Granulomatous orchitis. A case report and review of the literature

We developed a method for determination of motor conduction along the mandibular and sensory conduction along the lingual and inferior alveolar nerves in 10 controls and 6 patients with lingual neuropathy following lower wisdom tooth extraction. Patients with lingual neuropathy had reduced/absent or delayed compound sensory action potentials and normal conduction along the fibers of the inferior alveolar nerve and mandibular nerve. The method provides a useful electrophysiological means of evaluating lingual nerve lesions.     

Low-cost embedded spirometer based on micro machined polycrystalline thin film

There is a great need for a low cost and low power consumption portable spirometer for the home care of respiratory diseases. A mobile monitoring system utilizing Bluetooth and mobile messaging services (SMS) with low-cost hardware equipment is proposed. A proof of concept prototype has been developed and implemented to enable transmission of a flow or volume of gas during inspiratory and expiratory process signal of a patient, which can be expanded to include other vital signs. Communication between a mobile smart-phone and the spirometer is implemented using the popular personal area network standard specification Bluetooth. We used SMS for transmission, the mobile phone plots the received signal and displays the flow measurement application software running on the client mobile phone itself, where the plot can be captured and saved as an image before transmission. The acquired signal is transmitted via the Bluetooth to the processing and diagnostic unit with wireless protocol between sensors and the electronics board. The flow measurement is done with a silicon hot wire anemometer manufactured with MEMS technology. The design, manufacturing, calibration, and basic characterization of MEMS hot-wire anemometer and digital spiromerter is presented.     

The Value of Whole-Genome Sequencing for Mitochondrial DNA Population Studies: Strategies and Criteria for Extracting High-Quality Mitogenome Haplotypes

Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data present a readily available resource for mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) haplotypes that can be utilized for genetics research including population studies. However, the reconstruction of the mitogenome is complicated by nuclear mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) segments (NUMTs) that co-align with the mtDNA sequences and mimic authentic heteroplasmy. Two minimum variant detection thresholds, 5% and 10%, were assessed for the ability to produce authentic mitogenome haplotypes from a previously generated WGS dataset. Variants associated with NUMTs were detected in the mtDNA alignments for 91 of 917 (~8%) Swedish samples when the 5% frequency threshold was applied. The 413 observed NUMT variants were predominantly detected in two regions (nps 12,612–13,105 and 16,390–16,527), which were consistent with previously documented NUMTs. The number of NUMT variants was reduced by ~97% (400) using a 10% frequency threshold. Furthermore, the 5% frequency data were inconsistent with a platinum-quality mitogenome dataset with respect to observed heteroplasmy. These analyses illustrate that a 10% variant detection threshold may be necessary to ensure the generation of reliable mitogenome haplotypes from WGS data resources.     

Design of High Sensitive Temperature Sensor Based on Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal

In this effort, a two-dimensional photonic crystal ring resonator (2DPCRR) is simulated. This device is developed for temperature detection in harsh enviro     

Advances of nanofluids in heat exchangers—A review

Recently, many researchers have focused on their studies on the analysis of nanofluid flows due to their participation in the enhancement of heat transfer rates in industrial processes. The ordinary fluids, such as water, mineral oils, and so on, are known for their low thermal conductivity in heat transfer processes. A significant enhancement in the thermal properties of ordinary fluid may be obtained by adding nanoparticles having a diameter of less than 100 nm or suspension of fibers. Better spreading, wetting, dispersion, and stability and with acceptable viscosity are the main advantageous properties of nanofluids on a solid surface. The nanofluids are encountered in various thermal engineering systems such as in heat exchangers, refrigeration, thermal management of fuel cells, cooling of nuclear reactors, microelectromechanical systems, and others. In particular, the thermal conversion is known as a great application of nanotechnology, and many studies have been achieved with such fluids in heat exchangers. Therefore, this paper aims to present a global insight into the different applications of nanofluids in various heat exchangers, that is, heat pipe and plate-fin heat exchangers. All research works have been summarized into three main parts: laminar, transition, and turbulent nanofluid flow regimes.     

2D and 3D numerical simulation of the wind-rotor/nacelle interaction in an atmospheric boundary layer

Two-dimensional axisymmetric and three-dimensional steady turbulent flow computations around two horizontal-axis wind turbines (Nordex N80 and Jeumont J48) are carried out to investigate the wind-rotor/nacelle interaction and quantify its effects on the wind speed at the nacelle anemometry. The actuator disk concept has been used to model the action of the blades. For both turbines, the geometry of the nacelle was reproduced as faithfully as possible. The terrain was represented by an appropriate law of the wall to account for roughness with particular attention paid to the boundary conditions in order to reproduce the neutral atmospheric boundary layer. The calculated velocity field in the vicinity of the nacelle exhibits good agreement with available experimental data. The results also show that for a complex nacelle geometry, like that of the N80, a three-dimensional calculation is necessary to obtain a good prediction of the velocity field in the near wake. The hub height effect is evaluated for the J48 by raising the nacelle from a height of 36 to 60 m. No significant impact is noted on the ratio nacelle wind speed/freestream wind speed.     

Trial and Error

A pac-learning algorithm is -space bounded, if it stores at most examples from the sample at any time. We characterize the -space learnable concept classes. For this purpose we introduce the compression parameter of a concept class and design our Trial and Error Learning Algorithm. We show : is -space learnable if and only if the compression parameter of is at most . This learning algorithm does not produce a hypothesis consistent with the whole sample as previous approaches e.g. by Floyd, who presents consistent space bounded learning algorithms, but has to restrict herself to very special concept classes. On the other hand our algorithm needs large samples; the compression parameter appears as exponent in the sample size. We present several examples of polynomial time space bounded learnable concept classes: – all intersection closed concept classes with finite VC–dimension. – convex -gons in . – halfspaces in . – unions of triangles in . We further relate the compression parameter to the VC–dimension, and discuss variants of this parameter. Received May 24, 1994 / July 4, 1995     

First-order indicators for the estimation of discrete fractures in porous media

Faults and geological barriers can drastically affect the flow patterns in porous media. Such fractures can be modelled as interfaces that interact with the surrounding matrix. We propose a new technique for the estimation of the location and hydrogeological properties of a small number of large fractures in a porous medium from given distributed pressure or flow data. At each iteration, the algorithm builds a short list of candidates by comparing fracture indicators. These indicators quantify at the first order the decrease of a data misfit function; they are cheap to compute. Then, the best candidate is picked up by minimization of the objective function for each candidate. Optimally driven by the fit to the data, the approach has the great advantage of not requiring remeshing, nor shape derivation. The stability of the algorithm is shown on a series of numerical examples representative of typical situations.     

Mask‐free Localized Grafting of Organic Polymers at the Micrometer or Submicrometer Scale on Composite Conductors or Semiconductor Substrates

This work presents a new one‐step process enabling the mask‐free localized functionalization by organic polymers of the conducting or semiconducting parts of composite surfaces at the micrometer and submicrometer scale. The functionalization is carried out via cathodic electrografting of suitable precursors of composite cathodes, which gives an insulating polymer film strongly grafted to selected parts of the composite electrodes and guarantees that the resolution is that of the pre‐existing pattern, even when the whole surface is dipped into the reaction medium. The presumed mechanism is based on a regioselective extraction of electrons from the composite surface according to its apparent local work function in solution.