Acute kidney failure in hypothermia

Two cases with acute renal failure after prolonged hypothermia are presented. Both patients were found in come, became rapidly uremic and required hemodilaysis treatment. Although the laboratory findings were typical of severe muscle damage, e.g. elevated levels of serum creatinine phosphokinase, serum lactic dehydrogenase and serum aldolase activities, visible "crush-injuries" were not found. Acute renal failure was characterized by extreme catabolism and severe metabolic acidosis. After 4 and 10 hemodialyses respectively, the patients became polyuric and finally were discharges with normal renal and muscle function. Hypotension with diminished renal perfusion and nontraumatic rhabdomyolysis due to prolonged hypothermia are regarded as the dominant pathogenetic factors in the acute renal failure.     

Photoinduced phenomena in nanostructured porous silicon

In this work we study the evolution of porous silicon photoluminescence under illumination. Samples were obtained by electrochemical etching of crystalline silicon wafers of different types. For the p-type samples the evolution of the spectra is explained in terms of photoinduced oxidation of nanostructures, which in turns leads to a discrete change in the photoluminescence spectra, as we reported in previous works. For the n-type material, a progressive decrease of the luminescence intensity is observed, which is attributed to the photoinduced generation of dangling bond related defect states at the surface layer surrounding the nanostructures. This model explains qualitatively well the kinetics of the evolution of the measured photoluminescence. Preliminary results of electronic paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy agree with this model.     

Conformal aluminum oxide coating of high aspect ratio structures using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of aluminum oxide has been studied over a wide process parameter range. Electrical properties of as-grown and annealed layers have been investigated using planar aluminum/aluminum oxide/silicon capacitors. The best processing conditions resulted in a leakage current of 10 nA/cm² at an equivalent oxide thickness of 3.6 nm. In addition, the film conformality was evaluated on silicon trench structures with aspect ratios of up to 60. Excellent step coverage of over 90% (thickness at trench bottom to thickness at trench middle) was achieved at temperatures below 400 °C and a pressure of 100 Pa. After annealing the electrical properties of these layers, analyzed on planar test structures, were comparable to the results obtained at higher deposition temperature.     

Multiresolution Visualization of Higher Order Adaptive Finite Element Simulations

h –p–adaptive projection with respect to any prescribed threshold value for the visual error. This projection can then be processed by various local rendering methods, e.g. color coding of data or isosurface extraction. Especially for color coding purposes modern texture capabilities are used to directly render higher polynomial data by superposition of polynomial basis function textures and final color look-up tables. Numerical experiments from CFD clearly demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of our approach. Received September 25, 2001; revised March 31, 2003 Published online: May 26, 2003 The authors acknowledge the valuable hints of the anonymous referees.     

Electronic conduction and breakdown in liquid helium and liquid neon

New data of the electronic properties of liquid helium and liquid neon are discussed with respect to their relevance for the initiation of electric breakdown. It is concluded that under ideal conditions the cathode plays a decisive role in the initiation of the breakdown process. It is speculated that a Townsend type breakdown mechanism is absent in the liquid phase of these elements.     

Simulation based on learning methods

The use of simulation technology as a tool for planning and control is of increasing significance in most fields of production. The main part of the expenditure concerning simulation analyses is the modelling of the considered production. Despite the use of modern building-block-oriented modelling technology, this modelling can often not be done by the user, but only by external experts. Against this backdrop, an adaptive simulation system is being developed by the Institute for Industrial Manufacturing and Management (IFF) at the University of Stuttgart. It independently adapts to real production processes, i.e. it learns about the interdependencies of production processes, and, in this way, supports the user in constructing and maintaining the model. In terms of information technology, the research in the field of artificial intelligence, especially in the subdomain of machine learning, is the basis for the realization of such adaptive systems.     

On the optimal design of elastic beams

In this paper we investigate the optimal dynamics of simply supported nonlinearly elastic beams with rectangular cross-sections. We consider the elastic beam under the assumption of time-dependent intensive transverse loading. The state of the beam is described by a system of partial differential equations of the fourth order. We deal with the problem of choosing the optimal shape for the beam. The optimal shape is determined in such a way that the deflection of the nonlinearly elastic beam for any given time is minimal. The problem of choosing the optimal shape is formulated as an optimal control problem. To solve the obtained problem effectively, we use the optimality principle of Bellman (Bellman and Dreyfus 1962; Bryson and Ho 1975) and the penalty function method (Polyak 1987). We present a constructive algorithm for the optimal design of nonlinearly elastic beams. Some simple examples of the implementation of the proposed numerical algorithm are given.     

Multidimensional visual representations for underwater environmental uncertainty

We investigate how to represent the resulting multivariate information and multidimensional uncertainty by developing and applying candidate visual techniques. Although good techniques exist for visualizing many data types, less progress has been made on how to display uncertainty and multivariate information - this is especially true as the dimensionality rises. At this time, our primary focus is to develop the statistical characterizations for the environmental uncertainty (described only briefly in this article) and to develop a visual method for each characterization. The mariner community needs enhanced characterizations of environmental uncertainty now, but the accuracy of the characterizations is still not sufficient, and therefore formal user evaluations cannot take place at this point in development. We received feedback on the applicability of our techniques from domain experts. We used this in conjunction with previous results to compile a set of development guidelines.