Temperature increasing and precipitation alteration are predicted to occur in arid and semiarid lands; however, the response mechanism of carbon and water exchange at community level is still unclear in semiarid sandy land. We investigated the responses of carbon and water exchanges to warming and precipitation enhancement along a sand dune restoration gradient: mobile sand dunes (MD), semifixed sand dunes (SFD), and fixed sand dunes (FD). The average net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and evapotranspiration (ET) between May and August increased by 98% and 59%, respectively, from MD to SFD, while they had no significant differences between FD and the other two habitats. Warming inhibited ecosystem NEP, ET, and water use efficiency (WUE) by 69%, 49% (p < .001), and 80%, respectively, in SFD, while it nearly had no significant effects in MD and FD. However, precipitation addition by 30% nearly had no significant effects on community NEP, ET, and WUE, except for warming treatment in FD. In general, precipitation addition of 30% may still not be enough to prevent drought stress for growth of plants, due to with low water holding capacity and high evaporation rates in sandy land. Temperature increase magnified drought stress as it increased evapotranspiration rates especially in summer. In addition, community NEP, ET, and WUE were usually influenced by interactions between habitats and temperature, as well as the interactions among habitats, temperature, and precipitation. Species differences in each habitat along the restoration gradient may alter climate sensitivity of sandy land. These results will support in understanding and the prediction of the impacts of warming and precipitation change in semiarid sandy grassland.

BACKGROUND

The digestive tract constitutes the most frequent localization of the extranodular non Hodgkin's lymphoma. The chief clinical and histological characteristics were analyzed as were the evolution and response to treatment of 25 patients diagnosed with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma (PGIL) in one center over a period of eight years.

METHODS

To establish the diagnosis of PGIL the Dawson criteria were used and the state was determined by the Ann-Arbor classification modified by Musshoff. To histologically classify of the PGIL the Working Formulation was followed. The influence of the clinical, histological characteristics and the state of the obtention of complete remission (CR), the survival free period of the disease (SFD) and global survival (GS) were analyzed.

RESULTS

The mean age of the series was 56 years (standard deviation 15 years) (12 males). The most frequent localization was gastric followed by the small intestine and the large intestine. Abdominal pain and weight loss were the most frequent clinical manifestations in the PGIL, regardless of its site. In 12 patients the PGIL was of an intermediate grade of malignancy, 8 were of low grade and 5 of high grade. The state was IE in 11 patients, IE1 in 9 and IIE2 in 5. The most used treatment was radical surgery followed by polychemotherapy. Complete remission was obtained in 15 patients and 2 recurred. The foreseen SFP at 7 years was 69% of the cases and GS was 53%. In IE state patients was most frequently obtained and GS was also more prolonged in these patients.

CONCLUSIONS

In the present series the gastric localization of patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma was more frequent than intestinal localization. The HNL of intermediate and high grades of malignancy predominated those of low grade. The prognosis of patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma in a IE state was more favorable than the remaining patients. In turn, surgery constituted a good option in the initial treatment of patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma.

Natural aquifers typically exhibit a variety of structural heterogeneities. However, the effect of mineral colloids and natural organic matter on the transport behavior of uranium (U) in saturated heterogeneous media are not totally understood. In this study, heterogeneous column experiments were conducted, and the constructed columns contained a fast-flow domain (FFD) and a slow-flow domain (SFD). The effect of kaolinite, humic acid (HA), and kaolinite/HA mixture on U(VI) retention and release in saturated heterogeneous media was examined. Media heterogeneity significantly influenced U fate and transport behavior in saturated subsurface environment. The presence of kaolinite, HA, and kaolinite/HA enhanced the mobility of U in heterogeneous media, and the mobility of U was the highest in the presence of kaolinite/HA and the lowest in the presence of kaolinite. In the presence of kaolinite, there was no difference in the amount of U released from the FFD and SFD. However, in the presence of HA and kaolinite/HA, a higher amount of U was released from the FFD. The findings in this study showed that medium structure and mineral colloids, as well as natural organic matter in the aqueous phase had significant effects on U transport and fate in subsurface environment.

