The diameter of callus in leg lengthening: 28 tibial lengthenings in 14 patients with achondroplasia

A 46-year-old man who had been pulled under water by a tidal wave when an earthquake occurred on July 12, 1993 was carried to our hospital the next day. He soon needed endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation because he expectorated sputa with sand and because arterial bloodgas analysis revealed severe hypoxemia. Chest X-ray on admission showed diffuse small nodules and areas of consolidation. Chest CT obtained on July 16 showed centrilobular small nodules bilaterally and alveolar opacities in the peribronchial region. After therapy with antibiotics and frequent bronchial lavages, sputum with sand disappeared on the 14 th hospital day and chest X-ray film and laboratory data showed marked improvement. He was discharged on October 1. A chest CT scan obtained on February 17, 1994 showed improvement of the small nodules. The areas of consolidation had also improved, but remained as linear and nodular opacities, which were considered to be organized lesions. There are few reports concerning radiographic findings particularly CT findings, after aspiration of sea water and sand during near drowning.     

Reversible pitch perception deficit due to carbamazepine

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is a drug frequently used to treat variety of neurological diseases or symptoms. Among its adverse effects, auditory disturbance is described rarely. In the present report, we describe an 18-year-old girl who noted false lowering of perceived pitch after starting CBZ treatment for epilepsy, and review the literature reporting CBZ-associated abnormal pitch perception.     

Optimal alignments of biological sequences on a microcomputer

An algorithm and a program have been developed which enable optimal alignments of biological sequences on an 8-bit microcomputer. The compiled program can process sequences up to 1000 residues on a Commodore 64. Since this program was written originally in the BASIC language, it may readily be adapted to other microcomputers with small changes.     

Gasification reactivities of metallurgical cokes with carbon dioxide,steam and their mixtures

Gasification reactivities of cokes with carbon dioxide, steam and their mixtures at 1200 °C were investigated, using seven single cokes made in a laboratory furnace from single coals of different properties, and also one commercial coke. The reactivity with steam was significantly higher than that with carbon dioxide. The reactivities of the mixture increased proportionally with increasing steam content above 10%; however, the reactivity below 10% steam content was smaller than that with pure carbon dioxide, the minimum reactivity being observed at a steam content of 2–4%. The reactivities of the compounds corresponding to optical texture were determined by analysing the coke microscopically before and after gasification. In general, except for one coke, the inert texture was the most reactive. Increasing size of the optical unit decreased the gasification reactivity, fibrous and leaflet textures were the least reactive. Gasification with steam developed pores within the inner region of the coke, whereas carbon dioxide reacted with the coke at or near the surface, producing a relatively smooth surface. Some proposals are suggested for better coke production.     

An analysis of creep crack propagation on the basis of the plastic singular stress field

In order to gain an insight into creep crack propagation problems a mechanics approach is presented in this paper on the basis of the plastic singular stress field near a crack tip under the Mode III and I steady-state creep conditions, in combination with a generalized creep damage hypothesis. Closed form equations which predict rates of creep crack propagation are obtained analytically. According to this analysis, it is found that $\text{b}{}_1\text{(n + 1)}$ is the index which characterizes the effect of damage accumulation in front of a crack, where n is the creep exponent and b₁ is the exponent involved in the creep damage hypothesis used in this analysis. The tendency of the predicted crack propagation behaviors is consistent with experimental data available in the literature.     

The potential distribution in local cells on corroding metals

In the galvanic corrosion, the distribution of potential within the electrolyte was calculated for the condition that each local cell is independent and there is no interaction between the local cells. This analysis on the problem extended the Waber's treatment, and the distribution of potential was obtained for each local cell.     

Polymerization via zwitterion 27. No-catalyst copolymerization of 2-phenyl-1,3,2-dioxaphospholane with β-hydroxyalkyl acrylates and methacrylates

Summary This paper describes No-Catalyst Copolymerizations between ethylene phenylphosphonite (EPO) as M_N and four -hydroxyalkyl acrylates and methacrylates as M_E. In all combinations polyphosphinate type copolymers were obtained above 130 °C without added catalyst. The first step of reaction was a proton-transfer step to yield a transient phosphonium-alkoxide zwitterion 5 and generated a phosphorane intermediate like 6. The subsequent reactions of 6 were rather complicated. It was possible to conceive several zwitterions to lead to polymer units. The liberation of ethylene oxide and/or propylene oxide was observed as a side reaction during polymerization.Dedicated to the 60th birthday of Professor C. I. Simionescu     

Enhancement of the photocatalytic reactivity of TiO2 nano-particles by a simple mechanical blending with hydrophobic mordenite (MOR) zeolite

The photocatalytic oxidation of gaseous acetaldehyde with O₂ on commercial TiO₂ nano-particles could be successfully enhanced by a simple mechanical blending with a high-silica mordenite (MOR) zeolite, the surface of which showed high hydrophobic properties. When the TiO₂ nano-particles of ca. 5–20 wt% were mixed with the MOR zeolite powders in an agate mortar for only 5 min, the blended TiO₂/MOR samples showed higher photocatalytic reactivity as compared to the pure TiO₂ nano-particles. Since the high-silica zeolite powders are highly transparent in UV light regions, the incident UV light is effectively irradiated onto the whole part of the TiO₂ nano-particles without any loss of light intensity. Furthermore, the siliceous MOR zeolite powders effectively adsorb the gaseous acetaldehyde molecules and supply them onto the surfaces of the blended TiO₂ nano-particles, resulting in an enhancement of the photocatalytic reactivity.     

An Optimal Grey PID Control System

The PID control algorithm has been widely applied in many industry control system to solve efficiently the control problems of manufacturing processes. However, PID control algorithm belong to “delay control”, because it functions on basis of the actions occurred in the system. Thus the control accuracy in real-time is limited. In this paper, in order to realize the accurate control in real-time, the grey model based on grey system theory is first proposed to combine with PID control to establish the control system. We define the proposed control system as grey PID control system. Then the cubic spline function is integrated into the grey model. to enhance the control accuracy of system. To further improve the performance, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to optimize the parameters of PID algorithm. Finally, we validated the effectiveness of the proposed control system by computer simulation. © 2009 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.