Dynamic Modes of Microcapsules in Steady Shear Flow: Effects of Bending and Shear Elasticities

The dynamics of microcapsules in steady shear flow was studied using a theoretical approach based on three variables: The Taylor deformation parameter $\alpha_{\rm D}$, the inclination angle $\theta$, and the phase angle $\phi$ of the membrane rotation. It is found that the dynamic phase diagram shows a remarkable change with an increase in the ratio of the membrane shear and bending elasticities. A fluid vesicle (no shear elasticity) exhibits three dynamic modes: (i) Tank-treading (TT) at low viscosity $\eta_{\rm {in}}$ of internal fluid ($\alpha_{\rm D}$ and $\theta$ relaxes to constant values), (ii) Tumbling (TB) at high $\eta_{\rm {in}}$ ($\theta$ rotates), and (iii) Swinging (SW) at middle $\eta_{\rm {in}}$ and high shear rate $\dot\gamma$ ($\theta$ oscillates). All of three modes are accompanied by a membrane ($\phi$) rotation. For microcapsules with low shear elasticity, the TB phase with no $\phi$ rotation and the coexistence phase of SW and TB motions are induced by the energy barrier of $\phi$ rotation. Synchronization of $\phi$ rotation with TB rotation or SW oscillation occurs with integer ratios of rotational frequencies. At high shear elasticity, where a saddle point in the energy potential disappears, intermediate phases vanish, and either $\phi$ or $\theta$ rotation occurs. This phase behavior agrees with recent simulation results of microcapsules with low bending elasticity.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure

An investigation of site-similarity approaches to generalisation of a rainfall–runoff model

This paper investigates a new approach to spatial generalisation of rainfall–runoff model parameters – site-similarity with pooling groups – for use in flood frequency estimation at ungauged sites using continuous simulation. The method is developed for the generalisation of a simple conceptual model, the Probability Distributed Model, with four parameters which require specific estimation. The study is based on a relatively large sample of catchments in Great Britain. Various options are investigated within the approach. In the final version, the pooling group comprises the 10 calibrated catchments closest, in catchment property space, to the target site, where the catchment properties used to define the space differ for each parameter of the model. An analysis that, explicitly, takes account of calibration uncertainty as a source of error enables the uncertainty associated with generalised parameter values to be reduced, justifiably. The approach uses calibration uncertainty estimated through jack-knifing and employs a weighting scheme within pooling groups that uses weights which vary both with distance in the catchment property space and with the calibration uncertainty. Models using generalised values from this approach perform relatively well compared with direct calibration. Although performance appears to be better in some areas of the country than others, there are no obvious relationships between catchment properties and performance

Properties of Ridges in Elastic Membranes

When a thin elastic sheet is confined to a region much smaller than its size the morphology of the resulting crumpled membrane is a network of straight ridges or folds that meet at sharp vertices. A virial theorem predicts the ratio of the total bending and stretching energies of a ridge. Small strains and curvatures persist far away from the ridge. We discuss several kinds of perturbations that distinguish a ridge in a crumpled sheet from an isolated ridge studied earlier (A. E. Lobkovsky, Phys. Rev. E. 53 3750 (1996)). Linear response as well as buckling properties are investigated. We find that quite generally, the energy of a ridge can change by no more than a finite fraction before it buckles.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, acknowledgement adde

A prospective randomized trial comparing sequential ganciclovir-high dose acyclovir to high dose acyclovir for prevention of cytomegalovirus disease in adult liver transplant recipients

Cytomegalovirus disease is an important cause of morbidity following liver transplantation. To date there has not been an effective prophylaxis for CMV disease after liver transplantation. One hundred forty-three patients were randomized to receive either high dose oral acyclovir (800 mg 4 times a day) alone for 3 months after transplantation (acyclovir group) or intravenous ganciclovir (5 mg/kg twice a day) for 14 days followed by high dose oral acyclovir to complete a 3-month regimen (ganciclovir group). Of 139 patients available for evaluation, 43 of 71 (61%) patients from the acyclovir group developed CMV infection compared with 16 of 68 (24%) from the ganciclovir group (relative risk, 3.69; 95% confidence interval, 2.07-6.56; PcO.OOOOl). Of those randomized, CMV disease was seen in 20 (28%) of the acyclovir group compared with 6 (9%) of the ganciclovir group (relative risk, 5.11; 95% confidence interval, 2.05-12.75; P=0.0001). The median time to onset of CMV infection was 45 days in the acyclovir group compared with 78 days in the ganciclovir group (P=0.004). The median time to onset of CMV disease was 40 days in the acyclovir group compared with 78 days in the ganciclovir patients (P=0.02). With respect to primary CMV infection, there was no difference in the rates in the 2 groups, but tissue invasive disease and recurrent CMV disease were less frequent in the ganciclovir group. It is concluded that a course of 2 weeks of ganciclovir immediately after transplantation followed by high dose oral acyclovir for 10 weeks is superior to a 12-week course of high dose oral acyclovir alone for prevention of both CMV infection and CMV disease after liver transplantation. However, the lack of significant effect in seronegative recipients who received grafts from seropositive donors suggests that other strategies are needed to prevent CMV infection in this high risk population. © 1994 by Williams & Wilkins

Beam Orientation Optimization for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy using Adaptive l1 Minimization

