Adverse Perinatal Outcome in Subsequent Pregnancy after Stillbirth by Placental Vascular Disorders

Objective: To evaluate outcome in the pregnancy following a stillbirth (SB) by a placental vascular disorders. Study Design: A prospective, observational, multicenter study was conducted in woman with a history of stillbirth (> 22 weeks) between 2005 and June 2013, in 3 Italian University Hospitals. Causes of SB were previously identified after extensive investigations. Pregnant women were enrolled within the first trimester. The main outcome was "adverse neonatal outcome", including perinatal death, fetal growth restriction, early preterm birth <33+6 weeks, hypoxicischemic encephalopathy, intracranial hemorrhage or respiratory distress. Results: Out of 364 index pregnancies, 320 women (87.9%) had a subsequent pregnancy during the study period. Forty-seven had an early pregnancy loss. Out of 273 babies, 67 (24.5%) had an adverse perinatal outcome, including 1 SB and 1 early neonatal death (3.7/1000). Women who had a SB related to placental vascular disorders (39.6%), were at higher risk of an adverse neonatal outcome compared with women whose SB was unexplained or resulted from other causes (Adj. OR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.2-3.8). Moreover, also obesity independently predicts an adverse perinatal outcome (Adj OR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.1-4.3). Conclusion: When previous SB is related to placental vascular disorders there is a high risk for adverse neonatal outcomes in the subsequent pregnancy. Maternal obesity is an additional risk factor

Electronic excitation spectra of cerium oxides: from ab initio dielectric response functions to Monte Carlo electron transport simulations

Nanomaterials made of the cerium oxides CeO$_2$ and Ce$_2$O$_3$ have a broad range of applications, from catalysts in automotive, industrial or energy operations to promising materials to enhance hadrontherapy effectiveness in oncological treatments. To elucidate the physico-chemical mechanisms involved in these processes, it is of paramount importance to know the electronic excitation spectra of these oxides, which are obtained here through high-accuracy linear-response time-dependent density functional theory calculations. In particular, the macroscopic dielectric response functions $\bar\epsilon$ of both bulk CeO$_2$ and Ce$_2$O$_3$ are derived, which compare remarkably well with the available experimental data. These results stress the importance of appropriately accounting for local field effects to model the dielectric function of metal oxides. Furthermore, we reckon the materials energy loss functions \mbox{Im} (-1/\bar{\epsilon}), including the accurate evaluation of the momentum transfer dispersion from first-principles. In this respect, by using a Mermin-type parametrization we are able to model the contribution of different electronic excitations to the dielectric loss function. Finally, from the knowledge of the electron inelastic mean free path, together with the elastic mean free path provided by the relativistic Mott theory, we carry out statistical Monte Carlo (MC) charge transport simulations to reproduce the major features of the reported experimental reflection electron energy loss (REEL) spectra of cerium oxides. The good agreement with REEL experimental data strongly supports our approach based on MC modelling informed by ab initio calculated electronic excitation spectra in a broad range of momentum and energy transfers.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figure

Nanomechanics of individual aerographite tetrapods

R.A., O.L. and K.S. would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support under schemes AD 183/17-1 and SFB 986-TP-B1, respectively, and the Graphene FET Flagship. R.M. and D.E. would like to thank for financial support from Latvian Council of Science, no. 549/2012. N.M.P. is supported by the European Research Council (ERC PoC 2015 SILKENE no. 693670) and by the European Commission H2020 under the Graphene Flagship (WP14 ‘Polymer Composites’, no. 696656) and under the FET Proactive (‘Neurofibres’ no. 732344). S.S. acknowledges support from SILKENE

Magnetic field induced alignment of the director in a smectic A phase: surface effects

Deuterium NMR studies of the alignment by a magnetic field of the director in the smectic A phase of 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl have shown this to be a complex process. To explore the influence of the interaction between the smectic A phase and the surface of its container on the pathways available for director alignment we have investigated a droplet of this phase suspended in glycerol. The field induced alignment of the director in the droplet is found to be dramatically different, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to that found for the smectic A phase confined to a glass tube

Simulation of complex manufacturing systems via HLA-based infrastructure

Manufacturing systems can be thought as production networks nodes whose relations have a strong impact on design and analysis of each system. One of the most common techniques to support these tasks is Discrete-Event Simulation. The state-ofthe art commercial simulators are already adopted to analyze complex networked systems, but the development of a monolithic simulation model can be too complex or even infeasible when a detailed description of the nodes is not available outside the "owner" of the node. In these cases the problem can be decomposed by modeling complex systems with various simulators that interoperate in a synchronized manner. Herein, the integration of simulators is addressed by taking as a reference the High Level Architecture (HLA) and the research carried out by Commercial-off-the-shelf Simulation Package Interoperability (CSPI) Product Development Group (PDG). This paper proposes modifications to CSPI-PDG protocols and to use patterns of how HLA can be effectively adopted to support CSP interoperability: a new solution for the synchronous entity passing problem and a modification to the Entity Transfer Specification are presented. The resulting infrastructure is validated and tested over a realistic industrial case

Occupational noise exposure for call-center workers

For communication personnel, the occupational noise has to be determined in the ear canal as effect of sound immission from sources placed closed to the ear. This measurement could be carried out directly using miniature or probe microphones, or indirectly using a manikin equipped with ear simulators including microphones. In both cases, special care should be addressed to experimental determination of the frequency-dependent transformation based on the gain exerted by the ear at different frequencies. The investigation dealt with both measuring techniques. It has been undertaken in 74 different work stations (7 call centers) on 83 different types of receivers (supra-aural earphone, insert earphones, telephone handsets) for a 30 hour total monitoring time. Results show that the noise exposure levels are extremely variable: from a minimum value of 50 dB(A) to a maximum value of 87 dB(A). Moreover, the level of 80 dB(A) is exceeded in 23% of cases. By these data we can conclude that the risk of hearing loss could exist for some workers in certain conditions, as previously reported also by other researchers