Sustained local delivery of heparin to the rabbit arterial wall with an electroporation catheter

Since the rapid expansion of managed care coupled with dramatic reductions in lengths of inpatient stay, there is widespread concern that the emphasis on cost containment is eclipsing attention to patient care. The present study was undertaken to evaluate speculations that the majority of short-stay (less than 48 hours) admissions to a psychiatric inpatient service at a large teaching hospital in the midwestern United States consisted of public pay patients who were rapidly transferred to area state hospitals. Using two cases mix measures, severity of illness and changes in acuity and clinical outcomes of a sample of short-stay (n = 77) and longer stay (n = 145) admissions were compared. Short-stay admissions, although similar to longer stay patients in terms of demographics, Axis I diagnosis, payer status, and appropriateness of admission, are clinically distinct. The use of nonhospital alternatives in treating a subsample of suicidal patients and the implications for improved mental health services delivery are discussed.     

Non-Clairvoyant Scheduling for Minimizing Mean Slowdown

We consider the problem of scheduling dynamically arriving jobs in a non-clairvoyant setting, that is, when the size of a job in remains unknown until the job finishes execution. Our focus is on minimizing the mean slowdown, where the slowdown (also known as stretch) of a job is defined as the ratio of the flow time to the size of the job. We use resource augmentation in terms of allowing a faster processor to the online algorithm to make up for its lack of knowledge of job sizes. Our main result is that the Shortest Elapsed Time First (SETF) algorithm, a close variant of which is used in the Windows NT and Unix operating system scheduling policies, is a $(1+\epsilon)$-speed, $O((1/\epsilon)^5 \log^2 B)$-competitive algorithm for minimizing mean slowdown non-clairvoyantly, when $B$ is the ratio between the largest and smallest job sizes. In a sense, this provides a theoretical justification of the effectiveness of an algorithm widely used in practice. On the other hand, we also show that any $O(1)$-speed algorithm, deterministic or randomized, is $\Omega(\min(n,\log B))$-competitive. The motivation for resource augmentation is supported by an $\Omega(\min(n,B))$ lower bound on the competitive ratio without any speedup. For the static case, i.e., when all jobs arrive at time 0, we show that SETF is $O(\log{B})$ competitive without any resource augmentation and also give a matching $\Omega(\log{B})$ lower bound on the competitiveness.     

Postnatal survival and growth of mouse irradiated in utero with low dose

In order to investigate radiation risks associated with low dose and low dose-rates, pregnant Swiss albino mice were exposed to gamma rays, 0.80 Gy from a cobalt-60 source at two different dose-rates (0.0795 and 0.0012 Gy/min) on 18 day post conception. In females exposed to lower dose-rate (0.0012 Gy/min), litter size was found to be decreased, while those exposed to higher dose-rate (0.0795 Gy/min), it remained unaltered. In both groups, appearance of fur and development of complete fur were delayed, whereas gait was delayed only in higher dose-rate group. Male offspring exhibited a biphasic mode of weight loss, while female offspring after an initial weight loss at 1 week, displayed a continuous recovery, but could not attain the normal weight till 12 weeks of age. It appears that higher dose-rate is more effective in delaying the appearance of physiological markers and weight loss, while in terms of litter size lower dose-rate (0.0012 Gy/min) is more effective.     

The yields of extracted leaf protein from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.)

The effects of fertilisers, frequency of cutting, row spacing and simazine on the yields of dry matter and extractable protein from lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) were studied using the laboratory-scale pulper and press. Between 40 and 65% protein nitrogen was extractable; extractability was not affected by the various treatments but altered with season. Lucerne responded with increased yields of dry matter and extractable protein to fertilisers, simazine (35 g/ha) and rows spaced at 30.5 cm. Six or 8 harvests were found to give greater yields than 5 harvests in 180 days. The annual yields of extractable protein reached 3100 kg/ha and it is felt that better control of pests could lead to even greater yields.     

Micellization of three-block copolymer poly[styrene-b-(ethene-co-butene)-b-styrene] in mixed solvents of tetrahydrofuran/ethanol

The behaviour of dilute solutions of a three-block copolymer poly[styrene-b-(ethene-co-butene)-b-styrene] in mixtures of tetrahydrofuran (THF)/ethanol was studied using viscometry, osmometry and light scattering. In solutions with a lower ethanol content the copolymer dissolved, but in solutions with a higher ethanol content it became associated, to form spherical micelles with cores composed of middle (aliphatic) blocks. Between the molecular and micellar solutions a region of the so-called anomalous micellization was described. Micelles in mixtures with a higher ethanol content were stabilized by means of fast electrons, isolated and characterized in THF solutions.     