BACKGROUND

Spatial frequency domain (SFD) measurement allows rapid and non-contact wide-field imaging of the tissue optical properties, thus has become a potential tool for assessing physiological parameters and therapeutic responses during photodynamic therapy of skin diseases. The conventional SFD measurement requires a reference measurement within the same experimental scenario as that for a test one to calibrate mismatch between the real measurements and the model predictions. Due to the individual physical and geometrical differences among different tissues, organs and patients, an ideal reference measurement might be unavailable in clinical trials. To address this problem, we present a reference-free SFD determination of absorption coefficient that is based on the modulation transfer function (MTF) characterization.

METHODS

Instead of the absolute amplitude that is used in the conventional SFD approaches, we herein employ the MTF to characterize the propagation of the modulated lights in tissues. With such a dimensionless relative quantity, the measurements can be naturally corresponded to the model predictions without calibrating the illumination intensity. By constructing a three-dimensional database that portrays the MTF as a function of the optical properties (both the absorption coefficient μ a and the reduced scattering coefficient [Formula: see text]) and the spatial frequency, a look-up table approach or a least-square curve-fitting method is readily applied to recover the absorption coefficient from a single frequency or multiple frequencies, respectively.

RESULTS

Simulation studies have verified the feasibility of the proposed reference-free method and evaluated its accuracy in the absorption recovery. Experimental validations have been performed on homogeneous tissue-mimicking phantoms with μ a ranging from 0.01 to 0.07 mm-1 and [Formula: see text] = 1.0 or 2.0 mm-1. The results have shown maximum errors of 4.86 and 7% for [Formula: see text] = 1.0 mm-1 and [Formula: see text] = 2.0 mm-1, respectively. We have also presented quantitative ex vivo imaging of human lung cancer in a subcutaneous xenograft mouse model for further validation, and observed high absorption contrast in the tumor region.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed method can be applied to the rapid and accurate determination of the absorption coefficient, and better yet, in a reference-free way. We believe this reference-free strategy will facilitate the clinical translation of the SFD measurement to achieve enhanced intraoperative hemodynamic monitoring and personalized treatment planning in photodynamic therapy.

In spray freeze-srying (SFD), a solution is sprayed into a refrigerant medium, frozen, and subsequently sublimation dried, which allows the production of flowable lyophilized powders. SFD allows commonly freeze-dried active pharmaceutical ingredients (e.g., proteins and peptides) to be delivered using new applications such as needle-free injection and nasal or pulmonary drug delivery. In this study, a droplet stream was injected into a vortex of cold gas in order to reduce the risk of droplet collisions and therefore droplet growth before congelation, which adversely affects the particle size distribution. Droplets with initial diameters of about 40-50 μm were frozen quickly in a swirl tube at temperatures around -75°C and volumetric gas flow rates between 17 and 34 L/min. Preliminary studies that were focused on the evaluation of spray cone footprints were performed prior to SFD. A 23 factorial design with a model solution of mannitol (1.5% m/V) and maltodextrin (1.5% m/V) was used to create flowable, low density (0.01-0.03 g/cm3) spherical lyophilisate powders. Mean particle diameter sizes of the highly porous particles ranged between 49.8 ± 6.6 and 88.3 ± 5.5 μm. Under optimal conditions, the mean particle size was reduced from 160 to 50 μm (decrease of volume by 96%) compared to non-expanded streams, whereas the SPAN value did not change significantly. This method is suitable for the production of lyophilized powders with small particle sizes and narrow particle size distributions, which is highly interesting for needle-free injection or nasal delivery of proteins and peptides.

