Safety and use of gadobutrol in patients with brain tumors (phase III trial)

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to investigate the use and safety of Gadobutrol, a new low-osmolar, non-ionic contrast agent for MRI using a total dose of 0.3 mmol/kg b.w. on the basis of a clinical phase 3 study. METHODS: 30 patients with primary brain tumours (n = 15) or cerebral metastases (n = 15) were examined via MRI before and after application of a total of 0.3 mmol/kg b.w. given in two fractions (0.1 and 0.2 mmol/kg b.w.). T2-weighted images were performed before, T1-weighted images before, between and after application of contrast material. RESULTS: In this study one-molar Gadobutrol showed a good tolerance. In half of the cases the contrast between lesion and brain was improved comparing single and triple dose, but this means only a slightly improvement of information for the primary brain tumours compared with single dose. The detected metastatic lesions increased in 40% of the patients after the single dose and in 53% of the patients after cumulative triple dose. There was a consecutive change in therapy in 20% of the patients. CONCLUSION: For the differentiation of primary brain tumours the single dose was sufficient, in metastatic lesions triple dose was essential for the detection or exclusion of multifocality.     

The voltage of alumina reduction cells prior to the anode effect

Alteration in cell voltage of industrial cells after each feeding of fresh alumina is initially small and accelerates to become extremely fast immediately prior to the incipience of the anode effect. Estimates of the components of the cell voltage on the basis of a mathematical model particularly taking account of the action of the gaseous phase underneath the anode are compared with experimental data from industrial cells. The fundamental agreement (in spite of inevitable model insufficiencies) supports the view that the anode effect is induced as the actual anodic current density approaches the limiting one.     

Characteristics of optimal workload allocation for closed queueing networks

We consider the problem of allocating a given workload among the stations in a multi-server product-form closed queueing network to maximize the throughput. We first investigate properties of the throughput function and prove that it is pseudoconcave for some special cases. Some other characteristics of the optimal workload and its physical interpretation are also provided. We then develop two computational procedures to find the optimum workload allocation under the assumption that the throughput function is pseudoconcave in general. The primary advantage of assuming pseudoconcavity is that, under this assumption, satisfaction of first order necessary conditions is sufficient for optimality. Computational experience with these algorithms provides additional support for the validity of this assumption. Finally, we generalize the solution procedure to accommodate bounds on the workloads at each station.     

Nutritive value of cooked potato flakes for the young chick

Two experiments have been conducted with young chicks to assess the nutritive value of dried cooked potato flakes and of ground maize. The mean classical ME values of potato flakes and of maize were 13.64 and 13.01 MJ/kg dry matter. Growth rates and efficiency of food conversion were lower in the group fed the diet containing potato flakes than in the groups fed the diets containing glucose or maize. In the second experiment the substitution of maize starch or potato starch for ground wheat depressed performance of chicks, the retardation being greater in the group fed the potato starch diet. Replacement of the maize starch and potato starch by ground maize and cooked potato flakes, respectively, restored performance completely in the group fed the maize diet but only partially in the group given potato flakes. In both experiments food intake was not adversely affected by the inclusion of cooked potato flakes in the diets.     

Illuminating Trap Density Trends in Amorphous Oxide Semiconductors with Ultrabroadband Photoconduction

Under varying growth and device processing conditions, ultrabroadband photoconduction (UBPC) reveals strongly evolving trends in the defect density of states (DoS) for amorphous oxide semiconductor thin-film transistors (TFTs). Spanning the wide bandgap of amorphous InGaZnO_x (a-IGZO), UBPC identifies seven oxygen deep donor vacancy peaks that are independently confirmed by energetically matching to photoluminescence emission peaks. The subgap DoS from 15 different types of a-IGZO TFTs all yield similar DoS, except only back-channel etch TFTs can have a deep acceptor peak seen at 2.2 eV below the conduction band mobility edge. This deep acceptor is likely a zinc vacancy, evidenced by trap density which becomes 5-6× larger when TFT wet-etch methods are employed. Certain DoS peaks are strongly enhanced for TFTs with active channel processing damage caused from plasma exposure. While Ar implantation and He plasma processing damage are similar, Ar plasma yields more disorder showing a ≈2 × larger valence-band Urbach energy, and two orders of magnitude increase in the deep oxygen vacancy trap density. Changing the growth conditions of a-IGZO also impacts the DoS, with zinc-rich TFTs showing much poorer electrical performance compared to 1:1:1 molar ratio a-IGZO TFTs owing to the former having a ∼10 × larger oxygen vacancy trap density. Finally, hydrogen is found to behave as a donor in amorphous indium tin gallium zinc oxide TFTs.     

Laser-Induced Creation of Antiferromagnetic 180-Degree Domains in NiO/Pt Bilayers

The antiferromagnetic order in heterostructures of NiO/Pt thin films can be modified by optical pulses. After the irradiation with laser light, the optically induced creation of antiferromagnetic domains can be observed by imaging the created domain structure utilizing the X-ray magnetic linear dichroism effect. The effect of different laser polarizations on the domain formation can be studied and used to identify a polarization-independent creation of 180° domain walls and domains with 180° different Néel vector orientation. By varying the irradiation parameters, the switching mechanism can be determined to be thermally induced. This study demonstrates experimentally the possibility to optically create antiferromagnetic domains, an important step towards future functionalization of all optical switching mechanisms in antiferromagnets.     