Gram-scale synthesis of soluble, near-monodisperse gold nanorods and other anisotropic nanoparticles

An aqueous surfactant-based colloidal chemical method is reported for the synthesis of anisotropic noble-metal nanoparticles on the milligram to multigram scale. Fine control of the nucleation-growth kinetics and rodlike micelle-induced breaking of symmetry at the early stage of particle growth are responsible for high-quality anisotropic nanoparticles. Near-monodisperse gold and silver nanorods, spheroids, nanowires, platelets, or cubes of 4-50 nm dimension and controllable aspect ratio can be prepared. The method may also be extended to semiconductor systems.     

A probabilistic method to determine the minimum leakage vector for combinational designs in the presence of random PVT variations

The control of leakage power consumption is a growing design challenge for current and future CMOS circuits. Among existing techniques, ‘parking’ a circuit in a minimum leakage state during its standby mode of operation requires minimal circuit modification and results in significant leakage reduction. In this paper we present a heuristic approach (referred to as MLVC) to determine the input vector which minimizes leakage for a combinational design. This approach utilizes approximate signal probabilities of internal nodes to aid in finding the minimum leakage vector. We utilize a probabilistic heuristic to select the next gate to be processed as well as to select the best state of the selected gate. A fast SAT solver is employed to ensure the consistency of the assignments that are made in this process. A variant of MLVC, referred to as MLVC-VAR, is also presented. MLVC-VAR includes the effect of random variations in leakage values due to process, voltage and temperature (PVT) variations. Including the effect of PVT variations for determining minimum leakage vector is crucial because leakage currents have an exponential dependence on power supply, threshold voltage and temperature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other minimum leakage vector determination work has to date included the effect of PVT variations. Experimental results indicate that our MLVC method has very low runtimes, with excellent accuracy compared to existing approaches. Further, the comparison of the mean and standard deviation of the circuit leakage values for MLVC with MLVC-VAR and an existing random vector generating approach proves the need for considering these variations while determining the minimum leakage vector. MLVC-VAR reports, on average, about 9.69% improvement over MLVC with similar runtimes and 5.98% improvement over the random vector generation approach with significantly lower runtimes.     

Role of Flaxseed Meal Feeding for Different Durations in the Lipid Deposition and Meat Quality in Broiler Chickens

This study investigated the role of flaxseed meal (FSM), a rich terrestrial source of ω-3 fatty acids, in the alteration of the fatty acid profile and metabolism, health indices, physicochemical properties, and sensory quality of broiler chicken meat. The broiler chickens were fed 100 g FSM kg⁻¹ diet for different time periods (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks). The results revealed that 100 g FSM feeding in broiler chickens for at least 3 weeks increased (P < 0.01) the EPA, DHA, MUFA, PUFA, ω-3 PUFA, and ω-6 PUFA of broiler chicken meat with the corresponding decrease in palmitic acid, stearic acid, and SFA content. 100 g FSM feeding up to 3 weeks has increased the Δ⁹-desaturases (P < 0.05), thioesterase index (P < 0.01), and Δ⁵-desaturase + Δ⁶-desaturase activity (P < 0.01) along with an improvement in health indices (P < 0.01) of chicken meat. Similarly, a reduction in meat cholesterol and fat content of thigh meat (P < 0.01) was observed by feeding 100 g FSM for at least 3 weeks with no effect on the pH, color scores, and sensory evaluation of broiler chicken meat. The water-holding capacity (WHC) and extract release volume (ERV) decreased, whereas, drip loss of meat increased (P < 0.01) due to the feeding of 100 g FSM beyond 3 weeks. Thus, this study concluded that 100 g FSM feeding for 3 weeks in broiler chickens significantly improves the fatty acid profile, lipid metabolism, and health indices of meat, without compromising the physicochemical properties of broiler chicken meat.     

Investigations on the Effect of Tungsten Carbide and Graphite Reinforcements during Spark Erosion Machining of Aluminium Alloy (AA 5052) Hybrid Composite

Silicon - Reinforcements introduced to metal matrix composites are known for their inherent properties like corrosion resistance, wear resistance and machinability. This study deals with the...