This article presents a new perspective on the development of inorganic scintillator-based fiber dosimeters (IOSFDs) for medical radiotherapy dosimetry (RTD) focusing on real-time in vivo dosimetry. The scintillator-based optical fiber dosimeters (SFD) are compact, free of electromagnetic interference, radiation-resistant, and robust. They have shown great potential for real-time in vivo RTD. Compared with organic scintillators (OSs), inorganic scintillators (IOSs) have larger X-ray absorption and higher light output. Variable IOSs with maximum emission peaks in the red part of the spectrum offer convenient stem effect removal. This article outlines the main advantages and disadvantages of utilizing IOSs for SFD fabrication. IOSFDs with different configurations are presented, and their use for dosimetry in X-ray RT, brachytherapy (BT), proton therapy (PT), and boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is reviewed. Challenges including the percentage depth dose (PDD) deviation from the standard ion chamber (IC) measurement, the angular dependence, and the Cherenkov effect are discussed in detail; methods to overcome these problems are also presented.

Keywords: In vivo; Inorganic scintillators; Optical fiber dosimeters; Real time dosimetry.

Snake fungal disease (SFD; Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola) is posing a significant threat to several free-ranging populations of pitvipers. Triazole antifungals have been proposed for the treatment of mycoses in reptiles; however, data are lacking about their safety and efficacy in snakes with SFD. Study 1 investigated in vitro susceptibility, and identified that plasma concentrations >250 ng/ml (voriconazole) and >1,000 ng/ml (itraconazole) may be effective in vivo for SFD. In Study 2, the pharmacokinetics after a single subcutaneous voriconazole injection were assessed in apparently healthy free-ranging cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus). Based on pilot-study results, four snakes were administered a single injection of voriconazole (5 mg/kg). One pilot snake and three full-study snakes died within 12 hr of voriconazole administration. All surviving snakes maintained plasma concentrations >250 ng/ml for 12-24 hr. In Study 3, two Eastern massasaugas (Sistrurus catenatus) and a timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus horridus) diagnosed with SFD were treated with voriconazole delivered by subcutaneous osmotic pumps. The timber rattlesnake (12.1-17.5 mg/kg/hr) reached therapeutic concentrations, whereas the massasaugas (1.02-1.6 mg/kg/hr) did not. In Study 4, the pharmacokinetics of a single 10-mg/kg per-cloaca dose of itraconazole (Sporanox®) was evaluated in seven apparently healthy free-ranging cottonmouths. Similarly, the plasma and tissue concentrations did not meet therapeutic concentrations based on in vitro data. The data presented in this report serve as an initial step toward understanding the pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and safety of triazole antifungals in pitviper species with SFD. Further study is needed to determine the appropriate dose and route of administration of triazole antifungals in pitviper species.

Definition and prevalence of syndrome of functional dyspepsia (SFD) are discussed along with the brief history of the problem, priority works of V.P. Obraztsov and other authors, current views of SFD etiology and pathogenesis with reference to the role of H. pylori infections. Clinical variants of SFD, their diagnostic criteria and principals of differential diagnostics are described. Special attention is given to the debatable relationship between CFD and chronic gastritis. Nosological and syndromal diagnostics, structure-function relationship, goals and methods of SFD treatment and other matters of dispute are considered.

BACKGROUND

Chronic gastritis with syndrome, functional dyspepsia (SFD) is one of the most pressing problems in medicine. Certain scientific and practical interest is the elucidation of the frequency and clinical manifestations of functional dyspepsia in patients hospitalized in the gastroenterology department YAGKB and frequency combinations of chronic gastritis (including H. pylori) with functional dyspepsia.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical and morphological features of the chronic gastritis with syndrome pattern of functional dyspepsia in native-born and people of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and to assess the effectiveness of treatment, depending on the gastric acid and H. pylori.

METHODS

This study examined 105 patients with functional dyspepsia, including 41 patients with epigastric pain syndrome and 64 patients with postprandial distress syndrome. Considered groups of patients were homogeneous for age, gender, by ethnicity. Of the 105 patients included in the study, I group were 57 indigenous people (80% of them--Yakutia), 11 group--48 people visiting (Caucasians).

