Ethanol Vapours to Complement or Replace Sulfur Dioxide Fumigation of Table Grapes

Recent studies have shown that dipping table grapes in ethanol solutions at harvest improved storage of the fruit. We report here the first results obtained by treating "Chasselas" table grapes (Vitis vinifera) with ethanol vapours over the storage period. We tested the effect of ethanol at 0, 4 and 8 g/kg fruit during cold storage for 2, 4 and 6 weeks. We measured berry shatter, stem browning, Botrytis rot incidence and sensory appreciation by tasting panels. Ethanol vapours reduced Botrytis rot incidence and berry shatter, but hastened stem browning. Sensory analyses did not detect any differences between treatments

Simultaneous Inference in General Parametric Models

Simultaneous inference is a common problem in many areas of application. If multiple null hypotheses are tested simultaneously, the probability of rejecting erroneously at least one of them increases beyond the pre-specified significance level. Simultaneous inference procedures have to be used which adjust for multiplicity and thus control the overall type I error rate. In this paper we describe simultaneous inference procedures in general parametric models, where the experimental questions are specified through a linear combination of elemental model parameters. The framework described here is quite general and extends the canonical theory of multiple comparison procedures in ANOVA models to linear regression problems, generalized linear models, linear mixed effects models, the Cox model, robust linear models, etc. Several examples using a variety of different statistical models illustrate the breadth of the results. For the analyses we use the R add-on package multcomp, which provides a convenient interface to the general approach adopted here

Far infrared giant dipole resonances in neutral quantum dots

A resonance behaviour of the far infrared absorption probability at a frequency \sim N^{1/4} is predicted for clusters of N electron-hole pairs (2\le N\le 110) confined in disk-shaped quantum dots. For radially symmetric dots, the absorption is dominated by a Giant Dipole Resonance, which accounts for more than 98 % of the energy-weighted photoabsorption sum rule.Comment: final versio

Internal Transitions of Two-Dimensional Charged Magneto-Excitons X-: Theory and Experiment

Internal spin-singlet and spin-triplet transitions of charged excitons X- in magnetic fields in quantum wells have been studied experimentally and theoretically. The allowed X- transitions are photoionizing and exhibit a characteristic double-peak structure, which reflects the rich structure of the magnetoexciton continua in higher Landau levels (LL's). We discuss a novel exact selection rule, a hidden manifestation of translational invariance, that governs transitions of charged mobile complexes in a magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physica

Public Perceptions of Smoking in the Workplace

Introduction: Important public health policy decisions must be based on reliable epidemiologic studies and evidence-based medicine. In the effort to ban smoking in the workplace, there must be clear evidence from the constituency that such laws are desired. Current Vermont law states: Employers may designate up to 30 percent of an employee cafeteria or lounge as a smoking area and may permit smoking in designated unenclosed areas only if … smoking will not be a physical irritant to any non-smoking employee, and 75 percent of the employees in the designated areas agree to allow smoking. State legislators must address this issue for several reasons: * Long term effects including lung cancer, emphysema, heart and neurologic disease. * Secondhand smoke contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic, including more than 50 that can cause cancer. * The total cost of secondhand smoke exposure in the U.S. at $10 billion annually,$5 billion in direct medical costs, and $5 billion in indirect costs such as lost productivity. * Methods to reduce the effect of secondhand smoke, such as ventilators are ineffective. * One study found a 17% increased risk of developing lung cancer with smoking exposure in the workplace. Regardless, Vermonters continue to smoke; as of 2007, 18% of Vermont’s adults were smokers. Such information is important in making legislative decisions that affect the entire Vermont populationhttps://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1019/thumbnail.jp

Effectiveness of Artemether/Lumefantrine for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax and P. falciparum Malaria in Young Children in Papua New Guinea

This study shows that artemether/lumefantrine provides a rapid clinical response against both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax clinical malaria, but is associated with a high rate of P. vivax recurrent clinical episodes due to relapsing infections from long-lasting hypnozoite

Rapid Diagnostic Test-Based Management of Malaria: An Effectiveness Study in Papua New Guinean Infants With Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax Malaria

This study shows that treatment for malaria based exclusively on rapid diagnostic test results is safe and feasible even in infants living in areas with moderate to high endemicity for both Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax infection

The Role Of Age On The Outcome In Patients With Acute Type A Aortic Dissection: A Comparison Study Between Young And Elderly Patients

Acute aortic dissection is considered a lethal disease in the cardiovascular field which requires an emergently surgical intervention. Acute aortic dissection has a mortality rate of about 1% per hour initially, with half of the patients expected to be dead by the 3rd day and almost by 80% by the end of the 2nd week. In this retrospective study we presented the age difference and the postoperative outcome in regard to the postoperative neurological complications in the patients who underwent the surgical treatment of acute type A dissection under deep hypothermia and cardiac arrest with the help of the heart-lung machine. We retrospectively analyzed 368 consecutive patients, who underwent replacement of ascending aorta using deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) (18-22 C°) and antegrade cerebral perfusion due to AAAD between 2001 and 2016. The Patients were divided into two groups: those aged 75 years and older [elderly group; 68 (18.5%)] and those younger than 75 years [younger group; 300 (81.5%)]. Our study concluded as a result that surgical treatment of AAAD in elderly patient can be applied safely without increasing risk of neurological complication, however the mortality rate is higher compared to the younger patients but still satisfactory

Stability of trions in strongly spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gases

Low-temperature magneto-photoluminescence studies of negatively charged excitons (X- trions) are reported for n-type modulation-doped ZnSe/Zn(Cd,Mn)Se quantum wells over a wide range of Fermi energy and spin-splitting. The magnetic composition is chosen such that these magnetic two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) are highly spin-polarized even at low magnetic fields, throughout the entire range of electron densities studied (5e10 to 6.5e11 cm^-2). This spin polarization has a pronounced effect on the formation and energy of X-, with the striking result that the trion ionization energy (the energy separating X- from the neutral exciton) follows the temperature- and magnetic field-tunable Fermi energy. The large Zeeman energy destabilizes X- at the nu=1 quantum limit, beyond which a new PL peak appears and persists to 60 Tesla, suggesting the formation of spin-triplet charged excitons.Comment: 5 pages (RevTex), 4 embedded EPS figs. Submitted to PRB-R

Tests of continuous concrete slabs reinforced with basalt fibre reinforced plastic bars

yesThis paper presents experimental results of three continuously supported concrete slabs reinforced with basalt-fibre-reinforced polymer (BFRP) bars. Three different BFRP reinforcement combinations of over and under reinforcement ratios were applied at the top and bottom layers of continuous concrete slabs tested. One additional concrete continuous slab reinforced with steel bars and two simply supported slabs reinforced with under and over BFRP reinforcements were also tested for comparison purposes. All slabs sections tested had the same width and depth but different amounts of BFRP reinforcement. The experimental results were used to validate the existing design guidance for the predictions of moment and shear capacities, and deflections of continuous concrete elements reinforced with BFRP bars. The continuously supported BFRP reinforced concrete slabs illustrated wider cracks and larger deflections than the control steel reinforced concrete slab. All continuous BFRP reinforced concrete slabs exhibited a combined shear–flexure failure mode. ACI 440-1R-15 equations give reasonable predictions for the deflections of continuous slabs (after first cracking) but stiffer behaviour for the simply supported slabs, whereas CNR DT203 reasonably predicted the deflections of all BFRP slabs tested. On the other hand, ISIS-M03-07 provided the most accurate shear capacity prediction for continuously supported BFRP reinforced concrete slabs among the current shear design equations