonas phage KNP. The type strain (KNP) has a linear, 40,491-bp-long genome with GC content of 57.3%, and 50 coding DNA sequences (CDSs). The genome of the second strain (WRT) contains one CDS less, encodes a significantly different tail fiber protein and is shorter (40,214 bp; GC content, 57.4%). Phylogenetic analysis indicates that both KNP and WRT belong to the genus T7virus. Together with genetically similar Pseudomonas phages (gh-1, phiPSA2, phiPsa17, PPPL-1, shl2, phi15, PPpW-4, UNO-SLW4, phiIBB-PF7A, Pf-10, and Phi-S1), they form a divergent yet coherent group that stands apart from the T7-like viruses (sensu lato). Analysis of the diversity of this group and its relatedness to other members of the subfamily Autographivirinae led us to the conclusion that this group might be considered as a candidate for a new genus.

Dinámica de planetas extrasolares resonantes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beauge, C.

Actualmente se han detectado 117 planetas alrededor de estrellas de Secuencia Principal, incluyendo 12 sistemas planetarios, cada uno con dos o tres miembros. De estos últimos, ocho poseen planetas en órbitas próximas y sus perturbaciones gravitacionales se convierten en un factor fundamental para la estabilidad orbital del sistema. Todos se encuentran en configuraciones resonantes, desde la conmensurabilidad de movimientos 2/1 de Gliese 876, hasta la resonancia secular de Ups And. En esta presentación analizamos varios aspectos de la dinámica resonante de los planetas extrasolares, incluyendo la existencia de soluciones de equilibrio, construcción de modelos analógicos y métodos para la determinación de masas individuales. También discutimos por qué las resonancias son tan frecuentes en estos sistemas, comparado con nuestro propio Sistema Solar. Por último, intentamos relacionar estos modelos con la hipótesis de migración planetaria, buscando límites en su extensión y en los posibles mecanismos que le dieron origen.

La implantacion del enfoque constructivista en el aula de ciencia: Estudio de caso multiple

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arroyo Betancourt, Luz I.

participantes basado en lo que estas manifestaron en su practica didactica. Dos maestras coinciden en una vision constructivista social de la construccion del conocimiento, del aprendizaje y de los metodos didacticos. La otra manifesto una vision constructivista piagetiana en el aprendizaje, los metodos didacticos y en la construccion del conocimiento. Se espera que este trabajo, ademas de promover los estudios de caso sobre el enfoque constructivista de ensenanza en el contexto puertorriqueno, sirva para que los maestros, que estan transformando su enfoque educativo de uno tradicional a uno constructivista, tengan una vision mas clara de la implantacion de este enfoque. Se espera ademas que sirva para que el Departamento de Educacion y sus programas de adiestramiento y readiestramiento en servicio, asi como las universidades y sus programas de preparacion de maestros, tomen en cuenta los resultados y recomendaciones de este estudio al revisar sus programas.

Class III obesity is a risk factor for the development of acute-on-chronic liver failure in patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

PubMed

Sundaram, Vinay; Jalan, Rajiv; Ahn, Joseph C; Charlton, Michael R; Goldberg, David S; Karvellas, Constantine J; Noureddin, Mazen; Wong, Robert J

2018-04-28

Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a syndrome of systemic inflammation and organ failures. Obesity, also characterized by chronic inflammation, is a risk factor among patients with cirrhosis for decompensation, infection, and mortality. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that obesity predisposes patients with decompensated cirrhosis to the development of ACLF. We examined the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database, from 2005-2016, characterizing patients at wait-listing as non-obese (body mass index [BMI] <30), obese class I-II (BMI 30-39.9) and obese class III (BMI ≥40). ACLF was determined based on the CANONIC study definition. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to assess the association between obesity and ACLF development at liver transplantation (LT). We confirmed our findings using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), years 2009-2013, using validated diagnostic coding algorithms to identify obesity, hepatic decompensation and ACLF. Logistic regression evaluated the association between obesity and ACLF occurrence. Among 387,884 patient records with decompensated cirrhosis, 116,704 (30.1%) were identified as having ACLF in both databases. Multivariable modeling from the UNOS database revealed class III obesity to be an independent risk factor for ACLF at LT (hazard ratio 1.24; 95% CI 1.09-1.41; p <0.001). This finding was confirmed using the NIS (odds ratio 1.30; 95% CI 1.25-1.35; p <0.001). Regarding specific organ failures, analysis of both registries demonstrated patients with class I-II and class III obesity had a greater prevalence of renal failure. Class III obesity is a newly identified risk factor for ACLF development in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Obese patients have a particularly high prevalence of renal failure as a component of ACLF. These findings have important implications regarding stratifying risk and preventing the occurrence of ACLF. In this study, we identify that among patients with decompensated

Explainable variation in renal transplant outcomes: a comparison of standard and expanded criteria donors.

PubMed

Gjertson, David W

2004-01-01

In 2002, OPTN/UNOS altered kidney allocation rules to allow patients to be listed separately to receive kidneys from expanded criteria donors (ECD). Our aim was to quantify the short- and long-term impacts of 21 prognostic factors on recipients of ECD as well as recipients of living (LD) and deceased standard criteria (SCD) donors. A factor's impact depends on both the risk and diversity of its effects. Using OPTN/UNOS Registry data from 1996-2003, we have analyzed kidney-only, adult-recipient grafts for factor effects among 35,878 LD, 47,941 SCD and 10,399 ECD transplants. During an early risk period, all 94,218 recipients were followed through one year, and, in the late risk period, 85,270 recipients whose grafts survived beyond one year were followed for 5 years post-transplant. Impact was measured by determining a factor's percentage of assignable variation in one- and 5-year graft failure rates. Scores for 21 factors were estimated via generalized logistic models, which contained a random component for transplant center. The assignable variation associated with a given factor was computed as the factor score variance multiplied by the square of the corresponding regression coefficient. Impacts were heterogeneous with regard to posttransplant period and donor type. The top 5 factors influencing one-year graft survival rates were as follows: * For LD grafts - pretransplant dialysis time (14% of the variation in short-term outcomes), recipient age (13%), body mass (12%), PRA (10%) and induction therapy (10%). * For SCD grafts - donor age (24%), recipient age (12%), pretransplant dialysis time (12%), HLA-DR matching (6%) and pretransplant medical condition (6%). * For ECD grafts - donor age (18%), pre-transplant dialysis time (10%), recipient age (10%), pretransplant medical condition (10%) and recipient body mass (6%). Ranking long-term outcomes demonstrated the following top 5 influential factors: * For LD grafts - donor age (28% of the variation in long

Space Radar Image of Colombian Volcano

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companiesfor the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtange-legenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency,Agenzia SpazialeItaliana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft undRaumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science,operations, and data processing of X-SAR.

Three frequency false color image of Flevoland, the Netherlands

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-18

international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43941

STS-68 radar image: Glasgow, Missouri

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-10-07

-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR. (P-44734)

Space Radar Image of Moscow, Russia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Color composite C-band and L-band image of Kilauea volcanoe on Hawaii

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-15

-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43918

Unzen Volcano, Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

Space Radar Image of Kilauea, Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

Installation of a variable-angle spectrometer system for monitoring diffuse and global solar radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ormachea, O.; Abrahamse, A.; Tolavi, N.; Romero, F.; Urquidi, O.; Pearce, J. M.; Andrews, R.

2013-11-01

We report on the design and installation of a spectrometer system for monitoring solar radiation in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Both the light intensity and the spectral distribution affect the power produced by a photovoltaic device. Local variations in the solar spectrum (especially compared to the AM1.5 standard) may have important implications for device optimization and energy yield estimation. The spectrometer system, based on an Ocean Optics USB4000 (300-900nm) spectrometer, was designed to increase functionality. Typically systems only record the global horizontal radiation. Our system moves a fiber-optic cable 0-90 degrees and takes measurements in 9 degree increments. Additionally, a shadow band allows measurement of the diffuse component of the radiation at each position. The electronic controls utilize an Arduino UNO microcontroller to synchronizes the movement of two PAP bipolar (stepper) motors with the activation of the spectrometer via an external trigger. The spectrometer was factory calibrated for wavelength and calibrated for absolute irradiance using a Sellarnet SL1-Cal light source. We present preliminary results from data taken March-June, 2013, and comment on implications for PV devices in Cochabamba.

Low-cost microcontroller platform for studying lymphatic biomechanics in vitro

PubMed Central

Kornuta, Jeffrey A.; Nipper, Matthew E.; Dixon, J. Brandon

2012-01-01

The pumping innate to collecting lymphatic vessels routinely exposes the endothelium to oscillatory wall shear stress and other dynamic forces. However, studying the mechanical sensitivity of the lymphatic endothelium remains a difficult task due to limitations of commercial or custom systems to apply a variety of time-varying stresses in vitro. Current biomechanical in vitro testing devices are very expensive, limited in capability, or highly complex; rendering them largely inaccessible to the endothelial cell biology community. To address these short-comings, the authors propose a reliable, low-cost platform for augmenting the capabilities of commercially available pumps to produce a wide variety of flow rate waveforms. In particular, the Arduino Uno, a microcontroller development board, is used to provide open-loop control of a digital peristaltic pump using precisely-timed serial commands. In addition, the flexibility of this platform is further demonstrated through its support of a custom-built cell-straining device capable of producing oscillatory strains with varying amplitudes and frequencies. Hence, this microcontroller development board is shown to be an inexpensive, precise, and easy-to-use tool for supplementing in vitro assays to quantify the effects of biomechanical forces on lymphatic endothelial cells. PMID:23178036

Test module development to detect the flase call probe pins on microeprocessor test equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, L. W.; Ong, N. R.; Mohamad, I. S. B.; Alcain, J. B.; Retnasamy, V.

2017-09-01

Probe pins are useful for electrical testing of microelectronic components, printed circuit board assembly (PCBA), microprocessors and other electronic devices due to it provides the conductivity test based on specific device circuit design. During the repeatable test runs, the load of test modules, contact failures and the current conductivity induces layer wear off all the tip of probe pins contact. Contamination will be build-up on probe pins and increased contact resistivity which results of cost loss and time loss for rectifying programs, rectifying testers and exchanging new probe pins. In this study, a resistivity approach will be developed to provide "Testing of Test Probes". The test module based on "Four-wire Ohm measurement" method with two alternative ways of applying power supply, that are 9V from a single power supply and 5V from Arduino UNO power supply were demonstrated to measure the small resistance value of microprocessor probe pin. A microcontroller with VEE Pro software was used to record the measurement data. The accuracy of both test modules were calibrated under different temperature conditions and result shows that 9V from a single power supply test module has higher measurement accuracy.

Feasibility Studies of Vortex Flow Impact On the Proliferation of Algae in Hydrogen Production for Fuel Cell Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miskon, Azizi; A/L Thanakodi, Suresh; Shiema Moh Nazar, Nazatul; Kit Chong, Marcus Wai; Sobri Takriff, Mohd; Fakir Kamarudin, Kamrul; Aziz Norzali, Abdul; Nooraya Mohd Tawil, Siti

2016-11-01

The instability of crude oil price in global market as well as the sensitivity towards green energy increases, more research works being carried out to find alternative energy replacing the depleting of fossil fuels. Photobiological hydrogen production system using algae is one of the promising alternative energy source. However, the yield of hydrogen utilizing the current photobioreactor (PBR) is still low for commercial application due to restricted light penetration into the deeper regions of the reactor. Therefore, this paper studies the feasibility of vortex flow impact utilizing magnetic stirring in hydrogen production for fuel cell applications. For comparison of results, a magnetic stirrer is placed under a PBR of algae to stir the algae to obtain an even distribution of sunlight to the algae while the controlled PBR of algae kept in static. The produced hydrogen level was measured using hydrogen sensor circuit and the data collected were communicated to laptop using Arduino Uno. The results showed more cell counts and hydrogen produced in the PBR under the influence of magnetic stirring compared to static PBR by an average of 8 percent in 4 days.

TRANSMISIÓN VERTICAL DE HTLV-1 EN EL PERÚ

PubMed Central

Villaverde, Jorge Alarcón; Romaní, Franco Romaní; Torres, Silvia Montano; Zunt, Joseph R.

2012-01-01

La infección por el virus linfotrópico humano de células T tipo 1 (HTLV-1) ha sido descrita en muchas áreas del mundo, como en los países del Caribe, Japón, África, Oceanía y en Sudamérica. En la presente revisión definimos la endemicidad del HTLV-1 en el país, planteando cuatro criterios epidemiológicos. Luego discutimos el tema central de la revisión: la transmisión vertical del HTLV-1, que en nuestro país sería uno de los principales mecanismos de transmisión. Dentro del desarrollo de este aspecto en particular, presentamos una estimación de la tasa de transmisión vertical y los factores de riesgo asociados con la transmisión vertical sobre la base de una revisión exhaustiva de estudios nacionales y extranjeros. Con esta revisión pretendemos dar una primera aproximación al estudio de la trasmisión vertical de HTLV-1, un aspecto poco estudiado en nuestro medio. PMID:21537777

Accuracy of surgical wound drainage measurements: an analysis and comparison.

PubMed

Yue, Brian; Nizzero, Danielle; Zhang, Chunxiao; van Zyl, Natasha; Ting, Jeannette

2015-05-01

Surgical drain tube readings can influence the clinical management of the post-operative patient. The accuracy of these readings has not been documented in the current literature and this experimental study aims to address this paucity. Aliquots (10, 25, 40 and 90 mL) of black tea solution prepared to mimic haemoserous fluid were injected into UnoVac, RedoVac and Jackson-Pratt drain tubes. Nursing and medical staff from a tertiary hospital were asked to estimate drain volumes by direct observation; analysis of variance was performed on the results and significance level was set at 0.05. Doctors and nurses are equally accurate in estimating drain tube volumes. Jackson-Pratt systems were found to be the most accurate for intermediate volumes of 25 and 40 mL. For extreme of volumes (both high and low), all drainage systems were inaccurate. This study suggests that for intermediate volumes (25 and 40 mL), Jackson-Pratt is the drainage system of choice. The accuracy of volume measurement is diminished at the extremes of drain volumes; emptying of drainage systems is recommended to avoid overfilling of drainage systems. © 2014 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Development of Thermal Radiation Experiments Kit Based on Data Logger for Physics Learning Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Permana, H.; Iswanto, B. H.

