The Application of Molecular Orbital Calculations to Wood Chemistry. II. The Protonation of Beta-Methyl Glucopyranoside

The protonation step in the acid hydrolysis reaction of beta-methyl glucopyranoside was studied by molecular orbital techniques. The semi-empirical, self-consistent fields method of modified neglect of diatomic overlap (MNDO) was used to calculate energetic and electronic information in an attempt to determine the site of initial protonation

Interaction of laminate damage and adhesive disbonding in composite scarf joints subjected to combined in-plane loading and impact

Impact tests were carried out on composite laminates and composite scarf repairs, while both were subjected to in-plane loading with tensile pre-strain levels up to 5000 microstrain. The results show that pre-straining of the composite laminates has no noticeable influence on the size of the delamination area for the given impact energy of 8 J, which represents a typical barely-visible impact on thin-skin composite structures. For composite scarf joints, however, resulting damage has been found to be a combination of adhesive disbonding and matrix cracking (delamination and intraply cracking) in the composite laminate. The size of this mixed type of damage increases significantly with increasing pre-strain levels. A finite element model was developed to investigate the interaction between adhesive disbonding and composite delamination. The computational results reveal that both delamination and adhesive disbonding are dominated by the mode II fracture. Since the critical mode II fracture energy release rate for composite laminates (GIIC = 1.08 kJ/m2) is much less than that pertinent to the adhesive (GIIC = 3.73 kJ/m2), delamination tends to occur first in the composite laminates, which then shield the growth of disbonding in the adhesive

On groups and counter automata

We study finitely generated groups whose word problems are accepted by counter automata. We show that a group has word problem accepted by a blind n-counter automaton in the sense of Greibach if and only if it is virtually free abelian of rank n; this result, which answers a question of Gilman, is in a very precise sense an abelian analogue of the Muller-Schupp theorem. More generally, if G is a virtually abelian group then every group with word problem recognised by a G-automaton is virtually abelian with growth class bounded above by the growth class of G. We consider also other types of counter automata.Comment: 18 page

DDFT calibration and investigation of an anisotropic phase-field crystal model

The anisotropic phase-field crystal model recently proposed and used by Prieler et al. [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 21, 464110 (2009)] is derived from microscopic density functional theory for anisotropic particles with fixed orientation. Further its morphology diagram is explored. In particular we investigated the influence of anisotropy and undercooling on the process of nucleation and microstructure formation from atomic to the microscale. To that end numerical simulations were performed varying those dimensionless parameters which represent anisotropy and undercooling in our anisotropic phase-field crystal (APFC) model. The results from these numerical simulations are summarized in terms of a morphology diagram of the stable state phase. These stable phases are also investigated with respect to their kinetics and characteristic morphological features.Comment: It contain 13 pages and total of 7 figure

Practice patterns and outcomes of pediatric partial nephrectomy in the United States: Comparison between pediatric urology and general pediatric surgery

BACKGROUND: In the United States, both pediatric urologists (PUROs) and general pediatric surgeons (GPSs) perform nephrectomies in children, with PUROs performing more nephrectomies overall, most commonly for benign causes. GPSs perform more nephrectomies for malignant causes. We questioned whether the same trends persisted for partial nephrectomy. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that PUROs performed more partial nephrectomies for all causes, including malignancy. Our primary aim was to characterize the number of partial nephrectomies performed by PUROs and GPSs. We also compared short-term outcomes between subspecialties. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), a database encompassing data from 44 children\u27s hospitals. Patients were ≤18 years old and had a partial nephrectomy (ICD-9 procedure code 554) carried out by PUROs or GPSs between 1 January, 2004 and June 30, 2013. Queried data points included surgeon subspecialty, age, gender, 3M™ All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (3M™ APR DRG) code, severity level, mortality risk, length of stay (LOS), and medical/surgical complication flags. Data points were compared in patients on whom PUROs and GPSs had operated. Statistical analysis included the Student t test, chi-square test, analysis of covariance, and logistic regression. RESULTS: Results are presented in the table. While PUROs performed the majority of partial nephrectomies, GPSs operated more commonly for malignancy. For surgeries performed for non-malignant indications, PURO patients had a shorter LOS and lower complication rate after controlling for statistically identified covariates. There was no difference in LOS or complication rate for patients with malignancy. DISCUSSION: A Pediatric Health Information System study of pediatric nephrectomy demonstrated PUROs performed more nephrectomies overall, but GPSs performed more surgeries for malignancy. The difference was less dramatic for partial nephrectomies (63% GPS, 37% PURO) than for radical nephrectomies (90% GPS, 10% PURO). PUROs performed more partial nephrectomies for benign indications (94% PURO, 6% GPS) at an even greater rate than nephrectomies (88% PURO, 12% GPS). As a national database study, there are a number of inherent limitations: applicability of results to non-participating hospitals, possibility of inaccurate data entry/coding, and lack of data points that would be relevant to the study. CONCLUSIONS: While most partial nephrectomies in the United States are performed by PUROs, GPSs perform the majority of surgeries for malignancy. There is no difference in LOS or complication rate undergoing nephron-sparing surgery for malignant disease; however, PUROs had a shorter LOS and lower complication rate when operating for benign diseases

