Agyria-pachygyria and agenesis of the corpus callosum: autosomal recessive inheritance with neonatal death

We report three neonates, one boy and two girls, born to an inbred Arab family who had cortical dysplasia, probably agyria-pachygyria, and agenesis of the corpus callosum. All had asphyxia, intractable seizures, and increased muscle tone at birth and died in the neonatal period. Congenital microcephaly or dysmorphic features were absent. Cytogenetic abnormality, metabolic disorder, and intrauterine infection were excluded. These cases suggest a new cerebral dysgenesis syndrome with autosomal recessive inheritance.     

A medico-legal evaluation of the use of assisted reproductive technologies in Turkey

In Turkey, as possibly in the case of several or even many other countries, infertility is generally regarded as a negative phenomenon in women. Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs), which provide certain childless couples with the possibility of having a baby, are being applied more and more frequently in this country, apparently as has been the case in the world at large. From a medicolegal point of view, the related applications in Turkey can only be realized in the case of married couples. Other forms of application in this area, on the other hand, such as sperm banks or surrogate motherhood, are not allowed legally. A text which was called "Guidelines Regarding the Centers of In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer" was prepared in 1987 by the Ministry of Health. The aim of these Guidelines is to find solutions to the medico-legal problems created by the application of ARTs in this country.     

Ligating behavior and metal uptake of N‐sulphonylpolyamine chelating resins anchored on polystyrene‐divinylbenzene beads

Amberlite XAD‐2 has been functionalized by coupling through –SO₂‐with ethylenediamine, propylenediamine, and diethylenetriamine to give the corresponding polyamine chelating resins I–III. The solid metallopolymer complexes of the synthesized chelating resins with Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, and Pb²⁺ were synthesized. The polyamine derivatives and their metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, spectral (IR, UV/V, and ESR), and magnetic studies. The batch equilibrium method was utilized for using the chelating polyamines for the removal of Cu⁺², Zn⁺², Cd⁺², and Pb⁺² ions from aqueous solutions at different pH values and different shaking times at room temperature. The selective extraction of Cu⁺² from a mixture of the four metal ions and the metal capacities of the chelating resins were evaluated using atomic absorption spectroscopy. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 1839–1846, 2005     

Toward a higher order unsteady finite volume solver based on reproducing kernel methods

During the last decades, research efforts are headed to develop high order methods on CFD and CAA to reach most industrial applications (complex geometries) which need, in most cases, unstructured grids. Today, higher-order methods dealing with unstructured grids remain in infancy state and they are still far from the maturity of structured grids-based methods when solving unsteady cases. From this point of view, the development of higher order methods for unstructured grids become indispensable. The finite volume method seems to be a good candidate, but unfortunately it is difficult to achieve space flux derivation schemes with very high order of accuracy for unsteady cases. In this paper we propose, a high order finite volume method based on Moving Least Squares approximations for unstructured grids that is able to reach an arbitrary order of accuracy on unsteady cases. In order to ensure high orders of accuracy, two strategies were explored independently: (1) a zero-mean variables reconstruction to enforce the mean order at the time derivative and (2) a pseudo mass matrix formulation to preserve the residuals order.     

Inverse propagation of uncertainties in finite element model updating through use of fuzzy arithmetic

A fuzzy finite element model updating (FFEMU) method is presented in this study for the damage detection problem. The uncertainty caused by the measurement noise in modal parameters is described by fuzzy numbers. Inverse analysis is formulated as a constrained optimization problem at each α-cut level. Membership functions of each updating parameter which correspond to reduction in bending stiffness of the finite elements is determined by minimizing an objective function using a hybrid version of genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimization method (PSO) which is very efficient in terms of accuracy and robustness. Practical evaluation of the approximate bounds of the interval modal parameters in FFEMU iterations is addressed. A probabilistic analysis is performed using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) and the results are compared with presented FFEMU method. It is apparent from numerical simulations that the proposed method is well capable in finding the membership functions of the updating parameters within reasonable accuracy. It is also shown that the results obtained by FFEMU are in good agreement with the MCS results while FFEMU is not as computationally expensive as the MCS method. Nevertheless, the proposed FFEMU do not required derivatives of the objective function like existing methods except in the deterministic case.     

A Two‐Sided Cumulative Sum Chart for First‐Order Integer‐Valued Autoregressive Processes of Poisson Counts

Count data processes are often encountered in manufacturing and service industries. To describe the autocorrelation structure of such processes, a Poisson integer‐valued autoregressive model of order 1, namely, Poisson INAR(1) model, might be used. In this study, we propose a two‐sided cumulative sum control chart for monitoring Poisson INAR(1) processes with the aim of detecting changes in the process mean in both positive and negative directions. A trivariate Markov chain approach is developed for exact evaluation of the ARL performance of the chart in addition to a computationally efficient approximation based on bivariate Markov chains. The design of the chart for an ARL‐unbiased performance and the analyses of the out‐of‐control performances are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A fast minimization technique for subspace fitting with arbitraryarray manifolds

A new technique for minimization of a multidimensional subspace fitting criterion is proposed. An approximation is made to the exact criterion function, giving an explicit least squares solution for location parameters. Ideas from alternating projections are employed for initialization. The new technique gives global convergence with a high probability, has a low computational cost, is applicable to general array manifolds, and provides simple solutions for many problems with intricate parameterization     

3D model for powder compact densification in rotational molding

During rotational molding, a loosely packed, low‐density powder compact transforms into a fully densified polymer part. This transformation is a consequence of particles sintering. Powder compact density evolution of the polymer powder is measured experimentally. Obtained results show that the powder densification process consists of two stages, and its mechanism during these two stages is not the same. During the first stage, densification occurs by grains coalescence, and air between the grains escape by open pores between particles. These open pores close in time by particles coalescence progress, and remaining air entrapped in polymer melt becomes air bubbles. Surface tension, viscosity, grains size, and temperature are the controlling parameters during first stage. A three‐dimensional model is proposed for the densification of polymer powder during first stage. Second stage starts after bubble forming. Diffusion is the controlling phenomena during this stage. A diffusion‐based model is used for the second stage of densification. By comparing with the other models, proposed model exhibits several advantages: it is proposed in three‐dimensional and takes into account the nature of layer‐by‐layer powder densification. Model verification by experimental data obtained for densification of two different polymers shows a close agreement between model prediction and experiments. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 52:2033–2040, 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Occurrence of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2) in herbal tea consumed in Turkey

Aflatoxin contents in 12 types of herbal teas were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detector using immunoaffinity column clean-up. Forty eight samples were collected from four local herbal shops in Manisa, Turkey. Of the 48 samples analyzed, 43 were aflatoxin positive. The highest concentration of aflatoxin (34.18 µg/kg) was determined in a sample of camomile tea. The occurrence of AFB1, B2, G1 and G2 was found in samples at levels of 54, 29, 71 and 46 %, respectively. Aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2 contamination levels varied from 0 to 14.2, 0 to 12.4, 0 to 13.5 and 0 to 28.7 µg/kg, respectively. Aflatoxin was not detected in five samples consisting of linseed, lime and fennel tea.