2018-04-01

Thermal Radiation Experiments Kit (TREK) based on data logger for physics learning media was developed. TREK will be used as a learning medium on the subject of Temperature and Heat to explain the concept of emissivity of a material in grade XI so that it can add variations of experiments which are commonly done such as thermal expansion, transfer of thermal energy (conduction, convection, and radiation), and specific heat capacity. DHT11 sensor is used to measure temperature and microcontroller Arduino-uno used as data logger. The object tested are in the form of coated glass thin films and aluminum with different colors. TREK comes with a user manual and student worksheet (LKS) to make it easier for teachers and students to use. TREK was developed using the ADDIE Development Model (Analyze, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). And validated by experts, physics teachers, and students. Validation instrument is a questionnaire with a five-item Likert response scale with reviewed aspect coverage: appropriate content and concepts, design, and user friendly. The results showed that TREK was excellent (experts 88.13%, science teachers 95.68%, and students 85.77%).

Ganglioneuroblastoma: Case report and review of the literature.

PubMed

Alessi, S; Grignani, M; Carone, L

2011-06-01

Neuroblastoma are among the most important tumors of extracranial origin in pediatric patients. They arise from embryonal cells involved in the development of the sympathetic nervous system, whose differentiation has been arrested [1,2]. They are the tumors most frequently diagnosed during the first decade of life. Their evolution is unpredictable, ranging from progression to spontaneous regression or maturation, and their location and metastatic potential vary. Little is known about the cause of these tumors and the risk factors associated with their development. This article describes a typical case of ganglioneuroblastoma and provides a review of the literature on this type of tumor.Sommario Il neuroblastoma è uno dei più importanti tumori pediatrici di derivazione extracranica; esso origina dalle cellule embrionali coinvolte nello sviluppo del sistema nervoso simpatico a causa di un blocco nel loro processo di differenziamento [1,2]. È la più frequente neoplasia della prima decade di vita; la sua progressione biologica è imprevedibile, regressione spontanea, maturazione a ganglioneuroma, localizzazione e metastatizzazione variabili. Poco è noto a riguardo dei fattori di rischio e della sua eziopatogenesi. Viene presentato un caso tipico di ganglioneuroblastoma e riesaminata la letteratura su questa neoplasia.

Donor-estimated GFR as an appropriate criterion for allocation of ECD kidneys into single or dual kidney transplantation.

PubMed

Snanoudj, R; Rabant, M; Timsit, M O; Karras, A; Savoye, E; Tricot, L; Loupy, A; Hiesse, C; Zuber, J; Kreis, H; Martinez, F; Thervet, E; Méjean, A; Lebret, T; Legendre, C; Delahousse, M

2009-11-01

It has been suggested that dual kidney transplantation (DKT) improves outcomes for expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys. However, no criteria for allocation to single or dual transplantation have been assessed prospectively. The strategy of DKT remains underused and potentially eligible kidneys are frequently discarded. We prospectively compared 81 DKT and 70 single kidney transplant (SKT) receiving grafts from ECD donors aged >65 years, allocated according to donor estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): DKT if eGFR between 30 and 60 mL/min, SKT if eGFR greater than 60 mL/min. Patient and graft survival were similar in the two groups. In the DKT group, 13/81 patients lost one of their two kidneys due to hemorrhage, arterial or venous thrombosis. Mean eGFR at month 12 was similar in the DKT and SKT groups (47.8 mL/min and 46.4 mL/min, respectively). Simulated allocation of kidneys according to criteria based on day 0 donor parameters such as those described by Remuzzi et al., Andres et al. and UNOS, did not indicate an improvement in 12-month eGFR compared to our allocation based on donor eGFR.

Underwater detection by using ultrasonic sensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakar, S. A. A.; Ong, N. R.; Aziz, M. H. A.; Alcain, J. B.; Haimi, W. M. W. N.; Sauli, Z.

2017-09-01

This paper described the low cost implementation of hardware and software in developing the system of ultrasonic which can visualize the feedback of sound in the form of measured distance through mobile phone and monitoring the frequency of detection by using real time graph of Java application. A single waterproof transducer of JSN-SR04T had been used to determine the distance of an object based on operation of the classic pulse echo detection method underwater. In this experiment, the system was tested by placing the housing which consisted of Arduino UNO, Bluetooth module of HC-06, ultrasonic sensor and LEDs at the top of the box and the transducer was immersed in the water. The system which had been tested for detection in vertical form was found to be capable of reporting through the use of colored LEDs as indicator to the relative proximity of object distance underwater form the sensor. As a conclusion, the system can detect the presence of an object underwater within the range of ultrasonic sensor and display the measured distance onto the mobile phone and the real time graph had been successfully generated.

Development of Low-cost plotter for educational purposes using Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karthik, Siriparapu; Thirumal Reddy, Palwai; Marimuthu, K. Prakash

2017-08-01

With the development of CAD/CAM/CAE concept to product realization time has reduced drastically. Most of the activities such as design, drafting, and visualizations are carried out using high-end computers and commercial software. This has reduced the overall lead-time to market. It is important in the current scenario to equip the students with knowledge of advanced technological developments in order to use them effectively. However, the cost associated with the systems are very high which is not affordable to students. The present work is an attempt to build a low-cost plotter integrating some of the software that are available and components got from scrapped electronic devices. Here the authors are introducing G-code plotter with 3-axis which can implement the given g-code in 2D plane (X-Y). Lifting pen and adjusting to the base component is in the Z-axis. All conventional plotting devices existing until date are costly and need basic knowledge before operating. Our aim is to make students understand the working of plotter and the usage of G-code, achieving this at a much affordable cost. Arduino Uno controls the stepper motors, which can accurately plot the given dimensions.

Behaviour of complexes of f-elements in the environment - An experimental and theoretical analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanova, Bojidarka; Spiteller, Michael

2017-01-01

The paper provides a comprehensive study of lanthanide and actinide complexes to a matter of key area in the field of the chemistry, i.e. environmental analytical chemistry. The content has involved: (i) solution and sorption behaviour of lanthanides (Lnn+, Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Py, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu) onto Y(O)O(H) minerals (Y = Fe, Mn or Si); (ii) ligand exchange processes with participation of inorganic OH-, F-, Cl-, Br-, SO42-, SO32-, IO3-, NO32-, CO32- and/or HCO3- ligands as well as mixed ligand complexes, including solvent molecules such as {[LnOR]2+}, {[Ln(OR)2]+} (R = CH3OH, CH3CH2CH2OH) and {[Ln(CH3CN)x(H2O)z]3+} (x = 6-8, z = 0-4); (iii) the actinide speciation has involved different oxidation states (+4)-(+6) and ions {[UOH]3+}, {[UX]3+} (X = F or Cl), {[UFx]y+/-} (x = 2-6, y = 0-2), {[U(CO3)x]y-} (x = 4 or 5, y = 4 or 6), {[U(SO4)]2+], {[U(NO3)]3+}, {[U(NO3)2]2+}, [[UO2(CO3)3]5-}, {[(UO2)x(OH)z]y+/-} (x = 1-4, y = 1 or 2, z = 1-7), {[UO2Fx]y+/-} (x = 1-4, y = 1 or 2), {[UO2(CO3)x]y-} (x = 2, or 3, y = 2, or 4), {[(UO2)2(CO3)(OH)3]-}, {[(UO2)3O(OH)2(HCO3)]+}, {[(UO2)11(CO3)6(OH)12]2-}, {[UO2(SO4)x]y-}, (x = 2 or 3, y = 2 or 4), {[UO2SiO(OH)3]+}, {[AnCx]y+/-} (x,y = 1 and 2), {[CAnH]+/-}, {[CxAny]0} (x,y = 2 and 3), {[AnHx]y+} (x = 1-3, y = 0-5), {[AnXn]m+/-} (n = 1-6, m = 1-4, X = F-, Br-, I-), {[AnOxFz]y+/-} (x, z = 1 or 2, y = 0, 1 and 2), {[AnNx]y+} (x = 1 and 2), {[AnxOz(OH)n]y+/-} (x = 1-3, z = 1-4, y = 0, 1 or 2, n = 0 or 1) and Ann+ (n = 0-6) at An = Th, Pa, U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm, Bk, Cf, Es, Fm, Md, No and Lr, respectively. Correlation analysis between thermodynamic parameters, accounting for different surface interactions of adsorbed species and experimental mass spectrometric data, including liquid, semi-liquid and solid-state measurements in a large set of experimental conditions such as pH = 2-13, low and intermediate ionic strength, solvent type, ε = 0-78.0, variety of solvent proton accepting and donating numbers and T = 25

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cuda, J.P.; Dunford, J.C.; Leavengood, J.M. Jr.

, fue realizado como parte de un estudio de factibilidad para determinar si conota es una candidata apropiada para un programa de control biologico clasico. En general, especimenes de aproximadamente unos 4,000 artropodos y unos 400 nematodos fueron recolectados. Muestras recolectadas pasando una red sobre vegetacion mezclada, cortando la vegetacion y tomando centros del suelo fueron dominados por representantes de artropodos de los ordenes de Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera, y Acari. Nematodos en el genero Pratylenchus, que causan lesiones sobre tejido, fueron asociados regularmente con las raices de conota. Ninguno de los organismos recolectados eran especialistas sobre conota. Aunque el control biologico clasico de la conota es factible basado sobre la magnitud de la infestacion, las perdidas economicas, la resistencia hacia los metodos de control convencionales y el informe en la India de un posible enemigo natural especifico a esta planta, la posicion botanica de este pasto maleza requiere una evaluacion de riesgo economico formal antes de continuar con un programa de control biologico clasico. (author)« less

Space Radar Image of the Yucatan Impact Crater Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtange-legenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing of X-SAR. Research on the biological effects of the Chicxulub impact is supported by the NASA Exobiology Program.

Space Radar Image of Bebedauro, Brazil, seasonal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Three frequency false-color image of Oberpfaffenhofen supersite in Germany

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-18

-C/X-SAR radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-Band (24 cm), C-Band (6 cm), and X-Band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43930

Space Radar Image of Chernobyl

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

False-color composite of Oetztal, Austria

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-04-13

detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-Band (24 cm), C-Band (6 cm), and X-Band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). X-SAR was developed by the Dornire and Alenia Spazio Companies for the German Space Agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). JPL Photo ID: P-43890

Space Radar Image of Kliuchevskoi Volcano, Russia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrte.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Mississippi Delta

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing of X-SAR.

The GOCE end-to-end system simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Catastini, G.; Cesare, S.; de Sanctis, S.; Detoma, E.; Dumontel, M.; Floberghagen, R.; Parisch, M.; Sechi, G.; Anselmi, A.

2003-04-01

The idea of an end-to-end simulator was conceived in the early stages of the GOCE programme, as an essential tool for assessing the satellite system performance, that cannot be fully tested on the ground. The simulator in its present form is under development at Alenia Spazio for ESA since the beginning of Phase B and is being used for checking the consistency of the spacecraft and of the payload specifications with the overall system requirements, supporting trade-off, sensitivity and worst-case analyses, and preparing and testing the on-ground and in-flight calibration concepts. The software simulates the GOCE flight along an orbit resulting from the application of Earth's gravity field, non-conservative environmental disturbances (atmospheric drag, coupling with Earth's magnetic field, etc.) and control forces/torques. The drag free control forces as well as the attitude control torques are generated by the current design of the dedicated algorithms. Realistic sensor models (star tracker, GPS receiver and gravity gradiometer) feed the control algorithms and the commanded forces are applied through realistic thruster models. The output of this stage of the simulator is a time series of Level-0 data, namely the gradiometer raw measurements and spacecraft ancillary data. The next stage of the simulator transforms Level-0 data into Level-1b (gravity gradient tensor) data, by implementing the following steps: - transformation of raw measurements of each pair of accelerometers into common and differential accelerations - calibration of the common and differential accelerations - application of the post-facto algorithm to rectify the phase of the accelerations and to estimate the GOCE angular velocity and attitude - computation of the Level-1b gravity gradient tensor from calibrated accelerations and estimated angular velocity in different reference frames (orbital, inertial, earth-fixed); computation of the spectral density of the error of the tensor diagonal

A Conceptual Design for a Small Deployer Satellite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zumbo, S.

2002-01-01

In the last few years, the space scientific and industrial communities have demonstrated a renewed interest for small missions based on new categories of space platforms: micro &nano satellites. The cost reduction w.r.t. larger satellite missions, the shorter time from concept to launch, the risk distribution and the possibility to use this kind of bus both for stand-alone projects and as complementary to larger programs, are key factors that make this new kind of technology suitable for a wide range of space related activities. In particular it is now possible to conceive new mission philosophy implying the realisation of micro satellite constellations, with S/C flying in close formation to form a network of distributed sensors either for near-real time telecommunication or Earth remote sensing and disaster monitoring systems or physics and astronomical researches for Earth-Sun dynamics and high energy radiation studies. At the same time micro satellite are becoming important test- beds for new technologies that will eventually be used on larger missions, with relevant spin-offs potentialities towards other industrial fields. The foreseen social and economical direct benefits, the reduced mission costs and the possibility even for a small skilled team to manage all the project, represent very attractive arguments for universities and research institutes to invest funds and human resources to get first order technical and theoretical skills in the field of micro satellite design, with important influences on the training programs of motivated students that are directly involved in all the project's phases. In consideration of these space market important new trends and of the academic benefits that could be guaranteed by undertaking a micro satellite mission project, basing on its long space activities heritage, University of Rome "La Sapienza" - Aerospace and Astronautics Department, with the support of the Italian Space Agency, Alenia Spazio and of important

Space Radar Image of Taal Volcano, Philippines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Oetzal, Austria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI).

