2,985 research outputs found
Development Of Disease Caused By The Parasite, Perkinsus-Marinus And Defense-Related Hemolymph Factors In 3 Populations Of Oysters From The Chesapeake Bay, Usa
The development of infection caused by the protozoan parasite, Perkinsus marinus (Dermo) and some specific potential defense-related cellular and humoral components in oysters collected from three geographic areas, Deepwater Shoal of James River (DW), Wachapreague (WP), and Mobjack Bay (MJ) were examined over time. Oysters were maintained in estuarine water (salinity = 20 ppt) or in water at a salinity similar to the ambient salinity of the collection sites. Oysters were sampled at the initiation of the experiment (day 0), day 35, and day 100 to determine defense-related parameters and disease prevalence and intensity. All populations experienced a significant increase in P. marinus infection prevalence and intensity from the initiation of the experiment to the termination of the study. Oyster mortality differed between oyster populations. None of the DW oysters perished while cumulative mortalities for WP at 32 ppt and 20 ppt and MJ oysters were respectively, 23, 25, and 35%. The experimental oyster populations demonstrated significant differences with respect to cellular and humoral defense-related variables. As the study progressed, the mean number of total hemocytes declined in the WP and MJ populations and increased in the DW population. The percentage of granulocytes in DW oysters was consistently higher than other populations. DW oysters also had the highest concentrations of protein and lysozyme. This pattern persisted throughout the experimental period. Oyster condition index significantly decreased during the course of the study in all populations except the DW oysters at 10 ppt. Results suggest that the increase of hemocyte number and higher percentage of granulocytes, and lysozyme concentration in DW oysters may have contributed to the high (100%) survival rate of this population. Salinity may have affected disease development. Disease prevalence and intensity tended to be lower in the WP oysters maintained at low salinity than those maintained at high salinity. In the DW population, unexpectedly, oysters maintained at 20 ppt had lower infection prevalence and intensity than oysters maintained at 10 ppt. Salinity induced, to some extent, changes in certain hemolymph components: lysozyme concentration tended to be higher in oysters maintained at low salinity than those maintained at high salinity. Increase in percentage of granulocytes was also observed in WP oysters after transferring to a salinity lower than ambient salinity
Bilateral Waveform Similarity Overlap-and-Add Based Packet Loss Concealment for Voice over IP
This paper invested a bilateral waveform similarity overlap-and-add algorithm for voice packet lost. Since Packet lost will cause the semantic misunderstanding, it has become one of the most essential problems in speech communication. This investment is based on waveform similarity measure using overlap-and-Add algorithm and provides the bilateral information to enhance the speech signal reconstruction. Traditionally, it has been improved that waveform similarity overlap-and-add (WSOLA) technique is an effective algorithm to deal with packet loss concealment (PLC) for real-time time communication. WSOLA algorithm is widely applied to deal with the length adaptation and packet loss concealment of speech signal. Time scale modification of audio signal is one of the most essential research topics in data communication, especially in voice of IP (VoIP). Herein, the proposed the bilateral WSOLA (BWSOLA) that is derived from WSOLA. Instead of only exploitation one direction speech data, the proposed method will reconstruct the lost voice data according to the preceding and cascading data. The related algorithms have been developed to achieve the optimal reconstructing estimation. The experimental results show that the quality of the reconstructed speech signal of the bilateral WSOLA is much better compared to the standard WSOLA and GWSOLA on different packet loss rate and length using the metrics PESQ and MOS. The significant improvement is obtained by bilateral information and proposed method. The proposed bilateral waveform similarity overlap-and-add (BWSOLA) outperforms the traditional approaches especially in the long duration data loss
The demography of worker and male size in bumblebee colonies
Trabalho final de mestrado integrado em Medicina (Pediatria), apresentado á Faculdade de Medicina de CoimbraIntrodução: Nas unidades de cuidados intensivos a necessidade de transmitir grandes
quantidades de informação de forma rigorosa é crítica e a forma como essa transmissão é
realizada tem impacto nos resultados da unidade. A utilização de Checklists tipo mnemónica
permite condensar grandes quantidades de informação, de fácil memorização, optimizando a
comunicação entre profissionais de saúde e contribuindo para a redução do risco de erro por
omissão.
Objectivos: Avaliar o impacto da aplicação de uma Checklist tipo mnemónica num Serviço de
Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos.
