Tool wear and surface integrity analysis of machined heat treated selective laser melted Ti-6Al-4V

In this study, the tool wear and surface integrity during machining of wrought and Selective LaserMelted (SLM) titanium alloy (after heat treatment) are studied. Face turning trails were carried out onboth the materials at different cutting speeds of 60,120 and 180 m/min. Cutting tools and machinedspecimens collected are characterized using scanning electron microscope, surface profiler and opticalmicroscope to study the tool wear, machined surface quality and machining induced microstructuralalterations. It was found that high cutting speeds lead to rapid tool wear during machining of SLMTi-6Al-4V materials. Rapid tool wear observed at high cutting speeds in machining SLM Ti-6Al-4Vresulted in damaging the surface integrity by 1) Deposition of chip/work material on the machinedsurface giving rise to higher surface roughness and 2) Increasing the depth of plastic deformationon the machined sub surface

Congenital Rubella Syndrome in Fiji, 1995-2010

Setting. A nationwide study in Fiji. Objective. To describe the incidence of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) and its relationship to the incidence of notified cases of rubella in Fiji from 1995 to 2010. Design. Descriptive, retrospective review of all recorded congenital abnormalities associated with live births in Fiji over 16 years. Results. There were 294 infants who met the criteria for CRS. Of these, 95% were classified as "suspected" cases, 5% were "clinically confirmed," and none were "laboratory confirmed cases". There was a significant linear increase over the study period in the incidence of CRS (odds ratio 1.045 per year, 95% CI 1.019 to 1.071, P ≤ 0.001). There was no significant association between the incidence of CRS and the reported incidence of rubella (P = 0.3). Conclusion. There is a rising trend in reports of suspected CRS cases in Fiji. This highlights the need to strengthen surveillance for CRS through improvements in clinical and laboratory diagnosis to confirm or exclude suspected cases. It is also important to ensure high coverage of rubella vaccination in Fiji

A 4-to-1 240 Gb/s PAM-4 MUX with a 7-tap mixed-signal FFE in 55nm BiCMOS

Next generation high-speed wireline and optical communications will target single lane data rates over 200Gb/s. For this, the generation and transmission of >100 Gbaud PAM-4 is a key step. Recent transmitters in advanced CMOS and FinFET nodes [1,2] provide extensive transmit-side FFE capabilities at respectively 64 and 56Gbaud. Speed limitations in these technologies will make the transition to >100 Gbaud a challenge. Alternatively, InP-based multiplexers like [3] manage to reach >100 Gbaud easily. They also offer the possibility to create high-swing output drivers, necessary to efficiently drive optical modulators. However, InP solutions lack the ability to introduce more complex equalization of the signal. BiCMOS based transmitters like in [4], enable the integration of more complex circuits with respect to InP technologies, are capable to deliver high signal swings required for optical drivers and promise increased bandwidth compared to CMOS/FinFET. This paper presents a 120Gbaud PAM-4 TX incorporating a 7-tap FFE in a 55nm BiCMOS technology. The advantage of the presented FFE architecture is the efficient use of both digital and analog delay structures to obtain >100 Gbaud operation with a large amount of filter taps in a compact configuration

SCExAO as a precursor to an ELT exoplanet direct imaging instrument

The Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme AO (SCExAO) instrument consists of a high performance Phase Induced Amplitude Apodisation (PIAA) coronagraph combined with an extreme Adaptive Optics (AO) system operating in the near-infrared (H band). The extreme AO system driven by the 2000 element deformable mirror will allow for Strehl ratios >90% to be achieved in the H-band when it goes closed loop. This makes the SCExAO instrument a powerful platform for high contrast imaging down to angular separations of the order of 1lambda/D and an ideal testbed for exploring coronagraphic techniques for ELTs. In this paper we report on the recent progress in regards to the development of the instrument, which includes the addition of a visible bench that makes use of the light at shorter wavelengths not currently utilized by SCExAO and closing the loop on the tip/tilt wavefront sensor. We will also discuss several exciting guest instruments which will expand the capabilities of SCExAO over the next few years; namely CHARIS which is a integral field spectrograph as well as VAMPIRES, a visible aperture masking experiment based on polarimetric analysis of circumstellar disks. In addition we will elucidate the unique role extreme AO systems will play in enabling high precision radial velocity spectroscopy for the detection of small companions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Proceedings of AO4ELTs3 conference, paper 13396, Florence, Italy, May 201

60 GHz resonant photoreceiver with an integrated SiGe HBT amplifier for analog radio-over-fiber links

A photoreceiver is presented for remote antennas in the unlicensed 60 GHz band utilizing an amplifier designed to present a matched impedance to a photodiode. The photoreceiver offers 29 dB higher gain than a reference photodiode over a 3 dB bandwidth of 5.7 GHz while consuming 33.6 mW. It is demonstrated up to 20 Gbps over 5 km SSMF at 4 Gbaud using QAM32 with an RMS EVM of 11.5%