Beam orientation optimization (BOO) is a key component in the process of IMRT treatment planning. It determines to what degree one can achieve a good treatment plan quality in the subsequent plan optimization process. In this paper, we have developed a BOO algorithm via adaptive l_1 minimization. Specifically, we introduce a sparsity energy function term into our model which contains weighting factors for each beam angle adaptively adjusted during the optimization process. Such an energy term favors small number of beam angles. By optimizing a total energy function containing a dosimetric term and the sparsity term, we are able to identify the unimportant beam angles and gradually remove them without largely sacrificing the dosimetric objective. In one typical prostate case, the convergence property of our algorithm, as well as the how the beam angles are selected during the optimization process, is demonstrated. Fluence map optimization (FMO) is then performed based on the optimized beam angles. The resulted plan quality is presented and found to be better than that obtained from unoptimized (equiangular) beam orientations. We have further systematically validated our algorithm in the contexts of 5-9 coplanar beams for 5 prostate cases and 1 head and neck case. For each case, the final FMO objective function value is used to compare the optimized beam orientations and the equiangular ones. It is found that, our BOO algorithm can lead to beam configurations which attain lower FMO objective function values than corresponding equiangular cases, indicating the effectiveness of our BOO algorithm.Comment: 19 pages, 2 tables, and 5 figure

Multivisceral intestinal transplantation: Surgical pathology

We report the diagnostic surgical pathology of two children who underwent multivisceral abdominal transplantation and survived for 1 month and 6 months. There is little relevant literature, and diagnostic criteria for the various clinical possibilities are not established; this is made more complicated by the simultaneous occurrence of more than one process. We based our interpretations on conventional histology, augmented with immunohistology, including HLA staining that distinguished graft from host cells in situ. In some instances functional analysis of T cells propagated from the same biopsies was available and was used to corroborate morphological interpretations. A wide spectrum of changes was encountered. Graft-versus-host disease, a prime concern before surgery, was not seen. Rejection was severe in 1 patient, not present in the other, and both had evidence of lymphoproliferative disease, which was related to Epstein-Barr virus. Bacterial translocation through the gut wall was also a feature in both children. This paper documents and illustrates the various diagnostic possibilities.. © 1989 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted

Negative Group Velocity from Quadrupole Resonance of Plasmonic Spheres

We study the dispersions of plasmonic bands that arise from the coupling of electric quadrupole resonances in three dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of plasmonic spheres. Through analytical derivation, we show that two branches of quadrupole bands in simple cubic PCs with a small lattice constant possess negative group velocities. Distinct from double negative media in which the negative responses originates from the coupling of electric and magnetic responses (P and M), the negative dispersion induced by quadrupole resonance is an intrinsic property of quadrupole that does not require coupling to another degree of freedom. In addition, there is no simple effective medium description. In plasmonic systems composed of metallic nanoparticle clusters, the coupled quadrupole resonance may be tuned to lower optical frequencies, and the coupling strength between this quadrupole resonance and external electromagnetic (EM) waves are in the same order of the magnetic dipole M.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Collective plasmonic modes of metal nano-particles in two-dimensional periodic regular arrays

We investigate the collective plasmonic modes of metal nano-particles in periodic two-dimensional (2D) arrays within a point-dipole description. As an open system, the full-dynamic dispersion relations of the 2D arrays are obtained through an efficient method which gives an effective polarizability describing the collective response of a system. Both the dispersion relations and mode qualities are simultaneously related to the imaginary part of the effective polarizability, which has contributions from the single-particle response as well as the inter-particle coupling. The transversal long-range dipolar interaction is dominated by a wave term together with a purely geometrical constant representing the static geometrical contribution to resonant frequencies. As concrete examples, we considered small Ag spheres arranged in a square lattice. We find that inside the light-cone, the transverse quasi-mode has a reasonably high mode quality while the two in-plane modes show significant radiation damping. Near the light-line, we observe strong coupling with free photons for the bands of the transverse mode and the transversal in-plane mode, and the longitudinal in-plane mode exhibits a negative group-velocity inside the light-cone. Vanishing group velocities in the light-cone for all the quasi-modes are found to be intrinsic properties of the 2D metal nano-sphere dense arrays.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure

Towards an OpenSource Logger for the Analysis of RPA Projects

Process automation typically begins with the observation of humans conducting the tasks that will be eventually automated. Sim ilarly, successful RPA projects require a prior analysis of the undergo ing processes which are being executed by humans. The process of col lecting this type of information is known as user interface (UI) logging since it records the interaction against a UI. Main RPA platforms (e.g., Blueprism and UIPath) incorporate functionalities that allow the record ing of these UI interactions. However, the records that these platforms generate lack some functionalities that large-scale RPA projects require. Besides, they are only understandable by the proper RPA platforms. This paper presents an extensible and multi-platform OpenSource UI logger that generate UI logs in a standard format. This system collects information from all the computers it is running on and sends it to a central server for its processing. Treatment of the collected information will allow the creation of an enriched UI log which can be used, among others purposes, for smart process analysis, machine learning training, the creation of RPA robots, or, being more general, for task mining .Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-R (POLOLAS)Junta de Andalucía CEI-12-TIC021Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnol´ogico Industrial (CDTI) P011-19/E0

Isolation and primary cultures of human intrahepatic bile ductular epithelium

A technique for the isolation of human intrahepatic bile ductular epithelium, and the establishment of primary cultures using a serum- and growth-factor-supplemented medium combined with a connective tissue substrata is described. Initial cell isolates and monolayer cultures display phenotypic characteristics of biliary epithelial cells (low molecular weight prekeratin positive; albumin, alphafetoprotein, and Factor VIII-related antigen negative). Ultrastructural features of the cultured cells show cell polarization with surface microvilli, numerous interepithelial junctional complexes and cytoplasmic intermediate prekeratin filaments. © 1988 Tissue Culture Association, Inc