Material e Métodos: Definiu-se a Checklist REVÊ E AVALIA-TE: RE – Resumo; V –
Ventilação mecânica; E – Entubação endotraqueal; A – Água/Alimentação; V – Vias centrais;
L – Lesões cutâneas; I – Informação social; A – Analgesia/Sedação; T – Trombose venosa
profunda.
Foram definidos dois períodos: um período pré-implementação da Checklist (PPreC) e um
período pós-implementação da Checklist (PPosC) e foram comparados relativamente a
parâmetros de registo no diário clínico, de qualidade e de efectividade.
Resultados: Foram analisados 261 diários clínicos; 129 diários no PPreC (53 crianças
internadas) e 132 diários no PPosC (69 crianças internadas).
Verificou-se uma melhoria significativa na percentagem de registo em 21 dos 27 parâmetros
definidos para a Checklist.
Verificou-se também uma melhoria significativa relativa a: TET, água/alimentação, vias
centrais, úlceras, informação social e TVP, merecendo destaque os parâmetros: posição do TET
(PPreC 4,8%; PPosC 71,4%; p<0,001), presença de cateter central (PPreC 38%; PPosC 87,1%;
p<0,001), dias de cateter (PPreC 16,9%; PPosC 78%; p<0,001), úlceras de pressão (PPreC 8%;
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PPosC 66,7%; p<0,045), factores de risco de TVP (PPreC 0,8%; PPosC 40,9%; p<0,001) e
informação social (PPreC 1,6%; PPosC 40,9%; p<0,001).
Relativamente aos parâmetros: reposicionamento do TET e duração da analgesia/sedação não
se verificou melhoria.
Houve uma melhoria significativa na percentagem de registos com volume corrente <7ml/kg
(PPreC 70,4%; PPosC 100%; p= 0,005) e com cateter venoso central com menos de 10 dias,
atingindo 96,9% em PPosC com uma diferença entre os dois períodos de 30,2%; p=0,002.
Conclusão: Concluiu-se que a aplicação de uma Checklist permitiu uma melhoria na qualidade
do registo de informação no diário clínico e que pode ter impacto na melhoria dos cuidados de
saúde prestados num Serviço de Cuidados Intensivos PediátricosIntroduction: In Pediatric Intensive Care Units the nedd to accurately transmit large amounts
of information is critical and how that transmition is carried out has impacto on the unit’s
results.
The use of Checklists mnemonic like allows to condensate large amounts of information, easy
to remembre, optimizes the communication between health care providers and helps reducing
the risk of error by omission.
Objective: To evaluate application’s impact of a Checklist mnemonic like in a Paediatric
Intensive Care Unit.
Material and Methods: definition of the Checklist REVÊ E AVALIA-TE: RE - Summary; V
– Mechanical ventilation; E – Endotracheal intubation; A – Fluids/Nutrition; V – central
pathways; L – Skin lesions; I – Social information; A – Analgesia/Sedation; T – Deep Vein
Thrombosis.
Two periods were defined: a pre-implementation period (PPreC) and a post-implementation
period (PPosC) and were compared regarding recording parameters in clinical notes, quality
and effectiveness.
Results: 261 clinical notes were analyzed; 129 in PPreC (53 children admitted) and 132 in
PPosC (69 children admitted).
There was a significant improvement in the percentage of registering in 21 of the 27 parameters
of the Checklist.
There was also a significant improvement in: TET, fluid/nutrition, central catheter, ulcers,
social information and DVT, with highligh for: ET Position (4.8% PPreC; 71.4% PPosC;
p<0.001), central catheter (PPreC 38%; PPosC 87.1%; p <0.001), catheter days (16.9% PPreC;
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78% PPosC; p<0.001), pressure ulcers (PPreC 8%; PPosC 66.7%; p<0.045), DVT risk factors
(PPreC 0.8%; PPosC 40.9%; p<0.001) and social information (1.6% PPreC; 40.9%PPosC; p
<0.001).
There were no improvment in ET repositioning and analgesia/sedation duration.
There was a significant improvement in the clinical notes regarding tidal volume<7 ml/Kg
(PPreC 70.4 % ; PPosC 100%; p=0.005 ) and central venous catheter under 10 days, reaching
96.9% in PPosC with a difference between the two periods of 30.2%; p=0.002.