RESULTS

Clinical presentation and course of chronic gastritis with functional dyspepsia in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) have a number of distinctive features: epigastric pain syndrome occurs in 26.8% of patients and 73.2% of the indigenous population of the visitor, the intensity of pain in the root is much lower than that of visitors--12 and 85% respectively. Postprandial distress syndrome was diagnosed in 71.9% of patients and 28.1% of the indigenous newcomers. At endoscopy in all patients with functional dyspepsia diagnosed chronic gastritis. The native inhabitants of the most common mixed gastritis (54.5%), the newcomers--superficial gastritis (66.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

The found features of a current of functional dyspepsia can be further the basis for the individualized and differentiated approaches to treatment of this disease.

A comparative neurological study was undertaken of growth-retarded or small-for-dates (SFD) and appropriately grown (AFD) full-term infants in a Cape Coloured and a White (London, UK) population. There were no associated complications of pregnancy or labour. Consistent differences were found between SFD and AFD infants in both ethnic groups. In the SFD infants there was an increase in visual and auditory orientation, alertness, startle reflexes, tremors and tone, and some reduction in habituation. The difference between our results and those of earlier authors can probably be accounted for by factor such as use of drugs in labour, perinatal events and different causes of growth retardation, all of which may influence neurological behaviour.

The lab-on-chip integration of photonic devices has been attracting increasing attention recently. Multifunctional materials provide natural platforms for the desirable performance by the coupling of different functionalities. The insufficient coupling efficiency of the laser and nonlinear processes in self-frequency-doubled (SFD) lasers is the limiting factor for the output power and further practical applications. Here we demonstrate a SFD Yb³⁺-doped calcium yttrium oxoborate (Yb:YCOB) crystal laser with an unprecedented slope efficiency of 30% and output power of 6.2 W at 513 nm. The successful realization of this laser operating in a quasi-two-level configuration is based on enhanced coupling of the laser and frequency-doubling processes using a monolithic configuration, benefiting from an ultimately small laser quantum defect, the anisotropic gain cross sections, and the high effective nonlinearity of the monoclinic YCOB outside the principal planes. Solid-state lasers in the spectral range around 510 nm are scarce, and the results not only present a significant advancement in the field of SFD lasers, but also pave the way for future applications of such green lasers, especially in areas such as medical treatment, daily life, and scientific investigations.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to present a novel 2041 liquid-filled ionization chamber array for high-resolution verification of radiotherapy treatments.

METHODS

The prototype has 2041 ionization chambers of 2.5 × 2.5 mm2 area filled with isooctane. The detection elements are arranged in a central square grid of 43 × 43, totally covering an area of 107.5 × 107.5 mm2 . The central inline and cross-line are extended to 227 mm and the diagonals to 321 mm to be able to perform profile measurements of large fields. We have studied stability, pixel response uniformity, dose rate dependence, depth and field size dependence and anisotropy. We present results for output factors, tongue-and-groove, garden fence, small field profiles, irregular fields, and verification of dose planes of patient treatments.

RESULTS

Comparison with other detectors used for small field dosimetry (SFD, CC13, microDiamond) has shown good agreement. Output factors measured with the device for square fields ranging from 10 × 10 to 100 × 100 mm2 showed relative differences within 1%. The response of the detector shows a strong dependence on the angle of incident radiation that needs to be corrected for. On the other hand, inter-pixel relative response variations in the 0.95-1.08 range have been found and corrected for. The application of the device for the verification of dose planes of several treatments has shown gamma passing rates above 97% for tolerances of 2% and 2 mm. The verification of other clinical fields, like small fields and irregular fields used in the commissioning of the TPS, also showed large passing rates. The verification of garden fence and tongue-and-groove fields was affected by volume-averaging effects.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that the liquid filled ionization chamber prototype here presented is appropriate for the verification of radiotherapy treatments with high spatial resolution. Recombination effects do not affect very much the verification of relative dose distributions. However, verification of absolute dose distributions may require normalization to a radiation field which is representative of the dose rate of the treatment delivered.

