Fibular shortening in poliomyelitis

We have determined the nucleotide and encoded amino acid sequences of the capsid, membrane precursor, membrane, envelope, and nonstructural NS1 protein genes of a dengue-2 virus (D2-04) isolated from a patient in Hainan, China. The sequenced region contains a gene organization similar to that of other flaviviruses. The overall amino acid sequence similarity between D2-04 and other dengue-2 viruses is greater than 92%, whereas that between D2-04 and members of the other dengue serotypes is about 65%.     

High-output congestive heart failure following transjugular intrahepatic portal-systemic shunting

A hyperdynamic circulatory state with elevated cardiac output, decreased peripheral vascular resistance, and sodium retention occurs in patients with portal cirrhosis. Surgical portal-systemic shunts and transjugular intrahepatic portal-systemic shunts (TIPS) have been shown to worsen the high-output state in these patients. However, clinical evidence of high-output congestive heart failure has been reported only rarely to complicate cirrhosis. We describe a patient who developed high-output congestive heart failure with markedly elevated filling pressures after TIPS and had complete resolution of heart failure after liver transplantation.     

Fourth International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components

RILEM Bulletin

Fourth International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components     

Practical observations on the methodology for determining 3-methyl-l-histidine using fluorescamine derivatives

The method for the detection and possible quantification of the unusual amino acid 3-methyl-l-histidine has been refined and elucidated. This is an essential prerequisite for the determination of its value as a robust unequivocal index of lean meat protein.     

Utility,probabilistic constraints,mean and variance of discounted rewards in Markov decision processes

Summary This paper deals with discounted Markov decision processes, Markov with respect to a finite statespaceI, where for eachiI, and each decision epocht, there is a finite action space K(i, t). The paper is concerned with problems which are formulated in terms of the discounted rewards in several ways. In order to ensure that optimal, or near optimal, policies are obtained, the state spaceI is extended to augmented state-spaces A(n), or A(), including the accumulated discounted rewards. Specimen problems are formulated and some computational aspects examined.

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Zusammenfassung Es werden diskontierte Markovsche Entscheidungsprozesse behandelt mit endlichem Zustandsraum I, wobei die Mengen der zulässigen Entscheidungen K(i, t) vom Zustandi I und vom Zeitpunktt abhängen können. Es werden verschiedene Zielfunktionen betrachtet, die jeweils als Funktion des diskontierten Gesamtgewinns (nicht dessen Erwartungswerts) formuliert werden. Um optimale oder fast-optimale Politiken zu erhalten ohne die gesamte Vorgeschichte zu registrieren, wird der Zustandsraum um die akkumulierten diskontierten Auszahlungen erweitert. Eine Auswahl solcher Probleme wird exemplarisch diskutiert einschließlich einiger Aspekte der numerischen Behandlung.

     

Diffusion on Some Simple Stratified Spaces

A variety of different imaging techniques produce data which naturally lie in stratified spaces. These spaces consist of smooth regions of maximal dimension glued together along lower dimensional boundaries. Diffusion processes are important as they can be used to represent noise in statistical models on spaces for which standard parametric probability distributions do not exist. We consider particles undergoing Brownian motion in some low dimensional stratified spaces, and obtain analytic solutions to the heat equation specifying the distribution of particles. These solutions play the role of prototypical distributions for studying behaviour near singularities. While probabilistic reasoning can be used to solve the heat equation in some straightforward cases, more generally we construct solutions from eigenfunctions of the Laplacian. Specifically, we solve the heat equation on: open books; two-dimensional cones; the Petersen graph with unit edge length; and the cone of this graph which corresponds to a space of evolutionary trees.     

Water-induced effects of hydrogen adsorption on Ru(001)

Adsorption and desorption of hydrogen and coadsorption of H₂ with H₂O and CO over Ru(00l) surface have been studied under UHV conditions using the technique of TDS. Surface hydrogen interacts with adsorbed water resulting in an additional desorption state at 510 K which is not easily displaced by CO, but the total number of adsorption sites for hydrogen adsorption is independent of the amount of H₂O predosed at room temperature. Hydrogen adsorption is blocked easily by CO dose (more than 0.5 L) or a small amount of O(a) formed from dissociative adsorption of water, and adsorbed hydrogen formed in the absence of significant water is easily displaced by CO dose at even room temperature.     

Prediction of DNA-binding regulatory proteins in bacteriophage T7

The high-resolution structure of several specific DNA-bindingproteins have been determined, and they display a common structuralmotif which mediates their binding to DNA. This motif consistsof two -helices connected by a sharp turn, and its amino acidsequence has several distinguishing features. A computer searchof the proteins coded by the genome of bacteriophage T7 hasbeen performed in an attempt to identify those proteins thatpotentially contain this motif. Eight proteins were found tohave regions similar to that of the motif. Of these, three arerelatively small, have no known function and are good candidatesfor being DNA-binding regulatory proteins. The methods describeduse commonly available computer programs and databases, andare therefore easy to implement.     

Solvent fractionation of petroleum pitch for mesophase formation

Petroleum pitch (Ashland A240) has been subjected to thermal treatment and solvent fractionation to produce refined pitches to be evaluated as impregnants for C-C composites. The solvent fractions were obtained by sequential Soxhlet extraction with solvents such as hexane, benzene, and pyridine. Thermal treatment to 408 °C produced a mesophase pitch (≈50% mesophase); an appreciable portion of the mesophase was soluble in strong solvents. There were substantial differences in chemical composition and in pyrolysis behaviour of the fractions. As the depth of fraction increased, the pyrolysis yield and bloating increased, and the microstructure of the coke became finer until glassy microconstituents were formed in the deepest fractions.     

Rheological and extrusion characteristics of glass fiber-reinforced polycarbonate

An experimental investigation of the rheological properties of glass fiber-reinforced polycarbonate melts and the extrusion of such compounds through capillary and slit dies is presented. The viscosity–shear rate function seems independent of instrument for cone-plate and capillary investigations. The presence of fibers increases the level of the viscosity. Normal stresses at fixed shear stress are also increased by the presence of fibers. The extrudate swell is decreased by the presence of fibers and surface roughness is increased. Fiber orientation increases and surface roughness decreases with increasing extrusion rate.