An analysis of radiating pain at lumbar discography

Internal illiac and ovarian artery ligation was performed in 7 patients as a life saving measure (group I) and in 12 patients as a prophylactic procedure (group II) in 116 pelvic operations for gynaecological malignancy. The author presents own surgical technique for internal iliac and ovarian arteries ligation. The purpose of analysis was to identify a surgical complications after the ligation in the study groups. Surgical complications in the group of prophylactic ligation were statistically significant low. It is advisable to adopt this procedure as a routine in all difficult pelvic operations, particularly radical operations for gynaecological malignancy.     

Exposure of fertile chicken eggs to microwave radiation (2.45 GHz, CW) during incubation: technique and evaluation.

A multi-mode cavity constructed of 22-gauge perforated galvanized steel with a horn irradiator was used to expose chicken embryos to microwave (MW) radiation during incubation. The MW exposure system was placed within an environmental chamber. Mean +/- standard error of mean (SEM) power level was 3.6 +/- 0.02 mW/cm2 and mean egg specific absorption rate was 0.8 mW/g per mW/cm2. Mean temperature of the MW-exposed eggs was 37.5 +/- 0.9 degrees C as monitored by a Luxtron fluoroptic thermometer. Non-irradiated eggs were incubated at 37.5 +/- 0.1 degrees C and 55% relative humidity. There was no significant different in percent fertile eggs hatched between eggs exposed to MW radiation during incubation or eggs incubated conventionally (82.9% and 87.7%, respectively).     

Molecular-imprinted, polymer-coated quartz crystal microbalances for the detection of terpenes

A piezoelectric sensor coated with an artificial biomimetic recognition element has been developed for the determination of L-menthol in the liquid phase. A highly specific noncovalently imprinted polymer (MIP) was cast in situ on to the surface of a gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode as a thin permeable film. Selective rebinding of the target analyte was observed as a frequency shift quantified by piezoelectric microgravimetry with the QCM. The detectability of L-menthol was 200 ppb with a response range of 0-1.0 ppm. The response of the MIP-QCM to a range of monoterpenes was investigated with the sensor binding menthol in favor of analogous compounds. The sensor was able to distinguish between the D- and L-enantiomers of menthol owing to the enantioselectivity of the imprinted sites. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing enantiomeric resolution within an MIP utilizing a single monomer-functional moiety interaction. It is envisaged that this technique could be employed to determine the concentration of terpenes in the atmosphere.     

Superconductivity, Upper Critical Field and Anomalous Normal State in CePd2Si2 Near the Quantum Critical Point

We report resistivity measurements performed on a high quality single crystal of CePd₂Si₂ under hydrostatic pressure. At ambient pressure the de Haas–van Alphen effect has been also studied. Two different frequencies with weak angular dependence were detected with magnetic field lying in the basal plane, while another frequency was found with magnetic field parallel to the tetragonal c axis. Near the critical pressure, P_c27 kbar, where the antiferromagnetic transition vanishes, the normal state resistivity does not follow the usual Fermi-liquid (FL) behavior and is described by a T^1.3 law, while just below P_c, the resistivity shows clearly separated spin wave and electron–electron contributions. At P_c, the FL form of (T) is not restored even at magnetic field up to 6T. The first appearance of superconductivity is observed at P=19 kbar, and the critical temperature increases with pressure up to 27 kbar. The analysis of the upper critical field at P_c shows that the superconducting state is well described by a weak coupling, clean limit model with a slightly anisotropic orbital limit and a strongly anisotropic paramagnetic one.     

Eradicating root causes of aviation maintenance errors: introducing the AMMP

This is the second of two papers in the area of aviation maintenance safety enhancement utilizing human error risk management in engineering systems methodology. The first focused on the retrospective analysis of human error in aircraft maintenance, where the impact of human reliability on aviation maintenance safety was investigated. The purpose was to explore the actual mechanisms of maintenance errors initialization and propagation, with the aim of identifying requisite characteristics for future solutions. This second part focuses on a prospective approach to proactive safety techniques that can be applied to the field. It builds on the findings from the previous work and introduces a proposed Aviation Maintenance Monitoring Process (AMMP); an integrated process that is to be collectively implemented by industry to proactively monitor existence of human error causal factors. These factors are typically pre-initiated during design practices, manufacturing processes, or at later stages due to organizational, individuals, or workplace conditions within maintenance, repair, and overhaul organizations (MRO). As a result, such causal factors can be gradually eliminated. This generic AMMP is based on user software built applying the fuzzy Analytic Network Process (fuzzy ANP) theory, with a database of a communal total of 870 assessment criteria designed within the software. The full process is validated practically in real world within industry.     

Flexible feature-based inhibition in visual search mediates magnified impairments of selection: Evidence from carry-over effects under dynamic preview-search conditions.

Evidence for inhibitory processes in visual search comes from studies using preview conditions, where responses to new targets are delayed if they carry a featural attribute belonging to the old distractor items that are currently being ignored—the negative carry-over effect (Braithwaite, Humphreys, & Hodsoll, 2003). We examined whether inhibition was applied in the same manner across different types of displays or whether the inhibitory weighting applied to different features varied with their utility for the search task. To test this, we present the first empirical investigation of negative carry-over effects under the ecologically valid conditions of dynamic visual search. Experiment 1 investigated preview search using dynamic moving and static displays. Detection was very poor when new targets carried the color of the old distractors, and this negative carry-over effect was significantly exaggerated with moving, compared with static, displays. Experiments 2a and 2b demonstrated that this effect could not be attributed to an increased role of preattentive grouping between new and old items for dynamic displays. Collectively, the findings suggest that feature-based inhibition contributes strongly to preview search through dynamic displays, and this leads to an amplified attentional blindness to new targets. The data specifically indicate that inhibitory processes in search differentially weight color and location in moving and static displays, and that feature-based inhibition may underlie many instances of sustained inattentional blindness in everyday life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of the ion bombardment of O2 plasmas on low-k materials

In this study, special tests were devised in order to investigate the influence of ion bombardment on the damage induced in low-k dielectrics by oxygen plasmas. By placing a sample that suffered a lot of ion bombardment and one which suffered little ion bombardment simultaneously in the same plasma, it was possible to verify that ion bombardment in fact helped to protect the low-k film against oxygen plasma induced damage. Exhaustive analyses (ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, porosimetry, capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements, water contact angle analysis) show that ion bombardment induced the formation of a denser top layer in the film, which then hampered further penetration of active oxygen species deeper into the bulk. This was further confirmed by other tests combining capacitively and inductively coupled plasmas. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that, at least for these plasmas, ion bombardment may help to reduce plasma induced damage to low-k materials.     

The angular dependence of critical current densities in bulk magnetically melt textured YBaCuO in magnetic fields up to 20 teslas

Bulk magnetically melt textured YBaCuO at 77 K shows critical current densities of up to 19000 A/cm² in 20 teslas when the field is parallel to the(a, b) planes. The angular dependence ofJc is shown to support a recent interpretation of the high superconducting transport currents measured above the irreversibility line in terms of intrinsic surface superconductivity. The behavior when the field is applied very close to the(a, b) planes is shown to follow a two dimensional model meaning that the maximum current density is determined by thec-axis component of the applied field. The size and density of 211 inclusions are probably the main factors which determines the maximum critical current density.