Investigation on the TransientConditions of a Rotating Biological Contactor for Bioethanol Production

Alcoholic fermentations of sucrose solutions were performed in a Rotating BiologicalContactor with immobilized-yeast cells, and the results collected during the transient conditions of start-up are presented and discussed. The analysis and modeling of data constitute a preliminary semi-empirical approach to the study of dynamics of such a bioprocess. The investigation has been developed on the observations of the responses to variations in the operating conditions of substrate, product, suspended- and immobilized- cell concentrations either in the fermentation broth or within a synthetic spongy matrix

Finite size scaling in the 2D XY-model and generalized universality

In recent works (BHP), a generalized universality has been proposed, linking phenomena as dissimilar as 2D magnetism and turbulence. To test these ideas, we performed a MC study of the 2D XY-model. We found that the shape of the probability distribution function for the magnetization M is non Gaussian and independent of the system size --in the range of the lattice sizes studied-- below the Kosterlitz-Thoules temperature. However, the shape of these distributions does depend on the temperature, contrarily to the BHP's claim. This behavior is successfully explained by using an extended finite-size scaling analysis and the existence of bounds for M.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Details of changes: 1. We emphasized in the abstract the range of validity of our results. 2. In the last paragraph the temperature dependence of the PDF was slightly re-formulate

Double percolation effects and fractal behavior in magnetic/superconducting hybrids

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy ferromagnetic/superconducting (FM/SC) bilayers with a labyrinth domain structure are used to study nucleation of superconductivity on a fractal network, tunable through magnetic history. As clusters of reversed domains appear in the FM layer, the SC film shows a percolative behavior that depends on two independent processes: the arrangement of initial reversed domains and the fractal geometry of expanding clusters. For a full labyrinth structure, the behavior of the upper critical field is typical of confined superconductivity on a fractal network

Can The Delivery Method Influence Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Triggered By The First Pregnancy