Space Radar Image of Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Flevoland, Netherlands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrte.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Windowsill System Using Smart Handheld Device and Fuzzy Microcontroller

PubMed Central

Wang, Jing-Min; Yang, Ming-Ta; Chen, Po-Lin

2017-01-01

With the advance of science and technology, people have a desire for convenient and comfortable living. Creating comfortable and healthy indoor environments is a major consideration for designing smart homes. As handheld devices become increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, this paper proposes an innovative use of smart handheld devices (SHD), using MIT App Inventor and fuzzy control, to perform the real-time monitoring and smart control of the designed intelligent windowsill system (IWS) in a smart home. A compact weather station that consists of environment sensors was constructed in the IWS for measuring of indoor illuminance, temperature-humidity, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and outdoor rain and wind direction. According to the measured environment information, the proposed system can automatically send a command to a fuzzy microcontroller performed by Arduino UNO to fully or partly open the electric curtain and electric window for adapting to climate changes in the indoor and outdoor environment. Moreover, the IWS can automatically close windows for rain splashing on the window. The presented novel control method for the windowsill not only expands the SHD applications, but greatly enhances convenience to users. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the IWS, a laboratory prototype was built and confirmed experimentally. PMID:28398266

Long-term efficacy of Serenoa repens treatment in patients with mild and moderate symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia.

PubMed

Sinescu, Ioanel; Geavlete, Petrisor; Multescu, Razvan; Gangu, Constantin; Miclea, Florin; Coman, Ioan; Ioiart, Ioan; Ambert, Valentin; Constantin, Traian; Petrut, Bogdan; Feciche, Bogdan

2011-01-01

The study aimed to evaluate the long-term efficacy of treatment with extract of Serenoa repens (Prostamol Uno) in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) induced by benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We studied 120 patients with mild or moderate LUTS induced by BPH, maximal urinary flow (Q(max)) <15 ml with a voided volume ≥150 ml, prostate-specific antigen <4 ng/ml, and residual urinary volume <150 ml, treated daily for 24 months with one capsule of 320 mg ethanolic extract of Serenoa repens. Statistically significant improvements in the International Prostate Symptom Score (5.5 points), quality of life (QoL; 1.8 points), Q(max) (5.6 ml/s), International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF; 6.4 points) and reduction in residual urinary volume were observed during the study period. The mean prostate volume at 24 months was 36 ml, compared to 39.8 ml at baseline. Long-term treatment with 320 mg ethanolic extract of Serenoa repens proved to be efficient in reducing urinary obstruction, improving symptomatology and QoL of BPH patients. It also had a positive effect on sexual function, demonstrated by the statistically significant increase in the IIEF. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Fort Casamartina, Eduard; Arribas Hortiguela, Lorena; Bleda Pérez, Carmen; Muñoz Sánchez, Carme; Peiro Martínez, Imma; Perayre Badía, María; Clopés Estela, Ana

2016-06-03

Durante la última década, el conocimiento de nuevos mecanismos implicados en el desarrollo del cáncer ha permitido el diseño de nuevos fármacos para su tratamiento y la mayor parte de ellos son fármacos que se administran por vía oral. Uno de los principales problemas de los pacientes oncohematológicos es la desnutrición, que suele tener causas multifactoriales (de la propia enfermedad, de los pacientes y de los diferentes tratamientos administrados). Para minimizar el impacto de la desnutrición es necesaria una intervención nutricional, ya sea adaptando la dieta o mediante la instauración de soporte nutricional artificial, en función de la gravedad de cada caso. En cualquier paciente que esté recibiendo un tratamiento oncológico hay que evaluar las posibles interacciones que pueden existir con el soporte nutricional instaurado, ya sea dieta oral, suplementación oral o nutrición enteral. Estas interacciones pueden disminuir la eficacia, aumentar la toxicidad de los tratamientos o producir déficits nutricionales. Se detallan las principales interacciones que se pueden producir, las interacciones entre los tratamientos oncológicos y el soporte nutricional.

The optimal hormonal replacement modality selection for multiple organ procurement from brain-dead organ donors

PubMed Central

Mi, Zhibao; Novitzky, Dimitri; Collins, Joseph F; Cooper, David KC

2015-01-01

The management of brain-dead organ donors is complex. The use of inotropic agents and replacement of depleted hormones (hormonal replacement therapy) is crucial for successful multiple organ procurement, yet the optimal hormonal replacement has not been identified, and the statistical adjustment to determine the best selection is not trivial. Traditional pair-wise comparisons between every pair of treatments, and multiple comparisons to all (MCA), are statistically conservative. Hsu’s multiple comparisons with the best (MCB) – adapted from the Dunnett’s multiple comparisons with control (MCC) – has been used for selecting the best treatment based on continuous variables. We selected the best hormonal replacement modality for successful multiple organ procurement using a two-step approach. First, we estimated the predicted margins by constructing generalized linear models (GLM) or generalized linear mixed models (GLMM), and then we applied the multiple comparison methods to identify the best hormonal replacement modality given that the testing of hormonal replacement modalities is independent. Based on 10-year data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), among 16 hormonal replacement modalities, and using the 95% simultaneous confidence intervals, we found that the combination of thyroid hormone, a corticosteroid, antidiuretic hormone, and insulin was the best modality for multiple organ procurement for transplantation. PMID:25565890

White donor, younger donor and double lung transplant are associated with better survival in sarcoidosis patients.

PubMed

Salamo, Oriana; Roghaee, Shiva; Schweitzer, Michael D; Mantero, Alejandro; Shafazand, Shirin; Campos, Michael; Mirsaeidi, Mehdi

2018-05-03

Sarcoidosis commonly affects the lung. Lung transplantation (LT) is required when there is a severe and refractory involvement. We compared post-transplant survival rates of sarcoidosis patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We also explored whether the race and age of the donor, and double lung transplant have any effect on the survival in the post transplant setting. We analyzed 9,727 adult patients with sarcoidosis, COPD, and IPF who underwent LT worldwide between 2005-2015 based on United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database. Survival rates were compared with Kaplan-Meier, and risk factors were investigated by Cox-regression analysis. 469 (5%) were transplanted because of sarcoidosis, 3,688 (38%) for COPD and 5,570 (57%) for IPF. Unadjusted survival analysis showed a better post-transplant survival rate for patients with sarcoidosis (p < 0.001, Log-rank test). In Cox-regression analysis, double lung transplant and white race of the lung donor showed to have a significant survival advantage. Since double lung transplant, those who are younger and have lower Lung Allocation Score (LAS) at the time of transplant have a survival advantage, we suggest double lung transplant as the procedure of choice, especially in younger sarcoidosis subjects and with lower LAS scores.

Mathematical Calculations Of Heat Transfer For The CNC Deposition Platform Based On Chemical Thermal Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Essa, Mohammed Sh.; Chiad, Bahaa T.; Hussein, Khalil A.

2018-05-01

Chemical thermal deposition techniques are highly depending on deposition platform temperature as well as surface substrate temperatures, so in this research thermal distribution and heat transfer was calculated to optimize the deposition platform temperature distribution, determine the power required for the heating element, to improve thermal homogeneity. Furthermore, calculate the dissipated thermal power from the deposition platform. Moreover, the thermal imager (thermal camera) was used to estimate the thermal destitution in addition to, the temperature allocation over 400cm2 heated plate area. In order to reach a plate temperature at 500 oC, a plate supported with an electrical heater of power (2000 W). Stainless steel plate of 12mm thickness was used as a heated plate and deposition platform and subjected to lab tests using element analyzer X-ray fluorescence system (XRF) to check its elemental composition and found the grade of stainless steel and found to be 316 L. The total heat losses calculated at this temperature was 612 W. Homemade heating element was used to heat the plate and can reach 450 oC with less than 15 min as recorded from the system.as well as the temperatures recorded and monitored using Arduino/UNO microcontroller with cold-junction-compensated K-thermocouple-to-digital converter type MAX6675.

Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Windowsill System Using Smart Handheld Device and Fuzzy Microcontroller.

PubMed

Wang, Jing-Min; Yang, Ming-Ta; Chen, Po-Lin

2017-04-11

With the advance of science and technology, people have a desire for convenient and comfortable living. Creating comfortable and healthy indoor environments is a major consideration for designing smart homes. As handheld devices become increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, this paper proposes an innovative use of smart handheld devices (SHD), using MIT App Inventor and fuzzy control, to perform the real-time monitoring and smart control of the designed intelligent windowsill system (IWS) in a smart home. A compact weather station that consists of environment sensors was constructed in the IWS for measuring of indoor illuminance, temperature-humidity, carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration and outdoor rain and wind direction. According to the measured environment information, the proposed system can automatically send a command to a fuzzy microcontroller performed by Arduino UNO to fully or partly open the electric curtain and electric window for adapting to climate changes in the indoor and outdoor environment. Moreover, the IWS can automatically close windows for rain splashing on the window. The presented novel control method for the windowsill not only expands the SHD applications, but greatly enhances convenience to users. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the IWS, a laboratory prototype was built and confirmed experimentally.

Low-cost microcontroller platform for studying lymphatic biomechanics in vitro.

PubMed

Kornuta, Jeffrey A; Nipper, Matthew E; Dixon, J Brandon

2013-01-04

The pumping innate to collecting lymphatic vessels routinely exposes the endothelium to oscillatory wall shear stress and other dynamic forces. However, studying the mechanical sensitivity of the lymphatic endothelium remains a difficult task due to limitations of commercial or custom systems to apply a variety of time-varying stresses in vitro. Current biomechanical in vitro testing devices are very expensive, limited in capability, or highly complex; rendering them largely inaccessible to the endothelial cell biology community. To address these shortcomings, the authors propose a reliable, low-cost platform for augmenting the capabilities of commercially available pumps to produce a wide variety of flow rate waveforms. In particular, the Arduino Uno, a microcontroller development board, is used to provide open-loop control of a digital peristaltic pump using precisely timed serial commands. In addition, the flexibility of this platform is further demonstrated through its support of a custom-built cell-straining device capable of producing oscillatory strains with varying amplitudes and frequencies. Hence, this microcontroller development board is shown to be an inexpensive, precise, and easy-to-use tool for supplementing in vitro assays to quantify the effects of biomechanical forces on lymphatic endothelial cells. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nuevos escenarios de la migración México-Estados Unidos. Las consecuencias de la guerra antiinmigrante

PubMed Central

MASSEY, Douglas S.; PREN, Karen A.; DURAND, Jorge

2010-01-01

La historia de la migración México-Estados Unidos se caracteriza por una serie de periodos durante los cuales los patrones migratorios se transforman y evolucionan como respuesta a los cambios en la política migratoria de Estados Unidos. En la década de 1990 se dio uno de estos cambios, lo que provocó el paso de la ‘era de la contradicción’ a la ‘era de la marginalización’. Actualmente, un gran número de migrantes indocumentados permanecen al margen de la ley, precisamente en un periodo en el que las penas se han incrementado y la persecución ha alcanzado niveles récord. De manera cada vez más notoria, los migrantes indocumentados, por la represión interna y fronteriza, quedan obligados a romper los lazos que los vinculaban con sus lugares de destino, pero al mismo tiempo se sienten cada vez más extraños en una tierra donde la aplicación de políticas antiinmigrantes es cosa de todos los días, lo que los sitúa en una posición de marginalización y gran vulnerabilidad. PMID:21209790

Prototype Design of Smart System as A Vines Medium of Javanese Long Pepper (Piper Retrofractum Vahl)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pramudia, M.; Umami, K. K.

2018-01-01

Javanese long pepper is one of the Indonesia’s native medicinal plants which is included in the family Piperaceae. This plant has a characteristic thrives on plains which high rainfall between 1,200 - 3,000 mm per year and the level of soil moisture ranges from 80-100%. In the area of Bluto, Madura, these plants are generally grown on farmland by using a moringa tree as a vines medium. However, in line with technological developments, the vines media plants of Javanese long pepper begin to be replaced by technology that utilizes a concrete cylindrical as the vines media. In this research, the vines media are made from hollow concrete cylindrical with a height of 180 cm which is controlled automatically by the device of Arduino Uno as a microcontroller and its connected with ultrasonic sensors, light dependent resistor sensors, soil moisture sensors, and solar cell as an alternative energy source which called smart system. It has several main functions such as medium vines of Javanese long pepper plants, keep the moisture of plants, store the water as well as being able to do the watering automatically. This prototype design is expected to be an alternative solution to improve the quality of plant growth, especially in the dry season.

The effect of socioeconomic indicators and macronutrient intake rate on body composition in adolescents 12 to 16 years old in Merida, Yucatan.

PubMed

Datta Banik, Sudip; Andrade Olalde, Ana Carolina; Rodriguez, Luis; Dickinson, Federico

2014-01-01

Intake pattern of macronutrients (protein, lipid, carbohydrate) and socioeconomic status (SES) are major causes of high child and adolescent overweight and obesity prevalences in Mexico. An evaluation was done of the relationship between body mass index (BMI)-based nutritional status and body composition (BC), macronutrient intake rates (MIR) and SES indicators in 127 boys and 156 girls aged 12 to 16 years attending schools in Merida, Mexico. Anthropometric variables included height, weight, and BMI. The BC (body fat mass, fat-free mass, dry lean mass) was estimated by bioelectrical impedance (Bodystat 1500 MDD). The MIR were estimated following FAO/WHO/UNO standard (1985). Proxy socioeconomic indicators included parents' age (as a maturity indicator) and education, fathers' occupation, school type and monthly household food expenditure per capita. Excess weight (overweight + obesity) assessed by BMI, was higher in boys (40.16 %) than in girls (33.97 %). Boys had higher BMI, less fat mass and higher fat-free mass than girls. The MIR did not vary significantly in response to age, sex, BC or SES. Participants with higher SES were taller and heavier, had higher fat-free mass and lower fat mass. In the studied adolescents, anthropometric and BC values, and overweight and obesity rates were more associated with SES than MIR.