Entwicklung eines BiCMOS-Smart-Power-Prozesses in lokaler SIMOX-Technologie

Übersicht Im vorliegenden Artikel wird die Entwicklung eines neuen 50 V-BiCMOS-Smart-Power-Prozesses beschrieben. Dieser beinhaltet die monolithische Integration von dielektrisch isolierten 1.5 m CMOS-Transistoren, NPN/PNP-Bipolartransistoren, 50 V vertikalen/quasivertikalen DMOS-Leistungstransistoren (VDMOS, QVDMOS), Poly-n ⁺-Kondensatoren, Zener-Dioden, implantierten Widerständen sowie Zweilagen-Metallisierung. Dieser Prozeß ermöglicht die Herstellung eigensicherer und effizienter Dioden- und DMOS-Vollbrückenschaltungen.Ausgehend von einem industriellen Niedervolt–1.5 -CMOS-Prozeß wird die Robustheit durch den Einsatz der dielektrischen Isolation und die Integration von spannungsfesten Transistoren erhöht. Die laterale dielektrische Isolation der Bauelemente wird durch Trenches, d.h. nahezu senkrecht geätzte, 1.2 breite Gräben, die oxidiert und aufgefüllt werden, hergestellt. Die vertikale dielektrische Isolation geschieht mittels SIMOX-Technologie (Separation by IMplanted OXygen). Eine Zusatzimplantation dient der Optimierung eines DMOS-Transistors als vertikales oder quasivertikales Leistungsbauelement mit niedrigem Einschaltwiderstand. Die Bipolartransistoren, hergestellt ohne zusätzliche Masken, sind für den Einsatz im Automobilsektor geeignet. Dabei bleibt das Layout kompatibel zu existierenden CMOS-Standardzellenbibliotheken. Dieses ist für industrielle Hersteller hinsichtlich Kontinuität in Entwurf und Produktion bedeutsam. Der Herstellungsprozeß ist gleichermaßen für SIMOX- und für SDB-(Silicon Direct Bonded) Substrate geeignet.

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Development of a BiCMOS smart power process based on local SIMOX-technology

Contents The paper describes a new 50 V BiCMOS smart power process. The development includes the monolithic integration of dielectrical isolated 1.5 m CMOS devices, NPN/PNP bipolar transistors, 50 V vertical and quasivertical DMOS power transistors, poly-n ⁺ capacitors, Zener diodes, implanted resistors and double metal wiring. The process will be used to fabricate efficient and self protected circuits with integrated diode or DMOS full bridges.Based on an industrial 1.5 m CMOS, circuit robustness is achieved by adding dielectric isolation and high voltage transistors. Vertical trenches, 1.2 m wide, filled with oxide and polysilicon, yield lateral isolation between devices. Vertical isolation is given by SIMOX technology (Separation by IM-planted OXygen). An additional ion implant optimises a vertical or quasivertical DMOS power transistor with low on resistance. Bipolar transistors are integrated without extra masking steps.The circuit layout is compatible to existing CMOS standard cell libraries. Beyond SIMOX, wafer bonded substrates may be used as starting material. Efficient design and fabrication characterise this process suited for automotive applications.

     

Comparison and validation of capacitive accelerometers for health care applications

Fall detection, gait analysis and context recognition are examples of applications where capacitive accelerometers are widely used in health care. In most of the existing work, algorithms were developed for a specific platform and accelerometers were used without explicitly choosing a specific type. With this work we present an inexpensive and practical test setup for replicable and repeatable testing of accelerometers. In addition we use this setup to evaluate six of the most commonly available accelerometers today and list their outcomes for linearity, power consumption and correlation of the tested sensors. We also attempt to an answer to the question of whether applications and algorithms developed for one platform and one type of accelerometer can be easily transferred to another accelerometer.     

Design and Prototype of a Performance Tool Interface for OpenMP

This paper proposes a performance tools interface for OpenMP, similar in spirit to the MPI profiling interface in its intent to define a clear and portable API that makes OpenMP execution events visible to runtime performance tools. We present our design using a source-level instrumentation approach based on OpenMP directive rewriting. Rules to instrument each directive and their combination are applied to generate calls to the interface consistent with directive semantics and to pass context information (e.g., source code locations) in a portable and efficient way. Our proposed OpenMP performance API further allows user functions and arbitrary code regions to be marked and performance measurement to be controlled using new OpenMP directives. To prototype the proposed OpenMP performance interface, we have developed compatible performance libraries for the Expert automatic event trace analyzer [17, 18] and the TAU performance analysis framework [13]. The directive instrumentation transformations we define are implemented in a source-to-source translation tool called OPARI. Application examples are presented for both Expert and TAU to show the OpenMP performance interface and OPARI instrumentation tool in operation. When used together with the MPI profiling interface (as the examples also demonstrate), our proposed approach provides a portable and robust solution to performance analysis of OpenMP and mixed-mode (OpenMP+MPI) applications.