Introduction and Objectives: The increase of the intensity of urinary symptoms in late pregnancy and postpartum has been well documented by several authors, but their causes remain uncertain, partly because of its probable multifactor origin. There are also controversies whether the etiology of lower urinary tract symptoms during pregnancy is the same as postpartum and whether the method of delivery could infl uence the risk of onset of urinary symptoms. This study aimed to evaluate the urinary symptoms triggered during pregnancy and its evolutionin the late puerperium, correlating them with the delivery method. Materials and Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted, which included 75 primigravidae women, classifi ed according to method of delivery as: (VD) vaginal delivery with right mediolateral episiotomy (n = 28); (CS) elective caesarean section (n = 26); and (EC) emergency caesarean section (n = 21). Urinary symptoms were assessed in the last trimester of pregnancy and at 45 days (± 10) of puerperium with validated versions for Portuguese language of the following questionnaires: International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF) and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder (ICIQ-OAB). Results: It was observed that frequency, urgency, nocturia and urge incontinence, triggered during pregnancy, decreased signifi cantly in the postpartum period, regardless of the delivery method (p = 0.0001). However, symptoms related to urinary loss due to stress persisted after vaginal delivery (p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Urgency, frequency and nocturia triggered during pregnancy tend to disappear in the late postpartum period, regardless of the delivery method, but the symptoms related to urinary loss due to stress tend to persist in late postpartum period after vaginal delivery.382267276Abrams, P., Cardozo, L., Fall, M., Griffiths, D., Rosier, P., Ulmsten, U., The standardisation of terminology of lower urinary tract function: report from the Standardisation Sub-committee of the International Continence Society (2002) Neurourol Urodyn., 21, pp. 167-178Milsom, I., Altman, D., Lapitan, M.C., Nelson, R., Sillén, U., Thom, D., Epidemiology of urinary (UI) and faecal (FI) incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). In: Abrams P, Cardozo L, Khoury S, Wein A (eds). Incontinence, 4th edn. (2009) Committee 1. Paris, France: Health Publication Ltd., pp. 37-111Mostwin, J., Bourcier, J., Haab, F., Koebl, S., Rao, N., Resnick, S., Pathophysiology of urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse (2005) In: Abrams P, Cardozo L, Khoury, Wein A (eds). Incontinence. 3nd ed. Plymouth: Health Publication Ltd, 1, pp. 436-462Viktrup, L., Lose, G., The risk of stress incontinence 5 years after first delivery (2001) Am J Obstet Gynecol, 185, pp. 82-87Toozs-Hobson, P., Boos, K., Cardozo, L., Pregnancy, childbirth and pelvic floor damage. In: Appell RA, Bourcier AP, La Torre F, eds. Pelvic floor dysfunction: Investigations and conservative treatment (1999) Rome: Casa Editrice Scientifica Internazionale, pp. 97-106Amaro, J.L., Macharelli, C.A., Yamamoto, H., Kawano, P.R., Padovani, C.V., Agostinho, A.D., Prevalence and risk factors for urinary and fecal incontinence in Brazilian women (2009) Int Braz J Urol, 35, pp. 592-597. , discussion 598Torkestani, F., Zafarghandi, N., Davati, A., Hadavand, S.H., Garshasbi, M., Case-controlled study of the relationship between delivery method and incidence of post-partum urinary incontinence (2009) J Int Med Res, 37, pp. 214-219Martins, G., Soler, Z.A., Cordeiro, J.A., Amaro, J.L., Moore, K.N., Prevalence and risk factors for urinary incontinence in healthy pregnant Brazilian women (2010) Int Urogynecol J, 21, pp. 1271-1277Brown, S.J., Donath, S., MacArthur, C., McDonald, E.A., Krastev, A.H., Urinary incontinence in nulliparous women before and during regnancy: prevalence, incidence, and associated risk factors (2010) Int Urogynecol J, 21, pp. 193-202Rortveit, G., Daltveit, A.K., Hannestad, Y.S., Hunskaar, S., Norwegian EPINCONT Study. Urinary incontinence after vaginal delivery or cesarean section (2003) N Engl J Med, 348, pp. 900-907Arrue, M., Ibañez, L., Paredes, J., Murgiondo, A., Belar, M., Sarasqueta, C., Stress urinary incontinence six months afterfirst vaginal delivery (2010) Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 150, pp. 210-214Huebner, M., Antolic, A., Tunn, R., The impact of pregnancy and vaginal delivery on urinary incontinence (2010) Int J Gynaecol Obstet, 110, pp. 249-251Diez-Itza, I., Arrue, M., Ibañez, L., Murgiondo, A., Paredes, J., Sarasqueta, C., Factors involved in stress urinary incontinence 1 year after first delivery (2010) Int Urogynecol J, 21, pp. 439-445Leijonhufvud, A., Lundholm, C., Cnattingius, S., Granath, F., Andolf, E., Altman, D., Risks of stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse surgery in relation to mode of childbirth (2011) Am J Obstet Gynecol, 204, pp. 70.e1-77.e1Thüroff, J.W., Abrams, P., Andersson, K.E., Artibani, W., Chapple, C.R., Drake, M.J., EAU guidelines on urinary incontinence (2011) Eur Urol, 59, pp. 387-400Koebl, H., Nitti, V., Baessler, K., Salvatore, S., Sultan, A., Yamaguchi, O., Pathophysiology of urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. In: Abrams P, Cardozo L, Khoury, Wein A (ed.), Incontinence. 