Laboratory estimation of black carbon emissions from cookstoves

Recent estimations show that residential solid fuel combustion accounts for 25% of global black carbon (BC) emissions (Lamarque et al., 2010). Thus, the control of these emissions through the implementation of cleaner cooking technologies could be crucial for climate change mitigation (Venkataraman et al., 2005). However, BC emission factors for biofuel cooking stoves have been poorly estimated due to the wide distribution and remote location of the stoves and the relatively complex existing assessment methods. This work presents results on BC emission factors (EF) estimation from combustion of biomass cooking systems in Western Africa (in Senegal). Three stones fire (traditional stove), Noflaye Jegg (rocket stove), Jambaar bois (ceramic improved stove) and a gasifier were analysed under laboratory conditions at the Centre de Recherche sur les Energies Renouvelables (CERER) in Dakar. Two types of fuels (wood species) were tested: Casuarina Equisetifolia (Filao) and Cordyla Pinnata (Dimb). Three replicates of the standardized Water Boiling Test with two phases (cold start and simmer) were conducted at the laboratory to test each cooking system. PM2.5 emissions were collected on quartz fibre filters, and BC content was subsequently analysed using three analytical methods: i) Nexleaf system, in which a photograph of the filter is compared with a calibrated reference scale; ii) the EEL43 Smoke Stain Reflectometer; and iii) the Sunset Laboratory OCEC Analyzer. The two first were compared with the third one, considered the internal reference

Surgical approach in correction of a crack in the gnathotheca of a black swan (Cygnus atratus, Latham, 1790) - First case report

ABSTRACT The black swan (Cygnus atratus, LATHAM, 1790) is a bird kept as an ornamental in zoos. Because of their long beaks they tend to have a reserved prognosis in musculoskeletal disorders such as beak trauma, secondary to skull bone fractures, presenting irreversible lesions. The aim of this report is present a clinical surgical innovation in the repair of a black swan’s gnathotheca fissure with the application of non-conventional materials used. It was observed that one of the swans kept in a zoo display area had difficulty feeding, with associated weight loss. It was observed tissue loss and a lacerative lesion in the caudal sublingual region of its beak. The lesion was corrected by a separate simple suture in the cranial region of the beak and with a x-clamping using steel surgical wire and the application of dental resin in the distal region to perform a sustentation bridge in the beak end-gap. After 12 days, the animal was able to feed again and remained perfectly adapted to the restoration, reestablishing the anatomical and physiological function of its beak

Current-carrying cosmic string loops 3D simulation: towards a reduction of the vorton excess problem

The dynamical evolution of superconducting cosmic string loops with specific equations of state describing timelike and spacelike currents is studied numerically. This analysis extends previous work in two directions: first it shows results coming from a fully three dimensional simulation (as opposed to the two dimensional case already studied), and it now includes fermionic as well as bosonic currents. We confirm that in the case of bosonic currents, shocks are formed in the magnetic regime and kinks in the electric regime. For a loop endowed with a fermionic current with zero-mode carriers, we show that only kinks form along the string worldsheet, therefore making these loops slightly more stable against charge carrier radiation, the likely outcome of either shocks or kinks. All these combined effects tend to reduce the number density of stable loops and contribute to ease the vorton excess problem. As a bonus, these effects also may provide new ways of producing high energy cosmic rays.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX 4 format, 8 figures, submitted to PR

Characteristics, management and outcome of prehospital pediatric emergencies by a Dutch HEMS

Background: In prehospital care, the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) can be dispatched for critically injured or ill children. However, little detail is known about dispatches for children, in terms of the incidence of prehospital interventions and overall mortality. The primary objective of this study is to provide an overview of pediatric patient characteristics and incidence of interventions. Methods: A retrospective chart review of all patients ≤ 17 years who received medical care by Rotterdam HEMS from 2012 until 2017 was carried out. Results: During the study period, 1905 pediatric patients were included. 59.1% of patients were male and mean age was 6.1 years with 53.2% of patients aged ≤ 3 years. 53.6% were traumatic patients and 49.7% were non-traumatic patients. 18.8% of patients were intubated. Surgical procedures were performed in 0.9%. Medication was administered in 58.1% of patients. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was necessary in 12.9% of patients, 19.9% were admitted to the intensive care unit and 14.0% needed mechanical ventilation. Overall mortality was 9.5%. Mortality in trauma patients was 5.5% and in non-trauma group 15.3%. 3.9% of patients died at the scene. Conclusions: Patients attended by HEMS are at high risk of prehospital interventions like CPR or intubation. EMS has little exposure to critically ill or injured children. Hence, HEMS expertise is required to perform critical procedures. Trauma patients had higher survival rates than non-traumatic patients. This may be explained by underlying illnesses in non-traumatic patients and CPR as reason for dispatch. Further research is needed to identify options for improving prehospital care in the non trauma pediatric patients

New high resolution random telegraph noise (RTN) characterization method for resistive RAM

Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) is one of the main reliability problems of resistive switching-based memories. To understand the physics behind RTN, a complete and accurate RTN characterization is required. The standard equipment used to analyse RTN has a typical time resolution of ∼2 ms which prevents evaluating fast phenomena. In this work, a new RTN measurement procedure, which increases the measurement time resolution to 2 μs, is proposed. The experimental set-up, together with the recently proposed Weighted Time Lag (W-LT) method for the analysis of RTN signals, allows obtaining a more detailed and precise information about the RTN phenomenon

Enhancing studies of the connectome in autism using the autism brain imaging data exchange II

The second iteration of the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE II) aims to enhance the scope of brain connectomics research in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Consistent with the initial ABIDE effort (ABIDE I), that released 1112 datasets in 2012, this new multisite open-data resource is an aggregate of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and corresponding structural MRI and phenotypic datasets. ABIDE II includes datasets from an additional 487 individuals with ASD and 557 controls previously collected across 16 international institutions. The combination of ABIDE I and ABIDE II provides investigators with 2156 unique cross-sectional datasets allowing selection of samples for discovery and/or replication. This sample size can also facilitate the identification of neurobiological subgroups, as well as preliminary examinations of sex differences in ASD. Additionally, ABIDE II includes a range of psychiatric variables to inform our understanding of the neural correlates of co-occurring psychopathology; 284 diffusion imaging datasets are also included. It is anticipated that these enhancements will contribute to unraveling key sources of ASD heterogeneity