Littoral cell angioma of the spleen: US and MR imaging findings

In this article, we describe the ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging findings of a littoral cell angioma of the spleen. This benign vascular neoplasm of the spleen has been described, but to our knowledge there has been no case published in the literature that describes its imaging features.     

Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157 in cattle and swine in central Mexico

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a foodborne pathogenic bacterium that can reside undetected in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle because colonization by this bacterium is asymptomatic. Recent research has indicated that swine can carry and transmit this pathogen as well. The development of more advanced and sensitive detection techniques has improved the limit of detection and increased sensitivity for this important pathogen. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of E. coli O157 in cattle and swine in Mexico with the more sensitive detection technique of immunomagnetic bead separation. Samples (n = 60 per farm) were taken from four cattle and four swine farms (n = 240 cattle samples, n = 240 swine samples) located throughout central Mexico in October 2001. The prevalence of E. coli O157 was found to be only 1.25% on cattle farms and 2.1% on swine farms. The prevalence in cattle in this study is lower than that reported in the United States and could be related to the lower reported prevalence of E. coli O157 in humans in Mexico. However, further research is needed to verify prevalence throughout other regions of Mexico, as well as prevalence during other seasons of the year.     

Raman lidar monitoring of extinction and backscattering of African dust layers and dust characterization

Results on the monitoring of strong African dust outbreaks at Lecce in the southeastern corner of Italy (40 degrees 20' N, 18 degrees 6' E) during May 2001 are presented. This activity has been performed in the framework of the European Aerosol Research Lidar Network (EARLINET). The lidar station of Lecce is located on a flat rural area that is approximately 800 km from the northern Africa coast. So it is closer to Africa than most of all other EARLINET stations and allow monitoring African dust transport early in its life cycle, at all levels in the plume. An elastic-backscatter Raman lidar based on a XeF excimer laser (351 nm) has been used to monitor the time evolution and vertical structure of the dust layers and get independent measurements of the aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients. The findings are presented in terms of vertical profiles of the extinction and backscatter coefficients and of the lidar ratio. A quite deep dust layer extending between 2 and 6 km and characterized by a backscatter coefficient of approximately 0.0016 (km sr)(-1), a lidar ratio of approximately 50 sr, and an aerosol optical depth of 0.26 was observed on 17 May 2001 between 18:55 and 20:07 UT. The layer persisted for approximately five days. Dust layers of lower optical thickness and shorter persistence time have generally been monitored at the lidar site during African dust outbreaks. Results on the chemical and morphological characterization of the dust collected at the lidar station are also given to further support the origin of the monitored aerosol layers.     

Simultaneous determination of the pesticides carbaryl and thiabendazole in environmental samples by a three-dimensional derivative variable-angle and a synchronous room-temperature phosphorescence spectroscopy

A three-dimensional derivative variable-angle synchronous scanning (DVASS) and a synchronous scanning (SS) heavy-atom room-temperature phosphorimetry (HAI-RTP) method are reported, for the first time, to identify and quantify the spectral overlapping phosphorescent pesticides thiabendazole (TBZ) and carbaryl (CBL). These pesticides are widely used in agriculture. The phosphorescence emission of the two compounds was obtained using sodium sulfite as the O2 scavenger and an external heavy atom salt. A careful selection of these experimental variables has been carried out. The increase of selectivity afforded by the DVASS and the SS methodology permitted the demonstration of its applicability to the simultaneous determination of phosphorescent signals of these two pesticides with overlapping spectral profiles. Limits of detection ranged between 1.4 ng/mL for TBZ and 1.7 ng/mL for CBL. The proposed method has been satisfactorily applied to the analysis of both pesticides in different types of water samples.     

Minimizing ordered weighted averaging of rational functions with applications to continuous location

This paper considers the problem of minimizing the ordered weighted average (or ordered median) function of finitely many rational functions over compact semi-algebraic sets. Ordered weighted averages of rational functions are, in general, neither rational functions nor the supremum of rational functions so current results available for the minimization of rational functions cannot be applied to handle these problems. We prove that the problem can be transformed into a new problem embedded in a higher dimensional space where it admits a convenient polynomial optimization representation. This reformulation allows a hierarchy of SDP relaxations that approximates, up to any degree of accuracy, the optimal value of those problems. We apply this general framework to a broad family of continuous location problems showing that some difficult problems (convex and non-convex) that up to date could only be solved on the plane and with Euclidean distance can be reasonably solved with different _?p-norms${?}_p\mathrm{-}\mathrm{norms}$ in finite dimensional spaces. We illustrate this methodology with some extensive computational results on constrained and unconstrained location problems.     

Robust sliding mode control of non-linear systems with delay: a design via polytopic formulation

This paper outlines the possibility to control non-linear uncertain systems with single, possibly time-varying state-delay. These systems are submitted to additive perturbations (possibly non-vanishing). The control is of sliding mode type and the sliding surface is designed to maximize the calculable set of delays which do not destabilize the relay–delay system. The way to deal with the non-linear parts of the model relies on a polytopic formulation, i.e. a decomposition into a non-linear combination of linear models, whose weighting coefficients satisfy a convex property. The conditions for the existence of the sliding regime are studied by using both a Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and a Lyapunov–Razumikhin function. The optimization procedure for the choice of the sliding surface is expressed in terms of LMIs. An example illustrates the proposed method.     

Anatomical distribution of heavy metals in the scallop Pecten maximus

This paper studied the anatomical distribution of mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As), silver (Ag), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in the scallop Pecten maximus and the possible implications in terms of shellfish management. Six organs were analysed: mantle, gills, foot, digestive gland, kidney and gonad. On the basis of their anatomical distribution, two groups of metals were able to be distinguished: the first included Pb, Hg, Ni, Zn and Ag; and the second comprised the four other metals studied. The metals in the first group preferentially accumulated in the kidney (except for Pb), with generally much lower concentrations in the other organs. The metals in the second group accumulated mainly in the digestive gland. As and Cu were included in the second group, but they also had particular inter-organ distribution characteristics. Among the edible organs of the scallop only the adductor muscle contained important proportions of one metal, As (which is very likely accumulated as a non-toxic derivative). A selective evisceration of the metal rich non-edible organs may therefore be considered a reliable measure to be taken with a view to reduce the metal content of scallops used for human consumption. This could be especially relevant for Cd, which is accumulated in high concentrations in the digestive gland.     

On the training and testing of entry-level commercial motor vehicle drivers

This study examined the effectiveness of 3 different training types on commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers’ skill levels. The training types included a conventional 8-week certified course, a conventional 8-week certified course with approximately 60% of driving time spent in a CMV driving simulator, and a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) test focused short course. Participants’ scores on the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) road and range tests were assessed. In addition to their DMV scores, participants replicated DMV road and range driving tests in an instrumented vehicle and the CMV driving simulator. Results indicated no training group differences in DMV road tests. There were differences between training groups on DMV range tests and real truck and simulator versions of the DMV road and range tests; on these tests conventional- and simulator-trained participants generally scored higher than CDL-focused participants. However, all groups performed higher in the real truck than in the simulator for both road and range tests. These findings indicate the need for a minimum standard of entry-level CMV driver training as well as support of the use of a driving simulator for training entry-level drivers; however, testing using a simulator does not appear to be feasible with current technology.