4th ed. (2009) Plymouth: Health Publication Ltd, pp. 255-330Parente, M.P., Jorge, R.M., Mascarenhas, T., Fernandes, A.A., Martins, J.A., Deformation of the pelvic floor muscles during a vagin l delivery (2008) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 19, pp. 65-71Arruda, R.M., Castro, R.A., GirÃo, M.J.B.C., Impacto na qualidade de vida. In: Truzzi JC, Dambros M. Bexiga Hiperativa - AspectosPráticos (2009) SÃo Paulo, Nome da Rosa, pp. 36-39Tamanini, J.T., Dambros, M., D'Ancona, C.A., Palma, P.C., Rodrigues Netto Jr., N., ValidaçÃo para o português do International Consultation on Incontinence questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF) (2004) Rev Saude Publica, 38, pp. 438-444Pereira, S.B., Thiel, R.R.C., Riccetto, C., Silva, J.M., Pereria, L.C., Herrmann, V., ValidaçÃo do International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder (ICIQOAB) para a língua portuguesa (2010) Rev. Bras. Ginecol. Obstet, 32, pp. 273-278Abrams, P., Andersson, K.E., Birder, L., Brubaker, L., Cardozo, L., Chapple, C., Fourth International Consultation on Incontinence (2010) Fourth International Consultation on Incontinence Recommendations of the International Scientific Committee: Evaluation and treatment of urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence. Neurourol Urodyn, 29, pp. 213-240Staskin, D., Kelleher, C., Avery, K., Bosch, R., Cotterill, N., Coyne, K., Initial assessment of urinary and faecal incontinence in adult male and female patients (2009) Plymouth UK: Health Publications, pp. 3311-3412. , Abrams P, Cardozo L, Khoury S, Wein A (ed.), Incontinence. 4th edvan Brummen, H.J., Bruinse, H.W., van der Bom, J.G., Heintz, A.P., van der Vaart, C.H., How do the prevalences of urogenital symptomschange during pregnancy? (2006) Neurourol Urodyn, 25, pp. 135-139Scarpa, K.P., Herrmann, V., Palma, P.C.R., Riccetto, C.L.Z., Morais, S., Prevalências de sintomas do trato urinário inferior no terceiro trimestre da gestaçÃo (2006) Rev Assoc Med Bras, 52, pp. 153-156van Brummen, H.J., Bruinse, H.W., van de Pol, G., Heintz, A.P., van der Vaart, C.H., The effect of vaginal and cesarean delivery on lower urinary tract symptoms: what makes the difference? (2007) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 18, pp. 133-139Scarpa, K.P., Herrmann, V., Palma, P.C.R., Ricetto, C.L.Z., Morais, S., Sintomas do trato urinário inferior três anos apòs o parto: estudo prospectivo (2008) Bras Ginecol Obstet, 30, pp. 355-359Sharma, J.B., Aggarwal, S., Singhal, S., Kumar, S., Roy, K.K., Prevalence of urinary incontinence and other urological problems during pregnancy: a questionnaire based study (2009) Arch Gynecol Obstet, 279, pp. 845-851Genadry, R., A urogynecologist's view ofthe pelvic floor effects of vaginal delivery/cesarean section for the urologist (2006) Curr Urol Rep, 7, pp. 376-383Mørkved, S., Salvesen, K.A., BØ, K., Eik-Nes, S., Pelvic floor muscle strength and thickness in continent and incontinent nulliparous pregnant women (2004) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 15, pp. 384-389. , discussion 390Casey, B.M., Schaffer, J.I., Bloom, S.L., Heartwell, S.F., McIntire, D.D., Leveno, K.J., Obstetric antecedents for postpartum pelvic floor dysfunction (2005) Am J Obstet Gynecol, 192, pp. 1655-1662Scarabotto, L.B., Riesco, M.L., Fatores relacionados ao trauma perineal no parto normal em nulíparas Rev Esc Enferm USP (2006), 40, pp. 389-395Ekström, A., Altman, D., Wiklund, I., Larsson, C., Andolf, E., Planned cesarean section versus planned vaginal delivery: compar son of lower urinary tract symptoms (2008) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 19, pp. 459-465Thomason, A.D., Miller, J.M., Delancey, J.O., Urinary incontinence symptoms during and after pregnancy in continent and incont nent primiparas (2007) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 18, pp. 147-151Wesnes, S.L., Hunskaar, S., Bo, K., Rortveit, G., The effect of urinary incontinence status during pregnancy and delivery mode on incontinence postpartum (2009) A cohort study. BJOG, 116, pp. 700-707Botelho, S., Riccetto, C., Ribeiro, G., Gome, J., Brisola, M., Herrmann, V., Overactive bladder symptoms in pregnancy and puerperium: is there a relationship between the symptoms score and quality of life? (2010) Actas Urol Esp, 34, pp. 794-797Viktrup, L., Lose, G., Rolff, M., Barfoed, K., The symptom of stress incontinence caused by pregnancy or delivery in primipar s (1992) Obstet Gynecol, 79, pp. 945-949Viktrup, L., Rortveit, G., Lose, G., Does the impact of subsequent incontinence risk factors depend on continence status du ing the first pregnancy or the postpartum period 12 years before? A cohort study in 232 primiparous women (2008) Am J Obstet Gy ecol, 199, pp. 73.e1-74.e1McLennan, M.T., Melick, C.F., Alten, B., Young, J., Hoehn, M.R., Patients' knowledge of potential pelvic floor changes associated with pregnancy and delivery (2006) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 17, pp. 22-26Burgio, K.L., Zyczynski, H., Locher, J.L., Richter, H.E., Redden, D.T., Wright, K.C., Urinary incontinence in the 12-month postpartum eriod (2003) Obstet Gynecol, 102, pp. 1291-1298Bruschini, H., Etiopatogenia e classificaçÃo da incontinÊncia urinária feminina. In: Amaro JL, Haddad JM, Trindade JCS,Ribeiro RM (ed.), ReabilitaçÃo do assoalho pélvico nas disfunções urinárias e anorretais. (2005) SÃo Paulo: Se mento Farma, pp. 41-46Chin, H.Y., Chen, M.C., Liu, Y.H., Wang, K.H., Postpartum urinary incontinence: a comparison of vaginal delivery, elective, and emergent cesarean section (2006) Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct, 17, pp. 631-635Dumoulin, C., Hay-Smith, J., Pelvic floor muscle training versus no treatment for urinary incontinence in women (2007) Eura Medicophys, 43, pp. 1-17Hay-Smith, J., Berghmans, B., Burgio, K., Dumoulin, C., Hagen, S., Moore, K., Adult Conservative Management In: Abrams P, Cardozo L, Khoury S, Wein A (ed.), Incontinence. 4th International Consultation on Incontinence, Paris, July 5-8, 2008. (2009) Health Publications Ltd, Portsmouth, pp. 1025-112