Toxic silo gases are a potential danger to livestock housed in close proximity to roughage silos. These gases, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), may be produced during the early stages of (maize and grass) silage making. In humans, inhalation of these gases causes a condition known as 'Silo Filler's Disease' (SFD), which is a recognized occupational hazard for workers in upright forage silos in many countries. NO2 accumulates on top of silage, is inhaled by workers, and reacts with water on the airway surfaces to form nitrous acid, which damages the lung and causes pulmonary oedema, bronchiolitis, and death in severe cases. On a dairy farm, a cloud of reddish-brown NO2 gas (which is heavier than air) was noticed to escape from underneath the plastic sheet of a horizontal maize bunker and to enter a cubicle house for dairy cows 1 day after ensiling. Eleven cows became dyspnoeic, 3 of which subsequently died. A combination of weather conditions, an insufficient sand load on the maize bunker, the utilization of a lactobacillus starter culture, and the close proximity of the silo to the cubicle house may have caused the incident.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the perception of three-dimensional (3D) shape in patients with strabismus and the contributions of stereopsis and monocular cues to this perception.

METHODS

Twenty-one patients with strabismus with and 20 without stereo acuity as well as 25 age-matched normal volunteers performed two tasks: (1) identifying the closest vertices of 3D shapes from monocular shading (3D-SfS), texture (3D-SfT) or motion cues (3D-SfM) and from binocular disparity (3D-SfD), (2) discriminating 1D elementary features of these cues.

RESULTS

Discrimination of the elementary features of luminance, texture and motion did not differ across groups. When the distances between reported and actual closest vertices were resolved into sagittal and frontoparallel plane components, sagittal components in 3D-SfS and frontoparallel components in 3D-SfT indicated larger errors in patients with strabismus without stereo acuity than in normal subjects. These patients could not discriminate one-dimensional elementary features of binocular disparity. Patients with strabismus with stereo acuity performed worse for both components of 3D-SfD and frontoparallel components of 3D-SfT compared with normal subjects. No differences were observed in the perception of 3D-SfM across groups. A comparison between normal subjects and patients with strabismus with normal stereopsis revealed no deficit in 3D shape perception from any cue.

CONCLUSIONS

Binocular stereopsis is essential for fine perception of 3D shape, even when 3D shape is defined by monocular static cues. Interaction between these cues may occur in ventral occipitotemporal regions, where 3D-SfS, 3D-SfT and 3D-SfD are processed in the same or neighbouring cortical regions. Our findings demonstrate the perceptual benefit of binocular stereopsis in patients with strabismus.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the potential value of fetal routine sonographic biometry in evaluating micromelias.

METHODS

Thirty fetuses had a presumptive diagnosis of micromelia from antepartum ultrasound examinations during the period between 1 April 1996 and 31 March 2005. The postnatal clinical features, final diagnoses and outcomes were examined to retrospectively compare these cases with biometric parameters obtained from routine antepartum ultrasound examinations.

RESULTS

Final diagnoses included skeletal dysplasia (16), small-for-dates (SFD) infant without any abnormalities (seven), chromosomal abnormality (three), pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency (one), Marden-Walker syndrome (one), and suspected Freeman-Sheldon syndrome (one). One turned out to be a healthy infant. All cases were divided on the basis of the final diagnoses into three groups: skeletal dysplasia (16 fetuses), SFD and healthy infant (eight fetuses) and others (six fetuses). The ratios of femur length (FL) to mean FL at a given gestational age (%FL) and of FL to biparietal diameter (FL/BPD) were significantly lower in the skeletal dysplasia group than those in the other groups. Moreover, in the skeletal dysplasia group, when the lethal cases were excluded, the ratio of FL to fetal trunk cross area (FL/FTA) was significantly lower than that in the other groups.

