Simulation-Oriented Methodology for Distortion Minimisation during Laser Beam Welding

Distortion is one of the drawbacks of any welding process, most of the time needed to be suppressed. One doubtful factor that could affect welding deformation is the shape of the liquid melt pool, which can be modified via variation of process parameters. The aim of this work was to numerically study the dynamics of the weld pool and its geometrical influence on welding distortion during laser beam welding. To achieve such a goal, a promising novel process simulation model, employed in investigating the keyhole and weld pool dynamics, has successfully been invented. The model incorporated all distinctive behaviours of the laser beam welding process. Moreover, identification of the correlation between the weld pool geometry and welding distortion as well as, eventually, weld pool shapes that favour distortion minimisation has also been simulatively demonstrated

Marketing mix conception (4P, 5P, 7P)

The diagnosis of gastrointestinal graft versus host disease (GI-GVHD) is based on clinical symptoms and histological findings. In clinical practice, it is often difficult to decide whether abdominal symptoms in an allogeneic transplant recipient are caused by GVHD or other disorders. Endoscopic biopsies are helpful in establishing the diagnosis, but endoscopy is not always possible to perform due to poor general condition of the patients. No biomarkers are routinely used to predict GVHD. The aim of fecal calprotectin and alpha-1 antitrypsin testing in our study was to find out whether determination of the concentrations of these proteins may be used as a screening method for enteric GVHD. We studied prospectively 51 patients, 8 of whom developed GI-GVHD. Our data demonstrate that elevated fecal calprotectin levels were significantly associated with presence of GI-GVHD. We found a positive association between high F-calprotectin and severe gastrointestinal GVHD. In bivariate analysis, only calprotectin but not alpha-1 antitrypsin was independently associated with GI-GVHD. Testing for fecal calprotectin after allogeneic stem cell transplantation may be a useful screening tool

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and risk of infections: a population-based study.

To access publisher full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field.No comprehensive evaluation has been made to assess the risk of viral and bacterial infections among patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. Using population-based data from Sweden, we estimated risk of infections among 5,326 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance patients compared to 20,161 matched controls. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance had a 2-fold increased risk (P<0.05) of developing any infection at 5- and 10-year follow up. More specifically, patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance had an increased risk (P<0.05) of bacterial (pneumonia, osteomyelitis, septicemia, pyelonephritis, cellulitis, endocarditis, and meningitis), and viral (influenza and herpes zoster) infections. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance with M-protein concentrations over 2.5 g/dL at diagnosis had highest risks of infections. However, the risk was also increased (P<0.05) among those with concentrations below 0.5 g/dL. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance who developed infections had no excess risk of developing multiple myeloma, Waldenström macroglobulinemia or related malignancy. Our findings provide novel insights into the mechanisms behind infections in patients with plasma cell dyscrasias, and may have clinical implications.Stockholm County Council Karolinska Institutet Cancer Society in Stockholm NIH, NC

A Review of Recent Developments in Atomic Processes for Divertors and Edge Plasmas

The most promising concepts for power and particle control in tokamaks and other fusion experiments rely upon atomic processes to transfer the power and momentum from the edge plasma to the plasma chamber walls. This places a new emphasis on processes at low temperatures (1-200 eV) and high densities (10^20-10^22 m^-3). The most important atomic processes are impurity and hydrogen radiation, ionization, excitation, recombination, charge exchange, radiation transport, molecular collisions, and elastic scattering of atoms, molecules and ions. Important new developments have occurred in each of these areas. The best available data for these processes and an assessment of their role in plasma wall interactions are summarized, and the major areas where improved data are needed are reviewed.Comment: Preprint for the 11th PSI meeting, postscript with 22 figures, 40 page