Noise-assisted preparation of entangled atoms

We discuss the generation of entangled states of two two-level atoms inside an optical cavity. The cavity mode is supposed to be coupled to a white noise with adjustable intensity. We describe how the entanglement between the atoms inside the cavity arise in such a situation. The entanglement is maximized for intermediate values of the noise intensity, while it is a monotonic function of the spontaneous rate. This resembles the phenomenon of stochastic resonance and sheds more light on the idea to exploit white noise in quantum information processing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Thin-Film Metamaterials called Sculptured Thin Films

Morphology and performance are conjointed attributes of metamaterials, of which sculptured thin films (STFs) are examples. STFs are assemblies of nanowires that can be fabricated from many different materials, typically via physical vapor deposition onto rotating substrates. The curvilinear--nanowire morphology of STFs is determined by the substrate motions during fabrication. The optical properties, especially, can be tailored by varying the morphology of STFs. In many cases prototype devices have been fabricated for various optical, thermal, chemical, and biological applications.Comment: to be published in Proc. ICTP School on Metamaterials (Augsut 2009, Sibiu, Romania

Investigation on the TransientConditions of a Rotating Biological Contactor for Bioethanol Production

Alcoholic fermentations of sucrose solutions were performed in a Rotating BiologicalContactor with immobilized-yeast cells, and the results collected during the transient conditions of start-up are presented and discussed. The analysis and modeling of data constitute a preliminary semi-empirical approach to the study of dynamics of such a bioprocess. The investigation has been developed on the observations of the responses to variations in the operating conditions of substrate, product, suspended- and immobilized- cell concentrations either in the fermentation broth or within a synthetic spongy matrix

Features of heavy physics in the CMB power spectrum

The computation of the primordial power spectrum in multi-field inflation models requires us to correctly account for all relevant interactions between adiabatic and non-adiabatic modes around and after horizon crossing. One specific complication arises from derivative interactions induced by the curvilinear trajectory of the inflaton in a multi-dimensional field space. In this work we compute the power spectrum in general multi-field models and show that certain inflaton trajectories may lead to observationally significant imprints of `heavy' physics in the primordial power spectrum if the inflaton trajectory turns, that is, traverses a bend, sufficiently fast (without interrupting slow roll), even in cases where the normal modes have masses approaching the cutoff of our theory. We emphasise that turning is defined with respect to the geodesics of the sigma model metric, irrespective of whether this is canonical or non-trivial. The imprints generically take the form of damped superimposed oscillations on the power spectrum. In the particular case of two-field models, if one of the fields is sufficiently massive compared to the scale of inflation, we are able to compute an effective low energy theory for the adiabatic mode encapsulating certain relevant operators of the full multi-field dynamics. As expected, a particular characteristic of this effective theory is a modified speed of sound for the adiabatic mode which is a functional of the background inflaton trajectory and the turns traversed during inflation. Hence in addition, we expect non-Gaussian signatures directly related to the features imprinted in the power spectrum.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures, references updated, minor modifications. Version to appear in JCAP. v4: Equations (4.28) and (4.30) and Figures 5 and 6 correcte

From local monitoring to a broad‐scale viability assessment: a case study for the Bonelli's Eagle in western Europe

Population viability analysis (PVA) has become a basic tool of current conservation practice. However, if not accounted for properly, the uncertainties inherent to PVA predictions can decrease the reliability of this type of analysis. In the present study, we performed a PVA of the whole western European population (France, Portugal, and Spain) of the endangered Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata), in which we thoroughly explored the consequences of uncertainty in population processes and parameters on PVA predictions. First, we estimated key vital rates (survival, fertility, recruitment, and dispersal rates) using monitoring, ringing, and bibliographic data from the period 1990-2009 from 12 populations found throughout the studied geographic range. Second, we evaluated the uncertainty about model structure (i.e., the assumed processes that govern individual fates and population dynamics) by comparing the observed growth rates of the studied populations with model predictions for the same period. Third, using the model structures suggested in the previous step, we assessed the viability of both the local populations and the overall population. Finally, we analyzed the effects of model and parameter uncertainty on PVA predictions. Our results strongly support the idea that all local populations in western Europe belong to a single, spatially structured population operating as a source-sink system, whereby the populations in the south of the Iberian Peninsula act as sources and, thanks to dispersal, sustain all other local populations, which would otherwise decline. Predictions regarding population dynamics varied considerably, and models assuming more constrained dispersal predicted more pessimistic population trends than models assuming greater dispersal. Model predictions accounting for parameter uncertainty revealed a marked increase in the risk of population declines over the next 50 years. Sensitivity analyses indicated that adult and pre‐adult survival are the chief vital rates regulating these populations, and thus, the conservation efforts aimed at improving these survival rates should be strengthened in order to guarantee the long‐term viability of the European populations of this endangered species. Overall, the study provides a framework for the implementation of multi‐site PVAs and highlights the importance of dispersal processes in shaping the population dynamics of long‐lived birds distributed across heterogeneous landscapes