The algebraic curve (finite-gap) classification of rotating string solutions was very important in the development of integrability through comparison with analogous structures at weak coupling. The ...classification was based on the analysis of monodromy around the closed string cylinder. In this paper we show that certain classical Wilson loop minimal surfaces corresponding to the null cusp and qq¯ potential with trivial monodromy can, nevertheless, be described by appropriate algebraic curves. We also show how a correlation function of a circular Wilson loop with a local operator fits into this framework. The latter solution has identical monodromy to the pointlike BMN string and yet is significantly different.
The paper determines the properties of geopolymer pastes based on metakaolin and soda-lime waste glass. The density, alkaline activity, strength and microstructure of the reference geopolymer, as ...well as geopolymers with a 10%, 30% and 50% soda-lime waste glass content instead of metakaolin, were tested. The experimental results indicate that the properties of the geopolymers with waste glass largely depend on the ratio of the liquid to solid substance. Increasing the content of waste glass causes an increase in the fluidity of the geopolymer paste, which in turn allows the amount of water glass, i.e., an activator during the obtaining of geopolymers, to be reduced. On the basis of the conducted tests, it was found that the strength of geopolymers can be increased by adding up to 50% of soda-lime waste glass instead of metakaolin and by having a lower content of water glass.
Background and purpose - Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) as the initial manifestation of malignancy (IMM) limits the time for diagnostic workup; most often, treatment is required before the ...final primary tumor diagnosis. We evaluated neurological outcome, complications, survival, and the manner of diagnosing the primary tumor in patients who were operated for MSCC as the IMM.
Patients and methods - Records of 69 consecutive patients (51 men) who underwent surgery for MSCC as the IMM were reviewed. The patients had no history of cancer when they presented with pain (n = 2) and/or neurological symptoms (n = 67).
Results - The primary tumor was identified in 59 patients. In 10 patients, no specific diagnosis could be established, and they were therefore defined as having cancer of unknown primary tumor (CUP). At the end of the study, 16 patients were still alive (median follow-up 2.5 years). The overall survival time was 20 months. Patients with CUP had the shortest survival (3.5 months) whereas patients with prostate cancer (6 years) and myeloma (5 years) had the longest survival. 20 of the 39 patients who were non-ambulatory preoperatively regained walking ability, and 29 of the 30 ambulatory patients preoperatively retained their walking ability 1 month postoperatively. 15 of the 69 patients suffered from a total of 20 complications within 1 month postoperatively.
Interpretation - Postoperative survival with MSCC as the IMM depends on the type of primary tumor. Surgery in these patients maintains and improves ambulatory function.
Abstract Background context Idiopathic scoliosis is a spinal deformity affecting approximately 3% of otherwise healthy children or adolescents. The etiology is still largely unknown but has an ...important genetic component. Genome-wide association studies have identified a number of common genetic variants that are significantly associated with idiopathic scoliosis in Asian and Caucasian populations, rs11190870 close to the LBX1 gene being the most replicated finding. Purpose The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetics of idiopathic scoliosis in a Scandinavian cohort by performing a candidate gene study of four variants previously shown to be associated with idiopathic scoliosis and exome sequencing of idiopathic scoliosis patients with a severe phenotype to identify possible novel scoliosis risk variants. Study design This was a case control study. Patient sample A total of 1,739 patients with idiopathic scoliosis and 1,812 controls were included. Outcome measure The outcome measure was idiopathic scoliosis. Methods The variants rs10510181, rs11190870, rs12946942, and rs6570507 were genotyped in 1,739 patients with idiopathic scoliosis and 1,812 controls. Exome sequencing was performed on pooled samples from 100 surgically treated idiopathic scoliosis patients. Novel or rare missense, nonsense, or splice site variants were selected for individual genotyping in the 1,739 cases and 1,812 controls. In addition, the 5′UTR, noncoding exon and promoter regions of LBX1 , not covered by exome sequencing, were Sanger sequenced in the 100 pooled samples. Results Of the four candidate genes, an intergenic variant, rs11190870, downstream of the LBX1 gene, showed a highly significant association to idiopathic scoliosis in 1,739 cases and 1,812 controls (p=7.0×10−18 ). We identified 20 novel variants by exome sequencing after filtration and an initial genotyping validation. However, we could not verify any association to idiopathic scoliosis in the large cohort of 1,739 cases and 1,812 controls. We did not find any variants in the 5′UTR, noncoding exon and promoter regions of LBX1. Conclusions Here, we confirm LBX1 as a susceptibility gene for idiopathic scoliosis in a Scandinavian population and report that we are unable to find evidence of other genes of similar or stronger effect.
Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) can be used both as an independent fuel and as a component for petrodiesels. Unfortunately, it is very poorly resistant to oxidation processes. The paper presents tests ...of primary and secondary oxidation products as a determinant of oxidation resistance. Based on changes in the peroxide number, the oxidation kinetics of the biofuel FAME was determined. In the present study, an increase in density and viscosity was observed, caused by the formation of polymer deposits resulting from the transformation of secondary oxidation products and the polymerization and polycondensation reactions of fatty acid esters containing a double bond. The measurement results show a direct relationship between the anisidine number and the peroxide number. The presence of water in the FAME samples accelerates the formation of primary and secondary oxidation products during the storage of the FAME in a steel container. The kinetics study revealed a change in the biofuel aging kinetics, which indicates the negative impact of storage time on fuel quality.
The objective was to study changes in nitrogen-saturated biodiesel irradiated by electron beam and to analyse them considering the influence of absorbed dose. Based on the obtained results, it can be ...concluded that irradiation in presented condition did not affect ester groups in fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) molecules, but slightly influenced on double bonds. After irradiation was observed relatively small change in concentration of methyl esters. Slightly influence can be explained by absorption of radiation by nitrogen present in samples. Therefore, the use of ionizing radiation to improve Rapeseed Methyl Esters (RME) properties can be used only in specific radiation dose range (total ester concentration must not be lower than 96.5 wt%). The reduction in the total concentration of methyl esters was lower than after irradiation of FAME samples saturated with water and air, which was presented in previous works.
In this paper, the concept and implementation of a new simple direct-torque neuro-fuzzy control (DTNFC) scheme for pulsewidth-modulation-inverter-fed induction motor drive are presented. An adaptive ...neuro-fuzzy inference system is applied to achieve high-performance decoupled flux and torque control. The theoretical principle and tuning procedure of this method are discussed. A 3 kW induction motor experimental system with digital signal processor TMS 320C31-based controller has been built to verify this approach. The simulation and laboratory experimental results, which illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme, are presented. Also, nomograms for controller design are given. It has been shown that the simple DTNFC is characterized by very fast torque and flux response, very-low-speed operation, and simple tuning capability.
The problem of microbial growth in fuels, especially biofuels, is a very important issue. Water is a necessity for microbial growth to occur. Unfortunately, it is very hard to exclude all water from ...fuel systems during daily operations, especially when biodiesel is added to the fuel mix. The aim of this work was to investigate the impact of ionizing radiation on selected properties of fatty acids methyl esters in order to evaluate the possibility of using irradiation techniques to sterilize biodiesel and its blends. Ionizing radiation influences the chemical composition of biodiesel samples containing especially unsaturated bonds. Irradiation was performed in a specially designed flow system. The tested parameters were compared with the normative values from the ISO 14214 standard. Density, kinematic viscosity, flash point, water content and cold filter plugging point as a macroscopic parameters do not change despite their irradiation with ionizing radiation. Change was observed in microscopic parameters as oxidation stability and esters content. During irradiation, Rapeseed Methyl Ester (RME) samples formed oxidation products, which lower the oxidative stability. It was observed that, for esters content, requirements of the standard could be met in the case of using very small doses. In the case of RME samples saturated with water, the changes in the ester concentration were smaller, but the resulting products decreased the oxidation stability. Sterilization fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) was observed with the use of e beam radiation is to apply very low doses (up to 2 kGy) in a flow system without adding water. Sterilization FAME saturated by water requires the use of higher doses of radiation, which adversely affects the oxidative stability.
Abstract
Motivation
Investigating the 3D structure of chromatin provides new insights into transcriptional regulation. With the evolution of 3C next-generation sequencing methods like ChiA-PET and ...Hi-C, the surge in data volume has highlighted the need for more efficient chromatin spatial modelling algorithms. This study introduces the cudaMMC method, based on the Simulated Annealing Monte Carlo approach and enhanced by GPU-accelerated computing, to efficiently generate ensembles of chromatin 3D structures.
Results
The cudaMMC calculations demonstrate significantly faster performance with better stability compared to our previous method on the same workstation. cudaMMC also substantially reduces the computation time required for generating ensembles of large chromatin models, making it an invaluable tool for studying chromatin spatial conformation.
Availability and implementation
Open-source software and manual and sample data are freely available on https://github.com/SFGLab/cudaMMC.
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