Corrected formula for the calculation of the electrical heart axis

Right brain damage results in a variety of cognitive and behavioural dysfunctions. Mutism however, has been described only with left or bihemispheric lesions involving the parietal lobe. We report an elderly man who had left faciobrachial monoparesis and concomitant mutism. His auditory-verbal comprehension was intact. MRI revealed a right parietal infarct involving the cortical and subcortical regions. Recovery from mutism during the course of treatment was abrupt and complete with no residual dysarthria. A possibility of diaschisis or impaired modulation of left hemispheric function due to right cerebral infarct, presenting as conversion reaction, is proposed for this rare association.     

In situ Profiles of Oxygen Diffusion in SrTiO3: Bulk Behavior and Boundary Effects

Diffusion profiles have been recorded in situ and evaluated using an optical technique. In this way, bulk diffusion coefficients have been reliably and quantitatively measured. It is shown that the values agree with calculations without using adjustable parameters if the coupling of the diffusing species to internal redox changes of the dopants is accounted for. Measurements on single crystals and on bicrystals with and without crack formation provide worthwhile information on the influence of free relaxed surfaces, freshly produced (crack) surfaces, and grain boundaries on the surface reaction rate and diffusional process. The inward diffusion of oxygen via crack surfaces is characterized by enhanced diffusion coefficients.     

A transversal equalizer with an increased adaptation speed andtracking capability

A modification to the well-known least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm for adaptive equalizers is presented. It allows a flexible tradeoff between throughput rate and adaptation speed by adjusting the arithmetic expense per output sample. If the arithmetic expense is increased to that of recursive least-squares (RLS)-based algorithms, a comparable adaptation speed is achieved. A full-custom implementation of a transversal equalizer using timesharing by a factor of two and Booth-coded coefficients proves the feasibility and efficiency of the modified LMS. It achieves data rates of up to 75 MBaud in a 0.8-μm CMOS technology under worst case conditions. The convergence rate of the gradient lattice algorithm can be achieved by reducing the symbol rate to 15 MBaud. The modification requires about 15% additional area in the basic cell of the filter, a few additional control signals, and a buffer to store 40 input symbols     

Liquid Membrane Permeation with Supported Liquid Membranes and their Application in Li-ion Battery Recycling

A study of liquid membrane permeation with supported flat sheet membranes was performed. The goal of the project was to improve the stability and accuracy of supported liquid membranes (SLM) by avoiding short circuiting of phases with technical measures. Mass transfer and stability tests were carried out with the test system Zn²⁺|HDEHPA|H⁺. The effect of operation conditions on mass transfer and accumulation of Zn²⁺ in the stripping phase was investigated. A process for the recycling of Li-ion batteries including two SLM separation stages was developed. Experimental findings confirmed the feasibility of this process, yielding high purity streams of aqueous copper, cobalt, and lithium solutions.     

Effect of processing stages of apple juice concentrate on patulin levels

The effects of different stages of apple juice concentrate production on patulin levels were investigated. Patulin was detected in all samples analyzed in concentrations ranging from 56 to 653 μg/L. Apple paste resulted from milling process had high levels of patulin. The results of this study indicate that it is possible to reduce patulin level in apple juices. After pasteurization, enzymatic treatment, microfiltration and evaporation processes, the mean loss of patulin was 39.6, 28.3, 20.1 and 28.4%, respectively. When apple juices concentrate were diluted from 69 to 12°Brix to consume, patulin content ranged from 15 to 46 μg/L. Patulin content in all juice samples was lower than the limit of 50 μg/L considered acceptable by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. But if consider the maximum permitted concentration established for apple products intended for infants and young children by The Commission of the European Communities all samples were found to exceed patulin concentration of 10 μg/L.     

