Reversal electron attachment ionizer for detection of trace species

An in-line reversal electron, high-current ionizer capable of focusing a beam of electrons to a reversal region and executing a reversal of said electrons, such that the electrons possess zero kinetic energy at the point of reversal, may be used to produce both negative and positive ions. A sample gas is introduced at the point of electron reversal for low energy electron-(sample gas) molecule attachment with high efficiency. The attachment process produces negative ions from the sample gas, which includes species present in trace (minute) amounts. These ions are extracted efficiently and directed to a mass analyzer where they may be detected and identified. The generation and detection of positive ions is accomplished in a similar fashion with minimal adjustment to potentials applied to the apparatus

Association between body mass index and health-related quality of life, and the impact of self-reported long-term conditions - cross-sectional study from the south Yorkshire cohort dataset

Background We sought to quantify the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and health-related quality (HRQoL) of life, as measured by the EQ-5D, whilst controlling for potential confounders. In addition, we hypothesised that certain long-term conditions (LTCs), for which being overweight or obese is a known risk factor, may mediate the association between BMI and HRQoL. Hence the aim of our study was to explore the association between BMI and HRQoL, first controlling for confounders and then exploring the potential impact of LTCs. Methods We used baseline data from the South Yorkshire Cohort, a cross-sectional observational study which uses a cohort multiple randomised controlled trial design. For each EQ-5D health dimension we used logistic regression to model the probability of responding as having a problem for each of the five health dimensions. All continuous variables were modelled using fractional polynomials. We examined the impact on the coefficients for BMI of removing LTCs from our model. We considered the self-reported LTCs: diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, osteoarthritis, breathing problems and high blood pressure. Results The dataset used in our analysis had data for 19,460 individuals, who had a mean EQ-5D score of 0.81 and a mean BMI of 26.3 kg/m2. For each dimension, BMI and all of the LTCs were significant predictors. For overweight or obese individuals (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2), each unit increase in BMI was associated with approximately a 3% increase in the odds of reporting a problem for the anxiety/depression dimension, a 8% increase for the mobility dimension, and approximately 6% for the remaining dimension s. Diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis and high blood pressure were identified as being potentially mediating variables for all of the dimensions. Conclusions Compared to those of a normal weight (18.5 < BMI < 25 kg/m2), overweight and obese individuals had a reduced HRQoL, with each unit increase in BMI associated with approximately a 6% increase in the odds of reporting a problem on any of the EQ-5D health dimensions. There was evidence to suggest that diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis and high blood pressure may mediate the association between being overweight and HRQoL

ReTiF: A declarative real-time scheduling framework for POSIX systems

This paper proposes a novel framework providing a declarative interface to access real-time process scheduling services available in an operating system kernel. The main idea is to let applications declare their temporal requirements or characteristics without knowing exactly which underlying scheduling algorithms are offered by the system. The proposed framework can adequately handle such a set of heterogeneous requirements configuring the platform and partitioning the requests among the available multitude of cores, so to exploit the various scheduling disciplines that are available in the kernel, matching application requirements in the best possible way. The framework is realized with a modular architecture in which different plugins handle independently certain real-time scheduling features. The architecture is designed to make its behavior customization easier and enhance the support for other operating systems by introducing and configuring additional plugins

Comparative Evaluation of Kernel Bypass Mechanisms for High-performance Inter-container Communications

This work presents a framework for evaluating the performance of various virtual switching solutions, each widely adopted on Linux to provide virtual network connectivity to containers in high-performance scenarios, like in Network Function Virtualization (NFV). We present results from the use of this framework for the quantitative comparison of the performance of software-based and hardware-accelerated virtual switches on a real platform with respect to a number of key metrics, namely network throughput, latency and scalability

Transient monocular visual loss due to multiple CNS vascular pathology: report of two cases

BACKGROUND: The frequency of the transient monocular visual loss (TMVL), lasting minutes or longer, varies from a single to many episodes, which are usually followed by complete recovery of vision. TMVL is related most commonly o occlusive carotid disease. The therapy of patients with TMCL is divided into surgical and medical.CASE1: A55-year-old female was admitted to the clinic, with 4 months history of TMVL of the right eye, lasting 2-3 minutes, followed by complete recovery. Neuro-ophthalmological examination was normal. Neuro imaging investigations revealed proximal part right internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis of 70%, left ICA stenosis of 40%, King-King in the middle segment of ICA, causing stenosis of 14%, and incidental aneurysms of the intracranial part of right ICA andin M2 segment of right middle cerebral artery.CASE2: A 74-year-old female was admitted to the clinic, with 1 year history of TMVL of the right eye, lasting 4-5 minutes, followed by complete recovery. Neuro-ophthalmological examination was normal. Duplex scaning showed hemodynamically significant stenosis of the right ICA, with King-Kingintheleft. MRI reveale diffuse vascular pathology.CONCLUSION: These cases demonstrated a co-occurrence of hemodynamically significant carotid artery occlusion with multiple or diffuse vascular pathology in patients with TMVL. We suggest that the detailed history, neuro-ophthalmological, and neuroimaging examinations might be useful to determine the correct etiologic diagnosis and discuss the most effective therapeutic strategy in TMVL patients.Scripta Scientifica Medica 2011;43(2):83-8

A Framework for Comparative Evaluation of High-Performance Virtualized Networking Mechanisms

This paper presents an extension to a software framework designed to evaluate the efficiency of different software and hardware-accelerated virtual switches, each commonly adopted on Linux to provide virtual network connectivity to containers in high-performance scenarios, like in Network Function Virtualization (NFV). We present results from the use of our tools, showing the performance of multiple high-performance networking frameworks on a specific platform, comparing the collected data for various key metrics, namely throughput, latency and scalability, with respect to the required computational power