Gender gaps in the path to adulthood for young females and males in six African countries from the 1990s to the 2010s

In this paper, we study on a comparative basis the school-to-work transition of young women and young men in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and we examine how this has evolved over recent years, based on the data collected by Demographic and Health Surveys. We examine educational attainments and the nature of early jobs young people are able to obtain, as well as considering their relationship to marriage and fertility outcomes, factors which are likely to be particularly relevant for young women. A pooled regression analysis shows that educational levels have increased substantially and gender gaps have narrowed in most countries. Access to better jobs has improved much more slowly with unchanging gender gaps in most countries, so that agriculture is still the dominant sector of employment for most young men and women. We model correlates of key educational outcomes and access to different types of jobs those controlling for individual- and household-level characteristics, including marital status, presence of children and wealth. Attaining a high level of education is unsurprisingly critical for access to the best jobs and is also associated with young women delaying marriage and childbearing

Ultra-short silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) modulator for bidirectional polarization-independent operation

We propose a bidirectional, polarization-independent, recirculating IQ-modulator scheme based on the silicon-organic hybrid (SOH) platform. We demonstrate the viability of the concept by using an SOH Mach-Zehnder modulator, operated at 10 GBd BPSK and 2ASK-2PSK

PSS8 Use of consumer market research panels to generate prevalence and disease burden estimates in data-sparse diseases: a case study in severe Chronic Hand Eczema

Farrando, Jordi;Febles, Maria Dolors ;Henrich, Jordi;Tarrasó, Olga ;Fuertes, J.C.;Pérez, S

Female breast cancer in New South Wales, Australia, by country of birth: implications for health-service delivery.

Background NSW has a multicultural population with increasing migration from South East Asia, the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean. Objective To compare cancer stage, treatment (first 12 months) and survival for 12 country of birth (COB) categories recorded on the population-based NSW Cancer Registry. Design Historic cohort study of invasive breast cancers diagnosed in 2003–2016. Patients Data for 48,909 women (18+ ages) analysed using linked cancer registry, hospital inpatient and Medicare and pharmaceutical benefits claims data. Measurement Comparisons by COB using multivariate logistic regression and proportional hazards regression with follow-up of vital status to April 30th, 2020. Results Compared with the Australia-born, women born in China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Lebanon were younger at diagnosis, whereas those from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Greece were older. Women born in China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Greece and Italy lived in less advantaged areas. Adjusted analyses indicated that: (1) stage at diagnosis was less localised for women born in Germany, Greece, Italy and Lebanon; (2) a lower proportion reported comorbidity for those born in China, the Philippines and Vietnam; (3) surgery type varied, with mastectomy more likely for women born in China, the Philippines and Vietnam, and less likely for women born in Italy, Greece and Lebanon; (4) radiotherapy was more likely where breast conserving surgery was more common (Greece, Italy, and Lebanon) and the United Kingdom; and (5) systemic drug therapy was less common for women born in China and Germany. Five-year survival in NSW was high by international standards and increasing. Adjusted analyses indicate that, compared with the Australian born, survival from death from cancer at 5 years from diagnosis was higher for women born in China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Italy, the United Kingdom and Greece. Conclusions There is diversity by COB of stage, treatment and survival. Reasons for survival differences may include cultural factors and healthier migrant populations with lower comorbidity, and potentially, less complete death recording in Australia if some women return to their birth countries for treatment and end-of-life care. More research is needed to explore the cultural and clinical factors that health services need to accommodate