Degradation of acidic Orange G dye using UV-H2O2 in batch photoreactor

Degradation of Orange G dye has been investigated using UV irradiation with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in a batch photoreactor. UV irradiation and H2O2 resulted in significant photodegradation of the dye although the effect individual reaction was very little. The degradation was studied to elucidate the effect of various process parameters such as pH, concentration of dye, dose of H2O2, TiO2 and light intensity/light source with reflecting or non reflecting surface of photoreactor. Results showed the efficient degradation of Orange G for typical process conditions.Keywords: Orange G, UV/H2O2, photoreactor, degradation, process parameters

Optimal edge termination for high oxide reliability aiming 10kV SiC n-IGBTs

The edge termination design strongly affects the ability of a power device to support the desired voltage and its reliable operation. In this paper we present three appropriate termination designs for 10kV n-IGBTs which achieve the desired blocking requirement without the need for deep and expensive implantations. Thus, they improve the ability to fabricate, minimise the cost and reduce the lattice damage due to the high implantation energy. The edge terminations presented are optimised both for achieving the widest immunity to dopant activation and to minimise the electric field at the oxide. Thus, they ensure the long-term reliability of the device. This work has shown that the optimum design for blocking voltage and widest dose window does not necessarily give the best design for reliability. Further, it has been shown that Hybrid Junction Termination Extension structure with Space Modulated Floating Field Rings can give the best result of very high termination efficiency, as high as 99%, the widest doping variation immunity and the lowest electric field in the oxide

Boundedness of Pseudodifferential Operators on Banach Function Spaces

We show that if the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator is bounded on a separable Banach function space $X(\mathbb{R}^n)$ and on its associate space $X'(\mathbb{R}^n)$, then a pseudodifferential operator $\operatorname{Op}(a)$ is bounded on $X(\mathbb{R}^n)$ whenever the symbol $a$ belongs to the H\"ormander class $S_{\rho,\delta}^{n(\rho-1)}$ with $0<\rho\le 1$, $0\le\delta<1$ or to the the Miyachi class $S_{\rho,\delta}^{n(\rho-1)}(\varkappa,n)$ with $0\le\delta\le\rho\le 1$, $0\le\delta0$. This result is applied to the case of variable Lebesgue spaces $L^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb{R}^n)$.Comment: To appear in a special volume of Operator Theory: Advances and Applications dedicated to Ant\'onio Ferreira dos Santo

Hyperglycemia Has a Greater Impact on Left Ventricle Function in South Asians Than in Europeans

OBJECTIVE Diabetes is associated with left ventricular (LV) diastolic and systolic dysfunction. South Asians may be at particular risk of developing LV dysfunction owing to a high prevalence of diabetes. We investigated the role of diabetes and hyperglycemia in LV dysfunction in a community-based cohort of older South Asians and white Europeans. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Conventional and Doppler echocardiography was performed in 999 participants (542 Europeans and 457 South Asians aged 58–86 years) in a population-based study. Anthropometry, fasting bloods, coronary artery calcification scoring, blood pressure, and renal function were measured. RESULTS Diabetes and hyperglycemia across the spectrum of HbA1c had a greater adverse effect on LV function in South Asians than Europeans (N-terminal-probrain natriuretic peptide β ± SE 0.09 ± 0.04, P = 0.01, vs. −0.04 ± 0.05, P = 0.4, P for HbA1c/ethnicity interaction 0.02), diastolic function (E/e′ 0.69 ± 0.12, P < 0.0001, vs. 0.09 ± 0.2, P = 0.6, P for interaction 0.005), and systolic function (s′ −0.11 ± 0.06, P = 0.04, vs. 0.14 ± 0.09, P = 0.1, P for interaction 0.2). Multivariable adjustment for hypertension, microvascular disease, LV mass, coronary disease, and dyslipidemia only partially accounted for the ethnic differences. Adverse LV function in diabetic South Asians could not be accounted for by poorer glycemic control or longer diabetes duration. CONCLUSIONS Diabetes and hyperglycemia have a greater adverse effect on LV function in South Asians than Europeans, incompletely explained by adverse risk factors. South Asians may require earlier and more aggressive treatment of their cardiometabolic risk factors to reduce risks of LV dysfunction