CONCLUSIONS

FL/FTA appears to be a useful parameter to help differentiate fetuses with non-lethal skeletal dysplasia from anatomically normal fetuses either with constitutionally short limbs or with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Introduction: Open abdominal wounds with intestinal fistula formation are challenging complications in abdominal surgery. Special fistula devices (SFD) used along with negative pressure wound therapy with instillation and dwell time (NPWTi-d), may improve management of these wounds, increasing NPWT dressing durability and helping decrease dressing leakage.

Case report: A 57-year-old, obese (body mass index: 55 kg/m²) female with a long history of Crohn disease and multiple intestinal resections, presented with an incarcerated parastomal hernia, abscess formation, and septic shock. After the hernia was repositioned and the infection controlled, a bovine mesh-augmented hernia repair was performed. Skin rotation flaps for wound closure became necrotic and led to an infected, open abdominal wound measuring about 60 cm x 50 cm with formation of 2 additional small bowel fistulas alongside the ostomy and a massive bacterial and fungal superinfection. After surgical debridement, NPWTi-d with 10 minutes soaking time with isotonic saline solution followed by 2 to 4 hours negative pressure therapy with -125 mm Hg combined with SFDs was initiated; once the infection was controlled approximately 3 weeks after initiation, treatment was switched to traditional NPWT with -125 mm Hg continuous negative pressure and SFDs. Dressings were changed on demand. During the whole treatment period, local infection was brought under control, the wound was clean, and thick granulation tissue formed (even on exposed parts of the mesh). The dressing stability provided a high level of patient comfort.

Conclusions: By providing expedient wound cleaning, decontamination, local infection control, and patient comfort, as well as helping generate granulation tissue even on biological mesh, NPWTi-d used with SFDs represents a viable tool for the management of challenging fistulizing abdominal wounds.

Background: 3D-T_1ρ mapping is useful to quantify various neurologic disorders, but data are currently time-consuming to acquire.

Purpose: To compare the performance of five compressed sensing (CS) algorithms-spatiotemporal finite differences (STFD), exponential dictionary (EXP), 3D-wavelet transform (WAV), low-rank (LOW) and low-rank plus sparse model with spatial finite differences (L + S SFD)-for 3D-T_1ρ mapping of the human brain with acceleration factors (AFs) of 2, 5, and 10.

Study type: Retrospective.

Subjects: Eight healthy volunteers underwent T_1ρ imaging of the whole brain.

Field strength/sequence: The sequence was fully sampled 3D Cartesian ultrafast gradient echo sequence with a customized T_1ρ preparation module on a clinical 3T scanner.

Assessment: The fully sampled data was undersampled by factors of 2, 5, and 10 and reconstructed with the five CS algorithms. Image reconstruction quality was evaluated and compared to the SENSE reconstruction of the fully sampled data (reference) and T_1ρ estimation errors were assessed as a function of AF.

Statistical tests: Normalized root mean squared errors (nRMSE) and median normalized absolute deviation (MNAD) errors were calculated to compare image reconstruction errors and T_1ρ estimation errors, respectively. Linear regression plots, Bland-Altman plots, and Pearson correlation coefficients (CC) are shown.

Results: For image reconstruction quality, at AF = 2, EXP transforms had the lowest mRMSE (1.56%). At higher AF values, STFD performed better, with the smallest errors (3.16% at AF = 5, 4.32% at AF = 10). For whole-brain quantitative T_1ρ mapping, at AF = 2, EXP performed best (MNAD error = 1.62%). At higher AF values (AF = 5, 10), the STFD technique had the least errors (2.96% at AF = 5, 4.24% at AF = 10) and the smallest variance from the reference T_1ρ estimates.

Data conclusion: This study demonstrates the use of different CS algorithms that may be useful in reducing the scan time required to perform volumetric T_1ρ mapping of the brain.

Level of evidence: 2.

Technical efficacy stage: 1.

