Local synthesis of immunoglobulins in neuropathies

It is essential to know how the immune system acts in different neurological diseases, some of them non very well known or of unknown etiology at all. It was applied Reiber and Felgenhauer's formula in 56 patients with different diseases. IgA, IgM, IgG and albumin were quantified in sera and cerebrospinal fluid by simple immunodiffusion. It was observed more frequent IgG local synthesis and IgA in this sample.     

Introducing fuzziness in object models and database interfaces through aspects

Imperfection in information can be considered a crosscutting concern that manifests itself in diverse kinds of imprecision, uncertainty, or inconsistency in the data models of a software system. The extension of existing programming and querying interfaces for the different aspects of information imperfection requires a proper modularization of the different concerns of numerical imprecision handling, so that the extensions do not interfere with existing programming practices and do not obscure the original design. Aspect‐oriented design (AOD) enables such a form of nonintrusive extensions to be added to existing software libraries, clearly separating fuzziness or other imperfections in data as a differentiated concern that can be considered from the early phases of development. In this article, a general framework for aspect‐based extension of data models and fuzzy databases is described, and some design and implementation issues of such AOD‐based extensions on OJB database libraries are described as a case study. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 1199–1216, 2006.     

An expert PID controller uses refined ziegler and nichols rules and fuzzy logic ideas

This article proposes a scheme for the on-line adjustment of three mode controller settings based on experimental measurements of closed-loop performance. It uses a recently developed heuristic tuning procedure to identify estimated process parameters. This method may give rise to conflicting estimates. Fuzzy Set theory is applied to manage the situation in terms of a fuzzy conjunction to combine the various estimates. PID control was chosen because of its wide use in the industrial environment due to driving simplicity and robustness. The article shows design, development, and computer simulation aspects.     

CHILD syndrome with linear eruptions, hypopigmented bands, and verruciform xanthoma

The traditional rhomboid transposition flap has been widely used in reconstructive surgery. The authors have modified the original technique by eliminating the creation of the rhomboid defect and by directly transposing the flap into the original postexcisional defect. These changes allow maximum flexibility in flap design and minimize normal tissue loss. The authors retrospectively reviewed the charts of patients who underwent periocular reconstruction with flaps from 1990 through 1995. The authors selected those patients in whom the modified rhomboid flap was used. Functional and cosmetic results and complications were reviewed. Two hundred thirty-two patients were identified in whom 242 flaps were performed. The modified rhomboid flap was used in 101 patients (41.7%). Complications occurred in 23 patients (23%), 19 of whom (19%) were treated medically and four of whom (4%) required an additional surgical procedure. Cosmetic and functional results were classified as very good or excellent in 96 patients (96%). The use of a modified rhomboid flap in the reconstruction of the periocular area offers ample versatility in flap design and minimal normal tissue loss. Functional and cosmetic results are satisfactory in the vast majority of cases.     

Isomerization of n-hexane over mono- and bimetallic Pd–Pt catalysts supported on ZrO2–Al2O3–WOx prepared by sol–gel

The catalytic performance of mono- and bimetallic Pd (0.6, 1.0 wt.%)–Pt (0.3 wt.%) catalysts supported on ZrO₂ (70, 85 wt.%)–Al₂O₃ (15, 0 wt.%)–WO_x (15 wt.%) prepared by sol–gel was studied in the hydroisomerization of n-hexane. The catalysts were characterized by N₂ physisorption, XRD, TPR, XPS, Raman, NMR, and FT-IR of adsorbed pyridine. The preparation of ZrW and ZrAlW mixed oxides by sol–gel favored the high dispersion of WO_x and the stabilization of zirconia in the tetragonal phase. The Al incorporation avoided the formation of monoclinic-WO₃ bulk phase. The catalysts increased their S_BET for about 15% promoted by Al₂O₃ addition. Various oxidation states of WO_x species coexist on the surface of the catalysts after calcination. The structure of the highly dispersed surface WO_x species is constituted mainly of isolated monotungstate and two-dimensional mono-oxotungstate species in tetrahedral coordination. The activity of Pd/ZrW catalysts in the hydroisomerization of n-hexane is promoted both with the addition of Al to the ZrW mixed oxide and the addition of Pt to Pd/ZrAlW catalysts. The improvement in the activity of Pd/ZrAlW catalysts is ascribed to a moderated acid strength and acidity, which can be correlated to the coexistence of W⁶⁺ and reduced-state WO_x species (either W⁴⁺ or W⁰). The addition of Pt to the Pd/ZrAlW catalyst does not modify significantly its acidic character. Selectivity results showed that the catalyst produced 2MP, 3MP and the high octane 2,3-dimethylbutane (2,3-DMB) and 2,2-dimethylbutane (2,2-DMB) isomers.     

Synthesis of UHMW-PE by a Highly Active Homogeneous System: η5-(C5H5)2Ti(η1-OC(O)C6H5)2/MAO

Summary The complex ⁵-(C₅H₅)₂Ti (¹-OC(O)C₆H₅)₂ was synthesized and activated with MA0 for ethylene polymerization. The resultant polymer is UHMW-PE with a viscosimetric molecular weight of Mv = 6.8 x 10⁶ to 0.7 x 10⁶ g/mol dependent on the temperature of the reaction. The effects of the Al/Ti molar ratio and temperature of the reaction on the catalytic activity and polymer properties were studied.     

An analytic solution to the transient diffusion-reaction problem in particles dispersed in a slurry reactor

In this work, we present the solution of the equations that govern the reactant transport in a well mixed system that contains particles where diffusion and first-order reaction occur. The transport equations are coupled by an interfacial boundary condition that includes mass transfer resistance. The statement of the problem allows arbitrary time depending feed functions. The evaluation of the solution obtained by the Laplace method requires the solution of an eigenvalue problem. We discuss the evaluation of the solution, and typical results for three different feed functions: step, pulse and oscillatory functions are presented. The resulting equations are able to show the effect of internal and external mass transfer limitations on the particle and fluid concentrations and on kinetic experimental results.     

Dense subgraph maintenance under streaming edge weight updates for real-time story identification

Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of social media. People around the globe author, everyday, millions of blog posts, social network status updates, etc. This rich stream of information can be used to identify, on an ongoing basis, emerging stories, and events that capture popular attention. Stories can be identified via groups of tightly coupled real-world entities, namely the people, locations, products, etc, that are involved in the story. The sheer scale and rapid evolution of the data involved necessitate highly efficient techniques for identifying important stories at every point of time. The main challenge in real-time story identification is the maintenance of dense subgraphs (corresponding to groups of tightly coupled entities) under streaming edge weight updates (resulting from a stream of user-generated content). This is the first work to study the efficient maintenance of dense subgraphs under such streaming edge weight updates. For a wide range of definitions of density, we derive theoretical results regarding the magnitude of change that a single edge weight update can cause. Based on these, we propose a novel algorithm, DynDens, which outperforms adaptations of existing techniques to this setting and yields meaningful, intuitive results. Our approach is validated by a thorough experimental evaluation on large-scale real and synthetic datasets.