Results in the reconstruction of the pyeloureteral segment using the Anderson-Hynes method

In an introduction the authors take into consideration the term Hydronephrosis and then they reviewed indications for a correction-repair of a pyelo-ureteral segment. There is shortly presented what is to be expected from an "ideal" procedure for a such reconstruction and then the operative technique of Anderson-Hynes method is described. They have operated on 37 patients using this procedure and according to X-ray finding (Degree of dilatation of calices and pyelon) patients were divided into four groups. Of primary importance in the evaluation of end results are: X-ray finding, urine analysis and subjective feeling. According to these criteria an excellent result has been attained in 15 patients, very good in 5, rather good in 8, while in 4 the result was bad; 5 patients were lost to follow-up.     

Problem solving by schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients on the Wisconsin and California Card Sorting Tests.

The performance of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness was compared with that of age- and education-matched normal controls on the Wisconsin and California Card Sorting Tests (WCST and CCST). On the WCST, both groups of patients achieved fewer than the normal number of categories and made more perseverative responses and errors. On the complete and short versions of the CCST, both patient groups generated, identified, and executed fewer than the normal number of concepts; provided less accurate and less complete verbal explanations for the correct concepts they did generate; and made more verbal and nonverbal perseverative responses than did the controls. There were no differences between patient groups on either test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms involved in the formation of phosphosilicate glass from a phosphoric acid dopant source

This study focused on how the formation of phosphosilicate glass (PSG) film affects the solar cell emitter profile when using an inline ultrasonic mist phosphoric acid source and an inline diffusion furnace. This investigation used a novel approach, whereby the samples were extracted from the inline furnace mid‐process that allowed for the investigation of incompletely formed PSGs. All experimentation was conducted at BP Solar Australia. Total Gravimetric Analysis found that the dilute phosphoric acid dehydrates to form a high concentration phosphoric acid layer on the top surface. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy then showed this top surface reacts with the silicon and is reduced to form silicon phosphide. ECV results then demonstrated that the sheet resistance and emitter surface concentration of phosphorus is dependent upon the ratio of phosphide to total phosphorus in the PSG film. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kinetics of internal oxidation in Ag-6Sn-2In-1Te-0.2Ni and Ag-6Sn-0.6Cu-1Bi-0.2Ni type alloys

Internal oxidation process was followed in Ag-6Sn-2In-1Te-0.2Ni and Ag-6Sn-0.6Cu-1Bi-0.2Ni alloy types in free air and oxygen at 650 °C and 680 °C. It was found that the Cu and Bi bearing alloy had a higher rates of internal oxidation in all of the tested conditions, whish was due to Bi effect accelerating the internal oxidation. In the early stage of internal oxidation of the Ag-6Sn-2In-1Te-0.2Ni alloy, an inhomogeneous structure revealed, which changed to a homogenous pattern after longer oxidation times. Such a structure was suppressed in the Bi bearing alloy. The applied 6 bar oxygen atmosphere brought on a 5–6 times higher rate of internal oxidation, with a homogenous structure compared to the free air oxidation. In free air after long time oxidation (200 h–250 h), the rate of internal oxidation was found to have almost doubled in both alloys.     

A Fault Tolerant Hierarchical Network on Chip Router Architecture

Continuing advances in the processing technology, along with the significant decreases in the feature size of integrated circuits lead to increases in susceptibility to transient errors and permanent faults. Network on Chips (NoCs) have come to address the demands for high bandwidth communication among processing elements. The structural redundancy inherited in NoC-based design can be exploited to improve reliability and compensate for the effects of failures. In this paper, we propose an enhanced fault tolerant microarchitecture with deadlock-free routing for Hierarchical NoCs. The proposed router supplies dynamic Virtual Channel (VC) Allocation, and it employs a high-performance fault tolerant control flow, handling both transient and permanent faults in hierarchical networks without extra retransmission buffer requirements. Experimental results show a significant improvement in reliability as well as decreases in the average latency and energy consumption.     