Pulmonary Echinococcal Cyst with a Filamentous Fungus Co-Infection

Fungal infections are known to colonize the preexisting lung cavities formed as a result of diseases like tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, bronchiectasis and cavitatary neoplasia, mostly encountered in immunocompromised patients. Pulmonary echinococcal cysts have been reported coexistent with cryptococcosis and other saprophytic mycosis, but the coexistence of aspergillosis and echinococcal cyst is extremely rare and occasionally been reported in English literature. Active invasion and proliferation of the fungi in the laminated ectocyst of the echinococcal cyst is very unusual. We report a case of 60 years old immunocompetent female, presented with cough, chest pain and shortness of breath. The chest X- ray showed a large thick walled cavity in the lower and mid zone of right lung with positive water lily sign. Surgical enucleation of the echinococcal cyst revealed aspergilloma involving the cavity with massive invasion of laminated ectocyst by filamentous fungus, morphologically resembling an Aspergillus species and was further treated with Itraconazole for 3 months. This unique coexistence of active pulmonary echinococcosis and aspergillosis is being reported because of its rarity and clinical importance for its management.Keywords: Aspergillosis, echinococcosis, echinococcal cyst, pulmonary, mycosis

Influence des systemes agraires sur la dynamique de regeneration naturelle du karite: Vitellaria paradoxa CF gaernt (Sapotaceae) en C&#244te D'Ivoire

The shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) is one of the wild species of socioeconomic and environmental interest, valorised by the local populations of Sudanese and Guinean savannas of Africa. To contribute to the development of management strategies in favour of the resource, an ecological survey was carried out, in order to assess the influence of agrarian systems on the regeneration dynamics of this naturally-occurring species. The survey was undertaken in 40 sampling units, distributed in two savannah regions of Côte d'Ivoire. The results showed that shea natural regeneration dynamics varied from one area to the other. Under fallow systems, the number of young plantations was 960 in Tengrela, against 636 in Korhogo localities. similarly, in the fields, this number was 373 for young plantations in Tengrela, against 45 in Korhogo, using the same sample size. The number of young shea trees varied according to plant. Indeed, the number of young plantations inventoried in the two zones was 1596 in the fallows against 418 in the fields. Likewise, the number of adult trees was 2.5 times more important in the fallows than in the farmed fields. In the sampling unit, situated in the fields, Shea young plantations densities were 55 % in the manual system, 39 % in the harmessed system and 6 % in the towed system. For the same area sampled, the number of adult trees was 51, 20, and 13 in the manual, harnessed and towed systems, respectively. These differences show the influence of human activities on the natural regeneration of the shea tree. Le karité (Vitellaria paradoxa) est une espèce alimentaire sauvage d'intérêt socio-économique et environnemental suffisamment valorisée par les populations locales des savanes soudano-guinéennesd'Afrique. Pour contribuer au développement des stratégies de gestion et d'utilisation durable des ressources de cette plante, un inventaire écologique a été conduit dans la perspective de cerner l'influencedes systèmes agraires sur la dynamique de régénération naturelle de l'espèce. L'étude a été conduite dans 40 unités d'échantillonnage réparties dans deux départements de la région des savanes de Côte d'Ivoire.Les résultats montrent que la dynamique de régénération naturelle du karité a varié d'un département à l'autre. Dans les jachères, le nombre de jeunes plants de karité a été de 960 plants à Tengrela, contre 636à Korhogo. De même, dans les champs, ce nombre a été de 373 jeunes plants à Tengrela et de 45 à Korhogo, sur la même zone échantillonnée. Le nombre de jeunes karités a varié aussi, selon la formation végétale.En effet, sur l'ensemble des deux zones échantillonnées, le nombre de jeunes karités a été de 1596 plants dans les jachères, contre 418 dans les champs. De même, le nombre d'arbres adultes a été 2,5 fois plusimportant dans les jachères que dans les champs. Sur les unités d'échantillonnage situées dans les champs, le taux de jeunes plants de karité été de 55 % dans le système manuel, 39 % dans le système atteléet 6 % dans le système tracté. Pour la même surface échantillonnée, le nombre d'arbres adultes a été de 51 dans le système manuel, contre 20 dans le système attelé et 13 dans le système tracté. Ces différencesrévèlent une influence des activités anthropiques sur la régénération naturelle du karité