Trends in pediatric liver transplant donors and deceased donor circumstance of death in the United States, 2002-2015.

PubMed

Yoeli, Dor; Goss, Matthew; Galván, Nhu Thao N; Desai, Moreshwar S; Miloh, Tamir A; Rana, Abbas

2018-05-01

While much of the discussion regarding expanding the donor pool for pediatric liver transplantation has surrounded the use of technical variant grafts, little attention has been directed toward changes in the deceased donor population. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in the circumstance of the death of deceased donors used for pediatric liver transplantation. All pediatric liver transplant recipients transplanted between 2002 and 2015 were identified in the UNOS database and were categorized based on the donor circumstance of death. There was no significant correlation between year of transplantation and number of pediatric liver transplants performed, pediatric donors, split livers, or living donors. There was a significant downward trend in donors from motor vehicle fatalities and an upward trend in suicide, non-MVA, and death due to natural causes. There was also an upward trend in drowning, one of the most common mechanisms of death among non-MVA in 2015. While the number of donors who died in MVA has fallen, the number of deceased donors who died from suicide, natural causes, and non-MVA, especially drowning, has increased, maintaining the overall number of pediatric deceased donor livers transplanted. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An Arduino-Based Resonant Cradle Design with Infant Cries Recognition

PubMed Central

Chao, Chun-Tang; Wang, Chia-Wei; Chiou, Juing-Shian; Wang, Chi-Jo

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a resonant electric cradle design with infant cries recognition, employing an Arduino UNO as the core processor. For most commercially available electric cradles, the drive motor is closely combined with the bearing on the top, resulting in a lot of energy consumption. In this proposal, a ball bearing design was adopted and the driving force is under the cradle to increase the distance from the object to fulcrum and torque. The sensors are designed to detect the oscillation state, and then the force is driven at the critical time to achieve the maximum output response while saving energy according to the principle of resonance. As for the driving forces, the winding power and motors are carefully placed under the cradle. The sensors, including the three-axis accelerometer and infrared sensor, are tested and applied under swinging amplitude control. In addition, infant cry recognition technology was incorporated in the design to further develop its functionality, which is a rare feature in this kind of hardware. The proposed nonlinear operator of fundamental frequency (f0) analysis is able to identify different types of infant cries. In conclusion, this paper proposes an energy-saving electric cradle with infant cries recognition and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach. PMID:26247947

Microcontroller based automatic temperature control for oyster mushroom plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sihombing, P.; Astuti, T. P.; Herriyance; Sitompul, D.

2018-03-01

In the cultivation of Oyster Mushrooms need special treatment because oyster mushrooms are susceptible to disease. Mushroom growth will be inhibited if the temperature and humidity are not well controlled because temperature and inertia can affect mold growth. Oyster mushroom growth usually will be optimal at temperatures around 22-28°C and humidity around 70-90%. This problem is often encountered in the cultivation of oyster mushrooms. Therefore it is very important to control the temperature and humidity of the room of oyster mushroom cultivation. In this paper, we developed an automatic temperature monitoring tool in the cultivation of oyster mushroom-based Arduino Uno microcontroller. We have designed a tool that will control the temperature and humidity automatically by Android Smartphone. If the temperature increased more than 28°C in the room of mushroom plants, then this tool will turn on the pump automatically to run water in order to lower the room temperature. And if the room temperature of mushroom plants below of 22°C, then the light will be turned on in order to heat the room. Thus the temperature in the room oyster mushrooms will remain stable so that the growth of oyster mushrooms can grow with good quality.

Estudio de distintos modelos de protuberancias solares

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cirigliano, D.; Rovira, M.; Mauas, P.

En este trabajo presentamos perfiles de líneas del CaII, MgII y HeI calculados para distintos modelos de protuberancias, y los comparamos con observaciones obtenidas por los satélites OSO 8 y SOHO. Para obtener las poblaciones de los distintos niveles de los átomos, utilizamos un código numérico que combina las ecuaciones de transporte de radiación y equilibrio estadístico en un único sistema de ecuaciones no lineal. Los modelos básicos que consideramos para las protuberancias consisten en placas homogéneas y unidimensionales apoyadas sobre la superficie del Sol. Dichas placas se hallan estratificadas en hebras y los modelos difieren entre sí en la temperatura y ancho de la placa, en la presión a la cual se halla el plasma y en el número de hebras. A partir de estos modelos se investiga cada uno de estos parámetros libres y como influyen en la atmósfera de las protuberancias solares y en el perfil de línea de cada especie estudiada, con el objetivo de determinar las condiciones en las que se halla el material atmosférico de estas protuberancias.

New Device for Intrinsic Hand Muscle Strength Measurement: An Alternative to Strain Gauge Handheld Dynamometer.

PubMed

Madhanagopal, Jagannathan; Singh, Om Prakash; Mohan, Vikram; Sathasivam, Kathiresan V; Omar, Abdul Hafidz; Abdul Kadir, Mohammed Rafiq

2017-01-01

An accurate measurement of intrinsic hand muscle strength (IHMS) is required by clinicians for effective clinical decision-making, diagnosis of certain diseases, and evaluation of the outcome of treatment. In practice, the clinicians use Intrins-o-meter and Rotterdam Intrinsic Hand Myometer for IHMS measurement. These are quite bulky, expensive, and possess poor interobserver reliability (37-52%) and sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to develop an alternative lightweight, accurate, cost-effective force measurement device with a simple electronic circuit and test its suitability for IHMS measurement. The device was constructed with ketjenblack/deproteinized natural rubber sensor, 1-MΩ potential divider, and Arduino Uno through the custom-written software. Then, the device was calibrated and tested for accuracy and repeatability within the force range of finger muscles (100 N). The 95% limit of agreement in accuracy from -1.95 N to 2.06 N for 10 to 100 N applied load and repeatability coefficient of ±1.91 N or 6.2% was achieved. Furthermore, the expenditure for the device construction was around US$ 53. For a practical demonstration, the device was tested among 16 participants for isometric strength measurement of the ulnar abductor and dorsal interossei. The results revealed that the performance of the device was suitable for IHMS measurement.

Exploring the boundary between aromatic and olefinic character: Bad news for second-order perturbation theory and density functional schemes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sulzbach, H.M.; Schaefer, H.F. III; Klopper, W.

1996-04-10

The question whether [10]annulene prefers olefinic structures with alternate single and double bonds or aromatic structures like all other small to medium sized uncharged (4n + 2){pi} electron homologs (e.g. benzene, [14]annulene) has been controversial for more than 20 years. Our new results suggest that only the high-order correlated methods will be able to correctly predict the [10]annulene potential energy surface. The UNO-CAS results and the strong oscillation of the MP series show that nondynamical electron correlation is important. Consequently, reliable results can only be expected at the highest correlated levels like CCSD(T) method, which predicts the olefinic twist structuremore » to be lower in energy by 3-7 kcal/mol. This prediction that the twist structure is lower in energy is supported by (a) the MP2-R12 method, which shows that large basis sets favor the olefinic structure relative to the aromatic, and (b) the fact that both structures are about equally affected by nondynamical electron correlation. We conclude that [10]annulene is a system which cannot be described adequately by either second-order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory or density functional methods. 13 refs., 3 tabs.« less

An Arduino-Based Resonant Cradle Design with Infant Cries Recognition.

PubMed

Chao, Chun-Tang; Wang, Chia-Wei; Chiou, Juing-Shian; Wang, Chi-Jo

2015-08-03

This paper proposes a resonant electric cradle design with infant cries recognition, employing an Arduino UNO as the core processor. For most commercially available electric cradles, the drive motor is closely combined with the bearing on the top, resulting in a lot of energy consumption. In this proposal, a ball bearing design was adopted and the driving force is under the cradle to increase the distance from the object to fulcrum and torque. The sensors are designed to detect the oscillation state, and then the force is driven at the critical time to achieve the maximum output response while saving energy according to the principle of resonance. As for the driving forces, the winding power and motors are carefully placed under the cradle. The sensors, including the three-axis accelerometer and infrared sensor, are tested and applied under swinging amplitude control. In addition, infant cry recognition technology was incorporated in the design to further develop its functionality, which is a rare feature in this kind of hardware. The proposed nonlinear operator of fundamental frequency (f0) analysis is able to identify different types of infant cries. In conclusion, this paper proposes an energy-saving electric cradle with infant cries recognition and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

Report from a forum on US heart allocation policy.

PubMed

Kobashigawa, J A; Johnson, M; Rogers, J; Vega, J D; Colvin-Adams, M; Edwards, L; Meyer, D; Luu, M; Reinsmoen, N; Dipchand, A I; Feldman, D; Kormos, R; Mancini, D; Webber, S

2015-01-01

Since the latest revision in US heart allocation policy (2006), the landscape and volume of transplant waitlists have changed considerably. Advances in mechanical circulatory support (MCS) prolong survival, but Status 1A mortality remains high. Several patient subgroups may be disadvantaged by current listing criteria and geographical disparity remains in waitlist time. This forum on US heart allocation policy was organized to discuss these issues and highlight concepts for consideration in the policy development process. A 25-question survey on heart allocation policy was conducted. Among attendees/respondents were 84 participants with clinical/published experience in heart transplant representing 51 US transplant centers, and OPTN/UNOS and SRTR representatives. The survey results and forum discussions demonstrated very strong interest in change to a further-tiered system, accounting for disadvantaged subgroups and lowering use of exceptions. However, a heart allocation score is not yet viable due to the long-term viability of variables (used in the score) in an ever-developing field. There is strong interest in more refined prioritization of patients with MCS complications, highly sensitized patients and those with severe arrhythmias or restrictive physiology. There is also strong interest in distribution by geographic boundaries modified according to population. Differences of opinion exist between small and large centers.

Upgrade to the Cryogenic Hydrogen Gas Target Monitoring System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Michael; Tribble, Robert

2013-10-01

The cryogenic hydrogen gas target at Texas A&M is a vital component for creating a secondary radioactive beam that is then used in experiments in the Momentum Achromat Recoil Spectrometer (MARS). A stable beam from the K500 superconducting cyclotron enters the gas cell and some incident particles are transmuted by a nuclear reaction into a radioactive beam, which are separated from the primary beam and used in MARS experiments. The pressure in the target chamber is monitored so that a predictable isotope production rate can be assured. A ``black box'' received the analog pressure data and sent RS232 serial data through an outdated serial connection to an outdated Visual Basic 6 (VB6) program, which plotted the chamber pressure continuously. The black box has been upgraded to an Arduino UNO microcontroller [Atmel Inc.], which can receive the pressure data and output via USB to a computer. It has been programmed to also accept temperature data for future upgrade. A new computer program, with updated capabilities, has been written in Python. The software can send email alerts, create audible alarms through the Arduino, and plot pressure and temperature. The program has been designed to better fit the needs of the users. Funded by DOE and NSF-REU Program.

Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma beyond Milan Criteria: Multidisciplinary Approach to Improve Outcome

PubMed Central

Kornberg, A.

2014-01-01

The implementation of the Milan criteria (MC) in 1996 has dramatically improved prognosis after liver transplantation (LT) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver transplantation has, thereby, become the standard therapy for patients with “early-stage” HCC on liver cirrhosis. The MC were consequently adopted by United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) and Eurotransplant for prioritization of patients with HCC. Recent advancements in the knowledge about tumor biology, radiographic imaging techniques, locoregional interventional treatments, and immunosuppressive medications have raised a critical discussion, if the MC might be too restrictive and unjustified keeping away many patients from potentially curative LT. Numerous transplant groups have, therefore, increasingly focussed on a stepwise expansion of selection criteria, mainly based on tumor macromorphology, such as size and number of HCC nodules. Against the background of a dramatic shortage of donor organs, however, simple expansion of tumor macromorphology may not be appropriate to create a safe extended criteria system. In contrast, rather the implementation of reliable prognostic parameters of tumor biology into selection process prior to LT is mandatory. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach of pre-, peri-, and posttransplant modulating of the tumor and/or the patient has to be established for improving prognosis in this special subset of patients. PMID:27335840

Liver transplantation for metastatic liver malignancies.

PubMed

Foss, Aksel; Lerut, Jan P

2014-06-01

Liver transplantation is a validated treatment of primary hepatobiliary tumours. Over the last decade, a renewed interest for liver transplantation as a curative treatment of colorectal liver metastasis (CR-LM) and neuro-endocrine metastasis (NET-LM) has developed. The ELTR and UNOS analyses showed that liver transplantation may offer excellent disease-free survival (ranging from 30 to 77%) in case of NET-LM, on the condition that stringent selection criteria are implemented. The interest for liver transplantation in the treatment of CR-LM has been fostered by the Norwegian SECA study. Five-year A 5-year survival rate of 60% could be reached. Despite the high recurrence rate (90%), one-third of patients were disease free following pulmonary surgery for metastases. Liver transplantation will take a more prominent place in the therapeutic algorithm of CR-LM and NET-LM. Larger experiences are necessary to improve knowledge about tumour biology and to refine selection criteria. A multimodal approach adding neo and adjuvant medical treatment to the transplant procedure will be key to bring this oncologic transplant project into the clinical arena. The preserved liver function in these patients will allow a more deliberate access to split liver and living donation for these indications.

High rate of unemployment after kidney transplantation: analysis of the United network for organ sharing database.

