Ileal segmental gangrene caused by a metastatic mesenteric carcinoid

Malignant tumors of the small intestine are rare and their symptoms are discrete and of a chronic nature. At times they manifest as an acute abdomen, with high mortality. Carcinoid tumors represent one of the types of intestinal tumors, of the neuroendocrine line, more frequently located in the cecal appendix. In the small intestine, carcinoid tumors are most often located in the ileum. Carcinoid tumors produce several hormonal substances, some of which may induce symptoms such as the carcinoid syndrome. Gangrene of the small intestine is a rare complication attributed to hormonal substances produced by the tumor which causes high mortality rates. We report, here, a case of ileal segmental gangrene with an excellent course.     

Otoacoustic emissions in the human

Otoacoustic emissions are sounds emitted by the cochlea, basically deriving from the active micromechanical properties of the outer hair cells of the organ of Corti. As they can be recorded painlessly and non-intrusively, they provide a good means of studying human cochlear functioning. In this report, the main types of otoacoustic emission are described, with their characteristics and relation to cochlear functioning. The contribution of otoacoustic emission studies to the physiology of the medial olivocochlear system is discussed, this being the only sensitive and non-intrusive way of studying this system, the function of which remains uncertain.     

The intelligent network in France

The introduction of an intelligent network (IN) architecture in France by France Telecom is described. Two main technical issues of present IN architecture are discussed: the programming interface to be used for service creation and the control-resource interface such as the SSP/SCP interface. The long-term evolution of IN, including the application to networks other than public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and the development of operating systems to handle IN-supported services, is outlined. Major technical problems in implementing a global IN architecture are also discussed     

Higher order surface couplings in elastic ferromagnets

The “classical” theory of elastic ferromagnetic materials is extended to the case of media able to support hyperstresses (double stresses, couple stresses), so as to take account of surface effects (curvature, role played by the magnetic anisotropy on the surface, boundary layer effect and to offer a larger choice of boundary conditions as far as magnetic spins are concerned (pinning, nonzero exchange torque,…). The field equations and the associated boundary conditions are obtained by using the generalized formulation of the principle of virtual power based on the requirement of objectivity for internal forces. Constitutive equations for nonlinear thermoelastic, magnetically saturated insulators and equations linearized with respect to small deformations are established. The set of equations obtained will permit a finer study of coupled magnetoelastic surface waves and of the resulting resonance phenomena in thin ferromagnetic deformable layers.     

Homogeneous Polymerisation of Methylmethacrylate Initiated by Alkali Metal Salts of Methanol and t-Butyl Alcohol in the Presence of Cryptands and Macrocyclic Crown Ether Compounds

The polymerisation of methylmethacrylate initiated by alkali alkoxides is greatly promoted in the presence of macrocyclic compounds, cryptands and crown ethers. The solubility in toluene and the reactivity of alkoxides is enhanced by these complexing agents. Polymerisations have been carried out in a non-polar solvent in the homogeneous phase.     

From LESSEPS to the workstation for reliability engineers

Three Mile Island and Chernobyl in the nuclear industry, Challenger, in the space industry, Seveso and Bhopal in the chemical industry—all these accidents show how difficult it is to forecast all likely accident scenarios that may occur in complex systems. This was, however, the objective of the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) performed by EDF at the Paluel nuclear power plant. The full computerization of this study led to the LESSEPS project, aimed at automating three different steps: generation of reliability models—based on the use of expert systems, qualitative and quantitative processing of these models using computer codes, and overall management of PSA studies. This paper presents the results obtained and the gradual transformation of this first generation of tools into a workstation aimed at integrating reliability studies at all stages of an industrial process.