FIRE CLAYS. SOME FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES AT SEVERAL TEMPERATURES1

This report gives the results obtained in the second phase of an extensive investigation of fireclay refractories. It is limited to the twenty-six representative clays included in that investigation. The geologic formation, chemical analyses, and pyrometric cone equivalents are given together with such properties of the clays fired at two widely different temperatures, as porosity, shrinkage, thermal expansion, moduli of elasticity and rupture, and plastic flow. Data are given to show the conversion of aluminous fire clays into mullite and cristobalite by firing at certain temperatures. At higher temperatures the cristobalite is converted to glass.     

Assessment of convection,hot‐air combined with microwave‐vacuum and freeze‐drying methods for mushrooms with regard to product quality

Combined drying of hot air and microwave‐vacuum has been proposed as an alternative method to improve the quality of dried mushrooms, especially the structural and textural properties. In the present study, the effect of different drying methods namely, convective hot‐air drying, hot air combined with microwave‐vacuum drying and freeze‐drying on qualitative attributes of pretreated mushrooms was investigated. The quality assessment was based on colour, texture, density, porosity and rehydration characteristics of the dried mushrooms. Combined drying of hot air and microwave‐vacuum resulted in a dried product of superior quality when compared to the slices dried completely by conventional hot air, exhibiting lower overall colour variation, higher porosity, greater rehydration ratio and softer texture. In a dry state, mushrooms with a puffy structure and unique crispy texture were created by the combined drying method, which might be considered as important characteristics for developing nonfat snack‐type food products.     

PROGRESS REPORT ON INVESTIGATION OF SAGGER CLAYS1

This paper is the first progress report of a comprehensive study of sagger clays. It includes the results of a preliminary study of clays representative of those used in sagger making throughout the United States. Chemical analyses, and a summary of physical tests, petrographic examinations, and the effect of repeated burns in pottery kilns are given. As a result of this work the clays have been classified into five groups characterized by properties in the fired state. The paper also contains an outline of a proposed intensive and fundamental study of a limited number of clays typical of each group.     

IV. PROGRESS REPORT ON INVESTIGATION OF SAGGER CLAYS. THEIR ELASTICITY,TRANSVERSE STRENGTH,AND PLASTIC FLOW AT 1000°C1

This is a Fourth Progress Report outlining results and data which are supplementary to results published in the Third Report. This Report contains values of modulus of elasticity, transverse breaking strength, and maximum fiber elongation of seventeen representative sagger clays as determined by tests at 1000°C and includes (for comparative purposes) the values of these same properties previously determined at several lower temperatures. At 1000°C the rigidity of the clays has greatly decreased and the cross-breaking strength has greatly increased when compared with values obtained at room temperatures. The pyrometric cone equivalent (P. C. E.) value of the clays appears to give the best indication of the relative plastic deflection exhibited at 1000°C.     

New Therapeutic Approaches for Conjunctival Melanoma—What We Know So Far and Where Therapy Is Potentially Heading: Focus on Lymphatic Vessels and Dendritic Cells

Conjunctival melanoma (CM) accounts for 5% of all ocular melanomas and arises from malignantly transformed melanocytes in the conjunctival epithelium. Current therapies using surgical excision in combination with chemo- or cryotherapy still have high rates for recurrences and metastatic disease. Lately, novel signal transduction-targeted and immune checkpoint inhibitors like cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors, programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) receptor inhibitors, BRAF- or MEK-inhibitors for systemic treatment of melanoma have improved the outcome even for unresectable cutaneous melanoma, improving patient survival dramatically. The use of these therapies is now also recommended for CM; however, the immunological background of CM is barely known, underlining the need for research to better understand the immunological basics when treating CM patients with immunomodulatory therapies. Immune checkpoint inhibitors activate tumor defense by interrupting inhibitory interactions between tumor cells and T lymphocytes at the so-called checkpoints. The tumor cells exploit these inhibitory targets on T-cells that are usually used by dendritic cells (DCs). DCs are antigen-presenting cells at the forefront of immune response induction. They contribute to immune tolerance and immune defense but in the case of tumor development, immune tolerance is often prevalent. Enhancing the immune response via DCs, interfering with the lymphatic pathways during immune cell migration and tumor development and specifically targeting tumor cells is a major therapeutic opportunity for many tumor entities including CM. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the function of lymphatic vessels in tumor growth and immune cell transport and continues to compare DC subsets in CM with related melanomas, such as cutaneous melanoma and mucosal melanoma.     

Solving Linear Interval Systems Is NP-Hard Even If We Exclude Overflow and Underflow

Reliable Computing -     

A Representation of the Interval Hull of a Tolerance Polyhedron Describing Inclusions of Function Values and Slopes

Given a nonempty set of functions

How to Guarantee Finite Termination of Verifying Global Optimization Codes

Convergence or finite termination of algorithms for solving problems of numerical analysis usually is shown only for their original theoretical versions, assuming that all operations appearing in the algorithms can be performed exactly.But in most cases the theoretical version of an algorithm cannot be realized on a computer and it is one of the main tasks of numerical mathematicians to find codeable versions of algorithms sharing the essential properties with their originals.The main problem is, that in any coded version at most rounded approximations of the operations appearing in the theoretical algorithm can be used, and that these approximations are defined only for the finite set of floating point numbers.So e.g. in codes for global optimization only rounded bisection is possible, and even this only finitely often in a meaningful way. In addition there are also problems with controlling rounding errors if underflow or graduated underflow might appear. These problems are often overlooked, even in codes for verifying global optimization.But it is possible to solve these problems by a simple but quite general implementable procedure, guaranteeing that a very natural stopping criterion is satisfied after finitely many steps.     

Attitude towards physician-assisted suicide among German doctors. A representative survey of the medical district association of Würzburg

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The widespread legalization of "physician assisted suicide" (PAS) in The Netherlands and comparable tendencies in other European countries have given rise to discussions of this topic in Germany. This questionnaire was undertaken because of the dearth of previous informative studies in Germany. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Among all registered practicing doctors in the medical district of Würzburg (n = 1821) a randomly selected group of 150 (males and females) was asked to participate in a personal interview-enquiry about active and passive euthanasia. 93 (62%, 32% women, 61% men) agreed: 44.1% were doctors working in a hospital, 45.2% worked in their own practice, the others worked elsewhere or (3) were retired. All specialties and medical activities were represented. About 40% were general practitioners or worked in internal medicine. RESULTS: 81.7% of the group were against active PAS. All rejected it for non-moribund patients. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study differ from similar enquiries in other countries in demonstrating a relatively strong rejection of active assistance in patient-suicide. Those German specialists who would most likely be confronted with this problem (e.g. neurologists, intensivists, anaesthetists, oncologists) tended towards a greater readiness to agree to physician-assisted suicide. A dialogue between doctors in different specialties is an urgent requirement and should be intensively pursued.     

A fourth-order algorithm with automatic stepsize control for thetransient analysis of DSPNs

This paper presents an efficient and numerically reliable method for the transient analysis of deterministic and stochastic Petri nets. The transient behavior is described by state equations derived by the method of supplementary variables. Significant features of the proposed solution algorithm of fourth order are an automatic stepsize control and a two-stage relative error control. Furthermore, a formal way of dealing with discontinuities in the transient state equations is developed. This resolves the problems posed by initially enabled deterministic transitions and also improves the accuracy of numerical results. Experiments with a queueing system with failure and repair illustrate the efficiency (with respect to both CPU-time and memory space) and the numerical quality of the new algorithm