Keywords: T1ρ mapping; brain imaging; compressed sensing; low rank models; sparse reconstruction.

The hydrological dynamics of the Saigon River is ruled by a complex combination of factors, which need to be disentangled to prevent and limit risks of flooding and salt intrusion. In particular, the Saigon water discharge is highly influenced by tidal cycles with a relatively low net discharge. This study proposes a low-cost technique to estimate river discharge at high frequency (every 10 min in this study). It is based on a stage-fall-discharge (SFD) rating curve adapted from the general Manning Strickler law, and calibrated thanks to two ADCP campaigns. Two pressure sensors were placed at different locations of the river in September 2016: one at the centre of Ho Chi Minh City and one in Phu Cuong, 40 km upstream approximately. The instantaneous water discharge data were used to evaluate the net residual discharge and to highlight seasonal and inter-annual trends. Both water level and water discharge show a seasonal behaviour. Rainfall, including during the Usagi typhoon that hit the megalopolis in November 2018, has no clear and direct impact on water level and water discharge due to the delta flat morphology and complex response between main channel and side channel network and ground water in this estuarine system under tidal influence. However, we found some evidences of interactions between precipitation, groundwater, the river network and possibly coastal waters. This paper can be seen as a proof of concept to (1) present a low-cost discharge method that can be applied to other tidal rivers, and (2) demonstrate how the high-frequency discharge data obtained with this method can be used to evaluate discharge dynamics in tidal river systems.

Keywords: Flood; Saigon River; Stage-fall-discharge rating curve; Tidal river; Water discharge; Water level.

The photocatalytic oxidation of biomass-derived building blocks such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a promising reaction for obtaining valuable chemicals and the efficient long-term storage of solar radiation. In this work, we developed innovative TiO₂-based materials capable of base-free HMF photo-oxidation in water using simulated solar irradiation. The materials were prepared by combining microemulsion and spray-freeze drying (SFD), resulting in highly porous systems with a large surface area. The effect of titania/silica composition and the presence of gold-copper alloy nanoparticles on the properties of materials as well as photocatalytic performance were evaluated. Among the lab-synthesized photocatalysts, Ti₁₅Si₈₅ SFD and Au₃Cu₁/Ti₁₅Si₈₅ SFD achieved the higher conversions, while the best selectivity was observed for Au₃Cu₁/Ti₁₅Si₈₅ SFD. The tests with radical scavengers for both TiO₂-m and Au₃Cu₁/Ti₁₅Si₈₅ SFD suggested that primary species responsible for the selective photo-oxidation of HMF are photo-generated electrons and/or superoxide radicals.

Keywords: 5-hydroxymethyl furfural; TiO2; microemulsion; photocatalysis; spray-freeze drying.

In order to realize single fault detection (SFD) from the multi-fault coupling bearing data and further research on the multi-fault situation of bearings, this paper proposes a method based on features self-extraction of a Sparse Auto-Encoder (SAE) and results fusion of improved Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (D-S). Multi-fault signal compression features of bearings were extracted by SAE on multiple vibration sensors' data. Data sets were constructed by the extracted compression features to train the Support Vector Machine (SVM) according to the rule of single fault detection (R-SFD) this paper proposed. Fault detection results were obtained by the improved D-S evidence theory, which was implemented via correcting the 0 factor in the Basic Probability Assignment (BPA) and modifying the evidence weight by Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC). Extensive evaluations of the proposed method on the experiment platform datasets showed that the proposed method could realize single fault detection from multi-fault bearings. Fault detection accuracy increases as the output feature dimension of SAE increases; when the feature dimension reached 200, the average detection accuracy of the three sensors for bearing inner, outer, and ball faults achieved 87.36%, 87.86% and 84.46%, respectively. The three types' fault detection accuracy-reached to 99.12%, 99.33% and 98.46% by the improved Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (IDS) to fuse the sensors' results-is respectively 0.38%, 2.06% and 0.76% higher than the traditional D-S evidence theory. That indicated the effectiveness of improving the D-S evidence theory by evidence weight calculation of PCC.