The puzzling dredge-up pattern in NGC 1978

Low-mass stars are element factories that efficiently release their products in the final stages of their evolution by means of stellar winds. Since they are large in number, they contribute significantly to the cosmic matter cycle. To assess this contribution quantitatively, it is crucial to obtain a detailed picture of the stellar interior, particularly with regard to nucleosynthesis and mixing mechanisms. We seek to benchmark stellar evolutionary models of low-mass stars. In particular, we measure the surface abundance of ^{12}C in thermally pulsing AGB stars with well-known mass and metallicity, which can be used to infer information about the onset and efficiency of the third dredge-up. We recorded high-resolution near-infrared spectra of AGB stars in the LMC cluster NGC 1978. The sample comprised both oxygen-rich and carbon-rich stars, and is well-constrained in terms of the stellar mass, metallicity, and age. We derived the C/O and ^{12}C/^{13}C ratio from the target spectra by a comparison to synthetic spectra. Then, we compared the outcomes of stellar evolutionary models with our measurements. The M stars in NGC 1978 show values of C/O and ^{12}C/^{13}C that can best be explained with moderate extra-mixing on the RGB coupled to a moderate oxygen enhancement in the chemical composition. These oxygen-rich stars do not seem to have undergone third dredge-up episodes (yet). The C stars show carbon-to-oxygen and carbon isotopic ratios consistent with the occurrence of the third dredge-up. We did not find S stars in this cluster. None of the theoretical schemes that we considered was able to reproduce the observations appropriately. Instead, we discuss some non-standard scenarios to explain the puzzling abundance pattern in NGC 1978.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&A, language revise

Goal directed fluid removal with furosemide versus placebo in intensive care patients with fluid overload:A trial protocol for a randomised, blinded trial (GODIF trial)

Funding Information: SW has received a grant from Merchant Jakob Ehrenreich and wife Grete Ehrenreich's Foundation to production of trial drug for the GODIF trial. AP has received research funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Health Insurance Denmark (Sygeforsikringen Danmark), Fresenius Kabi, Denmark, and Pfizer, Denmark. MO has received research funding from Fresenius Medical Care, Baxter and Biomerieux. MHB has received research funding for the GODIF trial from Novo Nordisk Foundation, Jakob Madsen's and wife Olga Madsen's Foundation, Svend Andersen's Foundation, and Health Insurance Denmark (Sygeforsikringen Danmark). No authors received any financial gain. All other authors declared no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.Background: Fluid overload is a risk factor for mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Administration of loop diuretics is the predominant treatment of fluid overload, but evidence for its benefit is very uncertain when assessed in a systematic review of randomised clinical trials. The GODIF trial will assess the benefits and harms of goal directed fluid removal with furosemide versus placebo in ICU patients with fluid overload. Methods: An investigator-initiated, international, randomised, stratified, blinded, parallel-group trial allocating 1000 adult ICU patients with fluid overload to infusion of furosemide versus placebo. The goal is to achieve a neutral fluid balance. The primary outcome is days alive and out of hospital 90 days after randomisation. Secondary outcomes are all-cause mortality at day 90 and 1-year after randomisation; days alive at day 90 without life support; number of participants with one or more serious adverse events or reactions; health-related quality of life and cognitive function at 1-year follow-up. A sample size of 1000 participants is required to detect an improvement of 8% in days alive and out of hospital 90 days after randomisation with a power of 90% and a risk of type 1 error of 5%. The conclusion of the trial will be based on the point estimate and 95% confidence interval; dichotomisation will not be used. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04180397. Perspective: The GODIF trial will provide important evidence of possible benefits and harms of fluid removal with furosemide in adult ICU patients with fluid overload.Peer reviewe

Cool luminous stars: the hybrid nature of their infrared spectra -- Carbon, oxygen, and their isotopic abundances in 23 K - M giant stars