Remedies and the Supreme Court\u27s October 2007 Term

For this third annual review of Supreme Court decisions, I have identified three cases from very different areas all of which involve the remedies available for violations of federal law. These cases deal with the following issues: (a) federal remedies for state violations of federal labor policy (Chamber of Commerce); (b) state remedies for violations of the federal Bill of Rights (Danforth) and (c) federal common law standards for awarding punitive damages (Exxon Shipping)

X-ray and multi-epoch optical/UV investigations of BAL to non-BAL quasar transformations

We report on an X-ray and optical/UV study of eight Broad Absorption Line (BAL) to non-BAL transforming quasars at $z\,\approx\,$1.7-2.2 over 0.29-4.95 rest-frame years with at least three spectroscopic epochs for each quasar from the SDSS, BOSS, $Gemini$, and ARC 3.5-m telescopes. New $Chandra$ observations obtained for these objects show their values of $\alpha_{\rm ox}$ and $\Delta{\alpha}_{\rm ox}$, as well as their spectral energy distributions, are consistent with those of non-BAL quasars. Moreover, our targets have X-ray spectral shapes that are, on average, consistent with weakened absorption with an effective power-law photon index of $\Gamma_{\rm eff}\,=\,1.69^{+0.25}_{-0.25}$. The newer $Gemini$ and ARC 3.5-m spectra reveal that the BAL troughs have remained absent since the BOSS observations where the BAL disappearance was discovered. The X-ray and optical/UV results in tandem are consistent with at least the X-ray absorbing material moving out of the line-of-sight, leaving an X-ray unabsorbed non-BAL quasar. The UV absorber might have become more highly ionized (in a shielding-gas scenario) or also moved out of the line-of-sight (in a wind-clumping scenario).Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Reasoning techniques for analysis and refinement of policies for service management

The work described in this technical report falls under the general problem of developing methods that would allow us to engineer software systems that are reliable and would offer a certain acceptable level of quality in their operation. This report shows how the analysis and refinement of policies for Quality of Service can be carried out within logic by exploiting forms of abductive and argumentative reasoning. In particular, it provides two main contributions. The first is an extension of earlier work on the use of abductive reasoning for automatic policy refinement by exploiting the use of integrity constraints within abduction and its integration with constraint solving. This has allowed us to enhance this refinement process in various ways, e.g. supporting parameter values derivation to quantify abstract refinement to specific policies ready to be put in operation, and calculating utility values to determine optimal refined policies. The second contribution is a new approach for modelling and formulating Quality of Service policies, and more general policies for software requirements, as preference policies within logical frameworks of argumentation. This is shown to be a flexible and declarative approach to the analysis of such policies through high-level semantic queries of argumentation, demonstrated here for the particular case of network firewall policies where the logical framework of argumentation allows us to detect anomalies in the firewalls and facilitates the process of their resolution. To our knowledge this is the first time that the link between argumentation and the specification and analysis of requirement policies has been studied

B-> D* zero-recoil formfactor and the heavy quark expansion in QCD: a systematic study

We present a QCD analysis of heavy quark mesons focussing on the B -> D* formfactor at zero recoil, F_D*(1). An advanced treatment of the perturbative corrections in the Wilsonian approach is presented. We estimate the higher-order power corrections to the OPE sum rule and describe a refined analysis of the nonresonant continuum contribution. In the framework of a model-independent approach, we show that the inelastic contribution in the phenomenological part of the OPE is related to the mQ-dependence of the hyperfine splitting and conclude that the former is large, lowering the prediction for F_D*(1) down to about 0.86. This likewise implies an enhanced yield of radial and D-wave charm excitations in semileptonic B decays and alleviates the problem with the inclusive yield of the wide excited states. We also apply the approach to the expectation values of dimension 7 and 8 local operators and to a few other issues in the heavy quark expansion.Comment: 70 pages, 13 figure