Precision Measurement of the 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl Binding Energies

The binding energies of 29Si, 33S, and 36Cl have been measured with a relative uncertainty $< 0.59 \times 10^{-6}$ using a flat-crystal spectrometer. The unique features of these measurements are 1) nearly perfect crystals whose lattice spacing is known in meters, 2) a highly precise angle scale that is derived from first principles, and 3) a gamma-ray measurement facility that is coupled to a high flux reactor with near-core source capability. The binding energy is obtained by measuring all gamma-rays in a cascade scheme connecting the capture and ground states. The measurements require the extension of precision flat-crystal diffraction techniques to the 5 to 6 MeV energy region, a significant precision measurement challenge. The binding energies determined from these gamma-ray measurements are consistent with recent highly accurate atomic mass measurements within a relative uncertainty of $4.3 \times 10^{-7}$. The gamma-ray measurement uncertainties are the dominant contributors to the uncertainty of this consistency test. The measured gamma-ray energies are in agreement with earlier precision gamma-ray measurements.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

A performance comparison of the contiguous allocation strategies in 3D mesh connected multicomputers

The performance of contiguous allocation strategies can be significantly affected by the distribution of job execution times. In this paper, the performance of the existing contiguous allocation strategies for 3D mesh multicomputers is re-visited in the context of heavy-tailed distributions (e.g., a Bounded Pareto distribution). The strategies are evaluated and compared using simulation experiments for both First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) and Shortest-Service-Demand (SSD) scheduling strategies under a variety of system loads and system sizes. The results show that the performance of the allocation strategies degrades considerably when job execution times follow a heavy-tailed distribution. Moreover, SSD copes much better than FCFS scheduling strategy in the presence of heavy-tailed job execution times. The results also show that the strategies that depend on a list of allocated sub-meshes for both allocation and deallocation have lower allocation overhead and deliver good system performance in terms of average turnaround time and mean system utilization

Manejo de la defoliación y fertilización nitrogenada en pasto llorón, Eragrostis curvula, cv. Tanganyka : 1-rendimiento de materia seca, digestibilidad in vitro y rendimiento de materia seca digestible

p.7-14En una pradera de pasto llorón ubicada en Argerich se estudió el efecto de dos tratamientos de defoliación y tres niveles de fertilización nitrogenada durante tres ciclos consecutivos. El forraje se cortó con una frecuencia de 35 cm de altura o acumulado, hasta el 20 de febrero (primavera-verano), y sus rebrotes otoñales se cortaron en invierno (diferido). En primavera-verano el corte a 35 cm, produjo en promedio más materia seca que el acumulado y en el diferido a la inversa. Sus totales anuales fueron similares. La fertilización aumentó los rendimientos promedios parciales y totales (P menor a 0,05). La digestibiüdad primavera-estival fue mayor con cortes a 35 cm que en el acumulado y ambos tratamientos de defoliación respondieron al nitrógeno pero en sus diferidos el efecto fue de pequeña magnitud. Los rendimientos de materia seca digestible siguieron la misma tendencia que los de materia seca aunque, por influencia primavera-estival, en el total anual el corte a 35 cm superó al acumulado (P menor a 0,05). El rebrote primaveral sólo mostró un efecto residual parcial del fertilizante

Harvesting of autogenous grafts for gingival recession coverage

The ultimate aim of periodontal plastic surgery is to create optimal pink esthetics through the reconstruction of gingival recessions. Application of autogenous soft tissue grafts is considered as a gold standard treatment modality with predictable esthetic outcomes for gingival recession coverage. Harvesting a free soft tissue graft from an esthetically irrelevant region of the oral mucosa using various techniques can prevent donor site complications around the adjacent teeth

Long-term noninvasive ventilation in COPD:current evidence and future directions

Introduction: Long-term noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is an established treatment for end-stage COPD patients suffering from chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure. This is reflected by its prominent position in national and international medical guidelines. Areas covered: In recent years, novel developments in technology such as auto-titrating machines and hybrid modes have emerged, and when combined with advances in information and communication technologies, these developments have served to improve the level of NIV-based care. Such progress has largely been instigated by the fact that healthcare systems are now confronted with an increase in the number of patients, which has led to the need for a change in current infrastructures. This article discusses the current practices and recent trends, and offers a glimpse into the future possibilities and requirements associated with this form of ventilation therapy. Expert opinion: Noninvasive ventilation is an established and increasingly used treatment option for patients with chronic hypercapnic COPD and those with persistent hypercapnia following acute hypercapnic lung failure. The main target is to augment alveolar hypoventilation by reducing PaCO2 to relieve symptoms. Nevertheless, when dealing with severely impaired patients, it appears necessary to switch the focus to patient-related outcomes such as health-related quality of life

Domestic knowledge, inequalities and differences

Research suggests that domestic knowledge is an expression of gender differences, which is constructed and deployed through unequal social relations, and is able to empower women if it gains collective spaces of expression. The article presents an analysis of parental involvement at school in Spain so as to underpin the former thesis and highlight its connection with the political theory about the "sexual contract"

Phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives to promote growth and enhance host health

