Travaux d'amélioration de l'Escaut maritime: rapport

The Scheldt, which is the gateway whereby ships have access to the port of Antwerp, is a tidal river flowing into the North Sea at Flushing. The tidal range, which on an average is 3.80 m, is as much as 4.70 m in the port of Antwerp. The natural depth over the bars between Hansweert and the port of Antwerp is insufficient for navigational needs. Important dredging operations have to be undertaken, in order to maintain the depth. Furthermore, as the dimensions of ocean going vessels are in constant increase, both as regards their beam and their draft, larger and larger quantities of sand have to be dredged. The bars requiring regular dredging are shown in figure I of plate I.In view of the fact that the improvement obtained by dredging is insufficient, it has become necessary to consider the undertaking of river improvement works. These are being studied at the Hydraulics Laboratory at Borgerhout (Antwerp). This is a State controlled center which comes under the Administration of Waterways (Ponts et Chaussées).The areas most in need of improvement are those of Bath and Walsoorden. They lie in Dutch territory; hence the work will have to be done by common agreement with the Netherlands.The paper describes the results obtained from model studies

L'hygroma brucellique : l'aspect clinique caractéristique de la brucellose bovine au Rwanda-Burundi

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Life-Cycle Cost Estimation for High-Speed Vehicles: from the engineers’ to the airline’s perspective

This paper aims at upgrading the holistic Cost Estimation methodology for High-Speed Vehicles already developed by Politecnico di Torino and the European Space Agency (ESA) to encompass different stakeholders’ perspectives. In details, the presented methodology combines International Air Transport Association (IATA) best practices with a detailed Life- Cycle Cost (LCC) assessment, which includes the evaluation of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) Costs, Production costs and of Direct and Indirect Operating Costs (DOC and IOC). The integrated approach allows to further extend the capabilities of the inhouse developed HyCost tool to support all the actors of the product value-chain (including engineers, manufacturers, airlines and customers) in assessing the economic sustainability of a newly under-development high-speed vehicle. However, considering the need of providing all these cost analyses perspectives since the early design stages, the derived Cost Estimation Relationships are mainly derived on statistical bases. To cope with the uncertainties that affect the initial statistical population and consequently, the CERs, this paper presents each cost item together with the estimation of related prediction intervals. Finally, results of the application of the upgraded cost estimation methodology and of the upgraded tool to the LAPCAT MR2.4 high-speed civil transport are reported and discussed

Levetiracetam in a broad population of patients with refractory epilepsy: interim results of the international SKATE trial

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively assess the safety and efficacy of levetiracetam in patients with uncontrolled focal epilepsy, in a common practice-based setting. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this phase IV, open-label, 16-week community-based study, adult patients with focal seizures initially received levetiracetam 1,000 mg/day. Throughout the study, the dose was adjusted in increments of 1,000 mg (maximum 3,000 mg/day) to achieve seizure control and maintain tolerability. The outcome parameters were the percentage reduction in partial and total seizure frequency per week from historical baseline, global evaluation scale (GES), and adverse events (AE). RESULTS: Seven hundred and thirty-one patients were included in this analysis and 84.4% completed the study. The median percent reduction in all seizures was 47.8%, and 49.3% for all partial seizures. The 50% responder rate was 49%, and the seizure-free rate was 17.2% for all partial seizures. Approximately 60% of patients showed moderate to marked improvement on the GES. The majority of AE were of mild to moderate severity; the most commonly reported being asthenia, somnolence, headache, and dizziness. CONCLUSION: Levetiracetam is both efficacious and safe as an add-on therapy in patients with refractory epilepsy treated by clinicians in their daily practice.status: publishe