Keywords: Dempster–Shafer (D–S) evidence theory; Sparse Auto-Encoder (SAE); bearing fault detection; single fault detection (SFD).

Subdiffusion is commonly observed in liquids with high density or in restricted geometries, as the particles are constantly pushed back by their neighbors. Since this "cage effect" emerges from many-body dynamics involving spatiotemporally correlated motions, the slow diffusion should be understood not simply as a one-body problem but as a part of collective dynamics, described in terms of space-time correlations. Such collective dynamics are illustrated here by calculations of the two-particle displacement correlation in a system of repulsive Brownian particles confined in a (quasi-)one-dimensional channel, whose subdiffusive behavior is known as the single-file diffusion (SFD). The analytical calculation is formulated in terms of the Lagrangian correlation of density fluctuations. In addition, numerical solutions to the Langevin equation with large but finite interaction potential are studied to clarify the effect of overtaking. In the limiting case of the ideal SFD without overtaking, correlated motion with a diffusively growing length scale is observed. By allowing the particles to overtake each other, the short-range correlation is destroyed, but the long-range weak correlation remains almost intact. These results describe nested space-time structure of cages, whereby smaller cages are enclosed in larger cages with longer lifetimes.

Keywords: Dean–Kawasaki equation; caged dynamics; collective motion; displacement correlation; hopping rate; label variable; normal and anomalous diffusion; overtaking; single-file diffusion; stochastic processes.

Gestosis index score at delivery was compared with factors reflecting the fetal development in a series of 95 patients with EPH-gestosis collected in Okayama University Medical School in 1975-1979. The prediction of small for date (SFD) was performed by means of multivariate analysis of 10 variables, i.e. gestosis index, maternal body weight, height, uterine fundal length, abdominal circumference, maternal age at delivery and urinary estriol within one week prior to delivery. The result was that gestosis index was as useful as uterine fundal length in predicting SFD. The more gestosis index score increased, the more markedly the fetal development ws disturbed. Especially in the cases with scoring above 4 and in those with hypertension and proteinuria, the incidence of SFD increased obviously. No correlation between gestosis index and neonatal asphyxia was noticed. From the growth pattern of uterine fundal length and BPD, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in pregnancy with EPH-gestosis occurred mainly within the third trimester of pregnancy. The functional development of the fetus with EPH-gestosis was evaluated with the use of urinary estriol level and fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring. In the cases with EPH-gestosis scoring above 4, extreme disturbance of functional development of the fetus was observed.

Peri- and postnatal data of 263 children with severe intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) born between 1970-75 (n = 145) and between 1976-85 (n = 118) are presented. The incidence of premature delivery in IUGR patients rose from 15% (1970-75) to 34% (1976-85). The rate of perinatal asphyxia in premature children with IUGR decreased from 64% during 1970-75 to 45% during 1976-85. Perinatal mortality in preterm SFD babies was higher in 1976-85 (20%) than in 1970-75 (14%), due to an 8-fold higher incidence of very low birth weight (less than or equal to 1000 g) SFD babies. Without this high-risk group perinatal mortality ranged between 2 and 3% in both groups. The incidence of deliveries by Cesarean section increased from 19 to 45% while vaginal deliveries decreased from 73 to 52% during 1976-85 compared with the 1970-75 age group. Follow up studies were carried out in 63 patients (1970-75) and in 41 patients (1976-85). Deficits of body height and weight persisted in one third of the patients, being severe in 10-20%. Infantile developmental milestones were retarded in 22-32%. Neurologic sequelae mostly of a mild degree were seen in 29% (1970-75) and 37% (1976-85). Psychologic testing showed abnormalities in 38% of the older age group, using the Göttinger Formreproduktionstest and in 21% of the younger age group, where the Denver Developmental Screening Test was performed. EEG investigations demonstrated unspecific abnormalities of a mild to moderate degree in one third of the patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)