There are heightened concerns globally on emerging drug-resistant superbugs and the lack of new antibiotics for treating human and animal diseases. For the agricultural industry, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to replace antibiotics for food-producing animals, especially poultry and livestock. The 2nd International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics was held at the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, France, December 12-15, 2016 to discuss recent scientific developments on strategic antibiotic-free management plans, to evaluate regional differences in policies regarding the reduction of antibiotics in animal agriculture and to develop antibiotic alternatives to combat the global increase in antibiotic resistance. More than 270 participants from academia, government research institutions, regulatory agencies, and private animal industries from >25 different countries came together to discuss recent research and promising novel technologies that could provide alternatives to antibiotics for use in animal health and production; assess challenges associated with their commercialization; and devise actionable strategies to facilitate the development of alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) without hampering animal production. The 3-day meeting consisted of four scientific sessions including vaccines, microbial products, phytochemicals, immune-related products, and innovative drugs, chemicals and enzymes, followed by the last session on regulation and funding. Each session was followed by an expert panel discussion that included industry representatives and session speakers. The session on phytochemicals included talks describing recent research achievements, with examples of successful agricultural use of various phytochemicals as antibiotic alternatives and their mode of action in major agricultural animals (poultry, swine and ruminants). Scientists from industry and academia and government research institutes shared their experience in developing and applying potential antibiotic-alternative phytochemicals commercially to reduce AGPs and to develop a sustainable animal production system in the absence of antibiotics.Fil: Lillehoj, Hyun. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Liu, Yanhong. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Calsamiglia, Sergio. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Miyakawa, Mariano Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Chi, Fang. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Cravens, Ron L.. Amlan International; Estados UnidosFil: Oh, Sungtaek. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; ArgentinaFil: Gay, Cyril G.. United States Department of Agriculture. Agricultural Research Service; Argentin

Treatment of multiple adjacent RT 1 gingival recessions with the modified coronally advanced tunnel (MCAT) technique and a collagen matrix or palatal connective tissue graft: 9-year results of a split-mouth randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate t he long-term outcomes following treatment of RT 1 multiple adjacent gingival recessions (MAGR) using the modified coronally advanced tunnel (MCAT) with either a collagen matrix CM or a connective tissue graft (CTG). MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixteen of the original 22 subjects included in a randomized, controlled split-mouth clinical trial were available for the 9-year follow-up (114 sites). Recessions were randomly treated by means of MCAT + CM (test) or MCAT + CTG (control). Complete root coverage (CRC), mean root coverage (MRC), gingival recession depth (GRD), probing pocket depth (PD), keratinized tissue width (KTW), and thickness (KGT) were compared with baseline values and with the 12-month results. RESULTS After 9 years, CRC was observed in 2 patients, one in each group. At 9 years, MRC was 23.0 ± 44.5% in the test and 39.7 ± 35.1% in the control group (p = 0.179). The MRC reduction compared to 12 months was - 50.1 ± 47.0% and - 48.3 ± 37.7%, respectively. The upper jaw obtained 31.92 ± 43.0% of MRC for the test and 51.1 ± 27.8% for the control group (p = 0.111) compared to the lower jaw with 8.3 ± 46.9% and 20.7 ± 40.3%. KTW and KGT increased for both CM and CTG together from 2.0 ± 0.7 to 3.1 ± 1.0 mm (< 0.0001). There were no statistically significant changes in PD. CONCLUSION The present results indicate that (a) treatment of MAGR using MCAT in conjunction with either CM or CTG is likely to show a relapse over a period of 9 years, and (b) the outcomes obtained in maxillary areas seem to be more stable compared to the mandibular ones. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The mean root coverage at 12 months could not be fully maintained over 9 years. On a long-term basis, the results seem to be less stable in the mandible as compared to maxillary areas

Efficiency of radiative emission from thin films of a light-emitting conjugated polymer

J. A. E. Wasey, A. Safonov, I. D. W. Samuel, and William L. Barnes, Physical Review B, Vol. 64, article 205201 (2001). "Copyright © 2001 by the American Physical Society."We examine the efficiency of radiative emission from thin layers of light-emitting conjugated polymers. We compare our experimental results for photoluminescence of the conjugated polymer poly(2-methoxy, 5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy) 1,4 phenylenevinylene) (MEH-PPV) with those of a theoretical model, finding good agreement between the two. The specially developed model takes into account several factors including absorption in the emissive layer, a spread of emitter sites within the layer, and the broad emission spectrum of the polymer. We find that the photoluminescence quantum efficiency for radiative emission of a bare MEH-PPV film on a glass substrate is ∼25%. We then apply our model to study electroluminescent devices. We show that for these structures the efficiency of radiative emission is ∼10%. There is thus potential for considerable improvement in efficiency for both systems through recovery of some of the wasted waveguided light. Finally we use our model to reexamine some controversial results that indicate the probability of singlet exciton formation to be 0.4±0.05, and thus greater than the 0.25 expected from spin statistics. Our reanalysis supports a probability >0.25. We conclude by discussing the limitations of present models, including our own, in predicting the performance of realistic light-emitting diodes