International energy assistance needs and options for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)

Recent agreements between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the other countries involved in the six-party talks on the future of the DPRK's nuclear weapons program have focused attention on the North Korean energy sector, and, specifically, what the international community can or should do to assist the DPRK in energy sector redevelopment. During two visits to North Korea in 1998 and 2000, a team of American and North Korean researchers conducted a unique rural energy use survey in a flood-affected rural village in the DPRK-the farming village of Unhari. The information gathered during the survey has important implications on how to properly approach the ongoing rural energy crisis in the DPRK, and, more broadly, to provide overall energy sector assistance. The results of the Unhari survey are described briefly, followed by suggestions of internal policy and legal reforms, approaches to international cooperation, key and attractive energy sector technologies and processes for energy sector redevelopment in the DPRK

Resíduo do processo Kraft (dregs) como matéria-prima alternativa para cerâmica vermelha

Resumo Neste trabalho foi avaliada a utilização de dregs, um resíduo sólido inorgânico proveniente do processo Kraft, como matéria-prima alternativa em cerâmica vermelha. As matérias-primas foram caracterizadas por fluorescência de raios X, difração de raios X, distribuição de tamanho de partículas, análise térmica diferencial e termogravimétrica. Os corpos de prova com adições de até 40% em massa do resíduo foram conformados por prensagem uniaxial e sinterizados a 850 e 950 °C, sendo então determinadas as seguintes propriedades físico-mecânicas: resistência à flexão, retração linear, absorção de água, porosidade aparente, massa específica aparente e perda ao fogo. Também foi feita análise das fases desenvolvidas durante a sinterização e da microestrutura final por difração de raios X e microscopia eletrônica de varredura, respectivamente. Os resultados mostraram que a incorporação de até 20% em massa de dregs não interferiu na resistência à flexão da massa, sendo possível sua utilização em substituição parcial da argila

Leucemia promielocítica aguda: caracterização de alterações cromossômicas por citogenética tradicional e molecular (FISH) Acute promyelocytic leukemia: characterization of chromosome abnormalities by classical cytogenetics and FISH

A leucemia promielocítica aguda (LPA) corresponde a 10% -15% das leucemias mielóides agudas (LMA). Este tipo de leucemia (LMA-M3 de acordo com a classificação FAB) está associado, em cerca de 90% dos casos, à translocação t(15;17)(q22;q21), que resulta na fusão dos genes PML e RARalfa. A análise citogenética tradicional tem sido utilizada para confirmar o diagnóstico morfológico da LPA. Embora a t(15;17) não seja detectada em outros tipos de leucemia, podem ocorrer resultados "falso-negativos", decorrentes da análise de células que não pertencem ao clone neoplásico, da dificuldade de visualização da translocação ou, até mesmo, da existência de rearranjos crípticos que mascaram a translocação. Por outro lado, foram descritas alterações cromossômicas alternativas em pacientes com LPA e, nesses casos, o tratamento com ATRA não é eficaz. No período de julho de 1993 a dezembro de 2002 foram encaminhados para análise citogenética 47 casos com suspeita e/ou diagnóstico clínico-morfológico de LPA. Trinta e quatro pacientes (72,3%) apresentaram a t(15;17), detectada pela citogenética tradicional e/ou molecular. Em seis destes pacientes foram observadas alterações cromossômicas adicionais ou rearranjos envolvendo um terceiro cromossomo. Em cinco (10%) pacientes com características de LPA, a técnica de FISH não revelou a fusão PML/RARalfa, dado importante para a orientação do diagnóstico e da conduta terapêutica desses pacientes. O presente trabalho foi realizado com o objetivo de avaliar a importância da análise citogenética tradicional e molecular no diagnóstico de pacientes com LPA.<br>Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) accounts for 10 to 15% of acute myeloid leukemias (AML). This type of leukemia (AML-M3 according to the FAB classification) is associated, in about 90% of the cases, with a t(15;17)(q22;q21) translocation, resulting in the fusion of the PML and RARalpha genes. Traditional cytogenetic analysis has been used to confirm the morphological diagnosis of ALP. Although the t(15;17) translocation is characteristic for this kind of leukemia, "false-negative" results may occur as a result of the analysis of cells which do not belong to the neoplastic clone, of the difficulty to visualize the translocation and even of the existence of cryptic rearrangements masking the translocation. Moreover, alternative chromosome alterations were described in patients with APL and in these cases treatment with ATRA is not effective. From July 1993 to December 2002, 47 cases suspected of or being diagnosed with APL by clinical-laboratorial methods were referred for cytogenetic analysis. Thirty-four patients (72.3%) had the t(15;17) translocation, detected by traditional and/or molecular cytogenetics. In six of these patients, additional chromosome alterations or rearrangements involving a third chromosome were observed. In five patients (10%) with APL characteristics, the FISH technique did not reveal the PML/RARalpha fusion, an important finding in the process of reaching a diagnosis and of establishing a therapeutic conduct for these patients. This work was carried out with the purpose of evaluating the importance of traditional and molecular cytogenetic analysis in the diagnosis of APL

Blood gas analyses and other components involved in the acid–base metabolism of rats infected by Trypanosoma evansi

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Trypanosoma evansi infections on arterial blood gases of experimentally infected rats. Two groups with eight animals each were used; group A (uninfected) and group B (infected). Infected animals were daily monitored through blood smears that showed high parasitemia with 30 trypanosomes per field (1000×) on average, 5 days post-infection (PI). Arterial blood was collected at 5 days PI for blood gas analysis using an automated method based on dry-chemistry. Hydrogen potential (pH), partial oxygen pressure (pO2), oxygen saturation (sO2), sodium (Na), ionic calcium (Ca ionic), chlorides (Cl), partial dioxide carbon pressure (pCO2), base excess (BE), base excess in the extracellular fluid (BEecf), bicarbonate (cHCO3), potassium (K), lactate, and blood total dioxide the carbon (tCO2) were evaluated. The levels of pH, pCO2, BE, BEecf, cHCO3, and tCO2 were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in group B compared to group A. Additionally, the same group showed increases in Cl and lactate levels when compared to uninfected group. Therefore, it is possible to state that the infection caused by T. evansi led to alterations in the acid–base status, findings that are correlated to metabolic acidosis

The Perception of Accents in Pop Music Melodies

We examine several theoretical and empirical approaches to melodic accent perception and propose a heuristic classification system of formalized accent rules. To evaluate the validity of the accent rules a listening experiment was carried out. 29 participants had to rate every note of 15 pop music melodies presented as audio excerpts and as monophonic MIDI renditions for their perceived accent strength on a rating scale. The ratings were compared to accent predictions from 38 formalized, mainly binary accent rules. Two statistical procedures (logistic regression, and regression trees) were subsequently used in a data mining approach to determine a model consisting of an optimally weighted combination of smaller rule subset to predict the accents votes of the participants. Model evaluation on a set of unseen melodies indicates a very good predictive performance of both statistical models for the participants' votes obtained for the MIDI renditions. The two models derived for the audio data perform less well but still at an acceptable level. An analysis of the model components shows that Gestalt rules covering several different aspects of a monophonic melody are of importance for human accent perception. Among the aspects covered by both models are pitch interval structure, pitch contour, note duration, metrical position, as well as the position of a note within a phrase. In contrast, both audio models incorporate mainly rules relating to metre and syncopations. Potential applications of the presented accent models in automatic music analysis as well as options for future research following this computational approach are discussed