The implementation of the Checklist allowed an improvement in the information’s record
quality in the clinical notes and it may have impact on improving health care in Pediatric
Intensive Care Uni
Aspects structuraux et magnétiques de cristaux de ZnO et de films Zn 1-x M x O (M=Co, Mn)épitaxiés par ablation laser sur substrats de ZnO(00. -1)
Réunion du Groupement De Recherche SESAMEIPCMS Strasbourg 22-23 novembre 2004National audienceLa qualité cristalline de cristaux de ZnO de type SCVT (Seeded Chemical Vapour Transport) ethydrothermal a été analysée par topographie aux rayons X et diffraction des rayons X.Les cristaux de ZnO hydrothermal sont mieux appropriés que ceux de SCVT, en tant que substrats pourl’homoépitaxie de films Zn 1-x M x O (M=Co, Mn)
Effective Dynamic Range in Measurements with Flash Analog-to-Digital Convertor
Flash Analog to Digital Convertor (FADC) is frequently used in nuclear and
particle physics experiments, often as the major component in big multi-channel
systems. The large data volume makes the optimization of operating parameters
necessary. This article reports a study of a method to extend the dynamic range
of an 8-bit FADC from the nominal value. By comparing the integrated
pulse area with that of a reference profile, good energy reconstruction and
event identification can be achieved on saturated events from CsI(Tl) crystal
scintillators. The effective dynamic range can be extended by at least 4 more
bits. The algorithm is generic and is expected to be applicable to other
detector systems with FADC readout.Comment: 19 pages, 1 table, 10 figure
On Vanishing Theorems For Vector Bundle Valued p-Forms And Their Applications
Let be a strictly increasing function
with . We unify the concepts of -harmonic maps, minimal
hypersurfaces, maximal spacelike hypersurfaces, and Yang-Mills Fields, and
introduce -Yang-Mills fields, -degree, -lower degree, and generalized
Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld fields (with the plus sign or with the minus sign) on
manifolds. When and
the -Yang-Mills field becomes an ordinary Yang-Mills field,
-Yang-Mills field, a generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld field with the plus
sign, and a generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld field with the minus sign on a
manifold respectively. We also introduce the energy functional (resp.
-Yang-Mills functional) and derive the first variational formula of the
energy functional (resp. -Yang-Mills functional) with
applications. In a more general frame, we use a unified method to study the
stress-energy tensors that arise from calculating the rate of change of various
functionals when the metric of the domain or base manifold is changed. These
stress-energy tensors, linked to -conservation laws yield monotonicity
formulae. A "macroscopic" version of these monotonicity inequalities enables us
to derive some Liouville type results and vanishing theorems for forms with
values in vector bundles, and to investigate constant Dirichlet boundary value
problems for 1-forms. In particular, we obtain Liouville theorems for
harmonic maps (e.g. -harmonic maps), and Yang-Mills fields (e.g.
generalized Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld fields on manifolds). We also obtain
generalized Chern type results for constant mean curvature type equations for
forms on and on manifolds with the global doubling property
by a different approach. The case and is due to Chern.Comment: 1. This is a revised version with several new sections and an
appendix that will appear in Communications in Mathematical Physics. 2. A
"microscopic" approach to some of these monotonicity formulae leads to
celebrated blow-up techniques and regularity theory in geometric measure
theory. 3. Our unique solution of the Dirichlet problems generalizes the work
of Karcher and Wood on harmonic map
Gamma rays from dark matter annihilation in the Draco and observability at ARGO
The CACTUS experiment recently observed a gamma ray excess above 50 GeV from
the direction of the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Considering that Draco is
dark matter dominated the gamma rays may be generated through dark matter
annihilation in the Draco halo. In the framework of the minimal supersymmetric
extension of the standard model we explore the parameter space to account for
the gamma ray signals at CACTUS. We find that the neutralino mass is
constrained to be approximately in the range between 100 GeV ~ 400 GeV and a
sharp central cuspy of the dark halo profile in Draco is necessary to explain
the CACTUS results. We then discuss further constraints on the supersymmetric
parameter space by observations at the ground based ARGO detector. It is found
that the parameter space can be strongly constrained by ARGO if no excess from
Draco is observed above 100 GeV.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
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