PubMed

Tzvetanov, I; D'Amico, G; Walczak, D; Jeon, H; Garcia-Roca, R; Oberholzer, J; Benedetti, E

2014-06-01

Despite an increased quality of life after transplant, in the United States, recipients participate less in employment compared to the general population. Employment after kidney transplantation is an important marker of clinically significant individual health recovery. Furthermore, it has been shown that employment status in the post-transplant period has a strong and independent association with patient and graft survival. Using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database, we identified all adults (between 18 and 64 years of age) who underwent kidney transplantation between 2004 and 2011. Patients with a stable renal allograft function and with full 1-, 3-, and 5-year follow-up were included. For recipients of multiple transplants, the most recent transplant was considered the target transplant. The data collected included employment rate after kidney transplantation in recipients employed and unemployed before transplant. The employment data were stratified for insurance payer (private, Medicaid, and Medicare). The results of categorical variables are reported as percentages. Comparisons between groups for categorical data were performed using the χ(2) test with Yates continuity correction or Fisher test when appropriate. The UNOS database available for this study included a total of 100,521 patients. The employment rate at the time of transplant was 23.1% (n = 23,225) under private insurance and 10% (n = 10,032) under public insurance (Medicaid and Medicare, P < .01, compared to private insurance). Over a total of 29,809 recipients analyzed, alive and with stable renal allograft function who were working at time of transplantation, the employment rate was 47% (n = 14,010), 44% (n = 13,115), and 43% (n = 12,817) at 1, 3, and 5 years after transplant under private insurance and 16% (n = 4769), 14% (n = 4173), and 12% (n = 3567), respectively, under public insurance (P < .01, compared to private insurance). Over a total of 46,363 recipients alive and

USEMS & GLASS: investigator-driven frontier research in earthquake physics. Ground-breaking research in Europe enhances outreach to the general public

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mariano, S.; di Toro, G.; Collettini, C.; Usems Team; Glass Team

2011-12-01

USEMS and GLASS are two projects financed by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the ERC starting grants scheme within the FP7 framework. The rationale behind the funding scheme is to support some of the most promising scientific endeavours in Europe that are being led by young researchers, and to emphasize the excellence of individual ideas rather than specific research areas; in other words, to promote bottom-up frontier research. The general benefits of this rationale are evident in the two ongoing projects that deal with earthquake physics, as these projects are increasingly recognized in their scientific community. We can say that putting excellence at the heart of European Research strongly contributes to the construction of a European knowledge-based society. From a researcher point-of-view one of the most challenging aspects of these projects is to approach and convey the results of the projects to a general public, contributing to the construction of knowledge-based society. Luckily, media interest and the availability of a number of new communication tools facilitate the outreach of scientific achievements. The largest earthquakes during the last ten years (e.g. Sumatra 2004 and Japan 2011) have received widespread attention in the media world (TV, W.W.W., Newspaper and so on) for months, and successful research projects such as those above also become media protagonists, gaining their space in the media bullring. The USEMS principal investigator and his team have participated in several dissemination events in the Mass Media, such as interviews wit Italian and French TV national broadcasts (RAI Due TG2, RAI Uno Unomattina, Rai Tre Geo & Geo, FRANCE 2); interviews in scientific journals: SCIENCE (Sept. 2010), newspapers and web (Corriere della Sera, Il Gazzettino, Il Messagero, La Stampa, Libero, Il Mattino, Yahoo, ANSA, AdnKronos and AGI); radio (RadioRai Uno, RadioRai Tre Scienza); documentary "Die Eroberung der Alpen" produced by Tangram

[80 years of soial service in medicine].

PubMed

Hace 80 años, la Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad Nacional, en voz de su director, Gustavo Baz Prada, hizo una propuesta que pronto se convirtió en realidad y finalmente en norma, la que desde entonces se conoce como SS. Esta iniciativa se vio como una manera para que los estudiantes de medicina del último año retribuyeran a la sociedad una parte de lo que esta invirtió en su educación, consolidaran su formación mediante la exposición a las realidades de todos los días en los medios más necesitados, se pusieran a prueba sobre sus verdaderas capacidades para atender pacientes y participaran en la solución de un problema de atención sanitaria que en ese entonces era mucho más apremiante que ahora. Unos años después, los recién egresados de otras licenciaturas (pasantes) también fueron incorporados a esta estrategia y, al fin, se reconoció formalmente como una responsabilidad de las instituciones educativas. Las aportaciones del SS a la salud de las personas y a la formación de los médicos han sido incuestionables, y la experiencia humana que ha representado para quienes lo han vivido ha dejado marcas indelebles.

Independent validation of a new reirradiation risk score (RRRS) for glioma patients predicting post-recurrence survival: A multicenter DKTK/ROG analysis.

PubMed

Niyazi, Maximilian; Adeberg, Sebastian; Kaul, David; Boulesteix, Anne-Laure; Bougatf, Nina; Fleischmann, Daniel F; Grün, Arne; Krämer, Anna; Rödel, Claus; Eckert, Franziska; Paulsen, Frank; Kessel, Kerstin A; Combs, Stephanie E; Oehlke, Oliver; Grosu, Anca-Ligia; Seidlitz, Annekatrin; Lattermann, Annika; Krause, Mechthild; Baumann, Michael; Guberina, Maja; Stuschke, Martin; Budach, Volker; Belka, Claus; Debus, Jürgen

2018-04-01

Reirradiation (reRT) is a valid option with considerable efficacy in patients with recurrent high-grade glioma, but it is still not known which patients might be optimal candidates for a second course of irradiation. This study validated a newly developed prognostic score independently in an external patient cohort. The reRT risk score (RRRS) is based on a linear combination of initial histology, clinical performance status, and age derived from a multivariable model of 353 patients. This score can predict post-recurrence survival (PRS) after reRT. The validation dataset consisted of 212 patients. The RRRS differentiates three prognostic groups. Discrimination and calibration were maintained in the validation group. Median PRS times in the development cohort for the good/intermediate/poor risk categories were 14.2, 9.1, and 5.3 months, respectively. The respective groups within the validation cohort displayed median PRS times of 13.8, 8.8, and 3.8 months, respectively. Uno's C for development data was 0.64 (CI: 0.60-0.69) and for validation data 0.63 (CI: 0.58-0.68). The RRRS has been successfully validated in an independent patient cohort. This linear combination of three easily determined clinicopathological factors allows for a reliable classification of patients and may be used as stratification factor for future trials. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design and Development of a Salbutamol Intake Detector for Low Respiratory Treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vui Hin, Tsen; Ilyani Ramli, Nur

2017-08-01

This paper proposed a new salbutamol intake detector design using asthma spacer and gas sensor. The device enable real time monitoring of propellant level inhaled by the infant which will decrease the recovery time of the asthma attack. Microcontroller Arduino UNO is program to control the input and output of the system. MQ6 gas sensor detecting the propellant Hydrofluoroalkane from the metered dose inhaler (MDI) canister and demonstrated the level of propellant inhaled on the LCD in real time. MQ6 gas sensor suitable used to detect concentration of propellant inside the asthma spacer due to it is low sensitive to natural gas where include the carbon dioxide exhaled by the infant. Besides this, MQ6 gas sensor also highly sensitive to propane and the preview aerosol inventor mentioned propane as propellant which used for MDI to push the salbutamol out from MDI canister. Therefore, MQ6 gas sensor is suitable to detect propellant inside asthma spacer. The output voltage of MQ6 in initial state where no propellant inside asthma spacer is between 0.55V and 0.65V. Furthermore, when the MDI canister is been pressed, the concentration of propellant is increased and the output voltage of MQ6 gas sensor also increased in ranged between 1.1V and 1.2V.

Developing hydrological monitoring networks with Arduino

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buytaert, Wouter; Vega, Andres; Villacis, Marcos; Moulds, Simon

2015-04-01

The open source hardware platform Arduino is very cost-effective and versatile for the development of sensor networks. Here we report on experiments on the use of Arduino-related technologies to develop and implement hydrological monitoring networks. Arduino Uno boards were coupled to a variety of commercially available hydrological sensors and programmed for automatic data collection. Tested sensors include water level, temperature, humidity, radiation, and precipitation. Our experiments show that most of the tested analogue sensors are quite straightforward to couple to Arduino based data loggers, especially if the electronic characteristics of the sensor are available. However, some sensors have internal digital interfaces, which are more challenging to connect. Lastly, tipping bucket rain gauges prove the most challenging because of the very specific methodology, i.e. registration of bucket tips instead of measurements at regular intervals. The typically low data generation rate of hydrological instruments is very compatible with available technologies for wireless data transmission. Mesh networks such as Xbee prove very convenient and robust for dispersed networks, while wifi is also an option for shorter distances and particular topographies. Lastly, the GSM shield of the Arduino can be used to transfer data to centralized databases. In regions where no mobile internet (i.e. 3G) connection is available, data transmission via text messages may be an option, depending on the bandwidth requirements.

Multifactorial analysis of renal transplants reported to the United Network for Organ Sharing Registry: a 1994 update.

PubMed

Gjertson, D W

1994-01-01

1. From a multivariate log-linear analysis of 57,303 renal transplants between 1988 and 1994, the top 10 factors influencing one-year and 3-year cadaveric graft survival rates were ranked as follows: [table: see text] 2. Center effects accounted for 30% and 28% of all assignable variations in one-year and 3-year outcomes, respectively. Although center variation dominated 32 other variables, most factors were relatively independent of transplant center. 3. Novel to our own multifactorial analyses of the UNOS Kidney Transplant Registry were 6 pretransplant factors (recipient pretransplant dialysis, pregnancy, PRA technique, donor disposition and preservation, and ABO compatibility). Survival rates over the various combinations of these new factors were not significantly different. 4. For the first time in our multivariate analyses, 4 posttransplantation factors (delayed graft function, rejection episodes prior to discharge, induction and maintenance drug therapies) were included in the log-linear model. It is noteworthy that graft survival in both transplant periods was seriously imperiled following delayed graft function or rejection prior to discharge, yet the accounting for these pseudo-outcome variables did not alter the influence of the remaining 31 transplant factors. Finally, maintenance drug therapies strongly influenced short-term outcomes but did not influence long-term results, except for a noteworthy trend toward increased survival rates for FK506 therapy.

[Leprosy--a stigma in the 21st century].

PubMed

Falus, Orsolya

2011-02-13

For the initiation of the French journalist Raoul Follereau in 1954 the UNO inaugurated the Leprosy Day (Martyr's Day) that is celebrated on the last Sunday of January every year. Although the bacterium that causes leprosy was isolated by the Norwegian scientist Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen in 1873 and from 1982 this disease can be cured with a special pharmaceutical complex, still 219.826 new leprous are detected on Earth every year, according to the data published in August, 2010 by WHO-experts. Ancient Chinese and Hindu source-strings from 600 B. C. are referring to leprosy, however, the disease was imported by the army of Alexander the Great from India around 327-326 B. C. Even the Old and the New Testament from the Holy Bible are mentioning leprosy in several details. During the Middle Ages the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, established in the Holy Land in 72 A. D., did pioneer work in nursing leprous. In the process of time the medical attendance concerning leprous was organized in special hospitals called "leprosoriums" built on river-banks. Special office and even services were organized for the treatment and isolation of the people infected. Although medical science has prevailed against leprosy, and almost simultaneously even jurisprudence defended the patients' rights via legislation, still mankind can regrettably not get rid of this disease that stigmatizes seriously.

Pulmonary Catherization Data Correlate Poorly with Renal Function in Heart Failure.

PubMed

Masha, Luke; Stone, James; Stone, Danielle; Zhang, Jun; Sheng, Luo

2018-04-10

The mechanisms of renal dysfunction in heart failure are poorly understood. We chose to explore the relationship of cardiac filling pressures and cardiac index (CI) in relation to renal dysfunction in advanced heart failure. To determine the relationship between renal function and cardiac filling pressures using the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) pulmonary artery catherization registry. Patients over the age of 18 years who were listed for single-organ heart transplantation were included. Exclusion criteria included a history of mechanical circulatory support, previous transplantation, any use of renal replacement therapy, prior history of malignancy, and cardiac surgery, amongst others. Correlations between serum creatinine (SCr) and CI, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP), and pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (PADP) were assessed by Pearson correlation coefficients and simple linear regression coefficients. Pearson correlation coefficients between SCr and PCWP, PASP, and PADP were near zero with values of 0.1, 0.07, and 0.08, respectively (p < 0.0001). A weak negative correlation coefficient between SCr and CI was found (correlation coefficient, -0.045, p = 0.027). In a subgroup of young patients unlikely to have noncardiac etiologies, no significant correlations between these values were identified. These findings suggest that, as assessed by pulmonary artery catherization, none of the factors - PCWP, PASP, PADP, or CI - play a prominent role in cardiorenal syndromes. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Design of robotic leg and physiotherapy (ROLEP) assist with interactive game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasan, A. F.; Husin, M. F. Che; Hashim, M. N.; Rosli, K. A.; Roslim, F. R. A.; Abidin, A. F. Z.

2017-09-01

Injuries in certain parts of the feet can cause a person to have difficulty in walking or running if it is not treated through physiotherapy. In Malaysia, therapy centers only provide a service or the use of basic tools that are not efficient as more sophisticated equipment requires a high cost. In fact, exercise requiring close monitoring physiotherapist are also at a high cost. Therefore, using robot therapy is a new technology that can provide an alternative way to solve this problem. The implementation of this project has produced a robotic physiotherapy which has one degree of freedom, portable and inexpensive way to help the movement of the patient's leg. It covers basic electrical circuits, mechanical components, programming and has been combined with an interactive game as the main driver. ROLEP (Robotic-Leg-Physiotherapy) is able to help patients through the therapy process. It was built using CT-UNO as its microprocessor connected to MD10-C which acted as the motor driver. The interactive game produced by using Unity game software is a key driver in getting rid of boredom and reduce pain. As a result, ROLEP designed can operate well within its range of the patient's weight. It has the advantage of portability and easy to use by the patients. ROLEP expected to help patients undergoing therapy process more efficient and interesting in the process of recovery.

How can we utilize livers from advanced aged donors for liver transplantation for hepatitis C?

