Forward Scattering Meter for Visibility Measurements

Atmospheric aerosols, containing water, constitute most of the air during non-ideal weather conditions including fog, haze, and mist. These aerosols cause light to be attenuated while propagating through the atmosphere causing the effective visibility to decrease. The visibility is dependent on the extinction coefficient of the aerosol distribution that can be found using Mie scattering theory. In the case of a real environment a distribution of particle sizes must be considered where the particles present are described by a weighted value relative to the number density. In this thesis a forward scattering meter is devised that measures the amount of scattered light at a specific forward scattering angle under the assumption that the scattered light is linearly related to the extinction coefficient of different weather conditions. To validate the design, it will be compared against a commercial visibility meter along with using a fog chamber to simulate various weather conditions

Shocks as predictors of survival in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators

AbstractOBJECTIVESThe objective of the study was to determine whether the occurrence of shocks for ventricular tachyarrhythmias during therapy with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) is predictive of shortened survival.BACKGROUNDVentricular tachyarrhythmias eliciting shocks are often associated with depressed ventricular function, making assessment of shocks as an independent risk factor difficult.METHODSConsecutive patients (n = 421) with a mean follow-up of 756 ± 523 days were classified into those who had received no shock (n = 262) or either one of two shock types, defined as single (n = 111) or multiple shocks (n = 48) per arrhythmia episode. Endpoints were all-cause and cardiac deaths. A survival analysis using a stepwise proportional hazards model evaluated the influence of two primary variables, shock type and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF <35% or >35%). Covariates analyzed were age, gender, NYHA Class, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, defibrillation threshold and tachyarrhythmia inducibility.RESULTSThe most complete model retained LVEF (p = 0.005) and age (p = 0.023) for the comparison of any shock versus no shock (p = 0.031). The occurrence of any versus no shock, or of multiple versus single shocks significantly decreased survival at four years, and these differences persisted after adjustment for LVEF. In the LVEF subgroups <35% and <25%, occurrence of multiple versus no shock more than doubled the risk of death. Compared with the most favorable group LVEF ≥35% and no shock, risk in the group multiple shocks and LVEF <35% was increased 16-fold.CONCLUSIONSIn defibrillator recipients, shocks act as potent predictors of survival independent of several other risk factors, particularly ejection fraction

Antigenic Site-Specific Competitive Antibody Responses to the Fusion Protein of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Were Associated With Viral Clearance in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Adults

Background: Recent studies of human sera showed that the majority of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) neutralizing antibodies are directed against pre-fusion conformation of the fusion (F) protein of RSV and revealed the importance of pre-fusion antigenic site Ø specific antibodies. However, detailed analysis of multiple antigenic site-specific competitive antibody responses to RSV F protein and their contribution to virus clearance in humans are lacking.Methods: We prospectively enrolled a cohort of RSV infected hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) adults (n = 40). Serum samples were collected at enrollment (acute, n = 40) and 14 to 60 days post-enrollment (convalescent, n = 40). Antigenic site-specific F protein antibodies were measured against pre-fusion site Ø, post-fusion site I, and sites II and IV present in both the pre-fusion and post-fusion F protein conformations utilizing four different competitive antibody assays developed with biotinylated monoclonal antibodies (mAb) D25, 131-2A, palivizumab, and 101F, respectively. The lower limit of detection were 7.8 and 1.0 μg/mL for the competitive antibody assays that measured site Ø specific response, as well as sites I, II, and IV specific responses, respectively. Neutralizing antibody titers to RSV A and B subgroups was determined by microneutralization assays.Results: The overall findings in RSV infected HCT adults revealed: (1) a significant increase in antigenic site-specific competitive antibodies in convalescent sera except for site Ø competitive antibody (p &lt; 0.01); (2) comparable concentrations in the acute and convalescent serum samples of antigenic site-specific competitive antibodies between RSV/A and RSV/B infected HCT adults (p &gt; 0.05); (3) significantly increased concentrations of the antigenic site-specific competitive antibodies in HCT adults who had genomic RSV detected in the upper respiratory tract for &lt;14 days compared to those for ≥14 days (p &lt; 0.01); and (4) statistically significant correlation between the antigenic site-specific competitive antibody concentrations and neutralizing antibody titers against RSV/A and RSV/B (r ranged from 0.33 to 0.83 for acute sera, and 0.50–0.88 for convalescent sera; p &lt; 0.05).Conclusions: In RSV infected HCT adults, antigenic site-specific antibody responses were induced against multiple antigenic sites found in both the pre-fusion and post-fusion F conformations, and were associated with a more rapid viral clearance and neutralizing antibody activity. However, the association is not necessarily the cause and the consequence

The Future of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hand Surgery - Combining Evolutionary Pharmacology and Surgical Technique

Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease of uncertain aetiology, which is characterized primarily by synovial inflammation with secondary skeletal destructions

Electroexcitation of giant resonances between 5 MeV and 40 MeV excitation energy in 197 Au

Inelastic scattering from(197)Au between 5 MeV and 40 MeV excitation energy revealed giant multipole resonances. Angular distribution studies with incident 90 MeV electrons show evidence of previously unreported giant monopole states. Reduced matrix elements have been extracted and multipolarity assignments have been made. Seven states have been observed at excitations of 7.3 (undetermined magnetic), 9.2 (E0), 10.8 (E2) , 14.0 (E1), 18.o (undetermined), 22.5 (E2), and 33.5 MeV (E0 or E2).http://archive.org/details/electroexcitatio00ferlEnsign, United States NavyLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Analysis of the use of low-cost GNSS receivers for navigation purposes

V diplomski nalogi smo analizirali natančnost določitve položaja z uporabo nizkocenovnih enofrekvenčnih GNSS sprejemnikov za potrebe v navigaciji. Meritve smo opravili z dvema nizkocenovnima enofrekvenčnima sprejemnikoma, za primerjavo pa smo imeli tudi meritve geodetskega dvofrekvenčnega sprejemnika, kjer smo uporabili samo valovanje L1. Delovanje sprejemnikov smo preizkusili v relativnem načinu, z baznimi vektorji pri kratkih razdaljah. Uporabili smo dve metodi, statično in kinematično, saj smo hoteli preizkusiti, kako bi se instrumenti obnesli pri navigacijskih nalogah, kjer bi potrebovali nekaj centimetrsko natančnost.In this diploma thesis the accuracy of the position determination through low-cost single-frequency GNSS receivers in terms of navigation has been analysed. The measurements have been carried out by two low-cost single-frequency GNSS receivers and (later) compared to the measurements made by a geodetic dual-frequency GNSS receiver, where only the L1 carrier has been taken into account. The receivers were tested in relative positioning mode, using short baseline vectors. The measurements have been processed in static and kinematic mode to see, how efficient the instruments would be in tackling navigation tasks that require an accuracy of a few centimetres