Para-spinal regional anesthesia and prevention of thromboembolism/anticoagulation. Recommendations of the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, October 1997

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical and biomechanical consequences of desmotomy of the accessory ligament (AL) of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) of equine forelimbs and determine whether this procedure is a viable treatment for chronic desmitis of the AL-DDFT. ANIMALS: 6 adult Standardbred trotters. PROCEDURE: Biomechanical recordings obtained before and 6 months after desmotomy were compared. Walk and trot joint angles, ground reaction forces, peak joint moments, and tendon forces were assessed. RESULTS: Within 10 days after surgery, all horses were sound at a trot. Swelling, increased carpal flexion in the terminal stance phase, and incidental stumbling at the beginning of exercise were observed. Flexion angle in the carpal joints was significantly increased at the end of the stance phase. Peak moments around the distal interphalangeal joint and forces in the DDFT and AL-DDFT were decreased. Metacarpophalangeal joint angles, peak metacarpophalangeal joint moments, and peak loading of the suspensory ligament and the superficial digital flexor tendon were unchanged. CONCLUSION: 6 months after desmotomy, AL-DDFT strain was reduced without causing changes in joint angles or increasing tendon loads or joint moments that could be considered hazardous for the horses. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Changes in locomotion that remained 6 months after AL-DDFT desmotomy would be acceptable for horses with chronic desmitis if conservative treatment failed.     

Modelling Decarburization in Electrical Steels

A model is presented to predict the decarburization rate of electrical steels during reactive annealing. In a first step, the warm annealing atmosphere composition is calculated as function of the composition of the cold gas containing N₂‐H₂‐H₂O‐CO‐CO₂‐CH₄‐O₂. In a second step, the decarburization kinetics, which is controlled both by the surface reaction and by the diffusion of carbon towards the surface, is calculated. The model is then used to study the balance between surface reaction and the diffusion control of the decarburization process. We could conclude that for low sheet thickness and/or low H₂O/H₂ ratio in the annealing atmosphere, the decarburization is surface reaction controlled, while for commercial thicknesses and industrially applied dew points, the process is diffusion controlled. Furthermore, we looked at the difference in decarburization between complex N₂‐H₂‐H₂O‐CO‐CO₂ atmospheres used in industrial application, and N₂‐H₂‐H₂O atmospheres typically used in lab annealing. We could conclude that the decarburization rate is influenced by the addition of CO and CO₂ and that the final carbon level is increased if CO and CO₂ are added to the gas.     

Fluorimetric detection of protoporphyrins as an indicator for quality monitoring of fresh intact pork meat

In fresh meat production fast and non-destructive quality monitoring along the distribution chain is a key aspect to guaranteeing high quality and safe products for consumption. The applicability of fluorescence spectroscopy using protoporphyrins as indicators for meat ageing was investigated. Porcine musculus longissimus dorsi (MLD) was stored in slices over 20 days at 5 and 12 °C and measured every day with an excitation of 420 nm and an emission range of 550–750 nm. Additionally, pH, drip loss and colour were examined to assess possible correlations.The obtained spectra of the MLD showed an increase in three peaks at 592, 638 and 705 nm which could be reconstructed using the spectra of standard solutions of protoporphyrin IX (PP) and zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP) or magnesium protoporphyrin (MgPP), respectively.Using principal component analysis (PCA) on the fluorescence spectral data, the meat slices stored at 5 °C showed differences in the fluorescence signal after the 10th day and 5th day when stored at 12 °C. An interrelationship between the additional analyses and the fluorescence intensities on these relevant days could not be established.In conclusion, the increase of ZnPP fluorescence due to temperature related changes of physiological meat properties is capable of serving as a quality indicator with regards to inadequate conditioning (e.g. during transportation and/or storage) of pork meat.     

Operational Concepts of Nonmonotonic Logics Part 2: Autoepistemic Logic

The subject of nonmonotonic reasoning is reasoning with incompleteinformation. One of the main approaches is autoepistemic logic inwhich reasoning is based on introspection. This paper aims at providing a smooth introduction to this logic,stressing its motivation and basic concepts. The meaning (semantics)of autoepistemic logic is given in terms of so-called expansionswhich are usually defined as solutions of a fixed-point equation. Thepresent paper shows a more understandable, operational method fordetermining expansions. By improving applicability of the basicconcepts to concrete examples, we hope to make a contribution to awider usage of autoepistemic logic in practical applications.     

LΩUI: Lovely ΩMEGA User Interface

The capabilities of a automated theorem prover's interface are essential for the effective use of (interactive) proof systems. LΩUI is the multi-modal interface that combines several features: a graphical display of information in a proof graph, a selective term browser with hypertext facilities, proof and proof plan presentation in natural language, and an editor for adding and maintaining the knowledge base. LΩUI is realized in an agent-based client-server architecture and implemented in the concurrent constraint programming language Oz. Received November 1998 / Accepted in revised form June 1999     

An algebraic variational multiscale–multigrid method for large eddy simulation of turbulent flow

An algebraic variational multiscale–multigrid method is proposed for large eddy simulation of turbulent flow. Level-transfer operators from plain aggregation algebraic multigrid methods are employed for scale separation. In contrast to earlier approaches based on geometric multigrid methods, this purely algebraic strategy for scale separation obviates any coarse discretization besides the basic one. Operators based on plain aggregation algebraic multigrid provide a projective scale separation, enabling an efficient implementation of the proposed method. The application of the algebraic variational multiscale–multigrid method to turbulent flow in a channel produces results notably closer to reference (direct numerical simulation) results than other state-of-the-art methods both for mean streamwise and root-mean-square velocities. For predicting highly sensitive components of the Reynolds-stress tensor in the context of turbulent recirculating flow in a lid-driven cavity, the algebraic variational multiscale–multigrid method also shows a remarkably good performance in predicting reference results from experiment and direct numerical simulation compared to other methods.     

Lightweight diode laser spectrometer CHILD (Compact High-altitude iN-situ Laser Diode) for balloonborne measurements of water vapor and methane

A new lightweight near-infrared tunable diode laser spectrometer CHILD (Compact High-altitude In-situ Laser Diode spectrometer) was developed for flights to the stratosphere as an additional in situ sensor on existing balloonborne payloads. Free-air absorption measurements in the near infrared are made with an open-path Herriott cell with new design features. It offers two individual absorption path lengths optimized for CH4 with 74 m (136 pass) and H2O with 36 m (66 pass). New electronic features include a real-time gain control loop that provides an autocalibration function. In flight-ready configuration the instrument mass is approximately 20 kg, including batteries. It successfully measured stratospheric CH4 and H2O profiles on high-altitude balloons on four balloon campaigns (Environmental Satellite validation) between October 2001 and June 2003. On these first flights, in situ spectra were recorded from ground level to 32,000-m altitude with a sensitivity of 0.1 ppm [(parts per million), ground] to 0.4 ppm (32,000 m) for methane and 0.15-0.5 ppm for water.     

A framework for hardware/software codesign

It is argued that a hardware/software codesign methodology should support the following capabilities: integration of the hardware and software design processes; exploration of hardware/software tradeoffs and evaluation of hardware/software alternatives; and model continuity. A codesign methodology that supports many of these capabilities is outlined. The methodology is iterative in nature and serves to guide codesign exploration with the uninterpreted/interpreted modeling approach. It integrates performance (uninterpreted) models and functional (interpreted) models in a common simulation environment