PubMed

Uemura, Tadahiro; Nikkel, Lucas E; Hollenbeak, Christopher S; Ramprasad, Varun; Schaefer, Eric; Kadry, Zakiyah

2012-06-01

Advanced age donors have inferior outcomes of liver transplantation for Hepatitis C (HCV). Aged donors grafts may be transplanted into young or low model for end stage liver disease (MELD) patients in order to offset the effect of donor age. However, it is not well understood how to utilize liver grafts from advanced aged donors for HCV patients. Using the UNOS database, we retrospectively studied 7508 HCV patients who underwent primary liver transplantation. Risk factors for graft failure and graft survival using advanced aged grafts (donor age ≥ 60 years) were analyzed by Cox hazards models, donor risk index (DRI) and organ patient index (OPI). Recipient's age did not affect on graft survival regardless of donor age. Advanced aged grafts had significant inferior survival compared to younger aged grafts regardless of MELD score (P < 0.0001). Risk factors of HCV patients receiving advanced aged grafts included donation after cardiac death (DCD, HR: 1.69) and recent hospitalization (HR: 1.43). Advanced aged grafts showed significant difference in graft survival of HCV patients with stratification of DRI and OPI. In conclusion, there was no offsetting effect by use of advanced aged grafts into younger or low MELD patients. Advanced aged grafts, especially DCD, should be judiciously used for HCV patients with low MELD score. © 2012 The Authors. Transplant International © 2012 European Society for Organ Transplantation.

The extended tracking network and indications of baseline precision and accuracy in the North Andes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freymueller, Jeffrey T.; Kellogg, James N.

1990-01-01

The CASA Uno Global Positioning System (GPS) experiment (January-February 1988) included an extended tracking network which covered three continents in addition to the network of scientific interest in Central and South America. The repeatability of long baselines (400-1000 km) in South America is improved by up to a factor of two in the horizontal vector baseline components by using tracking stations in the Pacific and Europe to supplement stations in North America. In every case but one, the differences between the mean solutions obtained using different tracking networks was equal to or smaller than day-to-day rms repeatabilities for the same baselines. The mean solutions obtained by using tracking stations in North America and the Pacific agreed at the 2-3 millimeter level with those using tracking stations in North America and Europe. The agreement of the extended tracking network solutions suggests that a broad distribution of tracking stations provides better geometric constraints on the satellite orbits and that solutions are not sensitive to changes in tracking network configuration when an extended network is use. A comparison of the results from the North Andes and a baseline in North America suggests that the use of a geometrically strong extended tracking network is most important when the network of interest is far from North America.

Difusión de Arnold en un modelo simple

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cincotta, P. M.; Nuñez, J. A.; Miloni, O.

Investigadores como Merritt, Valluri, Pfenniger o Contopoulos (por citar los más relevantes) consideran seriamente la hipótesis que la difusión de Arnold juega un rol importante en la evolución dinámica de los sistemas estelares y planetarios. Sin embargo no existe ninguna evidencia. El mayor problema para investigar fenómenos como éste es que uno debe estudiar numéricamente sistemas multidimensionales (más de dos grados de libertad) y visualizar de alguna manera el espacio de fases (más de cuatro dimensiones). Más complicado aún es el caso de difusión de Arnold, donde deben considerarse tiempos de movimiento extremadamente largos y tratar con parámetros exponencialmente pequeños. El propósito de este trabajo es estudiar, en un modelo simple 3D, la existencia o no de difusión de Arnold mediante experimentos numéricos y estimaciones analíticas. Siguiendo los trabajos de Cincotta (2000) y Cincotta, Nuñez y Simo (2000), aquí se pretende ``visualizar" la difusión y, a la vez, determinar la escala de tiempo en la que ésta se podría manifestar. Este trabajo es el escalón inicial para luego abordar este problema en modelos.

Disegno dello studio genomico, ambientale, microbiomico e metabolomico sulla celiachia: un approccio al futuro della prevenzione personalizzata della celiachia

PubMed Central

SERENA, GLORIA; LEONARD, MAUREEN M.; CAMHI, STEPHANIE; HUEDO-MEDINA, TANIA B.; FASANO, ALESSIO

2017-01-01

Riassunto Negli ultimi anni abbiamo assistito a un fiorire di novità cliniche e scientifiche sulla celiachia (CE), ma forse la novità più importante che influenzerà il futuro della ricerca e della clinica in questo campo riguarda la storia naturale della malattia. Per molti anni si è creduto che la predisposizione genetica e l’esposizione al glutine fossero necessarie e sufficienti allo sviluppo della CE. Studi recenti, però suggeriscono che la perdita di tolleranza al glutine possa apparire in qualsiasi momento della vita a seguito di altri elementi. Inoltre, diversi fattori ambientali conosciuti per il loro ruolo nell’influenzare la composizione della microflora intestinale sono anche stati considerati legati allo sviluppo della CE. Tra questi fattori sono inclusi la modalità di parto, la dieta dell’infante e l’uso di antibiotici. A tutt’oggi, nessuno studio longitudinale di ampia scala ha determinato se e come la composizione del microbioma e il suo profilo metabolomico possano influenzare la perdita di tolleranza al glutine e il successivo sviluppo della CE in soggetti geneticamente predisposti. In questo articolo descriviamo uno studio prospettico, multicentrico e longitudinale su infanti a rischio per la CE che utilizzerà diverse tecniche per approfondire il ruolo che il microbioma intestinale ha durante i primi passaggi dello sviluppo della malattia autoimmune. PMID:27362724

Kidneys at Higher Risk of Discard: Expanding the Role of Dual Kidney Transplantation

PubMed Central

Tanriover, B.; Mohan, S.; Cohen, D. J.; Radhakrishnan, J.; Nickolas, T. L.; Stone, P. W.; Tsapepas, D. S.; Crew, R. J.; Dube, G. K.; Sandoval, P. R.; Samstein, B.; Dogan, E.; Gaston, R. S.; Tanriover, J. N.; Ratner, L. E.; Hardy, M. A.

2014-01-01

Half of the recovered expanded criteria donor (ECD) kidneys are discarded in the United States. A new kidney allocation system offers kidneys at higher risk of discard, Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI) >85%, to a wider geographic area to promote broader sharing and expedite utilization. Dual kidney transplantation (DKT) based on the KDPI is a potential option to streamline allocation of kidneys which otherwise would have been discarded. To assess the clinical utility of the KDPI in kidneys at higher risk of discard, we analyzed the OPTN/UNOS Registry that included the deceased donor kidneys recovered between 2002 and 2012. The primary outcomes were allograft survival, patient survival and discard rate based on different KDPI categories (<80%, 80–90% and >90%). Kidneys with KDPI >90% were associated with increased odds of discard (OR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.74–2.29) compared to ones with KDPI <80%. DKTs of KDPI >90% were associated with lower overall allograft failure (HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.62–0.89) and better patient survival (HR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.64–0.98) compared to single ECD kidneys with KDPI >90%. Kidneys at higher risk of discard may be offered in the up-front allocation system as a DKT. Further modeling and simulation studies are required to determine a reasonable KDPI cutoff percentile. PMID:24472195

Semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws; consistency and L(infinity)-stability imply convergence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tadmor, Eitan

1988-01-01

A convergence theory for semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws is developed. It is shown, by a series of scalar counter-examples, that consistency with the conservation law alone does not guarantee convergence. Instead, a notion of consistency which takes into account both the conservation law and its augmenting entropy condition is introduced. In this context it is concluded that consistency and L(infinity)-stability guarantee for a relevant class of admissible entropy functions, that their entropy production rate belongs to a compact subset of H(loc)sup -1 (x,t). One can now use compensated compactness arguments in order to turn this conclusion into a convergence proof. The current state of the art for these arguments includes the scalar and a wide class of 2 x 2 systems of conservation laws. The general framework of the vanishing viscosity method is studied as an effective way to meet the consistency and L(infinity)-stability requirements. How this method is utilized to enforce consistency and stability for scalar conservation laws is shown. In this context we prove, under the appropriate assumptions, the convergence of finite difference approximations (e.g., the high resolution TVD and UNO methods), finite element approximations (e.g., the Streamline-Diffusion methods) and spectral and pseudospectral approximations (e.g., the Spectral Viscosity methods).

Atmospheric mercury species measurements across the Western Mediterranean region: Behaviour and variability during a 2015 research cruise campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castagna, Jessica; Bencardino, Mariantonia; D'Amore, Francesco; Esposito, Giulio; Pirrone, Nicola; Sprovieri, Francesca

2018-01-01

In the framework of the ongoing MEDOCEANOR measurements program, an oceanographic cruise campaign was carried out during summer 2015 in the Western sector of Mediterranean Sea basin, on-board the research vessel ;Minerva Uno; of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). The overall goal was to investigate the dynamic patterns of mercury in the Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) and the main factors affecting mercury behaviour at both coastal and offshore locations. The mean concentrations of the recorded Hg species were 1.6 ± 0.5 ngm-3 , 11.8 ± 15.0 pgm-3 , and 2.4 ± 1.1 pgm-3 , respectively for GEM, GOM, and PBM. Moreover, during the measurement period typical fair-weather conditions of the Mediterranean summer were encountered with high levels of solar radiation and temperature that favoured photochemical reactions. Atmospheric pollutants such as ozone, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides and other meteorological parameters were in addition recorded and jointly discussed with selected mercury events in terms of their spatio-temporal variations. Changes in air pollutant concentrations were also argued in the light of their likely influencing sources, among which, anthropogenic activities, such as the mercury cell chlor-alkali complex in Tuscany, Italy, and natural influence, like volcanic ashes, detected around the Aeolian area and the in-situ production of reactive gaseous mercury within the Marine Boundary Layer.

A tapping device for recording and quantitative characterization of rhythmic/auditory sequences.

PubMed

Piazza, Caterina; Cesareo, Ambra; Caccia, Martina; Reni, Gianluigi; Lorusso, Maria L

2017-07-01

The processing of auditory stimuli is essential for the correct perception of language and deficits in this ability are often related to the presence or development of language disorders. The motor imitation (e.g. tapping or beating) of rhythmic sequences can be a very sensitive correlate of deficits in auditory processing. Thus, the study of the tapping performance, with the investigation of both temporal and intensity information, might be very useful. The present work is aimed at the development and preliminary testing of a tapping device to be used for the imitation and/or the production of rhythmic sequences, allowing the recording of both tapping duration and intensity. The device is essentially made up of a Force Sensing Resistor and an Arduino UNO board. It was validated using different sampling frequencies (f s ) in a group of 10 young healthy adults investigating its efficacy in terms of touch and intensity detection by means of two testing procedures. Results demonstrated a good performance of the device when programmed with fs equal to 50 and 100Hz. Moreover, both temporal and intensity parameters were extracted, thus supporting the potential use of the device for the analysis of the imitation or production of rhythmic sequences. This work represents a first step for the development of a useful, low cost tool to support the diagnosis, training and rehabilitation of language disorders.

Overweight and obesity in pediatric liver transplant recipients: Prevalence and predictors before and after transplant, United Network for Organ Sharing Data, 1987–2010

PubMed Central

Perito, Emily Rothbaum; Glidden, Dave; Roberts, John Paul; Rosenthal, Philip

2017-01-01

Obesity is extremely common in adult liver transplant recipients and healthy U.S. children. Little is known about the prevalence or risk factors for post-transplant obesity in pediatric liver transplant recipients. UNOS data on all U.S. liver transplants 1987–2010 in children 6 months–20 yr at transplant were analyzed. Subjects were categorized as underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese by CDC guidelines. Predictors of weight status at and after transplant were identified using multivariate logistic regression. Of 3043 children 6–24 months at transplant, 14% were overweight. Of 4658 subjects 2–20 yr at transplant, 16% were overweight and 13% obese. Children overweight/obese at transplant were more likely to be overweight/obese at one, two, and five yr after transplant in all age groups after adjusting for age, ethnicity, primary diagnosis, year of transplant, and transplant type. Weight status at transplant was not associated with overweight/ obesity by 10 yr after transplant. The prevalence of post-transplant obesity remained high in long-term follow-up, from 20% to 50% depending on age and weight status at transplant. Weight status at transplant is the strongest predictor of post-transplant overweight/obesity. To optimize long-term outcomes in pediatric liver transplant recipients, monitoring for obesity and its comorbidities is important. PMID:22093689

Comparison of two equivalent model for end-stage liver disease scores for hepatocellular carcinoma patients using data from the United Network for Organ Sharing liver transplant waiting list registry.

PubMed

Alver, Sarah K; Lorenz, Douglas J; Washburn, Kenneth; Marvin, Michael R; Brock, Guy N

2017-11-01

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been advantaged on the liver transplant waiting list within the United States, and a 6-month delay and exception point cap have recently been implemented to address this disparity. An alternative approach to prioritization is an HCC-specific scoring model such as the MELD Equivalent (MELD EQ ) and the mixed new deMELD. Using data on adult patients added to the UNOS waitlist between 30 September 2009 and 30 June 2014, we compared projected dropout and transplant probabilities for patients with HCC under these two models. Both scores matched actual non-HCC dropout in groups with scores <22 and improved equity with non-HCC transplant probabilities overall. However, neither score matched non-HCC dropout accurately for scores of 25-40 and projected dropout increased beyond non-HCC probabilities for scores <16. The main differences between the two scores were as follows: (i) the MELD EQ assigns 6.85 more points after 6 months on the waitlist and (ii) the deMELD gives greater weight to tumor size and laboratory MELD. Post-transplant survival was lower for patients with scores in the 22-30 range compared with those with scores <16 (P = 0.007, MELD EQ ; P = 0.015, deMELD). While both scores result in better equity of waitlist outcomes compared with scheduled progression, continued development and calibration is recommended. © 2017 Steunstichting ESOT.

Detector motion method to increase spatial resolution in photon-counting detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Daehee; Park, Kyeongjin; Lim, Kyung Taek; Cho, Gyuseong

2017-03-01

Medical imaging requires high spatial resolution of an image to identify fine lesions. Photon-counting detectors in medical imaging have recently been rapidly replacing energy-integrating detectors due to the former`s high spatial resolution, high efficiency and low noise. Spatial resolution in a photon counting image is determined by the pixel size. Therefore, the smaller the pixel size, the higher the spatial resolution that can be obtained in an image. However, detector redesigning is required to reduce pixel size, and an expensive fine process is required to integrate a signal processing unit with reduced pixel size. Furthermore, as the pixel size decreases, charge sharing severely deteriorates spatial resolution. To increase spatial resolution, we propose a detector motion method using a large pixel detector that is less affected by charge sharing. To verify the proposed method, we utilized a UNO-XRI photon-counting detector (1-mm CdTe, Timepix chip) at the maximum X-ray tube voltage of 80 kVp. A similar spatial resolution of a 55- μm-pixel image was achieved by application of the proposed method to a 110- μm-pixel detector with a higher signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed method could be a way to increase spatial resolution without a pixel redesign when pixels severely suffer from charge sharing as pixel size is reduced.

Semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws; consistency and L(infinity)-stability imply convergence. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tadmor, E.

1988-07-01

A convergence theory for semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws is developed. It is shown, by a series of scalar counter-examples, that consistency with the conservation law alone does not guarantee convergence. Instead, a notion of consistency which takes into account both the conservation law and its augmenting entropy condition is introduced. In this context it is concluded that consistency and L(infinity)-stability guarantee for a relevant class of admissible entropy functions, that their entropy production rate belongs to a compact subset of H(loc)sup -1 (x,t). One can now use compensated compactness arguments in order to turn this conclusionmore » into a convergence proof. The current state of the art for these arguments includes the scalar and a wide class of 2 x 2 systems of conservation laws. The general framework of the vanishing viscosity method is studied as an effective way to meet the consistency and L(infinity)-stability requirements. How this method is utilized to enforce consistency and stability for scalar conservation laws is shown. In this context we prove, under the appropriate assumptions, the convergence of finite difference approximations (e.g., the high resolution TVD and UNO methods), finite element approximations (e.g., the Streamline-Diffusion methods) and spectral and pseudospectral approximations (e.g., the Spectral Viscosity methods).« less

Decreased graft survival in liver transplant recipients of donors with positive blood cultures: a review of the United Network for Organ Sharing dataset.

PubMed

Huaman, Moises A; Vilchez, Valery; Mei, Xiaonan; Shah, Malay B; Daily, Michael F; Berger, Jonathan; Gedaly, Roberto

2017-06-01

Liver transplantation using blood culture positive donors (BCPD) has allowed a significant expansion of the donor pool. We aimed to characterize BCPD and assess the outcomes of BCPD liver transplant recipients. We retrieved data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) registry on all adults who underwent primary, single-organ deceased-donor liver transplantation in the USA between 2008 and 2013. Patients were classified into two cohorts: the BCPD cohort and the non-BCPD cohort. One-year graft and patient survival were compared between cohorts using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox models. A total of 28 961 patients were included. There were 2316 (8.0%) recipients of BCPD. BCPD were more likely to be older, female, black, diabetic, hypertensive, and obese compared to non-BCPD. Graft survival was significantly lower in BCPD recipients compared to non-BCPD recipients (Kaplan-Meier, 0.85 vs. 0.87; P = 0.009). Results remained significant in propensity-matched analysis (P = 0.038). BCPD was independently associated with decreased graft survival (adjusted HR; 1.10, 95% CI 1.01-1.20; P = 0.04). There were no significant differences in patient survival between study groups. BCPD was associated with decreased graft survival in liver transplant recipients. Studies are needed to identify subgroups of BCPD with the highest risk of graft failure and characterize the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. © 2016 Steunstichting ESOT.

Improving prediction of heart transplantation outcome using deep learning techniques.

PubMed

Medved, Dennis; Ohlsson, Mattias; Höglund, Peter; Andersson, Bodil; Nugues, Pierre; Nilsson, Johan

2018-02-26

The primary objective of this study is to compare the accuracy of two risk models, International Heart Transplantation Survival Algorithm (IHTSA), developed using deep learning technique, and Index for Mortality Prediction After Cardiac Transplantation (IMPACT), to predict survival after heart transplantation. Data from adult heart transplanted patients between January 1997 to December 2011 were collected from the UNOS registry. The study included 27,860 heart transplantations, corresponding to 27,705 patients. The study cohorts were divided into patients transplanted before 2009 (derivation cohort) and from 2009 (test cohort). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) values, for the validation cohort, computed for one-year mortality, were 0.654 (95% CI: 0.629-0.679) for IHTSA and 0.608 (0.583-0.634) for the IMPACT model. The discrimination reached a C-index for long-term survival of 0.627 (0.608-0.646) for IHTSA, compared with 0.584 (0.564-0.605) for the IMPACT model. These figures correspond to an error reduction of 12% for ROC and 10% for C-index by using deep learning technique. The predicted one-year mortality rates for were 12% and 22% for IHTSA and IMPACT, respectively, versus an actual mortality rate of 10%. The IHTSA model showed superior discriminatory power to predict one-year mortality and survival over time after heart transplantation compared to the IMPACT model.

Space Radar Image of the Silk route in Niya, Taklamak, China

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: the L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Mammoth, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Status and Perspectives of Electric Propulsion in Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svelto, F.; Marcuccio, S.; Matticari, G.

2002-01-01

International Space Station to work as a long-duration testbed for EP systems. ASI co-funds the development of a very large testing facility (5.7 m internal diameter) for high power EP testing up to 50 kW. Proel Tecnologie is a Hi-Tech Organization established in 1986, operating in the field of electron (EGA for the TSS- 1and TSS-1R missions), ion and plasma sources for space applications. The Company, become a Division of LABEN S.p.A. (FINMECCANICA Company co-ordinated by Alenia Spazio) since 1995, has identified in the EP the main strategic development line. LABEN/Proel activities include the development of an Ion Thruster in the millinewton range (RMT, ASI technology contract), cathodes/neutralizers for EP in the 0,2-5 kW power range, in- flight diagnostics of EP sub-systems (ARTEMIS, STENTOR, SMART-1), xenon feedlines and flow control units, plasma contactors for the electrostatic charge control on spacecrafts (PLEGPAY experiment on the ISS) and support technologies/facilities for the manufacturing of Hall Thrusters and propellant tanks (the latter by using an advanced process for composite materials polymerization through electron beam irradiation). ASI considers EP development as a National priority and various technology activities are under evaluation. In this context, the Agency is playing a continued role in the process of exploitation of Italian experience and capability and in harmonisation with European efforts in the field.

Space Radar Image of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

radar missions to help in better understanding the processes responsible for volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of Houston, Texas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar(SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of West Texas - SAR scan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

forthcoming Canadian RADARSAT satellite. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations, and data processing of X-SAR.

Space Radar Image of North Sea, Germany

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

swiftly than is currently possible. Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3 cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the international scientific community to better understand the global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes which are caused by nature and those changes which are induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer Luft und Raumfahrt e.V.(DLR), the major partner in science, operations and data processing of X-SAR.

PFI-ZEKE (Pulsed Field Ionization-Zero Electron Kinetic Energy) para el estudio de iones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castaño, F.; Fernández, J. A.; Basterretxea, A. Longarte. F.; Sánchez Rayo, M. N.; Martínez, R.

Entre las áreas hacia donde ha evolucionado la Química en los últimos años están los estudios de sistemas con especies reactivas de alta energía y los dominados por fuerzas intermoleculares débiles, con energías de unas pocas kcal/mol. En efecto, el estudio de las propiedades de los iones, comenzando por su relación con la molécula neutra de la que procede, la energía de ionización, los estados vibracionales y rotacionales, energías de enlace de Van der Waals entre el ión y una amplia variedad de otras moléculas, sus confórmeros o isómeros y sus reacciones o semi-reacciones químicas están en la raíz de la necesidad de la espectroscopía conocida como PFI-ZEKE, Pulsed Field Ionization-Zero Electron Kinetic Energy. Entre las aplicaciones que requieren estos conocimientos se encuentran la generación de plasmas para la fabricación de semiconductores, memorias magnéticas, etc, así como los sistemas astrofísicos, la ionosfera terrestre, etc. La espectroscopía ZEKE es una evolución de las de fluorescencia inducida por láser, LIF, ionización multifotónica acrecentada por resonancia, REMPI, con uno y dos colores y acoplada a un sistema de tiempo de vuelo, REMPI-TOF-MS, y las espectroscopías de doble resonancia IR-UV y UV-UV. Sus espectros y la ayuda de cálculos ab inicio permite determinar las energías de enlace de complejos de van der Waals en estados fundamental y excitados, identificar confórmeros e isómeros, obtener energías de ionización experimentales aproximadas (100 cm-1) y otras variables de interés. Al igual que con LIF, REMPI y dobles resonancias, es posible utilizar muestras gaseosas, pero los espectros están muy saturados de bandas y su interpretación es difícil o imposible. Se evitan estas dificultades estudiando las moléculas o complejos en expansiones supersónicas, donde la T de los grados de libertad solo alcanzan unos pocos K. Para realizar experimentos de ZEKE hay que utilizar una propiedad recientemente

Kinetics of Thermal Neutrons in a Time-of-Flight Spectrometer. I. Probability of Transmission of Neutrons through a Revolving Slit; CENETICA DEI NEUTRONI LENTI IN UNO SPETTROMETRO A TEMPO DI VOLO. I-PROBABILITA DI TRANSMISSIONE DEI NEUTRONI ATTRAVERSO UNA FENDITURA RUOTANTE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marseguerra, M.; Pauli, G.

1958-07-01

The kinetic behavior of thermal neutrons in a time-offlight spectrometer is examined. An analytical method for obtaining the expressions for the probability for slow neutron transmission through a revolving slit (the general case of a curved slit is considered) is presented and discussed in detail. (auth)

Solve the organ shortage: let the bidding begin!

PubMed

Kevorkian, J

2001-01-01

Commercialization of transplantable human organs is the only sure way to end the crisis of their supply. This is best accomplished by implementing a free, non-profit, nationwide, ultimately global online auction market. It should be independent of the current United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) system dealing solely with altruistic donation, and of governmental, sectarian, academic, and other bureaucratic control. The operation of such an auction is described with a hypothetical example. An included provision guarantees equity for poor, uninsured, and indigent recipients. Money accrued can be substantial, and would be disbursed by established formula, with major portions going to donors' families and to special funds to be used to bid for the poor and to defray costs incurred by them. As the organ shortage eases, bid prices should drop, resulting perhaps in eventual altruistic donation. Objections to commericalization based on ethics, bodily sanctity, inequity, pecuniary greed, and the slippery slope tocsin are nullified by cogent arguments and examples. The current situation has worsened despite so-called required request laws, proposed token payments to cover funeral expenses for donor families, and extensive media advertising to spur altruistic donation. Prohibitive national and state laws must be rescinded for the sake of more than 60,000 patients now on lengthening waiting lists. A profession committed to saving lives is duty-bound to endorse, help implement, and participate in an auction system dedicated to that end.

[Not Available].

PubMed

Ballesteros-Pomar, María; Villar-Taibo, Rocío; Calleja-Fernández, Alicia; Pintor-de-la-Maza, Begoña; Álvarez-Del-Campo, Cecilia; Vidal-Casariego, Alfonso; Cano-Rodríguez, Isidoro

2016-06-03

Los datos del estudio PREDYCES® nos revelaron que en España la desnutrición relacionada con la enfermedad (DRE) afecta a uno de cada cuatro pacientes hospitalizados. Esta cifra aumenta hasta el 36,8% en los pacientes hematológicos. Se calcula que un 20% de los pacientes oncológicos muere por complicaciones relacionadas con la DRE. Nuestro grupo se planteó en 2011 comenzar la implantación de un cribado nutricional en los servicios con mayor riesgo de DRE. La presente revisión trata de describir todo el proceso que hemos seguido para mejorar la situación nutricional en los pacientes ingresados en el Servicio de Hematología del Complejo Asistencial Universitario de León (CAULE), mayoritariamente con diagnóstico de neoplasias hematológicas. En un primer estudio piloto, detectamos una alta prevalencia de desnutrición, que tendió a aumentar durante la hospitalización. Además, solo el 8,3% los enfermos valorados recibieron algún tipo de soporte nutricional y no se estaban cubriendo sus necesidades ni calóricas ni proteicas, lo que se asociaba a un peor pronóstico. Por este motivo, nos decidimos a implantar de manera sistemática un cribado y una intervención nutricional adecuada, que comenzó en 2011 y que ha recibido el reconocimiento como Buena Práctica del Sistema Nacional de Salud.

The Conference Proceedings of the 2003 Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conference, Volume 5

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowen, Brent (Editor); Gudmundsson, Sveinn (Editor); Oum, Tae (Editor)

2003-01-01

The UNO Aviation Institute Monograph Series began in 1994 as a key component of the education outreach and information transfer missions of the Aviation Institute and the NASA Nebraska Space Grant & EPSCoR Programs. The series is an outlet for aviation materials to be indexed and disseminated through an efficient medium. Publications are welcome in all aspects of aviation. Publication formats may include, but are not limited to, conference proceedings, bibliographies, research reports, manuals, technical reports, and other documents that should be archived and indexed for future reference by the aviation and world wide communities. The Conference proceedings of the 2003 Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) world conference, volume 5 is presented. The topics include: 1) The Temporal Configuration of Airline Networks in Europe; 2) Determination and Applications of Environmental Costs at Different Sized Airports-Aircraft Noise and Engine Emissions; 3) Cost Effective Measures to Reduce CO2 Emissions in the Air Freight Sector; 4) An Assessment of the Sustainability of Air Transport System: Quantification of Indicators; 5) Regulation, Competition and Network Evolution in Aviation; 6) Regulation in the Air: Price and Frequency Cap; 7) Industry Consolidation and Future Airline Network Structures in Europe; 8) Application of Core Theory to the U.S. Airline Industry; 9) Air Freight Transshipment Route Choice Analysis; 10) A Fuzzy Approach of the Competition on Air Transport Market; and 11) Developing Passenger Demand Models for International Aviation from/to Egypt: A Case Study of Cairo Airport and Egyptair.

