Calculation of mean skin temperature and changes in body heat content during paediatric anaesthesia

Mean skin temperature and changes in body heat content were calculated in several different ways from measurements made in five children during operation. Mean skin temperatures were calculated from 162 sets of measurements using 15, 12, eight, seven and four skin sites with various formulae modified according to age. The results of other formulae were compared with age-adjusted, area-weighted 15-site mean skin temperature which was used as a reference. Changes in body heat content were calculated from Burton's equation in different ways and errors from different variables in the formula were evaluated. Mean skin temperature from 12 skin sites was within 0.5 degrees C of the 15-point reference method, and that from four sites within 1 degree C. The core temperature selected and the weighting coefficients used in calculating mean body temperature were more important sources of error in the determination of change in body heat content than was mean skin temperature.     

Producing illumination-independent additively mixed colors by diffractive optics

We apply transmission gratings under Littrow incidence to produce polychromatic colors by additive color mixing. Parametric optimization of gratings is employed to produce high efficiency. In addition, we show that the system can yield the same color from a wide variety of spectra; i.e., the system can produce metameric colors.     

Properties of polypropylene/aluminum trihydroxide composites containing nanosized organoclay

Montmorillonite is a promising substitute for aluminum trihydroxide in flame‐retardant polypropylene/aluminum trihydroxide (PP/ATH) composites. Study was made of the partial substitution of organoclay for ATH in PP/ATH composites. The total concentration of filler was kept at 30 wt%. The composites were compatibilized with two types of compatibilizer: commercial maleic anhydride functionalized polypropylene (PP‐g‐MA) and hydroxyl‐functionalized polypropylene (PP‐co‐OH) prepared with metallocene catalyst. The effect of compatibilization on the morphology was studied by the transmission electron microscopy and the scanning electron microscopy. Mechanical properties were characterized by tensile and impact measurements, and flammability properties with a cone calorimeter. Addition of compatibilizer and stearic acid (SA) treatment of the ATH particles contributed to the dispersion of the fillers. Both compatibilizers produced organoclay with exfoliated structure and improved adhesion between the fillers and the matrix. Toughness improved and decomposition and flammability were reduced. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 45:1568–1575, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Depressive symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine the reciprocal associations between depressive symptoms and clinical definitions of the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood. Design: Population-based prospective cohort study of 921 participants (538 women and 383 men) in Finland. The components of the metabolic syndrome were measured in childhood (mean age 12 years) and again in adulthood (mean age 33 years). A revised version of the Beck Depression Inventory was used to assess depressive symptoms at the mean ages of 24 and 33. Main Outcome Measures: Metabolic syndrome defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP), the European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance, and the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Results: In women, depressive symptoms were associated with increased risk of the metabolic syndrome in adulthood (odds ratio for NCEP metabolic syndrome per 1 SD increase in depressive symptoms 1.40, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.85). The metabolic syndrome in childhood, in turn, predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms in adulthood (p = .03). In men, no associations were found between depressive symptoms and the clinical definitions of the metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: The process linking depressive symptoms with the metabolic syndrome may go into both directions and may begin early in life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applying Non-Local Means Filter on Seismic Exploration

The seismic reflection method is one of the most important methods in geophysical exploration. There are three stages in a seismic exploration survey: acquisition, processing, and interpretation. This paper focuses on a pre-processing tool, the Non-Local Means (NLM) filter algorithm, which is a powerful technique that can significantly suppress noise in seismic data. However, the domain of the NLM algorithm is the whole dataset and 3D seismic data being very large, often exceeding one terabyte (TB), it is impossible to store all the data in Random Access Memory (RAM). Furthermore, the NLM filter would require a considerably long runtime. These factors make a straightforward implementation of the NLM algorithm on real geophysical exploration data infeasible. This paper redesigned and implemented the NLM filter algorithm to fit the challenges of seismic exploration. The optimized implementation of the NLM filter is capable of processing production-size seismic data on modern clusters and is 87 times faster than the straightforward implementation of NLM.     

Comparison of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic hydrogen production by hot spring enrichment culture

Anaerobic hydrogen producing mesophilic and thermophilic cultures were enriched and studied from an intermediate temperature (45 °C) hot spring sample. H₂ production yields at 37 °C and 55 °C were highest at the initial pH of 6.5 and 7.5, respectively. Optimum glucose, iron and nickel concentrations were 9 g/l, 25 mg/l and 25 mg/l both at 37 °C and 55 °C, respectively. The highest H₂ yields at 37 °C and 55 °C were 1.8 and 1.0 mol H₂/mol glucose, respectively, with the optimal pH, glucose concentration and iron addition. Hydrogen production from glucose at 55 °C and 37 °C was associated with ethanol- and acetate–butyrate type fermentations, respectively. Bacterial composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene-targeted denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Clostridium species dominated at both temperatures and the microbial diversity decreased with increasing temperature. At 55 °C, Clostridium ramosum was the dominant organism.     

Silage as source of bacteria and electrons for dark fermentative hydrogen production

In this study, grass silage was used both as a source of bacteria and as a substrate for dark fermentative hydrogen production. Silage is produced by lactic acid fermentation controlled by end point pH (<4.0). In this study, the fermentation of silage was successfully continued and directed to hydrogen production by neutralizing the pH. Highest hydrogen yield of 37.8 ± 5.8 mL H₂/g silage was obtained at 25 g/L of silage. The main soluble metabolites were acetate and butyrate with the final concentrations of 1.5 ± 0.2 and 0.5 ± 0.0 g/L, respectively. Bacteria present (at 25 g silage/L) included Ruminobacillus xylanolyticum, Acetanaerobacterium elongatum and Clostridium populeti and were involved in silage fermentation to hydrogen. In summary, this work demonstrates that grass silage becomes amenable to hydrogen fermentation by indigenous silage bacteria through pH neutralization.     

A high-linearity SiGe RF power amplifier for 3 G and 4 G small basestations

This article presents the design and evaluation of a linear 3.3?V SiGe power amplifier for 3?G and 4?G femtocells with 18?dBm modulated output power at 2140?MHz. Different biasing schemes to achieve high linearity with low standby current were studied. The adjacent channel power ratio linearity performance with wide-band code division multiple access (3?G) and long term evolution (4?G) downlink signals were compared and differences analysed and explained.     

Positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) studies of the variations of microstructure during isochronal annealing of Cu-Zn (60/40) alloy

The microstructure variations during isochronal annealing of the as-received and quenched Cu-Zn (60/40) alloy were studied in the temperature range from room temperature range (RT)-1173 K. The experimental information was basically obtained by means of positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and Vickers microhardness. The microstructure was studied by optical and scanning electron microscopy observations. The Arrhenius plot of the data produced by the analysis of the positron annihilation spectra according to the simple trapping model is valid only at certain temperatures. Two regions were selected. The first region was at lower temperatures and its activation energy was 0.55±0.02 eV, which may be attributed to the energy of vacancy formation. The second region (at higher temperatures) was characterized by an activation energy (1.23±0.03 eV) that suggested it was related to the activation energy of recrystallization in the bulk material. The analysis of positron lifetime indicated clear evidence of the existence of three-dimensional defects in addition to one-dimensional defects, thus it needs a modification to the simple trapping model to consider the inhomogeneous trapping.