We identified a possible origin of the difficulty in abundance analysis of cool luminous stars. We found purely empirically that there is a limit of logW/nu = -4.75 (W: equivalent width, nu: wavenumber) above which the observed lines do not follow the line formation theory based on the classical micro-turbulent model and that the abundance analysis can be done only with the lines of logW/nu < -4.75. The C, O, and their isotopic abundances determined from such weak lines of CO and OH in 23 K - M giants are roughly consistent with the predictions of evolutionary models. However, the stronger lines of logW/nu > -4.75 cannot be analyzed at all by the classical line formation theory. From the behavior of these lines and considering other observations such as the detections of H2O lines, not only in the late M giants but also in the early M and K giants, we found that these lines are badly disturbed by the contamination from extra molecular layers. We already know that the very strong lines of logW/nu > -4.4 are contaminated by the contribution from the extra warm molecular layers, but we now show that such contamination should be prevailing not only in the strong low excitation lines but also in the intermediate-strength lines (-4.75 -4.4) as well. The reason why these lines cannot be used for determining photospheric abundances is simply because they include the contamination of the non-photospheric origin. Instead they can be new proves of the warm molecular envelope for which little is known yet. An important conclusion is that the infrared spectra of K - M giants are a hybrid of at least two components originating in the photosphere and the warm molecular envelope. In the interpretation and analysis of the infrared spectra of cool luminous stars, it is essential to keep their hybrid naure in mind.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, corrected typo

A Novel DBL-Domain of the P. falciparum 332 Molecule Possibly Involved in Erythrocyte Adhesion

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is brought about by the asexual stages of the parasite residing in human red blood cells (RBC). Contact between the erythrocyte surface and the merozoite is the first step for successful invasion and proliferation of the parasite. A number of different pathways utilised by the parasite to adhere and invade the host RBC have been characterized, but the complete biology of this process remains elusive. We here report the identification of an open reading frame (ORF) representing a hitherto unknown second exon of the Pf332 gene that encodes a cysteine-rich polypeptide with a high degree of similarity to the Duffy-binding-like (DBL) domain of the erythrocyte-binding-ligand (EBL) family. The sequence of this DBL-domain is conserved and expressed in all parasite clones/strains investigated. In addition, the expression level of Pf332 correlates with proliferation efficiency of the parasites in vitro. Antibodies raised against the DBL-domain are able to reduce the invasion efficiency of different parasite clones/strains. Analysis of the DBL-domain revealed its ability to bind to uninfected human RBC, and moreover demonstrated association with the iRBC surface. Thus, Pf332 is a molecule with a potential role to support merozoite invasion. Due to the high level of conservation in sequence, the novel DBL-domain of Pf332 is of possible importance for development of novel anti-malaria drugs and vaccines

Furosemide versus placebo for fluid overload in intensive care patients—The randomised GODIF trial second version : Statistical analysis plan

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.Background: Fluid overload is associated with increased mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The GODIF trial aims to assess the benefits and harms of fluid removal with furosemide versus placebo in stable adult patients with moderate to severe fluid overload in the ICU. This article describes the detailed statistical analysis plan for the primary results of the second version of the GODIF trial. Methods: The GODIF trial is an international, multi-centre, randomised, stratified, blinded, parallel-group, pragmatic clinical trial, allocating 1000 adult ICU patients with moderate to severe fluid overload 1:1 to furosemide versus placebo. The primary outcome is days alive and out of hospital within 90 days post-randomisation. With a power of 90% and an alpha level of 5%, we may reject or detect an improvement of 8%. The primary analyses of all outcomes will be performed in the intention-to-treat population. For the primary outcome, the Kryger Jensen and Lange method will be used to compare the two treatment groups adjusted for stratification variables supplemented with sensitivity analyses in the per-protocol population and with further adjustments for prognostic variables. Secondary outcomes will be analysed with multiple linear regressions, logistic regressions or the Kryger Jensen and Lange method as suitable with adjustment for stratification variables. Conclusion: The GODIF trial data will increase the certainty about the effects of fluid removal using furosemide in adult ICU patients with fluid overload. Trial Registrations: EudraCT identifier: 2019-004292-40 and ClinicalTrials.org: NCT04180397.Peer reviewe