Change in blood eosinophils following treatment with inhaled corticosteroids may predict long-term clinical response in COPD

There is an emerging role for blood eosinophil count (EOS) as a biomarker to guide inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy in COPD. Since ICS administration could influence EOS, we hypothesised that change in EOS following treatment with ICS may predict outcomes of long-term therapy. In a post hoc analysis of ISOLDE, a 3-year, double-blind trial comparing 500 mu g fluticasone propionate twice daily with placebo in 751 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD, we evaluated whether the initial changes in EOS during ICS treatment were predictive of ICS treatment response. EOS change within 1 year after the introduction of ICS was strongly predictive of treatment response. A suppressed EOS was associated with treatment effect. Characteristically, in patients with EOS suppression of >= 200 cells.mu L-1, ICS use was associated with a decelerated rate of decline of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), by 32 mL.year(-1), and a 30% reduction in the exacerbation rate. In contrast, in patients experiencing an increase in EOS of >= 200 cells.mu L-1, ICS use was associated with an accelerated rate of decline of FEV1, by 37 mL.year(-1) and an 80% increase in the exacerbation rate (p<0.0001). EOS change was not predictive of clinical response with regards to health status evaluated using the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire. These findings suggest that EOS change after ICS administration may predict clinical response to ICS therapy in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD at risk of exacerbations. ICS administration may be associated with more frequent exacerbations and an accelerated lung function decline in the 20% of patients in whom EOS increases after the administration of ICS. These hypothesis-generating observations will need validation in prospectively designed studies. The ISOLDE trial was conducted before the ICJME recommended a prospective registration of RCT protocols

A case study of an 87-year-old male bodybuilder with complex health conditions

This exploratory clinical case report presents an 87-year-old man who began bodybuilding at the age of 76 years and was officially recognised as the world’s oldest competitive bodybuilder, competing until age 83. He has a background of complex health conditions including polio, strokes, cardiac arrest, atrial fibrillation, prostate disease, osteoarthritis, depression, bowel obstruction, reflux, and bladder cancer. Assessments of body composition, bone density, muscle performance, and diet-related practices were performed. The bodybuilder had superior fat-free mass, lower fat mass, and generally greater muscle performance compared to untrained healthy males of a similar age. Commencement of bodybuilding in older age appears to be possible, even with ongoing complex health conditions, and the potential benefits of this practice require systematic investigation in the future

Using email as a research tool in general practice: starting to implement the National Service Framework for Mental Health

Introduction The first primary care trust milestone for implementation of Standard 2 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health is the use of a formal diagnostic approach to the assessment of the severity of common psychiatric illnesses. Whilst developing a diagnostic tool to assess depressive symptoms, based on the ICD-10 classification of disease, we surveyed the current usage of such diagnostic aids by general practitioners (GPs) in Birmingham. According to the Birmingham Health Authority IT Directorate, 477 GP principals in the city had personal access to email at their practices through the NHSnet. Method All GPs were sent a short questionnaire by email. They were asked to indicate their responses to four yes/no answers and return the email by pressing the 'Reply' icon. Non-respondents were then sent the questionnaire by post. Results We had a total response rate of 67%. We received an email response from 105 GPs, or 22%. A further 216 out of a possible 372 GPs (58%) then responded by post. Forty-seven (22%) of the postal respondents had received the email, but 38 of them had problems replying; 150 (69%) said that they had never seen the email. Conclusions The overall response rate to the questionnaire suggests that the topic was considered sufficiently relevant for GPs to reply and was not the reason for the poor email response. There were no obvious differences in the answers to the questionnaire to suggest that the mental health topic had identified a separate email-using GP population. Although four out of every five Birmingham GPs have access to email, only one in five feels confident or competent to use it as a regular means of professional communication. It is not yet appropriate to use email as the only conduit for obtaining GP opinion

Environmental effect on egress simulation

Abstract. Evacuation and egress simulations can be a useful tool for studying the effect of design decisions on the flow of agent movement. This type of simulation can be used to determine before hand the effect of design decisions and enable exploration of potential improvements. In this work, we study at how agent egress is affected by the environment in real world and large scale virtual environments and investigate metrics to analyze the flow. Our work differs from many evacuation systems in that we support grouping restrictions between agents (e.g., families or other social groups traveling together), and model scenarios with multiple modes of transportation with physically realistic dynamics (e.g., individuals walk from a building to their own cars and leave only when all people in the group arrive).