Regulación del flujo sanguíneo uterino. I. Funciones de estrógeno y receptores estrogénicos α/β en el endotelio vascular uterino durante el embarazo

PubMed Central

Mayra, Pastore R.; Rosalina, Villalón L.; López, Gladys; Iruretagoyena, Jesús; Magness, Ronald

2015-01-01

Resumen El estrógeno y los receptores estrogénicos clásicos (REs), RE-α y RE-β, han demostrado ser parcialmente responsable por las adaptaciones endoteliales uterinas durante el embarazo al corto y largo plazo. Las diferencias moleculares y estructurales, junto con los diferentes efectos causados por estos receptores en las células y los tejidos, sugieren que su función varía dependiendo de la manera en la cual el estrógeno se comunica con sus receptores. En ésta revisión bibliográfica se discuten la función del estrógeno y sus receptores clásicos en las adaptaciones cardiovasculares durante el embarazo y la expresión de los Res in vivo e in vitro en el endotelio de la arteria uterina durante el ciclo ovárico y el embarazo, a la vez comparado con la expresión en endotelio arterial de tejidos reproductivos y no reproductivos. Estos temas integran el conocimiento actual de este amplio campo científico con interpretaciones e hipótesis diversas relacionadas con los efectos estrogénicos mediados bien sea por uno o los dos REs. Esta revisión también incluye la relación con las adaptaciones vasodilatadoras y angiogénicas requeridas para modular el dramático incremento fisiológico en la perfusión útero-placentaria observada durante un embarazo normal. PMID:26113750

Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplant: identifying the high-risk patient

PubMed Central

Nissen, Nicholas N; Menon, Vijay; Bresee, Catherine; Tran, Tram T; Annamalai, Alagappan; Poordad, Fred; Fair, Jeffrey H; Klein, Andrew S; Boland, Brendan; Colquhoun, Steven D

2011-01-01

Background Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT) is rarely curable. However, in view of the advent of new treatments, it is critical that patients at high risk for recurrence are identified. Methods Patients undergoing LT for HCC at a single centre between 2002 and 2010 were reviewed and data on clinical parameters and explant pathology were analysed to determine factors associated with HCC recurrence. All necrotic and viable tumour nodules were included in explant staging. All patients underwent LT according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) tumour exception policies. Results Liver transplantation was performed in 122 patients with HCC during this period. Rates of recurrence-free survival in the entire cohort at 1 year and 3 years were 95% and 89%, respectively. Thirteen patients developed HCC recurrence at a median of 14 months post-LT. In univariate analysis the factors associated with HCC recurrence were bilobar tumours, vascular invasion, and stage exceeding either Milan or University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Criteria. Multivariate analysis showed pathology outside UCSF Criteria was the major predictor of recurrence; when pathology outside UCSF Criteria was found in combination with vascular invasion, the predicted 3-year recurrence-free survival was only 26%. Conclusions Explant pathology can be used to predict the risk for recurrent HCC after LT, which may allow for improved adjuvant and management strategies. PMID:21843263

Impact of Sleeping Altitude on Symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness on Mt. Fuji.

PubMed

Horiuchi, Masahiro; Uno, Tadashi; Endo, Junko; Handa, Yoko; Hasegawa, Tatsuya

2018-05-09

Horiuchi, Masahiro, Tadashi Uno, Junko Endo, Yoko Handa, and Tatsuya Hasegawa. Impact of sleeping altitude on symptoms of acute mountain sickness on Mt. Fuji. High Alt Med Biol. 00:000-000, 2018. We sought to investigate the factors influencing acute mountain sickness (AMS) on Mt. Fuji in Japan, in particular, to assess the effects of sleeping altitude, by means of a questionnaire survey. This study involved 1932 participants who climbed Mt. Fuji, and obtained information regarding sex, age, and whether participants stayed at the mountain lodges. The AMS survey excluded the perceived sleep difficulties assessed with the Lake Louise Scoring (LLS) system for all climbers. The overall prevalence of AMS was 31.6% for all participants (LLS score ≥3 with headache, excluding sleep difficulties). A univariate analysis revealed that overnight stay at Mt. Fuji was associated with an increased prevalence of AMS, but that sex and age were not. For overnight lodgers, the mean sleeping altitude in participants with AMS was slightly higher than that in participants without AMS (p < 0.05). Moreover, participants who stayed above 2870 m were more likely to experience AMS than those who stayed below 2815 m (p < 0.001), but sex and age were not significantly associated with the probability of experiencing AMS. Staying overnight at a mountain lodge, especially one above 2870 m, may be associated with an increased prevalence of AMS on Mt. Fuji.

Theoretical study of diaquamalonatozinc(II) single crystal for applications in non-linear optical devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakraborty, Mitesh; Rai, Vineet Kumar

2017-12-01

The aim of the present paper is to employ theoretical methods to investigate the zero field splitting (ZFS) parameter and to investigate the position of the dopant in the host. These theoretical calculations have been compared with the empirical results. The superposition model (SPM) with the microscopic spin-Hamiltonian (MSH) theory and the coefficient of fractional parentage have been employed to investigate the dopant manganese(II) ion substitution in the diaquamalonatozinc(II) (DAMZ) single crystal. The magnetic parameters, viz. g-tensor and D-tensor, has been determined by using the ORCA program package developed by F Neese et al. The unrestricted Kohn-Sham orbitals-based Pederson-Khanna (PK) as the unperturbed wave function is observed to be the most suitable for the computational calculation of spin-orbit tensor (D^{SO}) of the axial ZFS parameter D. The effects of spin-spin dipolar couplings are taken into account. The unrestricted natural orbital (UNO) is used for the calculation of spin-spin dipolar contributions to the ZFS tensor. A comparative study of the quantum mechanical treatment of Pederson-Khanna (PK) with coupled perturbation (CP) is reported in the present study. The unrestricted Kohn-Sham-based natural orbital with Pederson-Khanna-type of perturbation approach validates the experimental results in the evaluation of ZFS parameters. The theoretical results are appropriate with the experimental ones and indicate the interstitial occupancy of Mn^{2+} ion in the host matrix.

Los cambios en la velocidad de rotación terrestre y los fenómenos geomagnéticos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gianibelli, J. C.

Uno de los aspectos importantes relativos a la geodinámica del interior terrestre es la correlación entre los eventos de cambio en la velocidad de rotación terrestre y los determinados en los elementos del campo geomagnético por ejemplo, la Declinación Magnética, o los coeficientes de los modelos matemáticos de representación global de dicho campo. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de las características espectrales de los cambios observados en la longitud del día (ldd), y su relación con la estructura espectral de las coeficientes de los modelos matemáticos de campo denominados Campo Internacional Geomagnético de Referencia (CIGR). El intervalo estudiado comprende los últimos 100 años. Los resultados muestran una correlación en las bandas de 60 y 30 años, con posibles períodos mucho mayores que no son posibles determinar a partir de los modelos de CIRG. Se efectúa una simulación a partir de los resultados obtenidos por la aplicación del método de máxima entropía con longitudes del filtro predictor de error comprendida entre el 10% y el 95% de la longitud de la serie analizada. Se observan procesos sicrónicos y asincrónicos que, en muy largos intervalos de tiempos, podrían suponerse como caóticos.

Evolución de planetas gigantes y posibilidades de su detección directa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunini, A.; Benvenuto, O. G.

Desde la reciente detección de planetas gigantes orbitando estrellas cercanas de tipo solar por medio de efecto Doppler, uno de los principales problemas, en cuanto al estudio de los sistemas planetarios extrasolares, se refiere a la posibilidad de obtener evidencia directa de su existencia. Esto parece ser factible gracias a que en un futuro cercano entrarán en operación algunos telescopios especialmente adecuados a estos propósitos. Por tal motivo, hemos comenzado desde hace un tiempo un esfuerzo en cuanto al estudio de la evolución planetaria. A tales efectos hemos adaptado el código de evolución estelar de nuestro Observatorio al caso planetario. Las principales diferencias entre el caso estelar y el planetario se encuentran en la ecuación de estado. A tales fines hemos incluído la reciente ecuación de estado de Saumon, Chabrier y Van Horn, las opacidades radiativas de Guillot et al., procesos de quema de Deuterio, etc. También se ha considerado la posible existencia de fases de hielo y roca en el interior planetario. Por el momento hemos despreciado los efectos de la rotación planetaria. Con este código hemos computado la evolución de planetas con masas desde 10 hasta 0.3 masas de Júpiter. Utilizando nuestros resultados numéricos discutimos la detectabilidad de estos objetos en condiciones realistas.

How Do Management Fees Affect Retirement Wealth under Mexico's Personal Retirement Accounts System?

PubMed

Aguila, Emma; Hurd, Michael D; Rohwedder, Susann

2014-12-01

In 1997, Mexico transformed its pay-as-you-go social security system to a fully funded system with personal retirement accounts, including management fees. This article examines changes in retirement wealth resulting from this new system. It shows that management fees have drained a significant proportion of individuals' retirement wealth and have increased the number of persons claiming a government-subsidized minimum pension, particularly from the time the system was introduced in 1997 until adjustment to management fees in 2008. Since 2008, retirement wealth accumulation has been similar to that of the previous system. En 1997, México transformó su sistema de pensiones basado en cotizaciones individuales a uno de ahorro para el retiro que incluyen cuotas por la administración de las cuentas. El presente estudio examina los cambios en el monto de las pensiones como resultado de la introducción del nuevo sistema. Los resultados muestran que las cuotas de administración han drenado una proporción significativa del ahorro para el retiro de los individuos por lo que ha aumentado el número de personas que solicita la pensión mínima garantizada subsidiada por el gobierno desde que se introdujo el sistema en 1997 hasta que se hicieron ajustes en las cuotas de administración de los fondos de pensiones en 2008. A partir de 2008, la acumulación del ahorro para el retiro ha sido similar que la del sistema anterior.

Prevalence and outcomes of heart transplantation in children with intellectual disability.

PubMed

Wightman, Aaron; Bartlett, Heather L; Zhao, Qianqian; Smith, Jodi M

2017-03-01

Heart transplantation in children with intellectual disability is a controversial issue. We sought to describe the prevalence and outcomes of heart transplantation in children with intellectual disability and hypothesized that recipients with intellectual disability have comparable short-term outcomes compared to recipients without intellectual disability. We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of children receiving a first heart-alone transplant in the UNOS STAR database from 2008 to 2013. Recipients with intellectual disability were compared to those without using chi-square tests. Kaplan-Meier curves were constructed for patient and graft survival. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the association between intellectual disability and graft failure and patient survival. Over the study period, 107 children with intellectual disability underwent initial heart transplantation, accounting for 8.9% of first pediatric heart transplants (total=1204). There was no difference in the incidence of acute rejection between groups in the first year after transplant. Mean functional status scores at follow-up improved in both groups after transplantation, but tended to be lower among children with intellectual disability than children without. Log-rank tests did not suggest significant differences in graft survival between those with and without intellectual disability during the first 4 years following transplantation. Children with intellectual disability constitute a significant portion of total heart transplants with short-term outcomes comparable to children without intellectual disability. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Rising Rates of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Leading to Liver Transplantation in Baby Boomer Generation with Chronic Hepatitis C, Alcohol Liver Disease, and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-Related Liver Disease

PubMed Central

Cholankeril, George; Perumpail, Ryan B.; Liu, Andy; Sandhu, Jeevin S.; Nair, Satheesh; Hu, Menghan; Ahmed, Aijaz

2017-01-01

We aim to study the impact of the baby boomer (BB) generation, a birth-specific cohort (born 1945–1965) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-related liver transplantation (LT) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We performed a retrospective analysis using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)/Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) database from 2003 to 2014 to compare HCC-related liver transplant surgery trends between two cohorts—the BB and non-BB—with a secondary diagnosis of HCV, ALD, or NASH. From 2003–2014, there were a total of 8313 liver transplant recipients for the indication of HCC secondary to HCV, ALD, or NASH. Of the total, 6658 (80.1%) HCC-related liver transplant recipients were BB. The number of liver transplant surgeries for the indication of HCC increased significantly in NASH (+1327%), HCV (+382%), and ALD (+286%) during the study period. The proportion of BB who underwent LT for HCC was the highest in HCV (84.7%), followed by NASH (70.3%) and ALD (64.7%). The recommendations for birth-cohort specific HCV screening stemmed from a greater understanding of the high prevalence of chronic HCV and HCV-related HCC within BB. The rising number of HCC-related LT among BB with ALD and NASH suggests the need for increased awareness and improved preventative screening/surveillance measures within NASH and ALD cohorts as well. PMID:28954412

Rising Rates of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Leading to Liver Transplantation in Baby Boomer Generation with Chronic Hepatitis C, Alcohol Liver Disease, and Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis-Related Liver Disease.

PubMed

Cholankeril, George; Yoo, Eric R; Perumpail, Ryan B; Liu, Andy; Sandhu, Jeevin S; Nair, Satheesh; Hu, Menghan; Ahmed, Aijaz

2017-09-26

We aim to study the impact of the baby boomer (BB) generation, a birth-specific cohort (born 1945-1965) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-related liver transplantation (LT) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We performed a retrospective analysis using the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)/Organ Procurement Transplant Network (OPTN) database from 2003 to 2014 to compare HCC-related liver transplant surgery trends between two cohorts-the BB and non-BB-with a secondary diagnosis of HCV, ALD, or NASH. From 2003-2014, there were a total of 8313 liver transplant recipients for the indication of HCC secondary to HCV, ALD, or NASH. Of the total, 6658 (80.1%) HCC-related liver transplant recipients were BB. The number of liver transplant surgeries for the indication of HCC increased significantly in NASH (+1327%), HCV (+382%), and ALD (+286%) during the study period. The proportion of BB who underwent LT for HCC was the highest in HCV (84.7%), followed by NASH (70.3%) and ALD (64.7%). The recommendations for birth-cohort specific HCV screening stemmed from a greater understanding of the high prevalence of chronic HCV and HCV-related HCC within BB. The rising number of HCC-related LT among BB with ALD and NASH suggests the need for increased awareness and improved preventative screening/surveillance measures within NASH and ALD cohorts as well.