A Case Study for the Application of Deterministic and Stochastic Petri Nets in the SoC Communication Domain

This paper presents an approach utilizing deterministic and stochastic Petri nets (DSPN) to analyze on-chip communication. In order to demonstrate the suitability of this approach, the on-chip communication structure of two examples featuring typical system-on-chip (SoC) communication conflicts like competition for common communication resources have been studied. A state-of-the-art heterogeneous digital signal processor (DSP) and a design example with an on-chip bus have been examined. The results show that sufficient modeling accuracy can be achieved with low modeling effort in terms of computation and implementation time. Holger Blume received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Dortmund, Germany in 1992. From 1993 to 1998 he worked as a research assistant with the Working group on Circuits and Systems for Information Processing of Prof. Dr. H. Schrŝder in Dortmund. There he finished his PhD on Nonlinear fault tolerant interpolation of intermediate images in 1997. In 1998 he joined the Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems of Prof. Dr. T. G. Noll at the University of Technology RWTH Aachen as a senior engineer. His main research interests are in the field of heterogeneous reconfigurable Systems on Chip for multimedia applications. Dr. Blume is chairman of the German chapter of the IEEE Solid State Circuits Society. Thorsten von Sydow received the Dipl.-Ing. degree from the University of Technology RWTH Aachen, Germany, in 2002. Since then he is working as a research assistant at the Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems (Prof. T. G. Noll), University of Technology RWTH Aachen. His current research interests include Design Space Exploration for on-Chip interconnects and fine grain arithmetic oriented eFPGA architectures. Tobias G. Noll received the Ing. (grad.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the Fachhochschule Koblenz, Germany in 1974, the Dipl-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich in 1982, and the Dr.-Ing. degree from the Ruhr-University of Bochum in 1989. From 1974 to 1976, he was with the Max-Planck-Institute of Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany, beeing active in the development of microwave waveguide and antenna components. Since 1976 he was with the Corporate Research and Development Department of Siemens and since 1987 he headed a group of laboratories concerned with the design of algorithm specific integrated CMOS circuits for high-throughput digital signal processing. In 1992, he joined the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the University of Technology RWTH Aachen, Germany, where he is a Professor, holding the chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Systems. In addition to teaching, he is involved in research activities on VLSI architectural strategies for high-throughput digital signal processing, circuits concepts, and design methodologies with a focus on low power CMOS and deep submicron issues, as well as on digital signal processing for medicine electronics.     

shaven and sparkling are mutations in separate enhancers of the Drosophila Pax2 homolog

We have previously shown that the sparkling gene, which like mammalian Pax2 plays an important role in eye development, is encoded by the Drosophila homolog of Pax2. Here we demonstrate that D-Pax2 also encodes the shaven function, which is crucial during bristle development. Both sv and spa alleles, previously thought to represent different genes, are mutations in two widely separated enhancers of D-Pax2. The sv function of D-Pax2 acts in at least two distinct steps of mechanosensory bristle development: the specification of the alternative fate of shaft as opposed to socket cell, and later the differentiation of the shaft cell.     

"That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance": Correction to Fredrickson et al. (1998).

Reports an error in "That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance" by Barbara L. Fredrickson, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Stephanie M. Noll, Diane M. Quinn and Jean M. Twenge (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998[Jul], Vol 75[1], 269-284). This article contains errors in the Participants sections. The corrected information is included in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1998-04530-020.) Objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T Roberts, 1997) posits that American culture socializes women to adopt observers' perspectives on their physical selves. This self-objectification is hypothesized to (a) produce body shame, which in turn leads to restrained eating, and (b) consume attentional resources, which is manifested in diminished mental performance. Two experiments manipulated self-objectification by having participants try on a swimsuit or a sweater. Experiment 1 tested 72 women and found that self-objectification increased body shame, which in turn predicted restrained eating. Experiment 2 tested 42 women and 40 men and found that these effects on body shame and restrained eating replicated for women only. Additionally, self-objectification diminished math performance for women only. Discussion centers on the causes and consequences of objectifying women's bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal dynamics of brain activation during a working memory task

Working memory is responsible for the short-term storage and online manipulation of information necessary for higher cognitive functions, such as language, planning and problem-solving. Traditionally, working memory has been divided into two types of processes: executive control (governing the encoding manipulation and retrieval of information in working memory) and active maintenance (keeping information available 'online'). It has also been proposed that these two types of processes may be subserved by distinct cortical structures, with the prefrontal cortex housing the executive control processes, and more posterior regions housing the content-specific buffers (for example verbal versus visuospatial) responsible for active maintenance. However, studies in non-human primates suggest that dorsolateral regions of the prefrontal cortex may also be involved in active maintenance. We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation in human subjects during performance of a working memory task. We used the temporal resolution of this technique to examine the dynamics of regional activation, and to show that prefrontal cortex along with parietal cortex appears to play a role in active maintenance.