Oversampled multi-phase time-domain bit-error rate processing for transmitter testing

High speed serial interfaces (HSSI) are continually pushed toward operating at higher speed to meet the demand for higher bandwidth. As a result, the timing constraints for HSSI devices get tighter. Consequently, HSSI devices experience issues such as timing jitter and bit-errors. This paper investigates techniques to speed up HSSI bit-error rate and jitter testing. The proposed oversampling-based transmitter test scheme accelerates transmitter jitter and eye diagram testing by means of a multi-phase bit-error rate test circuit (BERT). The proposed scheme creates parallel BERT elements working in conjunction that are able to digitize the input signal jitter behavior in a multi-phase manner. The more phases we deploy the faster the test is completed. We accurately extract the transmitter jitter in time domain and finish the whole transmitter test within tens of milliseconds, exceeding the current norm of 100 ms.     

Fatliquoring agent and drying temperature effects on leather properties

Leather, a collagen structure material, usually requires the addition of fatliquoring agents that have been recently found to cause instability during heating in critical manufacturing processes. The effect of fatliquoring agent concentration and drying temperature on the leather properties was investigated. Leather shrinkage, leather absorption of water and water vapour, and water vapour permeability were measured under defined conditions. The samples of bovine leather obtained after commercial liming and chrome tanning processes were used. The samples were fatliquored with 3, 6, 9 and 12% solutions of anionic synthetic fatliquoring agent and dried at different temperatures. The results of the investigation are corroborated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) study. It was shown how the concentration of fatliquoring agent and drying temperatures influence the leather properties.     

The role of client choice and target selection in self-management therapy for depression in older adults.

In a study designed to maximize the effectiveness of treatment by allowing participants to select the target of treatment, 40 depressed older adults were randomly assigned to a waiting-list control condition or to conditions in which the target of treatment was either chosen or assigned. All participants received self-management therapy and the choice was between changing behavior or changing cognition. It was found that individually administered self-management therapy was effective in treating depression for older adults. There were no differences in outcome between versions of self-management therapy that targeted behavioral or cognitive change. Among those who completed treatment, there were no differences in outcome between those who received a choice and those who did not. Individuals who were given a choice of treatment options, however, were less likely to drop out of treatment prematurely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain Metastases from Lung Cancer Show Increased Expression of DVL1, DVL3 and Beta-Catenin and Down-Regulation of E-Cadherin

The susceptibility of brain to secondary formation from lung cancer primaries is a well-known phenomenon. In contrast, the molecular basis for invasion and metastasis to the brain is largely unknown. In the present study, 31 brain metastases that originated from primary lung carcinomas were analyzed regarding over expression of Dishevelled-1 (DVL1), Dishevelled-3 (DVL3), E-cadherin (CDH1) and beta-catenin (CTNNB1). Protein expressions and localizations were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Genetic alterations of E-cadherin were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/loss of heterozygosity (LOH). Heteroduplex was used to investigate mutations in beta-catenin. DVL1 and DVL3 showed over expression in brain metastasis in 87.1% and 90.3% of samples respectively. Nuclear staining was observed in 54.8% of cases for DVL1 and 53.3% for DVL3. The main effector of the Wnt signaling, beta-catenin, was up-regulated in 56%, and transferred to the nucleus in 36% of metastases. When DVL1 and DVL3 were up-regulated the number of cases with nuclear beta-catenin significantly increased (p = 0.0001). Down-regulation of E-cadherin was observed in 80% of samples. Genetic analysis showed 36% of samples with LOH of the CDH1. In comparison to other lung cancer pathologies, the diagnoses adenocarcinoma and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) were significantly associated to CDH1 LOH (p = 0.001). Microsatellite instability was detected in one metastasis from adenocarcinoma. Exon 3 of beta-catenin was not targeted. Altered expression of Dishevelled-1, Dishevelled-3, E-cadherin and beta-catenin were present in brain metastases which indicates that Wnt signaling is important and may contribute to better understanding of genetic profile conditioning lung cancer metastasis to the brain.