Shock-wave therapy of gastric outlet syndrome caused by a gallstone

A patient with gastric outlet syndrome (Bouveret's syndrome) caused by a large gallstone impacted in the duodenal bulb was successfully treated by extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy. Thus, open abdominal surgery could be avoided. For disintegration of the stone, three consecutive lithotripsy procedures were necessary. Thereafter, stone fragments could be extracted endoscopically. Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy could become a non-surgical alternative in patients with obstruction of the duodenum caused by a gallstone

A Modal-Based Substructure Method Applied to Nonlinear Rotordynamic Systems

The discretisation of rotordynamic systems usually results in a high number of coordinates, so the computation of the solution of the equations of motion is very time consuming. An efficient semianalytic time-integration method combined with a substructure technique is given, which accounts for nonsymmetric matrices and local nonlinearities. The partitioning of the equation of motion into two substructures is performed. Symmetric and linear background systems are defined for each substructure. The excitation of the substructure comes from the given excitation force, the nonlinear restoring force, the induced force due to the gyroscopic and circulatory effects of the substructure under consideration and the coupling force of the substructures. The high effort for the analysis with complex numbers, which is necessary for nonsymmetric systems, is omitted. The solution is computed by means of an integral formulation. A suitable approximation for the unknown coordinates, which are involved in the coupling forces, has to be introduced and the integration results in Green's functions of the considered substructures. Modal analysis is performed for each linear and symmetric background system of the substructure. Modal reduction can be easily incorporated and the solution is calculated iteratively. The numerical behaviour of the algorithm is discussed and compared to other approximate methods of nonlinear structural dynamics for a benchmark problem and a representative example

Therapeutic DNA: Delivery and as a delivery vehicle

A review of gene delivery methods and gene editing methods, as well as original research utilizing DNA as a delivery vehicle is presented in the following thesis. Thousands of diseases have been linked to genes. Gene therapy, either delivering therapeutic genes or editing DNA bases, has arisen as a treatment option with the potential to cure diseases, rather than just ease symptoms. Genes and editing tools need to be delivered to cells for these therapies to be effective and many techniques have been developed to address the issue of delivery. Nonviral and viral methods have been used to deliver nucleic acids and several different protein systems have been employed to edit genes. Gene therapy will continue to evolve as delivery are improved. Along with being delivered as a therapeutic molecule, DNA has been investigated as a carrier itself. DNA origami, have been utilized to deliver chemotherapies to breast cancer. Globally, millions of women are affected by breast cancer each year. DNA origami was analyzed as a carrier for the chemotherapy Doxorubicin (DOX) in two triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines, a type of breast cancer with few treatments. The killing efficiency and uptake of DOX loaded into a model DNA origami triangle (DOX-DNA-T) were elucidated. Inhibition of various pathways revealed DOX-DNA-T was internalization by multiple energy-dependent pathways. DOX-DNA-T altered the subcellular localization of DOX and increased the concentration of DOX inside cells. A delayed killing was observed with DOX-DNA-T compared to free DOX, but the carrier was able to modulate the toxicity between cell lines. Overall, DNA delivery is able to treat various disease conditions and DNA origami is an interesting carrier for therapeutics --Abstract, page iv

Tabulation and summary of thermodynamic effects data for developed cavitation on ogive-nosed bodies

Thermodynamic effects data for developed cavitation on zero and quarter caliber ogives in Freon 113 and water are tabulated and summarized. These data include temperature depression (delta T), flow coefficient (C sub Q), and various geometrical characteristics of the cavity. For the delta T tests, the free-stream temperature varied from 35 C to 95 C in Freon 113 and from 60 C to 125 C in water for a velocity range of 19.5 m/sec to 36.6 m/sec. Two correlations of the delta T data by the entrainment method are presented. These correlations involve different combinations of the Nusselt, Reynolds, Froude, Weber, and Peclet numbers and dimensionless cavity length

Correlations by the entrainment theory of thermodynamic effects for developed cavitation in venturis and comparisons with ogive data

A semi-empirical entrainment theory was employed to correlate the measured temperature depression, Delta T, in a developed cavity for a venturi. This theory correlates Delta t in terms of the dimensionless numbers of Nusselt, Reynolds, Froude, Weber and Peclet, and dimensionless cavity length, L/D. These correlations are then compared with similar correlations for zero and quarter caliber ogives. In addition, cavitation number data for both limited and developed cavitation in venturis are presented

Phase 1 of the First Small Power System Experiment (engineering Experiment No. 1). Volume 5: Supporting Analyses and Trade Studies

The development and design of a modular solar thermal power system for application in the 1 to 10 MWe range is described. The system is used in remote utility applications, small communities, rural areas, and for industrial uses. Thermal and stress analyses are performed on the collector subsystem, energy storage subsystem, energy transport subsystem, the power conversion subsystem, and the plant control subsystem

Deep learning based pulse shape discrimination for germanium detectors

Experiments searching for rare processes like neutrinoless double beta decay heavily rely on the identification of background events to reduce their background level and increase their sensitivity. We present a novel machine learning based method to recognize one of the most abundant classes of background events in these experiments. By combining a neural network for feature extraction with a smaller classification network, our method can be trained with only a small number of labeled events. To validate our method, we use signals from a broad-energy germanium detector irradiated with a $^{228}$Th gamma source. We find that it matches the performance of state-of-the-art algorithms commonly used for this detector type. However, it requires less tuning and calibration and shows potential to identify certain types of background events missed by other methods.Comment: Published in Eur. Phys. J. C. 9 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Phase 1 of the First Small Power System Experiment (engineering Experiment No. 1). Volume 3: Experimental System Descriptions

The design and development of a modular solar thermal power system for application in the 1 to 10 MWe range is described. The system consists of five subsystems: the collector, power conversion, energy transport, energy storage, and the plant control subsystem. The collector subsystem consists of concentrator, receiver, and tower assemblies. The energy transport subsystem uses a mixture of salts with a low melting temperature to transport thermal energy. A steam generator drives a steam Rankine cycle turbine which drives an electrical generator to produce electricity. Thermal and stress analysis tests are performed on each subsystem in order to determine the operational reliability, the minimum risk of failure, and the maintenance and repair characteristics

Phase 1 of the First Small Power System Experiment (engineering Experiment No. 1). Volume 4: Commercial System Definition

The development and design of a modular solar thermal power system for application in the 1 to 10 MWe range is described. The system is used in remote utility applications, small communities, rural areas, and for industrial uses. The operational reliability, the minimum risk of failure, and the maintenance and repair characteristics are determined and the commercial system design is defined

Phase 1 of the First Small Power System Experiment (engineering Experiment No. 1). Volume 1: Executive Summary

The development of a modular solar thermal power system for application in the 1 to 10 MWe range is presented. The system is used in remote utility applications, small communities, rural areas, and for industrial uses. Investigations are performed on the energy storage requirements and type of energy storage, concentrator design and field optimization, energy transport, and power conversion subsystems. The system utilizes a Rankine cycle, an axial flow steam turbine for power conversion, and heat transfer sodium for collector fluid